Apology

to Baysage; there was a comment which I published, but it seems to have disappeared. It was about "Bright coin and Quito gold" and "Shipshape and Bristol fashion".
Both seem to mean everything is, well, shipshape. Bristol, being a port on the Channel, probably had scads of ships around, and the Port Authority probably had some pretty stiff regulations about rigging, tackle, oakum, and drunken sailors.
Famous speaker: Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise.

"Bright coin and Quito gold" comes from Melville: it reflects the nature of the whaling industry and that way of life, switching us to the Pacific and the coasts of Ecuador.
It seems to mean valuable and shining, good on the surface and good down deep, and not deceptive but worth its weight in gold.
Famous speaker: Me.