16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
minds how they should be divided. They were
heavy, sad, disappointed men at present, with
the whole of their three-years cruise taken
from them in a moment; but their spirits would
revive, and many an enterprising band of
prisoners had risen upon their captors and
seized the ship. Moreover sailors from the
northern colonies could prove as troublesome
and pugnacious as Irishmen.
It appeared, however, that no more than a
score of them belonged to the original crew
from Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and New
Bedford. In three years many had died by violence,
disease or drowning, whilst two or three
had run, and their places had been filled with
South Sea islanders and what could be picked
up in the odd Pacific port: Portuguese, Mexican,
half-castes, a wandering Chinese. A fairly
simple division, though the Surprise was already
somewhat short of hands.