Well, Mr. Whips WAS extremely near-sighted. The First Mate came down into the Oar Room once and Mr. Whips flogged him into place. Man rowed all night before Mr. Whips went to get some coffee and the Captain dared to come in and release him. He carried a forty-four foot long whip made from the forty-four foot long pizzle of a bull and could flick a fleck offen the wings of flea forty feet away with it. 'Course, he couldn't see more'n three inches beyond the end of his ruby red probocis. We got him in a poker game one day and cleaned him. It was my cut of that money that allowed me to take the bus from Douglas Island to the Baranof Hotel for tea with Vitus Bering and Ferdy Magellan. But if I told you that story you'd think I was lyin'.