"
Campbell.
"Amphibious!" exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, in an aside to Mary, as the
stranger entered the room, following Baiting Joe's lead. The last only
came for his glass of rum-and-water, served with which by the aid of the
negro, he passed the back of his hand across his mouth, napkin-fashion,
nodded his "good-day," and withdrew. As for the stranger, Roswell
Gardiner's term being particularly significant, it may be well to make a
brief explanation.
The word "amphibious" is, or rather _was_, well applied to many of the
seamen, whalers, and sealers, who dwelt on the eastern end of Long Island,
or the Vineyard, around Stonington, and, perhaps we might add, in the
vicinity of New Bedford. The Nantucket men had not base enough, in the way
of terra firma, to come properly within the category. The class to which
the remark strictly applied were sailors without being seamen, in the
severe signification of the term. While they could do all that was
indispensably necessary to take care of their vessels, were surpassed by
no other mariners in enterprise, and daring, and hardihood, they knew
little about "crowning cables," "carrick-bends," and all the mysteries of
"knotting," "graffing," and "splicing.
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