評論
打印
though of a still, sleepy night, should the officer of the deck happen to forget his duty in that respect, theprobability would be that he and his shipmates would never again remember it, on account of all hands gently subsiding to the bottom. Nor in the solitary and savage seas far from you to the westward, gentlemen, is it altogether unusual for ships to keep clanging at their pump-handles in full chorus even for a voyage of considerable length! that is, if it lie along a tolerably accessible coast, or if any other reasonable retreat is afforded them. It is only when a leaky vessel is in some very out of the way part of those waters, some really landless latitude, that her captain begins to feel a little anxious.
而且夜間靜寂想睡，也許甲板上的頭目恰巧在這方面忘記了自己的職守，也可能是他跟那些水手從此再也不會記起這件事了，因為大家都慢慢地沉到海底去了。就是在隔開你們很遠的那些西部的荒僻的海洋上，諸位先生，甚至那些航程相當長的船只，他們的幫浦柄也不完全會經常一起克朗克朗響！就是說，如果船只是擱在一個相當過得去的海上，或者是有其他適當的避難所的話。一艘漏船只有確實是在前不靠山，后不著陸的那種海面上，它的船長才會開始感到有點焦急。
"Much this way had it been with the Town-Ho; so when her leak was found gaining once more, there was in truth some small concern manifested by several of her company; especially by Radney the mate. He commanded the uppersails to be well hoisted, sheeted home anew, and every way expanded to the breeze. Now this Radney, I suppose,was as little of a coward, and as little inclined to any sort of nervous apprehensiveness touching his own person as any fearless, unthinking creature on land or on sea that you can conveniently imagine, gentlemen. Therefore when he betrayed this imagine, solicitude about the safety of the ship, some of the seamen declared that it was only on account of his being a part owner in her.
"‘大鯨出來了號’，當時就是這般情況。因此，等到它發現那漏洞又大起來了的時候，有幾個船員確實有點擔心起來了，尤其是那位大副拉德尼。他命令好好扯起上帆，重新用帆腳索扣住風帆，使它們盡量吃住風。且說這個拉德尼，我認為就他本人說來，正如各位可想而知的那種陸上或者海上的無所畏懼、不動腦筋的人物一樣，他一點也不是個懦夫，一點也不是那種謹小慎微患得患失的人物。因此，在他對這艘船的安全表現得很關心的時候，有些水手就說，這只是因為他也是這艘船的股東老板之一的緣故。
