Mario told me of a hotel in which he had been, where a chambermaid stole a priceless diamond ring from an American lady. […] The chambermaid had a lover in the bakery, and he had baked the ring into a roll, where it lay unsuspected until the search was over.

He rattled the flagstick twice with his approach shots[…].

The planking near the waterline of a ship was most at risk from wet rot but was easily replaced.

The early steam-powered ships also took advantage of sails.