Not P but Moby-Dick (41)

[Mike Jing]

>From Chapter 54:

You must know that in a settled and civilized ocean like our Atlantic, for
example, some skippers think little of pumping their whole way across
it; though
of a still, sleepy night, should the officer of the deck happen to forget
his duty in that respect, the probability would be that he and his
shipmates would never again remember it, on account of all hands gently
subsiding to the bottom. Nor in the solitary and savage seas far from you
to the westward, gentlemen, is it altogether unusual for ships to keep
clanging at their pump-handles in full chorus even for a voyage of
considerable length; that is, if it lie along a tolerably accessible coast,
or if any other reasonable retreat is afforded them.

What does "settled" mean here?