‘According to my Beaufort Scale,’ said the albino pirate, waving a nautical pamphlet at the rest of the crew, ‘a hurricane is number twelve, or “that which no canvas could withstand”. As you can see, our canvases are fine, so it obviously wasn’t a hurricane. I should say it was somewhere between number six, a Strong Breeze – or “that which will send a pirate’s hat flying and muss up his luxuriant beard” and number eight, a Fresh Gale – or “that which will make a pirate’s trousers billow about so that it looks like he has fat legs”.’ ‘Are you sure that’s an actual Beaufort Scale you’ve got
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