"Lunch came in as they were off sheerness"

[tufguy]

"Lunch came in as they were off sheerness". This sentence is from a novel.

Could you please explain to me what this sentence means?

 

[emsr2d2]

You must give us the source of any quote. What is the name of the novel and the author?

Are you sure that "sheerness" didn't start with a capital letter in the original?

 

[tufguy]

You must give us the source of any quote. What is the name of the novel and the author?

Are you sure that "sheerness" didn't start with a capital letter in the original?

Same novel "Three men in a boat" and its "Sheerness". You are correct it starts with a capital "S".

 

[emsr2d2]

Same novel "Three Men in a Boat" and it's "Sheerness". You are correct. It starts with a capital "S".

What do you mean by "same novel"? You haven't mentioned the name of the novel in this thread before. You haven't told us the author either. So start again. Write a new post (not a new thread) asking your question again, using correct capitalisation in the quote and giving the name of the novel and the author.

 

[tufguy]

"Lunch came in as they were off Sheerness". This sentence is from the novel "Three Men in a Boat" written by Jerome K Jerome.

Could you please explain to me what this sentence means?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks for reposting with the correct construction.

To be "off Sheerness" means that the boat was in the water a short distance away from Sheerness (a town in Kent, in the south-east of England). "Lunch came in" suggests to me that lunch was ready, or was delivered by one of the three men on the boat. If it's a fishing boat, it's possible that it means that they caught some fish just in time to eat them for lunch. I've never read the book so I don't know the rest of the context.

 

[emsr2d2]

Can you tell us from the context whether you think they were catching fish or someone was making lunch for them?

 

[tufguy]

Can you tell us from the context whether you think they were catching fish or someone was making lunch for them?

The food was being prepared. They weren't catching fish.