The old and experienced wives on the other hand fancied they knew more about the ship than the skipper himself and had an eye like a hawk's for what went on.

They were like an extra chief mate of a particularly sharp and unfeeling sort who made his report in the evening.
The best of them were a nuisance.

In the general opinion a skipper with his wife on board was more difficult to please; but whether to show off his authority before an admiring female or from loving anxiety for her safety or simply from irritation at her presence--nobody I ever heard on the subject could tell for certain.
"After I had bundled in my things somehow I struck a match and had a dazzling glimpse of my berth; then I pitched the roll of my bedding into the bunk but took no trouble to spread it out.

I wasn't sleepy now, neither was I tired.

And the thought that I was done with the earth for many many months to come made me feel very quiet and self-contained as it were.