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Transcription
17
we would tell the God a lie, as he was only a
Heathen, and say we had seen his face before;
but on its being hinted that he would be rather
particular in his questions about the ship we
were in, the Captain's name, the ports we
sailed to and from, we found we could
not make out very satisfactory answers,
and so reluctantly resigned ourselves to
whatever fate the old wretch might have in
store for us.
As before stated the line is merely imaginary,
but from that line the Latitude begins, and the
ship is on the Line and in no Latitude properly
speaking, or she has crossed that boundary
and is North of, or South of the Line as the
case may be, and in such and such a Latitude
or distance in degrees from "The Line", and the
position or distance from it is ascertained
by the Captain and officers with proper instruments
by observations of the sun every day at twelve
o'clock, thus is the Latitude or position of the
ship made out, and her distance from the Line
in miles or degrees, and entered in to the 'Logbook'
kept for that purpose. Often the stars are
used for observations, when so many hundreds
of miles from land and but a boundless expanse
of water to be seen, then are the heavenly
bodies the mariner's only true guide.
It may be expected that we were very anxious to
ascertain the time when we should be introduced to
Old Father Neptune, and become members of his family
circle, and the evening preceding the crossing the Line
having arrived, a select few of Neptune's sons were
occupied in taking down the names of us poor
unfortunate and getting money or grog from
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