We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.
A young sailor boy came to see me today. It pleases me to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and tell me how much they have learned about navigation.
Seamen have a custom, when they meet a whale, to fling him out an empty tub by way of amusement, to divert him from laying violent hands upon the ship.
My father was the captain of a cargo ship. When I was about two years old, we used to sail with him. The crew of his ship would dress me up in fancy dress and make me dance for them. I was a performing monkey!
My Cape women are generally true to type - big hearted, motherly women who love the sea. My other characters, with the exception of the Portuguese, who I occasionally mention as Cape dwellers, are obviously drawn from the city types one sees in everyday life.
the anchor man thrown overboard has simply rooted us in history's repeating cycle
Skeptical of strangers, lobstermen are keepers of secrets, working in the howling wind and hot sun, the icy snows, and bewildering fog. When I was growing up, the lore was that they had the right to shoot anyone who messed with their traps.
Dwellers by the sea are generally superstitious; sailors always are. There is something in the illimitable expanse of sky and water that dilates the imagination.
It's an old sailor's idea that every ship has a rope with one end made fast to her bows and the other held by the loved ones at home.
When you grow up on an island, what matters is how you stand to the sea.
My father used to be a fisherman, so it always makes me feel close to him when I am there on the water catching my dinner.
If you've ever been in a bar with a bunch of old sailors and see a guy that has an eagle tattooed across his chest, that guy has seen some stuff.
