16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
TEN
At seven bells in the forenoon watch the Surprise,
under topsails alone, heaved to: the officers
began to assemble on the quarterdeck,
the midshipmen on the gangway, all carrying
their quadrants or sextants, for the sun was
approaching the meridian, and they were to
take his altitude at the moment he crossed it,
thereby finding just how far south of the equator
they were at noon. To the landsman, to the
mere superficial observer, this might have
seemed a work of supererogation, since clear
on her larboard bow rose the headland of
Punta Angeles, the western extremity of Valparaiso
bay, whose position had been laid down