A little after twelve we pushed off from shore. There were quite a number of persons on the pier assembled there to bid their friends farewell. The ship moved off amid the waving of handkerchiefs. Byron had seen the ocean, or else he never could have penned that sentiment. Throughout his diary there are snatches of humour.
Land is the best place for land animals.
The Ocean may do for whales, and fish of various kinds, but not for human beings. October 20 they reached England, and two days afterwards were in the hospitable home of David King in Birmingham, and some time was spent with Robert Black, of London, and G. Y. Tickle, of Liverpool, and Elias Parkins, of Manchester. On 6th November they left Liverpool for Australia.