Read the following extract from the
diary of a ship’s captain:
12th June, 1812
It is with an overwhelming sense of
foreboding that I gaze out over the ocean this morning. And it is not just I; I
can almost taste the disquiet among the crew. For my own part, I must remain stern
of visage, for should they intuit even the minutest suggestion of apprehension,
there will surely be mutiny. Mallard, for one, has eyes for the captain’s
chair, and I’ll wager that he has at least a third of the men in his pocket,
having promised them goodness alone knows what sort recompense for their
loyalty. The first sign of weakness from me and he’ll pounce like a cobra; an
apt analogy given that his abundant snake-like tendencies have been in evidence
since we left Southampton.
And
so I must remain stoic, even in the face of these gravest of odds; the enemy
outnumber us by at least three ships to one, and their firepower is far more prodigious
than ours. The reports are that they decimated the Portuguese Armada in but a
matter of hours and there is no question that we will be David to their
Goliath. But David defeated Goliath, not with brute force, but with shrewdness
and speed of thought. There in lies our greatest hope, and it is this hope to
which we must cling, as we cling to the rigging in a storm, lashed by the waves
and the wind, but with an iron grip and an iron will.
Now re-write the entry in your own
words. If there are any words you don’t understand, look them up. The first two
sentences have been done for you as an example:
I am very nervous as I look out over the sea this
morning. And it’s not just me; the crew are so unsettled I can almost taste it.
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