The Lively Poll

The Lively Poll: A Tale Of The North Sea
by R.M. Ballantyne
Manx Bradley was an admiral ­“admiral of the fleet” ­though it must be admitted that his personal appearance did not suggest a position so exalted.
With rough pilot coat and sou’-wester, scarred and tarred hands, easy, rolling gait, and boots from heel to hip, with inch-thick soles, like those of a dramatic buccaneer, he bore as little resemblance to the popular idea of a lace-coated, brass-buttoned, cock-hatted admiral as a sea-urchin bears to a cockle-shell.  Nevertheless Manx was a real admiral ­as real as Nelson, and much harder worked.