Quotation from: Elsinore

Written by: Jack London

It was the changing of the watches, and Mr. Mellaire, who had come on
the poop to relieve the mate, stood beside me.

"One of the nastiest pieces of water in the world," he concurred.
"Eighteen years ago the Plate gave it to me--lost half our sticks,
twenty hours on our beam-ends, cargo shifted, and foundered. I was
two days in the boat before an English tramp picked us up. And none
of the other boats ever was picked up."