MAD3PAD 52-54

[Toby G Levy]

        Pages 52-54 are mainly given over to the various ways men act
strangely at sea.  First there is Mason, who, for the 24 hours of
February 13th (the second anniversary of the death of his wife, Rebekah)
neither eating nor drinking and keeping silently to himself.

        Then there is the sole remaining member of the ship's band of
musicians, a fife player named Slowcombe, who switched from the army to
the navy because he liked sailor's women better.

        Next there is Jack "Fingers" Soames, who takes sullenness to
an art form.

        Finally there is Veevle, a seaman who is impossible to awaken
once he falls a sleep. The other sailors have him take watches for them
while he is a awake and take his rather than try to wake him up.

vw#18: euphroes -  a nautical term for blocks of wood with holes in
them.

The Boatswain, Mr. Higgs informs Capt Grant that there are problems with
the Euphroes. It is probably that the knots used to tie the rigging to
the ship are not neat enough for the Boatswain.  The captain tells him
to talk to the scribbling O'Brian, "the best Yarn-spinner in all the
Fleets."  Patrick O'Brian is the famous 20th century writer of sea
stories. I suppose there is some kind of pun in spinning yarn and tying
knots.

Toby