Chapter 1 of A tall ship on other naval occasions is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of A tall ship on other naval occasions is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N. "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
Chapter 1 of A tall ship on other naval occasions is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/84 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
showing or feeling mirth or pleasure or happiness
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
United States rock star singer and pianist (born in 1935)
From this reading “"Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.”
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
a fictitious name used when the person performs a particular social role
From this reading “"Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.”
someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events
From this reading “"All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
A series of thoughts, images, or emotions during sleep.
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
a boy or man
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
showing or feeling mirth or pleasure or happiness
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
United States rock star singer and pianist (born in 1935)
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
a common nonmetallic element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless inert diatomic gas; constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume; a constituent of all living tissues
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
above and across; more than
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
a fictitious name used when the person performs a particular social role
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
a unit of radiation exposure; the dose of ionizing radiation that will produce 1 electrostatic unit of electricity in 1 cc of dry air
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
transport commercially
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "Bartimeus" is the pseudonym of Captain Lewis Ritchie, R.N.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
at the time that
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events
From this reading "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, * * * And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover, And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
Chapter 1 of A tall ship on other naval occasions by Bartimeus holds 423 sentences, grouped into 85 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 1 holds 423 sentences of A tall ship on other naval occasions, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A tall ship on other naval occasions by Bartimeus exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 423 sentences, grouped into 85 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 1 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A tall ship on other naval occasions by Bartimeus on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3004 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #25749 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #25749, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 250 minutes of reading across 601 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A tall ship on other naval occasions section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of A tall ship on other naval occasions to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A tall ship on other naval occasions, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
