Throne of Jade (Temeraire, #2)

by Naomi Novik

an alarming prospect, thanks to the wickedly-hooked ten-inch tenaculum clenched in his fingers,

They argued the point and many others with increasing politeness, over the course of several hours.

Any occasional slip, such as dropping a coil of rope too heavily, or stumbling over one of the thwarts, brought forth a stream of invective and injunctions to be quiet that were considerably louder than the ordinary noise would have been.