16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
an utterly familiar terrain on which his mind
could let itself run free. The breeze was too far
before the beam for the ships, steering southeast,
to set studdingsails, but they were wearing
everything they possessed, including that
uncommon object a middle staysail, and they
were making four knots. They were an elegant
sight indeed, from any distance; but from
close to, a seaman's eye could still see many
signs of the battering they had been through:
some knots had yet to be replaced by splices
or new cordage; the fine finish of the decks
had not yet been restored – in some places
what ordinarily resembled a ball-room floor
still looked more like a bloody shambles; and
clouds of hot volcanic ash and scoriae had
played Old Harry with the paintwork and the
blacking of the yards, to say nothing of the tar.
An immense amount of small, unspectacular,
highly-skilled work was going on from one