ABSTRACT
Many of the men must have been as agile as cats, for they managed to survive even when there was nothing to cushion the fall. On the American ship Zone, the log recorded in matter-of-fact tones that a man named Dett had fallen from aloft and fractured his thigh-"he is subject to fits & while painting the head of the mizen mast took a fit & down he came." The captain did his best to put the leg right, but two weeks later, "Bill's leg got out of place & set it again this forenoon." Mercifully for the reader, Bill's screaming went undescribed.
