You have sailed in the southern seas, Captain Ludlow, I know;
for we were shipmates among the islands, years that are past: but I never
heard whether you have run the Gibralter passage, and seen the blue water
that lies among the Italy mountains?"
"I made a cruise against the Barbary states, when a lad; and we had
business that took us to the northern shore."
"Ay! 'Tis your northern shore, I mean! There is not a foot of it all, from
the rock at the entrance to the Fare of Messina, that eye of mine hath not
seen. No want of look-outs and land-marks in that quarter! Here we are
close aboard of America, which lies some eight or ten leagues there-away
to the northward of us, and some forty astern; and yet, if it were not for
our departure, with the color of the water, and a knowledge of the
soundings, one might believe himself in the middle of the Atlantic. Many a
good ship plumps upon America before she knows where she is going; while
in yon sea, you may run for a mountain, with its side in full view,
four-and-twenty hours on a stretch, before you see the town at its foot."
"Nature has compensated for the difference, in defending the approach to
this coast, by the Gulf Stream, with its floating weeds and different
temperature; while the lead may feel its way in the darkest night, for no
roof of a house is more gradual than the ascent of this shore, from a
hundred fathoms to a sandy beach."
"I said many a good ship, Captain Ludlow, and not good
navigator.
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