A Trafalgar Tale

All old sailors like a good yarn. If it’s at the expense of a landsman, so much the better. There’s the tale of the fog out by Newfoundland and how the schooner hit something in the mirk. The next night, clear as a bell, the same crew saw the sea roil and then a hand appeared on the railing and a man hauled himself over. Twelve such men came from the sea. They trimmed the sails and set the sails for Trinity lighthouse, then swung themselves back into the deep. Then there’s the tale of the merman pulled up by a fishing boat. The ship had locked its anchor into his home, said the merman, and would they mind pulling it out? A house made of seashells and thatched with seaweed! But sometimes the landsman has a tale to tell. Richard Francis Roberts was a young midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar, who left the sea not long after that, with a tale to tell for the rest of his life.