By James P. McGuane '64 (Norton)
McGuane,
a fan of Patrick O'Brian's high seas adventure novels, turned
that interest into this documentary/photo essay on sailing life
in the Napoleonic era. Sharp, textured photographs of items recovered
from shipwrecks and studies of Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory
offer a "you are there" view of life on a British Navy ship 200
years ago.
The author's captions, which mix facts with fascinating narrative,
breathe historical life into the relics. Next to a photo of a
hot tar ladle, for instance, he writes: "Sailors have an expression
for a formidable task for which they are ill prepared: 'We've
got the devil to pay and no pitch hot.' Filling a seam with oakum
and tar was called 'paying' the seam. The 'devil' was the last,
outboard plank on the deck; it was difficult to get at and required
a lot of filler. Similarly, when a sailor went overboard he was
'between the devil and the deep blue sea.'"
