And “shiver my timbers,” and other odd phrases
Employed by old pilots with hard-featured faces;
Of the expletives sea-faring gentlemen use,—
The allusions they make to the eyes of their crews.
Ingoldsby.
The Haabet did not sail that night, which indeed was hardly possible, her Captain being employed in dancing, and making love, and singing, in the words of Karl Bellman,—
“Awake, Amaryllis! my dearest, awaken,—
Let me not go to sea by my true love forsaken,—
Our course among dolphins and mermaids is taken:
Onwards shall paddle our boat to the sea.”