“You see, boys, de fast packets was crack ships and dere cop’ins was de cream of de crop. Downright embarrassin’ for a cop’in like dot to run aground, and he figured to save de ship owners de salvage fee and his own reputation by refloatin’ her hisself, soon as his carpenter had her patched and her pumps pumped her dry. Your papa give him de facts of de case. De tides dere didn’t rise or fall more’n two, t’ree feet, so even at de flood, dere wasn’t gwan to be enough water to refloat dot big ship. She was gwan to have to be hauled off, with de kedge anchors and winches. And best to get to it right away, ’cause dere was most likely a norther comin’ behind de gale, and den de Annisquam gwan to be takin’ seas on her beam and break her back, for sure. Cop’in Robinson a proud and a pigheaded cop’in and he says such words like he was on to de tricks of us scoundrels and to go to hell.

“Cop’in Cy row on back to Main Chance, and de idea now is we gwan to stand off de wreck till her skipper got some sense in his pighead. We got ninety-t’ree souls on board and dere ain’t room for dot many on Main Chance. We got some of ’em on deck, some in de crew quarters, some even in de cargo holds, and dey all wet and shiverin’. With dot norther fixin’ to come on down, it got chilly for dese parts. All wet and shiverin’, and some of ’em was what dey call d’larious. Dere was one, a preacher from Texas, who kept talkin’ about de Bible story about St. Paul gettin’ saved from shipwreck. Over and over, his teeth chatterin’, till it about to drive us out our heads. Den he shut up at last. He upped and died. Just like dot. Like he got shot. Dere’s a few more look like dey fixin’ to do de same thing directly, and Cop’in Cy was fearful dot he gwan to have him a ship full of dead people by de dawnin’. So back into de longboat he goes and he nails a copy of his wreckin’ license to de side of Annisquam. Dot’s what you do to let other wreckers know you spoke de wreck first. Den we weigh anchor and make sail and take dem folks to de navy hospital on Key West. Middle of de’ night. Took us thirteen hours to make dot seventy mile, ’cause between de gale and de comin’ norther, dere wasn’t much wind.”