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The Ocean Waifs

by Thomas Mayne REID (1818 - 1883)

The Flashing of Lightning

"The “vulture of the sea,” borne upon broad wing, and wandering over the wide Atlantic, suddenly suspends his flight to look down upon an object that has attracted his attention. It is a raft, with a disc not much larger than a dining-table, constructed out of two small spars of a ship,—the dolphin-striker and spritsail yard,—with two broad planks and some narrower ones lashed crosswise, and over all two or three pieces of sail-cloth carelessly spread." So begins this adventure, both on land and on sea! (Summary adapted from chapter 1)

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Listen next episodes of The Ocean Waifs:
A Challenge Declined , A Cheering Cup , A Chest at Sea , A Crew of Cannibals , A Curious Cuisine , A Dangerous Equilibrium , A Double Darkness , A Duel to the Death , A Foul Deed Done in a Fog , A Harpoon Well Handled , A Light! , A Lookout from Aloft , A Madman in Mid-ocean , A Phantom Ship or a Ship on Fire? , A Ring Performance , A 'School' of Sperm-Whales , A Startling Shriek , A Threatened Storm , A Thrust Through and Through , A Whale on Fire! , A Whaler 'Trying Out' , A Whispered Conspiracy , Aboard the Body of a Whale , An Assembly of Sharks , An Awkward Grip , An Improvised Life-Preserver , An Informal Inquest , An Unexpected Termination , An Unlooked-for Deliverance , Angling the Albacore , Between Two Tyrants , Boarding the Boat , Conjectures about the Catamaran , Cut in Twain , Dousing the Glim , Down the Wind , Face to Face , Gloomy Prospects , Hate Against Hate , Is It Land? , Launching the Life-Preserver , Le Gros on Trial , Little William and Lilly Lalee , Nearer and Nearer , One More Aboard , 'Overboard!' , Reconstructing the Raft , Refitting the Raft , Saved! , Ship Ahoy! , Slipping the Cable , Snowball Making a Somersault , Snowball Sees Land , Suspicious Sounds , Thanksgiving , The Albacores , The Big Raft , The Catamaran , The Catamaran Abandoned , The Chase , The Chase of the Catamaran , The Darkest Hour , The End of the 'Yarn' , The Frigate-Bird , The Insane Swimmer , The King of the Cannibal Islands , The Lottery of Life and Death , The Rafts en Rapport , The Sail out of Sight , The Sword-Fish , The Swordsman of the Sea , The Thick Waters , The Zygaena , To the Oars , Too Late! , Towards the Beacon! , Unpleasant Conjectures , Very Like a Whale , Waiting for Death , Worse Off Than Ever