Ch 7: Shipmates

[tootsiemuppet]

Don't forget your old shipmate!

Your old shipmate. Don't forget him.

'Yes, sir so I took the liberty of reducing sail' 
It was an extraordinary breach of discipline. But Dillon knew that as well as he did: there was no good purpose to be served in telling him of it publicly.
'Whose watch, is it at present?'
'Mine, sir,' said the master. He spoke

Comments

The crew and the owl

[esteven]

'And think of our poor doctor, all alone among them damned trees - why, there might be owls.
While that remark shows how the crew cherish their doctor (and makes me break up every time I read it), can someone please explain why owls are considered ferocious and dangerous to Stephen?

Re: The crew and the owl

[tootsiemuppet]

Oh, and this: "they put him down tenderly, well above the high-water mark, adjured him to take care of all them nasty sticks laying about". :D

Anything would be dangerous to Stephen. ;D

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

They already have the measure of him as the complete landlubber who cannot be let out of sight.

Re: The crew and the owl

[snakey]

You want to watch out for sticks. Can't trust 'em. Shifty buggers.

Re: The crew and the owl

[tree_and_leaf]

Owls are sometimes considered unlucky/ uncanny, I believe. Though I can't say I see it myself.

Re: The crew and the owl

[tootsiemuppet]

Giant eyes! They do the Exorcist thing with their heads! They live a vampiric existence!

;)

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

Do they now? Since they are animals, they would probably snuggle up to Stephen.

Re: The crew and the owl

[snakey]

They're omens of death! And associated with ghosts! - just the kind of thing "the hands" would be superstitious about... ;)

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

Oh yes, that's a likely explanation. I tend to associate owls with wisdom, that's probably why I did not think of them as harbingers of doom.

Re: The crew and the owl

[snakey]

You're obviously more Greek than Roman. :D

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

What do you think when Mary Renault is one of my favourite writer of romance?
;D

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

I hadn't considered this. In any way they are very protective of their doctor. ;D

Re: The crew and the owl

[sharpiefan]

Owls are supposed to be harbingers of doom and death. And sailors are notoriously superstitious...

(At least, that's how I read it...)

Re: The crew and the owl

[esteven]

It's a likely explanation. I had mainly considered owls to be a sign of wisdom, but maybe I am thinking too greek. ;D