the best noise in all the world is the rattle of the anchor chain when one comes into harbour at last, and lets it go over the bows.

you may say that one does nothing of the sort, that one picks up moorings, and that letting go so heavy a thing as an anchor is no business for you and me. if you say that you are wrong. men go from inhabited place to inhabited place, and for pleasure from station to station, then pick up moorings as best they can, usually craning over the side and grabbing as they pass, and cursing the man astern for leaving such way on her and for passing so wide. yes, i know that. you are not the only man who has picked up moorings. not by many many thousands. many moorings have i picked up in many places, none without some[pg 345] sort of misfortune; therefore do i still prefer the rattle of the anchor chain.

once—to be accurate, seventeen years ago—i had been out all night by myself in a boat called the silver star. she was a very small boat. she had only one sail; she was black inside and out, and i think about one hundred years old. i had hired her of a poor man, and she was his only possession.

it was a rough night in the late summer when the rich are compelled in their detestable grind to go to the solent. when i say it was night i mean it was the early morning, just late enough for the rich to be asleep aboard their boats, and the dawn was silent upon the sea. there was a strong tide running up the medina. i was tired to death. i had passed the royal yacht squadron grounds, and the first thing i saw was a very fine and noble buoy—new-painted, gay, lordly—moorings worthy of a man!

i let go the halyard very briskly, and i nipped forward and got my hand upon that[pg 346] great buoy—there was no hauling of it in-board; i took the little painter of my boat and made it fast to this noble buoy, and then immediately i fell asleep. in this sleep of mine i heard, as in a pleasant dream, the exact motion of many oars rowed by strong men, and very soon afterwards i heard a voice with a colonial accent swearing in an abominable manner, and i woke up and looked—and there was a man of prodigious wealth, all dressed in white, and with an extremely new cap on his head. his whiskers also were white and his face bright red, and he was in a great passion. he was evidently the owner or master of the buoy, and on either side of the fine boat in which he rowed were the rowers, his slaves. he could not conceive why i had tied the silver star to his magnificent great imperial moorings, to which he had decided to tie his own expensive ship, on which, no doubt, a dozen as rich as himself were sailing the seas.

i told him that i was sorry i had picked up his moorings, but that, in this country, it was[pg 347] the common courtesy of the sea to pick up any spare moorings one could find. i also asked him the name of his expensive ship, but he only answered with curses. i told him the name of my ship was the silver star.

then, when i had cast off, i put out the sweeps and i rowed gently, for it was now slack water at the top of the tide, and i stood by while he tied his magnificent yacht to the moorings. when he had done that i rowed under the stern of that ship and read her name. but i will not print it here, only let me tell you it was the name of a ship belonging to a fabulously rich man. riches, i thought then and i think still, corrupt the heart.

upon another occasion i came with one companion across the bar of orford river, out of a very heavy wind outside and a very heavy sea. i just touched as i crossed that bar, though i was on the top of the highest tide of the year, for it was just this time in september, the highest springs of the hunter's moon.

my companion and i sailed up orford river,[pg 348] and when we came to orford town we saw a buoy, and i said to my companion, "let us pick up moorings."

upon the bank of the river was a long line of men, all shouting and howling, and warning us not to touch that buoy. but we called out to them that we meant no harm. we only meant to pick up those moorings for a moment, so as to make everything snug on board, and that then we would take a line ashore and lie close to the wharf. only the more did those numerous men (whom many others ran up to join as i called) forbid us with oaths to touch the buoy. nevertheless, we picked up the little buoy (which was quite small and light) and we got it in-board, and held on, waiting for our boat to swing to it. but an astonishing thing happened! the boat paid no attention to the moorings, but went careering up river carrying the buoy with it, and apparently dragging the moorings along the bottom without the least difficulty. and this was no wonder, for we found out afterwards that the little buoy had[pg 349] only been set there to mark a racing point, and that the weights holding the line of it to the bottom were very light and few. so it was no wonder the men of orford had been so angry. soon it was dark, and we replaced the buoy stealthily, and when we came in to eat at the inn we were not recognised.

it was on this occasion that was written the song:

the men that lived in orford stood

upon the shore to meet me;

their faces were like carven wood,

they did not wish to greet me.

etc.

it has eighteen verses.

i say again, unless you have moorings of your own—an extravagant habit—picking up moorings is always a perilous and doubtful thing, fraught with accident and hatred and mischance. give me the rattle of the anchor chain!

i love to consider a place which i have never yet seen, but which i shall reach at last, full of[pg 350] repose and marking the end of those voyages, and security from the tumble of the sea.

this place will be a cove set round with high hills on which there shall be no house or sign of men, and it shall be enfolded by quite deserted land; but the westering sun will shine pleasantly upon it under a warm air. it will be a proper place for sleep.

the fair-way into that haven shall lie behind a pleasant little beach of shingle, which shall run out aslant into the sea from the steep hillside, and shall be a breakwater made by god. the tide shall run up behind it smoothly, and in a silent way, filling the quiet hollow of the hills, brimming it all up like a cup—a cup of refreshment and of quiet, a cup of ending.

then with what pleasure shall i put my small boat round, just round the point of that shingle beach, noting the shoal water by the eddies and the deeps by the blue colour of them where the channel runs from the main into the fair-way. up that fair-way shall i go, up into the cove, and the gates of it shall shut behind me, [pg 351]headland against headland, so that i shall not see the open sea any more, though i shall still hear its distant noise. but all around me, save for that distant echo of the surf from the high hills, will be silence; and the evening will be gathering already.

under that falling light, all alone in such a place, i shall let go the anchor chain, and let it rattle for the last time. my anchor will go down into the clear salt water with a run, and when it touches i shall pay out four lengths or more so that she may swing easily and not drag, and then i shall tie up my canvas and fasten all for the night, and get me ready for sleep. and that will be the end of my sailing.