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 Captain Sharkey, of the 20-gun pirate barque, Happy Delivery, had passed down the coast, and had littered it with gutted vessels and with murdered men. Dreadful anecdotes were current of his grim pleasantries and of his inflexible ferocity. From the Bahamas to the Main his coal-black barque, with the ambiguous name, had been freighted with death and many things which are worse than death. So nervous was Captain Scarrow, with his new full-rigged ship and her full and valuable lading, that he struck out to the west as far as Bird’s Island to be out of the usual track of commerce. And yet even in those solitary waters he had been unable to shake off sinister traces of Captain Sharkey.

      One morning they had raised a single skiff (однажды утром они подобрали: «подняли» одинокий ялик) adrift upon the face of the ocean (плывший по воле волн: «дрейфовавший по поверхности океана»; adrift – по течению; по воле волн; to go adrift – дрейфовать; drift – дрейф; face – лицо; поверхность). Its only occupant was a delirious seaman (единственным его пассажиром: «обитателем» был находящийся в бреду моряк; delirious – находящийся в бреду; delirium – делирий, бред, расстройство сознания /сопровождаемое галлюцинациями/), who yelled hoarsely as they hoisted him aboard (который хрипло кричал, когда его поднимали на борт), and showed a dried-up tongue like a black and wrinkled fungus at the back of his mouth (демонстрируя: «показывая» в глубине рта высохший язык, похожий на черный сморщенный гриб; back – задняя часть). Water and nursing soon transformed him into the strongest and smartest sailor on the ship (вода и хорошее питание вскоре превратили: «преобразовали» его в самого сильного и проворного матроса на корабле; smart – умный, сообразительный; проворный, расторопный). He was from Marblehead, in New England, it seemed (он, кажется, был из Марблхеда в Новой Англии; to seem – казаться, представляться), and was the sole survivor of a schooner (и оказался единственным, кто выжил из /всей команды/ шхуны; to survive – выжить) which had been scuttled by the dreadful Sharkey (затопленной ужасным Шарки; to scuttle – затопить судно /открыв кингстоны или пробив отверстия в обшивке/).

 One morning they had raised a single skiff adrift upon the face of the ocean. Its only occupant was a delirious seaman, who yelled hoarsely as they hoisted him aboard, and showed a dried-up tongue like a black and wrinkled fungus at the back of his mouth. Water and nursing soon transformed him into the strongest and smartest sailor on the ship. He was from Marblehead, in New England, it seemed, and was the sole survivor of a schooner which had been scuttled by the dreadful Sharkey.

      For a week Hiram Evanson, for that was his name (/целую/ неделю Хайрема Эвансона, а именно таким оказалось его имя), had been adrift beneath a tropical sun (носило под тропическим солнцем; adrift – плывущий по течению). Sharkey had ordered the mangled remains of his late captain to be thrown into the boat (Шарки приказал бросить в шлюпку истерзанные останки его убитого капитана; late – поздний; покойный, недавно умерший; to throw), “as provisions for the voyage (в качестве пропитания на время плавания; provisions – запасы провианта),” but the seaman had at once committed them to the deep (но моряк тут же предал их пучине; to commit – вверять /кого-л./что-л. кому-л./; deep – глубина; морская пучина; to commit to the deep – похоронить в пучине моря), lest the temptation should be more than he could bear (чтобы искушение не оказалось слишком велико: «как бы искушение не оказалось более того, что он мог вынести»).

 For a week Hiram Evanson, for that was his name, had been adrift beneath a tropical sun. Sharkey had ordered the mangled remains of his late captain to be thrown into the boat, “as provisions for the voyage,” but the seaman had at once committed them to the deep, lest the temptation should be more than he could bear.

      He had lived upon his own huge frame (он жил за счет запасов своего крепкого организма; huge – громадный, гигантский; frame – скелет, костяк; телосложение), until, at the last moment, the Morning Star had found him in that madness (пока в последний момент /команда/ «Утренней звезды» не обнаружила его в том /состоянии/ безумия; to find) which is the precursor of such a death (которое предшествует подобной смерти; precursor – предшественник). It was no bad find for Captain Scarrow (это была неплохая находка для

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