16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
business, for although before the swaying-up
the shrouds had been placed over the head of
the mast, followed by the backstays, the preventer-stays
and the very stay itself, they all
had to be made fast, bowsed upon and set up
simultaneously with all possible dispatch so
that they exerted an equally-balanced force
fore and aft and on either side. The rigging of
the topgallant yard with all its appurtenances
also passed unnoticed; so did two typical naval
illogicalities, for whereas by tradition and
good sense only the lightest of the topmen
laid out on the lofty yard to loose the sail, this
time, once it was loosed, sheeted home and
hoisted, the Captain, with his acknowledged
sixteen stone, ran aloft with his glass to sweep
what vague horizon could still be distinguished
through the growing haze.
But the medical men and their patients did
make out the cheer as the ship returned to her