Read "Driven to Bay, Volume I" by Florence Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The sun shone brightly on the dark, turbid waters of the Indian Docks, making the binnacles sparkle like burnished gold, under the influence of his rays. The Blue Peter floated gaily at the fore royal masthead of the _Pandora_, and all was in readiness to receive the pilot. The decks were cleared up, and the hatches battened down. The anchors were hanging in their tackles, the cables were overhauled over the windlass and ranged along the deck, and innumerable lines and warps were coiled down, all ready to be paid out into the boat.
Punctual to time, a short, dark man in blue uniform stepped aboard, and having exchanged salutations with the captain, took his place upon the bridge and gave the order to ‘Slack away for'ard,' and as the shellbacks tramped around the capstan aft, the _Pandora_ moved slowly away from the quay.