" My dear sir,’ said Jack to Stephen, measuring the Sophie’s increasing speed and the distance that separated her from the embattled cat – in this state of triply intensified vitality he could perfectly well calculate, talk to Stephen and revolve a thousand shifting variables all at once – ‘my dear sir, do you choose to go below or should you rather stay on deck? Perhaps it would divert you to go to into the maintop with a musket, along with the sharpshooters, and have a bang at the villains? "
― Patrick O'Brian , Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin #1)