Quotes About Seafaring

In 1518, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan

the rest of his life. An ordinary seaman might attain a modest degree of wealth

remained two days to furnish ourselves with pitch, which is a thing very necessary for ships.

Seafaring is the most suitable occupation they can find to sustain themselves

especially for those born in ports and maritime areas. This sort is the most numerous among mariners

It appears that the charts must have originated with a people unknown; that they were passed on, perhaps by the Minoans (the Sea Kings of ancient Crete) and the Phoenicians, who were for a thousand years and more the greatest sailors of the ancient world. We have evidence that they were collected and studied in the great library of Alexandria and that compilations of them were made by the greographers who worked there.

The days of languorous shore leave are long gone. Overnight stays are unheard of and sailor towns a distant memory. In better ports, seafarers head for a seamen's mission.

As soon as I get a ship that can take to the open seas, I'm going to find and rescue and - if there's any worth in me - marry the only woman in whom I can see both a body and a face, and with whom I need not resign one or the other of my own.

Others may use the ocean as their road; Only the English make it their abode.

As I am sure you know, we seafaring men are a superstitious lot.

I do believe that our modern English usage has become way too clipped and austere. I have been reading excerpts from the journals of 18th-century seafarers lately, and even the lowliest press-ganged deck-swabber turns a finer phrase than I do most days.

Bowditch Ledge astern to the north of them .. .

That and rum and tobacco—and being boys, we were not entitled to the rum. 'Rum, bum and baccy.' And that was why 'bum' was included—that, and not buggery, as the landsmen thought.

And although in many cases these unions proved happy enough, sailors being excellent husbands, often away and handy about the house when ashore, it did make for a curious gathering when the spouses were invited to a ball.

I dare say they are hauling away the cat before hooking on the fish.' Pocock said, 'Perhaps they will stopper with a dog.' Stephen said, 'It is my belief that they have raised a mouse, and that having seized it with a fox they will clap on a lizard.

Stephen, what is the French for a double sister-block, coaked? With a pair of them and a proper hold-fast, I could raise the Temple.' 'A double sister-block, coaked? The Dear alone can tell. I do not even know what it is in English.

The Americans had been kind, polite, hospitable, and their sailors thorough seamen, but they had the strangest notion of coffee: a thin, thin brew - a man might drink himself into a dropsy before the stuff raised his spirits even half a degree.

almighty,' said Killick. 'Stephen, I am going to take a turn,' said Jack, withdrawing from the table in a sly undulatory motion and darting through the door with hunched shoulders. 'Why they call this a crack frigate,' he said, swilling down a glass of water in his sleeping-cabin, 'I cannot for the life of me imagine: not a drop of coffee among two hundred and sixty men.

But there is nothing so tedious as sitting by when two old shipmates are calling out, "Do you remember the three days' blow in the Mona Passage? – Do you remember Wilkins and his timenoguy? – What has happened to old Blodge?

Los vientos y las olas siempre favorecen a los navegantes más hábiles. —EDWARD GIBBON

Scoprì immediatamente che, se manovrava le vele nel modo giusto, l'Albatro tagliava le onde come un coltello bene arrotato. Le corde scricchiolavano piacevolmente e la prora affilata sembrava sibilare, mentre puntava dritta a nord.

Even with the most dependable of refrigeration systems, it is prudent to carry at least 30 days worth of packaged and canned meals on board.

After the Second World War, San Francisco was the main point of re-entry for sailors returning from the Pacific. Out at sea, many of these sailors had picked up amatory habits that were frowned upon back on dry land. So these sailors stayed in San Francisco . . .

My family background was heavily slanted toward business and seafaring matters.