Chapter TwentyGREENLAND SEA
JULY 1914
It was with a happy heart that the good Odysseus spread his sail to catch the wind and used his seamanship to keep his boat straight with the steering-oar
Homer
The gale hit us ten minutes later, shrieking out of the north like the Ride of the Valkyries and hammering at the sails as if determined to rip them from the masts. But Captain Milne was a superb seaman and had everything trussed up securely, so that Lady Balgay merely shuddered beneath the assault and held on, her reinforced hull crashing through the waves and her stern rising to meet the storm as if she had been born to occasions such as this.
'Lift to them, old lady, up my bonnie lass!' Standing by the helm, Captain Milne patted the taffrail. 'That's the way, my darling.'
'Aye, Her Lad
