The Democratic advocate., 1906-03-10
DIARY OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL
BY PAUL REESE.
Monday, September 18th.

To say that there were men in the world
who looked less poetical than the average
American tramp might be considered by
the uninformed gross exaggeration, but
if such men do live | think l may claim
the distinction as belonging to our crew,
and yet these same men run to poetry as a
vacant lot runs to weeds. Whatever can
be turned or twisted into rhyme they
rhyme, and what won rhyme they do the
next best thing with and singit. Probably
there are not half dozen A. B. English
speaking sailors from Cape Town to Bering
Sea who have not at their tongues end the
entire Navigator Code embodied in a
doggerel which, in its prose form, would
perhaps not be known to half of them, and
certainly not to more than very few in its
entirety. While altogether out of place
here, [ shall, nevertheless, keep sample :
''If to my starboard red appear
1t is my duty to keep clear,
To do as judgment says is proper,
Port or starboard back or stop her.
Green TO green, or red to red,
Perfect safety, go ahead &c.
Tuesday. September 18th.
| have seen so many strange and beau
tiful creatures in this southern ocean which
one would never see from the lofty deck of
a passenger steamer, rushing along at II
or Is knots an hour, or be apt to notice
even if he saw them, that, although there
is little danger of my forgetting them. it
would seem wrong to render my diary more
incomplete than it is BY entirely ignoring
them Omitting dolphins, sharks, giant
turtles, porpoises and flying fish, l will give
a word to the beautiful little fleets of nau-
titus that passed US, from time to time, to-
day With their delicate pink, silky sails
sparkling in the sun as though set with
thousand diamonds, one must be very mat
ter Of fact indeed who cannot imagine them
to be feet of fairy ships, manned by fairy
crews l was standing beside the man at
the wheel when | first saw them and, for
getting for the moment my quarter deck
etiquette, | said Louie, look at those
nautilus ~ ''Naw sir them amt no
nautilus. - What are they then p
Them air Portigee men-of-war, sir. -
And this seems to be the only name sailor
men know them by, not running to poetry
certainly here, to call such beautiful little
creatures by so ridiculous name. = < 4
If it doesn't rain soon, it may become q
serious matter with us The crew have
been limited to a small quantity of water a
day
wednesday. September 2Oth.
While the worthless part of our crew
have grown fat and Aourished ike a green
bay tree under treatment that a man would
hesitate to subject a mule to, if he valued
the mule, it is the irony of fate that one of
our best men should be disabled by an ac-
cideut that one could hardly suppose child
would be much the worse for johnny
Ball fell off the poop to the main deck.
The captain and | have given him an ex-
animation and find that he has injured
himself so badly that it viii be necessary
to send him to the hospital as soon as we
reach port.
Had We struck the gale of wind that is
blowing today, and the mountainous sea it
has raised, three weeks ago, very much
fear that | should have ferveutly wished
myself back home again, or any place, for
that matter, on land But / am sailor
enough by now te appreciate what it is to
have a Captain u in command, and
am able to thoroughly enjoy the sight of
the angry ocean, knowing perfectly well
that old Neptune must work himself up to
a far greater passion than he is in now if
be wants to send this diary to "Davy
Jones to read 70 the fishes.
Thursday. september sIst.
Now that last night is over and we are
all alive, am glad it happened for the
sake Of the experience, but | certainly shall
not be glad if it happens again. The storm
has subsidized and | am able once more TO
think eollectedly. As | resume this diary,
my first thought is the very comfortable
one that am able to do so instead of
''lying in state in the after-cabin with
my brains dashed out, or furnishing the
breakfast for some shark many miles astern.
But when realize that this happy state Of
affairs is due to the prompt action of the
first mate who threw me out of the way of
the main boom which, the next instant,
would have Drained me, or carried me over
the side; when | realize that, after all l
have said about him here, and after the
hearty dislike | have taken such pains to
let him see, |, in all probability, owe him
my life; the first impulse that gratitude
prompts is to destroy all the pages that re-
fer to him and to ask his pardon. 1t is
therefore with genuine regret that | say
that, should he save my life ten thousand
times, the intense aversion | have for the
man, making the very sight of him sicken-
ing TO me, is entirely beyond my control.
| have fought against it ever since | first
laid eyes on him, and now surely is the
time to overcome such thoughts while the
recollection is fresh in my mind that he has
done me the greatest service one man can
do another. But, unfortunately, cannot.
Well, he has sworn to me by Heaven
above, and by the earth beneath, and by
the Devil and all his angels that, in the
blackness of the night, he did not kao,0 1t
,edS l.
Friday. September 22d.
Today the water tanks have been filed
1t has been raining steadily since Wednes-
day and | only remember once before hav-
ing seen it rain in such torrents, and that
was when | witnessed a cloud burst * x
Although ninety nine out of every hundred
of these squalls have not enough wind in
them to do any great damage, yet the one
hundredth may be full of mischief and dis
mast an unprepared vessel before there is
ti,na to shorten sail Therefore as each