Read "The Phantom Ship" by Frederick Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The fleet under Admiral Rymelandt's command was ordered to proceed to the East Indies by the western route, through the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean -- it being still imagined, notwithstanding previous failures, that this route offered facilities which might shorten the passage of the Spice Islands.
The vessels composing the fleet were the _Lion_ of forty-four guns, bearing the Admiral's flag; the _Dort_ of thirty-six guns, with the Commodore's pendant -- to which Philip was appointed; the _Zuyder Zee_ of twenty; the _Young Frau_ of twelve, and a ketch of four guns, called the _Schevelling_.