This is probably the first time he's decided to open up about this. A few people know who were there at the time, but what happened isn't something Nate usually likes talking about at all.
Nate used to be able to swim. As a kid, he was quite a natural.
But yeah, I had heard that historical sailors and pirates often weren't able to swim? That may well mean in this story Seb, on his first ever sea voyage, is one of the few people on board who can swim, which seems a little backwards.
The way it's phrased in modern context...is what I thought of first!
Then I'm like "Duh, he's talking about a small boat"
"Shall we go poling upon the Serpentine?" also works as a double-entendre.
I used it here to mean 'walk through the shallow bit of the water' XD
When he says, he tried to find his dad, does that mean he went out with a boat, or he can actually swim a little?
But yeah, I had heard that historical sailors and pirates often weren't able to swim? That may well mean in this story Seb, on his first ever sea voyage, is one of the few people on board who can swim, which seems a little backwards.