Old Jack [Comprising the Early Life of Old Jack and Old Jack, a Man-Of-War's Man]. by William.. details from sapnaonline

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1861 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: GIBRALTAR. 205 CHAPTER IX. A SHIP WITHOUT A CREW. We touched at Gibraltar, that the captain might obtain information as to the ports he was to call at . Smyrna, we found, was to be our ultimate destination. He gave notice of the attack made on us by the pirate, and a brig of war was sent to look out for her. I shall have a good deal more to say about our turbaned friends by-and-by. Gibraltar I thought a wonderful place, with the face of its high rock, which stands out into the sea, cut full of galleries, and ports with heavy guns grinning from them in every direction. Of course seamen foreward very often do not know at what port the ship is to touch, or whereabouts they are. Such was my case, -- I had never seen a chart of the Mediterranean. The first definite notion I got of it was from Peter, who afterwards drew one for me with a piece of chalk on the lid of his chest. I only knew that we were steering towards the east, and that we were likely to see several strange places, and many strange people. Some time after leaving Gibraltar, I had just come on deck one night to keep my watch, when out of the diirk ocean, as it seemed, I saw a bright light burst forth, and blaze up into the sky. I thought some ship must have blown up, but the light continued, and grew 206 VOLCANOES. stronger and stronger, and reached higher and higher. The fire seemed to spout out, and then to fall in a shower on every side, something like the branches of a weeping-ash, or some wide-spreading tree . The ship was standing towards it, and I thought we should certainly be burned. " Oh, Peter Peter " I exclaimed, " what ...