Zeelandia

42. Sails

Shortly after eight bells of the afternoon had pealed, I sat leaning against the aftcastle beside the mizzenmast. A while later, Mid Franklin approached, and pointing toward a hatch, he said, "I shall go below and fetch my slate and chalk."

Upon his return, he sat beside me while I chalked a column of numbers for him to add, and when he had accomplished that, I had him subtract nine hundred and ninety-nine from the total, and I nodded at his correct result. "See, there you have remembered to borrow from each column."

"I have no difficulty with this. It is when I do degrees, minutes and seconds, or pounds, shillings and pence, that I fumble."

"Then you must do the borrowing or lending between them, just as between the columns here. When you pass sixty minutes, lend one to the degrees and remove sixty from the minutes, or borrow and add. Here, like this." I chalked some figures and demonstrated.

Next, I wrote a series of pairs for him to add, and when it appeared he had mastered this, I had him practise subtracting. Then I moved on to explaining the theory of deduced reckoning with some chalked examples. He had begun practising plots when a voice shouted from aloft, "Land ho! The starboard bow, Sir."

"Point it," came a voice from the quarterdeck.

"Four points, Sir. Mid between bow and beam."

"Thank you, lad."

Nodding at this information, I said to Mid Franklin, "That makes sense. There are hills over two thousand feet high to the north of the point, and on this course, they would be the first to show, and they will rise broad the bow."

"How do you know this?"

"From the chart when I plotted the noon position."

"Captain trusts you to do that?"

"He does, with direct supervision." I pointed to the problem on the slate. "And if you practice and master this, Mister Jenkins might well allow you to do the same on the deck chart."

"Hah! He does it all himself and shares nothing. Worse than Mister Cogswell. The only good one is Mister Matthews." He shrugged. "This is why Gilbert is far ahead of us in understanding."

"Does Mid Gilbert not share with you?"

"Hah!" Franklin shook his head. "He is as bad. I think he sees this learning as a competition, and he holds everything to himself."

"Then, would it be fitting if I were to include Mid Edwards in my tutoring?"

"Oh, I do think so. He too is eager to learn, but frustrated with the lack of instruction."

"Fine, then. It might be best if you were to tell him, and bid that he approach me." I pointed to the slate. "But now, back to your plotting."

I continued presenting him with situations to solve, delighting in how quickly he appeared to understand each new concept. While we worked, one bell sounded, and then two, and shortly after it, a voice from up the mast shouted, "Land ho! Near dead ahead, Sir."

I looked up from the slate and said, "That could be either Isla Beata or Isla Alto Velo."

"How long will it take me to learn all this?"

"It depends upon your diligence and curiosity." I pointed again to the slate. "Continue practising as you are, and you will gain a strong feel for the processes. Read all you can about navigation and its theories."

"Read? Where do I get books way out here?"

"Have you not been given access to any?"

Franklin shook his head. "None."