The president cleared his throat again in the dead silence, and speaking in a clear, seamanlike voice that combined gravity, formality and cheerfulness, he said, ‘Captain Aubrey: it is no small pleasure to me to receive the commands of the court I have the honour to preside at, that in delivering you your sword, I should congratulate you upon its being restored by both friend and foe alike; hoping ere long you will be called upon to draw it once more in the honourable defence of your country. 

Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

‘Oh, I shall plead guilty at once,’ said Stephen. ‘And I shall add that I was sitting in the powder-magazine with a naked light at the time, imagining the death of the King, wasting my medical stores, smoking tobacco and making a fraudulent return of the portable soup. What solemn nonsense it is’ — laughing heartily — ‘I am surprised so sensible a man as you should attribute any importance to the matter.’

‘Oh, I do not mind it,’ cried Jack. ‘How you lie,’ said Stephen affectionately, but within his own bosom.

Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

‘She’s the Superb; she does so to keep her station and not over-run the Admiral, for she is a superb sailer, you know, the best in the fleet. Did you hear that?’

‘Yes.’

‘It was rather clever, I thought — witty.’

Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

‘Has she got out of the mole?’ cried Stephen, at a considerable distance. ‘Has the battle begun?’ Reassured, he said, ‘I would not have missed it for a hundred pounds: that damned fellow in Ward B and his untimely fancies — a fine time to cut one’s throat, good lack a-day.’

Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

He turned to another favourite naval song:

There happened of late a terrible fray,
Begun upon our St James’s day,
With a thump, thump, thump, thump, thump,
Thump, thump a thump, thump. 

An ape on a rock no great way off three a turd at him, quite unprovoked; and when he half rose in protest it shook its wizened fist and gibbered so furiously that he sank down again, so low were his spirits. 

— Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian

‘You go a-walking,’ he said. ‘Do for all love go walking up very steep heights — traverse the Rock from end to end — traverse it again and again on an empty stomach. You are an obese subject; your hand quiver as you go. You must weight sixteen or even seventeen stone.’
‘And to be sure I do sweat like a mare in foal,’ he reflected, sitting under the shade of a boulder, loosening his waist-band and mopping himself. 

Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian