Page 40 of anything always feels like a milestone for me. Woohoo! Anyway…enter 1st mate.

↓ Transcript
Panel 1 [Shot behind Ezra as he walks down a narrow hallway below deck lined by a few doors]

Panel 2 [First Mate ERIC MATHEWS bumps Ezra’s shoulder, walking in the opposite direction. Mathews is a burly bearded white man in his 30s.]

MATHEWS:
Focsle’s the other way.

Panel 3 [Shot over Mathews shoulder, Ezra speaking to him as amicably as he can muster.]

EZRA:
Ezra Carter, second mate.

Panel 4 [He stands in the narrow entryway of a room with two bunks while placing his seachest on the floor]

EZRA:
I believe this is my cabin.

Panel 5 [Ezra is holding out his hand to shake, though Mathews doesn’t take it, instead angling himself to keep walking]

MATHEWS:
Hn. Guess it is, then. First mate, Eric Mathews. Prefer ‘sir’.