i know they 're heading for the rigging to sit at the feet of morrison and brady , their sea dads , and learn their knots and splices and such , but really , mostly to sit there and listen to their sea stories ... `` and then , lad , we doubled the cape with half the men dead and the other half drunk and we come upon the dutchman himself , glimmerin ' all ghostly and white out there on the horizon , the moans of the damned souls within comin ' at us from across the water , their dead and rotting arms reaching out of the gun ports , the putrid flesh hangin like rags off 'em , and i swear on me sainted mother 's grave that it 's true and ... '' georgie , though , does n't run out with the others , even though i know he 's been getting along famously with amos gooch , a disreputable and bewhiskered old reprobate who is , of course , a perfect sea dad for young george .