{"product_id":"2940012709998","title":"\"Pig-Headed\" Sailor Men","description":"Crossing from Holyhead to Ireland one night the captain of the steamer and myself, during an hour's talk on the bridge, found that we each had sailed in a certain Australian coasting steamer more than twenty years before--he as chief officer and I as passenger; and her shipwreck one Christmas Eye (long after), which was attended by an appalling loss of life, led us to talk of \"pig-headed\" skippers generally. His experiences were large, and some of his stories were terrible even to hear, others were grotesquely humorous, and the memory of that particularly pleasant passage across a sea as smooth as a mill pond, has impelled me to retell some of the incidents I related to him of my own adventures with obstinate, self-willed, or incapable captains.\u003cbr\u003eMy first experience was with a gentleman of the \"incapable\" variety, and befell me when I was quite a lad. I had taken my passage in a very smart little Sydney (N.S.W.) barque bound for Samoa via the Friendly Islands. She was commanded by a Captain Rosser, who had sailed her for nearly twenty years in the South Sea trade, and who was justly regarded as the doyen of island skippers. He was a \"Bluenose,\" stood six feet two in his stockinged feet, and was a man of the most determined courage, unflinching resolution, and was widely known and respected by the white traders and the natives all over the South Pacific.","brand":"New Century Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47168355696880,"sku":"2940012709998","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012709998_p0.jpg?v=1763572034","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012709998","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}