The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-06-03
IMPRESSIONS OF 1HE SEA.
LONG TRIP NDCESSARY TO EDU-
CATE ORDINARY MORTAL.
Lsndsnsn Have . Fsint Conception
Of Its vastness-Privaoy OF the
Ocean Emphasized by . Three
Months Voyage ON Sailing Vessel.


Whether expressed or implied. there is
certainly deep-rooted idea IN the minds
of shore jewellers that the vast. fenceiess
fields OF ocean are I'm these latter days
well, not to say thickly. populated by |
ships: that. sail or steam whittier you
WILL you cannot get away from the white
CLINT OF sailing ship or the black smear
along the clean sky OF q steamships
smoke. There Is every excuse for such
an attitude OF mind on the part OF land
ward folk. Having no standard OF COM
parison against which to range the vast
lonely breadths Of water which make up
the universal highway, and being might
lily impressed by the statistics OF ship
ping owned by maritime nations. they
can hardly be blamed for supposing that
the privacy OF the sea IL thing of the
past. One voyage in a sailing ship to the
Australasian colonies or to India IL the
opportunities 1t afforded were rightly
used, would do far more TO convince them
OF the utterly wrong notion possessing
them than any quantity OF writing upon
the subject would do But. unhappiiy.
few people today have the leisure or the
inclination to spend voluntarily three
months upon a sea passage that can be
performed In little moro than one. Even
those who by reason OF poverty or for
their health's sake do take such passages,
almost invariably show signs Of utter
WEAKNESS and boredom. As day after
day passes. and the beautiful fabric in
which they live glides gently and leisure
ly forward. their impotence grows until
in some 1t almost amounts to a disease.
This condition OF mind Is not favorable,
to say the least. to a calm study OF the
characteristic features Of ocean itself.
Few. indeed, are the passengers, and
fewer still are the sailors. who will for
the delight OF the thing spend hour after
hour perched upon some commanding
point in wide-eyed sight strengthening
gaze out upon the face OF the sea.
Upon those who do there grows steadily
a sense of the most complete privacy. a
solemn aloofness belonging to the seas.
The infrequent vessel, gentle though her
progress may be through the calm waters
OF the tropics. still strikes them as an
intruder upon this realm of silence and
loneliness. The voices Of the crew crate
harshly upon the ear as with a sense of
dissertation such rs one feels upon hear
Ing loud conversation In the sacred peace
of some huge cathedral. And when
vessel heaves in sight, a tiny mark
against the skyline. she but punctuates the
loneliness. as IL were-affords a point
from which the eve can family calculate
the immensely of her surroundings.
This sense OF solitude induced by con-
temptation OF the ocean is exceedingly
routes and the most crowded CO waters
To enter into II fully. however. 1t is nee
essary to sail either In cable ship, a
whaler. or an old slow-g going merchant
sailor that gets drifting out OF the track
OF vessels. Even in the English channel
one cannot but feel how much room there
Is. In spite OF our knowledge of the num-
bers Of ships that pass and repass with
out ceasing along what may truthfuily be
termed the most frequented highway in
the watery world, there Is an undoubtedly
reasonable sense induced by its contem-
plation that however much the dry land
may become overcrowded the sea will
always be equal to whatever demands
may he made upon II for space. There
are many harbors IN the world at any
rate iandlocked bays that may rightly he
called harbors. wherein the fleets OF all
the nations might lie In comfort And
their disappearance from the open sea
would leave no sense % loss. SO wide IL
old oceans bosom. Perhaps this is even
now more strongly marked than II was
fifty years ago. The wonderful exacti-
tude with which the steam fleets of tho
world keep 20 certain well-defned tracks
leave the intermediate breadths unvisited
places whittier he who should desire TO
hide himself from the eyes of men might
HE and be certain that but for the host
Of heaven. the viewless wind, and the
silent myriads beneath. he would indeed
be alone. They are of the secret places
of tho Almighty.
Occasionally the great steamships that
lay for us the connecting nerves of clvili-
cation penetrate these areana, for their
path must he made on the shortest limo
between two continents. needless Of sur
face tracks And the wise men who han
die these wonderful landmarks OF science
know how private are the realms through
which they steadily steam, leaving behind
them the thin black line along which shall
presently fash at lightning speed the
thought-essenoe of mankind. The whaier.
alasI is gone. the old leisureiy South Sea-
man TO whom time was thing Of no
moment. Her ruler knew that hts best
prospect OF finding the prey he sought
was. where no keel disturbed the sensi-
tive natural vibrations OF the wave. So
these vessels saw more OF sea solitude
than any others. Saw those weird spaces
unvlsited even by wind. great areas ~
silky surface into whose peaceful giades
hardly rolled a gently uadulating swell
bearing silent evidence of storms raging
half a world away. SO. too, upon occa-
sion, did and does. a bclated sailing ship.
such as one We met IN the southern seas
bound from the United Kingdom 20 Anck-
land that had been then nine months on
her passage. Into what dread sea aoli-
tudes she had intrudcd- How many.
many days had elapsed during which she
was the solitary point rising from the
shining plain into the upper air. Her
crew had q ~istful look upon their faces,
as OF men whose contact with the world
they dirnly remembered had been efEectu-
ally cut OF. And truly "a many, news OF
her safety came IN the nature Of n mes
sage Of resurrection. Rocks OF account
concerning her had 10 be reopencd.
mourning garments laid aside she had
returned from the sienees. had reiolned
the world Of men.
All the tracks along which ships travel
are but threads traversing these private
waters, just little spaces Hike trail
across al illimitable desert And even
there the Simlie falls. because the track
across the ocean plain IS imaginary. IL
10 traced BY the passing keel and iErme-
dlateiy u 10 gore. And the tiny portion
OF the sea surfans thus furrowef il but
the minatcst fraction Of the immeAsur-
able spaces wherein IL snthroued the phi
.ta z a~tan