The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea, Volume 1C. Wiley, 1823 |
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Alice Dunscombe anchor appeared Ariel arms boat bolt-ropes bowed canvass Captain Barnstable Captain Borroughcliffe Captain Munson carronades Cecilia cliffs coast cockswain Colonel Howard commander companion cornet countenance crew cried Barnstable danger dare dark deck door duty enemy exclaimed eyes favour feel follow frigate gale gaze gentlemen glance Griffith hand harpoon head heard honour Hugh Griffith interrupted John Bull Katherine Plowden lady land laughing lieutenant light light sails listened long Tom look mainsail manner Manual marine Master Coffin ment Merry midshipman Miss Howard Miss Plowden musket night ocean officer passed prisoners replied returned the pilot rocks round shot sails schooner seamen seemed sentinel ship shoals shore short silence smile soldier stood stranger thing thought threw tion tones turbed turned uttered vessel veteran voice whale whale-boat wind
Popular passages
Page ii - IDE, of the said District, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit : " Inductive Grammar, designed for beginners. By an Instructer." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States...
Page 205 - ... appeared to bury the slight fabric in the ocean. When long Tom beheld his victim throwing his spouts on high again, he pointed with exultation to the jetting fluid, which was streaked with the deep red of blood, and cried : " Ay, I've touched the fellow's life ! It must be more than two foot of blubber that stops my iron from reaching the life of any whale that ever sculled the ocean !" " I believe you have saved yourself the trouble of using the bayonet you have rigged for a lance...
Page 59 - Along this narrow path the vessel moved more heavily than before, being brought so near the wind as to keep her sails touching. The pilot silently proceeded to the wheel, and with his own hands he undertook the steerage of the ship. No noise proceeded from the frigate to interrupt the horrid tumult of the ocean ; and she entered the channel among the breakers with the silence of a desperate calmness. Twenty times as the foam rolled away to leeward the crew were on the eve of uttering their joy, as...
Page 202 - I rather conclude, sir," said the cockswain, rolling over his tobacco in his mouth very composedly, while his little sunken eyes began to twinkle with pleasure at the sight, " the gentleman has lost his reckoning, and don't know which way to head to take himself back into blue water.
Page 58 - Say, also, if the tide would have let us do so," returned the Pilot calmly. " Gentlemen, we must be prompt; we have but a mile to go, and the ship appears to fly. That topsail is not enough to keep her up to the wind; we want both jib and mainsail." " Tis a perilous thing to loosen canvas in such a tempest," observed the doubtful captain.
Page 54 - The vessel rose slowly from the inclined position into which she had been forced by the tempest, and the sails were shaking violently, as if to release themselves from their confinement, while the ship stemmed the billows, when the wellknown voice of the...
Page 203 - Barnstable, who had been preparing an oar to steer with, in place of the rudder, which was unshipped in order that, if necessary, the boat might be whirled round when not advancing. Their approach was utterly unnoticed by the monster of the deep, who continued to amuse himself with throwing the water in two circular spouts high into the air, occasionally flourishing the broad flukes of his tail with...
Page 57 - Now observe the hom-moc, a little north of it, looking like a shadow in the horizon — 'tis a hill far inland. If we keep that light open from the hill, we shall do well — but if not, we surely go to pieces." "Let us tack again!" exclaimed the lieutenant. The pilot shook his head, as he replied — "There is no more tacking or box-hauling to be done tonight. We have barely room to pass out of the shoals on this course, and if we can weather the...
Page 52 - ... power of a gale of wind. Still, the hardy and experienced mariners who directed her movements, held her to the course that was necessary to their preservation, and still Griffith gave forth, when directed by their unknown pilot, those orders that turned her in the narrow channel where safety was, alone, to be found. So far, the performance of his duty appeared easy to the stranger, and he gave the required directions in those still, calm tones, that formed so remarkable a contrast to the responsibility...
Page 58 - She feels it ! she springs her luff! observe," he said, " the light opens from the hummock already : if she will only bear her canvas, we shall go clear ! ' ' A report, like that of a cannon, interrupted his exclamation, and something resembling a white cloud was seen drifting before the wind from the head of the ship, till it was driven into the gloom far to leeward. " 'T is the jib, blown from the bolt-ropes," said the commander of the frigate. ' ' This is no time to spread light duck — but the...