diff options
Diffstat (limited to '76788-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 76788-0.txt | 10881 |
1 files changed, 10881 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/76788-0.txt b/76788-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0027a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/76788-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10881 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76788 *** + + + + + +[Illustration: THE “ROYALSHIRE”] + + + + + FIRST EDITION _November 1902_ + _Reprinted_ _December 1902_ + _Reprinted_ _December 1902_ + _Reprinted_ _February 1903_ + NEW (_lower priced_) EDITION _October 1903_ + + + + + ROUND THE HORN + BEFORE THE MAST + + By A. BASIL LUBBOCK + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON & CO. + 1903 + + + + +_Printed in Great Britain_ + + + + + TO + MY DEAR MOTHER + I DEDICATE THIS + BOOK + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + PAGE + + “FRISCO” 1 + + Choosing a Ship--Signing on--Don Henderson--At a Seaman’s + Tailor--First Day’s Work--Cleaning the Stringers--Sailors + _v._ Base-ballers at Cricket--The Seaman’s Institute--My + Carriboo Bag--A Sailors’ Concert--Emptying the Bilges--The + _Marlboro’ Hill’s_ Crew of Landlubbers--Yankee Brutality at + Sea--Chipping--Johnsen, the Swede. + + + CHAPTER II + + OAKLAND CREEK AND PORT COSTA 39 + + A Lively Time crossing the Bay--Mooring Ship--Sea Serpents--An Old + South Seaman--More Cricket--The Bilges again--Lining the Hold--The + Art of Painting--Mosquitoes and Song--Bleeding the Grain--Bending + Sail--An Early Morning Picnic--Bathing in the Sacramento--A + Fatality--Ready for Sea--Taking in Stores--Our Crew come + Aboard--My Stewardship--The Return of the Californian Boys. + + + CHAPTER III + + THE NORTH PACIFIC 72 + + Man the Capstan--Making Sail--Picking the Watches--Going About--My + Gaff-topsail--Timekeeping--The Binnacles--Matches--Dandyfunk and + Crackerhash--Dutchmen and Dagos--Johnsen’s Logbook--The Old Man’s + Models--The Bosun’s Songs--“Duckfoot Sue”--Crew complain of the + Food--Rows amongst the After gang--Peggy--Flying-Fish and Bosun + Birds--Lime-juice--Amateur Haircutters--Sharks and Pilot-Fish--In + the Doldrums--At the Braces in the Middle Watch--Deep-sea + Fishing--The Song of the Trade Wind--Heaving the Log--My First + Wheel--Fine Weather Kites--A “Jimmy Green.” + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE SOUTH SEAS 121 + + Cross the Line--“Stand by your Royal Halliards”--Making + Rovings--Johnsen tries to Knife the Second Mate--Tarring + Down--Dancing in the Dog Watch--Sails--Discourses on Modern + Wind-jammers--Yankee Schooners--Clinching the Crossjack + Leech-line--The _Loudoun Hill_--Graining Dolphins--Our Farming + Bosun--A Queer Fish--British Sailors on British Ships--Yankee + Buckos--Pitcairn Island--“What ho, Piper!” + + + CHAPTER V + + RUNNING EASTING DOWN 144 + + Grand Yachting--From the Bowsprit End--A Bad Squall--Fore-royal + blows away--On the Fore Upper-topgallant Yard--A Battle + with the Elements--Wilson and Myself on the Main-yard--Cape + Pigeons--Preparing for Cape Horn--Fog--Use of a Cowhorn at + Sea--Rotten Gaskets--In the Lazarette--Getting up Bread--Paraffiny + Sugar--Slumgullion--A Cape Horn Sunset--Arguments in the + Half-deck--The Stately Albatross--Our Hens--The “Roaring + Forties”--Famous Tea-Clippers--The _Thermopylæ_--A “Blue-nose” + Clipper--Rivalry between Watches--Checkerboard Crews--Negro + Crews--Burgoo--A Mollymawk Aboard--Colder Weather--Making + Fenders--Putting in Rovings--Bird-life in the Southern Ocean--Cape + Horn Hail-storms. + + + CHAPTER VI + + OFF THE HORN 177 + + A big Beam Sea--Rolling both Rails Under--Port Watch washed away + from the Fore-braces--The Deck-bear--Dollops--Blood-stirring + Work--Main-deck under Water--Half-deck Water-logged--In + our Watch Below--Waking Mac--At the Lee Wheel--Cape Horn + Greybeards--Dodging the Seas--Don nearly Drowned in his + Lamp-locker--No Fresh Water--Standing by--Higgins in the + Lee Scuppers--Sunday Breakfast--Snugging Down--Turning up + Gear--Overboard--A Narrow Escape--An Unlucky Fall--Don Loses his + False Teeth aloft--Mountainous Seas--Pooped--“Sail ho!”--The + Music of the Gale--Chantying in Difficulties--A Huge Sea falls + Aboard--Retrieving the Lamps--All Hands on Deck--Terrific + Work--The _Royalshire_ on her Beam Ends--Hove-to--A Bad Middle + Watch--Make Sail Again--Chantying--Outward Bounders--Cape + Stiff--Old Man’s Yarns--Foot-gear. + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE SOUTH ATLANTIC 239 + + On the Banks--A Low Glass--Blowing Again--I Fall and Shake the + Poop--Taylor’s Whitlow--Sea-Boils--Pipes growing Scarce--“Storm + along, Stormie”--The whole Crew washed away from the + Mainbrace--My knee damaged--The Bosun and Bower--Clark Russell + at Fault--Model-Making--Discussion on Flogging--An Albatross + Caught--Ill-health on Board--My Medicine Chest--A Dead Muzzler--An + Electric Storm--Jack o’ Lanterns--My poor Knee--Johnsen’s + Troubles--A Wild Highlander at Meals--A Prophet of Evil--Don and + Scar. + + + CHAPTER VIII + + IN THE TROPICS 282 + + Old Slush and Greasy Food--A Fleet of Wind-jammers + collected by the Head-wind--Johnsen the Jonah--Washing + Clothes--Quartermaster--Amusements in the Night Watches--Painting + Down--The Frigate Bird--Ocean Races--Forecastle Artists--The + Contents of my Bunk--Taylor’s Backstays--Old Slush goes + Forward--Our new Cook--At our Prayers--Don in Disgrace--Oiling + Decks--Liverpool Hard-tack--Huge Shoal of Bonita--An Epidemic of + Cramps--The Art of Steering--Head-gear Scarce. + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE WESTERN OCEAN 325 + + Shifting Sail Again--My Long Trick--Among the Western Isles--Slippery + Decks--At Work in the Hold--A Broken-down Steamer--Heavy + Gale--Between Two Seas--Loring Washed Out--Hove-to--A Pulling + Match--“Reuben Ranzo”--Fight with Bower on the Royal-yard--A + Midnight Brew--Grub running Short--Washing Decks in a + Gale--Wearing Ship--Old Man and Mate at Loggerheads--The + Lead-line--A Cause for Strong Language. + + + CHAPTER X + + IN BRITISH WATERS 360 + + “The Coastwise Lights of England”--Queenstown--Away for + Birkenhead--News of the Boer War--A Christmas Dinner--A + Harbour Stow--A Sailor’s Plans--My Last Wheel--Befogged in the + Mersey--Nearly Run Down--“Leave Her, Johnnie, Leave Her”--Attempts + at Docking--Don’s Last Escapade--Fate of the _Royalshire_--The Old + Trail. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THE “ROYALSHIRE” _Frontispiece_ + + FRISCO _To face page_ 22 + + MARKET STREET AND CALL BUILDING ” ” 26 + + FRISCO SWIMMING BATHS ” ” 48 + + FRISCO BAY ” ” 70 + + THE PILOT BOAT “BONITA” ” ” 78 + + CLINCHING THE CROSSJACK LEECHLINE 132 + + “ROYALSHIRE” UNDER FULL SAIL ” ” 144 + + THE ALBATROSS ” ” 164 + + AN AUSTRALIAN CLIPPER ” ” 168 + + CAPE HORN ” ” 232 + + A PASSING LIME-JUICER ” ” 284 + + A “DOWN-EASTER” ” ” 298 + + SHIFTING SAIL ” ” 326 + + MAP TO ILLUSTRATE AUTHOR’S VOYAGE + ROUND CAPE HORN _At the end_ + + + + +ROUND THE HORN BEFORE THE MAST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +“FRISCO” + + “Serene, indifferent of Fate, + Thou sittest at the Western Gate; + Upon thy heights so lately won, + Still slant the banners of the sun; + Thou seest the white seas strike their tents, + O Warder of two Continents! + And scornful of the peace that flies, + Thy angry winds and sullen skies, + Thou drawest all things, small and great, + To Thee, beside the Western Gate.” + + +On Wednesday, 12th July 1899, I signed on before the mast on the +four-mast barque _Royalshire_ of Glasgow, which had just arrived in +Frisco from Japan, and was busy unloading the first cargo of Japanese +coal that had ever left the country. + +I had just come out of the “Golden North,” having had several months +up in the Klondyke, where I experienced both the “midnight sun” and the +“midday night.” I had intended prospecting Vancouver Island for copper +during the rest of the summer, but the party having been broken up for +various reasons, I came down to San Francisco, meaning to ship on board +a South Sea schooner and proceed by slow stages to Australia; but after +a thorough search I failed to find a single South Sea trader in Frisco, +except the barque _Maura Al_, which ran to Honolulu with passengers, so +I decided to give up this plan. + +I had long had a wish to sail before the mast, and witness real sea +life in all its dangers and hardships. The chief officer of one of +the Empress boats, those magnificent steamers of the Canadian Pacific +Railway, on my speaking to him of this wish, had told me that if I +shipped before the mast on a windjammer, I should find it a wonderful +experience, which, if I was not afraid of real muscle-trying work, and +was hardy enough to stand the bad food and other hardships, I should +look back upon with much pleasure. + +As I was as fit as it was possible for any one to be, and felt sure +that nothing would come very hard after such an experience as I had +gone through in the Klondyke, I determined to ship home round the Horn +in one of the magnificent windjammers which lay in the port. + +The next thing to do was to pick a good ship. There were several +four-mast barques--beautiful iron ships from the Clyde--and not a few +full-riggers and three-mast barques, all about to load grain for the +British Isles or Continent. + +Though a very keen lover of the sea, and with a certain amount of +experience gained yachting and travelling, I really knew very little of +what a foremast jack’s life was on board a big deep-waterman. I knew +enough, however, not to ship before the mast on a ship with “down-east” +or “blue-nose” mates, who, though they are the finest seamen probably +in the world, are terrible “drivers,” and are a bit too free with +belaying pins, knuckle-dusters, and six-shooters to please me,--the +“gun-play” on board some “down-easters” being almost worthy of an +Arizona mining camp. + +I also knew enough to find out before I signed on, whether the ship was +a hungry one or not, and whether her skipper drank. + +I spent a whole morning prowling round the docks, and decided that the +_Royalshire_, _Lancing_, and _Loudon Hill_, all four-mast barques, were +the finest ships in port. + +The _Royalshire_ I thought the finest looking alow and aloft, and from +the spread of her yards she had evidently got a larger sail plan than +either of the others. She only had one defect that I could take hold +of, and that was a rather heavy stern, though this was made up for +by one of the sweetest entrances I have ever seen; the curve of her +cutwater and her bow lines were a delight to the eye, and I at once +decided to make inquiries about her. + +On the wharf, tallying the carts of coal as they were loaded from the +shute, was a small red-headed Scotchman. + +From him I found out that she was reckoned one of the crack ships of +the “Shire Line” of Glasgow, that her captain and officers were all +Scotch, and that, though not noted for her good feeding, she could +hardly be called a “hungry ship.” + +My red-headed friend answered every question very readily, and gave the +ship and her captain a first-rate character. He evidently thought that +I wanted a passage in her, and told me that I could see the captain on +the following day about eleven o’clock, before he went ashore. + +Thanking him for his information, I asked him what position he held on +board. + +He replied, “third mate,” and told me that she carried four mates, and +also that the whole of her crew had run on arriving in Frisco. + +“That does not look as if she was such a comfortable ship,” I said. + +“Weel, I dinna think ye’ll find a vessel in port with her hands +aboard--all foremast hands run in Frisco--I’ve half a notion to run +mysel’, the wages is that gran’ sailing oot o’ Frisco; an A.B. gets +four pund a month, it’s naw great wonder crews run,” he replied. And +with this I left him and returned to my hotel, well pleased with my +day’s work. + +Lo and behold, the first thing I saw on returning at the appointed +time, was the captain and my red-haired friend shaking their fists in +each other’s faces on the poop, and “cussing around” to beat creation. + +From what I could hear of it, the third mate was asking for his +discharge in language both “painful and free,” but without success, for +presently the captain went below, and he came ashore, evidently off up +town. + +As he stepped off the companion ladder, I buttonholed him, and asked +him when I could see the captain. + +“The old man will be oot preesently, if ye just wait a wee while,” he +answered hurriedly, and away he went. + +As I stood on the wharf watching the coal being unloaded, I noticed +that a small man, with a thick red moustache and kind, light-blue +eyes, seemed to be bossing things on board. + +After a bit, seeing me loafing around, he called to me and asked me +what I wanted. I told him I was waiting to see the captain. + +“Come aboard; he’s having his breakfast now but he’ll be going ashore +directly, and then you can see him.” + +I came aboard, and spent a couple of hours waiting for the old man to +come on deck. For some reason or other he was later than usual going +ashore, and it was nearly one o’clock before he appeared. + +Meanwhile I loafed about the deck, keenly interested in everything. +I gave the red-moustached man a cigar, and found out that he was the +mate, which bit of news caused me to look him over very carefully, and +I decided that I liked the cut of his jib. + +He had got a nice face, with a steady, kindly eye, and from what I +could see, he had a temper to match. In the short talk I had with him +he was all civility, and I congratulated myself on hitting upon a ship +with such a mate. Of course I knew enough not to be too sanguine; +many a sailor, who ashore or in port is as mild and quiet as a lamb, +directly he gets to sea, for no apparent reason, turns into a fiend +incarnate. I felt sure, however, that this man was not one of that sort. + +At noon “eight bells” were struck, and the men came up from the +after ’tween-decks, where they had been cleaning the coal out of the +stringers. + +They consisted of the fourth mate, carpenter, sailmaker, an apprentice +out of his time, and the nipper, as an apprentice on his first voyage +is called. + +The nipper, a boy of sixteen, was a picturesque figure, with a face +as black as a nigger minstrel’s, from the coal, surmounted by a red +tam o’shanter; he was full of fun, and I found out afterwards that his +father was a clergyman in Kent. + +I’ll bet he would have stared if he could have seen his son then in +grimy dungarees and jumper, as I’ve no doubt the last time he saw him +was in a brass-bound serge suit and a deep-sea cap, one mass of gold +braid, with the badge of the “Shire Line” glittering resplendent upon +it. + +The stevedores at work on the coal in the mainhold also knocked off, +and went ashore for their dinner. + +I was beginning to think the captain was going to stay below all day, +when he appeared. + +He was a keen-faced, middle-aged Scotchman, of medium height, with a +glitter of steel in his eye, and I put him down in my mind as a “hard +nut” after one look at him. + +As he came off the poop I tackled him, telling him that I wanted to +sign on before the mast. + +After scanning me curiously for a moment or two, he asked, “Can ye +climb up there?” pointing to the mizen-royal yard. + +I had never been aloft in my life, but I knew that I had got a good +head from my prospecting experiences in the mountains, where, looking +for quartz reefs, one constantly takes terrific risks, especially +rock-climbing; a very different job to climbing the Alps with a guide +who knows every bit of the ground. + +So I answered in the affirmative with great confidence. This was good +enough for him, and he gave me the address of his shipping agent, who +would sign me on, as he explained that if he signed me on himself +without the shipping agent and it was found out, the shipping agents +would turn against him, and the next time he came to Frisco he would +probably not be able to get a crew. + +Away I went, and in an hour’s time had turned into an “ordinary +seaman,” signed on for two pounds a month for a passage round the Horn, +calling at Queenstown for orders, either for the British Isles or +Continent. + +The shipping agent had got another victim with him, an Englishman, by +name Don Henderson, a man who had turned his hand to pretty nearly +everything--singing in the opera in New York, teaching swimming at +the Frisco baths (the finest in the world), mixing wine in Southern +California, gold prospecting in Arizona and Montana, lumbering in +Louisiana, farming and cow-punching from Texas to the Line--were but a +few of the things he had done. + +He had had rather a bad time of it lately, having had to give up the +wine-mixing, where he was doing very well, as he got knocked over with +a very bad bout of fever; only half recovered from the fever, he hung +on at Frisco, living by means of his wits and free lunch counters, +until it struck him that he would try and get home, and see if he could +get hold of some money which was due to him. + +He decided to go before the mast--a way not exactly new to him, as +he had come home from New York in the _Umbria_ before the mast; and +without much trouble he got an introduction to the shipping agent from +a pal, and the thing was done. + +As Englishmen in the Colonies will, Don and I immediately palled up +together, and were very pleased to find we were both going on the same +ship, as we had a good deal in common, both being English Public School +men, and both knowing how dull it is living or camping for any length +of time with men with whom you have got nothing in common. + +I once shared a canvas bunk for a fortnight with a man who had a +reputation of having killed twelve men. One would have thought that a +man like this would have been an interesting companion to yarn with, +but not a bit of it; he only had two ideas in his head, one was whisky, +and the other whittling wood. + +He was a silent man, very slow of speech, but quick enough with a +six-shooter; as harmless and quiet as a prairie dog except when he +had a skinful of “nosepaint,” on which occasions he was like a busted +volcano or a wounded grizzly, a-raging and tearing around something +sinful to see, and a scandal to a quiet neighbourhood. + +Don and I were both in pretty good spirits, and exchanged chaff with +the clerks of the Consulate. + +The ceremony of signing on was soon got through, somebody gabbled off +the “ship’s Articles” to us. I caused some amusement by giving the +“Bachelors’ Club, Piccadilly,” as my address, and Don raised a laugh by +making his mark, a huge, straggly cross, as he pretended he could not +write. + +Pocketing our month’s advance, we gave the shipping agent a drink, he +in return giving us the address of a seaman’s tailor, and telling us +also to be sure and get aboard the following noon. This we promised to +do, and then we went off together to do our shopping. + +Few landsmen know that a common sailor before the mast has to provide +all his own clothes, his soap, matches, eating utensils, blankets, and +bedding. + +Don and I were soon hard at work bargaining with as precious a robber +of the innocents as I have ever met. + +Luckily for us we were not poor, ignorant, foremast jacks, whom these +landsharks simply prey upon, but both fellows who had knocked about a +good deal. + +We soon had his prices down, and our purchases were rubber sea-boots, +blue jerseys, overalls, heavy clothing for the Horn, soap, towels, +matches, and plug tobacco. + +Then we went off to buy something to eat and drink out of. From +Klondyke experience, I bought the largest graniteware plate with the +highest rim I could get, and also a huge pannikin. + +By the time we had got everything we wanted, the sun was beginning to +go under. + +We determined to do this our last evening as gentlemen, in some style, +so we dined at the Palace, and went to the opera afterwards, finishing +up with an excellent supper. + + +_Thursday, 13th July._--We turned out fairly early, meaning to go on +board about eleven. + +Taking a last stroll before going on board, we began trying the +“nickel machines” at the cigar stores; our luck was terrific wherever +we went, every time we got two or more cigars; the way we turned up +three of a kind, straights, flushes, and full houses, made us wish that +we were sitting down to a game of poker, and by the time we were ready +to go on board, we had each got thirty cigars in our pockets. + +We hired an express cart, and, piling it with our luggage, drove down +to the ship in style. + +The crew and stevedores on the _Royalshire_ stared in amazement as our +craft, with its huge pile of kit and dunnage bags, hove in sight. + +But the mate was ready for us, and told us to get into working togs and +turn to at one o’clock. + +We packed our truck (British Columbian for “carried our baggage”) into +the port forecastle. + +One o’clock found me on the wharf in an old flannel shirt, cowboy hat, +and well-worn pair of overalls--the same had seen a lot of service +in the Klondyke and on the prairie, where I had bought them, and had +lasted twice as long as English dungarees. + +Alongside of me was a big stack of lumber in long inch and half-inch +planks, for lining the hold with. This must be done before a ship is +allowed to load grain. + +These planks I had to pass aboard through a port, which, as the tide +flowed, got higher and higher above me. + +At six o’clock our day’s work was over, and I for one was quite ready +to knock off, for the lumber was not light, and so rough that it tore +my hands to bits and filled them with splinters. + +On going to the galley for our grub, we were presented with a kid of +meat and potatoes, and had our pannikins filled with a queer-tasting +liquid which the cook, a slab-footed and extraordinary German, tried to +make us understand in broken English was tea. + +“What is this stuff?” said Don, pointing to the contents of his +pannikin. + +“Dot ist ze tea.” + +“The what?” + +“Ze tea, I dell you, for zu drinken!” + +“It’s not medicine, is it?” + +“Nein; ze tea, I dell you; ze tea, ze tea!” + +“What is tea?” asked Don, solemnly. + +“Vot is tea! you not know! vy tea is tea; ze tea for zu drinken.” + +Don ended by nearly worrying that wretched Dutchman off his head. + +“Tea, is it?” + +“Tea, zat is vat it is; ze tea for zu drinken.” + +“Do you mean to say you call that tea?” + +“For shor’ zat is tea, very fine tea.” + +“Then why on earth didn’t you say so before?” With this we retired to +the forecastle, which den we had all to ourselves, the crew having run. + +The meat we found was fresh, as, being in port, we got shore rations; +but sailors as a rule prefer the ship’s salt meat to the fresh meat +which they get in port, as this fresh meat is the cheapest that can be +bought, in fact nothing but the refuse bits from the butchers. + +But Don and I were hungry after our four hours’ work, and finished it +all up. + +After our meal we started in and got things shipshape, choosing our +bunks, into which we hove our “donkey’s breakfasts,” as sailors call +their straw mattresses, and stowing away our things. + + +_Friday, 14th July._--We were turned out by the night-watchman at 6.30, +and told that we had got to turn to at seven o’clock. + +We had not much time to lose, as we had to wash, dress, and get our +breakfast in less than half an hour. This at first sight would appear +to be a bit of a rush, but it was not, for washing consisted of a rough +sluice down with salt water, gained by lowering a bucket overboard, and +dressing was but slipping on a pair of overalls, a flannel shirt, and +foot gear. + +For breakfast, we got half a pannikin of hot liquid each, some “wet +hash,” and some “hard-tack.” + +“Wet hash” is broken-up beef and potatoes in hot water, with, perhaps, +an onion thrown in: occasionally, however, we got “dry hash,” which I +much preferred. + +Dry hash is simply minced meat and mashed potatoes, and I believe goes +by the name of “shepherd’s pie” ashore. + +As to what the hot liquor was at first, we were not quite sure. + +“I suppose it’s another brew of what the cook calls ‘ze tea,’ only a +bit lighter in colour,” said Don, sipping it. “I don’t detect much +difference in the taste; I’ve got a pretty keen palate, and but for a +slight flavouring of garlic, I’m willing to bet it’s ‘ze tea.’” + +“I’m inclined to think it’s coffee myself: it’s got a sediment of flour +which seems to remind me of the slumgullion I’ve drunk at different +times in mining camps,” I answered. + +“I think you are wrong. You don’t get me to believe that a hard nut of +a section boss like our old man is going to pay us two pounds a month, +and throw in two kinds of liquor as well, don’t you believe it; he’s +got his eye square on the almighty dollar, and he ain’t going to chuck +his dust around in no such lordly style as that.” + +“And I say it’s a full house against a pair of jacks that it’s coffee, +because why--” + +“Turn to!” said the mate, poking his nose in at the door, and out we +had to trundle. + +We were soon hard at work cleaning the Japanese coal out of the +stringers in the after-hold, down in the gloomy depths of the ship. +Each man was given a broom-end and a bit of rag or canvas, and woe +betide the unlucky one who overlooked a small piece of coal stuck in +the stringers, or who did not wipe off every speck of coal-dust, for +the lynx-eyed mate was sure to spot it. + +Here we worked all day in the semi-darkness of the hold, which was only +half lighted by the open after-hatch. + +Occasionally one of us had to shovel coal for a while, which soon finds +out the weak muscles of the back. + +We worked hard, with never a spell, for the mate was a great lover of +work, always taking a hand himself and doing more than any of us. I +found my hands very sore and blistered from handling the rough lumber +yesterday, but comforted myself with the fact that they would very soon +get hard and would be fit for anything before we sailed. + +At twelve o’clock we were knocked off work for the “dinner hour,” and +how pleased I was to come up into the sunshine again! + +I enjoyed that dinner (the midday meal is always called dinner on board +ship), and especially the smoke after it, as I have seldom enjoyed a +meal, refuse meat and irrigated potatoes though it was. Then at it we +went again until 5.30, when we were sent on deck to clear up. + +The decks were swept, and any loose gear put away in the bosun’s +locker, and as the factory whistles screeched out six o’clock, the +mate said quietly, “That’ll do.” We were free, and our day’s work was +finished. + +The first thing to do was to wash, for we were all as black as chimney +sweeps, and our eyes and ears were full of coal-dust. + +We got a couple of buckets of fresh water from the pump, which was just +aft of the mizen-mast, and soon turned ourselves from black into white +men again. + +On going to get the grub from the galley, I found that I was right +about the queer liquid we had drunk in the morning; it was coffee all +right, according to the cook. + +As soon as we had demolished our supper, Don and I dashed ashore, and +anybody who saw us seated in a couple of stalls at the opera listening +to “Carmen” would have been very much surprised if they had seen us, +black and grimy coalheavers as we were, an hour or so back. + +On our way back to the ship I bought some Alaska bread and tinned +plums, to augment our scanty fare. + +Both these I can thoroughly recommend. Alaska bread is made of ginger, +and is like sponge cake; it lasts for ever, never gets stale, and is +exceedingly cheap. Tinned plum puddings, I admit, were luxuries; they +were delicious eaten cold, and I thought they were as good as any plum +pudding I had ever eaten. + +“I calculate,” said Don to me as we turned in, “that you save quite +a lot of breath calling me Don instead of Henderson, whilst I’m all +behind the game calling you Lubbock. What was the name your godfathers +and godmothers gave you? I’m rising thirty-nine, and can’t afford to +waste my breath any longer on a jaw-breaking name like Lubbock.” + +“Jehoshaphat Nebuchadnezzar are my Christian names; if you think you +can save breath on either of them you are welcome to try,” I replied +laughing. + +“No, bar rot, you old deadbeat; if you don’t tell me, I shall call you +‘Jos,’ short for Jehoshaphat.” + +“Well, what do you think of ‘Basil’ for a fine, high-sounding, bang-up, +number one, top-side, high-born Christian name?” + +“Too good for a bally old ruffian like you. Dashed if I don’t call you +Bally, it’s short for Basil, just as Johnny is short for John.” + +And Bally I remained the whole time I was on the _Royalshire_, though +some of the crew called me “Klondyke.” + + +_Saturday, 15th July._--The mate told us, while we were at work this +morning, that the captain had given leave for Rowland, the apprentice +out of his time, the nipper, and myself to play cricket in the +afternoon for the “British Sailing Ships” against the “Californian +Cricket Club,” over at Oakland. + +This was a great bit of luck. Our old man and the mate were both very +interested in cricket, which accounted for our being allowed to go. + +How they found out that I played cricket I don’t know, as Don, who was +also a cricketer, was never asked to take part in any game, though he +would have been a valuable addition to the “British Sailing Ships’” +eleven. + +Our eleven assembled about 1.30, at the Institute, and were taken over +by the ferry to Oakland by Mr Karney, one of the two clergymen of the +Institute. + +We had a most exciting match, just beating our opponents by two runs. +Both teams were very, very scratch; the Californian Club were the best +side, and as half their men were base-ballers, their fielding was +superb. + +The wicket was on cocoanut matting and concrete, and the ball came +along plain and easy, but the out-fielding was very difficult, being +very sandy and almost rocky ground in places. + +The scoring was not very high, I managed to notch 11 and 24 in my two +innings, getting caught beautifully each time by a base-baller in the +deep field. + +After a most enjoyable game, in which we _Royalshires_ well accounted +for our fair share of runs and wickets, we crossed to Frisco again, and +sat down to a huge tea at the Institute. + +Few people know what splendid work the Institute to British Seamen is +performing all over the world, and in no place more than in Frisco, +where it has perhaps more to contend against than anywhere else. + +It is chiefly apprentices whom it benefits; and but for it, I am sure, +many and many an apprentice, but an ignorant boy fresh from his English +home, would have gone utterly to the bad in the great seaport towns of +the world. + +If an apprentice runs away from his ship, the clergymen of the +Institute search until they find him, and over and over again persuade +him to return. Even if they cannot persuade him to go to sea again, +they go to endless trouble to get him a job on shore, or arrange to +send him home. + +These institutes are like clubs, where apprentices can spend their +evenings reading, playing billiards, or with music, or even gymnastics +or boxing; and but for them the apprentices would loaf about the town, +spending their money in all kinds of sailor’s hells and dance halls, +where they would run great dangers, not only of being stripped of every +cent they possess, but even their clothes, and could count themselves +lucky if they got safe back to their ship with a whole skin; this, +without speaking of the unmentionable experiences of drink and women, +they would have in such haunts of vice. + +There is no more dangerous waterfront in the world than that of Frisco; +many a mate or apprentice has disappeared never to be seen alive again, +and often his body would be found, stripped and mutilated, floating in +the Sacramento. + +Not only is the Institute a refuge for mates and apprentices, but +sailormen of every nationality are welcome there. + +Most nights they provide you with a splendid tea for the huge sum +of five cents, and certain nights a week the tea is extra fine, and +is free. Once a week a very good concert takes place, in which both +outsiders and talented ones amongst the ships perform. + +As for the clergymen at Frisco who carry on this noble work, mere words +cannot express the admiration I feel for them. + +Their daily duties require an infinity of tact, dogged perseverance, +and courage, not to despair at some of the setbacks they get. They +have to be hardened to every kind of insult; such an incident as being +kicked off a Yankee floating hell, or having to use their fists in a +real stand-up fight, being by no means unusual in their daily work. + +They have to contend against the crimps and boarding-house masters, the +saloon and dancehall keepers, all of whom stick at nothing from bribing +and perjury to cutting throats. + +Frisco is one mass of gambling hells, dancehalls, low drinking-saloons, +and such like places, which only keep going by bribing the highest in +authority to the lowest. + +The policemen pay 500 dollars for their posts, so lucrative are they in +bribes and blood-money. + +So much for the Institute to British Seamen, and the extraordinary +good work it is doing; of course it scatters tracts a bit, but the +tract-mongers at home send them out for distribution, and there would +be a terrible row if they found out that they were not distributed. + +[Illustration: FRISCO] + +No one hates a tract maniac more than myself, with their absurdly and +often blasphemously worded literature; of course they are pretty +harmless, except that they bother and worry poor strangers with their +everlasting cant. + +I was once in a railway carriage with a tract maniac and another man. +The maniac started straight away assuring the other man that he was +bound to go straight to hell if he did not mend his ways, at the same +time pressing various coloured tracts into the man’s unwilling hands. + +At last the worm turned. + +“I guess, stranger,” he said, “these here be my passports to that there +hell that you say I am going to sure.” + +(But I am clean off the line altogether, and must make a cast back and +see if I can pick up the scent again.) + +Well, I was talking about the Institute. There is no doubt that this +tract-scattering has done the institutes a great deal of harm and +gained them a bit of a bad name in places; but this is the fault of the +spindle-legged, black-gloved tract fraternity at home, not the fault of +the hard-working, fearless, and undaunted clergymen stationed at the +different institutes. + +The Institute at Frisco, for instance, in no way thrusts religion upon +you. It did not matter whether you were a Hindoo Lascar, a Mahommedan +Arab, or a Heathen Chinee, you get the same welcome. + +On Sundays there was a Church of England service in the Institute, +which you attended or you didn’t just as you chose. + +To Messrs Karney and O’Rorke, the gallant workers in Frisco, go my +heartfelt thanks for their many and great kindnesses to me, and my very +best wishes that their great work may prosper--that work of helping and +looking after the great company of our British mercantile marine. + + +_Sunday, 16th July._--How I did enjoy our long lie in bed, my bed being +especially more comfortable than anybody else’s, for I slept in my +carriboo-skin sleeping-bag. This bag I got at a bargain. I gave a pair +of 12-lb. blankets for it to a man who was camped alongside me at Lake +Bennett, on the way into the Klondyke. The very next day I was offered +sixty dollars for it, but it was worth a great deal more than that, and +but for it I should have been in a bad way many a time. + +I have slept on ice in it, and have crawled into it on the muddy floor +of a log hut, through the leaky roof of which the rain poured down; in +the morning I found the bag in a pool of water, but inside I was quite +dry. Where would blankets, even with waterproof sheets, have been in a +case like that? + +This bag was made in Newfoundland by the Indians from the skins of a +couple of carriboo deer, sewn together with the sinews of the animal, +and Indian cured.[1] + +[1] I have since found this bag invaluable whilst at the front in South +Africa. + +In the very cold weather in the Klondyke, I used to fill it as tight as +it would pack with blankets, and, with my head covered up, slept out in +the open with the thermometer well on the wrong side of zero. + +The nipper came and turned Don and myself out at 8 A.M. to hoist the +ensign and house flag, as it was Sunday. + +Don and I spent the morning washing clothes, a regular Sunday +occupation on board ship as it is in camp. + +In the afternoon we went ashore, and taking a car went into the park +and listened to the band, which was an excellent one; and in the +evening we looked into the Olympia, a free music hall where, provided +you spent five cents on a glass of beer, you could sit comfortably and +smoke whilst a first-class variety show was performed before you. + + +_Monday, 17th July._--Cleaning the stringers all day, and getting +into fine condition. Karney came on board to-day to ask me to dine +with him, and was rather amused when he was shown a blackface, grimy +ruffian, in very dirty dungarees and a slouch hat. + +I shall never forget that dinner though: he took me to the top of the +“Call” building, where there is a very good restaurant. + +Here, added to an excellent dinner, you get a superb view over Frisco +in every direction; but I had come to eat, and eat I did, everything +in the _table-d’hôte_, and countless plates of nice white bread and +butter, neither of which I had even seen on board the _Royalshire_. + +My favourite dish on the West Coast of America is “hot cakes and maple +syrup,” not “flapjacks” made out of flour, baking powder, and water, +on which one lives in the Klondyke, but batter cakes, smoking hot, and +smothered in butter and maple syrup. + +You can get as much as you can eat of these, with a good cup of coffee +to wash them down, for ten cents at any restaurant in Frisco, and they +are very satisfying to a hungry man, filling up the corners so well! + +Every night when Don and I wander ashore after the day’s work is over, +we have a go of hot cakes, and sometimes more. + +[Illustration: MARKET STREET AND CALL BUILDING] + +Unfortunately, we are running rather short of ready cash, and so are +economising rigidly; Don’s boots have fallen off his feet in pieces, so +we had to provide him with new ones, and now all our spare cash is +to go for jam and plum puddings! + + +_Tuesday, 18th July._--Cleaning coal out of the stringers all day. +The darky steward has cleared out, and a German has appeared, who, +according to himself is a man of vast attraction and many parts, and +his wonderful stock of lies would make even Kruger or Li Hung Chang +green with envy. + + +_Wednesday, 19th July._--The after and main holds are now quite clean +after a hard day’s work. + +There is a concert every Wednesday at the Institute, and performers +from the ships are eagerly sought after. + +Don and I went to-day for the first time, and Don proved a great catch, +as he has a vast _répertoire_ of songs, comic and otherwise, and +accompanies himself. + +We found that the two favourites with sailors are “Tommy Atkins” and +“Eliza ’Awkins.” + +It was a very amusing concert, and ended with a hauling chanty, that +good old stager “Blow, Boys, Blow,” all hands tailing on to the end of +the rope, and running three fat apprentices up by means of a hook in +the ceiling and a block and tackle. + + +_Thursday, 20th July._--My only entry in my log to-day was a most +important one, namely, “We laid in a stock of jam.” This jam Don and I +meant to keep until we got to sea; but, alas, when we finally did sail, +there were only four small pots left. + + +_Friday, 21st July._--At work to-day cleaning out the bilges in the +after and main holds. This is a most filthy job; the bilges are filled +with a thick, greeny-yellow fluid, the refuse of the different cargoes, +case oil, rotten wheat, etc. We have to shovel it out with anything we +can get hold of, empty sardine tins being at a premium, and where it is +thicker and more foul than usual you have to use your hands in scooping +it out. + +Someone stands at the opening of the hatch and hauls the buckets up as +fast as they are filled, dumping the foul muck overboard into the bay, +which, if you please, supplies the city with water. + +By the time that we had been six hours at this, the water all round the +ship was covered by a mass of slimy, yellow and green decayed matter, +which smelt worse than anything I have ever smelt yet. + +The four-mast barque _Earl of Dunmore_ came into the wharf next to +us this morning, fifty-two days from Newcastle, Australia. She is +nothing like such a fine ship as the _Royalshire_; though her tonnage +is greater, her masts and spars are half the size of ours. She is a +Glasgow-built ship, like the _Royalshire_, and is overrun by a wild +crowd of Scotch apprentices. + + +_Saturday, 22nd July._--The _Marlboro’ Hill_, which has been lying in +the stream for several days trying to get a crew, has at last got one. + +This fine four-mast barque had a very bad name, and her crew ran +directly she arrived in Frisco; and the mate, having had a row with the +captain, left her also. + +Her old man has the reputation of being a very hard nut, and some +people thought he would be months without getting a crew, as men are +very scarce just now. + +Every Saturday afternoon we wash down decks fore and aft, and put +everything into spick and span order for Sunday. + +We are waiting now for our “stiffening,” as we dare not take our last +400 tons of coals out until we get a like weight of grain, as there is +no ballast to speak of, and the ship might turn turtle on the way up to +Port Costa if there happened to be a fair breeze blowing. + +All ships loading grain from Frisco have to go up the Sacramento and +load at Port Costa and Crockett, where the railway deposits the grain. + +Our cargo, it is rumoured, is to be barley, so we shall be a light +ship, and probably cranky. + +We had a merry evening at the Institute, singing and feeding, Don being +to the fore with a new lot of songs. + + +_Sunday, 23rd July._--Delicious weather, sunshine and blue sky, without +being too hot. As usual, I spent the morning washing clothes. + +I dined with O’Rorke, the boss sky-pilot at the Institute; he is an old +Etonian, and I am not certain if he was not at Eton with me. + +The first time he saw me, I was as black as a sweep, shovelling coal; +but he spotted a faded Eton Rambler ribbon on my dirty old slouch hat, +and inquiring from the captain, found out who I was. Once before, +up in the Klondyke, my faded Rambler ribbon caused me to make the +acquaintance of a fellow old Etonian. + +The new mate of the _Marlboro’ Hill_, which sails to-morrow, was also +dining with O’Rorke. He seems to have had a hard time with his new men. +He found the ship swarming with wild apprentices, who had been having +a fine time, with no one to keep them in order; and of his new crew, +hardly a man has been to sea before; most of them are farm hands, and +six of them had to be put in irons at once, including two ex-clergymen +and two ex-bartenders. + +He said they had great trouble bending sail, and took the whole of +Saturday afternoon bending the mainsail. + +With such a crew as that, a captain and his mates must use strong +measures if they hope ever to get their ship safe home; but the fault +is generally the captain’s if he cannot get sailors to ship, and has to +pay blood-money to the boarding-house keepers to “shanghai” farm hands +and dead-beats aboard. + +But this is a big subject, and few people know that this sort of thing +still goes on in big ports like Frisco, New York, and Philadelphia. + +Very different to that of the _Marlboro’ Hill_ was the case of the +_Benares_, another Scotch four-mast barque, a magnificent ship with +several record passages to her credit. + +She left about a week ago with every man on board a Britisher, and the +same crew that she had left England with. + +This, of course, was a great feather in her captain’s hat, for most +crews run at Frisco, as A.B. wages are four pounds a month out of +Frisco, as compared with two pounds ten out of British ports. + +It is nothing unusual, either, for a ship to sail with several of her +crew in irons. The _Royalshire_ sailed from Philadelphia this very +voyage with half her men in irons. + +The second mate told me of a ship sailing out of Philadelphia, whose +crew were shipped on board drunk, and were chucked into the sail-locker +and shut in there by her two mates, who were both very strong men. +After keeping them there for twenty-four hours, the two mates went in +amongst them with belaying pins and laid about the poor devils with +such effect, that the sails they were lying upon were soon covered with +blood, and two of the victims succumbed to their injuries. + +There are quantities of stories of this kind, but nearly always on +Yankee ships; for on board a British ship a sailor can get justice in +port, and a captain or mate knows he will get heavy punishment for +brutality. + +A British ship came in here yesterday from Cape Town, where her mate +had been hanged for killing a man during the passage there. + +One of the biggest bits of brutality I have heard of, was the case of +an apprentice on a ship outward bound round the Horn. + +This poor little chap was shut in the hencoop with the hens for the +whole passage of one hundred and fifty days, and was never allowed to +come out, even to wash himself. When the ship arrived in Frisco, the +boy was in a truly pitiable condition; but I am glad to say that the +captain and mates got it very hot, as the case was taken into court. + +There is even a still more terrible case of a boy who was lashed to the +mizen fife-rail all through the bitter passage round the Horn. It was a +wonder that he did not die of exposure; for to be wet and half-drowned +in that awful weather, day after day, night after night, unable to +lie down to rest, unable to sit or even stand on account of the seas +continually washing his feet from under him, this terrible experience +many a strong man would not have survived. + +It was a wonder that the boy kept his senses, but he lived through it +all, only to die before getting into port, from neglected cold and +pneumonia contracted whilst lashed up thus off the Horn. + +If ever a boy was murdered it was that boy. On some of the Yankee hell +ships the things that go on are almost incredible, and the captains +have to be skilled surgeons to cope with the work of destruction +wrought by their mates. + +Legs and arms broken were considered nothing, ribs stamped in by heavy +sea-boots had to mend as best they could, faces smashed like rotten +apples by iron belaying pins had to get well or fear worse treatment, +eyes closed up by a brawny mate’s fist had to see. There have been many +instances of men triced up in the rigging, stripped, and then literally +skinned alive with deck-scrapers. + +Thus the reputation of American ships has got so bad that none but a +real tough citizen, or a stolid, long-suffering Dutchman (as sailors +call all Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, or Russian Finns), will ship in +them. + +On board these “down-easters” and “blue-nose” craft, where discipline +is enforced by a plentiful use of belaying-pin, knuckle-duster, and +boot, the work done is stupendous, and the ship is certainly kept in a +wonderfully trim state. + +Of course there is also a certain amount to be said on the side of +the captains and mates, as nowadays some crews are composed of such +villainous scoundrels, that unless you take a high hand with them, and +show you are not to be trifled with, they would soon take advantage of +what they would call a “softy,” and a reign of terror would begin, any +sort of discipline would be impossible, the men would do just as much +work as they felt inclined for, and they would openly sneer and scoff +at you if ordered to do anything they did not wish. + + +_Monday, 24th July._--Thank goodness, we have finished with the hold +for the present, and to-day we are all over the side on stages, +chipping the rust off the plates preparatory to giving the ship a coat +of paint. + +This is a very pleasant change, and it is quite delicious working in +the open air and sunshine after the gloom of the stuffy hold. But now, +instead of getting our eyes filled with coal-dust, they get bombarded +by bits of rusty iron. + +Chips wears goggles for protection; and I tried to find my snow +goggles, but not being able to, had to do without. + +Chipping is not nearly so simple as it looks. To begin with, the +hammers are by no means light, and I found that at the end of my first +day’s chipping, my wrist was very stiff. + +If you hit too hard, you make dents in the iron; if you hit too soft, +you get nothing done. + +Don and I, though we worked like furies, found that we could not keep +up with the others, who did not seem to be working hard at all. + +We started chipping from the port bow, and as soon as a plate was +chipped and rubbed smooth, it was immediately painted. + +We were a very cheerful party. Don and I started singing choruses +at the top of our pipes in time to the chipping. The mate, who was +prowling about the deck, came to the side and watched us in amazement, +but said nothing. + +The second mate, who is a real white man, does not mind, though his +language is often forcible. Rowland, who had been degraded from his +post of night watchman because he was ashore till two o’clock one +night, joined in with a will, and Mac, the fourth mate, was also +induced to tune up when he saw that nothing happened. + +Chip! chip! chip! And it’s Blow, my bully boys, blow! As we were not +under the eyes of the mate the whole time, we slipped in an occasional +smoke, and, in fact, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. + +This evening Don and I went to see _Heartsease_ played at the Columbia +Theatre. The piece was well put on, and well acted. To my great +surprise, the pathetic bits moved Don to tears, and he insists that he +must go again; it is wonderful what delight a piece gives some people +if it is tragic enough to make them cry. + + +_Tuesday, 25th July._--Still chipping and painting all day. My hands, +which were very sore, are now quite healed and hardened up, and I am as +fit as a fiddle, and ready for anything. + +Don went off this evening, with Rowland in tow, to see _Heartsease_ +again. + + +_Wednesday, 26th July._--Again chipping and painting. + +We are waiting anxiously for our stiffening, which may turn up at any +minute, as we have to go over to Oakland Creek to discharge the rest of +our coal. + +Don and I, on coming on board this evening from the shore, found +Johnsen, the sailmaker, camped down in our forecastle, and trying to +get to sleep in the bunk next to Don’s. + +This man is a very queer character: he is very silent, and rarely says +a word, though he speaks English very well: he is a Swede, and an +excellent sailor, but a more unpopular scoundrel never sailed the seas. +He has got a villainous face, with queerish eyes; and, owing probably +to two severe falls from aloft, he is not all there. He is exceedingly +suspicious, and thinks everybody is trying to do him a bad turn. + +As he is such a good sailor, the old man, on losing his sailmaker, +offered him the job, which he accepted, and moved into the +midship-house, where Chips (who is a Russian Finn) and our German cook +live. + +But now, for some reason or other, he has refused to go home as +sailmaker, and has come back into the forecastle, meaning to come home +as an A.B. + +Such is our queer, new mate in the forecastle. I must say he does not +interfere with Don and myself in any way, even getting his own grub +from the galley, which an A.B. expects an O.S. to do for him. + + +_Thursday, 27th July._--Oh, joyful sight! On turning out this morning, +we found four lighters alongside with our 400 tons of stiffening on +board. + +Before knocking off this evening, we cockbilled the lower yards, as +we are going to be towed over to Oakland Creek to-morrow morning to +discharge the rest of our coal, and the yards have to be cockbilled, +apparently to clear the top of the coal sheds. + +As this is our last day in Frisco for some time, I took the second +mate, Don, and Rowland, to dinner at the top of the “Call,” and +afterwards to see _Heartsease_ again. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +OAKLAND CREEK AND PORT COSTA + + +_Friday, 28th July._--We were turned out at 3.30, and started unmooring +ship in the dark; no light work, shorthanded as we are. The tug was +soon fast alongside, however, and away we went for Oakland Creek. + +The early rising had a bad effect on the captain’s temper. He started +letting it off in loud tones to the pilot about what a ---- fool of a +mate he had got. This was on account of the yards not being cockbilled +quite high enough. + +This was said so that the whole ship’s crew and tugboat could hear. +The mate happened to be forward superintending the cockbilling of the +fore-yard a bit higher. + +“I’m d--d if I’d stand that,” shouts the second mate at the top of his +voice to the mate, in plain hearing of the old man; nor did he. + +Aft came the mate, not stopping until he was within talking distance, +but shouting at the old man as he came along, and letting him have it +hot and thick. The old man roared back, and for a minute or so they +went at it in rare style, much to the delight of the rest of us. + +“I won’t stand it, Captain Bailey; I’m d--d if I will, and so I tell +ye.” + +“Didn’t I tell ye to cockbill the yards last night, d--n it? but I +can’t trust ye, I can’t trust ye: what good are ye, what use are ye?” + +“I know my duty, Captain Bailey, and I do it;” and the mate had his +say. At last the mate went forward again to his cockbilling, and then +the old man thundered out to the second mate, who was under the break +of the poop, + +“Mr Knowles, come up here!” and then another furious row began. These +two had been at loggerheads most of the voyage, both had tempers of the +hottest description; the second mate was afraid of no man, and what’s +more, did not care what he said, and he used to make the old man almost +foam at the mouth, by laughing when he was cursing him. + +On the passage from Japan, the old man had shut him up in his cabin for +a week--this, by the way, is a not uncommon punishment for young second +mates. + +Well, at it they went, and I heard every word, as, unknown to the +old man, I happened to be doing something on the other side of the +wheel-house. + +“You are the worst b--dy second mate I ever had!” thundered the old man. + +The second mate laughed.--He had a laugh when his temper was up which +would have made an angel grind his teeth. + +“D--d mutinous dog.” + +This burst the torrent of the second mate’s language, and the air was +sulphurous for a bit. + +“I’ll put you in irons! I’ll put you in irons!” yelled the old man, +shaking his fist in the other’s face. + +“Two of you could not do it; I defy you! d’you hear, I defy you!” and +the second mate glowered over the old man, with clenched fists and +quivering nostrils. + +At last they talked themselves out, and the second mate left the poop. + +Turning round, the old man found Rowland and myself coiling down a +line behind the chart-house. Rowland was just out of his time, and had +served the whole of it under Captain Bailey in the _Royalshire_, and so +knew him pretty well by this time. + +“Ever cockbilled yards before?” growled the old man sarcastically to +Rowland. + +“Yes, sir, in mid-Atlantic this voyage,” said Rowland, referring to the +cyclone the _Royalshire_ was caught in, in the Western Ocean on her +way to Philadelphia from Hamburg, in which both her fore and crossjack +port lifts carried away, and the yards were cockbilled as they had +never been before. They had a narrow squeak of it; all three topsails +and the foretopmast staysail were blown out of the bolt-ropes, and for +some seconds the ship was on her beam ends. + +But to return, whilst the skipper raved on the poop, we were being +towed over to Oakland Creek, and the dawn was not yet. + +Presently there was another row, for Mac was overheard by the old man +as he cursed him in the foulest language under the break of the poop. + +Up Mac had to go on to the poop, and stand up against the old man’s +wrath. + +He and Scar the third mate, who is now acting as night watchman, are +both very down on the old man, because he won’t let them go home _via_ +New York. + +Like Rowland, they are both just out of their time; the old man has +made them third and fourth mates, but they want him to pay their +passage home by New York, as they do not want to waste the time by +going home in the ship. Rowland hopes to go home by New York, as his +people are going to send the money out. + +On arriving in Oakland Creek, we found a wretched three-masted schooner +in our berth, so we had to moor ship a hundred yards off the sheds. + +How sick we did get of mooring ship and unmooring ship. Our whole +ship’s company at present is only nine for working purposes: the four +mates, Rowland, Chips, Johnsen, Don, myself, and the nipper, who is +only sixteen. Mooring a big ship like the _Royalshire_ is pretty heavy +work for eight men and a boy. + +Talk about “sea serpents,” I know what they are now--“wire +mooring-lines.” + +These devils incarnate will go any way but the way you want them to go: +as a rule they prefer lying in a tangled knotted heap on the deck. If +you try to coil them down neatly, they spring into action at once; one +bight trips you up, whilst another knocks you over the head and lays +you flat on the deck; a third giving you a gentle rap across the wrist, +which nearly breaks it. + +Then if they have been in the water, they have probably found bottom +somehow, and come out covered with slimy mud, which they immediately +wipe off on you. + +They jam in the hawse pipes, they serge, and in fact play the devil +in every way they can think of. The consequence is, that mooring +the _Royalshire_ is usually done by eight blaspheming, perspiring +ruffians, muddy and bruised, and soaking wet. + +For some reason or other, we always had to moor or unmoor ship in the +early morning, or late at night in pitch darkness, which certainly did +not improve matters. + +Well, by eight bells, 8 A.M., we had got the _Royalshire_ snugly +moored; but no sooner had we cleaned ourselves and gulped down our +slumgullion than we were turned to to warp the ship further up the +wharf, as another ship wanted to come in where we were lying. + +This meant slacking away our stern lines, and taking our head lines to +the capstan. + +Four hands were all we could spare on the capstan to move the 2000-ton +ship, with 600 tons of coal and the stiffening, about fifty yards +against the stream. + +We did it somehow; how long we took I don’t know, but I shan’t forget +those hours at the windlass, fighting for every inch. + +The second mate, Don, Johnsen, and myself were on the bars. + +“Heave and she must, heave and she will!” sung the mate; but devil a +bit of it. + +As soon as we had got her moored again, we were turned out to cleaning +out the stringers in the fore-hold. + +Just across the creek lies an old-time South Sea whaler, and from the +look of her lines she must be at least fifty years old. + +She had a regular old-fashioned stern, with great windows surrounded by +ornamentation gilt work. Her boats, to the number of four, were slung +out on wooden davits; her jibboom had a great hoist to it, and was very +lengthy compared to the iron spars which form the bowsprits of modern +sailing-ships. Her decks were flush fore and aft; there was the usual +brick-built “tryworks” amidships, and a small galley forward. She had +long topmasts and stump topgallant masts, and her topgallant yards were +on deck. + +I was very much interested in her--a last survivor of an almost +vanished type of ship, whose business in the Great South Seas was at +one time a source of great wealth to “down-east” owners. + +In the days of their prime, these South Sea whalers constantly came +into port after a three year’s voyage with a fortune in their hold. + +The record whaling cruise, I believe, was that of the New Bedford South +Seaman _Onward_, which, after forty-one months at sea, stocked 275,000 +dollars. But, like many other good old sea trades, the day has passed; +whales have been thinned out and killed off, and it no longer pays, and +a South Sea whaler is now a very great rarity. + + +_Saturday, 29th July._--Early this morning we were again turned out of +our berth, and had to move farther up. + +Johnsen is getting quite talkative in the forecastle, and yarned away +last night for some time to Don and myself. + +He has tried to educate himself a bit, and thinks he knows a good deal +about languages. He told us some very queer and bloodthirsty yarns +about his sprees in New York and other parts of the world. + +They generally had some deep joke in them, which he would chuckle over +for hours, but Don and I always seemed to miss the point. + +He has got a sea-chest which he bought in China, and which he is very +proud of. Somebody on the last passage broke the lock and stole the +lid, so now he is very much on the alert lest Don or I should try and +repeat the performance. + +He has bought some wood, and spends most of his spare time trying to +make a new lid. It is bothering him a good deal, and we found him +cursing like fury two days ago, as, after all his trouble, he found +he had made his lid a bit too small, so now he is hard at work making +another one. + +Don and I often go and sit in the half-deck of an evening now, and yarn +away with the nipper, Rowland, and Mac. + +This half-deck, as it is called, is a kind of deck cabin under the +break of the poop. + +It is the abode of the apprentices, and, though none too large, has +seven bunks in it. + +It is pretty well blocked up now with the curios they all bought in +Japan. Each man bought a tea-set, besides sword-sticks, fishing-rods, +vases, Chinese puzzles, and other curios. The nipper also has got a +canary, which he hopes to get safely to England. + +The occupants of the half-deck at present are Scar, MacDenny, Rowland, +and the nipper. There was another apprentice, who is at present in +hospital in Frisco. + +He fell from aloft one dirty night whilst making the spanker fast, and +landed face down on a skylight. It was a wonder he was not killed; his +jaw was broken, his face cut to ribbons, and his skull nearly cracked, +but he is slowly recovering. + +The others all swear by him. He appears to have been a very fine +sailorman, strong as a bull, good-tempered, and fearless. + + +_Sunday, 30th July._--Turned to at 5.30 A.M., and warped ship down to +the coal bunkers, the schooner having departed. Finished mooring ship +at 8.30. + +After breakfast, Rowland and I went off to play cricket for the +California Cricket Club against the Pacific C.C. in a cup match, both +of us having been made honorary members. + +Neither of us helped them much, and we got badly beaten. After the +match Don, Rowland, and I went and had a swim in the magnificent baths +they have here. + +Don holds several swimming records both in California and in England, +having taught swimming in the famous Frisco baths, the finest in +the world. He has a lot of diving tricks, and is really a beautiful +performer. + +After our swim we wanted our usual go of hot cakes, but though we +searched Oakland high and low, we could not get them. Apparently in +Oakland they only eat them for breakfast. + + +_Monday, 31st July._--I had the dirtiest day’s work I have ever had +to-day. Directly we had got the stringers clean as the last of our coal +was taken out, we were turned to cleaning bilges again. These bilges +forward were far worse than those aft; the smell was worse than any +smell I have ever smelt, and you could not help getting covered with +the awful stuff as you shovelled it into the buckets with your hands. +Once a full bucket, when half hauled up, fell, and scattered the muck +all over us, and I can tell you it made some of us feel queer. When we +had the bilges clean, we plastered them, and this filthy job lasted +until knock-off time. + +They tell me that when the ship gets home she will have her bilges full +again and the grain will have grown over a foot high in them. + +[Illustration: FRISCO SWIMMING BATHS] + + +_Tuesday, 1st August._--Turned to at 3.30 A.M.; unmoored and towed off +to Port Costa, or to be exact, Crockett, which is about a mile nearer +than Port Costa. + +Chips and his mate from the shore have got all the after and main hold +lined with planks ready for loading grain, and are busy now on the +fore-hold, and all the lumber that I sent on board from the wharf in +Frisco is fast being used up. + +We are busy on a much cleaner job to-day, that of nailing down old +sails and canvas over the lining in the hold, according to regulations. + +Many were the growls when, on arriving at Crockett, we found our berth +again occupied, and we have got to wait until the other ship has +finished loading. + +The captain has allowed Don and myself to come aft into the half-deck, +a rare piece of luck; so we brought all our truck aft this evening, and +took possession of two empty lower bunks. + +Our first night in the half-deck was not a nice one, as it was very hot +and close, and the mosquitoes were awful, biting like fury; they were +half the size of Klondyke mosquitoes, but twice as vicious. + +Too hot to sleep in my bag any longer, so have turned it inside out to +lie upon. + + +_Wednesday, 2nd August._--We finished chipping this morning, and all +hands are over the side on stages, busy painting. I always thought +“slap, dab, dash” painting of this sort was easy enough, but I soon +found out my mistake. + +A modern sailorman has to be an expert with the paint-pot, and the +mates of course have to understand how to mix the different paints. + +It is wonderful how much paint a smart ship consumes in a voyage. + +Well, I started work painting our beautiful figure-head white, and +thought I was doing very well; but when I had finished it, Chips had to +come along and do it all again. After this the old man was constantly +pointing out bits of bad painting as he came along the wharf, and they +generally turned out to be my doing. + +Don had been in the “slap-dab” trade before, and rather fancied +himself, and the only person on board who attempted to rival me in bad +painting was the nipper. + +Painting is reckoned one of the nicest jobs on board ship, and most +sailors are extremely neat, quick painters. I was all right at little +tricky jobs, but when it came to putting the paint smoothly on a big +plate, I was done. + +This evening we walked down the line to Port Costa, where there is a +small branch of the Institute. Here we met a number of apprentices off +the other ships loading, marvellous specimens some of them. + +A very kind old lady ran the branch, and after an evening spent in +song, gave us a very good tea--the great attraction, of course, and one +that was well earned, as the Institute was at the top of a hill, with +a regular breakneck climb up to it, and a nice time we had coming down +it one or two pitch-dark nights. Walking back to the ship along the +railway track was not a very pleasant job on a pitch-dark night, with +trains coming along every few minutes, and grain-trucks being shunted +about. + +The second mate of one of the ships had an adventure which provided us +with laughter for some time. As a whole lot of us were sitting yarning +in the half-deck, he came staggering in, evidently full of nose-paint, +and with his trousers pulled up above his knees. + +“My God, boys, I can run, an’ so I tell ye. I’ll run any man for +fthifthy poundths.” + +“Why, what the devil have you been doing now?” + +“I’ve just--ah, let me see, I forgeth--oh yeth, I’veth justh beaten +the bloomen thrain; that’th so’th, boys. I was down sitting on th’ +thrack over ath Port Costa, when I sees a thrain a comin’ righth on top +o’ me; well, boyths, will ye believ’ thi’t, but I justh pulled up ma’ +throuthers like this, see,--d’ye see, ye with the uglith mug,--are you +lookin’, you, eh? ugly?” + +“Aye, mate, I’m lookin’.” + +“Do ye want’th to fighth; if tho, I’m ye man, d’ye hear, ugly? I can +fighth the blasted world, I can.” He was beginning to get bellicose, +and was right off his subject, leering round and shaking his fist at us +all as we roared with laughter. + +“What about the train, mate; did it catch ye?” asked somebody. + +“Did it catch’th me? ye say; did it catch’th me? I should smile. Why, +I giv’th a whoop, an’ away I goes for Crocketh quicker ’an flyin; an’ +here I am--the blasted thrain ain’t got here yet. Run! I can run!” and +he pulled his trousers up higher, and put himself into position to +run a hundred yards. We spent a hilarious night, heedless of heat and +mosquitoes, on the top of this yarn, and finally had to put the crack +runner to bed. + +We never found out the truth of this yarn. I expect really he ran from +a stationary lot of cars, thinking they were a train after him, or +else some carriages being shunted started him off. + + +_Thursday, 3rd August._--The other ship finished loading yesterday, +and went off; so early this morning we warped down into position, and +started loading barley. + +How those stevedores did work!--the heavy bags of grain being simply +poured down the shoots into the hold, where they were immediately +shouldered by great burly half-naked men, who packed them as tight as +possible in tiers and rows. + +I now had a new job. Chips and I crawled about over the bags as they +were stowed, with our knives “bleeding” them, that is to say we ripped +them open, and poured grain into all the chinks and crevices. + +The stevedores were as rough a crew of men as I had seen anywhere, +and their chaff amongst one another was of the wildest and coarsest +description, and several times small fights arose and even knives were +drawn, but with no dangerous results. + +One man hove some grain in another’s face by way of a joke, but the +other did not see it, as, growling out that he wasn’t going to be +blinded, he hurled his knife across the ’tween-decks at the other; it +missed the man by a hairbreadth, and stuck, quivering, into a bag of +grain by his side. + + +_Friday, 4th August._--The mosquitoes were very hungry all night, and +made a great repast. + +Last night the captain had a party on board, the result of which was +that the new steward got “whole seas over,” and kicked up such a row in +the half-deck that the old man wanted to know about it in the morning; +and as he could not find out the truth of the matter, put it down on +Don, whom he regards as a real wrong ’un. + +After work to-day, all hands from the mate down, except the Dutchmen, +went overboard for a swim; but it was dangerous work, as the tide and +current of the Sacramento are very tricky and strong, and full of +eddies. + +Chips brought out a little 30.30 Winchester carbine, and we had some +shooting at bottles. + +I had one of these guns up in the Klondyke, and was delighted with it. +I can’t say much for sailors as shots, but Scar was the worst of the +lot, and could not go within a hundred yards of the target, besides +letting the gun off by mistake, and scaring us out of our lives. + + +_Saturday, 5th August._--The old man gave Rowland, the nipper, and +myself, leave to go and play cricket in Frisco for the “British Sailing +Ships” against the Australian boat R.M.S. _Moana_. + +We played up in the park on a grass wicket, and for a wonder it was a +very cold, damp day. I only got 12, and was rather annoyed getting out, +as the old man, who is a keen cricketer, was looking on. + +Rowland and the nipper, however, distinguished themselves, getting 28 +and 18 respectively, and we of the _Royalshire_ contingent beat the +_Moana_ off our own bat, besides getting most of the wickets, so we did +not do so badly. + + +_Sunday, 6th August._--Karney of the Institute very kindly put the +nipper and myself up for the night, as we had not got to get back to +the _Royalshire_ until Sunday night, so as to be in time to begin work +on the following morning. + +What a luxury sleeping between sheets seemed. I did not go to sleep +at first, because I felt so comfortable, and wanted to prolong the +enjoyment, and revel in it as long as I could. + +A member of the Olympic Club took us there in the morning, and we had a +fine swim, followed by a big lunch, at which I ate a whole porterhouse +steak, much to the amazement of our host. We caught the seven o’clock +train back to Crockett. + + +_Monday, 7th August._--Still at work bleeding grain bags, whilst the +others are painting the ship. + +Amongst the ships loading-up here is the _Queen Margaret_, a +skysail-yard four-mast barque, with a great reputation for speed and +good treatment. She is a very fast sailer, and is expected to get home +first out of the whole fleet. Her apprentices actually get eggs and +bacon for breakfast in port: who ever heard of such a luxury? + +Close to her is the _Almora_, a three-mast barque, with a greater +carrying capacity than the _Royalshire_, but so slow that she will +be very lucky if she gets home in one hundred and fifty days. She is +such a hungry ship, that even in the cabin they do not get butter or +marmalade. + + +_Tuesday, 8th August._--Don and I went aloft for the first time to-day, +as we have started bending sail. + +The first sail to be bent was the fore-royal, and so there was no +chance of approaching matters by degrees. We neither of us found any +difficulty, however, except that perhaps at first we were a bit more +careful, and kept a good hold. + +On the royal-yard I found that I was much too long in the leg for the +foot-ropes, so that my knees came above the yard, and I was in danger +of losing my balance and toppling over if I stood up, and if I sat +down on the foot-rope I was too low down, so I had to do a kind of +kneel to be able to work in any comfort. + +We soon found that bending sail shorthanded, with a strong wind in +your teeth, was terrific hard work, and most trying to the temper, +especially when you are new to the job. + +For those who may not know how a square-sail is bent, I may perhaps be +permitted to give a short explanation:-- + +First you have to hoist the sail up by means of a block and gantline +until the bunt, which is made fast to the end of the gantline, is well +above the yard--(always send up a sail to windward). Then the sail is +spread along the yard, head up, and the head-earings passed by the men +at each yardarm. Then the buntlines and leech-lines, which are used to +clew up the sail, are clinched. Then you tie the head of the sail to +the jackstay, which is an iron bar running along the top of the yard. +This is done with rovings, lengths of rope yarn, three or more being +passed according to whether the sail is a royal, topgallant, topsail, +or course; the sheet and the clew-line being shackled on to the clew by +the men at the yardarms. The sail is then picked up and furled by means +of the gaskets, short ropes made fast to the jackstay, and wound round +and round the sail and yard to hold the sail up when furled. + +All this is no easy business for two men on each yardarm and one at the +bunt, with the sail dragging and blowing aback and trying to knock you +off the foot-ropes, and half a gale of wind in your face. + +The old rule on a yard is, “one hand for yourself and one for the +ship,” which means, hold on with one hand and work with the other. +But if you want to get the work done in a case like this, when so +shorthanded or in real bad weather, I defy anyone to do much good with +only one hand; you soon find yourself using both, extremely dangerous +as it is, for the sail has a way of flying up over the yard and hitting +you in the face, which, if you have not got fast hold of the backstay, +must send you over backwards. + +All day we worked like furies, sweating and cursing. The language used +up aloft was a revelation to me; never had I heard such thundery and +hair-curling expressions before, not even in an American mining camp. + +The language of the mates verged from the forcible to the personal, +from the picturesque to the lurid; and finally their inventive minds +gave way before the strain of coining new words, and their voices, +grown husky and broken, gradually lapsed into hoarse murmurings and +whispered commands to “hoist away,” or “tie up the sail,” as the case +might be. + +There was a kind of fierce enjoyment of it all as we sweated and +toiled, struggling desperately, and putting every ounce of strength +into the pulling and hauling, such as a man feels in the midst of a +hard-fought battle--an exultation that lifted one out of oneself, and +enabled one’s muscles to accomplish prodigies of strength without +feeling the tremendous fatigue and strain. + +Occasionally a laugh would be raised at some unfortunate’s expense, and +chaff flew thick from yardarm to yardarm. + +By the end of the day we had bent the fore-royal, two topgallant-sails, +and two topsails, and were all well pleased with ourselves, as it was +no mean performance with half a gale of wind in our teeth. + +The second mate was as active as a cat aloft, and did the work of six +men. As for myself, after the first hour or so I felt completely at +home, and as if I had been used to swinging on a foot-rope 200 feet +above the deck all my life. + + +_Wednesday, 9th August._--No mosquitoes could keep me awake last night, +I was so tired. + +We bent the main-royal, topgallant sails, and topsails to-day, +and did even better work than yesterday; things worked smoother, +notwithstanding that the wind was blowing as hard as ever. + +My hands, by the way, are now as hard as leather, and all this pulling +and hauling has got me into splendid condition. + +Don, though, is fifteen years older than I am, and is feeling the hard +work rather, especially in his back, and is fairly worn out at the end +of every day’s work. + +We are bending our best sails; these will all have to come down after +we have been a few days at sea. We shall bend our old sails for the +tropics, and then bend these again for the Horn. + +Many landsmen think that one bends one’s old sails for the bad weather, +and one’s best sails for the tropics. But just the opposite is the case. + +The old, patched sails that are used in the tropics would fetch away +like tissue paper in a hard blow; and in the furious southern blasts +and the terrific gales of the Western Ocean, only the very best and +strongest canvas is able to withstand the strain. + + +_Thursday, 10th August._--Bent mizen-royal, topgallant sails, topsails, +and foresail. This last was a very heavy job for our small ship’s +company. + + +_Friday, 11th August._--We finished bending sail to-day with the jibs, +staysails, spanker and gaff-topsail. + +After work, we were glad to plunge into the Sacramento and have a good +swim, Don giving us an exhibition of trick diving. + +We had several visitors in the half-deck this evening, and a great +sing-song took place, everybody being required to tune up his pipes and +sing a song in turn. + + +_Saturday, 12th August._--We had a great treat to-day: the second mate, +Mac, Rowland, Don, and myself went off in the lifeboat to get sand, +taking a dozen empty grain bags to be filled. + +Don and I took a pot of jam and some hard tack, as we started before +breakfast; but the second mate had the remains of a cold leg of mutton, +and some real bread-and-butter sandwiches. + +We rowed about two miles up-stream before we found a suitable sandy bay. + +The sand we wanted was good, fine sand, as it was to be used for that +most important business on board ship known as “sand and canvasing,” +which is “rubbing the woodwork clean by means of wet sand and pieces of +canvas.” + +We soon had our bags full, and then began the picnic. How we did enjoy +that breakfast on the beach!--we even lit a camp fire, though we had +nothing to cook on it. + +Rowing back was very heavy work against the tide, and the sand bags +put the boat very low in the water, added to which, by the time we got +alongside she was quite half-full of water. As she had not been in the +water for some time, her seams were open, and she leaked so badly that +we had to keep a baler going the whole time. + +After washing down, I was lucky enough to catch the five o’clock train +for Frisco. + + +_Sunday, 13th August._--I played in a cup match for the California C.C. +against the Alameda C.C. + +We had a very exciting match, and just won by a wicket and 6 runs. + +I got 34--top score. + +I had supper at the Institute, and caught the seven o’clock train back +to Port Costa. + +We were greeted by bad news on board the _Royalshire_. The nipper had +been bathing with some apprentices off another ship. + +He and two of the others could swim, but the third couldn’t, so he hung +around the shore, until all at once he floundered into a hole. The +nipper was the only one near him, and immediately dived for him; the +drowning boy caught hold of him as he reached him, and held him under +the water in a deadly embrace. The other two came up as quick as they +could, and after several dives, managed to fish the nipper, insensible, +up to the surface, but the other boy could not be found. + +When I arrived on the _Royalshire_, I was told that the nipper was +still insensible, having been taken on board another ship, and that the +other poor little fellow’s body had not been recovered. + + +_Monday, 14th August._--We have finished bending sail for the present, +and are busy painting. + +The nipper was brought on board this morning, very little the worse; +but the other body has not been found yet. Poor little fellow, he seems +to have been such a nice little chap, and it was his first voyage. + + +_Friday, 18th August._--Finished loading. The captain is anxious about +the trim of the ship, but, except for a slight list to port, we seem to +be all right. + +About mid-day the tug came alongside. We cast off our lines, and slowly +swung into the stream, and away we went again for the great Bay of +Frisco; but this time in sea trim, and loaded nicely down to our marks. + +We brought up, and let our anchor go in the bay about six o’clock. + +Around us lay several magnificent ships--two four-mast barques, a +three-mast barque, and two or three full-rigged ships. + +One of the full-rigged ships was a real beauty, a skysail-yard clipper: +she had her masts, yards, and blocks painted white, which gave her a +very neat and trim appearance aloft. + +Soon after we brought up, a scow came off with some stores, chief +amongst which was some very fine, new, hard tack, which actually was +smoking hot when it came on board. + +There were some cabin stores, and some ships’ coffee, which Don +declares is not coffee at all, and I incline to the belief that it is +coloured wood. + + +_Saturday, 19th August._--The second mate, Henderson, Johnsen, the +nipper, and myself, swung the captain’s gig out this morning, and rowed +him and Rowland ashore. + +Rowland had got paid off, and said good-bye to us, as he is going home +overland. + +To-day was our first day’s sand and canvasing. + +This is the kind of work which you get most of on a sailing-ship, and +at the same time is the most disagreeable, especially in bad, cold, and +wet weather. + +This afternoon more stores came on board. + + +_Sunday, 20th August._--We have no chance of getting ashore, and +occupied ourselves turning out and cleaning up the half-deck. + + +_Monday, 21st August._--To-day we bent the mainsail and crossjack in +record time for six men. + + +_Tuesday, 22nd August._--Our crew began coming aboard to-day. The first +man came alongside about eleven o’clock this morning. + +We were at work shifting the bags of barley from the starboard to port, +in the fore ’tween-decks. + +The man was soon “turned to” carrying the bags. + +He was a very small, greyheaded dago, called Yoko, and looked very ill +and done up, and it was as much as he could do to lift a grain bag; +still he stuck to it, and we were soon chaffing and talking with him. + +He was a Peruvian, and thought we were bound for Callao; but when he +heard the news that we were bound for Europe, it did not seem to bother +him much. + +He afterwards turned out to be a good sailorman, though too old and +weak; but he knew his work, and was one of the best men in the port +watch. + +He had not been working long before he was followed by another dago, +who turned out to be a Brazilian. He was a stronger and younger man, +but not much of a sailor, and one of the most cheerful men I have run +across; everything made him laugh, and when he was not laughing, he was +singing. + +We had just knocked off for dinner, when two others came aboard: +they were only rated as O.S., and had never been to sea before, both +being American hobos. The biggest was a strong boy just nineteen, +who afterwards took to the life, and learnt everything he could very +keenly. The other, who was a year younger, and was a small, weak Canuk, +was the drudge of the ship; he boasted that he had never done a day’s +work in his life, in fact he was a regular good-for-nothing hobo; but +he soon found out that he had to work, and all the dirty work in the +port watch fell to his portion. + +These two, when told to turn to at two bells, came aft to work in +stiff collars and boiled shirts, which showed that they had not much +experience of hard work. + +In the afternoon, boats kept coming off at intervals from the shore, +each boat depositing a half-drunk and very decrepit-looking man, who +did not at all like paying a dollar for his boat. As yet no Britishers +had arrived, though we had scooped in an Arab, a Swiss, a Norwegian, +and a Swede. + + +_Wednesday, 23rd August._--Our new steward came on board too drunk to +work, so I have been appointed steward for the time being. + +This is a slice of luck, as I feed with the second mate in the cabin, +and finish up whatever the captain and mate leave. + +The captain had someone to supper with him to-night, and was very much +amused at perceiving me playing the waiter. + +I had been very careful in laying the table, determined not to forget +anything; but, nevertheless, I forgot the napkins. + +The captain, noticing this, said smiling, “H’m, I think you have +forgotten the serviteers.” + +He was a self-educated man, and though very well read, was by no means +certain in the pronunciation of his long words. + +He had a talk to me one day about this, whilst I was at the wheel in +the South Atlantic. He complained that Scotch boys were taught to +spell, but not to pronounce the long words. + +I felt very funny standing behind the captain’s chair, with unsmiling +face, and as like a waiter as I could manage to be. + +After the captain and his guest had retired, the second mate came down, +and then how I did tuck in; though there was only dry hash, and bread +and butter, I could have cleared the board with ease, but I had to +remember the inmates of the half-deck, who were prowling around the +port-hole, ready for me to pass something through to them. + +Well, I don’t think they complained of my treatment of them whilst I +was steward. + + +_Thursday, 24th August._--A great day for Frisco, for the Californian +boys are expected home to-day from Manilla, and a great reception has +been got ready for them. + +Ever since the transport had been sighted off the Farallones, every +factory and steamer whistle had been tooting for its life, and this +awful din has been going on since four o’clock yesterday afternoon. + +As the _Royalshire_ was considered the flagship of the British +sailing-ships in port, and had the reputation of being the smartest, +early in the morning we dressed the ship with flags, and did what we +could towards the general din, by keeping a man at work on our foghorn. + +I had a good climb, as I was sent up to clear the house flag, which had +got foul at the main-truck. + +This means, that after you get on to the royal-yard, you have to swarm +up the naked mast, and is a pretty good test of the condition of your +nerves. For a beginner, however, I accomplished the job all right, and +thus proved my statement to the captain when I first met him. + +The captain, who had stayed on shore last night, presently came off in +a launch with about twenty people. + +I thanked my stars that the steward was on his legs again. He was very +shaky still, and had a very busy day of it. How he managed to feed +those twenty people I don’t know; they kept on going down to the cabin, +though, in relay after relay. + +We have been given a holiday on this auspicious occasion. + +The bay was a lovely sight; all the morning, yachts and crafts of all +sort were scudding out to the Golden Gate to escort the transport in. + +There was a bright sun and a fresh breeze, and the bright colouring of +the bunting, the white sails of the yachts, and the flashing effects of +foam-flecked sea and blue sky, made an exceedingly pretty and animated +picture. It was a fitting last day in Frisco, for we sail at daybreak +to-morrow. + +During the afternoon the rest of our new hands came off, and a queer +crew they looked. Most of them were under the influence of liquor, and +lurching into the forecastle, were seen no more. + +One young O.S., by name Jennings, who was afterwards in the starboard +watch, had been on the American Navy, but had been kicked out for some +offence at Manilla. + +He had been a signaller, and told us what the battleship _Iowa_ kept +signalling. + +At last the transport was descried in the distance slowly approaching +up the bay, surrounded by yachts and steamers, black with cheering +enthusiastic people. + +She was a very pretty sight as she approached, with all her bunting +flying, and sailing-yachts and steam-launches darting about all round +her. + +As she steamed in between our little fleet of deep-watermen and Frisco, +the din became deafening; the deep roll of cheering reached us over +the water, the _Iowa_ began firing her guns off, and every whistle +screeched at the top of its pipes. + +As she came by, we dipped our ensign a number of times, and the man at +the foghorn put his whole heart into his performance. + +Dodging round us were yachts of all kinds, big cutters and little +cat-boats; but the prettiest of all was the Frisco pilot-boat, the +_Bonita_, a beautiful little schooner, which was scudding about in +every direction under foresail, headsails, and double-reefed mainsail. + +The transport anchored below us, and now the captain had to get his +guests ashore; and as there was no chance of getting the steam-launch, +the order was given to get the gig over the side. + +[Illustration: FRISCO BAY] + +It was now blowing quite fresh, and with the tide at half-flood, +there was quite a bobble on the water, and we had evidently got a stiff +row before us, as we were lying some way out. + +The captain had got half a dozen women amongst his guests, who did not +seem to like the lookout at all, especially when they saw us bobbing up +and down alongside. + +With some care and stowing we got them all aboard, and away we started +for the shore, the second mate pulling stroke. + +It took us two hours’ hard pulling to reach the landing-stages, by +which time the gig had shipped so much water that the captain and +ladies in the sternsheets were up to their knees in water, and the +nipper had to give up his oar and take to baling. + +The old man on getting ashore made the second mate go straight back to +the ship, as he said he would come off in the launch, so we were done +out of a run ashore. + +So ended our last day in port. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NORTH PACIFIC + + Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah, heave her short again! + Over, snatch her over, there, and hold her on the pawl, + Loose all sail, and brace your yards back and full-- + Ready jib to pay her off and heave short all! + Well, ah, fare you well; we can stay no more with you, my love-- + Down, set down your liquor and your girl from off your knee; + For the wind has come to say: “You must take me while you may, + If you’d go to Mother Carey (walk her down to Mother Carey!) + Oh, we’re bound to Mother Carey where she feeds her chicks at sea!” + + KIPLING. + + +_Friday, 25th August._--Manned the capstan at 4 A.M. The crew were +turned out with some difficulty, and some of them looked very much the +worse for wear, especially those that only came aboard last night. The +German-American bosun soon began to give tongue, which, with his size, +soon brought the loiterers up to the scratch. + +The longbars were put into the capstan, and we were soon tramping +drearily round in the raw, misty, morning air. As no one felt equal +to a chanty, we hove her short to occasional “Heave, and she comes!” +“Heave, and break her out!” “Heave, and she must!” “Heave, and bust +her!” + +Presently the anchor was hove short, and we had to wait a while for our +tug. + +I took the opportunity to take stock of our crew; they seemed all +sizes, shapes, and kinds. At my bar was a long, thin man, who looked +like a sailor: he turned out to be a Swiss naturalised American, one of +the hardest workers in the ship, who, though he had been at sea all his +life in sailing-ships and steamers, yet could not steer, and certainly +was hardly qualified for A.B.’s work. + +Close to him was a little Arab, who, in light blue dungarees, dark +blue shirt, and red tam-o’-shanter, made a picturesque figure, with +his bowlegs and face of bright copper. This man had shipped as A.B., +thereby earning four pounds a month; but he soon showed himself a lazy +and ignorant little coward. Alongside him was a man who looked the +very image of an old weather-beaten tar, but who also turned out very +different. + +Presently as it grew lighter, we made out the tug coming off. We soon +had her hawser aboard, and “Man the capstan!” came the order, and +“Break out the mudhook!” + +Then came a struggle; everybody strained with all their might, slower +and slower went the “click” of the pawls, until at last we were almost +at a standstill;--that mudhook refused to leave his pleasant quarters +at the bottom of Frisco Bay, and twenty men did not seem able to move +him. + +Puff! goes the tug, and with its help we soon break out the demon, +which presently appears at the rail, with a mass of dark blue clayish +mud clinging to him. A man is sent to the wheel, and the tug goes ahead. + +The anchor is soon catted and fished, and we are turned to getting all +ready for sea. + +Slowly, in the twilight of early dawn, we leave Frisco, and pass our +comrades lying in the bay. One of them, the smart French barque, has a +tug alongside of her, and will soon be on our heels. + +Anxious as I was to get to sea, I felt quite sorry as I saw Frisco, +that gay wicked city of the West, fading out of sight. It was a lovely +view as the sun rose in all his glory and flashed on the windows of the +great “Call” buildings and lit up the bay, with the deep-sea sailors at +anchor nearest the American battleship _Iowa_, beyond the ferry, and +close to her the transport that had brought the Californian boys home, +and a great Australian liner. + +Good-bye, Frisco, we shall ever have pleasant memories of you; but, as +the good old chanty goes-- + + “Our anchor we’ll weigh, and our sails we’ll set, + Good-bye, fare-ye-well! + Good-bye, fare-ye-well! + The friends we are leaving, we leave with regret, + Hurrah! my boys, we’re homeward bound!” + +As Frisco fades into the distance, the Golden Gate begins to open up, +and the deck to have a bit of a jump in it as we near the bar. + +Here we had quite a tumble for a short time, and one of our landlubbers +did not require any breakfast when eight bells went. For myself, as +usual, I had an appetite like a shark, and one of our invaluable pots +of jam was sacrificed to the occasion. + +I had an accident this morning that might have turned out badly. I was +down in the cabin helping the steward to put away some stores in the +lazarette; the trap-door down to the lazarette was open, of course, and +I carelessly, without looking where I was going, stepped through it, +and of course fell with a terrific bang to the bottom of the lazarette, +a fall of over 10 feet, but I am pretty hard and fit now, and was not a +bit hurt. + +By 8.30 we were nearly up with the light-ship, and we were turned to +again. + +“All hands make sail!” sang out the mate. There was a steady breeze +from the north-west. + +I went up on to the fore-topsail yards and loosed those sails, and then +to the fore-topgallant yards, and finally the royal. We had a busy +morning of it setting all sail. + +When the royal yards had been mastheaded, I was sent up to the +fore-royal to overhaul the leech and buntlines. This means shinning up +the royal halliards, which are, of course, of chain, and just within +reach from the top of the topgallant rigging. + +Up I went, without any difficulty as regards the climbing, and luckily +for me I have a very good head, so I was soon on the royal foot-ropes +overhauling the gear. + +What a magnificent lookout one gets from the royal yard of a ship, +and what wee specks the people working on deck do look from such an +elevation! + +Having overhauled the gear, I was preparing to descend on to the +upper-topgallant yard when I was hailed by one of the new hands, who +was trying to overhaul the gear of the main upper-topgallant yard. He +evidently knew nothing about the job, and I had to shout directions to +him. Then he wanted to know how to get on to the main-royal yard. I +told him, by shinning up the royal halliards. This was a job he did not +seem to relish at all, and he was for going down on deck again, but up +came the mate’s voice from below, + +“Topgallant yard there!--get a move on, and overhaul those royal +buntlines!” + +Up he had to go, and a pretty shaky job he made of it; any moment I +expected to see him lose his nerve and come tumbling down on deck, but +at last he got up and on to the foot-ropes. + +This man was afterwards on the starboard watch with me: he was a +German-American, and had been “hoboing.” He was an ex-American soldier, +and had no idea of anything connected with a ship; he found, like the +Canadian, that it was very different from what he had expected. For +some reason, most landsmen think that at sea, except for setting and +taking in sail, you have nothing to do but sit and smoke. + +When all the gear had been overhauled, and the _Royalshire_ was off +with the wind on the beam, with everything drawing and the decks +cleared up, all hands were called aft, and the watches were picked. + +Don had a big compliment paid him, as, though only rated O.S., he was +made lamp-trimmer, a job generally given to an A.B., and one which is +sought after, as the lamp-trimmer has two hours of his afternoon watch +on deck, (whether it is the afternoon or first dog watch) in which he +is allowed to retire into the lamp-locker and prepare his lamps and +binnacles for the night. As a smart man does not take two hours over +this work, he generally has an easy time, instead of having to work at +some job or other under the eye of the mate or bosun. + +By the way, I forgot to mention the fact that the tug had cast off +directly we had got our topsails mastheaded, and with a toot of +farewell had turned her head for the Golden Gate; and soon after the +beautiful pilot-boat, the schooner _Bonita_, ran down upon us, and sent +a boat aboard to take off the pilot. + +But, to return to our watch picking, the mate always has first choice, +and he took a Welshman, who was immediately made sailmaker. Our new +Sails was a Cardiff man and one of the best all-round sailormen in +the ship, besides being one of the most cheery. He was a man who knew +something, having worked ashore and steadied down. He had a big outfit +of clothes in his chest, which is a sure sign in a sailor that he does +not chuck his money about quite so wildly as most foremast hands. + +[Illustration: THE PILOT-BOAT “BONITA” + +(_Drawn by the Author_)] + +For some unknown reason, all the dago’s were picked in the mate’s +watch; the second mate, in whose watch I was, having by far the best +men. He only made one bad pick, which was in picking old man Higgins, +second choice: this was the old buffer who I thought looked such an old +salt whilst we were heaving up the anchor. Though rated A.B., he was +soon found to be absolutely useless in any technical work. + +It was his wheel in the forenoon watch, and, after nearly getting the +ship in irons three times, he had to be sent away from the helm in +disgrace. He was no sailorman at all really, but an old soldier who had +seen a good deal of service in India with Roberts. + +He was an Irishman, and a very good old chap; but the poor old man was +very badly off for clothes, and the hardships of the passage pretty +nearly broke him up. It was really hardly safe to send him aloft, and +when you did, he was of very little use, as he could do nothing more +than hang on as a rule. + +The watches being picked, I think I might take the opportunity to give +a list of the ship’s company. + +Besides the captain, the bosun, Sails, Chips, the cook, and steward +keep no watches. They are called on board ship the “idlers”--a very bad +term, as no men work harder as a rule on board ship than the bosun, +sailmaker, and carpenter, who begin work at 6 A.M., and with half an +hour for breakfast and half an hour for dinner, as the midday meal at +sea is called, work all day, knocking off at 6 P.M. + +Of course, they have all night in, besides have a half-holiday on +Saturday, and all Sunday free; but I had had all I wanted of working +all day and sleeping all night, and I think working watch and watch +infinitely more preferable. + +I think I have already described all the idlers, and so will turn to +the watches. In the mate’s watch were:--Scar, third mate; Whitmore, the +nipper, and Don Henderson, lamp-trimmer, all three in the half-deck; +Frenchie, an old man who had been some years in the French Navy, and +was a good sailor but a bad helmsman, and was getting rather too +ancient (he was a quarrelsome little beast, though, and the worst +grumbler in the ship); Hassan, the Arab, I have already mentioned; +Liverpool, a young Lancashire man, and not much of a sailor; Yoko, +the Peruvian, a rare good old chap, and about the best sailor in the +port watch, though too old (he was the first man of the crew to come +aboard), he had an extraordinary sweet voice, a very rare thing in a +sailor, and without doubt had the best temper in the ship; Webber, the +Swiss-American, who was alongside me heaving up anchor; and Pedro, a +Brazilian, the merry rascal already mentioned. + +These six were all A.B.’s, and had come up from Chile in a dago +barque, which they had left in Frisco. The two ordinary seamen in the +port watch were the two hobos, Jackson and Joy, who had wanted to start +work the other day in boiled shirts and white collars. Joy boasted when +he came on board that he was a hobo, and had never done an honest day’s +work in his life, and at first was inclined to think himself somebody, +but this was soon knocked out of him. + +The starboard watch consisted of--Mr Knowles, the second mate; +MacDenny, fourth mate; Loring, and myself. Of the after gang, I don’t +think I have mentioned Loring before. He was a young Londoner, about +eighteen years old, and I believe his grandfather was an admiral. He +was an apprentice of two voyages’ standing, but on his second voyage +had run from his ship in Frisco, on account of bad treatment by the +mate and captain. Then, enlisting in the American regular cavalry, he +served several months, and did very well; but at Honolulu, on his way +to Manilla, he deserted for two reasons, the chief of which was, that +his charger, which he had a great love for, had died on the passage, +and the other was, that he had won a lot of money at poker. From +Honolulu he came back to Frisco first-class, in the clothes he stood +up in, and there the good people of the Institute looked after him, +and got him back again on his old ship, which had not yet sailed; but +the day she was to sail, he fell down with enteric fever, and was sent +ashore into hospital. + +Recovering from fever, he found himself stranded again, and in danger +of being arrested as a deserter; but Karney of the Institute got our +old man to ship him as an ordinary seaman, and give him a bunk in the +half-deck. + +When he first came on board, he was so weak that it was as much as he +could do to lift a bag of flour. I noticed this as he and I put the +stores away in the lazarette, under the eye of the second mate. + +Loring turned out one of the best, and full of grit. He and I were, of +course, watch mates, and the first part of the passage looked after +the binnacles, and kept time at night in our watch, each taking two +hours. Our A.B.’s forward are--Jamieson, a little Scotchman, who had +been shipwrecked three times, and is the best helmsman the captain has +ever had, a good seaman and a hard worker; Taylor, an ex-man-of-war’s +man, and a Londoner, but getting on in years (he was the cheery man in +the starboard forecastle, though the passage ended very badly for him); +Wilson, a Swede, an old man with a voice like a foghorn, and a nature +as kind and affectionate as a child’s, a good sailor, and terrific hard +worker; Johnsen, whom you have already heard about; Rooning, a young +Norwegian, and a very good sort altogether, with a good temper for a +red-headed man; and Higgins, the old soldier. + +The O.S.’s were Bower and Jennings. Bower was the German-American who +I had instructed in overhauling gear, and Jennings was the young, +down-east American, who had interpreted the signals of the _Iowa_ the +other day: precious little seamanship he knows, and he is a bit of a +shirker too, though he is pretty active aloft, and twice as much use as +Bower or Higgins. So much for the crew of the _Royalshire_: they were a +pretty scratch lot, all things considered, though they might have been +much worse. + +The forenoon watch is our watch on deck; the wind is not very strong, +and has hauled ahead, so that we are close-hauled on the starboard +tack. The French barque soon ran past us, and heading higher, much to +our disgust, was soon almost out of sight to windward. At which Don let +off some keen sarcasm at Scar and Mac, who had been talking a great +deal about the wonderful sailing qualities of the _Royalshire_. + +At noon we went about, and no one who has not witnessed the sight of a +big ship going about, can imagine the yelling and excitement that goes +on. + +Before going about, the braces are carefully coiled down on the deck +from off the pins, all clear for running. The spankerboom is then +hauled amidships. The old man then comes to the break of the poop, and +calls out, “Ready oh!” + +All hands are at their stations; being of the after gang, my station +is on the poop with the fourth mate, at the mizen-topgallant and royal +braces. The old man gives a keen look round, and then motions to the +helmsman to ease the helm down. The helm is eased down, so that her way +may not be checked too suddenly. + +As soon as the helm is down, the old man calls out, “Helm’s alee!” + +On which the fore and head sheets are let go and overhauled, the cook +always attending to the fore sheet. Directly the wind is out of the +mainsail, the order comes-- + +“Raise tacks and sheets!” + +The foretack is kept fast until the mainsheet is hauled, for, as the +foresail bellies into the mast, which it does directly the foretack is +let go, it retards the ship from coming to. + +Then comes the order-- + +“Mainsail haul!” and if the old man has judged his time well, the yards +swing round so quickly that you can hardly get the slack of the braces +in sharp enough. + +The afteryards are now braced up and belayed. The ship is filled with +strange, weird cries, and the tramp of many men, as on an occasion +like this, every man sings out independently at the top of his pipes as +he hauls on the brace. We on the poop soon have our topgallant yards +round, and fly down on to the main deck to help the rest of our watch +at the crossjack and mainbraces, whilst the mate and his watch attend +to the foreyards. + +I think the bosun has the most lively time, though, for he with two +men has to attend to the headsheets, which, when the ship is put about +in anything of a breeze, thrash about and thump their heavy blocks on +the deck with a force strong enough to knock a man’s brains out; so he +has to keep his eyes skinned, besides which he has the ticklish job of +letting the foretack go. + +Our German-American bosun is a pretty big coward, having had most of +his nerve knocked out of him by a knife through his lung put in from +behind, and this foretack job he fairly hates. + +Everybody works as for a wager, and the old man stands at the break +of the poop ready for trouble; woe betide the mate if he has trouble +trimming his foreyards, but generally the bosun and his foresheet +receive the most language. + +Whilst the mate trims the foreyards, the old man generally attends to +the trimming of the afteryards. Then we of the starboard watch board +the maintack, whilst the port watch board the foretack. + +The yards being trimmed, the tacks boarded, and the bowlines hauled +out, the old man retires, and the order is given, “Go below, the +watch!” the watch on deck coiling down and clearing up. + +After a little practice at going about, the crew get together well, and +the manœuvre is executed rapidly and without any hitch, and each time +we go about we try to break the record as to time. Of course, putting +about a great big ship like the _Royalshire_, whose yards are so heavy +that it requires a couple of strong men to the royal braces, is a +pretty heavy job, and every one has to put all his available weight and +strength into the work. + +Our old man is a thorough seaman, as are both the mates, and though +there is plenty of noise, and a good deal of hard language, still there +are no belaying pins flying, and wild confusion, as on some ships, +Yankees mostly, with hard gangs aft. + +Twice we went about in the afternoon, much to our disgust, as it was +our watch below. The breeze freshened up towards sunset, and we took in +the gaff-topsail in the second dog watch. + +The _Royalshire_ is logging 10 knots, laying over to it, a bit cranky +at present until the grain settles down a bit. The gaff-topsail is one +of my sails, which I have always to go up to whenever they are set or +taken in; and Loring and I went up to make the sail fast. + +The gaff-topsail is an easy enough sail to get in if you know how, but +if you do not know how, it is a terror. The way to do it is, to get on +the outside of the sail and ride it down: and after two or three times, +I found that even in a gale of wind I could manage to muzzle it pretty +easily by myself. + +Our first night at sea was an easy one, as it was our middle watch, so +that we got the first and morning watches in. + +Coming on deck at midnight, we found nothing to do, and most of the +watch curled up and went to sleep on the deck. This is allowable in the +tropics, the only men awake sometimes on a smooth night in the tropics +being the mate of the watch, the helmsman, lookout, and timekeeper. + +Timekeeping is by no means fun: all through the night at sea the bells +are struck every half-hour, and one bell struck a quarter before the +watch changes. So the timekeeper has no chance to get a doze, though I +have slept between the bells. + +Keeping the binnacles alight was the worst job. The cheapest and +foulest of mineral oil being used, the wicks soon had a cake on them, +and the binnacles promptly went out; this the timekeeper has to look +out for, as the helmsman, when steering by the compass, must have his +binnacles alight. + +No extra matches were allowed for lighting binnacles; one has to use +one’s own private store, and sometimes on a bad night I have used as +many as a couple of boxes of matches in a watch, and the amount of +swearing it produced was lamentable. I have sat in that half-deck, the +sea washing about the floor up to my knees, a binnacle in each hand, +my matches wet, in pitch darkness, as the lamp was not allowed alight +at night after one bell in the first watch; when I got a match well +alight, I had to scrape the wick clean and then light it, but often it +utterly refused to light inside, as there was not air enough, and it +would not keep alight outside, as there was too much. + +There I would sit, lighting match after match, burning my fingers, and +cursing in a loud whisper for fear of waking the watch below. Then the +second mate’s voice would be heard at the break of the poop, “Hurry up +with those binnacles!” and it would be a case of more haste less speed. +Every half-hour, after striking the bell, the timekeeper has to go +forward and see that the side lights burn brightly, and the lookout is +wide awake on the forecastle head. Coming aft, one reports in a kind +of chant, “Lights burn brightly, and all is well.” + +Talking of matches, it is a great question for sailors and prospectors, +and anybody on the trail or camping out, what are the best matches to +take. + +I have tried all kinds, from “stinkers,” the common West Coast matches, +to all kinds of different wooden matches. + +If you put a block of stinkers amongst your provisions, you may be +certain that the provisions will be all spoilt. Wooden matches that +only strike on the box are a great nuisance, as you invariably lose the +box, or else it wears out in your pocket. I also had wooden matches +that would strike anywhere, but their heads invariably come off. So +the match question is still an unsolved one, as only millionaires can +afford to use wax vestas out of England. + +Coming over from Japan, there was great gambling on board in matches, +the nipper losing twenty or thirty dozen, and Mac winning as many. + +Don and I brought three different kinds on board--stinkers, matches +that struck on the box, and big wooden matches that struck anywhere. +These big ones used to make a terrific explosion when struck; and +at first, when I used to go down and wake the mate at one bell, and +light his lamp, I used these, and sometimes I would use nearly a +dozen before one would light, each one going off like the report of a +pistol, and their heads coming off. They were an awful swindle too, for +occasionally we came upon a box which had not got a match in it with a +head on. + +At last I had to give up these matches for lighting the mate’s lamp, +for fear of waking the old man. + +Bang! bang! bang! they would go, accompanied by whispered curses, +whilst the second mate and Mac on the poop listened, and laughed to +themselves. + +“Listen to Bally’s bombardment of the mate; did you ever hear such a +row?” + +The second mate swore one morning that he had picked up nearly thirty +of these matches round the door of the mate’s cabin. + +The worst of the matches in general use was, that their boxes soon +crumbled up in your pocket, or the striker on the side of the box wore +out. + +The second mate, who only smoked cigarettes, used always to have one of +these boxes in his pocket, with a couple of matches and a cigarette-end +inside. + +But--to return at last--one’s two hours are up, and one strikes four +bells, then the lookout and wheel are changed, and the old lookout +reports who relieved him. + +Much amusement was caused in our first middle watch by Bower, who came +aft from the lookout and reported, + +“Mr Higgins relieved the lookout, sir.” + +Great was the laughter at the “mister” being given to a poor, +broken-down old soldier. + +This man Bower was fearfully green about seafaring matters. Whilst I +was having a bit of a yarn with him, he asked me if all ships had the +same coloured lights, referring to the sidelights. Nevertheless, when +he left the ship at Liverpool, he thought he knew a terrible deal about +the sea. + +The weather is delicious and warm, without being too hot. A pair of +serge trousers, rolled up to my knees, and a flannel shirt, is all I +shall wear until we are well out of the south-east trades a month ahead. + +What a blessing it is not requiring shoes or stockings; one’s feet soon +get hard, and up aloft or at work on deck I never wore shoes except in +cold weather, and then it was a case of rubbers and oilskins day and +night. + +Mac has been telling Loring and myself terrible yarns about the state +of the half-deck in bad weather. + +“You just mark my words: many a night in bad weather an’ you’ll wake up +and find the water washing into your bunk; aye, I guess you two will +have to swim for it in your lower bunks, off the Horn, sure enough,” +says Mac.--“Why, I’ve had to swim out of my bunk before now, and its a +top one!” + +And truly, Mac’s words were verified; the half-deck was the worst and +most dangerous part of the whole ship in bad weather. + + +_Saturday, 26th August._--Under full sail all day, with lightish fair +breeze. Fine, smooth, favourable weather, and wind getting more and +more on the quarter. In the forenoon watch we hauled down the staysails +and jibs, and squared the yards. Busy sand-canvasing poop ladders, and +overhauling gear aloft. The rigging is very badly off for ratlines, +especially the fore and mizen topgallant. + +This is one of the things a sailor has to be very careful about. + +“Never hold on by the ratlines,” is one of the well-known rules. +What might happen, and what sometimes does happen, is this:--The +watch is sent aloft to shorten sail, all going up one after the other +to windward; the first man breaks a ratline as he steps on it--he +is holding on by a ratline also, that goes too, and down he comes, +probably bringing several of the men underneath him down also. If ever +you see a rotten ratline aloft, out with your knife and cut it at once. + +In our topgallant rigging in some places there were three or four +ratlines gone all together; this had to be seen to, and our best men +under the bosun were put on the job. + +Every day, at four o’clock in the afternoon, the fresh-water pump is +shipped and water served out, the watch below doing the carrying, +so many buckets to the cook, so many to the forecastle, one to the +midship-house, and one to the captain, and one to the half-deck, and +two to the steward. + +Fresh water is very valuable on board ship, and if a drop is spilt as +it is being carried along the deck, there is considerable trouble for +the delinquent. + +Scar and Mac each have charge of a tank, and give it out week and week +about. + + +_Sunday, 27th August._--Wind dead aft; captain thinks we have got the +N.E. trades. Weather superb. Deep-blue sky, and trade-wind clouds. We +are doing about 5 knots. + +We had our first go of soft tack to-day, each man getting a small loaf +for breakfast. It was very poor bread, made with sour dough; and I +thought longingly of the lovely, hot, yeast bread I used to make up in +the Klondyke. + +Nevertheless, I managed to eat the whole of my loaf at breakfast, and +would have liked another. + +It was my forenoon watch below, and I found no difficulty in sleeping +from 8.30 to 11.30, after having the eight hours on deck last night. + +I went out on to the bowsprit end to-day, and had a grand view of the +ship as she cut through the clear water under full sail. + +Spent part of the afternoon busy with needle and thread, putting +patches on my overalls and oilskins. + +As I sat sewing, Loring came up to me and proposed that we should make +some dandyfunk for tea. I was always ready for anything in the eating +line, and at once seconded the proposal; but what dandyfunk was I had +no more idea than the man in the moon. + +“What do you make it of?” I asked. + +“Well, first we must make a canvas bag,” he answered. + +“What, to put it in?” + +“No, to smash it up in, of course.” + +“Smash it up in?” I asked; this was truly curious. What could be the +dish, that to start making it you have to smash it up in a canvas bag? +At last I struck it. + +“You are not going to make us a pudding out of brick-dust and +oyster-shells, like the hen’s food, are you? because, if so, I’m off.” + +“You will eat it quick enough when I’ve made it,” Loring answered. +“I’ll make the dandyfunk if you will make the bag.” + +Well, curiosity and greed got the better of me, and borrowing a palm +and needle from the third mate, I soon had a small canvas bag made. + +This Loring proceeded to fill with hard tack, and then went forward +with it; I followed. + +He took it to the rail forward of the galley, and then looked about him +for something. + +“Get me an iron belaying pin, will you?” he asked. + +“Certainly, if you swear not to use it on me.” + +I gave him the belaying pin, with which he proceeded to pound the bag +of biscuits until it was so much fine dust. + +He put this dust into my plate (as it was the largest in the +half-deck), and then proceeded to put water to it, and mixed it up +until it was a thick paste. Then he added molasses and some jam +(Don and I still had a pot or two left). This compound, after being +thoroughly mixed up, was taken to the cook, who put it in the oven. + +At tea time we were all curious to see the result of the dandyfunk. +Loring went to the galley for it, and brought it aft steaming hot, a +mixture between a cake and a pudding. + +I thought it extremely good, and it had another excellent quality, it +was exceedingly stodgy, and filled up the chinks splendidly. + +For several Sundays, Loring, the nipper, and I made dandyfunk, but it +soon got stopped. The old man noticed one of us bringing it aft one +day from the galley, and thinking that too much hard tack was used by +this means, put his veto on it, and shortly afterwards, having run out +of both jam and molasses, we had to give up our Sunday dish. + +Crackerhash is another sea-dish for tea. You save some of your salt +junk from dinner, and mixing it up roughly with broken-up hard tack, +have it baked by the cook, and thus you have something hot for tea. + +Old Slush hated having to bake our dandyfunk and crackerhash for us; +but the old man gave us leave to have crackerhash for tea, and ordered +the cook to bake it for us. + +Each man brought forward his little dish of crackerhash, and the +cook often had his ovens full, contributions coming both from the +forecastle, midship-house, and half-deck. + +The wind is getting rather light. We hauled down the staysails in the +second dog watch. + +Lovely starlight night. We shall soon have seen the last of the North +Star, as it is almost on the horizon now. + + +_Monday, 28th August._--The wind is same as yesterday, evidently the +north-east trades, but rather light. + +We started shifting sail again to-day, changing our hard weather +sails for the old and light weather sails. With a whole watch on the +job, this is a very much lighter business than the bending sail up the +Sacramento. + +I had my first taste of sea grub to-day, as our fresh meat has now +given out, and salt junk and pork are now the order of the day. + +I did not think much of the look of our first go of salt junk. + +There, in the kid, lay a greasy, fat mass, which gave out a very strong +and nasty smell. + +If one is lucky, one may find a couple of mouthfuls of meat on one’s +portion, which is chiefly nasty red fat. The cook, who is nicknamed +“Old Slush,” well deserves his name, and many a curse did we give him +as we tried in vain to find some meat on the dirty, greasy, square +chunk he had given us. + +The port watch are no good; we are by far the stronger and better +of the two watches, illustrating well the fact that Britishers and +Dutchmen are far superior to dagos. + +Perhaps I ought to explain, for the benefit of those who do not know +it, that in sea parlance “Britishers” include, of course, anybody +hailing from the “British Isles.” “Dutchmen” include Germans, Swedes, +Danes, Russians, Russian Finns, and Norwegians; and “dago” is a general +term for any one of the Latin races. + +The two O.S.’s in our forecastle, namely Bower and Jennings, are great +rivals, and disputes and arguments are everlasting between them. They +have both fallen foul of Johnsen already, and I expect matters will end +in a fight. Jennings is a stout-built little chap, and knows how to +handle his fists, but I doubt if he has got much “sand.” + +Bower is a thin, weedy, unhealthy man, with no strength or endurance +about him. + +To-day, when we were bending the fore upper-topsail, I was between +Johnsen and Rooning on the yard, and was talking to Rooning as we put +in the rovings. + +Suddenly Johnsen chimes in, and says to Rooning, + +“What’s dat you say about me, young fellow? Wait till I gets mit you on +deck; you just call me dat down dere, and you see I just puts one big +head on you.” + +Rooning, not knowing Johnsen’s peculiarities yet, did not know what to +make of this, as he was not even speaking about Johnsen. So I turned +my tongue adrift on Johnsen, as the only way to treat a scoundrel like +him, was to take a high hand, or he would try to bully you. + +“You d--d scoundrel of a white-livered Swede, we weren’t talking about +you at all. You just keep that villainous mouth of yours shut, and +don’t come any of your idiotic talk over us, or when we get on deck, +I’ll turn to and give you such a dressing down as you never got in your +life.” + +This stopped his nonsense, and he kept clear of the pair of us for a +bit after this. + +Whenever he got up to any of his rot with me, I always used to let +him have it straight back in the worst language I could think of, and +sometimes even laid hands upon him; and under this treatment he was +always very polite to me, though it all went down in his log, which, +for fear of having it stolen, he always carried about with him inside +his shirt, even in the hottest weather, much to the amusement of +everybody on board. + +In this logbook of his he puts down every little incident that occurs +on board, but it is chiefly full of different offences which have been +committed against him by various members of the crew. They managed +to get hold of the book one day in the forecastle, and great was the +laughter thereat; every soul on the ship had been “logged” for some +offence or other, from the captain down, and as for people like Don, +Mac, and myself, there were pages given up to our misdemeanours. + +The man was as sulky as a bear, and not a man would he speak to +forward; but with quiet cunning he palled up to the bosun, and thus +managed to get a lot of soft jobs out of him until he tumbled to it. + + +_Tuesday, 29th August._--Same fine weather. We finished bending sail +to-day, our lightest and oldest sails being bent. + +The old man is at work now all day making the most beautiful little +model yachts, at which he is a past master. He told me one day that he +had made models of every kind of ship that sails the seas. + +Though his models are very pretty, still I am not particularly fond of +them, as he covers the poop with shavings, and as I have to see that +the poop is kept shipshape and clean in our watch. Every afternoon +I have to spend some time sweeping these shavings up out of all the +corners. + +We are busy again on all the teak wood with the everlasting sand and +canvas. + + +_Wednesday, 30th August._--Same fine weather; the wind is blowing nice +and fresh, and we logged 10 knots in the first dog watch. + +The bosun come into the half-deck this evening, in the second dog +watch, with his guitar, which he plays very well, and gave us some +songs, we doing full justice to the choruses, of which the following +was a great favourite:-- + + +CHORUS OF “DUCKFOOT SUE.” + + “For now I’ll sing to you, + Of the girl I love so true; + She’s chief engineer of the ‘white shirt’ line, + And her name is ‘Duckfoot Sue.’ + Her beauty was all she had; + She’d a mouth as large as a crab; + She had an upper lip like the rudder of a ship, + And I tell you she was mad.” + +This is sung very fast, and with a great swing. Besides comic songs, he +had some pathetic ones; one of the prettiest of the choruses was this-- + + “Just a little cradle, + Just a little child, + Just a few fast-fleeting years, + Then a boy so wild! + Soon he reaches manhood, + Then comes on old age; + Thus we have the journey from + The cradle to the grave.” + +The wind dropped in the middle watch, and it came on to rain. There +is nothing more detestable at sea, I think, than rain. Rain water +seems so different to salt water; it wets you, makes you feel cold and +miserable, gives you rheumatism, and washes the oil off your oilskins. + + +_Thursday, 31st August._--Wet day and head-wind. + +Hard at work scrubbing and sand and canvasing the poop ladders, rails, +etc., in the pouring rain, with oilskins on. + +The glass is falling, and there is a heavy head-sea. We took in the +jigger-topmast staysail and gaff-topsail in the forenoon watch. + +I shinned up to the staysail, and got dripping wet in spite of my +oilskins, whilst I was making it fast, as the sail was full of water. + +I was not sorry to go below at eight bells, as our watch on deck had +been very cold, wet, and uncomfortable. + +We are all furious with our dirty old cook, as the food is so awfully +badly cooked, and comes aft one mass of dirty grease and fat, with +hardly a mouthful of meat per man. + +The pea-soup, which is our chief sustenance, and which we get three +times a week, is so dirty that, instead of being white it is nearly +black, as he never takes the trouble to wash the peas. + +Still, though Mac says it is the worst pea-soup he has ever tasted, I +take good care to get all I can of it, as without it I really don’t +think we could exist. + +We save a little of our meat and potatoes for tea, and take it to the +galley, so that the cook can make us some dry hash out of it. + +At present the steward has given us nothing from the cabin; he will +find out his mistake when the bad weather comes. + +The wind fell altogether in the afternoon, and an oily calm with a +swell remained, which continued until the middle watch, when a breeze +sprang up. + + +_Friday, 1st September._--Same fine weather. + +The crew came aft to-day at eight bells, noon, with their grub, and +there was some strong language on both sides. Of course we in the +half-deck did not take a hand, as we are supposed to be of the after +gang, though we are no better off than those in the forecastle. + +In the midship-house the carpenter, bosun, and sailmaker are living +like fighting-cocks, as the carpenter has got flour, currants, and jam; +so they even get plum dough, besides getting the nicest bits of meat. + +The old man was down on the men like a ton of bricks, and says that +they shall now only have their legal whack according to the Board of +Trade regulations, which have made a fine science of prescribing just +enough to keep a man alive and no more. + +The rules say a man is to have 1-1/4 lbs. of salt junk a day. This is +weighed out every day by the steward; but is so boiled away in the +cooking, that a man thinks himself lucky if he gets half a dozen +mouthfuls. + +It is the same with the pork, of which each man’s allowance is supposed +to be three-quarters of a pound. + +We had less than 1 lb. of pork between three of us to-day, and my belt +is rapidly getting too large for me. + +The other day the old man and the mate had a terrific row, and +they have not spoken to each other since. The old man has the mate +absolutely in his power, as it is only by his influence that the mate +can get a ship, which he has been hoping for for so many years--the old +man having more influence than any skipper in the line. + +The second mate gets all the old man’s smiles now the mate is in bad +odour; but presently the mate and old man will be all right again, and +the second mate’s turn will come for the rough side of the old man’s +tongue. + +From what I can see of the matter, I think this petty rowing between +old man and mates is pretty general in wind-jammers, and is chiefly +caused by the old men getting livers on them, caused by not getting +enough exercise; this, added to anxiety, worry, and excitable +dispositions, is quite enough to account for the extraordinary +exhibitions of childish temper which sea-captains so often give way to. + +It was wet again during the night, and the wind was very light. + + +_Saturday, 2nd September._--We scrub out the half-deck twice a week, +each watch taking it in turn on Saturdays and Thursdays. + +To-day it was our turn. + +An institution on board a sailing-ship is “peggy.” Each of us take it +in turn, and peggy has to fetch the grub from the galley, and, in fact, +do all the “fagging” necessary. + +At breakfast this morning, the steward called to me to give the burgoo +to the chickens. + +This was the remains from the cabin table, and I was the chicken that +ate it. + +There are a lot of flying-fish about now, and I think they produce one +of the prettiest effects in the tropics. + +It is lovely to see a mass of them suddenly dart out of the water, +flashing like silver in the sun, to plunge with tiny little splashes in +again; out and in, they never get any rest, for the bonita go for them +in the water, and the bosun birds in the air. + +I think we are only about 18° N. latitude now. + +The port watch caught four albacore this afternoon. These are big fish, +rather like bonita, and are not at all bad eating. Dagos are pretty +good fishermen as a rule. + +The binnacles were an awful nuisance last night. We lit them no less +than twenty-one times in the middle watch. + + +_Sunday, 3rd September._--Lovely day; flying-fish and bosun birds in +abundance. The wind freshened up, and we set staysails and jibs. + +The latitude to-day is 17°.06 N., longitude 121°.18 W., and the run for +the last twenty-four hours was 111 miles--not very good; but our bottom +is awfully foul, as the inland seas of Japan and Frisco Bay are two of +the worst places for fouling a ship’s bottom. + +It is much hotter to-day, and I slept on deck. Sunday is given over to +washing and repairing one’s clothes, and there is a run on needles. +To-day I put a huge patch in my oilskins, which have got rather worn, +from work in the Klondyke, and I wished that I had invested in another +suit at Frisco. + + +_Monday, 4th September._--To-day, at noon, the steward appeared with a +bucket of lime-juice for the first time. + +Each man had to come aft and take his whack. In the half-deck we all +thought it very good, and were up to all kinds of dodges for getting +two goes; in the end, the steward finding we appreciated his brew, used +to give us whatever was left over every day. + +I never heard anybody growl at having to take lime-juice, as, besides +being a very good drink, each deep-water jack knows how good it is to +keep off scurvy. + +We turned the after-hatch to-day into a barber’s shop in the second dog +watch; of the haircutters, the bosun was the best, and I was the worst. + +The nipper was my victim, and I don’t think his hair has ever grown +since. I found myself cutting huge holes, so cut round them to level it +down; the result was, that when I had finished, only a razor would have +been of any use to take more hair off, and the nipper got up looking +like an escaped convict gone prematurely bald. + +We are still hard at work sand and canvasing the poop rails and +stanchions; every bit of varnish has to be rubbed off by the primitive +means of sand and canvas, pumice stone, and elbow-grease. + + +_Tuesday, 5th September._--Calm, with big swell running. Two sharks +have been hanging around us to-day. It is interesting to watch a shark +and his pilot-fish. This little fish is the one friend and companion of +the shark: he is of a blue-and-gold colour, and generally swims just +in front of the shark, or alongside the shark’s head, and in times of +danger even takes refuge in the shark’s huge jaws along with the little +sharks. No shark will touch even the most tempting lump of pork before +he has had the little pilot-fish’s report upon it. Contrary to general +belief, the shark in reality is a very timorous beast, and a little +splashing is sufficient to frighten any number of ravenous sharks away. + +I have seen men bathing off ships in water infested with sharks, such +as the roads off Durban, Natal; but, what with the splashing, laughing, +and shouting, not a shark dared approach. + +Sharks eat human beings whenever they can, for the chief reason +that they have to keep body and soul together, as they are not fast +enough swimmers, and far too sluggish, to catch any other fish. Their +movements are so slow that expert swimmers, like South Sea Islanders, +have no fear of them in smooth water, and as the shark turns slowly on +to his back to open his mouth, they dive quickly under him and plunge a +knife into his white belly, to his great discomfort. + +Of all things that have life, the shark has the greatest appetite, and +nothing goes amiss with him; indigestion does not trouble him, and he +takes his food as it comes, whether it be animal, mineral, or vegetable. + +I don’t suppose even one of Sandow’s big dumb-bells would give him the +least inconvenience. + +Lat. 12°.59 N., long. 120°.28 W. + +Course--S. 14 E. Run 95 miles. + +The ex-American soldier, Bower, in our watch, is finding out that +sailoring is very different to anything he imagined. He complains +that the work and the food are more than he can bear, and he is so +despondent that he says it will be a merciful release if he were to +fall overboard and be drowned. + +There is something to be said, however, for the poor devil, as he is in +an awful state of health, being one mass of boils from head to foot. + + +_Wednesday, 6th September._--Calm all day. There was a thunderstorm in +the second dog watch, it being our watch on deck. + +We took in the spanker, gaff-topsail, and royals in pitch darkness, +with the rain coming down in torrents. One soon gets used to working up +aloft in the dark. + +The storm took us by surprise, and as we did not have time to get our +oilskins on, we got a nice soaking. + +Lat. 12°.30 N., long. 120°.29 W. Course--S. + +The run was only 29 miles. We are now right in the troubles, and +trials, and heart-burnings of the doldrums. Very trying weather, hot +and muggy; heaps of rain; the wind never steady for a moment, and +during a good deal of the time conspicuous by its absence. + +However, the thunderstorm did not last long, and we had to set the +spanker, gaff-topsail, and royals again before the watches changed. + +It is trying work at night at the braces in the doldrums, bracing her +up, then squaring the yards again to every puff of wind. + +Behold us on deck in the middle watch; it is a coal-black night, with +not a star showing, and what little wind there is, is very unsteady and +constantly shifting. + +The watch are all lying about under the break of the poop, and probably +the second mate, the helmsman, the lookout on the forecastle head, and +myself, who am timekeeper, are the only people awake on the ship. + +Even I, though I have to strike the bell every half-hour, am dozing +between the times. I open my eyes for a moment, and am just turning +over for another snooze, when the second mate’s voice rings clear +through the quiet night, + +“Weather crossjack brace!” + +I jump to my feet and cry out, in repetition, + +“Weather crossjack brace! Up you get, there! Can’t you hear? Weather +crossjack brace!” + +Mac goes to the lee braces to slack them away, and on doing so, cries, + +“Haul away!” + +Meanwhile we are all standing ready to haul, with the crossjack brace +in our hands, the A.B.’s at the head, the O.S’s at the tail of the +rope. Our general order was--Wilson, Jamieson, Rooning, Johnsen, or +Taylor, myself, Loring, Bower, and Jennings. + +Then one of us would sing out as we haul on the brace--(Jamieson and +Wilson were our chief criers, and Jamieson had a very weird, curious +note, in high, minor tones), + +“Eh--hai--ai! Eh--hai--ee! Eh--heu!” + +Old Wilson had a very deep, gruff voice. We called him old “Foghorn.” +His cry was like the growl of a big dog, ending in a half bark. + +Johnsen used to sing out jerkily, + +“Oh--ho! Now den! In mit her!” + +I used to sing out, + +“Aye--hay! Aye--hay--oh! Oh--ha! Oh--ho--ah!” + +In would come the crossjack brace; until the second mate would cry, + +“Turn the crossjack brace!” + +Then--“Lower-topsail brace! Take it off!” + +More hauling and crying. + +“Belay!” + +Then--“Upper-topsail brace!” + +More hauling and crying. + +“Turn the upper-topsail brace!” from the second mate. + +Then--“A couple of hands to the topgallant braces!” + +The topgallant and royal braces come down to the fife-rail. Loring and +I were the two hands meant, and a rare time we did have sometimes, as +they were very heavy yards, and occasionally, of course, several hands +were wanted to them. + +Whilst we were at the topgallant braces, the rest of the watch were at +the crossjack sheet. + +In a strong breeze we had to take the sheets to the capstan, but in an +ordinary breeze you can get the sheet in easy enough, if you watch your +time. + +Say it is blowing fresh, we all get on to the sheet, even the second +mate, the strongest nearest the head. + +The man who is going to take the sheet off the pin, cries, + +“Ready?” + +“Take it off!” cries the second mate. “In with her, now--hang on +all--watch for the slack up--now she flaps--in she comes--in with her +sharply--now turn that! Look sharp, do you think we can hang on all +day?” + +Devil take the man who does not turn a brace or sheet quickly; the rest +hang on with straining muscles, the sheet trying to pull the first man +through the port into the sea, as he has to give inch by inch. + +A sheet never really succeeded in taking charge of us in the starboard +watch; but it did with the port watch, two or three times, and then +there was trouble. + +It takes quite a slice out of the watch, bracing up the _Royalshire_, +as her yards are so heavy. + +As a rule, in the trades the lee braces would be hauled tight in the +second dog watch, the lifts and sheets being also attended to. + +You have to be sharp at turning braces; generally this was Loring’s or +my job in our watch. + +Directly the mate says “Turn that!” the men in front of you hang on, +and the men behind you at the tail of the rope leave go, and you take +it round the pin as quick as you can directly it is fast, calling out, +“All fast!” + +Then, and not till then, the men at the head of the brace leave go. + + +_Thursday, 7th September._--Light breeze and sunshine once more. +Grub very scarce, and bad. We got a greasy lump of fat for our watch +dinner to-day, and had a consultation what to do with it, as it was +quite uneatable. I advised heaving it at the cook’s head; but as the +responsibility for any row falls on the shoulders of the fourth mate, +he decided against this course, instead heaving the fat overboard in +the presence of the cook, at the same time commenting on the cooking in +language both promiscuous and free. + +Lat. 11°.25 N., long. 120°.32 W. + +Course--S. 20 W.; 65 miles. + + +_Friday, 8th September._--Fine breeze, with tacks boarded all day, the +ship doing 9 knots. + +There was a heavy squall in the afternoon watch, with rain. + +I had to go up the jigger and make fast that everlasting nuisance, the +gaff-topsail, and soon afterwards the royals were tied up. + +There has been a good deal of fishing off the bowsprit, and a number of +bonita were caught to-day, and Loring, who is a great fisherman, caught +a couple. + +I had a try, but was not successful. You want to trail your bait (a bit +of white linen makes as good a bait as anything else) along the water, +jumping it occasionally. + + +_Saturday, 9th September._--My birthday, but the celebrations were not +up to their usual excellence, and there was no birthday cake. + +Since last night, we have been going like a steamboat, lying over +to the fresh breeze, close-hauled, with the royals fast and the lee +scuppers full of water. + +Shoals of porpoises are all round us: they are a pretty sight as they +come curving out of the water, the sun gleaming on their glistening +backs. + +Loring, the fisherman, caught another bonita to-day. + + +_Sunday, 10th September._--We had Loring’s bonita for breakfast in +the half-deck. I don’t think any of these deep-water fish are much +good eating, being coarse and without much flavour; but they are very +welcome on a hungry “lime-juicer,” though sometimes you catch a tartar +in the shape of a poisonous one. + +We went about at two bells in the forenoon watch, and set staysails, +flying-jib, gaff-topsail, and royals; and are now on the port tack, +heading S.W. by W. by compass. + +A fine day, and fresh breeze. We think we have got the S.E. trades. + +Lat. 6°.25 N., long. 116°.35 W. + +Course--S. 68 E. Run 114 miles. + +Everybody on board seems very curious about the Klondyke, and an +admiring group sit round me in the dog watch as I discourse thereon. + +Most of them seem to think that one simply went up there with a spade +and dug up nuggets like potatoes. + +Jamieson and old Foghorn are especially curious, and very keen to go to +the Golden North, but some of my yarns damped their enthusiasm a good +deal. + + +_Monday, 11th September._--We have got the S.E. trades all right, but +they are too far to the S., so we can only head S.W. by S. + +The trades are the ideal weather at sea,--day after day you sail before +a fresh breeze in warm, balmy weather without touching brace or tack. + + “Oh, I am the wind that the seamen love-- + I am steady and strong and true; + They follow my track by the clouds above, + O’er the fathomless tropic blue. + + “For, close by the shores of the sunny Azores, + Their ships I await to convoy; + When into their sails my constant breath pours, + They hail me with turbulent joy. + + “From the deck to the truck I pour all my force, + In spanker and jib I am strong; + For I make every course to pull like a horse, + And worry the great ship along. + + “As I fly o’er the blue I sing to my crew, + Who answer me back with a hail; + I whistle a note as I slip by the throat, + Of the buoyant and bellying sail. + + “I laugh when the wave leaps over the head, + And the jibs thro’ the spraybow shine; + For an acre of foam is broken and spread, + When she shoulders and tosses the brine. + + “Through daylight and dark I follow the barque, + I keep like a hound on her trail; + I’m strongest at noon, yet under the moon, + I stiffen the bunt of her sail. + + “The ocean wide thro’ for days I pursue, + Till slowly my forces all wane; + Then, in whispers of calm, I bid them adieu, + And vanish in thunder and rain.” + +Thus sings Thomas Fleming Day of the “Trade-Wind.” + +The ship is evidently very foul, as she is only logging 5 knots in this +fine breeze. + +On board a sailing-ship a patent log is not generally used much, and +the log is hove in the old-fashioned and most reliable style about once +every watch. + +The log is a conical-shaped canvas bag, to the mouth of which the +logline is attached. + +The logline, which is wound on a reel, is divided up into knots by +means of different pieces of leather--the first knot being a single +piece of leather, the second knot has two tails to the leather, and the +third knot has an ordinary knot tied, and so on. The knots are marked +off on the line to correspond with a sand-glass running 28 seconds, the +distance between each knot on the logline bearing the same proportion +to a real knot that the 28 seconds of the sand-glass bear to the +seconds in an hour. Thus, avoiding any calculation, you just read off +the number of knots that have run astern during the 28 seconds, and +they are the number of knots per hour the ship is going. + +The mate or second mate generally heave the log, whilst one of us held +the glass, and another the reel, which he holds above his head as the +line runs out. + +The first 20 or 30 fathoms of line are allowed to run out, so that the +log may settle in the water; then, when a piece of rag is reached, the +mate, who is at the rail watching the line run out, calls out sharply +to the man holding the glass, “Turn!” + +The man turns the glass, and the moment the sand has run out, calls, +“Stop!” + +The mate at once stops the line from running out further, and notes the +number of knots that have run out. + +When the ship is going 10 knots or over, the line runs out very fast, +and it is as much as one man can do to haul it in again. + +It was the duty of us in the half-deck; and on hearing the second mate +sing out from the poop, “Heave the log!” Loring and I always had to +scuttle out on to the poop, one to hold the glass, and the other the +reel. The log was generally hove at the end of the watch, just before +eight bells. + +We had a lovely sunset to-day, with a mackerel sky. + +I stood my first trick at the wheel last night, from ten to twelve in +the first watch. + +It was an easy night to steer in, as the wind was steady, and it +was light enough to see the mizen-royal, which, as the ship was +close-hauled, required watching, to see that the clew was just lifting +and no more. + + +_Tuesday, 12th September._--Wind rather light all day. We sighted a +sail in the afternoon off our lee quarter, and could see down to her +topsails from the deck. + +This is the first sail we have sighted, and there was some excitement +as to what ship she was, as it was evident, as she was heading our +course, that she is one of the San Francisco Cape Horn fleet. + +She turned out to be the smart French barque which had passed us the +first day out, and so everyone was in great spirits at our being ahead +of her, especially the old man. + +A superb night again, with the breeze freshening up. + +The second mate is very keen for me to take him up to the Klondyke. If +I did ever think of going there again, I could not wish for a better +partner for the job. + + +_Wednesday, 13th September._--All hands disgusted to find the Frenchy +out on our weather beam at daybreak this morning. The old man is very +angry about it, and bent and set a topgallant jigger-staysail and a +“save-all,” or “jimmy green,” consisting of a spare topsail under the +mainsail. + +Of course, stunsails are hardly known at sea now, and very seldom met +with, though I believe the American clippers _Judas Dowes_, _Indiana_, +and _Paul Revere_, still carry them. + +A fine breeze, and lovely day. + +We can only head S.S.W. by the wind, and shall cross the line to-night, +as at noon to-day our lat. was 1°.25 N. only. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SOUTH SEAS + + +_Thursday, 14th September._--We crossed the line last night about four +bells in the first watch. Needless to say, in these days of prose, +Neptune did not show himself above the horizon. + +It was a lovely moonlight night, with small fleecy clouds chasing each +other across the star-studded blue-black vault of heaven. + +The wind got rather puffy at times, and we had not been on deck long in +the middle watch before a rather ugly-looking cloud began to approach +and cover the sky to windward. + +Like a great black pall, it gradually spread over the sky: one by one +the bright stars were engulfed in the great bank of darkness which rose +slowly from the horizon. + +“We are going to have a nasty squall, I expect,” said Mac. “I advise +you to get into oilskins, Bally.” + +By the time that we had got our oilskins on, the bright sky, moon, +and stars had been completely blotted out to windward by this huge, +monstrous cloud. Higher and higher it rose, until it got right overhead. + +Suddenly the second mate, who had got his eye gummed on it, roared out +in a voice which must have woke the blind sea-snakes down in the deeps +below, + +“Stand by your royal halliards!” + +There was a rush to the halliards, and I went to the main-royal and +cast the coil off the pin, ready to let them go if the order came. + +Down came the squall upon us, and over and over lay the _Royalshire_. + +The rain came down like a cloud-burst, and in a moment the water was +rising in the lee scuppers. + +“Let go your royal halliards, clew them up, and make them fast!” yelled +the second mate. + +Down came the yards amidst a thrashing of canvas, and we rushed to clew +them up. + +We had got them half clewed up when the squall passed; the _Royalshire_ +stood up again, and once more the stars began to peep out as the great +black cloud retired to leeward. + +“That’ll do there at the clew-lines!” said the second mate. “Masthead +the yards again!” + +“Ahay! Aheigh! Aho--oh! Up she goes!” + +And soon we were once more in quietness, sailing along 7 knots in the +smooth sea, with every sail set. + +Half an hour later, and another black cloud arose out of the horizon to +windward. + +Again came the cry, + +“Stand by your royal halliards!” + +This time the _Royalshire_ lay over; the squall hissed, roared, and +beat upon us; the rigging shrieked, and the ship groaned; but the +second mate was not to be frightened, and hung on to his canvas. + +In vain we waited for the cry, + +“Let go your royal halliards!” + +There was a lull, only to be followed by a severer gust; the ship lay +over until the men to leeward by the main-royal gear were up to their +knees in broken water, still the second mate stood immovable, with his +eye to windward. He was rewarded for his daring, for the squall passed, +and nothing carried away. + +So the middle watch passed, and every half-hour nearly we had to stand +by those royal halliards. + +There was a fine breeze all day, and we logged 9 knots. + +This is grand sailing, and one feels so fit and well. It is the +good times in the trades that a sailor always remembers; he never +remembers the terrible nights off the Horn, or in the Western Ocean in +mid-winter. Well, it is all for the best, as few would ever go to sea +if they kept the memory of the hard times before them instead of the +easy times. + + +_Friday, 15th September._--We have got a new job now, making rovings +in the first watch. This consists of platting three or five rope yarns +together. + +One gets wonderfully quick at it, and we generally race to see who does +the most; though the second mate and Mac are easily the best, and I am +the worst, as I have got a cut finger. + +Course--S. 1/2 W. + +We had a little bit of excitement to-day, which might easily have ended +in a tragedy. + +I was at work, sand and canvasing boat-gear by the after-hatch, with +Loring and Mac. + +The second mate, who was watching us, called to Johnsen, who was +putting a splice in a wire, and began to row him about something or +other. + +Johnsen’s evil countenance went into a more villainous aspect than +usual, and his scowl deepened to a really fiendish leer. + +Then suddenly putting his hand into his shirt, he drew out his knife +and stabbed the second mate full on the left breast. + +Everyone of us saw the affair, and Loring cried out, + +“My God, he’s stabbed him!” + +It was done so quickly that one could hardly see the knife, as he held +it up his wrist. + +But where was the blood? Why didn’t the second mate fall, for he was +stabbed right over the heart. + +The knife must have missed somehow, because, for a man who had just +been stabbed to the heart, the second mate showed amazing vigour. + +Seizing Johnsen’s wrist in a grip of iron, he tore the knife from the +wretched man’s grasp and hove it overboard, saying, + +“I’ll teach you to try and stab me, you hound!” + +Then he set to and gave Johnsen such a hiding as I have rarely seen +given to a man. + +Smack! bang! His ponderous fist took Johnsen on the jawbone, and he +fell to the deck. + +Slowly he got to his feet, still with that everlasting scowl, and his +lips moving silently in murderous abuse. + +Crack! and again he smote the boards. + +“Up you get, you cur; can’t you stand up to me like a man?” + +Before the second mate let him crawl haltingly forward, he was in a +pretty battered condition, with a reddened nose, blackened eye, and +twisted wrist. + +“Back to your work again, you knifing coward, and no skulking, or +you’ll feel my fist again.” + +And so the incident closed. + +But what had saved Mr Knowles? + +It was a very simple matter. In drawing the knife out of his +shirt--where, by the way, no sailor ever keeps his knife--Johnsen +had failed to draw it quite clear of the sheath, and the sheath had +remained on the end of it, thus saving the second mate’s life. + +This incident, which might have been such a tragedy, was discussed for +a little while, and then entirely dropped, and no one thought further +about the matter. + +Such is life! Johnsen meant to kill the second mate, but Providence +intervened: the mate lived, and Johnsen escaped the gallows. + + +_Saturday, 16th September._--The S.E. trades are humming to beat the +band, and the _Royalshire_ is snoring through it with her lee scuppers +in the water. + +Occasional rain-squalls necessitate taking in the jigger-topgallant +staysail, gaff-topsail, and flying-jib, which are the light weather +sails, and always the first to come in. + +We started “tarring down” to-day; but I was painting the break of the +poop with the second and fourth mates, and so escaped it. + +Of all the jobs on a deep-sea ship, tarring down is, I think, the +dirtiest. + +You are sent aloft with a pot of tar slung round your neck, and a bit +of rag in your hand. As you climb about, you find your hands, arms, and +face gradually getting covered with tar, and a bungler will come down +from aloft pretty nearly all tar from head to foot. + +Poor old Higgins had a very bad time of it, as he is a very poor +climber. First of all he upset half his pot over the mainsail--a crime +which brought down the curses of the second mate upon him, and which, +if it had happened on an American ship, he would have probably been +triced up in the rigging for; then he got to work upon himself, and +upon the rigging of the ship, but from the first it was easy to be seen +that he was more intent upon tarring himself down than doing anything +else. + +It must have taken him nearly the whole of the first dog watch to get +himself clean. Even Loring took an hour of his watch below to get +himself clean. + +We are steering now, true course, S. by E. + + +_Sunday, 17th September._--A lovely day again. Don and I started +teaching the second, third, and fourth mates to waltz in the dog watch. + +It was a most amusing sight to watch us gravely waltzing round and +round, occasionally carrying away as the ship rolled. + +The mate and the old man came and looked on from the break of the poop, +and fairly roared with laughter. + +The bosun sat himself down on the after-hatch and tuned up his guitar, +and someone else started work on a mouth organ, making quite a +creditable band. + +The nipper and Loring took a hand, and we soon had three couples +pirouetting about. + +Don made a first-rate dancing master, and took great pains, whilst the +three mates were as solemn as owls over the affair. + +The second mate (dancing lady) was like a huge bear sprawling about, +and Mac danced like a wild man from Borneo; but Scar went in for grace +and stateliness, and pointed his toes and clicked his heels in a most +fascinating manner. + +Lat. 6°.25 S., long. 127°.08 W. Run 184 miles. + + +_Monday, 18th September._--The glorious weather still goes on. We are +hard at work with paint pot and brush, and put a coat of paint on the +topgallant bulwarks and the break of the poop. + +The break of the poop is being most carefully done, and is having coat +after coat put on it after which it is to be stencilled and grained. + +Every morning, if it is my watch on deck in the morning watch, I have +to swab it most carefully with “fresh water” if you please. + +Our skipper is a particular man, and being an expert at painting, +graining, etc., is down on one at once for a bit of bad painting, or if +an out-of-the-way corner has not been properly swabbed. + +It is wonderful what a knowledge of, and memory for ships they have +seen, sailors have got. + +I was helping Sails to-day, who is at work on a new royal, and while we +worked we yarned. + +He told me that the _Henry B. Hyde_ was the finest wooden American ship +afloat. + +She was built over twelve years ago, by John M’Donald, at Bath, Maine, +and her registered tonnage is 2500 tons. There is only one three-master +that is larger than her sailing the seas, and that is the British ship +_Ditton_, of 2800 tons. + +A marvellous fast Yankee is the barque _St James_, of 1500 tons. + +The _Somali_, a four-mast steel barque, is the largest British +sailing-ship, and is 3537 tons gross, and 330 feet long. + +To show that sailing-ships are not being driven off the seas, as some +people think, in the year 1897, 34 steel sailing-ships were launched +in the United Kingdom, with a gross tonnage of 28,481, besides 2 iron +ships, and 183 wood or composite ones. + +In the past year, according to the statistics, there were 863 wooden +sailing-ships in the United Kingdom, with net tonnage of 161,528 tons; +1093 wooden sailing-ships in the Colonies, with a net tonnage of +403,269 tons; and 2237 wooden sailing-ships in America, with a net +tonnage of 1,123,307 tons. Of composite sailing-ships, the United +Kingdom had only 17, with a net tonnage of 8884 tons; and the Colonies +had only 17, with a net tonnage of 9292 tons; whilst America had +none. Of iron sailing-ships, the United Kingdom has got 878, with a +net tonnage of 1,040,695 tons; the Colonies 58, with net tonnage of +32,353 tons; and America 24, with net tonnage of 27,815 tons. Of steel +sailing-ships, the United Kingdom had got 503, with a net tonnage of +829,442 tons; the Colonies 12, with net tonnage of 11,660 tons; and +America 59, with net tonnage of 121,793. So you see there are plenty of +sailing-ships still sailing the seas, and some of them earn very good +dividends too. + +The Americans, always enterprising, are going in now a great deal for +four-, five-, and even six-masted fore-and-aft schooners, and very fine +vessels these are, easy to handle, with great carrying capacity. + +I passed one of these five-masted schooners once in the Gulf of Mexico +off the Florida Keys. It was a bright moonlight night, and I was +sleeping in a hammock slung on the boat-deck of a big four-mast tramp +steamer. We passed within a biscuit-throw of this schooner, which, with +a nice beam breeze, was going almost as fast as we were. + +She was such a lovely sight that the officer of the watch actually ran +down off the bridge and woke me up so that I could see her. She was +painted white, and in the moonlight her hull and sails gleamed a pearly +yellow, and gave her a fairy-like and enchanting appearance. + + +_Tuesday, 19th September._--Lat. 11°.48 S., long. 127°.08 W. + +We are busy working aloft to-day, sending down all old gear and sending +up new rope; several of the braces have been renewed, besides leech and +bunt lines. + +I nearly had a fall from aloft. We had sent up a new port crossjack +leech-line, and the second mate asked me whether I could clinch it +by going down the leech of the sail. This is not easy to do, as you +have only the sail to hang on to, but it is not anything out of the +way: some men brag that they have come down from the royal-yard by the +leeches of the sails. + +I went on my old motto, “What one man has done I can do,” so I said I +would try. + +I slipped off the yardarm, and, gripping with hands, knees, and feet, +proceeded to slide slowly down the sail, tearing my nails, and skinning +my legs. + +[Illustration: _Clinching the Crossjack Leechline._] + +The sail did its best to shake me off; there was not much wind, and it +kept flapping, each flap swinging me violently from one side to the +other. + +I found it was all I could do to hold on, and on trying to leave go +with one hand to clinch the leech-line, I all but fell, just saving +myself by gripping the bolt-rope with all my strength. Again and again +I tried; my muscles groaned and crackled under the tremendous strain, +the whole weight of my body falling on the ends of my fingers, which +were but slightly assisted by my knees and feet, owing to the flapping +of the sail. I ground my teeth, as I hated to be beaten; how I did +strain, until the muscles felt as if they would break, my veins stood +out like cords on my forehead, from which great drops of sweat were +falling. I crooked my fingers, and tore my nails as I dug them into the +sail; but it was impossible, I could not hold on to the flapping sail +by means of the tips of five fingers, whilst I clinched the leech-line +by means of my teeth and my other hand. At last I had to give it up and +slide down. I was quite blown when I got to the deck, and had ripped +the skin clean off one shin, which, by the way, took over two months to +heal, so bad does one’s skin get at sea. + +No one else would tackle the job, so finally I was lowered from the +yardarm in a bowline, and so clinched the leech-line. Clinching the +leech-line simply means making it fast to the leech of the sail about +half-way down. + +I note in my log to-day the following entry: “Mac turned out first in +the afternoon watch to-day, a marvellous feat.” + +The much-admired and much-written-about constellation of the Southern +Cross is in sight now, low down on the horizon. + + +_Wednesday, 20th September._--Lat. 13°.55 S., long. 120°.02 W. +Course--S. 3 W. Run 127 miles. + +We had a bad rain-storm in the middle watch last night. + +Again busy sending up new gear all day. We sighted a four-mast barque +on our weather bow this morning. + +The old man thinks she is the _Centesima_, which was in Frisco with us. + +Much to our delight, we put her on the lee bow in the middle watch. + + +_Thursday, 21st September._--On coming on deck this morning at eight +o’clock, we found the other ship on our lee quarter. + +They had just been signalling when our watch came on deck, and she +turned out to be the _Loudoun Hill_, which left Frisco twelve days +before us, and is considered a smart ship. + +All day we gradually dropped her, and the old man is very pleased at +passing her. The wind fell light, and broke off in the first dog watch, +and we saw a black squall catch the _Loudoun Hill_ all aback. + +There are about a dozen dolphins off the quarter to-day, swimming +alongside the ship. They are what seamen call “mosky,” that is, having +yellow tails. It is an old sailor’s hoax that a dolphin gets his yellow +tail from eating the weed off the ship’s bottom, which is supposed to +poison him. + +In the afternoon, our watch below, the second mate, Mac, and I got the +grains out and tried to grain them; but though we hit once or twice, +we were not successful, for it is no easy matter this harpooning of +dolphins. + +Lat. 15°.45 S., long. 129 W. Course--S. 28 W. Run 124 miles. + + +_Friday, 22nd September._--A calm day. We squared the yards, and +started shifting sail again; very hot work, as we are working like +demons to beat the port watch. + +We can still see the _Loudoun Hill_ down to her topsails on the lee +beam. + + +_Saturday, 23rd September._--We have lost the trades, and are in the +doldrums, busy bracing the yards up to any puff that comes along. + +The _Loudoun Hill_ is out of sight to leeward. + +The dolphins are still showing off their beauty alongside, but they +will not take a bait, and nobody is skilful enough to grain them, as +at the very sight of the grain poised above the rail, they dive deeper +into the water or swim just out of range. + +I had a long yarn with the bosun to-day. He is a fairly well-to-do man +for the bosun of a sailing-ship, as, until this voyage, he had left the +sea for ten years, having married a woman with money, and having taken +to farming in California, where he seems to be doing very well, and +talks like an expert on the subject. + +He is making this voyage as a means of getting home to see his old +people, who are Germans, and he is taking them a large cask of +home-made Californian wine, and two huge oil-paintings of himself and +his wife. + +He told me that he was chief officer on one of the Mexican Gulf +steamers before he finally left the sea. + +For a chief officer he certainly is a very poor sailorman, and I expect +makes a far better farmer, as he has not got the nerve or grit that is +necessary to make a good sailor. + + +_Sunday, 24th September._--Fine breeze all night. In the first watch, +when keeping time, I went forward at six bells to see that the side +lights burnt brightly, and happening to look overboard from the +forecastle head, saw what I took to be a large fish keeping steadily +along with its back out of water, just astern of our bow-wave. + +I called Higgins, who was on the lookout; he said it was a porpoise, +but I thought it was much too big for a porpoise. + +Going aft, I woke up Loring, who was coiled up asleep under the break +of the poop, and sent him forward to have a look at the queer fish. He +came back cursing. The queer fish was old Higgin’s clothes, which he +had got towing overboard, and which the old man had forgotten. + +It was a lovely day, and the ship lay her course on a bowline. + + “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, + The furrow followed free.” + + +_Monday, 25th September._--Lat. 21°.04 S., long. 127° W. Course--E.S.E. + +We had a busy time last night, squall after squall coming up in the +first watch. + +We stood by the royal halliards eight times. + +The gaff-topsail, jigger-topmast staysail, and flying-jib were taken in +in the middle watch. + +The breeze is fresh to-day, with a cloudy sky, and the weather is +getting colder. + +We are taking sprays aboard, and will soon be in the ruck of it if this +goes on. + + +_Tuesday, 26th September._--The wind went ahead in the middle watch +last night, and we could not head up better than E. by N., so all hands +were called, and we went about. I think this is the first time we have +gone about at night. + +We finished bending sail to-day, and have bent a brand new foresail for +the Horn. + +My leg is festering all down the shin, the result of coming down the +weather leech of the crossjack the other day, and I have had to put a +bandage on it. + +On coming on deck in the first dog watch, we found another sail in +sight on our weather bow, also a four-mast barque. + +She proves to be the _Centesima_, and we are coming up on her. + +We had a long argument to-day about that vexed subject, British sailors +on British ships. A great deal is written nowadays about the scandal of +British ships sailing the seas manned by crews of Dutchmen and dagos, +and most people think the reason is, that Britishers prefer sailing in +foreign ships because they are so much better fed. + +But the real reason why British ships are not manned by British seamen +entirely is a very simple one to my mind,--there are not sufficient +British seamen to man the British ships. + +Take the better class, fairly steady, foremast Britisher; he is taken +up to the last man by the mail-steamers and yachts (the amount of +prime sailors employed on yachts nowadays makes no small item in the +grand total of British seamen); added to this, look at the number of +men the Navy requires annually from the country. + +Thus it is that only British sailing-ships and steam tramps whose good +qualities are well known, and whose officers are well known, can get +crews of Britishers. + +There are more British sailing-ships, however, at sea which never ship +a foreigner amongst the crew than most people imagine. Of course, +British sailormen are often to be found in foreign ships for more than +one reason; perhaps the chief is, that very often the man is on his +beam ends and has to take the first ship he can get, which as likely as +not happens to be a foreigner. + +Many Britishers sail on American ships to qualify for the “Snug +Harbour,” and there are also a vast quantity of British seamen in the +American Navy. + +Therefore I contend that the chief, I do not say the only, reason why +you find so many foreigners in British ships is, because there are not +enough British seamen to supply the demand. + + +_Wednesday, 27th September._--Course--S.S.W.; wind faint and +unreliable, though we are overhauling the _Centesima_. + +To-day we came to an end of the Kobe biscuits, which are nearly all +rice, and at last have got the splendid American hard-tack served out +to us: I don’t think I have ever eaten better biscuit than this Frisco +bread. + +Hard at work again to-day scrubbing and painting. + +I had a yarn with Webber in the dog watch. He is the hardest worker in +the port watch, though he is a poor sailor. He has sailed a good deal +in Yankee hell boats, and has tasted more belaying-pin soup than is +good for him, the consequence being that though he is a great big man, +6 feet 2 inches high, he is as meek and mild as a newborn lamb. + +He told me that he had sailed with “Black Taylor” the voyage before +this demon in a human skin was killed. This man came to a fitting end. +He was mate of the _S. G. Alley_, one of the toughest of tough hell +ships, outward bound, and just off the Hook. + +He found fault with a man for allowing the rope to surge at the +capstan. As the rope was wet, it naturally paid out in short jerks, +which, of course, could not be helped. + +But this was too much for “Black Taylor,”--he went for the man, kicked +him into the waterways, and was preparing to stamp his ribs in, when +he leaped to his feet and ripped Taylor’s stomach up, with the +trick-twist of the New Orleans nigger. + +“Black Taylor’s” inside fell out, and his career ended then and there. + +The ship put back into New York to get another mate, and the sailor at +his trial pleaded self-defence, and only got six months, as Taylor’s +record was too well known. + +Another notorious Yankee is Captain Summers, of the _H. D. Macgregor_. +He is supposed to have broken every bone in his body at one time or +another jumping after the men. He is a little man, very broad and +strong, with a fearful temper. + +He jumped clean off the poop one day, meaning to land on one of his +crew, but the vessel rolling, he missed, and brought up against a +water-barrel instead, and broke his thighbone. + +Captain Slocum, of the _D. G. Tillie_, is another devil of a +“down-easter,” with a terrible character for brutality. + + +_Thursday, 28th September._--We came on deck in the morning watch and +found heavy rain falling, and the ship hardly going 3 knots. + +My feet are so swollen from wearing no shoes that I cannot get my +rubbers on. + +Pitcairn Island is in sight from aloft, and soon will be from the deck. + +We were hoping the captain would call there and take in some fresh +vegetables. + +What an interesting story is that of the Mutiny of the Bounty and +settling of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island! + +The island rises like a rock out of the sea, a mere speck in the great +Pacific Ocean. + +We had two squalls in the afternoon, and a fine breeze sprang up, but +we are still close hauled, and going to the westward. + + +_Friday, 29th September._--Fine night, and an 8-knot breeze, our light +weather sails coming in in the first watch. + +To-day is another day of painting. + +Lat. 24°.55 S., long. 120°.30 W. Course--S. 22 W. Run 96 miles. + +In the afternoon one of the port watch caught a 28-lb. albacore, a +rattling fine fish. + +Whilst putting a sail away this afternoon through the skylight on the +poop into the sail-locker, Higgins in sea-boots trod on my bare foot. +I stepped back hastily, and tripping up, fell through the skylight, +smashing it to atoms. + +In a Yankee ship I should have been in for belaying-pin soup to a +certainty, but here, the matter being an accident, only raised a laugh, +even from the old man. + + +_Saturday, 30th September._--Hurrah! Fine breeze and lovely day, going +7-1/2 knots with the yards on the backstays all the morning. + +It was a case of our great chorus-- + + “What ho, Piper! watch her how she goes! + Give her the sheet and let her rip-- + We’re the boys to pull her through. + You ought to see her rolling home, + For she’s the gal to go-- + In the passage home in ninety days, + From Cal--i--for--ni--o!” + +In the afternoon the breeze freshened and freed us a bit, and we logged +8 knots, and all night we were going like a steam-boat under all sail, +the wind freeing all the time. At midnight the jigger-topgallant +staysail had to come in, and the log showed 10 knots. + +Soon after four bells in the middle watch I awoke, as I lay under the +break of the poop, curled up on the deck, with the water in the lee +scuppers lapping up to my feet, to hear the stentorian voice of the +second mate above me-- + +“Square the crossjack yard!” + +We had very hard work squaring her in, and had to take the handy billy +to help us with the lower and topsail yards. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +RUNNING EASTING DOWN + + +_Sunday, 1st October._--The _Royalshire_ is travelling faster to-day +than she has done yet, going over 10 knots under all sail--splendid +sailing! Ten knots may not seem a great pace to a man who has only +tried the sea in steamers, but 10 knots on a sailing-ship is equivalent +to 20 on a steamer, and far, far more exhilarating. How some of our +keen yachtsmen would enjoy to-day! The _Royalshire_ is laying over to +it like a yacht with her lee rail, which is nearly 6 feet off the deck, +almost under water: the lee scuppers are, of course, full of water, and +sprays are rattling like small shot on the deck forward, and on the +midship-house. + +[Illustration: “ROYALSHIRE” UNDER FULL SAIL] + +This is indeed sailing; everyone is cheerful, and in a good temper--as +for myself, I feel as if I should like to dance about the deck and +shout for very joy of such going. It is, indeed, a magnificent sight +from the forecastle head, but the best view of all is from the end +of the bowsprit, a favourite spot of mine. From there you see the whole +ship. How the sails belly out and tear at their sheets, how firm and +round they look, how white and gleaming; then look below you at the +fore-foot, slicing the green water in half, and throwing out a bow-wave +as big as a torpedo-catcher’s,--and all around white horses prance and +toss the spume from their foaming heads. + +The run for the last twenty-four hours was 232 miles, the best we have +done yet. Lat. 31°.28 S., long. 127°.09 W. + +We of the starboard watch came on deck at 4 P.M., to see a +black-looking squall coming up. + +“Aft the watch and brail in the spanker!” yells the second mate. Then +the gaff-topsail and staysails had to come in. I was rolling up the +main-topmast staysail, when there came a clap like thunder right over +my head. + +The squall was upon us, the wind shrieking through the rigging, and the +rain rapidly filling the scuppers. + +“The fore-royal’s blown away!” yelled Rooning, who was rolling up the +staysail with me. + +I looked up, and there was the fore-royal in rags, wound round and +round the mast and yard; the sheet had carried away. + +This was the signal for the royals to come in. + +I went up on to the main-royal yard with old Taylor, and as we rolled +up the sail, we could see that Johnsen, Jamieson, and Wilson were +having a rare job on the fore-royal yard cutting the sail adrift. + +It took them nearly a couple of hours before they got the tattered +remains of the sail on deck. + +I thought the old man would have been rather mad at losing the sail, +but not a bit of it; he seemed rather pleased than otherwise. There was +no mistake about it, his reputation for carrying on was no false one. + +By 8 P.M. it was blowing very hard, and just as the port watch were +going to turn in, all hands were called, and the crossjack and mainsail +were hauled up and made fast. + +This done, the other watch went below, whilst we set to work to get the +topgallant sails in. + +I went up to the fore upper-topgallant with Jennings and old man +Higgins. Getting on to the yard, we found the sail thrashing about and +raising a great commotion, as it had not been properly clewed up. + +A terrific fight began between the furious sail, Jennings, and myself; +poor old Higgins was of no use, it being all he could do to hang on. + +Whenever one got a grip of the sail, after repeated attempts and +tearing of nails, it shook itself free again, and then tried to knock +you off the yard. The only thing to do was to trust to Providence, and +use both hands. Of course, it is taking big risks. To begin with, you +are standing on a swinging foot-rope, the ship is pitching so that you +are first nearly flung over the top of the yard and then nearly fall +over backwards; with both hands you are trying to pick up the sail, +which every now and again, especially if it is not quite hauled up by +the spilling lines, bellies out over the top of the yard, and hitting +you in the face, tries to knock you over backwards; then if you have +not got firm hold of the jackstay you are bound to go--to land on the +deck 150 feet below, an unrecognisable mass, smashed like a rotten +apple. + +Jennings and I were soon using both hands, hitting the sail with our +fists, tearing at it, every now and then getting a bit up, and hanging +on to it like grim death. + +Swearing like pirates, sweating, fighting, struggling, we at last got +the bunt up, and the bunt gasket made fast. Then I went out on to the +weather yardarm, with Jennings inside me, and Higgins inside Jennings, +on the yard. Exerting all my strength, I managed to pick up the leech +of the sail and get it on to the yard, and hold it down with my body on +top of it. I then got my arm under the foot, and held on to it for all +I was worth, shouting to Jennings to pass the gasket round the sail; +this he never succeeded in doing until I could hold out no longer, and +had to let the sail drop again. As we were such a long time, the fourth +mate presently came up to see what we were about; but he came on to the +yard without stopping to pick his language. + +“What the ---- ---- ---- are you doing, you ---- hobos? Are you +intending to stay up here all the ---- ---- night?” + +This was nice language to use to men who were risking their lives and +tearing their hearts out, and it was too much for our tempers. + +Notwithstanding the pitching of the ship, and the thrashing of the +sail, there would have been a fight on that yard if Mac had not sung +low. + +Now Mac was one of the best men aloft in the ship, but even with his +aid, we had been two hours on that upper-topgallant before we had got +the last gasket passed. + +This was our first bit of a blow, and of course the watch wanted a lot +of drilling. In hauling the mainsail up, the maintack had never been +unhooked, so directly I got on deck from the fore upper-topgallant, I +found I had to go up on to the main-yard with Wilson and send the tack +down. It was a simple enough operation with the aid of the leech-line, +but Wilson and I managed to get mixed up in the dark and, of course, +lost our tempers, and he started cursing at me; at last I told him I +would chuck him off the yard if he did not shut his adjectived mouth, +and he was silent. This was the only row I ever had with Wilson, who +was a rare good old chap, as simple as a child and very kind-hearted. + +Whilst I had been aloft, three quarters of the watch had passed away. +From eight to eleven we had been going fully 14 knots, and for the +first time this passage the ship required two men at the wheel. + +She was taking some big lumps of water aboard, and hardly had I +clambered on deck out of the main rigging than a big dollop came over +the rail right on top of me, and swept me off my legs; luckily I had +firm hold of the topgallant halliards. + +The next moment I heard the second mate calling for me: it was my +timekeeping, and two of the binnacles were out. I soon had them +lighted, after a liberal use of matches and oaths, and rushing on +to the poop in the darkness, ran straight into the old man, all but +knocking him down. Hastily apologising, I dashed on, not waiting for +any remarks. + +When I turned the watch out at one bell, Don rounded on me and said, + +“I wish you would not make such a row lighting those binnacles, Bally.” + +“Why,” I answered, “I thought I was very quiet.” + +“I don’t know what you call quiet, but I lay and listened to you +scratching matches and cursing for nearly twenty minutes.” + +“Oh, rats! I cursed a bit to myself, I admit, in a whisper.” + +“D--d big whisper,” and with that he proceeded to roll out of his bunk. + +“Any water on deck?” asked the third mate. + +“I advise you to put on oilskins; I’ve had a dollop over me.” + +“Where’s Loring?” + +“At the lee wheel.” + +“What ho! a lee wheel, eh! What’s she doing?” + +“Been going about 14 knots since eight,” I answered, and glancing at +the clock, saw it was eight bells, and dashed on to the poop again to +strike the bell. + +Presently came the welcome words from the mate, + +“Relieve the wheel and lookout!” and our watch went below, after a busy +time. + +The second mate came down into the half-deck when the watch changed, +and told them how I had tried to knock the old man down. + +This was a great joke. + +“Bally’s been raisin’ hell everywhere to-night,” said Mac. “He wanted +to fight me on the fore upper-topgallant yard, he threatened to chuck +Wilson off the main-yard, he tried to knock the old man down--” + +“He’s been keeping us awake in here for the last half-hour whilst he +abused the binnacles,” put in Don. + +“Boil your burners to-morrow,” I growled to Don, and then gave myself +up to delicious sleep. + + +_Monday, 2nd October._--In the morning watch the weather began to +moderate. We hove the log and found she was doing 8 knots. + +At 5 A.M. we started setting sail in the dark. I loosed the mizen-royal +and upper-topgallant sail. + +We set all three royals and the upper-topgallant sails, bending another +fore-royal. + +Cape pigeons made their first appearance to-day, a whole flock of them +hovering round the stern. They are very jolly little birds, with black +and white markings, and are quite the most cheerful little beings in +the Southern Ocean, far different to the sullen, majestic albatross, +the weirdly screaming mollymawks, and the great Cape black hens. + +The old man had the tattered royal stretched out on the poop this +morning. + +The whole of the foot was gone, and only about half the sail was left, +and that was in strips. + +“Never seen a sail blow away like that before have you?” said the old +man, turning to me. + +“No, sir!” + +“Well, you may see two or three more before the mudhook’s in the +ground,” he said, with a grim smile. + +This looked as if he meant carrying on, and I thought of that twenty +pounds bet. + +To-day we are preparing for the bad weather in the half-deck. We have +collected all the bits of canvas we can get hold of, and are nailing +them round our bunks to keep the water which pours in in bad weather +from swamping our bunks out. + +I am better off than the others, as I have got my waterproof sheet +which I used camping out. This I have nailed round mine, and very +useful I afterwards found it. Many a time has the water been two blocks +under the break of the poop, and of course poured into the half-deck +through the ventilators, in the doors, and the cracks. + +One could not keep the ventilators always closed, as even with them +open, the air inside the little half-deck, with both doors shut, was +very bad. Whenever the water came in through the port ventilator, it +used to pour like a waterspout on to Don’s and my bunks; mine was the +lower one, and my waterproof sheet had all it could do to withstand the +force of water, firmly nailed as it was. + +I have turned my cariboo-skin sleeping-bag fur inside again. Clothes +lines have been hung overhead, chests looked to and jammed. + +The nipper’s canary was taken to the carpenter’s shop next the galley, +the warmest place in the ship. + +We overhauled our cold weather clothes. I am very well off indeed with +all my Klondyke things; indeed, but for my leaky oilskins, I could not +have a better outfit for the Horn. + +It consists of an Eskimo fur coat with a hood, a fur cap with nose and +ear flaps, a Klondyke coat of buckskin and corduroy lining, a reefer +jacket, fur mits, a thick waistcoat, and homespun Norfolk coat, besides +thick pilot-cloth trousers, several pairs of stockings and thick socks, +three pairs of arctic socks, arctic moccasins reaching to the knee, +thick snow moccasins, field boots (to which I had given a good coating +of grease), and hip rubbers. + +But, alas! though I bought my rubbers a size too big, my feet were so +swollen from not having worn shoes for a month that I could not get +them on, and I had to swop them with Mac for a pair of knee rubbers. + +Loring was very badly off, and had no warm clothes at all, so I gave +him my Norfolk coat and thick waistcoat. The coat nearly reached down +to his knees, and his hands went out of sight up the sleeves; but this +was all the better for warmth. + +The wind fell calm after sunset, and a drizzling rain set in, with +heavy swell, which set the ship rolling very badly, so that it was all +one could do to stand up; I took two terrific tosses, slipping upon +the greasy decks. + +How delightful and cosy I felt turning into my sleeping-bag in the +first watch, better far than a dozen pairs of blankets. Off the Horn +the air is so moist that once one’s blankets are damp they never +get dry again; besides which, the iron side of the half-deck sweats +awfully, and drips on to everything. But when everybody and everything +else was wet off the Horn, I would crawl into my bag, my underclothes +wet, my socks dripping--I did not take them off, as the only chance to +get them dry was by the heat of my body--and on turning out again I +would find my clothes dry, and my feet smoking hot, notwithstanding the +wet socks. + +But the job was getting wet rubbers on over wet socks. + +Tug! tug! tug! Puff! puff! puff! It necessitated turning out punctually +at seven bells. In the tropics it took me two seconds to dress, off the +Horn twenty minutes;--what with putting lashings on your oilskins, a +deep-sea lashing round the waist, wrist lashings to prevent the water +pouring down your arms as a sea came over the rail on top of one’s +head, and a lashing round your legs below the knees to prevent the +water from getting up between the oilskins and rubbers. + + +_Tuesday, 3rd October._--The wind went down in the night, and the +morning found us loafing along with a thick damp fog all round us. +According to Board of Trade regulations, a lookout was sent on to the +forecastle head with a cowhorn, out of which at short intervals he blew +three blasts--a more weird sound I never heard. + +We are busy to-day sending down all the gaskets and renewing them. +Rotten gaskets have probably caused more deaths by falling from aloft +than any other cause. + +A careless sailor will haul his gasket tight with both hands--result, +if the gasket is rotten it carries away, and over he goes backwards. +Even if the gasket is not rotten, it may give to him suddenly, and the +jerk taking him by surprise causes him to leave go, and away he goes, +to be smashed like a jelly on the deck below, or, if he falls outboard +and he manages to struggle up to the surface, the weather is probably +too bad for a boat to be launched. + +Lat. 36°.31 S., long. 123°.19 W. Course--S. 36 E. Run 130 miles. + +The steward was rather amusing to-day in the first dog watch. Whilst +looking about in the lazarette for something for the cabin tea, he came +across a tin marked “Frankfurter Sauerkraut.” + +This puzzled him completely, and he determined to find out what the +mysterious dish was. + +On opening it, of course he found sausage and cabbage inside. + +“Blast me if it ain’t nothin’ but sausage and greens, after all that +heathen writin’ on the tin,” he growled. + +Loring and I were down there getting up bread for him--by bread I mean +hard-tack--which was a job we had about once a fortnight. + +“But that means sausage and cabbage,” I said. + +“Well, ’ow was I to know; I ain’t no scholard--they didn’t learn me no +French when I was a kid,” he replied, much incensed. + +This getting up hard-tack was not a bad job. Loring used to get right +inside the tank--the hole was not big enough for me, so he always had +to do that part of the job. + +I used to sit on the tank and pass him down a plate, this he filled +with biscuit, which I poured into an empty flour sack; this when full +I carried up and emptied into a locker in the pantry. The steward +generally gave us something for filling his locker up--a piece of +soft-tack or a little cold dry hash--which, you may be sure, we fully +appreciated. + +On the line, it was, to say the least of it, hot in the lazarette, and +poor Loring in the small bread-tank fairly sweltered. + +The job generally took nearly two hours, as we did not hurry much, and +during that time our jaws kept steadily munching, as we usually put +away over a dozen biscuits apiece. + +The steward kept his eye on us pretty well as he did not trust us +further than he could see us down there with all the cabin provisions +around us. + +Notwithstanding his vigilance, the pair of us generally left the +lazarette our shirts stuffed with onions, which were much prized in the +half-deck, and eaten raw. + +In the lazarette there was a big open cask of unrefined sugar, which +I was very fond of: it was so juicy as to be quite intoxicating, with +all the properties of Jamaica rum. It had one drawback, however, and +that was that some paraffin oil had somehow got upset in it, giving it +a bit of a paraffiny taste. This, though sufficient to prevent it being +served out to the crew, did not prevent me from enjoying a big bit of +it whenever I got the chance. + +As luck would have it, our new sugar, which had been got in at Frisco, +also got tainted thoroughly with paraffin, and was not nearly so good +as this old sugar, to my mind. + +This was rather hard lines, as sugar is half the battle in the sort of +tea and coffee you get on board a lime-juicer. + +It is wonderful what you can get used to however. I have drunk many +queer apologies for coffee, but with time have always managed to get +so used to them that I rather liked them in the end; in the same way +that on a ranche in winter in the north-west, where I have done a bit +of cowboy work, if snowed up and run out of tobacco, one smokes tea, +and gets so used to it that one hardly likes leaving it when one gets +tobacco again. + +The worst coffee I ever drank, I think, was up in the Klondyke. I had +walked over the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Linderman, where the Canadian +custom-house was, for the boundary line was the top of the Pass. + +Here I had to wait for my truck, consisting of my stove, tent, +provisions, etc., to come over the Pass by means of the Wire Cable +Company, by which the things were hauled up to the summit, and the +sleighs and pack-trains by which they were conveyed across the lakes +and over a very rough trail down to Linderman. + +Over a fortnight I had to wait, with nothing to do but watch snow +slides in the mountains, whittle wood (a popular pastime in the +Klondyke), and shoot ptarmigan. During this time I was obliged to +put up at a canvas bunk-house, with a sawdust floor, and sleep two +in a bunk between dirty blankets. A small glass of native beer cost +4 bits (the North-west Coast term for 50 cents), and whisky of the +most poisonous description 6 bits (75 cents). Bacon and beans were +the staple fare, washed down by a drink supposed to be coffee, but +generally called slumgullion. + +This slumgullion almost formed a meal in itself, for half the cup was +filled with a thick sediment of flour, sawdust, and one or two other +delicacies. It tasted tallowy, it tasted pork and beany, it tasted +oily, and it tasted of garlic; this, for coffee, I thought hard to +beat, but old Slush’s coffee on the _Royalshire_ ran it close. + +There were two brands of coffee on the _Royalshire_, marked “cabin +coffee” and “crew’s coffee.” + +Don, who posed as a bit of a connoisseur of coffee, examined both +taps as we passed them aboard. The cabin coffee he pronounced to be +sweepings, the cheapest to be got in Frisco. The crew’s coffee he bit +and tasted, and declared was not coffee at all. + +Goodness only knows what it was composed of; all I know is that there +is a deal of painted wood doing duty for coffee in America, put in +circulation by certain slim gentlemen, and I sometimes think we got +some of this. + +It was wet during the night, and there was some lightning, but very +little wind. + + +_Wednesday, 4th October._--To-day we are busy sending down and +overhauling sheets. I am glad to say that the _Royalshire_ is not one +of those cheaply-run ships as to gear, which cost so many men’s lives. +The old man looks at every sheet, leech-line, buntline, and halliard +whip with his own eye, and it is at once replaced with new rope if +showing much signs of wear. The gaskets especially were all renewed. + +It fell dead calm about four bells in the afternoon watch, and there +was a heavy swell running, so the mainsail and crossjack were hauled +up, and the royals furled. + +It is much colder, and socks and boots are the order of the day. + +There was a regular Cape Horn sunset, and I thought it looked very wild +and grand. The sea was a greyish sickly green, and ran in long ridges +as the swell rolled in from the South’ard, where there was evidently +dirty weather; the sky was yellow, with a few angry red streaks in it, +and the sun sank very slowly. + +In the second dog watch, some fiend started the discussion of “Brothers +and sisters have I none, but that man’s father was my father’s son: who +is that man?” + +After deep thought, Scar declared that that man was my son, and I +seconded him. + +“Both wrong,” cried Don excitedly; “that man’s myself.” + +“Well, I’m fair dashed if I can see it,” said Scar; “he canna be +mysel’, an’ he maun be my son.” + +“Hear! hear! how can my father and my father’s son be the same person?” +I joined in. + +“Well you must be a pair of ---- fools, that’s all I can say,” said +Don, highly scornful. + +“What do you think about it, you wild Highlander?” he continued, +turning to Mac. + +The canny Scot put his head on one side, and after meditating a bit, +came out with this extraordinary statement, + +“He’s me brither, or myself.” + +“I’m me gran’mother if he is!” yelled the hot-tempered third mate. + +“What do you think, Klondyke?” asked Mac in an aside to me. + +“Why, that you and Don are a pair of idiots.” + +“Hang it all, Bally, I did not think you were such a thickhead as all +that,” sneered Don in his superior way. + +“Thickhead yourself; I’ll bet you anything you like that that man’s my +son,” I replied. + +“And I’ll bet you a fiver that that man’s myself.” + +“Done with you! I’ll lay odds Klondyke’s right!” almost shrieked Scar. + +At one bell the second mate came into the half-deck, and was +immediately appealed to by both sides. But he found it such a matter +for thought that before he could give his decision eight bells went, +and we of the starboard watch had to go on deck. + +The sides were evenly divided so far; Mac and the nipper joined Don, +whilst Loring “plumped his stack of blues” on Scar and myself. + +Mac, Loring, and I paced up and down the main-deck arguing hopelessly, +each thinking the other an absolute fool for not seeing the right +answer. + +Whenever we came under the half-deck, we heard Scar and Don hard at +it; both had lost their tempers, and sitting up in their bunks, were +yelling across at each other in a way which was both painful and free. +So excited were they, that they lost more than half their watch below +before they gave up the unfinished argument for sleep. + +Meanwhile the second mate was struggling with the problem as he walked +the poop. Occasionally he would come to the rail and call us, saying +that he had changed his mind; for, first he declared it was the son, +then he took a few turns and came back and said it was the father, and +so he went on. + +There was no work to be done as we lay rolling in the swell without +a breath of wind, the sails slating against the masts. Presently the +whole watch were arguing, cursing, and scratching their heads about the +infernal conundrum. + +So the argument went on all night. At eight bells the second mate +whispered it to the mate as he relieved him, and it straightway kept +the mate pondering all the middle watch. + +On our watch coming on deck again at 4 P.M., Don and his side were in +the minority, and soon after every one went with a rush to our side, +and Don was left solitary, stubborn, and defiant, declaring that he +would prove he was right by mathematics, or if we preferred it, by +algebra, adding that we were the biggest lot of thickheads and duffers +in creation. + + +_Thursday, 5th October._--The calm cleared off about four bells in the +forenoon watch, and left us slipping along under all sail in sunshine, +blue sky, and rolling sea. The light breeze is dead aft, and fog rolls +down upon us at intervals, and gives the “tootler” with the cowhorn on +the forecastle head a chance of showing his powers, and startling the +inhabitants of the Southern Ocean. + +Two albatrosses have made their appearance. How magnificent they look +as they hover in our wake, swooping gracefully about without a single +quiver of their huge double-jointed wings. I have watched them for +hours at a time without seeing one of them make a flap of his wings. +They don’t fly, they sail; and when they want to go against the wind, +“they brace sharp up,” and in a wonderful manner seem able to sail +right into the wind’s eye. It is a bad sign to see them so far north, +and means very bad weather to the southward. + +Lat. 38°.06 S., long. 122°.03 W. + +“Mugi,” the white hen from Japan, died to-day, making the third death +in the hencoop this passage from unknown causes. + +When we were in Frisco, Mugi had the hencoop to herself, and was +as fit as she could be. The day before we sailed, however, a +dozen wretched-looking barn-door fowls were sent on board with a +seedy-looking cock. + +The hencoop, filled with these newcomers, was brought aft and lashed on +to the after-hatch, and Don was appointed feeder of the hens, a store +of wheat, brick, and oyster-shells being put in his lamp-locker for +their use. + +Meanwhile the steward and the nipper prepared themselves for an egg +competition, and it is probable that if the hens had been good layers, +the cabin would not have seen many eggs, as the nipper was as sharp at +abstracting eggs from a hencoop as a London pickpocket. Only two eggs +have been laid, however, up till now, and they have been carefully +divided between the six inmates of the half-deck, and eaten raw, shell +and all. + +Notwithstanding Don’s unremitting care and attention, the hens have +been getting worse and worse, and there is evidently some catching +disease which is killing them off. + +[Illustration: THE ALBATROSS] + + +_Friday, 6th October._--Fine clear day, with a fresh breeze dead aft. +Course--E.S.E. Run 67 miles. Lat. 40°.54 S., long. 120°.17 W. + +We are now in the “Roaring Forties,” and ought to have fair westerly +winds until we head north again on the other side of the Horn. + +Between the parallels of 40 and 60 a westerly gale of wind blows +continuously all the year round, and when a ship bound for Australia +gets into these parallels she keeps in them the whole way to Sydney, +and what sailors call “runs her easting down.” Some of the old +tea-clippers made wonderful records running their easting down. + +Perhaps the best was that of the famous American clipper _Red Jacket_, +which ran 3184 miles in ten consecutive days, her daily runs being 312, +300, 288, 400, 299, 350, 357, 334, 245, and 300 miles. + +This vessel was built by George Thomas, at Rockland, Maine, in 1853, +for Donald M’Kay. + +She made some very fast passages, one of the most notable of which +was thirteen days one hour and twenty-five minutes from New York to +Liverpool. In this passage she made the extraordinary day’s run of 417 +knots. + +The famous record-breaker _Thermopylæ_ was especially noted for her +qualities when running her easting down. Perhaps as it is now some time +ago when her wonderful passages were the talk of every one, just as +those of the _Deutchland_ and _Wilhelm der Grosse_ are now, it might +be of interest if I give a short account of this vessel, which was +considered by many sailors to be the fastest sailing-ship ever launched. + +The _Thermopylæ_ was a composite ship of 948 tons net, 1991 tons gross. +She was built by William Hood & Co., of Aberdeen, and designed by the +late Mr Bernard Waymouth, Secretary of Lloyds’ Register. + +Her dimensions were--length, 212 feet; beam, 36 feet; depth, 20.9 feet. + +Her first voyage was a wonderful one, as she broke a record every +passage. + +At 5 A.M. on the 7th of November 1868, she left Gravesend, the Lizard +was passed at 6 P.M. the next day, and the channel cleared that same +night. + +She let go her anchor off Port Phillip, Melbourne, on 9th January 1869, +a passage of sixty days from pilot to pilot. From Melbourne she went to +Newcastle, N.S.W., where she loaded for Shanghai. + +On the 10th of February she left Newcastle and arrived at Shanghai on +the 10th of March, a passage of twenty-eight days, and another record. + +From Shanghai she sailed for London, and arrived after a passage of +ninety-one days. This was also a record, but was beaten a fortnight +later by her great rival, _Sir Lancelot_. + +Thus she went round the world, breaking the record each passage. + +On her second trip to Melbourne she took sixty-one days. + +When the opening of the Suez Canal broke the hearts of the +tea-clippers, _Thermopylæ_ went into general trading, in which she +remained till the end of 1895. Her last voyage as a deep-waterman was +from Port Blakeley to Leith in one hundred and forty-one days, she was +then sold, and is now a training-ship on the Tagus. + +Thus, after a very fast life, the _Thermopylæ_ spends her old age in +rest and quietness. A better ending this than that of many a famous +tea-clipper; most of them were bought by foreign nations and ended +their days timber droghing, and a number of them are afloat still, but, +of course, with their huge sail-spreads and crews very much cut down. + +_Leander_, _Patriarch_, _Cutty Sark_, _Titania_, and _Black Adder_ are +all, I believe, still afloat. + +Of course sailing-ships of the present day are only built for carrying +capacity; notwithstanding this, many of them have made records worthy +to be ranked with those of the tea-clippers. + +In 1883 the _Maulesden_, an iron ship of 1455 tons, built by A. Stephen +& Sons, of Dundee, did an extraordinary fine performance. + +Leaving Greenock on 2nd March 1883, she crossed the line seventeen +days out, doubled the Cape in thirty-nine days, passed Tasmania +sixty-one days out, and arrived at Maryborough, Queensland, after a +passage of sixty-nine days. + +Running her easting down her best days’ runs were 302, 303, 304, 311, +317, 322, and 335 knots. + +Her best weeks’ runs were 1698, 1798, 1908, and 1929 knots. From +Maryborough she went to San Francisco, and then home, calling at +Queenstown; the whole voyage, including detention in ports, took only +nine months thirteen days. + +Her sister ship, the _Duntrune_, was also an exceptionally speedy +ship, and in 1887 went from Port Augusta, Australia, to Valparaiso in +thirty-one days. This was a distance of 6920 miles, and an average of +223 knots per day. + +Many of the modern four-mast barques are also very fast, and the +_Royalshire_ herself is considered a fast ship, having done some very +fine passages. + +One of the finest and fastest of these magnificent vessels is the _Loch +Torridon_. She holds the record for a deep-loaded ship from Newcastle, +Australia, to San Francisco, making the passage in forty-six days. In +1891 she beat a fleet of seventy-eight vessels, coming home wool-laden +from Sydney in eighty days. It was on this voyage that she made the +wonderful record of forty-one days from Diego Ramirez to the Lizard. + +[Illustration: AN AUSTRALIAN CLIPPER] + +In 1892 she went out to Melbourne in ballast in sixty-nine days, and in +nine consecutive days made runs of 302, 290, 288, 272, 285, 282, 270, +327, and 341 knots. + +She has also done the passage from Newcastle, Australia, to Valparaiso +in thirty days. + +The _Dundee_ is another fast four-master, making the passage from +Montrose to Sydney in 1889 in seventy-six days, her best days’ runs +being 295, 318, 338, and 342 knots. + +The _Queen Margaret_, a skysail-yard, four-mast barque and a +“blue-nose,” was a noted flyer. She was up at Port Costa loading grain +with us, and at the present moment is probably close on our trail. + +In the afternoon watch it began to freshen up, and we furled the +mizen-royal and upper-topgallant sail, and at eight bells the mainsail +was hauled up and made fast. As a rule, when a course was taken in it +was done at the change of the watch, and then the port watch took their +yardarm and we took ours, a race taking place between the two watches +in furling the sail. + +As we were much the better watch, our last man was frequently on deck +before they had picked up their sail. It is a great shipmaster’s dodge +to work his watches in rivalry against one another, as he then gets +twice the work out of them. + +In sand and canvas and painting I don’t think there was much to choose +between us; but when it came to taking in sail in bad weather, or work +at the braces, we were twice as strong a crew as they were. + +Some Yankee ships have what is called “checkerboard” crews, that is to +say, niggers in one watch, white men in the other, and I believe the +competition between the two watches is tremendous. There are some deep +voyagers that go in for entirely nigger crews. + +They are said to be rather unruly at sea, though good and fearless +sailors. The great point about a negro crew is their “chantying.” They +do nothing without a chanty, and their chantying is a real musical +treat, which, if put on the stage, I am very sure would draw immensely. + +Squalls are coming up at intervals, and on coming on deck in the middle +watch we found the wind had broken off a bit. We had not been on deck +long before the order came to take in the topgallant sails. Having +rolled them up, we then set the staysails, and when we went below at 4 +A.M. she was going a good 11 knots. + + +_Saturday, 7th October._--From to-day, until we get to the 40th +parallel again on the other side of the Horn, we get “burgoo” for +breakfast, and I must confess that I have been looking forward to this +for some days. + +So, on being called this morning at seven bells, it being my “peggy,” +I was soon out of my bunk and beseeching old Slush to give us a good +whack. + +How we did enjoy that burgoo, badly made as it was! how we lingered +over the last few mouthfuls! how we scraped the kid! + +A lovely day, clear and cold, the topgallant sails had been set again +in the morning watch, and at eight bells, 8 A.M., she was logging +11-1/2 knots. + +In the forenoon watch we set the mainsail and reefed it, and then set +the royals. + +The run to-day was 180 miles. Course--S. 47 E. Lat. 42°.57 S., long. +118°.03 W. + +It is gradually breezing up, sprays are flying, and occasionally +a dollop of green water slops aboard. We are surrounded by Cape +pigeons, mollymawks, and other Southern Ocean birds, and the two great +albatrosses are still with us. + +The crossjack was reefed between the dog watches, our watch suffering, +as it was our second dog watch below. We had that crossjack reefed in +pretty quick time, for every minute kept us from our tea; though it was +only hard-tack and half a pannikin of coloured water per man, such as +it was, it was always eagerly looked forward to. As for myself, I have +twice the appetite at sea that I have on shore, and up till now have +never missed a meal at sea, either in steam or sail. + +In the first watch we had two Cape Horn hail-storms, and as the wind +came more astern we hauled down the staysails. + + +_Sunday, 8th October._--Regular “running easting down” weather. Lovely +day, not too cold, with sun shining and foam glistening. The white +water is roaring past as the _Royalshire_ snores through it with her +lee scuppers full, leaving a wake like that of a channel paddle-boat. + +We shook the reefs out of the crossjack and mainsail this morning, and +with all sail set she is going for all she is worth. One has to watch +one’s time on the main-deck now, as biggish dollops are coming aboard. + +Lat. 45°.08 S., long. 115°.19 W. Course--E. 1/2 S. + +A great big mollymawk flew aboard this afternoon, a very rare +occurrence. He was a magnificent bird, with a body as big as a swan’s, +and with a splendid white breast. He could not rise off the deck, +and was so sea-sick that he could hardly waddle along. After we had +examined him, we let him go by throwing him over the side, and he soon +joined his mates, his only loss being his dinner, which he left on +board. + +It is now pretty cold, especially at night, and some of the men forward +are very badly off for clothes. Poor old Higgins and Bower are the +worst off in our watch, and we have each given them a few things. The +old man, who has got an immense wardrobe, has been very generous, +giving away very good clothes to some of the men forward. + +There is no slop-chest on board, so if a man comes aboard with only +what he stands up in, he has to trust to the generosity of his +shipmates. + +But sailors are by far the most generous and liberal people on this +earth, not hesitating to give away what they know they want very much +themselves. + +Bower, who knew nothing of the sea when he came aboard, thinking he +could do without oilskins, sold his new ones to somebody in the other +watch, and now he has had to cadge around for what he can get, and +after some difficulty he has managed to get an old suit, which badly +wanted oil and a good deal of patching. + +Old Higgins is also very badly off, as he has no rubbers, and his +sea-boots leak badly. He is a comic though pitiful sight now, as he has +tied bits of canvas round his boots, and has got lashings all over him +to prevent his tattered raiment from blowing away. Even his old slouch +hat he has tied on by a piece of canvas passed over it and made fast +under his chin. + +When the decks are wet, as they are now, it is almost impossible to +stand up in anything but rubbers, so the men that have no rubbers +tumble and slip up in every direction as the ship rolls; even in +rubbers, it is hard enough to keep on your legs. + + +_Monday, 9th October._--Lat. 46°.35 S., long. 111°.52 W. Course--S. 59 +E. Run 173 miles. + +It is much colder to-day, and much rougher, with hail squalls at +intervals, the wind having gone more into the southward. + +It is too cold for sand and canvasing, so we are busy making mats +for fenders; and Jamieson is engaged in making a large mat, which is +going to make part of a terrible instrument called “the bear,” which +afterwards caused much heart-breaking work. + +I was beginning to think we were going to have an easy forenoon watch, +as we all sat under the forecastle head in comfort whilst the seas +thundered on the deck above us, and a continuous succession of dollops +fell aboard amidships. But it was too good to last long, as presently +the second mate sneaked forward with a large bundle of rovings--the +result of many first watches in the tropics, which he had kept hoarded +in his cabin--these, and as many rope yarns as we could carry, he +presented to four of us. + +“Lubbock and Jennings, you two go up the fore and put in as many rope +yarns as you can cram in from the royal-yard down, and if there are any +gaps, put a roving in as well, and look lively about it, Loring and +Bower, you do the same on the main.” + +If the reader has not understood this order, I will explain. We simply +had to lash the head of the sails more firmly on to the jackstay, to +resist the terrific Cape Horn squalls in front of us. + +It was a cold job, I can tell you. It was blowing pretty hard, and +there was an icy chill in the southerly wind which soon had one’s +fingers frozen and numbed, and as one fumbled clumsily and squeezed +one’s fingers under the jackstay, they were soon sore and bleeding. + +But though not a pleasant job, it had one compensation, the sea and +ship from aloft were a glorious sight. + +All around the ship was a mass of white froth, and great Cape Horn +greybeards rolled up on each side until they overbalanced themselves, +and broke their tops into glittering spray. + +A good deal of green water is coming aboard, and the cook has to keep +his weather door shut. + +Circling and wheeling astern are sea-birds of all kinds, Cape hens, +mollymawks, Cape blackbirds, Cape pigeons, and our two friends the +great wandering albatrosses. These Cape blackbirds are like large black +gulls, and utter a weird kind of cry. I believe they are really another +species of albatross called the “sooty albatross.” + + +_Tuesday, 10th October._--The weather is still fine but squally, and we +are doing great sailing. It is much colder again. + +Loring and I were sent up aloft to finish putting the rovings in. We +both put on our thickest clothes, and our oilskins over them, and I put +on my Klondyke fur cap; but notwithstanding this, we found it bitterly +cold up aloft, and to make matters worse, we had hardly put a couple of +rovings in on the mizen upper-topsail yard when a hail-storm came down +upon us, and beat upon us for nearly an hour. But presently the old man +came on deck, and seeing us up there aloft, told the second mate to +call us down, as he thought it was too cold to keep us aloft for such +a long time in such weather. Presently the sun came out, and things +looked much brighter. + +Loring and I were given half a dozen flags to patch, which we did +sitting to leeward of the chart-house on the poop, and a very +comfortable time we had of it. + +All night it was squally and very cold, and we are now fairly in the +ruck of it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OFF THE HORN + + +_Wednesday, 11th October._--A good blow, and a big beam sea. We are +logging 10 knots, and rolling both rails under; for the first time, +we have been getting the water in the half-deck, which is truly in a +miserable state, as about half a foot of water pours backwards and +forwards across it as the ship rolls. + +She is rolling so badly, that one has to brace oneself firmly against +something fixed whilst eating, and anything that is not well jammed off +or lashed, carries away, and either gets smashed up or forms one of +the heap of sodden, wretched objects which wash ceaselessly across the +floor. + +We now live in oilskins and rubbers, and only take them off to get +into our bunks. I had two big seas over me to-day, but I hung on and +faced them, so that they failed to wash me away, and my oilskins and +rubbers being well lashed, kept me pretty dry. One of the golden rules +in bad weather is, Never run away from a sea. Catch hold of whatever +is nearest, and hang on for all you are worth; for if a sea catches +you and you have not got firm hold of something, you stand a very good +chance of being washed overboard. Even if this does not happen, you +are washed into the lee scuppers and get badly bruised and cut about, +besides being nearly drowned into the bargain. A real big sea of course +you cannot hang on against, so great is the weight of water, and you +have to go whither the sea wishes you to. + +Whole watches have been washed overboard off the Horn, whilst trying to +get a pull on the braces, which is a most dangerous business in real +bad weather. + +The old man is carrying on like anything; but in the afternoon watch +the gaff-topsail, staysails, and mizen-royal had to come in, and in +the first watch we took in the main and fore royals to ease the weight +aloft. Lat. 49°.28 S., long. 104°.38 W. + + +_Thursday, 12th October._--The wind hauled ahead last night, and we +had hard work bracing up. The port watch had a rare bad time in the +middle watch, and whilst at the fore-braces were all washed away--Scar, +Frenchie, and Don getting jammed underneath the spare spars, whilst +Jackson and Webber were floated right aft as far as the main-hatch. + +The wind is lighter this morning, and we have set the royals again, and +the ship is ever so much steadier with the wind ahead, though the sea +is still very heavy. + +Jamieson has finished his mat for the “deck-bear,” and this afternoon +we started work with it. + +The bear is a square box, filled with stones to weight it, and on to +its bottom is nailed the mat; it has a couple of short ropes made fast +to it on each side, and with one man on to the end of each rope, we +have first to haul one way, and then the other two on the other side +haul it back again. Backwards and forwards it goes without a stop, some +sand being sprinkled over the deck on which it is pulled. You have to +keep at the same bit of deck until its whiteness passes the mate’s +inspection, and he tells you to move on. + +Of course it is splendid for the muscles of the back and arms, but on +board a wind-jammer one’s muscles get all they want without an infernal +slave-driving deck-bear to wear them out. + +It is the hardest work on the back I have come across yet, and the +rolling of the ship does not improve matters; Loring, Jennings, Bower, +and myself are its victims in our watch, the second mate and Mac +watching us, and occasionally giving a helping hand to one side or the +other. + +By eight bells we were all completely cooked, hardened and in rare +training as we were, I know that I just threw myself into my bunk in +the first dog watch, and lay there dead-beat for nearly an hour. + +But presently I was tumbled clean out by a terrific roll, and on +looking out found that the wind had hauled right aft again, making the +_Royalshire_ roll in the heavy sea until the deck was like the side of +a house. + +Lat. 50°.35 S., long. 99°.35 W. + +In the second dog watch a sea caught me and tossed me like a feather +into the lee scuppers, where I brought up a terrific bang, cutting my +knee open on the port main bits. + + +_Friday, 13th October._--The log was hove at seven bells in the +forenoon watch, and marked 12 knots, and it was as much as I could do +to haul the line in again. + +All the morning we have been at that terrible bear. Yesterday we had +started on the deck to windward by the after-hatch, but as a continual +succession of dollops kept coming aboard just there, knocking us down +and interrupting the work, the second mate told us to work forward by +the fore-hatch, where the sea did not come aboard quite so often. + +Even here it was exciting enough. All of a sudden a big wave would be +seen approaching, which looked like coming aboard where we were; then +there would be a rush, the bear would be left, and we would jump for +safety on to the main fife-rail or the fore-hatch, then crash would +come the great weight of water on the deck where a moment before we +had been working, washing the wretched old bear before it into the lee +scuppers. + +The big dollops were not the bother, however, it was the small ones +which were annoying and at the same time amusing. + +Pop! one would put its head over the rail and fall on two of us, to the +amusement of the other two, who would sooner or later be caught napping +in their turn, or again it would come with a rush through the port +almost sweeping us off our legs. + +The sand had to be given up, as it was washed off the deck faster than +it could be put down. + +Loring was very unlucky, a big dollop bowling him over and thoroughly +soaking him notwithstanding his oilskins! The second mate having +compassion on him as he shivered with cold, sent him aft to get a +change and took his place for a few minutes; in those few minutes the +second mate got caught and soaked. + +Poor Loring, though on his way forward in dry things once more, got +caught by a big sea, as he was going past the galley; though he made a +jump for the skids, on which the quarter boat rested, and tried to haul +himself up, he was too late and was again soaked to the skin, as he had +no lashings on his oilskins. + +This time he had to stay wet, as his wardrobe was scanty, and he had no +more dry clothes. + +The sea and wind began to get worse as darkness set in, and we had a +hard night of it. Royals came in first, then upper-topgallant sails, +after which all hands were called. + +The mainsail and crossjack were now hauled up and made fast, followed +by the fore and mizen topgallant sails. + +Notwithstanding the cold, the discomfort, the wet, the man-killing work +in the pitch darkness, and the washing about the decks, I thoroughly +enjoy it all. One is stirred up by the danger; one works like a fury, +whether up aloft getting in sail or on deck up to your middle in water, +occasionally even hanging on for dear life until you think your lungs +will burst, so long is the water in clearing off. + +Though the older men, like poor old Higgins and some of the dagos in +the port watch, are almost useless from fatigue, cold, and fright, I +never felt fitter in my life, and Loring, who came on board as weak as +a rat from fever, is fast putting on flesh; it is the same with the +second mate and Mac, who are both as frisky as young lambs. + +It is wonderful, too, how used one gets to being knocked down and +floated about the deck in a half-drowned, half-stunned condition. Every +accident, however dangerous, is always treated as a joke on board ship; +the laugh goes round as half the watch crawl out of the lee scuppers +like yellow rats, dazed, bruised, and panting for breath. + +Orders are given sharply, and those who are the keenest sailors jump +to the front in everything; up aloft the Britishers and Dutchmen do +herculean work, whilst the dagos hang on, quite useless and scared, +with all their tropical liveliness taken out of them! + +It is blowing now with a vengeance, and if we were going into it, we +would be under lower topsails and hove-to. The seas are pouring in a +cascade over the weather bulwarks and back again over the lee bulwarks +as she rolls, and the main-deck is a boiling, seething maelstrom of +water, under which the hatches are constantly hidden. The two men at +the wheel are working like blacks, as the ship is very unsteady, and +swings a couple of points on each side of her course. + +About four bells in the first watch the cook was washed out of his +galley, and his pots and pans rattled about his head. The water is +knee-deep in the half-deck, and Loring and I are expecting any moment +to be washed out of our bunks, which are the lower ones. We are afraid +that the doors will be broken in by the seas; if they go, we shall +be in a nice mess, as the half-deck will be filled up “two blocks,” +everything will be washed out, and we inside will be lucky if we are +not drowned. + +Last passage, even with the doors tight shut, one night the half-deck +filled up, and Mac, who had got his present top bunk, found himself +floated off and nearly drowned, as he could not get his head above +water. + +As I lie in my bunk I watch the flood of water washing backwards and +forwards by the dim light of the turned-down lamp. On deck there is +the ceaseless crash of seas falling aboard, and then the rushing sound +as if of a roaring torrent; as the sea pours across the deck and comes +dashing aft; it fills up under the break of the poop, and then I hear +it gushing in through the ventilator of the door against my trusty +waterproof sheet. + +“Shut that ventilator or we shall fill up,” growls Mac, half asleep. + +Presently the door is opened and shut with a bang, and Don dashes +in, just in time, as a sea follows him close. He holds a couple of +binnacles in his hands, and proceeds to try and light them as quickly +as possible with damp matches. + +“Anything going on outside,” I ask. + +“Nothing much; seas getting bigger though, and Pedro’s been turned away +from the wheel; it’s cold as the Klondyke, and I’m as hungry as a +hunter.” + +Saying which, he takes two or three bites out of a biscuit, and then, +watching his chance, dashes on deck again. + +I fall asleep then with the everlasting crash of the sea in my ears, +only to be aroused as I suppose five seconds later by Don calling out, + +“Now then, starbowlines ahoy, tumble out! One bell’s just gone, it’ll +take you all your time to get your sea lashings on by eight bells, and +there’s lots to do.” + +Loring and I immediately start to struggle into our rubbers. I know +nothing more trying to the temper than getting a pair of wet rubbers on +over wet socks in semi-darkness, half asleep, and shivering with wet +and cold, the ship all the time rolling and pitching so violently that +you cannot possibly keep your balance even sitting in your bunk. + +Meanwhile, as Loring and I hurriedly lash our oilskins on, Don is +vainly attempting to wake Mac. + +“Mac, one bell’s gone!” No response. + +A tug at the blankets, and again, + +“Mac, one bell’s gone!” + +This time a good healthy shout, and into the slumbering man’s ear. +Still no response. + +“Here Mac, out you get, five minutes to eight bells!” + +At last Don gives up words as useless, then Loring and I each have a +try; no result. Then his blankets are pulled off him, his toes pinched, +his ears pulled; but the best remedy of all is to tweak his nose. + +He sits up in his bunk at this last, and swears fluently at you for +nearly a minute, then if you let him, he will fall back again and in a +moment be fast asleep. It is quite fatal to let him lie down again once +he is sitting up in his bunk and trying to get his eyes open. Every +dodge to get him out have we played. + +“Mac, it’s gone eight bells, and the second mate wants you; buck up, +old man, or he’ll be raising hell!” + +This was effective for a while, but he got used to it, and refused to +budge; at last one day, however, he got caught. + +At ten minutes to five in the morning the watch on deck get coffee, +which, if there is not much doing, they are given nearly half an +hour to consume. This half-hour Mac used to spend in sleep on one of +the chests. This time the second mate wanted to talk to him about +something, and sent me for him. + +But not a bit of it, he would not stir. At last the second mate came +down, and between the pair of us we managed to get him on to his legs, +and when he came to his senses, Mr Knowles gave him a rare dressing +down. + +One thing I will admit, he was easier to turn out in bad weather than +in fine, when it was one of the labours of Hercules to get him to stir. +He seemed to be in a kind of stupor, and though he might talk to you +and swear for some minutes before you really got him out, he would +not remember anything about it. He always used to go to sleep with a +lighted pipe in his mouth, and invariably woke up with it down his back. + + +_Saturday, 14th October._--Strong gale of wind and very big sea, a +regular Cape Horner, main-deck under water. + +I took the lee wheel with Taylor from six to eight in the morning +watch, and how we worked! Taylor is a good helmsman, and has been in +the Royal Navy; but she swung a point and a half on each side of her +course, and sometimes more, and the wheel was spinning round the whole +time, hard up and hard down. + +The second mate stood behind us on the watch, for on the helmsman the +ship and every life on board depends now. + +Occasionally he says sharply, + +“Meet her! Meet her!” and sometimes he jumps to the wheel and gives us +his powerful aid in grinding it up or down. + +Great Cape Horn greybeards, with crests a mile and a half long, roar up +behind us, and at one moment you see a great green sea with a boiling +whirlpool of foam on its top, which looks as if it must poop you, and +wash you away from the helm; the next moment the gallant vessel has +lifted to it, and it roars past on either hand, breaking on to the +main-deck with a heavy crash and clanging of ports, then sweeping +forward in a mighty flood of raging, hissing, seething, icy-cold water. + +The old sailors manage to get about and dodge the water on the +main-deck fairly well, though it is a queer sight to see an old +shellback going his best pace at a sort of shambling run on the +slippery, heaving deck. But poor old Higgins, Bower, and Jennings seem +quite helpless, and instead of making tracks along the weather side of +the deck, hesitate, and are lost; the sea catches them in the open and +away they go, and have to be rescued and picked out of the lee scuppers +half-drowned. + +The steward, though still in his shirt sleeves--I have never yet seen +a steward in anything but his shirt sleeves, even in the coldest +weather--has put on hip rubbers, and has to exert all his cunning to +get the cabin dinner aft from the galley; we in the half-deck give him +our aid in fetching and carrying, in return for which he gives us a few +leavings from the cabin table. + +He has to take everything over the poop and down through the +chart-house to the cabin, as his little square opening on the +main-deck, through which he usually passes his dishes, has to be shut +tight to keep the sea out. + +A big sea came aboard this morning soon after eight bells, and filled +up under the break of the poop “two blocks,” so that the portholes in +the half-deck, which are 6 feet above the deck, were under water. It +burst in the door of the lamp-locker, and filled that up to the top. + +In a moment, Don, who was inside busily engaged in cleaning his lamps, +was under water, with his lamps floating around him: perfect swimmer +as he was, with a locker full of trophies and cups, he was within an +ace of being drowned, for it was nearly two minutes before the water +cleared off sufficiently to allow him, by laying his head back, to get +his nose out of water and draw breath, notwithstanding a severe bumping +from the deck above. + +It was my watch below, and we were just turning in, when Don staggered +into the half-deck, gasping and half-drowned, and lamenting his lamps, +which he had just cleaned. + +Escapes of this kind on a sailing-ship in bad weather are quite common, +and thought nothing of, and we immediately started chaffing Don about +it. + +Hard-tack was our only diet for breakfast this morning, as the galley +is all topsy-turvy, and half-full of water; the fresh-water pump also +could not be rigged in the first dog watch yesterday owing to the water +on deck, as we dare not risk getting any sea water into the tanks, +as it would spoil all the fresh water. So no hot liquid for tea last +night, and nothing hot to drink to-day, for two reasons, namely, in the +first place, the cook could not keep his fire alight, and in the second +place, there is no fresh water left. + +Some ships have small stoves in their forecastles for use off the +Horn in cold weather, but there is no luxury of this kind on the +_Royalshire_, and as the galley fire is out, we cannot dry our wet +things, which we generally hang in the carpenter’s shop, which is +nicely heated as a rule, being next the galley. + +Lat. 53°.23 S., long. 88°.58 W. Run 236 miles. + +We came on deck this afternoon to find the wind moderating slightly, +but the sea if anything was worse. + +It really is a magnificent sight: huge mountains of water with 10 feet +of foam on their crests rush after us as if they would devour us: like +great beasts of prey they rage round us, then flinging themselves upon +the straining, groaning _Royalshire_, they swarm all over her, and seem +as if they would rend her limb from limb. + +It is glorious to watch a great sea break: as it curls over there is +a most beautiful deep-green colour in the very heart of the breaker, a +colour which I have only seen once before, and that is where the deep +water comes over in the centre of the “Horseshoe” at Niagara Falls. + +Jamieson had the first trick at the wheel in the afternoon, and whilst +he was at the helm the ship was much drier, as he is a beautiful +helmsman--in fact, the old man says he is the best he has ever seen. + +In weather like this the watch can do nothing but “stand-by,” the men +staying in the forecastle until wanted, whilst Mac, Loring and I have +to keep on the poop ready to summon the watch or do anything the second +mate may want, whilst the second mate himself stands ever on the watch +behind the toiling helmsman. + +The old man is pretty continually on deck now, and with a keen eye to +windward, hangs on to his canvas. + +At four bells it was Rooning’s wheel and old Higgins’ lee wheel. +Watching their time, they dashed along the main-deck, but just as they +were passing the after-hatch, a big sea tumbled aboard right on top of +them. Rooning hung on to the starboard mizen capstan like a limpet, +and, though the water passed completely over him, it failed to wash +him away. But poor old Higgins made a jump for the after-hatch; off +this he was rolled, and hurled into the lee scuppers, whence Mac and I +rescued him in a dazed condition. + +It was bitterly cold, with the everlasting hail-storms at intervals, so +you may imagine Rooning and Higgins (both of whom were soaking wet) had +a pretty cold trick at the wheel. + +During the night the watch on deck, who in fine weather always stayed +aft on the main-deck, had to come up on to the poop, where they tramped +up and down to leeward in a vain attempt to keep warm. + +Of course this tramping goes on right over the heads of those asleep in +the half-deck. It does not affect our watch, who can all sleep through +any noise; but in the other watch, Don, Scar, and the nipper are all +very light sleepers, and in the middle watch, when I sneaked down into +the half-deck to light binnacles, I found them all three awake and +swearing fluently. + +They told me to ask the second mate to stop it. I promised to do my +best, but informed them that the old man was the chief offender. + +I managed to get the watch to walk further aft and more quietly, that +is, all except that surly brute Johnsen, who refused to budge. The old +man, however, continued his promenade to windward, and stamped strongly +to keep himself warm, and I chuckled to myself as I thought of the +terrific blasphemy that was being used on his behalf by those below. + + +_Sunday, 15th October._--Lat. 54°.46 S., long. 83°.08 W. + +“Seven bells; buck up, Bally, and tumble out! It’s blowing harder than +ever, and there’s the very hell of a sea running!” + +“Nice Sunday morning,” I growl to myself, as I crawl carefully out of +my sleeping-bag and prepare for the usual struggle with wet rubbers. + +“I suppose you haven’t ordered breakfast yet?” + +“No, what will you have?” + +“Well, I think a fried sole to start on, with poached eggs and bacon, +sausages, and devilled kidneys to follow; and mind you tell the cook +that I must have my toast crisp.” + +“That all; and what will you have, Mac?” + +“As many kippered herrings as you can pack along.” + +“And you, Loring?” + +“Order me a couple of roast turkeys, with plenty of chestnuts, +stuffing, and sausages.” + +With which Don, who had been calling us, dashed out into the flying +spume again. + +“There’s no more water in the breaker,” says Loring, “and from the look +of the weather, there’ll be no chance of rigging the pump for some +days.” + +“Then it’s likely well have a pretty good thirst on before we’re round +Cape Stiff.” + +“A man does not want much to drink when he lives in wet clothes like we +are doing now.” + +“All the same, with nothing to eat but hard-tack sodden with salt +water, I don’t see why one should not raise quite a respectable thirst, +even though we are up to our necks in water.” + +Hard-tack is now our only food, and though we all try to fill up the +void by smoking, it is hard work even keeping a pipe alight, so wet and +damp is everything. + +I took in another hole in my belt to-day, that makes the third since +leaving Frisco. + +On going on deck at 8 A.M., we found that the gale was getting worse, +and though we were running dead before it, it was a case of snugging +down. + +This kept us at work all the morning. We took everything off her but +the three lower-topsails, foresail, main upper-topsail, and main +lower-topgallant sail. + +When taking in sail, before one can lay aloft and furl the sail, one +has to work on the main-deck, hauling it up to spill the wind out of it +by means of buntlines, leech, and clew lines. Whilst doing this we are +often up to our necks in water, and not seldom under water altogether; +sometimes, as we are hauling on a rope, a sea pours over us, sweeps +our legs from under us, and though we hang on, we are all rolled +and tossed about the deck, until the water, pouring off through the +ports in the bulwarks, frees the ship, and allows us to pick ourselves +up. Many of us are badly bruised, but that does not matter. I have +a bleeding and swollen knee, but what would be considered serious +anywhere else, is a mere trifle off the Horn; sea cuts, which eat down +to the bone, are very common, and many of the men have got bad sea +boils on their wrists and arms. + +Having made the sails fast, when we reach the deck again we have to +“turn the gear up.” This is done on the backstays, a few feet above +the topgallant rail, and one hangs right over the whirling white water +that boils around the vessel. Most of the seas break aboard just below +your feet, but not a few rear up their foaming crests until they are +above the level of your eyes; you tighten your hold and take a long +breath--crash! and the ice-cold water is pouring over you, and doing +its utmost to tear you from your insecure perch as it pours like a +cataract on to the deck below. + +It is trying work, as each roll of the vessel hurls you into the very +lap of the raging sea, sometimes dipping you to the waist, sometimes +under altogether. + +Whilst turning this gear up, I very nearly went to Davy Jones’ +locker--in fact, some of the watch thought I was gone. + +An immense sea broke aboard, feet above my head, and I found myself +overboard; but, holding my breath, I hung on to the end of the main +topgallant clew-line like a leech, and as the water cleared off over +the lee rail I was floated back into safety. + +Meanwhile the sea had caught Mac and Bower and swept them from the +main-hatch to right under the break of the poop, Bower bringing up +with a bang on the head against the poop ladder. The second mate, who +was on the poop, ran down the ladder and hauled them out. They emerged +half-drowned and bruised amidst loud laughter. + +Coming to relieve the lee wheel this morning, Higgins lost his head +as usual; he had just got past the mizen fife-rail when he saw a huge +monster of a wave coming aboard. The sight of the approaching sea left +him standing nerveless and shaking in the middle of the main-deck, with +nothing handy to hang on to. + +The old man was watching him from the break of the poop, and roared out, + +“Get on to the fife-rail, you man there! Do you want to be washed +overboard, you paralysed idiot?” + +But he was too late; down came the sea--a hiss, a roar, a stagger, and +a muffled shout, and poor old Higgins was an indistinguishable black +mass, being rolled over and over in the scuppers. Mac and I had to rush +down on to the main-deck and splash into the water up to our waists, +to pick him up before he got badly hurt by being jammed in a port or +hurled against a stanchion. + +It was Jamieson’s trick at the wheel, and when he was relieved the old +man said to him, + +“See that man safely forward,” indicating Higgins, “a whole lot,” as +they would say in Western America. + +Ever since this, old Higgins had a dry-nurse, in the shape of one of +the A.B.’s, to take him along the main-deck. + +I have lost my knife somewhere in the half-deck; it is probably +floating about on the _débris_ of brushes, dungarees, boots, caps, +socks, etc., which are washing about the floor. + +As a sailor is helpless without his knife, in my watch below this +afternoon I thought I would take a pig-sticking hunting knife which I +have got, and grind down the point a bit, so that it will go into my +sheath easily. + +The grindstone being forward under the forecastle head, with my knife +in my hand I warily started off on my journey. I had just got past the +main-hatch when I saw a big sea coming aboard, so I started to run, +but as the ship rolled, I slipped up and came down a terrific bang on +the deck by the galley. Picking myself up without a moment’s delay, +I dashed on and reached the forecastle in safety; not until then did +I notice that in my fall I had cut my thumb to the bone, and was +bleeding like a stuck pig. This was a serious business, as a sailor’s +thumb is a very necessary part of him, and cuts won’t heal off the Horn. + +Well, I had to make the best of it, and after some difficulty in +stopping it bleeding, bound it up tightly with some rag. This done, I +ground my knife, and succeeded in getting aft again without any further +mishap. + +This was a very unfortunate accident, as my thumb became inflamed and +was very painful, especially as I had to use it just as if it was quite +well. Besides which, all my trouble had been for nothing, as I found my +other knife floating in the half-deck soon afterwards, much to my joy, +as a knife is a knife, and more valuable on a wind-jammer than anywhere +else. + + +_Monday, 16th October._--Lat. 56°.09 S., long. 77°.04 W. Course--S. 60 +E. Run 222 miles. + +Blowing harder than ever, and a mountainous sea running. It is really +awe-inspiring, and the captain told me it is the biggest sea he has +ever seen, which is saying a good deal, as this is his thirtieth +passage round the Horn. + +In the forenoon watch, our watch below, the main upper-topsail split +from top to bottom, so that sail and the lower-topgallant above it +were made fast, and now we are running before the gale under three +lower-topsails and foresail. + +Poor Don had a great misfortune to-day, though we all could not help +laughing at it. + +Whilst up on the main upper-topsail yard, he lost his only set of false +teeth overboard, with the result that he now speaks as it were with +tongues, but more as if he had a hot potato in his mouth. Poor Don, he +will have a very bad time now till the end of the voyage, for, with +hardly anything but hard-tack to eat, his gums will get pretty sore. + +We are now well to the southward of the Horn, and the weather is as bad +as any weather can be; hail squalls blow up at minute intervals, and +Cape Horn greybeards, a mile or two long, with white shaggy crests, +chase us like birds of prey. + +The weather is so bad that there are no albatrosses about, they are +all away to the nor’ard; there are, however, a few Cape pigeons and +mollymawks, which the weather seems to have very little effect upon. + +It is very cold, and Don and I are wearing our oilskins over our +Klondyke fur coats at night. + +The huge seas are beginning to poop her badly now, especially when the +port watch are on deck, as their helmsmen are a very indifferent lot. + +Ever and anon in our watch below we hear a terrific crash on the deck +above us as a sea falls on to the poop, to pour in a roaring cascade +on to the main-deck. + +All the weather clothes put up round the poop-rail have been torn down +by the sea, as if they had been bits of paper instead of the strongest +canvas. + +No sailor likes his ship to be constantly pooped like this, and I can +see that many of the men are beginning to get anxious and uneasy, +especially the dagos. + +The water pours into the half-deck now so constantly that it came in +over my bunk this morning as she rolled; but though it was over the +foot of my sleeping-bag, none got inside, and I rejoiced in warmth. + +Still no fresh water, of course, and we are really beginning to get +thirsty. + +We came on deck in the afternoon watch to find the sun trying to get +out through the rushing clouds, and its cold gleams lit up the wild +scene, and added a tinge of colour to the huge, forbidding, foam-topped +masses of raging, hurtling sea. + +Just as Mac, Loring, and I got on to the poop at eight bells, an +immense sea pooped her. The mate, who was standing to leeward of the +chart-house, trying to get a sight, was carried off his legs, and only +the poop-rail saved him from being swept down on to the main-deck. He +kept his presence of mind, however, as every sailor does, and clung on +to his precious sextant, picking himself up as the water poured off, +very little the worse for his mishap, which might have so easily ended +seriously. + +At the same time, one of the chart-house doors being ajar, volumes of +water found its way down into the cabin, and the steward had to get +Loring’s help below to put things shipshape and clear up the damage. + +“If the old man does not heave her to soon, he’ll never be able +to heave her to,” said Mac to me as we stood in the lee of the +chart-house, “as, on the ship coming up to the wind in a sea like this, +it would roll her over and over.” + +He was evidently getting uneasy at the terrific sea and the constant +pooping of the ship, and started yarning about the number of ships +which had been lost with all hands from running too long before a storm. + +I rather enjoyed the fun myself, it was so stupendous, so magnificent, +so terrific. + +When on the top of one of the great Cape Horners, looking forward was +like looking from the top of a mountain; first smaller mountains, then +hills, until what looked like the valley, seemed miles away in the +distance. + +I am very certain that it was a good deal nearer two miles than one +mile from crest to crest of these enormous seas, and I don’t believe +any vessel under 500 tons could have lived in them for five minutes. + +The main-deck is often out of sight now for some minutes, even the +hatches being covered, and as the ship rolls it becomes a roaring, +hissing, boiling cauldron. + +In the midship-house they are almost as badly off as we are in the +half-deck, and the bosun, who is thoroughly scared, would give worlds, +I am sure, to be safe and sound on his Californian farm again. + +The old man, with all the care on his shoulders, seems the least +anxious man on the ship, and is ably backed up by the two mates, who, +with nerves of steel, send no one where they dare not go themselves. + +As for myself, I am in raptures with the magnificent sight, and delight +in the tremendous experience. I feel fit and braced up, ready to go +anywhere and do anything; there is a kind of glorious exhilaration +about it all which fills me until I can hardly keep it down;--I smile +and chuckle to myself, and watch the huge seas like a scientist over a +new invention, whilst the others hold on with scared, anxious faces. + +All of a sudden, as I watch I catch sight of the topsails of a ship on +our port quarter. + +“Sail ho!” I cry. + +You could only see her when both were on the top of a sea; she +was a three-master, running before it like ourselves, under three +lower-topsails and reefed foresail. + +The old man said she was probably a wool-clipper from Australia. A sail +is a cheering sight at all times; but at a time like this, in such a +sea, she was watched with great eagerness, as we scanned her through +the old ship’s telescope and the captain’s glasses. + +I think the sight of her relieved the old man of a good deal of +anxiety, as he got very cheerful, and spun us several amusing yarns; so +much so, that I forgot about four bells, and I am afraid struck them +nearly ten minutes late, to the great disgust of the tired helmsman. + +A landsman has no idea of the various noises on board a wind-jammer in +a storm. Every part of the ship groans; up above the gale roars, sings, +and whistles through the rigging; one backstay produces a deep note, +and one could fancy an organ was being played aloft; others shriek +shrilly like telegraph wires; some hum, some ring, others twang like +banjo strings; and above all is the crash of the seas falling on the +main-deck, and the clang of the hardly-used ports as they are banged +first open and then shut by each succeeding wave. + +I am afraid the ends of the gear are badly mauled about, as they get +washed off the pins and dragged through the ports. + +We have to be very careful going in and out of the half-deck, as the +break of the poop is filled up every other wave. + +Some of these tremendous seas fall aboard the whole length of the +weather rail, and even the forecastles are inches deep in water, though +not to be compared with the awful state of the half-deck. + +Indeed, it is really beginning to be dangerous in the half-deck; any +moment an extra big sea may break in the doors, and the watch below +would be drowned like rats in a trap. + +We discussed the matter over our hard-tack in the first dog watch. +Mac was for asking to be allowed to sleep in the cabin; but if one +goes down to the sea in ships, one must take risks, and though the +careful Scot does not like the lookout at all, Loring and I being mad +and reckless Englishmen, are quite ready to take the risk, and are not +going to bother ourselves with what might happen. + +In the second dog watch, whilst the second mate was below at his tea, +there was a slight lull in the gale, and the mate ordered the fore +upper-topsail to be reefed and set. + +This was, no doubt, a great error of judgment on the mate’s part; +the glass was exceedingly low, and from the look of the sky, it was +evidently going to blow harder than ever. + +Perhaps he thought he would try and put more speed on to her, as the +seas were pooping her so badly. + +The old man was snatching a few moments for a snooze; but from what +we have seen, the mate is even a bigger terror than the old man at +carrying on--at anyrate, in this instance, I thought him reckless to +the verge of insanity. + +But orders must be obeyed. + +Two reef-earings were got ready, and away we went aloft and lay out on +the yard. + +I went out on to the weather yardarm with Jamieson, and we soon had the +earing passed. + +“Ready?” shouted Mac from the bunt. + +“Aye, aye, sir!” + +“Haul out to windward!” + +“Eh--hai--ai! Oh--ho! Oh--ho--oh!” we chorused. + +“Far enough, sir!” + +“Haul out to leeward!” + +“That’ll do!” + +“Tie her up, and don’t miss any reef points!” + +We soon had the reef points tied, and Mac sings out, + +“Lay down from aloft, and set the sail!” + +We took the halliards to the small capstan forward, and mastheaded +the yard to the chanty of “Away for Rio!” Jamieson singing the solo. +It was pretty bad weather for chantying, but there is nothing like a +chanty to put new life into a man, and we roared out the chorus at the +top of our pipes. + +The dagos in the port watch looked out of their forecastle at us in +amazement, just in time to let a sea in, which pretty well swamped them +out, and did its best to wash us away from the capstan. + +Of all the chanties, I think “Away for Rio!” is one of the finest, and +I cannot refrain from giving you the words. + + +CHANTY.--“AWAY FOR RIO!” + + _Solo._ “Oh, the anchor is weigh’d, and the sails they are set,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “The maids that we’re leaving we’ll never forget,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio! aye, Rio! + Sing fare-ye-well, my bonny young girl, + We’re bound for Rio Grande!” + + _Solo._ “So man the good capstan, and run it around,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “We’ll heave up the anchor to this jolly sound,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “We’ve a jolly good ship, and a jolly good crew,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “A jolly good mate, and a good skipper too,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “We’ll sing as we heave to the maidens we leave,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “You know at this parting how sadly we grieve,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound to Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “Sing good-bye to Sally and good-bye to Sue,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “And you who are listening, good-bye to you,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “Come heave up the anchor, let’s get it aweigh,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “It’s got a firm grip, so heave steady, I say,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “Heave with a will, and heave long and strong,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “Sing a good chorus, for ’tis a good song,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “Heave only one pawl, then ’vast heaving, belay!” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “Heave steady, because we say farewell to-day,” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio!” etc. + + _Solo._ “The chain’s up and down, now the bosun did say,” + _Chorus._ “Away, Rio!” + + _Solo._ “Heave up to the hawse-pipe, the anchor’s aweigh!” + _Chorus._ “For we’re bound for Rio Grande, + And away, Rio! aye, Rio! + Sing fare-ye-well, my bonny young girl, + We’re bound for Rio Grande!” + +Of course the words are not exactly appropriate in the present +occasion, but the chorus is one of the best I have ever heard, with its +wild, queer wail. + +It would have been a grand picture for a painter: the struggling ship +surrounded by foam, the great, greeny-grey seas, the wild, stormy sky +just tinged with yellow where the sun was setting, the wet, glistening +decks, and the ring of toiling men heaving round the capstan. + +With the extra cloth, the poor old _Royalshire_ laboured terribly, and +seemed to make worse weather of it than ever. + +Mac, Loring, and I managed to get along the main-deck and on to the +poop without being washed overboard, and there found the second mate, +the mate having gone below on being relieved, staring in consternation +at the reefed topsail. + +I asked Jamieson to-day whether he called the _Royalshire_ a wet ship. +He said that no iron ship could expect to be anything but a half-tide +rock in such a terrific sea, and that he had been on ships which before +now would have had their boats and everything on deck swept clean away +by the weight of water. But the _Royalshire_ has everything of the +best, and all for strength. + +“Great snakes, here comes a sea!” cried Loring all of a sudden. + +I gave one look astern, and there, towering high above us, was a huge +monster, roaring and hissing as it curled its top; it looked as if it +must break full on to the poop, and was a sight to strike terror into +the stoutest heart. + +Would she rise to it, or was this our last moment on earth? + +“Hang on for your lives!” roared the second mate. + +Up, up, up went the _Royalshire_, good old ship, she was going to top +it after all; but though she did her best, the heavy weight aft held +her down, and she did not quite get there. + +With a deafening thud, the top of the monster curled into boiling surf +and fell upon us, overwhelming the helmsmen, who clung desperately to +the wheel, and dipping us to the waist as we hung in the weather jigger +rigging. + +In a roaring torrent it poured across the poop, and then, like an +earthquake wave, fell aboard the whole length of the port-rail. Such a +height was it, that it toppled over in a terrible breaker upon the top +of the midship-house; the gig’s side and bottom fell out, as if hit by +a thunderbolt, the lamp-locker door was smashed down, and all the lamps +washed out (luckily Don was not inside this time, or he would have +certainly been drowned), and it filled the main-deck high above the +hatches until the water was on a level with the poop. + +The poor old ship gave a sickly roll under the terrible weight of +water, and dipped Loring and myself up to our necks in the next sea as +we clung on to the port jigger-backstays. + +All the life seemed struck out of her; she swung nearly five points off +her course, and old Foghorn, Jennings, and the second mate were working +like demons as they hove the wheel up. + +“If she gets another on top of this, she’ll go down like a stone!” +yelled Mac in my ear. + +“What price the watch below,” I returned. “I thought the half-deck +doors would go to a certainty.” + +“Yes, they held out well; that lamp-locker door’s torn clean off its +hinges, and is smashed in like a rotten apple. Just look at the lamps +washing about; we must get them somehow, and put them down in the +cabin as soon as the water clears off a bit.” + +“Aye, aye!” + +“Did you hear the dagos yelling in the port-forecastle? I guess they +thought they were half-way to Davy Jones’ locker!” + +Gradually the gallant ship shook herself clear, and the hatches showed +their tops once more above the water. + +Down Mac, Loring, and I dashed on to the main-deck until we were up to +our waists in water, and started retrieving the lamps. + +Meanwhile, a howling hail squall came down upon us, and the second mate +rushed for the captain. + +As we splashed about removing the lamps from the wrecked locker, Mac +said grimly, + +“If another sea comes along and catches us two in here, we’re gorners.” + +“I should think the betting’s two to one on. Let’s hope old Wilson +won’t let her run off; she’s steering vile, though,” I reply. + +At that moment Loring, who was on the poop ladder passing the lamps up, +shrieked at us, + +“On the poop for your lives! God Almighty! look sharp, or you’re +caught!” + +We made a wild rush for the ladder, a lamp under each arm; the invading +sea leaping madly at us, tried it’s best to catch us, but in vain, we +reached the poop in safety. The poop ladder was now working loose and +wanted relashing, or it would go adrift. + +At this moment the old man came on deck, and giving one glance round, +turned to the second mate and said, + +“Call all hands and get the sail off her, I must heave her to.” + +“Aye, aye, sir!” + +I ran down to call the mate, and found him dozing. + +“It’s all hands, sir; the captain’s going to heave her to.” + +“What’s that; is the weather worse?” he asked, as he struggled into his +oilskins. + +“It’s blowing harder than ever, sir, and she shipped a very bad sea +just now,” I answered, and ran on deck again. + +“All hands! all hands on deck!” yelled the second mate and Mac, as we +splashed forward. + +The port watch turned out sharply, looking pretty scared. + +“How did you like the big sea in the half-deck?” I asked of Don. + +“It poured in like a watershute, and your bunk was under water in +double-quick time, my boy.” + +“Well, that don’t matter much; I don’t suppose I shall get much chance +to sleep in it to-night.” + +“Henderson, go and get your side lights and binnacles lighted,” called +the second mate. + +“What’s become of them, sir; my lamp-locker’s washed bare as a bone?” + +“They are all down in the cabin.” + +Away went Don aft, to run the gauntlet of the furious seas until he +reached the safety of the poop. + +“Fore upper-topsail first!” called the mate. “Tail on to the +spilling-lines all hands, and show what you can do!” + +“Now then, starboard watch!” cried the second mate, “up with your sail, +and give the port watch a dressing down!” + +“Lively, boys; haul, and show your spunk!” yelled Mac. + +“Yo--ho! Yo--hay! Yo--ho--oh! Up she goes!” + +Crash! and a sea broke over us. One gasp and a splutter, and we were +under water; swept off our feet, and knocked helter-skelter edgeways, +we lay in tangled knots of yellow humanity. Some one tried to cram +his foot down my throat, whilst my knee was gouging out his eyes. As +the water poured off, it left us bruised, battered, breathless, but +undaunted. + +Scrambling to our feet, at it we went again, working like fiends and no +skulkers. + +“Haul, and bust yourselves; haul till you break!” yelled Mac. + +“One more pull and she’ll do!” cries the mate. + +“Oh--ho! Oh--har!” + +“Turn that!” + +“All fast, sir!” + +“Up aloft, and roll up the sail!” + +“Now then, starbowlines, give her hell and show your grit!” shouts +the second mate as he dashes aloft at the head of us, as active as +a monkey, whilst the port watch, led by Scar and Don, take the port +rigging. + +As we sprang into the shrouds, she rolled her rail under until we were +dipped deep below the surface. But we hung on like grim death, and not +a man was washed away. + +Up we went over the futtock shrouds and on to the yard. It was pitch +black now, and spitting hailstones as big as marbles. + +The wind blew up aloft with an edge to it that froze one’s extremities +into ice. The sail was as stiff as a board, and it seemed a matter of +impossibility to pick it up. + +We hit it, we scratched at it, we clutched at it with hooked fingers +until the blood gushed from our nails. + +“Catch hold of her, dig your fingers in!” cries Mac. “You there, Bower, +blast you, are you going to sleep on the damned yard, or what the devil +do you think you are doing?” + +Frenzied men tore at the sail with both hands, hanging on by their +eyelids, whilst we out at the yardarm had the hardest task of all. + +“Up with her!” roared the second mate at the bunt. “Now then, +all together--Oh--ho!--and she comes! On to the yard with +her--Oh--hay!--and roll her up!” + +Truly a sailor must have each finger a fishhook, as they say. + +Well, we got it on to the yard somehow, and made a fair stow of it. + +Meanwhile the port watch were all at sixes and sevens, doing nothing +much but hang on and swear in five languages. Don’s language up aloft +is enough to scare the devil, though he’s the best man on a yard in the +watch. + +“Lay down from aloft!” cries the second mate, and we gain the deck +glowing with triumph, for our last man is out of the rigging before +they have picked up their sail. + +But now comes the great tussle--the foresail had to come in, and it is +a new sail. + +Some of the men were pretty well coopered by the hard work, cold, wet, +and strain of it all. Poor old Higgins could hardly stand on his legs, +Bower was not much better, and as for the wretched port watch, their +struggles on the upper-topsail yard had quite worn them out. Don and +the red-headed third mate were hoarse with swearing, though both were +still full of beans; the Arab was a miserable object, whose teeth +rattled like castanets, and eyeballs rolled their whites in a frenzy of +terror. + +“Port buntlines and clew-garnets first!” yells the mate, whilst the +second mate takes the ticklish job of easing away the sheet. + +In the small space round the fife-rail, we were very cramped up and +crowded out, and it was difficult to get the whole weight into the +pull, so some of us got on to the fife-rail and hauled from above until +the blocks came down too low. + +Difficulties of all sorts cropped up: the blocks jammed, the buntlines +twisted up and had to be unrove, and ever and anon the wash of a sea +swept over us. + +Men lost their balance and cannoned against each other, men slipped, +and half a watch fell on their backs cursing, but the mate gave them no +time to think. + +“Up you get there, no skulking, jump, or you won’t know what hit you!” +snarls Scar at the prostrate group. “You damned dagos, what good are +ye?--hell, you ain’t worth thumping.” + +“Dat no right, mistar, we do our dam level best, dat’s true!” whimpers +one. + +“Oh, curse you for the worst watch I ever sailed with!” roars Scar in a +frenzy of rage. “Here, you there, you blasted bandylegged Turk, haul, +can’t you! Don’t look at me like that, damn ye!” + +Inch by inch, with incredible labour, we hauled the sail up. The +strongest of us got our fighting second wind, and the icy blast of the +south wind only put new breath into our nostrils. + +“Take some of your best hands to the braces and spill the sail, Mr +Knowles!” called the mate. + +Mac, Don, Jamieson, Rooning, Loring, and myself followed the second +mate. + +“Jamieson and you, Bally, come with me to the weather braces; you, Mac, +take the other three and get in the slack as we give it you.” + +This was as dangerous a bit of work as any one could want; the seas +swept in a continuous cascade over the rail where we were working, and +more than half the time we were under water, hanging on for our lives. + +One blunder and the yards might take charge. Inch by inch we let out, +and those to leeward took in, watching our chance as the vessel rolled. + +The second mate was like a bull for strength, and Jamieson a very tiger +for energy. + +“Take it off! Carefully does it--that’s it--keep a turn in, and ease +away gently.” Then, as a huge black mountain of water appears above us, + +“Hitch it, and hang on all. God Almighty! quick, for your lives!” + +At last we have the fore-yards braced up fairly well. + +“That’ll do!” yells the mate above the shrieking of the storm, and we +dash forward again. + +The foresail was now fairly well hauled up. + +“Are you going to reef it, sir?” asked Scar. + +“No, furl it,” answered the mate. “Away you go aloft, and take a +yardarm at a time.” + +There were a goodish crowd of us when both watches were out on one +yardarm, and we did not have as much trouble as we expected with the +sail. + +The lower yards are so big that it requires two men to pass a gasket; +one sits down on the foot-ropes and catches the gasket, whilst the +other man, hanging above the yard, swings it to him. + +On the fore-yard the white tops of the huge seas seemed on a level with +us as they rolled by in great mountains of ink, leaving a trail behind +like the wash of a Kootenay stern-wheeler. + +The sight was truly grand, illumined as it was by a small wisp of a +moon which peeped out every now and then from behind the scudding +clouds. + +With the foresail furled, we had now the three lower-topsails alone +set; but even this was too much, and the main lower-topsail had to come +in before the old man dared bring her up to the wind. + +The most dangerous work of the lot came now, as we had to haul up the +main lower-topsail right amidships; here the water was up to our waists +between the seas, and every other moment the whole ship’s company was +under water. + +It was a wonder nobody was lost, and a still greater wonder that no +limbs were broken. + +The second mate, Scar, Jamieson, and myself, hauling up the port +clew-line, had a rare time of it. + +Whenever we did get our heads above water we managed to get a few +short, strong pulls in; but mostly we had to work like divers. + +If we saw a sea coming in time, we took a turn, and all four dashed +for safety, one into the rigging, another on to the skids, a third up +the iron ladder on to the midship-house, and the fourth on to the main +fife-rail. + +At last we had the sail hauled up, and away we went aloft to furl it. + +Directly we had got the sail on to the yard and were making it fast, +the helm was put down. + +It was an exciting moment as her head came slowly up to the wind. + +A huge sea rose up before us until the spume off its boiling crest was +blown into our faces, high up as we were, then down it swooped aboard, +sweeping her fore and aft. + +Over and over went the poor old _Royalshire_, until the lower yardarms +were dipping into the whirl of broken water to leeward. + +The main lower-topsail yard was almost straight up and down, and we +hung on like so many frightened flies. + +“She’ll turn turtle!” yelled some one. + +One of the dagos gave a shrill shriek, which rang like the cry of a +wild bird above the roar of the tempest, and in absolute terror would +have fallen off the yard if the man next him had not hauled him back by +the scruff of his neck. + +“Hell, are you all going to sleep up here!” came the thundering voice +of the second mate at the bunt. + +“Tie up the sail and get a move on, or there’ll be trouble.” Nothing +was able to dismay his indomitable spirit. + +Mechanically we turned again to our work. Seconds passed like hours as +we felt the ship heeling over, ever over. + +Was she going? She was almost on her beam ends now! We could not see +the decks; between them and us was a curtain of boiling, hissing spray +and broken water, into which the masts were stuck half-way up to the +lower yards. + +After some terrible moments of suspense, we all felt that she had +stopped going over, and lay steady almost on her beam ends. + +Long before this point had been reached, ten or twenty years ago, the +men would have been gathered in groups round the masts and standing +rigging, with axes ready, waiting the order from the captain to “Cut +away!” + +But in a modern wind-jammer, with masts of iron and shrouds of the +strongest twisted wire, this is impossible, and you can no longer save +your ship by cutting away the masts. + +Presently a lull came, and we could once more see the deck beneath us. + +The _Royalshire_ was lying over with her lee rail dipped, so that the +fair-leads were level with the water, the hatches were half submerged, +and the lee side of the poop was under water. + +As we came down from aloft, the sprays were thick, as high as the +main-yard, and it was like going into a boiling cauldron with the steam +rising from it, with the difference that its embrace was icy cold. + +Nothing more could be done now; the ship lay hove-to, though she was +a good many points off. Our watch was sent below for a short hour and +a half before coming on deck for the middle watch, and the port watch +went on to the poop. + +Mac, Loring, and I managed to get into the half-deck without mishap. +We were all three soaking wet, half numbed with cold, and with no dry +clothes to change to. + +Mac was anxious, and thought she was lying very badly, and declared +that we should be lucky if we saw the night through. + +Loring, who had been doing wonders in the way of work, was quite +dead-beat, and just got into his bunk as he was, and lay there in his +oilskins. He could not turn in, as everything was wringing wet; the +lower bunks had evidently been constantly under water whilst we were +snugging her down. I found, however, that the inside of my good old +sleeping-bag was comparatively dry, so slipping out of my oilskins and +rubbers, I crawled in, and soon got some heat into my body. + +Mac also turned in, and as usual, smoked himself to sleep. + +Just as I was dropping off to sleep there was a terrific crack as a +hail squall struck her. + +“Something’s carried away aloft,” growled Mac. “Hope to hell we shan’t +be wanted.” + +We heard the watch tramping off the poop on to the main-deck, and +presently heard them singing out. + +I looked out through the forward porthole. + +“They are hauling up the mizen lower-topsail to leeward,” I said. + +“Likely the sheet’s carried away,” said Mac. + +“Yes, and they are going to goosewing the sail.” + +This was what had happened, and it took the whole of the port watch +until midnight to make the starboard half of the sail fast. + +At one bell Don staggered in and turned us out; he was absolutely +dead-beat, frozen, and angry. + +“Oh, those damned dagos, the cowardly curs; there are only about two +men in our watch left who are not too paralysed with funk to work. +We’ve had an awful time on the mizen-topsail-yard: this is fair hell.” + +“What’s the night like?” + +“Worse than ever; you can’t see farther than the after-hatch from +the poop, there’s so much broken water on deck, and if our watch get +forward safely at eight bells I shall be kind of surprised.” + +Well, that was a bad middle watch; I never felt colder I don’t believe, +not even in Klondyke. + +The main-deck was a sight to scare the stoutest heart, and it looked an +impossibility to get along it in safety. + +Mac was sent forward to tell the watch not to come aft, but to stand-by +forward and to see that all the fore lower-topsail gear was clear, as +any moment we expected to see one of the sheets carry away. + +We watched him as far as the mizen fife-rail, when a huge sea broke +aboard, making a clean sweep over everything, and throwing the spray +right over the crossjack-yard. + +Mac shinned up the mizen lower-topsail sheet, and was hidden from our +view by the spume. + +It took him over an hour to get forward and back again. Hardly had he +got safely on the poop before a furious hail squall, which we had been +watching come up for some time, burst down upon us. + +The second mate, Mac, Loring, and I hung on to the jigger weather +rigging, and waited for something to carry away. + +Over lay the _Royalshire_ until the fair-leads disappeared from sight, +and the leeward side of the poop was under water right up to the +chart-house. + +The squall screamed and shrieked at us in fury, as if determined to +break down the gallant ship’s resistance. + +The hailstones cut our faces until the blood came, helped by the +spindrift, which blew over us in sheets. + +The deck was straight up and down, and still everything held aloft. +Everything depended on the fore lower-topsail; but it was a brand-new +cotton sail, and the sheets had been carefully seen to. + +The squall passed, but others kept coming up. + +Every few minutes I slid down to the chart-house to see if there was +any change in the glass; it was extraordinarily low, but fairly steady, +and inclined to rise. + +The watch passed very slowly as we hung on to windward, numb with cold, +but ready for anything. + +We tried to yarn, but the roar of the gale made it impossible to hear +each other, and we soon gave it up. + +It seemed a wonder that any ship could keep afloat with all that +quantity of water on the main-deck. + +So the watch passed without incident, except for a small matter which +amused Mac and Loring somewhat. + +The second mate and I were both making carefully for the +chart-house--only two or three yards to go--but, with the deck sloping +every other moment like the side of a house, it needed some care. +As luck would have it, this time a wave struck her, and gave her a +quick heel to leeward. We both lost our balance and slid down to the +rail, bringing up in about four feet of water, from which we emerged +spluttering out curses and salt water, only to be greeted by the loud +laughter of Mac and Loring. + +As the ship was hove-to, the helmsman had an easy time, and the wheel +might just as well have been lashed. + +At last I was able to strike eight bells, and we went below, leaving +the worst four hours in the twenty-four to the port watch, namely, +those from 4 A.M. to 8. + + +_Tuesday, 17th October._--At seven bells we were awakened by the hoarse +cries of the port watch at the braces. + +They were squaring the ship away before it again. + +On coming on deck after our scanty breakfast of hard-tack, we found +that both sea and wind were better than they had been. + +This was not saying much, for even as we emerged from the half-deck +we saw a sea whirling aft along the main-deck, with odd legs and arms +belonging to sundry members of the port watch sticking up out of it +like derelict spars. + +The watch had evidently been washed away from the fore braces. + +They were glad enough to get below at eight bells, and leave us the +tough job of setting the main lower-topsail, and reefing and setting +the foresail and three upper-topsails. + +Very heavy work, as the main-deck is still under water, and some of the +men forward are completely used up from the cold, wet, and hard work; +all hands also are beginning to feel the pangs and grip on the stomach +of hunger and thirst, and I took my belt in another hole. + +Although we were all pretty well worn out, we managed to ring out a +rare good chorus, chantying up the topsails. + +Jamieson sang the solo of “The Wide Missouri,” a very celebrated chanty. + + +CHANTY.--“THE WIDE MISSOURI.” + + _Solo._ “Oh, Shenadoah, I love your daughter,” + _Chorus._ “Away, my rolling river!” + _Solo._ “Oh, Shenadoah, I long to hear you.” + _Chorus._ “Ah! ah! We’re bound away + ’Cross the wide Missouri!” + + _Solo._ “The ship sails free, a gale is blowing,” + _Chorus._ “Away, my rolling river!” + _Solo._ “The braces taut, the sheets a-flowing,” + _Chorus._ “Ah! ah! We’re bound away + ’Cross the wide Missouri!” + + _Solo._ “Oh, Shenadoah, I’ll ne’er forget you,” + _Chorus._ “Away, my rolling river!” + _Solo._ “Till the day I die, I’ll love you ever,” + _Chorus._ “Ah! ah! We’re bound away + ’Cross the wide Missouri.” + +So it runs on, the roar of the storm and the weird shrieking and +humming in the rigging making an accompaniment hardly to be beaten by a +first-class band. Even the clash of the deck ports resemble cymbals and +the big drum. + +Round we go, half a dozen voices roaring at the top of their pipes, +Mac’s and Jamieson’s shrill, wild, and broken, old Foghorn’s two +octaves below the rest of us, like the growling of a grizzly bear. + +It’s wonderful how a chanty will get a topsail mastheaded. We sent the +mizen upper-topsail up to the tune of + + +“ON THE BANKS OF THE SACRAMENTO.” + + _Solo._ “Sing and heave, and heave and sing,” + _Chorus._ “Hoodah, to my hoodah;” + + _Solo._ “Heave, and make the handspikes spring,” + _Chorus._ “Hoodah, hoodah day. + And it’s blow ye winds, heigh-ho, + For Cal--i--for--ni--o; + For there’s plenty of gold, so I’ve been told, + On the banks of the Sacramento!” + +It is rather difficult for a landsman to understand the sense of the +words in some of the chanties, and no doubt in most cases they need +some explanation. Some of them refer to people and events long since +gone and forgotten. + +There is one chanty, however, which is, perhaps, as well-known ashore +as afloat, and few songs have more beautiful words than “Hame, dearie, +Hame,” and I cannot resist from giving the first verse. + + _Solo._ “I stand on deck, my dearie, and in my fancy see, + The faces of the loved ones that smile across the sea; + Yes, the faces of the loved ones, but ’midst them all so clear, + I see the one I love the best, your bonnie face, my dear.” + + _Chorus._ “And its hame, dearie, hame! oh, it’s hame I want to be, + My topsails are hoisted, and I must out to sea; + For the oak, and the ash, and the bonnie birchen tree, + They’re-all agrowin’ green in the North Countree.” + +This is, of course, a capstan chanty, and it takes some beating when +sung by a good chantying watch. + +As we were chantying up the main upper-topsail to the tune of “As off +to the South’ard we go,” a big sea fell aboard and washed Higgins and +Bower into the lee scuppers. + + _Solo._ “Sing, my lads, cheerily, heave, my lads, cheerily,” + _Chorus._ “Heave away, cheerily, oh, oh!” + + _Solo._ “For the gold that we prize, and sunnier skies,” + _Chorus._ “Away to the south’ard we go.” + + _Solo._ “We want sailors bold, who can work for their gold,” + _Chorus._ “Heave away cheerily, oh, oh!” + + _Solo._ “And stand a good wetting without catching cold,” + _Chorus._ “As off to the south’ard we go--o, + As off to the----” + +Crash! bang! fizz!--“Hang on all!”--“Damn!”--“South’ard we go!”--“Curse +you, get your boot out of--” (splutter)--“Blasted fool!”--(puff, +splutter)--“O Lord!”--“Lost my only sou’wester, curse it!”--“Where’s +Bower?”--(coughing, panting, blowing, as the water begins to roll off)-- + + +“In the lee scuppers with old Higgins, clasped in each other’s arms.” + +“Ha! ha! ha!” + +“Hallo, Rooning, bleeding?” + +“Some one kicked me in the face.” + +“Now then, tune her up, boys, give her hell!” + +“Give us a chanty some one.” + +So we struggle on, and by noon the _Royalshire_ has got all she can +stagger under. + +The weather is moderating a bit, though hail-storms still blow up every +few minutes; but the sea is not as bad as it was, and the main-deck is +keeping freer of water. + +With some risk, at six bells this afternoon we got the fresh-water pump +rigged, and managed to get some fresh water along, after losing a few +buckets and having some narrow escapes. + +Poor Loring was caught by a sea and washed into the lee scuppers, and +got a black eye. + +The cook also managed to get the galley fire alight, and we had some +hot tea for the first time for some days. + +The wind hauled ahead in the first dog watch, and we had to brace her +up until the yards were on the backstays. + +The half-deck is in a fearful state, and still inches deep in water. +Up above, hanging on lines suspended from bunk to bunk, are wet socks, +shirts, caps, mits, overalls, coats, mufflers, oilskins, rubbers, etc., +and every spare corner is crowded with sea-boots hung up upside down to +let the water drain out of them. + +The chests and my big hunting kit bag we have jammed up in one corner, +and lashed them so that they cannot carry away and break anybody’s leg +as the ship rolls. + +Backwards and forwards across the floor wash trousers, shirts, +hair-brushes, matches, socks, books, papers, pieces of sodden +hard-tack, chunks of salt junk like bits of wood, shoes, caps, belts, +swabs, bits of soap, and every kind of derelict. + + +_Wednesday, 18th October._--We had a very cold night of it, and in the +first watch the wind went back into the old quarter, and we had hard +work squaring the yards. + +We had to take a handy billy to each brace, and Jamieson had a narrow +escape from going overboard: he was standing on the topgallant rail +putting the strop on the main-brace, when a big sea swooped down upon +us. He saved himself by shinning up the brace, but we on the deck below +were all sent washing about on our backs. + +In the middle watch the mate and Webber, who is the hardest worker +in the watch next to Don, were in the lee main-rigging at work in +bowlines. I forget what had carried away; but after close on two hours, +first under water and then with a minute or two above, they were +carried aft at eight bells, helpless with cold, and in a very bad way. +It took some time and hard rubbing before we could get any life into +them; and when we did get his circulation back a bit, Webber had no +dry things, so I lent him my arctic fur coat with the hood. + +It was a plucky bit of work; but the mate is a fair demon, and does not +know what fear is, and as for the cold and work, he laughs at them as +trifles. He’s a man who came through the hawsehole, and has seen some +very hard times. + +The old man is carrying on again, and we set all three lower-topgallant +sails in the morning watch. + +Soon after daylight we sighted an outward-bounder under lower topsails +and staysails, having a bad time beating against the wind, and big sea +running. + +She was a four-mast barque, with painted ports like ourselves, but with +single topgallant-yards. She passed us about a mile to the southward on +the starboard tack; the wind was a dead muzzler for her, and she was +evidently only beating on and off hoping for a slant. + +We sighted land to the westward of the Horn about 11 A.M.--a bleak, +dreary-looking coast, all black rocks and white foam. + +Cape Horn was called after the Dutch vessel _Horne_, which was the ship +of Schouten, who, with another Dutchman, Le Mair, was the first to +weather the Cape. + +[Illustration: CAPE HORN + +(_Drawn by the Author_)] + +Before this, passages to the Pacific were always made through the +Magellan Straits, and navigators imagined that the land of Terra del +Fuego extended right south into the ice of the Pole. + +The next man to these bold Dutchmen to round the Cape was Sir Francis +Drake, and, like the Dutchmen, he was but scurvily treated, and arrived +in the Pacific battered and torn, a sadder and a wiser man, with an +everlasting respect for the great South Wind and his companions the +Cape Horn Greybeards. + +At 4 P.M. we passed the great and dreaded Cape Stiff, as sailors call +Cape Horn, towering huge and gaunt, worn and rugged, through its +everlasting battle with the raging sea. + +At the same time we passed another outward-bounder, which was beating +in towards the Horn on the port tack, crossing our bows less than a +cable’s length ahead. + +She was a full-rigged ship with painted ports, and, like the +four-master, was under lower-topsails alone. + +We ran up our ensign, but she made no response; it was easy to see, +however, that she was a foreigner. + +The sight of us foaming through it under lower-topgallant sails was +too much for her, and just as she got on our port bow, we saw a man go +aloft on to her main upper-topsail yard, and she soon had her fore and +main upper-topsails set. + +She made a lovely picture as she surged past us, with the great, +black, world-renowned promontory as a background. + +I wonder how long she and the four-master have been beating backwards +and forwards at the pitch of the Horn!--very likely over a fortnight. + +The sight of these two ships beating under lower-topsails whilst we +were foaming along, doing over 10 knots under lower-topgallant sails, +put the old man in a very good humour, and he made Mac, Loring, and +myself come up on to the poop and look through his glasses whilst he +spun us yarns of the adventures he had had off this dreaded point. + +Once, he said, he was outward bound, beating up against the usual heavy +gale, the weather being so thick that you could not see a ship’s length +ahead. All of a sudden the lookout yelled, “Breakers ahead!” and the +next moment out of the thickness appeared the great tower of Cape Stiff +itself. + +The ship was running right on to the rocks at the foot of the Cape, and +in another five minutes she would have been lost with all hands; as it +was, he put her about with all dispatch, and as she came up to the wind +the huge breakers rolling in swept her decks, taking away all the boats +and tearing the standard compass from the deck. + +This was a narrow escape, but he was destined another time to get more +close than was pleasant. This time it was blowing a terrific gale, and +after a very exciting and anxious struggle, he just managed to weather +Cape Stiff, and the next moment found himself in a calm land-locked +fiord, protected from the raging gale outside by huge cliffs. + +Here he lay for nearly twenty-four hours, and then got a slant. Then +the old man got on to the subject of the difficulty of getting round +the Horn outward bound. + +“This is my thirtieth passage round the Horn as master, and outward +bound I’ve never been more than a couple of weeks beating off the +pitch of the Horn; and what’s more, I never will be. Why is it that +some ships spend months beating off the Horn? Simply because, directly +he gets off the Horn, the captain puts his ship under lower-topsails, +and just beats backwards and forwards, waiting for a slant to get him +round; that’s not the way to get round the Horn; why, I’ve come round +under royals and passed ships under lower topsails. Whenever you get +a chance, you must take advantage of it, and cram on sail and force +your way against the Westerlies. No, don’t tell me that it’s not the +master’s fault when his ship spends a month or six weeks off the +Horn, for I know it is. Look at that foreigner under lower-topsails; +if we were outward bound now I’d have the _Royalshire_ under six +topsails and whole foresail;--though, mind you, I’m not saying that if +I was captain of that dagoman I’d have all that canvas set, for the +_Royalshire_ has got seven backstays, whilst that old tub’s only got +three.” + +“Well, Lubbock,” he continued, turning to me, “you’ve seen the Horn +now, and come round it in the worst blow and biggest sea I’ve ever +seen down here; and what’s more, you’ve done it in one of the finest +sailing-ships afloat.” + +“What’s happened to that full-rig ship we sighted in the bad blow, sir; +oughtn’t she to be in sight?” + +“Well, she’d have had to heave-to when we did; for if she went on +running before it, she’s hard and fast ashore now, and not a man alive +to tell the tale.” + +It breezed up again as darkness began to set in, and between the dog +watches all hands were called to handle the mainsail. + +Lat. 56°.18 S., long. 69°.04 W. + +The wind hauled ahead again early in the first watch, and we had to get +the topgallant sails in. + + +_Thursday, 19th October._--A very cold night, with rain, snow, and +sleet. In the middle watch the second mate caught a little land-bird on +the poop. What kind of a bird it was none of us knew; it was a little +larger than a sparrow, with yellow-edged wings. After examining it, we +let it go again, and it immediately flew away. + +We are going 7 or 8 knots through the water, and passed Staten Island +early this morning some way off. + +Lat. 54°.47 S., long. 64°.04 W. + +The wind hauled aft again this afternoon, and we set topgallant sails +again. We passed another outward-bounder under lower topsails, a barque. + +The water has not been coming aboard quite so freely to-day, so we +seized the opportunity to clear up the litter and wreckage in the +half-deck. + +Oh! what a mess everything was in! After a long search, I found my +hair-brushes and all my matches in a far corner afloat in the spittoon, +so I am without matches for the rest of the passage. Mac, however, +has come to the rescue, and presented me with half a dozen boxes of +Japanese matches. + +The carpenter’s shop is now as full as it will cram with wet clothes +from the half-deck and midship-house. Chips will not let the men dry +their things there, so they can only wring them out, and hang them up +under the forecastle head. + +There was hardly a dry pair of socks or stockings in the ship, and all +sorts of expedients were resorted to to dry one’s rubbers and keep +one’s feet warm. We used to wrap our feet in paper, or put paper soles +inside the boots; and another dodge was, to light bits of paper and +let them burn inside the rubbers to warm them. + +The second mate suffered a great deal from cold feet, as did most of +the others. I lent him my arctic moccasins, which are, of course, much +warmer than wet rubbers, but are so frightfully slippery on wet decks +that you absolutely can’t stand up in them. + +I do not feel the cold half as much as any of the others. Whether my +Klondyke experience had hardened me I don’t know, but I used just to +wring out my socks and put them on again, and my feet very rarely felt +the cold. + +No one wears mits, except at the helm, as you cannot work on deck or up +aloft in mits, as they soon get soaking wet and worn out. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SOUTH ATLANTIC + + +_Friday, 20th October._--We foamed through it all night close hauled +under topgallant sails, going about 8 knots. + +We are on the banks now, and there is a pretty big sea running. +Occasional hail-storms in the morning, but by noon we had crossed the +terrible banks, and were in lat. 52°.14 S., long. 55°.41 W. The glass +is very low and is falling rapidly, and I suppose we are in for another +blow. + +It is our afternoon watch on deck. Every few minutes the second mate +dashes into the chart-house and looks at the barometer. + +At 3 P.M. the glass was down to 28°.60, and the sea and wind are +beginning to get up. + +All of a sudden the wind chopped round into the S.W., and began blowing +harder every minute. + +We soon had her squared before it, and it was a case of in with the +topgallant sails, and reefing the upper-topsails; so we had a hard +afternoon’s work up aloft. My thumb is very awkward and painful still, +as, though I keep a rag round it, the salt water gets in, and salt +water, wherever it gets in, eats to the bone. + +A very wild sunset to-night, but as yet the wind is not very bad, +though an occasional hail squall stings us up. + +All night we never touched a rope, and foamed through it, going a good +10 knots. + + +_Saturday, 21st October._--A lovely morning, with the sun shining! +It is blowing hard, and we are reeling off the knots under reefed +upper-topsails, lower-topsails, and foresail. + +The Falkland Islands are well to the south-west of us now. + +I had another very bad fall last night in the first watch. Feeling very +hungry, and finding that our bread barge in the half-deck was empty, I +went forward to cadge some from our forecastle. + +They gave me as much as I could carry; but, alas! just as I got past +the after-hatch on the starboard side, the ship gave a very heavy roll, +and my feet slipped up from under me on the greasy, wet deck. + +Down I came with a terrific crash, hurting my hip, and smashing the +biscuits into atoms. + +The old man and mate were aft by the wheel, and they said that my fall +shook the whole poop. + +Well, I lost all my biscuits, and damaged my hip; but scored all the +same, for the old man went below and presently emerged with a tin of +potted meat, which he gave me out of his private store. + +How we in the half-deck licked our lips over that potted meat! for +myself, I thought I never tasted anything half as good in all my life. + +The men are beginning to suffer a great deal from sea-boils. + +Poor old Taylor has got a very bad finger. It started with a whitlow, +which got poisoned from not being cut, as the captain, who is always +the doctor on board a ship where no doctor is carried, did not like to +cut it, having made a mess of a finger before through cutting it badly. + +Taylor has had to lie up, and is in terrible pain. + +Loring has taken his wheel, and is a very good helmsman. I do not like +this at all, as now I have to keep time the whole watch at night, +instead of only two hours in the watch. + +The third mate is also laid up, as he has got very bad sea-boils on his +wrist, and they have paralysed his right arm the whole way up. + +Pipes are beginning to get very scarce on board. I had four pipes in +Frisco; I gave one, a little beauty of Lowe’s, Haymarket, to Don. It +passed from man to man, until I think Loring had it at last, and by +that time it was minus its stem piece. + +Another I gave to Mac, and it got washed overboard off the Horn. + +Another was a corn cob--sweetest of all pipes to smoke--which got its +bottom broken in; and my last, and old favourite, a bull-dog, from +being constantly scraped out, got a hole through the bottom of the bowl. + +This hole I plugged with everything I could think of, but it was no +use, the only thing to do was to keep one’s finger over the hole when +smoking. + +The mate gave the nipper a pipe, which the nipper in turn gave to Scar; +from Scar it went to Don, from Don to Mac, from Mac to Loring, and from +Loring it went to the bosun. + +Mac had a clay, the stem of which was broken off so short that he had +to hold it to his mouth. + +Scar had an old silver-mounted pipe which was everlastingly choked up. + +So now, what pipes remain have to be shared; and in the half-deck, +Loring, Don, and Mac taking turns to smoke one, and occasionally I let +Don have a pipe out of my old bull-dog. + +Scar and the nipper have only one pipe between them, and are +everlastingly at loggerheads as to whose smoke it is. + +It is hard work to keep a pipe alight this weather, as the tobacco gets +so damp that it won’t keep burning. + +I cut up a couple of plugs to-day, and putting them in a tin, got old +Slush to put it in the oven for a bit. + +But we both forgot to take it out, and the tobacco got roasted almost +to a cinder, and now has a very peculiar taste. + +Still anything is better than having to do without, as I have often +found, and this roasted ’baccy had one advantage, it burnt well, and +kept alight. + +Cigarettes and cigarette tobacco have, of course, always been very +scarce on board. + +Don used to roll cigars out of the leaves of ship’s tobacco. + +Don, Loring, and the second mate, who are the chief cigarette smokers, +got a fine haul on the other side of the Horn. + +The old man had got a lot of fine cut English tobacco which he could +not smoke, as he preferred the strongest and blackest ship’s plug, so +he presented this to the second mate, Don, and myself. As I preferred +a pipe, I swapped mine for some plugs of American tobacco which Don +had got, so now Don, Loring, and the second mate have got plenty of +cigarette tobacco, and there is only the trouble of cigarette papers. + +The second mate has only got a few left, and neither Don or Loring have +got any; but luckily for them I managed to get some out of the Turk in +the port watch, as he of course only smokes cigarettes. + + +_Sunday, 22nd October._--A fine morning, and we set the topgallant +sails again, and staysails, and shook the reefs out of the topsails. + +It was our forenoon watch on deck, and we chantied the topsails up in +fine form, taking the halliards to the capstan. + +Scar is an authority on chanties, and he says that the real old +chanties are very seldom heard now; all the same, we have had a good +number of fine chanties sung on board. + +The thing to hear is a nigger crew chantying. They sing most +beautifully, with splendid minor and half notes; they cannot do the +least little bit of work without chantying. + +A celebrated chanty, which I am very fond of, is “Haul on the Bowlin’,” +which is a setting sail chanty, and runs thus:-- + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the fore and maintop bowlin’,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the packet is arolling,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the skipper he’s agrowling,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, to London we are going,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the good ship is abowling,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + + _Solo._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the main-topgallant bowlin’,” + _Chorus._ “Haul on the bowlin’, the bowlin’ haul!” + +A real good old-time chanty is “Storm along, Stormie!” which runs +thus:-- + + _Solo._ “Stormie’s gone, the good all man,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “Oh, Stormie’s gone, that good old man,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “They dug his grave with a silver spade,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “His shroud of finest silk was made,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “They lowered him with a golden chain,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “Their eyes all dim with more than rain,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “He was a sailor, bold and true,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “A good old skipper to his crew,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “He lies low in an earthen bed,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “Our hearts are sore, our eyes are red,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “He’s moored at last, and furled his sail,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “No danger now from wreck or gale,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + + _Solo._ “Old Storm has heard an angel call,” + _Chorus._ “To my aye, Storm along!” + _Solo._ “So sing his dirge now, one and all,” + _Chorus._ “Aye! aye! aye! Mister Storm along!” + +This is a pumping chanty. One of the most celebrated chanties is “The +Black Ball Line,” the first verse of which runs thus:-- + + _Solo._ “In the Black Ball Line I served my time,” + _Chorus._ “Hurrah for the Black Ball Line!” + _Solo._ “In the Black Ball Line I served my time,” + _Chorus._ “Hurrah for the Black Ball Line!” + +This is a long capstan chanty, and has fourteen verses in the original +words; of course you hardly ever hear two men sing the same words in +the solo of a chanty, though the choruses are always the same. + +Chanties such as “Blow, my bully boys, blow!” “A long time ago!” “A +poor old man,” “The plains of Mexico,” “John Brown’s whisky bottle’s +empty on the shelf,” “Boney was a warrior,” “Blow the man down,” +“Reuben Ranzo,” “Away for Rio!” “Whisky for my Johnnie,” we were +constantly singing. + +“The Girls of Dublin Town” is also a very popular chanty. + +We had hardly got sail set when it came on to blow hard again, with +heavy squalls, and the other watch had to take in the upper-topgallant +sails in the afternoon. + +In the first dog watch it was a case of all hands on deck. + +“Haul up the mainsail, and get the lower-topgallant sails tied up,” +said the old man to the mate. + +Each watch is a man short, Taylor being laid up in our watch, and Scar +in the port. + +The decks are full of water again, some very big seas coming aboard, +and we had a difficult job clewing up the mizen upper-topsail, which +had to come in directly the topgallant sails were fast. + +Then came the terrific business of squaring in the yards, one of the +most dangerous of all jobs when a heavy sea is running. + +Many a ship has lost a whole watch over the side whilst at work at the +braces. + +Both watches tailed on to the port main-brace. + +I was about fifth on the rope, with old Wilson, who was singing out on +one side of me, and Higgins on the other. + +We had hardly taken two pulls at the brace, when a huge sea broke +aboard right over our heads, and both watches were swept off their feet +in every direction. + +Wilson, Higgins, and I received the full force of it. For one tiny +moment of time I saw the great hissing mass as it reared its foaming +top higher and higher above us, and then crash! and it toppled its +whole weight upon us. + +Knocked down, crushed, overwhelmed by the monster, I was quite +conscious of what was going on, as I hung on to the brace with all my +strength. Under water as I was, with my heels above my head, I saw +dimly the round bundles washing about close to me which represented +Wilson and Higgins. + +Over and over the sea rolled me, and hurled me with terrific force +against the main-hatch, and three times did my poor right knee come +with a crash against a ring-bolt. + +It was worse than being upset out of a canoe whilst shooting rapids, +infinitely worse; there was no chance of getting your head above water, +and one could only hold one’s breath or swallow gallons of water, until +the sea rolled off. + +I hung on to the brace until the terrific weight of water tore it from +my grasp, and away I went, first my head up then my feet, rolling +over and over, a plaything of the furious sea, which made me turn +somersaults, balance myself on my nose or on the back of my head, just +as the whim took it. + +It washed me round the hatch; it bumped me against the fife-rail, which +I clutched at madly; it rolled me like a beer barrel into the scuppers; +I got entangled and disentangled again with other human bundles, and +never for a second could I get my head above water. + +At last the water began to run off, and I found that I could sit up and +get my head above water. + +Once more able to breathe, I gasped and gasped, and looking around me, +saw yellow bundles lying about in every position. + +I lay to starboard of the main-hatch; close to me, in the scuppers, lay +three men in a tangled mass; mixed up in the fife-rail were two more; +another lay gasping on his back under the break of the poop. + +Above the roar of the gale I heard the second mate’s stentorian voice, + +“Main-brace there! Up you get, d--n it, get a move on!” + +I pick myself up, dazed and half-drowned. My sou’wester had gone, and I +found I could hardly put my leg to the ground, I was in such pain from +my knee. + +Poor old Higgins was very far gone, and Wilson was not much better, and +Don, of course, had as bad a time as anybody. + +I think the second mate was the only one who escaped a ducking: he +scrambled up on to the skids when he saw it coming, and his agility +saved him. + +The old man, who was on the poop, seeing the whole of his ship’s crew +washing about the decks, dashed down on to the main-deck up to his +waist in water, went to the head of the brace, and cheering us on, and +hauling to his own singing out, he soon got us all going again. + +It took us a terrible time to get those yards squared. Again and again +seas broke over us; but there is no such thing as giving in on board +a sailing-ship--those yards had got to be squared, and squared they +eventually were. + +The old man told me afterwards, that when that sea broke over us, all +he could see was my feet sticking up for a moment out of the water, as +the wave rolled me over and hurled me against the hatch. + +He made sure that I must have been badly hurt, but on examining damages +I found that my poor old knee was the only cripple. + +It was pretty bad, however, the knee-cap being turned right on end, so +that instead of being flat it pointed straight up. + +My sou’wester would have been a serious loss, but the old man very +kindly presented me with a brand-new silk sou’wester. + +It makes the sixth piece of headgear I have lost, blown away, or washed +overboard, since I have been on board. + +The second mate did not like the old man leaving the poop, declaring +that it was as bad for a captain to leave the poop in bad weather as +it was for a general to expose himself to the fire of the enemy. But +I must say I rather admired him for doing so, as he left the security +of the poop for the most dangerous part of the ship, jumping like a +soldier into the breach and rallying his men. There is one thing about +our skipper, he shines in moments of danger. + +There is no funk about him, and his nerves are of the best, as is his +seamanship--everybody acknowledges that he is the best sailor in the +ship. + +We spent a wet, cold, and I myself a very painful night. + +However, it began to clear up again towards morning, and we set +everything to the main-royal. + + +_Monday, 23rd October._--In 46 latitude now, and romping along with a +fair wind. + +My knee is very painful, and I am quite a cripple, as it won’t bear +walking upon, and is very swollen. + +As I cannot get about on it, the second mate got out a couple of +Martini rifles from the armoury in the captain’s cabin, and giving me +some chalk and oil, allowed me to sit on the after-hatch and clean them. + +This was a pretty good job, as they were frightfully rusty. + +It started blowing hard again towards night, and the _Royalshire_ was +stripped of everything but her six topsails. + +Very squally, and wet decks again. + +As I am quite useless on deck, on account of my knee, the second mate +let me have all night in, and Jennings had to keep time. + +Although I was in great pain all night as I lay in my sleeping-bag, +I could not help gloating over the fact that I had so many hours of +warmth and rest whilst the sea and wind roared and battered on the deck +outside. + +My good old waterproof sheet protects me from the water which pours in +at times through the cracks in the door, for our wretched half-deck is +full of water again, and is in as bad a state as it was off the Horn. + +Unable to sleep from the pain, I lay in my bunk and watched the +wreckage washing backwards and forwards with the roll of the ship. + +Sometimes an extra big wave would fill up the half-deck until, as the +ship rolled to port, the water would splash up in my face. + + +_Tuesday, 24th October._--Splendid sailing! Our run to-day was 270 +miles, pretty good under six topsails only. + +It is blowing hard, and big dollops are coming aboard. + +I can’t get about yet, so I am at work again cleaning the old man’s +shot-gun on the after-hatch. + +If this weather continues, we shall soon be into the south-east trades. +Already everybody is beginning to talk about getting home. + +The second mate has all along said, that, notwithstanding her foul +bottom, she was coming home in ninety-seven days, which is quite +possible if all goes well. + +Don gives her forty days home from now. We sailed on 25th August, which +makes us sixty days out to-day. So far, we have done a very fairly +good passage, and I certainly think another sixty days ought to see us +docked. + +Scar is very gloomy, and says we are going to take one hundred and +sixty days, and he hopes we’ll never get back,-- + +“I feel something’s going to happen this passage,” is his favourite +grumble. + +His temper is so bad that he is quite soured by it, and looks on the +gloomy side of everything. + + +_Wednesday, 25th October._--The weather is moderating, and we set all +sail this morning. Lovely sunshine and fresh breeze again, and it is +fast getting warmer. + +Bower and the bosun had a row in the morning watch. + +The bosun, who is not very fond of Bower, called him by a name that +would have caused “gun-play” if they had been in Arizona. + +Bower retaliated by blacking the bosun’s starboard peeper with his +grimy fist. + +The bosun seemed to take no notice of this, and only said sharply, + +“Go to the bosun’s locker and bring aft the handy billy, and look damn +quick!” + +Bower, all unsuspecting, turned his back and started off on his errand: +but the moment his back was turned the bosun jumped for him, and, +knocking him down, started to kick him in the ribs. + +The end of it was, that Mac and Jamieson had to haul the bosun off, or +Bower would have got badly hurt. + +The bosun has got a very black eye, and is in very low spirits; he is +in rather bad odour aft just now, as we all think it was a very dirty +trick to play. + +But whilst yarning with me in the first watch, Bower told me that it +was a regular old German trick, and that he was a fool not to have +thought of it at the time. + +He and the bosun, though both naturalised Yankees, are both German born. + +The wind dropped in the afternoon, and the first watch found us +rolling our rails under in a very long, heavy swell, without a breath +of wind. + +As the ship rolled the swell gushed in through the ports, and she even +dipped her rail under to it. The cataract of water pouring across +the deck carried one off one’s feet if one was unfortunate enough +to get caught by it, and it was impossible even to sit down without +holding on. The lower yards look as if they would pierce the sea every +time, and we had to haul up the courses, or they would have flogged +themselves into shreds. + +As we were all sitting round smoking and reading before one bell, the +third mate suddenly hove the magazine he was reading on the deck and +cried, + +“Well, I thought Clarke Russell knew more than that!” and he showed +us a passage in the magazine, in which Clarke Russell, talking of +sailing-ships, says that they do not roll, they only list. + +Well, this ship proved he was wrong anyhow; here we were, a long, +modern iron ship, and nearly rolling our masts out. + +Scar even went so far as to say that no steamer ever rolled like a +modern sailing-ship. + +From my experience on the _Royalshire_ I am sure that he is right, +though I have seen some steamers rolling very badly, especially foreign +men-of-war. I once passed the _Lucania_ lying at anchor just inside the +bar at New York, and she was rolling very badly, but nothing like a +sailing-ship in a calm with a heavy swell running. + + +_Thursday, 26th October._--Lat. 41°.48 S., long. 38°.31 W. Course--N. +43 E. Run 148 miles. + +It was quite calm all night, but a light head wind sprang up towards +morning, and we are sneaking along quieter than we have been for many a +day. + +We have started scrubbing and painting again. My knee is better, but I +dare not rest my whole weight upon it, and the knee-cap is still out +of place, but the swelling has gone down. It is hard work getting the +rust off the topgallant-rail, standing on one leg all the time like a +pelican. + +The second mate and Loring are hard at work on their models again. + +Scar and the nipper are talking a good deal about starting models also, +but they have not got beyond the talking. + +Loring’s is the model of the _Talus_, his last ship. This ship, +which is a very handsome clipper, was in Frisco with us, and sailed +thirty-two days before us. + +The second mate is making a very small model of the _Royalshire_, and +is doing it beautifully, its yards being cut out of matches, and its +ropes the thinnest of cotton. How on earth he does it with his big +hands, I can’t imagine. + +We had a terrific argument in the half-deck this evening about +schoolmasters swishing and caning boys. + +Don and I both maintain that it is an excellent thing, but Scar and Mac +apparently think that it is the greatest disgrace that can fall upon +one. + +“When I was about twelve, I remember our schoolmaster at Findhorn +caning me,” said Mac. “I scratched, and kicked, and bit, and fought +every time. The cad! he soon got to funk it; and if a schoolmaster had +ever tried to swish me when I was seventeen or eighteen, great Harry, +but I would have killed him.” + +Scar endorsed this, and was, if anything, more furious than Mac at the +terrible cruelty of caning boys. + +“Well,” I said, “I’ve had plenty of it myself, and it’s thought nothing +of at Eton, where a boy would far sooner have a swishing than a long +pœna; and I believe that if you asked each boy out of the eleven +hundred at Eton, pretty nearly every one of them would say it was a +good thing.” + +“Why, I used to prefer being caned at school to learning half a dozen +lines of saying lesson,” said Don. + +Scar and Mac regarded the pair of us with wonder and surprise as being +without shame or pride. + +But it was too fearful a thing to be argued about, and they relapsed +into silence. + +Then we began talking about Wellington, and I happened to mention that +he said that the battle of Waterloo was won in the playing fields of +Eton. + +Oh, what a hullabaloo this raised! Don lay back in his bunk and laughed +at the tangle I had got myself into. + +They actually screamed at me in their rage; at first they did not +believe it, then they pronounced Wellington a liar of the first +water--for who did not know that the battle of Waterloo was won by the +Scotch regiments! + +Scar worked himself up into such a frenzy that I thought he would have +a fit. He bashed in the lid of his chest with his fist; he hove his +knife on the deck, and spat on it; he stamped, he tore his hair, he +screeched inarticulately, until one bell in the first watch, when the +light was turned down and our watch turned in. + +Talk about bigoted people, but Scotch boys take the cake! + + +_Friday, 27th October._--A fine breeze all day. We are romping along +under full sail, yards almost square, and averaging 8-1/2 to 10 knots. + +In latitude 39 S. at noon to-day. + +There are a whole heap of birds all round us, including a lot of +albatross, which have come up here to get out of the bad weather down +to the southward. + +I think the albatross is a wonderful bird. He sails in a stately, +majestic way instead of flying, and not once in twenty-four hours does +he give a flap to his immense wings. + +Like the shark amongst fish, he is a devourer of offal--the scavenger +of the South Seas--as he is not quick enough in his movements to catch +fish. + +His appetite is enormous; and when he can get a good meal, such as a +dead whale, he will gorge himself until he is unable to rise into the +air. Despite his appetite, his powers of abstinence are wonderful also, +and he will go for days without any food. For instance, the young bird +(the albatross only lay one egg) is left by its parents when it is +still too young to fly, and for six months has to live without any food +whatever; it is very fat when they leave it, and apparently lives on +its own fat, never leaving the nest during the whole of the time. At +the end of the six months the parents return, and forcibly eject the +poor young bird, and he has to go straight out into the world to earn +his own living after having had a six months’ starve. His parents take +no further interest in him, and busy themselves over the hatching of +another egg. + +A large flock of “whale birds” passed us to-day. + +Old Slush is very keen to catch an albatross, and has got a hook over, +but we are going too fast through the water. + +Once more voice is raised in song in the half-deck, and we made Don +sing all his old favourites. + + +_Saturday, 28th October._--It fell calm last night, and has been calm +all day. + +In the second dog watch Loring and the cook caught an albatross. It +measured 10 feet across the wings, and had a splendid grey-white +plumage. + +We skinned him at once; Scar got the breast plumage, the cook the +wing bones for pipe-stems, the nipper and Mac taking the feet for +tobacco-pouches. Scar also got his head and beak, which is a tremendous +affair, and so I think he got the best of the spoils. + +There is a bigger one than this one about, which we have nearly caught +several times; it has a big snow-white head, and I think must be a very +old bird. + +These birds are of course the great wandering albatross, as, besides +them, there are heaps of sooty albatross and mollymawks around us. + +Lat. 37°.06 S., long. 34°.06 N. Course--N. 30 E. Run 154 miles. + +My knee is still very painful, but might have been much worse, and I am +able to get about better now. + + +_Sunday, 29th October._--A light wind sprang up in the middle watch +last night, and is dead ahead; we can’t head better than N.E. by E. + +There has been a lot of betting lately as to whether we shall be home +for Christmas. It is odds on at present, but a few days of a “dead +muzzler” like this will soon alter matters. + +No more burgoo for breakfast, as we are out of the “Roaring Forties” +again; and our allowance of water has been reduced, as we are running +short, having only about sixty days’ water left in the tanks. + +Taylor’s finger is very bad, and is fast rotting away, his whole hand +being swollen up. + +The old man can do nothing but poultice it, as it is too late to lance +it now. + +If it goes on getting worse at the rate it is doing now, he will lose +his hand. + +Though landsmen are constantly sent to sea for their health, sailors as +a class (that is, deep-watermen) are by no means free from ailments, +caused on the one hand by the shocking food they have to eat, on +the other by the action of the salt water on the skin, which causes +sea-cuts and sea-boils. + +From the captain down, I think I was the only man on board who came +ashore without having had something wrong with him during the passage. +True, I had a twisted knee-cap; but that was an accident, not an +ailment, though it was caused by salt water. + +The mate and the nipper suffered chiefly from toothache. + +The captain, the second mate, and Mac, suffered very much from cramp in +the stomach in the North Atlantic. + +Scar had a very bad time with sea-boils on his arms. + +Poor old Taylor, of course, is on the sick list, and won’t do a hand’s +turn again on this ship. He is in great pain, and cannot sleep at night. + +Bower has suffered all the passage with boils: Rooning has also very +bad sea-boils; he can only use one arm, and has to keep his head on one +side. + +Jamieson, besides having a huge boil on one of his arms, which left a +hole as large as a five’s ball, nearly fainted one day at the wheel, +and had a short go of malaria. + +Don consumes quinine and chlorodyne wholesale, for jungle fever, which +lays him low every now and then. + +I have got a small medicine-case on board, which I had up in the +Klondyke with me. + +I never took a thing out of it for myself, but during this passage, +pretty nearly every second dog watch, someone would come along for a +dose of something or other. + +Podophyllin and cascara pills I gave away, a half-dozen a dose. I have +used half a large bottle of quinine tabloids already, and half a small +bottle of chlorodyne, two bottles of cascara and one of podophyllin, +and a lot of fever tabloids. + +This dosing, of course, goes on all unknown to the old man, who has +been pretty busy himself dealing out his pet remedies for sailors’ ills. + +If it was not for the lime-juice, I am sure we should have scurvy on +board; for I have seen scurvy caused by much better food than any going +here, up in the Klondyke. + +I really wonder how I kept so well, when I think of the bad pork +swimming in grease and slush, and one mass of fat, which we had to +consume every other day, even on the equator. + +Pea-soup and hard-tack are my great mainstay. The pea-soup is very +bad, without any flavour, and very dirty; but that does not prevent it +filling up the great hollow, which is the main thing. + +There is not much superfluous flesh on our ship’s crew, and though I +was in splendid condition and without a bit of fat on me when I came on +board, I have taken my belt in six holes already, and it is only the +muscles which prevent my ribs from breaking through my skin. + +Lat. 36°.19 S., long. 32°.22 W. Course--N. 60 E. Run 96 miles. + +By the way, I have never explained how it is that I can give the lat. +and long. every day. Of course, I do not take a sight at noon, or +anything of that sort--though Jamieson told me that he sailed out of +Aberdeen once in a small barque, and on the first Sunday out every man +in the forecastle except himself brought out a sextant, and going on to +the forecastle head, shot the sun. + +It appeared that, except himself, every man had either a master’s, +mate’s, or second mate’s ticket, and they took the sun on Sundays just +to keep their hands in. This incident is a small proof of the terrible +overcrowding of officers in the Mercantile Marine. + +But to return, the captain and officers are always very careful on most +wind-jammers never to let out to the crew the position of the ship, and +on the _Royalshire_ even the third and fourth mates were not told it. +So the way we found out was this: on alternate days Don and the nipper +used to clean out the mate’s cabin, and, whilst doing so, they used to +take a peep into the log-book, and jot down the position and run for us. + + +_Monday, 30th October._--Wind a dead muzzler, fresh, with rain squalls. +“A dead muzzler” is a sailor’s way of saying that the wind is blowing +from right ahead, so that the ship cannot lay her course, and can only +beat backwards and forwards, making very little headway in the right +direction. + +We had a great treat for breakfast this morning: we cut up the +albatross, and made the cook broil it for us. The meat of the great +bird was as dark as mutton, and tasted very like mutton, with a strong, +fishy flavour. Don could not touch it, but I thought it was awfully +good. + +The wind is freshening, and just as we had got started on our +everlasting sand and canvasing this morning, a squall came up. + +“Stand by your royal halliards!” roared the second mate. + +I stood by the main royal halliards. + +Down came the squall upon us with a shriek, the wind howling, and the +rain hissing, and the _Royalshire_ groaning as she lay over to it. + +“Clew up your fore and mizen royals!” yelled the second mate. + +Then the main-royal had to come in. I ought to have gone aloft and made +the mizen-royal fast, as it was one of my sails; but as I could only +just hobble about, the second mate would not let me go. But, alas! it +blew harder and harder, and the upper-topgallant sails had to come in. + +This time there was no help for it, and I had to go aloft. I was pretty +well done by the time I had got on to the mizen upper-topgallant yard, +as I could not bear any weight on my knee without it giving. + +Going over the futtock-shrouds into the top was a job, and I had half +a mind to go through the lubber’s hole for once in my life; but I could +not bring myself to do it, even though I was a cripple. + +That forenoon watch fairly did me up: hobbling about on a rolling deck, +pulling and hauling, climbing and swinging on a foot-rope, all with a +twisted knee-cap, is no joke. + +Lat. 35°.47 S., long. 29°.08 W. + +Heading about N.E. by E., and gradually coming up to our course. + + +_Tuesday, 31st October._--Wind still ahead, and blowing fresh. + +We furled the crossjack at midnight last night, and my wretched knee +got into the wars again. + +The wind being dead ahead, the yards were braced up so that they were +hard on the backstays, and whilst on the crossjack-yard I managed to +get my knee crushed in between the yard and the backstays as the ship +rolled; the consequence is, that it is as painful and weak as ever this +morning. + +Lat. 35°.01 S., long. 26°.18 W. + +We are not making much northing. + +We set the crossjack again this morning whilst the port watch were +below. + +There is a queer, unhealthy look about the sky to-day, and squalls are +numerous. + +At 8 P.M. we furled the crossjack again, and at 9 the mainsail was +hauled up and made fast. + +The horizon to windward is beautifully lit up with sheet and fork +lightning, and it is raining. + +I am afraid we are in for something; the old man is on the poop, +watching the lightning to windward, but for which the night is as dark +as the inside of a cow, as the wild man from Findhorn expresses it. + +I was just thinking of striking four bells (ten o’clock), when I heard +the second mate roar from the poop, + +“Haul down the jigger-staysail!” + +At the same moment the squall struck us, the wind coming with such +force that one could hardly stand up against it. + +Over and over went the _Royalshire_, the lee rail went out of sight +in the smother of broken water to leeward, and then the hatches were +covered; the ship was almost on her beam ends; here we were nicely +caught with all our flying kites set. + +The decks were on such a slope that one could not stand up without +hanging on. + +Everything was in confusion. + +“On to the poop some hands and get the spanker in!” I heard the second +mate yelling. + +Up I dashed in the pitch darkness, and ran full tilt into the +jigger-mast, striking my game knee on an iron belaying pin. + +I fell to the deck, and writhed in the greatest agony I have ever been +in in my life. + +All of a sudden there was a terrific crash of thunder, and a fork of +lightning zigzagged into the sea from right above us. + +This lit up the scene, and with a glance, as I tried to get on to my +legs, I took in everything. + +The ship was lying as far over as she did that night off the Horn; the +second mate had carried away and nearly gone overboard, one of the +poop stanchions bringing him up (as it was, he had both legs dangling +overboard); the old man and Jamieson were fighting with the wheel, +trying to put the helm up; and Jennings, of all people, was making +frantic efforts to get on to the top of the chart-house by jumping up +against it, just like a dog trying to get up a wall it can’t jump. + +Some of the men had lost their heads, and were shouting and screaming, + +“The sticks will go! the sticks will go!” + +“Get the topgallant sails off her!” shouted the old man to the second +mate, who, picking himself up, dashed on to the main-deck, bellowing at +the top of his voice, + +“Aft the watch and clew up the mizen-topgallant sail; look alive, men, +and get your wits together. Great Cæsar! don’t you know where the lower +topgallant clew-lines are yet, you sodgers!” + +Meanwhile Loring and I were struggling with the spanker. Luckily for +us, it was not the big spanker, but only the three-cornered storm +spanker, which we soon had fast, making it fast on the boom with a +couple of gaskets like a yacht’s mainsail. + +This done, we hurried down on to the main-deck to help clew up the +topgallant sails. I managed to hobble along somehow, though in terrible +pain. + +The scene was now extraordinary. The lightning forked from one horizon +to the other; there was a “Jack o’ Lantern” or “St Elmo’s Light” at +each mast head, perched on the truck; the masts, yards, and stays were +outlined in electric fluid, as if the ships were lit up with electric +light. + +The flashes were blinding, so close and dazzling white were they, but +between the flashes the darkness was so intense that you might have cut +it up in blocks of ebony. + +“Stay on deck and help me,” the second mate said to me, as I prepared +to struggle somehow up to the mizen lower-topgallant yard. + +Loring is one of those people who have a horror of lightning, +nevertheless up he had to go, right in amongst the electricity, with +the thunder crashing just over his head. + +At last Jamieson got the helm up, and we went off before it on a level +keel. + +The rain was coming down in solid sheets, and the decks were soon full +of fresh water, as it could not run off quick enough. + +The men had trouble up aloft, as in the hurry and darkness the sails +had not been clewed up enough. + +“Haul up your port clew-line!” came down from the fore lower-topgallant +sail. + +The second mate and I buckled to it, but it was a tough job for two +men, though we were both over thirteen stone. + +The rain was so heavy and the wind so strong that you could not face it +except with your eyes shut, and between the flashes it was so dark that +eyes were not the slightest bit of good. We groped about until we got +the right ropes in our hands, often almost pulling our hearts out on +the wrong ones. + +The men were an extraordinary long time up aloft, and no doubt had a +hard job of it; but I think they had the best of the second mate and +myself as we fumbled and stumbled about the main-deck, dollops breaking +over us, sprays taking the breath out of us, tearing our hands and +breaking our shins, as we pulled, hauled, and struggled. + +I was in such pain that I had to keep my teeth clenched, and my knee +had swollen to the size of a cricket ball. + +Hardly had the hands got down from aloft, when another puff came, and +the second mate roared, + +“Stand by your topsail halliards!” + +But the old man hung on, and after this last squall the wind soon began +to slack off. + +As I struggled on to the poop to strike one bell, and wake the mate, +for it was now a quarter off midnight, the old man called me to him, +and said, + +“Hey, Lubbock, did you ever see an electric storm the like o’ that +before? Did ye mind the Jack o’ Lanterns--four of them--four, one at +each mast head,--never have I seen so much electric fluid before, no, +not in all my seafaring career!” + +I was pretty glad to get below at eight bells, dead tired as I was, +soaking wet, and in great pain. + +The port watch had had a scare when the squall struck her. Don was +chucked clean out of his bunk, and, picking himself up in a dazed state +as the ship lay over, woke up Scar and the nipper with the cry, + +“All hands on deck!” + +They were all dressing with utmost dispatch, when Jennings, to whom the +old man had given two binnacles to light whilst I was making fast the +spanker, poked his head in, and asked for a match. + +Mac seemed to have had a rough time of it on the fore lower-topgallant +yard (our old friend, by-the-bye, of the South Pacific). + +“There were only Jennings and Higgins up there with me, and the +sail was thrashing about and trying to knock us off the yard, with +neither clew-line hauled up. Why the deuce you could not haul up those +clew-lines, Bally, beats me; I nearly burst myself yelling to you.” + +“Well, they got foul somewhere, and the second mate and I nearly burst +ourselves hauling on them, and it was so dark we kept getting hold of +the wrong ropes.” + +At this moment the second mate looked in to smoke the butt-end of a +cigarette before turning in. + +“Did you see me nearly go overboard?” he asked me, laughing. + +“Yes; and did you see Jennings trying to run up the side of the +chart-house?” + +“Ha! ha! ha! I should think I did. The old man saw him too, and thought +he was off his head.” + +“The old man and Jamieson could not get the wheel up,” said Loring, +“and the old man chucked it as a bad job, and walked to the break of +the poop, saying to himself, ‘She wil’na go off; she wil’na go off.’” + +“He told me he expected to see the sticks go when the first squall +struck her,” said the second mate. + +“He wasn’t the only one who thought that,” said Mac. + +“Well, it would not have worried me at all if she had turned turtle at +the time, as I was in such pain,” I said. + +“Poor old Bally,” laughed the second mate, “up he dashes on to the +poop, and runs crash bang into the jigger-mast. I heard him groaning to +himself as I slid past him to leeward on my way to the scuppers.” + +“Let’s have a look at your knee,” said Loring. “By Jove, it looks +nasty.” + +And it was nasty too; the knee-cap was twisted more than ever, and was +right up on its edge, and the knee was swollen into a plum-pudding all +round. + +I could not bend it, and had great difficulty getting into my +sleeping-bag, and when I did get in, the pain was so great that I could +not sleep. + +Meanwhile the storm had cleared up as rapidly as it had come on, and +the other watch were hard at work setting everything to a light breeze +dead aft. + +So much for an electric storm at sea; though it was a wonderful and +extraordinary sight, it was too near touch-and-go to be pleasant, and +in cold blood I am sure I could not have done what I did, with my knee +good-for-nothing and in sickening pain. + + +_Wednesday, 1st November._--Coming on deck again at 4 P.M., we found +the ship under all sail. + +There was a lovely sunrise this morning, the sky being divided up into +bars of different colours and gradually so shading off, each colour +running into the other; right overhead it was indigo, and sloping +towards the east ran from purple to pink, greeny-blue to gold, with +great yellow sunbeams spreading out fan-shape from the horizon. + +My knee is quite useless, so I am cleaning guns on the after-hatch. + +Tarring down is the order of the day, but I escape it, as, with my leg +as it is now, I cannot possibly get aloft. + +Lat. 33°.40 S., long. 25°.10 W. + +There are about a dozen albatrosses about, and Loring succeeded in +catching one of them in our watch below. It is a bit smaller than the +one the cook caught, though its feet (one of which I have got for a +tobacco-pouch) are larger. + +We were hoping that we had got rid of our dead muzzler, but, alas! this +afternoon the wind went ahead again, and we had to brace sharp up. + +We sighted a full-rig ship on the lee quarter in the second dog watch. +I wonder if she is the ship we saw running in the bad weather off the +Horn! + + +_Thursday, 2nd November._--Lat. 32°.00 S., long. 26°.09 W. + +Our watch came on deck at 8 this morning to find ructions going +on; the old man was raging up and down the poop, every other moment +stopping to hurl a torrent of invective at the mate. + +The cause of all this trouble was the fact that the ship we sighted +yesterday is now right ahead of us, leaving us and going to windward at +the same time. + +The _Royalshire_ is terribly foul now, and very hard to steer, besides +which, the dagos in the other watch are a very bad lot of helmsmen, +which no doubt accounts for the vessel ahead. + +As we could only head about N.W., the old man put her about in the +first dog watch, and now we are heading N.E. 1/2 E.; thus we are making +very little progress north. + +It is blowing a bit harder, and in the middle watch we took in the +royals, gaff-topsail, flying-jib and jigger-topmast staysail. + +I am afraid I shall have to lie up for my knee, which does not get any +better. + + +_Friday, 3rd November._--Lat. 30°.33 S., long. 24°.29 W. + +A fine breeze, but still dead ahead; we are going 7-1/2 knots through +the water, and steering N.E. + +Johnsen has been having a lot of trouble with the watch lately, and +this morning he and Bower had a fight on the forecastle head. + +Neither (both being Dutchmen) knew how to use his fists, and they both +just banged about anyhow. Bower at last managed to knock Johnsen down, +and he, craven-hearted, refused to fight any more, but, getting up, +slunk off muttering murderous threats. + +Johnsen has now got pretty nearly everybody logged for some severe +offence or other, and swears he will not let a man go ashore when we +get in. He is going to get a lawyer, and prosecute the old man and +second mate for bad treatment, and he is also going to make charges +against the rest of us, and at the same time says he will hold us as +witnesses against the second mate. + +It is quite laughable. There is no doubt that he has got a screw loose, +and he is quite dangerous; he won’t speak a word to anyone, except to +swear at them, and he thinks that we are all on the watch to do him a +bad turn or steal his things. + +One day, in the South Pacific, he had got a shirt hung up on the +forestay on the forecastle head. + +It was a Sunday, and I happened to be up there washing clothes, when +his shirt carried away, and would have been blown overboard if it had +not caught on the rail. + +I took it and threw it down on to the fore fife-rail, where it was not +so likely to be blown away. + +That afternoon he kicked up the deuce of a row, and accused each man in +turn of stealing his shirt, as he could not find it on the forecastle +head. + +He was so persistent, that the watch began to get angry about it. + +I happened to go forward, and hearing the row going on, said, + +“Here’s your shirt. I threw it here out of harm’s way; it blew off the +stay when I was on the forecastle head, and would have gone overboard +if it had not caught on the rail. I should have thought you were an old +enough sailor to be able to stop up a shirt without its blowing away.” + +He was completely nonplussed, and did not know what to say; luckily +for him our watch were a good-tempered lot of men, or they would have +half-killed him. + +Another time, in Crockett, Don and I had just left the forecastle for +the half-deck. + +Johnsen came aft and accused me of stealing his knife. + +“Go away; I have not got your knife,” I said. + +He went away, but presently came back again and started to abuse me. + +I was about to argue the matter with my fist, when I caught sight of +the knife slung on his belt. + +“Get forward, you infernal fool, it’s on your belt the whole time.” + +Again he was caught out, and slunk forward without a word. + + +_Saturday, 4th November._--We had two heavy squalls in the night. It +is a lovely day, but the head wind still continues blowing fresh, and +keeping us from heading better than N.E. + +Lat. 28°.36 S., long. 22°.17 W. + +My knee is much worse, and I have had to lie up with it. The old man +has given me some turpentine lotion to rub on it; it is very painful, +and the cap does not seem inclined to come down into its right place. + +The wild man from Findhorn had a great feast to-day. Fish is his great +delight, and the steward gave us a tin of bad salmon which they could +not tackle in the cabin, but old Mac fairly gloats over it. + +He really is a sight at meals, and Loring says he puts him off his grub. + +He does not believe in a knife and fork, and prefers to eat everything +in his fingers, even bad salmon. + +His plate is heaped high with layers of food--salt junk, pork, and +hard-tack. It is never cleaned, and he seldom gets down to the bottom +layer, though he occasionally pokes a finger in and fishes out an extra +tasty bit from the depths which has probably been there for over a +month. + +He sits there, his plate on his knees, and fairly chuckles over his +food, gnawing the bones and scraping them clean, for all the world like +a savage. + +He is really very amusing to study. + +Though he is a very good sailor and a hard worker, he is as simple as +a child. He has the sweetest temper of anyone I have ever come across; +nothing puts him out except being turned out at one bell, and then his +anger is all over directly he is really awake. + +He has got rather a good voice for singing, but is much given to +war-whoops and blood-curdling yells, and he has got some peculiar +war-dances he occasionally gives us. He truly is a wild Highlandman, +the wildest I have ever come across. + + +_Sunday, 5th November._--The same weather; a fresh head wind; going +about 7 knots. + +Lat. 27°.05 S., long. 20°.05 W. Course--N. 52 E. Run 148 miles. + +Rather slow lying in my bunk all day, and literature is very scarce on +board; all ours in the half-deck was washed away off the Horn, but the +old man has given me some _Weekly Times_, which are two years’ old, but +better than nothing. + +The odds about getting home for Christmas are getting worse. + + +_Monday, 6th November._--Lat. 26°.10 S., long. 17°.50 W. Course--N. 46 +E. Run 168 miles. + +The day is superb, but, alas! the wind is still in the wrong quarter. + +Scar, that prophet of evil, puts all this head wind down to our killing +the albatross, and hints gloomily at an awful fate awaiting us:-- + + “And I had done a hellish thing, + And it would work ’em woe: + For all averred, I had killed the bird + That made the breeze to blow. + Ah, wretch! said they, the bird to slay, + That made the breeze to blow!” + +It is a sailor’s superstition, that within the breast of each albatross +dwells the soul of a dead mariner. + +The steward has found me a job, peeling onions for him to pickle. I +don’t see the fun of it much, though; I hate the smell of onions, and +they make one’s eyes smart and water very much. + +It is the wild man of Findhorn’s nineteenth birthday to-day; he is very +young to have served his time already. + +After a great deal of coaxing, he succeeded in getting some pancakes +out of the cook for tea. Though they were pretty nearly all grease, it +is needless to say that they were all consumed with great relish. + +Scar’s temper has been very bad lately, and Don, who would give +anything to be in our watch, says he is absolutely unbearable. + +Don, who is frightfully hot-tempered himself, is nearly bursting with +the strain he keeps upon himself; it does not matter what he says, he +is promptly contradicted by Scar, who is, of course, backed up by the +nipper. + +Poor old Don, who hoped this voyage would do him a lot of good, is +getting very run down; he does twice the work of anybody else in the +other watch. Scar, who has got a down upon him for a bad thrashing +which he gave him one day in the South Pacific, hazes him about +eternally in his watch on deck, and gives him all the dirty and +heaviest jobs. + +Don says he is getting too old and worn out for manual labour. + +Their watch is very different to ours. At meals, Loring, Mac, and I are +as cheerful as crickets, cracking jokes, laughing, and spinning yarns, +often being joined by the second mate. + +But in the other watch, Scar, Don, and the nipper sit there in solemn +silence, except when Scar and the nipper have a row, which is not +infrequent, then there are blows and oaths, snorts of rage from Scar, +and shrill cries from the nipper. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN THE TROPICS + + +_Tuesday, 7th November._--Lat. 23°.51 S., long. 16°.23 W. Course--N. 46 +E. Run 111 miles. + +To-day we passed the tropic of Capricorn, and so are once more in balmy +climes; but, alas! no signs of the south-east trade wind, and we are +zigzagging along with the yards hard against the backstays. + +Old Slush has been excelling himself lately in cooking the queer greasy +lumps of red fat which we poor sailormen have to feed upon. + +None of our watch touched our meat to-day, even Mac heaving his share +overboard, and we fell back on hard-tack. + +The other watch in their turn did the same, and the nipper said that he +was going to complain to the old man. + +We tried hard to dissuade him, as we knew he would only make a fool of +himself, and get the worst of it, as Scar and Mac were the persons to +complain if anybody did, being officers of the ship. + +Well, the nipper insisted. He first tried the mate, but was only +laughed at, as the mate had been hardened in much hungrier ships than +the _Royalshire_, and men who have experienced terrible hardships have +not much sympathy to give away. + +It was the same with the old man, who jumped down his throat at once, +and sent him up to overhaul the mizen-royal leech-line in his watch +below. + +The second mate’s advice is simple and to the point. “Take it out of +old Slush. What do you want to go and bother the old man about it for?” +and this is what I have advised all along. + +As the days get hotter, the meat gets fatter and greasier; no wonder +there are so many bad boils on board. + +Mac has threatened to heave it at the cook’s head several times, but it +has never come off yet. + +Old Slush complains bitterly that he does his best, but that he cannot +cook without more fresh water. + +He really is an extraordinary being. He is one of the ugliest men I +have ever seen: he is round-backed, with his chin touching his chest, +and his feet are so huge that he can’t lift them off the deck, but +slouches along, the very emblem of slackness and slovenliness; he has +served his time in the German army too. + +He is horribly dirty, and, though we are waiting patiently for a +wonder to take place, he has not changed his shirt since the ship +sailed. + +He and the steward get on very badly together, and more than once have +come to blows. + + +_Wednesday, 8th November._--The wind broke off about midnight, and we +went about a dead muzzler, worse than ever. We went about again this +morning at 8 A.M. + +It is a wet morning, and what wind there is is very light. There are a +lot of ships in sight to-day: a barque to leeward, a four-master on our +weather quarter, a ship on our weather beam, and another right astern. + +The old man says that all the wheat fleet from Frisco must be collected +round us, all gathered together by the head wind. + +It is funny how a head wind or a calm will bring ships together. + +There was a very long calm off the Azores about a year and a half ago, +which lasted over six weeks. + +The _Royalshire_ was in it, and they counted nearly a hundred sail in +sight round them. + +Loring was also in it, in a clipper ship called the _Argus_, and said +that one day he counted three hundred ships round him. This is a bit +hard to believe, but it has been verified. + +[Illustration: A PASSING “LIME-JUICER”] + +What a fleet this must have been! quite like the good old times, to +see so many sailing-ships together. + +Lat. 23°.21 S., long. 16°.13 W. + +We have only gone 31 miles in the last twenty-four hours, and can only +head up about N. 17 E. + +The four-mast barque turns out to be our old friend the _Centesima_. +She went about at noon, and soon ran out of sight on the other tack. + +I have turned out again to-day, and am hobbling about scrubbing +bulwarks. My knee is certainly better, though still very weak. + +We went about at four bells in the first watch; the port watch were +below, and, of course, had to turn out, much to their disgust. + +We are now heading N.W. by W. + + +_Thursday, 9th November._--At six bells in the morning watch we got +caught aback in a squall, and went about, the wind being rather +unsteady. + +There is one of the ships in sight on the starboard quarter, and the +others cannot be far below the horizon. + +We went about again at 8 A.M., and are now on the starboard tack, +heading N. 10 W. + +Lat. 22°.33 S., long. 16°.33 W. Run 45 miles. + +It is nasty, squally weather, with a lot of thunder about. + +The royals and crossjack had to come in in the afternoon, and the +mainsail was hauled up at the change of the watch at midnight. + +It is fairly sickening, this head wind, and we are hardly making any +northing at all. + +Scar’s followers are growing in numbers. Old Foghorn says he never knew +a head wind to fail coming on after killing an albatross. + +Others say that Johnsen is a Jonah, and ought to be chucked overboard. + +Good old Chips, the most harmless and one of the nicest men on board, +is that most terrible of men amongst sailors, a Russian Finn. + +Russian Finns are believed to have wonderful powers over the wind and +sea, and can bring on a gale of wind astern at a moment’s notice if +they feel inclined. + +Unfortunately for us, I suppose Chips does not feel inclined, and +allows this wretched head wind and everlasting rain to continue. + + +_Friday, 10th November._--Wore ship at 8 A.M. on the port tack. Nothing +but squalls and pouring rain all day. + +We are still hard at work scrubbing bulwarks with sand and canvas, +getting the rust off preparatory to painting; this is miserable work +in the wet; the rain ruins oilskins and washes the oil off. None of us +have got any dry clothes left again. + +Lat. 22°.12 S. Course--N. 69 W. Run 71 miles. Heading from N.E. 1/2 E. +to 1/2 N. by compass. + +Great was the excitement in the first dog watch when the ship came up +to her course for the first time for goodness knows how many days. But +in ten minutes the wind had broken off again, and we headed worse than +ever. + +At 8 P.M. the mainsail was set. We had a wretched night again with +never-ceasing rain. + + +_Saturday, 11th November._--Hopes of getting in by Christmas are fast +fading away. The dead muzzler, and his companion the pouring rain, +continue to harass us. + +We went about at 8 A.M., again at noon, and again at 4 P.M., and are +getting pretty expert at it. Now we are heading N.W. by N. compass +course, but I believe the real course is about W.N.W. + +Johnsen came aft to-day to complain of his treatment by the men +forward, and especially by Jennings. + +The mate refused to let him see the old man, and told him to get +forward; but Johnsen was not to be put off, and he started to argue the +matter. + +Just as I was beginning to think it was about time there was trouble, +the old man came on deck, and said, + +“What do you want?” + +“I vish to complain ’bout dat man Jennings.” + +“Get forward at once. Do you think I’m going to be bothered because you +can’t keep an O.S. in order? Get forward, or I’ll log you.” + +“I varn you, Captain Bailey, ve shall see ven de ship gets in; you and +de second mate I gets in de law courts for bad dreatment. I haf de +money, and I vill have de lawyer.” + +The old man merely burst out laughing, in which the mate joined, as +Johnsen, muttering ferocious threats of what he would do, retreated +forward. + + +_Sunday, 12th November._--A great and welcome change this morning; +though the head wind is still with us, the weather has cleared up; once +more the decks are dry, and all sail has been set. + +All hands are busy washing clothes, and there is a terrific run on +soap. Fresh water we have plenty of, as during the last few wet days we +have been collecting it in every thing available. + +The ship is now festooned with line upon line of drying clothes. + +Johnsen and I, who have both grown thick beards and whiskers whilst +off the Horn, shaved them off to-day, and I am told that I do not look +quite such a hard customer as I did. + +The same cannot be said for Johnsen, who looks if possible a greater +scoundrel than ever. It is wonderful what a difference a beard and +whiskers make to a face; even Don has quite altered his appearance by +shaving off his moustache. + + +_Monday, 13th November._--We started shifting sail to-day, bending our +old sails for the tropics. + +As my knee would hardly stand working aloft all day yet, I have been +made quartermaster in our watch, and I had eight hours at the wheel +to-day, from 4 A.M. to 8 A.M., and from noon until 4 P.M.,--the whole +of the morning and afternoon watches. I much prefer steering to the +hard work of shifting sail, of which I have had quite enough already +this passage. + +I am steering by the compass N. 1/2 W.; our true course is N. 57 W., +and we are in lat. 20°.15 S., long. 18°.55 W.; our run being 82 miles. + +We must be very close to the south-east trades now. Not so many +years ago, captains could tell to the degree where they would pick +up their trades; nowadays you sometimes do not get them at all, and +have to fluke along to the line as best you can. Why the trades are so +uncertain nowadays is one of those facts of which scientists have not +been able to offer an explanation. + +There are two ships right astern, a full-rig ship and a four-mast +barque, and it behoves me to steer my very best to prevent those two +ships coming up on us. + +It was a lovely night, regular tropical weather, and in the middle +watch everybody coiled up into snug corners under the break of the +poop; and as the gallant old _Royalshire_ slipped quietly along, +everybody slept the sleep of the just except the second mate, helmsman, +lookout, and myself, I being the timekeeper. + +Mac and Loring had even brought their blankets on deck, and lay very +snug. This was too much for the second mate--the sight of every one +snoring about him whilst he had to keep wide awake--so he bent the end +of a brace on to Mac’s and Loring’s blankets, and getting well out +of sight, suddenly jerked the blankets away across the deck. Mac and +Loring were rolled roughly over on to their faces; Loring woke up at +once in the deuce of a rage, but Mac, much to our amusement, took some +time to come to his senses. + +There is a better trick than this, which is to drop a bucket overboard +with a line bent to it, take the line through a port, and then make it +fast to some luckless sleeper’s foot. + +At the right moment you leave go; away goes the bucket astern, and if +it is blowing fresh the victim is pulled full speed across the deck +until he brings up with a bang against the port, where he sticks, not +being small enough to go through. + +Even if the ship is only going a few knots through the water, this +trick will give the victim a nasty jerk, and almost pull his foot off. + +It was very amusing to watch Loring’s look of amazement as he woke up +and saw his blankets careering across the moonlit deck as if of their +own accord. + + +_Tuesday, 14th November._--Lat. 19°.12 S., long. 19°.53 W. + +I took the wheel this morning from 8 A.M. till noon, and ran the two +ships astern out of sight. + +The sun is coming south, and the old man tells me that we are only +50 miles off it to-day, and it is very nearly straight overhead. +To-morrow, when we pass it, there will be no shadows. + +It seems funny that you will be able to stand on the deck in the +brilliant sunshine and yet have no shadow. + +The old man has been busy all the morning painting his models, which +he has got on the wheel box; and whilst I stood at the wheel he spun +me yarn after yarn of sea experiences--of gales, shipwreck, narrow +escapes, sea phenomena, fights, and fires, enough to stock a dozen +books. + +He told me he had sailed the seas in every kind of sailing-ship, +but had never been on a steamer. He ran away to sea, and landed in +Australia from his first voyage a penniless boy, and for many weeks +picked up his living in the streets of Sydney, bare-footed and ragged, +before he got a ship again. + +I took the wheel again in the first dog watch, and brought her up to +north by the compass. I don’t know what the variation was; but, alas! +some wretched Jonah in the other watch broke her off again soon after +to N.N.W. + +We finished shifting sail to-day, and once more the _Royalshire_ is +clad in her old and patched suit of sails. + + +_Wednesday, 15th November._--I had another eight hours at the wheel +to-day whilst the masts and yards were painted down. + +Of course there was a terrific race between the two watches, our watch +starting at the mizen mast, and the port watch at the main. + +Rooning has the post of honour--that of painting the mast from the +truck down to the royal-yard. + +Each of the other yards have a man at each yardarm, and the lowermast +has Chips and Mac at work on it in bosun’s chairs. + +Of course the paint is slashed on, but no holidays (bare patches) +are allowed, and it is noticeable how much quicker some men are than +others. Mac is by far the quickest and best painter in our watch, and +next to him come Johnsen, Jamieson, and Wilson. + +Johnsen and Wilson, who have each got a topsail yardarm, are having +a terrific race, both working as if for dear life; but I am afraid +Johnsen is the best, as at any sailoring job or at painting and +scrubbing he is very hard to beat; though he is not so good on a +yardarm taking in sail, at which I think old Foghorn Wilson is the +best--excepting of course the second mate and Mac, who, to use a Yankee +expression, are “crackerjacks” at picking up a sail. + +Notwithstanding that old sails, awnings, and tarpaulins are spread on +the deck and bulwarks under the painters, still our champions, Bower, +Jennings, Higgins and Company, have managed to scatter paint pretty +promiscuously. + +The colour is a light-yellowish salmon colour, and the _Royalshire_ is +beginning to look very smart aloft. + +Meanwhile I loll at the wheel in the glorious sunshine, keeping the +ship a clean full in the gentle breeze, a spoke now and again being all +she needs. I have to be careful, however, not to let her get within +flapping distance of the wind, as the weather clews would soon have +wiped the paint off the gay yardarms. + +Dressed in a slouch hat, flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and +a thin pair of light blue dungaree trousers turned up to the knees, my +feet, legs, and arms are burnt to a rich mahogany colour. + +Without any flesh on my bones, with all my muscles like whipcord, +and with my belt buckled tight to prevent the feeling of hollowness +which comes from the ever empty stomach--what care I for the scorching +tropical sun which is making the pitch in the deck seams boil, and is +making the paint rise in blisters on the bulwarks! + +It is a fascinating business steering a big sailing-ship, and keeps +all one’s faculties and senses at work; one knows how to steer more +by instinct than anything else, and unless you are born with this +instinct, however much practice you have, it is impossible to become a +really first-class helmsman. + +We are heading N.N.W. by compass, but true course is only N.W. by W. +Lat. 18°.20 S., long. 21°.04 W. Run 85 miles. + +We passed the sun this morning, and at noon the captain told me we were +15 miles to the north of it. + +All the afternoon the wind got lighter and lighter, and there was a +calm all night. + + “Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down; + ’Twas sad as sad could be; + And we did speak only to break + The silence of the sea.” + +Oh, where! and oh, where! are our bonny south-east trades? + + +_Thursday, 16th November._--A nice little breeze sprang up this +morning, and allowed us to drop a full-rig ship which had come up +astern during the night when we were becalmed. + +To-day I have six hours at the wheel, the forenoon watch and the first +dog. + +Painting is still in full swing; the masts and yards have been +finished, Mac breaking all previous records painting down the +jigger-mast. + +Lat. 17°.41 S., long. 21°.52 W. + +The wind has gradually dropped away again in the first dog watch, and +the sails are flapping against the wet paint, so we have hauled up the +courses. + + +_Friday, 17th November._--The trades sprang upon us about midnight, and +at last we are able to make our course, steering N. by E. 1/2 E. by +compass. + +I am having a glorious time of it at the wheel all day in this +delicious weather, whilst the others are up to their elbows in paint. + +This morning is a typical morning in the trades: sunshine, and blue sky +covered with white fleecy clouds; blue sea and white horses; shoals of +glittering flying-fish, and swooping “frigate” birds, those robbers on +the high seas. + +The “man-of-war” or “frigate” bird does not fish for himself, but, +swooping from a terrific height, so frightens those hard workers the +“booby” birds, that they drop their fish, which the robber catches +before it reaches the water. + +These “frigate” birds rise to a greater height than any other sea-bird, +and are so swift that they can catch flying-fish on the wing. + +This weather is simply idyllic. You can have all your English summer +days in the green fields--give me a ship’s deck in the trades, with the +sails bellying in gleaming rounds of white above you, and the deep, +transparent blue of the ocean stretching away until it meets the little +clouds of cotton wool on the horizon! + +Everybody is cheerful to-day except Scar, who is only cheerful when +everybody else is in the dumps, and Johnsen, whose wrongs are too heavy +upon him to allow his grim features any aspect but a scowl. + +The old man is yarning away to me again this morning. + +“Ah!” he says, “if a sailor’s life was all like this, it would be +honey. Last time I was in these trades, there were the _Loch Horn_ and +the _Ben Lee_ in company with me; the trades were very strong, and we +sailed dead level for more than a week. All that time, though it was +piping strong, we carried every stitch we could set. + +“I remember well one Sunday--the three of us were neck and neck--the +_Ben Lee_ kept splitting and carrying away sails all day. + +“As I looked through my glass I watched the tears gradually getting +bigger in his royals, at last the fore-royal split from top to bottom; +with remarkable dispatch, he unbent the sail and sent it down on deck. +Now old Captain Gaines was short of canvas, and spare royals he hadn’t +got, so he turned his sailmaker and all hands to, and as fast as a sail +split he sent it down, patched it, and set it again. + +“I think he sent up his fore-royal more than half a dozen times that +Sunday, each time with a fresh patch. + +“I guess you heard of my race with the _Puritan_ and _Cromartyshire_: +we were in sight of each other the whole way from Frisco to the Horn. + +“The _Cromartyshire_ (which is a full-rigged clipper, and the ship that +cut down that French liner in the Atlantic) is really a much faster +ship than this, but she only beat us by a few days into Queenstown, and +we just got in ahead of the _Puritan_. I daresay you saw the report in +the papers at the time.” + +I had; and as far as I remember, it ran somewhat like this:-- + +“The days of ocean racing, when tea-clippers ran 16 knots before a gale +of wind with royals mastheaded, are not yet dead. + +“The sailing-ship _Lord Dundonald_ reports passing, in lat. 40°.33 S., +long. 106°.15 W., three sailing-ships racing neck and neck, one of +them being a big four-mast barque. + +“Though it was blowing hard at the time, and the _Lord Dundonald_ was +under topsails only, they had each got every stitch of canvas set, and +must have been going well over 14 knots. + +“They were steering a course for the Horn, and we made them out to +be the _Royalshire_, the four-mast barque, and _Cromartyshire_ (both +Glasgow ships), and the Yankee clipper _Puritan_. Each ship had got a +string of flags flying. + +“From the _Royalshire’s_ signal hilliards flew the signal, ‘Shall I +take you in tow?’ + +“From those of the _Cromartyshire_, ‘Will report you at Queenstown!’ + +“And from the Yankee’s, ‘Good-bye, Britishers; can’t stop.’” + +There is a barque in sight on our weather quarter, and though she is +not steering as high as we are, we are dropping her, and can only see +the royals of the ship astern. + +We had a grand concert on the after-hatch this evening. We sang all the +old deep-sea choruses, the bosun twanged his guitar, Don discoursed +shrill music on the penny whistle, and Mac emitted hideous noises from +the mouth organ. + +Several artists have appeared forward, and one of them is painting +a really wonderful canvas of the _Royalshire_ off the Horn. Another +prefers a steamer with red smoke-stacks and plenty of good black +smoke. + +[Illustration: A “DOWN-EASTER”] + +There are also minor artists, who content themselves with painting +flags and heraldic devices. + +The break of the poop is beginning to look very smart, and I think the +coats of paint on it have got into double figures. + +I employed my time one day whilst laid up in making stencils, and +now Mac and Scar are going to show off their stencilling on the +midship-house, break of the poop, and half-deck. + +The finishing touch to the break of the poop will be the graining of +the lower part of it, which work of art will be done by the captain +himself. + +Alas! of all our chickens there are only two left, and if these don’t +die of old age, they will be kept for the cabin Christmas dinner. + +Lat. 16°.31 S., long. 22°.08 W. + + +_Saturday, 18th November._--The trades are fine and strong. We are +braced up on the starboard tack, with the yards off the backstays, +steering N. by E. 1/2 E. by compass. + +Whilst I was at the wheel this morning, from 8 A.M. till noon, it +breezed up finely, until at noon we were doing 9-1/2 knots. + +There was more kick in the wheel this morning than there has been for +some time. It is the great aim of every helmsman to have the ship +steady and dead on her course when he is relieved. This I have always +managed to do so far, and the other helmsmen of our watch, Jamieson, +Rooning, and Foghorn Wilson, generally leave you a steady helm; but the +other watch, with the exception of Yoko, who perhaps next to Jamieson +is the best helmsman in the ship, are a shocking bad lot. + +They very often leave the wheel hard up or hard down, having managed to +get the ship on her course at the last moment before being relieved, +but of course without having her steady, the consequence is if you do +not watch it and meet her in time, you find your ship running a point +off her course. Very often, also, I have had the wheel given me and +found the ship more than half a point off her course. + +I do not think our old man is as particular on this point as some +captains are, or he would have turned several of the port watch away +from the wheel. + +Of course he knows that the _Royalshire_ is steering very badly on +account of her foul bottom, but still this would be no excuse with some +skippers. + +Quartermasters on mail-boats have to be within half a degree of their +course, or they get severely called over the coals by the officer of +the watch. Steering is a speciality with them, and they do nothing else. + +Mac and Scar, in despair of being able to get their second mate’s +tickets, talk of trying to get a quartermaster’s job on a liner; but +it is not so easy to get. + + +_Sunday, 19th November._--There is only one word for the weather, and +that is the word “delicious.” A fresh cool breeze is sending us along +about 8 knots, and the sun is warm without being too hot. + +I overhauled my gear to-day, and turned out my bunk. It is wonderful +how things collect in one’s bunk; in mine I found chunks of plug +tobacco, magazines, lost socks, books, bits of wood, rope yarn, +rovings, lashings, a palm and needle, a marlinspike, sundry pieces of +soap, an odd matchbox or two, a quantity of used matches, a pen and a +pencil, a roll of diachylon plaster, a pair of scissors, my housewife, +a stray reel of cotton, some twine, two or three old shirts, and my +silk sou’wester which the captain gave me. + +Our watch is still in a very bad way with sea-boils, and it looks as +if poor old Taylor will lose his hand; it all depends on how long we +take to get in, and if we get another dose of head winds or a strong +nor’-easter in the Western Ocean, I am afraid it will have to go. + +The finger is in an awful state; the bone is rotting away, all the +tendons have broken, and it smells absolutely putrid. + +Old Taylor puts a very good face on it. He showed it me this morning, +and said with a rather sorry laugh, “Another backstay carried away this +morning.” + +He was right. The tendons, three of them, were hanging loose in long +white strings. Rooning’s arms are still one mass of boils, and if he +goes on taking pills at the rate he is going now, he will soon run me +out of them. + + +_Monday, 20th November._--The great day for cleaning and painting out +the half-deck has come. + +This morning, Mac, Loring, and I turned out at 5.30 A.M. in our watch +below, and the lot of us turned to. + +The chests and bags were taken out and put down the after-hatch, our +bedding and eating utensils being put on the main-hatch, where we shall +camp for the next few days under a tarpaulin. + +First we scrubbed it all thoroughly with sugi-mugi, then we dried +it, and started painting everything except the deck, bunks and all. +After working like furies all day, we got it finished in the first dog +watch--a pretty smart bit of work. + +The steward also painted out his berth to-day, and, as he can’t stand +the smell of wet paint, he is as ill and sick as he can be. + +Lat. 7°.52 S., long. 22°.28 W. + +We sighted a barque outward bound in the first watch. + + +_Tuesday, 21st November._--The cook left the galley this morning, +having handed in his resignation, and Loring has been appointed cook. + +The trouble arose because the cook said he could not manage unless he +got more fresh water a day. As he really gets a very liberal allowance +for cooking purposes, considering how short of water we are, this +was not to be thought of, and the old man told him that if he could +not cook on the allowance he gets now, he could get forward to the +forecastle and do ordinary ship’s work. + +The cook thought he could bluff the old man, and got badly left, so at +last we are rid of old Slush and his vile cooking. + +This morning we have started work on the decks, beginning on the +main-deck. + +Each man is on his knees, with a square block of wood, some canvas, and +plenty of sand and water. + +With these blocks of wood, commonly called “prayer-books,” every plank +has to be rubbed until it is absolutely clean and white; and unlucky he +whose planks are not white enough to pass the mate’s keen criticism! + +This is by no means a “soft” job, especially for me with a bad knee. +One is never allowed to sit down or be in a comfortable attitude +working at sea, as that is considered sodgering, and is a most heinous +offence. + +So on our knees we go at it, each working for dear life; for one has +to keep up with the quickest worker in the watch, or else you get left +behind, and there is trouble. + +Though this is almost as bad on the back as the “deck-bear,” it is a +much quicker process of cleaning the decks. + +We have got no holystone on board, so the whole business will have to +be done with sand and canvas. + +I don’t think old Slush likes it much, down on his knees amongst us +working harder than he has done for many a long day, whilst Loring, our +new cook, leans against the door of the galley with a pipe in his mouth. + +Now that Loring has gone into the galley, I take a regular wheel, and +rejoice at giving up the thankless task of timekeeping at night. + +Lat 5°.19 S., long. 22°.29 W. + +Very hot to-day, and the trades falling light. + +Oh, what a feed we had to-day! Our salt junk was a sight to see--clean, +no slush about it, and cut in decent slices. + +Good old Loring is determined to do things in first-rate style, and is +taking no end of trouble to make the food as palatable as possible. + +The trades hauled aft a bit in the first watch, and we squared in the +yards. + + +_Wednesday, 22nd November._--Hard at work again at our prayers. + +The trades are leaving us, I am afraid, and it is getting very hot. + +I don’t think old Slush is enjoying himself much; at this rate he will +soon get some of the superfluous fat off his greasy body. + +I was very pleased this afternoon to get off two hours deck-scrubbing +by standing my trick at the wheel. + +A day of sweltering heat and back-breaking toil; the deck is so hot +that one cannot walk bare-foot upon it, hardened as our feet are. + + +_Thursday, 23rd November._--Lat. 0°.36 N., long. 22°.26 W. + +We crossed the line last night at 4 A.M., and are once more in the +northern hemisphere. + +We broke up our camp on the main-hatch, and returned to the half-deck. + +Old Slush came aft this morning and whined to the old man to let him go +back into the galley, but the old man refused; at which we all rejoiced +with exceeding joy, for Loring’s cooking is a tremendous improvement; +his soft bread--sailors call bread soft bread, as compared to ship’s +biscuit, which they call hard bread--is very nice for ship’s bread, and +far better than old Slush’s rocky loaves; and yesterday the pea-soup +was a treat--there was more of it, it was quite white, as Loring had +washed his peas thoroughly, and it was very tasty, as he had boiled +small pieces of pork in it. + +We finished scrubbing the main-deck to-day, and now there is only the +poop to be done. + +We are having magnificent starry nights, and the water is full of +phosphorus, which glitters round the ship. The trades are falling off, +being very unsteady and fluky to-day. + + +_Friday, 24th November._--Yards once more square. We have lost the +trades, and are now in the doldrums again. + +We are hard at work to-day scrubbing the poop, and after a terrific +race we just beat the port watch, getting the starboard side done first. + +Poor old Don got into trouble this afternoon in the first dog watch. + +The port watch were at the starboard crossjack-braces. Don started to +sing out a chanty which had been made up on the ship in Japan-- + + “Hi! hi! hi! louralay, louralay, + Come and see the greatest living wonder of the day!” + +The old man, who was on the poop, mistook one of the lines for some +very choice swearing, which of course would have been a great offence +right under the poop, so he holloa’d out to Don from the break of the +poop, + +“Get forward, you there, swearing like that; get forward at once!” + +So off Don had to go forward. He is rather pleased than otherwise, as +Scar and the nipper have been making his life a burden to him in the +half-deck. + +I helped him to get his truck into the port forecastle in the second +dog watch. + +He is in great disgrace, and is not allowed on the poop any more. + +The old man really did not mean him to go forward into the forecastle +altogether, but only to stay forward till the end of the first dog +watch, and he was quite surprised when he saw Don and myself carting +his things forward. + +Don is delighted with the change, and says it is a tremendous relief to +be amongst the merry good-tempered dagos instead of in the half-deck +with that sulky dog Scar. + +There was a magnificent sunset, and as it grew dark, summer lightning +lit up the whole of the horizon. It was almost a dead calm all night, +with little fluky puffs, which soon died away again, but which kept us +at the braces most of the night; and the ship seldom had steerage way +on her for more than half an hour at a time. + + +_Saturday, 25th November._--There was a squall from the nor’ard at +7.30 A.M., and we braced her sharp up; but it did not last long, and +the wind blew for short whiles during the day from every point of the +compass. + +Towards evening a light steady breeze blew from dead aft, and kept us +going all night. + +It was a lovely night, dim and misty at first, until the moon rose and +the stars sparkled through the damp atmosphere. It was my wheel from +ten to midnight, and it was rather a case of-- + + “The stars were dim, and thick the night, + The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white, + From the sails the dew did drip; + Till clomb above the eastern bar + The horned moon, with one bright star, + Within the nether tip.” + +I have shifted my things into Don’s bunk, the top one over mine. + + +_Sunday, 26th November._--Lat. 5°.20 N., long. 22°.59 W. Course--N. 16 +E. Run 47 miles. + +To-day is the hottest day, I think, we have had this passage, and most +of the watch have put shoes on, as the deck is much too hot for bare +feet. + +No rest this morning, for every few minutes a light air springs up and +we have to brace her to it; this dies away, and just as we have coiled +the braces on the pins, another puff comes, and again the cry rings out, + +“Weather crossjack-brace!” + +At last, about 11 A.M., after hauling at the braces ever since we came +on deck, our watch thought we had got a rest, but no such luck. + +The burning heat was too great a temptation to the old man, and he +seized upon it as a splendid opportunity to oil the decks. + +We were provided with oil in buckets, and with rags and old socks. At +it we went on our knees on the deck. + +“No holidays, mind!” was the cry of the second mate. + +You bet we did record time over it, as it was boiling hot, and kneeling +on the deck was like kneeling on hot bricks. + +It took us just till eight bells to oil the whole of the main-deck. + +A nice little breeze from the eastward sprang up in the afternoon, and +just kept us moving two or three knots through the water. + +I spent the afternoon trying to catch a shark, but he was too cautious. +Don and one or two others wanted to go overboard for a swim, but, on +seeing the shark, soon dropped the idea. + +Once more the Bear is rising on the horizon, whilst the great Southern +Cross hangs low. + + +_Monday, 27th November._--There was a bad squall last night in the +middle watch, which heeled the ship over as if she had been a small +cutter yacht. + +The flying-jib split, and it was a wonder that nothing else carried +away. + +It was only a tropical squall, however, and it soon fell dead calm +again. + +All day we lay becalmed in the stifling heat. Paint-pots and brushes +are out again, and the bulwarks are being painted, whilst I stand +lazily at the wheel doing quartermaster again. + +Standing all day in this fierce sun has burnt me as brown as a +Hottentot, especially my feet. + +The flying-fish are flitting around us in great numbers, and I have +seen several with four wings. + +I wish a few of them would fly aboard, as they are splendid eating. + +The old man has started graining the break of the poop, and very well +he is doing it. + +The second mate, Mac, and Scar, each tried their hands at it, but were +all miserable failures. + +The most enjoyable part of the day is the second dog watch, when in +the cool of the evening we sit on the after-hatch spinning yarns and +singing songs. + +We were talking about the wonderful hardness of Liverpool hard bread +this evening, and the subject produced quite a crop of very tall yarns. + +The following, however, is quite true, and was told me by the doctor of +a large Glen Liner:-- + +“‘We had not been many days at sea,’ he said, ‘before our crew came aft +and complained that the hard-tack was of such stony substance that it +was impossible for any but a shark to bite it. They stated that if you +hit a biscuit with an iron belaying pin it made no impression upon it, +and soaking it in water made it no better.’ + +“‘Here, doctor,’ called the captain to me, ‘here’s a case for you to +decide: Is this biscuit fit for the men to eat?’ and he handed me a +regular bad-looking Liverpool pantile from the bread-barge which the +men had brought to show him. + +“I took the biscuit, and made a great bite at it. There was a crack in +my jaw, and I found that I had hardly made a dent in the biscuit with +my teeth. + +“As I took the biscuit from my mouth, something white came with it and +fell to the deck, where it glistened like a pearl of beauty. + +“‘Halloa! what’s this?’ cried the skipper, and he picked it up. ‘By +gosh! doctor, you’ve carried away a tooth.’ + +“There was a roar of laughter; it was only too true, the pantile had +broken off my port eye-tooth. + +“‘Captain,’ I said gravely, ‘this bread is not fit for human +consumption, and if you throw it to the sharks, they will be calling at +the dentist’s in a very short time.’ + +“There was a cheer. My poor tooth had solved the bread question.” + + +_Tuesday, 28th November._--The breeze was faint and unsteady all day. + +A four-mast barque outward bound passed us to leeward this morning, and +there is a homeward bound barque like ourselves to windward, but we are +dropping her. + +We are now right in the track of the outward bounders, having crossed +the equator well to the eastward. + +I am still lolling at the wheel all day during our watch on deck, +whilst the rest slap, dab, dab away with their paint-brushes. + + +_Wednesday, 29th November._--A steamer homeward bound passed us quite +close this morning at 4.30, but it was too dark to get reported. This +is the first steamer we have seen this passage. + +We think we have got the north-east trades at last, though they are +very light. Steering N.N.W. by compass. We are ninety-six days out +to-day. + +Another wonderful tropical sunset to-day, the sky being one gorgeous +mass of colour. + + +_Thursday, 30th November._--A foreign barque, probably a dago, passed +us quite close outward bound, and notwithstanding that she was only +an old wooden ship with stump topgallant masts, she made a beautiful +picture as she wallowed slowly by. + +There was a tremendous hunt up aloft to-day after a booby, which keeps +settling on the yards. He sits quite still until you are just about to +grab him, and then off he goes in circles uttering shrill cries, only +to alight again somewhere else. + +Whilst I was at the wheel in the first dog watch there was a shoal of +bonita round us, all leaping out of the water in every direction. It +really was a wonderful sight; as far as you could see, the big fish +could be descried tumbling over each other and jumping about. + +The sea round the ship was packed close with them. I have never seen +any fish so thick as these were, except of course the salmon in the +Fraser River, in British Columbia. + +Talking of shoals of fish reminds me of an extraordinary sight I saw +whilst on the way up to the Klondyke in the steamer _City of Seattle_. +We went through snipe migrating north; the water was brown with them, +and they wheeled about in great clouds which almost obscured the sun. + +For several hours we were going through them, steaming 10 knots. + +This is a hard thing to believe, almost as hard as the sea serpent, +which gentleman I must say I firmly believe in. + +I have met three different people who solemnly swear that they have +seen a sea serpent. + +Why should there not be such a thing as a huge sea snake? No doubt +they are plentiful, but are so seldom seen, because they stay down in +the great depths of the ocean, never coming to the surface unless +compelled to against their will by some terrific convulsion below, such +as a submarine earthquake. + +Of course, it is very probable that the tentacles of a giant squid have +often been mistaken for the sea serpent. + + +_Friday, 1st December._--Lat. 10°.50 N., long. 27°.00 W. + +The trades are very light, but we are heading up well, which is +something. + +A steamer crossed our bow quite close last night. It was a very dark +night, and we could only see her lights; she was evidently homeward +bound from the South. + +The days have been rather uneventful lately, being composed of hot sun, +light breeze, and paint-pot. The ship is really beginning to look very +smart. + + +_Saturday, 2nd December._--Lat. 12°.2 N., long. 27°.00 W. + +Very hot, and the trades are lighter than ever; the old man tells me +that they are caused by bad weather to the nor’ard. + +All hands are still hard at work putting the last coats of paint on the +bulwarks, rails, etc., whilst I loll at the wheel. + +Owing to Loring’s good cooking, the sea-boils amongst the men have been +getting better; but now a new trouble has broken out, and several of +the men are quite helpless from it. + +It is very bad cramps in the stomach. Mac got it this evening in the +second dog watch, and is lying in his bunk helpless and faint from the +pain. + +I gave him a strong dose of chlorodyne, but it only made him sick, and +did not ease up the pain. + +He had to lie up all night, he was so bad. + + +_Sunday, 3rd December._--Dead calm all night and all day. + +The _Royalshire_ without steerage way on her, is truly + + “As idle as a painted ship + Upon a painted ocean.” + +Mac and several of the men forward are very bad still with cramps in +the stomach. + +I think it must be the water, which, as we get nearer the bottom of the +tanks, is becoming very foul. + +We have only got five weeks water left, and out of one tank it comes +up thick and muddy, and out of the other a dark red, from the rust, so +I think the dark red water must be like a very strong iron tonic, and +thus perhaps causes the cramp. + +Lat. 12°.40 N., long. 27°.46 W. + +I have got the worst wheels this week, the second dog watch and the +4 to 6 A.M. wheels being considered the worst two tricks to have; my +other wheel is a good one, though, the 10 to 12 in the forenoon watch. + +The second dog watch was the one I hated most, as I could hear the +fellows singing and having a good time on the main-deck whilst I was +stuck by myself at the wheel. + +The 4 to 6 A.M. wheel is really considered the worst by sailors, as +those are the two sleepiest hours of the whole twenty-four. + +But there was one great compensation I found in this trick, and that +was, that every morning you saw a most superb sunrise whilst the rest +of the watch were dozing on the main-deck. + +A breeze sprang up this evening in the second dog watch whilst I was at +the wheel, and it gradually increased in strength. + +Poor old Mac, who was as strong and fit as a buck rabbit a few days +ago, is now as weak and ill as a far-gone patient in consumption. His +cheeks have fallen in, and he really looks very bad. + + +_Monday, 4th December._--Lat. 13°.39 N., long. 28°.12 W. Course--N. 24 +W. Run 62 miles. + +There is a fine little breeze this morning, and weare going course +steering N. 1/2 E. by compass. + +Painting is now nearly finished, and to-day the varnish appeared, and +we varnished the poop-rail and stanchions. + + +_Tuesday, 5th December._--Fine breeze all night; going course N. by E. +by compass, with a heavy swell setting in from N.E. + +Lat. 15°.22 N., long. 29°.20 S. Very hot again to-day, and wind falling. + +I have fallen upon a soft job, painting the name of the ship in a blue +riband on the poop buckets. + +The wind freshened up again in the afternoon, and we passed a +three-masted schooner painted white, a brigantine, and two barques, all +outward bound. + +The second mate has fallen a victim to cramps in the stomach, and was +in great agony the whole of the second dog watch whilst I was at the +wheel. + +He leant helpless most of the time over the rail, as sick as a +passenger on a channel boat on a choppy passage. + +Directly the watch changed I gave him a terrific dose of chlorodyne, +which seemed to pick him up a bit. + +Mac is still bad, and has not been able to touch any food since Sunday, +and he is a fair wreck of his former self. + + +_Wednesday, 6th December._--A welcome change has taken place; the wind +is blowing fresh, and the sea is rough, and we are fast making up for +lost time. + +A heavy squall came up upon us whilst I was at the wheel about 11 A.M. +It came out of the N.E., and went away until it hung a black cloud on +the horizon to leeward, then it came swooping back upon us. + +I put the helm up and held it there, but was too late, and in a moment +we were caught aback before we had time to go off. + +The crossjack and mainsail were hauled up, and the staysails taken in, +but as it blew harder we had to take in the royals. + +Lat. 17°.40 N., long. 29°.29 W. The wind freed a bit about 1 P.M., and +the mainsail and crossjack were set again, the royals and staysails +also being set in the first dog watch. + +We are going 7-1/2 knots through the water on the port tack. + + +_Thursday, 7th December._--Fairly piping under all sail, except +flying-jib, on our course and going over 10 knots. + +I was at the wheel this morning from 4 to 8, steering through my +trick and Jamieson’s, whilst the watch were busy sending down the +mizen-royal, which had split, and bending another one. + +The helm is very hard, and kicking like a horse with the stiff sea +running, into which we were shoving our nose and boring our way at a +great pace. It took me all I knew to hold the wheel steady, and several +times she lifted me right off my legs; but I thoroughly enjoyed the +trick, as I exerted all my strength to fight the kicking demon. + +It was a pretty heavy four hours’ spell, and by eight o’clock my arms +felt as if I had been riding a runaway horse. + +A good helmsman has to be born, not made. Every boat and every ship +steers differently. Some steer very badly, some steer very easily; each +has its own peculiarities, which a good helmsman finds out at once. + +The _Royalshire_ was not an easy steerer at all--very few long +four-mast barques are--but what made her worse than usual was the load +of wheat aft, and the foulness of her bottom. + +Every day she steered worse, and required a great deal of watching, and +the other day one of the dagos in the port watch was turned away from +the wheel. + +The most difficult task of all, is to steer a large ship running before +a gale of wind in a big sea. + +A bad helmsman in such a case will have his spokes flying round the +whole time; first his helm will be hard up and then hard down, and the +ship will be swinging a couple of points on each side of her course. + +This is because he probably watches his compass too much and his ship +too little. + +A good helmsman will know instinctively when his ship is beginning to +come up, and will at once meet her with the helm a second or two before +the compass shows the fact. + +Never watch your compass too much, as the compass is slow always, and +very deceiving. + +At night, if it is clear, and you are steering a compass course (by +which I mean that you are not steering by the wind, and the ship is +able to lie her course), take a star at a yardarm and steer by it. + +Always try to keep the wheel as still as possible. In steering the +ship by the wind, a spoke or two occasionally is all that ought to be +required to keep the ship dead on her course, if the wind is steady. + +Steering like I am now, the ship going over 10 knots with the yards off +the backstays, once she is steady she ought not to require a spoke once +in half an hour. + +When steering by the wind, you ought to keep the weather clew of your +royal just quivering. + +A landsman will no doubt wonder why, if the royal leech is flapping, +the other sails are not doing the same: but that belongs to another +branch of the art of sailoring, that of trimming your yards properly. + +The royal should be braced up the least bit more than the topgallant, +and the topgallant more than the topsail, and the topsail more than the +course. + +A good quality in a mate is to be a good sail-trimmer. + +But to return to steering. The steering of a big square-rigged +sailing-ship is I think a most fascinating job, whether you are +standing bare-footed in flannel shirt and dungarees, watching the +flying-fish as your ship hums through the trades with the maintack +boarded, or whether you are running before a gale of wind with lashings +on your oilskins, working like a donkey-engine, and hardly daring to +look behind you. You know that if you take your keenest attention off +for a moment, your ship will run two or three points off her course, +and will ship a huge sea, which, washing the decks fore and aft, will +perhaps smash a boat to matchwood, or wash out the galley, or even +carry some of the watch over the side. + +It is terrifying to a weak-nerved helmsman to see a huge mass of water +with a foaming top rear itself up behind and chase him, trying its best +to poop the ship, and ready to fall on top of him if he makes the least +mistake. + +It is for this reason that some ships have wheel-houses to hide the +following sea from the fearful helmsman. This is the time when the +good men come to the fore and the indifferent helmsmen are turned away +disgraced. + +Liverpool in the other watch, who relieved me at eight bells, got +turned away from the wheel, as the old man coming on deck found him a +couple of points off his course, and there was the deuce of a kick-up. +Liverpool said that it was not his fault, as he could not hold her. + +It is a lovely sunny day. The old man is hanging on to his royals, +and dollops and sprays are once more coming aboard, one, of course, +flooding into the half-deck. + +Lat. 21°.6 N., long. 30°.22 W. Run 217 miles. + +We passed a ship in the first dog watch homeward bound like ourselves, +under three lower-topsails and main upper-topsail, and we were under +all sail. + +I bet her old man looked at us in amazement as we surged by, going +close on 12 knots. + + +_Friday, 8th December._--Lat. 25°.01 N., long. 30°.46 W. + +These are champion trades, and in the last twenty-four hours we ran 236 +miles. + +A heavy squall came down about 9 A.M. We stood by the royal halliards, +and hauled in the head of the spanker, but the old man held on to his +royals, and she fairly lay over and smoked through it, the spray flying +in sheets over the starboard bow. + +It was my wheel from 10 to 12. At 11.30 they set the spanker again, and +it was wonderful what a difference that extra bit made to the steering. +Before they hauled out the head of the spanker she was steering nice +and easy, being well balanced, but the extra cloth just made her +uncomfortable and disagreeable. + +Seventeen more days to Christmas, and the great question is, Shall we +get home in time? + + +_Saturday, 9th December._--Lat. 28°.16 N., long. 31°.54 W. + +It was squally all night, and we clewed up the royals in the first +watch, but set them again before midnight. + +Old Slush was sent up on to the main-royal yard to overhaul the gear, +and the old rascal stayed skulking up aloft in the maintop whilst we +were working on deck until the watch was over, when he sneaked down on +deck; but the second mate was up to his tricks, and sent him up again, +and kept him up aloft overhauling gear until half an hour of his watch +below had passed. + +This morning, after my trick at the wheel, the second mate sent me up +on to the fore-royal yard to see if there was any sail in sight, and +also to put in a couple of rovings. + +As I was shinning up the royal halliards, my good old felt hat (which +I have had all this time, and which I had got quite fond of, with its +faded ribbon, and splashed as it was with paint of every colour), blew +off my head and went sailing away to leeward. + +I was very much annoyed to lose it, as, besides being my last hat, +except for my sou’wester and a Klondyke fur cap, it was such an old +friend. + +I had worn it on the prairie, in mining camps in the Klondyke, and even +played cricket matches in it in England. + +We started shifting sail again this morning; shifted the crossjack, +main upper and lower topsails, and mizen upper-topsail. + +I am out of luck to-day, as on the crossjack yard the buckle of my belt +carried away, and away went my belt overboard. My knife luckily dropped +out of the sheath on to the deck, and I got it again; but I was almost +as sorry at losing my belt as my hat, as it was a good old pigskin +belt, and had been companion to my hat in all kinds of adventures. + +I was very pleased at not losing my knife, though, which bears a +charmed life; several times I have lost it and found it again; three +times has it fallen from aloft, and off the Horn it was afloat in the +half-deck for several days. + +Scar gave me an old deep-sea cap this morning, and so I have still got +head gear, and have not been brought to making caps out of canvas, like +Don, Jennings, and one or two others. + +It is blowing pretty hard, and makes shifting sail very heavy work; but +the old man dare not wait any longer, or we shall find ourselves in the +Western Ocean with only our summer suit on, and we are looking forward +to a bad time in the stormy, wintery Atlantic. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE WESTERN OCEAN + + +_Sunday, 10th December._--A rippling breeze and a peeping sun. The +_Royalshire_ is lying over to it under all sail, with her yards braced +up. In the lee scuppers a roaring torrent of broken water rushes, +gushing in and out of the clanging ports. + +As I relieve the wheel the relieved helmsman gives me the course, + +“North-east by north a half north.” + +“North-east by north a half north,” I repeat. + +At sea, when given an order or instructions you always repeat it, so as +to show that you understand. For instance, the mate will give the order +to the bosun, + +“Haul aft those headsheets a bit, bosun!” The bosun at once repeats, + +“Haul aft the headsheets, sir,” and without waiting for further speech +from the mate, goes forward and superintends the hauling aft of the +headsheets. + +We are in latitude 31°.20 north to-day, and making fine northing. + +All day we worked as if for a wager, shifting sail. + +In the evening I took part in a game of poker in the midship-house with +Sails, the bosun, Don, and Loring. + +Our chips were beans, and cost ten a penny, and so you can imagine +there were no fortunes lost; I think I came out a great winner of a +penny half-penny. We played with the only pack of cards on the ship, a +wretched, dirty, torn and broken pack, about six cards of which we all +knew by sight. + +As a sign that we are getting into colder latitudes, I turned my +sleeping-bag to-day. + + +_Monday, 11th December._--The breeze is still piping from the +south-east. Lat. 34°.52 N. + +Hard at work bending sail all day, in the afternoon all hands had to +turn to, much to the disgust of the watch below. + +We worked with feverish hurry. A whole watch would tail on to the +gantline, and come stumbling aft in the rolling shambling trot which +sailors and cowboys have in common, all roaring at the tops of their +voices. It was an inspiriting scene. Up would go the sail, and then +would come the cry, + +“Aloft and bend it!” + +“Now then, starbowlines!” would shout the second mate, as he raced +up the starboard ratlines at the head of our watch. + +[Illustration: SHIFTING SAIL] + +It was my wheel at four bells, but being up aloft the second mate would +not let me relieve old Foghorn till six bells. + +At six bells I relieved the wheel, and for the next few hours stood +there, the only man in the after-part of the ship, for everybody was +forward shifting sail on the foremast. + +In solitude I leant against the wheel and meditated, gazing over the +foam-flecked sea and drinking in the unspeakable grandeur of the great +deep. + +Before me rose the bellying sails, and from forward the sounds of toil +and sweat came floating aft, sharp commands, the chorus of a chanty, +cries from aloft, the rattle of blocks, the stamp of many feet, the +flapping, cracking sound of a sail being sheeted home; whilst around +me, but for the swirl of the water alongside, all was silent. Whilst +they worked, the ship was in my hands: I steered her, I showed her the +way to go, I kept her from prancing away to one side or the other, with +inexorable hand grasping the spokes I held her on her course, ever and +anon casting an eye to windward. + +No bells were struck; time passed; amidst pillows of pink and yellow +clouds and a counterpane of deep purple shading to mauve and lilac, +his majesty the sun went to bed; still they worked forward, and aft +I steered and steered. The black pall of night began to descend upon +the sea; there is no twilight in these latitudes, and whilst yet the +afterglow lit up the west, the stars were beginning to peep forth in +the east. + +It was evidently long past eight bells, still they toiled; the welcome +sound of “Sidelights out, hand on the lookout!” remained unheard, and +I began to wonder if they were going to work all night. It was so dark +now that I had to strain my eyes to see the compass card. + +I could see them at work bending the staysails; all the square canvas +was bent, and some hands were putting the discarded sails below. + +At last came the welcome voice of the mate, + +“Clear up the decks, sidelights out, binnacles, hand on the lookout.” + +Don brought me up a couple of binnacles and then went forward. + +Both watches went to their tea after the decks were cleared up; the +mate, who walked the poop whilst the second mate was at his tea, came +and had a look to see that I was on my course, but said nothing, so I +steered on in silence. + +I had relieved the wheel expecting only to be at the helm an hour, and +here I was still, running into five hours. + +I was awfully hungry, and Loring had promised us some meat balls out of +the remains of our salt junk. I began to speculate whether some hungry +person would eat my share or not, and to wish that I carried about a +piece of hard-tack in my pocket like Don does; at anyrate, I thought, +it’s my watch below at 8 P.M., and it must be pretty close on that now. + +Presently the second mate came on deck from his tea and relieved the +mate. + +“Who’s at the wheel?” I heard him ask. + +“Lubbock,” answered the mate. + +“Why, he’s been at the wheel since three o’clock; hasn’t he been +relieved yet?” + +“No; I thought he relieved the wheel when we knocked off.” + +So the second mate called Mac out, and sent him forward to find out +whose proper wheel it was, and at last I was relieved, and went below +quite stiff from standing at the wheel so long, and not in the best of +tempers. + +But I soon cheered up when I found that good old Mac had put two meat +balls on my plate, though there was no hot tea left. + +The old man called Don aft in the first watch. + +On to the poop went Don, wondering what wickedness he had been guilty +of. But to his great surprise the old man told him that he had decided +to raise his and my wages to two pounds ten a month instead of two +pounds, as he did not think it fair that we, who were doing able +seamen’s work, should not get as much as the other O.S.’s, who were +each getting two pounds ten. + +The wind dropped, and hauled aft in the middle watch, and we are only +going 4 knots instead of 10. + +I forget who was the Jonah at the wheel. Some men always bring on a +head wind or break her off her course when they are at the wheel, +though it is funny how every helmsman on going forward after being +relieved always declares that he brought her up so many points, or to +her course. + +It is a great merit in a helmsman to be lucky in this way, and so +everyone boasts that he has done so. + +Whilst up aloft bending sail this afternoon, we sighted a ship right +ahead, and the old man says she is the _Puritan_, the ship he had such +a race home with once from Frisco. + + +_Tuesday, 12th December._--Lat. 36°.56 N., long. 30°.50 W. + +Wind dead aft, but light; only going about 4 knots. + +We sighted land about noon, on our starboard bow, which proved to be St +Michael’s, in the Western Isles. This is the first land we have sighted +since Cape Horn, though we were only just out of sight of St Helena. + +The poor old gig which was smashed up in the bad weather off the Horn +was sent overboard to-day, after having had her name carefully scraped +out, and we watched her as she slowly went astern, full of water, +wondering what would be her first resting-place. + +We oiled the decks again this afternoon, but it is too damp for the +oil to dry quickly, so this evening in the first dog watch, whilst we +were at the braces, not a man could stand up, and the whole watch were +tumbling about in every direction. + +It is an amusing spectacle to see a whole watch go flat on their backs +at the first haul on the crossjack-brace, and the second mate was +evidently very amused. + +But it was not so amusing if you were one of that watch, especially if +you had no boots on, as I had, and the man next you had heavy sea-boots +which, sliding from under him, crashed on to your bare toes and swept +you also off your feet into the scuppers. + +We sighted a brig on the port quarter in the second dog watch just +about sunset, and she made a very pretty picture, standing out as if +cut in jet, right in the reddest bit. + + +_Wednesday, 13th December._--The wind hauled into the west this +morning, and we braced the yards forward. Hove the log, and found we +were going 9 knots. + +The weather is thick, which prevents us from seeing land on both sides +of us, as we are right in the middle of the Western Isles. + +The wind hauled into the nor’ard about three o’clock, a dead muzzler, +we can only head south-east, and are on a lee shore. + +It was a dirty-looking night, and we hauled down the light weather +sails. + +Old Higgins and I have been busy cleaning the Martini-Henry rifles and +the cutlasses in the cabin. The old man came down and watched us, and +asked Higgins a number of questions about his campaigns in India; but +he will not believe that he was with Roberts. + + +_Thursday, 14th December._--We came up to our course during the night. +There are three islands in sight to leeward. + +The wind broke off this morning whilst I was at the wheel, and fell +very light. + +At nine o’clock we wore ship, and took a very long time coming round, +as we hardly had steerage way. + +Now we are heading N.N.W. by compass, and running dead into a very +heavy swell, with land in sight to leeward, to windward, and astern. + +The thick weather rolled off about noon, and allowed the sun to come +through. + +We are busy in the after-hold shifting the bags of barley farther +forward, as she is too weighted down aft, and we do not want to be +pooped in the bad weather coming, as we were off the Horn. + +It is hard work crawling about in the darkness on one’s hands and +knees, trundling a heavy bag of barley in front of you until you run +across Mac, who, right under the deck beams, is wedged in between the +barley and the deck. Here, in pitch darkness, he manages to stow the +bags to his satisfaction. + +Two tramp steamers passed us quite close this afternoon, both dagos. + +The smaller was towing the bigger, which was whale-backed, and had +evidently lost her propeller. They were evidently bound for St +Michael’s. They passed us quite close, but we did not exchange signals, +why I don’t know. + +A disabled steamer and a heavy swell are pretty sure signs that there +is very dirty weather ahead. + +We are 1080 miles from Queenstown to-day, according to the mate. + + +_Friday, 15th December._--A light breeze dead aft sprang up in the +first watch last night, and gradually freshened, hauling on to the +quarter as it got stronger. + +This afternoon we are braced sharp up under all sail. Lat. 42°.55 N., +and we have still got a chance of getting to Queenstown by Christmas. + +Everybody has their own opinion of where we shall be sent to. Some +say Hamburg, some Havre, some Hull, some Leith, Dublin, London, or +Liverpool. + +Though we are now in the cold North Atlantic in midwinter, we cannot +have the promised burgoo, as there is no more left. + +Whilst in the tropics, we all thoroughly repaired our leaky oilskins, +and gave them a thorough oiling. There is not much left of the original +pair of my oilskin pants, as they are now one mass of patches inside +and out. + + +_Saturday, 16th December._--Last night in the middle watch the wind +started freshening, and we took in flying-jib, jigger-topmast staysail, +and gaff-topsail. + +In the morning watch the royals and the fore and main upper-topgallant +sails had to come in. + +At 8 A.M. all hands were called to the crossjack, and we made it fast. + +It is blowing a heavy gale, with a big sea running, but the old man is +carrying on in his usual bold way. + +In the forenoon watch we took in the mainsail and spanker; the poor old +_Royalshire_ is being fairly hurled through the heavy head sea, and the +half-deck is awash again. + +The other watch took in the three lower-topgallant sails and the +staysails early in the afternoon. + +At 3.30 P.M. I was awakened and nearly hurled out of my bunk by the +ship giving a terrific roll. Over and over she went, until I thought +she was going right over. + +There was a roar and clatter overhead as a huge sea pooped us and fell +the whole length of the rail, and as we looked through the porthole we +could not see the hatches for water. + +The break of the poop was, of course, filled up two blocks, and the +water poured into the half-deck until the lower bunks were under water. + +“That’ll mean all hands!” cried Mac. We both slipped into our oilskins +and rubbers with all dispatch, ready for the call. + +In bad weather, one has them slung handy alongside one’s bunk, well +off the deck to be clear of the water, and great is the language if, +as often happens, you find your rubbers have carried away, and are +floating about on the flood. + +The ship lay right over, and we could see nothing but water boiling and +surging above the hatches, above the fife-rails. + +We had hardly got into our rubbers, before we heard the mate yelling in +stentorian tones, + +“All hands on deck!” + +Watching our chance, we dashed out of the half-deck by the windward +door, and scrambled on to the poop. + +It was blowing twice as hard as it was at noon, and there was a +terrific beam sea running. + +“Clew up the three upper-topsails and make them fast,” said the old man +to the mate. + +“Aye, aye, sir!” + +“Then get the foresail off her.” + +The fine new fore upper-topsail was split from top to bottom. + +We had the usual amphibious time hauling up the topsails. + +At the lee clew-lines and spilling-lines we were up to our necks in +water, and every sea washed clean over us. + +It is curious how used one gets to hanging on for one’s life whilst a +sea roars over one’s head. One holds one’s breath and takes it quite +calmly, drawing a long breath directly one gets one’s head out of +water, and hauling away again until the next wave appears. + +It was dark before we got her snugged down and hove-to under three +lower-topsails. + +She was making very heavy weather of it, and taking fearful lee water +aboard. + +I, of course, managed to get hurt as usual. I went to the half-deck to +get some matches for Don to light the side lights and binnacles with. + +Carefully watching my chance, I opened the door quickly, but was +almost knocked down the next moment; the half-deck was so full of water +that it was up to my shoulders, and I stand 6 feet 4 inches. + +This water, directly I opened the door, started to pour out, and +crushed me in the doorway. + +At the same moment I saw a huge sea coming aboard. In vain I struggled +to get inside the half-deck and shut the door; there was a crash, and +with the roar of a raging torrent the sea rushed aft, filled up the +break of the poop, and overcoming the feeble resistance of the water +pouring out of the half-deck, slammed the door to, catching my fingers +just below the nails. At first I thought the top of my first finger was +gone; but no, though it was cut to the bone on both sides, it was still +there, and with my other fingers was pouring forth blood on the waters. + +Splashing about in the water in the half-deck (which was over my waist, +and had soaked the nipper’s and Mac’s bunks, which were the top bunks +to leeward), I managed to find a piece of rag, which I hastily wound +round my fingers with some spun yarn, of which every sailor carries +some in his pocket. + +Getting the matches, I escaped from the flooded half-deck and got +safely on to the poop, only to find that Don had got a light. + +Then I had to go down into the hold with Sails to see that another +fore upper-topsail was handy, so that we could send it up and bend it +in the night if the weather moderated. + +There was no time ever wasted on the _Royalshire_. + +We had to get into the hold by the sail-locker skylight on the +poop--the same as that which I fell through one day in the South +Pacific. + +On getting below, we found that the grain bags had shifted in the +’tween-decks, and there was over two feet between the bags and the port +side of the ship. + +They had evidently shifted when the bad squall struck us, and we +foresaw work on the morrow filling up the gap. + +Poor old Loring was washed out of the galley when the squall came down. +He was asleep at the time, and awoke to find himself floating in four +feet of water with all his pots and pans around him. + +He lost several of his pans, and his largest pot, the beef one, was +cracked from top to bottom, probably against his head, as they cruised +together in the turbulent waters. + +Of course it was impossible to get a fire alight in the galley; no +fresh water either could be served out in the first dog watch; so as +usual, though soaking wet and chilled to the bone, there was no hot tea +to warm us up, as we sat in our bunks paddling our feet in the water +and munching our sodden hard-tack, which had been under water like +everything else. + +I have doctored up my fingers to the best of my ability, and wrapped +them in diachylon plaster. It is an awful nuisance, as it is my right +hand; but they must get along as best they can, and do their work as +usual. + +Don has the crow of us in the half-deck, as in the forecastle they have +hardly got three inches of water over the floor whereas we have got +about three feet, and it pours in in a continual cascade through the +cracks in the door. The scupper holes to let it run off are of course +useless, as instead of the water running out through them, it comes in, +so in bad weather we keep them plugged. + +It was my trick at the wheel from 8 to 10 in the first watch, and of +course, as she was hove-to, I only had to hold the wheel. It might just +as well have been lashed. + +We are lying broadside-on to the sea, and every other wave roars over +the weather bulwarks in a way which is alarming even for a sailor to +see; for no sailor likes to see his ship take weather water aboard when +hove-to, though the quantity of lee water does not matter. + + +_Sunday, 17th December._--All night she made bad weather of it under +three lower-topsails. + +It was a bright, clear night, blowing very hard, with occasional hail +squalls, and there was an eclipse of the moon. + +The mate, for some unknown reason, kept his watch working in danger +of their lives all the middle watch, reefing and setting the three +staysails. + +They had a terrible hard job, and one or two of them were several times +nearly washed overboard whilst reefing the jigger-staysail. + +This is the first time the staysails have been reefed. I suppose the +mate thought it would steady her a bit and prevent her from putting her +weather rail under quite so frequently. + +At anyrate, his watch went below at eight bells worn out and angry at +what they considered absolutely unnecessary work. + +There is no doubt about it that the mate does fairly keep his watch up +to their necks in work of some sort or other. + +He hates doing nothing himself, and is never happy unless he has his +watch hard at it. As they are a very poor, weak watch, it comes all the +harder on them, for what would take our watch an hour to do would take +them twice as long. + +One day we had a belaying-pin pulling match. + +Two men sit down on the deck facing each other, with feet to feet, and +both grasp a belaying pin, one man taking the outside hold and the +other the inside, then the man who first pulls the other up on to his +legs is the victor. + +I won the competition, and was rather pleased, as I pulled up the +second mate pretty easily each time, and he is a very strong man, and +weighs more than I do; but length of limb gives one an advantage, +though the chief strain comes on the muscles of the back. + +He was second, and Don third, after several terrific hard struggles +with Mac, who was a good fourth. + +As none of the men in the port forecastle were near Don in strength, +it shows that ours was much the strongest watch, though, with poor old +Nelson laid up and Loring in the galley, we were two good men short. + +True, old Slush was in our watch, but he was nearly useless; he did not +pull his weight on a rope, and up aloft he could only hang on. + +Old Foghorn Wilson and Rooning are both powerful men, and stronger than +anybody in the other watch except Don and Webber (who is 6 ft. 3, and +ought to be much stronger than he is). + +The weather is a little better this morning, though the _Royalshire_ is +still swept by the sea like a half-tide rock. + +Yesterday she was down to her fair-leads when the squall struck her, +and Scar said she went over as far as she did off the Horn. + +We reefed and set the foresail and main upper-topsail in the morning +watch. + +The weather cleared up wonderfully by noon, and the sun came out once +more; the sea went down fast, and the wind completely dropped. + +Lat. 43°.4 N., long. 20°.55 W. Course--N. 70 E. Run 94 miles. + +Of course we had a very big drift of lee way when we were hove-to. + +After sunset it fell dead calm, and we set everything once more. + +I had an accident at the fore upper-topsail halliards which might have +smashed my hand up. + +With all hands on the halliards, we hoisted the yard to the chanty of +“Reuben Ranzo.” + + +“REUBEN RANZO.” + + _Solo._ “Hurrah! for Reuben Ranzo,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + _Solo._ “Hurrah! for Reuben Ranzo,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + + _Solo._ “Ranzo was no sailor,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + _Solo._ “Ranzo was a tailor,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + + _Solo._ “Ranzo joined the _Beauty_,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + _Solo._ “And did not know his duty,” + _Chorus._ “Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!” + +It is too long to give in full, so I will leave out the chorus, which +comes in like thunder between each line, the haul coming each time on +the “Ranzo.” + + “His skipper was a dandy, + And was too fond of brandy. + + “He called Ranzo a lubber, + And made him eat whale blubber. + + “The _Beauty_ was a whaler, + Ranzo was no sailor. + + “They set him holy-stoning, + And cared not for his groaning. + + “They gave him ‘lashes twenty,’ + Nineteen more than plenty. + + “Reuben Ranzo fainted, + His back with oil was painted. + + “They gave him cake and whisky, + Which made him rather frisky. + + “They made him the best sailor, + Sailing on that whaler. + + “They put him navigating, + And gave him extra rating. + + “Ranzo now is skipper + Of a China clipper. + + “Ranzo was a tailor, + Now he is a sailor.” + +So runs the queer story of Reuben Ranzo, a rare old hauling chanty. + +Being tall, I was on the fore-part hauling between the two blocks; as +the yard went up the upper block came down, and finally was brought up +in its career by the fife-rail, between which and the block my poor old +mangled hand got caught. + +The second mate, who was hauling alongside me, saw the jam, and +interrupted the chanty which was being roared out in hurricane tones by +a cry of “Vast hauling!” They stopped just in time, one more pull with +both watches on the rope, and my hand would have been squashed flat; as +it was it was pretty severely crushed, all the fingers were spurting +blood from the tips, and my old wounds re-opened. + +“Bally hurt again!” was the cry. But I got my hand free and went on +pulling, though the halliards and lower block got smeared and spotted +with blood. + +These little accidents are thought nothing of at sea; you bind up your +hand roughly with a bit of rag, and go on as if nothing had happened. + + +_Monday, 18th December._--It fell dead calm during the night, and we +squared the yards, hauling up the mainsail and crossjack. + +No wind, and heavy swell running all day. We were down in the hold all +day toiling like miners, and replacing the grain bags which shifted the +other day. + +From 8 to 10 was my wheel in the first watch, and I managed to bring up +a nice little breeze from dead aft, which rapidly increased in strength. + +At four bells we took in the gaff-topsail and flying-jib, and furled +the royals. + +I made the gaff-topsail fast, and then went up on to the mizen-royal +yard with Bower. + +On getting on to the yard, I found that the sail had not been properly +clewed up, and was bellying about and thrashing itself furiously. + +The starboard leech-line had got jammed, so on that side the sail was +flapping over the yard. + +I was picking up the bunt when Bower arrived and proceeded, as was his +wont, to lay down the law as to what was to be done. + +He just stood on the foot-rope without attempting to help me, declaring +that if I persisted in picking up the sail when it was not properly +hauled up, it would most probably hurl me off the yard. + +I was beginning to get angry. I picked up the bunt without his touching +it, and made the bunt gasket fast. + +Then I went out to windward, where the sail was really thrashing about +like a fury. + +I had a hard fight; several times the sail blew right over me, but I +hung on like grim death, and at last managed to get the inner gasket +passed and made fast. + +As I moved out to the yardarm, I holloa’d to Bower, who had never +ceased to talk and refused to do anything else, + +“Shut your infernal jabber, and don’t talk rot, but come out on to the +yard and pass this gasket.” + +As the dangerous part of the sail was safely muzzled, out he came, but +again he refused to do anything except in the wrong way, of course +thinking he knew best. + +The end of it was that I got angry, very angry, for as soon as I did +anything he undid it. + +“If you don’t get off this blasted yard at once, you d--d German +half-breed hobo, I’ll throw you down.” + +I was balancing myself on the yardarm and hanging on with one hand to +the lift. + +He replied by aiming a shrewd blow at me with his right fist whilst he +hung on to the jackstay with his left. + +The ship was pitching pretty heavily, with the result that he missed my +face and nearly toppled over the yard. + +I at once jabbed my left fist hard on his nose as the ship threw him +forward. + +The least blow threw us off our balance, as, over 150 feet above the +deck as we were, every motion of the ship was magnified. + +He hit back furiously at me, catching me full in the chest, and making +the foot-rope swing madly as he lunged at me. + +Losing my balance, I toppled back over the yard, and only saved myself +by hanging with my right arm to the lift. + +This fairly put my blood up, and trusting to luck in being able to grab +hold of anything in case I lost my balance, I went for him, and hit +him a shrewd blow on the nose, which made it bleed, and another on the +jaw-bone. + +This gave me the victory. He slowly began to retreat backwards along +the foot-rope, holding on to the jackstay with one hand and protecting +himself with the other. + +I had no pity on him, and chased him to the bunt, where I left him and +went out on to the yardarm again to finish furling the sail. + +Then the rascal played me a dirty trick, which nearly sent me hurtling +to the deck. + +He cast loose the inner gasket. The released sail, caught by the +wind as it fell below the yard, began to thrash furiously again, +and, flapping over the yard, all but sent me flying, as I was caught +unawares. + +After this Bower thought he had better make himself scarce, and +descended. + +I finished furling the royal by myself, and then going down on to the +upper-topgallant, found Bower trying to make the weather side of the +sail fast. + +I immediately chased him off that yard. When I got down on deck, the +second mate asked me what I had been thumping Bower up aloft for. + +“Because he’s such a hopeless idiot, and does not know it,” I replied. +“He refused to pick up the mizen-royal because it was not clewed up +enough, and when he did come out on to the yardarm he would not do what +I told him, so there was trouble.” + +“Well, it was pretty dangerous; I thought the sail was going to have +you off the foot-ropes once or twice. I must have that bull’s eye seen +to, the leech-line won’t go through it.” + +Since we have been in the Western Ocean, the bosun, Chips, and Sails +have been put in the watches, and now work watch and watch--the bosun +in the port watch, Chips and Sails with us. + +Now these three men are the most luxurious on the ship; they have all +kinds of private stores. The bosun has some Californian wine, Chips a +bag of flour and jam in plenty, and Sails a spirit-lamp. + +I have often gone into the midship-house after a tea consisting of +hard-tack and half a pannikin of coloured water, to find these three +sitting down to hot plum cake, tea with milk in it, soft-tack and +butter, and even sea-pie. + +Now, in the night watches, they brew coffee in the bosun’s locker, and +the mates and we in the half-deck each get a pannikin. We each supply a +pannikin of water, and the second mate supplies the sugar. + +In our watch Sails brews the coffee, which we have either about six +bells in the first watch, or one bell in the middle watch. + +As the time draws near for the water to boil, Mac and I pay repeated +visits to Sails, who sits cosy and warm watching his spirit-lamp in the +little bosun’s locker. + +The second mate gets the first pannikin, which I bring aft to him well +sweetened and steaming hot. + +Of course I take good care the old man is not on deck before I take it +up on to the poop. + +Never have I looked forward to anything more than that midnight +pannikin of coffee; it tasted like nectar, hot and sweet; I thought it +absolutely delicious. + +Whilst the coffee was brewing, we all used to get very impatient, and +the second mate used constantly to call me up on to the poop and ask in +a whisper, as if it was the most important matter in the world, “Isn’t +the coffee ready yet?” + +To-night I have got rheumatism in my knees, from having had wet socks +on for so many days. + +I have not said anything lately about my poor old knee which got so +knocked about. + +Though the knee-cap has never got back into its right place, it has +made a wonderful recovery, and the knee is as strong as ever again, and +I can run once more along the deck with the fastest. + +I suppose the salt has strengthened it. + + +_Tuesday, 19th December._--The wind which, when we left the deck at +midnight, was blowing strong dead aft, became unsteady during the +middle watch, and a cold rain set in. + +The port watch set the main-royal, and we came on deck at 4 A.M. to +find them at the braces, the wind having shifted right ahead. + +We braced her sharp up, and furled the main-royal again. + +A bad day; rain, and heavy sea. During my wheel from 12 to 2 P.M., we +were only going S.E. by E. by compass, but I think the variation is +easterly. + +We went about at 3 P.M., our watch putting her about ourselves, a +pretty creditable performance on a big four-mast barque like the +_Royalshire_, which has probably got the longest and heaviest yards of +any ship afloat. + +Jamieson was at the wheel, so it left us ten hands to put her about, +with Loring of course attending to the foresheet, which is always the +cook’s duty when the ship goes about. + +We had her round and the decks cleared up in very good time, a much +shorter time than it had taken the two watches together on several +occasions. + +We are now heading N. by W. + +This evening we took in the topgallant sails, as it is blowing harder, +and the old man expects an easterly gale. + +Lat. 45°.10 N., long. 16°.39 W. Course--N. 46 E. Run 121 miles. + + +_Wednesday, 20th December._--A steamer passed us in the first watch, +crossing our bows about a mile away. + +It was very cold during the morning watch, and a biting north-easter is +blowing. + +During my wheel, from 2 to 4 A.M., I was very glad to put on my +Klondyke fur cap and mits. + +Grub is beginning to run short; two biscuits and a half a pannikin of +water was my breakfast this morning, and we are all very fine drawn +except the second mate, who, with plenty to eat in the cabin, has been +putting on flesh, and if he does not look out, will walk ashore with a +stomach on him like a man of fifty though he is not twenty-two yet. + +Notwithstanding his rotund stomach he is still by far the most active +man aloft, and often have I seen him run along a topsail yard without +holding on. + +A barque outward bound passed us quite close this morning with her +fore-royal yard on deck. + +We are in for another blow. + +At 1 P.M. all hands were called to furl the mainsail. By 4 P.M. a heavy +gale was blowing, with a big sea, and we reefed the foresail and three +upper-topsails. + +I had a very bad wheel this evening from 8 to 10; it was blowing very +hard, and the rain came pouring down in squall after squall. + +The _Royalshire_, heavily pressed, was pitching into it, and throwing +the spray in solid masses over herself. The wheel kicked furiously, and +it was all I could do to hold it. + +We soon had to make the three upper-topsails fast, and at midnight +all hands furled the foresail, and once more we are hove-to under +lower-topsails, this time on the starboard tack. + + +_Thursday, 21st December._--The old man came on deck in the morning +watch in a very bad temper, and finding the watch “standing-by,” +ordered the second mate to wash down the poop. + +Well, it was not necessary to work the pump; we simply filled the +buckets from the lee scuppers and passed them along. + +Rooning, Jennings, and Bower were passing the water on the main-deck, +whilst I stood on the poop-ladder and handed the buckets up. + +Presently a huge sea came up to windward. + +“Hang on all!” sang out the second mate. + +Rooning and Bower made a jump for the mizen fife-rail, but Jennings was +caught half-way between the mizen rigging and the break of the poop, a +bucket of water in each hand. + +The sea fairly roared aboard, hitting the mizen-mast half-way between +the top and the deck, and tearing Rooning and Bower off the fife-rail, +hurled them into the lee scuppers, where Jennings was of course swept +also. + +The water poured over the lee rail in a fury of foam, and I expected +all three to be carried overboard. + +The _Royalshire_ took some time shaking herself free, and when finally +Mac and I did manage to pull them out from a tangle of gear in the +scuppers, they were very nearly drowned; three buckets went overboard, +and two were smashed into mere bundles of staves. + +It was a marvellous thing that neither of the three were seriously +hurt. Bower and Rooning especially were tossed with terrific force into +the scuppers. + +Such is Providence! They ought to have been killed; they ought to +have been washed overboard; but at sea, Providence has constantly to +intervene, or no sailor would live long. + +Notwithstanding this gentle reminder from the Atlantic Ocean, that +he would himself wash down the poop, orders however absurd have to be +obeyed, and we finished the job. + +At 8 A.M. the old man decided to “wear ship,” as he did not dare go +about in the sea that was running. + +As it was, Mac told me we should be lucky if we got through without +losing one or two men overboard. + +The first thing to do in wearing ship is to ease away the after-braces +and hard a-weather the helm, the old man, of course, waiting for a lull +before he ordered the helm hard a-weather. + +She was a very long time before she began to pay off, then we hauled +away gradually on the after-braces, keeping the yards lifting until +they were canted on the other tack. + +But when we had got them dead square, the old man stopped us. Slowly +the wind came on the other quarter, and the helm was eased, the old man +watching for another “smooth” before bringing her to. + +This wearing ship took a very long time, as she went off very slowly. + +The mate and his watch got into trouble, as they let the fore-yards +come round too soon; and there was the devil to pay. + +The old man raved and stamped on the poop, and forward, everyone was +yelling and cursing at once, we starboard gang looking on and waiting +with a kind of condescending superiority upon the poor port watch. + +But in the end we got through the operation much drier than we expected +to be, and we are now hove-to on the port tack. + +Directly the decks were cleared up, we went to breakfast. + +Meanwhile, directly the mate came aft, all the old man’s bottled-up +wrath overflowed, and he fairly let the mate have it, raking him fore +and aft with his cutting tongue as he stamped up and down, stopping +every turn to shake his fist at the mate as he stood without answering +a word. + +“An’ ye call ye’self a sailor! I guess you ain’t used to +square-riggers; it ain’t the same thing as a fore-and-aft yacht, you +know,” with biting, sneering sarcasm. + +On and on he raved; we caught snatches of it high above the gale. It +was the worst row they have had yet, and all hands turned out to watch +it. + +“Ain’t ye got nothing to say? are you made of wood? Damn it! what good +are you at all I’d like to know? Call yourself fit to be mate of a +ship like this! you’re only a steamboat sailor, that’s what you are, a +blasted bridge stanchion.” + +It was the greatest insult he could think of, calling the mate a +steamboat sailor, and one the mate did not relish, for he was a fine +seaman, almost as good as the old man, and, like him, had never been in +a steamer in his life. + +Meanwhile the second mate, with his back turned to the old man, leant +over the break of the poop and soliloquised in a loud undertone: + +“Oh, you beauty! Captain Bailey; oh, but you’re a beauty! Go it! +why don’t you call him a liar, and a thief, and a robber! Oh, you +bad-tempered old man; hit him, won’t ye! why don’t you eat him! Curse +you! you’ll stamp in the poop if you’re not careful! How’s your liver +this morning? pretty so-so, eh? Oh, you devil you! couldn’t I kill you, +couldn’t I jump on you, couldn’t I bust ye head in!--oh, but I will +some day, if ye don’t mind, curse you!” + +At last the old man rushed below, snorting with fury, and the show was +over, and we went to our regal repast. + +Lat. 46°.55 N., long. 17°.58 W. Course--N. 64 W. Run 57 miles. + +We lost 50 miles last night as we drifted to leeward. + + +_Friday, 22nd December._--We had a busy night of it setting sail +again, and at 8 A.M. she was under whole foresail, upper-topsails, +lower-topgallant sails and staysails. + +The morning broke, a cold wintry day, the sea running high, a dirty +slate colour, and a strong wind streaking it with white. + +Lat. 47°.07 N., long. 16°.19 W. Run 68 miles. + +During my wheel in the afternoon I brought her up to N.N.E., but in the +dog watch she broke off to E. by N. again. Alas! again this head wind +destroys all hopes of Christmas on dry land. + +Higgins, Mac, and I have been busy all day in the captain’s cabin +polishing the woodwork with a concoction of oil and mustard. + + +_Saturday, 23rd December._--We passed two steamers during the night; we +are right in the track of the American liners now. + +A fine strong breeze from the north-west; going about 7 knots under all +sail. + +Lat. 48°.32 N., long. 13°.57 W. Course--N. 49 W. Run 127 miles. + +We got the wire cables out to-day, as we were only 220 miles from +Queenstown this evening at 8 P.M. + + +_Sunday, 24th December._--Breeze still fine and strong, and a fairish +sea running. + +The second mate, Mac, and I marked out the lead-line this morning. + +There are two kinds of lines for “heaving the lead,”--the “hand-line,” +20 fathoms long, and the “deep-sea lead,” of over 200 fathoms. + +At the bottom of the lead is a hollow, which is filled up with tallow, +so that when it touches the bottom, fine shells, sand, mud, or whatever +the bottom is composed of, will stick to it; and as the description of +the bottom is always indicated in the chart, this helps you to know +your position. + +This putting of tallow on the bottom is called “arming” it. + +The lead of a hand-line weighs close on 14 pounds, and the deep-sea +lead, 36 pounds in weight, takes nearly half an hour to reach a bottom +of a mile. + +The hand-line is divided into “marks” and “deeps.” At 2 fathoms there +is a piece of leather with two tails; at 3, leather with three tails; +at 5, a piece of white rag; at 7, a piece of red rag, and so on. + +Whilst we were below this afternoon, Mac and I were awakened by a heavy +squall, which caught us aback, and kept the port watch busy for some +time. + +Alas! the wind had broken off, and deeply did we growl. Presently Scar +poked his head in, very hot and angry. + +“How’s she heading?” we both cried. + +“She was going about south-east when I was on the poop last,” he said +coolly. + +Words could hardly express our feelings. + +“Well, of all the confounded Jonahs, your watch take the blooming +biscuit,” growled Mac, and then lay back and cursed to himself until he +was worn out. + +The pair of us really felt that we had got a grievance against the port +watch, and were quite angry with them, as if it was their fault. + +Presently Scar poked his head in again and said, + +“The old man’s heading for Falmouth.” + +The air in the half-deck became thick and blue with our combined +efforts at abusing the capricious wind. + +It was my wheel in the first dog watch, and at four bells I went below +a proud man, for I had brought her up to E. by N. 1/2 N., and away we +went for Queenstown again. + +We took in the royals and light sails in the first watch. + +A very cold night. We expect to sight the coast of Ireland early +to-morrow morning. We set all sail again during the night, and got up +the last of the cables in the middle watch. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN BRITISH WATERS + + +_Monday, 25th December._--Truly Christmas day dawned a merry one for us +_Royalshires_. + +Soon after four this morning a light gleamed on the blackness of the +horizon, and we knew that we were being welcomed by the “Coastwise +Lights of England,” as Kipling so graphically puts it-- + + “Come up, come in from eastward, + From the guard-ports of the morn! + Beat up, beat in from southerly, + O Gipsies of the Horn! + Swift shuttles of an Empire’s loom + That weave us main to main, + The Coastwise Lights of England + Give you welcome back again.” + +It was my wheel from 6 to 8, and as it got lighter, the rugged, +forbidding coast of Ireland showed itself on our port bow. + +Day broke clear and frosty, with a fresh whole sail breeze, and the way +we smoked through it showed that the girls had got hold of the towrope. + +At 7.15 we hove-to outside Queenstown, and made our number. + +All was excitement on board. Where should we be sent? Would we get our +orders outside, or have to go in and wait? + +Presently a signal went up ashore, and four flags blew out. + +It soon leaked round the ship that the word “Birkenhead” was flying +ashore. + +Hurrah! without doubt this must be our destination. The old man +signalled for it to be confirmed, and then round went the main-yard, +and off we went again. + +All was joy on board. With this wind and a good tug we ought to get +into the Mersey some time to-morrow. + +There was a small pilot cutter bobbing about to leeward of us, and soon +after we got going she sent a boat alongside with a pilot. + +“Merry Christmas, cap’n,” were the first words he said, and down below +the pair of them went, whilst we interrogated the crew and asked +eagerly for papers. + +“Who won the America Cup?” was the first question asked by us, as there +had been a good deal of betting on board between the Americans and +Britishers. + +“Columbia.” + +And we patriotic Britishers knew that we had lost our money. + +“Did the Shamrock make a race of it?” + +“No, she bean’t no good at all,” answered the boatman, as if it was too +painful a subject to be discussed further. + +“Any news?” asked someone casually. + +“Two thousand more men captured by the Boers.” + +“Captured by the Boers! what the blazes do you mean?” + +“What I say,” grumbled the man. + +“Why, are we at war?” + +“Been at war since October!” + +Gee wiz! Here was news if you like--whilst we had been out “at the back +of beyond,” as Australians say, our country had been struggling in the +throes of deadly war! + +The two papers we got from the boatman were almost torn to bits in the +competition for them, each man reading aloud the news of the war to an +audience almost wild with excitement. + +“Why, we might have been held up by a Boer cruiser!” + +“Guess they ain’t got any.” + +“Hurrush! but I’m off to the fight!” screeched Mac, throwing his arms +about above his head, and dancing the wildest of wild Highland flings. + +“So am I; I’m going to be a horse sodger, fol-de-rol de-riddle-le-i!” +shouted Don. “Give us the mouth-organ!” + +He immediately struck up “The British Grenadiers,” Loring joining +in with the penny whistle, and away we tramped round and round the +after-hatch. + +It was lucky that we only got this news of the war at the end of the +passage, as with the number of dagos and Dutchmen on board, who would +of course take the side of the Boers, it would have been a regular +stand-up fight the whole time. + +Presently the cunning old pilot came on deck loaded down with tobacco, +two bottles of whisky, a bag of hard-tack, and sundry other gleanings +from the steward. + +This was the real reason why he had boarded us, though he pretended it +was to tell us we were to go to Birkenhead, which was, of course, stale +news. + +They weren’t shy of asking, those Irishmen. + +“Got any salt beef?” was one of their first questions. + +When told that we were short of grub, they remarked, + +“Hungry ship, ain’t she?” + +Presently they sheared off, having reaped a plentiful harvest. + +Hardly had they gone before another piece of news began to get round. + +We were the first ship in of the Frisco grain fleet, except the +_Talus_, Loring’s old ship, which had sailed thirty-two days before us, +and only got into Queenstown three days ago. + +Scar and Mac were jubilant over this news, and gloated over Don. + +The old man is all smiles to-day, as well he may be, for the +_Royalshire_ has acquitted herself right nobly, and well borne out her +reputation. + +Loring and the steward are at a loss what to give us for our Christmas +dinner, as all the stores have run out, even the cabin ones, and there +is not much left but flour and hard-tack. + +They had, however, some mouldy old dried apples, and these did the +trick. + +We did not even get pea-soup, only our ordinary allowance of salt +horse, and a small pie for each watch, composed of break-jaw crust and +stewed apples. + +I don’t believe anybody got through his go of pie. I made a valiant +attempt, but failed. The nipper lost a couple of teeth over the job, +the crust was too much for him. Mac as usual kept some on his plate for +tea; he was not particular, and ate alternate mouthfuls of apple pie, +salt horse, and all manner of queer tit-bits on his plate, which always +reminded me of the queer things Chinamen eat on the top of their +little heaps of rice--rats’ tails, snails, slugs, etc. I believe they +are eaten by the Chinese chiefly as appetisers. + +The apple pie worked havoc with the insides of most of the crew during +the afternoon, and men were to be seen lying about the decks in all +directions in all the contortions of cramp in the stomach. It truly was +a fine Christmas dinner. + +Notwithstanding this, at tea-time Mac and I were not to be beat, and it +seemed a sin to leave the good food, so we made a second attack on the +terrible stuff, but again were defeated, and Mac had to retire to the +side of the vessel. + +We have got a whole holiday to-day, being Christmas. As there is no +champagne to be got out of the old man--nor even a “Grog ho!”--for rum, +the bosun brought forth his home-grown Californian claret and gave us +each a tot. + +Poor old Taylor is in high spirits, as he may perhaps save his hand +now, as we ought to be into Liverpool to-morrow. + +Little Yoko is in his bunk helpless from rheumatism, as are a few +others of both watches, but they are the victims of the unconquerable +apple pie. + +The weather is propitious: a keen English winter day, cold but +clear, with the sun poking forth, and a fine breeze blowing from the +south-west. + + +_Tuesday, 26th December._--To-day is our last day at sea, and we are +plunging through a choppy sea, going 10 knots. + +The _Sarah Joliffe_, one of the finest tugs out of Liverpool, turned +up off the coast of Wales. She came up under our lee quarter, and had +all she could do to keep up with us, plunging and rolling about like a +porpoise in the rough sea. + +Now began a great bargaining and haggling between the two skippers, and +our old man proved himself quite equal to the tugman. + +It was well towards noon before a bargain was struck, and we took her +line. + +We should have gone on much further without her, if the wind had not +shown signs of dropping and hauling ahead off Holyhead. + +It was a case of all hands on deck this afternoon, as for the last time +we furled sail. + +The port watch started on the fore and we on the mizen. + +A great race began, and a harbour stow was the order of the day, but +we were down to the main-topsails before the other watch had finished +furling the sails on the foremast. + +All sail was taken off her except the staysails, as the wind had gone +ahead. + +For the rest of the afternoon we were busy at various jobs, getting +ready for going into port. + +Yoko and myself were up aloft the whole time sending down sheets. + +Presently a very dandy young pilot stepped aboard, and took charge of +the ship. + +It was my wheel in the dog watch, and I found it was not such an easy +job as it looked, steering after a tug. + +I was told to keep her on the port bow, and it took me all my time to +keep her steady. + +As is usual on board a deep-waterman on approaching port, every jack +was talking of what he was going to do: how he was going to save his +money this time, and keep clear of the landsharks. Everybody made good, +wise resolutions; I wonder who kept to them! + +My friend Bower has a queer idea of a pleasant lodging. When I asked +him what he was going to do, he said-- + +“Get into jug as soon as I can; no more sea for me. I’d rather spend +the rest of my life in gaol than put foot on a ship’s deck again.” + +Don is going to the war, he says. + +Scar wants to make a voyage out East again in a steamer. + +Sails is off to his native Cardiff, and the bosun for the “Fatherland.” + +The poor nipper can make no rosy plans for the future, as he has to +stay by the ship. + +As a matter of fact, I expect the greater part of both watches will be +outward bound in less than a fortnight after landing. + +This evening an anchor watch was set, consisting of two men on the +lookout, whilst of course the mates continued to keep watch and watch +as usual. + +At 10 P.M. I was turned out of my bunk, and had to go and relieve the +wheel, though it wasn’t my wheel but old Foghorn’s; but apparently we +now want two men at the wheel, as we are entering the Mersey. + +For about an hour and a half we steered after the tug, until we were +pretty nearly up to the “landing stage.” + +It was a lovely frosty night, and the lights ashore sparkled in long +rows of red and white on each side of us. + +Suddenly, without any warning, just before midnight, a dense fog rolled +down upon us; first the lights ashore were blotted out, then the ships +anchored and moving round us were enveloped, and we could hardly see +the dim form of the tug ahead. + +The pilot did not dare go any farther, and so we let go the anchor +just opposite the landing stage and slightly on the Birkenhead side. +We could do nothing more until the fog cleared, so the tug let go and +cleared off, leaving us to our own devices. + + +_Wednesday, 27th December._--Well, here we are, the mudhook is in the +ground, and the shore within a comfortable swim; but it seems that the +Fates do not intend us to part company just yet, as the fog is too +thick to dock, which we can only do on the top of the tide. + +So here we lie in the dense fog, sailing-ship bells and steamers’ +whistles going all round us, but nothing to be seen. + +We are right in the line of the ferry-boats, which have to make a +detour round our stern; they have precious nearly run us down several +times, and though we keep the big bell forward on the continual tinkle, +they are constantly hailing us and complaining that they can’t hear it. + +This is quite exciting. We certainly are not safe yet from the perils +of the deep; every moment we may be cut in half, and depart to the +bottom of the Mersey. + +The Isle of Man steamer just grazed our stern early this morning, +amidst wild excitement. + +We could see them rushing about on the steamer, casting loose +lifebuoys, and someone on the bridge halloa’d out, + +“Where are we?” + +“Opposite the landing stage!” + +“Thank you, thank you; pretty thick, ain’t it; guess we’re going to +have a spell of it!” + +She had groped her way up the Mersey, and had not the remotest idea of +where she was. + +This fog is very trying to the temper. Here we are, on a bleak, raw, +damp morning, instead of speeding homewards in the train, hard at work +washing down decks. + +This done, all hands were turned to swabbing all the paint-work. This +is cold work on a bitter December day, as you have got your hands in a +bucket of icy water the whole time. + +Tinkle, tinkle, go the bells of the wind-jammers, whilst sirens and +steam whistles fairly hum all round us. + +To our joy, the fog cleared off a bit towards 8 P.M., and we could see +the lights on either shore. + +Two tugs came alongside to take us into dock, and with joy we responded +to the hurricane shout of + +“Man the capstan!” + +Round we tramped, making the Mersey ring with our chanties. + +We started the ball with “Sally Brown.” + + +CHANTY.--“SALLY BROWN.” + + _Solo._ “I love a maid across the water,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “She is Sal herself, yet Sally’s daughter,” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + + _Solo._ “Seven long years I courted Sally,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “She called me ‘boy, and Dilly Dally,’” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + + _Solo._ “Seven long years and she wouldn’t marry,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “And I no longer cared to tarry,” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + + _Solo._ “So I courted Sal, her only daughter,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “For her I sail upon the water,” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + + _Solo._ “Sally’s teeth are white and pearly,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “Her eyes are blue, her hair is curly,” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + + _Solo._ “The sweetest flower of the valley,” + _Chorus._ “Aye, aye, roll and go!” + _Solo._ “Is my dear girl, my pretty Sally,” + _Chorus._ “Spend my money on Sally Brown.” + +And so it runs on into a number of verses. How we did sing it out! It +is something to hear a deep-water crew, in high spirits at getting +into port, ring out a chanty. The tugmen came aboard and watched our +enthusiasm as we almost ran round the capstan at times. + +Then old Foghorn struck up, “Leave her, Johnnie,” a great chanty. + + +CHANTY.--“LEAVE HER, JOHNNIE.” + + _Solo._ “I thought I heard the skipper say,” + _Chorus._ “Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!” + _Solo._ “To-morrow you will get your pay,” + _Chorus._ “It’s time for us to leave her.” + + _Solo._ “The work was hard, the voyage was long,” + _Chorus._ “Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!” + _Solo._ “The seas were high, the gales were strong,” + _Chorus._ “It’s time for us to leave her.” + + _Solo._ “The food was bad, the wages low,” + _Chorus._ “Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!” + _Solo._ “But now ashore again we’ll go,” + _Chorus._ “It’s time for us to leave her.” + + _Solo._ “The sails are furled, our work is done,” + _Chorus._ “Leave her, Johnnie, leave her!” + _Solo._ “And now on shore we’ll have our fun,” + _Chorus._ “It’s time for us to leave her.” + +Presently came the cry, “Hove short!” and then a long wait occurred, +and gradually--so gradually--the fog rolled down again and blotted out +the shore lights. + +No chance of docking to-night. Alas! for disappointed hopes. With a +rush and a roar the cable ran out again, and with a toot of farewell +the tugs left us to our gloomy reflections. + + +_Thursday, 28th December._--We in the half-deck had a long lie in, the +men in the forecastle taking the lookout in turn. + +At 4 A.M. we were turned out to get up the anchor; it was not so thick, +and this time the mudhook was catheaded. + +Two tugs took hold of us until we got to the dock gates, when lo! and +behold! there was no one to run our lines; there was no time to get +anybody, and the gates had to be shut in a few moments. + +Our old man stormed and raved to no purpose; the gates shut upon us, +and we were left stranded again. + +As a matter of fact, the dockkeeper was afraid to let us through, as he +thought there might not be enough water, and he would not risk it, so +he brought this forward as an excuse. + +So back we went, and anchored again. Every soul on the ship turned in +except myself, who was left to pace the poop in solitary glory from 9 +A.M. till 1 P.M. + +It was very cold work, as it was snowing hard, and a miserable day. + +Last night, Don, the bosun, and Sails slipped ashore in one of the +tugs. The bosun and Sails got off by the tug this morning in time to +man the capstan; but Don missed it, but presently came off in another +tug, having evidently had a high old time of it. He gave me an Egyptian +cigarette, though--a terrific luxury, which I had been without for +many, many months. I don’t know to this day whether he ever got into a +row for this escapade. + +Mac and Scar have been busy the whole morning making boxes down in the +fore ’tween-decks for their curios. + +This evening we hove up the anchor again, and this time got safely into +the dock; and soon after midnight we lay all fast alongside the quay. + +The last thing to be done was to cat and fish the anchors; and then at +last came the long-awaited order from the mate--which means that your +duty is done, that you are free once more, and have only got to go at +the proper time and get your pay-- + +“That’ll do, men!” were the magic words, and we quietly walked off to +our various bunks. + +I determined to fly off by Board of Trade that very night; and doing +a very hurried pack, said good-bye to all, and, with Sails and old +Foghorn Wilson, caught the 2.35 train for London, where I burst in +upon my people about breakfast-time, clad in a pilot coat, sea cap and +boots--altogether a very rough-looking individual--and it was many +weeks before I got the last of the tar out of my hands. + +In due course I got my money and “discharge” paper, on which I +found “very good” against both character and ability, to my great +satisfaction. + +Little remains to be said. Of course, Johnsen and his threats came to +nothing. + +I have only come across one member of the crew since, and that was one +day in Cape Town I met the mate, who told me he was captain of a fine +barque lying in Table Bay. + +He had been twice round the world since I had seen him last, and told +me of the sad end of the _Royalshire_. + +“What’s happened to the old ship?” I asked. + +“Burnt off the coast of Australia, having a cargo of coal on board. +Wasn’t it a pity! Such a fine ship as she was!” + +“And Captain Bailey?” + +“Left her, as did we all, at Birkenhead that time, and took a billet +ashore.” + +I expect at the present moment my messmates on the _Royalshire_ are +in every part of the world. Whilst fighting in the late Boer War, I +wondered if I would meet Mac, Don, or Loring, but our courses did not +cross; perhaps in the future--who knows--but some day again I may cross +the trail of an old shipmate, and have a yarn about the good old days +on the gallant but ill-fated _Royalshire_. + + “You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind, + And the thresh of the deep-sea rain; + You have heard the song--how long! how long! + Put out on the trail again! + Its North you may run to the rime-ringed sun, + Or South to the blind Horn’s hate; + Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay, + Or West to the Golden Gate, + Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass, + And the wildest tales are true, + And the men bulk big on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail; + And life runs large on the Long Trail--the trail that is always new.” + + + Printed by + Oliver and Boyd + Edinburgh + +[Illustration: Map to illustrate AUTHOR’S VOYAGE round CAPE HORN] + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + • Italics represented by surrounding _underscores_. + + • Small capitals converted to ALL CAPS. + + • Illustrations moved close to relevant content. Also, printer’s + instructions for the page placement of plates removed. + + • The illustration on p. 132 (Clinching the Crossjack Leechline) + was missing from the original List of Illustrations and has been + added. + + • Footnote moved close to relevant paragraph. + + • Obvious typographic errors corrected silently, but unusual + spellings, non-standard and variable punctuation, and unique word + choices kept to reflect the epistolary nature of the text. In + some cases it’s hard to tell a typo from a unique spelling, and + the transcriber has tendend toward keeping what’s printed in the + original. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76788 *** |