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So near was the stranger, that we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own quarter-master to "port, hard a-port hard a-port, and be d d to you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our weather beam so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails.
Casting it loose, he put it hard a-port, and shouted to the policeman and Devar to bring a couple of boards from the floor of the well, and use them to sheer in the hulk to the bank. The night was pitch dark, the mist fell on them like an impenetrable veil, and the wooded heights which dominated both banks of the river prevented any ray of light from coming to their assistance.
I am sorry that I have a painful duty to perform. I must place you under an arrest, till I know what may be the port admiral's pleasure concerning this unpleasant business; for for the loss of the Mary Anne of London you are clearly responsible." "Had you sung out hard a-starboard, instead of hard a-port, the case might have been different." "Clearly."
Mr Rattlin has charge of the forecastle he descries a vessel ahead he takes upon himself to order the helm hard a-port, and we run over and sink her accordingly. He is responsible, clearly." "Clearly," was the answering echo from all the rejectors of responsibility. "Mr Rattlin, I am sorry for you.
And Captain Solomon gave one great jump for the wheel. "Hard a-port, you lubber!" he cried. "Can't you hear?" And he grabbed the wheel and whirled it over, and the ship swung off, but she didn't swing very quickly, for the Industry wasn't very quick at minding her helm. But she did mind it in time, and just as she swung off she shot past something floating.
His clinging pose, his smile of disgust, his whole air, as he stood crouching and lurching there, I can shut my eyes, and see now. What he was doing in my cabin I did not know. To think, my good God, that he should have been led there just then! This was one of the four-men starboard berths: his was a-port: yet there he was! But he explained at once.
The mate ordered the helm to be put a-port and the yards to be braced up, in the hopes of being able to beat off. It was too late; we were completely embayed. Land appeared broad on either bow. To have beaten off with less sail than we carried would have been hopeless; but still there was more than the ship could carry. The masts went by the board.
Struggling with the waves, and striking out manfully with his hands, and not like a monkey, Jacko kept his head above water, and his eyes turned towards the cap of the top-mast. "Hard a-port the helm!" bellowed D , rushing to the tiller himself; and soon as the cutter shot up in the wind, he added, "Now, then, two of you, my sons, jump into the dingy."
"Right face; Arms a-port; Break ranks March!" commanded the Orderly-Sergeant, and there was a clatter of tin cups and plates as they came rushing toward him to get their dinner something to stay their ravenous stomachs. There was a clamor of rage, ridicule, wrath and disappointment as they took in the scene. "What's the matter here?" demanded the Captain, striding back to the company fire.
As soon, therefore, as he was within a hundred yards of her stern, he ordered the helm to be put a-starboard, and the driver and after-sails to be brailed up and shivered; and, as the ship fell off, gave the enemy her whole broadside. They instantly braced up the after-yards, put the helm a-port, and stood after her again.
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