Sailors’ Shelter

Вадим КучеренкоSailors’ ShelterDuring that voyage, the ship was pretty battered. The hurricane overtook her halfway out at sea, and during a few days it had bitterly exhausted the whole crew. At times the ship was either almost laying on board, piercing the foamy rolling waves with the flag-pole peak, or was suddenly ascending to the very crest of a giant wave, like Antaeus, torn off by Hercules from the power of the earth that fed him. The shipboards with their holes had been leaking, and the pumps had hardly been pumping out salty water from the hold. Actually, it was just right time to get ready for death putting on clean white shirts, when the hurricane suddenly and absolutely inexplicably had lost interest in them and left somewhere to the East, towards the ocean, twisting its funnels. Instantly, the sea calmed down, the sky cleared of clouds, the sun shone, and after an hour it wo…