"Woods, Stuart - Run Before The Wind" - читать интересную книгу автора (Woods Stuart)

speed, tore at their clothes. Martindale's cap went overboard.

The two men watched as the Bywntium inched into her turn.

Suddenly the yacht shot across her bows with less than thirty feet to
spare. Then, in the lee of the big ship, she stopped sailing and
drifted quickly toward the tanker.

"We're sucking her into us, sir," Martindale shouted over the wind. He
watched in horror as the boat came closer and closer, then, suddenly,
they were past her. Martindale got a good look down into the boat's
cockpit as she went by.

"What the hell is the matter with her crew?" demanded the captain.

"She's a single hander sir," Martindale replied, pointing at her
stern.

"See the wind vane self-steering gear? There's a number on her hull,
too, sir. She's part of the singlehanded transatlantic race that
started from England last week. Shall I order all stop, sir?"

The captain brushed past him, clutching at his robe in the wind,
heading for the bridge.

"What the hell for? We missed her. Log it and report her to Lloyds.
I'm going back to bed."

Martindale raced to catch up with him.

"Excuse me, sir, but our high frequency radio telephone is still down,
so we can't report her until Sparks sorts that out. If the yacht's
skipper were able, he'd have responded to our horn. He could be ill,
and .. He stopped himself short of gratuitously telling his captain
that his first duty was to render assistance to another vessel in an
emergency at sea.

The captain stopped and scratched his backside angrily. He shot a look
at Martindale.

"If I stop this ship unnecessarily the Greek gentleman will have my
balls for breakfast."

"I'm sure you'd be protected in the circumstances, sir. And anyway,
there's the possibility of salvage. I reckon she's close to sixty
feet. She'd be worth a lot."

"You know bloody well we don't have a crane that could put her on deck,
Mr. Martindale." The captain's eyebrows went up.