Powder Monkey (2012)
“So, too, did the actions that went with them. In the rigging I knew my way around the stays and halyards, clewlines, buntlines and slablines. Among the sails I knew at once the clew garnets, peak, nock and leech. I knew a horse was a rope you stood on whilst working the sails. Presented with a loose rope I could fashion a Blackwall hitch or a Carrick bend without a second thought. At the guns the trunnion, quoin, cascable, worm and crows of iron were the stuff of everyday procedure. I knew, too..., my waisters from my idlers, and that the physical hardships of kedging and warping, when the ship was stuck in still water near to the coast, were nothing compared to towing the ship with a barge when it could not make sail.
I had become familiar with almost every part of the Miranda. I had even been in the Captain’s cabin, yet it was weeks into the voyage before I went into the officers’ quarters, which we called the gunroom. Early one morning, I was ordered to help fetch provisions from the bread room – which was most easily entered via a hatchway on the floor there.MoreLess
I had become familiar with almost every part of the Miranda. I had even been in the Captain’s cabin, yet it was weeks into the voyage before I went into the officers’ quarters, which we called the gunroom. Early one morning, I was ordered to help fetch provisions from the bread room – which was most easily entered via a hatchway on the floor there.MoreLess
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