Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-17
Going Down to
The Sea in Ships
BY FRANK t. BuLLEy.

((0 DING down to the. sea" What
cog world OF romantic interest
unfolds itself to the active I'M
~ agfnation in the utterance OF
those five simple words. They
take us back TO the very dawn Oh
seafaring when the seafarer was
hero OF the highest order. one with
heart OF brass and breast OF trlpled steel,
who dared to face the combined terrors or
the unknown and mighty deep And In
deed when We the inheritors of the results
Of say. 5000 years OF seafar'ng (using
three millenniums for convenience sake. but
entirely ignorant OF really how far back 1t
was when man first dared to face the ter
rors OF the trackless deep think for little
OF the conditions involved In that remote
day in going down to the sea. we cannot
withhold from those primitive mariners and
passengers our respectful and unstinted ad-
mlration. Whether Syrian, Egyptian or
Monaghan they were driven seaward, to
face terrors of which we only now can
family dream by the great dynamic forces
of the human mind, curiosity, love of
change, and thirst for gain. To satisfy these
desires they overcame natural shrinkings
and rose to the sublime height of facing,
however TREMENDOUSLY. those far more ter
rible probabilities of conysng into inimical
contact with the gods whose domain it was
only reasonable to suppose was peculiarly
the mysterious fastness of ocean. 1 hardly
know whether 1t Is possible for us to enter
Into these sensations of the early seafarers
unless ii has ever happened TO us, all gno-
rant of seafaring, to get adrift on the sea
In a tiny boat of the handling of which we
know nothing. And even that will hardly
suffice. since we could look around for help
which would almost certainly be speedily
forthcoming from experienced seafarers.
X
Fortunately in this interesting study OF
early seafaring conditions we are able even
today to obtain object lessons if we travel
Ear enough afled There still parts of
the world adjacent to the sea where these
primitive conditions of seafaring are to be
witnessed, where savage man, entirely ig-
norant of what awaits him at sea and pro-
foundly IMMERSED in navigational lore, still
faces the waves with innate bravery with
out any equipment for voyagng. beyond
frail support in the midst of the water. But
those early conditions of seafaring took
long centuries in development, involving
nthinkable sufferings and uncountable toll
In human life. For although mans courage
abled him thus 20 face the ocean his In
ventive powers did not keep pace with It,
and for lack of food and water he suf-
fered and died. Today there are seafarers
traversing the Indian archipelago carrying
water in Joints of bamboo and a scanty
store of food, mostly boiled rice, in lear
packages, VINO IN case Oh auNeESe WiIluS dic
doomed to all the horrors of starvation and
drought In the midst of the pitiless ocean.
But the centuries rolled on and produced
at long intervals great genfuses who dis
covered how to store provisions and water,
how to develop from the tree trunk the
hollow ed-out canoe and later the built-up
vessel. Then came, too. the observant man
who noted the general direction of the wind
and set OF the tides enabling him by the
aid OF the elements alone to reach de-
sired haven and return. Only the change
fulness OF sea conditions prevented any
certain dependence upon them, and conse-
quently the risk was tremendously great
And II remained so In spite of skill and ex-
perience until the advent of that gigantic
genius who discovered the principle of the
mariners compass. At one mighty stride
the mariner reached comparative certainty
of direction, Independently of weather from
the utter dependence upon the stars ana
sun liable at any moment to disappear and
remain hidden for days. while the clumsy
craft. her crew and passengers alike drifted
any whittier.
Yet in spite OF all these disabling Difficult
ties the sea road proved so easy, as COM