Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/532

 seeing to the "catting and fishing" of the anchors.

In coming to anchor, similar duties devolve upon the chief officer, who must see the anchors and cables ready for letting go, and that spare hawsers, kedges, and warps are at hand, the master ordering how much chain is to be overhauled. As the vessel draws in towards her anchoring ground, the master gives all the orders as to trimming the yards and taking in sail, and has the entire charge of the man at the helm, it being the mate's duty only to see that a competent seaman is there. In furling the sails the whole superintendence devolves upon the mate, who sends the men aloft, remaining in his place on deck himself, and giving his orders to them while on the yards as to the manner of furling, and seeing the ropes hauled taut, or let go on deck, as may be necessary.

These illustrations suffice to show the distinctions between the duties of a master and a mate, in the principal evolutions at sea of an ordinary moderate-sized merchant vessel. While in port the chief mate has much more the control over the vessel than when at sea. As there is no navigating or working the vessel to be attended to, the master has little to engage him, except transactions with merchants and others on shore, and the general directions as to the care of the ship. Besides the work upon the ship and rigging, while in port, the chief mate has the charge of receiving, discharging, stowing, and breaking out the cargo. In these duties he has the entire control, under the general direction of the master. It is the mate's duty to keep an account of all the