'Tell me, Jack, just how would you explain the term battened down?'
A piercing look showed Jack that although this was almost past believing he was not in fact being made game of, and he replied 'First I should say that we talk very loosely about hatches, often meaning hatchways and even ladderways - "he came up the fore hatch" - which of course ain't hatches at all. The real hatches are the things that cover the hatchways: gratings and close-hatches. Now as you know very well, when a great deal of water comes aboard either from the sea or the sky or both, we cover those real hatches with tarpaulins.'
'I believe I have seen it done,' said Stephen.
'Not above five thousand times,' said Jack inwardly.
-Clarissa Oakes, Patrick O'Brian
















