United States or Guernsey ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Enduring and valiant, she answered to the call of men; and her slim spars waving for ever in abrupt semicircles, seemed to beckon in vain for help towards the stormy sky. It was a bad winter off the Cape that year. The relieved helmsmen came off flapping their arms, or ran stamping hard and blowing into swollen, red fingers.
When I sent my ships after other Tyrian vessels to the west for silver, the helmsmen of that thief Hiram cast fire on them, tried to push them into a shallow. Well, my ships came back empty, burnt, and shattered. May the fire of heaven burn him!" concluded the raging banker. "But if Hiram has for thee a profitable business?" inquired the guest, stolidly.
Very straight." "It is well; and remember, Serang, that the order is that you are to mind the helmsmen and keep a lookout with care, the same as if I were not on deck." Then, when the Serang had made his answer, the low tones on the bridge would cease, and everything round Sterne seemed to become more still and more profoundly silent.
"Several of our men had already been committed to the deep already more than the half of our seamen were incapable of service from the shocking ravages of scurvy, and only two of our helmsmen were able to get on deck. The daily increase of this epidemic was alarming to an extreme degree, and, in fact, how should it be otherwise?
The marksmen from the bows kept up a continual fire at the vessel's helmsmen, if they could be seen, and at any gun-ports which happened to be open. If the helmsmen could not be seen from the sea, the canoas aimed to row in upon the vessel's quarters, where they could wedge up the rudder with wooden chocks or wedges.
When, on June 23, 1802, Le Geographe appeared off Port Jackson, to solicit help from Governor King, it was indeed "a ghastly crew" that she had on board. Her officers and crew were rotten with scurvy. Scarcely one of them was fit to haul a rope or go aloft. Out of one hundred and seventy men, only twelve were capable of any kind of duty, and only two helmsmen could take their turn at the wheel.
Close behind them, in a manner more orderly came Captain Jonathan Wellsby who had tossed the one and tremendously booted the other. They were the helmsmen whom he had replaced with his own officers at the steering tackles, while his first mate had been left in charge of handling the ship.
Their escape would trouble me as a prodigiously inexplicable event, did I not know how tough old iron can be as tough sometimes as the spirit of some men we meet now and then, worn to a shadow and breasting the weight of life. Not the least wonder of these twenty minutes, to my mind, is the behaviour of the two helmsmen.
By the loss of the sailmaker, our watch was reduced to five, of whom two were boys, who never steered but in fine weather, so that the other two and myself had to stand at the wheel four hours apiece out of every twenty-four; and the other watch had only four helmsmen.
Passford!" said the captain with energy. "Quartermaster, make it west!" shouted Christy. "West, sir!" repeated the quartermaster, as he caused the helmsmen to heave over the wheel. Directing his glass to the chase again, Christy saw the Tallahatchie swing around so that she was broadside to the Bellevite.
Word Of The Day