Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-27
BARK DRIFTS ON BEAUTIFUL SEA.
DOlphins and POrpOise Charm Mariners
on Sapphire Waters.
BY DIR. FRANCIS D. CONAN.

BY DIR. FRANCIS d. CONAN.
By Wireless to The Star and New York Times
ABOARD THE BARK CITY OF NEW
YORK, at sea, May 27.-For the past
week or more the City of New York has
been drifting slowly eastward through the
doldrums 500 miles west of Panama.
Some days a fitful breath of air half
heartedly bellies out our sails. On
other days we lie becalmed under a
broiling sun with no more movement
than "a painted ship upon q painted
ocean"
Measured in what is generally con-
sidered news value, nothing of interest
has tranSpted for many weeks. Yet
each day has brought adventures likely
TO remain lasting and cherished possess
sionS long after other episodes are dis
missed from memory.
AS we reach our Sixty-fourth day across
the Pacific our shirts remain unruff1ed
by any fretful anxiety to terminate this
cruise. Though slower than the Graf
Zeppelin, in due time we shall arrive
Meanwhile, sharks, porpoiSeS and dol
phins play In the sapphire clear water
about our prov; great bottle-nose
whales spout alongside us, and gannetS
and frigate birds skim the waters sur
face where the bonita leaps in sparkling
flashes. Mechanically sweeping our
paintbrush over rail or bulwark, we ac-
AAAC a OCCPCIl1Il6 It1ll Lie sun, While
our thoughts are far away, lost in con-
temptation of the Shimmering sea and
high towering thunderheads.
All day long the sunshine, alternat-
ing with warm drenching squalls, brings
us most fascinating arcs and fragments
OF pure color on every hand. AS the sun
mounts higher the arc becomes lower
and flatter Of course, and as the sQuall
recedes In the distance the bands of
n nj - ~
against the leaden pillar of rain. Who
Of us can forget the rainbow a half
hour before dawn that Malcolm Han
son aroused us to see? AS a great rudy
half disk Of pale vermilion edged by
pellucid bands Of rose, orange and
bottle green, and with a faint and
fragmentary outer bow, it doomed high
above the horizon against the slate
purple Of the western sky and tinged
the dark waters with a rosy Hush. A
few moments and the spectacle had
vanished
The evening before we had seen q
most delicately perfect moonbow ap-
pearing out of rain squall as it passed
by. Iridescent with quavering reds and
greens, this rare celestial vision hung
like q lustrous mantle until q dark
cloud had blotted out the bright glib
bous moon rising behind us.
Seek Friends in Heavens.
In the dark of the night as half
awake we stand at the helm watching
the slow stars wheeling above Us, we
seek out friends.
Here at the tail of the Scorpion is the
basket sled of Antarctic days, and here
on our left is the Northern corona, 9
glittering frond of seed pearls in this
Peri apoStrophes garden of jewels. AS
the night wears on a faint cuSpllke
glow of equinoctial light, the forerun-
ner of the dawn, reaches up from the
eastern horizon, where pallid yellow OF
very old parchment marks the line be-
tween sea and sky. At this hour, float
ing with sails hanging limp and with
hardly spell in the sea, a stiffness In
folds US SO profound that from the
tinieSt barely audible note we seem tc
hear half forgotten symphonies swelling
flutelike to our inner ears, a sort of au-
ditory crystal gazing.
Pale buff gives way to subdued whis.
perings of rust red and ochre as, like
smoking embers, the first Streaks Of
dawn are famed into vividneSS. Small
aShed rose dawn clouds roll aside, dis
closing banners of flaming ruby on
cloths of green gold, while high above
lofty cerri form tracery Of frost Silvel
on a thin film Of incense blue. OF q
sudden a flood of glory bursts forth
and the dawn's first beam glowS on thu
sails and in the hierophant eyes Of i'm
practicable seafarers.
(Ccpyright, 1890, by the New York Time.
and the st. Louis PoSt-Dispatch.)