16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
'Little do I know of port wine,' said Stephen.
'Was eighty-nine an uncommon year?'
'Pretty good,' said Jack, 'but I love it because
of its associations. I never drink it without
thinking of the Spanish Disturbance.'
'My dear, you have the advantage of me.'
'Really? Well, I am amazingly glad to know
something you do not. It had to do with
Nootka Sound, the place where the fur-traders
go. Captain Cook, that great man, discovered
it during his last voyage, when he was running
up the north-west coast of America; and our
people had been trading there and to the
northwards for years and years when all at
once the Spaniards said it was a continuation
of California and therefore Spanish. They sent
up a twenty-six-gun frigate from Mexico and
seized the English ships and the settlement. It
made a great noise when the news reached