Asiatic Breezes by Oliver Optic

Captain Scott had directed Morris to heave up the anchor before he buried himself in his study of the chart in the pilot-house, and to do it in such a manner as not to attract the attention of the Fatime's people. It was not a very heavy anchor that was required for a craft of the size of the Maud, and it had been done very easily and quietly.

Louis went into the pilot-house, where the captain was behind the wheel by this time. He was gazing intently at the conic rock which rose from the water a cable's length ahead of him, off a point on the main shore. When he brought the little steamer in to her anchorage in the morning, the lead had been kept going all the time, and he had noted the soundings on the log-slate at his side. It was now dead low tide, and the last sounding had given fifteen feet.