This wide-chapp'd rascal—would thou might'st lie drowning / The washing of ten tides!

a line that declines from straightness

Heave they did, all unopposed, and tumbled arselong when the bar came about. Even as they rolled and cursed, the whistling petered; …

Writing a memorandum to the chief does not constitute completed staff work, but writing a memorandum for the chief to send to someone else does.