BeagleRevolution - The Monday Morning Memo

with Pancho Villa

“

… I soon heard that our sails were very bad, and were in danger of being torn in pieces, in which case we should be driven upon the rocky shore. It was very dark, and there was a heavy and incessant rain. The sparks of the burning peat flew so much about, that I dreaded the vessel might take fire. Then, as Coll was a sportman, and had powder on board, I figured that we might be blown up…. As I saw them all busy doing something, I asked Coll, with much earnestness, what I could do. He, with a happy readiness, put into my hand a rope, which was fixed to the top of one of the masts, and told me to hold it till he bade me pull. If I had considered the matter, I might have seen that this could not be of the least service; but his object was to keep me out of the way of those who were busy working the vessel, and at the same time to divert my fear, by employing me, and making me think that I was of use. Thus did I stand firm to my post, while the wind and rain beat upon me, always expecting a call to pull my rope….

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- Samuel Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, (1783 tour, 1785 publication)

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