though of a still, sleepy night, should the officer of the deck happen to forget his duty in that respect, theprobability would be that he and his shipmates would never again remember it, on account of all hands gently subsiding to the bottom. Nor in the solitary and savage seas far from you to the westward, gentlemen, is it altogether unusual for ships to keep clanging at their pump-handles in full chorus even for a voyage of considerable length! that is, if it lie along a tolerably accessible coast, or if any other reasonable retreat is afforded them. It is only when a leaky vessel is in some very out of the way part of those waters, some really landless latitude, that her captain begins to feel a little anxious.
而且夜间静寂想睡，也许甲板上的头目恰巧在这方面忘记了自己的职守，也可能是他跟那些水手从此再也不会记起这件事了，因为大家都慢慢地沉到海底去了。就是在隔开你们很远的那些西部的荒僻的海洋上，诸位先生，甚至那些航程相当长的船只，他们的帮浦柄也不完全会经常一起克朗克朗响！就是说，如果船只是搁在一个相当过得去的海上，或者是有其他适当的避难所的话。一艘漏船只有确实是在前不靠山，后不着陆的那种海面上，它的船长才会开始感到有点焦急。
"Much this way had it been with the Town-Ho; so when her leak was found gaining once more, there was in truth some small concern manifested by several of her company; especially by Radney the mate. He commanded the uppersails to be well hoisted, sheeted home anew, and every way expanded to the breeze. Now this Radney, I suppose,was as little of a coward, and as little inclined to any sort of nervous apprehensiveness touching his own person as any fearless, unthinking creature on land or on sea that you can conveniently imagine, gentlemen. Therefore when he betrayed this imagine, solicitude about the safety of the ship, some of the seamen declared that it was only on account of his being a part owner in her.
"‘大鲸出来了号’，当时就是这般情况。因此，等到它发现那漏洞又大起来了的时候，有几个船员确实有点担心起来了，尤其是那位大副拉德尼。他命令好好扯起上帆，重新用帆脚索扣住风帆，使它们尽量吃住风。且说这个拉德尼，我认为就他本人说来，正如各位可想而知的那种陆上或者海上的无所畏惧、不动脑筋的人物一样，他一点也不是个懦夫，一点也不是那种谨小慎微患得患失的人物。因此，在他对这艘船的安全表现得很关心的时候，有些水手就说，这只是因为他也是这艘船的股东老板之一的缘故。