"Mizzen" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... press on with the work of rigging the ship, the crossjack, or "crochet" yard being sent up by the aid of the mizzen burton hooked on in front of the top; after which the jack was slung and the trusses fixed on, the spar brought home to the mast, the lifts and braces having been fitted before swaying, as is the case with all the ...
— Crown and Anchor - Under the Pen'ant • John Conroy Hutcheson
... windward, the towering stern of the ship we were pursuing, whose length gradually grew upon me as we overhauled her until she was fairly in view. She was a small ship, and by her build I did not doubt but that she was English; even as I watched, up to her mizzen-peak fluttered the English flag. And hereupon a great yearning came upon me, insomuch that of a sudden her high, weatherbeaten sides, her towering masts and patched canvas grew all blurred ...
— Black Bartlemy's Treasure • Jeffrey Farnol
... struck out away from the spot, impelled by instinct rather than anything else, for I had no time for thought; then directly afterwards up came the masts almost with a bound, as it were, and stood out of the water, with a slight list only to starboard, with the fore, main, and mizzen tops all above water, as well as part of the bowsprit and ensign-staff, with the flag still hoisted to it. Many people were floating about, making for the tops and rigging, several of them terrorstricken, ...
— The Loss of the Royal George • W.H.G. Kingston
... initiation was handed me formally and solemnly. It was a semi-legal florid document, sealed with a bit of rope and tar. It certified that I had crossed the line. The witnesses were "The Mainmast," "The Mizzen Mast," and other inanimate ship's ...
— Tramping on Life - An Autobiographical Narrative • Harry Kemp
... The second ship, with a flag at the foremast, was the Vice-Admiral's. The Admiral was in the centre of the line, which consisted of eleven line of battleships with three tiers of guns, two large frigates, and one large corvette. The Rear-Admiral's flag was at the mizzen of the last ship. We anchored safely in the harbour of Alexandria at 11 A.M. The men-of-war in the harbour were all dressed with flags, and over the houses of the Consuls floated the flags of their several nations. The captain took us on shore in his boat, and at one o'clock ...
— Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume I • Sir Moses Montefiore
... fore a large white flag, inscribed with the words: 'Sailors' Rights and Free Trade,' with the idea, perhaps, that this favourite American motto would damp the energy of the 'Shannon's' men. The 'Shannon' had a Union Jack at the fore, an old rusty blue ensign at the mizzen peak, and two other flags rolled up, ready to be spread if either of these should be shot away. She stood much in need of paint, and her outward appearance hardly inspired much belief in the order and discipline that ...
— The True Story Book • Andrew Lang
... against us, we drifted fast to leeward, and the weather being hazy, we soon lost sight of the ship. Struck our masts, and endeavored to pull; finding our efforts useless, set a reefed foresail and mizzen, and stood towards a country-ship at anchor under the land to leeward of Cabaretta-Point. When within a quarter of a mile of her she weighed and made sail, leaving us in a very critical situation, having ...
— Great Pirate Stories • Various
... no sport in an English court till we come as a ship o' the Line: Till we come as a ship o' the Line, my lads, of thirty foot in the sheer, Lifting again from the outer main with news of a privateer; Flying his pluck at our mizzen-truck for weft of Admiralty, Heaving his head for our dipsey-lead in sign that we keep the sea. Then fore-sheet home as she lifts to the foam — we stand on the outward tack, We are paid in the coin of the white man's trade — ...
— Verses 1889-1896 • Rudyard Kipling
... down the mast. Her decks were full of men, standing in groups under the shade of the sails to leeward; and on the poop were three or four officers in uniform and straw hats. One of these last stood for some time gazing at the brig—one hand resting on the ratlines of the mizzen shrouds, and the other slowly swinging a trumpet backward and forward. Presently an officer with a pair of gleaming epaulets on his shoulders mounted the poop ladder, touched his hat, and waved his hand toward the brig. ...
— Captain Brand of the "Centipede" • H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise
... sea. The wedding-party occupied the whole width of the northern pier, and soon reached a small house situated at its extremity, inhabited by the harbour-master. The wind freshened, and the "Jeune-Hardie" ran swiftly under her topsails, mizzen, brigantine, gallant, and royal. There was evidently rejoicing on board as well as on land. Jean Cornbutte, spy-glass in hand, responded merrily to the questions of ...
— A Winter Amid the Ice - and Other Thrilling Stories • Jules Verne
... They took possession of the forecastle and after-cabin and captured their colors at masthead and quarter, and the white, blue, and orange standard with the arms of Count Mauricio flung at the stern. The main- and mizzen-mast were stripped of all the rigging and sails, and a large boat which the enemy carried on the poop was captured. The enemy, who had retreated to the bows below the harpings, upon seeing two ships attacking ...
— History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2 • Antonio de Morga
... give the wind. Much surprised in so great confidence in a Moro, and all of us being encouraged, he collected in a short time eighteen pesos, and after folding them in a cloth, he tied them to the mizzen-masthead begging the Virgin to fulfil her promise. The fact was that from that day the wind to navigate (little or much) never failed us, until we reached Cochin. That was on January twenty-three, and on entering the bar there, we met a fleet of Malabar pirates who were ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XVII, 1609-1616 • Various
... 38 deg. south, and a little to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, when suddenly one night, when running before a strong gale, she came crushing into ice. The shock was so severe that her fore and main topmasts and mizzen-topgallant masts went by the board, and the foremast-head sprung. The hull was considerably shattered, and the main covering-board split up from forward as far aft as ...
— Notes by the Way in A Sailor's Life • Arthur E. Knights
... Porgie on the deck, To his mate in the mizzen hatch, While the boatswain bold, in the forward hold, Was winding the ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... Although he knew that the Coast Guard vessel was a converted whaler, it had never fixed itself in his mind that the Bear was a sailing vessel with auxiliary steam, and that she was handled as a sailing vessel. Barkentine-rigged, with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft rig on her main and mizzen, Eric found later by experience that her sailing powers were first-class. His delight in the handling of the ship added to his popularity with his brother officers, all of whom, as older men, had been trained in ...
— The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers • Francis Rolt-Wheeler
... pressed onward without noticing the balls, which as yet had not injured hull or sail. But as the chase approached nearer and nearer, the shots began to take effect—a heavy ball made a huge rent in the mizzen-topsail—another dashed in the galley, and a third tore up the companion-way, and still another cut down the fore-topmast, and materially decreased the speed of ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 3 September 1848 • Various
... these several were officers. Warned by the fate of those who had failed to leap on board the Tornado, each of them, as he caught a rope, secured it round his waist; some springing into the main, others into the mizzen-rigging, thus attaining a greater height. Among them Jack observed one who wore a naval uniform, though he had as yet been unable to ...
— The Three Commanders • W.H.G. Kingston
... Island of Cyprus, and the 15. day we were likewise at Sea, and sawe no land: and the 16. day towards night, we looked for land, but we sawe none. But because we supposed our selues to be neere our port, we tooke in all our sailes except onely the foresaile and the mizzen, and so we remained ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, Volume 9 - Asia, Part 2 • Richard Hakluyt
... rose over the tumult, and his boat crashed into the waist of the ship just as Brian leaped up into the mizzen-chains. His feet gained hold on a triced-up port, and as he looked down he saw a swell heave up the two boats, then bring them down ...
— Nuala O'Malley • H. Bedford-Jones
... were clewed up, Newman and I were ordered aloft on the mizzen. The stiffs were useless aloft on such a night, and the fore and main were given the handful of squareheads and ...
— The Blood Ship • Norman Springer
... in a fresh breadth of water, with marshes on either side and a far view of the sea, and there, heaving a little to the flowing tide, and with a sea-gull floating over her mizzen mast, ...
— The Woman Thou Gavest Me - Being the Story of Mary O'Neill • Hall Caine
... relief, which give a lively air to the otherwise sombre and vacant expression, and beneath the cabin-windows is painted the name of the ship, and her port of register. The lower masts of this vessel are short and stout, the top-masts are of great height, the extreme points of the fore and mizzen-royal poles, are adorned with gilt balls, and over all, at the truck of the main sky-sail pole, floats a handsome red burgee, upon which a large G is visible. There are no yards across but the lower and topsail-yards, which are ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various
... Hansel reef, hurled over to such an angle that I could see all the planking of her deck. I recognised her at once as being the same three-masted barque which I had observed in the Channel in the morning, and the Union Jack which was nailed upside down to the jagged slump of her mizzen proclaimed her nationality. ...
— The Mystery of Cloomber • Arthur Conan Doyle
... for replacing the main and mizzen masts of the Neva detained Kruzenstern for five weeks on this island, where he was most cordially received by the ...
— Celebrated Travels and Travellers - Part III. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century • Jules Verne
... delay. The masters were then sent aloft to help the midshipmen unravel the snarl, but they succeeded no better. It was evident enough to all the officers that this confusion could not have been created without an intention to do it. An accident might have happened on the main or the mizzen-mast, but not on every yard on all ...
— Down the Rhine - Young America in Germany • Oliver Optic
... Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the whole length of the backstays. Dick Sand went before or followed him, always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms grew feeble during those exercises. All that benefited little ...
— Dick Sand - A Captain at Fifteen • Jules Verne
... what breeze might come to disturb the flat calm, the Eleanor Jones' main and fore masts were ripped out of her as if by a giant's hand. The crew managed to cut the wreckage away before it had pounded a hole in her side, and with what canvas they could set on the mizzen the captain attempted to drive her before the wind. But naturally enough the ship had no steerage-way and simply revolved in ...
— The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest • Captain Wilbur Lawton
... gave the order. It was the command which each man had been expecting, and which he knew was the thing that should be done. At once they sprang to their work. The main-mast had already been cut loose. Some went to the fore-mast, others to the mizzen. The vast waves rolled on; the sailors guarded as best they could against the rush of each wave, and then sprang in the intervals to their work. It was perilous in the highest degree, but each man felt that his own life and the lives of all the others depended upon the accomplishment ...
— Cord and Creese • James de Mille
... too late, for the vessel had taken the ground, which evidently shoaled up with great abruptness. Her fore, main, and mizzen topmasts snapped like carrots with the sudden check to her speed, and came tumbling down with their attendant wreckage, thus adding to the already great confusion on deck, and, what was worse, killing two men, whom they could ill spare, and badly ...
— Across the Spanish Main - A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood
... crew were all mixed up in a wild, confused mass, trying to scramble into the boats. This was made visible by the lightning flashes at intervals, after which everything would become as black as night. I saw that nothing could be done, so I took my station near the mizzen shrouds, and held on there, waiting for the end. While here I saw a female figure crouching down under the bulwarks and clinging there. Partly out of pity, and partly for the sake of having something to do, I helped her up to her feet, ...
— A Castle in Spain - A Novel • James De Mille
... gone a quarter of a mile, a third and larger vessel came sweeping into view, her two rows of ports showing her to be a line-of-battle ship. Barely was she clear of the land when a string of small flags broke out from her mizzen rigging, and almost as if by magic, the yard arms of all three vessels were alive with men, and royals, top gallants, and mainsails with machine-like precision were dewed up and furled, and each ship, stripped of all but its topsails, rounded ...
— Janice Meredith • Paul Leicester Ford
... them how they harpooned one right whale, and by good luck were able. to make her fast to the stern of the ship. "And, if you will believe me, Miss Fountain, though there was just a breath on and off right aft, and the foresail, jib and mizzen all set to catch it, she towed the ship astern a good cable's length, and the last thing was she broke the harpoon shaft just below the line, and away she swam right in the ...
— Love Me Little, Love Me Long • Charles Reade
... arms together with their accoutrements and a supply of filled cartridges, to the men appointed to use them; place axes and hatchets at hand on the spar-deck for clearing away incumbrances at guns; grapnels in mizzen channels with whips to after-davits and spanker-boom end, to hook up any gear likely to foul the screw. In steam vessels, topgallant masts and rigging ready to be sent down and ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN
... was a short one. The seventy men on board fought bravely, for a minute or two, but they were speedily driven below. The hatches were closed over them, and the cables being already cut, the mizzen topsail, the only sail bent, was hoisted; and the boats, taking towropes, began to row her away ...
— With Clive in India - Or, The Beginnings of an Empire • G. A. Henty
... place lies along north-north-west and south-south-east. By 9 o'clock at night we had got a pretty good offing; but, the wind still increasing, I took in my main topsail, being able to carry no more sail than two courses and the mizzen. At 2 in the morning August 3 it blew very hard, and the sea was much raised; so that I furled all my sails but my mainsail. Though the wind blew so hard we had pretty clear weather till noon: but ...
— A Voyage to New Holland • William Dampier |
