"Topgallant" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... fresh gales and hazy weather; saw a seal and several pieces of weed. At noon, latitude 51 deg. 12', longitude 173 deg. 17' W. The wind veered to the N. and N.E. by N., blew a strong gale by squalls, which split an old topgallant sail, and obliged us to double-reef the top-sails; but in the evening the wind moderated, and veered to W.N.W., when we loosed a reef out of each top-sail; and found the variation of the compass to be 9 deg. 52' E., being then in the latitude ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 14 • Robert Kerr
... the late highly respected and admired Marine Superintendent of the British Meteorological Office, has told us how, during a cyclone which he rode out in the HOTSPUR at Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly, the three naked topgallant-masts of his ship, though of well-tested timber a foot in diameter, and supported by all the usual network of stays, and without the yards, were snapped off and carried away solely by the violence of the wind. It must, of course, ...
— The Cruise of the Cachalot - Round the World After Sperm Whales • Frank T. Bullen
... floating about." Cape Bauer, after the Botanical Draftsman of the Investigator. Point Westall, after the painter. Olive Island, after the ship's clerk. Cape Radstock, after Admiral Lord Radstock. Waldegrave Isles. Topgallant Isles. Anxious Bay, "from the night we passed in it." Investigator Group. Pearson's Island, after Flinders' brother-in-law. Ward's Island, after his mother's maiden name. Flinders' Island, after Lieutenant S.W. Flinders. Cape (now Point) Drummond, after Captain Adam Drummond, ...
— The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders • Ernest Scott
... of a heavier gasp of the squall, the topgallant masts went, and the small loss of of top-weight seemed momentarily to ease her. Kettle seized upon the moment. He left the trimmer and one of the Portuguese at the wheel, and handed himself along the streaming ...
— A Master of Fortune • Cutcliffe Hyne
... being willing to assist the three honest men, he gave them the horse for the carrying their baggage; also, for a small matter of three days' work that his man did for him before he went, he let him have an old topgallant sail[194] that was worn out, but was sufficient, and more than enough, to make a very good tent. The soldier showed how to shape it, and they soon, by his direction, made their tent, and fitted it with poles or staves for the purpose: and thus they were furnished for their journey; viz., three ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe
... replied the wretch, 'and put his head at the main topgallant masthead—and we will put the first-mate's head at the mizzen, and the boatswain's at the fore. The other convicts who are not with us in the matter we shall put on shore at some island, and leave them to shift for themselves, they are worth nothing. ...
— Susan - A Story for Children • Amy Walton
... Before breakfast-time he was shaking his sides at the sight of seven hundred-odd Johnnies vainly spreading and trimming more canvas to catch up their lee-way (for at first the lazy dogs had barely unreefed courses after the gale, and still had their topgallant masts housed). Likely enough they had work on hand more important than chasing a small lugger all day; for at seven o'clock they gave up and stood away to the south-east, and left the Unity free to head back homeward on her ...
— The Laird's Luck • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... young brave," cried the captain, slapping his favorite boy on the shoulder, "you are worth a dozen such girl-boys as your brother. Let him be a kitten and cry mew, if he will, while you climb the topgallant-mast and make ...
— Ernest Linwood - or, The Inner Life of the Author • Caroline Lee Hentz
... and the dark began to fall. "All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call. "By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate, Jackson, cried. . . . "It's the one way or the other, Mr. ...
— Ballads • Robert Louis Stevenson
... which not producing the desired effect, orders were given to stave the water in her hold and pump it out, throw overboard the lumber and heavy articles of every kind, cut away the anchors... and throw over all the guns, except a few for our defence.... As a last resource the foremast and main-topgallant mast were cut away, but without any beneficial effect, and the ship remained a perfect wreck, exposed to the constant fire of the gunboats, which could not ...
— Jefferson and his Colleagues - A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty, Volume 15 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Allen Johnson
... deafening. Hundreds of tons of water crashed against the schooner's sides and poured over her stern. The sea clawed at her hull as though to tear it in pieces. Tatters of foam and spindrift swept over the deck and dashed as high as the topgallant yards. The spray was blinding and hid one end of the ...
— Doubloons—and the Girl • John Maxwell Forbes
... I'm inclined to agree with you, Ready; so we must send topgallant yards down on deck, and all the small sails and lumber out of the tops. Get the trysail aft and bent, and lower down the gaff. ...
— Masterman Ready • Captain Marryat
... the gale still continued, and when the day broke, there was the frigate standing across our bows, rolling and pitching, as she tore her way through the boiling sea, under a close—reefed main—topsail and reefed foresail, with topgallant—yards and royal masts, and every thing that could be struck with safety in war time, down on deck. There she lay with her clear black bends, and bright white streaks and long tier of cannon on the maindeck, and the carronades on the quarterdeck and forecastle grinning through the ports ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... to close reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the midshipmen being on the yards as well as the men, and the captain, when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for the purpose of making it quiet, and the ...
— The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth • Edward Osler
... the purpose of performing his duty more expeditiously and effectually; and indeed he had nearly succeeded in getting rid of it altogether, had it not been for the promptness of a forecastle man, who seizing a bucket of water, opportunely standing near him on the topgallant forecastle, dashed it down the funnel, preventing the flames from communicating with the foresail, and ...
— Kathay: A Cruise in the China Seas • W. Hastings Macaulay
... this while, was Mark Steuart, the sailor? Half-way up the cliffs. But his eyes had got dim, and his head dizzy, and his heart sick—and he who had so often reefed the topgallant-sail, when at midnight the coming of the gale was heard afar, covered his face with his hands, and dared look no longer on the swimming heights. "And who will take care of my poor bedridden mother?" ...
— Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2 • John Wilson
... success, they received the return of a general discharge from the enemy. The confusion of the moment probably prevented much care in their direction, and though under the fire of nearly a hundred pieces for half an hour, the only shot which struck the ketch was one through the topgallant sail. We were in greater danger from the Philadelphia, whose broadsides commanded the passage by which we were retreating, and whose guns were loaded, and discharged as they became heated. We escaped these also, and while urging the ketch onwards with sweeps, the crew were commenting ...
— The Story of the Barbary Corsairs • Stanley Lane-Poole
... sailors to teach me the various details of my duty, and I soon learnt to give things their right names, to tie knots, and to climb about the rigging too, though I did not manage that, the first time, without being horribly frightened. I remember, when I got as far as the topgallant crosstrees, clinging on, and not daring to come down till I was driven to it by the jeers of the on-lookers. But I learnt most of all by observation, and from the outset I had that indescribable thing that nobody can teach another, the seafaring instinct. Our cruise was a pleasant one, ...
— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville
... against the rapids of Hoy Sound, with the wind on her starboard quarter, and as we got nearer her I could see the extent of the damage she had sustained in the late storm. She had lost her fore and main topgallant masts, and her port bulwarks were stove in. The quarter boat was missing and ...
— The Pilots of Pomona • Robert Leighton
... run past him. He could almost distinguish the people on her deck. He shouted, fancying that his feeble voice would be borne over the water towards her. Presently he saw the hitherto full canvas flap against the masts; her courses, and her topsails, and topgallant sails hung down uselessly; the breeze which had hitherto fanned ...
— The History of Little Peter, the Ship Boy • W.H.G. Kingston
... over this job I really do not know; but I do know that at the time it seemed as though it never would come to an end. First of all I had the rollers to make from another topgallant mast that I got down, and when these were finished I had to go at the frame of the cradle with a pair of jack-screws and raise it, by fractions of an inch, until I could get my rollers under it one at a time. I ...
— In the Sargasso Sea - A Novel • Thomas A. Janvier
... deadeyes in, Not UP, as in the ancient way, But downwards, like a cutter's stay— You didn't oughter; Besides, in seizing shrouds on board, Breast backstays you have quite ignored; Great RODNEY kept unto the last Breast backstays on topgallant mast— They make ...
— More Bab Ballads • W. S. Gilbert |
