United States or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
What hearts of bronze have humankind! The man who first attempted this awful route and defied its terrors must have had a heart of adamant. Often did our traveller turn his eyes towards his little home as first pirates, then contrary winds, then calms, then rocks all agents of death in turn assailed him.
With the "Iron Duke's" usual luck we encountered either boisterous head winds or flat calms all the way, compelling us to reef our canvas or to endure the tantalizing and provoking agony of witnessing our sails hang in picturesque, but useless, festoons up and down the masts. For ten days we scarce saw the sun; for ten days the sextants lay idle.
The Mermaid was singularly fortunate in the weather experienced by her on this occasion of crossing the Line, as it often happens that ships in these latitudes are detained sometimes for weeks by persistent calms, during the prevalence of which, by constantly box-hauling the yards and taking the utmost advantage of every little draught of air that comes along, they may succeed in gaining a mile or two in the course of every twenty-four hours; whereas she carried a breeze with her that ran her, without a pause, from the north-east trades, across the calm belt, right into the south-east trade winds, which happened just then to be blowing fresh.
To say something of fishes: In all the places of calms, and especially in the burning zone near the line, there continually waited on our ship certain fishes, called tuberones by the Portuguese, as long as a man, which came to eat such things as might fall from the ship into the sea, not even refusing men themselves if they could light upon any, and if they find any meat hung over into the sea, they seize it.
I had eat ashore some of as good and Fat Beef as ever I eat in my life, and was told that I might have as good to salt; but in this I was very much disappointed. The one I got was thin and Lean, yet well taisted; it weighed 408 pounds. Monday, April 1st. The weather dry and clear. Tuesday, 2nd. First part fresh Gales at South-East, the remainder little wind and calms.
What would we doubt next? Only lubberly fools couldn't see it. Whoever heard of such a run of calms and head winds? It wasn't natural.... We could not deny that it was strange. We felt uneasy. The common saying, "More days, more dollars," did not give the usual comfort because the stores were running short. Much had been spoiled off the Cape, and we were on half allowance of biscuit.
We had now been so long on shore that we had almost forgotten the appearance of breakers, for there were none within the lagoon; but now, as we stood beside the foam-crested billow of the open sea, all the enthusiasm of the sailor was awakened in our breasts; and, as we gazed on the wide-spread ruin of that single magnificent breaker that burst in thunder at our feet, we forgot the Coral Island behind us; we forgot our bower and the calm repose of the scented woods; we forgot all that had passed during the last few months, and remembered nothing but the storms, the calms, the fresh breezes and the surging billows of the open sea.
Still tantalized by baffling head winds and alternating calms and gales, they were, however, gradually approaching the coast. Omitting the entries of the next eleven days, I shall quote the final pages of the journal. "Wednesday, 18th October. Last night was a sleepless night to us all.
Another summer brought the happy day when the little brown house was set in order for a sailor's honeymoon, when the flag floated gayly over Miss Mary's cottage, and Ruth in a white gown with her chosen flowers in her hair and bosom, shipped with her dear Captain for the long cruise which had its storms and calms, but never any shipwreck of the love that grew and blossomed with the water-lilies by the sea.
Albany, 4th August, 1794. We arrived here yesterday, after a hot, tedious passage of seven days. We were delayed as well by accidents as by calms and contrary winds, The first evening, being under full sail, we ran ashore at Tappan, and lay there aground, in a very uncomfortable situation, twenty-four hours.
Word Of The Day