A landlubber's log of his voyage around Cape Horn. Being a journal kept during a four months' voyage on an American merchantman bound from Philadelphia to San Francisco

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California. Landlubber's Log ol a voyage ouna me norn, r>emg a journal j
Morton MacMichael, III, during a voyage from Philadelphia to San Francisco
DC Horn, in the American ship "Pactolus." Illustrated, 12mo., original cloth,
ce, 1879. ($10.00).

Only a few copies privately printed. _™»^

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Bancroft

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG

OF HIS

VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

BEING

A JOURNAL KEPT DURING A FOUR MONTHS' VOYAGE
ON AN AMERICAN MERCHANTMAN,

BOUND FROM

PHILADELPHIA TO SAN FRANCISCO.

BY

MORTON MAcMICHAEL 30.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

1883.

Copyright, 1882, by MORTON MACMlCHAEL

,croh Library

INTRODUCTORY

IN launching this little volume upon the current
of Christmas-tide literature, the author wishes to
explain that it was not written originally with an
eye to publication, but simply as a long letter for
home consumption only. In that form a small
edition was printed for private circulation, but
without the proof-sheets having been overhauled
and sundry errors corrected. The present edi-
tion, if it has no other virtue, is at least ship-
shape and correct. The only hope the author has
of the book floating after it is launched is derived
from the fact that " logs," as a rule, do float, espe-
cially when they are of light material, and that
this log is certainly the reverse of heavy.

PHILADELPHIA, 1882.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG

OF

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

I.

AT SEA, July 20.

ON the morning of the yth inst, just as early
as the coming dawn made seeing possible, the
tugboat that had been lying alongside all night
showed signs of life, and the newly-arrived crew
were routed from the forecastle, where they had
retreated to sleep away the effects of their fare-
well spree on shore. The silent ship became
enlivened with the hoarse shouts of officers and
men, and with the rattling of cables hauled in
from the dock or being run over to the tug along-
side, and ten minutes later left her berth and was
heading down the river Delaware. At breakfast-
time Philadelphia was far astern, and the anchor
had been let go in mid-stream, off the gunpowder-
works at Wilmington, Delaware, while from two
little sloops alongside we received the final por-
tion of our cargo in the shape of several thousand

7

g A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

kegs and canisters of rifle powder, which elevat-
ing article was, with an abandon that was far from
reassuring to any one of nervous temperament,
stowed away under the after-cabin and beneath
our very feet. Ninety tons in all were at last
safely battened down beneath the hatches, and
the cargo made complete, but dusk was upon us,
and we rode at anchor until the following morn-
ing. Again an early start, and this time with a
fair breeze blowing behind us, to which was spread
sail after sail as they were dragged from their
locker, sent aloft and bent upon the yards. At
half-past four o'clock Cape May and Cape Hen-
lopen were on either beam, and the pilot slid
down a rope's end into the little boat awaiting
him, and waved us a God-speed. A moment later
the ship, now a cloud of canvas, keeled to the
pressure of the fair, fresh breeze and swept out
upon the billows of the broad Atlantic. It was
from this moment of passing from the bay into
the ocean that we will compute the length of our
voyage, and will consider it ended when we pass
the portals of the Golden Gate, the famous en-
trance to the harbor of San Francisco.

In very nearly all the accounts that I have ever
read of people sailing away from their homes for
foreign lands, the characters thus outward-bound,
when leaving port, gaze long and earnestly at the
rapidly receding shore, while their hearts swell

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 9

and throb with a nameless pain as the memories
which cluster about the land they are leaving
come rushing through their minds. How much
pleasanter it would have been for me could I but
have followed their example ; then might I have
written the regulation remarks about the feeling
of sadness that stole over me, as while thinking
of family and friends, or of the many happy mem-
ories of home, the white-winged ship swiftly left
the land. Then could I have described how it
grew dimmer with each fleeting moment, until at
last naught but a faint, misty, cloudlike streak hung
on the distant horizon, and as I gazed again, that
f. m. c. s., like unto the f. m. c. s.'s of the book-voy-
agers, would have faded from my sight, while a
single tear would have glistened for a moment on
my cheek, and then fallen noiselessly upon the
deck. All this might I have written had not that
saline old nautical deity, Father Neptune, promptly
(and with a viciousness which leads me to believe
the old gentleman has had a dearth of victims
lately) demanded his dues. I had expected an
attack, but neither so sudden nor so fierce a one ;
nor did I anticipate so complete a defeat. In
short, fifteen minutes after the ship left the Capes
I was hopelessly, helplessly sea-sick. A Japanese
proverb says "a sea-voyage is an inch of hell," and
for the greater part of six or seven days my opinion
on the subject of ocean travel tallied exactly with

•

JO A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

that of the slant-eyed philosopher who wrote those
words. I took no notice of anything, didn't want
to see or eat anything, couldn't have eaten any-
thing if I had wanted to, and was altogether as
thoroughly wretched as possible. I have no notes
to enter in my log for that week of internal strife ;
I diligently pursued the ignis-fatuus, relief, by all
the equally useless methods, for some unknown
reason recommended, and carefully compounded
and swallowed a dozen or fifteen " remedies for
sea-sickness," which disgraced the pages of the
captain's " family medicine book," by their pres-
ence among respectable and estimable prescrip-
tions. Time, however, accomplished what the
delusive medicines and mock reliefs could not,
and on the morning of the i5th I turned out to
find the sea-sickness gone and my vanished appe-
tite returned. The attack pulled me down in
weight, and has left me rather weak, but now that
I'm ship-shape again, I'll recover the lost ground
rapidly with the help of those capital tonics, fresh
air, plain food, plenty of exercise, and early hours.
We have crossed the Gulf Stream and are now
in mid-Atlantic, steering south, and we have also
worked our way over the first of the three calm
belts that must be crossed between the North At-
lantic and Cape Horn. It was tedious work, but
on the whole we did very well, and were lucky
enough not to get really stuck. These exasperat-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. n

ing barriers to quick passages are called the Dol-
drums by sailors, and the second lies a little north
of the Equator, while number three is down at
the Tropic of Capricorn. Corresponding- calm
belts obstruct the navigation of the Pacific on
similar parallels of latitude, so that five more of
them must be passed over before we reach Cali-
fornia. The region of calms we recently were in
is known as the Horse Latitudes, and received
its name from the fact that before the days of
steamers, when the West Indies were supplied
with horses from the United States and England,

o

the vessels which carried them would often, when
becalmed in those latitudes, run short of water,
so that a great part of their living freight had to
be thrown overboard in order to save the lives of
a few, and in this way thousands of horses were
lost. We have also sailed through several of the
enormous beds of sea-weed which form the cele-
brated Sargasso Sea, and the effect was very
curious. The weed is very tough, and closely
knit into- huge patches, which float about, just
submerged, and is covered with bunches of little
round berries the size of a marrowfat pea. Of
course I have to chronicle, too, my first sight of
those queer little maritime wanderers, Mother
Gary's chickens. Never the traveller yet who
didn't mention them, and indeed it is a striking
sight, far out on the wind-swept ocean, to see

12 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

these tiny birds hovering closely over the surface
of the sea, rising as the waves rise, and sinking
again as the watery hillock subsides. They ap-
pear as tireless as steam-engines, and in their
curious wavering flight bear a closer resemblance
to bats than to birds. On Thursday a hungry
shark mistook the revolving brass fan which is
attached to the end of our patent log-line for a
fish, and swallowed it. The captain says this is
not an infrequent occurrence, although it is not
very often that the fans are lost, as the sharks, not
finding the article as toothsome as they antici-
pated, promptly let go. We have several extra
fans for just this very reason, and number two is
now spinning away astern. At 4 A.M. yesterday
morning I was awakened by hearing the mate call
down the companion-way to the captain that there
was a boat coming alongside. I hurried on some
clothes and went on deck, where it was quite
dark ; but after a minute or so I could make out
a long white whale-boat, with seven or eight men
in her, pulling for our lee quarter. It was very
calm, but we had been hove to and were waiting
for them. In a few moments they were alongside,
and as we could see no vessels anywhere around
us, I bad mad : up my mind that it was a case of
shipwrecked mariners afloat in an open boat, and
was prepared to see several haggard and starving
men drag themselves over the rail, when my ro-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. ^

mancing was squelched by hearing a gruff voice
sing out from the heaving boat below, " I say
there on board the ship, can you let's have some
late papers ?" Scene, mid-ocean on a pitch-dark
morning, a great ship slowly shoving ahead into
the darkness ; the lookout discovers a row-boat
full of men pulling like mad for the ship ; ship
hove to, and her crew crowding the bulwarks to
get a glimpse at the supposed rescued waifs, are
at the moment of their greatest suspense for the
welfare of the poor creatures, whom Providence
has directed the ship should save, requested for
some late newspapers. The mysterious strangers
were invited on board, and two or three of them
scrambled up, one of them an officer, who, as soon
as he reached the deck, began bellowing out
orders to the men below, and then announced
himself as second mate of the brig " D. A. Small,"
of Provincetown, Massachusetts, three months out
on a whaling cruise, and, as he added, " devil a
quart of oil." After a short call of fifteen minutes
or so the strangers called their boat alongside and
bid us good-by, richer by a bundle of New York
and Philadelphia papers than when they came.
The brig, which we could now see in the breaking
daylight, lay some three miles astern, so that our
friends had a pretty hard pull for their news, for
rowing a heavy whale-boat in mid-ocean is a vastly
different description of sport than the same dis-

14 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

tance pulled in an ordinary row-boat on a river or
lake. Just after sunrise we made out a large ship
on the port bow, evidently bound for Europe, so
we unloosened the signal halliards, spread out the
flags, and soon were near enough for her to see
that we had a message for her to carry to port for
us. When she was fairly abeam, about two miles
to windward, and making a superb picture as the
sun shone on her broad white sails, we ran our
bunting aloft to the signal-gaff, and gave her our
name and nation ; then followed " from Philadel-
phia for San Francisco," "eleven days out," our
longitude, and "all well." In return we got,
" American ship Queenstown," " Rangoon for the
channel," "will report you — wish you a pleasant
voyage." Then both ships dipped the American
colors three times and the flags were put away.
Following the rule that it never rains but it pours,
we spoke two other vessels before sunset, one a
French bark, belonging to a company that owns
ninety-nine vessels, which number it never allows
to increase or diminish, and which instead of
naming the craft comprising this large fleet, num-
ber them instead. The one we spoke carried the
figures 43 prominently displayed in black, on her
mainsail, and the other vessels of the company
carry their numbers in the same conspicuous posi-
tion. She was seventy-two days out from Valpa-
raiso, Chili, and was bound for Falmouth, England.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. l$

The third vessel spoken was also a bark, but this
time a Britisher, and was making for London on a
voyage from Bombay. Like the " Queenstown,"
both barks promised to report us. I intend to
write this log but once a week, and am going to
give the weather, and other regular matters of
record at sea, a special page, where they can be
seen in tabulated form. Sunday will be the day
for this log-writing, and after the tables above
mentioned, and the incidents of the week are
noted down, I shall try and give you some idea
of what life on a merchantman is like, and how
Jack fares, and what he does on a voyage round
the stormy cape.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table giving daily Latitude, Longitude, Miles sailed, Temperature at
noon, and Remarks on the Weather, etc., from July 9 to July 27
inclusive.

July 9.— Lat. 38° 21' N. Ship's run— 134 miles.*

Lon. 72° 18' W. Temp, at noon, 73°.
Weather fine and cool.

July 10. — Lat. 38° 06' N. Run— 140 miles.

Lon. 69° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 78°.

Weather fine.

July II.— Lat. 37° 53' N. Run— 134 miles.

Lon. 65° 45' W. Temp, at noon, 81°.

Clear and cool all day. Squally during the night.

July 12. — Lat. 37° 29' N. Run — 205 miles.

Lon. 61° 16' W. Temp, at noon, 78°.

Weather very fine.

July 13. — Lat. 36° 49r N. Run — 226 miles.

Lon. 56° 36' W. Temp, at noon, 79°.

Weather fine, except occasional short and light squalls during morning.
Sea rough.

July 14. — Lat. 36° 31 ' N. Run — 222 miles.

Lon. 51° 45' W. Temp, at noon, 79°.

Weather fine.

July 15. — Lat. 35° 36' N. Run — 226 miles.

Lon. 47° 09' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Weather fine. Sea running high.

July 1 6. — Lat. 33° 59' N. Run — 173 miles.

Lon. 44° 21' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Fine weather continues. Sea rough.

July 17. — Lat. 32° 34X N. Run — 138 miles.

Lon. 42° 29' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather fine. Light airs.

* Nautical miles.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

July 1 8.— Lat. 31° 50' N. Run— 52 miles.

Lon. 41° 42' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather fine and warm. Light airs and calms.

July 19.— Lat. 30° 58' N. Run— 56 miles.

Lon. 41° 47' W. Temp, at noon, 88°.

Weather fine and warm. Light airs all A.M. Got the N.E. trade
winds about 3 P.M.

July 20.— Lat. 28° iix N. Run— 174 miles.

Lon. 41° 24' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Fine weather all day. Squally at night.

July 21. — Lat. 24° 38' N. Run — 224 miles.

Lon. 40° 22X W. Temp, at noon, 83°.

Same weather as yesterday. Sea very high and rough.

July 22. — Lat. 21° 13' N. Run — 218 miles.

Lon. 39° 37' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Squalls at short intervals during morning, and again late at night.

July 23. — Lat. 19° oix N. Run — 133 miles.

Lon. 39° 27' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather very fine.

July 24. — Lat. 1 6° 38' N. Run — 1 80 miles.

Lon. 37° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather still fine.

July 25. — Lat. 14° n7 N. Run — 160 miles.

Lon. 36° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather fine. Several dry squalls during the day. Wind died away
towards evening.

July 26. — Lat. 13° ii'N. Run — 70 miles.

Lon. 35° 59' W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Weather beautiful. Light air and calms.

July 27. — Lat. 11° 54' N. Run — 78 miles.

Lon. 35° 36' W. Temp, at noon, 85°.

Rain-squalls before sunrise. Clear and warm all day. Continued
calms. Lost N.E. trade winds to-day.

A LANDLUBBERS LOG UF

II.

AT SEA, July 27.

THE above table brings me up to date as far as
our daily records of position, distance sailed, and
weather reports are concerned, and a glance at it
will show how uniformly fine the weather has been
since we left Philadelphia, the few squalls we have
experienced coming as a rule at night, and although
the sea has been rough on several occasions, the
ship has ridden like a cork and the decks been as
dry as a bone. I might say, in explanation of the
tables, that a nautical day is from meridian to me-
ridian, that is to say, from noon to noon, and when,
as under to-day's heading, I say we ran seventy-
eight miles, I mean that distance was covered from
twelve o'clock yesterday to twelve o'clock to-day.

July 23. — In the evening a flying-fish that struck
one of the lower sails fell on deck, and being the
first one I have had a close view of, was a curiosity ;
it measured about nine inches in length, and was
shaped like a chub. The next morning I found
it nicely broiled on my plate at breakfast, and
can recommend the species as both delicate and
well flavored. Flying-fish, the mate tells me, are
about the only deep-water fish that have scales,
nearly all others met at sea, from the dolphins to
the whales, wearing a skin. Passed two small

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. lg

vessels bound north ; shortly after dark they
passed across the face of the newly arisen moon,
and formed for the moment a very pretty sil-
houette. Later, made out the celebrated constel-
lation of the Southern Cross, on the southern
horizon ; but it will be some time before we see
it in its most beautiful phase, that is, shining with
great brilliancy directly above us.

July 25. — During the morning passed through a
large fleet of nautilus, those renowned little crea-
tures of the jelly-fish species, that spread their
tiny film-like sails in delicate shades of pink and
blue, and cruise about over the waves, sometimes
alone or in little groups, and again, as I first saw
them, in vast numbers. The sunlight playing on
the thousands of rising and falling sails made a
very pretty picture. We were slopping along at
a lazy pace when we overtook the fleet, which was
running before a gentle breeze just strong enough
to suit the sailing qualities of its tiny craft, and
after scoring several misses in my attempts to
catch one, I succeeded at last in slipping a bucket
directly beneath a beauty and hauled it aboard
without disturbing it in the slightest degree.
Placing the bucket on deck, I went forward to call
the carpenter and show him my prize. As we
started aft we saw one of the ship's cats approach
the bucket and proceed to investigate the nau-
tilus, doubtless attracted by its fishy odor, and

2Q A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

before we could interfere puss had captured the
prize, and was scampering away with it. Another
name common to the nautilus is that of Portu-
guese men-of-war, and this specimen promptly
gave evidence of its warlike nature by stinging
the cat before she had carried it across the deck,
pussy dropping it with a terrified yowl, and van-
ishing into her sanctum, the galley, as though a
dozen dogs were at her heels. During the rest
of the day she sat in a corner, uttering plaintive
meyows, and alternately rubbing her cheeks on
the deck or scraping her swollen tongue with one
of her front paws.

July 26. — The ship becalmed. Took a plunge-
bath overboard, with a light line around me, — the
captain made such a fuss about sharks, however,
that I soon came on deck. This bringing me up
to date, I will close the log for this week with an
account of the ship herself, and from week to
week hereafter tell you of her officers and crew,
and how we pass the time.

The " Pactolus" is a Maine-built ship, and was
launched in the winter of 1864; she was built by
her present owners, a New York firm, whose
house-flags flutter at the peaks of some of the
finest clippers of our mercantile marine. Her
measurements are as follows : length one him-

o

dred and ninety-eight feet, beam thirty-eight feet
six inches, and she registers twelve hundred and

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 2I

five tons. She is full ship-rigged, carries very
heavy spars, and when under full sail spreads
fifteen thousand square feet of canvas. Her
model is graceful, her bows as sharp and sym-
metrical as those of a yacht, and she rides the
waves as easily and buoyantly as a duck a coun-
try pond. To save myself the trouble of describ-
ing her various parts, I offer the accompanying
sketches of the arrangement of her deck and
cabin, which I hope will give you a good idea of
the ship's various departments.

The poop-deck is elevated above the main deck
about four or five feet, and the top of the after-
house is also used as a deck, and is the favorite
lounging-place of the officers and captain in the
early evening, the tops of the skylights forming
comfortable seats. There is also a hammock
swung there from the mizzen-mast to the mizzen
shrouds, and the spanker-boom, especially when
the sail is set, affords a capital resting-place.

Julyip. — The ship surrounded by a large school
of porpoises all day. It numbered probably over
two hundred fish. They seemed to be divided
into families of five, and sometimes six or seven
fish each. These would swim about in a perfect
line, all abreast, all curving out of water at once,
and each tail disappearing at the same instant.
The calm water was alive with these files of ma-
rine soldiers, whose drilling would reflect honor

22

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

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HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

on the State Fencibles themselves. The captain
tried to harpoon one during the morning, but they
would not approach close enough, as only when
the ship has some head-way will they venture to
play about the bow. A breeze sprang up about
three o'clock, and the second mate lashed himself
to the martingale (which is the bar of wood point-
ing downward from the bowsprit) to try his luck
at sticking a porpoise, numbers of which were
playing underneath him. After one blank cast
he drove the harpoon deep into a regular old
warrior, who struggled like a Trojan, but who was
finally landed on deck, all hands having given a
hand to the rope and singing a sailor's song as they
hove him over the rail. He measured nine feet six
inches in length. That evening and all day Thurs-
day we regaled ourselves with porpoise steaks,
liver, and brains served up in various styles. The
first tasted not unlike very coarse juiceless beef,
the second had the delicate flavor of black mud,
but the brains were really quite palatable. On the
appearance of a plate of steaks for Friday's break-
fast, the unanimous vote of captain, mate, and
passengers consigned about two hundred pounds
of still uncooked meat to a watery grave, where
it probably served as the dinner of some hungry
shark. From inside the jawbone we got nearly
a quart of very fine oil, which is highly prized by
jewellers on account of its purity.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending August 3.

July 28. — Lat. 11° 42' N. Run — 13 miles.

Lon. 45° 42' W. Temp, at noon, 86°.

Weather fine. Calms and cat's-paws.

July 29. — Lat. 10° 17' N. Run — 109 miles.

Lon. 34° 52' W. Temp, at noon, 85°.

Weather fine. Light breezes and calms.

July 30 — Lat. 9° 57' N. Run — 46 miles.

Lon. 34° 04' W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Weather fine.

July 31. — Lat. 8° 13' N. Run — 136 miles.

Lon. 32° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 8l°.

Squalls all day; very heavy rain during afternoon.

August I. — Lat. 7° 19' N. Run — 218 miles.

Lon. 28° 57' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather fine. Sea rough and heavy.

August 2. — -Lat. 6° 28' N. Run — 139 miles.

Lon. 28° 25' W. Temp, al noon, 83°.

Weather fine. Got S.E. trade winds during morning. Sea remains
rough.

August 3. — Lat. 4° 51' N. Run — 146 miles.

Lon. 28° 34' W. Temp, at noon, 83°.

Weather fine. Sea still rough.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

III.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, August 3.

ANOTHER week of beautiful weather, the first
three days being mostly calm. These calms,
although great bugbears to the captain, who frets
at the delays they cause in the passage, are to me
very pleasant. The contrast is indeed great be-
tween when, with every stitch of canvas set, we
go plunging along before a stiff breeze, reeling
off twelve knots the hour, the ocean covered with
white-caps as far as the eye can see, and, when
not a breath of air stirring, the ship rolls heavily
on the long swells that glisten under the sun like
metal. In the shadow of the ship the clear blue
water makes me yearn to tumble in and take a
swim, but the little word " sharks" explains why I
curb my desires and remain on deck. Still, a few
buckets of salt water poured over me by one of
the sailors is enough of a substitute to take the
edge off my disappointment.

While thus becalmed we often lose steerage-
way altogether, swinging all around the compass.
The sails, swung backwards and forwards by the
motion of the vessel, slap against the masts at reg-
ular intervals with loud reports, and the timbers
creak and groan at a great rate. Calms wear out

B 3

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

a ship's sails and rigging much faster than breezes
do, on account of the constant chafing they un-
dergo. To avoid this in a measure the parts
most exposed are thickly padded with yarn, etc. ;
this is called " chafing-gear," and is taken off when
going into port.

The sunsets on these calm evenings are exquis-
itely beautiful, especially the afterglow, when soft
rays of almost every imaginable color shoot up
from the horizon, spreading out like huge fans,
the different tints blending together as delicately
as the colors in mother-of-pearl, which illegitimate
jewel is perhaps the best simile I could find to
describe the sky at these times. In fact, since
leaving port we have enjoyed a series of sunsets
beautiful beyond description. The ocean is the
place to see them at their best, and here in the
tropics are witnessed the most beautiful ones.
Sometimes, when after a blow the clouds are wild
and broken, the effects are positively startling ;
no artist could ever hope to reproduce them, and
were they transferred to canvas, people would
probably pronounce them strangely unnatural.

I shall devote this week's entry in the log to a
description of the officers and crew, starting of
course with the captain, or, to give him his sailor
name, " the old man." This title, which is always
applied in utter disregard of the number of birth-
days the skipper may have seen, is in the case of

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 27

Captain C , who commands the " Pactolus,"

most certainly a misnomer, for he is only thirty
years of age. About five feet ten inches in height,
with broad shoulders, a strongly-built figure, brown
hair and eyes, and a well-tanned face, smoothly
shaven with the exception of a small moustache,
the captain is as handsome as he is pleasant, and
a thorough sailor and navigator both in theory
and practice. He is a genial, good-natured fellow,
who takes an absorbing interest in his profession
and its duties, and seems also to take great pleas-
ure in dispelling the darkness of a landlubber's
ignorance with which I am at first naturally be-
fogged. Under his patient guidance the mysteries
of the maze of rigging have been made clear, the
unknown lingo of technical orders has become
sense to my ears, and I have learned to box the
compass, heave the log, handle the wheel, and
(with considerable assistance as yet) " shoot the
sun." Every day when he locates our position
on the chart he chats with me about it as though
I were as good a navigator as himself, and alto-
gether impresses me with the conviction that it
would have been difficult to have found a pleas-
anter commander. Sprung from a race of hardy
New England mariners, and hailing from the
coast of Maine, he has from his fifteenth year
pursued a sailor's life, and has mounted from the
forecastle of a coaster to the quarter-deck of a

2g A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF •

clipper. He joined the " Pactolus" as third mate,
successively filled the berths of second and first
mates, and three years ago, after eight years'
service on board, was given command. He loves
his ship, which for so many years has been his
home, and is, as I said, devoted to his profession,
spending a great part of his time each day in
working up sights, taking observations, fixing his
charts and log-books, and in poring over nautical
records and sailing directions. For the govern-
ment he keeps a most complicated meteorological
journal, which involves no small amount of labor,
and for which he has been very highly compli-
mented by the authorities at Washington. Proud
of his ship, it is his delight to keep her in perfect
order, and to sustain her good name for rapid
passages, and on this voyage is racing with the
clipper-ship "Joseph S. Spinney," a two-thousand-
tonner, that sailed from New York for San Fran-
cisco five days before we passed to sea. The
two captains are old friends and rivals, and for
the last three years the two ships have once each
twelvemonth started at the same time for Califor-
nia. Twice the " Pactolus" triumphantly scored
the best run, but last season the " Spinney" won
in a canter after a rattling passage of one hundred
'and seventeen days. Perhaps, however, the "Pac-
tolus" was not put through her best paces, for
Captain C was for some reason compelled to

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 2g

shift his command for the time being, and another
skipper took his ship to San Francisco for him.
This voyage he is resolved to retrieve last year's
defeat, and it will be a bitter pill for him to swal-
low if the "Spinney" scores the better run. Nat-
urally I back him in his wish for victory. At vari-
ance with the habits of most sailors, the captain
never smokes, and while at sea never drinks
either wines or liquors, but for all that frowns not
on those petty vices if practised by his officers or
crew.

Mr. B , the first mate, is the captain's senior

by one year, .and like him is also a New Eng-
lander, being a native of Connecticut. He is
stouter than the captain, has a short, reddish
beard, blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and when rigged
out in a pea-jacket, high-top boots, and a big flat-
topped Scotch cap, is the picture of a jolly sailor.
He, too, is a thorough seaman, and he gives
his orders with a snap and vim that sends the
sailors about their duties in double-quick time.
Like the captain, Mr. B is very kind in ex-
plaining anything I wish to know about the vessel.
He has been in many parts of the world in the
course of his life at sea, and has plenty of yarns
to spin of his adventures and experiences, some
of which are most interesting and amusing, even if
they are here and there inlaid with unmistakable
" taffy." He is a great smoker and reader, is

3*

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

well posted on all sorts of topics, and takes much
pleasure in the large supply of cheap reprints I
have on board with me, having in fact read a
great many more of them than I have myself.
Mr. B is slightly English in his feelings, hav-
ing married an English lady and lived there at
various periods of his life, Liverpool, in fact, being
his home. We are great friends, and I spend
hours on deck with him on the evenings when it
is his early watch.

Our second mate, Mr. D , is a character,

and promises to be a most important element in
making my voyage a pleasant one. As to his
capabilities I give the verdict of the captain and
mate, who declare him to be a capital sailor and
second officer, but a failure when it comes to the
science of navigation. However, he doesn't have
to take a hand in that branch of the ship's routine,
and so it don't matter. He daily goes through
the process of taking sights, as his superior officers
do, but they smile and say his efforts are a delu-
sion and a snare which they are not to be taken
in by, although they are too good-natured to let
him know that they see through his attempt to be
judged a navigator. He claims to be from Maine,
but again his superiors doubt him, and style him
a " blue nose," by which they mean a native of
Nova Scotia. What they form their opinions
upon I cannot tell. Mr. D is a fine-looking

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 31

fellow, of powerful build and dark complexion,
and is, I should judge, about twenty-seven or
twenty-eight years old. His character may be
described as being a combination of Mark Tapley
and the Baron Munchausen, for good nature and
light-heartedness seem to be his natural state of
mind, and his fictions are continuous and colossal.
Whatever he does he seems to enjoy doing it:
whether it be spinning a yarn, singing a song,
playing a fiddle, or damning the crew, he does it
with a hearty good-will, and does it with a chuckle
and a smile. But his strong point is the facility
and readiness with which he can invent and relate
stories of such utter improbability that the tales
of the aforementioned baron seem by comparison
but mild effort at drawing the long-bow. He is
always ready to spin these entirely unbelievable
yarns, and does so with an earnestness and gusto
which are most amusing, and what makes them
even more attractive, they are all related as being
his own personal experiences. Mr. D pos-
sesses an old violin, fearful in tone, and with but
two strings, on which he spends most of his
watches below in sawing into a wheezing accom-
paniment to the comic ditties that he loves to sing,
interspersing them with jokes and sayings of the
nature that delight variety theatre patrons and
the gods of the gallery. Often he will bring this
treasured instrument into the carpenter-shop, and,

?2 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

«_/

seated on a low stool, will amuse himself and an
audience consisting of the carpenter, the cook, the
steward, and myself with his capital imitations of
negro and Dutch performers. These perform-
ances delight him greatly, and he often laughs till
the tears trickle down his cheeks.

The carpenter is a very important man on
board, and is known as " Chips." He is busily
engaged from morning till night, and stands no
watches. Our Chips is a middle-aged, pleasant-
faced Yankee, a cousin of the captain, and a very
companionable man, in whose shop I spend many
a pleasant hour whittling sticks and chatting.
Then come those important functionaries, the stew-
ard a<*id cook, both genuine almond-eyed China-
men, who can talk a limited amount of pigeon-
English, and are very queer chaps. Of the two
the steward is the more accomplished, and is
making praiseworthy efforts to improve his lim-
ited knowledge of English by diligently studying
with a spelling-book and slate. Nearly every
evenine he devotes an hour to his task, and

o

sometimes I help him along, much to his delight.
On board his title is simply "steward," but he
says, " Me leal namee b'long Chin Lee ; me comee
flom Tin Sin (Tsin Tsin) ; b'long vellie nice place

• /"M * »

in China.

Thus it is seen that I am very pleasantly fixed
as regards the personnel of the ship's officers, and

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

33

this brings me to the crew, among whom should be
placed the last three mentioned personages. The
sailors number sixteen, and are, the mate tells
me, an average lot. Their nationality is various,
England, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Italy,
and Ireland all contributing one or more speci-
mens of their mariners, and they seem a willing
and hardy set of Jacks. Later I will speak of
them again. Last comes the ship's boy, at best a
thankless berth, and when unpleasant, unpleasant
with a vengeance. Our boy is the only American
before the mast. He is from Girard College, and
like many a boy before him, longed to be a sailor,
so, after useless expostulations from his teachers
and friends, shipped on board the " Pactolus."
He acknowledges already that the life is not what
he had pictured it to be, but pluckily takes a
cheerful view of it. I fancy he has not been fully
tested yet, and that there is plenty of experience
in store for him that will try his mettle far more
than that he has already gone through. It's a
hard school, and no mistake, but he has good-
natured superiors, and that counts for everything
in the life of a ship's boy, for with tyrants for
officers, as is so often the case, the ship's boy has
about as utterly miserable an existence as can be
imagined.

With the addition of my fellow-passenger, an
American gentleman of about thirty years of age,

34 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

who is bound for California with the intention of
going" into business there, we number, all told,
twenty-five hands, and next week I will try and
give you some idea of our various daily occupa-
tions.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

Table for week ending August IO

August 4. — Lat. 2° 26' N. Run — 155 miles.

Lon. 29° 37' W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Weather beautiful. Sea moderating.

August 5. — Lat. o° 4<y S. Run — 190 miles.

Lon. 30° 48' W. Temp, at noon, 79°.

Weather fine. Crossed the equator at 7.30 A.M., twenty-seven and one-
half days from Capes of Delaware. Heavy clew after sunset.

August 6. — Lat. 2° 35' S. Run — 127 miles.

Lon. 31° 52' W. Temp, at noon, 79°.

Squally between I and 8 A.M. Rest of the day very fine. Sea rough
and ugly.

August 7.— Lat. 4° 54' S. Run— 177 miles.

Lon. 33° 37' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Fine weather. Rough cross-sea. Ship twisting badly. Passed fifteen
miles west of island of Fernando de Noronha at 12.30 A.M.

August 8. — Lat. 6° 45' S. Run — 162 miles.

Lon. 35° 29' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Squalls and rain till 12 M. Land in sight about Cape Branco, bearing
W.S.W. to W. by N. Distance about eighteen miles after I P.M. Weather
fine all afternoon and evening.

August 9.— Lat. 7° 44° S. Run— 136 miles.

Lon. 34° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Weather beautiful at 12 M. Were within six miles of the coast of
Brazil. Tacked ship and stood to the eastward at that hour.

August 10. — Lat. 9° 32' S. Run — 145 miles.

Lon. 34° 12' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Weather very fine.

36 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

TV.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, August 10.

August 7. — During the day, we passed between
the Rocas Reef and the island of Fernando de
Noronha. The former bearing west, some sixty
miles on our starboard, and the island quarter that
distance on our port beam.

The Rocas is a circular coral reef, mostly just
submerged, and about two miles in diameter, and
is the only one of its kind in the west Atlantic.
Lying as it does about one hundred and twenty-
five miles off the northeastern extremity of the
Brazilian coast, directly in the great highway
across the equator, it is considered one of, if not
the most dangerous spots in that ocean. On its
treacherous coral rocks are piled the timbers of
many fine ships, which, without warning of any
kind, have rushed headlong to their destruction.
Fernando de Noronha — the outlines of which
were visible from deck — is an island about six
and a half miles long by two miles wide, and is
by far the largest of a small cluster. The shore
is generally very steep and rocky, at one place
towering into a rugged peak eight hundred feet
high ; but there are one or two small bays, where
sandy beaches may be found. It is said to be a

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

beautiful spot, having a great variety of tropical
vegetation, is owned by the Brazilian government,
and is used as a convict station and place of exile
for political offenders. They most certainly have
a preferable prison to that of the subjects of the
Czar, who are waltzed off to Siberia.

The same day we ran past two barks, probably
bound for Rio, and another flying-fish contributed
himself to our breakfast bill of fare by flying on
board. Of the many thousands we see all around
the ship, I wish more would follow his example.

August 8. — Sighted the coast of Brazil, while
on an inshore tack, beating past Cape Saint Roque.
To me it only seemed a low streak, looking like
a fog-bank, but the captain assured me it was
land. During that night we continued standing
in towards shore.

August 9. — At sunrise the coast bore about
twenty miles to the westward. The breeze was
very light, and, although every stitch of canvas
was set, the ship moved but slowly. It was as
beautiful a day as I ever saw. The sky, a delicate
turquoise shade, formed a charming contrast to
the deep sapphire blue of the ocean, whose sur-
face was scarcely more than rippled by the light
airs, and the sun, instead of broiling us alive as it
is in the habit of doing people down here, only
raised the quicksilver to "eighty." At 10 A.M. the
nearest land lay about twelve miles on the star-

4

38 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

board beam, the ship then heading about south.
Going aloft with a glass to get a better view, I
soon made out a fleet of small sails standing off
shore, and heading so as to pass close to us.
Half an hour brought them close enough for the
captain to pronounce them catamarans, and a few
minutes later the entire fleet of perhaps twenty-
five or thirty passed within short range, several
going so close under the stern that we could have
tossed a penny over them. These curious boats,
or rather rafts, are made by lashing side by side
some four or five large logs with pointed ends,
leaving room enough between each log for the free
passage of the water. Over these is laid a plank
deck, through which is stuck the mast. At the
back is lashed a raised seat, on which the helms-
man sits or leans to steer, which he does with a
long oar. The catamarans were mostly rigged
with leg-of-mutton sails, but some few had small
spankers, and one high-toned captain sported a
jib about the size of a healthy towel. The men
who comprised their small crews (some carrying
two and others three) were dark-skinned chaps
with straight black hair, and are the Indian fisher-
men of the coast. This was apparent from the
nets that we could see hanging on the masts, to-
gether with a big bag, which probably held their
provisions. The fleet alJ passed us, heading north-
east, in which direction lie the fishing-banks that

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

39

supply Pernambuco. By noon we were only six
miles off shore. A little to the southward the
land receded, showing- us the entrance to Per-
nambuco harbor, and had we been bound there, a
few hours would have found us at anchor off the
city front. Pernambuco is the third city in im-
portance in Brazil, and has about one hundred
and twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The city
proper we could not see, but perched on tli2
summit of one of the high hills that form a rango
of the town the suburb of Olinda was plainly vis-
ible from deck. The houses and churches, which
are all white, looked very pretty, imbedded as they
were on the green hills. Some little distance from
the village stands an old convent in the centre of
a cocoanut grove, three trees of which tower far
above their fellows, and are seen a long distance
off when coming in from sea.

From aloft I could easily make out the line of
surf breaking on the beach, and also a low fort
which was built a long time ago by the Dutch, the
stones in its foundation being brought all the way
from. Europe. Tacking again at 12.30, we ran
direct off shore before a fine land breeze, and
by 4 P.M. had sunk the land astern. About two
o'clock my attention was attracted by what looked
like a patch of breakers, half a mile on the weather
bow. The second mate noticed it at the same
moment, and pronounced it to be a couple of

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

whales playing or fighting. So it proved, and
soon afterwards many others were seen blowing
in the same direction. They gradually drew
nearer, and two monsters followed us, playing in
our wake, while others were rising all around the
ship. The mate and I went up in the mizzen
cross-trees, from which elevated seat the entire
forms of the big ones astern could be plainly
seen. They would come within a hundred feet
of the ship, rise and blow, and then sink a few
feet below the surface for a minute, and swim on
again. After half an hour of this performance
the captain loaded his rifle, and just as one
spouted let drive. The slug struck " full and by;"
the whale stung by the pain threw himself almost
out of the water, coming down with a sounding
smack, and throwing the spray for many yards.
On striking the water he fluked or dived, his tre-
mendous tail giving an extra flourish or so before
it disappeared ; at the same time his mate van-
ished. Shortly afterwards I took a shot at one
who was blowing about two hundred yards away
on the port quarter, and the result was very sat-
isfactory— to the whale.

They were of the sperm variety, and blew a
small cloud of what looked at a little distance like
white smoke or steam. The two big ones that
came so near were at least seventy feet long.
This being my first peep at a whale, and such an

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. ^

exceptionally good one, I must mark the day down
as a red-letter one.

The voyage from the United States or England
to San Francisco is divided by mariners into five
parts : first, from, say Philadelphia, to the equator
in the Atlantic ; second, from the equator to the
fiftieth degree of latitude south ; third, thence to
the fiftieth degree south, in the Pacific ; fourth, to
the equator ; and, fifth, to San Francisco. The
first of these stretches we have completed, having
crossed the equator on Tuesday morning, about
eight o'clock, after a run of four thousand and
fifty-five miles in twenty-seven and one-half days,
being an average of one hundred and forty-seven
and one-half miles a day, or about six and one-
eighth knots an hour. For the season the run is
a very good one, and the captain is much pleased.
According to ancient lore I am now a member of
Father Neptune's large family by virtue of having
crossed the line. I had always imagined the
equator, at sea, to be a place where perpetual
calms reigned, and the mercury never sank below
1 00°. This idea was rather upset by seeing us
run over on a cool day, before a stiff breeze, and
the sea high enough to keep the spray flying in
clouds over our bow. On leaving the "line"
astern we also bid farewell for a time to the North
Star, and expect again to catch a glimpse of his
twinkle about the first week in October.

4*

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

And now to tell you how we work and play.
The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount ;
he stands no watch, does just as he chooses, and
is of course unaccountable to any one on board.
His word is law, and he must be obeyed without
a question in everything ; he has the power to
turn his officers off duty, and even to break them
and make them do sailors' work and live in the
fo'castle, so that to ship with a tyrannical skipper
generally insures both officers and men a disa-
greeable time of it.

Captain C , however, is anything but a ty-
rant, although he keeps the ship under strict dis-
cipline. He spends his time about as follows :
rising very early, he goes on deck and talks over
the night's work with the officer on watch. Di-
rectly after breakfast he winds all the chronome-
ters and clocks, and takes a sight for longitude.
During the morning he overlooks the sail-makers,
takes other sights for longitude, writes the official
log for the previous night, and at noon takes an
observation for latitude. Just as the sun reaches
the meridian he orders eight bells to be struck,
and then the clocks are regulated for the day.
All other hours are struck on the authority of the
clock in the binnacle, but at noon the man at the
wheel must wait the captain's word. Dinner, at
quarter-past twelve o'clock, being over, he marks
off the ship's position on the charts and lays out

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

her course for the following day. In the afternoon
he is generally on deck for an hour or two, and the
rest of the time reading in his cabin. After supper
(5.30 P.M.) we sit out on deck till about nine or
half-past nine o'clock, and then turn in, before
which the captain always writes up the log for the
day and also his private journal. About once a
week he goes all over the ship on a tour of inspec-
tion.

The first mate, or the mate, as he is always
called, par excellence, is the prime minister of the
vessel's government. He attends to the allotting
of all work, sees that it is properly done, and
when not on deck leaves his orders to be carried
out by the second mate's watch. While below, he
reads in the daytime, and only sleeps at night,
averaging about five hours' sleep a day from Phil-
adelphia to " Frisco." The mate also keeps the
ship-log, and attends to the reception and delivery
of the cargo. Like the captain, he takes obser-
vations, and keeps a separate set of charts for his
own private use.

The second mate's berth is a sort of semi-re-
sponsible one, — he is neither officer nor foremast-
man, but half-way between the two. The crew
have a very little respect for his position, and call
him " the sailors' waiter," on account of his having
to serve them with yarn, twine, marline-spikes, etc.,
of which he has charge. He is expected by the

44 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

captain to preserve his dignity with the men, and
at the same time is looked down upon by the mate,
and forced to work with the crew, not being ex-
empt from plunging his hands into the tar-pot, or
laying aloft to furl or reef the topsails. His state-
room is in the cabin, but he takes his meals with the
carpenter at the second table, which is served in the
same cabin where the captain, mate, and passengers
take their meals, but not until they are finished.

" Chips" is a most necessary person on board,
and is hard at work from morning till night mend-
ing battens, making blocks, calking seams, etc.
As he works all day he is exempt from night duty,
and is only called in case all hands are needed, as
when we tack ship. Besides his regular carpenter-
work he attends to the distribution of fresh water
every morning, and to putting out the side-lights
each evening at sunset ; it is also his duty to test
the well morning and evening, to see how much
water the ship is making.

The steward and cook will both come in next
week, when a masterly essay on "Our Cuisine"
will form the chief feature of the entry. The
crew are divided into two watches of eight men
each, each watch living in a separate fo'castle.
The port watch is commanded by the mate, and
the starboard by the second mate. Between these
two watches the time is divided into alternate
stretches of four hours on duty and "below." If,

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

for instance, the port watch has the deck in the
first night-watch, from eight to twelve, at the end
of the four hours they go below, and the star-
board watch come on duty. They hold the deck
till 4 A.M., when the port again turn out, and so it
goes from day to day, and week to week, all the
way to California, thus making it impossible to
get more than three and a half hours' sleep at one
time. In order to shift the hours each night the
watch from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. is split into two parts
of two hours each, called the first and second dog-
watches ; by means of these the officer who has
the middle watch (or from 12 to 4 A.M.) one night
will be below those hours the next. The watches
have their meals as follows : at 5 A.M. the watch
on deck have hot coffee, and their breakfast at 8
A.M., when they go below. The watch that turn
out at that hour (8 A.M.) get theirs at 7.30, dinner
at 11.30 and 12, tea at 5 and 6 P.M. It is a pop-
ular mistake that sailors lead an idle life at sea.
When on duty they are never unemployed for a
moment, and are even forbidden to talk together.
It is said that " a ship, like a lady's watch, is always
in need of repairs," and that just about strikes it.
To make these repairs the watch on duty are
scattered all over the ship, high and low, fore and
aft, with supplies of yarn and wire, fixing battens
on and mending chafing-gear. Some are painting
the iron-work, and others spinning "spun yarn,"

,5 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

so that the vessel always looks as busy as a bee-
hive. Some of the work they do, such as splicing
ropes and plaiting sennit and mats, is very inter-
esting. Each man has his regular "trick" or turn
at the wheel in two-hour stretches, also on the
lookout at night, which is set at sundown. When
pulling on the ropes one man always sings out
just before the tug, thus insuring a uniform pull.
Each chap has his own peculiar cry or exclama-
tion for such times, and when there are three or
four such parties making sail in different parts of
the ship the assortment of yells and grunts is
very comical. The effect at such a time from in-
side the cabin would lead any one to suspect that
a pitched battle was going on overhead, did they
not know the cause of the rumpus. One fellow
always yells, " Pull for a breeze now !" no matter
whether it is dead calm or the ship making twelve
knots. Another's favorite remark is, " Now, jam
her down!" Another's, " Ahyoualtogethernow-
boys !" but the majority use an indiscriminate
mass of ohs and ahs, and groans and grunts,
which go to make a semi-dismal noise, which at
night has a queer effect. Saturday nights the
" slop-chest," or store-room, is opened, and the
men buy what clothes, boots, tobacco, etc., they
may want, paying very high prices, and having
the amount charged against their wages at the
end of the voyage. (They get on this voyage

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 47

fifteen dollars per month.) On Sundays no labor
is done, except what is needed to work the ship,
and the men sit about smoking, reading, and
mending their clothes. Here, in fine-weather re-
gions, the men have a comparatively easy time of
it, although the officers order them about like so
many dogs, and the hardships of the voyage are
still to come.

There are some great names among the crew, —
a Byron, a Scott, a Nelson, and the ship's boy
boasts the proud title of Washington. He is
about seventeen, and is in the mate's watch, where
his principal duty consists of small jobs like plait-
ing short yarns and picking over the potatoes for
bad ones. This ends the crew, and brings me to
the passengers.

As etiquette rules that age shall always precede

beauty, I first describe the way Mr. X , my

fellow-passenger, passes the time. I have not as
yet said anything about him in this journal, be-
cause I wanted to know him better before jotting
down my opinion.

A month, however, has passed since first we
met, and has been enough to familiarize me with

his habits. Mr. X is tall, with light hair and

moustache, and is on the whole rather good look-
ing. He is going to California to take up business
there, and having lots of time, adopted this way
of getting there. It certainly was from no love

48 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

of the sea that he made the passage, as he takes
no interest whatever in anything about the ship,
very seldom goes aloft, and never talks on any
subject connected with the vessel. His three
great amusements are sleeping, reading the "New
York Weekly" (of which paper he has several
hundred copies at least), and singing or humming
sentimental songs of the " Molly Darling" and
" See that my Grave 's kept Green" order. He
is quite unable to take any joking, and often has
little " tiffs" with the captain and mate, — the latter
loving to tease him. However, we get along to-
gether without a jar, and are always very friendly.
To me time passes very quickly, and the days
flash past like magic ; from morning till night I
am climbing about in the rigging, and can travel
up and down the mast like smoke. I have pretty
well mastered the names of all ropes and spars,
and can prattle ship beautifully. The charts are
very interesting to me, and I am always about
when they are being overhauled and brought up
to date. Then I spend an hour or two every day
in the carpenter-shop whittling and talking, and
have so far done but little reading, really not find-
ing time to spare for it. I can imagine nothing
more bracing or health-giving than a voyage like
this, and with a party of one's friends it would be
perfection. I enjoy every minute of the day, and
sleep like a top at night, retiring at the very re-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

49

spectable hour of 9.30 P.M. Often in the evening
we have music served up by the captain's hand-
some eight-tune box ; we are also provided with
musical instruments, in the shape of the second
mate's before-mentioned two-stringed violin, and
a mouth-organ run to seed, the property of the
captain. My fellow-passenger's rendering of "Sil-
ver Threads among the Gold" on the latter in-
strument is calculated to thrill an anchorite. Two
canary-birds also contribute their voices to the
musical department, and the cat and kitten often
give short evening concerts on the main deck.
To swing in the hammock is another of the simple
and innocent amusements of the passengers, and
on these perfect moonlight evenings here in the
tropics it would be delightful to sleep in one on
deck were it not for the heavy dew that falls after
sunset. I had thought I would greatly miss the
newspapers, but I never give them a thought ;
the feeling that it is of no. use wishing for them
goes a great way towards making one resigned
to doing without.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending Attgust 17.

August ii. — Lat. 12° 42' S. Run — 181 miles.

Lon. 33° 48' W. Temp, at noon, 81°.

Weather beautiful. Sea very smooth.

August 12. — Lat. 14° 38' S. Run — 118 miles.

Lon. 33° 51' W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Weather beautiful. Sea smooth. Light airs all day.

August 13. — Lat. 15° 52' S. Run — 79 miles.

Lon. 34° 28' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Weather very fine. Sea still smooth. Short calms during the day.

August 14. — Lat. 17° 55' S. Run — 146 miles.

Lon. 35° 52' W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Weather beautiful. Sounded on S.E. end of Hotspur Bank at P.M. :
thirty-one fathoms, coral and shell bottom.

August 15. — Lat. 20° 19' S. Run — 199 miles.

Lon. 38° 05/ W. Temp, at noon, 74°.

Weather fine. Dry squalls and stiff' breezes. Slight shower at 9 A.M.
Sea very rough. Ship pitching badly.

August 1 6. — Lat. 23° 19' S. Run — 203 miles.

Lon. 40° oo' W. Temp, at noon, 72°.

Squally all night. Thick and misty all day.

August 17. — Lat. 25° 46' S. Run — 181 miles.

Lon. 45° 53X W. Temp, at n x/n, 72°.

Weather beautiful. Shower in afternoon.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

•y.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, August 17.

ANOTHER, and the sixth continuous week of de-
lightful weather. The evenings are, however, not
quite so pleasant as heretofore on account of the
very heavy dew, that wets everything as though a
shower had fallen, but, being very salt, is not likely
to give one cold. The week would have been
without incident but for one occurrence, which
was, however, of enough importance to interest
us for several days. This was our overtaking the
" Joseph S. Spinney" (the rival ship I mentioned
Sunday, August 3), which we consider quite a
feather in our good ship's cap.

August ii. — At 7 A.M. a sail was reported
ahead, visible from the foretop-gallant yard. By
noon it could be seen from the lower topsail yard,
and through the glass was made out to be a large
ship bound the same way as ourselves. This
news set the captain looking over the list of ships
bound for San Francisco, and he at length de-
clared it must be either the "Spinney" or the "H.
S. Gregory," another large ship that sailed from
New York a week or ten days before we passed
out of the Capes. So sure was he that he was
right that he offered to bet five dollars to one

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

that it would prove one vessel or the other. 1
took the odds.

August 12. — At daylight the stranger was in
sight from deck, hull down, and all that day we
slowly overtook her, spreading everything that
would draw, and keeping the men busy from day-
light to dark bracing and squaring the yards as the
breeze hauled one way or the other. At sunset
our rival was about six miles ahead over the lee
bow.

August 13. — At sunrise she lay in the same
position, only some three miles ahead. At eight
bells she hoisted her signals, which, to Captain
C 's great delight, proved her to be the "Spin-
ney." We then ran ours up, to which she replied
by saying, " Come alongside." This we took to
be a bit of sarcasm ; but she was in earnest, and,
backing her main yard, came to a stop. As we
drew rapidly up she signalled that she would send
a boat for our captain to come on board in. Cap-
tain hoisted, " Shall I bring passengers ?" to which

the "Spinney" replied, "Yes;" but Mr. X

declined to accompany us. By this time we were
within half a mile of the " Spinney," and had met
the boat, which was towing alongside. It was
leaking badly, and one man had to keep bailing-
while three others pulled, — this was about half-
past 10 A.M. After much trouble we got into the
gig, and towed along with the ship until we were

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

abreast of the " Spinney," some five hundred
yards to leeward, when we cast off, drifted astern,
and pulled for the other ship. From the deck it
had looked very smooth, but the contrast between
the ship and the little cockle-shell we were in was
so great that the long swells seemed like young
mountains as we rose to their tops or sank into
the trough. From the gig the view of the two
ships, both with all sails set, was extremely beau-
tiful. Five minutes or so and the boat reached the
" Spinney," bringing up under her lee-quarter. I
scrambled on board by way of the channels and
shrouds, and the captain climbed up the ladder.
We were welcomed by Captain Jordan and his
family, which consisted of his wife, three daughters,
aged about nineteen, twelve, and five, and his son,
seventeen years old. After being introduced all
round, I went all over the ship under the guidance
of young lady No. i. She was a beautiful vessel,
and being some eight or nine hundred tons larger,
made the " Pactolus" seem quite small.

On deck there were a number of chickens strut-
ting about, all blind of one eye, and a cute little
pig lay coiled up in a sunny corner fast asleep.
The young lady, whose name was Carrie, was
very pretty and polite, and sang for me that beau-
tiful vocal gem, "See that my Grave's kept Green,"
in so sweet and touching a manner that I felt
quite sorry that Mr. X had not come with us,

54

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

that song being one of his star performances.
The little girl also favored the company with
music, the instrument both used being a small
parlor organ. After the concert we discussed
" Pinafore" and ate raisins, while the two skippers
talked " passage" and compared notes. At three
o'clock we sat down to a very nice dinner of clam-
chowder, lobster-salad, corn, peas, and potatoes,
with rice-pudding and cake for dessert, also sev-
eral bottles of lager beer, which was prime. Din-
ner being over, young Jordan took me in charge,
and showed me the fo'castle and carpenter-shop,
where he had a jig-saw. As a proof of his skill
on that tool he made me a paper-cutter, which
Miss Carrie decorated with a chromo. But the
most wonderful thing about the ship was the
assortment of cats they had on board. There were
actually twenty-eight live felines of every color
and size, from a jet-black Tom as big as a cat
can grow to a little white kitten with its eyes
still shut, the sole survivor of a recent lot, its
brothers and sisters having been tossed over-
board. Most of these cats were kept down be-
tween decks, and lived on rats, of which there
were great numbers. This, in fact, was the reason
for keeping so many, and it was an experiment of
the captain's, the rodents having heretofore dam-
aged a great deal of cargo. Miss Jordan told me
that often at nights the cats made a terrible racket,

VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 5-

which is easily to be believed. At 4.30 P.M. we
signalled the " Pactolus" to back her main yard
and wait for us, she being then some two miles
ahead, and at five o'clock, after bidding all good-
by, and wishing them a pleasant voyage, the cap-
tain and I went over the side into the gig again.
Going back it did not leak, having been taken on
board and recalked while we were paying our
call. We had some trouble getting on board the
" Pactolus," and only did so after getting well wet
with the splashing waves. I sent Miss J. several
novels in charge of the boatswain ; the two ships
then each dipped the American flag three times
and stood away again. The " Pactolus" being-
able to sail much nearer the wind than the "Spin-
ney," we soon drew ahead and to windward, sun-
set seeing the " Spinney" four miles astern over
the lee quarter.

August 14. — At sunrise our rival bore N. by
W. eight miles, and at sunset N. by W. fifteen
miles. At i P.M. we sounded on the eastern edo^e

o

of Hotspur Bank, a large sunken coral reef from
twenty-five to seventy fathoms under water, and
fourteen by ten miles in extent. Our line ran out
thirty-one fathoms, and the lead, which had some
soap stuck to its bottom for the purpose, brought
up a few bits of coral and shells and a blade or
two of sea-grass.

The fishing on this bank is very fine, great

56 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

numbers of a species of cod frequenting it, but we
were going too rapidly to attempt capturing any.
August 15 and 16. — Shifted our old sails for
new and stronger ones, — a ship, queer as it
sounds, wearing her best clothes in the worst
weather. As they are taken down the old sails
are brought on the roof of the after-house and
thoroughly overhauled and mended before being
put away in the sail-locker, from whence they will
be pulled out to be again bent on when we strike
the fine weather the other side of Cape Horn.
Two sail-makers are generally employed at this
job of patching and repairing sails. They are
members of the crew, one being- chosen from each

1 o

watch, and while thus employed work all day and
sleep all night, instead of turning in and out with
their respective watches.

August 1 7. — This evening a very large flying-
fish flew on board, striking the house at the miz-
zen shrouds. It measured over thirteen inches
in length, and its wings had a spread of fifteen
inches, — I have put them in a book to press.

Through the influence of various sea stories I
have read, my idea of a ship's bill of fare was salt
beef, salt pork, onions, and hard bread full of
weevils. Like many other of my landlubber no-
tions, this has been dispelled, and none more
pleasantly. In the fo'castle, it is true, salt beef
and pork are very extensively eaten, but in the

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 57

cabin, if one does not like those delicacies he need
not touch them, and still not suffer from hunger
or want of variety. Our hours for meals are:
breakfast, seven bells (7.30 A.M.) ; dinner, a little,
after, eight bells (12 M.), and tea at three bells
(5.30 P.M.). They are served in the forward cabin,
the table seating four, and having in its centre a
patent swinging-table that prevents what is placed
on it from upsetting. The captain and I sit on

the starboard side, Mr. X and the mate on

the port. For breakfast we always have coffee,
hot biscuit, and a dish of oatmeal, cornmeal, or
cracked hominy, eaten with molasses or honey,
and some hot relishes, such as salt fish, ham,
corned beef-hash, etc., with boiled potatoes. Each
day has its regular dinner. Monday, pea-soup,
corned beef, potatoes, dried peas boiled soft.
Tuesday and Friday a Yankee menu, bean-soup,
pork and beans, potatoes, and hot Boston brown
bread. Wednesday, clam-chowder, boiled rice,
and some canned meat with curry dressing, rice-
pudding for dessert. Thursday, beef-soup, canned
roast beef, potatoes, and canned peas or beans,
plum-duff (which may be pronounced plum tough),
served with butter and sugar sauce. Saturday,
codfish, potatoes, canned tomatoes. Sunday, va-
rious kinds of soups are chosen from, also a
weekly change in the selection of meat and pota-
toes, corn and macaroni, plum-duff for dessert.

58 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Duff is a kind of bread sweetened, stuck full of
raisins, and cooked in a mould. It is served hot,
and is highly indigestible. I eat the sauce, which
the steward makes very well, on bread instead of
the duff. On the days that I have put down no
dessert we generally have pie, corn-starch some-
times turning up for a change. Tea is my favorite
meal ; it is made up of tea, toast, baked or fried
potatoes, and one of the following relishes : her-
ring, sardines, canned corn-beef, or potted ham ;
also, some kind of stewed dried fruit, and cake or
doughnuts. Our butter is excellent, the only
drawback being its softness. The water, although
in these regions a trifle warm, is clear and good.
Besides what I have mentioned, there is generally
a plate of cold salt beef and pork, cut in thin
slices, on the table for those who wish it. Once
in a while I take a slice of the beef, but don't in-
tend to even nibble the pork. After tea a plate
of this meat and some bread is put on the table
for the officers of the night-watches should they
feel hungry. On ship, as on shore, Saturday is
marketing day, and that afternoon the steward
comes to the captain for the week's supply of
canned goods, coffee, tea, etc. These are kept in
a big locker under the poop-deck, and I often
creep in with the steward, and together we hatch
up little plots concerning the Sunday dinners.
The steward does all the baking, and is quite a

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

59

dabster at it. His biscuit, bread, cake, and pie-
crust are all excellent, and his doughnuts first-
class. Everything else is prepared by the cook,
who serves things smoking hot and perfectly
clean, which is not the way with all ship's cooks.
The Celestials are a queer couple, and it is very
amusing to hear them chattering together. The
cook is a great singer, and warbles away over his
work like a bird, only he never changes the tune,
which isn't particularly captivating. Both can talk
some little English, the steward being the most
easily understood. The cook is a little bit of a
chap, fifty years old, is minus his cue, and wears
his straight black hair banged all around. His
parchment-like skin is drawn over his wizened
little face as tight as a drum-head, and his black
eyes twinkle like diamonds. Sometimes he comes
into the carpenter-shop in the evenings and writes
all over the bench in Chinese characters, which
he tries to explain to us in pigeon-English, always
ending up with, "You savvy?" He is very fond
of the cats, which, under his patronage, have
grown so fat that they can hardly waddle about.
They understand Chinese enough to always run
when he calls out some unintelligible gibberish,
which I suppose means " Come to dinner, pussies."
Chin Lee, the steward, is about thirty-five years
old, and has thick black hair, which he wears
" Melican style ;" his skin is of a lighter shade

60 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

than the cook's. He has control of the pantry,
waits on table, keeps the cabin in order, makes
the beds, does the washing for captain and pas-
sengers, and takes care of the birds. He is very
neat, and keeps the cabins spotlessly clean, seem-
ing to take great pride in doing so. He is never
idle, and appears to thoroughly enjoy hard work.
As I said before, he is learning to read and write,
and is very proud of the fact ; still, he has no idea
of the sound of a word from its appearance, and
only knows what is in the different cans and jars
by experience and the pictures on the outside.
The other day he came to me with a tin of ground
ginger, and said, " G-i-n-g-e-r, — mustard ?" I told
him no, that didn't spell mustard, and then wrote
out the latter word on a slip of paper, by which
means he found what he wanted. He and the cook
are very handy and ingenious, turning the old tin
cans into cups and platters, and this week I saw the
latter make a first-rate rolling-pin out of a bit of
kindling wood. Sometimes they cook themselves
a bowl of rice, and eat it with chop-sticks, chatter-
ing all the while in their own hopelessly unintelli-
gible jargon. These two worthies are both mar-
ried men, the difference being that the steward
spends most of his pay for rum, while Mr. Cook,
like a dutiful husband, sends most of his wages
to Mrs. Cook, who is one of the few Chinese
women who live in New York.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. ftl

In the fo'castle the bill of fare of course differs
from that in the cabin. Salt beef and pork, hard
bread and soft bread, potatoes, and coffee go to
make it up. Tuesday and Friday they also have
boiled beans, and Thursday and Sunday a coarse
kind of duff, which is eaten with molasses. This
latter dish is considered the treat of the week,
and the two days on which it is served are known
to the sailors as " duff day," and following- the
same rule, instead of speaking of Tuesday or Fri-
day, they say " bean day." Their food is served
in large pans, which one of the watch comes to
the galley after, and it is eaten in the fo'castle,
where each man has his knife, spoon, and plate,
together with a tin cup for water or coffee. These
they keep clean themselves. The salt meats are
kept in a large barrel, called the harness cask,
which is kept on deck at the side of the forward-
house, and lashed down. The codfish is stored
in a chest lashed in the mizzentop, which, like
the main- and foretops, is in the " Pactolus" very
large and roomy, and is kept there so as to
keep it thoroughly aired. It is the boy's work
to open this chest every Friday morning and
get out the fish for the next day's use. One of
the, to me, strange dishes we have in the cabin
is called " tongues and sounds," being the tongues
and part of the stomachs of the codfish put up
in pickle. It tastes like very strong stewed clams.

62 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

One trifling drawback to the pleasures of the
table is the generous quantity of diminutive
roaches which manage to come to an untimely
end in the various dishes during their prepara-
tion. At first this feature of our repast was a
source of considerable annoyance to me, but
after wasting a good deal of time in vain efforts
to find all the defunct intruders in my food, I
gave up hunting for them, and now only re-
move them when they appear without being
looked for. They swarm in the galley or kitchen,
although the cook keeps it scrupulously clean, and
the cats are forever catching and devouring them,
yet the supply is always at flood-tide, and the cap-
tain says such is the case on almost every vessel
afloat.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

Table for week ending August 24.

August 18. — Lat. 28° 41' S. Run — 255 miles.

Lon. 45° 53' W. Temp, at noon, 72°.

Stiff breezes. Fine day's work. Clear, but damp and disagreeable.

August 19. — Lat. 30° 35' S. Run — 145 miles.

Lon. 47° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 69°.

Gloomy and damp. Veiy rough sea. Brilliant phosphorescent display
in the evening.

August 20. — Lat. 33° 42' S. Run — 242 miles.

Lon. 50° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 63°.

Wet and chilly. Sea much lower. Several violent squalls day and
night.

August 21. — Lat. 35° 43' S. Run — 134 miles.

Lon. 52° 21' W. Temp, at noon, 72°.

Warm and pleasant till 2 P.M. Afternoon colder and damp. Fierce
squalls and calms all night, with terrible thunder and lightning.

August 22. — Lat. 37° 15' S. Run — 126 miles.

Lon. 53° 56' W. Temp, at noon, 52°.

Strong gale from 4 to 8 A.M. Cold rain all day till four o'clock, when
it cleared. Magnificent scarlet sunset.

August 23. — Lat. 39° 46' S. Run — 165 miles.

Lon. 54° 56' W. Temp, at noon, 42°.

Cold and raw. Strong winds. Very rough sea, washing inboard.

August 24. — Lat. 41° I2r S. Run — 126 miles.

Lon. 56° 01 ' W. Temp, at noon, 42°.

Quite cold. Clear and foggy by turns. Thunder, lightning, and calms
in afternoon.

64 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

"VI.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, August 24

EXIT fine weather, — enter assorted bad. What
a contrast to former tables is that for the past
week! I suppose the phrase "very fine" I have
so constantly used hitherto in reference to the
weather must at last be shelved, and the less
pleasant ones used in the preceding table reign
in its stead for a month to come. Well, we can-
not complain. For forty days we have enjoyed
an uninterrupted run of beautiful weather, not a
single evening of the six weeks being spent in
the cabin ; in fact, I had almost forgotten that
there were such drawbacks to a sea-voyage as
storms, and had begun to think the stories of
gales, deafening thunder-squalls, and other terrors
of wind and weather mere romancing. Since last

o

Monday, however, I've seen enough to convince
me of their truthfulness, therefore it is not par-
ticularly cheering to hear that I may expect much
worse from here all the way round the Cape, but
without the thunder and lightning accompaniment,
for which thank heaven. The week has been full
of incident, as its record will show.

August 18. — While ploughing along through
a heavy head sea we passed close to a small
schooner of about one hundred or two hundred

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

tons. This little craft was bound from Havre to
the river Platte, and was the "John N. Colby," of
Stonington, Connecticut, a real specimen of Yan-
kee grit, — grit it was to come down here in her,
for although a fine day, and to us only a good
breeze, the schooner was pitching like a cork
under shortened sail, and almost every wave
splashed over her rail.

August 19. — During breakfast a commotion
was heard on deck, and on going out the second
mate reported having seen a drifting wreck
through a rift in the fog, which was hanging in a
thick bank right across our course. I went for-
ward on the jib-boom with a pair of glasses, but
could see nothing through the mist. Just as a
lookout was starting to go aloft the fog cleared
away, an-d about half a mile ahead, almost in our
track, lay the wreck. Altering our course a point
we stood for her, and backing the main yard as
we came up, stopped within one hundred feet of
her. She was the Swedish brig " Oscar II.," of
about four hundred tons, and her captain, the beau
ideal of a weather-beaten old sea-dog, told us in
broken English she had been totally dismasted in
a pampero off the Rio Grande de Sul, a small
river leading to a town of the same name, which
is situated on the southern extremity of the Bra-
zilian coast. The pamperos are very violent
squalls that come rushing out of the rivers along

e 6*

66 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

these coasts, with little or no warning, and are
much dreaded by sailors.

On the brig everything was in disorder, the
decks being heaped with tangled rigging and
broken spars. All her boats, except a small gig,
were stove in and useless, Two low jury-masts,
one about twenty feet high the other only ten, on
each of which was spread an old sail, had been
rigged up, and under this sorry display of canvas
the hulk was making for Rio Janeiro, there to
refit. We offered the captain new spars, or any
other help he might want, but he thanked us and
declined, saying that as the wind was fair he
hoped to make port in a few days. Wishing him
a safe journey, a courtesy he returned, we squared
away, and soon the "Oscar II." was out of sight
astern. She was then over four hundred miles
from Rio, and should she have any but fair winds
and weather it will go hard with her. This event
made a great stir among the crew, who thronged
up into the rigging so as to get a better look.
Wednesday was damp and gloomy ; we were on
soundings, and the sea had lost its blue color, being
of a dirty-green shade, caused by the shoal water,
and also the effects of the outflowing current from
the great river Platte, which at its mouth is over
a hundred miles wide. Here the winds surge in
and out as from a pair of huge bellows, making
the neighborhood most dangerous for vessels of

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 67

all kinds. It is the headquarters of the pam-
peros.

The Rio de la Plata, to give the " Platte" its full
and correct name, is the second river of South
America, and is translated " River of Silver." Dur-
ing the day we were for the first time surrounded
by a number of Cape pigeons, beautiful birds with
white bodies, black heads, and mottled wings.
They are just the size of an ordinary pigeon (but
are not of that species, being so called from their
resemblance), and have the most graceful flight of
any bird I ever saw, never seeming to flap their
wings, but floating up and down on the breeze as
they sweep in graceful curves all about the ship,
especially in the wake ; they often settle in the
water, where they look like little ducks. In the
evening the phosphorescent display was beautiful
beyond description. The sky was as black as the
ace of spades, being completely overcast, and a
rough cross-sea was breaking on our quarter. As
the ship plunged along at the rate of ten knots
before a stiff breeze from the northeast, throwing
the waves aside from her bows, the foam came
floating astern on either side in great patches,
which glimmered like pale-green fire. On the
weather-quarter, every few minutes a great sea
would rise in a cone, hissing and sparkling above
the level of the rail, as though to sweep in and
swamp us, and then fall back into the trough

68 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

broken into a mass of seething foam, and literally
blazing with the phosphorescent flame. Far and
near the surface of the ocean was glistening, as
the waves curled and broke, or meeting together
threw the bright spray up against the gloomy
background of the sky. In our wake the water,
churned to a depth of twenty feet, gleamed in a
broad dim line for several hundred yards, and,
to add to the beauty of the scene, a school of por-
poises played about the ship, looking like meteors
as they swiftly scudded about some fathoms be-
neath the surface. Towards eleven o'clock the
sea gradually lost its extra brilliancy, and soon
the usual whitish foam sprinkled with bright sparks
was all that remained of this wonderful display of
submarine fireworks.

August 21. — This morning, unlike the early
part of the week, was warm and sultry, the sun
coming up clear ; at nine o'clock the breeze died
away, leaving us becalmed, in which condition we
lay until 1.30. I took this opportunity, and man-
aged to get up on the main royal yard, the high-
est possible perch on board. In descending 1
slid down the port royal backstay to the topmast
cross-trees, then down the top-gallant backstay to
the level of the top ; here I swung out my legs
over the weather cross-jack brace, and pulled it
towards me until I could catch it with both hands;
by means of this I went hand over hand to the

ff/S VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

69

cross-jack, pulled myself up on it, and went into
the mizzen-mast just under the top ; from here I
reached deck by sliding down the lower mizzen
topsail-sheets, thus reaching- deck from the mast-
head without touching the shrouds, as the rope-
ladders are called.

During the forenoon a bottle drifted past us,
tightly sealed and covered with barnacles ; it had
probably been thrown from some vessel a long
time back. To mv intense disgust it was out of

• •• o

reach, and I saw it disappear astern without hav-
ing the pleasure of solving the mystery of its
contents. We also saw the carcass of a whale,
from which the blubber had been cut. Both the
captain and the mate said they were distrustful
of the calm and sudden rise of temperature, the
latter telling me it was a regular " weather-
breeder," and it needed but a few hours to
prove the truth of his words. About two o'clock
the oppressive heat, suddenly, and without warn-
ing, gave way to a damp, chilly atmosphere, which
was very penetrating and disagreeable, and soon
made it too unpleasant to stay on deck in warm-
weather togs. This chilliness grew more decided
as the afternoon wore on, and towards evening
low mutterings of thunder rumbled up from the
southwest, where a bank of black clouds, compact
and ugly, were gradually heaving up out of the
sky-line. The sun went down an angry globe of

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

crimson flame, and almost before its upper limb
had sunk, the damp, murky air had smothered the
glory of the after-glow, which, during the short
time it lasted, presented a most billious spectacle.
At four bells (6 P.M.), the gloom having greatly
increased, there came on a cold, drizzling rain, and
at the same hour several flashes of chain-light-
ning zigzagged a warning across the southwestern
sky, in the direction of the river's mouth, followed
by a low growl of thunder that, distant as it was,
seemed to make the ocean tremble. As night
came on, it grew blacker than pitch ; and an occa-
sional cat's-paw of warm wind came puffing up
from the same direction. Aloft the canvas was
thoroughly snugged, the running-gear was over-
hauled and made ship-shape, the decks cleared of
all unnecessary stuff, and then in the inky dark-
ness, heavily rolling on the oil-like swells, we
awaited, without any very apparent symptoms of
pleasure, the opening of the performance to which
nature was then giving us the overture. At eight
bells it again fell dead calm, and the drizzle
stopped for an hour, while the thunder once more
began its growling afar off, with the same sup-
pressed power noticed before. The captain say-
ing that we were " in for the devil of a kick up,
and no mistake," and that all hands would prob-
ably be on deck all night, I made up my mind
not to turn in as usual, but to stay with the skip-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. JL

per and see the show. Mr. X cast his vote

the other way, and vanished below. Shortly after
nine o'clock the rain commenced sprinkling again,
but with no renewal of the gusts, and, going be-
low, I rigged myself out from top to toe in oil-
skins and rubber. By ten the drizzle had increased
to a pelting torrent of rain, the air was still and
very cold, and the lightning resumed operations
at short intervals, much closer than before, while
the muttering and groaning of the thunder had
swelled into very discouraging booms. Then
down through the drenching blackness, from each
royal mast-head and yard-arm tip, there slowly
gleamed out a dim glare of pale- blue fire, which
flickered in the most ghostly way, now going
out, now reappearing, sometimes as a ball and
then as a plume, but always looking spectral and
unreal. These phantom visitors, which added
considerable weight to the already appalling
gloom of the situation, are called, to quote the
captain, composants, and were caused by an ex-
cess of electricity in the atmosphere. I recollect
having seen a picture of a ship thus decorated, in
which they were called St. Elmo's fire.

Towards eleven o'clock the steady down-pour
eased off a bit, but a sharp squall from the south-
west came breezing along bringing it on again,
and then with a rush came the storm. Every
moment the thunder and lightning increased in

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

power, until at last it seemed as if the arch-fiend
himself, backed by a legion of lesser Beelzebubs,
was overseeing the hideous din. For six hours
the storm was terrific ; not so much in the matter
of wind, for at times it was calm ; nor in the sea
running, for that was but moderately rough, but
in the frightful vividness of the lightning and the
terrible crashing of the thunder. The bolts of
lightning fairly hissed as they forked around and
across the ship in blinding flashes of pink or blue
or white flame, dazzling one's eyes so that they
ached for hours afterwards. To attempt to de-
scribe the thunder would be folly ; almost con-
tinually for six hours it crashed about us, each
tremendous discharge making the ship tremble
and quiver to her keelson, and half stunning us
as we stood terror-stricken at the fury and power
of the storm. Never did I experience such fear,
and all hands, from the captain to the cook, ac-
knowledge the same feeling of terror. The storm
itself was terrifying enough, but when supple-
mented with the knowledge that the standing rig-
ging was a net-work of wire ropes and chains, and
that under our feet lay an immense mass of gun-
powder, our feelings may be better imagined than
described. That the ship was not struck seems
little less than a miracle, and I think what saved
her was the fact of the spars and rigging being so
heavily charged with electricity before the storm

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

broke. During the first half of the storm the wind
would at times come rushing up from the south-
west, then drop away altogether, and in a few
minutes afterwards blow great guns from an en-
tirely different direction ; in fact, we had squalls
from nearly every point of the compass. It was
during the calm spells that came between these
squalls, and when the ship swung heavily from
side to side, that the storm seemed most terrible.
At 3 A.M. it settled into a steady blow from the
northwest, which rapidly stiffened into a gale, and
the ship was put under reefed topsails, reefed
mainsail and foresail ; at four o'clock the upper
topsails and mainsail were furled, and the foresail
reefed, and under this latter and reefed lower top-
sails we ran until 7 A.M. The crew were com-
pletely fagged out : twelve men being aloft nearly
two hours trying to furl the mainsail. At six
o'clock the wind in a great measure died away ;
the clouds began to scatter, and the thunder and
lightning rapidly drew away, passing out to sea-
ward of us ; at seven a cold drizzle set in, which
lasted all day. Both the captain and mate, who
have spent most of their lives at sea, say they
never went through so terrible a night before, and
both acknowledged that they thought themselves
booked for Davy Jones.

August 22. — We were again surrounded by the

Cape pigeons. They are perfectly ravenous, and
D 7

74

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

will eat anything we throw overboard. Drop a
bit of pork fat or bread no larger than a cent, and
instantly they will have it. They come right up
under the rail in their hurry to grab the morsels.
They always have to settle before feeding, and it
is very curious to see one or more flying at full
speed, spy a bit of food, throw back their wings,
and drop beside it. Should it be sinking, they
dive after it. When several tackle the same piece
they fight and cackle at a great rate. The after-
noon being nearly calm I baited a small fish-hook
with pork, and scattered some small bits about in
the water. The pigeons promptly ate all the loose
bits, and then turned their attention to the piece
on the hook. A great many picked at it, but for an
hour I couldn't hook one. At last, however, one
unlucky chap got the barb fastened in his bill, and
was hauled on board struggling bravely. Being
unfit to eat I let it go again, after shutting it up
for a while in the cabin along with our youngest
cat. Puss has been almost crazy since the birds
came around, sitting up on the rail at the risk of
falling overboard, and following them in their
flight with her eyes for an hour at a time, and
occasionally uttering a dismal " meyow." She
also sharpened her claws very often, which led
us to think she would 'tackle a bird with great
vigor. But when pussy was brought face to face
with our pigeon she weakened. For a while she

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

75

only sat and looked at it sitting on the floor, then
she went a little closer, when the bird hit her a
slap right across the face with its wing. That
finished the encounter, for the kitten retired under
the sofa, from which retreat she could not be

coaxed. Mr. X , by the way, slept calmly all

through last night's uproar, and was astonished
when he heard about it. He was likewise very
much tickled at having dodged the experience,
although, now that it is all over, I'm glad I was on
deck. The second mate acknowledged to me to-
day that the storm was " no slouch of a rumpus,"
but proceeded to relate a yarn about another he
once witnessed, which, to quote him, " was as far
ahead of last night's as last night's was ahead of
a bunch of fire-crackers." It has to be a big
thing- that Mr. D can't see and ^0 several

o o

better.

August 24. — To-day, for the first time, I saw an
albatross. They are very handsome birds, with
the same graceful flight as the pigeons, only
slower, and are much larger than I had thought,
some measuring twelve or fourteen feet across
the wings.

76

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending August 31.

August 25. — Lat. 40° 43' S. Run — 57 miles.

Lon. 56° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 49°.

Warmer ; mostly calm. Very heavy fog in evening.

August 26. — Lat. 41° 44X S. Run — 146 miles.

Lon. 59° o6x W. Temp, at noon, 49°.

Fine all A.M. Strong squalls from 2 to 5 P.M., with thunder and light-
ning. Hail and snow squalls all night. Tremendous sea.

August 27. — Lat. 44° 13' S. Run — 236 miles.

Lon. 62° 45' W. Temp, at noon, 35°.

Sea still very high. Moderate gale from N. W. Fine moonlight night.

August 28. — Lat. 48° 09' S. Run — 237 miles.

Lon. 64° 52' W. Temp, at noon, 31°.

Gale from S. W. Hail and rain at intervals.

August 29. — Lat. 50° 14' S. Run — 157 miles.

Lon. 65° 21 ' W. Temp, at noon, 30°.

Gale moderating. Very cold.

August 30. — Lat. 52° 59' S. Run — 173 miles.

Lon. 64° 19' W. Temp, at noon, 33°.

Snow, hail, sleet, and rain. High head sea.

«

August 31. — Lat. 53° 39' S. Run — 115 miles.

Lon. 64° 07' W. Temp, at noon, 36°.

Cold and fine. Superb sunset. Full moon. Sighted Staten Land at
1 1 P.M., twenty-eight miles ahead.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

77

AT SEA, SUNDAY, August 31.

weather down her
who —

THE weather down here is like the little girl

o

" When she was good, was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid."

Monday and Tuesday mornings, last evening, and
all to-day belong to the first, and the rest of
the week to the second half of the couplet. We
have been running down along the coast of Pata-
gonia all the week, through the " roaring forties,"
as these latitudes are called, keeping well in
towards the land, but not sighting it, except for a
short time Thursday afternoon, when it could just
be made out from aloft, about thirty miles on the
starboard beam, and having the appearance of a
low fog-bank.

August 25. — At daylight we were within a mile
of a large skysail yard ship, which had appeared
on Sunday, the 24th instant, but I forgot to note it
down. She turned out to be the " St. John," one
of our owner's ships, and registers something over
two thousand tons. She was then seventy-one
days out from Liverpool, bound for Callao, Peru.
Her very long passage, she signalled, had been
caused by an awful dose of "doldrums" north of

7*

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

the line. What makes the meeting of the two
vessels curious is the fact that just about a year
ago both ships were down here, our captain
having charge of the " St. John," and her present
captain having command of the " Pactolus." Cap-
tain C had a hard time of it in the " St. John,"

the voyage being a chapter of accidents from
start to finish. Besides having his first mate sick
in bed for ninety days, his other officers were
most inferior and unreliable. The steering-gear
broke down in the South Atlantic, and he had to
venture around the " Horn" with a patched-up
affair. He lost one man by sickness and one by
drowning, and to cap the climax, was run into at
i A.M. one dark morning off Cape Horn by an
iron bark. The ship was cut just forward of the
fore rigging, the bark's bows crushing in some
ten or twelve feet, but not cutting quite down to
the water-line. On the bark the damage was a
broken jib-boom and bowsprit and loss of the
foremast-stays. The captain says only the mild
state of the sea prevented both vessels from
going down. One of the bark's crew in attempt-
ing to scramble on board the " Pactolus," was

o

crushed between the two vessels and cut in half.
The ship was one hundred and forty-nine days in
reaching 'Frisco. During to-day, which has been
mostly calm, we saw a whale, a seal, and several
penguins, queer birds about the size of a duck,

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

that swim under water, only coming to the surface
for air. They swim almost as fast as any fish and
venture long- distances from shore, we being at
the time over a hundred miles off the nearest
coast. Being unable to fly on account of the
diminutive pattern of their wings, which are used
as fins when in the water, they waddle about in
the most comical manner when on shore, so the
mate who has seen them there tells me. In the
afternoon the captain shot a pigeon with his rifle,
and I shot at several.

August 26. — This afternoon we had a repeti-
tion, on a much smaller scale, of the terrible ex-
perience off the river Platte, with the addition
of a very high sea. The seas were tremendous,
several whoppers coming inboard. At one time
the main deck was full to within a foot of the top
of the rail, the men either floating or under water
in the lee-scuppers.

August 27. — Our fiftieth day out, and a splendid
run we have made so far. I celebrated the occasion
by being knocked down by a sea that tumbled in on
me as I was standing on the weather side of the
poop, just forward of the mizzen-shrouds. I was
talking to the second mate, and was paying more
attention to one of his unbelievable yarns than to
the ocean, when all of a sudden I saw a big wave
tower over us, and before I could jump away
down it came, laying me out as flat as a Pinafore

8o A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

joke, and washing me aft some thirty feet, where
the captain threw himself into the attitude of a
wicket-keeper at cricket and stopped me cleverly.
I was wet through, and my boots were filled with
salt water ; I thought for a moment that I was
overboard, and was about as well scared as possi-
ble. Mr. D was carried in an opposite direc-
tion on to the main-deck and brought up under
the pumps, from which position it took a. couple
of sailors to pull him out.

August 28. — We ran past a bark under double-
reefed topsails ; she was pitching fearfully. All
to-day we have been accompanied by a large school
of right-whale porpoises. They are striped black
and white, and have much quicker movements
than the common black species ; often we could
see them shooting through the crest of a big wave
far above the level of the ship's deck.

August 29. — To-day the gale suddenly shifted to
the southwest and south, blowing directly in our
teeth, and so continued until late in the after-
noon, when it sank to a fresh breeze. Mixed up
with these blows there has been, as the table
shows, a varied assortment of rain, snow, hail,
and sleet squalls, which cut the face like needles.
The quotations of the thermometer give but little
idea of the cold, the fierce wind and cutting rain
or spray making it many times worse than the
figures would seem. The whole appearance of

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. gt

the ship is changed. Everything about the decks
is strongly battened down, the windows across the
weather side of the houses are covered with strong
wooden shutters, heavy breakwaters have been
lashed amidships to break the force of incoming
seas, extra tackle made ready in case of accident is
hanging at the foot of the mizzen-mast, and a life-
line stretches across the poop-deck, to grab at in
case of a wave washing over that part of the ves-
sel. Instead of a cloud of canvas we only carry
the heavy lower sails, making the upper part of
the masts look bare and forlorn. The decks are
often swimming a foot deep with water, and are
never dry. The men, who are now prevented
from working about or aloft at their usual jobs,
are only worked at tending the sails, and between
orders stay under the lee of the forward house.
They look very odd, being swelled to nearly twice
their natural size by their thick clothes, over which
they wear oil-skin coats and trowsers, and also
rubber "sou'wester" hats. Those that have new
suits of oil-skins look like mammoth canary-birds,
the color of the garments being a bright yellow.
Through all their hardships, and this weather is
really very hard on them, they seem as cheerful
as possible, and sing their queer, monotonous
songs with a vim when pulling on the ropes
where all hands or a whole watch is needed.
At these times the carpenter is expected to lend

g2 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

a hand, and when on deck I too catch hold and
help pull. The song-, or " shantee," as they call
it, which is sung when a whole watch or more
are hauling, consists in the leader singing a line,
then all hands the chorus, which is only one line
long, and at the same time giving two long,
steady pulls ; as the leader chants the next line
the men rest, then another chorus and pull,
and so on until the yard is hoisted or the sail
sheeted home. Of course I too have to wear
very different clothes from the cheviot shirt and
straw hat costume of warm latitudes. I am now
attired in the following: thick Scotch cap, heavy
silk muffler, under-shirt and two flannel shirts,
vest, jacket, and two pairs of trowsers, two pairs
of socks, heavy rubber boots, and over all my big
ulster. With all this on it is a good deal like
work to go aloft, but up I go every day, rain or
shine, generally stopping at the tops, now that
my sea-togs are so heavy and cumbersome. The
cold weather has the advantages of cooling the
drinking-water and making the butter as hard as
ice.

The head-sea to-day was awful, and to stand up
without holding on to something quite impossi-
ble, the ship seeming to stand right up on her
stern and bow ; yet with all the pitching and
rolling she does, so perfect is the model of her
hull that the motion is seldom jarring. Luckily

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 83

for me, through all these blows my bunk has
been to leeward, and my seat at table to wind-
ward, so that I have been in no clanger of tum-
bling out of the first, or of getting a plate of
soup in my lap while at table. To-day we crossed
the fiftieth degree of latitude south of the equator,
from which point to fifty degrees south in the Pacific
is commonly recognized among sailors as going
around Cape Horn.

August 30. — Wore ship this P.M. for the first
time, there being too much sea on to tack, and
stood in towards land, as we were getting too far
to the eastward. The charts are now kept on
the cabin-table all the time, and are consulted at
short intervals day and night.

August 31. — The week winds up with a day
clear, cold, and bracing, a sunset magnificent in
the extreme, and a brilliant moonlight evening.

84 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending September 7.

September i. — Lat. 55° 29' S. Run — 153 miles.

Lon. 64° 34' W. Temp, at noon, 34°.

Clear, cold, and fine. Moonlight. Passed Cape Horn at 11.30 P.M.

September 2. — Lat. 57° 04' S.* Run — 200 miles.

Lon. 68° 15' W. Temp, at noon, 39°.

Light airs and calms most all day. Sighted Diego Ramirez Islands,
twenty-two miles to the N. W., at 4 P.M., from upper foretop-sail yard.

September 3. — Lat. 56° 38' S. Run — 131 miles.

Lon. 71° 51' W. Temp, at noon, 37°.

Cold and rainy. Heavy S. W. swell.

September 4. — Lat. 55° n' S. Run — 196 miles.

Lon. 76° 36' W. Temp, at noon, 38°.

Cold and raw. High swell from S. W. Heavy gale all night, wifh
gigantic sea.

September 5. — Lat. 53° 29' S. Run — 167 miles.

Lon. 77° 25' W. Temp, at noon, 46°.

Gale all day. Head-sea running " mountains high."

September 6. — Lat. 53° $3' S. Run — 97 miles.

Lon. 79° 29' W. Temp, at noon, 44°.

Moderate gale. Sea still high. Very little progress.

September 7. — Lat. 53° O4/ S. Run — 61 miles.

Lon. 79° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 46°.

Fine day. Sea lower. Cold, rainy evening.

* Farthest point south.

MS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. 85

*

AT SEA, SUNDAY, September 7.

AROUND Cape Horn, and off for San Francisco.
The weeks and weeks of sailing south have done
their work, at last the dreaded Cape, our half-way
house, is passed, the Atlantic is far astern ; and
now, ploughing the waves of the South Pacific,
the good ship heads for the north and civilization.
Sixty-one days out and around Cape Horn is a
fine record, and with ordinary luck we'll make a
rapid passage. I hope so, I'm sure, for the cap-
tain's sake, and the sake of those at home, who,
unacquainted with the many harmless ways we
might be detained, would perhaps worry were
the voyage long-drawn out. One hundred and
twenty days would just suit me, bringing me
to 'Frisco November 5. Ten days on shore to
see the city and neighborhood, as well as to
tackle a few beefsteaks and fresh fruits, and then
take the steamer of the I5th for Yokohama. By
catching this boat I would be landed in Japan by
Christmas-day, which I'm not particularly anxious
to pass at sea. But with some seven thousand
miles still between us and port, any attempt to
figure our arrival down very fine would be fool-
ish. Cape Horn was on its best behavior when

8

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

we came around ; I had expected a gale that
would fairly blow my hair out by the roots.
Ever since leaving home I have heard and read
stories of the fierce storms that most ships en-
counter off the Cape.

Vessels are sometimes as much as ninety days
beating to the westward, a month is common
enough, and very often ships are compelled to
put back all the way to " Rio" for repairs. This
ship once, when just off the Cape, was headed
off by a gale that blew her back for six days,
and landed her so far to the eastward that she
was over two weeks in again reaching Cape
Horn.

The reason of the strength of these constant
westerly winds is that for thousands of miles no
land intervenes to break their velocity and power
as they come sweeping over the whole extent of
the Pacific. On this parallel of latitude a ship
could steer a straight westerly course right round
the world, and no other place on the globe offers
the same chance. The great preparation we
made for buckling the Cape was more evidence
of a rough time coming. All our light and old
sails taken down, and strong new ones bent in
their place. The hatches double-lashed to the
decks, breakwaters rigged amidships, to break
the force of any stray seas that should tumble
inboard, everything securely battened down, ex-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. $ 7

tra tackles placed where they would be handy in
case of anything giving way, and a hundred other
little matters which would take too long to write
about.

Well, on each side of the Cape we had some
rough weather : one gale on the eastern coast
of Patagonia, and another on this side, and a
week or two of most disagreeable sleet, rain,
and snow squalls. But a regular out and out
Cape Horn blow didn't show up, although the
sample of last Friday, which was the finish of
a genuine A No. i gale, was enough to show
me what the weather clerk could do if he really
tried.

It certainly was a pleasant surprise in the face
of all our fears to go skipping around the Cape
before a stiff easily breeze, with all the kites set,
and the moon shining brightly overhead, and still
more surprised were we when the next day we
found ourselves lying becalmed off the Cape
proper, where we had looked for the hardest
blow of the voyage. But then there are excep-
tions to every rule, that of Cape Horn weather
included, although such are few and far between.

I left off last Sunday by saying it was a " bril-
liant moonlight evening ;" shortly after I had fin-
ished writing and turned in, the second mate

o

called down the companion-way that there was
an iceberg ahead. On hearing this the captain

88 ,/ LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

was on deck in about thirty seconds, and Mr.

X and I followed a minute later; but it

was a false alarm. Instead of an iceberg- there
loomed up, some twenty-five miles to the south-
ward, one of the highest mountains of Staten
Land (a large island lying off the eastern coast
of Terra del Fuego), its snow-covered top shining

in the moonlight having deceived Mr. D .

The body of the island was hidden by clouds,
and this one peak alone was visible ; ten minutes
afterwards it had disappeared.

September i. — At sunrise this morning the ship
was abreast of the island, about ten miles off shore,
and as the sun came up clear and brilliant, an en-
ormous black squall that had until then completely
shut out a view of the land slowly drifted away.
A more beautiful scene than that which then broke
upon us I never beheld ; the wtiole extent of Staten
Land stood out clear-cut against a black -sky be-
yond; the mountains, which extended from end to
end, were covered to their tops with snow, and the
rising sun shining on them tinged the most ex-
posed sides and angles with a delicate pink shade,
and cast into deep shadow the valleys and great
fissures in the sides of the cliffs. In some parts
the mountains curved down to the water's edge
in great sheets of unbroken whiteness, and in
others the dark rugged cliffs rose straight from
the waves to the height of a thousand feet.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

89

For an hour we enjoyed the widely beautiful
scene, which as the sun rose higher and higher
constantly changed its brilliant hues, until at last
another tremendous squall slowly shut out the
view, and when some hours later it was again
clear, the island was almost out of sight. Staten
Land or Island (both names being used) is about
forty miles long, extending east-northeast and
west-southwest, and lying about one hundred and
fifty miles northeast of Cape Horn. It averages
four miles in width. Precipitous hills from two
thousand to three thousand feet high form a
rugged backbone the entire length of the island,
which, by the way, is also known as the Court of
Eolus, on account of the constant squalls and
storms there, and it is said that every day year in
and year out the squalls are as sure to come as
the sun is to rise. It is uninhabited, and the har-
bors are few and wretched ; wild celery and vari-
ous kinds of sea-birds abound (as the geographies
say), and the rocks are covered with a peculiar
kind of sea-weed which grows to the length of
several hundred feet, and is so wide and tough
that cups, buckets, and pans can be made of it.

11.30 P.M. we passed the longitude of Cape
Horn and at the same time into the Pacific Ocean,
after a run of eight thousand four hundred and
seventy-six miles in fifty-five and one-third days
from Delaware Bay, a daily average of one hun-

9o

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

clred and fifty-three and one-sixth miles. We
were then thirty miles south of the Cape proper,
which is a small island and of no account at all
in itself, being only about a mile or two square.
I stayed on deck until midnight. The sky was
covered with patches of swiftly moving clouds,
which now and then shut out the bright moonlight
as they drifted across her disk. The ship was
running very rapidly before a fresh northeast
breeze, every rag that would draw set, and really
presented a beautiful appearance. The surface
of the ocean was a mass of roaring breakers,
caused by the strong westerly current running in
a contrary direction to the wind, which as they
broke into foam looked in the bright moonlight
like heaps of snow. Right overhead sparkled
the Southern Cross, now seen at its best. It is a
very beautiful constellation ; from this time it will
gradually sink behind us.

September 2. — The ship lay becalmed all the
morning, light breezes springing up after dinner.
Made out the Diego Ramirez rocks at 4 P.M.,
from the foretop-gallant yard, twenty-two miles
ahead, the ship then heading northwest. These
are a cluster of great barren rocks fifty-four miles
southwest of Cape Horn, and are the most south-
erly land of South America. There are three
principal rocks and many lesser ones in the
group, which extends northwest and southeast

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. gl

four or five miles. Numberless sea-birds, and
some seals, live on them.

The ship " St. John," I mentioned last week had
a very narrow escape from being lost on these
rocks when on her way home from 'Frisco a year
or two ago. She had been running by dead
reckoning before a "westerly" for several days,
when one pitch-dark night she ran at full speed
straight between two of the largest rocks, through
a narrow channel a mile long ; so close was she
to the rocks that the breakers carried away all
her starboard rail.

September 5. — During the afternoon and night
we had the hardest gale of the voyage so far, and
from the tremendous sea running from that direc-
tion it was certainly the finishing touch of a regu-
lar sou'wester, although the wind had hauled
around to 'the northwest. The sail report taken
from the log will show how it came on to blow
harder and harder. "Up to i P.M. all sail ; i P.M.
furled royals ; 2 P.M. furled top-gallant-sails ; 2.30
P.M. furled cross-jack and reefed upper topsails
and spanker; 3 P.M. furled upper topsails and jib;
3.45 P.M. furled mainsail and reefed foresail. So
until 9 A.M. Saturday, -when the wind moderated
and set upper topsails and mainsail," etc. The
ship was pitching right into the head-sea, her
bows going under at every dip and flooding the
decks with water, so sleep was out of the question,

g 2 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

and to stand up without some support impossible.
I climbed out of my bunk in short order to prevent
being tossed out, which would not have been at
all amusing, as I use the upper one.

September 6. — The ocean presented a magnifi-
cent sight, the truly gigantic waves towering
above us at one moment and the next lifting- the

o

ship high in their crests as though she we're a bit
of cork. The seas had lengthened out consider-
ably and the ship no longer plunged head on into
them, but rose and fell with an easy, pleasant mo-
tion. During this blow it was and still is a diffi-
cult feat to eat, one's whole time being occupied
while at table in watching that the plates don't
deposit their contents in one's lap. The swinging
castor gave me a gentle rap on the cheek to-day
that has left its mark for some time to come.

Being this week in iceberg regions, we have at
night doubled the forward lookout, and had an
extra man stationed on the poop-deck. The
officer on watch also tries the temperature of
the water every half-hour as a further precaution
against these dangerous objects. None have ap-
peared, however. To-day the sea is much lower,
but still very high, and rifnning strong. These
long swells, whose tops are about one thousand
feet apart, are found here all the year round, and
are peculiar to Cape Horn, only building up close
together in a regular gale.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

93

September 7. — Like last Sunday, to-day has been
a fine one, but unlike last Sunday evening, to-
night is chill and rainy, and most disagreeable,
except in the cabin. This morning I remarked to
the second mate that it was odd we had sighted
no ice, and as usual he took the cue and proceeded
to spin me a yarn on the subject broached. As a
specimen of his efforts you shall have it as best
I can remember it.

"Yes," said he, "it is a bit queer, but there's
time yet to clap our eyes on ice before we get
away from these parts, tho' for my part I don't
much care about seein' none. Ice, you see, Mr.
Mac, is always a nuscience at sea, and no skipper
likes to have it about. I've seen a good bit of it
in my time, and about three years ago I was down
just about this very place ; I had enough of it
then to last me for a good while to come. You
see I was second mate of the ' British Racer,' an
old eighteen-hundred-ton 'lime-juicer,' and we was
carryin' coal from Cardiff to 'Frisco (a 'lime-juicer,'
I must tell you, is sea-slang for an English vessel,
the English law making it compulsory for the
captain to serve his crew with a certain amount
of lime-juice per man per day, as a preventive
against scurvy). Well, sir, we was gettin' along
right smartly, and had come 'round the Cape just
as nice as we did here the other night, with the
kites up and even two or three stuns'ls out, and

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

the old man, Cap'n Gordon, of Belfast, was just
as pleased as pie. One night when it was my
middle watch, I was goin' for'ad to see that
the lookout wasn't asleep, when just by the fore
shrouds I was met with a puff of hot air that had
a gassy sort of smell, and quick as a wink I
knowed we was a-fire somewhere below. That
soft coal is blank for a-breakin' out a-fire, and so
I knowed at once what was the row. I bolted
for the old man's cabin, and turned him out in
no time by sayin' what I found out for'ad, and
he didn't lose no time gettin' on deck, runnin'
out just as he was, about half dressed. You
see, he had a good slice of the ship himself, and
I guess the old girl wasn't insured very high.
'Well,' says he, when we'd taken a look at
things and saw that the seams was beginnin' to
smoke a little, 'here's a go and no mistake ! ain't it,

Mr. D ?' And I says, 'Yes, cap'n, it is, and

a blank bad one, too.' ' I didn't want to load the
blank stuff/ says he, gettin' mad all at once, ''cause
I knowed its dirty tricks and ways ; but it's aboard
now and burnin', and now wot's to be done ? for,'
says be, slow and solemn-like, ' this here ship is
'booked for the bottom, and that, too, afore many

days. Call the mate, Mr. D , and then all

hands.'

" V/hen the men was all amidships, the old man
gives out what I'd found, and orders the pumps

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

to be rigged, and a couple of lines of pipe run
down through the deck where it was hottest,
which was well for'ad, as I said before. All that
night and the next day we pumped and pumped
water into her, and then pumped and pumped it
out again, but it didn't seem to do any good, as
the smoke came out thicker and thicker each hour,
till it was plain as the mains'l we couldn't drown
the blaze. In the first dog-watch we give over
tryin', and the old man says, ' Me lads, this here's
a bad job, and it looks tho' the " Racer" was run-
ning a pretty straight course for Davy Jones ; the
port watch'll start in and get the boats ready for
leavin' the ship, and the starboard watch'll begin
bringin' out some stores.'

"All that night we was hard at it, and by mornin'
had the boats well fixed and ready to let fall at a
minute's notice. About three bells that evenin' we
was takin' our tea, when a fellow in my watch that
we called Scopey, 'cause his eyes was reg'lar tele-
scopes for spyin' things, sings out, 'Ice ahead, two
p'ints on the port bow !' And sure enough, when
the ship rose up again there was a little twinklin'
spot right on the sky-line, a-shinin' like a diamond.
The old man pops below, and pops up again with
his glass, and then takes a good long look at the
stranger, t'wards the end of which look I sees a
pleased-like expression come over his face. ' Let
her go off a p'int,' says he to the man at the wheel,

96 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

1 and keep her nor' by west, a quarter west/ ' Ay,
ay, sir!' says the man, and we began runnin' freer
and straight for the ice. Soon after that it come
on dark and we took in considerable sail, so as to
slack up our speed, and at sun-up next mornin'
made the ice about six miles ahead, a reg'lar old
giant of a berg, sparklin' in the sun like a million
tons of mother-o'-pearl. There was a easy breeze
blowin', just where we wanted it, and makin' the
ship as easy to handle as a pilot-boat. ' Run for
it,' says the old man to Mr. Corker, the mate, 'and
let's see what it looks like close on.' Pretty soon
we was within half a mile of it, and certainly it was
grand, bein', I should judge, about a mile long by
nearly as much wide, and heavin' up in some
places eleven or twelve hundred feet. ' Back the
main yard, Mr. Corker,' says the old man, * and
get away the whale-boat. I think I'll go ashore
and do a little prospectin'. Six men here, tumble

in, you with 'em, Mr. D ,' and in no time we

was off and pullin' for the ice. The old man
soon sees a place where landin' was easy, a reg'-
lar ice-wharf extendin' back about two hundred
yards, and as level as the deck of a ship layin' at
anchor, and we pulls alongside of it, makin' fast
to a spike drove into the ice. The old man tum-
bled out, and, tellin' us to wait, sticks his hands
into his pockets and walks off. When he comes
back he was all smiles, and sings out, ' Hit her up

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

now, boys, and we'll soon be as snug as tho' we
was safe ashore in Liverpool/ When we gets
back to the ' Racer,' and was- aboard again, he
says, as cheerful as you please, tho' the old girl
was a-smokin' away for'ad like a blank volcaner,
* Take in the r'yals and t'gall'nts, Mr. Corker, and
s'pose you let go the upper tops'l halliards too.
Work her up close to the berg under the courses,
and back the main yard just off that flat p'int
where I made a landinV When we was there he
sends two hawsers ashore, and makes 'em fast to
a couple of spars planted in the ice, and then
warps the old gal up to the ice-wharf as neat and
ship-shape as if we was tyin' up to a reg'lar civil-
ized dock, tho' of course the ship scraped a bit on
account of the sea. ' Knock away the bulwarks
alongside the ice, Mr. Corker,' says the old man,
almost laughin' he was so pleased, and we soon
had 'em down and the deck about level with the
flat part of the berg. Well, sir, we just cleaned
that ship out, takin' ashore, as we called it, all the
stores and tools and lumber and sails, even to the
rag carpet off the cabin floor and the rubber balls
what the kittens used to play with about the deck.
' Now, men,' says the old man, when there was
nothin' else as could very well be shifted, and we
was about used up, * off with the main hatch, and
begin passin* out the cargo. The fire hasn't
tackled that part yet, and we can get a fair bit

E g 9

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

of it out afore the ship is too hot to work on ;' for,
lucky for us, the breeze carried the smoke that
was pourin' out for'ad clean away from us, which
prevented our bein' choked to death. Now the
men took this order as pretty hard lines, and,
seein' how they'd been workin', it did look kinda
rough. ' Wot's the use o' that?' says one of 'em,
speakin' for the crowd. 'We're blank near dead
a' ready, and don't see wot you want the coal for,
nohow ; we've plenty o' wood to burn.'

" ' Wot !' says the old man, gettin' hot, ' is that
the way you're goin' to act after me showin' such
kindness to ye for three whole months? Here, now,
tumble to, and no sulkin'. Why, blank your lazy
hides, I'll take a hand meself.' And he off s with
his pea-jacket and starts in. That cheered the
boys up a bit, and so they went to work with a
will, and never stopped till there was near seven
hundred tons of coal safe and sound on the ice,
and well back from the edge. At last we couldn't
work no longer, for the flames broke out and just
went for things like a lot of hungry tigers. ' Cast
her off!' yells the old man, and the next minit
the old gal was driftin' away all ablaze and lookin'
splendid. Well, sir, we lived on that berg for a
year, lackin' just five days, and, barrin' the cold,
was as cheerful and comfortable as you please.
We built a nice house, and had plenty to eat and
nothing to do, the only duty being to keep a

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

lookout from one of the high points where we
rigged a signal-station, and kept the flags flyin'
all the time there was daylight and a big bonfire
all night. We found a little polar bear cub, too,
and brought her up as a pet ; but her temper bein'
pretty cross-grained we had to be careful not to
tease her, and the cap'n named her Maria Ann,
which he said was the name of his wife's mother,
who was snappish like the bear and reminded
him of her. At the end of six months the berg
had melted about half away, and in nine was only
about a quarter the size it had been when we
boarded it, and all that time we hadn't seen a
single sail.

" One day, about noon, I was just goin' up to the
signal-staff, when I see the flag run up as had
been fixed to signify sail in sight. c Sail ho !' I
sings out, and the men comes runnin' out, sayin',
' Where ? where ?' Up we all scrambles, and sure
enough there was a sail comin' head on right for
the berg on the opposite side from Racerville, as
we called the camp.

" * It's a steamer under all sail,' says the old
man.

" She came on awful slow, and it was a good
while before we could signal her ; but at last she
saw us, and runs up her awnsering pennant.

" ' Who are you ?' says we.

" * British steamship " Haystack," from Buenos

100 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

*

Ayres for Callao,' says the steamer, and then runs
up. * Do you want to be taken off?'

" ' Well, rather,' says we. * Heave to, and we'll
come aboard.' So she runs a little closer and
heaves to. The old man and me and six men
pulls off to her, and, when we got on deck, the
old man says, —

" ' Cap'n Morgan, I believe?' Havin' found the
other skipper's name in an old register.

" ' Yes,' says the other old man. ' What's the
matter with you, — wrecked ?' For we looked as
healthy and ship-shape as you please.

" 'Yes,' says our old man ; ' I lost my ship, the
" British Racer," a year ago next Monday by fire,
and have been campin' out ever since.'

" ' Well,' says the other, ' you're cool about it,
'an' no mistake.'

" ' A year on a iceberg is calkerlated to make a
feller coolish,' says our old man, grinnin'. And
then lookin' round, says, * Ain't you steamin' ?'

" ' No,' says Cap'n Morgan ; ' I was blowed
out of my way so far down off the Falklands
that I used up all my coal, and have been tryin'
to get along under canvas ever since. But it's
dreadful slow, and I'm agoin' to break up the wood-
work and clap on steam again.'

" ' Wot's your cargo ?' says Cap'n Gordon.

" ' Meat,' says Cap'n Morgan. ' Fresh meat
in ice-chests ; but the ice's 'most gone, and I was

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. IOi

standin' for the berg to get a new supply when I
made out your signals. I'm afeared tho' it'll spile
afore I can fix it up and make port.'

" ( What'll you give a ton for good coal?' says
our old man, kinda smilin'.

" ' What ? says Cap'n Morgan.

" ' I says what'll you give for coal ?' says ours.

" * What d'you mean ?' says Cap'n Morgan,
lookin' as tho' he took our old man to be off his nut.

" 'Why,' says Cap'n Gordon, ' I've a coal-mine on
this island of mine ; not much of a one, but I could
let you have say seven hundred tons at a fair price ;
and if you take it all I'll let you have the ice free,
throw it in as it were, and not say nothin' about it.'

" At first Cap'n Morgan thought our old man
gone cranky, but when he found out we really did
have the coal, he says, —

" ' Well, you let me have the coal, and I'll take
you and your crew to Callao for nothin'.'

" * Oh, no,' says our old man; 'we're comfortable,
and in no hurry to move. I'll- let you have the
coal for five pounds per ton, fifty per cent, off for
cash, delivered alongside the berg.'

" ' Five pounds a ton !' yells the steamer's old
man. ' Why, you must think I'm the Duke
o' Westminster. I'll give you one.'

" ' Say two pounds ten,' says our old man, ' and
I'll throw in my mother-in-law, I mean a she polar
bear, into the bargain.'

102 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

" ( Polar bear be blanked !' says Cap'n Morgan.
* I ain't commandin' a zoological garden this v'yage.'

" ' Well,' says our old man, ' one pound takes it ;
and you can bring the " Haystack" up alongside
safe enough, for the water's deep snug on.'

" Well, we soon had the coal shifted again, and
as I said, just five days less than the year we cast
off and stood away for Callao, Maria Ann and
all, only the two kittens bein' missin', they havin'
been eat by Maria about six months before. I
shipped from Callao for Antwerp, and never
heard of any of the crew again till just before we
started away this time, when I read a piece in the
New York Herald, tellin' about a seafarin' party
as was killed by his mother-in-law during a quar-
rel about keepin' a white bear chained in the old
lady's garden, and from what it said I come to the
conclusion it must have been the ' Racer's' old
man what was killed, and that the white bear
must have been Maria Ann."

Mr. D- — reels these yarns off in the most
solemn manner, and I never express the slightest
want of faith in them, although I can hardly believe
that he actually thinks I take them to be true.
Whenever the captain or mate is about, his lips
are sealed and his fictions are hushed. In fact, I
seem to be the only person, besides Chips, who
he makes a confidant in, regarding his remarkable
adventures.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

Table for week ending September 14.

September 8. — Lat. 52° 28' S. Run — 149 miles.

Lon. 83° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 45°.

Heavy squalls all night. Head-sea. Fog all day.

September 9. — Lat. 51° 47' S. Run — 147 miles.

Lon. 85° 49' W. Temp, at noon, 40°.

Cold and rainy. Moderate gale. High sea.

September 10.— Lat. 50° 2$' S. Run— 139 miles.

Lon. 85° 28' W. Temp, at noon, 49°.

Beautiful day. High sea.

September 11. — Lat. 47° 34' S. Run — 186 miles.

Lon. 84° 04' W. Temp, at noon, 52°.

Beautiful day. Light airs and calms.

September 12. — Lat. 46° 42' S. Run — 68 miles.

Lon. 83° 47' W. Temp, at noon, 52°.

Weather fine. Scored our tenth thousand mile.

September 13. — Lat. 44° 53° S. Run — 176 miles.

Lon. 87° 03' W. Temp, at noon, 45°.

Thick, colder and damp.

September 14. — Lat. 43° 56' S. Run — 121 miles.

Lon. 88° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 46°.

Damp and unpleasant. Wind dead ahead most all the week.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

AT SEA, SUNDAY, September 14.

A POOR week's work and one not calculated to
help the quick passage we have been counting on.
Wind dead ahead and continuous tacking has
been the bugbear all through the week and still
continues. It is very aggravating after such a
good run.

Everything shows that we are approaching fine
weather regions again, for which change I'll not
be sorry. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were
model days ; such days that could I pickle a few
and get them home, I could dispose of them to
invalids or picnic-parties at very high prices ; but
we're still in rough regions, and are liable to have
gales any time until we strike across thirty de-
grees south.

Saturday and to-day the weather changed for
the worse again, and this evening looks threaten-
ing and squally to the southwest, the direction
rough weather generally comes from down here.

September 8. — In the afternoon we saw a superb
fog-bow to the southward ; it lasted about fifteen
minutes. The fog-horn was kept going all day,
being performed on by one of the watch on deck,

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. IQr

who paced the top-gallant forecastle while he
sounded the warning.

September 9. — I caught a splendid albatross and
also one of the half-breeds that were flying about
us, by letting over a strong cod-line baited with
pork fat. At least twenty small birds were hav-
ing a battle over it, when several big ones came
swooping down and scattered them away. In a
second my prize had swallowed furiously. He
was a beauty, with soft white throat, breast, and
wings, which, when spread out on his body, meas-
ured over eight feet across. I have them as tro-
phies, also his skull and back. The half-breed

had brown wines, and measured six feet across.

<_> '

These birds are great company for us ; since the
2 ist of August we have been accompanied by
more or less of them every day, rain or shine.

There are several kinds. First, the Cape
pigeons I spoke of before ; these are very com-
pactly built little fellows, and are the most numer-
ous ; they are very tame, and superlatively greedy.
To feed they have to first settle in the water, and
it is very amusing to throw over a bit of fat or
bread and watch them fight over it. The instant
one sees it, no matter how fast he is flying, he
throws back his wings and half flies, half tumbles,
into the water, then scrambles up and grabs it.
Generally three or four see it at the same time,
and it looks as if they had been shot to see them

I06 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

come tumbling down, head over heels, in their
haste to reach the coveted morsel. If it is too
big a piece for one to fly away with or swallow
whole, a regular raid is made on the one who has
it, twenty or thirty getting around it, all scram-
bling and pushing to get a bite. They never ut-
ter a sound, except at these times, when they give
weak little quacks like miniature ducks. They
float on the water as lightly as a ball of cotton,
and look very pretty. Then there are the regu-
lar albatrosses, known by their white heads and
pinkish beaks, and the half-breeds, like the one
we caught. Also some birds called molly-mokes,
about the size of a turkey. These are hideously
ugly creatures that are a dirty-black color all
over, and have white eyes ; they are not as tame
as the other birds, and will not bite at our line.

Sometimes there are a few gulls of various
kinds, pure white, and gray, but they are scarce,
as we are too far off shore to suit their taste.
All these birds have the same graceful flight,
sweeping swiftly over the waves, rising and fall-
ing as the water rises and falls, and making long
curves around the ship, often dozens flying in a
body. They are always on the lookout for food,
and will tackle anything at all ; I often fool them
by throwing over a few chips of wood. The larger
birds cannot bring up as suddenly as the pigeons,
but have to circle once or twice before settling

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

down. The little ones always find and get to the
bits of pork first, and, if it be a large piece, are
just getting interested in it when down come
the big fellows, squawking at a great rate, and
promptly take possession, swallowing at one gulp
what the pigeons could not fly away with. I saw
one bolt a piece that weighed over a pound.
When the prize is light enough to carry, the
pigeons grab it up and fly away with it to de-
vour it undisturbed, and the big birds are too
clumsy to catch them. The albatrosses are es-
pecially strong of flight, and are said to have one
more bone in their wings than any bird known.
It is really marvellous to see them, as they sail as
straight as a bullet right into the teeth of a roar-
ing gale without a movement of their outstretched
wings, and apparently without an effort of any
sort.

The legs of all these birds are very weak, and
will not support them when on a hard surface.
They use them to run along the tops of the waves
for a yard or two when they start in their flight,
but cannot rise from the deck of a vessel, so that
once get one on board and he cannot escape ; and
an odd fact is that when brought on board they
are always sea-sick, vomiting whatever they may
have eaten, and naturally presenting a very ludi-
crous appearance. They live on the various
squids, etc., that are found on the surface of the

I08 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

water, and only follow the ships for the delica-
cies of their bill of fare. Of all the things they
like, "slush" is their favorite. It is the grease
that is used in rubbing down the topmasts and
top-gallant-masts, and for various other jobs on
board ship. The slush-barrel is kept forward,
and I waste about a quart every day feeding
them. I am trying, by a daily supply of this,
how far north I can lure them.

Besides all these, we once in a while see, but
oftener only hear, the penguins, those queer birds
that cannot fly, but swim under water. Some-
times they jump from the water just as a porpoise
does. To-day I heard several, but could not catch
a glimpse of any, as they are very shy. When I
mentioned the other day that they ventured a
long way from land, we were then one hundred
miles off the coast ; to-day we are six hundred.

September 10. — In the evening there was a fine
display of the Southern Lights, or Aurora Aus-
tralis, a phenomenon which corresponds with the
Aurora Borealis of northern latitudes.

September n. — The captain, Mr. X , and

I spent the afternoon shooting at the birds.
Result, — seven rifle-shots, twenty-four revolver-
shots, three horse-pistol shots,= one pigeon. The
solitary victim to all this expenditure of powder
and shot was hit by the captain with the horse-
pistol. As the bird was only some eight feet

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

109

away, and the pistol was charged with an ounce
of buckshot, he could hardly have missed. I fired
the other two shots out of the pistol, and most of
the revolver cartridges, but the ship tossed so you
couldn't get any aim. The pistol was a pre-
historic relic, which kicked like a pair of mules.

September 12. — To-day we scored our tenth
thousand mile.

September 14. — This evening, just before sun-
set, we sighted a bark bound south, probably
from the Guano Islands, off the coast of Peru.
The voyage has now a different aspect to us all,
and I must say I'm glad we are heading towards
the north star. It gives the greatest satisfaction
to know we are actually steering for port, and
although still enthusiastic on the delights of the
trip, I am glad it is more than half over ; as if we
are out very many days more, I'll have to have
every rag of clothes let out when I get to 'Frisco.
I am getting fat, and am as tough as sole leather.
I forgot to say before that we have a sailor who

cuts hair quite nicely. Mr. X and I have

each passed through his hands once.

10

IIO A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending September 21.

September 15. — Lat. 41° 45' S. Run — 159 miles.

Lon. 87° 07' W. Temp, at noon, 52°.

Damp and unpleasant. Heavy squalls all day. Sea running high.
Thousands of birds

September 16. — Lat., 38° 5 17 S. Run — 183 miles.

Lon. 86° 43X W. Temp, at noon, 59°.

Beautiful day. Stiff breeze. Sea very high. Much water coming on
board.

September 17. — Lat. 35° 34' S. Run — 203 miles.

Lon. 86° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 58°.

Weather fine. Light breezes.

September 18. — Lat. 34° 24' S. Run — 88 miles.

Lon. 87° 44' W. Temp, at noon, 58°.

September 19. — Lat. 32° 46' S. Run — 108 miles.

Lon. 88° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 61°.

Fine day. Calm all afternoon.

September 20. — Lat. 31° 56' S. Run — 54 miles.

Lon. 88° 56' W. Temp, at noon, 64°.

Light airs and calms. Weather fine.

September 21. — Lat. 31° oo' S. Run — 58 miles.

Lon. 88° 45 x W. Temp, at noon, 69°.

Light airs and calms. Beautiful sunset. Latter part of week in
" calms of Capricorn."

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, September 21.

LAST week we had to contend against adverse
winds, and most of this week what is worse, no
winds at all, at least very little, and light at that.
As I write, the ship is scarcely moving, the ocean
is as smooth as a mill-pond, and the swell has so
decreased as to be hardly perceptible. It is very
discouraging after such a fine run to be thus stuck.
Each day we paddle along in these calms of
Capricorn counts against our looked for " clipper"
passage, and the captain's face grows longer and
longer as the calms continue, and he pictures the
"Spinney" far to the westward bowling along, while
we are idle ; however, perhaps the " Spinney" is as
badly off as we are. Monday and Tuesday the
wind was fresh and fine, and we were just be-
ginning to chuckle, when presto, change ! and it
was gone. All along there have been whiffs of
air enough to make it pleasant and keep steerage-
way on the ship ; what little we have made has
generally been at night, as during the daytime we
have hardly averaged a mile an hour. After dark
light breezes come fanning over the water, and
we take every advantage possible to be had from
them. I wish my friends at home could see the

II2 A LANDLUBBER* S LOG OF

sunsets in these calm regions of the ocean. At
all times and in all places they have been beauti-
ful, but nowhere so delicate in coloring- as in these

o

parts. The sun generally sets perfectly clear, a
brilliant dazzling color, turning the western ocean
a deep blood-red, and in parts a rich purple. But
it is the after-glow that is so enchanting. Such
a perfect blending of colors, such exquisitely deli-
cate tinting, can nowhere else be seen. The light
fleecy clouds fantastically grouped and scattered
about in curious forms are painted by the dying
sun in every conceivable shade, in some places in
the most startling contrasts, while in others the
colors blend as delicately as in a prism.

Clouds tinted a rich turkey-red or gorgeous
orange float along beside, others as white as snow
or deep black. The background of the sky ap-
pears like a huge rainbow, and as it rises from
the horizon assumes all the colors of that beauti-
ful object, seemingly fused together, yet each tint
distinctly visible, until overhead it deepens into a
dark, clear blue, set with countless twinkling stars.
Gradually all these colors fade away, until at last
only a faint streak is left to show where the sun
went down. Each evening the scene is changed,
and I look forward with pleasure all day to the
time when these splendid natural transformation
scenes begin.

This evening the western sky was the picture

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. It^

of a rocky coast, in which the entrance to a har-
bor was visible, having on one side a fort, and on
the other a light-house. In the middle of this open-
ing a small cloud gave the finishing-touch to the
picture by slowly rising from the horizon, looking
as if a ship was coming out between the headlands.
The moonrises, too, are magnificent, and sometimes
rival the sunsets in their wild and startling beauty.

Monday we were accompanied by more birds
than on any day at all, but since then they have
gradually left us, and to-day only a dozen pigeons
and two little " Mother Carey's Chickens," which
turned up yesterday, are in sight. These wee
little creatures look very funny in comparison to
the other birds, even the pigeons looking gigantic
in contrast.

September 16. — All the morning the ship was
drenching herself with spray, which for an hour
fell in showers as far aft as the mainmast, and
one extra big splash completely wet a man on
the main yard and passed over the stern.

September \ 7. — Ran past the latitude of Robin-
son Crusoe's Island, and some three hundred and
fifty miles to the westward of it.

September 18. — To-day we had three new spe-
cies of birds in company, some largish brown fel-
lows twice the size of the pigeons, and wonder-
ful divers ; also two kinds of gray, one of which
I caught, and have his wings. Our two kittens

h 10*

U^ A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

almost go crazy whenever I catch a bird, for it
means fresh meat to them, and the way they im-
prove the opportunity and tackle the carcass is a
caution.

September 19 and 20. — Shifted all the strong
sails for the old ones used in light-weather re-
gions. It makes a big job, as every sail on the
ship has been changed twice except the mizzen-
royal and spanker.

September 2 1 . — This morning at sunrise sighted
a large English iron ship, bound south ; are still
in sight of her. She has been drifting about in
all directions, not being able to steer as easily as
we do. There is no more helpless sight than a
big ship totally becalmed. During the week I
have started to keep a chart of our daily run. It
is on a very small scale, but will show our course
and the distance made every day of the voyage.

Last evening, during the first dog-watch, I was
on the foretop-gallant yard, and, happening to
look aft, saw a flying-fish attempt to pass across
the ship, but come to grief by striking the main-
sail. Mr. D , who was on deck, off duty,

picked it up, glanced around, and then walked
aft and started up the mizzen rigging. I watched
him curiously, and was astonished to see him pro-
ceed all the way up to the royal yard, work his
way out on it to windward, and carefully stick the
dead fish into the extreme point of the yard, shov-

HTS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. TI^

ing its head, as I afterwards found by examination,
into a large crack. He then descended to the
deck. It was evident that I was to benefit by the
performance, and as I did not want him to know
I had witnessed his little game, I remained hidden
behind the mast till he at last went into his room,
when I hurried down and reached the after-cabin
before he reappeared on deck. After waiting till
I saw him come out I followed suit, and as soon
as he spied me he spun me the following fib,
which, to his great delight, I apparently swallowed
whole :

""You should have been here a minuit ago,
Mr. Mac ; there was a school of what we call
sky-scrapers went across the ship, and it isn't
more'n once in a dozen voyages you'll see 'em."

" What are sky-scrapers ?" I asked, innocently.

" Why, they're a kind of flying-fish that fly fifty
times as high as the reg'lar sort, and don't think
nothin' of doin' two or three miles at a lick. I
was lookin' out to windward, when I saw 'em rise
about a thousand yards off the bow, and just as
they got to us the whole school was just over the
mast-heads, or they'd have been killed by the
hundred. They made a whirr like just so many
birds, and I guess they must have gone a couple
of miles to leeward afore they struck water, for I
couldn't distinguish no splash, tho' I ran for the
glass and clapped it onto 'em as quick as I could.

TI5 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

How many was there? Well, I should say four
or five thousand, and it's queer you didn't notice
the whirr they made." Then looking up in a
natural way, he suddenly exclaimed, " Well, blank
my eyes if one feller didn't run afoul of us, and
there the beggar is, a-stickin' head on into the
mizzen-royal yard, dead to windward ; see him ?
Here, Mike (to a sailor who was coiling down
some halliards), skip aloft there to the weather
end of the mizzen-royal, and fetch me that sky-
scraper wot's stickin' there. Look lively, now."
And the astonished tar after sighting the fish pro-
ceeded aloft, coming down again with a grin, which
showed that he saw the officer's racket as well as
I did.

" You see," said the second mate, as the sailor
handed him the fish, " these sky-scrapers looks
like the common kind, and it's not till you get to
know 'em that you can tell 'em apart, and as
they're not fit to eat like the reg'lar sort, I'll
chuck this feller overboard." And so saying,
overboard it went.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

117

Table for week ending September 28.

September 22. — Lat. 30° i8x S. Run — 43 miles.

Lon. 88° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 71°.

Weather fine. Calms and light airs.

September 23. — Lat. 29° 30' S. Run — 53 miles.

Lon. 88° 32' W. Temp, at noon, 65°.

Light showers during forenoon. Squalls all round the horizon.

September 24. — Lat. 27° 30' S. Run — 132 miles.

Lon. 80° 2<y W. Temp, at noon, 68°.

Superfine day.

September 25. — Lat. 26° 22' S. Run — 106 miles.

Lon. 90° 30' W. Temp, at noon, 70°.

Beautiful day. Got S. E. trade winds at 2 P.M.

September 26. — Lat. 24° 43' S. Run — 124 miles.

Lon. 91° 46' W. Temp, at noon, 70°.

Weather fine.

September 27. — Lat. 22° 38' S. Run — 156 miles.

Lon. 93° 29' W. Temp, at noon, 71°.

Weather fine.

September 28. — Lat. 20° 58' S. Run— 156 miles.

Lon. 95° 24' W. Temp, at noon, 73°.

Slightly overcast. Water-spout. Light airs. Moonlight all the week.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending October 5.

September 29. — Lat. 20° 07' S. Run — 83 miles.

Lon. 96° 2O7 W. Temp, at noon, 75°.

Overcast and squally.

/

September 30. — Lat. 18° 37' S. Run — 116 miles.

Lon. 97° 35' W. Temp, at noon, 73°.

Fine day. Full moon. Beautiful evening. Not a cloud visible.

October I. — Lat. 18° 20' S. Run — 109 miles.

Lon. 98° 497 W. Temp, at noon, 73°.

Beautiful day. Light airs.

October 2.— Lat. 17° 34' S. Run— 86 miles.

Lon. 90° oc/ W. Temp, at noon, 73°.

Weather fine. Light airs and calms all day. Dead calm all night.
Bright moon and cloudless sky.

October 3. — Lat. 17° 18' S. Run — 21 miles.

Lon. 99° oix W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Dead calm till 1 1 A.M., then very light airs. Heavy rain-squall and
fresh breeze at 2 P.M.

October 4. — Lat. 15° 2O/ S. Run — 115 miles.

Lon. 99° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 74°.

Rain-squalls all day.

October 5. — Lat. 12° 56' S. Run— 1 80 miles.

Lon. 101° 30-' W. Temp, at noon, 75°.
Very fine day.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

119

AT SEA, SUNDAY, October 5.

Two most discouraging weeks have elapsed
since I made my last entry, and which I greatly
fear will prevent our passage getting down into
the teens, as we had confidently hoped. With an
ordinary chance we would have to-day been up
to the equator, but the siege of calms and light,
baffling winds we have undergone has retarded
us wofully, and from one hundred and twenty to
one hundred and twenty-five days will most likely
be our run, with a strong probability in favor of
the latter figure being most correct. The daily
runs marked down in the table must not be taken
as our real progress, as often they are beyond it.
They include all the tacks we make, and thus I
often put down fifty or sixty miles more than we
really proceed towards San Francisco.

The following are the incidents I have noted
down for the last two weeks :

•

September 22. — During the morning one of the
sailors reported a boat drifting about to the east-
ward, and for a time there was quite a sensation
on board ; but at last the object turned out to be
a number of large brown birds sitting on the
water, and evidently feeding on something. Saw
a great many nautiluses.

12Q A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

September 23. — School of about a dozen right-
whales passed within quarter of a mile during
the forenoon. This species blow a high straight
stream, instead of the short puffs given by the
sperm-whales that we saw off Pernambuco, Brazil.

September 25. — Second mate and one of the
sailors indulge in a short row ; one round fought,
resulting in victory for the second mate.

September 26. — Slid down the fore-royal-stay.

September 28. — Saw a water-spout form to the
northeast. It began by slowly descending in the
shape of an inverted cone, the end swaying from
side to side until near the surface, when a body
of water leaped up and joined it, and the whole
thing drifted off to the northeast. The phenom-
enon occurred during a calm and at sunset. Fly-
ing-fish about again.

October 3. — Spent the afternoon shooting at
bottles towing astern. Saw a barkentine bound
south from California.

October 5. — Flying-fish for breakfast. They are
very numerous, and can be caught at night by
hanging a fine net in the bowsprit rigging with a
lantern in it, which attracts the fish, and they fly
for it, and thus become entangled in the net.
Many thus caught are too small to cook. Sev-
eral "boson" birds about. These birds are the
size of a chicken, and are pure white with scarlet
beaks. In flying they have a very labored move-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE 'HORN. I2i

ment, seeming as though they were completely
tired out ; at night they often perch on the ends of
the yard-arms. They fly about as high as the tip
of the mast-heads, and never seem to go down to
the surface to feed. As they fly they utter the
most dismal noise I ever heard a bird let loose.
It sounds like a batch of weak puppies learning
to bark. The name " boson" is an abbreviation
of the word boatswain, and they are so called be-
cause they have a long, straight feather the shape
of a marline-spike sticking out behind their tails.
On shipboard the boatswain is the man who has
charge of the small gear, such as marline-spikes,
spun-yarn, etc. ; hence the bird's name. I have
not seen any since Monday afternoon, when we
attempted to shoot one and frightened them all
away.

After passing thirty degrees south we began to
expect the southeast trade winds, which generally
blow with great regularity from about that point up
to two or three degrees north of the equator. Once
in these, a captain need not trouble himself much,
for they blow steadily, and with very little variation
all the year round, and it is all fair sailing for days
and weeks without change. At 2 P.M. on the 26th
of September, in twenty-six degrees south, we ran
into them, and thought we were fixed at last for a
fine run to the northward, but after a day or so of
fair to middling breezes the wind failed us, and we

F II

122 A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

have been progressing through the very heart of
the trade-wind region (when we should have been
reeling off over two hundred miles a day), with a
wretched chance up to yesterday afternoon, when
they began to blow in earnest, and as I write the
ship is again boiling along at a ten-knot rate,
splashing the lower deck with spray, and seeming
to enjoy the change as much as any of the officers
or men. The captain, whose disappointment at
being set back so is very great, is commencing to
smile again, and in fact all hands from the boy up
feel brighter, for there is nothing that grows so
tiresome as a long drawn out spell of calms or
baffling winds.

I will here note a few changes that have taken

o

place in my manner of passing time. I read a
great deal more than I did at first, and have pol-
ished off the entire series of the late Mr. Shak-
speare's writings, as well as several of Marryat's,
Cooper's, and Lever's novels, and a miscellaneous
assortment of history, travels, and science. Hav-
ing pretty well learned the ship from the end of
the jib-boom to the end of the spanker-boom, and
from main truck to keelson, I have stopped asking
questions and studying the rigging as for the first
two months at sea. Neither do I do as much
climbing as formerly, the novelty having worn off,
but when I do start aloft, I never stop short of the
royal yards, the highest possible perch. I remem-

MIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE NORN. I2^

\J

her the first time I went aloft, I trembled so that I
was afraid I should fall, but now the main royal
yard feels as comfortable as the deck. Several
times I have climbed from the deck to the mast-
head without touching the regular ladders, and on
the 26th of September incurred the displeasure of
the captain for the first time, by sliding down the
fore-royal-stay in a moment of thoughtless bravado.
The fore-royal-stay is the rope extending from
the point of the bowsprit to the peak of the fore-
mast, and after I had started on my dangerous
journey I would have given worlds to have been
back on the royal yard, but it was go ahead or
nothing, and so I at last reached the point of the
jib-boom with well-torn clothes and nerves pretty
well unstrung. As I said before, I read more than
at first, and generally give the whole afternoon

to it, and often the evenings too. Mr. X 's

nightly performances on the mouth-organ are, how-
ever, rather discouraging to any one's attempt to
get interested in a book. He still continues to wade
through his tremendous supply of " New York
Weeklies," and takes his afternoon nap with clock-
like regularity. Although now three months out,
he is still in dense ignorance of anything about the
ship's rigging, in regard to either its name or use,
and I have no doubt he will continue in his indif-
ference to the end of the voyage. In some mat-
ters he is painfully green, and the second mate

124 A LAN DLUBBER'S LOG OF

taking advantage of the fact, " stuffs" him fear-
fully, much to the delight of the mate, who is also
beginning to practise on his credulity. The other
day when we were shooting, Mr. X- - attempted
to load a shot-gun, and just as he was about to
take aim at a pigeon, the captain asked him how
much powder he had in the gun, as it was an old
one, and should not be loaded too heavily. This
led to an explanation on Mr. X- — 's part, of the
ludicrous fact that he had put the powder and shot
in together, and then rammed them down without
any wad. He then said it had been some time
since he had been gunning !

For the past two weeks the ship has been un-
dergoing her regular annual overhauling, and
although not yet finished is already vastly changed,
and in a short time she will look like a new ship.
Every mast, spar, and boom has been carefully
scraped, sand-papered, and oiled, and as most of
the sticks are of Oregon pine, a beautifully marked
and colored timber, the effect aloft is very hand-
some. The masts proper (i.e., the first or princi-
pal sticks) are scraped with regular cabinet-
scrapers as carefully as possible, and then sand-
papered, and given several coats of oil, after which
they are as smooth as satin. They are in one
piece, instead as is generally the case in large
ships being made of several separate pieces, in
which case they are called made masts. When

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN. ^5

thus scraped and oiled they are as delicately
colored as a meerschaum pipe, and are truly
beautiful bits of timber. As a finishing touch,
they will be given a coat of varnish before going
into port.

The oil that is used on the yards is mixed with
rosin, which gives them a shining look when the
sun is out. All the rigging has been straightened
up and freshly tarred, and is as black and glisten-
ing as jet. The deck has been holystoned and
oiled, and now the paint-work all over the vessel
is undergoing a hard scrubbing, preparatory to
being repainted, which step, with a little extra
polishing on the brass-work, will complete the
transformation of the old ship into a new one, as
far as appearances are concerned. All the ships
going into San Francisco go through just this pro-
gramme, so that at that city you see them at their
best, and nowhere, according to the captain, are
the efforts of the captains in getting their ships
into first-class trim more appreciated. In our
case, no more care could be taken in the manner
the work is done if it was a gentleman's drawing-
room that was being overhauled.

ii*

126 A LANDLUBBERS LOG OF

Table for week ending October 12.

October 6.— Lat. 10° 55' S. Run— 160 miles.

Lon. 103° 4<y W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Very fine day. " Bosons" numerous.

October 7.— Lat. 8° 52' S. Run— 199 miles.

Lon. 1 06° 21' W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Weather beautiful.

October 8.— Lat. 6° 18' S. Run— 211 miles.

Lon. 109° 04' W. Temp, at noon, 78°.

Day fine. Very hot in sun. Heavy dew.

October 9. — Lat. 4° 03' S. Run — 182 miles.

Lon. ill0 04' W. Temp, at noon, 78°.

Fine day. Very heavy dew after sunset.

October 10. — Lat. 2° 05' S. Run — 157 miles.

Lon. 113° 02' W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Fine day. Dew still very heavy at night.

October u. — Lat. o° 26' S. Run — 122 miles.

Lon. 114° 20' W. Temp, at noon, 75°.

Beautiful day. Crossed the equator at 4.30 P.M. Very light breezes.

October 12. — Lat. o° 52' N. Run — 97 miles.

Lon. 115° 26' W. Temp, at noon, 73°.

Overcast. Light airs. Saw north star again.

The ship crossed the line yesterday afternoon. Just ninety-five days
from Cape May, on longitude 114° 40' W., after sailing thirteen thousand
five hundred and ninety miles, a daily average of a trifle over one hun-
dred and forty-three miles, or about six knots an hour. The run from
50° S. occupied thirty-one days, which is behind the average by several
days. This was caused by an unexpected amount of calms, and the very
weak character of the southeast trade winds.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, October 12.

OVER the equator at last, and the fifth, or con-
cluding, stage of the voyage begun. There is
something very satisfactory in crossing this im-
aginary line, and in knowing that the voyage is
actually drawing to a close. Not that I'm in any
particular hurry to get ashore, or tired of the life
at sea ; but then you can get too much of even a
good thing, and after more than a month longer
of this lazy humdrum life I feel certain I should

begin to fret. Mr. X has been growling on

the subject for a week back.

I will have quite enough to keep me just pleas-
antly busy during the next four weeks in finishing
up my journal, letters, and charts. By that time
we hope to be safely made fast to a San Francisco
wharf. This week I have to record a most painful
and tragic event, the first accident of the voyage.
I allude to the drowning, on Tuesday, October 7,
of one of the sailors, a man much liked on board,
and who, poor fellow, was taking his last voyage
before settling down with his family and friends in
one of the Western States ; it has indeed proved
to be his last, but in a way he little expected. He
was a man I mentioned as being quite a good

I2g A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

barber ; he probably did his last job in that line
when he cut my hair two weeks ago to-day. While
doing so he told me that he had been at sea sev-
eral years, but was as poor as when he started,
and that on reaching 'Frisco he intended leaving
the sea to go and work on the farm of a relative
in Wisconsin.

October 7. — This has been a most eventful day,
and one that will remain impressed on my mem-
ory for a long time. When the captain went on
deck about six o'clock he caught one of the
sailors — a Swede called " Charley," who is as
surly a looking fellow as one could imagine —
pouring turpentine over the little tomcat, much
to the disgust of the poor beast, which was moan-
ing pitifully. The captain came very near strik-
ing the man, so incensed was he ; but there being
several other sailors in sight he didn't care to
make an exhibition, so merely ordered the man
to wash pussy in soap and water, and to do
double duty all day, — that is, not to turn in when
his watch did, but work with both watches. At
breakfast we were discussing the rascally act, and
the mate quietly made up his mind to give Mr.
Charley a licking ; so after breakfast he went for-
ward, called the culprit into the carpenter-shop,
and there proceeded to give him a thorough good
thrashing, during which the man bellowed like
a two-horse-power calf. The funny side of the

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

incident was that a poor Dutchman called Hans,
who has about as much sense as a piece of putty,
on hearing Charlie's yells came running aft, think-
ing that some one had fallen from aloft, and the
second mate, supposing he was going to pitch into
the mate, let poor innocent Hans have a rap on
the jaw that rather surprised him, and without
waiting to see what the matter was, " Dutchy"
scuttled back into the fo'castle as fast as he could.
At a quarter-past ten o'clock, as I was sitting
in the captain's cabin writing, I heard shouting on
the deck, and at first supposed the fight was being
renewed. Running1 out, I saw the entire crew

o

leaning over the weather-rail, shouting and ges-
ticulating, and I of course knew that some one was
overboard. As I reached the side the man swept
past, holding on to a rope. The ship was running
very fast and the sea was quite rough, so that the
strain on the man's strength must have been ter-
rible. The captain instantly ordered the helm
" hard down," as the man was to windward, and
" Chips" and I helped the helmsman to roll the
wheel down. By the time the ship came up into
the wind, which she did very quickly, the poor
fellow's strength was exhausted, and from the
starboard quarter he could be seen some ten feet
under water towing feet foremost, the rope hav-
ing become tangled about his legs before he
could get loose from it. For some time it was

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

impossible to get hold of the line he was attached
to, as it ran from out on the jib-boom down under
the vessel and was fouled there, so that for at
least five minutes after the ship was stopped the
body hung suspended in the water. At last, after
several violent efforts, the line was shaken loose of
the keel and the body slowly and carefully hauled
alongside, just forward of the main shrouds. The
line had by this time slipped clown, and was only
tangled about one foot. Taking with him a rope's
end made into a noose, one of the sailors lowered
himself over the side and made it fast to the body,
which was then gently hoisted to the rail and laid
on the deck. For nearly three hours the captain
and men worked to restore the poor fellow to
life, adopting the methods given in the book is-
sued by the United States Life-Saving Station,
but without success. The dreadful wrenching the
body had undergone while towing under the
quarter had extinguished every spark of life,
even if the water had not. The body was rubbed
and chafed to give it warmth, various movements
calculated to start respiration were kept up the
whole time ; hartshorn was applied to the nos-
trrls, and hot-water bottles under the armpits and
to the feet. At half-past one, not the slightest
signs of returning life being noticed, the attempt
was given up and the body was taken forward
under the top-gallant fo'castle. It seems that the

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

man had been painting one of the forward stays,
and having finished the job was coming in over
the jib-boom, with the line to which he was sus-
pended still fastened around his waist. This line
ran from the deck up over the fore-royal yard and
down the stay to where the man was working,
being there attached to a kind of sling called a
" boatswain's chair," in which the man sat while
at work.

As he painted the stay he called out when he
wished to be lowered farther down, and another
sailor on deck eased off some more line, making
fast again when the painter gave the signal. The
deck end of the line ran out of a coil of rope,
and, when the painting was finished, the fastening
was taken off, so that it would run out freely as
the man came in from the end of the jib-boom.
When about half-way in, he slipped and fell over-
board, and the line running freely from the coil
on deck (which was a very long one), he would
have been enabled to drift along astern, and dis-
entangle himself from the " boson's chair," had
not a sailor on deck very naturally stopped the
running line, and commenced hauling in on it.
When all the slack already loose had run out,
and before the poor fellow had got loose from the
" chair," he was suddenly brought up with a very
violent jerk, and probably lost consciousness at
that moment. Had he managed to get free be-

132

A LANDLUBBERS LOG OF

fore being thus wrenched, he would in all prob-
ability have been saved, for he could swim, and the
life-buoys were in readiness to be thrown to him
as he came astern. The sea was also in a per-
fectly safe condition to launch a boat.

During the afternoon the body was dressed and
wrapped up in two old blankets that were found
in his chest. Over these his hammock was se-
curely sewed, a large bagful of iron being fast-
ened inside at his feet, and the whole thing tightly
bound around with tarred rope-yarn. At five
o'clock all hands were called to the main deck, the
main yard was backed, bringing the ship to a
stand-still, and the body, covered with an Amer-
ican ensign, laid out on a large plank, which was
placed on the main hatch. All hands standing-
uncovered, the captain read a chapter from the
Bible appropriate to the occasion, and part of
the burial service for funerals at sea, and then
at a signal the flag was taken off, the body was
slowly carried to the port side and launched over-
board from the plank, just opposite to where it had
been hauled on board in the morning. A minute

o

later the yard was swung around, the sails began
to fill away, and soon we were again ploughing
along, the beautiful afternoon and bright appear-
ance on the ship seeming in ill keeping with the
solemn ceremony that had just been performed.
According to the ship's articles, the man's name

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

was George Holgerson, a native of Denmark ; on
board he was called " Frank." He was in the
mate's watch, and was a favorite with the other
sailors, who seemed very sorry at his death.

Since the " Pactolus" was launched, fifteen years
ago, this is but the second man ever lost out of
her, the first being a steward, who fell overboard
in a gale of wind off Staten Land, the place we
passed September i. That happened some ten
years ago.

October 9. — Flying-fish around in countless
thousands.

October 10. — The huge schools of flying-fish
continue to remain in company, and I never tire
watching their sharp flights through the air.

October \ i. — Crossed the equator bound north.
Schools of bonitas under the bows all the fore-
noon. These fish are about as big as a large
shad, and are exceedingly pretty. They are
brightly colored, the tints being blue and pink,
but not so brilliant as the dolphins. While sit-
ting on the upper foretop-sail yard during the
afternoon, I saw a sperm-whale blow once or
twice, and then fluke or dive. This was Mr.

X 's birthday, and the captain burned some

blue-lights in the evening in honor of the occa-
sion, making a very pretty effect.

October 12. — This afternoon saw two large tur-
tles lying on the surface of the water fast asleep.

12

134

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

They are numerous about here, being carried out
by the current from the Galapagos Islands, a group
that belongs to Equador, and lies on the equator
in longitude 80° west. These islands are cele-
brated for the vast numbers of turtles found
there. In fact, I believe the name means the
Tortoise Archipelago. If it had been calm we
should have got a boat over and caught one, for
they are very tame ; but while we have the slight-
est breeze the captain won't hear of stopping.
This is a great pity, for they were splendid big
fellows, and would have made an alderman's
mouth water. Also saw a school of albacores,
a large fish something like a porpoise, only much
quicker in their movements ; they go along like
an express-train, jumping far out of water every
little while. As I am finishing this the mate calls
down that the north star is in sight. We are a
week behind the time I gave for seeing it again,
when we crossed the equator bound south.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

Table for iveek ending October 19.

October 13. — Lat. 2° 43' N. Run — 128 miles.

Lon. 117° O3/ W. Temp, at noon, 76°.

Fine clay.

October 14. — Lat. 4° 49' N. Run — 132 miles.

Lon. 118° 12' W. Temp at noon, 78°.

Fine day. Hot in sun. Very light breezes.

*

October 15. — Lat. 6° o8x N. Run — 97 miles.

Lon. 118° 23' W. Temp, at noon, 80°.

Lost S. E. trades in 6° 15' N., and got into the doldrums ! Hot !

October 1 6. — Lat. 7° 22' N. Run — 92 miles.

Lon. 1 1 8° 40' W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Dead calm. Rain at intervals. Very hot. Ship becalmed in trough
of sea all night, rolling badly. One hundredth day at sea.

October 17. — Lat. 7° 34' N. Run — 6 miles.

Lon. 118° 30' \V. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Calm. Hot. Very hard rain-squalls towards evening. Dolphins about
in large numbers.

October 18.— Lat. 8° 14' N. Run— 48 miles.

Lon. 118° 39X W. Temp, at noon, 84°.

Calm all day. Very hot. Porpoises about ; also sharks ; caught one.
Torrents of rain in the afternoon, and all night. Several stiff" squalls, and
sharp lightning during the night (no thunder). Sea very rough and ugly.

October 19. — Lat. 9° 21 ' N. Run — 80 miles.

Lon. 118° 4<y W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Overcast, with much rain. Sea running high. Very squally towards
evening. " Dirty" night.

Doldrums ! doldrums !! DOLDRUMS ! ! ! and the passage hopelessly spoiled.
The ocean currents are very strong down here ; for instance, on the 1 3th
we had a lift of eighty-four miles to the westward by the current alone. I
have enjoyed the rains very much, skipping about the decks in a bathing-
suit.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

AT SEA, October 19.

WE have certainly had very poor luck this side
of " the Cape," and the past week has been about
the worst of the voyage. Several times during
the week the ship lost 'steerage-way, and help-
lessly rolled about in the trough of the sea.

October 13. — Saw a man-of-war hawk, a large
bird looking like an eagle, and having the same
flight.

October 15. — My twenty-first birthday.

October 16. — One hundredth day out. Saw five
turtles, and a ship bound south from San Fran-
cisco. She was too far away to go to her, or we
would have lowered a boat and gone after some
newspapers.

October 17. — Made six miles by sailing, and
drifted ten more. Two turtles and many dol-
phins. The latter would not bite to-day. Have
got the harpoon ready, should a turtle float wjthin
range.

October 18. — Porpoises about all day. They
are so lazy that they only float about, instead of
playing and jumping in their usual way. Several
very ugly sharks astern. Caught one on our big
hook, which is a foot long. He was the smallest

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

of the lot, and also the greediest. Measured seven
feet nine inches. Had a steak for tea. It tasted
like a quinine pill. Very disagreeable night.

Mr. B showed me his tattooing the other

day. He is a regular walking art-gallery. The
designs on his arms are very elaborate, — full-
rigged ships, arms of all nations, flags, initials, etc.

On my birthday we had two small bottles of
" Roederer" for dinner, to drink to the health of
those at home, who would, I was quite sure, be
doing the same in honor of the event, and in the
evening launched a flaming tar-barrel overboard.
The effect was very good as it rose and fell on
the waves. During the rains of the week we
have filled every spare barrel and cask on board.

Since writing the above, the man sent aloft just
before sunset reported a vessel over the starboard
bow. On going aloft with a glass I found her to
be a full-rigged ship with main skysail yard. A
moment later saw another, same size and rig, in
the same direction. They are now ten miles
ahead. We feel sure one is our old friend and
rival, the " Spinney." The night is very dirty-
looking, with rough cross-sea and squalls.

12*

138

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending October 26.

October 20. — Lat. 10° 17' N. Run — 93 miles.

Lon. 119° 03' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather very fine. Moderate "trades."

October 21. — Lat. 11° 26' N. Run — 118 miles.

Lon. 120° 3<y W. Temp, at noon, 83°.

Beautiful day. Heavy head-sea.

October 22. — Lat. 13° i6/ N. Run — 134 miles.

Lon. 121° 56' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Beautiful day. Flying-fish very numerous.

October 23 — Lat. 15° 29' N. Run — 167 miles.

Lon. 123° 19' W. Temp, at noon, 82°.

Weather fine. Fresh " trades."

October 24. — Lat. 18° 39' N. Run — 219 miles.

Lon. 125° 10' W. Temp, at noon, 77°.

Overcast and damp. Very fresh trades. Head-sea from N. W. build-
ing up all day. Very rough all night. Much water coming over the rail.

October 25. — Lat. 21° 28' N. Run — 224 miles.

Lon. 127° 35' W. Temp, at noon, 71°.

Overcast and damp. Breeze fresh and strong. Sea rough all day.
Towards evening and all night much increased, and ship pitching directly
into it. At 7 P.M. split main top-gallant-sail in a squall.

October 26. — Lat. 23° 39' N. Run — 182 miles.

Lon. 129° 38' W. Temp, at noon, 70°.

Overcast and gloomy. Sea more moderate. Very damp all clay. The
early part of the past week was extra fine, — the evenings being moonlight
and the sea smooth. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday a great change for
the worse. Sailed this week eleven hundred and thirty- seven miles.
Daily average one hundred and sixty-one and three-sevenths miles.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

139

AT SEA, SUNDAY, October 26.

ELEVEN hundred and thirty-seven miles of briny
deep left astern since noon of last Sunday, and
at that hour to-day the fort at the entrance to San
Francisco harbor bears N. 31° E. eight hundred
and forty miles. To make those eight hundred
and forty miles will, however, be a slow job, and
we are likely to sail twice that far before the coast
of California looms up and shows us that the
passage is ended. It is well that the voyage is
nearly over, for I would have to begin wearing
my better clothes very soon, the old ones are lit-
erally in rags. Sculling about aloft is very hard
on clothes, and wears them out almost as fast as
you can mend them. My mending is very artistic
and quite picturesque, but would hardly pass cur-
rent on shore. I have one pair of trowsers of a
brown color that are patched with white canvas,
and a gray pair with a dark-blue seat and a strip
of red about the left knee. I have also had to
sew on lots of buttons, and though the work is not
very beautifully done, I'll warrant the buttons won't
drop off in a hurry. The steward would do this
for me if I wanted him to, but I do it to help pass
away the time.

October 20.— The two ships that so suddenly

140

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

appeared yesterday afternoon were nowhere to
be seen to-day, nor have we sighted them since.

October 21. — I spent the entire forenoon on the
main royal yard, from which perch you can see
about thirty miles each way, or an entire degree, —
I mean, of course, when the weather is perfectly
clear, — and while there discovered a large English
iron ship, bound south. She passed about fifteen
miles to the westward of us. Also saw a really
monstrous hammer-head shark. The rascal nearly
chewed our patent log out of shape.

October 22. — The flying-fish were about all day
in vast numbers, but were very small ones. They
rise on each side of and in front of the ship, and
fly about one hundred and fifty feet before diving
down. It looks as though a discharge of grape-
shot from a man-of-war had been fired. I hap-
pened to remark to the second mate that the fish
were very numerous, when he gravely informed
me, backing up the assertion with a choice sea
oath, that on one occasion he had seen the flying-
fish so thick that he had put on a pair of snow-
shoes and walked a mile and a half from the ship
on their backs, and that the fish suddenly disap-
pearing he came mighty near being drowned be-
fore he got back. Also saw several large gulls,
and a big bird called a booby roosted all night on
one of the upper yards. Made out a ship bound
north, twenty-five miles to the westward. Only

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

could make out 'her royals and top-gallant-sails ;
saw her for about two hours ; it then grew hazy
and we lost her.

October 25. — To-night reminds me of that on
which we came into the Pacific, — the wind being
the same, and also the sea and clouds scudding
over the moon. At seven o'clock on this evening
our main top-gallant-sail split into ribbons during
a squall.

October 26. — To-day we ran into the latitude of
the United States. Our time is about three and
a half hours behind that in Philadelphia. There
is a large ugly bird flying about called a gonez;
they are very numerous a little farther north.
The Cape pigeons, greedy as they are, do not
begin to be as piggish as these fellows and are no
tamer. Saw a large log and a stump floating in
the sea. These somewhat dangerous obstacles
float down from the lumber ports of California
and Oregon. Dolphins about the bows all the
morning.

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending November 2.

October 27. — Lat. 24° 49' N. Run — 108 miles.

Lon. 131° 02' W. Temp, at noon, 69°.

Damp and gloomy. Light airs. High northerly swell.

October 28. — Lat. 25° 23' N. Run — 46 miles.

Lon. 131° 25' W. Temp, at noon, 70°.

Fine day. Exquisite moonlight night. Dead calm all day and most all
night.

October 29. — Lat. 25° 33' N. Run — 16 miles.

Lon. 131° 28' W. Temp, at noon, 69°.

Pleasant. Full moon. Dead calm all A.M. Light airs after I P.M.

October 30. — Lat. 26° 08' N. Run — 77 miles.

Lon. 130° 22/ W. Temp, at noon, 68°.

Pleasant. Very light breeze all day.

October 31. — Lat. 26° 40' N. Run — 35 miles.

Lon. 130° 34' W. Temp, at noon, 69°.

Very hazy all day. Dead calm, and no steerage-way until about 9 P.M.
Heavy dew. Light breeze all night.

November i. — Lat. 27° 13' N. Run — 32 miles.

Lon. 130° 21 x W. Temp, at noon, 72°.

Fine. Begins with dead calm. Light breeze at 2 P.M., gradually fresh-
ening to moderate.

November 2. — Lat. 29° 06' N. Run — 116 miles.

Lon. 130° O2X W. Temp, at noon, 70°.

Fine. Breeze steady all day, but failed in evening. Heavy westerly
swell. Ship rolling badly all afternoon and night. Sailed by log four
hundred and thirty miles, a daily average of only sixty-one and three-
sevenths miles. Hard luck. Farallones Rocks twenty-five miles from San
Francisco. Bore six hundred and seventeen miles off at noon to-day. A
three days' run if we had the breeze. The moonlight was very beautiful
this week, the moon being full on Wednesday.

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

AT SEA, SUNDAY, November 2.

SURELY there is some truth in that celebrated
rhyme "The Ancient Mariner," and we should
have taken heed from it and not caught the alba-
tross, in the South Pacific. It is, I fear, in punish-
ment for that slaughter we are now suffering this
tremendous amount of calms. The week just
passed should have been all breezes, according to
the charts ; but, although the ship did her best, we
only had wind enough to paddle along at the rate
of sixty-one miles a day. Buooft Libi

I suppose this will be our last Sunday at sea.
'Frisco is to-day only a little over six hundred
miles off, and surely we'll scramble along over
that in a week ; for the farther north we proceed
the stronger will we find the wind. There is
nothing more to be done to the ship. From end
to end, alow and aloft, she shines like a new pin,
and reflects great credit on the captain and mate
for the pains they have taken to get her so. Only
let us beat the " Spinney" and the captain will be
satisfied, although the great delays we have had
on this side of Cape Horn have wofully disap-
pointed him. Had we doubled our run to that
point (and we were confident of doing so), last

144

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Wednesday, the 29th, would have found us made
fast to a San Francisco wharf. When sailors get
impatient at the delays caused by calms, they have
various ways of dispelling the charm and releas-
ing the ship. Some believe in sticking a knife in
the forward side of the mainmast, some in going
aloft and casting a lock of hair away, and others
in throwing overboard some article of clothing as
an offering to old /Eolus, the god of the winds.
The latter way is by far the most popular, and
during the last week has been liberally practised.
Old trowsers, shirts, boots, and hats have been
thrown overboard in profusion, but the total value
of the lot would not probably exceed twenty-five
cents. I joined the sacrificing band, and got rid
of an old pair of slippers and a pair of ragged
shoes. There is no danger of any one adopting
the first method. The captain would pass sen-
tence of death on any fellow who stuck a knife in
the mainmast in its present splendid condition.

October 28. — Large log covered with barnacles
and surrounded by dolphins floated by us in the
afternoon.

October 29. — Spent the afternoon shooting at
the gonies with the captain's rifle. N. G. (No
gonies and no good.)

October 30. — To-day the drowned sailor's chest
and clothes were sold by auction to the crew.
The money realized (eight dollars and seventy-

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

five cents) is handed to the United States ship-
ping commissioner at San Francisco, if the ship
or captain has no claims against the amount.

The idea of being so close to 'Frisco, where I'll
find a bunch of letters, is delightful, but is tinged
with a slight feeling of anxiety, for I have been
literally out of the world for four whole months.

«3

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

Table for week ending November 9.

November 3. — Lat. 30° 26' N. Run — 80 miles.

Lon. 129° 39' W. Temp, at noon, 72°.

Light airs and pleasant. High swell from northwest. Ship rolling
heavily.

November 4. — Lat. 31° 26' N. Run — 65 miles.

Lon. 129° 21' W. Temp, at noon, 68°.

Calm at first ; gentle breezes later on. Clear and cold. Nautiluses very
numerous. Gonies ditto, and also very hungry and fierce; caught several
and let them go.

November 5. — Lat. 33° 29' N. Run — 137 miles.

Lon. 128° 44/ W. Temp, at noon, 67°.

Gentle to moderate breeze. Sea rough. Heavy rain and squalls all
night. Sea increasing rapidly and very rough. Ship diving in.

November 6. — Lat. 34° 39' N. Run — 167 miles.

Lon. 126° 13' W. Temp, at noon, 61°.

Variable weather. Wind fresh to very strong. Head-sea, rough and
ugly. Ship pitching badly. Moderate gale all night.

November 7. — Lat. 35° 37' N. Run — -134 miles.

Lon. 124° oi7 W. Temp, at noon, 58°.

Chilly and raw. Moderate gale all A.M. ; then strong breeze till 10
P.M. Sea choppy and rough. Short sail. Heavy squalls and stiff winds
all night.

November 8. — Lat. 36° 52' N. Run — 119 miles.

Lon. 123° ior W. Temp, at noon, 58°.

A.M., overcast and damp. Breeze more moderate. Sea lower. P.M.,
heavy gale, with much rain. Tremendous sea from southeast.

November 9—Lat. |Nottaken. Run- I Not taken.

Lon. j Temp, at noon, j

A.M., thick and rainy. Very high rough sea. Decks constantly flooded.
Sighted Californian coast at I P.M. All O. K. in San Francisco harbor
5 P-M.

VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

147

AT SEA, SUNDAY, November 9.

November 4. — Gonies about in large numbers ;
hooked about half a dozen and then let them go.
Also fished up several nautiluses.

November 6. — Saw a large iron ship, bound
south ; also a small schooner, bound in. The
latter was having a very wet time of it. A duck
that had evidently been blown off shore tried to
get on board in the afternoon, but failed, as the
wind was blowing a gale and carried it away to
leeward. Saw a whale blow to windward at 1 1 A.M.

November 8. — 12 M., great many gulls about,
showing our proximity to the coast. During the
forenoon made anchors ready to let go. Too
thick and hazy to see land. Made out land very
dimly at 3.30 P.M. Calm from twelve to four.
Barometer falling rapidly. At four, wind came
out moderate from southeast. From 10 P.M. to
6 A.M., November 9, heavy gale and tremendous
sea from southeast; raining in torrents and blacker
than pitch. Ship laboring heavily ; split foresail
during violent squall. During the night were
within ten miles of San Francisco bar and six
miles of the coast.

November 9. — Began with heavy squalls of rain

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG OF

and tremendous sea. Ship tossing very badly.
Weather cold, raw, and foggy. At 7 A.M. saw
light on South Farallone. At 10 A.M. saw a large
ship through the fog. A few minutes later fog
scaled, and we sighted Farallone Islands four
miles to the northwest. Stood in and made out
coast at i P.M. Saw pilot-boats coming out at 2
P.M. Took pilot out of boat No. 10 (the " Con-
fidence"), and passed Golden Gate at 4.40 P.M.,
just exactly one hundred and twenty-four days
from Cape May. Ran in harbor, and dropped
anchor off Telegraph Hill at 5.15 P.M. Were
boarded by reporter and harbor police, also
by thirty-seven sailor's boarding-house runners.
Found that the "Spinney" had been in forty-
eight hours, which makes our passage three days
the best, and the second best so far of the year.
On board all night. Were followed in by the
ship we saw in the morning, an Englishman from
New South Wales, Australia.

The storm with which our long voyage was
brought to a close was oddly enough, while it
lasted, the fiercest of the whole voyage, and one
of the most violent ever recorded on the coast of
California. The barometer sank lower in San
Francisco than it had for sixteen years, and the
wind played tremendous havoc among the ship-
ping in the harbor. At i A.M. on the morning of
the Qth I was awakened by the fearful rolling of

HIS VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN.

149

the ship, and slipping on my bad-weather toggery,
went forward through the cabins, meaning to go
on the main deck. On forcing open the door
a volume of water rushed in, upsetting me and
flooding the forward cabin knee-deep before I
could get the door closed. Much astonished at
this unexpected bath, I gained the quarter-deck
by way of the companion-way, where I found the
scene a most terrific one ; the ship half hidden in
the clouds of flying spray which the wind whisked
off the tops of the mountainous waves and drove
across the swimming decks, was almost completely
denuded of canvas and looked in more distress
than I had ever seen her. For a while it looked
as if we were destined to the delay of having to
run out to sea again, but after fighting on for
several hours the gale broke suddenly, and a shift
of wind rapidly lowered the sea. Then as the
storm cleared away the wind came out fresh and
strong from the northwest, a quarter which exactly
suited us, and so with every rag set and drawing,
from the courses to the royals, we made our final
dash in glorious style, passing the Golden Gate
just as the setting sun burst through the angry
clouds, and bathed its frowning portals in a flood
of golden light.

Thus ends the passage of one hundred and
twenty-four days. The good ship has done well,
and although it is much longer than we expected

13*

A LANDLUBBER'S LOG.

to be after our fine run to Cape Horn, still the
passage is decidedly a good one. In no single
instance has any vessel outsailed us, although we
have repeatedly come up with and sunk vessels
astern. On the whole voyage we did not sight a
steamer. I find on conning over this log that it
is decidedly rose-colored, — that is to say, I've taken
the best possible look at everything, but have put
down very few of the inconveniences of life at
sea, and this fact proves that I've enjoyed myself,
for otherwise I should have taken advantage of
anything which warranted a growl. Here then I
stop, letting go anchor in San Francisco harbor.
May the " Pactolus" and her officers see many
more such voyages as this has been, and may I
find the journey " 'round the world" as pleasant
as that around the " Horn" !

THE END.

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VALUABLE WORKS OF REFERENCE.

— • •«•>• . —
Lippincott's Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary.

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Dictionary of Quotations.

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Philosophers and Fools. A Study. By Julia Duhr-

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Pen Pictures of Europe. Where and How We Went

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story of her journey in a series of let-
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Florida: Its Scenery, Climate, and History. With

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of which it treats. A chapter for con-
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with this complaint, are in search of a
mild and favorable climate." — Boston
Saturday Evening Gazette,

The Nezv Hyperion. Front Paris to Marly by Way
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and the story is committed to scenes

connected with Mr. Longfellow's
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Europe Viewed through American Spectacles. By

C. C. FULTON, Editor of the Baltimore American. 8vo.
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It is very pleasant to be able con- I so much delight that we have little

"

scientiously to praise a book of a
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Many Lands arid Many People. Being a Series of

Sketches of Travel in all Parts of the World. With 147
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,