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CROFT AND ANTHONY CROFT AND ROBERT DAVISON
MATHEMATICS FOR ENGINEERS DAVISON
Fifth edition
MATHEMATICS
ENGINEERS
MATHEMATICS FOR
Understanding key mathematical concepts and applying them successfully to solve problems are vital skills
FOR ENGINEERS
that all engineering students must acquire. Mathematics for Engineers introduces, teaches, develops and
nurtures those skills. Practical, informal and accessible, it begins with the foundations and gradually builds
upon this knowledge as it introduces more complex concepts. Learn everything you will need for your first year
engineering mathematics course, together with a wealth of introductory material for even more advanced
topics such as Laplace and Fourier transforms and partial differential equations.
Key features
• Applications of mathematics are drawn from a wide range of engineering areas: aeronautical, automotive,
FIFTH EDITION
chemical, civil, computer, electrical and electronic, manufacturing, materials, mechanical, production,
reliability, and systems engineering.
• Hundreds of interactive examples are provided in the context of various engineering disciplines, so you
are able to both engage with the problems and also see the relevance of the maths to your wider studies.
• A wealth of practice and revision exercises with solutions help test your knowledge.
• Key points and important results are highlighted throughout.
• Computer and calculator examples and exercises are incorporated in relevant sections.
• Specimen examination papers give further opportunity to practise.
• A foundation section gives you a firm base in arithmetic, the building block of many high-level
mathematical topics.
Brief contents
Contents ix
Publisher’s acknowledgements xv
Preface xvi
Using mathematical software packages xx
1 Arithmetic 1
2 Fractions 18
3 Decimal numbers 35
5 Basic algebra 57
9 Trigonometry 335
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page viii
14 Vectors 669
15 Differentiation 740
17 Integration 826
Contents
Publisher’s acknowledgements xv
Preface xvi
Using mathematical software packages xx
1 Arithmetic 1
Block 1 Operations on numbers 3
Block 2 Prime numbers and prime factorisation 10
End of chapter exercises 17
2 Fractions 18
Block 1 Introducing fractions 20
Block 2 Operations on fractions 25
End of chapter exercises 33
3 Decimal numbers 35
Block 1 Introduction to decimal numbers 37
Block 2 Significant figures 42
End of chapter exercises 43
x Contents
5 Basic algebra 57
Block 1 Mathematical notation and symbols 59
Block 2 Indices 72
Block 3 Simplification by collecting like terms 88
Block 4 Removing brackets 91
Block 5 Factorisation 99
Block 6 Arithmetic of algebraic fractions 106
Block 7 Formulae and transposition 119
End of chapter exercises 133
9 Trigonometry 335
Block 1 Angles 337
Block 2 The trigonometrical ratios 341
Block 3 The trigonometrical ratios in all quadrants 352
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page xi
Contents xi
14 Vectors 669
Block 1 Basic concepts of vectors 671
Block 2 Cartesian components of vectors 685
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page xii
xii Contents
15 Differentiation 740
Block 1 Interpretation of a derivative 742
Block 2 Using a table of derivatives 755
Block 3 Higher derivatives 764
End of chapter exercises 769
17 Integration 826
Block 1 Integration as differentiation in reverse 828
Block 2 Definite integrals 840
Block 3 The area bounded by a curve 847
Block 4 Computational approaches to integration 857
Block 5 Integration by parts 867
Block 6 Integration by substitution 874
Block 7 Integration using partial fractions 885
Block 8 Integration of trigonometrical functions 888
End of chapter exercises 892
Contents xiii
xiv Contents
Lecturer Resources
For password-protected online resources tailored to support
the use of this textbook in teaching, please visit
www.pearsoned.co.uk/croft
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 11/9/18 2:57 PM Page xv
Publisher’s acknowledgements
Preface
Audience
This book has been written to serve the mathematical needs of students engaged in a
first course in engineering or technology at degree level. Students of a very wide
range of these programmes will find that the book contains the mathematical
methods they will meet in a first-year course in most UK universities. So the book
will satisfy the needs of students of aeronautical, automotive, chemical, civil,
electronic and electrical, systems, mechanical, manufacturing, and production
engineering, and other technological fields. Care has been taken to include illustra-
tive examples from these disciplines where appropriate.
Aims
There are two main aims of this book.
Firstly, we wish to provide a readable, accessible and student-friendly introduc-
tion to mathematics for engineers and technologists at degree level. Great care has
been taken with explanations of difficult concepts, and wherever possible statements
are made in everyday language, as well as symbolically. It is the use of symbolic
notation that seems to cause many students problems, and we hope that we have
gone a long way to alleviate such problems.
Secondly, we wish to develop in the reader the confidence and competence to
handle mathematical methods relevant to engineering and technology through an
interactive approach to learning. You will find that the book encourages you to take
an active part in the learning process – this is an essential ingredient in the learning
of mathematics.
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page xvii
Preface xvii
Learning mathematics
In mathematics almost all early building blocks are required in advanced work. New
ideas are usually built upon existing ones. This means that, if some early topics are
not adequately mastered, difficulties are almost certain to arise later on. For example,
if you have not mastered the arithmetic of fractions, then you will find some aspects
of algebra confusing. Without a firm grasp of algebra you will not be able to perform
the techniques of calculus, and so on. It is therefore essential to try to master the full
range of topics in your mathematics course and to remedy deficiencies in your prior
knowledge.
Learning mathematics requires you to participate actively in the learning process.
This means that in order to get a sound understanding of any mathematical topic it is
essential that you actually perform the calculations yourself. You cannot learn math-
ematics by being a spectator. You must use your brain to solve the problem, and you
must write out the solution. These are essential parts of the learning process. It is not
sufficient to watch someone else solve a similar problem, or to read a solution in a
book, although these things of course can help. The test of real understanding and
skill is whether or not you can do the necessary work on your own.
xviii Preface
by the pencil icon. Make sure you have to hand scrap paper, pens or pencils and a
calculator. Interactive examples contain ‘empty boxes’ and ‘completed boxes’. An
empty box indicates that a calculation needs to be performed by you. The corres-
ponding completed box on the right of the page contains the calculation you should
have performed. When working through an interactive example, cover up the com-
pleted boxes, perform a calculation when prompted by an empty box, and then
compare your work with that contained in the completed box. Continue in this way
through the entire example. Interactive examples provide some help and structure
while also allowing you to test your understanding.
Sets of exercises are provided regularly throughout most blocks. Try these exer-
cises, always remembering to check your answers with those provided. Practice
enhances understanding, reinforces the techniques, and aids memory. Carrying out a
large number of exercises allows you to experience a greater variety of problems,
thus building your expertise and developing confidence.
Content
The content of the book reflects that taught to first-year engineering and technology
students in the majority of UK universities. However, particular care has been taken
to develop algebraic skills from first principles and to give students plenty of oppor-
tunity to practise using these. It is our firm belief, based on recent experience of
teaching engineering undergraduates, that many will benefit from this material
because they have had insufficient opportunity in their previous mathematical edu-
cation to develop such skills fully. Inevitably the choice of contents is a compro-
mise, but the topics covered were chosen after wide consultation coupled with
many years of teaching experience. Given the constraint of space we believe our
choice is optimal.
Preface xix
One of the main developments influencing the learning and teaching of engineering
mathematics in recent years has been the widespread availability of sophisticated
computer software and its adoption by many educational institutions.
As engineering students, you will meet a range of software in your studies. It is
also highly likely that you will have access to specialist mathematical software.
Two software packages that are particularly useful for engineering mathematics,
and which are referred to on occasions throughout this book, are Matlab and Maple.
There are others, and you should enquire about the packages that have been made
available for your use. A number of these packages come with specialist tools for
subjects such as control theory and signal processing, so you will find them useful in
other subjects that you study.
Common features of all these packages include:
• the facility to plot two- and three-dimensional graphs;
• the facility to perform calculations with symbols (e.g. a2, x + y, as opposed to
just numbers) including the solution of equations.
In addition, some packages allow you to write computer programs of your own that
build upon existing functionality, and enable the experienced user to create powerful
tools for the solution of engineering problems.
The facility to work with symbols, as opposed to just numbers, means that these
packages are often referred to as computer algebra systems or symbolic processors.
You will be able to enter mathematical expressions, such as (x + 2)(x - 3) or
t - 6
2
, and subject them to all of the common mathematical operations:
t + 2t + 1
simplification, factorisation, differentiation, integration, and much more. You will be
able to perform calculations with vectors and matrices. With experience you will
find that lengthy, laborious work can be performed at the click of a button.
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page xxi
The particular form in which a mathematical problem is entered – that is, the
syntax – varies from package to package. Raising to a power is usually performed
using the symbol ^. Some packages are menu driven, meaning that you can often
select symbols from a menu or toolbar. At various places in the text we have pro-
vided examples of this for illustrative purposes. This textbook is not intended to be a
manual for any of the packages described. For thorough details you will need to refer
to the manual provided with your software or its on-line help.
At first sight you might be tempted to think that the availability of such a package
removes the need for you to become fluent in algebraic manipulation and other
mathematical techniques. We believe that the converse of this is true. These pack-
ages are sophisticated, professional tools and as such require the user to have a good
understanding of the functions they perform, and particularly their limitations. Fur-
thermore, the results provided by the packages can be presented in a variety of forms
(as you will see later in the book), and only with a thorough understanding of the
mathematics will you be able to appreciate different, yet correct, equivalent forms,
and distinguish these from incorrect output.
Figure 1 shows a screenshot from Maple in which we have defined the function
f (x) = x2 + 3x - 2 and plotted part of its graph. Note that Maple requires the
following particular syntax to define the function: f: = x : x 2 + 3x - 2. The
quantity x2 is input as x^2.
Finally, Figure 2 shows a screenshot from the package Matlab. Here the package
is being used to obtain a three-dimensional plot of the surface z = sin(x2 + y2) as
described in Chapter 21. Observe the requirement of Matlab to input x2 as x # ^2.
Figure 1
A screenshot from
Maple showing
the package being
used to define
the function
f (x) = x2 + 3x - 2
and plot its graph.
A01_CROF5939_04_SE_A01.QXD 10/1/18 3:58 PM Page xxii
Figure 2
A screenshot from
Matlab showing the
package being used
to plot a three-
dimensional graph.
The following commands are indicative only and should be read in conjuction with the software’s on-line help and the examples found later
in the book.
Purpose Maple example Matlab example Page
integer, n, is prime
an integer, n
(1+3*I)/(2-I) (1+3*j)/(2-j)
(Continued)
Purpose Maple example Matlab example Page
Mr. Gull, the second mate, was already on deck when we arrived,
and I expected to continue our pleasantries of the early morning. He
looked hard at us and said nothing, and then I knew Hawkson had
put in a word for me, for no second mate could otherwise have
resisted the temptation of taking it out of an able-bodied seaman, no
matter how able-bodied he might be. I was informed shortly that I
was made gunner, and was henceforth in charge of the barque’s
battery to see that it was kept in order. But there was no more room
aft for any more petty officers. Henry and Watkins occupied the only
remaining room, on account of the space occupied by the
passengers and their luggage. Jorg, the Finn, I found was the
carpenter, but he also had to share the forecastle.
Before going below, Hawkson summoned all hands, and he and
Gull went through the old form of choosing the watches.
“Bos’n,” said Hawkson, addressing Richards, “you may muster the
men aft.”
“Ay, ay, sir,” said the man-o’-war’s man, and he touched his cap
with his hand like in the old days aboard the frigate when I had seen
him speak to the officer of the deck.
It was something of a surprise to me, and also to the rest, to find
the man who had served under me as second mate as bos’n of that
crowd. It made me think that perhaps I might dispute the position
with him, for I was a navigator and capable of working the ship’s
position to a fairly accurate extent, and old Peter Richards was only
a plain able seaman. But I soon saw why he had been chosen. He
was a trained man and used to the discipline of a fighting ship, and
there were plenty of navigators aft. He was very sober and quiet in
his manner this day, and I wondered at it, for I was under the
impression he had been fooled into going aboard like the rest of us.
“How is it, Peter,” I asked, as he came near me, “are you going to
give me my orders?”
“Yes, and I advise you to obey them without making trouble for
yourself,” said he, quietly. “You came into the ship with your eyes
wide open. Now stand to it. I told you I’d follow you and take care of
you.”
He said the last part of his speech with just a suspicion of a smile
lurking about the corners of his mouth, and I was not in the humour
to be laughed at.
“All right, my cock,” said I, “if you are one of the officers and know
the destination of this hooker, you will oblige me by telling me her
port of destination. If you don’t, I might be tempted to argue the
question with you. You are not pretty, Peter, when you smile.”
“Don’t think I would tackle you, Heywood,” said he, looking sternly
at me. “You’ve been aboard a fighting craft, and know just what I’ll
do if you don’t turn to when I say. I don’t know any more about this
vessel than you do, except--well, except that I wouldn’t have picked
her out as a choice of ships. If you had used your eyes before you
signed on, you could have seen she was something irregular. Brace
up and do what you’re told until you find out what you’re in for.”
Then he went along to get the rest of the crew.
The men who had temporarily gone below to get their morning
meal, and who had remained below as the port watch, were now
lined up with those on deck, and Hawkson began by choosing a
huge fellow named Jones. He was a big, burly, red-headed
Welshman. Then Gull chose Bill in spite of his appearance. And so it
went until each had an equal number of men on a side, Jorg going
into the starboard, and myself into the port watch, for we were in
the forecastle with the rest, while Richards slung his hammock in
Hawkson’s room. I started on the forward guns, and spent the rest
of the day polishing.
The weather was fine and it was exhilarating to sit in the gun-port
to windward and watch the old barque go. The land had now
entirely disappeared to the eastward, and we were rapidly drawing
off.
The barque was very fast. With a breeze of not more than twelve
knots, she was running a full nine knots, seeming hardly to disturb
the smooth sea. Her wake was clean, and only the steady pouring of
her bow-wave whitened her path.
I sat for hours rubbing the muzzles of the guns with whale-oil and
dust, and, as I did so, I watched the flaking foam of the side-wash
spread away with its musical hiss and tinkle. Down deep in the blue
below a piece of weed now and then flashed past, looking like an eel
or snake as the sunlight wavered upon it. It was a warm, lazy day,
and I pondered long upon the strange turn of fortune that had
suddenly placed me upon the old barque with her sinister past and
mysterious future. Here she was all fitted out for a long voyage, but
without any cargo to speak of, and that little stowed in such a
manner that it was easy of access.
I gazed aloft at the fine rigging, and noted how well her canvas
was cut. Every sail was fitted as aboard a man-o’-war, and all her
running gear was of new hemp line of the finest grade, totally unlike
the loose laid stuff they used for clew-lines, bunt-lines, leach-lines,
and even braces aboard the ordinary western ocean merchantmen.
Hawkson had the yards trimmed in a shipshape and seamanlike
manner, and the grease or varnish upon them brought out the grain
of the wood. They were large for a vessel of five hundred ton. High
above, the mainroyal swung across a cloud-flecked zenith, a small
white strip, while beneath, in regular rotation, stretched the
t’gallantsail, topsail, and mainsail into increasing size until across the
main-yard the distance must have been full seventy feet or more.
The breeze hummed and droned under the foot of the great
mainsail, sounding restful and pleasant with the easy roll of the
vessel.
I was thinking how easy it would be to desert the ship at
Providence Harbour, in the Bahamas, and return to the States. It
was but a few days’ run from there to Savannah, and plenty of small
vessels would be bound over at this time of the year. It was
degrading to have to polish brass like a common foremast hand.
However, if I tired of it, I was really only working my way home.
That was the best way to look at it. But the thought of home
changed the half-formed purpose. What was there in the name for
me? Only a poor old mother living in a bit of a house, with a negro
girl I had brought from Jamaica some years before. They were
dependent entirely upon me and the little money I had saved to eke
out an existence, the girl doing all the work and caring for the aged
mother. If I went back, there would be only one more to draw on
the small hoard, and I might not get another berth very soon. Here
was a very proper ship, rigged almost like a man-o’-war, and
evidently bound on some special mission. Perhaps there was money
to be made. At all events, there would be little lost by staying in her,
for the pay in American ships was almost as poor as the English.
While I thought over these matters, I watched the two
passengers, who were lounging aft on the quarter, smoking long clay
pipes and drinking ale from a tankard filled from a keg in the
lazarette. They certainly appeared well-to-do people, and, if they
were part-owners, there was little doubt from their manners that
they were used to living as gentlemen of wealth and position.
Bill came down from aloft along the weather main-rigging above
me, where he had been fastening chafing-gear on the backstays at
the point the topsail-yard would touch. He saw me gazing aft while I
rubbed, and he dropped somewhat ostentatiously upon the deck to
attract my attention.
“Welcome, hey?” he said.
“Of course,” I answered, holding out a greasy hand. “Why not?”
“Well, I’ve no grudge, John,” said he. “You licked me fair enough.”
“You haven’t come for another one?” I asked, smiling.
“No,” he said, grasping my fingers in a tarry grip, “no, I believe
you’re all right. I youst wanted to ask what you t’ought of the
passengers. They say they’re part-owners. Now, I’ve been in
American ships ten years and more, an’ I never t’ought to go in a
wessel not knowin’ youst where she’s bound, did you?”
“How did you come to ship in her?” I asked.
“Oh, I signed all right. I youst saw she was a fine wessel an’ the
pay good,--more’n a mate of an old country wessel,--so I t’ought it
all right. Only I’d youst like to find out, friend John, where she’s
bound for,--I mean what port.”
“The first is Nassau, but we’re signed for some place in the South
Atlantic or Pacific, and unless you’re going to cut and run, or make a
pier-head jump, you’ll land in some of the South Sea Islands for
certain,” said I. “Who got you to come aboard?”
“A little fellow youst like a fox,--Henry they called him; he hasn’t
been on deck yet much. I t’ought he’d be a bit backward turnin’ out-
-There he is now, comin’ out on the main-deck. If you soak him one,
I’ll stand by, for it would youst serve him right, or if you youst stand
by, I’ll attend to it, hey?”
“No use, Bill,” I answered; “there’ll be enough of real sure fracases
before we’re on the beach again. Let him alone. It will only make
trouble aft, and then the whole after-guard will be for putting us
through. I’ll look out he don’t put his face in the forecastle, but he’s
third mate, and he belongs aft. These vessels are not like American
ships. A fellow don’t take rating by his hands, and if you whollop an
officer it only means trouble. I like your style, Bill, and, if there’s
trouble, I’ll stick close to you; but there won’t be any unless you
make it.”
Bill held out his big fist again and squeezed mine. There was an
honest look in his blue eyes I liked, albeit they were pretty well
draped in black from the discipline of the early morning. We were
friends from that moment, and I never had cause to regret that
hand-shake.
Henry saw us looking at him and came forward. He was afraid of
nothing on a ship’s deck, and, if he were a tricky little sea-wolf, he
was as grim as any in the forests of the New England shores. He
swung up his hand to his cap as he reached me, but took no notice
of Bill. I kept on rubbing the breech of the gun and took no notice,
for I was still a trifle sore at the way he had treated me.
“Mister Heywood, I saluted you, sir,” said Henry, stopping.
“So you did,” I answered, “and it does great credit to that mother
of yours that your manners are proper. I always return the salute of
an honest man, though it’s hardly necessary aboard ship, especially
merchant vessels.”
“Now, see here, Heywood, what’s the use of keeping up a grudge?
I got you into a good ship, didn’t I? And, if you ain’t mate, you’re
gunner.”
“If I had a grudge, I would wring your neck, Henry,” I answered,
calmly.
“No fear, Hi say,” he answered, smiling, and held out his hand.
“Put ’er there and we’ll call it even, hey?”
I held out my hand, for there was really little use keeping up a
bad feeling aboard. I might as well see the joke and bear a hand
with the rest. I held out a greasy paw to signify all was well.
The next instant his long fingers, which I had at first noticed on
the pier, closed upon mine like a steel vice, and I involuntarily cried
out with the pain. Such a grip! There was nothing human about it,
and I felt my bones cracking.
“Let go!” I roared, and Bill sprang upon him at the same instant.
But Henry grabbed his arm before he could strike, and there we
stood like two boys for an instant, unable to move, with the keen-
faced rascal between us. Before either could strike with the
disengaged hand, Henry cast us loose with a laugh.
“Don’t you try it,” he grinned, as he passed forward.
CHAPTER VIII.
OUR BOS’N
Then all hands would roar out with will the refrain, pointing to the
bos’n:
Sometimes the gentlemen from aft would come forward and lend
a hand with some new version of an old song, but more often they
were content to listen from the sacred precincts of the quarter-deck.
Old Howard never interfered with hilarity, but rather encouraged
it. I wondered at this, but remembered the cruise had only just
begun. I had seen captains encourage men before. Sometimes it
held a more sinister meaning than simple delight at their pleasure.
CHAPTER IX.
I MAKE ANOTHER FRIEND
For the next three weeks we ran smoothly to the westward, with
nothing occurring aboard The Gentle Hand to break the monotony of
ship’s duty. The stiff breeze, the edge of the northeast trade-wind,
bore us steadily on over warm seas bright with sunlight and under
blue skies flecked with the lumpy trade clouds that hung apparently
motionless in the void above.
During this weather I had little to do, and had a better chance of
seeing something of the after-guard while looking to the gear of the
two long twelves we carried upon the quarter-deck for stern-
chasers. We carried no metal on the forecastle, and it appeared that
these heavy guns aft were out of all proportion to the rest of the
battery.
I spoke to Hawkson about it, but he explained that the natives of
the Navigator, Society, and Fiji groups were somewhat dangerous,
and that, as our mission was one of peaceful trading, we would
always run when attacked rather than fight, and the heavy twelves
were for keeping large canoes at a distance.
“It would be a rather large canoe,” I admitted, “that would face
the fire of a long twelve-pounder as heavy as any used in vessels of
the frigate class. The islands you speak of are not, however, in the
South Atlantic.”
“You always were a clever lad, Heywood,” said he, with an ugly
smile. “What a smart one you were to see the error of that! But we’ll
have a try just to see what you can hit. Get a beef barrel and heave
it overboard, an’ get the men of the gun-crew aft.”
After that we seldom let many days slip without practice. Tim
begged me to take him in the gun-crew, and, as he was as active as
a monkey, I always let him have a chance. He grew very quiet and
sad as we drew near the Bahamas, and when we ran clear of the
trade, within a hundred miles of the island, he seemed to be gazing
over the sunlit ocean, watching for a coming breeze.
Sometimes I had him aft, polishing the brass of a gun-breech, and
I noticed that he divided his attention mostly between the captain,
Hicks, and Renshaw, and the southern horizon.
The great southern ocean is a lonely place, but its very loneliness
and quietness on the edge of the great winds makes it appeal to a
turbulent soul.
Tim and I sat a long time on the breech of the stern-chaser,
rubbing the metal easily and gazing out over the calm ocean. It was
quiet aboard, and the voices of the men on the main-deck sounded
loud and discordant. The slatting of the canvas was the only sound
aloft, the royals jerking at the clews first as the barque swung easily
on the swell, and then the t’gallantsails followed by the topsails fore
and aft, the taut canvas fanning the almost still air with the rolling
swing, making the jerking of the tacks and clews sound rhythmically
upon the ear. Below, the captain and his two passengers smoked
and drank their ale under the cabin skylight, their jokes sounding
particularly coarse in the sunlit quiet.
Tim suddenly stopped work and gazed to the southward. Far
away, miles and miles to windward, the horizon darkened slightly
where the deeper blue of the ocean stood out against the pale azure
of the semitropical sky.
While he looked, there came a sound over the water. It was a
long, plaintive cry of immense volume, but hardly distinct enough to
be heard unless the listener gave his attention. It was like a wild
minor chord of a harp, long continued and sustained, rising and
falling over the dark blue heave of the swells where the light air
darkened and streaked the ruffled surface. Farther away to
windward, the ocean took on a deeper blue, and the air filled the
sails more steadily for a few minutes.
Tim stood gazing into the distance, his eyes bright and his lips
parted, but there was an expression of peace and tranquillity upon
his freckled face that I had never noticed before.
“It’s the calling, Heywood, Heywood,” he whispered. “It’s the great
calling of the millions who have gone before. Listen!”
I heard it. The sad, wailing notes coming from miles and miles
away to windward over that smooth sea, with the freshening breeze,
made an impression upon me I could not throw off. It vibrated
through my whole being, and was like the voice of great loneliness
calling from the vast world of sea and sky. It was not like the hum of
the trade in the rigging or the snore of a gale under the foot of a
topsail, nor like the thunderous roar of the hurricane through the
rigging of a hove-to ship. The melancholy sadness of the long-
sustained wail was musical to a degree. I sat there listening.
Of course, it must have been caused by the wind over the surface
of the sea at a great distance, or by different currents of air in
passing, but the effect upon the imagination was like that which
might be caused by the prolonged cry of a distant host from the
vastness of sunlit waste. It pervaded my whole being, and enforced
listening to its call, seeming to draw my soul to it as if out in that
sparkling world of rippling wavelets lay the end of all strife and the
great eternal peace.
Tim stretched forth his arm. His eyes held a strange look in them,
and he moved to the rail as though in a dream.
“I am coming, May, coming,” he whispered.
Before I realized what had happened, he had gone over the side.
Then I jumped to my feet with a yell, and bawled out: “Man
overboard!” at the same time heaving the end of a gun-tackle over
the taffrail. The cry and noise of my rush brought the entire watch to
the side, and the captain and Hawkson to the quarter-rail. The
barque was barely moving, and Tim was alongside. But he refused
to take the end of the line. There was an exclamation beside me at
the taffrail, and Renshaw leaned his elbows upon the rail and looked
over at the sinking sailor. Their eyes met for an instant, and Tim
made a grab for the line. He was hauled up quickly, and went
forward without a word of excuse to the captain and Hawkson’s
inquiries as to how he happened overboard.
It was a strange occurrence, and I pondered over it that evening
while the barque rolled slowly toward the islands under a bright
moon, and our watch stretched themselves upon the main-hatch to
smoke and spin yarns. Tim avoided me.
The next morning we found ourselves close to New Providence
Harbour, the white water of the Great Bahama bank stretching away
on all sides.
The skipper seemed to know the bank pretty well, for he sprung
his luff and headed into the harbour without waiting for a pilot. We
ran close in, clewing up the topsails as we went; then dropping the
head-sails, let go the hook within pistol-shot of the town of Nassau.
The town looked inviting enough. There it lay, and any kind of a
swimmer could make the beach easily. In fact, before we had the
sails rolled up there were niggers alongside, swimming out in utter
disregard for sharks, and begging for a coin to be tossed overboard
that they might dive for it and catch it before it reached the bottom.
I was anxious about Tim. His strange action and talk made me
expect some peculiar happening, and I watched him closely.
Martin came to me as I stood in the fore-rigging and spoke,
looking longingly at the white coral beach, where the cocoanuts
raised their bunchy, long-leaved tops into the hot air and rustled
softly an invitation to the sailor.
“I say, Heywood, ye dare do it or no, hey?” he said.
“I’ll see,” I answered; “but isn’t the barky all right? We’ve been
treated mighty well even if we were gulled in signing into her. I don’t
know the place, and we might be a great deal worse off ashore.”
“Barky be sunk! What the devil care I for the barky, man? Didn’t I
sign on as mate?”
Bill came down from aloft and joined us, and then big Jones came
forward with Tim. We made a pretence of coiling down running-gear
on the pin-rail, while we gazed longingly at the shore.
While we looked, a whale-boat shot out from the landing. It was
rowed by eight strapping blacks, the oars double-banked, and in the
stern-sheets were two men in white linen, looking very cool and trim
in the hot sunshine. As the craft drew nearer, we saw she was
heading for us, and the two men were gazing at our quarter-deck,
where Hawkson and Captain Howard were talking earnestly with
Hicks and Renshaw. The one who was steering was a medium-sized
man with a smooth, red face, his beard seeming to start just
beneath his chin and fill his collar with its shaggy growth that shot
upward from somewhere below.
Behind this man in the stern-sheets, I caught the flutter of a
dress, and soon made out the figure of a young girl dressed in white
muslin.
“Who is it?” asked Bill. “Looks youst like an admiral.”
“It’s Yankee Dan,” said Tim. “I thought so. That’s his daughter
with him. He’s the biggest trader north o’ Cuba.”
“The deil run away with him,” said Martin. “If he’s backin’ this
barque fer nothin’ but plain, honest trade, I’m no man fer him. She
ware a pirit once, why not again? I slip before dark. Will ye be the
mon to follow, ye giant Jones, or be ye nothin’ but a beefy lout like
what ye look?”
The big fellow scowled at this.
“Ef you are the better man, show me to-night,” said he.
The boat had now drawn up alongside, and the bearded fellow in
charge stood up and hailed the quarter-deck, where Howard,
Hawkson, and the rest were leaning over the rail watching him.
Hicks and Renshaw bowed and removed their hats in deference to
the young lady, but Hawkson and the skipper stood stiff.
“Didn’t expect to see you, Howard,” cried the trader. “They haven’t
hung you yet! How is it? Rope scarce? Lines give out? This is my
daughter,--and you’ll be damn civil to her if you’ll do any business
with me. Swing over your ladder, and don’t keep me waiting. I won’t
wait for you or any other bull-necked Britisher.”
Hawkson had already had Mr. Gull swing out the accommodation
ladder from the poop, and the second mate simply lowered it an inch
or two as the whale-boat swept up.
“Take in them oak gales,” roared Yankee Dan, whacking the stroke
oarsman over the knuckles with a light cane he carried. Then pulling
savagely upon the port tiller-rope, the boat swung up alongside the
ladder under full headway.
“Stop her,” he bellowed.
It looked as though she would go rasping along the whole length
of the barque with the impetus, but the blacks were instantly at the
rail, grasping and seizing anything in their powerful hands, while one
man forward, who had banked the bow oar, stood up with a huge
hook and rammed its point into our side to check her. She brought
up so suddenly that the trader was almost thrown from his feet.
“Come aboard, Whiskers, an’ don’t tear all our paint off,” said
Hawkson, swaying the man-ropes so they fell aboard.
The old trader glanced upward, the white hair of his beard sticking
out aggressively over his collar and framing his otherwise hairless
face in a sort of bristling halo. I saw the young girl flash a glance of
disdain at the poop and then seize the man-ropes. She sprang lightly
upon the ladder and mounted rapidly to the deck, followed by the
younger man, who had replied to none of the salutations and had
quietly awaited events.
Yankee Dan followed and seized Hawkson’s hand, greeting him as
an old friend. Then he slapped Captain Howard a rousing blow upon
the back and introduced his daughter. Mr. Curtis shook hands all
round, appearing to know every one, and we rightly surmised that
he was the principal owner.
The vociferous trader kept talking in high good humour, being on
familiar terms with Hicks, Renshaw, and the captain, and our men
were anxious to hear his words, hoping to gather something in
reference to our cruise. As for me, I found my attention drawn more
toward the young lady, for never had I seen such perfection in
womanly form or feature.
She was tall, and her figure, while not stout, had a supple fulness
that spoke of great strength and grace. Her face was full and rosy,
and her dark eyes were exquisitely bright, glancing quickly at a word
or look. Her mouth, partly open, showed strong white teeth, and her
smile was a revelation. There was nothing about her that spoke of
her father save her apparent good humour and disdain for
conventionalities. Her eyes were gentle, and had nothing of the
fierce twinkle of the trader’s. Altogether I was so entirely taken up
noting her charms that I was not aware of Mr. Gull until he came
close to us and bawled out:
“Clear away the long-boat. All loafers who are tired of the sea and
want a run on the beach get ready to go ashore.”
CHAPTER XI.
WE MAKE A DAY OF IT
“Did you fellers hear me?” asked Mr. Gull, coming toward Martin
and the rest of us.
“Harkee, Mr. Gull,” said the Scot, “d’ye mean we can clear ef the
wessel don’t suit? Is that the lay o’ it? She’s a fine ship, Mr. Gull, an’
fer me ye can lay to it. I’d never leave her, unless it’s the wish o’ the
matchless officers that commands her.”
“If you drunkards ain’t aboard again by eight bells to-night, it’ll be
a sorry crowd that’ll come next day,--an’ ye can lay to that, ye fine
Scotchman, an’ with just as much scope as ye may care for.”
Big Jones smiled as he unbent the boat tackle. It was evident our
second mate was not as big a fool as he looked, but it seemed
strange we should be allowed ashore unless the captain had good
reason to believe we could be back aboard again. Only a few
minutes before we were planning some desperate means of reaching
the beach, and now the invitation was offered to all who cared to
avail themselves of the captain’s liberality.
In a very short time the boat was overboard, and a liberty crew,
consisting of Martin, Tim, Big Jones, Bill, Anderson, a Norwegian of
Gull’s watch, a German called Ernest, the black cook, and myself,
jumped into her and started off.
“If I come back again,” said Jones, “they’ll need a good, strong
heavy man over there or a pair o’ mules to drag me.”
“Good-bye,” said Bill. “Youst keep awake when we come
alongside. ’Twould be a pity to rouse you,” and he grinned knowingly
at the men who leaned over the rail to see us depart.
I saw the old rascal Watkins come out in the waist and stand a
moment gazing after us, and Ernest bawled out a taunt in German
which none of us understood. Then we shot out of hearing and
headed for the landing, as wild for the beach as so many
apprentices.
The “Doctor,” who was a most powerful nigger, grinned in
anticipation of the joys on the shore. His clothes were nondescript
and bore evidence of the galley, and his feet were big, black, and
bare.
“Yah, yah, yah!” he laughed, “my feet is laughin’ at my pore ole
body, all rags and grease. Dey’ll hab a time asho’. Ain’t seen no
green grass lately.”
The boat was run upon the coral, and all hands sprung out
without waiting to shove her up. We splashed ashore through the
shallow water, leaving the Doctor to haul the boat up and make her
fast. It was evident he intended going back aboard, but we were a
bit differently inclined.
The black soon joined us and led the way to the nearest rum-
shop, the place all sailors steer for, and, without comment, we filed
into the dirty hole for our first drink.
“I says, Thunderbo’, give us disha stuff they says do a nigger
good,” said the Doctor, who acted as our pilot. “My feet is sure laffin
at my belly, Thunderbo’, ’cause it’s as empty as yo’ haid.”
Thunderbore, who was a huge, nautical-looking pirate as black as
the Doctor, showed a set of white teeth and a large jar of a vile fluid
which fairly tore my throat to ribbons as I swallowed my “whack.”
Big Jones took his with a grimace, and was followed by Martin and
the rest until all had drunk.
The stuff was pure fire, but the Doctor gulped a full half-pint, and
smacked his lips.
“Thunderbo’, yo’ sho’ ain’t gwine to make a po’ nigger drink sech
holy water as disha. Give us somethin’ that’ll scratch, yo’ ape, or I’ll
have to take charge here,--I sho’ will,” said the Doctor.
Thunderbore had a good temper, but was used to dealing with all
classes of desperadoes. He passed the jar again, and drew a Spanish
machete or corn-knife from his belt. He reached over and smote the
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