Explore "Captain Chap" by Frank R. Stockton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When Chap's boat dashed into that of the countess, it struck the latter craft on one side, near the stern, crashing into her as if she had been an earthen pot. The water would have instantly rushed in had not this broken side been lifted in the air by the violence of the shock, turning the countess and her woman into the water as neatly as if they had been slipped out of a ladle.
One of the oarsmen also went overboard, but the other one sprang to his feet at the moment of collision, and jumped on Chap's boat.