chapter one you are free-falling in the fo'c's'le [ 1 ] when the ship [ 2 ] goes up on a wave , a mound of water you can only feel in your knees as you stand in this windowless room at the front of the boat , a triangle with the huge black chain links running up from the chain locker [ 3 ] , through the windlass [ 4 ] and the capstans [ 5 ] and then out through big black holes in the slanted rounding hull to the 25-ton anchors snugged against the hull but still swaying slightly .