16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
me, Stephen, with my fid and heel and crosstrees?'
'Perfectly, my dear. A most uncomfortable
position, sure.'
'So it was, upon my word. And before we
could do anything about it the topmastspringstays
parted, then the topmast stay itself;
and the mast went, a few feet above the cap,
and falling upon the lee topsail yardarm carried
that away too. And all this mare's nest
came down on the mainyard, parting the leelift
– that is the lee-lift, you see? Then the
weather quarter of the mainyard, hitting the
top, shattered the weather side of the crosstrees;
so that as far as the sails were concerned,
the mainmast was useless. At that very
moment the ship broached to, huge green
seas coming aft. We survived; but ever since
then I have been perhaps over-cautious.
Though this afternoon I had meant to reduce