George Manville Fenn
"Syd Belton"
Chapter One.
The boy who would not go to sea.
“Here you, Syd, pass the port.”
Sydney Belton took hold of the silver decanter-stand and slid it carefully along the polished mahogany table towards where Admiral Belton sat back in his chair.
“Avast!”
The ruddy-faced old gentleman roared out that adjuration in so thunderous a way that the good-looking boy who was passing the decanter started and nearly turned it over.