16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
checking them – and that reinstatement was
their chief aim in life. Up until recently they
had been in a fair way to it; but when the Surprise
was nearly a thousand miles out of Sydney
Cove, sailing eastwards across the Pacific
Ocean, it was found that a senior midshipman
named Oakes had stowed a young gentlewoman
away in the cable-tier; and this had
led almost all the gunroom officers except Dr
Maturin to behave extremely badly. Her instant
marriage to Oakes had set her free in that she
was no longer a transported convict liable to
be taken up again, but it did not liberate her
from the adulterous wishes, motions, and
jealousies of her shipmates. West and
Davidge were the worst and Captain Aubrey,
coming late to an understanding of the position,
had told them that if they did not put
aside the barbarous open enmity that was
spreading discord and inefficiency in the ship