Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: July 23, 2025
"Hurrah, sir, we're afloat, we're afloat!" were the first sounds I heard as my scattered senses came back to me; and, clearing away with my pocket-handkerchief the blood which was streaming down into my eyes and blinding me, I found that I had been knocked up against the mainmast, to one of the belaying-pins in the spider-hoop of which I was clinging with one hand; and I further observed that the shock of the collision, coupled no doubt with the action of our square canvas, which had been laid aback, had caused the schooner to back off the shoal on which she had grounded, and that she now had stern-way upon her.
Not so with the iron belaying-pins, a few of which still stand around the mast, so rusted into the iron fife-rail that even the persevering industry of the children cannot wrench them out. It seems as if some guilty stain must cling to their sides, and hold them in.
"Go on." He gave an uneasy glance back along the deck to see if any one else were near but the man at the wheel, who had his back to us, and I let about fifty yards of the stout line run out before I checked it and placed it in Mr Denning's hands as he stood leaning against the bulwarks. "Shall I give a twist round one of the belaying-pins?" I said. "What for?" he cried sharply.
My legs got soft under me. It was as if I had seen him go over; and I could tell how far behind he was left too. The taffrail-log marked eighteen miles and three-quarters, and four iron belaying-pins were missing round the mainmast. Put them in his pockets to help him down, I suppose; but, Lord! what's four iron pins to a powerful man like Captain Brierly.
True, we might be able to lay our hands upon a few belaying-pins; but to attack with such weapons four men armed with pistols meant that somebody would almost certainly get hurt, and that I was most anxious to avoid, if possible.
Her decks are of narrow fir planks, without the least spring or rise; her ropes are of Manilla hemp, neatly secured to copper belaying-pins, and coiled down on the deck, whose whiteness is well contrasted with the bright green paint of her bulwarks; her capstern and binnacles are cased in fluted mahogany, and ornamented with brass; metal stanchions protect the skylights, and the bright muskets are arranged in front of the mainmast, while the boarding-pikes are lashed round the mainboom.
The men went to their several stations, the coiled-up braces, etcetera, were thrown off the belaying-pins, and all was ready for the execution of the proposed manoeuvre. "Down with your helm, quarter-master," was the next order. The tiller- ropes creaked as the wheel was rapidly spun round by the brawny and dexterous arms of the quarter-master, and the ship slowly luffed to the wind.
One at a time they carried the unconscious men to the forecastle; then the crew mustered aft at another thundering summons, and listened to a forceful speech by Captain Bacon, delivered in quick, incisive epigrams, to the effect that if a man aboard his ship whether he believed himself shipped or shanghaied, a sailor, a priest, a policeman, or a dry-nurse showed the slightest hesitation at obeying orders, or the slightest resentment at what was said to him, he would be punished with fists, brass knuckles, belaying-pins, or handspikes, the officers were here for that purpose, and if he persisted, he would be shot like a mad dog.
One poor man was washed overboard, and any attempt made to save him would have been unavailing. Captain Osborn was standing by the weather gunnel, holding on by one of the belaying-pins, when he said to Mackintosh: "How long will this last, think you?" "Longer than the ship will," replied the mate gravely. "I should hope not," replied the captain; "still it cannot look worse.
Thus a man-of-war is a floating house with six stories the poop being the garret, and the orlop-deck the cellars. The bulwarks rise above the upper-deck, all round the ship, and serve the purposes of protecting the upper-deck from the waves, and supporting the belaying-pins, to which the ropes are fastened.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking