About this story
Jack Chase, captain of the maintop and the one man aboard whose respect means something, teaches you the ropes and the yard that becomes yours. Resting alone there past your watch one night, you're spotted in the dark and taken for a dead man's ghost, and the crew starts lowering the halyard before anyone checks.
How it opens
At Callao, three years of cruising left you without a coat for the passage around Cape Horn.
Old BrushThe purser has none, and the paint room is locked after too many private repairs.
You cut a white duck shirt into a coat and quilted it with socks and trouser remnants.
Old BrushWhite cloth aloft makes a sailor visible to officers, shipmates, and enemy guns.
Choose
Charge the amount to me and record every brushful.
Let the First Lieutenant see what Cape Horn weather will soak.