One of his principal duties seemed to be that of acting as
counter-captain, or leader of the opposition, denouncing the first
symptoms of tyranny, and protecting even the cabin-boy from
oppression. Besides this, when things went smoothly he would begin
to prognosticate evil, in order that his more light-hearted
comrades might not be puffed up with the seeming good fortune of
the moment.
It seemed to me that the personal freedom of these sailors, who own
no superiors except those of their own choice, is as like as may be
to that of their seafaring ancestors. And even in their mode of
navigation they have admitted no such an entire change as you would
suppose probable. It is true that they have so far availed
themselves of modern discoveries as to look to the compass instead
of the stars, and that they have superseded the immortal gods of
their forefathers by St. Nicholas in his glass case, {11} but they
are not yet so confident either in their needle, or their saint, as
to love an open sea, and they still hug their shores as fondly as
the Argonauts of old. Indeed, they have a most unsailor-like love
for the land, and I really believe that in a gale of wind they
would rather have a rock-bound coast on their lee than no coast at
all.
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