Through wet eyes she saw sailors crowding the forecastle rail to watch the sea pound the small sloop to wreckage.

Pirates crowded the forecastle rail below, pointing and exclaiming as the shadowy bulk of hills loomed out of the morning mist.

He would borrow another pistol from Captain Llewellyn whose marines were lining the forecastle rails and sometimes leaning outboard to see the distant enemy.

The lieutenant stood at the top of the port forecastle ladder-the starboard ladder was a shattered ruin, like the mast whose broken stump stood ten feet off the deck-clinging to the forecastle rail for support, and the calf of his right leg had been laid open by a splinter as if by a sword.