The New York herald., 1875-10-24
Account Of the Voyage from
Portsmouth TO Disco.
LEAVES FROM A SAILORS DIARY
How the Time Was Passed on Board
incidents Of the Trip.
prom the London Times, Oct u. ]


pense Of the late Lady Franklin and sailed from Ports
mouth the 18th OF June last with the double object
OF keeping up communication with tho Alert and fhe
Discovery, and Of making another search for the re-
mans or OF the Franklin expedition. The Pan
dora arrived At Disco, In Greenland, on the Tth Of
August and the first dispatches from her arrived in
town yesterday. The following is description OF the
voyage
When last wrote 10 you were the point ofleav-
ing Plymouth. While lying there q number Of gentle
men principally connected with the sea, and among
them Sir H Keppel the naval commander OF the port,
came on board and were earnest In wishing US AGod
speedn To the officers and crew they spoke cheer
ingy possible, but we could SEQ moro than old
tar shake his head, and knew too well that that
shake of the head indicated fear that little craft
might unable to grappe With the rude OF the
north, and that we might never return TO wives
and families; IL might DO tho last time we were
10 see Old England But had got over the
sorrows of lcavetaking at Portsmouth, and now
there friendly rivalry in the display OF
bioh gnirits-a rivalry in which "Esquirnaux joe,
came OF with decided honors He great enthusiast
IN the work Of exploration, and clngs tenaciousy
AZ ever did Lady Franklin herself 70 the belief that Sir
John and other members Of the Expedition of lS45
NAV stan survive Joe asserts that they never
properly searched for and invariably adds Too much
hnrrv too much hurry; stop long enough; by
aDd-by mud 'emn He Is great favorfte, joe with all
on board and Esquimaux az he f, does not little to
keep up our spirits and make US hopeful Of succeeding
In our adventure.
AZ six O'Clock on the evening OF Sunday, the 27h Of
June our anchor was weighed and we quietly babe
sSisn IN eur native shoyes The government tug
Carron took us Of the Sound, and then steam be-
ing got up and plain sail set the trim little steamer
was len 10 herself and went steadily down channel
with a light nor'wester Of breeze. The watches
were regularly kept through the night Nothing
occurred till four In the morning, when an unusually
cSry order was gwen for the washing up OF the decks
willing hands however were found TO obey the order,
for we respect Captain and the other officers and
we know that we must all sink swim together As
for Captain Allen Young he Is the very man for the post
he holda He has been North before with McClintock,
and there are many of us who have encountered all
sorts OF dangers with him not few 'Turrin par2n
Mr. McGahan and another are the only andsmen on
board but McGahan seems much at home any Of
us and is q rare pucky fellow He does not say much,
but he looks ot and We feel that We could 60 with
him anywhere The other lanosman Is Mr. Wilde, an
much The doctor Is good fellow named
Homer, and we have three heutenants-hr
Benyen third. The engineers Mr. Ball, chief and
Mr. Porteous and Mr.. Jones Mr Mitchell Is the boat
swain and Mr.. lizard his mate Mr. James the carpen
the rest of the crew II. Mitchell, James Simpson
]. SHELTON, w Edwards r Terrence v. Lawrence, H.
Andrews K Stiles, W. Pennington, W rhorne, II. Vine,
W. Davies e. Grace, j. Moth J. Griffith, J. Coles and
s'Esaumaux joe" Thus we are thrty-one hands all
told and single soul has yet shown any regret at
having entered on the expedition.
FIRsT sHrP MKT.
At six bells on Monday morning the watch below was
called TO lash up the hammocks breakfast served
at seven, and tho watch changed at eight By this
time we making good progress under full pres
sure of steam and big snow Of sails Shortly after
noon we met a beautiful ful-rgged ship called ths
Queen of Australia l25 days from Calcutta and bound
for Dundee Word was at sent round for all who
wished 70 send letters to have them ready; and II IN
needless to say that the opportunity extensively
taken advantage Of for, though We had been but
q short time out did not know how long
II might be before had another chance OF
communicating with the dear ones at home. boat
being got ready and manned, presently sent OF,
and along with our letters sent all the English
papers could muster-the latter, of course, as
present the horpeward bound and Il lid not need
their parting checr 10 let know how eagerly they were
welcomed alike by passengers and crew Wishes for
our success having been expressed and acknowledged
we continued course down channel The after
noon passed away very pleasantly and what
tributed not little to our enjoyment was the grand
organ got board before leaving Tune after tune
was peaed OF in the course Of the day and the
men became cheerful as II they were on the eve Of
returning home instead of at the outset Of long and
perilous voyage. About eight O'Clock in the evening
we found ourselves to the west Of Lands End,
and making good progress toward ,, the ssciily
Islands BY this time we had thoroughly found
she passed through fine feet OF out and homeward
bonnd vessela We could see that we excited good
deal OF interest and suppose our white ensign made
some of them imagine were man-of-w on small
scalo We reached the Sciliy Islands at twelve O'CLOCK
on Tuesday night and altered our course first to west
northwest and then 70 north-northwest We were up
again early the morning and hammocks having been
lashed and the sails trimmed we proceeded 70 do justice
to hearty breakfast The watch were employed on q
variety of odd jobs until noon aer which dinner
was served the afternoon and evening beng much
possible given up TO reading and recreatons OF var
Gus kinds Everything continued quiet till Friday
when the wind rose and the watch had 10 secure
the boats, lash up the hamm0cks reef The
on Saturday, when the ship ran l04 miles Tue next
day observed as a day Of rest The decks having
been cleaned in the morning, the dressed in their
uniforms and came deck, where prayers were read
by the First Lieutenant No work was done all day,
and the men idled away their time The ship was ON
the starboard tack and remained Sunday night
The next four days passed without much incident,
almost the only thing TO remark being that artist
began to 'come out and passed his time in sketching
the different parts Of the ship. From this point our
voyage became more interesting, and think my best
course is to give you extracts from my diary
LEAVES PROM DIARY.
Friday July 9-Begins with fresh winds from tho
Southwest and At half past hands shorten
sail take In topgaant sail close reef topsa and mzzen,
and set fore staysal strong gale At hafpast three
take in fore and main SAIL and course shapes TO west
ward, heading West by North. At eleven set main
and nzzen sail and fore staysail wind moderating
Saturday, l7.-Begns with dead calm. AT three
A. M. ship goes round; the wind uesnen- -
past eight the watch on deck fitting hshtacklc and
getting ice gear ready We an allowance Of water
and have been SO for eight days Men ana oeers iare
alike az regards both water and food OF the latter
there is plenty After dinner the watch hnisn Jooplng
The day very fine and the sun as hot as IS In Eng
land Decks cleared up at four O'Clock supper AZ nve
O'Clock Afterward the hands amused themselves by
''skyarking." The officers are boxing ana enjoying
themselves with other athletic sports ne men
qrog: al other times il would be called "Splicng the
main brace" but being satuseay night y % = sweet
hearts and wives The "ascn as usual ~ nisn@
Calm. =
Davies K b. catches three tmoley mokes. y After
brcakfst watch on deck sail and rebend mzzen
AZ eleven we see two seals; they very artfuL The
first lieutenant manages 10 shoot one, but 1t sinks. We
also see several bottle nosed whales IL is still calm
After dinner the whale boat is lowered and manned by
the officers who take with them Mr. McGahan, and
also the artist and doctor They see three whales and
shoot four birds The artist takes the opportunity Of
taking few views The day Is calm and nne
Tuesday, 27th.-Begns with hne weather and
breeze from south southwest At three A. NJ sight q
ship At ten O'Clock signal 10 the ship with which we
get into company half hour later. Find she s a
whaler board her and discover that she Is the Traw-
petcrhead
She had left Pcterhead the 18th Of July The boat
returns at halfpastgeeven O'clock and Is hauled up
and secured Course, north; distance 10 Cape Fare
we'll ninety one miles.
Wednesday, 2Sth-Begns with fresh winds from
south southwest which fall light and shift 30 west
Thermometer, two degrees above freezing point and
water getting very The Trawier still in sight;
all hands employed on the watches Al ZEN A. NJ. the
nrst leo IN seen 70 windward II Ia just visible with
the eye
Thursday 20th.-Begins with a fine breeze Ice is
seen TO windward az Shortly afterward we are