16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
the not inconsiderable time they took to eat a
noble turtle and empty the dish.
The gunroom was less crowded, now that the
merchants and ransomers had left, and it was
more nearly naval: Jack, Stephen and Tom
Pullings were in fact serving officers; Adams
had walked the quarterdeck for most of his
active life; Wilkins had served in half a dozen
King's ships as midshipman or master's mate;
and Grainger, together with his brother-in-law
Sadler, had taken on the local colour in the
most natural way. The conversation therefore
had a greater freedom, all the more so since
the frigate was homeward bound.
'This very ship was struck by a levin-flash off
Penedo in the Brazils,' observed Stephen, 'and
she lost the mast, the spar, the thing in front –
the bowsprout. I was asleep at the time, and
for a moment I thought we were in the midst
of a fleet action, the noise was so great.'