Hmm! He says 'it is evidently the work of a seaman' but the first verse mentions 'when it was blowing a devil of a gale, with our ringtail set abaft the mizzen peak'. Now I thought that a ringtail was an extension to the driver or spanker sail used in light winds (a studding sail - or stuns'l). So is the captain ordering the ringtail taken in or what?