I'll wager I would have screwed things up regardless. But...can you imagine those poor bastards grappling their prey, leaping over the rails, swords in hand, screaming, 'Your cats! Give us all your gods-damned cats!
Red Seas Under Red Skies: The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book Two (ed. Hachette UK, 2009) - ISBN: 9780575085909