But it isn't rough weather that the captain fears most of all. It is a sea fog, especially when he knows there are other ships near, for when there is a fog he cannot see his way at all. It is like groping your way about in the dark at night, only the ship has no arms. The captain slows the ship down till it barely moves. He starts a big, deep horn a-blowing by clock-work, and it blows about once a minute regularly day and night as long as the fog lasts, which may be for several days, while sailors peer over the ship’s side listening and looking. They can hear another ship’s fog-horn some distance away, but often they cannot see another ship only a few feet away. When at last the fog clears off, land may be in sight—England.

We can tell land is near long before we actually see it. How do you suppose? Large white birds called sea-gulls come out to meet the ship, but not as friends come out to welcome you. They are looking for food that they know is dumped overboard from the ship’s kitchen. Just before we do land a man comes out in a small boat to meet the big ship. The big ship doesn’t stop; it lets down over the side a ladder made of rope and the man grabs hold of the rope, kicks the boat away, and climbs aboard. Who do you suppose he is? Why do you suppose they take him aboard? He is the new captain of the ship. He is called the pilot, and it is his job to bring the ship into the harbor. A big ship is so big it can’t sail into the dock itself; it has to have small boats called tug-boats push and pull it. A broad gang-plank is laid like a bridge across from the dock to the deck and the passengers and their baggage go ashore. The people in England speak English, so you can ask questions and understand their answers, though their language sounds strange to us and our language sounds funny to them. They call it “an American accent.” You must show your passport and you must open all your bags and let a man examine everything inside before he will let you go on. So you must have nothing you don’t want him to see. This man is called a customs officer. You may have to pay for some things you have. This that you have to pay is called a “duty.”