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"Set the mizzen tops'l, Mr. Hubbard, with two reefs."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Have the relieving tackles manned, if you please."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Mr. Crane, take charge of them."

"Aye aye, sir."

Peabody had noticed the difficulty the quartermasters had in holding the Delaware on her course with the following sea--it was partly to help them that he had had the jib set. Now the pressure of the big mizzen topsail would add to their difficulties, countering the steadying effect of the headsails. Six men below at the relieving tackles, applied direct to the tiller ropes, would not only be of assistance in turning the rudder, but would also damp down the rudder's sudden movements. And Mr. Crane, the sailing master, with his lifetime of experience--he had commanded in twenty voyages to the Levant out of Boston--would be the best man for the difficult task of correlating the work of wheel and relieving tackles; standing on the grating with his eyes on wheel and sails and sea, he would shout his warnings down to the tiller ropes.