United States or Costa Rica ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
And there's nought more heartening than ham or neat's tongue, or brisket o' beef, the which I chanced to spy i' the kitchen " "Why then, master-gunner," says Penfeather, "go you and engage those same in close action and I'll join ye as soon as I've shifted these rags o' mine."
Not even master-gunner Thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the part of the English, with "little harm done" to the enemy. There was scarcely a ship in the Armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of Gravelines.
Grenville now gave his last order: 'Sink me the ship, Master-Gunner! But the sailing master and flag-captain, both wounded, protesting that all lives should be saved to avenge the dead, manned the only remaining boat and made good terms with the Spanish admiral.
The captain struck the master-gunner with a stick; the latter, a German, rushed below in a rage, thrust a burning fuse into a powder barrel, and sprang through a port-hole into the sea. The whole of the deck was blown up, with two hundred sailors and soldiers; but the ship was so strongly built that she survived the shock, and her mast still stood. The duke sent boats to learn what had happened.
Such excellent work did Ranulph against the Dutchmen, that Richambeau, the captain, gave him a gun for himself, and after they had fought the Danes made him a master-gunner. Of the largest gun on the Victoire Ranulph grew so fond that at last he called her ma couzaine. Days and weeks passed, until one morning came the cry of "Land!
"Save for the matter of a few kegs, Cap'n, but 'twill serve." "We start in half an hour, Joel." "The three o' you, Cap'n?" "Aye, we must be aboard as soon as maybe now." "Captain," says Godby, "speaking as a master-gunner, a mariner and a peddler, I'm bold to say as there's nought like bite and sup to hasten a man for a journey or aught beside flog me else!
Swift. A rogue all his life. This man, one Weemes, a Scotchman, had been as much obliged by the King, as a man of his condition could be, and in a manner very unpopular: for he was made master-gunner of England,... and having never done the King the least service, he took the first opportunity to disserve him. Swift. A cursed, hellish Scot! Why was not the rogue hanged? Swift. A very mean author.
"Shortly after dark another serious accident occurred. The officers of one of the great galleons, impatient and irritated at the results of the action, were quarreling with one another. The captain struck the master-gunner with a stick.
At that moment the master-gunner fired his last gun.
Our captives, anxiously directed by the master-gunner, contrived somehow or other to fire a salute of twenty-one guns, which was instantly returned from the British forts, and I went ashore in the whale-boat I had brought from the Belle-Poule. The commander of the Galibi, who wanted to escort me, had manned a boat and rigged out his men for the nonce in smart striped shirts and red caps.
Word Of The Day