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The Brassbounder: A Tale of the Sea
Excerpt from The Brassbounder: A Tale of the Sea
Eyes? One might as well have no eyes. Out board the ship there is nothing to be seen save the swell breaking at the bows as the vessel moves slowly on her course. Only ears are of use to us and the heads of the watchkeepers trim and cant, this way and that, in our efforts to catch a whisper from beyond the curtain that enshrouds us.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Eyes? One might as well have no eyes. Out board the ship there is nothing to be seen save the swell breaking at the bows as the vessel moves slowly on her course. Only ears are of use to us and the heads of the watchkeepers trim and cant, this way and that, in our efforts to catch a whisper from beyond the curtain that enshrouds us.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1910
About the author
David William Bone
20 books1 followerCaptain Sir David William Bone (1874-1959) started his sea life in 1890, sailing windjammers in Australia. He served in the Merchant Navy in both the Great War and the Second World War, retiring in 1946.
Sometimes published as David W. Bone.
Sometimes published as David W. Bone.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2022
Nope, can't keep going with this one.
I was ready for an ocean cruise, so chose this out of the options I had, and the first chapter was okay.
Lots of dialect but easy enough to work through. Lots of sailor jargon but also easy enough to work through, since I do like sea stories and had seen many of the terms before.
Except I had to skip over to my dictionary website when the crew were waking up more sober the first morning at sea because of the 'snell morning air'. Turns out snell means 'biting, bitter, sharp' and is a Scots term. I doubt if I will ever remember to use the word, but I like it.
Our narrator is grumpy and does not really want to go on this trip from Great Britain around Cape Horn to San Francisco and they don't even know where after that. Our ship is a sailing vessel, but there are steamers on the seas already, so we are in a transition period. The first chapter set up the voyage and the crew and got our narrator aboard, and just from his sorrowful attitude I was expecting trouble of some kind during the voyage.
The second chapter talked about one of the sailors being taken off his watch at the wheel, and it turned out that he had never been in a sailing ship before, just on the new steamers. So he was seen as an unlucky steersman, but the rest of the crew told him he would have to learn because they were not going to stand his watches at the wheel for him.
Then there was a general discussion about which men are lucky onboard ship and which sailors could be jinxes. Now so far everything was okay, the story felt very much as though I was right there on the ship, and perhaps it will continue that way, I don't know. But even though I can accept that certain words used to describe people were tossed about very easily in the past, and I come across them fairly often in older books such as this (written in 1910 but set in the mid to late 1800's) I have a mental limit for what I can deal with. This author passed that limit in the space of six paragraphs in chapter two.
And if the word is used just as a common description when the men are relaxed and chatting, what will happen if they get angry at each other and turn the common description into what it truly is, a vile insult?
I don't want to know.
So I am jumping ship and calling this one a DNF after one and a half chapters.
I was ready for an ocean cruise, so chose this out of the options I had, and the first chapter was okay.
Lots of dialect but easy enough to work through. Lots of sailor jargon but also easy enough to work through, since I do like sea stories and had seen many of the terms before.
Except I had to skip over to my dictionary website when the crew were waking up more sober the first morning at sea because of the 'snell morning air'. Turns out snell means 'biting, bitter, sharp' and is a Scots term. I doubt if I will ever remember to use the word, but I like it.
Our narrator is grumpy and does not really want to go on this trip from Great Britain around Cape Horn to San Francisco and they don't even know where after that. Our ship is a sailing vessel, but there are steamers on the seas already, so we are in a transition period. The first chapter set up the voyage and the crew and got our narrator aboard, and just from his sorrowful attitude I was expecting trouble of some kind during the voyage.
The second chapter talked about one of the sailors being taken off his watch at the wheel, and it turned out that he had never been in a sailing ship before, just on the new steamers. So he was seen as an unlucky steersman, but the rest of the crew told him he would have to learn because they were not going to stand his watches at the wheel for him.
Then there was a general discussion about which men are lucky onboard ship and which sailors could be jinxes. Now so far everything was okay, the story felt very much as though I was right there on the ship, and perhaps it will continue that way, I don't know. But even though I can accept that certain words used to describe people were tossed about very easily in the past, and I come across them fairly often in older books such as this (written in 1910 but set in the mid to late 1800's) I have a mental limit for what I can deal with. This author passed that limit in the space of six paragraphs in chapter two.
And if the word is used just as a common description when the men are relaxed and chatting, what will happen if they get angry at each other and turn the common description into what it truly is, a vile insult?
I don't want to know.
So I am jumping ship and calling this one a DNF after one and a half chapters.
September 29, 2018
This is an interesting read and a semi-rollicking tale of the sea - a cargo trip from Scotland to San Francisco and back via Cape Horn at the very end of the sailing era. With a couple of periods onshore as well. If you can forgive the casual racism and antisemitism of the language of the day in a couple of spots this is a fun read. But a few lines will jar with today's reader. Came to this as David Bone was captain of one of the passenger liners my grandfather served on between the world wars.
November 2, 2017
I read this book because the captain of the ship, William Leask from the Orkney Islands, is my great-granduncle. I was amazed to discover what a fascinating book it is and have now read it a few times. His biography, including his claim to be the first man to board the Mary Celeste, is on my website www.aboutorkney.com.
October 24, 2010
My version is published in 1923. Fantastic book well written in the language of the day. David Bones gives an excellent account of joining a Barque and sailing around the Horn. I could clearly visualize what was going on in both in the ports and on board the ship. In such books the author quite often leaves out personal encounters, and just narrates the voyage. Bones however, gets right into it.
My only regret was that wasn't more, the book could have been much more.
My only regret was that wasn't more, the book could have been much more.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews