Chapter 6 of The Boy Whaleman is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of The Boy Whaleman is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN. And now came the trying-out. The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast. The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar. They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
Chapter 6 of The Boy Whaleman is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln; used as a building or paving material
From this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
From this reading “TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.”
a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range
From this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
(mathematics) a miscalculation that results from rounding off numbers to a convenient number of decimals
From this reading “TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.”
past form of “secure” — get by special effort
From this reading “They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.”
-ing form of “sustain” — lengthen or extend in duration or space
From this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
plural of “timber” — the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material
From this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
directly under, often hidden by what is above
From this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.”
In this reading “The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.”
In this reading “They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.”
having a specified height
In this reading “They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.”
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 The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.
in the space, time, or range separating two things
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln; used as a building or paving material
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading And now came the trying-out.
(usually followed by “of”) having capacity or ability
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
any of various platforms built into a vessel
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
the mast nearest the bow in vessels with two or more masts
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
of comparatively great physical weight or density
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
the vertical dimension of extension; distance from the base of something to the top
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
From this reading TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
plural of “knee” — hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading And now came the trying-out.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
situated in a particular spot or position
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
(mathematics) a miscalculation that results from rounding off numbers to a convenient number of decimals
From this reading TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.
past form of “secure” — get by special effort
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
make square
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
the property of being physically or mentally strong
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
-ing form of “sustain” — lengthen or extend in duration or space
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
plural of “timber” — the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading They were some ten feet square and five in height and were secured to the deck by heavy knees of iron.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading TRYING-OUT AND ROUNDING THE HORN.
directly under, often hidden by what is above
From this reading The timbers underneath were of great strength and capable of sustaining a mass of brick and mortar.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The try-works were placed between the foremast and mainmast.
Chapter 6 of The Boy Whaleman by George Fox Tucker holds 214 sentences, grouped into 43 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 6 holds 214 sentences of The Boy Whaleman, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of The Boy Whaleman by George Fox Tucker exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 214 sentences, grouped into 43 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 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 43 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 6 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 The Boy Whaleman by George Fox Tucker on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3160 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62689 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62689, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 263 minutes of reading across 632 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Boy Whaleman section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The Boy Whaleman 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 The Boy Whaleman, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
