‘Stephen, will you for the love of God take off that thing?’

‘My wool garment? You have noticed it, have you? I had forgot, or I should have pointed it out. Have you ever seen anything so deeply rational? See, I can withdraw my head entirely: the same applies to the feet and the hands. Warm, yet uncumbering; light; and above all healthy — no constriction anywhere! Paris, who was once a framework knitter, made it to my design; he is working on one for you at present.’

‘Stephen, you would favor me deeply by taking it right off. It is unphilosophical of me, I know, but this is only and acting-command, and I cannot afford to be laughed at.’

‘But you have often told me that it does not matter what one wears at sea. You yourself appear in nankeen trousers, a thing that I should never, never countenance. And this’ — plucking at his bosom with a disappointed air — ‘partakes of the nature both of the Guernsey frock and of the free and easy pantaloon.’

Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian