rebellious crew he had of it

[chong lee]

Hi,
The quote is from Treasure Island, by R. L. Stevenson.

I think meaning of the sentence below equals to "Silver was the captain, and
and he had a mighty rebellious crew ."

I did not figure out "of it" at the end of sentence?

Thanks.


Silver was the captain, and a mighty rebellious crew he had of it.

 

[wandle]

'Of it' means in effect 'in that particular case'. When using 'of it' in this way, we place the object of the verb at the head of the clause.

For example, 'He travelled across the mountains, and a hard journey he had of it'.

The literal meaning of 'he had of it' is 'he obtained from that'.
Thus my example literally means: 'He travelled across the mountains and from that he obtained for himself a hard journey'.

 

[chong lee]

Thank you.