[It's a simple enough thing to say, my father was a carpenter. But as common a profession as it is, as unassuming as it would be and as little as it would give away, he can't bring himself to do it. He can justify a belief that Thomas would support his endeavours in Nassau, but his family? They wanted a Navy man. Had him, too, for a time. A carpenter's aspirations are not a captain's, nor a king's.

Flint lifts one shoulder in an absent shrug.]

I've dabbled. A ship would be something of a tall order, though. A shipwright is often an expert in carpentry, but not so the other way around. [Idly,] I could start with a raft.