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Updated: May 9, 2025
Mr Gaunt, meanwhile, made his way into the cabin as soon as the mate took charge, and proceeded to give the place a general overhaul, with the object of ascertaining who and what the vessel was. He succeeded in finding the log-book, log-slate, and the captain's desk, with all of which he proceeded on board the Flying Cloud.
The wind increased slightly in force, but the conditions were about the same all night. At twelve the watch was changed, and Morris came on duty, with Louis in the engine-room. The captain turned in at this time. At three in the morning the yacht was off the island of Sirhassen, of which a note was made on the log-slate.
The first sea day would end at twelve o'clock on the morrow, when the log-slate would indicate the total of nautical miles the ship had run after taking her departure. This is called her dead reckoning, which may be measured off on the chart, and should carry the vessel to the point indicated by the observations for latitude and longitude.
Clingman and Lane had their two-hour tricks at the wheel, and there was no hard work for anybody. The breeze was good, though not heavy from the south-west; but the Delhi had not yet set a sail. The Blanchita passed Cape Datu at ten in the evening, and the second mate made a note of it on the log-slate. Both craft were still making their eight knots, and remained abreast of each other.
The after cabin and the professors' cabin were also provided with "tell-tales," which are inverted compasses, suspended under the skylights, by which the officers and instructors below could observe the ship's course. The log indicated that the ship was making six knots an hour, the rate being ascertained every two hours, and entered on the log-slate, to be used in making up the "dead reckoning."
The wind continued to blow fresh from the south and south-west during the rest of the day and the succeeding night; and the log-slate showed ten and eleven knots until midnight, when the wind hauled round to the westward, and soon came strong from that quarter.
Louis went into the pilot-house, where the captain was behind the wheel by this time. He was gazing intently at the conic rock which rose from the water a cable's length ahead of him, off a point on the main shore. When he brought the little steamer in to her anchorage in the morning, the lead had been kept going all the time, and he had noted the soundings on the log-slate at his side.
She was therefore a very valuable find, well worth the time and trouble they were devoting to her. The last entry on the log-slate had been made at eight o'clock on the previous morning; and the log-book had been written-up as far as noon on the day preceding that.
Then he went to the wheel, and read the entries made on the log-slate. The sea was about the same as it had been when he left the deck. He had looked at the barometer before he left the cabin. There were no signs of bad weather in any direction. "What do you think of the weather, Mr. Achang?" he asked of the officer of the deck. "It will be fine, Captain," replied the second mate.
At length I strolled to a little distance from the landing, and took a seat on a flat stone, which had been placed on the living rock that faced most of the island, evidently to form a resting-place. My seat proved unsteady, and in endeavouring to adjust it more to my mind, I removed the stone, and discovered that it rested on a common log-slate.
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