"Er, the plane o' the equator when projected fr'm the centre on to a tangent plane becomes a straight line—"

"Thank you. The workings of an azimuth altitude will be familiar enough to you, no doubt—then clarify for me the correction of the right ascension of the mean sun, if you please."

Kydd struggled, but could see frowns settling, glances exchanged. Failure was now more than a possibility and a cold dread stole over him. If only they would ask—

"Mr Kydd, you are aboard a two-decker." It was Essington, leaning forward. Kydd shifted position to face him directly. There was no trace of compassion in the man's eyes. "Shall we say in the Caribbean? You are scudding before a regular-going hurricane and you sight land—dead to loo'ard. You throw out both bowers." The other commissioners looked at Essington with curiosity. "They carry away, one after the other. Only a sheet anchor is left to you to prevent the ship being cast ashore. Detail your actions, if you will, sir, to forestall a wreck and grievous loss of life." He leaned back, unnerving Kydd with his stare. His fellow captains held back in surprise as Essington finished acidly, "And shall we have a coral bottom?"

Kydd cast about for something to say, the right action to take in such an extreme situation—but then it dawned on him: he had been in exactly this plight in the old Trajan, and himself had been the one to pass keckling to preserve their last anchor, called as lee helmsman by the master himself. "Aye, sir," he said crisply. "First we need t' ride out the blow. A coral bottom means we'll have to pass a deal of keckling aroun' the first two or three fathom of cable above the anchor clinch, and then . . ." Those desperate hours off the unknown island were burned into his consciousness: that endless night, the screaming hurricane, the cold dawn and the fearful danger of their action in clawing off. It steadied him, the simple recounting of fine seamanship. "But to make an offing will be hard, an' we must wait f'r the wind to shift a point or two, but then we must take our chance, and only one chance it is. Show small canvas, and at th' right time cut the cable an' run f'r the open sea."