The sun., 1918-10-27

"'We're homeward bound chantey at the wind
AB (breaking out the anchor). Out the Golden
Gate all sail SET IL plus knots S. by W. our course.
n. E. trade wind
Friday, August q, at A. NJ. sighted Manga
Reva Zone of the islands Of the Tuamotu or Low
archipelago northwest of Pitcairn Island French).
Ten miles away At noon position was % degrees
55 minutes south latitude; 1874 degrees 81 minutes
west longitude. Fresh gale that night. 1T began
in the afternoon with squall which sent our Welsh
skipper dancing about the poop. He seemed clean
crazy, knocking aside in his eagerness to haul
on the ropes.~We wore ship rapidly so to get
away from the neighborhood of the islands, which,
I understand, are encircled with coral reefs. All
hands on deck we took in eleven sails, including
the courses, in forty four minutes; not bad for a
Britisher we thought. But when the mate kept our
watch on deck after the first emergency had passed
we headed aft, standing at the break of the poop
while EDWARDS, a negro, addressed Capt. ROBERTS
with mutinous words Some shippers would have
killed him. But our Welshman merely told him to
Ego forward and later, in Leith, gave him bad
discharge
September 10. Birthday, age %, off the Horn.
Latitude SO degrees and something south. Ninety
miles south of the Horn. These two statements
don't square with each other, but think the expla-
nation is that when we about ninetymiles south
of the cape we ran into an unexpected head wind
which sent us much further south. l remember
Capt ROBERTS saying to me half seriously that we
were evidently going to the south pole. With true
Welsh changeableneSs he would speak to me affably
one day and damn me properly the next. He was
short, stout dark there was sly look in his brown
eyes / think he and the passenger, young man
with prematurely gray hair travelling for his
health had violent rows. was so wet and cold and
altogether miserable that the Captains remark
could not depress my spirits any. Never in my life
had had such sensation of being cut off from the
world we live in. The desolation of those leagues
of ocean is complete Not even the spectacle of
other white winged ships the incessant company
of screaming, voracious sea birds relieve it. But
the '59 degrees and something SOUTH may be
decidedly off; we had no snow on deck nor any ice
aloft mostly the sun shone without warming
anybody or drying anything); mostly the winds
were fair; it easy passage, as all the old
sailors assured me and as the writings of others
make clear.
The Chronicle Continued.
"Date not given Gale in AZ degrees min
utes south; 43 degrees 40 minutes west A PAM
pero blowing from the Argentine pampas or plains.
Lasted 72 hours. Fresh gale, never dangerous
October II. Spoke Danish bark N. G. V. F.
Cher name and hailing port in international code
signals) 80 days out from Antofagasta, Chile, for
Falmouth, England.
October %. Warm weather in Atlantic. Brown
came to my bunk in the dark. had my knife
handy.
October 25. Three masted ship crossed our bow.
Refused to answer our signals.
'Date was not given. Signalled lmejuice bark,
Philadelphia to Adelaide 20 days out. Second
mate (Mr. SUowE) signalled Russian Ship Mobile
to Montevdeo 81 days out Both in about 20 de-
grees north.
November 81. Sighted st. Michael's (San
Miguel in the Western Islands (the Azores). 1t
lay to windward and we signalled Villa Franca
November 90. At P. NJ we raised Bishop
Rock in the Scilly Islands At 10 P. M. was aloft
on the fore yard loosng the sail when l thought
some one struck a match in my face. 1t was the
flash of the great Lizard light, the outpost of Eng
land.
November 80. With fair wind aft and max
ing better than eight knots we passed at P NJ.
to-day through the middle of the Channel fleet,