to'sail

Updated: June 30, 2025

I've seen him beat that boy till the blood ran down in little pools on deck; then send him up, all wet and red, to clear the to'sail halliards; and when, what with the pain and faintness, he dizzied a little, and clung to the ratlines, half blind, he would have him down and flog him till the cap'n interfered, which would happen occasionally on a fair day when he had taken just enough to be good-natured.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps - Men, Women, and Ghosts