sand-barge's

Updated: July 21, 2026

I employed several days in overhauling my chest, and mending up all my old clothes, until I had put everything in order, ``patch upon patch, like a sand-barge's mainsail. Then I took hold of Bowditch's Navigator, which I had always with me. I had been through the greater part of it, and now went carefully over it from beginning to end, working out most of the examples.

Richard Henry Dana - Two Years Before the Mast

With these we lived like fighting-cocks for a week or two, and had, besides, what the sailors call "a blow-out on sleep;" not turning out in the morning until breakfast was ready. I employed several days in overhauling my chest, and mending up all my old clothes, until I had got everything in order patch upon patch, like a sand-barge's mainsail.

Richard Henry Dana - Two Years Before the Mast