16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
the white ice at the cliff's foot, of a still whiter
albatross crossing the swell, and even before
he heard the American's broadside he was
stunned and deafened by the enormous crash
of ice falling from the cliff itself; he felt the
ship's hull tremble and then grate on the iceberg's
submerged outer shelf, and saw the
mizenmast, shot through in two separate
places, sway, break and go slowly over the
side.
'Axes, axes,' he roared. 'Cut all away. Cut
clear, cut clear.' Shrouds, backstays, rigging
all whipped free; the ship ran past the ice-cliff,
her mainyard scraping, past and beyond into
the open water: sea-room and to spare for a
good three miles. Ice-islands thick beyond.
She answered her helm perfectly: she was an
entirely living ship: and there was a prodigious
mass of ice between her and the enemies'
guns. Jack was aware of some confusion in