11 September 2008

This is not how you want to die

"The worst fear of a man drifting in the water or clinging to the bottom of an overturned boat was not drowning, but the ever present clouds of albatross, gulls, and petrels that were reputed to swoop in on helpless castaways and batter relentlessly at their heads and hands until exhaustion set in. Once a man was too tired to lift his arms, his scalp and ears would be torn to bits. More than one life belt had been found floating with its ties undone, cast away by a sailor who preferred to slip beneath the waves rather than have an albatross pluck out his eyes."

from The Last Shot: The incredible story of the CSS Shenandoah and the true conclusion of the American Civil War, by Lynn Schooler (Harper Collins, 2005).

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