And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall:
Within this hour my man shall be with thee
And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair;
Which to the high top-gallant of my joy
Must be my convoy in the secret night.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Romeo uses marine imagery when he tells the Nurse that his servant will bring a rope ladder so that Romeo can climb up the Capulets’ wall to be with Juliet that night. In a metaphor he compares the rope ladder to a ship’s rigging that leads to the highest point of the mast. "The high top-gallant" is the highest mast of a ship.