Search

List,ye landsmen! A ROMANCE OF INCIDENT By W. Clark RussellExcerpt from List, Ye Landsmen: A Romance of Incident Thus in effect thought I, as I stood upon the quarter-deck of the Royal Brunswick, viewing the noble elevation of the white South Foreland Off which_ the ship was then leisurely rolling as she flapped her way to the Downs with her yards squared to the weak westerly breeze; for - to take you into my confidence at once - this part of the coast of Old England I had the best of all reasons for loving. First of all, I was born at Folkestone next, on losing my parents, I was taken charge of by a maternal uncle, Captain Joseph Round, whose house stood on the road between Sandwich and Deal; and then, when I first went to sea, I was bound apprentice to a master sailing out of Dover Harbor; so that this range of coast had peculiar associations for me. Consider. It comprised the sum of my boyish, and of most, therefore, Of my happiest, memories; indeed, I could not gaze long at those terraces of chalk, with their green slopes of down on top, and with clusters of houses between sparkling like frost, and many a lozenge shaped Window glancing back the light of the sun with the clear, sharp gleam of the diamond, without recollection stealing In a moisture Into my eyes. List,ye landsmen! A ROMANCE OF INCIDENT By W. Clark Russell

Reproduction of the original: An Ocean Tragedy by W. Clark Russell

Reproduction of the original: The Last Entry by W. Clark Russell

"A Book for the Hammock" is a pivotal piece of nautical fiction written by William Clark Russell. William Clark Russell writes with authority as a former sailor himself and is able to instill in his readers the fear, stress, and excitement of being at sea in the late 1800s. This book, instead, was written with sailors in mind. A compilation of stories, Russell succeeded in creating an anthology that would cure the boredom of sailors around the globe. While the book was almost lost to time as travel by sea became less commonplace, it is still a part of the author's nautical legacy.

Example in this ebook CHAPTER I. A YANKEE RUSE. On Monday, August 8th, 1838, the large bark Ocean Ranger, of which I was second mate, was in latitude 38° 40' N., and longitude 11° W. The hour was four o'clock in the afternoon. I had come on deck to relieve the chief officer, who had had charge of the ship since twelve. It was a very heavy day—a sullen sky of gray vapor seeming to overhang our mastheads within pistol-shot of the trucks. From time to time there had stolen from the far reaches of the ocean a note as of the groaning of a tempest, but there had been no lightning; the wind hung a steady breeze out of the east, and the ship, with slanting masts and rounded breasts of canvas, showing with a glare of snow against the dark ground of the sky, pushed quietly through the water that floated in a light swell to the yellow line of her sheathing. Some time before I arrived on deck a vessel had been descried on the port bow, and now at this hour of four she had risen to the tacks of her courses, and her sails shone so radiantly in the dusky distance that at the first glance I knew her to be an American. The captain of my ship, a man named Hoste, was pacing the deck near the wheel; I trudged the planks a little way forward of him, stepping athwart-ships, or from side to side. The men, who were getting their supper, passed in and out of the galley, carrying hook-pots of steaming tea. It was an hour of liberty with them, the first of what is called the "dog watches." The gloom of the sky seemed to heighten the quietude that was upon the ship. The sailors talked low, and their laughter was sudden and short. All was silent aloft, the sails stirless to the gushing of the long salt breath of the east wind into the wide spaces of cloths, and nothing sounded over the side save the dim crackling and soft seething noises of waters broken under the bow, and sobbing and simmering past, with now and again a glad note like the fall of a fountain. The captain picked up a telescope that lay upon the skylight, and crossing the deck took a view of the approaching ship; then approached me. "She is an American," he said. "Yes, sir." "How do you know she is an American?" "By the light of the cotton in her canvas." "Ay, and there are more signs than that. She has put her helm over as though she would speak us." By five o'clock she was about a mile to a mile and a quarter distant on our weather bow, at which hour she had backed her maintop-sail and lay stationary upon the sea, rolling lightly and very stately on the swell, the beautiful flag of her nation—the stars and stripes—floating inverted from her peak as a signal of distress. Both Captain Hoste and I had searched her with a telescope, but we could see no other signs of life aboard her than three figures—one of which stood at the wheel—on her short length of poop, and a single head as of a sailor viewing us over the bulwark-rail forward. We shortened sail as we slowly drew down, and when within speaking distance Captain Hoste hailed her. The answer was—"For God's sake send a boat!" Yet she had good boats of her own, and it puzzled me, then, that she should request us to send, seeing that there must be hands enough to enable her to back the yards on the main. Captain Hoste cried out, "But what is wrong with you?" One of the figures on the poop or raised deck tossed his hands in a gesture of agitation and distress, and in piteous, nasal Yankee accents repeated, "For God's sake send a boat!" To be continue in this ebook...

William Clark Russell joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 13 and served an eight-year stint, permanently damaging his health in the process. He then traded in life at sea for life as a writer, penning dozens of nautical romances and action-adventure novels over the course of his literary career. In A Tale of Two Tunnels, Captain Jackman of the Lovelace leads his crew on a series of adventures on and off the water.

The Flying Dutchman, St. Maarten’s and the world’s steepest zip line, holds the answer to a mystery thousands of years old. To unearth its secret, Paul needs a diversion of onlookers, and calls on Sylvie and friends to distract with their flirtatious best. Debi and Dean have their much anticipated island wedding. The unique, fun-filled ceremony and party, celebrated with free-spirited friends, will be remembered for the ages. With planned gatherings on the Dutch side, impromptu beach parties, and discovering intimate settings on French beaches, celebrating in the islands has never been better.

Set sail for classic high seas adventure with this eclectic volume of short stories from William Clark Russell. Ranging from straightforward nautical action in the traditional vein to tales with a terrifying twist of the supernatural, you won't be able to put it down.