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diff --git a/old/27235.txt b/old/27235.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbf8620 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/27235.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7773 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy", by +John MacGregor + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy" + + +Author: John MacGregor + + + +Release Date: November 12, 2008 [eBook #27235] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGE ALONE IN THE YAWL "ROB +ROY"*** + + +Transcribed from the 1893 Sampson Low, Marston and Company edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + + + + + THE + VOYAGE ALONE + IN THE + YAWL "ROB ROY," + + + FROM LONDON TO PARIS, AND BY HARVE + ACROSS THE CHANNEL TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT, + SOUTH COAST, &c., &c. + + BY JOHN MACGREGOR, M.A., + + CAPTAIN OF 'THE ROYAL CANOE CLUB,' + AUTHOR OF 'A THOUSAND MILES IN THE ROB ROY CANOE,' + 'THE ROB ROY ON THE BALTIC,' + 'THE ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN,' &c. + + _SIXTH EDITION_. + + LONDON: + SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY + _LIMITED_. + St. Dunstan's House, + FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. + 1893 + + (_All rights reserved_.) + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED + STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + [Picture: Frontispiece: A tight squeeze. See page 159] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In the earlier part of this voyage, and where it was most wished for, +along the dangerous coast of France, fine weather came. + +Next there was an amphibious interlude to the Paris Exhibition, while the +Rob Roy sailed inland. + +Thence her course over the sea brought the yawl across the broad Channel +(100 miles) to Cowes and its Regattas, and to rough water in dark nights +of thunder, until once more in the Thames and up the Medway she was under +bright skies again. + +Cooking and sleeping on board, the writer performed the whole journey +without any companion; and perhaps this log of the voyage will show that +it was not only delightful to the lone sailor, but useful to others. + +BLACKHEATH, KENT, +_May_, 1880. + +The Author's profits from the preceding Editions were devoted to Prizes +for Boys in the following Training Ships:-- + +The 'CHICHESTER' in the _Thames_. +The 'ARETHUSA' in the _Thames_. +The 'CUMBERLAND,' in the _Clyde_. +The 'INDEFATIGABLE,' in the _Mersey_. +The 'HAVANNAH,' in the _Severn_. + +The profits will again be devoted to similar Prizes as explained in the +Appendix. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Project--On the stocks--Profile--Afloat alone--Smart +lads--Swinging--Anchors--Happy boys--Sea reach--Good looks--Peep +below--Important trifles--In the well--Chart--Watch on deck--Eating an +egg--Storm sail. + +It was a strange and pleasant life for me all the summer, sailing +entirely alone by sea and river fifteen hundred miles, and with its +toils, perils, and adventures heartily enjoyed. + +The two preceding summers I had paddled alone in an oak canoe, first +through central Europe, and next over Norway and Sweden; but though both +of these voyages were delightful, they had still the drawback, that +progress was mainly dependent on muscular effort, that food must be had +from shore, and that I could not sleep on the water. + +In devising plans to make the pleasure of a voyage complete then, many +cogitations were had in the winter, and these resulted in a beautiful +little sailing-boat; and once afloat in this, the water was my road, my +home, my very world, for a long and splendid summer. + +The perfect success of these three voyages has been due mainly to the +careful preparation for them in the minute details which are too often +neglected. To take pains about these is a pleasure to a man with a +boating mind, but it is also a positive necessity if he would ensure +success; nor can we wonder at the fate of some who get swamped, smashed, +stove-in, or turned over, when we see them go adrift in a craft which had +been huddled into being by some builder ignorant of what is wanted for +the sailor traveller, and is launched on unknown waters without due +preparation for what may come. + +I resolved to have a thoroughly good sailing-boat--the largest that could +be well managed in rough weather by one strong man, and with every bolt, +cleat, sheave, and rope well-considered in relation to the questions: How +will this work in a squall?--on a rock?--in the dark?--or in a rushing +tide?--a crowded lock; not to say in a storm? + +The internal arrangements of my boat having been fully settled with the +advantage of the canoe experiences, the yacht itself was designed by Mr. +John White, of Cowes--and who could do it better? She was to be first +_safe_, next _comfortable_, and then _fast_. If, indeed, you have two +men aboard, one to pick up the other when he falls over, then you may put +the last of the above three qualities first, but not prudently when there +is only one man to do the whole. + +The Rob Roy was built by Messrs. Forrestt, of Limehouse, the builders for +the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and so she is a lifeboat to +begin with. Knowing how much I might have to depend on oars now and +then, my inclination was to limit her length to about 18 ft., but Mr. +White said that 21 ft. would "take care of herself in a squall." +Therefore that length was agreed upon, and the decision was never +regretted; still I should by no means advise any increase of these +dimensions. + +One great advantage of the larger size, was that it enabled me to carry +in the cabin of my yawl, another boat, a little dingey {3} or punt, to go +ashore by, to take exercise in, and to use for refuge in last resource if +shipwrecked, for this dingey also I determined should be a lifeboat, and +yet only eight feet long. The childhood of this little boat was somewhat +unhappy, and as she grew into shape she was quizzed unmercifully, and the +people shook their heads very wisely, as they did at the first Rob Roy +canoe. Now that we can reckon about three thousand of such canoes, and +now that this little dingey has proved a complete success and an +unspeakable convenience, the laugh may be forgotten. However, ridicule +of new things often does good if it begets caution in changes, and +stimulates improvement. Good things get even benefit from ridicule, +which may shake off the plaster and paint, though it will not shiver the +stone. + +Thoroughly to enjoy a cruise with only two such dumb companions as have +been described, it is of importance that the man who is to be with them +should also be adapted for his place. He must have good health and good +spirits, and a passion for the sea. He must learn to rise, eat, drink, +and sleep, as the water or winds decree, and not his watch. He must have +wits to regard at once the tide, breeze, waves, chart, buoys, and lights; +also the sails, pilot-book, and compass; and more than all, to scan the +passing vessels, and to cook, and eat, and drink in the midst of all. +With such pressing and varied occupations, he has no time to feel +"lonely," and indeed, he passes fewer hours in the week alone than many a +busy man in chambers. Of all the people I have met with who have +travelled on land or sea alone, not one has told me it was "lonely," +though some who have never tried the plan as a change upon life in a +crowd, may fear its unknown pleasures. As for myself, on this voyage I +could scarcely "get a moment to myself," and there was always an +accumulation of things to be done, or read, or thought over, when a +vacant half-hour could be had. The man who will feel true loneliness, is +he who has one sailor with him, or a "pleasant companion" soon pumped +dry; for he has isolation without freedom all day (and night too), and a +tight cramp on the mind. With a dozen kindred spirits in a yacht, +indeed, it is another matter; then you have freedom and company, and (if +you are not the owner) you are not slaves of the skipper, but still you +are _sailed_ and _carried_, as passive travellers, and perhaps after all +you had better be in a big steamer at once--the Cunard's or the P. and +O., with a hundred passengers--real life and endless variety. However, +each man to his taste; it is not easy to judge for others, but let us +hope, that after listening to this log of a voyage alone, you will not +call it "lonely." + +The Rob Roy is a yawl-rig, so as to place the sailor between the sails +for "handiness." She is double-skinned to make her staunch and dry +below, and she is full-decked to keep out the sea above. She has an iron +keel and kelson to resist a bump on rocks, and with four water-tight +compartments to limit its effects if once stove in. Her cabin is +comfortable to sleep in, but only as arranged when anchored for the +purpose:--sleep at sea is forbidden to her crew. Her internal +arrangements for cooking, reading, writing, provisions, stores, and +cargo, are quite different from those of any other yacht; all of them are +specially devised, and all well done; and now on the 7th of June, at 3 +P.M., she is hastily launched, her ton and a half of pig-iron is put on +board for ballast, the luggage and luxuries for a three months' voyage +are loaded in, her masts are stepped, the sails are bent, the flags +unfold to the breeze, the line to shore is slipped, and we are sailing +from Woolwich, never to have any person aboard in her progress but the +captain, until she returns to the builders' yard. + + [Picture: Drawing of the Rob Roy] + +Often as a boy I had thought of the pleasure of being one's own master in +one's own boat; but the reality far exceeded the imagination of it, and +it was not a transient pleasure. Next day it was stronger, and so to the +end, until at last, only duty forced me reluctantly from my floating +freehold to another home founded on London clay, sternly immovable, and +with the quarter's rent to pay. + +At Erith then the Royal Canoe Club held its first sailing match, when +five little paddling craft set up their bamboo masts and pure white +sails, and scudded along in a rattling breeze, and twice crossed the +Thames. They were so closely matched that the winner was only by a few +seconds first. Then a Club dinner toasted the prizemen, and "farewell," +"bon voyage" to the captain, who retired on board for the first sleep in +his yawl. + +The Sunday service on board the Training-ship 'Worcester,' at Erith, is a +sight to see and to remember. The bell rings and boats arrive, some of +them with ladies. Here in the 'tween decks, with airy ports open, and +glancing water seen through them, are 100 fresh-cheeked manly boys, the +future captains of Taepings and Ariels, and as fine specimens of the +gentleman sailor-lad as any Englishman would wish to see. Such neatness +and order without nonsense or prim awe. Health and brightness of +boyhood, with seamen's smartness and silence: I hope they do not get too +much trigonometry. However, for the past week they have been skurrying +up aloft "to learn the ropes," skylarking among the rigging for play, and +rowing and cricketing to expand muscle and limb; and now on the day of +rest they sing beautifully to the well-played harmonium, then quietly +listen to the clergyman of the "Thames Mission," who has been rowed down +here from his floating church, anchored then in another bay of his liquid +parish, but now removed entirely. + +The Royal National Lifeboat Institution had most kindly presented to the +Rob Roy one of its best lifeboat compasses. The card of this compass +floats in a mixture of spirits, so as to steady its oscillations in a +boat, and a deft-like lamp alongside will light it up for use by night. +Only a sailor knows the peculiar feeling of regard and mystery with which +the compass of his craft becomes invested, the companion in past or +unknown future perils, his trusty guide over the wide waste of waters and +through the night's long blackness. + +Having so much iron on board, and so near this wondrous delicate needle, +I determined to have the boat "swung" at Greenhithe, where the slack tide +allows the largest vessels conveniently to adjust their compasses. This +operation consumed a whole day, and a day sufficed for the Russian +steamer alongside; but then the time was well bestowed,--it was as +important to me to steer the Rob Roy straight as it could be to any +Muscovite that he should sail rightly in his ship of unpronounceable +name. {10} + +While the compass was thus made perfect for use at one end of the boat, +her anchors occupied my attention at the other. + +It was necessary to carry an anchor heavy enough to hold well in strong +tides, in bad weather, and through the long nights, so that I could sleep +then without anxiety. On the other hand, the anchor must be also light +enough to be weighed and stowed by one man, and this too in that precious +twenty seconds of time, when in weighing anchor, the boat, already loosed +from the ground but not yet got hold of by the sails, is swept bodily +away by the tide, and faces look cross from yachts around, being sure you +will collide, as a lubber is bound to do. + +After considering the matter of anchors a long time, and poising too the +various opinions of numerous advisers, the Rob Roy was fitted with a +50-lb. galvanized Trotman anchor and 30 fathoms of chain, and also with a +20-lb. Trotman and a hemp cable. + +The operation of anchoring in a new place and that of weighing anchor are +certainly among the most testing and risky in a voyage like this, where +the circumstances are quite new on each occasion, and where all has to be +done by one man. + +You sail into a port where in less than a minute you must apprehend by +one panoramic glance the positions of twenty vessels, the run of the +tide, and set of the wind, and depth of the water; and this not only as +these are then existing, but in imagination, how they will be six hours +hence, when the wind has veered, the tide has changed, and the vessels +have swung round, or will need room to move away, or new ones will have +arrived. + +These being the _data_, you have instantly to fix on a spot where there +will be water enough to float your craft all night, and yet not so deep +as to give extra work next morning; a berth, too, which you can reach as +at present sailing, and from which you can start again to-morrow; one +where there are no moorings of absent vessels to foul your anchor, and +where the wind will not blow right into your sleeping cabin when the +moonlight chills, and where the dust will not blind you from this lime +barge, or the blacks begrime you from that coal brig as you spread the +yellow butter on your morning tartine. + +The interest felt in doing this feat well is increased by seeing how +watchfully those who are already berthed will eye the stranger, often +speaking by their looks, and always feeling "hope he won't come too near +_me_;" while the penalty on failure in the proceeding is heavy and sharp, +a smash of your spars, a hole in your side, or a sleepless night, or an +hour of cable-clearing to-morrow, or all of them; and certainly in +addition, the objurgations of every yachtsman within the threatened +circle. + +Undoubtedly the most unpleasant result of bad management is to have +damaged any other man's boat; and I cannot but mention with the greatest +satisfaction, that after so often working my anchors--at least two +hundred times--and so many days of sailing in crowded ports and rivers, +on no one occasion did the Rob Roy even brush the paint off any other +vessel. + +Not far from my yawl there was moored a fine old frigate, useless now for +war, but invaluable for peace--the "'Chichester' Training-ship for +homeless boys of London." It is for a class of lads utterly different +from those on the 'Worcester,' but they are English boys still, and every +Englishman ought to do something for English boys, if he cares for the +present or the future of England. + +Pale and squalid, thin, heartless, and homeless, they were; but now, +ruddy in the river breeze, neat and clean, alert with energy, happy in +their wooden home, with a kind captain and smart officers to teach them, +life and stir around, fair prospects ahead, and a British seaman's honest +livelihood to be earned instead of the miserable puling beggardom of the +streets, or the horrid company of the prison cell; which, that they +should lie in the path of any child of our land, adrift on the rough tide +of time at ten years old, is a glaring shame to the millions of +sovereigns in bankers' books, and we shall have to answer heavily if we +let it be thus still longer. {14} + +The burgee flag of the Canoe Club flew always (white with our paddle +across C C in cipher) and another white flag on the mizen-mast had the +yawl's name inscribed. Six other gay colours were used as occasion +required. These all being hoisted on a fine bright day, and my voyage +really begun, the 'Chichester' lads 'boyed' the rigging, and gave three +ringing cheers as they shouted, "Take these to France, sir!" and the +frigate dipped her ensign in salute, my flag lieutenant smartly +responding to the compliment as we bade "good-bye." + +The Thames to seaward looks different to me every time I float on its +noble flood. I have seen it from on board steamers large and small, from +an Indiaman's deck, the gunwale of a cutter, and the poop of an ironclad, +as well as from rowboat and canoe, and have penetrated almost every nook +and cranny on the water, some of them a dozen times, yet always it is new +to see. + +Thames river life is a separate world from the land life in houses. The +day begins on the water full an hour before sunrise. Cheery voices and +hearty faces greet you, and there seems to be no maimed, or sick, or +poor. From the simple fact that you are on the river, there is a +brotherhood with every sailor. The _mode_ is supple as the water, not +like the stiff fashion of the land. Ships and shipmen soon become the +"people." The other folks on shore are, to be sure, pretty numerous, but +then they are ashore. Undoubtedly they are useful to provide for us who +are afloat the butter, eggs, and bread they do certainly produce; and we +gaze pleasantly on their grassy lawns and bushy trees, and can hear the +lark singing on high, and peacocks screaming, and all are very pretty, +and we are bound to try to sympathize with people thus pinned to the +soil, while we are free in the fine fresh breeze, and glide on the +bounding wave. _N.B._--These very people are all the while regarding +_us_ with humane pity, as the "poor fellows in that little ship there, +cabined, cribbed, confined." Perhaps it is well for all of us that the +stand-point of each, be it ever so bleak, becomes to him the centre of +creation. + +As the country lane has charms for the botanist which will sadly delay +one in a summer stroll with such a companion, so to the nautical mind +every reach on a full river has a constant flow of incidents quite +unnoticed by the landsmen. In the crowd of ships around us, no two are +quite the same even to look at, nor are they doing the same thing, and +there are hundreds passing. What a feast for the eye that hath an +appetite! The clink of an anchor-chain, the "Yo-ho!" of a well-timed +crew, the flapping of huge sails--I love all these sounds, yes, even the +shrill squeal of a pulley thrills my ear with pleasure, and grateful to +my nostrils is the odour of tar. + +Meanwhile we are sailing on to Sheerness; and no wonder that the Rob Roy +fixes many a sailor's eye, for the bright sun shines on her new white +sails, and her brilliant-coloured flags flutter gladly in the wind as the +waves glance and play about her polished mahogany sides, the last and +least addition to the yacht fleet of England. + +Rounding Garrison Point, at the mouth of the Medway, our anchor is +dropped alongside the yacht 'Whisper,' where the kind hospitality to the +Rob Roy from English, French, and Belgian, at once began, and it ceased +only at the end of my voyage. + +After our tea and strawberries, and ladies' chat (pleasant ashore and ten +times more afloat), the blue-jackets' band on board the Guard-ship gives +music, and the moon gives light, and around are the huge old war-hulks, +beautiful, though bygone, and all at rest, with a newer, uglier frigate, +that has no poetry in her look, but could speak forth loudly, no doubt, +with a very heavy broadside, for her thundering salute made all the +windows shudder as she steamed in gallantly. + +The tide of visitors to my yawl began at Sheerness. Among them I caught +a boy and made him grease the mast. His friends were so pleased with +their visit, that when the Rob Roy came there again months afterwards, +they brought me a present of fresh mussels, highly to be esteemed by +those who like to eat them--everybody does not; but then was it not +grateful to give them thus? and is not gratitude a precious and rare gift +to receive? + +The internal arrangements of the Rob Roy yawl are certainly peculiar, for +they were designed for a unique purpose, and as there is no description +(at least that I can find) of a yacht specially made for one-man voyages, +and proved to be efficient during so long a sail, it may be useful here +to describe the inside of the Rob Roy. Safety was the first point to be +attained, as we have already mentioned, and this was provided for by her +breadth of beam (seven feet), her strongly bolted iron kelson, her +water-tight compartments, and her double skin, the outer one being of +polished Honduras mahogany, and the inner of yellow pine, with canvas +between them; also by her strong, firm deck, her undersized masts and +sails, and her lifeboat dingey. + +Next we had to consider the capacity for comfort; not for the sake of any +luxurious ease which could be expected, but so as to take proper means to +preserve health, maintain good spirits, and to economize the energy which +would undoubtedly be largely taxed in downright physical muscular work, +and which now would be liable any day to yield if overwrought by +long-continued anxiety, wakefulness, and exertion. + +For this purpose the actual labour bestowed upon maintaining the outward +forms of a (partially) civilized life must be a minimum, and the action +required in times of risk or danger must be as little encumbered as +possible; and as every arrangement came frequently under review, and +improvements were well considered in meditative hours, and many were put +in practice during a stay at Cowes, where the very best workmen were at +command, it may not unreasonably be asserted that for a solitary sailor's +yacht the cabin of the Rob Roy is at least a very good specimen of the +most recent model, and perhaps the best that has been devised as a basis +for the next advance. + +Although at present I have no radical improvements to suggest upon the +general plan, it is, of course, open to the refining experience of +others; and I do not apologize for speaking of the fittings of a little +boat as if they were mere trifles because it held only _one_ man, when +they may in any degree be useful to yachts of larger size, and thus to +that noble fleet of roaming craft which renew the nerve and energy of so +many Englishmen by a manly and healthful enterprise, opening a whole new +element of nature, and nursing a host of loyal seamen to defend our +shores. + +From the sketch given at p. 23, and one partly in section at p. 41, it +will be understood that the Rob Roy is fully decked all over except an +open well near the stern which is three feet square, and about the same +in depth; a strong combing surrounds both the well and the main hatchway +as a protection in the sea. {20} This well or after compartment is +separated from the next compartment by a strong bulkhead, sloping forward +(p. 7) to give all the room possible for stretching one's limbs and a +change of posture, and also so as to form a comfortable sloping back +inside in the cabin, while it supports a large soft pillow, the whole +being used as a sofa to recline on while reading or writing, or finally +being converted into a bolster by lowering it when the crew is piped to +bed for the night, or at least such hours of it as the tide and wind may +allow for sleep. + +Fronting the seat the binnacle hangs with its tender thrilling compass +inside, well protected by thick plate glass, and the lamp, which is +always ready to be lighted up should darkness need it; for experience has +showed me only too plainly that it will not do to postpone any +preparation for night, or wind, or hunger, or shoal water, but that you +should be always quite prepared for them all. + +Above the binnacle is the chart; that is to say, a rectangular piece cut +out from the larger sheet, and containing all that will be sailed in a +day. The other parts, too, of the chart ought to be kept where they are +accessible for ready reference. + +Rain or the dashing of a wave or two soon softens the paper of the chart, +and on one occasion it was so nearly melted away in this manner in a +rough sea that I had to learn its lines and figures quickly off by heart, +and trust to memory for the rest of the day. + +To prevent another time such an awkward state of things, I made a frame +with a glass front and movable back, and this allowed each portion of the +chart to be placed inside, and to be well protected, an excellent +arrangement when your hands are as wet as all other things around, and +the ordinary chart would be soaked in five minutes. + +The chart frame is also detachable from its place, as it is sometimes +necessary to hold it near a lamp at night so as to read the soundings. +To aid still further to decipher the chart at night and in dull +afternoons, there is a small mounted lens in a leather loop alongside, +which has often to be used. The compass {22} itself is so placed that +you can see it well while either sitting or standing up, or when lying at +full length on the deck, with the back against a pillow propped by the +mizen mast, the blight sun or moon overhead, and a turn or two of the +mainsheet cast about your body to keep the sleepy steersman from rolling +over into the water, as shown next page. + + [Picture: Watch on Deck] + +This somewhat effeminate but decidedly comfortable attitude in which to +keep one's watch on deck, was not invented until farther on in the +cruise; and it seems odd that I should so long have continued to sit +upright for hours together (wriggling only a little at the constraint) +for many a fine day before adopting for a change so obvious a posture, +and thus effectually postponing any sense of weariness even in sailing +for a whole day and night. Still it is only for light airs, gentle +waves, or in deep rivers, or with long runs on the same tack, that the +captain may do his duty while he lies on a sofa. In fresh breezes and +rolling seas, or in beating to windward with frequent boards, such +indulgence is soon cut short; and indeed the muscles and energies of the +sailor are so braced up by the lively motion and refreshing blasts when +there is plenty of wind, that no _ennui_ can come; and there is quite +enough play of limb and change of position caused by the working of the +ship, while he soon learns by practice to steer by the action of any part +of his body from head to feet being in contact with the tiller, that +delicate and true sensorium of a boat to which all feeling is conveyed. + +Sometimes I would sit low and out of sight, but with a glance now and +then at the compass, while the tiller pressed against my neck. At others +I would lie prone on the hatchway with my head upon both hands, and my +elbows on the deck, and my foot on the tiller; while, again, every day it +was necessary to cook and eat, all the time steering; the most difficult +operation of all being to eat a boiled egg comfortably under these +conditions, because there is the egg and the spoon, each in a hand, and +the salt and the bread, each liable to be capsized with a direful result. + +Uncovered and handy for instant use there lies a sharp axe at the bottom +of the well, by which any rope may be cut, and a blow may be given to the +forelock of an anchor or other refractory point needing instant +correction, and near this again is the sounding lead, with its line wound +on a stick like that of a boy's kite. I soon found that much the best +way to tell the fathoms, especially at night, was to measure the line as +it was hauled in by opening my arms to the full stretch of one fathom +between my hands. + +In two large leather pockets fixed in the well, were sundry articles, +such as a long knife, cords of various kinds, a foot measure of ivory +(best to read off at night), and a good binocular glass by Steward in the +Strand. {25} + +Turning now to the left of the seat in the well, we open a door about a +foot square, hinged so as to fall downwards and thus form a cook's +"dresser;" and now the full extent is visible of our kitchen range, at p. +41, or in nautical tongue here is the caboose of the Rob Roy. + +It is a zinc box with a frame holding a flat copper kettle, a pan in +which to heat the tin of preserved meat for our dinner to-day, and the +copper frying-pan in which three eggs will be cooked _sur le plat_ for +our breakfast to-morrow. + +The invaluable Rob Roy lamp {26} is below this frame, and a spare lamp +alongside--a fierce blast it has, and it will be needed if there is bad +weather, for then sometimes as a heavy sea is coming the kitchen is +hastily closed lest the waves should invade it, but the lamp may still be +heard roaring away inside all the same. An iron enamelled plate and a +duster complete the furniture of our little scullery, all the rest of the +things we started with having been improved out of existence, for +simplicity is the heart of invention as brevity is the soul of wit. + +If we desire to get at the tubular wooden flag box that some gay colours +may deck our mast in entering a new harbour, this will be found inside +the space aft of the caboose; and again, by reaching the arm still +further into the hollow behind our seat, it will grasp the _storm mizen_, +a strongly made triangular sail, to be used only in untoward hours, and +for which we must prepare by lowering the lug mizen, and shifting the +halyard, tack, and sheet. Then the Rob Roy, with her mainsail and jib +reefed, will be under snug canvas, as seen at page 57. + +But now it is bed-time, and the lecture on the furniture of the yawl may +be finished some other day. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Sheerness--Governor--Trim--Earthquake--Upset--Wooden legs--On the +Goodwin--Cuts and soars--Crossing the Straits--The ground at +Boulogne--Night music--Sailors' maps--Ship's +papers--Weather--Toilette--Section. + +Sheerness is on the whole a tolerable port to land at, that is, as long +as you refrain from going ashore. The harbour is interesting and more +lively than it appears at first sight, but the streets and shops are just +the reverse. + +The Rob Roy ran into this harbour seven or eight times during her cruise, +and there was always "something going on." The anchorage on the south of +the pier is in mud of deep black colour, but not such good holding ground +as it would seem to be, and then what comes up on the anchor runs like +black paint upon your deck, and needs a good scrubbing to get rid of it +from each palm of the anchor. Even after all seems to be cleared away +thoroughly, there may be a piece only the size of a nut, but perverse +enough to fasten upon the white creamy folds of your jib newly washed +out, and then the inky stain will be an eyesore for days, until, for +peace of mind, the sail must be scrubbed again. Trifles these are to the +yachtsman who can leave all that to his crew, who sees only _results_, +but when the captain alone is the crew, the realities of sea life must be +endured as well as enjoyed, and yet surely he is the one to enjoy most +keenly the luxury of a white spotless sail whose own hands have made it +so. + +If any sailor henceforth has me for his captain, and he has to "tidy up" +my yacht, he may be sure of having a very considerate if not indulgent +master--"Governor," of course, I mean, for there are no "masters" any +longer now, they are all promoted to the rank of "Governor." + +And the reason I should be considerate is that until you do it all +yourself you cannot have any idea of the innumerable _minutiae_ to be +attended to in the proper care of a yacht. Mine, indeed, was in +miniature; but the number of little things was still great, though each +little thing was more little. On the whole we should say that a yacht's +crew, even in port, have full employment for all their working hours if +the hull, spars, sails, ropes, and boats, besides the cabin and stores, +are always kept in that condition of order, neatness, cleanliness, +readiness, and repair which ought to be little short of perfection when +regarded with a critical eye. + +In like manner as you drive out in a carriage and return, and the +carriage and horses disappear into the stables for hours of careful work +by the men who are there, so may the day's sail in a yacht involve a +whole series of operations on board afterwards. Inattention to these in +the extreme can be observed in the boats of fishermen, and attention in +the extreme in the perfect vessels of the Royal Squadron; but even a very +reasonable amount of smartness requires a large expenditure of labour +which will not be effectual if it be hurried, and which is, of course, +worse than useless if it is done by inferior hands. + +In perfect trim and "ship shape" now, we loosed from Sheerness, to +continue the sail eastwards, and with a leading breeze and a lovely +morning. This part of the Thames is about the best conjunction of river +and sea one could find, with land easily sighted on both sides, yet fine +salt waves, porpoises, and other attributes of the sea, and buoys, and +beacons, and light-ships to be attended to, and a definite line of course +determined on and followed by compass. A gale here is not to be trifled +with, though in fine weather you may pass it safely in a mere +cockle-shell, and the last time I had sailed here alone it was in an open +boat, just ten feet long inside. Still the whole day may be summed up +now, as it was in the log of the Rob Roy, "Fine run to Margate;" the +pleasures of it were just the same as so often afterwards were met, +enjoyed, and thanked for, but which might be tedious to relate even once. + +The harbour here dries bare at low tide, and as seventeen years had +elapsed since we had sailed into it, this bad habit of the harbour was +forgotten, but more years than that may pass before it will be forgotten +again, for as evening came, and the water ebbed, and I reclined +unharnessed in the cabin, reading intently, there suddenly came a rude +bumping shove upwards as from below, and then another--the Rob Roy had +grounded. Soon there was a swaying this way and that, as if yet +undecided, and at length a positive heel over to _that_; the whole of my +little world within being canted to half a right angle, and a ridiculous +distortion of every single thing in my bedroom was the result. The +humiliating sensation of being aground on hard unromantic mud is tempered +by the ludicrous crooked appearance of the contents of your cabin and by +the absurd sensation of sleeping in a corner with everything askance +except the lamp flame, which, because it burns upright, looks most awry +of all, and incongruously flares on the spout of the teapot in your +pantry. + +And why this _bouleversement_ of all things? Because I had omitted to +bring a pair of "legs" with me, for a boat cannot stand upright on shore +without legs any more than an animal. + +Next time the Rob Roy came to Margate we made one powerful leg for her by +lashing the two oars to the iron shroud, and took infinite pains to +incline the boat over to that side so as to be turned away from the wind +and screened from the tide, and I therefore weighted her down by placing +the dingey and heavy anchor on the lee gunwale, and then with misplaced +contentment proceeded to cook my dinner. At a solemn pause in the +repast, the yawl, without other warning than a loud splash, perversely +turned over to the _wrong_ side, with deck to sea and wind, and every +single thing exactly the contrary of what was proper. I had just time to +plunge my hissing spirit-lamp into the sea, and thus to prevent the cry +of "Ship on fire!" but had not time to put out my cabin-lamp, and this +instantly bore its flame provokingly upright against the thick glass of +the aneroid barometer, which duly told its fate by three sonorous +"crinks," and at once three starred cracks shot through its crystal +front. + +The former experience of the night as spent when one is thus arbitrarily +"inclined to sleep" made me wish to get ashore; but this idea was stifled +partly by pride and partly by the fact that there was not water enough to +enable me to go ashore in a boat, and yet there was too much water +besides soft mud to make it at all pleasant to set off and wade to bed. +The recovery from this unwholesome state of things, with all the world +askew, was equally notable, for when the tide rose again, in the late +midnight hours, the sea-dreams of disturbed slumber were arrested by a +gentle nudge, and then by a more decided heaving up of one's bed in the +dark, until at last it came level again as the boat floated, and all the +things that were right when she was wrong turned over now at wrong +angles, because the boat had righted. {32} + +An excellent cure for all such little mishaps is to "imagine it is +to-morrow morning," for in the morning one is sure to forget all the +night's troubles; and so with the fiery rising sun on the sails we are +floating out to sea. + +In such a sunny day the North Foreland is a very comfortable-looking +cliff, with pleasant country-houses on the top, and corn-fields growing +round the lighthouse. Next there is Ramsgate, and then Dover pier. But +now, and in weather like this, will be a proper occasion to practise +manoeuvres which will certainly have to be performed in bad times, so we +stretched away out to the Goodwin Sands, where one is nearly always sure +to find a sea running, and for several hours we worked assiduously at +reefing the sails, and getting the little dingey out of the cabin and +into the water, and _vice versa_. + +At least a short trial of my yacht in the Thames would have been +advisable before starting on a long voyage, but as this was not possible +now, it was of invaluable benefit to spend an afternoon at drill on the +Goodwin; rightly assured that success in this journey could not be +expected haphazard, but might be hoped for after the _practice in +daylight and fine weather of what had to be done afterwards in rough +water and darkness_. By this time, just a week in the Rob Roy, the +little craft seemed quite an old friend. Her many virtues and her few +faults were being found out. The happy life aboard had almost enchained +me, but still I left the yawl at Dover, and ran up to London for the +annual inspection of the London Scottish Volunteers; and having led his +fine company of kilted Riflemen through Hyde Park, the Captain sheathed +his claymore to handle the tiller again, eager for the voyage. + +The new rough hairy ropes had chafed my hands abundantly, and they were +red and black, and blistered, and swollen, and variously adorned by cuts, +and bruises, and scars. When shall I ever get gloves on again, or be fit +to appear at a dinner-table? These wounds, however, had taught me this +lesson, "Do every act deliberately. Hasty smartness is slowest. When +each single thing from morning to night has to be done by your own +fingers, save them from bruises and chafes. Nothing is worse spent than +needless muscular action. You will want every atom you have some day or +other this week. Husband vital force." + +The Sappho schooner was at Dover, and her owner, Mr. Lawton, one of the +Canoe Club, took leave of the Rob Roy, and sailed away to Iceland, while +I started for Boulogne in the dawn, when all the scene around looked like +a woodcut, pale and colourless, as I cooked hot breakfast at five +o'clock. Nothing particular happened in this voyage across the Channel. +It was simply a very pleasant sail, in a very fine day, and in a good +little boat. The sight of both shores at once, when you are in the +widest part of a passage, deprives it immediately of the romance and +interest of being entirely out of sight of land and ships, and all else +but water, and so there is absent that deeper stir of feeling which +powerfully seized me in the wider traverse afterwards from Havre to +Cowes. + +Indeed, when you know the under-water geography of the channel near +Dover, it is impossible not to feel that you are sailing over shallow +waves; for though they seem to be deep and grand enough from Dover Castle +or the Boulogne heights, the whole way might almost be spanned by piers +and arches, and if you wished to walk over dry shod at the low +spring-tide, you need only lay from shore to shore a twenty miles' slice +of undulated ground cut from the environs of London. The cellars of the +houses would be at the bottom of the sea, but the chimney-pots would +still be above it for stepping-stones. + +The wind fell as we neared France, and a fog came on, and the tide +carried us off in a wrong direction north to Cape Grisnez, where I +anchored with twenty fathoms, to wait for the reflux six or seven hours. +Often as we had to do the same thing in after days, there was always +constant employment for every hour of a long stoppage like this, with a +well-furnished tool-box, and a busy mind ever making additions, +experiments, improvements, and with books to read. Not one single moment +of the voyage ever hung heavy on the Rob Roy. + +Trying to get into Boulogne at low water was an unprepared attempt, and +met its due reward; for the thing had to be done without the benefit of +my "Pilot-book," which had been put away with such exceeding care, that +now it could not anywhere be found--not after several rigorous searches +all over the boat. Finally, concluding that I must have taken the book +to London by mistake, we had to trust to nature's light and go ahead. +This does well enough for a canoe, but not for the sailing-boat, which, +if once aground, and with a sea running, it would be utterly out of the +power of one man to save. {36} + +In encountering the first roller off the pier at Boulogne, she thumped +the ground heavily. At the second, again, the masts quivered, and all +the bottles rattled in my cellar. Instant decision turned her round from +the third roller, and so after bumping the ground twice again in the +retreat, we put out to sea, anchored, and got out the dingey, +half-ashamed to be discomfited thus at the very first French port. After +an hour or two spent in the dark, carefully sounding to discover the +proper channel, and to get it well into my head, the anchor was weighed, +and we entered in a poor sort of triumph upon midnight, slowly ascending +the long harbour, but looking in vain for a proper berth. All was quiet, +every one seemed to be in bed, until I came to the sluices at the end, +which just then opened, and the rush of foaming water from these bore me +back again in the most helpless plight, until I anchored near the +well-known "Etablissement," furled sails, rigged up hatch, and soon +dropped fast asleep. + +Now there is a peculiarity of the French ports which we may mention here +for once for all, but it applies to every one of them, and has to be +seriously considered in all your calculations as a sailing-master. + +They are quiet enough up to a certain time of night, but as the tide +serves, the whole port awakes, all the fishing vessels get ready to +start. The quays become vocal with shouts, yells, calls, whistles, and +the most stupid din and hubbub confounds the night, utterly destructive +of sleep. This chorus was in full cry about two o'clock A.M. Soon great +luggers came splashing along with shrieks from the crews, and sails +flapping, chains rattling, spars knocking about, as if a tempest were in +rage. Several of these lubberly craft smashed against the pier, and the +men screamed more wildly, and at length one larger and more inebriated +than all the rest, dashed in among the small boats where the Rob Roy +slept, and swooping down on the poor little yawl, then wrapt in calm +repose, she heeled us over on our beam-ends, and after fastening her +clumsy, rusty anchor in my mizen shrouds (which were of iron, and +declined to snap), she bore me and my boat away far off, ignominiously, +stern foremost. + +Certainly this was by no means a pleasant foretaste of what might be +expected in the numerous other ports we were to enter, and, at any rate, +that night's sleep was gone. But in a voyage of this sort a night's +sleep must be resigned readily, and the loss is easily borne by trying to +forget it, which indeed you soon do when the sun rises, and a good cup of +tea has been quaffed, or, if that will not suffice, then another. + +Vigorous health is at the bottom of the enthusiastic enjoyment of +yachting; but in a common sailor's life sleep is not a regular thing as +we have it on shore, and perhaps that staid glazy and sedate-looking eye, +which a hard-worked seaman usually has, is really caused by broken +slumber. He is never completely awake, but he is never entirely asleep. + +Boulogne is a much more agreeable place to reside at than one might +suppose from merely passing through it. Once I spent a month there, and +found plenty to see and to do. Good walks, hotels, churches, and +swimming-baths; the river to row in, the reading-room to sit in, the +cliffs to climb, and the sands to see. + +At Dover the dock-people had generously charged me "nil" for dues. I had +letters for France from the highest authorities to pass the Rob Roy as an +article entered for the Paris "Exhibition;" and when the _douane_ and +police functionaries came in proper state at Boulogne to appraise her +value, and to fill up the numerous forms, certificates, schedules, and +other columned documents, I had hours of walking to perform, and most +courteous and tedious attention to endure, and then paid for sanitary +dues, "two sous per ton," that was threepence. Finally, there was this +insurmountable difficulty, that though all my ship's papers were _en +regle_, they must be signed "by two persons on board," so I offered to +sign first as captain and then as cook. They never troubled me again in +any other port, probably thinking the boat too small to have come from a +foreign harbour. In France the law of their paternal Government prevents +any Frenchman from sailing thus alone. + +The sun warmed a fine fresh breeze from the N.E. as we coasted from +Boulogne, and to sail with it was a luxury all day. The first pleasure +was the morning ablution, either by a wholesale dip under the waves, or a +more particular toilette if the Rob Roy was then in full sail. + +To effect this we push the hatch forward, and open the interior of the +boat. If the water we float on is clean (whether it be salt or fresh) we +dip the tin basin at once, but if we are in a muddy river or doubtful +harbour we must draw from our zinc water tank, which holds water for one +week. This tank is concealed by the figure of the cook kneeling in the +opposite sketch, but it is next to my large portmanteau in the lower +shelf. + +A large hole in the top of the tank allows it to be filled at intervals +through a tun-dish, while a long vulcanized tube through the cork to the +bottom has an end hanging over. When I wish to draw water it is done by +applying the mouth for a moment with suction, and the clear stream then +flows by syphon action into a strong tin can of about eight inches cube, +which holds fresh water for one day. By means of this tube, the end of +which hangs within an inch or two of my face when in bed, I can drink a +cool draught at night without trouble or chance of spilling a drop. On +the tank top is soap, and also a clean towel, which to-morrow will be +degraded into a duster, and "relegated," the newspapers would say, to the +kitchen, and from whence it will again be promoted backwards over the +bulkhead to the washing-bag. This, you see, is the red-tape order of +dealing with towels on board the Rob Roy. + + [Picture: Cooking in Rain] + +On the left shelf of the cabin we find two boxes of japanned tin each +about eighteen inches by six inches wide, as shown in the woodcut. Below +the shelf is a portmanteau full of clothes. One of the boxes holds +"Dressing," another "Reading and writing." The aneroid barometer, and my +watch are seen suspended alongside. The boxes on the other side, shown +in section at a future page, are marked "Tools" and "Eating," while the +pantry is beside them, with teapot, cup (saucer discarded), and tumbler, +and a tray holding knife and fork, spoons, salt in a snuff-box (far the +best cellar after trials of many), pepper (coarse, or it is blown away), +mustard, corkscrew, and lever-knife for preserved meat tins, etc., etc. +{42} + +The north coast of France from Boulogne to Havre is well lighted at +night, but the navigation is dangerous on account of the numerous shoals +and the tortuous currents and tides. For about the first half of the +distance the shores are low, and the water, even far out, is shallow. +Afterwards the land rises to huge red cliffs, rugged and steep sometimes +for miles, without any opening. + +The real matter of importance, however, in coasting here is the direction +of the wind. Had it been unfavourable, that is S.W., and with the fogs +and sea which that wind brings, it would have been a serious delay to +me--perhaps, indeed, a stopper on my voyage--seeing that I must sometimes +enter a port at night so as to sleep in peace, for that could scarcely be +pleasantly done if anchored ten miles from land, and with no one awake to +keep a look-out. Fortunately, we had good weather on the worst parts of +the French coast, and my stormy days were yet to come. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Russian lamp--Breakfast--Store rooms--Mast-light--Run down--Rule of the +road--Signal thoughts--Sinking sands--Pilot caution--French coast. + +After a wash and morning prayers the crew are piped to breakfast, so we +must now turn to the kitchen, which after constant use some hundred times +I cannot but feel is the most successful "hit" in the whole equipment. + +Much thought and many experiments were bestowed on this subject, because, +first, it was well known that the hard and uneven strain of bone, muscle, +and energy in a voyage of this sort needs to be maintained by generous +diet, that cold feeding is a delusion after a few days of it, and that +the whole affairs would fail, or at any rate, enjoyment of the trip would +cease, unless the Rob Roy had a caboose, easy to work, speedy in result, +and capable of being used in rain, wind, and rough weather, and by night +as well as by day. + +Of course, all stoves with coal or coke, or similar fuel were out of the +question, being hard to light, dusty when lighted, and dirty to clean. +Various spirit lamps, Etnas, Magic stoves, Soyers, and others, were +examined and tried, and all were defective in grand points. + +The wickless lamp used by the Alpine climber who occupies the responsible +post of "Cook of the Canoe Club," and modified (after consulting +Professor Tyndall), is less than three inches each way, and it acts after +the manner of a blow-pipe. It was also adopted in the Abyssinian +expedition. In two minutes after lighting it pours forth a vehement +flame about a foot in height, which with a warming heat boils two large +cups full in my flat copper kettle in five minutes, or a can of preserved +meat in six minutes. {44} + +While the kettle is boiling we bring forward the box marked "Eating," +take the loaf of bread out of its macintosh swathing, prepare the egg pan +with two eggs, the teapot, and put sugar into the tea-cup, and a spoonful +of preserved milk (Amey's is most convenient, being in powder; but +Borden's, in a kind of paste, is most agreeable); lastly, we overhaul the +butter tin, a pot of marmalade or anchovies. + +The healthful relish with which a plain hot breakfast of this sort is +consumed with the fresh air all round, and the sun athwart the east, and +the waves dancing while the boat sails merrily all the time, is enhanced +by the pleasure of steering and buttering bread, and holding a hot egg +and a tea-cup, all at once. + +Then, again, there is the satisfaction of doing all this without giving +needless trouble in cleaning up, for every whit of that work, too, is to +be yours. A crumb must not fall in the boat, because you will have to +stoop down afterwards and pick it up, seeing that whatever happens, one +thing is insisted on--"the Rob Roy shall be always smart and clean." + +All the breakfast things are cleared away and put by, each into its +proper place, and a general "mop up," has effaced the scene from our +deck, but we can still take a look below and notice what is to be seen. + +Some of the articles chiefly important in the well of our boat have been +already described, but only those on the left of the steersman sitting. +Now, turning to the right we find a water-tight door, like that on the +opposite side, to be opened by folding down, and it reveals to us, first +the "Bread store," a fourpenny loaf wrapped in macintosh, which makes the +best of table cloths, as it may be laid on a wet deck, and can be washed +and dried again speedily; next there is a butter keg (as in the coolest +place), and a box of biscuits, and a flask of rum--the "Storm +supply"--only to be drawn upon when things of air and sea are in such a +state that to open the main hatch would be questionable prudence. + +Here are, also, ropes, blocks, and purchases, as well as a "fender," not +to keep coals on the hearth, but to keep the mahogany sides of the Rob +Roy safe from the rude jostlings of other craft coming alongside. Above +these odds and ends is the "Spirit room," a strong reservoir made of +zinc, with a tap and screw plug and internal division not to be rendered +intelligible by mere description here, but of important use, as from +hence there is served out, two or three times daily, the fuel which is to +cook for the whole crew. One gallon of the methylated spirits, costing +four shillings and sixpence, will suffice for this during six weeks. + +Above the spirit room will be found a blue light to be used in case of +distress, and a box of candles, so that we may be enabled to rig up the +mast-light if darkness comes, when it will not do to open the cabin. +This ship-light is therefore carried here. It is an article of some +importance, having to be strong and substantial, easily suspended and +taken down, and one that can be trusted to show a good steady light for +at least eight hours, however roughly it may be tossed about when you are +fast asleep below, in the full confidence that nobody who sees your +mast-light will run his great iron bows over your little mahogany +bed-room. Yet I fear it does not do to examine into the grounds for any +such confidence. Many vessels sail about in the dark without any lights +whatever to warn one of their approach, and not a few boats, even with +proper lights in them, are "accidentally" run over and sunk in the river +Thames; while out at sea, and in dark drizzly rain or fog, it is more +than can be expected of human nature that a "look-out man" should peer +into the thick blackness for an hour together, with the rain blinding +him, and the spray splash smarting his eyes, and when already he has +looked for fifty-nine minutes without anything whatever to see. It is in +that last minute, perhaps, that the poor little hatch-boat has come near, +with the old man and a boy, its scanty crew, both of them nodding asleep +after long watches, and their boat-light swinging in the swell. There is +a splash, a crash, and a spluttering, and the affair is over, and the +dark is only the dark again. Nobody on the steamer knows that anything +has occurred, and only the fishermen to-morrow on some neighbouring bank +will see a broken hull floating sideways, near some tangled nets. + +I fully believe that more care is taken for the lives of others by +sailors at sea than in most cases on land where equal risks are run; but +there are dangers on the waves, as well as on the hills, the roads, and +even in the streets, which no foresight can anticipate, and no precaution +can avert. + +The principal danger of a coasting voyage, sailing alone, is that of +being run down, especially on the thickly traversed English coast, and at +night. + +As for the important question concerning the "rule of the road" at sea, +which is every now and then raised, discussed and then forgotten again +after some collision on a crowded river in open day has frightened us +into a proper desire to prevent such catastrophes, it appears to me that +no rule whatever could possibly be laid down for even general obedience +under such circumstances, without causing in its very observance more +collisions than it would avert, unless the traffic in the river were to +be virtually arrested. + +On land the "rule of the road" is well enough on a _road_, where vehicles +are moving in one of two directions, but how would it do if it were to be +insisted upon at the place where two streets cross? Now the Thames and +other populous rivers are at times as much blocked and crowded by the +craft that sail and steam on the water as the crossing at Ludgate Hill is +by vehicles at three o'clock, that is, considering fairly the relative +sizes of the objects in motion, and the width of the path they must take, +their means of stopping or steering, and, above all, the great additional +forces on the water which cannot be arrested--_wind_ and +_tide_--moreover, at this London crossing the traffic has to be regulated +by policemen, not by a rule for the drivers, but by an external arbitrary +director. + +The wonderful dexterity of the cabmen, carmen, and coachmen of London is +less wonderful than that of the men who guide the barges, brigs, and +steamers on the Thames, and it is perfectly amazing that huge masses +weighing thousands of tons, and bristling with masts and spars, and +rugged wheels projecting, should be every day led over miles of water in +dense crowds, round crooked points, along narrow guts, and over hidden +shoals while gusts from above, and whirling eddies below are all +conspiring to confuse the clearest head, to baffle the strongest arm and +to huddle up the whole mass into a general wreck. + +Consider what would be the result in the Strand if no pedestrian could +stop his progress within three yards, but by anchoring to a lamp-post, +and even then swinging round with force. Why, there would be scarcely a +coal-heaver who would not be whitened by collision with some baker's boy. +Ladies in full sail would be run down, and dandies would be sunk by the +dozen. + +The fact is, that vessels on the wide sea are like travellers on a broad +plain and not on a road at all, and the two cases do not admit of being +dealt with by the same rule, and it is not wonderful that there should be +many collisions in the open sea while there are so few in the Thames, the +water street of the world. We may learn some lessons from land for safe +traffic on water. The cabman who "pulls up" is sure to signal first with +his whip to the omnibus astern of him, and the coachman who means to +cross to the "wrong side" never does so without a warning to those he is +bearing down upon. What is most wanted, then, on the open water, is some +ready, sure, and costless signal, to say, "I am going _that_ way" (right +or left); for nearly all collisions at sea are caused by one ship not +being able to know what the other is going to do. {50} + +This is my thought on the matter after many thoughts and some experience: +meantime while we have ate, and talked and thought, our yawl has slipped +over six miles of sea, and we must rouse up from a reverie to scan the +changing picture. + +Glance at the barometer--note the time. Trim the sails, and bear away to +that pretty fleet of fishing boats bobbing up and down as they trail +their nets, or the men gather in the glittering fish, and munch their +rude breakfasts, tediously heated by smoky stoves, while they gaze on the +white-sailed stranger, and mumble among themselves as to what in the +world _he_ can be. The sun mounts and the breeze presses till we are at +the bay of the Somme with its shifting sands, its incomprehensible +currents, and its low and treacherous coast, buoyed and beaconed enough +to puzzle you right into the shoals. The yacht, with my friend S--- in +her, bound for Paris, has just been wrecked on that bank near +Cayeux--unpleasant news now--and there is St. Valery, from whence King +William the Conqueror sailed with his fleet for England, as may be seen +on the curious tapestry at Bayeux worked by his Queen's hands, and still +almost as fresh as then. I never saw a place appear so differently from +sea and from land as this strange port, so I ran in just to reconnoitre, +and spent some hours with chart, compass, lead-line, and Pilot-book, +trying my best, to make out the currents, but all to no purpose except to +conclude that a voyage along this coast in bad weather would be madness, +unless with a man to help. + +But nearly all this part of the French coast is awkward ground to be +caught in, especially where there are shifting or sinking sands, for if +the vessel touches these, the tide stream instantly sucks the sand from +under one side, while it piles it up on the other, and thus the hull is +gradually worked in with a ridge on such side, and cannot be slewed off, +but is liable to be wrecked forthwith. It was interesting to read here +the account of this coast given by my Pilot-book, which had at last been +dug out of its hiding-place. The reader need not peruse this official +statement, but to justify my remarks on the dangers it is given below in +a note. {52} + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Thunder--In the squall--The dervish--Sailing consort--Poor little +boy!--Grateful presents--The dingey's mission--Remedy--Rise and work. + +The aneroid barometer in my cabin pointed to "set fair" for many a day, +and just, too, when we required it most to be fine, that is along the +French coast. Had the Rob Roy encountered here the sort of weather she +met with afterwards on the south coast of England, we feel quite assured +she must have been wrecked ashore or driven out to sea for a miserable +time. + +So it was best to keep moving on while fine weather lasted, for there was +no knowing when this might change, even with the wind as now in the good +N.E. The Pilot-book says, upon this (and pray listen to so good an +authority--my only one to consult with), "Gales from N. to N.E. are also +violent, but they usually last only from 24 to 36 hours, and the wind +does not shift as it does with those from the westward. They cause a +heavy sea on the flood stream, and during their continuance the French +coast is covered with a white fog, which has the appearance of smoke. +This is also the case with all easterly winds, which are sometimes of +long duration, and blow with great force." + +In the evening, as a sort of practical comment on the text above, there +was sudden fall of the wind, and then a loud peal of thunder. Alert in a +moment, we noticed, far away in the offing, the fishing boats dip their +sails and reef them, so we knew there would soon be a blow, and we +resolved to reef, too, and just in time. My life-belt, {55} therefore, +was at once strapped on, and two reefs put in the mainsail, and one in +the jib, and the storm mizen was set, all in regular order, when up +sprung a fine west breeze, just as we were opposite Treport, a pretty +little bathing town under some cliffs, where my night-quarters were to +be. + +The book already referred to gave a rather serious account of the +difficulties of entering Treport, its shingle bar, and the high seas on +it, and the cross tide and exceedingly narrow entrance; but in an hour +more the Rob Roy had come close to all these things, and rose and fell on +the rollers chasing each other ashore. + +The points to be kept in line for entering the harbour were all clearly +set forth in the book, and the signals on the pier were all faultlessly +given, while a crowd gradually collected to see the little boat run in, +or be smashed, and it was rather exciting to feel that one bump on the +bar with such a sea, and--in two minutes the yawl would be a helpless +wreck. + + [Picture: Reefed in a squall] + +Among the spectators, the only one who did not hold his hat on against +the wind, was an extraordinary personage who capered about shouting. +Long curly hair waved over his face; his dress was hung round with corks +and tassels; he swung a long life-line round his head, and screamed at me +words which were of course utterly lost in the breeze. This dancing +dervish was the "life saver," marine preserver, and general bore of the +occasion, and he seemed unduly annoyed to see me profoundly deaf to his +noise as I stood on the after-deck to get a wider view, holding on by the +mizen-mast, steeling with my feet, and surveying the entrance with my +glass. All the people ran alongside as the Rob Roy glided past the pier +and smoothly berthed upon a great mud bank exactly as desired, and then I +apologized to the quaint Frenchman, saying that I could not answer him +before, for really I had enough to do to steer my boat, at which all the +rest laughed heartily--but we made it up next day, and the dervish and +Rob Roy were good friends again. + +Here we found the 'Onyx,' an English-built yacht, but owned by M. +Charles, one of the few Frenchmen to be found who really seems to _like_ +yachting; plenty of them _affect_ it. + +He was enthusiastic in his hospitality, and I rested there next day, +meeting also an interesting youth, an eager sailor, but who took sea +trips for his health, and drove from some Royal Chateau to embark and +freshen the colour in his delicate face, so pale with languor. We could +not but feel and express a deep sympathy with one who loved the sea, but +whose pallid looks were in such contrast to the rough brown hue and +redundant health enjoyed so long by myself. + +All was ataunt again, and then the two yachts started in company for a +run to Dieppe, which is only about thirteen miles distant. We came upon +a nest of twelve English yachts, all in the basin of this port, so my +French comrade spent the rest of his time gazing at their beauty, their +strength, their cleanliness, and that unnamed quality which distinguishes +English yachts and English houses, a certain fitness for their special +purpose. These graceful creatures (is it possible that a fine yacht can +be counted as an inanimate thing?) reclined on the muddy bosom of the +basin, but I would not put the Rob Roy there, it seemed so pent up and +torpid a life, and with the curious always gazing down from the lofty +quay right into your cabin, especially as next day I wished to have a +quiet Sunday. + +Instead of a peaceful day of rest the Sunday at Dieppe was unusually +bustling from morning to night, for it was the "Fete Dieu" there. The +streets were dressed in gala, and strewed with green herbs, while along +the shop fronts was a broad festooned stripe of white calico, set off by +roses here and there; the shipping, too, was decked in flag array, and +guns, bells, and trombones ushered a long procession of schools and +soldiers and young people coming from their "first communion," who with +their priests, and banners, and relics, halted round temporary altars in +the open air, to recite and chant, while a vast crowd followed to gaze. + +In a similar procession at St. Cloud, one division of the moving host was +of the tiniest little children, down to the lowest age that could manage +to toddle along with the hand of a mother or sister to help, and the +leader of them all was a chubby little boy, with no head-gear in the hot +sun but his curly hair, and with his arms and body all bare, except where +a lamb-skin hung across. He carried a blue cross, too, and the pretty +child looked bewildered enough. Some thought he was John the Baptist, +many more pronounced it a '_sottise_.' + +In the canoe voyages {60} of the two preceding summers, I had found much +pleasure and interest in carrying a supply of books, pictures, and +periodicals, and illustrated stories in various languages, which were +given as occasion admitted to all sorts of people, and everywhere +accepted with thanks, so that we could only regret the limit imposed on +the number to be carried in a canoe, where every ounce of weight added to +the muscular toil. + +Relieved now from this restriction, the Rob Roy yawl was able to load +several boxes of this literary cargo, most of them kindly granted for the +special purpose of her voyage. + +These presents were given away from day to day, and especially on Sunday +afternoons, among the sailors and water-population wherever the Rob Roy +roved. Thousands of seamen can read, and have time, but no books. +Bargees lolling about, or prone in the sun, eagerly began a 'Pilgrim's +Progress' when thus presented, and sometimes went on reading for hours. +Fishermen came off in boats to ask for them, policemen and soldiers, too, +begged for a book, and then asked for another for 'a child at school.' +Smart yachtsmen were most grateful of all, and some even offered to pay +for them; the navvies, lock-keepers, ferrymen, watermen, porters, +dockmen, and guard-men of lighthouses, piers, and hulks, as well as many +a Royal Navy blue-jacket, gratefully accepted these little souvenirs with +every appearance of gratitude. + +The distribution of these was thus no labour, but a constant pleasure to +me. Permanent and positive good may have been done by the reading of +their contents; at any rate, they opened up conversation, gave scope to +courteous intercourse, often leading to kinder interest. They opened to +me many new scenes of life, and some with darker passages and sorrowful +groups in the evident but untold background. They were, in fact, the +speediest possible introductions by which to meet at once with large +bodies of fellow-men too much unknown to us, therefore forgotten, and +then despised. The strata of society are not to be all crushed into a +pulpy mass, but a wholesome mingling betimes does good, both to the heavy +dregs below and to the 'creme' on the very top. + +Thus encouraged, we launch the little dingey on Sunday for three or four +hours' rowing, and with a large leather bag well filled at starting but +empty on its return; and instead of its contents we bring back in our +memory a whole series of tales, characters, and incidents of water-craft +life, some tragic, others comic, many 'hum-drum' enough, but still +instructive, suggestive, branching out into hidden lives one would like +to draw forth, and telling sorrows that are softened by being told. Of +the French crews I began with here, not one of the first few could even +read, while five or six English steamboats took books for all their men. +On a preceding Sunday (at Erith), I did not meet one man, even a bargee +who could not read, and all up the Seine only one in this predicament. +Truly there is a sea-mission yet to be worked. Good news was told on the +water long ago, and by the Great Preacher from a boat. + +And while thus giving these books and papers to others, it may perhaps be +allowed us also to add a few reflections suggested on returning from the +scenes and people we have sailed amongst abroad. New scenes ought to be +to the mind what fresh air is to the body, reviving it for work as well +as gladdening it with play; and perhaps one can do more for human misery +by withdrawing now and then from its close contact, than by constant +action in its midst. Yet it must be admitted that the first impressions +on one's return from such a long vacation as the Rob Roy had are +painfully acute. To come back and read up in an hour the diary of the +three months' work of our "Boys' Beadle" (the agent employed by the +Reformatory Union to look after and attend to the uncared-for street +children), is to resume one's post of contemplation of the dreadful +picture of woe which crowds an endless canvas with suffering figures, and +each case delineated in such a report means far more behind to the eye +that can realize. Again, to walk past St. George's Hospital next day and +observe the stream of visitors with anxious steps going up the stairs, +and those coming down with kind and thoughtful looks, as they leave their +dearest relatives, and confidingly, in strangers' hands, and to think +what is up there. To find in letters awaiting one's return the gaps made +by death in the circle of acquaintance. These are salutary and sudden +shocks to self-enjoyment of health and whole limbs, and they are loud +calls for more than a gush of sympathy or a song of thankfulness, but for +downright help by practical work. Still greater was the change from +bounding along in florid health on merry waves of the wholesome sea, to a +walk through the east end of London,--that morass of vice, and sighs, and +savagery,--what is forced on the senses in an hour being not a hundredth +of what is sunk below. + +Perhaps it is well we do not always realize the amount of evil around us, +of bad, I mean, that can be made good by efforts, some of which we are +bound to make. If we knew how big the mountain is we might despair of +digging it down by spadefuls, though the faith that digs is the one that +can say with best hopes for obedience, "Be thou removed and cast into the +sea." Few children would have courage to begin the alphabet as a step to +learning if they knew what a long and heavy road is to be trudged beyond. + +And it may be remarked that in returning to one's post of duty after a +time of "leave," there is at first a disposition rather to generalize +about what ought to be done than to set to work and do it. It is +natural, indeed, that before putting on the harness once more we should +take a look at the collar and buckles, and at the load to be drawn, and +it may be allowable to the soldier, while on his way to rejoin the ranks, +to take just a glance at the line of march before he falls in. + +Theorizing is soon cut short, however, by the clamour of work waiting to +be done, and the absorbing interest felt in doing it, and perhaps too +soon we forget all doubts as to whether the direction of our labours is +after all the best, or whether time might not be saved by improving the +instruments of our work, the object of using them being still the same. + +Now there is a reflection suggested each time in frequent foreign travel +which lasts longest on my mind after returning to England--"How is it +that our lowest classes seem to be lower than the lowest abroad?" + +Whether they are so or not is another question; but in all our great +towns there is a mass of human beings whose want, misery, and filth are +more patent to the eye, and blatant to the ear, and pungent to the +nostrils, than in almost any other towns in the world. Their personal +liberty is greater, too, than anywhere else. Are these two facts related +to each other? Is the positive piggery of the lowest stratum of our +fellows part of the price we pay for glorious freedom as guaranteed by +our "British Constitution"? and do we not pay very dearly then? Must the +masses be frowsy to be free? + +The highest class of society can _enjoy_ the benefits of our mode of +government, with their rank and wealth secured, and _prestige_ added. In +return they surrender indeed the pleasure of downright tyranny and a +small quota of their ample gold. + +The middle class also can _enjoy_ their freedom from oppression, and a +nominal share in politics, and they pay by hard work for this. + +But the wretched beings at the bottom of all, muddled, starved, and +squalid, cannot _enjoy_ freedom, and must not have "license." They +seethe by thousands in ignorance and foulness, and, with our "British +Constitution" standing by in all its glory, they rot and perish, a +multitude dark and unclean. + +That all the luxury and congestion of wealth in the head of the body +corporate, while its lowest limbs are in rags and pallid mortification, +should be permitted by the head, blinded by plethora, and peacefully +endured by the limbs, dispirited by inanition, is an astounding marvel. +But there are twinges of pain now and then. The very quiet is only that +of syncope, and any day it may be broken by a wild and furious paroxysm. +Unless the permission of this evil by the head ceases, then the endurance +of it by the limbs will cease. + +If the rich are not mingled with the wretched, they are at least +entangled with them, and by knots that cannot be untied, and will not be +cut. The thief indeed, and the burglar, and more lately the lazy +vagabond, and now the assassin, have _forced_ us to consider them; and we +even attend to the drunkard, provided he pleads for notice by rolling in +our path. + +Perhaps at last the wretched also will arrest us. + +Is not the time come yet to rouse up head, and heart, and hand, to do +more than we have even attempted, and to raise at the least the +appearance of our lowest classes to the respectability now attained in +countries we are apt to despise? + +What is the specific? I have no new one, and no new reason for the old +one, but it is easy enough to find tools to work with in this field, if +only we are persuaded that work has to be done and we are willing to take +our share. Numbers do this, and nobly, but far too few, and much is +done, but not half enough. Thousands are yet idle here, who will not +listen to God or their conscience or even their instinct in the matter, +who live comfortably apart from the evil places, and so hear only now and +then a message from the dying wafted on the sable wings of cholera or +typhus. Is it not shabby this, to shirk their share of the work and the +trouble, and to leave it to be done by softer hearts and a national +purse? + +It is these, who are moved neither by religion, nor humanity, nor +self-respect, that a downright scolding may perhaps stir up; and if we +can show them that the state of our lowest classes is a _national shame_, +that we are beaten as in a battle and distanced in a race, then they will +soon find the means by which national honour is to be retrieved. +Half-a-dozen Englishmen are in danger of death in Africa, and we spend +millions of money because they are Britons, and to sustain the British +name; but thousands of Britons are living in wretchedness or dying in +misery just far enough from our doors not to be seen, and less heard of +than if they were in Zululand--to leave them as they now are is a +scandalous national disgrace which every true Englishman who knows the +facts is ashamed of and which, even if he ignores them at home, he is +forced to feel abroad by the taunts of strangers. + +Already we wonder that we ever kept the Thames as a common sewer; our +sons will wonder, some day, that their fathers had a great human sink in +every great town reeking out crime, disease, and disloyalty on the whole +nation. I have seen the serfs in Russia, the slaves in Africa, the Jews +in Asia, and the negroes in America; but there are crowds of people in +England in a far worse plight than these--their very nearness to light, +and happiness, and comfort, makes their misery more disgraceful. + +National honour may be a lower motive to work with than love to Christ or +love to man; but it moves more minds than either of these, and on a scale +large enough to relieve us from a national disgrace which will cling to +the nation until the nation rises in shamed earnest to shake it off. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Cool--Fishwives--Iron-bound coast--Etretat--Ripples--Pilot-book--Hollow +water--Undecided--Stomach law--Becalmed--Cape la Heve--The breeze--Havre +de Grace--Crazy. + +So much for Sunday thoughts; but after the day had ended, there happened +to me an absurd misery, of the kind considered to be comical, and so +beyond sympathy, but which must be told, and it happened thus:-- + +The little yawl being anchored in the harbour had also a long rope to the +quay, and by this I could draw her near the foot of an upright ladder of +iron bars fixed in the stones of the quay wall, an ordinary plan of +access in such cases. The pier-man promised faithfully to watch my boat +as the tide sunk (it was every moment more and more under his very nose), +and so to haul her about that she should not "ground" before my return; +yet, when I came back at night, her keel had sunk and sunk until it +reached the bottom, so she could not be moved with all our pulling. +Moreover the tide had gone out so far as to prevent any boat at all from +coming to the dock wall round the harbour. I tried to amuse myself for +an hour while the tide might rise; but at length, impatient and sleepy +and ready for bed, to be off to-morrow at break of day, I determined to +get on board at once somehow or other. + + [Picture: Descending to the boat] + +Descending then by the iron bars until I reached the last of them, I +swung myself on the slack of the strong cable hanging from above (and +attached at the other end to my yawl), and which the man received strict +orders to "haul taut" at the critical moment. Alas! in his clumsy hands +the effect intended was exactly reversed; the rope was gently loosened, +and I subsided in the most undignified, inevitable, and provokingly cool +manner quietly into the water at 10.30 P.M. However, there was no use in +grumbling, so I spluttered and laughed, and then went to bed. + +Long before sunrise the Rob Roy was creeping out of the harbour of Dieppe +against the strong wind at that point dead ahead; but I took the tow-line +thrown down from the quay by some sturdy fishwives, who will readily tug +a boat to the pier head for a franc or two, and thus save a good +half-hour of tedious rowing against wind and tide. This rope was of a +deep black colour, very fine, thin, and yet strong. There was no time to +find out what it was made of, but it seemed to be plaited of human hair. +As I was aft in my boat and steering, the line suddenly slipped and +disappeared, and the Rob Roy was in great danger of going adrift on the +other pier head, but the excellent dames speedily regained their long +black tress, and coiled it and threw it to me again with great dexterity; +and soon all was put right, and the sails were up, and the line cast off, +and we plunged along in buoyant spirits. + +It was a fair wind now, and with a long day in front, and the freshness +of Monday after a good rest. Still this was a rather more anxious day +than the others, because in those though we had passed over the dangers +on the coast of the Somme, they were hidden by water; and on a sunny +morning who can realize shoals that are so fatal in bad weather, but are +concealed by the smiling calm of a fine day? Not so with the great +beetling cliffs of sharp red flint now glittering alongside my course for +miles and miles far beyond what the eye could reach. These formed an +impressive object ever in sight, and generally begetting, as it was seen, +an earnest hope that the weather might be good "just to-day." This part +of the coast, too, beside being iron-bound, has no port that is easy to +enter, and the tides moreover are very powerful, so that, with either a +gale or a calm, there would be a danger to meet. + +It is obvious, of course, to the sailor who reads this that the +difficulty of navigation along such a coast was much increased by my +being alone. An ordinary vessel would put well out to sea, and go on +night and day in deep water with a good offing, and its crew would take +watch and watch until they neared the land again close to their +destination. + +But the course of the Rob Roy had to be within seven or eight miles of +the shore, so as to keep within reach of a port at night, or at the worst +near some shallower spot for anchorage; else, in the attempt to sleep, I +might have been drifted twenty miles by the tide, perhaps out to sea, +right away from our course, and perhaps ashore on the rocks. It had not +yet become my plan to pass whole nights at sea as was necessary in the +latter part of this voyage. + +With these little drawbacks now and then, which threw rather a graver +tone into the soliloquy of the lonely traveller, it was still a time of +excessive enjoyment. The noble rocks towered up high on the left, and +the endless water opened out wide on the right with only some dot of a +sail, hull down, far far off on the horizon, a little lonely speck fixed +in hard exile; but very probably the crew in that vessel too were happy +in the breezy morn, and felt themselves and their craft to be the very +"hub of the universe." + +In a nook of the cliffs was Etretat, now the most fashionable +bathing-place of Northern France. Long pointed pillars of rock stood in +the sea along this shore, one especially notable, and called the "Needle +of Etretat." Others were like gates and windows, with the light shining +through. I thought of looking in here to escape the flood-tide which was +against me, but I was deterred by the Pilot-book telling in plain words, +"The Eastern part of the beach at Etretat is bordered by rocks which +uncover at low water." + +The Rob Roy's previous behaviour in a sea made me quite at ease about +waves or deep water, but to strike on a rock would be a miserable delay, +and somehow I became more cautious as to exposing my little craft to +danger the more experience I acquired; certainly also she was valued more +and more each day. This increase together of experience and of +admiration, begetting boldness and caution by turns, went on until it +settled down into a strange compromise,--extreme care in certain +circumstances, and undue boldness at other times. + +All over the British Channel there are patches of sand, shingle, or rock, +which being deep down are not dangerous as regards any risk of striking +upon them, but still even without any wind they cause the tide-stream to +rush over them in great eddies, and confused babbling waves. The water +below is in action, just like a waterfall tumbling over a hill, and the +whirlings and seethings above look threatening enough until you become +thoroughly aware of the exact state of the case, being precisely that +which occurs above Schaffhausen, on the deeps of the Rhine, and which we +have described in the account of a canoe voyage there. + +These places are called by the French "ridens," or in England "ridges," +and in some charts, "ripples" or "overfalls," and while there is sure to +be a short choppy sea upon them, even in calm weather, the effect of a +gale is to make them boil and foam ferociously. + +A somewhat similar feature is the result when a low bank projects under +water from a cape round which the tide is rushing; and as I determined +not to risk going into Etretat, we had to face the tedious tossing about +off one of these banks, described thus in the Pilot-book:-- + +"Abreast Etretat the shoal bottom, with less than eight fathoms on it, +projects a mile to the N.N.W. from the shore, and when the flood-stream +is at its greatest strength it occasions a great eddy, named by the +mariners of the coast the _Hardieres_, which extends to the northward as +far as the Vaudieu Rock, and makes the sea hollow and heavy when the wind +is fresh from the eastward." + +It was just because the wind was fresh from the eastward that I could +hope to stem the tide and get through this place; but once in the middle +of the hubbub, the wind went down almost to nothing, so that for three or +four hours I could only hold my place at most, and the wearisome monotony +here of "up and down" on every wave, with a jerk of all my bones each +time, was one of the few dull and disagreeable things of the whole +voyage. + +A sea that is "hollow" is abominable. However high a wave is, it may +still have a rounded and respectable shape, and it will then tilt you +about smoothly; but a "hollow" sea splashes and smacks and twists and +screws, and the tiring effects on the body, thus hit right and left with +sudden blows, is quite beyond what would be anticipated from so trifling +a cause. + +At length, as the tide yielded, the wind carried me beyond the Hardieres, +on and on to Fecamp, where the Rob Roy meant to stop for the night. But, +willing though I was to rest there, the appearance of Fecamp from the +offing was by no means satisfactory. It did not look easy to get into, +and how was I to get out of it to-morrow? The Pilot-book took a similar +view of this matter. {77} + +Yet we must put in somewhere, and this was the nearest port to the Cape +Antifer, the only remaining point to be anxious about, and which we might +now expect to round next day. On the other hand, there was the argument, +"If the wind chops round to the west, we may be detained in Fecamp for a +week, whereas now it is favourable; and if we can possibly get round +to-day--Well what a load of anxiety would be done with if we could do +that!" The thought, quite new, seemed charming, and, yet undecided, I +thought it best to cook dinner at once and put the question to the vote +at dessert. + +It is very puzzling what name to give to each successive meal in a day +when the first one has been eaten at 2 A.M. If this is to be considered +as _breakfast_, then the next, say at nine o'clock, ought to be luncheon, +which seems absurd, though the Americans call any supplemental feeding a +"lunch," even up to eleven o'clock at night, and you may see in New York +signboards announcing "Lunch at 9 P.M. Clam Chowder." {78} + +Now, as I had often to begin work by first frying at one or two o'clock +in the moonlight, and as it would have a greedy sound if the next attack +on eatables were to be called "second breakfast," the only true way of +settling this point was to consider the first meal to be in fact a late +supper of yesterday, or at any rate to regard it as belonging to the +bygone, and therefore beyond inquiry, and so to ignore this first +breakfast altogether in one's arrangements. The stomach quite approved +of this decision, and was always ready for the usual breakfast at six or +seven o'clock, whatever had been discussed a few hours before. + +The matter as to Etretat was decided then. We two were to go on, and to +hope the wind would do so to. Then away sped we merrily singing, with +the new and unexpected prospect of possibly reaching Havre that very day. +From thence a month was to be passed in going up and down the Seine and +at Paris; and what was to come after that? How come back to England? +Why that problem must now be "blinked," as a future if not an insoluble +question, at any rate just as easy to solve a month hence as it is now. + +For a long time the wind was favourable, and precisely as strong as was +desirable, and the formidable looking Cape Antifer, which at mid-day +seemed only a dark blue stripe on the distant horizon, gradually neared +us till we could see the foam eddying round its weather-wasted base. +Then came the steep high wall of flint cliff with shingle debris at its +foot, but no one approach from top to bottom, if any bad thing +happened,--no, not for miles. + +This was a time of alternate hope and fear, as the wind gradually lulled +away to nothing, and fog arose in the hot sun; the waves were tossing the +Rob Roy up and down, and flapping the sails in an angry petulant way, +very distressing if you are sleepy. For four hours this hapless state of +things continued, yet we were already within five miles of Cape de la +Heve, and, once round that, on the other side was Havre. How tantalizing +to be so near, and yet still out of reach! If this calm ends in a west +wind, we may be driven back anywhere by that and the tide. If it ends in +a thunderstorm we shall have to put off to sea at once. + +See there the lighthouses up aloft on the crag--two of them are lighted. +Soon it will be dark around, and we shall at this rate have to enter +Havre by night. All this time we were close to the cliffs, but the +sounding-lead showed plenty of water, and when the anchor was thrown out +the cable did not pull at all; we were not drifting but only rocked by +the incessant tumble and dash of the sea, which, though of all things +glorious when careering in the breeze, is of all most tiresome when +rolling in a calm. + +At this time I felt lonely, exceedingly lonely and helpless, also sleepy, +feverish, discontented, and miserable. The lonely feeling came only +twice more in the voyage; the other bad feelings never again. + +Now, there are one or two sensations which after experience at sea seldom +deceive you as to what they prognosticate, though it is impossible to +give reasons for their hold upon the mind. One is the feeling, "I am +drifting," another, "The water is shoaling," and the third, "Here comes a +breeze." Each of these may be felt and recognised even with your eyes +shut. It does not come in through one sense or another, but it seems to +grasp the whole system; and it is a very great convenience to have this +faculty alive in these three directions, and to know when to trust it as +a true impression. + +On the unmistakable sensation that a breeze was coming, the rebound from +inaction and grumbling, lying full-length on deck, to alert excitement +was instantaneous and most pleasing. The anchor was rattled up in a +minute, and it was scarcely stowed away before the genial air arrived, +with ripples curling under its soft breath, once more exactly favourable. + +Slowly the two lights above on the cliff seemed to wheel round as we +doubled the Cape. Slowly two little dots in the distance swelled up into +big vessels in full sail, and others rose from the far-off waters, all +converging to the same port with myself; their very presence being +companionship, and their community of purpose begetting a mutual +interest. For these craft deep in the water the navigation here is +rather intricate, though the excellent and uniform system of buoys +employed in France does all that is possible to make the course clear; +but my little boat, drawing less than three feet of water, could run +safely even over the shallows, though, as a rule, I navigated her by the +regular channels, as this gave me much additional interest in the +bearings about every port. + +When the lights at Havre hove in sight the welcome flashing was a happy +reward to a long day's toil, and as the yawl sped forward cheerily +through the intervening gloom, the kettle hummed over the lamp, and a +bumper of hot grog was served out to the crew. Soon we rounded into the +harbour, quiet and calm, with everybody asleep at that late hour; and it +was some time more before the Rob Roy could settle into a comfortable +berth, and her sails were all made up, and bed unrolled, and the weary +sailor was snoring in his blanket. + +Next day the people on the quays were much amused by the curious +manoeuvres of my little dingey; its minute size, its novel form +(generally pronounced to be like a half walnut-shell), its bright colour, +and the extraordinary gyrations and whirlings which it could perform, for +practice taught some new feat in it almost every day. + +At night there was a strange sound, shrill and loud, which lasted for +hours, and marred the calm eve and the quiet twinkling of the stars. +This came from a hundred children collected by a crackbrained stranger +(said to be English). These he gave cakes and toys to by day lavishly, +and assembled them at night on the quay to sing chorus to his incoherent +verses--a proceeding quite wonderful to be permitted by the police so +strict in France. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The Seine--A wetting--Pump--Locks--Long reach--Rouen--Steering--A +mistake--Horny hands--Henpecked--British flag--The captain's wife. + +Havre was a good resting-place to receive and send letters, read up the +newspapers, get a long walk, and a hot bath, and fresh water and +provisions. Bacon I found, after many trials to cook it, was a delusion, +so I gave mine to a steamboat in exchange for bread. Hung beef too was +discovered to be a snare--it took far too long to cook, and was tough +after all; so I presented a magnificent lump to a bargee, whose time was +less precious and his teeth more sharp. Then one mast had to come down +in preparation for the bridges on the Seine; and therefore with these +things to do, and working with tools and pen, all the hours were busily +employed until, at noon on June 26, I hooked on to a steamer, 'Porteur,' +with its stern paddles very common in France, to be towed up the river; a +long and troublesome voyage of about 300 miles, so winding is the course +to Paris by the Seine. + +This mode of progress was then new to me, and I had made but imperfect +preparations, so that when we rounded the pier to the west, and met the +short, snappish sea in the bay, every wave clashed over me, and in ten +minutes I was wet to the skin, while a great deal of water entered the +fore-compartment of the yawl through the hole for the chain-cable at that +time left open. {85} The surprising suddenness of this drenching was so +absurd that one could only laugh at it, nor was there time to don my +waterproof suit--the sou'wester from Norway ten years ago, the oilskin +coat (better than macintosh) from Denmark last year, and the canvas +trowsers. + +A good wetting can be calmly borne if it is dashed in by a heavy sea in +honest sailing, or is poured down upon you from a black cloud above; but +here it was in a mere river-mouth, and on a sunny day, and there was no +opportunity to change for several hours, until we stopped at a village to +discharge cargo. The river at that place was narrow, and all the swell I +thought was past; so, after a complete change of clothes, it was too bad +to find in a mile or two the same story over again, and another wetting +was the result. The evening rest was far from comfortable with my +bedding all moist, and both suits of clothes wet through. One has +therefore to beware of the accompaniments of being towed. The boat has +no time to go over the waves, and, long rope or short, middle or side, +steering ever so well, the water shipped when a heavy boat is swiftly +towed must be as well prepared for as if it were in a regular gale on +open sea. + +The Rob Roy had now in the hold a great deal of water, and for the first +time I had to apply the pump, which, having been carefully fitted, acted +well. An india-rubber tube leading down to the keel was in such a +position that I could immediately screw on a copper barrel and work the +piston with one hand, so as to clear the stern compartment. By turning a +screw valve I could let the water come from the centre compartment, if +any was there, and then I went to the fore-compartment, about seven feet +long, which held the spare stores, and a curiosity in the shape of a +regulation chimney-pot hat to be worn on state occasions, but which was +brought out once a week merely to brush off the green mould. + +At noon the steamer set off again, dragging the yawl astern, and soon +entered the first lock on the Seine, where the buildings around us, the +neat stone barriers, and the dress and the very looks of the men forcibly +recalled to my mind the numerous river locks passed in my canoe trips, +but in so different a manner, by running the boat round every one of them +on the gravel or over the grass. + +The waste of time now in passing through each lock was prodigious. While +nearing it the steamer sounded her shrill whistle to give warning, but +still the lock was sure to be full of barges and boats. Then our +cavalcade had to draw aside until the sluggish barges in front had all +come out, and we went into the great basin with bumps, and knocks, and +jars, and shouting. It required active use of the boathook for me to get +the Rob Roy into the proper place in the lock, and then to keep her +there. The men were not clumsy nor careless, but still the polished +mahogany yawl had no chance with the heavy floats and barges in a +squeezing and scratching match, and it was always sure to go to the wall. + +Time seemed no object to these people, they were no doubt paid by the +day. The sun shone upon them and it was pleasant simply to exist and to +loiter in life, so why make haste? Finally we ascended as the lock +filled, and then a second and a third joint cut off from our too long +tail of barges had to be passed in also. After all, the captain and +sometimes the whole crew deliberately adjourned to the lock-keeper's +house for a "glass" and a chat; and when that was entirely done, and +every topic of the day discussed, they all came back and had another +supplemental parliament on the steamer's deck, like ladies saying "good +bye" at a morning visit; so that, perhaps, in an hour from beginning it, +the work of ten minutes was accomplished, and the engine turned again +once more--a tedious progress. Thus it was that four nights and part of +five days were passed in mounting the Seine. + +The scenery on the banks is in many places interesting, in a few it is +pretty, and it is never positively dull. The traffic on the river is +considerable above Rouen; but as there are two railways besides, few +passengers go by water. The architecture and engineering on this fine +river are indeed splendid. The noble bridges, the vast locks, barrages, +quays, barriers, and embankments are far superior to ours on the Thames, +though that river floats more wealth in a day than the Seine does in a +month. + +The sailors and dockmen were eager for my cargo of books; and among the +various odd ways by which these had to be given to men on large vessels, +there is one shown in the sketch alongside, where the cabin-boy of a +steamer looking through the round deadlight with an imploring request in +his face, stretched out an eager hand to catch the book lifted up on the +end of one of my sculls. + + [Picture: Cabin-boy reaching for book] + +Then the neatness and apparent cleanliness of the villages, and the +well-clothed, well-mannered people--all so "respectable." France is +progressing by great leaps and bounds, at least in what arrests the eye. +Its progress in government, liberty, and politics, is perhaps rather like +that in a waltz. + +Life in a towed yacht, alone on the Seine, is a somewhat hard life. You +have to be alert, and to steer for sometimes twenty hours a day, and to +cook and eat while steering. At about three o'clock in the morning the +steamer's crew seemed suddenly to rise from the deck by magic, and +stumble over coal-sacks, and thus abruptly to begin the day. We stopped +about nine o'clock at night, and the crew flopped down on deck again, +asleep in a moment, but not I for an hour or two. + +As the grey dawn uncovered a new and cloudless sky, the fierce bubblings +in the boiler became strong enough to turn the engine, and our rope was +slipped from the bank. Savoury odours from the steamer soon after +announced to me their breakfast cooking, and the Rob Roy's lamp too was +speedily in full blast. Eggs or butter or milk were instantly purveyed, +if within reach at a lock; sometimes delicious strawberries and other +fruits or dainties, the only difficulty was to cook at all properly while +steering and being towed. + +It is easy to cook and to steer at sea without looking up for many +minutes. The compass tells you by a glance, and if not, the tiller has a +nudge which speaks to the man who knows the meaning of its various +pressures, through any part of his body it may happen to touch. But if +you forget to steer constantly and minutely in a heavy boat towed on a +river, she swerves in an instant, and shoots out right and left, and +dives into banks or trees, or into the steamer's side-swell, and the man +at the wheel turns round with a courteous French scowl, for he feels by +_his_ tiller in a moment, and you cannot escape his rebuke. + +There was no romance in this manner of progress up the river. The poetry +of wandering where you will, and all alone, cannot be thrown around a +boat pulled by the nose while you are sitting in her all day. The Rob +Roy, with mast down, and tied by a tow-rope, was like an eagle limping +with clipped pinion and a chained foot. Still, for the man not churlish, +there is scarcely any time or place or person wholly devoid of interest, +if he is determined to find it there. + +The steamboat captain and crew were chatty enough; and when we towed a +string of barges, the yawl was lashed alongside of one of these (and not +at the end of the line), so that I visited my fellow-travellers, and soon +became friends, and then interchanged presents. All this "Social +Science" of the sailor was far better done by the French bargee than in +England. + +In both countries they frequently mistook me at first for a common sailor +in charge of a yacht, for my dress told no more. As intercourse +proceeded it was curious to watch the gradual recognition of the fact +that this "sailor" talked and thought not just the same as others. Then +they regarded me as an agent come to sell the pretty boat; but it was in +England only that any of them could be made to believe that the owner of +the Rob Roy "would not part with his boat, did not want a cook or +cabin-boy, and was not at all anxious to see the end of his voyage." +Sometimes the conversation, begun as between equals, would gradually get +the word "Sir" sprinkled over it; and once or twice--and this not in +France--it came down at last to that "glass of beer," sheepishly enough +asked for, which of course instantly drowns the converse that has been +free on one side and independent on the other. + +"Workmen," "working men," "artizans," or whatever they are, or whatever +you may call them--I mean the class now being spoiled by petting in +England--let them be told (perhaps it may be said plainest by their best +friends) that there are just as many proud exclusives among them as in +any other stratum of society, and that they have at least a full share +too of conceit, foppery, and affectation. + +It may be heresy to say so, but the "horny hand" has no necessary +connection whatever with the "honest heart," as is the fashion to assert +on one side, and almost to believe on the other; and the friend who +really does shake that hand with a brotherly feeling is the most likely +and the best entitled to refuse to talk popular nonsense of this sort +about the "people." + +For the night we stopped usually in towns, but once or twice we rested in +a great bend of the river where the steamer was run straight into the +trees and made fast ashore exactly as if it were on the Mississippi and +not on the Seine. + +That thousands of solitary fishermen should sit lonesome on the river was +the same puzzle to me as it had been before in canoeing on other French +streams. Their silence and patience, during hours of this self-inflicted +isolation, were incredible for Frenchmen, fond as we at first think all +of them to be of "billard," cafe, or dancing puppies, of anything, in +fact, provided it assumes to be lively. + +One thing I am at last decided about, that it is not to catch fish these +men sit there; and the only reasonable explanation I can find of the +phenomenon is that all these meek and lone fishermen are husbands unhappy +at home! + +There are numerous sailing-boats and rowing-boats on the Seine; but I did +not see one that there was any difficulty in not coveting--their standard +of marine beauty is not ours. All rigs and all sizes were there, even to +a great centre board cutter, twenty-five feet broad, and any number of +yards long, in which the happy yachtsman could sail up and down between +two bridges which bounded him on either side to a two miles' reach! + +The French national flag is perhaps the prettiest on the world's waters; +but as it is repeated to the eye by every boat and building, the sight of +it becomes tiresome, and suggests that absence of private influence and +enterprise so striking to an Englishman in every French work. Then again +their sailors (not to say their landsmen) in very many instances do not +even know our English flag when they see it, our union-jack or ensign +flying free on every shore. + +At first I used to carry the French flag as well as our British jack out +of compliment to their country, but as I found out that even in some of +their newspapers the Rob Roy was mentioned as a "beautiful little French +yacht," I determined that _that_ mistake at any rate should not be +fostered by me, so down came the tricolour, and my Cambridge Boat-club +flag took its place. + +In one reach of the river we came upon a very unusual sight for a week +day, a French yacht sailing. Her flag was half-mast high, and she was +drifting down the stream, a helpless wreck. A distracted sort of man was +on board, and a lady, or womankind at least, with dishevelled locks +(carefully disordered though), the picture of wan weary wretchedness, and +both of these hapless ones entreated our captain to tow their little +yacht home. But, after a knowing glance, he quickly passed them in +silence, and another steamer behind us also rounded off so as to give the +unhappy pair the widest possible berth. Perhaps both captains preferred +English sovereigns to French francs. + +I was charged about 3_l_. for being towed to Paris; but the various +steamers (six in all) I employed on the river were every one well +managed, and with civil people on board. Indeed, I became a favourite +with one captain's wife, a sturdy-looking body, always cutting up leaves +of lettuce. She gave me a basin of warm soup, and I presented her with +some good Yorkshire bacon. Next day she cooked some of this for me with +beans, and I returned the present by a packet of London tea, a book, a +picture of Napoleon, and another of "the Rob Roy on the Seine," in the +highest style of art attainable by a man steering all the time he is at +the easel. + +From all this it will be readily understood by any one who has travelled +much in various ways that to be towed up the Seine is quite different +from all other modes of progress, and that it brings you among a large, +new, and sharply-defined class of people, who could scarcely be known, +and certainly could not be studied so well in any other way. + +Nor is the traveller less interesting to these people than they are to +him. Often it was necessary to restrain the inquisitive French _gamins_, +who would teaze a boat to pieces if not looked after; but it is always +against the grain with me to be strict with boys, especially about boats, +for I hold that it is a good sign of them when they relish nautical +curiosities. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Dull reading--Chain boat--Kedging--St. Cloud--Training-Dogs--Wrong +colours--My policeman--Yankee notion.--Red, White, and Blue. + +The effect of living on board a little boat for a month at a time without +more than three or four nights of usual repose, was to bring the mind and +body into a curious condition of subdued life, a sort of contemplative +oriental placid state in which both cares and pleasures ceased to be +acute, and the flight of time seemed gliding and even, and not marked by +the distinct epochs which define our civilised life. Although this +passive enjoyment was really agreeable--and, in fine weather and good +health, perhaps a mollusc could affirm as much of its +existence,--certainly an experience of the condition I have described +enables one to understand what is evidently the normal state of many +thousands of hard-worked, ill-fed, and irregularly-sleeped labourers; the +men who, sitting down thus weary at night, we expect to read some prosy +book full of desperately good advice, of which one half the words are not +needed for the sense and the other half are not understood by the reader. +{98} + +The last tug-boat we had to use was of a peculiar kind, and I am not +aware that it is employed upon any of our rivers in Britain. A chain is +laid along the bottom of the Seine for (I think) two hundred miles. At +certain hours of the day a long solidly-built vessel with a powerful +engine on board comes over this, and the chain is seized and put round a +wheel on board. By turning this wheel one way or the other it is evident +that the chain will be wound up and let down behind, while it cannot slip +along the river's bottom--the enormous friction is enough to prevent +that, and therefore the boat is wound up and goes through the water. The +power of this chain-boat is so great that it will pull along, and that +too against the rapid stream, a whole string of barges, several of them +of 300 tons' burthen. The long fleet advances steadily though slowly, +and the irresistible engine works with smokeless funnels, but there are +groanings within, telling of tight-strained iron, and earnest undertoned +breathings of confined steam. + +Although the chain-boat is not often steered for the purpose of avoiding +other vessels (these must take care of their own safety), yet it has to +be carefully managed by the rudders (one at each end), so that it may +drop the chain in a proper part of the river for the next steamer of the +Company which is to use it. When two such boats meet from opposite +directions, and both are pulling at the same chain, there is much time +lost in effecting a passage, and again when the chain-boat and all its +string of heavy craft arrives at a lock, you may make up your mind for a +long delay. It is evident that we do not require this particular sort of +tug-boat on the Thames below Teddington, for the strong tide up and down +twice every day carries along thousands of tons of merchandize at a rapid +pace, and one or two men will be enough to attend upon each barge. In +fact we have the sun and moon for our tugs. These draw the water up, and +the tide is the rope which hauls our ships along. + +To manoeuvre properly with the Rob Roy in such a case as this with the +chain-boat required every vigilance, and strong exercise of muscular +force, as well as caution and prompt decision, for I had sometimes to +cling to the middle barge, then to drop back to the last, and always to +keep off from the river-banks, the shoals, and the trees. On one +occasion we had to shift her position by "kedging" for nearly half a +mile, and this in a crowded part of the Seine too, where the current also +was swift. On another occasion the sharp iron of a screw steamer's frame +ran right against my bow, and at once cut a clean hole quite through the +mahogany. Instantly I seized a lump of soft putty, and leaning over the +side I squeezed it into the hole, and then "clinched" it (so to speak) on +the inside; and this stop-gap actually served for three weeks, until a +proper repair could be made. + +The lovely precincts of St. Cloud came in sight at dawn on the last day +of June, prettier than Richmond, I must confess, or almost any river-town +we can boast of in England; and here I was to rest while my little yawl +was thoroughly cleaned, brightly varnished, and its inside gaily painted +with Cambridge blue, so as to appear at the French Exhibition in its very +best suit, and then at the British Regatta on the Seine. + +Some days were occupied in this general overhaul, during which the +excellent landlady of the hotel where I slept must have been more amazed +even than she declared, to see her guest return each day clad in blue +flannel, and spattered all over with varnish and paint, for the captain +was painter as well as cook. Of course all this was exchanged for proper +attire after working hours. + +In the cool of the morning, three fine young fellows are running towards +us over the bridge; with lithe and easy step, speed but not haste, and in +white flannel and white shoes. They have come to contend at the regatta +here, the first of an invasion of British oarsmen, who soon fill the +lodgings, cover the river, and waken up the footpath early with their +rattling run. Some of these are brown-faced watermen from Thames and +Humber and Tyne, others are ruddy-cheeked Etonians or University men, or +hard-trained Londoners, and others have come over the Atlantic; John +Bull's younger brothers from New Brunswick, not his cousins from New +York. You might pick out among these the finest specimens of our +species, so far as pluck and muscle make the man. + +Few of the French oarsmen could be classed with any of the divisions +given above. Rowing has not attained the position in France which it +holds in England. For much of our excellence in athletics and field +sports we have to thank our well-abused English climate, which always +encourages and generally necessitates some sort of exercise when we are +out of doors. + +But it is a new and healthy sight on the Seine, these fine fellows +running in the mornings, and it gives zest to our walk by the beautiful +river. + +Here also as we stroll about, two dogs gave us much amusement: one was a +Newfoundland, who dashed into the water grandly to fetch the stick thrown +in by his master. The other was a bulldog, who went in about a yard or +so at the same time, and then as the swimmer brought the stick to shore +the intruder fastened on it, and always managed somehow to wrest the +prize from the real winner, and then carried it to his master with the +cool impudence which may be seen not seldom when the honour and reward +gained by one person are claimed and even secured by another. {102} + +From the truck to the keel the Rob Roy had been thoroughly refreshed and +beautified. The perfection of a yacht's beauty is that nothing should be +there for only beauty's sake. In the strict observance of this rule the +English certainly do excel every other nation; and whether you take a +huge steam-engine, a yacht, or a four-in-hand drag, it is certainly +acknowledged by the best connoisseurs of each, that ornament will not +make a bad article good, while it is likely to make a good one look bad. + +Even the flags of a yacht have each a meaning, and are not mere patches +of pretty colours. Therefore they ought to be made, at all events, +perfectly correct first, and then as pretty and neat as you please. I +examined the flags of all the boats and yachts and steamers at the +Exhibition; and there was wonderfully little taste in their display; +nearly every one--English and foreign--was cut wrong, or coloured wrong, +or too large for the boat that carried them. Even our Admiralty Barge, +where specimens of boats from England were exhibited, had a flag flying, +with the stripes in the 'jack' quite wrong. She was the only craft on +that side of the Pont de Jena; but as it was the English side I anchored +there, right opposite the sloping sward of the Exhibition, and I did this +without asking any questions, for it is best now and then to do right +things at once, and not to delay until time is wasted in proving them to +be right. + +Here I slept on board my little craft in perfect comfort, and could spend +all the rest of the day on shore. Each morning about 7 o'clock you might +notice a smart-looking French policeman standing on the grass bank of the +Exhibition, and staring hard at the Rob Roy. He had come to see her +captain at his somewhat airy toilette, and he was particularly +interested, and even amazed, to witness the evolutions of a toothbrush, +which were not only interesting but instructive as involving an idea +perfectly new--hard also to comprehend from so distant an inspection. +Surely he thought this strange implement must be a novelty imported from +England for exhibition here. + +As he gazed in wonder at the rapid exercise, I sometimes gave the curious +instrument an extra flourish above or below, and the intelligent and +courteous gendarme never rightly decided whether or not the toothbrush +was an essential though inscrutable part of the yacht's sailing gear. +Our acquaintance, however, improved, and he kindly took charge of the +boat in my absence; not without a mysterious air as he recounted its +travels (and a good deal more), to the numerous visitors,--many of whom, +after his explanations, left the Rob Roy quite delighted that they had +seen "the little ship which had sailed from America!" + +The boat "Red, White, and Blue" he thus confounded with mine--was at that +time not far off, in a house by itself, amid the other wonders which +crowded the gardens of the Exhibition. + + [Picture: The French policeman] + +The two venturesome Americans who came to Europe in this ship had but +scant pleasure either in their voyage itself or in their visit to France +and England. Storm, wet, and hunger on the wide Atlantic were patiently +borne in hopes of meeting a warm welcome in Old England; but, instead, +they had the cold chill of doubt. Many of their sufferings in both these +ways were directly due to their own and their friends' mismanagement, the +stupid construction of their cabin, the foolish three-masted rig of their +boat, the boastful wager of the boat's builder, and their imprudence in +painting up the boat on her arrival, and tarring the ropes; and, lastly, +in allowing a mutilated paper to be issued as their "original log." + +Disappointed here, they turned to Paris, expecting better days. Fair +promises were made. Steamers were to tow the boat up the Seine in +triumph; but it was towed against a bridge and smashed its masts. Agents +were to secure goodly numbers to visit her; but for three months scarcely +any one paid for a ticket, until at length the vessel was admitted into +the grounds of the Exhibition. Finally, the ruined Captain ran away to +England, but cleverly contrived to carry his ship with him. Whatever may +be thought as to the wisdom or advantage of making such a voyage and in +such a boat, it is a very great pity that when it has been effected there +should be a failure in appreciating its marvellous accomplishment. + +The possibility of taking a boat across the Atlantic, with west wind +prevailing and with no rocks or shoals to fear, is altogether beyond +doubt. The ill-fate of two other boats that have tried the feat shews +how dangerous it is to try. The success of another more recent trip of +'man and wife' in one boat is reassuring. But after examining, probably +more than any body else, the evidence in their case--the men, the log, +the documents, and affidavits, and the boat, and its contents, also the +numerous doubts and criticisms from all quarters, both in London and +Paris, and in Dover and Margate, I have good reason to believe that the +"Red, White, and Blue" had no extraneous help in her voyage across that +wide ocean. The unexplained wonder is that men able and willing to +perform such a deed as this should be incapable of building and rigging +their boat so as to do it comfortably. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Presents--The Emperor--Anecdote--The Abbe in London--A vert--Singing +girl--English bird--Model--Old friend--The Turks--Guzzling--The friture. + +As they walked past the building where this travelled ship was shewn, +many of the visitors seemed each to be reading a paper in his hands, +while some have a gilt-edged book, and others a broadsheet with a large +woodcut on it. + +These people have come past that other building, which seems to be all +windows; and let us stop there a few minutes to see why the groups crowd +round, and reach out their hands, and go away reading. + +If you heard that it is "only some tracts" being given away, and then +turned away yourself, you have lost a wonderful sight: one that, well +pondered upon, has wide suggestions to the mind that thinks; and a sight +that, of its kind, was quite unexampled at any time and anywhere. Inside +this building, and another near it, were hundreds of thousands of Bibles, +Testaments, periodicals, papers, picture books and tracts, beautifully +printed in the languages of visitors from distant lands, and mostly given +free to those who will receive them. + +Even in England, at none of our Exhibitions or any other place, had such +a proceeding been permitted, doubtless from prudential reasons,--the fear +of "giving offence" or exciting disturbance; so that it had been left to +France, at a time when pleasure seemed the chief and only object of all, +to brave these supposed dangers, and, despite all scruples, to give +utmost freedom to the distribution of God's Word and of man's comments +upon it. The example was not without fruit; at each subsequent Grand +Exhibition, and even under the Republic in 1878, the Book of Law and +Gospel has been freely given in the frivolous capital of France. + +The fact is, if you mean to get at all the people, you cannot find them +in the same place or reach them by the same road, or treat them in the +same way; and all the people must be got at somehow. + +As fast as they could give these books and papers out of the windows, +several persons were delivering them into the open hands of the people, +and when a window became vacant, and there was need of some one to help, +the post was filled by the crew of the yawl. + +We intended to stay only a short time, but six hours often passed before +the interesting work could be left; I can never forget those hours, and +the subsequent occasions of the same sort. + +Every variety of person came quickly before us, of nationality, of +manner, of dress, of language, and of bearing, as each drew near, took a +paper, read a few lines, thanked the donor, and then went off reading as +they walked, or with reflecting gaze, or simply astonished. + +Hundreds of soldiers came to the window, sometimes a dozen of them at +once, and these all asked for their 'Empereur.' This meant the special +copy of the well-known periodical 'British Workman,' which was translated +into French, and had a very large and well-done woodcut of Napoleon III. +on its broad first page. The generosity of some good men supplied funds +to give one of these Emperor papers to every soldier, policeman, and +public employe; and much additional interest was attached to the paper +because it was actually printed before their eyes at a press in the +centre of the building, and because the press itself had borne off a gold +medal for excellence of workmanship. {110} + +Priests came often, and even returned to get tracts for their villages in +distant parts of France. Germans asked for papers in "Allemand," and +numerous Italians and Spaniards asked for them in their languages. Two +Russians came, but we had then no books in Russ; and at length four grave +Mussulmen stood before me in turbans and flowing robes, with a suppliant +but dignified air, while their interpreter said they wanted to buy a +"dictionary to learn English from." Now they will easily get these +dictionaries in the "Beaconsfield Library" of Cyprus. + +Although in frequent tours in foreign lands we had been accustomed to see +minglings of the people from many nations, the sight at this window was +more varied in the components of the constant flowing stream of human +beings for hours and hours than we ever saw before. + +Some years ago, travelling in Algeria with an Arab guide, I put up for +the night at an old semaphore station, where was a French soldier in +charge. It was far from any houses, and on a high hill, and he had a +visit only every fortnight from his friends, who brought him provisions +on mules' backs. He willingly let me in, and spread a mattress for me on +the floor alongside his own. The Arab he kept outside, and the poor +fellow had to sleep coiled up on the doorstep. + +The Frenchman was courteous and intelligent; but he had only one thing to +read for many weeks, a vapid French novel. He said he would willingly +read something better if he had it. At the next French town I searched +for some better book, and this caused me to find the agent of the Bible +Society, and so a parcel of books, religious and secular, were sent off +to the telegraph station; but my attention once drawn to the French +soldiers and their reading, it was impossible not to follow a subject so +interesting and important. The regiment quartered in the town had but a +few Testaments. {112} By a little exertion about a hundred copies were +obtained and distributed. I saw the men reading these in the streets for +hours under the trees, and I sailed in a man-of-war carrying the regiment +to Mexico. Not one in five of these men survived that fearful campaign. + +Priestly opposition to this giving of Testaments resulted in an appeal to +the General in command. He asked the priests if the book was a "bad +one," and when it was not possible to say "yes," he gave the book free +course. Inquiry was excited by this opposition, and 1500 Testaments were +received. + +There was a remarkable contrast between the absence of public efforts by +French Romanists to disseminate their opinions at the Exhibition and the +unusual freedom for others, sanctioned by the late Archbishop of Paris. +Various causes were at work to produce this very unexpected state of +things, and they will not be alluded to here. But the points thus +noticed remind one forcibly of what actually occurred in 1851, when the +then Archbishop of Paris specially appointed the Abbe Miel, a learned and +able man, to go to London and to do his best to further Romanism here +during the Exhibition. + +One of his first acts was to issue two small tracts on the supremacy of +the Pope and of St. Peter; and some hundred thousand of these, +beautifully printed, were distributed in London. A copy came to the +hands of a clever layman, well skilled in the Romish controversy; and he +saw immediately that this little tract, if not well answered, might do +much harm. + +After careful study of the subject, he wrote to the Abbe, calling +attention to several important misquotations in the tract, which were +evident when it was compared with original documents in the British +Museum. The Abbe replied, that he was not responsible for the accuracy +of the extracts, but that they had been given to him by the late Cardinal +Wiseman. + +The Protestant layman then wrote a series of letters in a well-known +English newspaper, _Bell's Weekly Messenger_, upon the subject treated in +the tract, and for the time the matter dropped. Years afterwards he +received a letter from the Abbe, stating that these newspaper articles +had convinced him of the need of inquiry into the subject, and he went to +Rome to consult his former instructors. Finally, this Abbe, selected as +the champion of Rome by the Archbishop of Paris, and convinced by the +arguments adduced by a layman in London, renounced the Romish church, and +though offered promotion for his past services, he came to London and +went straight to the house of the layman, whom he had not yet seen. + +Often have I walked with that clever Abbe, riveted by his deeply +interesting conversation, his new and fresh views of English life, his +forcible exposures of those false estimates of Protestant truth which had +for so many years blinded him, and his explanations of the machinery then +in action at the Oratory, near the Strand. + +But his former allies could not brook the desertion of so formidable a +champion, and he was driven by their continual annoyance to seek another +home. So he went to Ireland, and soon became the best teacher of the +French language in Dublin, from whence he removed to America. Let us +hope that there, at least, he is free to profess the truth he had found, +and to be one of the instances--very rare indeed they are--of a +consistent and steady Protestant, who had for years before been +thoroughly imbued with those doctrines which gnaw at the very vitals of +mental perception, and obliterate the sense of fairness, and which very +seldom leave enough alive in the mind to hold even real truth firmly. + +It will not be breaking the promise that our visit to the exhibition is +not to involve us in a description of all its wonders, if we walk +up-stairs and look into the Tunisian Cafe, attracted by the well-known +drumming and the moaning dirge which Easterns call music. Tunis is best +seen out of Tunis, for the broidered gold and bright-coloured slippers +can then be enjoyed without those horrible scenes of filth--dead camels, +open sewers, and maimed beggars which encase the shabby mud walls I have +seen so near the marble ruins of old Carthage. + +The cafe was full of visitors. English and Americans were admiring a +pretty singing girl about fifteen years of age, who was beautifully +dressed, and sitting with four very demure and ugly Orientals in the +little orchestra. + +Soon she rose and sang a song. Black eyes, blackest of hair, pale +cheeks, languid grace. She is a fair daughter from the rising sun. +"Yes, there is certainly something in their Eastern beauty which is quite +beyond what Britons or Yankees see at home!" + +But the words and music of the song seemed known to me. Surely she is +now singing English while she shakes the golden sequins in her long jet +hair and rattles her tambourine? We asked a waiter, and he said she +could sing Turkish, Spanish, French, and English. At last being +persuaded that her pronunciation of English was too distinct for a +foreigner, we took the very bold measure of going up to the orchestra, +and saying to the young lady, "You are English, are you not?" She +stared, and held down her face, which still was pale, even if she blushed +and answered "Yes, sir." "Are you here alone?--no relation, no woman +friend with you?" "Yes." "And do they treat you well?" "Yes." "From +what part of England?" "From ---shire." + +I said she seemed to mean the words of the song she had sung, + + 'I wish I were a bird, and I would flee away.' + +and I asked if she could read, and would like a nice book. "Oh yes, I +should, and very much." Now there was a stall set up in the Exhibition +by "The Pure Literature Society," from 11, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, +London, which selects about three thousand books from various publishers, +but publishes none itself; gets no profits on its sales except thanks and +satisfaction; so that its catalogue is likely to contain what it may wish +should be read. {117} Here we selected a very interesting volume with +many illustrations, suitable for the girl's reading; and soon at the cafe +again, I bowed to the senior fiddler, who nodded assent, and then the +poor pale lonely girl had the pleasant book as a remembrance of home +placed in her hands, and a promise given her that a good Christian lady +would call that evening. + +So perhaps our catalogue of nationalities at the Exhibition ought to be +somewhat abridged, and not wholly founded upon the variety it presents to +the eye; especially as in London, too, we may remember Punch's +crossing-sweeper, who, being dressed in Hindoo garb, begged from a +passer-by with, "Take pity on the poor Irishman--Injun, I mane." + +On the Sunday the little dingey had its usual cargo, and the bargemen on +the Seine, in the heart of Paris, were just as glad as others elsewhere +to get something to read. + +Among the curiosities exhibited in the English Naval Architecture +building here was a very beautiful model of the Rob Roy canoe, presented +to its owner by the builders, Messrs. Searle, who have already built some +hundreds of such canoes on the principles first applied in that above +mentioned; and to me it was even more gratifying to find in the Admiralty +Barge, the Rob Roy canoe itself, with sails set and the flag of the Royal +Canoe Club flying, and with maps of the paddling voyages through Europe. + +Very speedily I launched my old travelling companion, and had a paddle up +the river by moonlight, and it was surprising to find that scarcely any +water leaked in, though the other boats which were hung up in the barge +were found to be a good deal injured by the strong draught of wind +rushing through the arch of the bridge, and then under the open sides of +the shed, covered only by a roof. But then those other boats were new, +and perhaps some were not built of such well-seasoned wood {119} as +Messrs. Searle employ beyond all other boat-builders I know; whereas the +weatherbeaten Rob Roy had been too long inured to wet and dry, sun and +wind, heat and cold, to be affected with the rheumatism and ague which +shook even the man-of-war's boats on the barge. + +The sketch (see next page), represents a man watering a horse, and who +swum it out to my boat to get a paper, and then carefully placed the gift +in a dry place ashore until he should be able to use it when he was +dressed again. + +My life at the Exhibition soon settled into a somewhat regular one. +Seeing, seeing, seeing all day, and then returning to my quiet bed on the +river at night, with a 'Times' newspaper to study, and books and letters. +It was a variety to launch the dingey, and scull along the quays and +visit the other yachts, all of them most hospitable to the Rob Roy. I +ventured even to go alongside the Turkish vessel, the _Dahabeeh_, from +the Nile, full of specimen "fellahs," all hidden by a curtain of grey +calico, except to those who had paid their franc for general entrance. +We never observed any visitor actually on board this vessel; indeed, it +required a bold inquirer to face those solemn Africans' gaze, as they sat +cross-legged on deck, and ate their soup from a universal bowl, or calmly +inspired from their chibouques, and blew out a formal and composed puff +of the bluest tobacco-smoke. It did, indeed, soon forcibly recall the +feelings of Egyptian travel to see these men;--the red fiery sunsets, the +palm-trees, and crocodiles, and obelisks, and Indian corn, and, over all, +the thrumming, not unmusical sound of the _tarabookrah_--earthen +drum--with the wailing melodies in a minor key of the "Chaldaeans whose +cry is in the ships." {121} + + [Picture: Sunday ride] + +So I ventured near in my dingey, and the imperturbable Egyptians were +fairly taken by surprise. They soon rallied to a word or two in their +language and an Englishman's smile, and rapidly we became friends, and +talked of Damascus and Constantinople, and finally decided that +"Englishman bono!" The shape and minute dimensions of my dingey much +astonished them; but they probably believed, that in that very craft I +had come all the way from London. + +The luxury of Paris must have at least some effect in making _gourmands_ +of the young generation, even if their fathers did not set the example. +The operation, or rather the solemn function, of breakfast or dinner, is +with many Frenchmen the only serious act in life. When people can afford +to order a dinner in exact accordance with the lofty standard of +excellence meant by its being "good," the diner approaches the great +proceeding with a staid and watchful air, and we may well leave him now +he is involved in such important service. But with the _octroi_ duty for +even a single pheasant at two shillings and sixpence, there are many good +feeders who cannot afford to "dine well," and the fuss they make about +their eatables is something preposterous. It is a vice--this systematic +gluttony--that seems to be steadily increasing in France for the last +twenty years, at least in its public manifestation, and moreover it is an +evil somewhat contagious. + +One evening, while some of us had dinner at the Terrasse in St. Cloud, a +family entered the room, and were partly disrobing themselves of bonnets +and hats for a regular downright dinner, when the waiter came, and in +reply to the order of a "_friture_" he calmly said they had none. + +At this awful news the whole party were struck dumb and pale, and they +leant back on their chairs as if in a swoon. The poor waiter prudently +retreated for reinforcements, and the landlady herself came in to face +the infuriate guests. + +"No friture!" said the father. "No friture, and we come to St. Cloud?" +he muttered deeply in rage. His wife proceeded to make horribly wry +faces, whereat Rob Roy irreverently laughed, but he was not observed, for +they noticed nothing of the external trifling world. The daughters +heaved deep sighs, and then burst into voluble and loud denunciations. +Then the son (who wanted dinner at any rate, and the objurgations might +do afterwards) proposed at once to leave the desolate, famine-stricken +spot. + +But though this was debated warmly, it was not carried. They had already +anchored, as it were, and they resolved to dine "starving," and to +grumble all the time of dinner when no one subject was talked about +except the _friture_. It was a miserable spectacle to witness, but +confirming the proposition, not at all new, that the French care more +about eating than even John Bull. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Paris Regatta--Absentees--Novelties--New Brunswickers--Steam +yachts--Canoe race--Canoe chase--Entangled--M. Forcat--Challenge. + +While the voyage in the Rob Roy's dingey on Sunday was such as we have +described, it was a busy time a little further down the river at St. +Cloud, being the first day of the Paris Regatta, which continued also on +the Monday, and then our British Regatta occupied the next four days. +These two were under separate committees. The British Regatta was +managed by experienced oarsmen, and His Royal Highness the Commodore of +the Canoe Club was patron--not a merely nominal patron but presiding +frequently at the committee meetings held at Marlborough House, and +generously contributing to the funds. The Emperor of the French also +gave us his name, and prizes to the amount of 1000_l_. were offered in a +series of contests open to all the world. In these better days now the +rowing world of France could lately count upon the patronage of their +distinguished Foreign Minister, M. Waddington, who rowed in the same boat +with me at Cambridge--'ages ago.' + +But this experiment of holding an international regatta in a foreign +country was quite novel, and there were difficulties around it which it +is not convenient to detail. + +Notwithstanding the hasty predictions of people who could not approve of +what was originated and carried out without requiring their advice, the +regatta brought together a splendid body of the best oarsmen and +canoeists in the world from England, France, and America. Three +Champions of England for the first time contended at the same place. The +most renowned watermen came from Thames and Tyne and Humber, and +eight-oared boats raced for the first time on the Seine. The weather was +magnificent, the course was in perfect order, and better than almost any +other of equal length near any capital; the arrangements made were the +very best that might be contrived under the peculiarly difficult +circumstances which could not be controlled, even by a committee +comprising the very best men for the purpose, and zealous in their work; +and lastly the racing itself, for spirit and for speed, and for that +exciting interest which is caused by equal excellence sustained during +well-contested struggles, was never surpassed. + +But this grand exhibition of water athletics was not seen by more than a +few hundreds of persons, so that "Tribunes," richly draped, and with +streamers flying above, and seats below for 1000 visitors, often had not +three people there at a time. + +The French oarsmen must have been absent at some "better" place, and of +the French public you might see more of them assembled on the roadside +round a dancing dog. The Emperor could not come--perhaps Bismarck would +not let him, and as the Prince of Wales had to be in his proper place as +the representative of England, receiving the Sultan in London, this +important duty prevented His Royal Highness from enjoying the pleasure he +might well have counted upon after the trouble he had taken in connection +with the British Regatta in Paris. + +But after stating this disappointment bluntly, it will be remembered by +all who were at St. Cloud, that there was a great deal of real amusement, +as well as of hard work, and the whole had a strange novelty both in its +charms and its troubles. + +For crews in "hard training" to sit down to _bifteck_, and Medoc, +omelette, and _haricots verts_, with strawberries and cream, and bad +French jabbered round, was certainly a novelty. To see a group of London +watermen, addressed in unknown tongues, but perfectly self-possessed, +visiting the Exhibition in the morning and rowing a race in the +afternoon, was new; and to observe the complete bewilderment of soldiers +and police at the whole proceedings, which came upon them of course with +surprise in a country where no one reads the papers for an advertisement, +except about a new play, or an infallible pill--all this was very amusing +to those who could listen and look on. + +The English rowing-men soon made themselves as comfortable as they could +in their new quarters, and suffered patiently the disagreeables of French +lodgings. They repaired their boats, often broken by the transit from +London, and behaved with good humour in proportion to their good sense. +Even the grumblers were satisfied, because they were provided with a new +set of grievances; and so things passed off better than was expected by +those who knew the real circumstances of the venture. It was the first +regatta of the kind, and doubtless it will be the last. + +No particular description of the various races for eight-oars, four-oars, +pair-oars, and sculling, by watermen and amateurs, would be interesting +to general readers; but a few notable lessons were there to be learned, +which will probably not be disregarded. + +An interesting feature was added to the occasion by the arrival of four +men, who came from New Brunswick, to row at this regatta. They had no +coxswain to steer them, as every other boat had, but the rudder was +worked by strings leading to one of the rowers' feet. + +They contended first in a race where it was not allowed to use +"outrigged" boats (so called because they are so narrow that the oars +cannot work on the gunwale, but are rigged out on iron frames). +Moreover, they rowed in a broad, heavy, clumsy-looking craft, with common +oars like those used at sea, and they pulled a short jerky stroke, and +had to go round a winding French course--indeed with apparently every +disadvantage; yet they came in first, beating English and French, and +winning 40_l_. + +The same crew went in next for another race, and in another boat, an +outrigger they had brought with them from the Dominion of Canada, and +again they were first, and won 40_l_. more. {128} At once "Les +Canadiens" became the favourites and heroes of the day. Englishmen +cheered them because they were the winners, and some Frenchmen cheered +them because they supposed the men were French, whereat the hardy +Canadians smiled with French politeness, but muttering the while round +protestations, intelligible only to English ears. + +The river Seine was made unusually lively during the summer by the +movement upon it of a whole fleet of steamers of all shapes and sizes, +and with flags often exceedingly 'coquet.' Little screw yachts or steam +launches flitted up and down, sometimes so small as to admit only three +or four people on board, with a bit of awning to deflect the sun; others +were crowded with passengers. This style of locomotion is peculiarly +adapted to Parisians. It has all the heat, bustle, and noise that can be +desirable in nautical pleasures, and yet it almost avoids those highly +inconvenient undulations which open water has too often the bad taste to +assume. The completion of the Thames Embankment and of the purification +of our river has already made water travelling more fashionable in +London. Soon, perhaps, the Representative of some powerful Trades-union +or incorrupt Borough, will see by the Westminster Clock that it is time +to go down to the "House," and will order his double-screw steamer round +to the water steps near his terrace door; and no coachman in those days +need apply for a place unless he can steer. + +Even now, the number of miniature steamers, tug-boats, and private yachts +on the Thames is large and increasing; while a few years ago not one was +to be seen. Most of these are pretty little things, and the best of all +craft to be handled safely in the crowded waterway. The multitude of +them one sees at Stockholm shews what may be seen some day in Middlesex. + +Several English screw yachts had come to Paris. Mr. Manners Sutton +kindly lent his to the Regatta Committee, and the steam launch of the +Admiralty Barge was also used, so that the umpire was able to follow each +race in a proper position for seeing fair play, while the Rob Roy was +anchored at the winning-post, to guard the palm of victory. Here, too, +various bomb-shells were fired high into the air at the end of each race, +and were supposed to correspond in number with the place of the winning +boat on the programme; but somehow they so exploded as effectually to +confuse the audience they were meant to enlighten as to "who had won:" +which uncertainty, we all know, is one of the principal excitements of a +regatta, and it can be sometimes prolonged even until the day afterwards. + +The other features of these rowing matches on the Seine may be left to +the reader's imagination if he has seen a regatta before; and if he has +not seen one, he could not well apprehend the thing by reading. The +canoe races, however, being more novel, have another claim on attention. + +One of these races was for fast canoes, and to be decided only by speed. +The other was a "canoe chase," in which dexterity and pluck were required +for success. + +For the canoe race three Englishmen had brought from the Thames three +long boats with long paddles, and they were the three fastest canoes in +England, so far as could be proved by previous trials. Against these, +three French canoes were entered, all of them short, and with short +paddles. One of these, propelled by an Englishman (resident in Paris), +came in easily first, and the second prize was won by a Frenchman. Here, +surely, was a good sound lesson to English canoe-men who wished to paddle +fast on still water, in a boat useless for any other purpose, and slower +at last than a skiff with two sculls. Accordingly, we accepted the +beating with thanks. + +The 'Canoe Chase,' first instituted at our Club races on the Thames, was +found to be an agreeable variety in nautical sport, and very amusing. +Therefore, two prizes were offered at the Paris Regatta for a canoe +chase, open to all the "peoples." Five French canoes entered, but there +was only one English canoeist ready in his Rob Roy to meet all comers +(the Hon. A. F. Kinnaird). + +The canoes were drawn up on land alongside each other, and with their +steins touching the lower step of the "Tribune" or Grand Stand. It was +curious to observe the various positions taken up by the different men, +as each adopted what he thought was the best manner of starting. One was +at his boat's stern; another, at the side, half carried his canoe, ready +to be "off;" another grasped the bow; while the most knowing paddler held +the end of his "painter" (or little rope) extended from the bow as far as +it would reach. + +All dashed off together on being started, and ran with their boats to the +water. The Frenchmen soon got entangled together by trying to get into +their boats dry; but the Englishman had made up his mind for a wetting, +and it might as well come now, at once, as in a few minutes after, so he +rushed straight into the river up to his waist, and therefore being free +from the crowding of others, he got into his boat all dripping wet, but +foremost of all, and then paddled swiftly away. The rest soon followed; +and all of them were making to the flag-boat anchored a little way off, +round which the canoes must first make a turn. Here the Englishman, +misled by the various voices on shore telling him the (wrong) side he was +to take, lost all the advantage of his start so that all the six boats +arrived at the flag-boat together, each struggling to get round it, but +locked with some other-opponent in a general scramble. Next, their +course was back to the shore, where they jumped out and ran along, each +one dragging his boat round another flag on dry land, amid the cheers and +laughter of the dense group of spectators, who had evidently not +anticipated a contest so new in its kind, and so completely visible from +beginning to end. Again, dashing into the water the little struggling +fleet paddled away to another flag-boat, but not now in such close array. +Some stuck in the willows or rushes, or were overturned and had to swim; +and the chance of who might win was still open to the man of strength and +spirit, with reasonably good luck. Once more the competing canoes came +swiftly back to shore, and were dragged round the flag, and another time +paddled round the flag-boat; and now he was to be winner who could first +reach the shore again and bring his canoe to the Tribune: a well-earned +victory, won by the Hon. A. F. Kinnaird, far ahead of the rest. + + [Picture: The struggle] + +The whole affair lasted not much longer than might be required to write +its history; but the strain was severe upon pluck and muscle, and called +forth several qualities very useful in life at sea, but which mere rowing +in a straight race does not require and cannot therefore exhibit. +Instantly after this exciting contest, a Frenchman challenged the winner +to another chase over the same course. But as the challenger had not +thought fit to enter the lists and test his powers in the chase, which +was open to him like the rest, it would, of course, have been quite +unfair to allow him, quite fresh, to have a special race with the +hard-worked winner, though the Englishman was at once ready to accept the +gage. + +Among the visitors to the regatta was M. Forcat, whose peculiar system of +propelling boats I have mentioned in the account of a former voyage; and +he brought up for exhibition, and for the practical trial by the winner +of the canoe chase, a very narrow and crank boat, rowed by oars jointed +to a short mast in front of the sitter, and thus obtaining one of the +advantages possessed by canoeists, that their faces are turned to the +bow, and so they see where they are going. + +It is no doubt an enormous disadvantage that in ordinary rowing your back +is turned upon the course, with all its dangers and beauties; and this +inconvenience is only put up with because you can go faster as you row +with your back foremost, and the scenery is of no account if a river +serves only to float the skiff but not to please the eye. As for +travelling on new and lovely waters in this style, with face to the +stern, it is just as if you were to walk backwards along a road, and to +think you could appreciate the picturesque either by a stare at the +retreating beauties you are leaving, or by a glance now and then over +your shoulder at what is coming. But though M. Forcat's boat had the +rower's face to the bow, the form and size of the nondescript novelty +were not to be understood in a moment, and we tried to dissuade our young +canoeist from entering hastily a new sort of boat, very easily capsized. +He had his own will, however, and his own way, because he was a Scot, and +only "English" in the sense we use that word for "British,"--too +frequently thereby giving dire offence to the blue lion of the North, +whose armorial tail is so punctiliously correct as to the precise curl +and make up of its "back hair." + +"He's upset," they cried in a minute or so. But we might well let so +good a swimmer take his chance; he merely pushed the boat ashore, and +then took a pleasant swim, until he was finally captured and put into the +Rob Roy's cabin, to change his wet clothes as well as a modest man might +do behind a plaid screen and before the curious world. + +Therefore in boats, as well as in business and politics, we may learn +lessons from one another, both on the water and on the land: from Canada, +as to the steering and the stroke; from France, as to the fast, quick +turning canoe in still water; and from England, as to the _man_. + +It was to see this regatta and to help in it that the Rob Roy had pushed +her way to Paris; and for this six hundred miles of river navigation in a +sea-going boat were justifiable, yet often did I feel much the sea-trim +lifeboat yawl was out of place upon a calm inland water like the Seine. + +Before the arrival of my little yacht, a challenge had been sent to her +to sail on the Seine against a French yacht there. To this I replied +that it would be scarcely a fair match for the Rob Roy, a sea craft, to +race on a river known only to one of the competitors; but that the yawl +would gladly sail a match with any French yacht having only one man on +board,--the course to be at sea either one hundred miles for speed, or +one week for distance, and communication not allowed with any other boat +or shore. No answer came. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Dawn music--Cleared for action--Statistics--Blue Peter--Passing +bridges--A gale--A shave--Provisions--Toilette--An upset--Last bridge--A +peep below--Cooking inside--Preserved provisions--Soups. + +The Rob Roy was very pleasant lodgings when moved down to the lovely bend +at St. Cloud. Sometimes she was made fast to a tree, and the birds sung +in my rigging, and gossamers spun webs on the masts, and leaves fell on +the deck. At other times we struck the anchor into soft green grass, and +left the boat for the day, until at night, returning from where the merry +rowers dined so well in training, and after a pleasant and cool walk +"home" by the river side, there was the little yawl all safe on a glassy +pool, and her deck shining spangled with dewdrops under the moon, and the +cabin snug within,--airy but no draughts, cool without chill, and +brightly lighted up in a moment, yet all so undisturbed, without dust or +din, and without any bill to pay. + +Awake with the earliest sun, there was always the same sound alongside as +we lay at anchor. The sweet murmurings of the water running by, cleft by +my sharp bow, and gliding in wavelets along the smooth sides only a few +inches from my ear, and sounding with articulate distinctness through the +tight mahogany skin; and then there was the muttering chatter of the +amateur fisherman, who was sure to be at his post, however early. + +This respectable personage, not young but still hearty, is in his own +boat,--a boat perfectly respectable too, and well found in all +particulars, flat, brown, broad, utterly useless for anything but this +its duty every morning. + +Quietly his anchor is dropped, and he then fixes a pole into the bottom +of the river, and lashes the boat to that, and to that it will be fixed +until nine o'clock; at present it is five. He puts on a grey coat, and +brown hat, and blue spectacles, all the colours of man and boat being +philosophically arranged, and as part of a complicated and secret plot +upon the liberties of that unseen, mysterious, and much-considered +_goujon_ which is poetically imagined to be below. It has baffled all +designs for this last week, for it is a wily monster, but _this_ morning +it is most certainly to be snared. + +Rod, line, float, hook, bait, are all prepared for the conflict, and the +fisherman now seats himself steadily in a sort of arm-chair, and with +stealth and gravity drops the deceitful line into hidden deeps. At that +float he will stare till he cannot see. He looks contented; at any rate, +no muscle moves in his face, though envy may be corroding his soul. +After an hour he _may_ just yield so much as to mutter some few sounds, +or a suppressed moaning over his hard lot, 'and that is what I hear in my +cabin.' Then at last he rises with a determined briskness in his mien, +and the resentment against fate from an ill-used man, and he casts +exactly three handfuls of corn or bread-crumbs into the water, these to +beguile the reluctant obstinate gudgeon, who, perhaps, poor thing, is not +so much to blame for inattention after all, being at the time just one +hundred and fifty yards away, beside those bulrushes. + +Indeed that very idea seems to have struck the fisherman too, and he +marks the likely spot, and will go there to-morrow, not to-day--no, he +will always stick one day at one place. How he moves to or from it I do +not know, for the man and boat had always come before I saw them, and I +never stopped long enough to see them depart. Four men fished four +mornings thus, and only two fish were caught by them in my presence. + +The regatta is over, and Nadar's balloon is in the sky, but seeming no +bigger than other balloons, so soon does the mind fail to appreciate +positive size when the object you look at is seen alone. It is the old +story of the moon, which "looks as large as a soup-plate," and yet +Nadar's _Geant_ was the largest balloon ever seen, and it carries a house +below it instead of a car--a veritable house, with two storeys, and doors +and windows. The freedom of its motion sailing away reminds me that the +Rob Roy ought to be moving too,--that she was not built to dabble about +on rivers, but to charge the crested wave; and, indeed, there was always +a sensation of being pent up when she was merely floating near the inland +cornfields, and so far from the salt green sea; and this, too, even +though pleasant parties of ladies were on board, and boys got jaunts and +cruises from me, which I am certain pleased them much; still the +reef-points on her sails rattled impatiently for real breezes and the +curl of the surf, while the storm mizen was growing musty, so long stowed +away unused. + +Next day, therefore, the Blue Peter was flying at the fore, and the Rob +Roy's cellar had its sea stock laid in from "Spiers and Pond," of ale, +and brandy, and wine. Before a fine fresh wind, with rain pelting +cheerfully on my back, we scudded down the Seine. To sail thus along a +rapid stream with many barges to meet, and trees overhanging, and shoals +at various depths below, is a very capital exercise, especially if you +feel your honour at stake about getting aground, however harmless that +would be. But the Seine has greater difficulties here, because the +numerous bridges each will present an obstacle which must be dealt with +at once, and yet each particular bridge will have its special features +and difficulties, not perhaps recognized when first you meet them so +suddenly. {142} The bridges on the Seine were often not high enough to +allow the yawl to pass under, except in the centre, or within a few feet +on one side or other of the keystone, and as the wind is deflected by the +bridge, just at the critical moment when you reach such places, and the +current of water below rushes about in eddies from the piers, there is +quite enough of excitement to keep a captain pretty well awake in beating +to windward through these bridges; for the wind _must_ be dead ahead a +great part of the time, because the river bends about and about with more +and sharper turns than almost any other of the kind. + +Though sun and wind had varnished my face to the proper regulation hue, +in perfect keeping with a mahogany boat, yet the fortnight of fresh water +had softened that hardiness of system acquired in real sea. My hands had +gradually discarded, one after another, the islands of sticking-plaister, +and a whole geography of bumps and bruises, which once had looked as if +no gloves ever could get on again--or rather as if the hands must always +be encased in gloves to be anywhere admissible in a white-skinned +country. + +But now once again outward bound, though still so many miles from the +iodine scent of the open sea, and the gracious odour of real ship's tar, +one's nerves are strung tight in a moment. The change was hailed with +joy, though sudden enough, from the glassy pond-like water at St. Cloud, +lulled only by gentle catspaws, half asleep and dreaming, to the rattling +of spars and blocks, and hissing of the water, in the merry whistling +gale by which we now were rapt away. + +At Argenteuil there are numerous French pleasure-boats, and the Rob Roy +ran into a good berth. Next day there was a downright gale, so I +actually had to reef before starting, because in a narrow river the work +of beating against the wind is very severe on legs and arms, and +especially on one's hands, unless they are hardened, and kept hard, too, +by constant handling of the strong ropes. + +At length we put into a quiet bay, where the river Oise joined the Seine, +and we moored snugly under the lee of a green meadow, while trees were +above waving and rustling in the breeze. It was far from houses, for I +wished to have a good rest, as the tossing of the former night had almost +banished sleep. + +But soon the inquisitive natives found the yawl in her hiding-place, and +they sat on the grass gazing by the hour. The surroundings were so much +like a canoe voyage, that I felt more strongly than ever the confinement +to a river, while the sea would have been so open and grand under such a +breeze. Therefore I gave up all idea of sailing down the Seine any more, +and decided to get towed to Havre, and to launch out fairly on our proper +element once more. + +Yet it was fine fun to row about in the dingey, and to discover a quaint +old inn, and to haul ashore my tiny cockleshell and dine. Here they were +certainly an uncouth set, they did not even put a cloth on the table, nor +any substitute for it,--a state of things seen very seldom indeed in the +very outermost corners of my various trips. + +Faithful promise was made by a man that he would rouse me from slumber in +my cabin under the haybank at the passing of the next steamer, be it +light or dark at the time. The shriek of the whistle came in the first +hours of morning, and the man ran to tell it, with one side of his face +shaven, and the other frothed over with lather. + +Being towed down is so like being towed up the river, that we need merely +allude to a few features in the voyage westward. + +At one pretty town we stopped to unload cargo for some hours, and I +climbed the hills, scaled the old castle walls, and dived into curious +tumbledown streets. The keeper of the newspaper-shop confessed to me his +own peculiar grievance, namely, that he often sent money to England in +reply to quack advertisements, but never had any reply. He seemed to be +too "_poli_" to credit my assertion that there are "many rogues in +perfidious Albion," and on the whole he was scarcely shaken in the +determination to persevere in filling their pockets, though he might +empty his own. + +An old man at a lock was delighted by a New Testament given to him. "I +know what this is; it is Protestant prayers. Oh, they are good." Then +he brought his wife and his grandchildren, and every one of them shook +hands. + +It was not very easy to get one's sea-stores replenished in the +continuous run down the Seine. Sometimes I saw a milkman trundling his +wheelbarrow over a bridge, and, jumping on shore, I waylaid him for the +precious luxury, or sent off a boy for bread, and butter, and eggs; but, +of course, the times of eating had nothing to do with any hours, or +recurring seasons for a meal: you must cook when you can, and snatch a +morsel here or there, in a lock or a long reach of the stream. At night +the full moon sailed on high, and the crew lay down with their faces over +the steamer's side, chattering with their English comrade till it was far +past bed-time, for we shall be off at three to-morrow morning. + +The steam in the boiler first warns of the coming bustle as its great +bubbles burst inside, and rattle the iron plates. Then, being more +frequent and tighter bound, they give out a low moaning, hidden rumble; +and if the boat touches the side of the steamer, there is a strong +vibration through all her sonorous planks, until some tap is turned in +the engine, and the rush of steam leaps into the cylinder as if indignant +at its long restraint. You had better get up now (there is no dressing, +for the simple reason that there has been no undressing), and in two +minutes you are fresh and hearty, though it is only a few hours since you +dropped to rest. + +Rouen looks as if it would be all that is pleasant for a sailing-boat to +rest in. Never was a greater deception. It is difficult to find an +anchorage, and impossible to get a quiet berth by the quay. The bustle +all day, and the noise all night, keep you ever on the tenterhooks; +though, as these discomforts are caused by the active commerce of the +port, one ought to bear them patiently. + +In one of the numerous _melees_ of barges, boats, and steamers whirling +round and round, amid entangled hawsers, and a swift stream, we had at +last to invoke aid from shore, and a number of willing loungers gladly +hauled on my rope. Some of these men, when I thanked them, said they had +more to thank me for,--the books I had given them in my voyage up. +Still, with all this aid, the Rob Roy was inextricably entangled with +other heavier craft, and, in shoving her off I tumbled overboard, and had +to put up with a thorough wetting; so, after a warm bath ashore, more _a +la mode_, I returned to my little cabin for a profound sleep. + +Rain, almost ceaseless for a whole day and night, had searched the +smallest chink, and trickled ungraciously into my very bed-room. But I +suspended an iron tea-cup in the dark just over my body, so _that_ one +little stream was intercepted. This was the first really hard pressure +of wet on the Rob Roy, and all the defects it brought to light were +entirely remedied afterwards at Cowes. + +On each of the four preceding nights I had been aroused for the next +day's work at three, or two, or even one o'clock, in the dark, and yet +for one night more there was to be no regular repose. + +My mast had been made fast to the quay wall, but in forgetfulness that on +a tidal river this fastening must be such as to allow for several feet of +fall as the water ebbs. Therefore, about the inevitable hour of one +o'clock, in the dark, there was a loud and ominous crack and jerk from +the rope, and I knew too well the cause. In the rainy night it was a +troublesome business to arrange matters, and next day was a drowsy one +with me, spent in the strange old streets of the town. + +The policeman had orders to call me at any hour when a steamer went by, +and, being hooked at last to the powerful twin-screw _Du Tremblay_, with +a pleasant captain, I rejoiced to near the very last bridge on the river, +with the feeling at heart, "After this we are done with fresh-water +sailing." + +It was a suspension-bridge, and the worthy captain forgot all about the +Rob Roy and her mast, when he steered for a low part, where his own +funnel could pass because it was lowered, but where I saw in a moment my +mast must strike. + +There was no time to call out, nor would it have availed even to chop the +towing-line with my axe, for the boat had too much "way" on her to stop. +Therefore I could only duck down into the well, to avoid the falling +spars and the splinters. + +The bridge struck the mast about two feet from the top, and, instead of +its breaking off with a short snap, the mast bent back and back at least +four feet just as if it were a fishing rod, to my great amazement. The +strong vibration of its truck (_pomme_ the French call it), throbbed +every nerve of boat and man, as it scraped over each plank above, and +then the mast sprang up free from the bridge with such a switch, that it +burst the lashings of both the iron shrouds merely by this rebound. + +Now was felt the congratulation that we had carefully secured a +first-rate mast for the Rob Roy, one of the pieces of Vancouver wood, +proved, by the competitions lately held, to be the strongest of all +timber. + +The moments of expected disaster and of happy relief were vivid as they +passed, but I made the steamer stop, and on climbing the mast, I found +not even the slightest crack or injury there. Henceforth we shall trust +the goodly spar in any gale, with the confidence only to be had by a +crucial test like this. + +As we shall soon be at sea again, but the river is calm enough here, +perhaps this will be a fit opportunity for the reader to peep into Rob +Roy's cave as it was usually made up for the night. + +The floor of the cabin is made of thin mahogany boards, resting on +cross-beams. The boards are loose, so that even in bed I can pull one +up, and thus get at my cellar or at the iron pigs of ballast. The bed is +of cork, about seven feet long and three feet wide. On this (for it +_was_ rather hardish) I put a plaid, {150} and then a railway rug, which +being coloured, had been substituted for a blanket, as the white wool of +the latter insisted on coming off, and gave an untidy look to my thick +blue boating-jacket. + +One fold of the rug was enough for an ample covering, and I never once +was cold in the cabin. + +A large pillow was encased by day in blue (the uniform colour of all my +decorations), and it was stripped at night to be soft and smooth for the +cheek of the sleeper. + +Putting under this my coats and a regulation woven Jersey, with the +yacht's name worked in red across its breast in regular sailor's fashion, +the pillow became a most comfortable cushion, and the woodcut shows me +reclining in the best position for reading or writing, as if on a good +sofa. On my right hand behind is a candle-lamp, with a very heavy stand. +It rests upon a shelf, which can be put in any convenient place by a +simple arrangement. + + [Picture: The Cabin] + +In the sketch already given at p. 41, there is a tarpaulin spread over +the well, and this was used on one occasion when we had to cook in rain +while at anchor. {151} + +On the same side, and below the boxes, "Tools" and "Eating," already +mentioned, are two large iron cases, labelled "Prog,"--a brief +announcement which vastly troubled the brains of several French visitors, +whose English etymology did not extend to such curt terms. + +In these heavy boxes are cases of preserved meats, soups, and vegetables, +and these I found perfectly satisfactory in every respect, when procured +at a proper place (Morel's in Piccadilly). Here you can get little tin +cases, holding half a pint each and sealed up hermetically. {152} + +To cook one of these tins full--which, with bread and wine is an ample +dinner--you cut the top circle with the lever-knife, but allowing it to +be still attached by a small part to the tin, and fold this lid part back +for a handle. + +Then put the tin into a can of such a shape and size that it has about +half an inch of water all round the tin, but not reaching too high up, +else it may bubble over when boiling, and as you can use salt water or +muddy water for this water-jacket, it will not do to sprinkle any of that +inside the tin. + +The can is then hung over the Rob Roy lamp, and in six minutes the +contents of the tin are quite hot. Soup takes less time, and steak +perhaps a little more, depending on the facility of circulation of the +materials in the tin and the amount of wind moderating the heat. The +preserved meat or soup has been thoroughly cooked before it is sold, and +it has sauce, gravy, and vegetables, and the oxtail has joints, all +properly mixed. Therefore, in this speedy manner your dinner is +prepared, and indeed it will be smoking hot and ready before you can get +the table laid, and the "things" set out from the pantry. + +Concentrated soup I took also, but it has a tame flavour, so it was put +by for a famine time, which never came. As for "Liebig's Extract of +Meat," you need not starve while there is any left, but that is the most +we can say in its favour. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +High tide--Seine pilot--To bed--Terrible scene--A tumble in--In the +swell--Novel steeling--The Empress--Puzzled--Night thoughts--The Start--A +draft on the deck--Balloon jib--On the deep. + +On the Seine there is a tide phenomenon, called the _barre_, as in +English rivers the _bore_, which, when not provided for, is very +dangerous, especially at spring tides. The water then rushes up the +narrowing funnel-shaped estuary, in a broad and swelling wave, sometimes +four feet high, and this will sweep off even large vessels from their +anchors, and it causes many wrecks. + +On a former occasion when I happened to be in this neighbourhood, a high +tide had been truly predicted by astronomers, which would culminate at +the little town of Caudebec on the Seine, but would also rise higher than +ever known before on all the adjacent coasts. + +The news of this coming wonder spread over France, and there being then a +lull in Europe as to revolutions, &c. (except, of course, the perennial +revolution in Spain), the _quidnuncs_ of the provinces had to run to the +coast for an excitement. Excursion trains, and heavily-laden steamers +poured volumes of people into Caudebec, and many of them had never seen +salt sea before. At the fashionable bathing-town of Trouville the sight +was a strange one when thousands of expectant observers paraded the soft +white sand as the full moon shone on a waveless sea, and the brilliant +dresses of the ladies coloured the beautiful tableau. + +The tide flowed and flowed; it bubbled over the usual bounds of the +shore; it trickled into the bathing sheds; it swelled still higher upon +the trim-kept promenade, until it lapped the highest point and then went +gently down again. Eclipses and tides are patent proofs to the people +that physical science can appeal to. The "music of the spheres" hath +also a true rhythm, "There is neither speech nor language but their +voices are heard." + +To escape this _barre_ on the Seine, our steamer anchored by the quaint +old town of Quilleboeuf with other vessels; and, though the wind howled +and the rain poured, the hill beside us sheltered all from its blasts, +which were too wild and powerful in the sea outside to allow us to +proceed next day. {156} + +However, our Seine pilot pointed to an English steamer "which dared not +go out;" so any remonstrance on the subject was silenced, and then he +boldly asked if I would like a pilot on board the Rob Roy (towed by the +steamer all the time), and I had sufficient command of countenance to +decline with due gravity. Better, perhaps, it would have been for me not +to carry then so much of the John Bull into these strange waters, as will +be seen from what occurred that night. + +The tide rushed up with extraordinary strength, until it was quite full. +Then it paused for five minutes, and again it set off in the opposite +direction with the same fury, increased, too, by the stream and the wind +being also down the river. + +At each of these changes every vessel, of course, swung round to its +anchor, and so must have loosened its hold, while all the water picture +changed from right to left like a scene shifted on the stage. During +this short interval of quiet you could row ashore, but to get back again +was almost impossible when the full torrent of water ran in straight. + +As night came on I noticed that our steamer's anchor was dragging, and +that other steam vessels, more on the alert, were easing the strain on +their cables by working their engines at half power all the time. + +"Captain, we are dragging anchor." "No, sir," he said, "you are +mistaken." "I am sure we are dragging: I have watched for ten minutes." +"No, sir, I am certain we do not drag." He said this with such firmness, +that I confidingly believed it, and turned into bed. + +But it was not to sleep, except in fitful snatches. The sound of the +water hurrying by my side, like a mill race, and within a few inches of +my ear, had a strange and unwonted effect, not now to soothe, but to +drive sleep away. Bits of wood and other _debris_ often struck my +mahogany sounding-board with a loud thump, until I became accustomed even +to this, and was in a dreamy dozing about one o'clock. + +Then there came a new noise,--a low, steady rap, tap, tap, tap, on the +boat, and from underneath. For a moment or two there was a sensation +without apprehension,--a sort of mesmeric, irresistible spell; but a +sudden thought burst through the trance, and with a powerful impression +of what was doing--one no less horrid than true--I dashed off covering, +roof, hatchway, and all, and stood upon deck to meet a terrible scene. + +Our steamer had drifted in the dark until we closed upon another +steamboat astern. My yawl, tied to the stern of one, was between that +and the bows of the other, the anchor chain of which had already got +underneath the waist of the Rob Roy, and had been ringing the rap, tap, +tap of a warning that undoubtedly saved her life. Light flashed from the +riding lamp at the steamer's bow full on my boat's deck, which was now +heeled over deeply until the dark water rushed through her gunwale; it +seemed that only a few seconds more and the poor little yawl would sink +in the flood, or be ground into splinters by the two great iron monsters +nearing each instant in the dark. + +All this was noticed in the same rapid glance which in such dangers +grasps a whole scene in a moment and stamps it in the mind for years. + +My boat hung on the cold iron chain, yet it wavered with equal poise to +go this way or that. If she could be swerved to the stern she might +possibly escape destruction, but if to the other side, then the strong +rope at her bow would entirely prevent her escape. With a loud shout to +arouse the crews I put every atom of bodily force into one strenuous +shove, straining nerve and muscle in the desperate effort until I could +not see. She trembled and surged--it was successful, and I fell into the +water, but my yawl was saved. {159a} + +Crash came the two steamers together. I heeded nothing of their din and +smashing, and the uproar of the men, but I scrambled all wet into my +cabin, nervously shaking with excitement and a chattering of teeth. Then +I sat down to sum up my bruises,--a barked shin, sprained thigh, and +bleeding cheek-bone; and a hapless object I must have seemed, bathing, by +turns, my leg, and shin, and face, from a brandy bottle, and then a gulp +inside. In a survey of the yawl made next day, there was to be seen (as +still there is) the marks of the iron chain-links deeply impressed in the +mahogany planks of her waist. The piece of wood that bears these +mementoes of that night's deed might well be cut out and kept as a +curious memorial. The bowsprit also was found to have been nipped at the +end (though it had been drawn in close to the stem), and the squeeze had +quite flattened the strong iron ring upon it, and jammed up the wood into +a pulp as if it were cork. {159b} + +The weather did not moderate next day, but we started nevertheless, and +when the waves of the wider sea were tumbling in I expected to have a +wetting as in passing here before; but the sea was in fine long swells, +and so the yawl rode over them buoyantly. Also the large twin-screw +tugboat is far more pleasant to follow than the smaller steamer with its +two paddle-wheels, one at each side of the stern. {160} + +In another way also I managed better than before while undergoing the +process of being towed. I set the hatch of the well in front of me, and +then allowed the reflection of the funnel of the steamer upon the wet +deck of my boat to be seen through a chink, while my head and body were +entirely concealed and completely sheltered from spray. + +Now, having marked where this reflection rested, when I was exactly in a +proper line abaft the steamer, I was enabled to steer altogether by the +shadowy image, although I could not see the object itself to which I was +directing the bow of my boat. The captain and crew of the steamer were +very much astonished with this proceeding. {161} + +Arriving at Havre on July 21, there was need for a good rest, and the +port was suited for it. There is quiet water in a sequestered nook of +the harbour and plenty of amusement on shore. Havre, too, was in a state +of much excitement, for the Empress was about to embark thence for +England, and the Imperial yacht was in the basin, with a splendid crew on +board. In the evening the Emperor also came to the town, to escort his +wife when she embarked, and as his carriage drove past the crowd ran +after it hallooing. + +The last time I had seen the Empress Eugenie was under somewhat peculiar +circumstances; she was floating in the sea, and we shall tell more of her +Majesty afloat in a future page, when fair bathers at Margate appear. + +The beautiful English yacht 'Vindex' was on the gridiron with the Rob +Roy; that is to say, on a sunk stage of wood, on which you can place a +vessel, if it is desired to examine or repair its hull and keel when the +tide leaves it there dry. + +'Vindex' had come to the Havre Regatta, and as she had won the prize +there in the previous year a great deal of interest was shown about her +now. But the regatta on this occasion was by no means interesting, for +the wind fell into calm, and it was merely a drifting match. + +My usual visits in the dingey had disposed of nearly all my store of +French books and periodicals, and the remainder we took to a civil +bookseller, from whom we bought French charts and a Pilot book of the +English south coast soundings. + +Meantime, after a rest and refreshment to my crew, a thorough scraping to +my boat, and a good stock laid in of comfort for my voyage to England, +the question had to be distinctly put, "How am I to get over the broad +Channel to the Isle of Wight?" It was, of course, impossible to think of +coming back as we had gone,--that is, along the French coast. This would +never do. Again, it was also found that the steamers were not allowed to +tow any boat to sea behind the passenger vessels unless in cases of +distress, so that put an end to another solution of the problem, which +was to get half way by towing and then to cast off and sail. + +Well, shall I get an additional hand on board? But where is he to sit if +it blows hard? And if it does not blow hard, what is the use of him? In +fact I was steadily driven, as if by severe logic, to the conclusion +already at the bottom of my mind, to _sail right across alone_. + +Then I asked one or two experienced sailors if they thought the Rob Roy +could do it, and they said, "Yes, she can; but can _you_? You may be +three or four days out, and can you stand the fatigue? At any rate, do +not start in a southwest wind: it raises a sea and the up and down of the +waves will tire you soon in a long day's work, and then there is the +night besides." + +Having retired to my calm little creek, where the yawl was tied by a line +to a large fishing-smack, I tried to read, but very soon found I was +thinking of anything but the words on the printed page; then to sleep; +but still I was musing on the prospect now opened of a hazardous and +delightful sail. + +About one o'clock I gazed out moodily on the quiet night scene of the +harbour, sleeping around. Tall masts whitened by the moon, black hulls +darkened in the shade, busy quays silent, long-necked iron cranes peering +into the deep water that reflected quaint leaning houses, all distorted, +and big buoys magnified by the haze. + +"Why continue this anxiety about how to get over? See the clouds drift +over the clear moon with an east wind. Will it ever be easier than now? +I cannot sleep--why not start this moment?" + +Once the decision was made, all was alert on the Rob Roy; and in half an +hour I had breakfasted, and then very noiselessly loosed the thin line +that bound us to the quay, and bid "adieu to France." + +Every single thing we could think of was perfectly prepared. The sails +were all ready to set, but we had to row the yawl slowly into the main +harbour, and there we met a low round swell coining in from the sea. We +tugged hard to force her against the adverse tide, but progress was +tediously slow. Presently some fishing luggers were getting under way, +and soon the usual clatter and din of the French sailors, at full tide, +rang forth as if by a magic call at two in the morning. + +After shouting some time for a boat to tow me to the pier-head, at last +one came. + +"What will you charge?" + +"Ten francs." + +"I'll give you eight;" and after parley the two men in their little boat +agreed to take the Rob Roy in tow. + +Almost immediately I noticed that the moon was hid, and the wind had +chopped round to the southwest, the very wind I was told not to start +with, but now--well it was too late to withdraw, and so we laboured on, +while the great clumsy luggers crossed and recrossed our course, and +frequently dashed upon the piles of the pier in the stupidest manner, +with much loud roaring of voices, and creaking of spars, and fluttering +of sails. + +Presently the men called out that, as the sea was getting higher, I had +better pay them the money. "Certainly," I said; but, alas! I could find +only five francs of change, the rest being napoleons. + +They shouted, "Give us gold--we will send the change to England;" but I +bellowed out a better plan, to give them an order on the yacht agents at +Havre for five francs, and the silver besides. + +Finally this was accepted, so I got out paper and envelope, and on the +wet deck, by moonlight, wrote the banker's draft. + +When they came near the harbour's mouth, they sung out "Get ready your +mizen." + +"Ay, ay!" + +"Hoist;" and so up went the trim little sail, glad to flap once more in +salt air. Then they bid me "Get ready your jib--we have cast you off; +hoist!" Yes, and I did hoist. + +Perhaps the reader may recollect that the end of my bowsprit had been +squeezed by a collision, and was in fact as weak as a charred stick. But +I had entirely forgotten this by some unaccountable fatality, during the +three days at Havre, when it might have been easily repaired. + +The moment therefore I had hoisted the jib, the bowsprit end broke sharp +off into a ragged stump, and the jib instantly flew away into the air +just like an umbrella blown inside out. + +This was of course a most critical time for such a mishap, with a strong +breeze dead ahead, driving me in upon piles, and a tumbling sea, and +numerous large luggers sailing about me in the dark. Therefore I felt +that this unlucky accident and the southwest wind meant, "I must not go +out to-night. It will not do to begin a voyage of a hundred miles with a +broken bowsprit." + + [Picture: For a hundred miles] + +All this prudent reasoning was at once cut short by the Frenchmen calling +out, "_Voulez-vous sortir encore_, _monsieur_?" and the Rob Roy thus +hailed could make but one reply, "_Oui_, _oui_, _certainement_;" so I bid +them lay hold again while I captured the truant jib, hauled down and +reefed it, and made it fast to the stem, and then again "_Lachez tous_," +we are free on the rolling waves. + +At the worst, methought, we can return in four or five hours, when the +tide falls, if we find it unadvisable to go on; but meanwhile our yawl +shot away westward to get a good offing from the Cape de la Heve, and +then I cooked breakfast (the former one counted of course in the former +day, according to the excellent rule already explained), and about +half-past four I laid on my straight course to old England, with a +capital breeze on my quarter, and a hundred times glad that I had not +gone back. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Nodding--Prancing--First Thoughts--England--Mid-channel +thoughts--Battle--Religion--Science--Church--Guide. + +Up rose the sun, and all was cheerful. Then I laid her to, and got out +my axe, and chopped the bowsprit into shape, so that it would run out +further, and then set the whole jib firmly on it. + +All the feelings restrained so long by the river work, and regatta +amenities, and Exhibition in Paris, now came forth powerfully in a flow +of enthusiasm. + +Boys seem to like the stories of the canoe voyages, and perhaps they will +read this one of the yawl. If they have a sailor turn, they will imagine +the new pleasure to be felt when you glide away from a fast-retreating +land, and nothing is in front but sea, sea, sea. Then the little boat +you are in, and know in every plank, and love too, becomes more than ever +cherished as a friend. It is your only visible trust, and, if it _is_ a +good boat, you trust it well, for indeed it seems to try its very best, +like a horse on the desert plain, that knows it must go on if it is ever +to get to the other side. Then as the cliffs, that looked high behind +you, dwindle into a line of deep blue, the compass by your knees becomes +a magic thing, with no tongue indeed to speak, but surely a brain it must +have to know the way so well. + +For hours we went on thus in silent pleasure, gazing at the gentle needle +as it moved without noise; and, with nothing around but plash of waves, +bright sun, and a feeling of hot silence, the spell of sleep was +overpowering. Homer sometimes nodded, it is said, and he would have +certainly had a good nap had he steered long thus. The sinking off into +these delicious slumbers was imperceptible, and perfectly beyond the +will's control. In a moment of trance I would be far away in dreamland, +and with a thousand incidents, all enacted in orderly succession, with +fights, wrecks, or pageantry, or the confused picture of bright-coloured +nothings which fancy paints on the half-alive brain. + +From these sweet dreams there was a rude awakening; a slap from the sea +on my face, as the yawl, untended, suddenly rounded to, or a rattling +taptoo on the deck when the jib-sheets found they were free. + +Then for a time I would resolutely insist upon attention--every moment of +slumber being a positive wandering from the course; but no, the outer +self that demands a nap will not be denied by the inner nobler self that +commands alertness. + +Only one single sea-gull did I see in thirty hours. One vessel also far +off was the sole break upon the painfully straight horizon, and as the +wind gradually died away into nothing, the prospect did not improve. + +Then came the up and down riding over seas without gaining a yard, the +"prancing" of the vessel which had galloped forth in the morning like a +horse in its first bounds on grass when, leaving a hard road, its hoof +paws gladly the springy turf. + +Some feelings that came up then from deep recesses in the mind were new, +but too new and unnamed to put in words. Alone on the waters, when you +cannot see land, is a strange condition. However, if only fog or +darkness hides the land you still feel that land is there. Quite another +thing is it to be afloat alone, where, because it is fifty miles away, +land _cannot_ be seen. Doubtless it may seem foolish, but I am not able +to tell the feelings of that time. + +Becalmed midway between France and England, it was natural for the mind +to think of both countries, and every time I have left France it has been +with more admiration of that lively land; {171} but Frenchmen, during +this visit, looked at by us for the twentieth time, had evident signs of +wounded vanity: they were conscious of playing second fiddle in a grand +German opera. + +Thinking of England, on the other hand, religion and not politics became +the theme; for is not religion at least more considered amongst us than +ever before? It may be opposed or misapprehended or derided, but it is +not ignored as it used to be. + +Look at the three leading newspapers, the morning, the evening, and the +weekly registers of the direction, warmth, and pressure of public +thought, as noted by keen observers, who are shrewd and weatherwise as to +the signs of the times, and are seldom wrong when they hoist a storm +signal. More and more each of these secular papers occupies its best +columns with religious questions, and not with the mere facts or gossip +on the subject, or with records of philanthropy, important as these are, +but with deep essential doctrines, and prolonged arguments about the very +kernel of truth. + +Religion is allowed to have a place now in every stratum of society, even +if a wrong place and a very uncomfortable place for a slender religion, +though sometimes, indeed, a politician laments that "Parliament has its +time occupied by the subject," as if it were possible for the House to +settle the Church and the School and the homes of men, without also +considering their religion. + +And if almost each family gives some place or other to it, so perhaps no +one man in England would allow any other man to say of him that he has +"nothing to do with religion." + +Religion is more present among us; but this is a wide term--'religion.' +If there is a God, then that there is a revealed religion is +acknowledged, and that the Christian religion has the best, if not the +only claims to be this. Who is to decide for me as to whether there is a +God? + +If ignorance unfits me to judge this rightly, does not class prejudice +unfit others to be the arbiters? + +Are not the official exponents of theology liable to be prejudiced in its +favour as something that establishes or enhances the position of their +order among men? + +Are not the votaries of natural science subject to a prejudice against +Theism as something that dethrones them from supremacy? + +Is there not among these last a writhing invisible agony to escape from +the avowal that God governs? And why is this? Perhaps because man +proudly relishes freedom, and hates to say that his life is inspected and +controlled by another Being who will also judge him hereafter; and +because the student of physical science knows that if there is a God, +then moral science must be a far nobler pursuit than his own pursuit, +even if it is less palpable and popular; also because the scientific man +is tempted to do all he can to ignore that anything is outside the ken of +science--that there is a Being on quite another plane, far above him and +his researches. + +But science has no exclusive or even predominant right in the decision of +this matter; nor has it any solid success in the long battle, though one +or other in its ranks may triumph in a skirmish. When one philosopher +demolishes the Bible, an ordinary man cannot convince him he is wrong. +But when a dozen savants tilt in the fray, even an ordinary man can see +that their weapons demolish each other, and the old Book stands. + +This geologist has scratched the varnish on the globe, and forthwith +frames his new theory of creation. In ten years he is proved utterly +wrong by that microscopist who has detected animal remains in an igneous +rock. The simple bystander cannot understand either side, and far less +tell which side is true. But when the combatants slay each other, the +wayfaring man can understand this neutralization. The philosopher +strikes me with awe so long as he keeps aloft beyond my knowledge or +comprehension. When he comes down I can love him, but the reverence of +his mystery is gone, and he is soon found out to be a brother mite. My +friend can walk faster and farther on earth than I can; but when he wades +into the water, I find I can swim just as well as he--while if we try to +fly in the air, neither of us can soar a yard. + +Thus the mind that is great in observing, collating, and even +generalizing facts, gets immediately out of its depth a few feet from +land in the ocean of hypothesis, and it can be drowned there like my own. + +Reaching up higher, in search of First Cause, the clever brain grasps the +liquid aether above, and yearns; but it holds nothing, not one atom more +than an ordinary mind; nor has all the striving of all the world lifted +one man a foot above the plain towards heaven. + +If these sentiments are pretentious, they show that one can learn at +least forwardness from philosophers, if not wisdom. + +But it is not the Atheist that puzzles one so much as those who find it +convenient to admit the one point to start from--"There is a God," be He +styled in redundant reverence, "Nature," "Providence," or "Heaven." The +vacuity behind that is too dark and abysmal to be a home for their soul, +and therefore they will accompany you thus far. + +This short creed is long enough to cover many different meanings, and +elastic enough to be worn, at least outside, for common decency, and to +fit almost any form of life and character. + +Some men have never had more than this meagre garment. Others have been +swathed in more ample folds from the nursery, but have stripped off the +mental clothing of their childhood, feeling it tight, or encumbered with +braid and tassels, and some have torn it all to tatters; but at last, as +their inner being chills in the air of naked freedom, they take upon them +this creed as the one general raiment of prudence. + +There may be quiet in this creed, for a time, if not comfort; but the +garment fails to warm the heart if indeed it even covers the head; and +the mind soon wonders whether God can _be_, and yet not _do_, and it +yearns to know what God has said and done. Instinct tells it that to +know the very truth upon this will make the man's creed a vascular body +for action, not a mere decent clothing. The mind begins its search for +this truth on a battle-field. It is a fight for peace as well as a +search for treasure. Facts have to be settled, in hot conflict, which +are felt to touch every point of life, and not mere fancies high in the +air, or thoughts too deep for common people. Each man fights +hand-to-hand here. Strategy and leaders avail not. Mere numbers on one +side or the other do not count for individual conviction; we are not +saved in bundles. + +No man can keep out of reach of the turmoil, though many would be content +to remain as bystanders, secure from remark or disturbance, in a hazy +cloud where the only thing distinct is their denial that there is +anything definite. Their creed is not strengthened by its being vague +and curtailed. "Moral sense," "intuitive truth," "general +utility"--their ultimate appeal--is just as far out of reach of algebraic +logic as any of the propositions are which they reject because these +cannot be proved thus. Try this scrimp creed by their own standard of +proof, and it shrivels away, until no God,--no soul,--no being remains as +absolutely demonstrated, and there is only a _thing_ faintly conscious of +its own existence. In this watery element of dim, soft fog, or hard cold +ice, there is no rest for the soul. + +There are others, again, who, frightened by the hurly-burly, after a +short wild wandering alone, join any group, as a refuge, if it be only +visible, and seek a Church as an asylum for the timid rather than a +fortress for the brave. + +But what Church shall give rest, or which of them is even quieter than +the outer din? There is one, indeed, that, long nursed and dozing in the +lap of the State, is now roughly shaken, but is she yet awake? She has +grown in bulk at least, while sleeping. Is she not like an overgrown +child too big to be carried, and too rickety to walk alone? + +She is called National but is only Diocesan, with different doctrine and +worship in different dioceses. The bishops meet, and thinking different, +but trying to say the same, they say what is unanimous only when it means +nothing. The clergy meet, but while some of them are true Ministers, +others would be as Presbyters towards their bishops and Popes to their +people. Each parish can wear the ribbons that are badges of its +doctrine. We are crystallizing into congregations, and soon these will +split into families, and so perhaps we shall get back at last to the +simple old shape, when the message was for Nymphas and "the church which +is in his house." + +Meantime, my life-borne bark must not founder for lack of a guide. True, +there is a chart, and precepts for the right way are clear, but my +craving is for a living Spirit within which shall point me to the +peaceful shore by an attraction powerful and unerring, though unseen, +and, like that of the needle, incomprehensible. + +And was it not the divinest act ever done by God to come down Himself +among men, saying, "I am the Way," "and I will give you rest?" + +Now we can safely steer, and will surely reach port. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Half-seas over--Thick night--Risky--Reckless--Tied in--Lying-to--Land +ahead--Scottish replies--Sleep. + +See the sails are impatiently flapping. Each wave jerks the mast and +canvas with a smart loud crack like that of a whip. The sound is +unspeakably irritating, it seems so useless and wanton, and so perfectly +_de trop_ while the wind is absolutely calm. At other times, in such a +case, you can stop this provoking clatter by hauling up the boom and +lowering the jib; but here, in mid ocean, we must not hamper the sails +but be ready for the first faint breath of wind, and moreover--best to +confess it--I had in this case a serious disturbance _within_, yet not +mental. Strawberries and cream imprisoned with mushrooms did not agree. + +They called them mushrooms in Havre yesterday, and we know "there are 371 +edible fungi;" but I assert that the rebellious species embarked with me +were toadstools, and so giddiness followed upon sleep . . . + +Gentle and cool is the first fresh murmur of a new breeze as it comes +from afar, tripping along. Gratefully we watch its footsteps on the sea. +Its garments rustle in the south, and the glassy rounded waves are now +crested by its touch. Then the coolness of it fans the cheek, the flag +flutters while the sails fill full, the mast bows gently under the soft +pressure, and the Rob Roy runs eagerly again upon her proper course. + +Dinner was instantly served up to celebrate the event. It is an +Englishman's way. Still we were fifty miles from England, but wave after +wave rose, dashed, and was left behind, till the sun got weary in his +march, and hung, in the west, a great red globe. My course had been +taken for the Nab light, which is in the entrance towards Portsmouth, but +the Channel tide, crossing my path twice, could carry the yawl fast, yet +secretly, first right, then left, and both ways once again. + +Yet when the evening shade fell we expected to see at least some light in +the horizon, for the English lights are clear, and they shine out twenty +miles to sea. How I peered into the inscrutable darkness, and standing +by the mast to get higher, but in vain; yet still the wind urged on, and +the sea tumbled forward all in the right way. Hours passed, and +ship-lights now could be descried; they were crossing my path, for they +were in the great fair-way of nations bound east or west through the +Channel. This at least was company, but it was also danger. We have +left the lonely plain, and are walking now in the street of waters; but +how am I to sleep here, and yet I _must_ sleep this night. I tried to +"speak" a goodly vessel sailing past like a shadow--I ventured even to +near it--hailing, "How far to the Nab?" but the voice melted in the +breeze. Low vapoury clouds began to rise from the sea; they looked like +dark trees around; but the stars were clear up above. It was impossible +not to feel as if land was there, yet, when my lead was cast, the deep +only laughed at its little reach downward. + +In such thick weather it will never do to ferret out the channel to +Cowes, even if we are near it. The night must be passed at sea, and +better begin to do that now than go in too near the cliffs in darkness; +and so we prepared to lie-to. Lowering the main-sail I tried the yawl +first under mizen and jib; but the rolling in every trough of the waves +was most uncomfortable, and besides she drifted north, which might end by +going ashore. + +Then I took in the jib and set the storm-mizen, and hung out the anchor +with twenty fathoms of chain--not, of course, to reach the bottom, but to +keep the boat's head easier in the sea, and this did perfectly well. The +motion was a long, regular rise and fall, and the drift was to the east; +quite out of our proper course, indeed, but I couldn't help that. + +The motion of a vessel lying-to is far more easy than what would be +supposed possible. When you are rocked in a boat making progress by +sails or steam, the pressure of each wave is more or less of a blow, for +the ship is going forward, and it resists the mass of water often with +violence. At anchor, too, though in a modified degree, the action is the +same, and in a swell without wind the oscillations are jerky and short, +for they are not softened by the sails then merely hanging. But if a +boat is staunch and strong, and the deck is tight, and she has plenty of +keel, so as not to swerve round right and left, but to preserve a general +average direction towards the wind, then she may lie-to in a very stiff +gale and high sea with a wonderfully gentle motion. Her head then is +slightly off the sea, and there is but little rolling. The sails are so +set that they ease every lateral heave. She forges forward just a little +between the wave tops, and when the crest of one lifts her up she +courteously yields for the time, but will soon again recover lost ground +by this well-managed "compromise." + +When we saw how admirably the Rob Roy behaved in lying-to, and that +scarcely a wave broke over her deck, we felt that if it came to the worst +we might thus pass a whole week in her safely. + +Now I must make my bed. Undoubtedly this was a risky deed about to be +done; but pray what else could we do? + +"You ought not to have come there at all," may be replied. + +Say that to the huntsman who has got into a field with the only way out +of it over a chasm to leap. Tell it to the mountain climber scrambling +down, who pauses before a _crevasse_; and do not forget to say the same +to the poor old fisherman overtaken in the midnight winter's gale with +his life in one hand and in the other a tangled net that has caught the +fried sole for your comfortable dinner. + +It would not do of course to go into my cabin. In the first place, the +dingey was there, and then if I were to be enclosed inside when anything +like a "run down" had to be dealt with, the cabin might be my coffin. + +First I tried to crouch down in the well, but the constraint on limbs and +joints was unbearable. My head slept while my knees ached with the +pressure. No! there must be a positive lying down to sleep, if the sleep +is to give true refreshment when you are rocked about on the waters; and +this you have no doubt been convinced of any time at sea. + +The strange twists of body I tried to fit into comfortably where the +space (in the well) was only three feet each way, reached at last to the +grotesque--the absurd contortions of a man miserable on a pleasure +jaunt--and I laughed aloud, but somehow it sounded hollow and uncanny. + +As to the exact spot where the Rob Roy was at this particular time we had +of course no possible idea, but judging from after circumstances, the +position must have been about ten miles south of St. Catherine's Head, +and she drifted twenty miles east while I dreamed. + + [Picture: Bed of the Sea] + +One effect of extreme exhaustion is to make the mind almost reckless of +risk, and we can well understand how in some shipwrecks, after days and +nights without sleep, men are in a placid, callous composure of sheer +weariness, and that the last agony of drowning then is nothing, just as +Dr. Livingstone told me, the shake given by a lion to his victim +paralyses the whole system before it is killed. Therefore, as danger was +only likely, and sleep was imperative, I must have sleep at all hazards, +and so we loosed out the folds of the main-sail on the wet deck. How +white and creamy they looked while all was dark around, for no moon had +risen. Then I put on my life-belt, and fastened the ship's light where +it would not swing, but rested quite close to the deck. I rolled the +thick, dry, and ample main-sail round me, stretching my limbs in charming +freedom, and I tied myself to the boom, so as not to be easily jerked +overboard by the waves. Of course it was my firm intention to sleep only +by winks of one eye at a time; but the struggle with Morpheus was, we +suspect, _very_ faint; at any rate no record remained but a few dim +visions that may have flickered in the soft vanishing of consciousness. + +Can any person be expected to describe his first feelings as he awakes in +such a bed and finds it broad day? Bright and glorious sun, high up, how +I stared at you! and then a glance to the side, and behold, there is +land--England. Deliberately I rose and gave three hearty cheers--nobody +there to hear, indeed, but myself--no matter, it did good to me to cheer, +and to hear too. Breakfast was soon agoing. Ten hours' sleep had +thoroughly refreshed me, mind and body; but I could not make out what +part of the coast we had hit upon. + +It was still about twelve miles distant, and as there were no cliffs in +sight, it could not be the Isle of Wight. My chart told nothing; my +French Pilot-book had woodcut pictures of all the coast, but nothing came +of the search in these; and whether we had drifted east or west of the +Isle of Wight we finally gave up as a question--we must go to the coast +itself and see. + +Therefore we steered due north, rapidly nearing the unknown land, and +with a joyous morning, barometer high, wind south, and a coming fine day. +Presently there loomed on the horizon one, and then another, and another, +splendid ships of war. They steamed in line, and I tried to intercept +them to put the query, "Where am I?" Baffled in this, the puzzle was, +"Are they going to Portsmouth or Plymouth?" There were equally good +reasons for either. + +At length three towns could be seen, and the pictures of the French +Pilot-book were closely examined, but several plates had each three towns +which would fit the case before me, one as well as the other. +Fortunately we chose the middle one of the three, because it had a little +lighthouse. That on the left we found afterwards was Bognor, which has a +reef of dangerous rocks upon its shore. + +A fisherman was in his boat, and I hailed him, "Boat ahoy! What is the +name of that town?" + +"Town, sir?" + +"Yes; that village right ahead; what do you call it?" + +"The village there, sir?" + +"Yes; what is its name? It has a name, hasn't it?" + +"Oh, yes, certainly, sir, it's got a name." + +"Well, what is the name? I don't know where I am." + +"Where have you come from, sir? from the Wight?" + +And after these Scottish answers to the questions of a Scotsman, at last +I found my way into Littlehampton; and if ever you go to the Beach Hotel +in want of a soft bed, after sleeping out of a bed for nearly a month, +you will find it there. + +This little place, between Bognor and Brighton, is a quiet bathing town +just in the delicate stage of existence, when it has been found out and +admired, but not yet spoilt. One row of houses fronts the sea with a +fine grassy plain between, and a clean white strand. + +The Inn was of olden times, and apart near the water, with a landlady of +the good old English type; and her son, the waiter, rampant about canoes, +kept an aviary under the porch and a capital swimming dog in the stable. + +Lie on a sofa in the coffee-room detached, and read the 'Times,'--go into +the drawing-room and play the piano, or sit under the garden trees and +gaze on the fair blue sea, and hope fervently that, with a strong Tory +government to protect our institutions, this hotel may be long kept hid +from that merciless monster the "Company (Limited)." But already a +railway runs here, and threatens its quiet. Even a steamer now and then +from France screws its way into the very narrow channel, where the river +Arun has wound down thus far from Arundel. {188} + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Heavy sea--Isle of Wight--The Commodore--A glance at gear--Bow--Running +rigging--Sisterhooks--Horse--Tiller. + +The boy and his dog formed a small crowd on the little pier to see the +Rob Roy start again with a fine breeze off shore, but freshening every +minute until near Selsea Bill it blew half a gale. The navigation round +this point is difficult at low water, as may be seen from the markings in +the chart copied at page 245, merely as a specimen of what a chart is for +the sailor's eye. + +At last it was necessary to reef main-sail and jib, the wind blew so hard +and in gusts, and the adverse tide met me as it rushed out of Spithead +with a heavy swell. Rain poured down slanting with the wind, and the +rocks, uncovered at low water, looked very uninviting to leeward. + +The little dingey was towed astern, as we had not expected so much sea +with a north wind, but for the first time we found how perfectly this +diminutive boat was adapted for towing, and after this trial she was +never again stowed in the cabin. The bluff bow above, and the keelless, +round, smooth bottom below, enabled the dingey to top the sharpest wave, +and I often forgot my steering while turning round to watch the little +creature as she nimbly leaped over the tumbling billows. The weather got +worse, therefore we changed for a storm-mizen, and so many seas broke +heavily over the Rob Roy, that the water in the well washed about my +ankles, and finally we were compelled to give in and lie-to for an hour +or more, after manning the pump. + +This wind, rain, and sea together were the worst we had met with, but the +yawl seemed in high spirits, like her owner; though the waves in the +tide-way were sometimes so short and sharp that it was impossible to rise +and fall fast enough, and she often buried deeply. It was here that my +chart was so wet that it melted before my eyes, even with all endeavours +to preserve it, and therefore I bore up for Brading Harbour, in the Isle +of Wight, and somehow managed to get round Bembridge reef all safe into +the quiet lake beyond. + +Here, and on British soil again, was an end to all expected anxieties of +the summer's voyage. The rest to come were to be met, but not +anticipated. There had been first the goal of Paris to be reached at a +certain time for the Regatta there, and then there was the unknown voyage +over the Channel, homeward bound; but henceforth no more dates or wide +seas had to be thought of, and the rest of the vacation was free. + +The shores and seas about the Isle of Wight looked more cheerful and +lovely than ever, with a fair day next morning. Here we soon pass one of +the new sea-batteries, a huge granite castle, reminding one of Bomarsund, +but unfinished, and with scaffolds round that are worked or stopped, as +Ministries go out or in, and as guns or iron plates are proved strongest +in turn at Shoeburyness. + +Portsmouth is in front, always with moving life on the waves. A squadron +of ironclads presses heavy on the water at Spithead, and among them +conspicuous is the five-masted Minotaur. White-winged yachts glide +through the blue space between these and Ryde. Osborne basks in the +sunshine with the "sailor Prince's" pleasure-boat by the shore. If there +be a gap or two in the horizon it is soon filled up by some rich laden +merchantman, with sails swelling full in the light, and gay signal flags +flowing out bright colours; and all the scene is woven together, as it +were, by swift steamers flitting to and fro like shuttles strung with a +thread of foam across a warp of blue. + +But it is to that wooded point at Cowes we are steering, and the tall +yellow masts clustered there shew already what an assemblage the yawl +will meet at the Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta. + +There was a certain amount of sailor's pride as our yawl steadily +advanced, steering in among these, the smallest of them all, but ready to +be matched against any of its size and crew. She quietly approached the +crowded quay, and I put my portmanteau ashore at the Gloucester Hotel; +then the jib was filled again to sail up straight to Medina dock, where +Mr. John White would see the craft he had modelled, and after a careful +survey, the verdict upon her was entirely favourable. {192} + +On her safe arrival at Littlehampton, after crossing the Channel, a short +account of the voyage had been sent to the 'Times,' and this had reached +the numerous yachtsmen at Cowes an hour before the boat herself appeared +in front of the Club house. Therefore, the little craft required no more +introduction. My flag was my card, and I was speedily made a member of +the Club for the time being. Many old friends here greeted me, and many +new visitors came on board to congratulate, while His Royal Highness the +Commodore of the Royal Canoe Club, whose burgee flew at my mast-head, +graciously shook hands. + +While the ship carpenters at Medina Dock are making my new bowsprit, and +a hundred other things, and Mr. Ratsey is putting the last finish to my +sails, we may examine a little the upper gear of the yawl, for that has +not yet been specially noticed; but as ladies and landsmen often come on +board, who do not require a minute description of all the ropes and spars +in the Rob Roy, they can skip the rest of this chapter. + + * * * * * + +From the sketches of the yawl given in our pages, it will be seen at once +that she was under-masted and under-sailed. She could bear a spread of +canvas double of that she carried; but for safety, for handiness, and for +comfort, we must be content to sacrifice some speed. + +Therefore, it was only in a very powerful breeze that the beautiful build +and lines of the hull had anything like fair play for shewing her pace +through the water. _Then_, indeed, and when other craft were reeling +about and shipping seas, even under reefed canvas, the Rob Roy at once +asserted her position. + +We have spoken of the excellent mast already. The shrouds were of iron +rope. This is affected by heat and wet, but not so much, as cordage is. +The screw links to tighten the shrouds seldom had to be employed; a +copper rope from the truck to a shroud acted as a lightning conductor. + +The bowsprit is on the starboard side, for this allows you to use the +light hand with the chain cable in the bitts. The jib has a foot of nine +feet in stride. Its tack is on a rope round an open hook at the bowsprit +end, so that in reefing you can get it in without danger of falling +overboard while reaching out to detach it; then it is hooked on the stem. +An iron bobstay we discarded, and an iron forestay, as difficult to keep +taut; but, after trials with no bobstay at all, we found it advisable to +replace this, although it is a troublesome rope in dealing with the +anchor. + +The gunwale has an opening of half an inch, all round, and this was +enough for scuppers. + +The forehatch is thirteen inches square, so that I can readily squeeze +down into the fore-cabin. + +I painted about a foot of the chain-cable of a bright red colour, at ten +and at twenty fathoms, which was useful in telling how much ran out with +the anchor. Fenders I got in Paris, very neatly made of line net-work, +over canvas bags of cork. + +The iron sheave on the stem for the anchor-chain was large, with a high +cheek, and the comfort of this was well appreciated in weighing anchor at +night or in a swell. The jib-sheets led aft, and the position of the +cleats for these was most carefully chosen, as they are more worked than +any part of the rigging; yet this position was twice altered, and the +best place seems to be on the deck, two feet forward from your breast and +two feet to the side. + +The strain on these sheets in rough weather was greater than had been +anticipated, and at last I had to put a tackle on the port jib-sheet, as +that is the one less conveniently placed for belaying. + +The peak halyard was fast to the gaff, then through a single block on the +mast and one on the gaff, and again one aloft. The throat halyard was +fast to the mast, and through a block on the throat, and then aloft. +Both these halyards came down on the starboard side, and to separate +cleats, but I found it generally more ready to haul on the two at once +and belay them together. + +The jib-halyard had a block on the sail, and then, with the topping lift, +came down on the port side. A jib purchase I soon cut away--one learns +to be economical of action when alone. Each of these four ropes then +passed through a sheave on deck, two on each side, in an iron frame, +properly inclined to give a clear lead. {195a} + +Sisterhooks are troublesome things. Some much better plan as a +substitute has to be invented, but I used for their "mousings" +india-rubber rings, which answered perfectly well, and were easily +replaced at six for a penny. + +Stocking and re-stocking the anchor were the only operations when I felt +the want of another hand, either to do the work at the bow or to give +that one touch to the tiller at the critical moment, which an infant +could do when near it, but which is hard for a man at a distance. The +anchors were on deck, one at each side of the bitts, and fitting securely +within the gunwale. + +Two things, above all, I must try to devise for next voyage,--a cleat +that will need no bends, {195b} but hold anywhere instantly, and an +anchor-stock, self-acting in dark, rain, and wind, and without a forelock +to slip out or get jammed. + + [Picture: Dashing spray] + +The hatch of the well was in two parts, and one of them, a foot in +breadth, had chocks on each side, so that in rain and dashing spray it +was fixed up at an angle before me, and thus only my eyes were above it +exposed, and by moving my head down about one inch below the position +shewn in the sketch, I could see the compass and the chart. A tarpaulin +of one-faced india-rubber over the sloping board and under the horse, had +its loose folds round one of my shoulders to the weather side, so that +even in very rough water not much could get into the open well. + +The main-boom had a ring working between cheeks and carrying a double +block with a single block below. To reduce the long fall of the sheet I +altered the upper block to a single one; but in the first heavy weather +afterwards it was found to be too small a purchase. The force of the +wind is underrated if you reason about it in fair weather. + +The sheet block was fast to a strong, plain, copper ring, as a traveller, +and after much trouble and expense about a horse for this, trying first +an iron one, then a copper rope, and then hemp, I found that a rounded +inch bar of red iron-wood straight across and about two inches above the +bulkhead of the well, answered to perfection. {197} + +The oars were stowed one on each side of the hatch combing with blades +aft, and looms chock up to the gunwale at the bows, so as to be seldom +moved by a rush of sea along the deck, and yet one or other or both could +be instantly put into the iron crutches always kept ready shipped, and so +placed that I could row comfortably while in the well and facing the bow. +The boat-hook had its handle-end always near my right hand, and this +saved me many a run forward in awkward times. + +The tiller of iron-wood was well wedged into the rudder-head. Of course +any joggling or slackness here is like a broken front tooth, or a loose +steel pen. No plan that I heard of, or saw, or could devise yet, is +entirely satisfactory for enabling the tiller to be set fast in a moment, +at any angle, and yet to be _perfectly_ free in ordinary times. I used a +large piece of rough cork as a wedge to set the tiller, and a cord loop +at each side of the gunwale, to keep it "hard down" when going about. At +night, to stop the vibration of the rudder, I knocked in a brass wedge +between its head and the iron bushing of the rudder hole. + +Every bit of iron above water was galvanized; but this operation weakens +small pieces of iron unless it is carefully done. However, the only part +which carried away was my small anchor-stock, and this took place at the +first cast of it into the Thames. + +Such is the Rob Roy yawl, of 4 tons register, and the map (about 70 pages +farther on) shews the general course of her first sea voyage by a dotted +line, but many a long mile of zigzag had to be sailed besides. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Ducklings--Victoria Park--Yachtsmen--Cowes--Floating family--The +'Zara'--Lifeboats--Wrecked--Mop--An odd story--The law of +anchors--Experiments--The Royal yacht. + +Medina Dock is the place to see all sorts of ships and boats for steam, +sailing, or rowing, lifeboats, rafts, and models. The basin is full of +broken-backed men-of-war whose old black bones are being disjointed and +dragged asunder here to make strong knees again, just because they are +black and well seasoned. Alongside the quay we had seen the three +American yachts, which came across the Atlantic amid many English cheers +for the vessels of two hundred tons crossing from New York, while we +scarcely record the voyages of our own hundred-ton vessels that have +often sailed to Australia. + +In Mr. White's garden there are Chinese junks and catamarans afloat in a +pond, and even the walls around are not allowed to be quite of dry land, +being painted with sea soundings and charts of the neighbouring coasts. +This may indeed be called the Admiralty of the yacht fleet, and Cowes is +its Portsmouth. + +"Nauta nascitur non fit," which is in English, "British boys are +ducklings born to the water." + +Now many of these have affectionate parents not web-footed, and the +filial duty of a little duck to the motherly hen is a very difficult +question of conscience when a pond is near; but then there is no positive +need to boat, while there _is_ a positive command to obey. This ought to +solve the question with all brave loving boys, who are manly enough to +obey the woman dearest on earth to them. + +A little vessel two feet long may be called a toy ship, but it is a toy +that can teach much to an Admiral, and I should not like to have as my +comrade on a voyage the man of forty who can pass the Serpentine without +a glance at the little ragged urchin there, who is half in the water +himself while he reaches with a twig his tiny lugger after its long +voyage across the lake among ducks, and row-boats, and billows two inches +high. + +Victoria Park, again, has a feast of nauticalities now and then for boys +who love boats, when the Model Yacht Club sails its liliputian squadron +for a half-crown cup. + +The competing yachts first lie on the green grass for inspection. They +are made in "off hours" by working men, who sail as well as build them. +Wife or a school-girl daughter has sewed the sails, and the paint on the +hull is gorgeous. Crowds of all classes and ages are at the +starting-post, and when the pistol fires the cheers begin. Each +favourite in the fleet has its admirers, who run alongside, and the +Secretary alone has a grave face, as of a man on important duty. Who can +say what sailors' seedlings may be watered in that pond, and to grow up +in manhood afterwards as hearts of oak? + +And if a boy is too young, or lazy, or clumsy-fingered to make a boat for +himself, let him go along Fleet Street till he comes to the spot where he +can turn his back upon St. Dunstan's church. Depend upon it he will +cross over to the _Model Dockyard_ there, and after buttoning his jacket +over his watch-chain, and a good shove down to his pocket-handkerchief, +if he has one, let him wriggle in by elbow and knees till he gets a good +place among the crowd at the window. + +Even when it is time to go home he will not have seen half the naval +stores here, or the little sailors--from Cork--all waiting to be engaged; +but if he buys the _Illustrated Handibook_ inside from the civil shopman, +to con at home, perhaps at his next visit he may be admitted up-stairs to +a delicious treat, where he can gloat over the more hidden fleet of the +future. + +Some, perhaps many, people keep yachts who do not enjoy sailing. We have +sometimes seen a yacht-owner who could not steer his own dingey. There +are others whose chief anxiety when once on board is for their speedy +arrival at the next port. To have the best yacht of the year is no sign +of its owner being a good sailor. The horse that wins the Derby would +most likely not be first if he carried his owner, and a man may have a +good carriage who cannot himself "handle the ribbons." + +It is no discredit to anybody that he is not able to ride a race, or +steer a schooner, or drive a drag; but it is well to remember more than +we do whose is the skill that wins in each of these exercises. + +At Cowes one perceives very soon that a good deal of _yachtomania_ is fed +upon the good meat and drink afloat, and balls and promenades ashore, and +the pomp and bustle of getting from one to the other, not to forget the +brass buttons which fasten more vulgar minds to some Clubs. + +Leaving aside all these in peace, provided they play with the thing as +they have a right to do, and as openly as now, so that none can mistake +them, we have still to admire a splendid set of fellows, yes, and of +women too, who really love the sea. We know a hardy canoeist who said he +would not marry anybody unless she could "pull bow oar," and it certainly +is an addition to the family hearth when the tender help-meet can "mind +her luff." + +In the regatta week the tide of a congregation coming out of the pretty +church at Cowes is thoroughly aquatic. Fine stalwart men with handsome +faces, girls with chignons as big as a topsail bunt, yacht skippers of +bronze hue and anxious eye, well fed sailors with cerulean Jerseys, +children with hat ribbons and neckties labelled with yacht names. There +were 150 yachts on the water here, and the Rob Roy anchored close to the +Hotel, from which the sight was magnificent at night, when each +mast-light was hung, and the whole made a brilliant crescent reflected in +calm sea, while excellent music played softly on shore, and at each +half-hour the bell of every vessel tolled the time, the Rob Roy adding +her note to the jingle by so many thumps on an iron pot. + +Near the yawl was a strange little cutter of five tons, as remarkable for +the number of people on board it as mine was for having so few. There +was the grey-haired hearty papa, and when we had noticed him taking +observations with a sextant, we knew he was "a character." Then there +was his active son, and a younger brother, and a sister in bright red, +and a sailor boy. They looked even more numerous, because they kept for +ever moving out of sight, and then appearing in new costume, under and +above the awning, which like a large umbrella, was spread on their boom. + +It was a treat to lunch with this kind hale yachtsman, and to see the one +minute cabin full of mirrors, pictures, statuettes, crockery, and +furniture. To make room for the visitor two of the inhabitants ate their +share of a huge pie in the punt alongside. + +Then, to rise at once to the largest yacht of them all, there was the +beautiful 'Zara,' a schooner of 315 tons, fitted out for a Mediterranean +cruise, but making her first voyage from Cowes to Southampton, convoyed +by the Rob Roy, and as her reefing topsails and her Flemish horse got +entangled aloft by new stiff ropes, she drifted against another fine +schooner; but with cool heads and smart hands on board of each of them, +the pretty craft were softly eased away from a too rough embrace, and no +damage was done. + +About twenty of the yachts were steamers, and at least as many besides +had steam-launches, a new adjunct rapidly becoming popular, and which +soon will be almost a necessary for every yacht of 200 tons. All of +these that I saw were lifeboats, built on "Lamb and White's" principle, +that is, with air chambers along the sides, so that they decline to +upset, and if they are filled by the sea, they are not only still +floating but steady also. + +The Royal National Lifeboat Institution build boats with ballast below +and with air-chambers so disposed at the ends and in the bottom as to +cause the boat to right itself when it has been overturned, while Mr. S. +White's boats are constructed so as rather to prevent a capsize than to +right the boat afterwards. + +During an experimental trial in a heavy sea, one of these side-chamber +boats was intentionally overturned, and it then kept steadily floating +bottom upwards, so that the crew clambered up safely on the keel, where +the handles provided for the purpose enabled them to hold on. Of the +fourteen men, however, only thirteen could be counted, and so it was +found that "Jem" was missing; but when he was called, Jem answered from +the _inside_ of the boat, "All right!" "What! Are you inside?" "Yes, +I'm looking for my cap." He was safe enough in the vacant space between +the water and the floor, upturned over him, and there was room for +several more of the crew inside. + +The two rival systems then seem to represent (1) a boat which will +speedily right, of which the men, if upset, may float outside until she +rights, or may keep inside, and cling to the thwarts and trust to be soon +righted; and (2) a boat which will upset only under strongest pressure, +but the men can either stop inside, or if cast out can cling to the keel. + +To decide between the merits of these lifeboats would require actual +experiment outside and inside of each by the judge, who ought to look at +all sides of the question; but my opinion is, at present, in favour of +the side-chamber plan, for ships' boats, and of course for +steam-launches; while the evidence in favour of the other plan for pure +lifeboat service in rough water is convincing. + +Whatever may be finally settled as to the best position of the air-cases +in lifeboats--and the best men in the world for these matters are engaged +in earnest upon the subject {206}--it certainly is prudent for all who +care not to be drowned, that the boat they sail in should be so built as +not to go down bodily when a mere hole is knocked in her, and this may be +insured by dividing her into water-tight compartments. + +Some years ago I had a sharp lesson on this point. It was in Dublin Bay, +where I was sailing entirely alone in an iron cutter-yacht, very small, +yet far too large to be managed by me, then a boy. The throat parrell +suddenly broke, and the mainsail jammed at once, so that she would not +stay. Then I tried to wear ship, but the running sea poured in over the +counter at each plunge, and baling was impossible, for it ran fore and +aft. As the water got deeper inside she settled down, for she had no +compartments, and, being of iron, of course she must speedily sink. A +yacht had humanely come out, seeing my distress, and she rounded to and +dropped a boy on board me with a strong rope; but when the boy set foot +on my bows they plunged deep under water, and with a loud cry he hauled +himself back on board the other yacht. + +The captain instantly tacked and came again, and cast the rope to me, +which I fastened securely to my mast, and then got safely aboard the +preserver's vessel, while mine sunk down, but suspended still by the +rope, until we towed it into shallow water. + +This sort of thing was fully provided against in the Rob Roy by the +water-tight compartments, three in number, besides the air-chambers, so +that if she was filled in any one, she could yet sail on, and if all +three compartments had been entirely full of water, she would still float +with her air-chambers, and with five hundredweight to spare. {208} + +The buoyancy of the yawl was very remarkable. She easily carried twenty +men, and in the same space one could accommodate five ladies of +reasonable circumference. + +A boat's mop is, of course, well known to be always fair spoil to him who +can take it, and whatever other article the yachtsman leaves loose on an +unguarded deck, he never omits to hide or lock up the mop, for a mop is +winged like an umbrella, it strays, but seldom returns. The usual +protection of mops is their extreme badness, and it is on this account, +no doubt, that you never can find a good mop to buy. The Rob Roy's mop +was the only bad article on board, and I left it out loose in perfect +confidence. Often and often it had evidently been turned over, but on +examination it was found supremely bad, worse than the thief's own mop, +and not worth stealing. At last, however, and in Cowes, too, the focus +of yachting, if not of honesty, my mop was stolen. The man who took it +is to be pitied, for, clearly, before he coveted a bad mop, he must have +been long enduring a worse one. + +Nor is the property in boats' anchors quite free from the legal +subtleties which allow but a dim sort of ownership in things that are +attached to the soil. + +When, indeed, your boat is at one end of the cable, you will scarcely +fear that the anchor should be stolen from the other end. But when +necessity or convenience causes you to slip anchor and sail away, you +must recollect that though the anchor is the emblem of hope, it does not +warrant any _expectation_ that on returning you will find the anchor +acknowledged to be yours. It has now passed into the category of "found +anchors," and it is not yet decided how the rights to these are best +determined. However, I may here mention one mode of settling the matter. + +A gentleman we shall call N., sailing from a port on the Thames, had to +slip his anchor, and he said to the lad ashore--"You see I am leaving my +anchor here, and be good enough to tell your father to get it when the +tide falls, and to carry it to where my yacht is, and when I return here +to-morrow I will give him half-a-crown." + +After his sailing was over, N. came back and said to the father, "Well, +have you got my anchor?" "I have found an anchor," he answered. "Yes, +that is mine, and I told your son I would give you half-a-crown if you +brought it here." "I have found an anchor, and I'll not give it up under +five shillings," said the man; and their argument and remonstrance +gradually enveloped the subject in a hazy abstruseness, while the usual +knot of idlers listened all round. At length N. said, "Come, now, we +really must settle this matter. I'll _fight you_ as to whether I am to +pay five shillings or nothing for the anchor," and he took off his coat +and waistcoat, so it was plain he was in earnest. The other man stripped +too, a ring was formed, and after N., worsted at first, had well thrashed +his opponent, the latter gave up the anchor. Here, perhaps, we might +think the case had ended, but N. had still a point to be settled, saying +to the man, "Your bargain was not only to give up the anchor, but to +_bring it here_;" and as the fellow refused to do this, the valiant N. +cut the second discussion short by saying, "Well, then, I'll fight you +again as to who shall carry it up," and it need scarcely be said that the +anchor was not carried up by N. + +Is there any other country but England where two men can pummel each +other in hard earnest, and yet with less passion at the time, and less +grudge afterwards than often exists for years between two combatants who +battle with their tongues, or even fight with their pens and post-stamps? + +As anchors are important parts of one's equipment, I had begun early to +experiment at once with mine, and the small one had been tried once as a +kedge. With the first heave it broke off short; the stock had snapped in +the place which ought to be the strongest, but which is really made the +weakest, by the present faulty construction of anchor-stocks. The _memo_ +in my log-book was, "Invent a proper anchor;" and even at Cowes I could +not find any plan that met this need. {211} + +Before the end of my voyage, a score of minutiae as well as things of +some importance were marked as lines for great improvement, when a +nautico-mechanical brain shall be brought to bear upon them. The mental +consideration of such points afforded varied subjects for many weeks' +thought. Indeed _all_ the fittings of a sailing-boat seem open to much +improvement. Meanwhile we have laid down the large Trotman as moorings +in the Medina, while we range about the bays of the island with the +smaller anchor duly repaired. + +Of course the dingey had its Sunday voyage at Cowes, and was everywhere +received with kindness. It went to the Royal Yacht here, as it had done +to the Emperor's yacht at St. Cloud, and the sailors were grateful for +books to read, for they have plenty of time on Sundays. When I went +afterwards with my canoe to the Nile, my next neighbour at the hotel +dinner in Port Said was the owner of an English yacht, who gratefully +expressed his thanks for books given to his crew at Cowes. + +It did not appear to be the fashion at Cowes to work the crews for +pleasure sailing seven days a week; indeed, we saw only one yacht sail in +on Sunday, and she was arriving after a night's voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The life-raft--A travelled hen--Prussian adventure--American--Going +up-stairs--Portsmouth--Fair visitor--Cruises--A review--Questions. + +The 'Nonpareil' American life-raft was in Cowes after her Atlantic voyage +of forty-three days at sea. Two of her three adventurous crew were +Germans, who could speak English only imperfectly, and the third was a +Yankee. This uncomfortable voyage was undertaken partly to promote the +sale in England of these rafts, and partly to pay the three men by fees +from visitors, while they could see Europe themselves at a cheap rate. +One of Mr. White's steamers towed the raft in front of the Castle, where +the members of the Royal Yacht Squadron Club have their spacious house, +with a sea wall over the waves. + +From the accompanying sketch it will be seen that she is schooner-rigged, +and very coarsely rigged too. Gigantic flags and streamers overwhelm her +masts, but fourteen of us on her deck seemed to sink the buoyant +life-raft only an inch more in the water. + + [Picture: The raft] + +She is made of three long tubes of india-rubber blown up by bellows; and, +when the air is out, these can be packed away snugly, weighing in all +about a ton, and intended to be inflated and launched from a ship's deck +in case of disaster. A small raft in the capacity of a dingey, but +formed like the other, was towed beside her, and as a special favour I +was piloted to go away in this, which was easily worked by oars or sculls +upon outriggers. + +The men had for shelter during their long voyage only a small waterproof +tent on the deck, with a gutter round its edge to catch the rainwater, +and so to replenish their supply, kept in bags on each side, and now +handed about in glasses as "travelled liquor," to wash down biscuits, +still surplus from the "sea store." Their cooking apparatus was at first +worked by petroleum, but this speedily burned the metal out, and they +were driven to manufacture a very ramshackle sort of oil-lamp, fed by the +oil for their ship-light and their compass, and by some supplied from +passing vessels. + +Two centre-boards, like long narrow doors, placed diagonally between the +web joinings of the tubes, dipped into the water, and served as a keel, +so that when we cast her off from the steamer, the raft managed to sail a +little over to windward. The whole raft being collapsible when the air +is driven out, can be readily carried aboard ship, and for this it is +valuable, but many other and better rafts compete with this for favour. + +The actual _substratum_, or raft proper, seemed to be strong and +substantial, but the sails and gear were miserably contrived, and worse +executed, in preparation for a long dreary voyage of six weeks, drifting +in wet and weariness, which I could not but contrast with the pleasant +six weeks just passed in the Rob Roy. + +The most interesting thing on the raft was a passenger, who had come on +board her when about a thousand miles away in the sea. This was an old +hen, given to the crew by a passing vessel. It was a common brown, +dowdy, grandmother-looking hen, and in this prosaic state it was very odd +and incongruous, tethered to the deck by a bit of tarred lanyard, and +pecking away till you looked hard at it, then it cocked up one eye with +an air that said, "Why are you staring at _me_?" + +Among the visitors to the raft was a wealthy gentleman, who surveyed the +whole with interest, and at last fixed his eye upon the barn-door fowl, +and asked if it was to be sold. "Yes, sir, for a hundred guineas," was +the answer; but he deferred any immediate purchase by saying, "If I +thought that eating that hen's eggs would make me as plucky as you are, I +might buy it." As for being "plucky" in the matter, what will not men +risk for money? The risks run by many sailors in the rotten coffins that +bring our scuttles of coals round Yarmouth Sands are quite as great as +the hazard on this raft, and their forecastles are about as comfortable +as the tent upon it. If it were not on such a serious subject as risk to +human life, one might well be amused to hear the wrong estimates of the +dangers in various sorts of voyages which are so hastily expressed by +benevolent people who are ignorant of the whole matter. + +I advised the raft-men to take her to Berlin, for exhibition as "the +German raft from America," for such she is; but they persisted in their +scheme for showing her in London, where folks are already tired of +"flotsam and jetsam" from the West. Their enterprise failed; and the +poor Germans had to depart from England deep in debt instead of laden +with money, and their raft was left for sale. + +Since the 'Nonpareil,' there has come to England from America another +floating monstrosity, a boat called the 'John T. Ford,' worse "found" in +every sense than the others, and which had three men drowned on the +passage, and one nearly starved--a sad finale to the failures of the +'Henrietta,' 'Red, White, and Blue,' and 'Nonpariel,' as speculations. +Another craft came in with man and wife as crew. Finally in July, the +two Andrews came in the 'Nautilus.' + +Every day at Cowes the yawl Rob Roy was under way for a sail, and +sometimes in good breezes she would thread in and out among thickly +clustered yachts, so as to show her handiness. Certainly, without +previous practice, it would be highly improper to attempt this sort of +cruising; for the yachts, with bowsprits run out, and jiggers and +mizen-booms projecting, are at anchor here on the implied understanding +that no one will wantonly endanger a collision by sailing about in the +crowd, merely for fun. After practice, however, for weeks in the same +craft, the operation of guiding her safely through a maze of boats, and +on a strong cross-tide, becomes like the unnoticed and nearly involuntary +muscular efforts of the body which carry us safely through a crowd on +shore. I recollect once seeing some very dignified Arab Chiefs, who for +the first time in their lives had to go up-stairs, and their awkward +stumbling, even in the ascent of a few steps, showed how much our nerves +and limbs have to learn before we can do so ordinary a thing without even +a thought. + +One day the Rob Roy sailed to Portsmouth, and into all the creeks and +crannies, and through all the channels and guts she could find in that +complicated waterway, and then anchored near the 'Duke of Wellington,' +with the old 'Victory' close beside. There also was the 'Serapis,' one +of the magnificent troop-ships, of a size and build found to be the best +success of our last naval efforts. By the quay was the 'Warrior,' the +first sea-going iron-clad, and of beauty indisputable, and the celebrated +'Wyvern,' with its tripod masts. Others later made, and always more and +more stumpy and square, need a strong pressure of utilitarian conviction +to restrain us from pronouncing that they are downright ugly. But we +shall soon become reconciled, and then enamoured, of forms that are +associated with proved utility, and the grand three-decker of our youth +will look as clumsy then as the ships of Queen Elizabeth do now, which +seem to have carried, each of them, a lot of toy guns, and a country +mansion on its deck. + +The church service on board old 'Victory' was most interesting to take +part in when Sunday came round, and next day her captain came to visit us +in his well-manned gig, which, indeed, was longer than our boat, and he +said that the Rob Roy "fulfilled a dream of his youth." This from a +"swell of the ocean" was a high compliment to our little yawl. + +A boat full of boys, from the Portsmouth Ragged School, sang hymns on the +water in the lovely evening. + +Among the other remarkable visitors to the yawl was a pleasant young +lady, who sat in a very pretty boat, rowed by a trusty man. She had +hovered round and round the Rob Roy with a cautious propriety, which, +however, could not conceal a certain wistful gaze as the narrowing spiral +of her course brought her nearer at each turn. My little dingey was the +attraction, and the lady confessed boldly that she "would _so_ like to +have a boat like that to row in." Next she consented to see dinner +cooked on the Rob Roy, and--just because she was a lady--she complied +with the request not to fly away when I began to eat. Finally, as +curiosity increases by gratifying it, the good-humoured girl (with the +full consent of the trusty guardian) accepted one mouthful of the newly +cooked rations, stewed steak, on Rob Roy's fork, and then suddenly it had +become "very late, and time to join papa." + +The variety of life during a fortnight here, yet all afloat, was +abounding. One day sailing in company with other small boats up the +winding Medina, or tacking about, close-reefed, in rough water; the next +day cruising in some splendid schooner away and away towards the Needles. +Every one was kind and hospitable, and often dipping their ensigns to the +yawl. Surely we have named her cruise wrongly as "the voyage alone;" +and, indeed, I could scarcely get time in my cabin for a glance at a +paper, to see the news and doings of the land folk, bricked up ashore: +their wars and congresses and the general rasping they get for it all by +a hard squeeze in the press at the end of every week, to keep them from +forgetting their own discomforts or their neighbours' ills, for +Parliament being dispersed in vacation, there is the fourth estate to +legislate by public acclaim. + +Most remarkable it is, and commendable, and a feature only a few years +old, that the principal morning and evening papers should take up one +after another of philanthropic institutions, and even of individual +cases, and advocate them vigorously, while they spare no wrong from +censure, and freely discuss remedies, which are much harder to talk of +than any wrongs. Philanthropy is made popular by the press, and many a +good worker is cheered by this powerful help. Blessings on their type! + +But on the other hand, lest we should subside into doing good, hoping +better, and making the best of things in a practical way, the whole has +to be reviewed at the end of each week by a hard hebdomadal board, on +which a dozen clear thinkers sit aside and criticise all the rest of us. +Perhaps it is a part of the irreverence of our times that one should +gradually lose awe in the presence of this weekly printed wisdom. Or is +it that experience finds types are just as fallible as tongues for +telling truth, and that years give us hardiness even in the presence of +that most mighty, wise, and impudent of all earthworms,--man, that judges +the very God of Heaven. + +However, the brilliancy of these critics flares out and attracts, and it +ought to attract, though it need not dazzle, even if it be the brilliancy +of the electric light, warming as little, and darkening one side as much. +Their thoughts reach thousands, and without the answers: thus to +thousands they are judgments, not arguments. It is a tremendous +responsibility to wield such powers, and perhaps it is not felt by a +corporate body as each one of them would acknowledge for himself. + +It is a good sign of them, or of the age, that they should yield to man's +innate love of continuous detraction? + +Is not their own shibboleth the hardest of all, the most shifting, the +most inaudibly pronounced by themselves, if it be not a universal "No," +and yet the most rigorously insisted upon? Is there not a "cant" of the +vague and complacent denial, quite as bad as that of the too positive and +assumed belief? Will it cure the weakness of the milk-and-water they +complain of to pour in mustard and vinegar? and would not any one man, +with all these bristling points of sarcasm, dispraise, and bitterness, be +about as pleasant in social life as a porcupine? Surely this powerful +literary lever could be plied to raise heavier stones, and to settle them +in goodly order. Let others grub in the rubbish; but the leading organ +of the week could sound with a grander harmony, more pleasant, and not +less piquant if it gave rhythm to the mind of England in a forward march +against misery. + +Perhaps to write thus is too daring; for while Saturn masticates his own +offspring it is a bold child that complains to his face; but it is better +to be called rash than to be proved timid. + +Meantime we are nearing Cowes in our sail from Portsmouth, and must mind +the rocks and beacons rather than soliloquies, for this one question may +be put after all:--Is it right to moralize at all in a log-book? and will +not the reader say, that when there is not a storm in the yawl, or a +swamp, there is sure to come a sermon? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +Continental sailors--Mal de mer--Steam-launches--Punt chase--The +ladies--Fireworks--Catastrophe--Impudence--Drifting yachts--Tool +chest--Spectre ship--Where am I?--Canoe _v_. yawl--Selfish--Risk and +toil--Ridicule. + +The regatta days opened with wind and rain; but even at the best of +times, the sight of a sailing match from on shore is like that of a stag +hunt from on foot,--very pretty at the start, and then very little more +to see. It is different if you sail about among the competing yachts. +Then you feel the same tide and wind, and see the same marks and buoys, +and dread the same shoals and rocks as they do, and at every turn of +every vessel you have something to learn. + +No one can satisfactorily distribute the verdict "victor" or "vanquished" +in a sailing-match between the designer, the builder, the rigger, and the +course, the weather, the rules, the sailor of each craft, and chance; +though each of these will conduce in part to the success or failure in +every match. Still there is this advantage, that the loser can always +blame, and the winner can always praise, which of these elements he finds +most convenient. But if a sailing-match has little in it quite +intelligible, even when you see it, the account of a past regatta is well +worth keeping out of print--so be it then with this one, the best held at +Cowes for many years. + +The large crowds that attended, and their obstinate standing in heavy +rain, were in marked contrast to the phlegmatic and meagre interest of +the few French who came to the regatta at St. Cloud. But it is such +occasions that remind us of England being a land of seamen, while +continental sailors are at best of the land, except in northern nations. + +Once it was my lot to sail in a small screw-steamer along the coast of +Calabria. Of the four passengers one was a Neapolitan officer, who +embarked in full uniform; and with light tight boots and spurs, and +clanging sword, he stalked the quarter-deck, that is, he took three +steps, and was at the end, and three steps back. + +In going out of Messina I saw we should have a tough bit of sea outside, +and was soon prepared accordingly. He did not so, and the first bursting +wave wet him through in a moment, and down he went below. Some hours +afterwards I descended too, and a melancholy sight was there, with very +lugubrious sounds. + +In the cabin was a huge tub full of water, and the officer (spurs, boots, +and all) was sitting in it with his legs out of one end and his head +groaning and bellowing from the other. This was his specific for +sea-sickness, and for three days he behaved about as well as a fractious +child who sadly wants a good whipping. It is no discredit to a man to be +sea-sick. Nelson, we are told, was so far human. But it is somewhat +unmanly for an officer to whine and blubber like a baby, and yet we have +several times seen this phenomenon abroad. When we came into Naples this +lachrymose hero was again in full feather, boots, spurs, and sword, +stalking the quarter-deck as if no tub and tears had intervened. + +Some excellent rowing-matches, after the Regatta in Cowes, were varied by +a "punt chase,"--an amusement thoroughly English; when one man in a punt +is chased by four in a low-boat, who have to catch both him and his boat +within ten minutes. + +Of course his path is devious and tortuous on the water, his resort being +quick turns, while the chasers gain in speed. After numerous close +escapes he leaps into the water. Then if the pursuers catch and hold his +boat it clogs them in following him, and if they follow him while his +boat is left free, he manages to escape round some tangled mass of +shipping, and so regains his boat for a new start. + +This is the sort of thing that tries both swimming and pluck in the +water, as well as mere muscle or wind in rowing. It is to racing proper +what a hunt is to a flat race. Rowing is only one small part of boating, +and it is apt to monopolise our favour chiefly because many can row for +one that can _boat_. + +In one of these punt chases at Cowes the punter had several times plunged +into the sea, and amid shouts and cheers he was always closely followed +by one of his chasers who swam almost equally well. + +At length the brave punter swam over to the 'Alberta,' one of the Queen's +steam-yachts, which had several of the royal Princesses and others on +board, who kindly thus patronized the races, and their presence was +thoroughly appreciated by us all. The hardy sailor scaled the yacht, and +actually ran among the ladies,--who doubtless were much amused, and +indeed they tittered vastly. Then he mounted the lofty paddle-box, +closely followed by his resolute pursuer, who would not be shaken off. +With one moment of hesitation the punter took a splendid "header" into +the sea, and as he was thus descending from the paddle-box the gun filed, +showing that the ten minutes had expired. The pursuer could then, of +course, have given up the chase as done. He had lost and could not win +now. But there was still in him that fine free boldness which superadds +brave deed to stern duty, and, amid a burst of cheers, he too leaped down +into the sea. + + [Picture: The Punt Chase] + +The first diver, however, had heard the wished-for gun as he fell and so +he claimed his prize when he came up, all red and watery, and both had +well gained the applause of the spectators. + +It is not for one who has rowed fifty races with pleasure to underrate, +far less to disparage, mere rowing; but still we maintain that for the +encouragement of pure manliness, and the varied capacities useful in a +sailor's life, one punt chase is far better than ten of the others. + +The rapid introduction of steam-launches into use for our large English +yachts adds quite a new feature to every grand regatta. Here again, +however, the French navy led the way, and England follows somewhat +tardily. The French fleet at the Cherbourg review, some years ago had a +swarm of these fussy little creatures buzzing about the great anchored +iron-clads. English steam-launches were built to carry each a gun, and +so they are bluff and slow. Our Admiralty declined to allow a race +between these and the French launches in Paris, else, no doubt, the +superior speed of the French boats would have astonished John Bull. All +this has lately changed, so that launches and torpedo boats in England +can steam twenty miles an hour. + +The "voyage alone" had culminated at Cowes when the splendid exhibition +of fireworks closed the grand show of British yachting. It was a +beautiful sight those whizzing rockets speeding from wave to sky, and +scattering bright gems above to fall softly from the black heaven; those +glares of red or green that painted all the wide crescent of beauteous +hulls, and dim, tall masts with a glow of ardent colour, and the +"bouquets" of fantastic form and hue, with noise that rattled aloft, +while thousands of paled faces cheered loud below. To this day the deck +of the Rob Roy (which is now in Australia) bears marks of the fire-shower +falling quietly, gently down, but still with a red scar burned in black +at the last. + +Luggage is all on board again, and our tiny "Blue Peter" flies at the +fore, for the Rob Roy will weigh anchor now for her homeward voyage. The +Ryde Regatta was well worth seeing, and she stopped there in an uneasy +night, but we need not copy the log of another set of sailing matches. + +Thus in a fine evening, when the sun sank ruddy and the breeze blew soft, +we turned again to Brading harbour, and, just perhaps because we had come +safely once before, there was listless incaution now, as if Bembridge +reef could not be cruel on such a fine evening as this. + +Various and doubtless most true directions had been given to me as to +entering this narrow channel:--"Keep the tree in a line with the +monument; that's your mark." But when you come there and see the +monument, there are twenty trees; and which then is _the_ tree to guide +by? Here, therefore, and in mundane things on land too it is alike, the +misapprehension of a rule was worse than the chance mistake of undirected +mother-wit. A horrid crash brought us suddenly to rest; the Rob Roy had +struck on a rock. Though I was lax at the time, and lolling and lazy, +yet presence of mind remained. Down came the sails, out leaped the +anchor, and shoving, and hauling, and rowing did their best; but no, she +was firmly berthed on one of the north-west rocks. Presently a malicious +wave lifted her stern round and the rudder soon bumped on another sharp +ledge, until by sounding and patience I at last got her free, and rowed +out through a channel unconscionably narrow, and then ran the sails up, +and the yawl was safe again, sailing smoothly, with a deep sigh of +deliverance. + +A sailing-boat had put off from the shore to help, seeing the +catastrophe, but I signalled to her, "Thanks--all right now," and she +went back. + +Soon another boat that had rowed out came near, and the man in her +determined to be a _salvor_ whether or no, and leaped on board the yawl. +I made him get off to his boat; I had not invited him, nor had he asked +permission to board me. He could see it was the other man's job, and he +ought to have obeyed the signal, as the other did. Grumbling heavily, he +at length asked me to tow him in. "Well," I said, "why, yes, I will give +you a tow, though you have been very impudent." But the moment he came +near he jumped on board again, resolved "to save me," though I might +protest ever so hard. Once more, then, I bundled him into his boat, and +this time rather by deeds than words. He kept up a volley of abuse all +the way to the shore, and there I gave my yawl in charge of the first +man, who had acted right both in coming out and in going back when +signalled. A hospitable Captain R.N. offered me his moorings (as a good +bed for my yawl), and asked me to breakfast next day, which was accepted, +"subject to the wind," especially as the entertainer was of the clan +"Mac," like his guest. + +Calm night falls on the Rob Roy, in a little inland lake, profoundly +still, more quiet indeed, in respect of current, tide, or wind, or human +being than any night of the voyage. It was very difficult to turn in +below with such a moon above, and water quite unruffled. So there was a +long lean-to on propped elbows, and reverie reeled off by the yard. + +Daybreak grey, with a westerly breeze, at once dissolved the breakfast +engagement, and carried the Rob Roy to sea, with her own kettle briskly +boiling; and now we are fairly started on our voyage to the Thames again. +But the glowing sun also took its morning meal, and greedily ate up the +wind; and so the yachts from Ryde could be seen far off, looking farther +off in a misty curtain, all only drifting with the tide, while they raced +their hardest for a cup. Yet there is science and skill in drifting +well. If the skipper has no wind to show his prowess in with sails, he +must win by his knowledge of current, tide, and channel, while he seems +perhaps to be carried along helplessly. One after another the pretty +racers slowly rounded the Warner light-ship, and then each sunk back, as +it were, into the gauzy distance, until they seemed like white pearls +dotted on grey satin, and the Rob Roy was alone again, while the fog +thickened more. Land was shut out, then sky, then every single thing, +and the glazed sea seemed to stiffen as if it had set flat and smooth for +ever. + +To know that this state of thing was to last for hours would make it +intolerable, but the expectancy of every moment buoys up the mind in +hope, and every past moment is buried as you reach thus forward to the +next coming. + +Then the inexorable tide turned dead against me, and down went my anchor; +for, at any rate, we must not be floated backwards. Tool-chest opened, +and hammer and saw are instantly at work, for there are still "things to +be done" on board, and when all improvements shall have been completed +then vacant hours like these will be tedious enough; but never fear, +there is no finality in a sailing-boat, if the brain keeps inventing and +the fingers respond. + +Out of the thick creamy fog a huge object slowly loomed, with a grand air +of majesty, and a low but strenuous sound as it came nearer and clearer +to eye and ear. It was an enormous Atlantic Steamer, and it went +circling round and round in ample bends, but never too far to be +unexpected again. Sometimes her great paddles moved with a measured +plash, but slow, until she dissolved before my eyes into a faded vision. +Again, when hidden, there would still come a deep moaning from her hoarse +fog-whistle out of the impenetrable whiteness, and she again towered up +suddenly behind, ever wheeling, gliding on, vapour and water so +commingled that you could not say she floated, but was somehow faintly +present like the dim picture on a canvas screen from a magic lantern half +in focus. She was searching in the fog for the 'Nab' light-ship, thence +to take new bearings and cleave the mist in a straight course at +half-speed for Southampton. When she found the 'Nab' she vanished +finally, and I was glad and sorry she was gone. + +After long waiting, the faintest zephyr now at last dallied with my light +flag for a minute, and the anchor was instantly raised. A schooner, also +outward bound, soon gently burst its way through the cloudy barrier, and +I tried to follow her, but she too melted into dimness, and left me in a +noiseless, sightless vacancy, except when the distant gong of the +light-ship told that they also had a fog there. + +How did the ancients by any possibility manage to sail in a fog without a +compass? In those days, too, they had no charts; yes, and there was no +"Wreck chart," to tell at the year's end all the havoc strewn at the +bottom of the sea. + +Well, we sailed on and on, always seeming to sail on into pure +cotton-wool, which blushed a little with an evening tint as the sun tired +down, and so here was a long day told off and ending; but where exactly +am I now as darkness falls? + +You will say, "Why, the chart tells that, of course;" and so it does, if +you have anything like sure reckoning to indicate what part of the mazy +groups of figures on it to look for as your probable place; otherwise a +dozen different places in it will all suit your soundings, and eleven of +them are wrong. + +Consider the _data_, for our calculation. The Rob Roy had been carried +by two tides; one this way, the other that. She had sailed on three +different tacks, that is, in various angular directions, and with +different speeds, and these complicating forces had acted for times very +uncertain. Where is she now? an all-important question for settling the +start point in a night cruise, and on a dangerous coast. + +The last time I was sailing in fog was on the Baltic, in my canoe, where, +just at the nick of time, a look-out man was descried on a high ladder +far overlooking the low rocky islands of the Swedish coast, and he +speedily showed me that my bow was then pointed exactly wrong for the +desired haven. + +This may be the time, perhaps, to compare the canoe voyages with the yawl +cruise, even if we cannot settle the question so often put to me, "Which +was the most agreeable?" + +A canoe voyage can be enjoyed by several men, each in a separate boat, +and yet all in a combined party; that is, with distinct responsibility +but united companionship. The yawl cruise devolves both toil and care on +one alone, but he also has all the pleasure, and so it might be +pronounced at once to be more _selfish_ than the other voyage. But after +a score of tours, in large and small parties, I see that selfishness is +quite independent of the number concerned. A man who is pleasing his +wife or his children in a tour I do not count at all; for everything that +delights or benefits _them_ is of course a pleasure to _him_. Or again, +he may journey with ten companions, and his travelling circle will indeed +be larger, but the centre of it may be after all the same. + +Of the thousand tourists who rush out over the Continent each summer +there is little check on selfishness by meeting people in trains, +steamers, and hotels for a temporary acquaintance which is speedily +dissolved as soon as the interests or the likings of the companions are +not coincident. + +Unselfishness appears to consist in doing good when it is not exactly +pleasant to do it, and to people who are not in our own groove, or in +"our set," but like the people invited in the feast prescribed by Christ, +and for whom we work as a duty, whether it is immediately agreeable or +not. It is giving up our own will to God's command and obeying this +ungrudgingly: and yet our own pleasure may be most in giving others +pleasure, and we can be lavish of labour for others while we are selfish +at the core. Thus it seems to be very difficult ever to be unselfish in +the sense that it is often absurdly insisted upon; namely, that others +are everything and yourself nothing. Nevertheless, after all casuistry, +we know what is _meant_ by "selfish," as an undue regard. But the result +of an action is to be looked at, and it does not become selfish because +we alone do one part of it. A man who steps out from a crowd to pluck +flowers alone on the edge of the cliff may bring back a bouquet that will +give fragrant pleasure to them all, while another who stays in the group +of gatherers may gather none at all or may be very selfish about his +handful. Our lonely labour may, in fact, be useful for other people in +the end. + +The anxieties of the canoe trip are more varied and less heavy than in a +sailing cruise. + +In the yawl I was always sure of food and lodging, but then in the canoe +one does not fear wind, wave, calm, and fog; for, at any rate, one can at +the worst take the canoe ashore. The risk of a total loss of the canoe +is only fifteen pounds gone, but the other shipwreck risks ten times as +much, and whereas each canoe danger can usually be avoided, those met in +sailing at sea are often to be encountered without any escape. + +The physical endurance required in a canoe is more under control of a +previous arrangement. The muscular exertion with the paddle is generally +voluntary, while that in the yawl was often hardest when one wanted most +to rest. You need scarcely be forced, in canoeing, to go on two days and +two nights without sleep, as will presently be seen was my fate in the +yawl. + +The scenery in traversing land and water in a canoe is of course more +varied than in sailing always at sea, but the perils of the deep have a +grandeur and wideness that seem to rouse far more the inner soul and with +more profound emotions. The thoughts during a night storm at sea are of +a higher strain than those in passing the rapids in a river. + +Finally, there is at first a sense of incongruity in the appearance of a +canoe when in a cart, on a train, or in a house, and you have often to +meet an inexplicable but evident _smile_ at the whole affair, which +perhaps comes from pity, certainly from ignorance, and it may be from +contempt; whereas a sailing-boat crossing the deep is doing what people +in ports and ships know very well about, and if your boat keeps on doing +it successfully they cannot despise the deed because the boat that does +it is small. A man who comes to the "meet" on a little pony will not be +laughed at if he is always well in at the death. + +Perhaps the voyage alone in a yawl will not be so often repeated by other +people as that in a canoe, but this last manner of touring became popular +at once. + +One of the members of the Royal Canoe Club (The late Hon. J. Gordon), a +distinguished University oar and Wimbledon Prizeman, sailed {240} at +night across the Channel from Dover to Boulogne, paddled through France +and sailed to Marseilles, and thence from Nice to Genoa, through the +Italian lakes, the Swiss lakes, and by the Reuss to the Rhine home again. +A second coasted along England, and paddled across the Channel from the +French side in a 'Rob Roy' made with his own hands. A third crossed from +Scotland to Ireland in his 'Rob Roy.' A critic complacently denied, a +few months before these voyages, that a canoe could cross a bay eight +miles wide. The canoes of our Members have paddled over thousands of +miles in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, including China and Japan, +besides cruises in Australia, New Zealand, and many groups of islands far +away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Bedtime--A trance--Thunderings--Chart--Light dims--Night flies--First +running--Newhaven--On the gridiron--Mr. Smith--Tumbledown +walls--Derelict. + +"Where is the yawl now?" was the question we had asked in the fog, and +the natural answer was--that the chart would tell, of course. So let us +look at the small slice of chart copied on page 245, which is crammed, +you see, with figures of soundings, and names of banks, buoys, and +beacons; but the only thing to be seen on the actual horizon around us, +is the Owers light behind, and about N.W. in its bearing. The tide will +soon turn against our progress towards the east, therefore we tack +towards shore, so as to be within anchorage soundings should it become +needful to stop, for the wind has just changed rather suspiciously, and +we can even hear the sound of the drums at Portsmouth as they beat the +taptoo. A few bright meteors shoot athwart the heavens above, reminding +us that this is one of their usual epochs--the 14th of August. + +Now we are in ten fathoms by the lead, and we must anchor here, for the +tide has fully turned and the wind has lulled, and perhaps it will do to +sleep for six hours now before going on again. + +The beautiful phosphorescence of the sea on this occasion was an +attractive sight, and I could follow the line of my hemp cable by the +gleam of silver light which enfolded it with a gradually softened +radiance from the surface of the sea, down--down to an unseen depth, +where, in sooth, it was dark enough. {242} + +The gentle motion of riding with a chain-cable is quite in contrast to +that when anchored by a rope; for this latter will jerk and pull, while +the heavier chain, laid in a drooping curve, acts as a constant spring +that eases and cushions every rude blow. + +I intended to start again with any freshening breeze, and to get into +Littlehampton for the night; therefore the small anchor and the hemp +cable were used so as to be more ready for instant departure, and well it +was thus. + +Time sped slowly between looking at my watch to know the tide change, and +dozing as I lay in the cabin--the dingey being of course astern; until in +the middle of the night, lapsing through many dreams, I had glided into +that delicious state when you dream that you are dreaming. On a sudden, +and without any seeming cause, I felt perfectly awake, and yet in a sort +of trance, and lying still a time, seeking what could possibly have +awakened me thus. Then there came through the dark a peal of thunder, +long, and loud, and glorious. + +How changed the scene to look upon! No light to be seen from the Owers +now, but a flash from above and then darkness, and soon a grand rolling +of the same majestic, deep-toned roar. + +Now I must prepare for wind. On with the life-belt, close the hatches, +loose the mainsail, and double reef it, and reef the jib. Off with the +mizen and set the storm-sail, and now haul up the anchor while yet there +is time; and there was scarcely time before a rattling breeze got up, and +waves rose too, and rain came down as we sailed off south to the open sea +for room. Sea room is the sailor's want: the land is what he fears more +than the water. + +We were soon fast spinning along, and the breeze brushed all the haze +away, but the night was very dark, and the rain made it hard to see. Now +and then the thunder swallowed all other sounds, as the wild cries in the +desert are silenced by the lion's roar. + +Sometimes there was an arch shining above as the flashes leaped across +the upper clouds, and then a sharp upright prong of forked lightning +darted straight down between, while rain was driven along by the wind, +and salt foam dashed up from the waves. It seemed like an earthly +version of that heavenly vision which was beheld in Patmos by the beloved +John:--"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the +voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings." {244} + +How well our English word "thunder" suits the meaning in its sound, far +better than _tonnerre_ or _tonitru_! + +In the dark, a cutter dashed by me, crossing the yawl's bows, just as the +lightning played on us both. It had no ship-light up, shameful to say. +I shouted out, "Going south?" and they answered, "Yes; come along off +that shore." + + [Picture: The Owers chart] + +From the bit of chart here copied (covering only a few miles) it will be +understood what kind of shore we had to avoid. There was quite water +enough for our shallow craft, but it was the twisting of currents and +tides that made the danger here. + +The breeze now turned west, then south, and every other way, and it was +exceedingly perplexing to know at once what to do in each case, +especially as the waves became short and snappish under this pressure +from different sides, and yet my compass quietly pointed right, with a +soft radiance shining from it, and my mast-light in a brighter glow +gleamed from behind me {246} on the white crest of the waves. + +At one time a heavy squall roughened the dark water, and taxed all my +powers to work the little yawl; but whenever a lull came, or a chance of +getting on my proper course again, I bent round to "East by North," +determined to make way in that direction. + +In the middle of the night my compass lamp began to glimmer faint, and it +was soon evident that the flame must go out. Here was a discomfort: the +wind veered so much that its direction would be utterly fallacious as a +guide to steer by, and this uncertainty might continue until the +lightning ceased. Therefore, at all hazards, we must light up the +compass again. So I took down the ship-light from the mizen shroud, and +held it between my knees that it might shine on the needle, and it was +curious how much warmth came from this lantern. Then I managed to get a +candle, and cut a piece off, and rigged it up with paper inside the +binnacle. This answered for about ten minutes, but finding it was again +flickering, I opened the tin door, and found all the candle had melted +into bright liquid oil; so this makeshift was a failure. However, +another candle was cut, and the door being left open to keep it cool, +with this lame light I worked on bravely, but very determined for the +rest of my sailing days to have the oil bottle always accessible. +Finally the wind blew out the candle, though it was very much sheltered, +and the ship-light almost at the same time also went out suddenly. Then +we lay to, backed the jib, opened the cabin hatch, got out the oil, +thoroughly cleaned the lamp, put in a new wick, and lighted it afresh, +and a new candle in the ship's light; again we started all right once +more, with that self-gratulation at doing all this successfully,--under +such circumstances of wind, sea, and rain,--which perhaps was not more +than due. + +What with these things, and reefing several times, and cooking at +intervals, there was so much to do and so much to think about during the +night that the hours passed quickly, and at last some stray streaks of +dawn (escaped before their time perhaps) lighted up a cloud or two above, +and then a few wave-tops below, and soon gave a general grey tint to all +around, until by imperceptible but sure advance of clearness, the vague +horizon seemed to split into land and water, and happily then it was seen +plainly that the Rob Roy had not lost way in the dark. + +As soon as there was light enough to read we began to study Shoreham in +the Pilot book, and neared it the while in the water; but though now +opposite the Brighton coast, it was yet too faraway to make out any town, +for we had stood well out to sea in the thunderstorm. All tiredness +passed off with the fresh morning air, and the breeze was now so strong +that progress was steady and swift. + +It may be remarked how a coast often appears quite different when you are +fifteen or twenty miles out to sea, from what it does when you stand on +the beach, or look from a row-boat close to the land. So now we were +puzzled to find out Brighton, one's own familiar Brighton, with its dull +half-sided street, neither town nor bathing-town, its beach unwalkable, +and all its sights and glories done in a day. We might well be ashamed +not to recognise at once the contour of the hills, which we had so often +trudged over in column or in skirmish in the Volunteer Reviews. + +The chain-pier was, of course, hardly discernible at a great distance. +But the "Grand Hotel" at last asserted itself as a black cubical speck in +the binocular field, and then we made straight for that; Shoreham being +gradually voted a bore, to be passed by, and Newhaven adopted as the new +goal for the day. + +We had shaken out all reefs, and now tore along at full speed, with the +spray-drift sparkling in the sun, and a frolicsome jubilant sea. The +delights of going fast when the water is deep and the wind is strong--ah! +these never can be rightly described, nor the exulting bound with which +your vessel springs through a buoyant wave, and the thrill of nerve that +tells in the sailor's heart, "Well, after all, sailing is a pleasure +supreme." + +Numerous fishing-vessels now came out, with their black tanned sails and +strong bluff bows and hardy-looking crews, who all hailed me cheerily +when they were near enough, and often came near to see. Fast the yawl +sped along the white chalk cliffs, and my chart in its glazed frame did +excellent service now, for the wind and sea rose more again; and at +length, when we came near the last headland for Newhaven, we lowered the +mainsail and steadily ran under mizen and jib. Newhaven came in sight, +deeply embayed under the magnificent cliff, which, at other times I could +have gazed on for an hour, admiring the grand dashing of the waves, but +we had to hoist mainsail again, so as to get in before the tide would set +out strongly, and so increase every minute the sea at the harbour's +mouth. + +It was more than exciting to enter here with such waves running. Rain, +too, came on, just as the Rob Roy dashed into the first three rollers, +and they were big and green, and washed her well from stem right on to +stern, but none entered farther. The bright yellow hue of the waves on +one side of the pier made me half afraid that it was shallow there, and, +hesitating to pass, I signalled to some men near the pier-head as to +which way to go, but they were only visitors. The tide ran strongly out, +dead in my teeth, yet the wind took me powerfully through it all, and +then instantly, even before we had rounded into quiet water, the +inquisitive uncommunicative spectators roared out, "Where are you from?" +"What's your name?" and all such stupid things to say to a man whose +whole mind in a time like this has to be on sail and sea and tiller. +{250} + +During this passage from the Isle of Wight I had noticed now and then, +when the waves tossed more than usual, that a dull, heavy, thumping sound +was heard aboard the yawl, and gradually I concluded that her iron keel +had been broken by the rock at Bembridge, and that it was swinging free +below my boat. This idea increased my anxiety to get in safely; and to +make sure of the matter we took the Rob Roy at once to the "gridiron," +and laid her alongside a screw-steamer which had been out during the +night, and had run on a rock in the dark thunderstorm. The "baulks" or +beams of the gridiron under water were very far apart, and we had much +difficulty in placing the yawl so as to settle down on two of them, but +the crew of the steamer helped me well, and all the more readily, as I +had given them books at Dieppe, a gift they did not now forget. + +Just as the ebbing tide had lowered the yawl fairly on the baulks, +another steamer came in from France, crowded with passengers, and the +waves of her swell lifted my poor little boat off her position, and +rudely fixed her upon only one baulk, from which it was not possible to +move her; therefore, when the tide descended she was hung up askew in a +ludicrous position of extreme discomfort to her weary bones; but when I +went outside to examine below, there was nothing whatever amiss, and +gladness for this outweighed all other troubles, and left me quite ready +for a good sleep at night. + +For this purpose we rowed the yawl into a quiet little river, and lashed +her alongside a neat schooner, whose captain and wife and children and +their little dog 'Lady' were soon great friends, for they were courteous +people, as might be expected in a respectable vessel; it is generally so. + +Now the Rob Roy settled into soft mud for a good rest of three days, and +I went to the Inn where "Mr. Smith" landed from France in 1848, after he +had given up being King Louis Philippe. + +The Inn traded upon this fact, and it had other peculiarities--very bad +chops, worse tea, no public room, and a very deaf waitress! the whole +sufficiently uncomfortable to justify my complaint, and it must be a very +bad inn indeed that is not comfortable enough for _me_. + +Here I was soon accosted by a reader of canoe books, and next day we +inspected the oyster-beds, and a curious corn-mill driven by tide-water +confined in a basin--one of the few mills worked by the power of the +moon. Also we wandered over the new sea fortifications, which are built +and hewed by our Government one week, and the week afterwards if there +comes a shower of rain they tumble down again. This is the case, at any +rate, with the Newhaven fortress, and we must only hope that an invading +army will not attack the place during the wrong week. + +Three steamers in a day, all crowded with Exhibition passengers, that was +a large traffic for a small port like Newhaven; but it did not raise the +price of anything except ham sandwiches, and I bought my supplies of eggs +and butter and bread, and walked off with them all, as usual, to the +extreme astonishment of an aristocratic shop-woman. + +In crossing a viaduct my straw hat blew off into a deep hole among mud, +and I asked a boy to fetch it. The little fellow was a true Briton. He +put down his bundle, laboriously built a bridge of stones, and at +imminent risk of a regular mud-bath, at length clasped the hat. His +pluck was so admirable, that he had a shilling as a reward, which, be it +observed, was half the price of the hat itself two months before, a "No. +2" hat, useful to shop in. + +This incident put an end to quiet repose, for the boy-life of the town +was soon stirred to its lowest depth, and all youngsters with any spirit +of gain trooped down to the yawl, waiting off and on for the next day +also, in hopes of another mishap as a chance of luck to them. + +The dingey too had its usual meed of applause; but one rough mariner was +so vociferous in deriding its minuteness, that at last I promised him a +sovereign if he could catch me, and he might take any boat in the port. +At first he was all for the match, and began to strip and prepare, but +his ardour cooled, and his abuse also subsided. + +Many Colchester boats were here, nearly all of them well "found," and +with civil crews, who were exceedingly grateful for books to read on the +Sunday, and, resting among them, was a little yacht of five tons, which +had been sent out with only one man to take her from Dover to Ryde. Poor +fellow! he had lost his way at night and was unable to keep awake, until +at last two fishermen fell in with the derelict and brought him in here, +hungry and amazed; but I regarded him with a good deal of interest as +rather in my line of life, and I quite understood his drowsy feelings +when staring at the compass in the black, whistling rain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +Tide waiter--Beachy Head--Night Ghost--Man overboard--Ship +ahoy!--Overfalls--Thoughts--Thunder--A question--Day--Good-bye, +dingey!--Dungeness--A nap. + +The barometer mounted steadily all Sunday, so we resolved to start next +morning at break of day. But though the night was quiet the vessels near +my berth were also getting ready, therefore at last I gave up all hopes +of sleep, and for company's sake got ready also after midnight, that we +might have all the tide possible for going round Beachy Head, which, once +passed, we could find easy ports all the way to London. So about two +o'clock, in the dark, we are rowing out again on the ebbing tide, and the +water at the pier-head looks placid now compared with the boiling and +dashing it made there when the yawl passed in before. + +Dawn broke an hour afterwards with a dank and silent mist skirting up +far-away hills, and a gentle east wind faintly breathing as our tea-cup +smoked fragrant on deck. The young breeze was only playful yet, so we +anchored, waiting for it to rise in earnest or the tide to slacken, as +both of them were now contrary; and meantime we rested some hours +preparing for a long spell of unknown work; but I could not sleep in such +a lovely daybreak, not having that most valuable capacity of being able +to sleep when it is wanted for coming work, and not for labour past. + +The east wind baffled the yawl and a whole fleet of vessels, all of us +trying to do the same thing, namely, to arrive at Beachy Head before two +o'clock in the day; for, if this could be managed, we should there find +the tide ebbing eastwards, and so get twelve hours of current in our +favour. + +This feature--the division of the tides there--makes Beachy Head a +well-marked point in the navigation of the Channel. The stream from the +North Sea meets the other from the Atlantic here, and here also they +begin to separate. After beating, in downright sailing, one after +another of the schooners and brigs and barques in company, I saw at last +with real regret that not one of us could reach the point in time, and +yet the yawl got there only a few minutes too late; but it was dead calm, +and I even rowed her on to gain the last little mile. + +One after another the vessels gave it up, and each cast anchor. Coming +to a pilot steamer, I hailed: "Shall I be able to do it?" "No, sir," +they said; "no,--very sorry for you, sir; you've worked hard, sir, but +you're ten minutes too late." Within that time the tide had turned +against us. We had not crossed the line of division, and so the yawl had +to be turned towards shore to anchor there, and to wait the tide until +nine o'clock at night, unless a breeze came sooner. + +After three hours' work she reached the desired six fathoms' patch of +sand, just under the noble white cliff that rears its head aloft about +600 feet, standing ever as a giant wall, sheer, upright, out of the sea. + +Dinner done and everything set right (for this is best policy always), I +slipped into my cabin and tried to sleep as the sun went down, but a +little land-breeze soon began, and every now and then my head was raised +to see how tide or wind progressed. Then I must have fallen once into a +mild nap, and perhaps a dream, for sudden and strong a rough hand seemed +to shake the boat, and, on my leaping up, there glanced forth a brilliant +flash of lightning that soon put everybody on the _qui vive_. + +Now was heard the clink of distant cables, as I raised mine also in the +dark, with only the bright shine of the lighthouse like a keen and +full-opened eye gazing down from the cliff overhead. + +Compass lighted, ship-lantern fixed, a reef in each sail, and, with a +moment's thought of the very similar events that had passed only a few +nights ago, we steered right south, away, away to the open sea. + +It was black enough all around; but yet the strong wind expected after +thunder had not come, and we edged away eastward, doubly watchful, +however, of the dark, for the crowd of vessels here was the real danger, +and not the sea. + +Look at the ghost of Rob Roy flitting on the white sail as the lamp +shines brightly. Down comes the rain, and with it flash after flash, +peal upon peal of roaring thunder, and the grandeur of the scene is +unspeakable. The wind changed every few minutes, and vessels and boats +and steamers whirled past like visions, often much too near to be +welcome. + + [Picture: Beachy Head Ghost] + +A white dazzling gleam of forked lightning cleaves the darkness, and +behold! a huge vessel close at hand, but hitherto unseen, lofty and +full-sailed, and for a moment black against the instant of light, and +then utterly lost again. The plashing of rain hissed in the sea, and a +voice would come out of the unseen--"Port, you lubber!" The ship, or +whatever it is, has no lights at all, though on board it they can see +mine. Ah, it's no use peering forward to discover on which side is the +new danger; for when your eye has gazed for a time at the lighted compass +it is powerless for half a minute to see in the dark space forward; or, +again, if you stare into the blackness to scan the faintest glimmer of a +sail ahead, then for some time after you cannot see the compass when +looking at it dazzled. This difficulty in sailing alone is the only one +we felt to be quite insuperable. + +Again a steam whistle shrieked amid the thunder, and two eyes glared out +of the formless vapour and rain--the red and the green lights, the +signals that showed where she was steaming to. There was shouting from +her deck as she kept rounding and backing, no doubt for a man overboard. +As we slewed to starboard to avoid her, another black form loomed close +on the right; and what with wind, rain, thunder, and ships, there was +everything to confuse just when there was every need of cool decision. + +It would be difficult for me to exaggerate the impressive spectacle that +passed along on the dark background of this night. To shew what others +thought, we may quote the following paragraph from the 'Pall Mall +Gazette' of next day, the 20th of August: {260}-- + + "The storm which raged in London through the whole of last night was + beyond question by far the most severe and protracted which has + occurred for many years. It began at half-past eight o'clock, after + a day of intense heat, which increased as the evening advanced, + though it never reached the sultriness which was remarked before the + storm of last week. The first peal of thunder was heard about nine, + and from that time till after five this morning it never ceased for + more than a few minutes, while the lightning may be said to have been + absolutely continuous. Its vivid character was something quite + unusual in the storms of recent summers, and the thunder by which it + was often instantaneously followed can only be described as terrific. + The storm reached its greatest violence between two and three + o'clock, when a smart gale of wind sprang up, and for about ten + minutes the tempest was really awful." + +We had noticed some rockets sent up from Eastbourne earlier in the +evening; probably these were fireworks at a _fete_ there, but the rain +must have soon drowned the gala. Certainly it closed up my view of all +other lights but the lightning, though sometimes a shining line appeared +for a moment in the distance, perhaps from Hastings; and at one time the +moon came out red and full, and exactly at the top of a vessel's lofty +sails. One steamer had puzzled me much by its keeping nearly still. +This drifted close up at last, and they called out, "Ahoy, there!--are +you a fishing boat?" They wanted to know their bearings, as the current +and shifting wind made the position of Beachy Head quite uncertain in the +dark. {261} I replied to their hail--"No, I'm the yacht Rob Roy, crew of +one man; don't you see my white sails?" and they answered--"See? why, who +can see to-night?" + +Sometimes a sudden and dead lull came with an ominous meaning, and then +the loud hissing of rain could be heard advancing to us in the dark till +it poured on the yawl in sheets of water, and the mere dripping from the +peak of my sou'wester was enough to obscure vision. + +And yet, after a few hours of the turmoil and excitement, this state of +things became quite as it were _natural_, so soon does one get accustomed +to any circumstances, however strange at first. I even cooked hot tea; +it was something to do, as well as to drink, and singing and whistling +also beguiled the dark hours of eager, strained matching. In a lighter +moment, once a great lumbering sloop sailed near, and we hailed her +loudly, "How's the wind going to be?"--for the wind kept ever changing +(but the thunder and lightning were going on still). A gruff voice +answered, "Can't say; who _can_ say--night--this sort--think it'll settle +east." This was bad news for me, but it did not come true. The sloop's +skipper wished for an east wind, and so he expected it. + +A stranger sound than any before now forced attention as it rapidly +neared us, and soon the sea was white around with boiling, babbling +little waves--what could it be? Instantly I sounded with the lead, but +there was no bottom--we were not driving on shore--it was one of the +"overfalls" or "ripples" we have mentioned before where a turbid sea is +raised in deep water by some far-down precipice under the waves. + +The important question at once arose as to which of the "overfalls" on my +chart this could be--the one marked as only a mile from Beachy Head, or +the other ten miles further on. Have we been turning and wheeling about +all this dreary night in only a few square miles of sea, or have we +attained the eastern tide, and so are now running fast on our course? + +The incessant and irksome pitching and rolling which the overfalls +caused, might be patiently borne, if only we could be assured that the +yawl progressed. But all was still left in doubt. + +So sped the storm for eight long hours, with splendours for the eye, and +dark long thrills of the sublime, that stirred deep the whole inner being +with feelings vivid and strong, and loosed the most secret folds of +consciousness with thoughts I had never felt before, and perhaps shall +never know again. The mind conjured up the most telling scenes it had +known of "alone" and of "thunder," to compare with this where both were +now combined. + +To stand on the top of Mont Blanc, that round white icicle highest in +Europe, and all alone to gaze on a hundred peaks around--that was indeed +impressive. + +More so was it to kneel alone at the edge of Etna, and to fill the mind +from the smoking water with thoughts and fancies teeming out of the hot, +black, and wide abyss. + + [Picture: Map of English Channel] + +Thunder and lightning, also, in the crater of Vesuvius we had wondered at +before; and it had been grander still, when the flashes lighted up +Niagara pouring out its foam that glistened for a moment dazzling white +and then vanished, while the thundering heavens sounded louder than the +heavy torrent tumbling into the dark. But here, in my yawl on the sea, +was more splendid than these. Imagination painted its own free picture +on a black and boundless background of mind strung tight by near danger; +and from out this spoke the deep loud diapason, while the quick flashing +at intervals gave point to all. Then that glorious anthem came to my +memory, where these words of the 18th Psalm are nobly rendered:-- + + "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under His feet. + + "He rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, He did fly upon the wings of + the wind. + + "He made darkness His secret place; the pavilion round about Him was + dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. + + "The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His + voice: hailstones and coals of fire. + + "Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the + world were discovered: at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the + breath of Thy nostrils. + + "He sent down from above, He took me, He drew me up out of many + waters." + +The sensations were prolonged enough to be analyzed and reasoned upon, +and it was a difficult question which cannot yet be answered--"Would I +willingly have all this over again?" Lying on a sofa in a comfortable +room, I would not go out to this scene; but in a boat, if all this began +again, I certainly would not go ashore to avoid its discomforts and lose +its grandeurs. + +The profound uncertainty as to what was to come next moment being one of +the most exciting features of the occasion; perhaps the whole scene would +be tamed sadly by a mere repetition; but one sentiment was dominant over +all at the time, that I had lived a long year in a night. + +Soon after four o'clock, there suddenly stretched out what seemed to be a +reef of breakers for miles under the sullen rain-clouds, and, with +instant attention, the yawl was put about to avoid them. + +This extraordinary optical illusion was the dawn opening on the coast, +then actually ten miles away, and in a very few minutes, as the cloud +lifted, the land seemed to rush off to its proper distance, until at last +the curtain split in two, and I found to my intense delight that in the +night we had crossed the bay! + +Now came joyous sounds from our moist crew--"Hurrah for the day! Pipe +all hands to breakfast--slack out the mainsheet, here's the west wind;" +and up rose the sun, well washed by the torrents of rain. + +An elaborate _friture_ of my last three eggs was soon cooked to +perfection, and I held the frying-pan over the side, while it drained +through a fork; when, alas! there came a heavy lurch of the boat, and all +the well-deserved breakfast was pitched into the sea, with a mild but +deep-meant "Oh, how provoking!" from the hapless, hungry, lonely sailor. +Shame that, preserved through such dangers, we should murmur at an omelet +the less! But this tyrant stomach exacts more, and thanks less, than all +the body besides. + +Hastings was soon passed, and we skirted the cliffs towards Rye. I had +written to the harbourmaster {267} here to send out a boat if he saw my +craft (enclosing him a sketch of it), as the entrance to that harbour +seemed to be very difficult by the chart. + +But the breeze was fresh and invigorating, and though sadly needing sleep +after two nights without any, the idea of going to bed while such a fine +breeze blew seemed preposterous, and Rye was soon left in the rear. + +From this place a very low flat tongue of land stretches along in the +strangest way, until at its end is the lighthouse of Dungeness. Martello +towers are on the shore, but for miles outside of this, the nearest beach +is all one can see; and therefore the tall lighthouse, viewed even +through the glass, looked only like a small grey speck on the waves, +without any land whatever between. About midday the yawl neared this +very remarkable beacon, which is painted red and white; strong, lofty, +and firm set on a cape of pure gravel, with here and there a house, not +visible at all until you come close. + +A heavy sea was here, and it was more and more as we came quite near the +cape; until one fine bold wave, following our little craft, actually cast +the dingey (then towing astern) right upon the deck of the yawl, and +dealt me a severe stroke on the back, by which I was cast forward, and +then an awkward thump on the head by which I was stunned. {268} +Recovering again just in time, I saw another wave send the dingey once +more on board with a crash, and splinters flew up, so we thought she was +smashed, but it was the jigger-boom that was broken by the collision. +The very next billow broke the dingey's painter of strong canoe rope, but +much worn. Away floated the tiny cockleshell, and it was very soon hid +in the trough of the sea. + +"Down with the helm!"--"Haul the sheet!"--"Slack the jib!" and we gave +chase in great glee, and catching her soon with the boat-hook, we quickly +pulled the dingey on board, and lashed her securely down to the deck, an +arrangement that answered well. + +One of the great delights of real sailing is the large variety of +incident that comes. Mere sitting in a yacht, while others have all the +work in a breeze, and all the responsibility, is no pleasure to me; nay, +I confess frankly, it is a "bore." + +Once round Dungeness, we could see Folkestone and Dover cliffs; and after +a few minutes of rest, to put all in readiness for a fast run before the +wind, we steered straight for Dover pier. + +The breeze freshened so much that the mizen had to be lowered, and as the +wind was now favourable, the only thing to beware of was falling asleep; +in which case the boom might jibe (swing-over from one side to the other) +with great force, and if it hit me on the head, then I should certainly +have either a very short nap or a _very long one_. {270} + +Dover pier was, we must say, welcome to see. Often at other times we had +intentionally lengthened the day's journey, in arriving near a +destination sooner than it was absolutely necessary to stop the pleasure +of sailing, but now we ran into Dover as fast as the flying wind would +speed us. + +The friends who greeted the Rob Roy here knew her well from a long way +off, as she danced lightly over the sea; for hence had we started months +ago, and here was, in one sense, the end of my voyage, as Ulysses said +when he came alone from his raft. + + "And now two nights, and now two days were past, + Since wide I wandered on the wat'ry waste; + Heaved on the surge with intermitting breath, + And hourly panting in the arms of death." + + _Pope's_ 'Odyssey,' Book V. + + "Then first my eyes, by watchful toils opprest, + Complied to take the balmy gifts of rest; + Then first my hands did from the rudder part, + So much the love of home possessed my heart." + + _Ibid._, Book X. + +I went up to the Lord Warden hotel, meaning to write home, dine, and go +to bed after fifty-three hours without sleep; but while waiting for the +servant to bring hot water, and with my jacket off, I tumbled on the bed +for a moment--then it was three o'clock, P.M. + +Soon (as it seemed) awake again, I saw it was still light, and with +bright sun shining; also my watch had run down, the water-jug was cold, +and it was a puzzle to make out how I felt so wonderfully fresh. + +Why, it was _next day_, and I had soundly slept on the top of the bed in +my soaking wet clothes for seventeen hours! + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Di Vernon--The Gull light--Naked warriors--Monkey--Medway--Eyes +right!--Old things--Bargees--Street boys--Young skipper--Scene by +night--Barge lingo--Holy Haven--Sailing solicitor--Margate. + +Perhaps a sleep in wet clothes, such as we have awakened from, was more +likely to do harm than any of the blasts and breezes at sea; but nothing +followed, and indeed during the whole of my six voyages alone there was +neither a headache nor any other ache, not even a cold, and the floating +medicine-chest yawl was never opened. + +Dover had been the port of departure and again of arrival, for my first +canoe voyage, and the memory of that delightful tour was recalled now by +seeing a canoe paddling in the harbour. On closer scrutiny it was +perceived that a young lady was its crew. Now there are several fair +Members {272} of our Royal Canoe Club, and we are quite prepared to +ballot for some more, but the captain had not yet been fortunate enough +to see one of these canoeistes on the water, so at once the dingey gave +chase. + + [Picture: Paddle and Parasol] + +This was the lady's very first essay in a canoe, nevertheless she +succeeded admirably in her effort, for it is far easier to learn a little +of paddling than a little of rowing, as every neophyte can tell you. + +Henceforth I shall always know that a Rob Roy can well be matched by a +_Di Vernon_, and how much the most gentle movement afloat can be refined +by feminine grace. A few hints from the older paddler in the dingey were +rapidly taken up by the apt scholar in the canoe, while her friends rowed +beside us in a boat, and at length with that English pluck which so many +English girls possess, she boldly steered into a steamer's swell, and +then to the open sea, where, before a soft zephyr murmuring its undertone +whispers, we hoisted her parasol for a sail, and the visitors on Dover +pier had a novel treat in the duet between dingey and canoe. + +Fairly rested next day, the yawl sailed by Ramsgate Cliffs until calm and +tide made us anchor in a hot baking sun. + +The 'Gull Lightship' was not far off, so we sculled to her in the dingey. +This was the very first time I had myself actually seen the Rob Roy on +the water with all sails set, nor dare I conceal the pride that was felt +in looking at her graceful contour, her smart and sensible rig, and her +snowy sails so beautifully set, as the sunbeams lit them up; viewed from +a little distance, the yawl was only like a toy boat resting on a sheet +of glass. + +The men of the 'Gull' with its red sides and red lantern masts, received +me with surprise, but with most grateful thanks for books to read, and +then they pressed their visitor to stop for dinner! + +But he could not well feast in comfort while the Rob Roy was left alone +and all sails up, and especially as one of the numerous vessels then +drifting past (we had counted more than forty in sight at one time) +seemed to be borne dangerously near to the little craft. + +On this lightship there are seven men, and four more on land to relieve +them regularly. {275} In the course of a lively conversation with their +visitor, they said, "How lonely you must be!" Surely when the men exiled +to a lightship pronounce the Rob Roy "lonely" there must be something in +the charge; but my obtuse perception has not yet enabled me to find it +out. + +Meantime the tide had turned strongly, and my row back from the lightship +in the hot sun was one of the hardest pulls I ever had, so that the +lesson will not be forgotten "stick by your ship in a tideway." + +In passing along the fine gravel beach near Walmer, a curious sound was +heard through the quiet haze; it was distant and continuous, but like the +gabble of 10,000 ducks, and, though staring hard through the binocular +glass, one could only make out a confused jumble of lightish-coloured +forms all in a row afar off. Soon, however, a bugle sounded the +"Retire," and then it was plain that a whole regiment of soldiers was in +the water bathing; their merry shouts and play had resounded along the +level sea, and at the bugle order they all marched ashore in naked array, +forming altogether one of the oddest of martial sights. + +The vessels now constantly crossing my course were of all sizes, and in +the quiet air we could hear their various sounds that seemed to tell in +each of a self-contained world, where every item of life was summarized +on board. Men chatting, women laughing, dogs barking, cocks crowing, and +pigs squealing, a floating farmyard, such is life on the sea. For the +Rob Roy I had tried to get a monkey as a funny friend, if not as a +tractable midshipman, but an end was put to the idea by the solemn +warning of an experienced comrade, who stated, that after the first two +days, a monkey pursues steadily one line of conduct afloat--he throws +everything into the sea. + +Rounding the Foreland in a lovely afternoon, we observed how the +corn-fields had become ripe and yellow, that were only growing and green +when our yawl passed the cape before. Here is the "Long Nose" buoy +again, and all the familiar landmarks, and once more Margate, where the +people very warmly welcomed the little Rob Roy, which they had sped on +its way outward bound with a parting cheer. + +The next dawn from its grey curtain rising, saw her sailing from Margate +up the Thames, but so light was the baffling wind, that we could not +reach Sheerness that night, and so had to anchor in five fathoms not far +from Cheney Rock, with dense fog closing round, and the Nore gong +ringing, while my bright little cabin glowed with comfort, and the +newspapers were studied in peace. Thence sailing into Sheerness and up +to Queenborough, we anchored close by the Coastguard hulk, in safe and +quiet waters. Sunday was a delicious rest, and the dingey took me aboard +the hulk, where a number of sailors and their large families with them, +gave a very remarkable appearance to the vessel 'tween decks. The +children were delighted to receive books and pictures, and until late in +the dark the infantile menagerie squalled with all its might. + +An expedition of river discovery up the Medway seemed to be worth trying +now, for no bonds of time or engagements fettered that glorious freedom +of action which is one of the prize features of sailing thus. The yawl +went bowling along on this new errand amid huge old hulks, tall-masted +frigates, black warrior-like ironclads, gay yachts, odoriferous +fishing-smacks, and a fleet of steady, brown-sailed, business-like +barges. This is a pleasant and a cheerful river for some days' +excursion, with a mild excitement in sailing over banks and shoals, and +yet not striking once, although we had no chart. + +The tide helps much, until the high ground near Chatham adds rock and +sylvan scenes to the flat banks of the winding estuary. + +Now we come on a busy industry of peculiar type, thousands of convicts +working on the new seawall, closely guarded by armed keepers. These poor +criminals are paid or privileged according to their good behaviour, and +it has been found that their labour thus stimulated is very productive. + +Once fairly up among the war-ships at Chatham, the Rob Roy anchors by the +Powder Magazine, and while a waterman rows away for the usual +supplies--"Two eggs, pat of butter, and the 'Times'"--we inspect the +Royal Engineers as they are engaged alongside at pontooning, and are +frequently pulled up by the command of a smart sergeant--"Eyes--right," +for they _will_ take furtive glances at my dingey gyrating so as they had +never seen boat spin round before. This comment on the dingey's shape +was ventured, too, "It's for hall the world like 'alf a hegg." + +Pushing on again, still up the river, the Rob Roy had to beat against an +east wind all through the densely packed brigs and barges in the narrow +bend at Rochester, where the difficulty of working her added zest to the +journey, and now and then a resounding crash from some great barge +drifting down against other vessels, told me that not every one of the +craft was as fortunate in navigation as the yawl. Before us is the +Cathedral, but it is far too stiff in its sharp outline to arrest the eye +for a moment. On the other side, the fine old weatherworn and time-eaten +Castle rears its great tower, and challenges a long and satisfying look, +especially as this was the only ancient ruin we had seen in the tour, and +so there had long been a yearning in the mind for such, just as there is +when you travel in Norway or America, until at last the hunger for old +things becomes ravenous and intolerable. + +The yawl's mast will be able to pass under the bridge, for the tide is +low, and beyond it now we are in sunny green fields, and sailing on +smoothly amid quiet villages, rich pastures, and the exuberant +hop-grounds of thoroughly English Kent. + +Three boys bathing from a boat came near, and for a treat we took them on +board, while their hair dripped wet and their teeth chattered fast after +too long a swim, but they had read the name on my white flag, and they +had also read two canoe books, and so for miles they devoured all that +was said and shewn on the yawl; then thanking much because they were +"awfully glad," and they rowed home. How pleasant it is to give pleasure +to boys! + +The Rob Roy got aground only once in this trip above the bridge, and that +only for five minutes, which, except the bump on a rock at Bembridge, was +her sole mishap of this sort, an immunity quite extraordinary from the +seaman's dreaded foe, the shore. The barges that were now floating up +the crowded Medway interested me exceedingly, and acquaintance was +readily made with their inhabitants almost every day for the next three +weeks, until it became evident that "Barge Life" is a stratum of society +quite as full of character and incident as any other, and wide open for +examination by those who would study a _genus_ of mankind very little +known. Large and important duties are entrusted to these men; rich +cargoes are committed to their honesty and skill; families live on barges +by thousands, {280} and the coasting journey of a barge is by no means an +easy thing or a dull one. + +We must not judge of them by those great black boxes full of coals, that +float on the water above London Bridge, with one man and a long oar, and +yet even a coal barge is worth watching. In the dank mist of a dull +November evening it will drift unseen past the Temple Gardens. Wonderful +sounds launch into the fog from an invisible shouter on board, whose +"Tom" or "Bill" on a wharf ashore instantly knows the call, and answers. +Then there is a colloquy loud, and public in the extreme, yet utterly +private in its meaning to any one besides the two who are talking. It is +only paralleled by the shrill interjections of London street boys calling +to each other across the Strand, of which the grown-up public cannot make +out one syllable, but which the stratum below them, of three feet high, +is perfectly contented with, discerning every word. + +The barges that trade to the Medway are fine, strong sea-boats; their +sailing qualities are excellent, and they are improved every year by a +regatta specially for them, where forty gay-dressed, bluff and burly +craft compete for prizes. In this match the utmost of skill, sharpened +by years of river sailing, is shewn in the wind and tide, and knowledge +of intricate channels, and among such competitors "fouling is fair." + +As the yawl glides on the water among hayricks and whetting scythes, one +of these gallant barges floated beside us with the name on its +stern--S.E.C.P.T.E.R.--dubious in import, we allow, whether it means that +the stout matter-of-fact lighter has been christened as a shadowy ghost, +or a royal symbol. The veriest urchin steers her, with a little fat hand +on the heavy tiller twelve feet long, and a hunch of good rye-bread in +his other fist. Now and then he sings out in a thin soprano, "Fayther, +boat's a'ead," and his father, (hidden below), answers deep-toned, from +the cabin, "Keep 'er away, lad." From him I asked, "How old is your +boy?" and the parent's head popped up to see, but it was the child that +smartly answered, "Eight years old." He looked five. Round the next +reach the barge bears down, and shakes her sails in the wind to arrest +progress a little. They have come near home, but not to stop. It is +only their country house, and up steps the bargee mother from out her +small _boudoir_ in the cabin below, and jumping heavily into a boat, she +pulls ashore to where a little girl is meekly waiting ready for +orders--"Get the fish directly, Hagnes," and the daughter runs off +fleetly and back soon, and the mother is speedily aboard again--all this +marketing being done while the barge has been drifting slowly past, and +then her sails are filled to continue the voyage. + +Night fell, and the yawl anchored by a soft green field, with the +bowsprit among the rushes. Bright furnaces for lime and plaster works +show here and there around, and they roared and blazed up fitfully with +waving jets of flame, like the iron works in Shropshire, while the +reflections glittered on the river, and reddened long reaches in a glow. +The barges kept streaming by in the dark laden with rich commerce, and +merry, singing crews--a very curious scene. To them the Rob Roy, of +course, looked quite as strange, and one hailed us gruffly--"Who're you?" +answer, "I'm the Rob Roy!"--"What in the world did you come here for?" +"To look at the beautiful lights on your river." In a murmuring grumble, +he said to that, "Too many on 'em there is--we can't see where we're +goin' with them;" and this is indeed perfectly true, for the light of +these furnaces dazzles by its brightness, which is not diffused, whereas +if no lights were there at all, the men could see well enough, for it is +marvellous how the eye will perceive at least the bounds between land and +water, when practice sharpens keen vision and no false light is shining. +It is, however, quite true also, that the language of the barge-world is +not to be found complete in Johnson's dictionary. It is far more +powerful than elegant. Words that are unused ashore except in anger or +the coarsest abuse seem to be the gentle appellations of endearment +between father and son afloat. But we must not forget that it is the +meaning attached to a word by speaker and hearer, and not that given to +it by a world outside of both, which the word will represent. {284} + +From the highest point we could reach towards Maidstone, we soon ran down +again to Rochester, and various were the conflicting verdicts of bargees +as to whether or not my mast would now go under the bridge, for the tide +was very high, and I sailed back and forward, getting opinions, and +surveying the bridge on all sides. At length I determined it could be +done, and my heart beat nervously as the yawl neared the centre arch--not +as to danger, but the dishonour of breaking a goodly spar at the end of a +cruise, and in so trumpery a feat. It passed clear, however, by inches. + +The evening was too fine at Sheerness to think of anchoring, so with a +sudden resolve we set off again to Southend. Here the advice of a yacht +lying near was followed foolishly (get _facts_ from experts and decide on +deeds yourself), for I anchored without sounding, and too late found it +was in shallow water, only eight feet by the lead, and the tide running +out. To bed but not to sleep, for the water sunk to five feet, and, +angry with myself, I roused at one o'clock, gave out all the rope, +sheered off shore by the rudder, and then, again at rest, gained only six +inches of depth; but once more sounding, there was only six inches to +spare under the keel and with a strong breeze on shore. Therefore, now +again on the move, we fastened the inner end of the cable to the larger +anchor and heaved this out, and then payed out all the chain, and sheered +with the rudder, but still she was in shoal water. Finally, as the wind +increased, I had to haul in both anchors and shove out into the deep, and +thus, by omitting to do right at once what was easy at the time, the +whole night had been consumed by intervals of wet and needless trouble. + +Life in the yawl had now become such a pleasant life, that to leave it +was a duty deferred as long as possible. We ranged several times up and +down the Thames, visiting many an old nook, well known in former days; +Holy Haven for instance; it is now thirty-three years since we first +harboured there in a little sailing-boat and spent a night with a collier +captain, and learned more of coals and colliers than one could read in a +week. This was done by keeping him resolutely on the point the man knew +all about until he was quite pumped dry. This nice little refuge-harbour +is the one I like best in all the river, with only one house--no bother +from shore folks, deep channel, and clean sand to anchor in. If it were +not for this narrow and safe retreat, there would often be hard times in +stormy days between Gravesend and Sheerness. + +The first time the Rob Roy went into Holy Haven, we found a yacht there +with a lady and gentleman on board, who of course (invariable and +excellent custom) were hospitable when they read my flag. Tiny ripples +were the only sounds of the evening, and on looking out on a new day, the +round smooth sand was bare beside me, with a lonely gull preening its +soft white wing, and its calm eye unfrightened, for no one could have the +heart to harm the pretty creature there. The next time of a visit to +this peaceful haven, there was another little craft at anchor, and in +five minutes after we stopped the owner of it sent his card, with the +customary invitation, to come on board. He was a sailor solicitor who +lives on the water in summer (being wise), but does not venture out of +the Thames (being prudent), and he has a boy "Jim" who hands out cooked +things from an inscrutable forecastle, where he sleeps at night in a sort +of coal-scuttle. Nevertheless the two together seemed perfectly happy. + +By way of variety, the Rob Roy on leaving Margate the next time set off +in the dark night, to sail away under the stars, and by some curious good +luck we managed to pass as close to the buoy at Reculver as ever one +could do in the light. Next time we came to Margate the place was gay +with its Regatta, on a fine breezy day. It was one of the best managed +regattas one could see, with always something going on, and always the +requisite confusion that prevents anybody from knowing exactly what _is_ +going on. However, the Rob Roy had a charming sail among the yachts as +she towed at her stern the dingey and a canoe, for the members of our +Club are ubiquitous, {287} so two of them are at Margate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Worcester--Swedish lesson--English boys--A +prophecy--Letter--Request--Reply--The 'Dolphin.' + +Margate has often been abused, laughed at, and snubbed, but it has never +yet been properly described. How shall I describe Margate? It is too +difficult to do well, and it has been too often done badly to do it +again. + +The men's bathing here from boats with steps, like those at Malta, is +sensible enough. Fine bold swimmers struck out well beside me in the +water while I had my morning dip from the yawl. As for the epicene +bathing--masculine women and womanish males who partake of "sea-bathing +by machinery"--separate machines, but that is all--let us ignore them. + +Come rather back to France, and let us look at Her Imperial Majesty the +Empress Eugenie in the water, as we have seen her years ago. + +It was at Biarritz, and one day a commotion in the town was evident, but +"What is about to happen?" we asked, being ready for any response as a +traveller ought to be. + +"Her Majesty is going to bathe." + +British modesty urged a quiet retreat, but French system being different, +we spectators to the number of some hundreds were ranged along the sands +in two long lines, with a narrow lane clear between, and grave Gendarmes +keeping the ranks in order. + +The usual proceedings one sees at French bathing towns were all in action +round about us. Ladies dressed to the highest pitch, mingled with others +in bathing costume. Gentlemen walking quite composed and dripping wet +with ladies just come out of the sea and just going in again. Young +girls in canoes boldly paddling, and gaily upsetting the little craft, +while they swam alongside. Rafts with men and women, half-floating as +they held by the sides, and chattered and basked in the sun. All this +difficult interlude on dry-land manners was conducted with perfect +decorum, a telling lesson to Britons who bathe. + +Perhaps, however, we should not like to see our Royal Family follow the +example of what came next. First there marched out of the Imperial Villa +a number of tall, liveried footmen, each with a tray or basket piled up +high with feminine finery, and this procession wended its way to two +pretty little tents hard by the sea. + +Next there appeared the Empress and four maids of honour, who came also +to the tents, the Empress going alone into one with a tasteful blue and +silver drapery round it. See, now the ladies emerge from their disrobing +rooms, and walk slowly down to the water between the double line of +inquisitive but respectful visitors. Each lady has a coat, vest, and +trousers of black silk, with the neatest of little boots, and the most +winning of large-brimmed black straw hats--that of the Empress being +trimmed with a narrow band of red. + +When they reached the water five big fellows approached, all dressed in +red flannel. These bathing men each proceeded to tie an empty gourd, +like a water-bottle, a sort of life-preserver, round the waist of a lady, +and then, first politely bowing, he lifted the lady in his arms, as a +nurse catches up a little child, and so with his fair burden he marched +into the waves. + +When they were at about four feet deep the man allowed the lady to float +on her back, and with his arms under her arms he supported her as each +wave rose and fell. + +All the time of these strange doings there was a large boat close to the +merry party, and with several men in it, who kept beating the water with +long poles--What is that for? To keep away the sharks. {291} Such is +Majesty afloat. Yes, they do these things better in France! + + [Picture: The Empress in the Sea] + +And now, near the end of our voyage alone, came the pleasantest part of +it all, because the most useful to others. We had anchored often beside +these three ships for boys, and always with more delight:--the +'Worcester,' for gentlemen cadets; the 'Chichester,' for homeless boys; +and the 'Cornwall,' for lads sent to her as a Reformatory ship. + +Many of the youngsters now on board the first or the second of these +might have been qualified for the third vessel, but for the conventions +of life and the machinery of education that tries to keep all "wild boys" +from being classed as criminals. + +Both you and I might have easily strayed into the police dock or the gaol +cell but for a guiding hand, a mother's care, a sister's love, a father's +rod, a home, a competence, a somebody caring for us, if not a friend. So +don't be hard on the boys in the 'Cornwall'; they are our natural +shipmates, and if by God's grace we are not yet with them, thank Him, +help them, and be humble. + +Brave lads, there is still a chance for you here. England is to blame as +well as you that you have been sucked by the eddies of life into criminal +streams. England also rescues you. It is but _dragging_ out indeed, but +you are out of the mire. Take heart, you may carry the British flag +proudly yet; the career of the sailor is open to _you_ also, and who +shall say that some gallant three-master may not yet be commanded by a +sailor bred in the 'Cornwall' Reformatory school-ship at Purfleet? + +As for the 'Worcester,' the lads there are already well up on the ladder +of life. Sometime, if things go on thus well, we shall have Christian +gentlemen as our sea-captains, for already in many things the waves are +better than the shore. + +When the Rob Roy returned from France, we had put on board of her some +fireworks to amuse the 'Worcesters' at Erith, and in a quiet night the +rockets sped aloft, and the Roman candles ejaculated fireballs, and the +Chinese floats spat flame as they blazed on the flowing tide, and the red +light made our sails blush deeply, and the "jack in the box" fizzed and +caracoled over the deck scorching us all inordinately. + +When everything pyrotechnic was burned out on the yawl, the show was yet +to begin. + +'Worcester' was not to be beaten by Rob Roy. Up sprang the blue-lights +from her tops and yards. Ports blazed with lamps, and skyrockets whizzed +into the ether. Then came best of all from young and gladsome hearts +those ringing cheers, and the lively band roused up the quiet night waves +with "Rob Roy MacGregor O!" + +If I know a lad for the Merchant Navy, he shall go to it best taught by +companions as well as by officers, in the school for sea life aboard the +'Worcester.' + +At Greenhithe the 'Chichester' and her sister ship the 'Arethusa' +(presented by the Baroness Burdett Coutts) are for poor lads without +home, without friends, nay, without hope from man unless you and I will +help them. Can we refuse so strong a plea from England's little sons? +Patriotism, Religion, Duty, and the most unthinking Love say, No! + +Our country just at this time wants more seamen and better seamen. The +Royal Navy needs young England, and the Commercial Navy _will_ have him, +bad or good, ignorant or well taught. Our Government finding this to be +so had thought of placing Training ships at various ports for the very +purpose of supplying the demand for sailor boys. Doubtless they would +have done this well, but it is better still if by private effort we can +fill the ships. At any rate let us empty the prisons, the dens of +penury, and the kerb-stones, where the young and prime material, spoiling +by ignorance and neglect, wastes the vigour of our land, pesters this +generation with beggars, poor-rates, and gaols, and infects and ruins the +generation to come after. + +Sweden does better by her sons. She teaches them every one, and, as a +Swede told me, "Sweden is not rich enough to keep ignorant children until +they are criminal men." Therefore she gives every one the priceless boon +of education as a national gift, so that every Swede owes at least one +debt to his country, and there are no Fenians there. + +In England no one is allowed to appear in public without some clothes. +The time will come when we shall not dare to let a man loose on the +thoroughfares in native ignorance--decency forbids. + +We have opened our ship-decks to foreign sailors--more proud in our boast +of being an asylum for the distressed than in preventing distress among +our own people. By all means give foreigners fair play, but _after_ +England's boys are cared for. Charity begins at home, our home is +England. English boys are far better sailors than any foreigners, who no +doubt excel us in cookery and silks, and manners and despotism, but not +in the hard duty bravely done, when storms lash clouds and ocean into one +general foam. + +To train up English sailor boys philanthropy stepped in just in time, and +in the last few years it has provided more and more ships. The very boys +who are worst off, and most tried by dire want and misfortune, are those +who may be boldest to run aloft when well taught; and if these British +hearts are won young, and tutored right, and trained loyal, and warmly +clothed in true blue jackets, we shall not have so many shipwrecks where +cheap foreigners skulk as the tempest roars. {296} + +One day we had a grand treat for the 'Chichester' boys, who marched to a +sunny mead at Greenhithe, and romped for hours and hours in hearty +sailors' play. How they ran races, jumped in sacks, swarmed up the +polished pole, and eyed the leg of mutton at the top, far out of reach, +until sheer exhaustion with boyish laughter made them slide down! Then, +gathered round cake and tea, and duly stuffed therewith to concert pitch, +they sing our grand old Psalms, our free and joyous loyal ship-songs, the +orchestra of young throats being directed with all gravity by an +urchin--one of themselves--a miniature "Costa" full of pound-cake, and +with his Jersey pockets bulged out too, but tuneful enough after his tea. +The man's heart that is not softened, gladdened, and strung to effort for +these little fellows by scenes like this I do not covet. + +The captain of the 'Chichester' says:-- + + "I receive very pleasing letters from boys who have left. I send you + a copy of the last, just arrived, which I think is as powerful an + appeal in our behalf as any that could be penned." + + "Ship '---,' off the Isle of Wight. + + "PLEASE SIR,--I take the pleasure of writing these few lines to you, + hoping to find you in good health, as we are. We are getting on very + well, we are now off the Isle of Wight. Sir, we like our ship very + well, and I hope we shall have a good character when we come home. I + hope all the Instructors are well. + + "Give my respects to Lady Alston, and tell her where we are. We are + having very good weather, and I haven't forgot my Bible. C. D. sends + his respects to you. Please sir, will you give my love to Frances. + Sir, you must excuse me for not writing more. I haven't had time. + Sir, if I don't see you any more in this world, I hope I shall Above. + Give my respects to Mr. and Mrs. Macarthy. + + "No more at present from your obedient servants, + + "A. B. and C. D. + + "God be merciful to us as sinners." + +And while we speak more of the three ships already named, because they +are nearest, and so are most seen by us Londoners, remember there are +other stout Britons at Hull, sturdy boys in the Mersey, sea-urchins in +the Clyde, and good sailor-hearts in Ireland and in Welshmen's breasts, +and there are training ships for boys in all these and other places, +{297} so that all may join who wish to help in England's future, which +will much depend on the next generation of British seamen. + +It will be a happy sight, and one by no means out of our reach to +witness, when the gentlemen taught on the 'Worcester,' and the mates from +the 'Chichester,' and the crew from the 'Cornwall,' shall man the +largest, fastest vessel on the sea. + +The 'Chichester' boys make a very appreciative audience when a visitor +addresses them. Then they sing their hearty thanks with steady voices, +and in stanzas of original poetry spun aboard ship, and sure to mean much +if you can read between the lines; for London boys are both in good +things and in bad the smartest of all. + +After pondering on the matter during another sail, the following letter +appeared in the 'Times':-- + + "The training ship 'Chichester,' lately moored at Greenhithe for the + reception of homeless boys, has already produced some of the + anticipated good results, and several young lads, rescued from a life + of sorrow and want, have been sent out as trained sailor boys. + + "But although these boys are approved by the ships' captains, it is + found that until the boys can be taught how to steer a vessel, as + well as the other duties of a seaman, they cannot be well received by + the rest of a ship's crew. + + "Steering is not to be learnt by book or precept only, or in a ship + at moorings; and the suggestion is therefore made that a small + vessel, say a cutter of 20 tons, should be attached to the + 'Chichester,' as a 'tender.' + + "The boys could then be taught to handle the tiller by voyages to the + Nore. They would also learn the use of buoys, beacons, and lights. + They would have a powerful incentive to progress in their book-work, + and the 'tender' would be most useful in carrying officers and boys + and stores to and from London, and thus save considerable expense. + + "This being a new proposal, it will be necessary to have additional + contributions for the purchase of the tender, and as the funds which + provided the 'Chichester' were received principally from the readers + of 'The Times,' perhaps we may venture to hope for the same kind aid + in launching the new suggestion. Contributions may be sent to the + Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. WILLIAMS, St. Giles' Refuge, Great Queen + Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + "J. M. + + "_Margate Roads_." + +We expect much from Englishmen when an appeal is made to their generous +hearts, but it was certainly beyond our hopes that in a few days +afterwards the following letter could be published:-- + + "In reply to the appeal through your columns, for means to provide a + tender for the 'Chichester' school ship, the Rev. C. Harrington, + Rector of Bromsgrove, has presented to the institution the 'Dolphin,' + a strong, well-built, sea-going yacht of 20 tons, with all her stores + complete. + + "The committee in accepting this gift, have abundant reason to thank + the kind donor, and the friends of 'Homeless Boys' owe another debt + of gratitude to 'The Times.' + + "J. M. + + "_Temple_." + +By the desire of the 'Chichester' Committee I joined the 'Dolphin' at +Sheerness, and with a regular salt captain, and a seaman from the Bendigo +diggings, and a boy from the 'Chichester,' we weighed the cutter's anchor +to bring the prize to Greenhithe. + +The pier-man smiled gladly on the gift yacht. The taut Guard-ship +bristling with big guns seemed to look down kindly on the little vessel, +and even the grim old hulks, otherwise sulky enough, appeared to wish her +well as she loosed her white sails to a gentle breeze. Yes, and the sun +smiled brightly, too, with a balmy day like summer again. + +Barges flocked out, clustering on the water as in my former visits here, +yet the 'Dolphin' mingled with them not as in a mere play, but with a +benign and holy purpose in her gait, for it was the gracious breath of +Christian benevolence that wafted the 'Dolphin' on. She was a present to +the homeless boys, and so a gift that shall be one time repaid by the +Friend of the friendless with measure "running over." + +Yantlet was passed and the Blythe and Jenkin, when sunset shrouded +sleeping Father Thames. Then the ship-lights sparkled numerous on the +stream, and red rays from the beacons glinted athwart our sail. Swift +steamers whisked by in the dark. Tall, gaunt, sailing ships rustled +their dusky canvas, and struggling little tug-boats rattled with instant +paddle as they passed. + + [Picture: The Gift to Boys] + +Clouds withdrew from above as we neared the 'Chichester,' and the full +moon came out and looked upon the "gift for boys" with her long pendant +streaming in the mild and onward breeze. + +Then, to me silent, lying on the deck as if in a summer eve, came +many-coloured thoughts--the Rob Roy's rovings by river and sea in +brightsome days and thundering nights, the good seed sown by the shore, +the thousand incidents of a charming voyage. + +But best of them all was the sail in the 'Dolphin.' + +We may begin in faith, and continue in hope, but greatest of the three is +charity in + + THE END. + + + + +APPENDIX. BOYS' TRAINING SHIPS. + + +There are 18,000 seamen in our Royal Navy, and nearly a quarter of a +million persons of various kinds are employed on board of British +registered vessels. On the subject of training boys for sea, full and +interesting information is given in 'British Seamen,' by Mr. T. Brassey, +M.P. In former editions of 'The Voyage Alone,' some of the Boys' +Training Ships were briefly described, and the author's profits from the +book have been distributed yearly in prizes and medals among some +hundreds of lads in these ships, approved for excellence in Seamanship, +Smartness, Scripture-knowledge, Swimming, and "Sums." In connection with +the continuance of this pleasant work, a brief description is given here +of all the Training Ships for boys, with the best wishes of the author +for their prosperous sail over the sea of life, and their safe arrival on +the happy shore above. + + + +ROYAL NAVY TRAINING SHIPS FOR BOYS. + + +_There are Five regular Boys' Training Ships for the Royal Navy_, +_accommodating_ 3400 _boys_. + +The 'Impregnable,' and 'Implacable' (with 'Lion'), at Devonport (for 700 +boys); 'Ganges,' at Falmouth (500 boys); 'St. Vincent,' at Portsmouth +(700 boys); and 'Boscawen,' at Portland (500 boys). To each is attached +a brig for cruising during the summer months. The boys go through a +regular course of instruction at school, in seamanship and in gunnery, +till they are "rated," after a year or a little more, as 1st Class boys, +when they have a cruise in the brig. With respect to the school +instruction, the principle is to give the more backward boys more +schooling than the more advanced, and to this end the boys are divided +into Upper School and Lower School: the Upper School boys have one +forenoon and one afternoon a week in school, and the Lower School boys +twice that amount. The educational attainments of the Upper School +correspond to Standards VI., V., IV. of the New Code, and those of the +Lower School to Standards III. and II. Of course there is the division +into watches, as the routine of the ships is modelled on that of a +man-of-war. + +With the exception of the band boys entered from industrial schools, no +boys are received who have been before a magistrate. It is gratifying to +find that as many good and respectable lads as are wanted can be had for +this glorious patriotic service. "The expense incurred in training +seamen amounts on an average to not less than 300 to 400 pounds for every +seaman in the navy:" 'British Seamen,' by T. Brassey, M.P. Longmans, +1877, page 158. + +For training young officers there is the 'Britannia' (with the +'Hindostan') at Dartmouth, and two sons of the Commodore of the Royal +Canoe Club are among the pupils. + + +'AKBAR.'--(MERSEY.) + + +Established 1856. + +The vessel is managed by "The Liverpool Juvenile Reformatory +Association," which has also a girls' reformatory and a farm school. The +report for December 31, 1877, shews that during the year 79 boys were +admitted between 11 and 17 years of age (all of them under sentence of a +magistrate), and 59 were discharged (of whom 43 went to sea), leaving 198 +in the ship and about 100 besides "under detention," or on license +elsewhere. The total number admitted since 1856 was 1393, of whom 731 +went to sea, 130 went to friends, 73 were transferred, and 59 died. + +In January, 1878, the ship parted from her moorings in a gale, and this +and repairs caused an expense of about 500 pounds. The ordinary +expenditure of the year is about 3800 pounds; the average number on board +is 190, and of these 134 could swim. + + +'ARETHUSA.'--(GREENHITHE, _Thames_.) + + +Opened August, 1874. + +This vessel is the new sister ship of the 'Chichester,' and is described +below with the other vessel. + + +'CHICHESTER.'--(GREENHITHE, _Thames_.) + + +Established 1866. + +This vessel, together with the 'Arethusa' (already mentioned above), is +managed by a committee in connection with the "National Refuges," an +institution which comprises a Refuge for homeless boys, a Refuge for +homeless girls, a "Farm school and Shaftesbury school," at Bisley, +Surrey, a "Working Boys' Home," and "Girls' Home" at Ealing and Sudbury. +In these six homes and two ships are more than 1000 inmates, and the +expense is defrayed by voluntary contributions. The Earl of Shaftesbury, +K. G., is President of the Institution, and Mr. W. Williams (9, +Southampton Street, Bloomsbury Square), is the Secretary. + +The 'Chichester' was fitted up in 1866, and opened in January, 1867, for +training homeless boys between 13 and 16 years of age for sea life. By +the munificent gift of the Baroness Burdett Coutts, the 'Arethusa' was +presented to the committee fully fitted up as an additional Training +Ship, in 1874, and the two vessels are moored close together near the +pleasant hills of Greenhithe, in Kent. The woodcut on the preceding +page, representing some boys on the topsail-yard of the 'Chichester,' +appeared in the _Leisure Hour_ as one of the illustrations of an article +on 'Ragamuffins' by the present writer. + + [Picture: Away aloft] + +The number of boys sent to sea from the 'Chichester' in the year 1877 was +117, and the number on board 176. The total number of boys received on +the 'Chichester,' up to the 31st of December, 1877, was 2165. Number +discharged, 2092; sent to sea, 1797. + +Besides the number sent on a first voyage, the following numbers were +re-shipped, not counting those who after their first voyage got ships +without coming to the 'Chichester' ship-master. Shipped for second +voyage, 686; for third, 451; fourth, 291; fifth, 180; sixth, 108; +seventh, 72; eighth voyage, 55. + +The total number of boys received on board the 'Arethusa' from 1874 to +end of 1877, was 659; discharged, 450; sent to sea, 386, of whom 102 were +so sent in 1877. In July, 1878, there were 400 boys on the two ships +when the annual presentation of prizes took place. The total expenses +for the two ships for the year 1877 amounted to 10,494 pounds 10_s_. +8_d_. + +I had again the privilege of presenting the sailor boys 'Rob Roy' prizes +in the Guildhall, in the presence of the veteran philanthropist the Earl +of Shaftesbury, in 1880. + + +'CLARENCE.'--(MERSEY.) + + +Established 1863. + +This is a Reformatory School Ship for Roman Catholic boys. The average +number on board this vessel is 200, and the cost 20 pounds per head per +annum, paid chiefly by the Treasury. In the year 1877, 80 boys had been +admitted, of whom 54 were from Liverpool, and the rest from 15 other +towns; 47 of them had not been previously convicted, 58 were sent to sea +"on license." In the preceding three years 192 had been discharged, of +whom 150 were "doing well" at the beginning of 1878, while 5 were +"doubtful," 8 reconvicted, 10 dead, and 19 "unknown." + + +'CLIO.'--(MENAI STRAITS.) + + +Certified February, 1878. + +This vessel is for 200 boys (from 11 to 15 years of age), sent under the +Industrial Schools Act, or partly paid for otherwise, and the ship is +managed by "The North Wales, City of Chester, and Border Counties +Industrial School Training Ship Society." The first boy was admitted in +September, 1877, and on the 13th of July, 1878, there were 197 boys on +board; of these, 8 are "voluntary." About 80 were from London, 50 from +Manchester, 26 from Liverpool, and the rest from ten other places. + + +'CONWAY.'--(MERSEY.) + + +Established 1859. + +A new vessel (late the 'Nile') was substituted in 1877 for the old +'Conway,' but it was rechristened with the old name, and the cost of +alterations was 6000 pounds. + +It is managed by "The Mercantile Marine Association," and is intended +chiefly to supply officers for the merchant navy. Boys are received from +12 to 16 years of ago. The average number of boys on board was 138, of +whom 54 joined the merchant service. The number of boys received since +the commencement up to 1877, was 1290, of whom 40 entered the Royal Navy, +and almost all the others went into the Merchant Service. + +The report gives no balance-sheet, but says that the school fees (40 +guineas per annum for each boy) "covered the expenses" (presumably the +ordinary expenses), and left a balance of 283 pounds. + + +'CORNWALL.'--(PURFLEET, _Thames_.) + + +Established 1859. + +This is a Reformatory Ship, managed by "The School Ship Society." The +boys enter between 13 and 15 years of age, sentenced to 3 years' +detention under the Reformatory Schools Act. The average number of boys +maintained on board in 1877 was 218. Comparative cost per head on +ordinary maintenance and management 32 pounds. Industrial profits, 329 +pounds. Of cases discharged in 1874, 1875, and 1876, there were doing +well (December, 1877) 198, doubtful 5, convicted of crime 4, unknown 18, +dead 12. In July, 1878, the Captain had heard of 114 boys at sea +service, all doing well, and 26 boys visited in June, equally +satisfactory, one of them in command of a large ship. + +An epidemic in 1875-76 caused much trouble and expense. + + +'CUMBERLAND.'--(CLYDE.) + + +Established June, 1869. + +This is an Industrial School Ship. At the beginning of 1877 there were +385 boys on board, and during the year 133 were admitted, 105 were sent +to sea, 11 to shore employment, 5 to their friends, 1 to a school, 6 +absconded, and 1 died, leaving 389 on the roll for January 1, 1878. From +the establishment up to that time, 1343 boys had been admitted, and 954 +had left. Of 432 discharged in 1874, 1875, and 1876, 345 were known to +be doing well, 10 indifferently, 3 convicted of crime, and 16 died of +disease and casualties. The receipts for the year were 7280 pounds, +including 500 pounds on contingency account. The ship is managed by a +committee, of which the President is Mr. John Burns, of Castle Wemyss, +who is well known for his important position as chairman of The Cunard +Company (Limited), and for his hearty liberal efforts on behalf of boys +who need a friend. + + +'ENDEAVOUR.'--(FELTHAM, _Middlesex_.) + + +Established 1866. + +This is a "land ship," with boats on the river, and the following +description of it is from a paper by Captain Brookes, Royal Marines, the +Superintendent of the "Middlesex Industrial Schools at Feltham," where +about 800 boys sent by magistrates are trained for the Army, the Navy, +and various other modes of life:-- + +"The 150 boys composing the Nautical Section are dressed as sailors, and +their everyday life is assimilated as much as possible to what it would +be in a stationary Training Ship--they sleep in hammocks, live in messes, +and are daily exercised in seamanship on board the full-sized model brig +'Endeavour,' built on play-ground. Boats are provided on the river at +Staines for instruction in rowing, and the boys are taught to swim in a +large swimming bath in the grounds. + +"The brig was built in 1866, between which date and the end of last year +748 boys (about an average of 70 per annum) have been trained and sent to +sea. + +"There is a home at Poplar for the reception and care of boys about to be +sent to sea under the charge of the shipping officer, who is duly +licensed by the Board of Trade. This is a most valuable branch of the +school, offering a home to lads returning from sea, who would otherwise +fall into the hands of low lodging-house keepers. + +"The school authorities constantly receive the most favourable accounts +of the lads thus sent to sea, who are well reported on by captains of +ships both as regards character and ability in seamanship. + +"The result of this experiment, now extending over a period of ten years, +proves beyond question that boys can be as speedily and efficiently +trained on board a model training ship built on land, as on board a +stationary one moored in a harbour or river. + +"This opinion has been fully and publicly endorsed by Captain Burney, +R.N., Superintendent of the Royal Hospital School at Greenwich, where a +large model full-rigged ship (most complete and thorough in all its +arrangements) has been built, and by means of which, he maintains, he can +prepare boys for sea as efficiently as on board a floating training ship. + +"In this, as in many other matters, there is a great deal of popular +prejudice to overcome, and perhaps the most effective way to do so would +be by inducing the governing bodies of such schools as Eton, Harrow, and +Rugby to erect model training ships on their grounds for the use of their +boys. It cannot be doubted that these ships would be as popular amongst +them as their present School Volunteer Corps undoubtedly are." + +* * * * * + +[After many visits to the floating training ships, and inspection of the +'Endeavour,' and of the Greenwich School, where 1000 boys are trained for +sea without the expense and inconveniences of a ship, I fully concur in +the opinions of Captain Brookes and Capt. Burney, C.B., and I consider +that the best mode of training boys for the commercial navy is to have a +light and roomy building on shore with one or more "tender" brigs for +cruising, and plenty of boats, and a good gymnasium and swimming bath. A +floating hulk is more costly to maintain. It is inconvenient for +education from want of light below, and for exercise all the winter from +wet decks above, and moreover, the need of a "tender" for each hulk is +already acknowledged, so that her sheet anchor is only sentiment.] + +J. MACGREGOR. + + +'ENDEAVOUR.'--(LAND SHIP.) + + +About thirty-five years ago, this land-ship, with masts and sails and +guns, was set up at the Norwood Poor Law Establishment, by the exertions +of the late Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, Bart., and one somewhat similar and +useful (to a certain extent) was established in a Union School at +Stepney. Of the boys instructed by this means, 95 out of 100 voluntarily +entered the Army or Navy, but doubtless the supply for sea life is now +better obtained from establishments more distinctly nautical. In the +report of the North Surrey District Schools "the mast and shrouds" of the +Land Ship there are said to be useful in inducing boys to go to sea. +(_Times_, September 3, 1878.) + + +'EXMOUTH.'--(GRAYS, _Thames_.) + + +This vessel accommodates 600 boys, and was substituted for 'The Goliath,' +which was burned two years ago (as was also the old 'Warspite' at +Charlton). The latest report (which is more full and clear than that of +several other ships) deals with the ten months ending the 31st of +December, 1877, when 545 boys were under training. These were sent from +the Poor Law Unions of Poplar, St. Pancras, Stepney, Marylebone, +Woolwich, and others, under the special Act, which very properly requires +Metropolitan Parishes to contribute towards the maintenance of the ship, +whether they use it or not. A brigantine, the 'Steadfast,' is attached +as a "training tender," and accommodates thirty boys, who cruise in the +Mouth of the Thames for a week at a time, when ten of them are changed. +A causeway from the shore improves the approach to the 'Exmouth,' and a +small house and office near the London Docks enables eight boys to be +taken daily for engagement in ships. + +From March, 1876, to December, 1877, 689 boys were admitted, seventy-nine +were discharged to sea service, twenty-one to the Army as musicians, +forty-three to their respective Unions, and one absconded. + +"Every boy in the ship soaps and washes himself _all over_ every morning +with carbolic soap, and then goes through a plunge bath under inspection, +having a clean towel every time he washes." The lads are remarkably +healthy--there was not one death in the year. The charge for maintenance +and clothing has been at the rate of 1_s._ per head per day. The +swimming bath is sixty feet long by thirty feet broad, and the boys are +classed by the number of "bath-lengths" they can swim at a stretch. At +the beginning of the swimming season, 340 could not swim at all, but +there were only 56 in this predicament at the end of the season. Music +is taught carefully, and a band of about 60 boys plays twice a week for +the other boys to dance. Of 242 boys absent from one to seven days to +see their friends, only one broke his leave, and he absconded altogether. + + +'FAME.'--(GREENWICH ROYAL HOSPITAL SCHOOL.) + + +Established 1872. + +This land ship is part of the splendid establishment at Greenwich for +training sons of seamen and marines of the Royal Navy. Candidates must +be between 10.5; and 13 years of age, physically fit, able to read an +easy sentence, and with some knowledge of arithmetic. + +The origin of the school was in 1692, when, after the victory of "La +Hogue," an asylum was established for seamen's widows and orphans at the +suggestion of Queen Mary, who died before it was accomplished. + +In 1712 ten boys were instructed (in the buildings of the present Naval +College, part of which had been erected in 1618), and in 1783 there were +60 boys. In 1805, there were 200 boys, and the institution was no longer +a charity, but admitted officers' sons. + +Another school, "The British Endeavour," started in 1798 as a private +venture in London, was transferred to public management in Greenwich. + +The "Royal Naval Asylum," for 680 boys and 200 girls, aided by +Parliamentary grant, was amalgamated in 1821 with the other (the Royal +Hospital School), forming a "Lower School" and "Upper School" for 1000 +boys, in the quadrangle now occupied opposite the Royal Naval College. +In 1841 the girls' school ceased. In 1860 the distinction between +"Upper" and "Lower" School was given up. + +In 1870 industrial work was introduced in addition to the other +instruction, and the splendid land ship 'Fame' was erected in 1872, +which, with boats on the river, large sized moveable models in lofty +halls, and a fine swimming bath, gymnasium, class-rooms, and workshops, +are the means for instructing 1000 boys most admirably under the +supervision of Captain Burney, C.B., and an energetic staff. From the +report of July, 1878, it appears that there were 39 pupil teachers, and +958 boys between 10 and 15 years of age. Total 997 in the school. The +number of boys admitted during the year was 334, number discharged 333, +of whom 99 went into Her Majesty's Service, and 4 died; 329 boys between +13 and 15 years of age now in the School, have signed continuous service +engagements to serve in the Royal Navy for 10 years from the age of 18. +The boys' industrial work in about 30 departments of useful labour is of +great value to the school, so that the annual cost (exclusive of new +buildings, but including all repairs) is under 18 pounds per head. + +The punishments are under 1 per cent., and 45 per cent. of the boys can +swim. + + +'FORMIDABLE.'--(PORTISHEAD, _Bristol Channel_.) + + +Established 1869. + +This is an "Industrial School Ship" for boys between the ages of 11 and +14 years. During the eighteen months ending December 31, 1877, 84 boys +had been admitted (including 41 from the London School Board), 18 from +Bristol, and the rest from ten other towns, with 2 "volunteer" boys. + +Of these there had been discharged during the eighteen months, 81 to the +Merchant Service, 2 to the Royal Navy, 26 to friends, 5 to the Army, 13 +elsewhere, and 2 died. The number of boys on board December 31, 1877, +was 324. From the commencement of the ship, 800 boys had been admitted, +including 50 "volunteers," and of these 366 had gone to the Merchant +Service, and 27 to the Royal Navy, while 11 died. The receipts for the +year, including 1500 pounds from the Treasury, and 600 pounds from annual +subscriptions, amounted to 8213 pounds. + + +'GIBRALTAR.'--(BELFAST.) + + +Established 1872. + +This Industrial School Ship for Protestant boys is called "The Ulster +Training Ship for Homeless and Destitute Boys." The number on board the +31st of December, 1877, was 289, of whom about half could read, write, +and cipher well; 64 had been admitted during the year, nearly all of them +from Antrim, and of these, 33 could not read or write at all, while only +7 could read, write, and cipher well; 32 of these had lost their fathers, +and 18 were orphans. + + +'HAVANNAH.'--(CARDIFF.) + + +Established 1855. + +This is an old "man-of-war," banked round, so as to be a "land ship," +with a causeway to the shore, and it accommodates about 70 boys, many of +whom have industrial employment in gardening and as porters, &c. Of the +66 boys discharged in the three years, 1874, 1875, 1876, 58 were known to +be earning honest livelihoods, 2 were convicted, 2 unknown, and 4 have +died. According to the report of August, 1878, 68 boys were in the ship, +of whom 61 were sent under the Industrial Schools Act. There were 2 on +license, and 7 appeared to be voluntary cases. The expenditure in 1876 +was about 1500 pounds, but 200 pounds was earned by the Industrial +Department. In that year 3 boys went to sea, and in 1878 6 boys. + + +'INDEFATIGABLE.'--(MERSEY.) + + +This vessel was established in 1864 to train orphan and destitute boys +for sea--boys from the port of Liverpool having a preference. The report +issued in March, 1878, shewed the average number on board to be 250, of +whom 80 had lost both parents. About 50 boys go out to life each year. +The funds are from voluntary contributions, and about 5000 pounds a year +is expended. + + +'MARS.'--(DUNDEE.) + + +Established 1869. + +This is an "Industrial School Ship," under the Act of Parliament, and it +has a "tender," "which makes men of the youngsters; she has just brought +100 tons of coals to us from Shields (July 5, 1878)." The accommodation +is for 350 boys. In 1877, 122 boys were admitted and 95 discharged, +leaving 350 on the register, while "there is great pressure for +admission." Of the 95 boys, 6 entered the Royal Navy, 55 the Merchant +Service as first class boys, 27 went to shore trades (but seven of these +returned and went to sea), and 7 died. One-third of the boys admitted +were unable to read at all; of 309 discharged during 3 years, 248 were +"doing well." + +The expenses in 1877 were about 6800 pounds. + +Donations and subscriptions about 1700 pounds. + + +'MOUNT EDGCUMBE.'--(SALTASH, _Cornwall_.) + + +Established June, 1877. + +An Industrial School Ship for boys from Devonshire and Cornwall. The +boys admitted up to July, 1878, were 201; 1 had been discharged, 6 +transferred, and 2 died. The number of "voluntary cases" (from 12 to 14 +years old) was 3, and the number of all on board 195. Half of these +could read "fairly." + + +'SHAFTESBURY.'--(GRAYS, _Thames_.) + + +Established 1878. + +The School Board for London has found it necessary to have a training +ship of its own. More than 500 boys sent at the instance of the Board +were in training on board the 'Formidable,' 'Wellesley,' 'Southampton,' +&c., at distant ports, where visitation and supervision could not be +readily exercised. After more than six years of experience in regard to +training boys for sea, the Board decided to establish their own ship in +the Thames. The Admiralty was unable or at least declined to lend one of +the few old hulks at their disposal, so the School Board purchased for +7000 pounds the P. and O. iron steamship 'Nubia,' and at an additional +expense of more than 30,000 pounds, she was fitted up and moored in a +berth prepared for her in July, 1878, close to the Poor Law ship +'Exmouth,' so as to accommodate 450 boys to be sent under the Industrial +Schools Act at the instance of the Board. She is 'certified' for 350 +boys, of whom 70 may be Roman Catholics. The first 6 boys were sent on +board her on August 15, 1878. The vessel was rechristened with the name +of 'Shaftesbury,' in honour of one who is everywhere known as the friend +of the hapless and the patron of everything good. The vessel is longer +and narrower than those of the old "man-of-war" type, and her four decks +are lofty, giving plenty of light and air for educational and sanitary +purposes, although the wider space for drill above all is necessarily +curtailed. The cost of the vessel (including purchase) is repayable in +50 years by annual instalments, with interest at 3.5 per cent. + +The Shaftesbury has now her full number of 500 boys (May 1880.) + + +'SOUTHAMPTON.'--(THE HUMBER.) + + +Established 1868. + +The management is amalgamated with that of "The Hull Ragged and +Industrial Schools." At the beginning of 1877, 234 boys were on board +(all of them under the Industrial Schools Act), and 62 were admitted +during the year (30 from 10 to 12, and 32 from 12 to 14 years of age), +while 56 were discharged, of whom 27 went to sea, and 23 were returned to +friends. Up to the end of that year 426 boys had been finally discharged +from the ship. Half of these on entry could not read, write, or cipher, +but all learned to do so. Many of the boys were sent at the instance of +the School Board for London and eight other School Boards. The +expenditure for the year was 6000 pounds. + + +'WARSPITE.'--(CHARLTON, _Thames_.) + + +The Marine Society established its first ship the 'Beatty,' with a crew +of 40 boys, 120 years ago, and it has since sent to sea about 60,000 boys +trained for sailors' life. The new ship, a fine two decker (late +'Conqueror'), in substitution for the old 'Warspite' (which was burned), +and rechristened with that name, had 156 boys on board in January, 1877. +304 were afterwards admitted, 43 were sent to the Royal Navy, and 137 to +the Merchant Service, leaving 269 on board at the beginning of the year +1878. Most of these are orphans or boys deserted by their parents. Out +of 123 boys who returned in that year from first voyages, 117 had "very +good" on their certificates. The age for admission is from 13 to 16, +height from 4 feet 8 inches; 93 boys learned to swim last summer. The +expenditure during the year was 11,000 pounds, including 3000 pounds for +fitting up the new ship. + + +'WELLESLEY.'--(SOUTH SHIELDS.) + + +Established 1868. + +This vessel is for homeless and destitute boys unconvicted of crime, but +who are sent under the Industrial Schools Act, at the instance of one of +the ten or more School Boards which have agreements with "The 'Wellesley' +Training Ship Institution," or who come individually. From the report in +June, 1877, it appears that in the twelve months preceding, 91 boys had +been received, and 59 were discharged, of whom 45 went to sea. This left +307 boys on board. Of the boys discharged during 3 years, 83 per cent. +were "doing well." Since the commencement of the Institution 702 boys +had been received. About 1000 pounds had been contributed by the School +Boards during the year, and 90 pounds for "voluntary boys," each of whom +is received for 20 pounds _per annum_. The maintenance account for the +year was about 5000 pounds. + + +'WORCESTER.'--(THAMES.) + + +This vessel was moored at Greenhithe in 1862; a larger vessel, a 72-gun +frigate of 5000 tons, and rechristened 'Worcester,' was substituted in +1877. The 'Worcester' provides properly qualified officers for merchant +vessels, and accommodates 200 boys. The terms are, for boys from 13 to +16 years old, 50 guineas, and for boys from 11 to 13 years old, 45 +guineas per annum. + +The Board of Trade allows two years passed on the 'Worcester' to count as +one year's sea service, and Her Majesty gives annually a gold medal to +the boy most noted for good conduct. About 30 boys passed through the +ship last year. + + +SUMMARY OF TRAINING SHIPS DESCRIBED. + + _Ships_ _Boys_ + +Royal Naval (besides those for young 5 3400 +Officers, see page 306) + +Voluntary, including two for Officers and 7 1500 +one land ship + +Poor-law ship 1 600 + +Industrial School ships, including one 11 2800 +"School Board" ship and two "land ships" + +Reformatory ships 3 640 + +Total 27 8940 + +[In this estimate the 'Fame' is reckoned for 250 boys.] + + + +THE ROB ROY CUISINE. + + +This has been designed after numerous experiments with the various +portable cooking-machines which I could procure for trial, and, as it +succeeds better than any of them, and has been approved by trial in five +of my own voyages, and in another to Iceland, besides shorter trips, and +in the Abyssinian campaign, &c., &c., it may be of some use to describe +the contrivance here. + +The object proposed was to provide a light but strong apparatus which +could speedily boil water and heat or fry other materials even in wet and +windy weather, and with fuel enough carried in itself for several days' +use. + +Fig. 1 is a section of the Rob Roy cuisine as it is made up for carrying. +There is first a strong waterproof bag about one foot high, and closed at +the top by a running cord. At the bottom is the cuisine itself, _a_, +which occupies a space of only six inches by three inches (when of +smaller size), and has the various parts packed inside, except the +drinking cup _b_. + +Provisions, such as bread and cold meat or eggs, may bestowed in the bag +above the cuisine, and if the string of it be then attached to a nail +fixed in the boat, the whole will be kept steady. + +For use, when it is desired to boil water, the cuisine being opened, the +lower part is a copper pan, _c_, fig. 2, with a handle, _e_, which can be +fixed either into a socket in the side of the pan, or another socket in +the side of the lid, as represented in figs. 2 and 6. + +Three iron legs also fix into sockets and support the pan over the +spirit-lamp, _f_, by which the pan, two-thirds full of liquid, will be +boiled in five minutes. + +The lamp is the main feature of the apparatus, and it is represented in +section in fig. 3. It consists of two cylinders, one within the other. +The space between these (shaded dark) is closed at top and bottom, and a +tube _b_, fixed through the bottom, rises with one open end inside, and +another (a small nozzle) curved upwards in the open internal cylinder. +Another tube, _h_, opens into the annular chamber between the cylinders, +and it has a funnel-shaped mouth at the outer end, through which the +chamber may be filled, while a screw in the inside allows a handle, fig. +4 (in section), to have its end, _i_, screwed in. A small hole in the +upper surface is closed by a little cork, which will be expelled if the +pressure within is so high as to require escape by this safety-valve. +The hole may be in any part of the annular cover (but is not shown in the +sketch), and in such case the hole shown in the handle is omitted. + +The outer cylinder of the lamp, being larger than the inner one, has a +bottom, _k_, fig. 3, which forms a circular tray of about two inches wide +and half an inch deep. + + [Picture: Lamp and Pan] + +The original form of the lamp which was first brought to notice {325} by +the Cook of the Royal Canoe Club, had a detached tray for the bottom, but +now, instead of this plan for the admission of air into the lamp, two saw +cuts are made, each about an inch long. One of them is shown below _f_, +fig. 2, and thus the lamp and tray are united in one compact piece while +still there is access for air. + +To put the lamp in operation, unscrew its handle from the position in +fig. 2, so that it will be as in figs. 3 and 4. Then from a tin flask +(which has been packed with the rest of the things in the pan) pour +spirits of wine--or, if the odour is not objected to, methylated spirit, +into the measure _m_, fig. 5, and from that into the interior of the lamp +through the opening at _h_. Next screw in the handle, and place the lamp +level under the pan, and pour nearly another measure full into the +interior tray. Set fire to this, and shelter it for a few seconds if +there be much wind. I used this always with complete success on the +Jordan, Nile, Danube, and many other rivers. + +In a short time the flame heats the spirits in the closed chamber, and +the spirituous steam is forced by pressure down the tube, and inflames at +the nozzle, from which it issues with much force and some noise in a +lighted column, which is about one foot in height when unimpeded. + +This powerful flame operates on the whole of the bottom and lower edge of +the pan, and it cannot be blown out by wind nor by a blast from the +mouth, but may be instantly extinguished by sharply placing the flat +bottom of the measure upon it. + +The cover may be put on so as to rest with the flat bottom downwards, and +with or without the handle. If tea is to be made with the water when it +boils, the requisite quantity is to be placed in the tea vessel _n_, fig. +5, which has perforated sides, and, its lid being closed, this is placed +in the water, where it will rest on the curved side, and can be agitated +now and then for a minute, after which insert the handle in the socket of +the pan and remove the lamp, allowing the tea to infuse for four minutes, +when the tea vessel may be removed and the made tea may be poured out +into the cup. The dry tea can be conveniently carried in a paper inside +the tea vessel. Salt is carried in the box _o_, and the matches are in +the box _p_. Coffee may be best carried in the state of essence in a +bottle. An egg-spoon and a soup-spoon are supplied. A flat clasp knife +and fork may be had extra. + +If bacon is to be fried, or eggs to be poached or cooked _sur le plat_, +they may be put into the lid and held by hand over the lamp-flame, so as +to warm all parts equally, or the slower heat of a simple flame may be +employed by lighting the measure full of spirits and then placing it on +the bottom of the upturned pan as shown at fig. 6, where it will be +observed that the three legs are placed in their sockets with the convex +curve of each turned outward, so that the lid, as a frying-pan, can rest +upon their three points. + +The spirit-flask contains enough for six separate charges of the lamp, +and the cost of using methylated spirits at 4_s_. 6_d_. a gallon is not +one penny a meal. The lamp-flame lasts from ten to fifteen minutes, and +the weight of the _cuisine_, exclusive of the bag and cup, is about two +pounds. + +These cuisines, improved by the suggestions obtained in their use, are +made at 93, Chancery Lane, London, of the best materials and workmanship, +and at the price of two and a half guineas; or if with tin boiler instead +of copper, and brass lamp, 1 pound 12_s._ 6_d_. Many of much larger size +(to cook for twenty men) have been used in Australia. + +The lamp above described was used daily in my yawl, but the other +fittings were on a more enlarged scale, as extreme lightness was not then +required. + +The Norwegian Cooking Apparatus of another kind entirely will be a +valuable adjunct to the yachtsman's stores. By means of this, meat or +pudding after being heated for only _five minutes_, and then enclosed in +a box which retains the heat, will be found to be perfectly cooked after +three hours, though no more heat has been applied to it. + + + +IMPROVED ROB ROY BINNACLE AND COMPASS. + + +Mr. Dent, of the Strand, has made the Life Boat Liquid Compass with +several improvements suggested from the Rob Roy yawl, and after +experiments permitted by the Life Boat Institution. These relate to the +diagram on the card, the lamp with oil or candle, the reflectors, the +ventilation, and the interior colouring of the binnacle, as well as other +minor matters. In a second cruise of the yawl with my new binnacle, the +great advantages desired were found to be attained. A _fac-simile_ of +the new Rob Roy card is given in "The Rob Roy on the Jordan," 6th +edition. + + + +SEA DRESS. + + +After six long voyages alone, a few remarks may be made on water toggery. + +Flannel all over to begin with. One grey flannel suit of "Norfolk +jacket" and trousers lasted for three trips, but at sea the blue colour +answers. Straw hat in sun, red woollen cap in wind, sou'wester in rain, +thick boating jacket, and the life-belt over it, and above that an +oilskin coat with overall trousers of the same, will defy wind and water. +Woven waistcoat expanding limitless. Shoes and not boots for work, white +canvas boots with spring sides for show in port. No braces. Blue +seamless yacht jersey a bore, though smart. Collar only with a calico +shirt, and on Sundays, when that cylinder of discomfort, a black hat, is +exhumed. Watch hanging in cabin, never on the person afloat. Purse with +keys in the shelf. Knife and etceteras in leather pockets of the boat. +So clad ye shall be ready to sail or to swim. + + + +SWIMMING FOR GIRLS. + + +The following appeared in the _Times_, July 3rd, 1878:-- + +Hundreds of girls in London are learning to swim, but many hundreds more +would gladly learn if teachers could be had. A healthful, cleanly, +life-saving exercise like this ought not to be stinted of teachers. + +The boys have twenty public baths to learn in and the open water in +Victoria Park, besides the dangerous, dirty canals. More than 1500 boys +are learning to swim as paying members of the London Schools Swimming +Club, which is open to all public elementary schools. + +Last year a class for thirty girls was begun late in the season, yet +twenty-five of these were taught to swim in six lessons, and six of them +won prizes. + +Only five of the public baths are available for girls and female school +teachers. At some of these the charge is threepence for a bathe, and at +one it is a penny for members of the club. Twelve girls can be well +taught in a class. For a lesson of two hours, one teacher charges +fifteen shillings and another receives ten shillings, while others are +paid two shillings for each girl who is taught to swim twenty-five yards, +and the rest are rewarded by watches and other prizes for those who teach +the most girls to swim. + +Mothers and sisters who can swim will not let their boys be unwashed on +the land and drowned in the water. + + J. M. + +The "London Schools Swimming Club" was formed in 1875, and it has already +(A.D. 1880) given instruction in swimming to 12,000 boys and girls, and +male and female teachers. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{3} Shown by dotted lines in the sketch at p. 7. The Rob Roy is of +about four tons' burthen, but "tons," we know well, mean one does not +know what. + +{10} "Swinging for the compass" is thus performed. The vessel is moored +in the bight at Greenhithe, and by means of warps to certain Government +buoys she is placed with her head towards the various points of the +compass. The bearing by the compass on board (influenced by the +attraction of the iron she carries) is taken accurately by one observer +in the vessel, and the true bearing is signalled to him by another +observer on shore, who has a compass out of reach of the "local +attraction" of the vessel. The error in each position due to the local +attraction is thus ascertained, and the corrections for these errors are +written on a card in a tabulated form, thus:-- + + For Steer + +N. N. 0.25 E. + +N. by E. N.N.E. + +And so on. A half point looks a small matter on the compass card, but in +avoiding a shoal, or in finding a harbour, it makes all the difference. + +{14} The Reformatory ship 'Cornwall' is at Purfleet. The three vessels +are within sight of each other. We shall sail back to each of them in a +future page, and have a more leisurely look on board. + +{20} The after part of the well is rounded at each side, and it is all +boarded up. In the middle is a seat on which a large cork cushion can +rest, or this may be thrown over as a life-preserver or for a buoy, while +the life-belt to be worn round the waist is stowed away under the seat, +and an iron basin with a handle is placed alongside it just over the +flooring, below which is seen, at p. 41, a wedge of lead-ballast, and in +front of this the water-well, where water collecting from leakage or +dashing spray is conveniently reached by the tube of vulcanised +india-rubber represented as just in front. This pump hose has a brass +union joint on the top, to which we can screw the nozzle of a pump with a +copper cylinder (shown at the bottom), or a piston worked by hand (but +without any lever), and when in use the cylinder rests obliquely, so that +the water will flow out over the combing, and on the deck, and so into +the sea. + +{22} Several important suggestions for the implement of the lifeboat +liquid compass were obtained during my use of it in this voyage, and +these have been duly appreciated by the Lifeboat Institution. + +{25} However good the glass, it is very difficult to make use of it for +faint or distant objects on the horizon, and on the whole I found it +easier to discern the first dim line of land far off by the unaided eye. +A slight mark, that would not be observed while only a short piece of it +is seen in the field of view, becomes decidedly manifest if a large scope +is seen at once. The binocular glass was very valuable, however, when +the words on a buoy, or the colour on the chequers of a beacon had to be +deciphered. + +{26} See page 44 and Appendix. + +{32} In yet another, the fourth visit to this stupid shallow harbour +(one of the most unpleasant to lie in anywhere), I fixed an oar out at +each side as a leg, and could scarcely get rest from the fear that one or +other of my beautiful oars would be snapped as they bent and groaned with +remonstrances against supporting several tons of weight in the capacity +of a wooden leg. + +{36} I had lessened her ton and a half of iron ballast by leaving two +hundredweight on Dover quay; good advice agreeing with my own opinion +that the Rob Roy was needlessly stiff. + +{42} The relative positions of all these articles had been maturely +considered and carefully arranged, and they were much approved by the +most experienced and critical of the many hundred visitors who inspected +the Rob Roy. + +{44} In the sketch at page 41, the cook of the Rob Roy is represented as +he works when rain compels him to shelter himself in the cabin under a +tarpaulin, and the hatch inclined upwards. But usually--indeed, always +but on two occasions--he sat in the well while he tended the caboose. + +{50} I have read numerous books, pamphlets, and discussions on this +subject, some of which are wonderfully clear in explaining what is +perfectly easy to understand, while they are exceedingly ingenious in +overlooking the only difficulty, which is, how a man on one vessel is to +know whither another vessel is steering to. (March 1880.) + +{52} "_Caution_.--During strong winds, between W.S.W., round westerly, +and N.N.W., the coast to the eastward of Ailly Point is dangerous to be +on, and shipwrecks are of frequent occurrence; vessels therefore of every +description at that period should keep a good offing, and when obliged to +approach it, must do so with great caution; for although the general mass +of the above banks appear to be stationary, yet great attention must be +paid to the lead, and in observing the confused state of the sea in the +various eddies, so as to guard against suddenly meeting with dangers +which may be of recent formation. The lights for the purpose of pointing +out the position of the headlands and dangers between Capes Antifer and +Gris-Nez at night, are so disposed that in clear weather two can always +be seen at a time, and the greater number of the harbours have one or +more tide lights shown during the time the harbour can be entered. + +"It is important to notice that along the coast, between Cape de la Heve +and the town of Ault (a space of 67 miles), the wind, when it blows in a +direction perpendicular, or nearly so, to the direction of the coast, is +reflected by the high cliffs, neutralizing in great measure its original +action to a certain extent in the offing, depending upon the strength of +the wind. It follows from this, that a zone is formed off the coast and +parallel to it (except in front of the wide valleys, where the direct +wind meets with no obstacle), where the wind is light, the sea much +agitated, and the waves run towards the shore. On the contrary, when the +wind forms an acute angle with the coast, the reflected wind contributes +to increase the direct wind near the shore." + +{55} As a precaution, I always put on the life-belt when I had to reef, +as one is liable then to be jerked overboard; also in strong winds when +we ran before them, because in case of getting over board then, it would +be difficult to catch the yawl by swimming; also at night when sailing, +or when, sleeping on deck, as one might then be suddenly run down. But +with all this prudence it happened that on each of the three occasions +when I did fall into the water, I had not the life-belt on. The +Life-Boat Institution had presented to me one of their life-jackets--an +invaluable companion if a long immersion in the water is to be undergone. +But for convenience in working the ropes and sails I was content to use +the less bulky life-belt. It is conveniently arranged, and you soon +forget it as an encumbrance. Indeed on one occasion I walked up to a +house without recollecting that my life-belt was upon me when ashore! + +{60} The account of these paddlings has been published in 'A Thousand +Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe,' 10th edition, and in 'The Rob Roy in the +Baltic,' 6th edition, both works being profusely illustrated (Low, +Marston and Co., Crown Buildings, Fleet Street). + +{77} "Fecamp Harbour is difficult to enter at all times, and dangerous +to attempt when it blows hard from the westward on account of the heavy +sea at the entrance; for should a vessel at that time miss the harbour +and ground upon the rocks off Fagnet Point, she would be totally lost." + +{78} A mysterious shell-fish delicacy. + +{85} Thick paper round my parcels of books within happily kept them dry. + +{98} Very few authors can write books suitable for men with weary bodies +and sleepy minds. It is remarkable to see how much attention these men +will pay to the words of the Bible and the 'Pilgrim's Progress.' No +doubt such readers often read but the surface-sense of both these books; +but then even that sense is good, and the deeper meaning is better, while +the language of both is superb. + +{102} If men's vices are matched by dogs' failings, several of our best +virtues are at least equalled by those in canine characters; especially +courage, fidelity, patience, and forgiveness. It is hard to believe +(even if indeed we are at all warranted in believing) that these noble +animals are done with existence when they die. It is harder still to see +a man cruel to a dog, without feeling pretty sure that the man is not the +better of the two. The dog life to be seen at the "Home for lost dogs" +is a study for any thoughtful man. + +Six empty collars hang in my own room. Each of them belonged to +successive dogs called 'Rob,' who cruised with me until they were lost or +killed. + +{110} The soldiers liked these so much that it was the fashion to place +the "Emperor's" picture over each man's bed. On one occasion His Majesty +happened to notice this when visiting a guard-room, and he had the whole +story explained to him. The late Prince Imperial also came for a +'British Workman,' and probably it was pinned behind His Royal Highness' +four-poster. He was a member of the Royal Canoe Club, and one of his +canoes was saved from the fire at the palace of St. Cloud. + +{112} A friend of mine stated that a French, gentleman of good education +called upon him one day, and happened to look at a French Testament which +lay open on the chimney-piece. "_Tiens_!" he said, "_Paternoster_ in the +Bible?" when he saw the Lord's Prayer in the printed page. + +{117} A similar Society has begun operations in France by publishing +translations of English papers on Sanitary and Domestic Management. + +{119} In this one particular the canoeist has to trust to the +boat-builder. In others, and in those relating to the rigging and sails +especially, I regret to say that I do not find _any_ builder fulfils +those requirements of strength, lightness, neatness, and simplicity +combined in due proportions, upon which so much of the safety of a canoe +depends, as well as comfort and pleasure in using it during the many +days' constant work of a long voyage. The proper rigging of a canoe, so +as to be neither fragile like a toy nor clumsy in its small details, is +well attended to at the Model Dockyard in Fleet Street. + +{121} This hankering after Egypt once more ripened into the cruise of +the "Rob Roy on the Jordan," of which the sixth edition appears in April, +1880. + +{128} These four gentlemen, admitted to the amateur contests declined to +row against four English watermen. + +{142} I recollect that old Westminster Bridge was a very dangerous one +for a boat to sail through, because the joints between the _voussoirs_, +or lines of stones under the arch, were not horizontal as in most other +bridges, but in an oblique direction, and several times when my mast has +touched one of these it was borne downwards with all the power of a +screw. + +{150} I found that a common Scotch plaid, if it was in an inclined +position, resisted wet longer than any other material permeable to air, +and it could be readily dried by hanging it from the mast in the wind. + +{151} There was another method of cooking under shelter, and we employed +it on the only other occasion when this had to be done, namely, to shut +up the cabin and to cook inside it, using the portable "canoe cuisine," +which is described in the Appendix. But as this is meant to be employed +only on shore, it does not answer well on board, except in a calm; and, +moreover, the heat generated by the lamp was too much in a small cabin. +Even a single candle heats a small apartment, and it is well known that a +man can get a very good vapour-bath by sitting over a rushlight, with +blankets fastened all round. + +{152} The best, according to my taste, were those of "Irish stew," +"Stewed steak," "Mulligatawny," "Oxtail," and "Vegetable soup," all in +the order named. "Preserved peas" were not quite so good; but the other +viands were all far better than can be had at any culinary hotel, and +were entirely without that metallic or other "preserved" flavour so soon +discovered in such eatables, and even by a palate not fastidious. This +experience was fully confirmed afterwards in my Canoe Cruises in Holland, +in the Orkneys and Shetland, and in the Red Sea, Jordan, Nile, Abana, +Pharpar, and Lake of Galilee. + +{156} Frenchmen have a trick of anchoring thus to escape a breeze. We +have seen them anchor on the African coast merely to avoid a hard-looking +cloud, whereas the real danger was in anchoring there at all. + +{159a} See Frontispiece. + +{159b} We shall hear of this pinch again further on. + +{160} This latter construction is found to be very convenient, because +the cargo is at one end of the vessel and the machinery, and +paddle-wheels, and steering apparatus are all at the other end, so that +orders can be readily given to both by the captain. The "Express" +Company on the Seine has sixty of these steamers. + +{161} It was, however, only an adaptation of the same principle I had +used in Swedish lakes, when my course was towards a bright sun so +dazzling in the water that I invented the plan of covering my eyes with +my straw hat, and steering the canoe by the bright reflection of the sun +on its cedar deck, which was of course by no means so unpleasant as the +beams of light glancing from the water itself. Surely it would not be +impossible to make the needle of a mariner's compass itself steer the +ship at least within half a point. The motion of the needle could +connect one or the other of two electro currents, and so set in instant +action a powerful purchase to act on the tiller. + +{171} First thoughts of people and of countries are more striking, they +are only by chance at all true. I recollect asking an American, after +his visit to the English House of Lords, what struck his attention most; +and he said, "Their lordships don't seem to brush their hair." Another +clever traveller, from the same land of our cousins, was asked what he +noticed of our manners in London, and he replied, "I observe it is the +fashion here, when a gentleman sees his friend on the other side of Pall +Mall, he shakes his umbrella at him and calls out, 'D'ye do, old +fellow?'" + +{188} The Rob Roy came there again next summer, up the Thames, and by +the canal, and the river Wey and the Arun, and so to Southsea, with +fifteen canoes, five dogs and a cockatoo--such fun. + +{192} After so much experience of the yawl, tried in all points in all +kinds of wind and weather, it may well be supposed that numerous +improvements had been noted in my book as desirable. These, however, we +need not here particularise, as the various descriptions given at +intervals through this book shew what the Rob Roy is in her latest and +best arrangements. + +{195a} The fall of each halyard was coiled and put under the taut part. +A small coil looks neatest, but the fall of it is sure to kink if coiled +close, being wet and dry ten times in a day. Before nearing harbour, or +in preparation to lower sail "handsomely," I found it well to cast the +coil loose on the hatch, else a kink would catch in the leading sheave. + +{195b} This was forthwith invented and used and shewn to hundreds of +people. After some time the very identical thing was patented, and it is +now used by thousands. Most of our canoes have these "tumbling cleats," +and they are used for the cords of blinds, &c., in many houses, including +my own. + +{197} This is shewn in the sketch on the preceding page; the bar +presented a very smooth surface for the bottom of the dingey to run over +when it was shipped under the hatch, or hauled out in a hurry. Moreover, +the wood was convenient to stride across in getting from the well to the +cabin, and it was far more pleasant and _warmer_ than metal to hold on by +during violent lurches of the sea. + +{206} A foreign sailor, examined as to a shipwreck case in Court, was +asked, "How did you know it was the coast of England?" He said, "Because +a lifeboat came out to us." Rule Britannia! + +{208} Three hundredweight of ballast was thrown off at Cowes, besides +what we took out at Dover, and still the yawl was stiff. + +{211} Other inventors, knowing the experimental turn of my crew, had +sent me several instruments and things of various sorts to try in +practice, and to report on. One of these was a beautiful little anchor +made of bronze, and in form very peculiar and apparently an improvement, +indeed an admirable novelty to look at. This, too, I heaved overboard +for trial, but it simply dragged through the soft mud, and proved quite +useless. + +{240} He had wisely fitted a centre-board in his 14-feet canoe at my +suggestion. This sliding keel answered well for sailing, and all our +large canoes are now thus fitted. Mr. Berthons' portable canoe can be +carried flat under one arm. Canoe sails are dangerous unless they can be +lowered in an instant. So are the sails of a frigate in a sudden squall. +The 'Eurydice,' which I saw in Portsmouth harbour, is a warning for ever. + +{242} To anchor for the night, riding by tide or stream, is not +pleasant; for then the wind may cross your hatch, and blow the rain in +sideways, whereas if you ride at anchor to the wind alone, the draught +comes always from the front, and so it can be better provided for, and +the boat does not roll much even if she pitches. + +{244} Revelation xix. 7. + +{246} It was hung on the port mizen shroud. To hang it in front of you +is simply to cut off two of your three chances of possibly seeing ahead. + +{250} I think that in a port like Newhaven the look-out man in charge +ought to come to the pier-head when he sees a yacht entering in rough +weather, and certainly there is more attention to such matters in France +than with us. + +{260} The singular volcanic eruptions in Iceland occurred also on that +day. + +{261} The numerous vessels met now were some of those we had been with +in the morning, and they looked even more in number, for we crossed and +recrossed each other frequently, and this part of the Channel is a +highway for nations. + +{267} In the winter this old sailor was drowned, the last of six +brothers, all of whom were drowned. + +{268} This event is depicted on the cover of our book, being a copy of +the illustration in the excellent penny periodical, 'The Boy's Own Paper' +(October, 1879), one of a score of serials and a thousand books at the +'Pure Literature Society,' 11, Buckingham Street, Strand. + +{270} One of the pranks to be prepared for in a boat is this jibing of +the boom, and until by practice you know the exact range of safety for +your head in relation to that swinging spar, caution should be the rule. +Long ago I had learned the exact length of the Rob Roy's boom in relation +to my nose; for even in the Thames, soon after starting, it had once +caught the back of my head, and knocked my face down on the deck, where a +bloody nose (but no worse result) speedily settled the question as to +which must yield when the boom and the captain are at loggerheads. I +learned more lessons of this sort when, in 1871, I had a lonely voyage in +a "yawl canoe" through Holland and the Zuyder Zee, and Friesland and the +Texel. An account of it was published in the 'Graphic' for November of +that year. + +{272} At a southern watering place lately there were forty ladies each +in a canoe on one afternoon. + +{275} Bravely they worked to save life on the Goodwin in the fearful +gale that came soon afterwards. + +{280} The recent legislation for the proper care of the women and the +education of the children on barges was much needed, and it was +successfully accomplished by our late excellent Home Secretary, who was +himself one of the best "oars" at Cambridge, when the late Foreign +Secretary of France was another. + +{284} The use of the word "bloody" is now general among the lowest +classes all over England. The meaning intended by this is not what +scholars would agree to. Hundreds of times the word is employed only for +"very," and it is strange how soon one's first shudders at the sound +become faint, and even die. + +{287} The _Royal Canoe Club_ has elected about 600 Members, including +several ladies. Some of the Members are in Australia, India, Japan, +China, Canada, and North and South America. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales +is our Commodore, and he has several canoes. There are also several +branches of the Club besides other Canoe Clubs on the Mersey, the Clyde, +the Forth, the Trent, the Humber, and four Clubs in America. The Office +of the R.C. Club is at 11, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, London, where also +is "The Pure Literature Society," with 3600 books and 42 periodicals all +good to read and to choose from. + +{291} We need not he surprised that sharks should get entangled in the +Bay of Biscay. Even at Margate one was caught a short time after I had +swam in the water there, and six more sharks were captured in the summer +on the English south coast. + +{296} As this was being urged upon friends, a telegram came from the +Admiralty for "Twenty-five boys from the 'Chichester.'" + +{297} A description of these vessels will be found in the Appendix. + +{325} The late Professor J. D. Forbes, who used this lamp, says it was +introduced into this country from Russia by Dr. Samuel Brown, and that +"the jet of burning spirit has such force as to resist the blast of a +hurricane." + + LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, + STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGE ALONE IN THE YAWL "ROB +ROY"*** + + +******* This file should be named 27235.txt or 27235.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/2/3/27235 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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