Not the room of three people, I tell you! But no one would want to pack
a boat like a sardine-box. There must be room enough to handle the oars.
But in that old ship's boat, even if she had been desperately
overcrowded, there was power (manageable by two riverside youngsters) to
get away quickly from a ship's side (very important for your safety and
to make room for other boats), the power to keep her easily head to sea,
the power to move at five to seven knots towards a rescuing ship, the
power to come safely alongside. And all that in an engine which did not
take up the room of three people.
A poor boatman who had to scrape together painfully the few sovereigns of
the price had the idea of putting that engine into his boat. But all
these designers, directors, managers, constructors, and others whom we
may include in the generic name of Yamsi, never thought of it for the
boats of the biggest tank on earth, or rather on sea. And therefore they
assume an air of impatient superiority and make objections--however sick
at heart they may be. And I hope they are; at least, as much as a grocer
who has sold a tin of imperfect salmon which destroyed only half a dozen
people.
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