16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
(and half a dozen followed the Surprise, together
with some Cape pigeons and most of
the smaller petrels) sat on the heaving sea,
unwilling or unable to rise; and during two of
these the drum beat to quarters, as it had
done all the way south from Valparaiso, and
the gun-crew exercised their pieces, housing
them warm, dry and new-charged, with the
touch-hole covered and the tompions doubly
waterproofed with grease, ready for instant
service.
It was after the second of these exercises –
two fine rippling broadsides, almost up to the
old Surprise's astonishing accuracy and speed
– that the sky cleared and Jack had a series of
perfect observations of first the sun, then
Achernar, and later Mars himself, positions
that were confirmed by the other officers and
that showed that in spite of this dawdling their
initial zeal had brought them almost to the