The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-02-10
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1906.
DIARY OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL
CONTINUED
BY PAUL REESE.
Wednesday. August ead.

WeuhesuaNs AUGUST -ou.
The first mate has had bad beginning
for his voyage. He was tinkering with
some Of the gear attached to the jib boom.
when Jumper stay broke and, striking
him in the face, inflicted an injury to his
right eye that will, in all probability, give
him much trouble for long while to come
even if it does not destroy the sight of it
altogether. x x x Last evening about
sunset we got what | imagine will be, in
the natural course of events, our last look
upon terra frma until again sighted more
than thousand miles south Of the Equa-
tor Today we have been drifting on a sea
without ripple, ike a sheet Of glass.
Perched on a ''bitt on the quarter deck
sits our captain, a perfect blaze of glory,
clad in pajamas of such colors that beside
them a tropical sunset would look washed
out and pale. He is busy with hook and
line after fish whose beauty and richness Of
color are almost his rivals. The ocean is
fairly teeming with queer looking creatures
swimming and floating about; aeatures that
one would never suppose were fish at all if
he cid not see them in the ocean. Some
lock like morning glories, others ike
orchids, and still Others, Enthusiastically fish,
are colored like birds Of paradise, with all
the tints of the rainbow, charging from
blue to violet, and from violet to purple
red or yellow, like an opal l found my
self arousing from y laekadaisical state Of
mind and becoming really interested in
watching them. The following converse
ton, evidently between the cook and the
mess boy has, also, made me feel much
better. | overheard
who's dat come aboard at Fernando
da p ''That's Mr. Reese. . Who :
hep "a passenger Don't look like
he'd be passenger for long. why
not p "He'll be dead man by de time
We gifts half way dare. " Jaw, mebby
he Il git all right. never seen no body
buried at sea, did you p And then they
talked of other things.
Thursday. August 2ath.
have tried to break the Ice with that
boy before the mast and have signally
failed. Perhaps | may succeed later during
the voyage in gaining his confidence. = > :
A sudden transportation from one century to
another would doubtless cause the trans
ported person to feel somewhat dazed, for
a while at least, until he had gotten his
bearings. The calendar hanging in the
captains room says August q, 1905,
plainly enough, yet what / have seen today
and what | am told occurred last night
seems to indicate state of affairs belonging
to some past age and which never dreamed
had an existence at the present day outside
the yellow back of some trashy novel or Of
the boards Of the cheap melodramatie stage.
Although the first mate, with his yillainous
face tied up in dirty bandage, is so evi-
IDENTIFY the reincarnation of Captains Kidd,
Morgan, England, or some other old bue-
cancer, | nevertheless supposed that life
spent to middle age at the present day
would have somewhat modified his manner
Of dealing with crew. But clearly this
is not the case. = x J The sea has been
running high since noon, and, if | pull
through tonight without seasickness, | hope
to feel myself immune Ono rhyme intend
ed).
Saturday, August 2sth.
Ones first experience of a storm at sea
aboard of sailing vessel is beyond doubt,
provided one has not been soldier in active
service, an episode in his life that contains
more double-distilled, concentrated, hair
raising excitement than his whole previous
life could furnish if summed up in lump.
| am told that the cyclone tornado hurri-
cane combination we encountered before
day this morning was "a good sailing
breeze Great scott What on earth
would they call gale of wind or a storm
Is it necessary to have the deck houses
smashed to kindling wood, every stitch Of
canvas carried away, a mast or two tori
out by the roots, aud the boats and half
the crew washed overheard, before you can
call storm storm The royal sheet and
gallant sail carried away and when it got
light enough to see | noticed other damage
aloft also But l must not forget myself
again and make such glaring display Of
my ignorance as to call little zephyr like
this storm. Common report has it, and
statistics seem to bear it out, that there are
comparatively few safer places in the world
at any time than the deck of a snip, but
had to grit my teeth and do some hard
thinking this morning to remember so com
forting fact. X 4 The mess-boy is
awfully sea-sick, and this explains why he
is called mess-boy. l never knew before
why he was so called. Perhaps the whole
breed is subject TO this ailment. Our spec
linen is at present about as messy as the
messiest mess-boy that ever served a mess
or made one. "Topsy, the Captain 5
little fox terrier, is not feeling up to the
scratch either. She paid me visit little
while ago and on saying goodbye was kind
enough to leave me her dinner. Spite Of
the fact that she is lady, and one Of high
degree at that, gave her some sound ad-
vice with the aid of my slipper not to be
so generous next time.
Sunday, August 27th.
The wind has risen to gale again this
afternoon and is driving US farther and
farther off our course. | never saw the
sea look uglier; but then my experience has
not been Of the widest x X X had the
surprise of my life this morning in seeing
the strict way Sunday is kept by the sailors.
And, may add, it was really the first time
l had seen some of their faces, for this
morning they were washed.
Tuesday, August Goth.
Mr.. C. is spelling my trip. | have
been obliged to endure some more of his
efforts to be agreeable to me. L am certain
he is not much fonder of me than ! of him.
Does he consider it his duty to entertain
me? | shall certainly enlighten him in
some way. will not permit him to spoil
my voyage any longer in this manner Be
sides, his idea of being agreeable seems to
be spinning yarns of battle, murder and
sudden death, shipwrecks, mutinies, and
starvation on desert islands, until my nerves
are in condition bordering on insanity
Wednesday, August SOth.
To become a properly qualified sailor,
one must cultivate and acquire, if he has it
not by nature, (and unless he is an ostrich,