Heart of Oak (2007)
“His gig. Oars stowed, lashings in place, equal strain on all parts. Probably its first time out of the water since leaving the builder’s yard.
“Fair enough, Robbins. You can fall out now.”
The big seaman knuckled his forehead, grinning. Praise indeed from the captain’s coxswain, who was impossible to please.
Jago hardly noticed. Just words, but they mattered. Anybody could pull an oar after a few attempts, and a threat or two. But the gig was special.
He stared along the maindeck, quieter now a...fter all the working parties and inspections, as if a King’s ship had never weighed anchor and put to sea before. All those years, different ports or anchorages he could no longer name or recall, and you never got used to it. Doubt, anxiety, resentment. All and none of them.
He saw Joshua Guthrie, the boatswain, indicating something on the mainyard, jabbing the air with a massive fist to make his point to one of the new hands. A born sailor, Guthrie had entered the navy at ten. Now he seemed ageless, scarred and battered, his nose shapeless from fights ashore as well as in the line of duty.MoreLess
“Fair enough, Robbins. You can fall out now.”
The big seaman knuckled his forehead, grinning. Praise indeed from the captain’s coxswain, who was impossible to please.
Jago hardly noticed. Just words, but they mattered. Anybody could pull an oar after a few attempts, and a threat or two. But the gig was special.
He stared along the maindeck, quieter now a...fter all the working parties and inspections, as if a King’s ship had never weighed anchor and put to sea before. All those years, different ports or anchorages he could no longer name or recall, and you never got used to it. Doubt, anxiety, resentment. All and none of them.
He saw Joshua Guthrie, the boatswain, indicating something on the mainyard, jabbing the air with a massive fist to make his point to one of the new hands. A born sailor, Guthrie had entered the navy at ten. Now he seemed ageless, scarred and battered, his nose shapeless from fights ashore as well as in the line of duty.MoreLess
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