Bilby, I found another example of the same implied preposition: "...the morning sun showed him the Amiable Catherine of London, homeward-bound... The Catherine had not the slightest wish to speak the Surprise, knowing very well that the frigate might press several of her best hands..." --O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 165
I have been looking around for vacations where you can crew a sailing ship and found a few possibilities. This is definitely something I must do before I die.
Every time I see this word, I think of the one barquentine I've actually seen: the Gazela, which is now with the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild. Beautiful craft. You can take tall ship sailing "classes" on it, which I am sorely tempted to try. :-)
There, the word has always been spelled "barkentine." I think this spelling is more elegant.
No, bilby, I think in this case he was saying that the guy had spoken to the ship, or more specifically to that ship's crew, but in the time period and with these characters "spoken a barquentine" (or schooner for that matter) would have conveyed that meaning. Everything out of their fictional mouths is pretty archaic.
Spoken of a barquentine? But I'm not here to nitpick actually, just to say this a pretty word. Do you know if it was traditionally pronounced -tyne or -teen?
Nice spot c_b.
Bilby, I found another example of the same implied preposition:
"...the morning sun showed him the Amiable Catherine of London, homeward-bound... The Catherine had not the slightest wish to speak the Surprise, knowing very well that the frigate might press several of her best hands..."
--O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 165
Failing that, maybe a Wordie pegleg, in honour of the character from the Gormenghast trilogy.
We could all chip in and buy a Wordie yacht. Or as a coworker said the other day, "I tried yacht.woot.com, but it didn't work".
On the list, is it? :-) I never thought that much about it before now, but it does sound like quite an experience.
I have been looking around for vacations where you can crew a sailing ship and found a few possibilities. This is definitely something I must do before I die.
Every time I see this word, I think of the one barquentine I've actually seen: the Gazela, which is now with the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild. Beautiful craft. You can take tall ship sailing "classes" on it, which I am sorely tempted to try. :-)
There, the word has always been spelled "barkentine." I think this spelling is more elegant.
Should I ever inherit a barquentine, I fully intend to call it "The Fearful Porpentine".
I see what you're suggesting c_b, which is an intriguing grammatical point about the implied preposition.
No, bilby, I think in this case he was saying that the guy had spoken to the ship, or more specifically to that ship's crew, but in the time period and with these characters "spoken a barquentine" (or schooner for that matter) would have conveyed that meaning. Everything out of their fictional mouths is pretty archaic.
I would think "teen," just like brigantine.
Dictionaries tend to agree on teen.
Spoken of a barquentine? But I'm not here to nitpick actually, just to say this a pretty word. Do you know if it was traditionally pronounced -tyne or -teen?
"'What is more he said that you had spoken a barquentine which had touched at Callao...'"
--Patrick O'Brian, Blue at the Mizzen, 237