The Wreckers (2011)
“We raced through waves that seemed enormous, chased by a shrieking wind. We ran toward England under topsails and jib, in a brig called the Isle of Skye. She leaked from every seam, from every hatch and skylight. But she went like a witch mile after mile, wrapped in a shroud of spray.
I was wet and cold, and sometimes frightened. But I loved it all, my first time at sea.
Skye was my father’s ship, though he was never a sailor. To him, the sea was a nuisance, and the ship was a thing to be owned..., like his carriage and his office desk. “Only owners and admirals,” he liked to boast, “can order a captain about.” And this rare voyage—Father had called it a ride—was meant to teach me that a scribbling of ledgers was better than a life at sea. “You want to be a sailor?” he’d said. “Why, you’d be driven mad by the boredom.” And he’d laughed. “Or scared out of your wits. So it’s one and the same.”
But I was never at loose ends, and not once so scared as that. We’d fìlled the ship with Italian linen and Turkish raisins, and with Spanish wine that we’d loaded on a strange and mysterious night.MoreLess
I was wet and cold, and sometimes frightened. But I loved it all, my first time at sea.
Skye was my father’s ship, though he was never a sailor. To him, the sea was a nuisance, and the ship was a thing to be owned..., like his carriage and his office desk. “Only owners and admirals,” he liked to boast, “can order a captain about.” And this rare voyage—Father had called it a ride—was meant to teach me that a scribbling of ledgers was better than a life at sea. “You want to be a sailor?” he’d said. “Why, you’d be driven mad by the boredom.” And he’d laughed. “Or scared out of your wits. So it’s one and the same.”
But I was never at loose ends, and not once so scared as that. We’d fìlled the ship with Italian linen and Turkish raisins, and with Spanish wine that we’d loaded on a strange and mysterious night.MoreLess
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