When the service was ended the students went on deck again.  The wreck could now be distinctly seen.  It was a ship of five or six hundred tons, rolling helplessly in the trough of the sea.  She was apparently water-logged, if not just ready to go down.  As the Young America approached her, her people were seen to be laboring at the pumps, and to be baling her out with buckets.  It was evident from the appearance of the wreck, that it had been kept afloat only by the severest exertion on the part of the crew.

“Mr. Peaks, you will see that the boats are in order for use,” said Mr. Lowington.  “We shall lower the barge and the gig.”

“The barge and the gig, sir,” replied the boatswain.

“Captain Gordon,” continued the principal, “two of your best officers must be detailed for the boats.”

“I will send Mr. Kendall in the barge, sir.”

“Very well; he is entirely reliable.  Whom will you send in the gig?”

“I am sorry Shuffles is not an officer now, for he was one of the best we had for such service,” added the captain.

“Shuffles is out of the question,” replied Mr. Lowington.

“Mr. Haven, then, in the gig.”

“The sea is very heavy, and the boats must be handled with skill and prudence.”

“The crews have been practised in heavy seas, though in nothing like this.”

The barge and the gig—­called so by courtesy—­were the two largest boats belonging to the ship, and pulled eight oars each.  They were light and strong, and had been built with especial reference to the use for which they were intended.  They were life-boats, and before the ship sailed, they had been rigged with life-lines and floats.  If they were upset in a heavy sea, the crews could save themselves by clinging to the rope, buoyed up by the floats.

The Young America stood up towards the wreck, intending to pass under her stern as near as it was prudent to lay, the head of the dismasted ship being to the north-west.

“Boatswain, pipe all hands to muster,” said the captain, prompted by Mr. Lowington, as the ship approached the wreck.

“All hands on deck, ahoy!” shouted the boatswain, piping the call.

The first lieutenant took the trumpet from the officer of the deck, and the crew, all of whom were on deck when the call was sounded, sprang to their muster stations.

“All hands, take in courses,” said the executive officer; and those who were stationed at the tacks and sheets, clew-garnets and buntlines, prepared to do their duty when the boatswain piped the call.

“Man the fore and main clew-garnets and buntlines!” shouted the first lieutenant.  “Stand by tacks and sheets!”

The fore and main sail, being the lowest square sails, are called the courses.  There is no corresponding sail on the mizzenmast.  The ropes by which the lower corners of these sails are hauled up for furling are the clew-garnets—­the same that are designated clewlines on the topsails.