Posted by Robert Dilley on September 14, 1998 at 17:51:44:
I'm currently reading "Peter Duck" out loud each evening to my crew, and an interesting point struck us. Captain Flint is very proud of the fact that the Wild Cat's ballast consists of fresh water in tanks. However, on the voyage 87 tanks are consumed. Wouldn't this make the ship top-heavy (or, more precisely, bottom-light)? They did not re-fill the tanks with sea water (probably not a good idea, anyway) as it is specified that on arrival at Crab Island the tanks were empty. Any deep-water sailors got any views on that?
Another small point: where did the dinghy in which Bill was put come from? The Viper's dinghy was sunk by the Wild Cat's anchor. Surely Black Jake wasn't so prudent as to have two dinghies? Maybe he stole one from another boat before leaving Lowestoft!