"Astern" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... of the enemy they had left astern gave way to speculations concerning those they might find before them. The latitude of Hatteras Inlet was thought to be particularly dangerous; but that was passed in the night and Marcy breathed easily again, until Beardsley began to take a slant in toward ...
— Marcy The Blockade Runner • Harry Castlemon
... boat, a long decked barge, square ahead, and square astern, has vanished; Ericson's screw-propellers have crushed it. It was neither invented by nor named after Lord Durham, but was as ancient as Lambton ...
— Canada and the Canadians - Volume I • Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
... one of the daisy- chains that Min had woven her at Richmond, and casting the pieces one by one into the current as it hurried along:—the daisy cups sometimes keeping pace with us, as our tow-rope slackened, and then falling astern, on our horse trotting ahead ...
— She and I, Volume 1 • John Conroy Hutcheson
... armed American merchantman, the Campana, left port with a gun mounted astern, and a crew of qualified naval marksmen to man it. In the following October Secretary Daniels announced that his department had found guns and crews for every one of our merchant vessels designated for armament and that the guards consisted of from sixteen to thirty-two men under command ...
— Our Navy in the War • Lawrence Perry
... the sea, Lanyard himself descried a silvery arrow of spray lancing the swells, making with deadly speed toward the port bow of the Assyrian. But now both screws were churning full speed astern; the vessel lost headway altogether. Then her engines stopped. For a breathless instant she rested inert, like something paralyzed with fright, bows-on to the torpedo, the telegraph ringing frantically. Then the starboard screw began to turn full ahead, ...
— The False Faces • Vance, Louis Joseph
... Blake was plunged into a tremendous sea. The crew were nearly worn out with incessant pumping, and when the dawn whirled into the sky nothing could be seen of her companion. It was thought she must have shortened sail and fallen astern. The hoarse moaning of the wind, and the waves running like conical hillocks, were a sure indication that there was greater turmoil behind them. The square foresail had been hauled up, and the crew were in the act of stowing it when the hurricane burst upon her, and she was held in the grasp of ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman
... more comes on deck, clad in warm, dry clothes, the lights of Valetta are astern, and the steamer ...
— Miss Caprice • St. George Rathborne
... the Ghost as his guests, a-bringin' their wives along—wee an' pretty little bits of things like you see 'em painted on fans. An' as he was a-gettin' under way, didn't the fond husbands get left astern-like in their sampan, as it might be by accident? An' wasn't it a week later that the poor little ladies was put ashore on the other side of the island, with nothin' before 'em but to walk home acrost the mountains on their weeny-teeny little straw sandals which wouldn't ...
— The Sea-Wolf • Jack London
... Every preparation was made accordingly; the chain cable was clear, and the men at the best bower-anchor; when, it being considered injudicious to lose so fair a breeze, we again set sail, to the disappointment of most persons on board; and Messina, with all its gay attractions, was soon far astern. The wind, though fair, was rising into a gale as we got into the open sea off Spartivento, and the ship rolled terribly. Dined to-day with the captain, and found some difficulty in stowing away his good fare, but got creditably through, until the wine began to circulate at the dessert, when I ...
— Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 • John Auldjo
... seventy-four gun ships. Captain Trowbridge, in the Culloden, immediately came to his support, and they maintained the contest for near an hour against this immense disparity of force. One first-rate and one seventy-four dropped astern disabled; but the Culloden was also crippled, and the Captain was fired on by five ships of the line at once; when Captain Collingwood, in the Excellent, came up and engaged the huge Santissima Trinidad, of one hundred and thirty-six guns. By this time the Captain's rigging was ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 2 of 8 • Various
... the women and children occupy comfortably the living room of the house—whose sides, perchance, fold outward like wings when the breeze is cool and the dust not too thick. Carlo frisks joyously ahead and astern. Other parties start out quite as cheerfully with the delivery wagon, or the buckboard, or even—at a pinch—with the top buggy. For all alike the country-side is golden, the sun warm, the sky blue, the birds joyous, and the spring ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White
... remarkably evil-looking, with his head swathed in a yellow silk handkerchief and face badly pock-marked, planted a pike-pole on the Reindeer's bow and began to shove the entangled boats apart. Pausing long enough to let go the jib halyards, and just as the Reindeer cleared and began to drift astern, I leaped aboard the junk with a line and made fast. He of the yellow handkerchief and pock-marked face came toward me threateningly, but I put my hand into my hip pocket, and he hesitated. I was unarmed, but the Chinese have ...
— Tales of the Fish Patrol • Jack London
... former. I told them to return me the axe and nails, and then he should go, (and so he really should,) but they said they were on shore, and so departed. Though the youth seemed pretty well satisfied, he could not refrain from weeping when he viewed the land astern. ...
— A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 • James Cook
... to chase; and half an hour after, let out our reefs, and chased with the rest of the squadron. About noon a signal was made for the Wager to take our remaining victualler, the Ann pink, in tow; but, at seven in the evening, finding we did not near the chase, and that the Wager was very far astern, we shortened sail, and recalled the chasing ships. Next day but one we again discovered a sail, which, on a nearer approach, we judged to be the same vessel. We chased her the whole day, and though we rather gained upon her, night came on before we could overtake her, which obliged us to ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 • Robert Kerr
... court-martial to-morrow for striking a sergeant. All day he is kept locked up and only allowed out at night for exercise, under escort. The escort consists of two men and a non-com. While on this job we watched the signalers flashing the war news from the stern of our boat to the bridge of the next astern, the Virginian. The news is flashed at night by the lamps—short and long flashes. The news is picked up by wireless on the flagship, the Charybdis, at the head of our line and signaled back ...
— "Crumps", The Plain Story of a Canadian Who Went • Louis Keene
... side of us was the Speaker, on the other the Fairfax, both within hail, and about a score of other ships forming our vanguard; but Admiral Monk, with the main body of the fleet, was still some four or five miles astern. Though we could see them, they were not visible to the Dutch admiral, Van Tromp, who, having under him many other celebrated captains, was known to command ...
— The Boy who sailed with Blake • W.H.G. Kingston
... Maria, well thou tremblest down the wave, Thy Pinta far abow, thy Nina nigh astern; Columbus stands in the night alone, and, passing grave, Yearns o'er the sea as tones o'er under-silence yearn. Heartens his heart as friend befriends his friend less brave, Makes burn the faiths that cool, and cools the doubts ...
— Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia • Various
... away, Jimmy," retorted Doe, "you spoil the view. Look, Rupert—don't look out of the bows all the time; turn round and look astern, if you want ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond
... here that General Rolleston went on board the Shannon charged with curious information about James Seaton; and sailed for England in the wake of the Proserpine, and about two thousand miles astern. ...
— Foul Play • Charles Reade
... Gahan placed a foot upon the control and stopped the ascent. He did not wish to chance rising to some higher air current that would bear him away. Already the craft was moving slowly toward the tower, carried thither by the impetus of the banth's heavy body leaping upon it from astern. ...
— The Chessmen of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... the rescue crew, went Mrs. Endicott. Far astern through the dusk could be seen a black silk hat on the still water. Astern could be heard the voice of Mr. Breckenridge Endicott crying, "Quick, quick! I can swim a little, but I am ...
— The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton • Wardon Allan Curtis
... HAUL!" 'Tis the last command, And the head-sails fill to the blast once more; Astern and to leeward lies the land, With its breakers ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. I., No. 3, January 1858 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various
... almost vanished when, awakening rather early next morning, she went up on deck. A red sun hung over the tumbling seas that ran into the hazy east astern, and they rolled up in crested phalanxes that gleamed green and incandescent white ahead. The Scarrowmania plunged through them with a spray cloud flying about her dipping bows. She was a small, old-fashioned ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss
... with me, when I got several volunteers, out of whom I took five,—viz., Burland, Hill, Hendrickson, Hansen, and Cummins. The boat was lowered very successfully, when we got clear of the ship. The brig was about a quarter of a mile astern. Heading for the ship, I pulled alongside and told them to give me a good line over their quarter, long enough to veer and haul upon. I told the captain of the brig to get his log-book and chronometer, with a few of his own personal effects, but I would not take either ...
— Notes by the Way in A Sailor's Life • Arthur E. Knights
... frightened and guilty. As for myself, I got behind the head of the mast, and fairly sobbed. This lasted a few minutes, when an order from the mate called us both below. When I reached the deck, the boat was already a long distance astern, and had evidently given up the idea of boarding us. I do not know whether I felt the most relieved or pained by the certainty of ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... the side and down the ladder into the boat, which he drew broadside to the ladder and there held it until Charley, who followed, was seated astern. ...
— Left on the Labrador - A Tale of Adventure Down North • Dillon Wallace
... at once making sail, but Barker, who had been one of the pilot-boat crew, and knew the dangers of the Bar, vowed that he would not undertake to steer the brig through the Gates until morning; and so the boats being secured astern, a strict watch was set, lest the helpless Bates should attempt to rescue the vessel. During the evening—the excitement attendant upon the outbreak having passed away, and the magnitude of the task before ...
— For the Term of His Natural Life • Marcus Clarke
... have; but there's a fellow coming up astern must have had it worse than me. He was under bare poles, but I see he's got a suit of newspapers bent now, and ...
— Windjammers and Sea Tramps • Walter Runciman
... throb, and they glided through the cool shadow along the mole. When they met the smooth swell at the harbor mouth the sea blazed with reflected light, and Dick was glad to fix his eyes upon the little compass in the shade of the awning astern. The boat lurched away across the long undulations, with the foam curling up about her bow and rising aft in a white ...
— Brandon of the Engineers • Harold Bindloss
... out. The night air was very chilly and full of brine; a little boat towing by a long painter was sheering about in the phosphorescent wake of the ship. The sea itself was pallid in the light of the moon, invisible to me. A little astern of us, on our port quarter, a vessel under a press of canvas seemed to stand still; looming up like an immense pale ghost. She might have been coming up with us, or else we had just passed her—I couldn't tell. I had no time to find out, and I didn't care. The great thing was to get hold of ...
— Romance • Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
... rest. Neoptolemus made up furiously at him, and commanded the master, with all imaginable might, to charge; but Damagoras, fearing the bulk and massy stem of the admiral, thought it dangerous to meet him prow to prow, and, rapidly wheeling round, bid his men back water, and so received him astern; in which place, though violently borne upon, he received no manner of harm, the blow being defeated by falling on those parts of the ship which lay under water. By which time, the rest of the fleet coming up to him, Lucullus ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough
... fire, when the fleetest ship in the Sultan's navy would be dispatched to overtake him. And this was indeed the case, for just at this moment there came to his side a young Greek, who acted as his first officer, and pointing away astern in the ...
— The Circassian Slave; or, The Sultan's Favorite - A Story of Constantinople and the Caucasus • Lieutenant Maturin Murray
... little on his bed of sails under repair, at which the Captain had been plying his needle while the weather remained clear, and glanced over his shoulder toward the ship's dinghy towing astern. The rope that held it was made fast round the rail a few feet away from him. The boat itself was clumsy, shaped like a walnut, of a preposterous strength and weight. It was fitted with a short, stiff mast and a balance lug-sail. ...
— The Last Hope • Henry Seton Merriman
... the blackness astern; the cries were hushed by the clamor of the gale, and the steamship Titan swung back to her course. The first officer had not turned the lever ...
— The Wreck of the Titan - or, Futility • Morgan Robertson
... 21st the allies, who had stopped after dark, appear again to have made sail. Consequently, when day broke, the British found themselves some distance astern and to windward— northeast; the wind continuing easterly. Their line, indifferently well formed in van and centre, stretched over a length of nine miles through the straggling of the rear. Lestock's ship was six miles ...
— Types of Naval Officers - Drawn from the History of the British Navy • A. T. Mahan
... blows. I was moved to compassion as it sat upon the jaw-bone of a whale, which projected beneath the tafrail, at one moment devouring pieces of its mother and sister with avidity, and at the next stretching its throat and blaring out mournfully, when a fragment of ice met its view, passing astern as we sailed on our course. It was about the size of a sheep, and after their tea the sailors got it down below, and turned it loose betwixt decks, from whence it sent up all hands with precipitation, some of them quitting their berths half-naked, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 362, Saturday, March 21, 1829 • Various
... far away; but the fog wreaths were hanging upon the river, and he could not see the speakers. Instinctively he bent harder to his oar. The wherry shot at redoubled speed through the dull, gleaming water; but there were sounds astern of other plashing oars, the sound of voices low yet eager, and Cuthbert felt sure he heard the name of Trevlyn spoken in accents of subdued fierceness. He could hear by the sound of the oars in the rowlocks that there were many rowers in the pursuing boat. That they were in pursuit of ...
— The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn - A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot • Evelyn Everett-Green
... placed on the table, came in from the deck with the one man of his watch, closed the tower and signaled for changing to the electric motors. Then he filled the forward tanks and those amidships, at last filling the tanks astern. We came below so gently that you very intent young men never noticed the change. We are now on the bottom—-in about how many feet of ...
— Dave Darrin's Fourth Year at Annapolis • H. Irving Hancock
... escape, 'the mast would be at the bow. And if it is a cutter, you would still have to put the mast farther forward, and give her a boom and a bowsprit. Or if it is a yawl, then you would have a little jigger-mast astern—about there——' ...
— The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols • William Black
... "Right astern of us!" replied Jimmie. "I wonder what he was doing aboard this ship. He seems to be in a ...
— Boy Scouts in the North Sea - The Mystery of a Sub • G. Harvey Ralphson
... promising us abundance of water, coconuts, yams, and tortoise-shell, of the first of which at least they could have had none to spare. In the evening they left us, after spending the greater part of the day on board, with their canoe towing astern. I found the native names of at least three of the islands to differ from those given in the Admiralty's chart of Torres Strait from the Fly's survey. Thus Nepean Island is Edugor, not Oogar—Stephens Island is ...
— Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Vol. 2 (of 2) • John MacGillivray
... himself, and he did not like to ask Captain Scott to explain the situation; for since he had gone into the cabin the relative positions of the three steamers had decidedly changed. His idea was that the Maud should follow the ship as usual; but she had dropped at least a couple of miles astern of her, and the Fatime was headed to the southward. He could not understand the matter at all, and he ...
— Asiatic Breezes - Students on The Wing • Oliver Optic
... quarter-gunner, was the representative of a class on board the Neversink, altogether too remarkable to be left astern, without further notice, in the rapid ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville
... earth had opened and swallowed him. Absolutely the only thing out of the ordinary that the police could discover was that a fisherman's skiff was missing one night, and was found the next morning a couple of miles down the coast, floating idly about. But the painter was drifting astern, and it might easily have happened that it had been carelessly fastened, and the rope had slipped from the mooring ring and allowed the skiff ...
— Jack Haydon's Quest • John Finnemore
... had noticed which had given them much food for thought. In the prow was mounted a small but heavy gun, and a second one of the same size loomed up formidably astern. Plainly they were there for a purpose, and Frank and Jack both realized that there was serious work ahead ...
— The Boy Allies Under the Sea • Robert L. Drake
... craft were all but touching each other, although, from the Kasanumi's bridge, where I was then standing, I could not see the other destroyer. It also appeared that at the moment when I ordered the course of the Kasanumi to be altered, the Akatsuki was close astern of us, and broad on our port quarter, the consequence being that the shifting of our helm carried us so close athwart her bows that she all but touched us when crossing our stern. It was at this moment that the explosion occurred; and Ito, instantly divining what had ...
— Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun - A Story of the Russo-Japanese War • Harry Collingwood
... and heard the noise, immediately began to cry out, and I hearing him got up immediately, for no one had as yet perceived that we were aground. Presently the master whose watch it was came upon deck, and I ordered him and other sailors to take the boat and carry out an anchor astern, hoping thereby to warp off the ship. Thereupon he and others leapt into the boat, as I believed to carry my orders into execution; but they immediately rowed away to the other caravel which was half a league ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr
... into the wind, and we were brought to as quickly as possible. A gleam of hope arose within me on observing that the mass I had thrown overboard continued still to burn; but when I saw how quickly it went astern, notwithstanding our vigorous efforts to stop the ship, my heart began to sink, and when, a few moments after, the light suddenly disappeared, despair seized upon me, and I gave my friend ...
— Fighting the Whales • R. M. Ballantyne
... been confined to it by the efforts of the sailors from the destroyer—had now almost cleared away, and we went forward to the galley. The fire had not spread to that, and after the scenes of blood and violence astern and in the cabin the place looked refreshingly spick and span; there was, indeed, an unusual air of neatness and cleanliness about it. The various pots and pans shone gaily in the sun's glittering lights; every utensil was in its place; evidently the galley's controlling spirit had been a meticulously ...
— Ravensdene Court • J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher
... morning, Repeller No. 1, with her consort half a mile astern, and preceded by the two crabs, one on either bow, approached to within two miles of the harbour mouth. The crabs, a quarter of a mile ahead of the repeller, moved slowly; for between them they bore an immense net, three ...
— The Great War Syndicate • Frank Stockton
... spoken, another yell, louder, shriller, and nearer than before, burst upon their ears. It seemed to be close astern. The beat of the paddles was also ...
— Lost in the Fog • James De Mille
... progressed, leaving a wake of purest joy astern. But at last they began the ascent of West Hill, that led to the Whipple New Place, leaving behind those streets that came alive at their approach. For the remainder of their dread progress they would elicit only the startled regard of ...
— The Wrong Twin • Harry Leon Wilson
... have seen how quick that boat was lowered, and how the men made her fly along! When we picked 'em up, (though they were a long way astern by this time) Bill was clinging to the life-buoy, and Bob had got hold of it with one hand and the cage with the other. The bird was fluttering about and looking precious scared, as if he didn't like going to sea in a cage; and the cat was sitting ...
— Little Folks (December 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... the boat to prosecute the intention of surveying the island...the native with us, towing his canoe astern. On landing we were joined by a great number of natives who seemed glad that the man had been rewarded for carrying back the chain. The blanket attracted their notice much, the use of which they appeared to know. The old man whom I formerly mentioned was among them; he made signs for me ...
— The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson - With The Journal Of Her First Commander Lieutenant James Grant, R.N • Ida Lee
... tubes. The big guns are mounted in four turrets, two forward and two aft, each containing three guns. The turrets nearer to the middle of the ship are enough higher than the forward and aft turrets to permit their guns to be fired directly ahead and astern respectively. This arrangement permits the concentration of six guns forward, six aft, and twelve on ...
— Practical English Composition: Book II. - For the Second Year of the High School • Edwin L. Miller
... barge was slightly below the level of the bulkhead; so Mr. Daney realized that the tide had turned and was at the ebb—otherwise, the gunwale would have been on a level with the bulkheads. He stepped down on the barge, made his way aft to the Brutus, moored astern, and boarded the little vessel. He struck another match and looked into the cabin to make certain that no member of the barge-crew slept there. Finding no one, he went into the engine-room and opened the sea-cock. Then he lifted up a floor-board, looked into the bilge, ...
— Kindred of the Dust • Peter B. Kyne
... rapidly of traffic and the mountain of his speculations was lost astern, when another island came slanting swiftly up to meet them as their ship swept down from the heights. It was a tiny speck in the ocean's expanse, a speck that resolved itself into the squared fields of colored growth, orchards whose brilliant, strange fruits glowed crimson in the last light ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, December 1930 • Various
... magnificent battery he had on board, he used to take up his station on the poop, and the crack of the rifle was almost invariably followed by an exclamation of delight from some of his attendants, as the bottle, bobbing far astern, was sunk for ever, or the three strung, one below the other, from the end of the fore-yard-arm, were shattered by three successive bullets in almost the same number of seconds. Pistol practice succeeded that ...
— A Journey to Katmandu • Laurence Oliphant
... shoulder of one of them I could see the lighthouse, still a distinguishable patch of white against the looming grey of the land. The water rippled mournfully under our bows and a long pale wake stretched astern from our counter. "Fortune," banked money, good heifers and even enduringly fruitful fields seemed very little matters to me then. They must have seemed still less, far less, to Anthony O'Flaherty after he had seen those white sea-maidens with their ...
— Our Casualty And Other Stories - 1918 • James Owen Hannay, AKA George A. Birmingham
... to return to the cares of everyday life. He rose and glanced rapidly up and down the river. His eye detected Babalatchi's boat astern, and another small black speck on the glittering water, which was Taminah's canoe. He moved cautiously forward, and, kneeling, took up a paddle; Nina at the stern took hers. They bent their bodies to the work, throwing up the ...
— Almayer's Folly - A Story of an Eastern River • Joseph Conrad
... account already of what I found to have been the case down the river among the seafaring men, how the ships lay in the "offing," as it is called, in rows or lines, astern of one another, quite down from the Pool as far as I could see. I have been told that they lay in the same manner quite down the river as low as Gravesend,[222] and some far beyond, even everywhere, ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe
... the pilot-house door in the face of the beast, and closed the windows with a bang that shook the pilot house. In his excitement the pilot rang in a signal to the engineer for full speed astern. ...
— The Circus Boys On the Mississippi • Edgar B. P. Darlington
... the change of course of the lugger had placed the sloop dead astern of her; and the latter was unable, therefore, to fire even her bow chasers without yawing. It was now the turn of the lugger. The gun in the stern was carefully trained and, as it was fired, a patch of white splinters appeared in the sloop's bulwarks. A cheer broke from the French. ...
— Under Wellington's Command - A Tale of the Peninsular War • G. A. Henty
... skins of them, and the clear eyes, the straight backs and full chests of them! Brave men they was, and bold men surely! We'd be sailing out, bound down round the Horn maybe. We'd be making sail in the dawn, with a fair breeze, singing a chanty song wid no care to it. And astern the land would be sinking low and dying out, but we'd give it no heed but a laugh, and never a look behind. For the day that was, was enough, for we was free men—and I'm thinking 'tis only slaves do be giving heed to the day ...
— The Hairy Ape • Eugene O'Neill
... replied Christy, as the gong sounded to stop her. "Now, Mr. Flint, cast off the fasts, and let the schooner go astern," he ...
— On The Blockade - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray Afloat • Oliver Optic
... man to see them. Speaking of the start, he said: "Hobson was as cool as a cucumber; when I shook hands with him, he said: 'Powell, watch the boat's crew when we pull out of the harbor. We will be cracks, rowing thirty strokes to the minute.' We followed about three-quarters of a mile astern of the Merrimac. When about two hundred yards from the harbor the first gun was fired from the eastern bluff; we were then about a half mile from shore. The firing increased very rapidly, and we lost sight of the Merrimac in the smoke which the wind ...
— The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 24, June 16, 1898 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various
... Ichang was soon left astern, and we entered speedily to all intents and purposes into a new world, a world untrammelled by conventionalism and the ...
— Across China on Foot • Edwin Dingle
... mind, that he did not notice our visitor. Had started yesterday cutting grass on lawn with machine. Getting on pretty well with it till, this morning, wind rose, blowing half a gale from Westward. ARPACHSHAD discovered that, starting with machine from the Westward, he, with wind blowing astern, got on capitally; but coming back, with wind ahead, there was decided addition to labour of propelling machine. When OLD MORALITY arrived, ARPACHSHAD had halted midway across the lawn, and was looking Westward with air ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., November 29, 1890 • Various
... had not obtained a good hold, and he lost it, so that the boat began to drift astern. Captain Carboneer shouted his orders, and the man got a new hold, and this time it was at the painter of the boat in which Sampson had brought off Mr. Watts and the ladies. It had been forgotten in the excitement of the moment, but the rope afforded a good hold ...
— Within The Enemy's Lines - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic
... Sol Gills, young gen'l'm'n,' said the Captain, impressively, and laying his heavy hand on Mr Toots's knee, 'old Sol, mind you—with your own eyes—as you sit there—you'd be welcomer to me, than a wind astern, to a ship becalmed. But you can't see Sol Gills. And why can't you see Sol Gills?' said the Captain, apprised by the face of Mr Toots that he was making a profound impression on that ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens
... loud hooting, Hall took his weapons and without a word slunk into the boat of the Raven that lay astern, and rowed ashore; nor did Eric see his face for ...
— Eric Brighteyes • H. Rider Haggard
... of a step behind me. I turned to find Maarda almost at my elbow. The rising tide was unbeaching the canoe, and as Maarda stepped in and the klootchman slipped astern, it ...
— Legends of Vancouver • E. Pauline Johnson
... his side, looked out through the windows and saw the natives plundering and wrecking the mission house and the dwellings of Schwartzkoff and Burrowes. A mile away, motionless upon the glassy waters of the harbour, lay the schooner, with her boat astern, and every now and then Blount would take a look ...
— The Tapu Of Banderah - 1901 • Louis Becke
... sting, stitch, stock, stockade, stocking. STIGAN, to ascend—stair, staircase, stile, stirrup, sty. STRECCAN, to stretch—stretch, stretcher, straight, straighten, straightness, outstretch, overstretch. STYRAN, to steer—steer, steerage, steersman, stern (the hind part of a ship), astern. STYRIAN, to stir—stir, bestir. SUR, sour—sour, sourish, sourness, sorrel, surly, surliness. SWERIAN, to swear—swear, swearer, forswear, answer, unanswered. SWET, ...
— New Word-Analysis - Or, School Etymology of English Derivative Words • William Swinton
... on the western ocean. The piano in the saloon carried away, and frolicked down the aisle between the tables: it was an ideal stage set for "Typhoon." The saloon was far aft, and a hatchway just astern of where I sat was stove in by the seas. By sticking my head through a window I could see excellent combers of green ...
— Shandygaff • Christopher Morley
... Frenchmen were a little slower," the captain said to the first lieutenant. "They are only a little farther behind her than when we started, and are, I think, only about half a mile astern of her. If she continues to travel at her present rate she will be close up to us by sunset. She is just about our own size, and I make no doubt that we should give a good account of her, but we could not hope to do so before her two consorts came up, and we could not expect to beat ...
— By Conduct and Courage • G. A. Henty
... unusual—something that had never happened to us before—and I began to feel a little uneasy, without exactly knowing why. We put the boat on the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored cloud that rose with ...
— Elson Grammer School Literature, Book Four. • William H. Elson and Christine Keck
... Hall lives up to East Wellmouth. But what I can't get a-hold of is how you come to fetch up way off here. The Centre's three mile or more astern of us; I've just ...
— Galusha the Magnificent • Joseph C. Lincoln
... the purpose, the larger was computed to be 145 tons burden, and propelled by a fifty horse engine. Her sides were pierced and mounted with ten six pounders. Forward, a very formidable display was made by a twenty-four pound swivel gun, whilst a long swivel eighteen pound carronade astern seemed to threaten destruction to every foe. In addition to these precautions against the Spanish pirates who infest the coast, and of which Lander was himself an eye witness in the capture of the ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish
... course you can see that, if the line ran out too easy, the whale would leave us astern altogether, and if it jammed or ran too hard, she would tow ...
— Love Me Little, Love Me Long • Charles Reade
... boat and sent our Boarding officer to find out the news if there was any But was disapointed. She had no news, she was 15 days from Rio de Janeiro. 7.30 P.M. All is going well. The Marietta is astern now and likely to remain so untill we get in the next Port. we past another steamer about 3 P.M. and when I go on watch to night at 8 I will try and find out something about her. Came off at 12 midnight and she signaled to us no news of War. We have to go slow ...
— The Voyage of the Oregon from San Francisco to Santiago in 1898 • R. Cross
... the ebb lasts, and this breeze stands, we shall have plain sailing; the difficulty will come on the flood, or with a shift of wind. The ships that come out last must be careful to keep their seconds, ahead and astern, in plain sight, and regulate their movements, as much as they can, by the leading vessels. The object is to spread as wide a clew as possible, while we hold the ships within signal-distance of each other. Towards sunset ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper
... from a fiery fanning of wind off the starboard bow, with the sea trembling under the sun in white-hot needles of broken light, and a narrow ribbon of wake glancing off into a hot blue thickness that brought the horizon within a mile of us astern. ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 26, February 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various
... running into a school of porpoises. A couple of shots were fired into them from the felucca in order to frighten them away, as it is generally supposed that sharks are following them up. A few moments afterward another school appeared astern, when the operation was repeated with the desired effect. Paul finding that the current was setting too rapidly westward, turned his course due south and as the wind was beginning to rise, a small square sail was handed to him; but as that did not seem to increase ...
— The Story of Paul Boyton - Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World • Paul Boyton
... run far outside. The high and rocky headland that marked the entrance to Reef Harbor came into view before they had more than dropped the hazy outline of Beach Plum Point astern. ...
— Ruth Fielding Down East - Or, The Hermit of Beach Plum Point • Alice B. Emerson
... Bay, but they're hardly big enough; and then I suppose they're kept pretty busy in the coal trade, aren't they? It seems to me that what you need for your business would be two of those big steel ore vessels, with their engines astern—the kind they use on ...
— Cappy Ricks • Peter B. Kyne
... that one sickening moment, I sprang out on the deck, half dressed as I was, and leaping past the boat which swung nearly opposite my door, craned over the rail, looking astern. ...
— The Devil Doctor • Sax Rohmer
... was an extremely doubtful one. I knew perfectly well that no sane pilot would trust his steamboat for a single moment in the hands of a greenhorn unless he were standing by the greenhorn's side. Of course, by force of habit, when I grabbed the wheel, I had taken the steering marks ahead and astern, and I made up my mind to hold her on those marks to the hair; but I could feel myself getting old and gray. Then all at once I recognized where we were; we were in what is called the Grand Chain—a succession of hidden rocks, one of the most dangerous places on ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine
... the credit of the story about the loss of the boats, which were at the time carefully concealed under the lee of the vessels, one drifted astern, so that our object became apparent, and the guns of Fort Ingles, under which we lay, forthwith opened upon us, the first shots passing through the sides of the Intrepido and killing two men, so that it became necessary to land in spite of the swell. We had only two launches and a gig. I directed ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, Rear-Admiral of the Fleet, Etc., Etc. • Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald
... up his hand to show that they were ready, having before he did so chosen a stone round which to wind the lariats. The other boat was then launched. Sam and Ben took their places astern and began to paddle against the stream. As they were in the back-water below the ledge of rock they were able to keep her stationary while Jerry took his place and got out his paddle. When all were ready, they paddled her out from the back-water. As soon as the current caught her ...
— In The Heart Of The Rockies • G. A. Henty
... could detain him Jimmie fired. Faintly the boys heard a crash aboard the motor boat. The green starboard sidelight of the launch disappeared. Urged on by the tremendous press of wind in her sails the Lena Knobloch was fast dropping the launch astern. ...
— Boy Scouts in the North Sea - The Mystery of a Sub • G. Harvey Ralphson
... of course they had to keep in touch with the ox-waggons, and as we had to tramp, we determined to tramp to some purpose. Our goal was no cold bivouac on the hard earth outside Pretoria, with the usual weary waiting for the ox-waggons stuck in a spruit about four miles astern, but Pretoria itself, where bread and stores were to be obtained, a square meal at a table, and, oh! ye gentlemen of England, who live at home at ease, a bed. Imbued with this idea, with sloped rifle we gaily commenced our return march. ...
— A Yeoman's Letters - Third Edition • P. T. Ross
... of us, the "Alaska," "Arizona," "America," and "Oregon," were all passing in or out, or lying at the wharves, these being I believe the four fastest ocean steamers afloat. The Allan boat "Peruvian" left the dock just astern of us, and as we afterwards discovered, arrived twelve hours before us. We very soon found, when dinner time came round that we were going to live like fighting cocks; there was a tremendous spread, soup, fish, entres, joints, entrees, sweets, ...
— Canada for Gentlemen • James Seton Cockburn
... up the side of the mission ship with very evil intentions. Boat after boat came up and made fast astern of the dandy vessel, and soon the decks were crowded with merry groups. Jim couldn't make it out for the life of him. These fellows had their pipes and cigars going; they were full of fun, and yet Jim could not hear an oath or a lewd word. Gradually ...
— The Chequers - Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in - a Loafer's Diary • James Runciman
... Barny apostrophize each well-known point of his native shore, and when opposite the harbor of Kinsale, he spoke the hooker that was somewhat astern, and ordered Jemmy and Peter to put in there, and tell Molly immediately that he was come back, and would be with her as soon as he could, after piloting the ship into Cove. "But an your apperl don't tell Pether Kelly o' the big farm, nor, indeed, don't mintion to man or mortial about the navigation ...
— Stories of Comedy • Various
... never-ending source of amazement, and my admiration for the captain is unstinted. I stand on the bridge by the hour, and watch him and listen to the reports of the man on the cross-trees as to the prospects of "leads" of open water ahead. Every few minutes we back astern, and then butt the ice. If one stays below decks the noise of the grinding on the ship's side is so persistent and so menacing that I prefer the deck in spite of its barrels and crates and boxes and smells. Here at least one would not feel like a rat in a hole if a long, gleaming, icy, giant ...
— Le Petit Nord - or, Annals of a Labrador Harbour • Anne Elizabeth Caldwell (MacClanahan) Grenfell and Katie Spalding
... Revolution came, and the digging never extended beyond that first dozen miles; and thus it is that the Canal of the Two Oceans, as such, is a delusion, and that the golden future which once lay ahead of Givors now lies a long way astern. Yet the town has an easy and contented look: as though it had saved enough from the wreck of its magnificent destiny to leave it ...
— The Christmas Kalends of Provence - And Some Other Provencal Festivals • Thomas A. Janvier
... demanding from the decks below, "why this?" and "why that?" a certain "plain sailor" well known to New Orleans and the wide world; did not see the torpedoes lying in watery ambush for him, nor hear the dread tale of them called to him from the Brooklyn while his ship passed astern of her, nor him command "full speed ahead" as ...
— Kincaid's Battery • George W. Cable
... a chance, and made good use of it. A big collier came athwart the bows of our steamer, and we had to slacken down to dead slow. There was a barge astern, and I slipped down by a rope and was into the barge before any one missed me. Of course I had to leave my luggage behind me, but I had the belt with the nuggets round my waist, and the chance of shaking the police off ...
— My Friend The Murderer • A. Conan Doyle
... Old Land, and this happy revolt delighted him. He would have loved to join the merry adventurers in their defiance of authority. It was grand! Lustily he sang the chanty, and as the boats, loaded down with sailors and their traps, and towing astern in the warm sea strings of deserters for whom there was no room aboard, moved off, he leaned over the bulwarks waving his hat, and shouted with all the power of ...
— In the Roaring Fifties • Edward Dyson
... distance to cross the Pont de Jena, and again to make a considerable circuit through Passy, on account of the gardens, in order to do justice to our task. About this time the commodore fairly fell astern; and he discovered that the other boot was too large. I kept talking to him over my shoulder, and cheering him on, and he felicitated me on frogs agreeing so well with my constitution. At length we came in at the Barriere de Clichy, just as the clocks struck three, or in four hours, to a ...
— Recollections of Europe • J. Fenimore Cooper
... we would do so or no, I know not; but in the morning, when the daylight appeared, instead of having lost him, we found him in chase of us about a league astern; only, to our great good fortune, we could see but one of the two. However, this one was a great ship, carried six-and-forty guns, and an admirable sailer, as appeared by her outsailing us; for our ship was an excellent sailer too, as I ...
— The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton • Daniel Defoe
... blew the right way, it carried us on, from the first light of morning, when we found ourselves abreast of the Bass, to only near Inchkeith; for when night fell, we saw the May light twinkling dimly far astern, and that of the Inch rising bright and high right a-head. I spent the greater part of the day on deck, marking, as they came into view, the various objects—hill, and island, and seaport town, of which I had lost sight nearly ten years before; feeling the while, ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller
... contest;"—such was the advantage of skill and discipline, and the confidence which brave men derive from them. The BLENHEIM then passing between them and the enemy, gave them a respite, and poured in her fire upon the Spaniards. The SALVADOR DEL MUNDO and SAN ISIDRO dropped astern, and were fired into in a masterly style by the EXCELLENT, Captain Collingwood. The SAN ISIDRO struck; and Nelson thought that the SALVADOR struck also. "But Collingwood," says he, "disdaining the parade of taking possession of beaten ...
— The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson • Robert Southey
... by rare good-fortune it was still upright, although awash. He towed it to the next sand-bar, where he wrung out and donned his shirt, then tipped the water from the smaller craft, and, making it fast astern of the Peterborough, set out again. Towards noon they came in sight of a little stern-wheeled craft that puffed and pattered manfully against the sweeping current, hiding behind the points and bars and following ...
— The Barrier • Rex Beach
... A strong breeze blew astern; the Norse rowers steered the rudderless ships with their long oars, and with a mighty rush, through the new canal and over all the shallows, out into the great Norrstrom, or North Stream, as the Baltic Sea was called, the fleet passed in safety ...
— The Junior Classics • Various
... only moderately dark, for while there was no moon there were plenty of those candle-like desert stars. The little twinkling lights of the Box Springs dropped astern like lamps on a shore. By and by I turned off the road and made a wide detour down the sacatone bottoms, for I had still some sense; and roads were a little too obvious. The reception committee that had taken charge ...
— The Killer • Stewart Edward White
... there were long reaches in the river with depth sufficient for a ship of larger draught, yet every now and then we found ourselves in shoal water of about three feet. No sooner was the boat got off one bank by might and main, and steady hauling on capstan and anchor laid out ahead, almost never astern, and we got a few miles of fair steering, than again we heard that sound, abhorred by all of us—a slight bump of the bow, and rush of sand along the ship's side, and we were again fast for a few hours, or a day or two, as the ...
— The Personal Life Of David Livingstone • William Garden Blaikie
... palaces dropped astern. The ship was sailing south, and under favoring breezes soon lost sight of land. Constant watch was kept for other vessels; any that might appear was more apt to be an enemy than a friend, because Genoa was at war then with many rivals, chief among them Naples and Aragon. Ships ...
— Historic Boyhoods • Rupert Sargent Holland
... Indians all faced ahead, instead of astern as in rowing. We were under the shadow of the high bank of the river, which was covered with wood. Mr. Gracewood carefully worked the barge nearer to the bank, until I was able to grasp the branch of a tree which had fallen down as the earth caved off beneath ...
— Field and Forest - The Fortunes of a Farmer • Oliver Optic
... "Let go astern! Forward!" ordered the captain. The massive "Ilya Murometz," heaving a mighty sigh, emitted a thick column of white steam toward the side of the landing-bridge, and started upstream ...
— Foma Gordyeff - (The Man Who Was Afraid) • Maxim Gorky
... ship, the Real, was a first rate, mounted with above an hundred guns. Rear-admiral Rowley singled out M. de Court, who commanded the French squadron; and a very few captains followed the example of their commanders; but vice-admiral Lestock, with his whole division, remained at a great distance astern; and several captains, who were immediately under the eye of Matthews, behaved in such a manner as reflected disgrace upon their country. The whole transaction was conducted without order or deliberation. The French and Spaniards would have willingly avoided an engagement, ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... far aside as she mounted the crest, and every plunge into the trough brought a torrent of water over her bows. Her graceful lines offered little resistance to her progress. She leaped forward like a thing of life, rapidly leaving the schooner far astern. ...
— Boy Scouts in Southern Waters • G. Harvey Ralphson
... about a mile and a half astern of me, when the hurricane began, and tried to pull in shore; but just as they thought to have reached it, one of their oars broke, and being now helpless, they were obliged to scud before the wind. By good fortune they were carried up the Canning, where ...
— The Bushman - Life in a New Country • Edward Wilson Landor
... afterwards they all came up in a body astern of us, and so near that we could easily discern what they were, though we could not tell their design; and I easily found they were some of my old friends, the same sort of savages that I had been used to engage with. In a short time more they rowed a little farther ...
— The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe
... defined in outline, although from their distance from the Frolic their progress seemed slow, only the flashing of the blades in and out of the water indicating that the men were not out for a pleasure pull, and the blue ripples astern telling that sixteen twelve-foot sweeps were pushing that water behind them for ...
— Peggy Stewart: Navy Girl at Home • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... from one of the men, who ordered me, in a rough voice, to jump aboard. Rising hastily I clambered up the side. In a few minutes the boat was hoisted on deck, the vessel's head put close to the wind, and the Coral Island dropped slowly astern as we beat ...
— The Coral Island - A Tale Of The Pacific Ocean • R. M. Ballantyne
... her walk in front of me. Every time she dropped the head I slewed her round and made her lift it up again. And the old cook-devil trotted astern o' us. When we came close to the town, I says ...
— By Reef and Palm • Louis Becke
... when, upon coming on deck at seven bells in the morning, we found the other watch aloft throwing water upon the sails; and, looking astern, we saw a small clipper-built brig with a black hull heading directly after us. We went to work immediately, and put all the canvas upon the brig which we could get upon her, rigging out oars for extra studding-sail yards, and continued wetting down ...
— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana
... which was set adrift in the direction of the frigates, but, unfortunately, when within musket shot of them, she was struck by a round shot and foundered, causing complete failure in our object. The San Martin and the Lautaro keeping far astern, there was no alternative but to withdraw from further attack, leaving the ...
— Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, - from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 1 • Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald
... "There's rain astern," observed Captain Zeb, with the air of authority which belongs to seafaring men when speaking of the weather. "We'll get a hard, driving rain afore mornin', you see. Then, if she still holds from the northwest'ard, it'll ...
— Keziah Coffin • Joseph C. Lincoln
... from sight; Magnolia Bluff fell far astern, and the Aquila steamed out into the long, broad reach of Puget Sound; but though the tide had turned, there was still no wind. The late sun touched the glassy swells with the changing effect of a prism. ...
— The Rim of the Desert • Ada Woodruff Anderson
... course of the sub-vegetal stream. All hands at work, and by the evening we had cut a channel 300 yards in length. The marsh swarms with snakes, one of which managed to enter the cabin window of the diahbeeah. The two steamers, now far astern, have become choked by a general break up and alteration of their portion of the world. The small lake in which I left them is no longer open water, but has become a dense maps of compressed vegetable rafts, in which the steamers are jammed ...
— Ismailia • Samuel W. Baker
... of astrogation which his piratical forebears had developed and which a boy on Zan absorbed without being aware. He wanted an orbit around Darth. He didn't want to take time to try to compute it. So he watched the star-images ahead and astern. If the stars ahead rose above the planet's edge faster than those behind sank down below it—he would be climbing. If the stars behind sank down faster than those ahead rose up—he would be descending. ...
— The Pirates of Ersatz • Murray Leinster
... the Ventura was plainly visible now. Jack changed the course of the ship slightly, and after the vessel had gone half a mile he made out the form of a submarine lying close astern of the Ventura. ...
— The Boy Allies with the Victorious Fleets - The Fall of the German Navy • Robert L. Drake
... last to change her position and fall in astern of Vindictive, and suffered very heavily from the fire. A single big shell plunged through the upper deck and burst below at a point where fifty-six marines were waiting the order to go to the gang-ways. Forty-nine were killed and the remaining seven wounded. Another shell in the ward-room, ...
— World's War Events, Volume III • Various
... it is so often compared, carries its fire at its front tip. The most common type of boat will have two or four torpedo tubes in this chamber. The more modern ones will have a second torpedo chamber astern with the same number of tubes and carry other torpedoes on deck which by an ingenious device can be launched from their outside cradles by mechanism within the boat. In the torpedo chamber are twice as ...
— Aircraft and Submarines - The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day - Uses of War's Newest Weapons • Willis J. Abbot
... blood-red flag; but the first lieutenant did not dare to fire on her while the boats were so near. He slipped the cable, however, and made instant sail on the ship; and when he saw the large boat and the gig drop astern of the schooner, the former in a disabled condition, he commenced firing as fast as he could load; not doubting that his captain was in his ...
— Gascoyne, The Sandal Wood Trader - A Tale of the Pacific • R. M. Ballantyne
... had caught the boat at the last second, stood together, muffled to the eyes, breathing rapidly. She was casting tragic glances astern, where, somewhere behind the smother of snow, New York city lay; he, certain at last of his train, stood beside her, attempting to collect his thoughts and arrange them in ...
— A Young Man in a Hurry - and Other Short Stories • Robert W. Chambers
... calk'late, it's about findin' rest in Jesus, and one a askin' questions, all fa'r and squar', to know the way and whether it's a goin' to lead thar' straight or not, and the other answerin'. And he—he was a tinkerin', 'way up on the foremast, George Olver and the rest on us was astern,—and I'll hear to my dyin' day how his voice came a floatin' down to us thar'—chantin'-like it was—cl'ar and fearless and slow. So he asks, for findin' Jesus, ef thar's any marks to foller by; and George Olver, he answers about them bleedin' nail-prints, ...
— Cape Cod Folks • Sarah P. McLean Greene
... Bronx astern of her," added Captain Battleton. "It is the smallest of the three, at any rate. Mr. Salisbury, you will run directly for the flag-ship," he added to the executive officer ...
— Stand By The Union - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic
... other perfectly, even while the former was making the most serious professions of duty. The beat was hauled up, and, first whispering a few cautions about the shoals and the currents, the worthy marine guide leaped into it, and was soon seen floating astern—a cheering proof that the ship had got fairly in motion. As he fell out of hearing in the wake of the vessel, the honest fellow kept calling ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper
... move in the least," Jack agreed. "Her screw is working hard astern now. Look how high her head is. She has run a long way up with wind and tide and steam. She must have gone on ...
— A Chapter of Adventures • G. A. Henty
... told that, even more than China, India made the deepest impress on the mind and heart of our tool-traveler. From the moment when he landed in Calcutta to the moment when he watched the low coasts of the Ganges delta merge into the horizon far astern, India would not let him alone. He saw poverty such as could scarcely be described, and religious rites the very telling of which might sear the tongue. If China's poor had a certain apathy which seemed like poise, even in their wretchedness, not so India's, but, rather, a ...
— John Wesley, Jr. - The Story of an Experiment • Dan B. Brummitt
... is the terrified disciples. The evening was coming on, and, as often on a lake set among hills, the wind rose as the sun sank behind the high land on the western shore astern. The fishermen disciples were used to such squalls, and, at first, would probably let their sail down, and pull so as to keep the boat's head to the wind. But things grew worse, and when the crazy, undecked craft ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Mark • Alexander Maclaren
... to answer our hail, and invited us aboard. I played the sailor and the man, fending off the skiff so that it would not mar the yacht's white paint, dropping the skiff astern on a long painter, and making the painter fast with two ...
— John Barleycorn • Jack London
... four hundred miles of cable had been laid with success as the messages passing from ship to ship clearly demonstrated. Field, Thomson, and Bright began to believe that their great enterprise was to be crowned with success when the cable broke again, this time about twenty feet astern of the Agamemnon. This time there was no apparent reason for the mishap, the cable having parted without warning when under ...
— Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty • Walter Kellogg Towers
... As land fell astern until it became a thin blue line on the western horizon, and as the Island Princess ran free with the wind full in her sails, I took occasion, while I jumped back and forth in response to the mate's quick orders, to study curiously my shipmates in ...
— The Mutineers • Charles Boardman Hawes
... Loch side, till by came a Highlandman at the gallop, on a tolerably good horse, but which had never known the ornaments of iron or leather. We scorned to be out-galloped by a Highlandman, so off we started, whip and spur. My companions, though seemingly gaily mounted, fell sadly astern; but my old mare, Jenny Geddes, one of the Rosinante family, she strained past the Highlandman in spite of all his efforts with the hair halter: just as I was passing him, Donald wheeled his horse, as if to cross before me to mar my progress, when down came his horse, and threw his rider's ...
— The Letters of Robert Burns • Robert Burns
... storm raged. The provision ship ran full tilt into the sand banks of Sable Island, and was battered into chips before the other ships could come to rescue. All supplies were lost and all the pirate crew perished but sixteen, who jumped into the pinnace dragging astern, and, with only one oar, half punted, half drifted for seven days till the wave wash carried them to the shores of Newfoundland. There they were picked ...
— Canada: the Empire of the North - Being the Romantic Story of the New Dominion's Growth from Colony to Kingdom • Agnes C. Laut
... permitted messages to be transmitted freely. The boat now went to grapple for the cable some way from shore while the ELBA towed a small lateen craft which was to take back the consul to Cagliari some distance on its way. On our return we found the boat had been unsuccessful; she was allowed to drop astern, while we grappled for the cable in the ELBA [without more success]. The coast is a low mountain range covered with brushwood or heather - pools of water and a sandy beach at their feet. I have not yet been ashore, my hands having been very full ...
— Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin • Robert Louis Stevenson
... and drifting. Hoist the jib, and trim in the main-sheet. The boat ceases to rock lazily on the tide. The life of the wind enters into her, and she begins to step over the waves and to cut through them, sending bright showers of spray from her bow, and leaving a swirling, bubbling, foaming wake astern. Were there ever waters so blue, or woods so green, or rocky shores so boldly and variously cut, or mountains so clear in outline and so jewel-like in shifting colors, as these of Mount Desert? Was there ever an air which held a stronger, sweeter cordial, fragrant with ...
— Days Off - And Other Digressions • Henry Van Dyke
... chance," he answered after a moment. "Couldn't have had a better night, though. But it's mighty hard to slip anything over on the dago. If the fog would lift up it would be even shootin' you'd see one of Mascola's outfit trailin' us astern. We've got ...
— El Diablo • Brayton Norton
... board, the little boat is made fast astern, a movement is felt, the screw revolves rapidly and the tug skims along the surface to Back Cup, skirting the ...
— Facing the Flag • Jules Verne
... we saw you meet Sim Johnson on the pier, and we saw you get into the rowboat with your bundle, and we saw the little old man with the gray beard row you out on the stream, and then we saw you all pull up the object you had towing astern, take it into the boat, work over it a while, toss it back, and ...
— The Bradys Beyond Their Depth - The Great Swamp Mystery • Anonymous
... dusk five heavy loads had been brought on board, and the hatches were then replaced, the boats all but one being hoisted to the davits, the other left swinging by its painter from a ring-bolt astern; and from the number of men aboard the boys judged that no one was left at the caves. They noticed too that, contrary to custom, no light was hoisted anywhere about the vessel, and that, though there were lanthorns in the men's cabin forward, and in the captain's aft, ...
— Cormorant Crag - A Tale of the Smuggling Days • George Manville Fenn
... hardy sailors lowered their heads and clung to whatever lay nearest, while Clarke, who was steering, suddenly reeled violently against the bulwark, and recovering himself with a fearful oath seized an oar and thrusting it out astern shouted,— ...
— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin
... the line, and was consequently obliged to make sail, tack, and regain her station in support of the Dolphin, which had then two ships on her, and was also thrown to leeward. The admiral, having now slackened the Dutch admiral's fire, passed ahead of the Buffalo, on which the ships astern closed up to the Buffalo; and the Berwick took the station ahead of the admiral. At thirty-five minutes past eleven, the ships became unmanageable; and, the Dutch dropping to leeward, ...
— Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, Vol. I • Sir John Ross
... piled around the smoke-pipe. There was a party of four Englishmen on board, and, on making their acquaintance, I found one of them to be a friend to some of my friends—Sir John Potter, the progressive ex-Mayor of Manchester. The wind being astern, we ran rapidly along the coast, and in two hours entered the mouth of the Guadalquivir. [This name comes from the Arabic wadi el-kebeer—literally, the Great Valley.] The shores are a dead flat. The right bank is a dreary forest of stunted pines, abounding with deer and other game; on ...
— The Lands of the Saracen - Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and Spain • Bayard Taylor
... faces of the men must have been grey. Their eyes must have glinted in strange ways as they gazed steadily astern. Viewed from a balcony, the whole thing would doubtless have been weirdly picturesque. But the men in the boat had no time to see it, and if they had had leisure there were other things to occupy their minds. The sun swung steadily up the sky, and they knew it was broad day because the color of ...
— Men, Women, and Boats • Stephen Crane
... a signal for the other ships to take possession of her; and, supposing the man of war would likewise strike, we cheered, but she did not; though if we had fired into her, from being so near, we must have taken her. To my utter surprise the Somerset, who was the next ship astern of the Namur, made way likewise; and, thinking they were sure of this French ship, they cheered in the same manner, but still continued to follow us. The French Commodore was about a gun-shot ahead of ...
— The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African - Written By Himself • Olaudah Equiano |
