Sailor’s Bookshelf: The young sea officer’s sheet anchor
Posted By Sarah on July 25, 2010
In my travels and studies over the years, I’ve collected a pretty decent library of maritime works. Some of these are chosen for their ability to tide me over the winters when there’s no liquid water around, vicariously following Sterling Hayden’s voyage to Tahiti or Farley Mowat’s amusing misadventures along the Newfoundland coast.
Others are chosen for their value as historical or technical resources. One of my favorite books for this purpose is Darcy Lever’s The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor, first published in 1808. Most of the book comes from research Lever conducted with experienced seamen; Lever himself was not a sailor. The book is lavishly illustrated with line drawings of rigging and step-by-step directions for a variety of sailhandling maneuvers.
While much of it is not relevant to a modern-rigged sailing vessel, or a small boat, it’s an invaluable resource for those who serve on traditionally rigged ships or who want to familiarize themselves with the mechanics of such vessels. Fans of Patrick O’Brian or C. S. Forester will also find it useful as a cheat-sheet for some of the terminology. As I was told when I was with SEA, young naval officers would keep a notebook of handy information to assist them in their professional studies. This notebook was called a sheet anchor. The officers would add to them throughout their time at sea. I started one when I was at sea, but my own sheet anchor is sadly out of date these days.
When I was a deckhand on the Corwith Cramer, this was one of the books we carried. As Ekk & I continue work on Heron, this book is once again on my mind.
John Masefield
We’re bound for blue water where the great winds blow,
It’s time to get the tacks aboard, time for us to go;
The crowd’s at the capstan and the tune’s in the shout,
‘A long pull, a strong pull, and warp the hooker out.‘
The bow-wash is eddying, spreading from the bows,
Aloft and loose the topsails and some one give a rouse ;
A salt Atlantic chanty shall be music to the dead,
‘A long pull, a strong pull, and the yard to the masthead.’
Green and merry run the seas, the wind comes cold,
Salt and strong and pleasant, and worth a mint of gold;
And she’s staggering, swooping, as she feels her feet,
‘A long pull, a strong pull, and aft the main-sheet.’
Shrilly squeal the running sheaves, the weathergear strains,
Such a clatter of chain-sheets, the devil’s in the chains;
Over us the bright stars, under us the drowned,
‘A long pull, a strong pull, and we’re outward bound.’
Yonder, round and ruddy, is the mellow old moon,
The red-funnelled tug has gone, and now, sonny, soon
We’ll be clear of the Channel, so watch how you steer,
‘Ease her when she pitches, and so-long, my dear.’
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