The Mirror of the Sea · Chapter
XIII explained
The chapter reflects on the lost art of stowage and cargo loading, contrasting the skilled, hands-on approach of the past with the modern, mechanized, and hurried methods of steamships.
What happens
The chapter reflects on the lost art of stowage and cargo loading, contrasting the skilled, hands-on approach of the past with the modern, mechanized, and hurried methods of steamships. It discusses the pride and knowledge involved in loading a ship properly, referencing Stevens on Stowage, and criticizes the decline of seamanship in the face of efficiency and profit.
Themes in this chapter
Art of Seamanship
The chapter laments the decline of skilled stowage and the sailor's thorough knowledge of his craft, emphasizing the lost art of loading a ship properly.
Routine and Monotony
The modern steamship loading process is described as a clatter of machinery and dumping of cargo, stripping away the thoughtful, skilled routine of the past.
Characters to notice
- Stevens
Author of 'Stevens on Stowage,' a respected volume on the art of stowage, cited as an example of the skill and knowledge once required.
Key passages
“There has been a time when a ship's chief mate, pocketbook in hand and pencil behind his ear, kept one eye aloft upon his riggers and the other down the hatchway on the stevedores, and watched the disposition of his ship's cargo, knowing that even before she started he was already doing his best to secure for her an easy and quick passage.”
In the past, a chief mate would meticulously oversee the loading of his ship, balancing attention between rigging and cargo to ensure a smooth voyage.
Highlights the former diligence and skill in cargo stowage.
“The modern steamship with her many holds is not loaded within the sailor-like meaning of the word. She is filled up. Her cargo is not stowed in any sense; it is simply dumped into her through six hatchways, more or less, by twelve winches or so, with clatter and hurry and racket and heat, in a cloud of steam and a mess of coal-dust.”
Modern steamships are merely filled with cargo using machinery, lacking the careful stowage that defined traditional seamanship.
Criticizes the mechanized and hurried approach to loading in the steamship era.