Word: topmasts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...books have a music of their own, though occasionally compressed into passages that are a trial by vocabulary for shore-hugging readers ("and then these futtock-plates at the rim here hold the dead-eyes for the topmast shrouds"). The books are action-adventures, true, but also peerless novels of 19th century manners, detailing the mores of Regency England while instructing in the finer points of how to cannonade a French corsair or master seas that can body slam mere frigates into splinters...
...four or 20 but a human two arms and two human legs--not far from reality, now, but the train is leaving, and the dancing vortex of consciousness in the back seat, the Ginsburg #1, stops his contortions to point like a land-sighting sailor at the topmast and shout--"Human!", and it is so, this desert space contracts in purpose on this lonesome figure and even Ginsburg #2 stirs and wakes long enough to speak: "Man, what would happen if Richard Nixon turned on? I mean, if he just had one joint, man--he'd call the whole thing...
...airborne reporter circling over the fleet ("first air coverage of such an event"). He saw a fleet of sails fanned out, with 70 miles of smooth water between the leader and the tailender. The backwash of a baby hurricane just missed the racers. Even so, one sloop's topmast was sprung...
...military and naval life (The General; The Ship). The Hornblower series has made him one of the most popular adventure writers alive, ("I recommend Forester to everyone literate I know," said Ernest Hemingway.) Readers of Commodore Hornblower will find it built on the same lines as its predecessors: its topmast in a cloud of fantastic thrills, its keel afloat in Royal Navy lore...
...torpedo had struck fair on the starboard side. No. 5 Hold filled at once. The Lehigh began to settle fast. The main topmast came down, carrying away the main radio antenna, so that Sparks thought his SOS was not transmitted. All hands manned the boats and pulled away while she sank. All four of the lifeboats were picked up by British vessels within 50 hours...