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Tous las autrea Mamplairas originaux sont filmAs an commandant par la pramlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'lllustratlon at an terminant par la darnlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la darnlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: la symbole — ► signif ie "A 8UIVRE", le symbols ▼ signifie "FIN". Les cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fiimte A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra reproduit en un seul clichA, ii eet film* i partir d6 I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en has, en prenant la nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammas suivants iliustrent la mAthod*. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD / / THE SPRAY From a painting by Maurice Randall SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD BY CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM NEW EDITION LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & CO., LTD. «A^. TO THE ONE WHO SAID: "THE SPRAY WILL COME BACK* / f 3 7 HADB AMD PKIIITED IN OBBAT BRITAIN BY PUBintU. AMD SONS, LTD., PAULTOM (SOMBIISBT) AMD tONDOM CONTENTS CHAPTER I page The rebuilding and launching of the Spray ... 1 CHAPTER II Fitting out for the ocean voyage ... ... 9 CHAPTER III Good-bye to America ... ... ... 18 CHAPTER IV Squally weather in the Azores — at Gibraltar 27 CHAPTER V Chased by a Moorish Pirate ... ... 37 CHAPTER VI A narrow escape from shipwreck ... ... 50 CHAPTER VII A stormy entrance to the Strait of Magellan 61 CHAPTER VIII Captain Slocum's greatest sea adventure ... 74 CHAPTER IX An encounter with Black Pedro ... ... S3 CHAPTER X Fitting out at Port Angosto for the run to the Island of Juan FemandeE ... ... 95 CHAPTER XI Exploring RobiuAon Crtusoe's realm ... ... 105 CHAPTER XII The welcome at Apia and a visit from Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson ... ... ... 115 CHAPTER XIII Departure from Samoa and arrival in Australia 126 CHAPTER XIV Cruising round Tasmania — ^Northward boiuid for Torres Strait ... ... ... 138 r ,«M>- \ CHAPTER XV Amongst the Islands and across the Indian Ocean ••• r<« ••• ••• 150 CHAPTER XVI Affival at Keeling Cocos Island — ^A chapter of social history ... ... ... .., 164 CHAPTER XVII A warm reception at Durban — Meeting with H. M. Stanley ... ... ... ... 178 CHAPTER XVIII A railway trip to the Transvaal — Meeting President Kriigur ... ... ... ... 190 CHAPTER XIX Lecturing at St. Helena — At Ascension Island ... 199 CHAPTER XX A War risk — A charming introduction to Grenada ... 209 CHAPTER XXI Back at Newhaven after a cruise of over iorty-six thousand miles ... ... 217 APPENDIX Lines and sail-plan of the Spray ... ... ... 227 ILLUSTRATIONS The body plan of the Spray The sail plan of the Spray The deck plan of the Spray 224 225 226 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD CHAPTER I blue-nose ancestry with Yankee proclivities — Youthful fond- ness for the sea — ^Master of the snip Novthtm Light — Loss of the Aquidntck — Return home from Brazil in the canoe Liber- dads— The gift of a "ship "—The rebuilding of the Spray^ Conundrums in regard to finance and calking — ^The launddng of the Spray. IN the fair land of Nova Scotia, a maritime province, there is a ridge called North Moun- tain, overlooking the Bay of Fundy on one side and the fertile AnnapoUs vadley on the other. On the northern slope of the range grows the hardy spruce- tree, well adapted for ship-timbers, of which many vessels of all classes have been built. The people of this coast, hardy, robust, and strong, are disposed to compete in the world's commerce, and it is nothing against the master mariner if the birth-place men- tioned on his certificate be Nova Scotia. I was bom in a cold spot, on coldest North Mountain, on a cold February 20, though I am a citizen of the United States — a naturalized Yankee, if it may be said that Nova Scotians are not Yankees in the truest sense of the word.' On both sides my family were sailors ; and if any Slocum should be found not seafaring, he will show at least an inclination to whittle models 2 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD \\\ m 1;:.{ of boats and contemplate voyages. My father was the sort of man who, if wrecked on a desolate island, would find his way home, if he had a jack-knife and could find a tree. He was a good judge of a boat, but the old clay farm which some calamity made his was an anchor to him. He was not afraid of a capful of wind, and he never took a back seat at a camp- meeting or a good, old-fashioned revival. As for myself, the wonderful sea charmed me from the first. At the age of eight I had already been afloat along with other boys on the bay, with chances greatly in favour of being drowned. When a lad I filled the important post of cook on a fishing- schooner ; bat I was not long in the galley, for the crew mutinied at the appearance of my first duff, and ** chucked me out " before I had a chance to shine as a cuUnary artist. The next step towards the goal of happiness found me before the mast in a fuU-rigged ship bound on a foreign voyage. Thus I came " over the bows," and not in through the cabin windows, to the command of a ship. My best command was that of the magnificent ship Northern Light, of which I was part-owner. I had a right to be proud of her, for at that time — in the i88o's — she was the finest American sailing-vessel afloat. Afterward I owned and sailed the A quidneck, a little bark which of all man's handiwork seemed to me the nearest to perfection of beauty, and which in speed, when the wind blew, asked no favours of steamers. I had been nearly twenty years a ship- master when I quit her deck on the coast of Brazil, where she was wrecked. My home voyage to New York with my family was made in the canoe Liherdade, without accident. My voyages were all foreign. I sailed as freighter and trader principally to China, Australia, and THE GIFT OF A SHIP Japan, and among the Spice Islands. Mine was not the sort of life to make one long to coil up one's ropes on land, the customs and ways of which I had finally almost forgotten. And so when times for freighters got bad, as at last they did, and I tried to quit the sea, what was there for an old sailor to do ? I was bom in the breezes, and I had studied the sea as perhaps few men have studied it, neglecting all else. Next in attractiveness, after seafaring came ship-building. I longed to be master in both professions, and in a small way, in time, I accom- plished my desire. From the decks of stout ships in the worst gales I had made calculations as to the size and sort of ship safest for all weather and all seas. Thus the voyage which I am now to narrate was a natural outcome not only of my love of adventure but of my lifelong experience. One midwinter day of 1892 in Boston where I had been cast up from old ocean, so to speak, a year or two before, I was cogitating whether I should apply for a command, and again eat my bread and butter on the sea, or go to work at the shipyard, when I met an old acquaintance, a whaling-captain who said : " Come to Fairhaven and I'll give you a ship. But," he added, " she wants some repairs." The captain's terms, when fully explained, were more than satisfactory to me. They included all the assistance I would require to fit the craft for sea. I was only too glad to accept, for I had already found that I could not obtain work in the shipyard without first paying fifty dollars to a society, and as for a ship to command — there were not enough ships to go round. Nearly all our tall vessels had been cut down for coal-barges, c\nd were being ignominiously towed by the nose from port to port, 4 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD ■{>. while many worthy captains addressed themselves to Sailors' Snug Harbour. The next day I landed at Fairhaven, opposite New Bedford, and found that my friend had some- thing of a joke on me. For seven years the joke had been on him. The " ship " proved to be a very antiquated sloop called the Spray, which the neigh- bours declared had been built in the year i . She was affectionately propped up in a field, some distance from salt water, and was covered with canvas. The people of Fairhaven, I hardly need say, are thrifty and observant. For seven years they had asked, " I wonder what Captain Eben Pierce is going to do with the old Spray ? *' The day I appeared there was a buzz at the gossip exchange : at last someone had come and was actually at work on the old Spray, *' Breaking her up, I s'pose > '* *' No ; going to rebuild her." Great was the amaze- ment. '* Will it pay ? " was the question which for a year or more I answered by declaring that I would make it pay. _ My axe felled a stout oak-tree near by for a keel, and Farmer Howard, for a small sum of money, hauled in this and enough timbers for the frame of the new vessel. I rigged a steam-box and a pot for a boiler. The timbers for ribs, being straight saplings, were dressed and steamed till supple, and then bent over a log, where they were secured till set. Something tangible appeared every day to show for my labour, and the neighbours made the work sociable. It was a great day in the the Spray shipyard when her new stem was set up and fastened to the new keel. Whaling-captains came from far to survey it. With one voice they pronounced it " A I," and in their opinion " fit to smash ice." The oldest captain shook my hand warmly when THE REBTHLDING OF THE " SPRAY " 5 the breast-hooks were put in, declaring that he could see no reason why the Spray should not " cut in bow-head " yet off the coast of Greenland. The much-esteemed stem-piece was from the butt of the smartest kind of a pasture oak. It afterward split a coral patch in two at the Keeling Islands, and did not receive a blemish. Better timber for a ship than pasture white oak never grew. The breast-hocks, as well as all the ribs, were of this wood and were steamed and bent into shape as required. It was hard upon March when I began work in earnest ; the weather was cold : still, there were plenty of inspectors to back me with advice. When a whaling-captain hove in sight I just rested on my adz awhil*^ and " gammed " with him. New Bedford the home of whaling- captains, is connected with Fairhaven by a bridge, and the walking is good. They never " worked along up " to the shipyard too often for me. It was the charming tales about arctic whaling that inspired me to put a double set of breast-hooks in the Spray, that she might shunt ice. The seasons came quickly while I worked. Hardly were the ribs of the sloop up before apple- trees were in bloom. Then the daisies and the cherries came soon after Close by the place where the old Spray had now dissolved rested the ashes of John Cook, a revered Pilgrim father. So the new Spray rose from hallowed giound. From the deck of the new craft I could put out my hand and pick cherries that grew over the little grave. The planks for the new vessel, which I soon came to put on, were of Georgia pine an inch and a half thick. The operation of putting them on was tedious, but, when on, the calking was easy. The outward edges 6 SAILING ALONE ROUND THE WORLD ii'i - stood slightly open to receive the calking, but the inner edges were so close that 1 could not see day- light between them. All the butts were fastened by through bolts, with screw-nuts tightening them to the timbers, so that there would be no complaint from them. Many bolts with screw-nuts were used in other parts of the construction, in all about a thousand. It was my purpose to make my vessel stout and strong. ^ Now, it is a law in Lloyd's that the Jane repaired all out of the old until she is entirely new is still the Jane. The Spray changed her being so gradually that it was hard to say at what point the old died or the new took birth, and it was no matter. The bulwarks I built up of white-oak stanchions, four- teen inches high, and covered with seven-eighth- inch white pine. These stanchions, mortised through a two-inch covering-board, I calked with thin cedar wedges. They have remained perfectly tight ever since. The deck I made of one-and-a-half inch by three-inch white pine spiked to beams, six by six inches, of yellow or Georgia pine, placed three feet apart. The deck-inclosures were one over tne aperture of the main hatch, six feet by six, for a cooking-galley, and a trunk farther aft, about ten feet by twelve, for a cabin. Both of these rose about three feet above the deck, and were sunk sufficiently into the hold to afford head-room. In the spaces along the sides of the cabin, under the deck, I arranged a berth to sleep in, and shelves for small storage, not forgetting a place for the medicine-chest. In the midship hold, that is, the space between cabin and galley, under the deck, was room for pro- vision of water, salt beef, etc., ample for many months. The hull of my vessel beirig now put together as THE LAUNCHING OF THE " SPRAY " 7 strongly as wood and iron could make her, and the various rooms partitioned otf, I set about "calking ship." Grave fears were entertained by some that at this point I should fail. I myself gave some thought to the advisability of a " professional calker." The very first blow I struck on the cotton with the calking-iron, which I thought was right many others thought wrong. '* It'll crawl ! " cried a man from Marion, passing with a basket of clams on his back. " It'll crawl ! " cried another from West Island, when he saw me driving cotton into the seams. Bruno simply wagged his tail. Even Mr. Ben J , a noted authority on whaling-ships, whose mind, however, was said to totter, asked rather confidently if I did not think " it would crawl." " How fast will it crawl ? " cried my old captain friend, who had been towed by many a lively sperm-whale. " Tell us how fast," cried he, " that we may get into port in time." However, I drove a thread of oakum on top of the cotton, as from the first I had intended to do. And Bruno again wagged his tail. The cotton never " crawled." When the calking was finished, two coats of copper paint were slapped on the bottom, two of white lead on the topsides and bulwarks. The rudder was then shipped and painted, and on the following day the Spray was launched. As she rode at her ancient, rust- eaten anchor, she sat on the water like a swan. The Spray's dimensions were, when finished, thirty-six feet nine inches long, over all, fourteen feet two inches wide, and four feet two inches deep in the hold, her tonnage being nine tons net and twelve and seventy-one hundreths tons gross. Then the mast, a smart New Hampshire spruce, was htted, and likewise all the small appurtenances 8 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD necessary for a short cruise. Sails were bent, and away she flew with my friend Captain Pierce and me, across Buzzard's Bay on a trial trip— all right. The only thing that now worried my friends along the beach was, " Will she pay ? " The cpst of my new vessel was $553.62 for materials, and thirteen months of my own labour. I was several months more than that at Fairhaven, for I got work now and then on an occasional whale-ship fitting farther down the harbour, and that kept me the overtime. CHAPTER II Failure as a fisherman — A voyage around the world projected— From Boston to Gloucester — Fitting out for the ocean voyage — Half of a dory for a ship's boat — ^The run from Gloucester to Nova Scotia — A shaking up in home waters — Among old friends. I SPENT a season in my new craft fishing on the coast, only to find that I had not the cunning properly to bait a hook. But at last the time arrived to weigh anchor and get to sea in earnest. I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and ias the wind on the morning of April 24, 1895, was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled I away from Boston, where the Spray had been I moored snugly all winter. The twelve-o'clock whis- tles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail. A short board was made up the harbour on the port tack, then coming about she stood sea- ward, with her boom well off to port, and swung past the ferries with lively heels. A photographer on the outer pier at East Boston got a picture of her as she swept by, her flag at the peak throwing its folds clear. ^ A thrilling pulse beat high in me. My step was light on deck in the crisp air. I felt that there could be no turning back, and that I was en- gaging in an adventure the meaning of which I thoroughly understood. I had taken little advice from any one, for I had a right to my own opinions in matters pertaining to the sea. That the best of [sailors might do worse than even I alone was borne in upon me not a league from Boston docks, where la great steamship, fully manned, officered, and 9 10 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD piloted, lay stranded and broken. This was the Venetian, She was broken completely in two over a ledge. So in the first hour of my lone voyage I had proof that the Spray could at least do better than this full-handed steamship, for I was already farther on my voyage than she. " Take warning, Spray, and have a care," I uttered aloud to my bark, pass- ing fairylike silently down the bay. The wind freshened, and the Spray rounded Deer Island light at the rate of seven knots. Passing it, she squared away direct for Gloucester to procure there some fishermen's stores. Waves dancing joyously across Massachusetts Bay met her coming out of the harbour to dash them into myriads of sparkling gems that hung about her at every surge. The day was perfect, the sunlight clear and strong. Every particle of water thrown into the air became a gem, and the Spray, bounding ahead, snatched necklace after necklace from the sea, and as often threw them away. We have all seen miniature rainbows about a ship's prow, but the Spray fiung out a bow of her own that day, such as I had never seen before. Her good angel had embarked on the voyage ; I so read it in the sea. Bold Nahant was soon abeam, then Marblehead was put astern. Other vessels were outward bound, but none of them passed the Spray flying along on her course. I heard the clanking of the dismal bell on Norman's Woe as we went by ; and the reef where the schooner Hesperus struck I passed close aboard. The " bones " of a wreck tossed up lay bleaching on the shore abreast. The wind still freshening, I settled the throat of the mainsail to ease the sloop's helm, for I could hardly hold her before it with the whole mainsail set. A schooner ahead of me lowered all sail and ran into port under i^ m ' ' f ARRIVAL AT GLOUCESTER zz bare poles, the wind being fair. As the Spray brushed by the stranger, I saw that some of his sails were gone, and much broken canvas hung in his rigging, from the effects of a squall. I made for the cove, a lovely branch of Gloucester's fine harbour, again to look the Spray over and again to weigh the voyage, and my feelings, and all that. The bay was feather-white as my Uttle vessel tore in, smothered in foam. It was my first experience of coming into port alone, with a craft of any size, and in among shipping. Old fishermen ran down to the wharf for which the Spray was heading, apparently intent upon braining herself there. I hardly know how a calamity was averted, but with my heart in my mouth, almost, I let go the wheel, stepped quickly forward, and downed the jib. The sloop naturally rounded in the wind, and just rang- ing ahead, laid her cheek against a mooring-pile at the windward comer of the wharf, so quietly, after all, that she would not have broken an egg. Very leisurely I passed a rope around the post, and she was moored. Then a cheer went up from the little crowd on the wharf. ** You couldn't a* done it better," cried an old skipper, " if you weighed a ton ! '* Now, my weight was rather less than the fifteenth part of a ton, but I said nothing, only putting on a look of careless indifference to say for me, ** Oh, that's nothing " ; for some of the ablest sailors in the world were looking at me, and my wish was not to appear green, for I had a mind to stay in Gloucester several days. Had I uttered a word it surely would have betrayed me, for I was still quite nervous and short of breath. I remained in Gloucester about two weeks, fitting out with the various articles for the voyage most readily obtained there. The owners of the wharf B 12 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD I •! t il i, III III ill m it i where I lay, and of many fishing-vessels, put on board dry cod galore, also a barrel of oil to calm the waves. They were old skippers themselves, and took a great interest in the voyage. They also made the Spray a present of a " fisherman's own " lantern, which I found would throw a light a great distance round. Indeed, a ship that would run another down having such a good light aboard would be capable of running into a light-ship. A gaff, a pugh, and a dip-net, all of which an old fisherman declared I could not sail without, were also put aboard. Then, too, from across the cove came a case of copper paint, a famous antifouling article, which stood me in good stead long after. I slapped two coats of this paint on the bottom of the Spray while she lay a tide or so on the hard beach. For a boat to take along, I made shift to cut a castaway dory in two athwartships, boarding up the end where it was cut. This half-dory I could hoist in and out by the nose easily enough, by hook- ing the throat-halyards into a strop fitted for the purpose. A whole dory would be heavy and awk- ward to handle alone. Manifestly there was not room on deck for more than the half of a boat, which, after all, was better than no boat at all, and was large enough for one man. I perceived moreover that the newly arranged craft would answer for a washing-machine when placed athwartships, and also for a bath-tub. Indeed, for the former office my razeed dory gained such a reputation on the voyage that my washerwoman at Samoa would not take no for an answer. She could see with one eye that it was a new invention which beat any Yankee notion ever brought by missionaries to the islands, and she had to have it. DEPARTURE FROM GLOUCESTER 13 The want of a chronometer for the voyage was all that now worried me. In our newfangled notions of navigation it is supposed that a mariner cannot find his way without one ; and I had myself drifted into this way of thinking. My old chronometer, a good one, had been long in disuse. It would cost fifteen dollars to clean and rate it. Fifteen dollars 1 For sufficient reasons I left that timepiece at home, where the Dutchman left his anchor. I had the great lantern, and a lady in Boston sent me the price of a large two-burner cabin lamp, which lighted the cabin at night, and by some small contriving served for a stove through the day. Being thus refitted I was once more ready for sea, and on May 7 again made sail. With little room in which to turn, the Spray, in gathering headway, scratched the paint off an old, fine-weather craft in the fairway, being puttied and painted for a summer voyage. " Wholl pay for that ? " growled the painters. " I will,** said I. " With the main- sheet,'* echoed the captain of the Bluebird, close by, which was his way of saying that I was off. There was nothing to pay for above five cents' worth of paint, maybe, but such a din was raised between the old " hooker ** and the Bluebird, which now took up my case, that the first cause of it was forgotten altogether. Anyhow, no bill was sent after me. The weather was mild on the day of my departure from Gloucester. On the point ahead, as the Spray stood out of the cove, was a lively picture, for the front of a tall factory was a flutter of handker- chiefs and caps. Pretty faces peered out of the windows from the top to the bottom of the building, all smiling bon voyage. Some hailed me to know where away and why alone. Why ? When I made as if to stand in, a himdred pairs of arms reached 14 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD \i ,< k hi I !< out, and said come, but the shore was dangerous ! The sloop worked out of the bay against a hght southwest wind, and about noon squared away off Eastern^ Point, receiving at the same time a hearty salute — the last of many kindnesses to her at Gloucester. The wind freshened off the point, and skipping along smoothly, the Spray was soon off Thatcher's Island lights. Thence shaping her course east, by compass, to go north of Cashes Ledge and the Amen Rocks, I sat and considered the matter all over again, and asked myself once more whether it were best to sail beyond the ledge and rocks at all. I had only said that I would sail round the world in the Spray, *' dangers of the sea excepted," but I must have said it very much in earnest. The " charter-party " with myself seemed to bind me, and so I sailed on. Toward night I hauled the sloop to the wind, and baiting a hook, sounded for bottom-fish, in thirty fathoms of water, on the edge of Cashes Ledge. With fair success I hauled till dark, landing on deck three cod and two haddocks, one hake, and, best of all, a small halibut, all plump and spry. This, I thought, would be the place to take in a good stock of provisions above what I already had ; so I put out a sea-anchor that would hold her head to windward. The current being southwest, against the wind, I felt quite sure I would find the Spray still on the bank or near it in the morning. Then '* stradding " the cable and putting my great lantern in the rigging I lay down, for the first time at sea alone, not to sleep, but to doze and to dream. I had read somewhere of a fishing-schooner hook- ing her anchor into a whale, and being towed a long way and at great speed. This was exactly what happened to the Spray — in my dream 1 I FROM GLOUCESTER TO NOVA SCOTIA 15 could not shake it off entirely when I awoke and found that it was the wind blowing and the heavy sea now running that had disturbed my short rest. A scud was flying across the moon. A storm was brewing ; indeed, it was already stormy. I reefed the sails, then hauled in my sea-anchor, and setting what canvas the sloop could carry, headed her away for Monhegan light, which she made before daylight on the morning of the 8th. The wind be- ing free, I ran on into Round Pond harbour, which is a little port east from Pemaquid. Here I rested a day while the wind rattled among the pine-trees on shore. But thj following day was fine enough, and I put to sea, first writing to my log from Cape Ann, not omitting a full account of my adventure with the whale. The spray, heading east, stretched along the coast among many islands a id over a tranquil sea. At evening of this day, May 10, she came up with a considerable island, which I shall always think of as the Island of Frogs, for the Spray was charmed by a milUon voices. From the Island of Frogs we made for the Island of Birds, called Gannet Island, and sometimes Gannet Rock, whereon is a bright, intermittent light, which flashed fitfully across the Spray's deck as she coasted along under its light and shade. Thence shaping a course for Briar's Island, I came among vessels the following after- noon on the western fishing-grounds, and after speaking a fisherman at anchor, who gave me a wrong course, the Spray sailed directly over the southwest ledge , through the worst tide-race in the Bay of Fundy, and got into Westport harbour in Nova Scotia, where I had spent eight years of my life as a lad. The fisherman may have said " east-southeast," m ■i ,:!| i6 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD .if the course I was steering when I hailed him ; but 1 thought he said " east-northeast," and I accordingly changed it to that. Before he made up his mind to answer me at all, he improved the occasion of his own curiosity to know where I was from, and if I was alone, and if I didn't have " no dorg nor no cat." It was the first time in all my life at sea that I had heard a hail for information answered by a question. I think the chap belonged to the Foreign Islands. There was one thing I was sure of, and that was that he did not belong to Briar's Island, because he dodged a sea that slopped over the rail, and stopping to brush the water from his face, lost a fine cod which he was about to ship. My islander would not have done that. It is known that a Briar Islander, fish or no fish on his hook, never flinches from a sea. He just tends to his lines and hauls or '* saws." Nay, have I not seen my old friend Deacon W. D. , a good man of the island, while listening to a sermon in the little church on the hill, reach out his hand over the door of his pew and " jig " imaginary squid in the aisle, to the intense delight of the young people, who did not realise that to catch good fish one must have good bait, the thing most on the deacon's mind. I was delighted to reach Westport. Any port at all would have been delightful after the terrible thrashing I got in the fierce sou'west rip, and to find myself among old schoolmates now was charm- ing. It was the 13th of the month, and 13 is my lucky number — a fact registered long before Dr. Nansen sailed in search of the north pole with his crew of thirteen. Perhaps he had heard of my success in taking a most extraordinary ship success- fully to Brazil with that number of crew. The very AMONG OLD FRIENDS 17 stones on Briar's Island I was glad to see again and I knew them all. The little shop round the corner, which for thirty-five years I had not seen, was the same, except that it looked a deal smaller. It wore the same shingles — I was sure of it ; for did not I know the roof where we boys, night after night, hunted for the skin of a black cat, to be taken on a dark night, to make a plaster for a poor lame man ? Lowry the tailor lived there when boys were boys. In his day he was fond of the gun. He always carried his powder loose in the tail pocket of his coat. He usually had in his mouth a short dudeen ; but in an evil moment he put the dudeen, Hghted, in the pocket among the powder. Mr. Lowry was an eccentric man. At Briar's Island I overhauled the Spray once more and tried her seams, but foimd that even the test of the sou'west rip had started nothing. Bad weather and much head wind prevailing outside, I was in no hurry to round Cape Sable. I made a short excursion with some friends to St. Mary's Bay, an old cruising-ground, and back to the island. Then I sailed, putting into Yarmouth the following day on account of fog and head wind. I spent some days pleasantly enough in Yarmouth, took in some butter for the voyage, also a barrel of potatoes, filled six barrels of water, and stowed all under deck. At Yarmouth, too, I got my famous tin clock, the only timepiece I carried on the whole voyage. The price of it was a dollar and a half, but on account of the face being smashed the mer- chant let me have it for a dollar. y 'Vrn CHAPTER III m Good-bye to the American coast — Off Sable Island in a io^ — In the open sea — The man in the moon takes an interest in the voyage — The first fit of loneliness — The Spray encounters La Vaguisa — ^A bottle of wine from the Spaniard — ^A bout of words with the captain of the Java — ^The steamship Olympia spoken — ^Arrival at the Azores. !->iii I NOW stowed all my goods securely, for the boisterous Atlantic was before me, and I sent the top mast down, knowing that the Spray would be the wholesomer with it on deck. Then I gave the lanyards a pull and hitched them afresh, and saw that the gammon was secure, also that the boat was lashed, for even in summer one may meet with bad weather in the crossing. In fact, many weeks of bad weather had pre- vailed. On July I, however, after a rude gale, the wind came out nor'west and clear, propitious for a good run. On the following day, the head sea hav- ing gonr down I sailed from Yarmouth, and let go my last Aiold on America. The log of my first day on the Atlantic in the Spray reads briefly : " 9.30 a.m. sailed from Yarmouth. 4.30 p.m. passed Cape Sable ; distance, three cables from the land. The sloop making eight knots. Fresh breeze N.W." Before the sun went down I was taking my supper of strawberries and tea in smooth water under the lee of the east-coast land, along which the Spray was now leisurely skirting. At noon on July 3 Ironbound Island was abeam. The Spray was again at her best. A large schooner came out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, this morning, 18 t Ui GOOD-BYE TO AMERICA steering eastward. The Spray put her hull down astern in five hours. At 6.45 p.m. I was in close under Chebucto Head Hght, near Halifax harbour. I set my flag and squared away, taking my departure from George's Island before dark to sail east of Sable Island. There are many beacon lights along the coast. Sambro, the Rock of Lamentations, carries a noble light, which, however, the liner Atlantic, on the night of her terrible disaster, did not see. I watched light after light sink astern as I sailed into the unbounded sea, till Sambro, the last of them all, was below the horizon. The Spray was then alone, and sailing on, she held her course. July 4, at 6 a.m. I put in double reefs, and at 8.30 a.m. turned out all reefs. At 9.40 p.m. I raised the sheen only of the light on the west end of Sable Island, which may also be called the Island of Tragedies. The fog, which till this moment had held off, now lowered over the sea like a pall. I was in a world of fog, shut off from the universe. I did not see any more of the light. By the lead, which I cast often, I found that a little after mid- night I was passing the east point of the island, and should soon be clear of dangers of land and shoals. The wind was holding free, though it was from the foggy point, south southwest. It is said that within a few years Sable Island has been reduced from forty miles in length to twenty, and that of three lighthouses built on it since 1880, two have been washed away and the third will soon be engulfed. On the evening of July 5 the Spray, after having steered all day over a lumpy sea, took it into her head to go without the helmsman's aid. I had been steering southeast by south, but the wind hauling forward a bit, she dropped into a smooth vr ■ m ^4 ,..,__.,„ .f t ! i Hv't) .u I' ! > u 1 1- Si L i I ■pT,; n Vl 20 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD lane, heading southeast, and making about eight knots her very best work. I crowded on sail to cross the track of the liners without loss of time, and to reach as soon as possible the friendly Gulf Stream. The fog lifting before night, I was afforded a look at the sun just as it was touching the sea. I watched it go down and out of sight. Then I turned my face eastward, and there, apparently at the very end of the bowsprit, was the smiling full moon rising out of the sea. Neptune himself coming over :he bows could not have startled me more. ** Good evening, sir," I cried ; " I'm glad to see you.'* Many a long talk since then I have had with the man in the moon ; he had my con- fidence on the voyage. About midnight the fog shut down again denser ^han ever before. One could almost " stand on it." It continued so for a number of days, the wind in- creasing to a gale. The waves rose high, but I had a good ship. Still, in the dismal fog I felt myself drifting into loneliness, an insect on a straw in the midst of the elements. I lashed the helm, and my vessel held her course, and while she sailed I slept. During these days a feeling of awe crept over me. My memory worked with startling power. The ominous, the insignificant, the great, the small, the wonderful, the commonplace — all appeared before my mental vision in magical succession. Pages of my history were recalled which had been so long forgotten that they seemed to belong to a previous existence. I heard all the voices of the past laugh- ing, crying, telling what I had heard them tell in many corners of the earth. The loneliness of my state wore off when the gale was high and I found much work to do. When fine weather returned, then came the sense of MONOLOGUE AND DIALOGUE 21 solitude, which I could not shake oif. I used my voice often, at first giving some order about the af- fairs of a ship, for I had been told that from disuse I should lose my speech. At the meridian altitude of the sun I called aloud, " Eight bells," after the custom on a ship at sea. Again from my cabin I cried to an imaginary man at the helm, " How does she head, there ? " and again, ** Is she on her course?" But getting no reply, I was reminded the more palpably of my condition. My voice sounded hol- low on the empty air, and I dropped the practice. However, it was not long before the thought came to me that when I was a lad I used to sing ; why not try that now, where it would disturb no-one ? My musical talent had never bred envy in others, but out on the Atlantic, to realize what it meant, you should have heard me sing. You should have seen the porpoises leap when I pitched my voice for the waves and the sea and all that was in it. Old turtles, with large eyes, poked their heads up out of the sea as I sang " Johnny Boker," and " We'll Pay Darby Doyl for his Boots," and the like. But the porpoises were, on the whole, vastly more appreciative than the turtles; they jumped a deal higher. One day when I was humming a favourite chant, I think it was "Babylon's a-Fallin", a porpoise jumped higher than the bowsprit. Had the Spray been going a little faster she would have scooped him in. The sea-birds sailed around rather shy. July 10, eight days at sea, the Spray was twelve hundred miles east of Cape Sable. One hundred and fifty miles a day for so small a vessel must be considered good sailing. It was the greatest run the Spray ever made before or since in so few days. On the evening of July 14, in better humour than ever hi I 1, S. ', 1 1 ■ ! 22 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD t J. III before, all hands cried, ** Sail ho I " The sail was a barkantine, three points on the weather bow, hull down. Then came the night. My ship was sailing along now without attention to the helm. The wind was south ; she was heading east. Her sails were trimmed Uke the sail of the nautilus. They drew steadily all night. I went frequently on deck, but found all well. A merry breeze kept on from the south. Early in the morning of the 15th the Spray was close aboard the stranger, which proved to be La Vaguisa of Vigo, twenty-three days from Phila- delphia, bound for Vigo. A lookout from his mast- head had spied the Spray the evening before. The captain, when I came near enough, threw a line to me and sent a bottle of wine across slung by the neck, and very good wine it was. He also sent his card, which bore the name of Juan Gantes. I think he was a good man, as Spaniards go. But when I asked him to report me " all well '* (the Spray passing him in a lively manner), he hauled his shoulders much above his head ; and when his mate, who knew of my expedition, told him that I was alone, he crossed himself and made for his cabin. I did not see him again. By sundown he was as far astern as he had been ahead the evening before. There was now less and less monotony. On July 16 the wind was northwest and clear, the sea smooth, and a large bark, hull down, > ^ e in sight on the lee bow, and at 2.30 p.m. I spoKe the the stranger. She was the bark Java of Glasgow, from Peru for Queenstown for orders. Her old captain was bearish, but I met a bear once in Alaska that looked pleasanter. At least, the bear seemed pleased to meet me, but this grizzly old man ! Well, I suppose my hail disturbed his siesta, and my little sloop THE PAIN OF SOLITUDE 33 i passing his great ship had somewhat the effect on him that a red rag has upon a bull. I had the advantage over heavy ships, by long odds, in the light winds of this and the two previous days. The wind was light ; his ship was heavy and foul, making poor headway, while the Spray, with a great mainsail bellying even to light winds, was just skipping along as nimbly as one could wish. " How long has it been calm about here ? " roared the captain of the Java, as I came within hail of him. " Dunno, cap'n," I shouted back as loud as I could bawl. " I havn't been here long." At this the mate on the forecastle wore a broad grin. " I left Cape Sable fourteen days ago," I added. (I was now well across toward the Azores.) " Mate," he roared to his chief officer — ** mate, come here and Usten to the Yankee's yam. Haul down the flag, mate, haul down the flag ! " In the best of humour, after all, the Java surrendered to the Spray. The acute pain of solitude experienced at first never returned. I had penetrated a mystery, and, by the way, I had sailed through a fog. I had met Neptune in his wrath, but he found that I had not treated him with contempt, and so he suffered me to go on and explore. In the log for July i8 there is this entry : ** Fine weather, wind south-southwest. Porpoises gam- boling all about. The SS. Olympia passed at 11.30 a.m., long. W. 34° 50'." " It lacks now three minutes of the half hour," shouted the captain, as he gave me the longitude and the time. I admired the businesslike air of the Olympia ; but I have the feeling still that the cap- tain was just a little too precise in his reckoning. That may be all well enough, however, where there is plenty of sea-room. But over confidence, I be- M i;.^iiii ■m 24 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD lieve, was the cause of the disaster to the liner Atlantic, and many more like her. The cap- tain knew too well where he was. There were no porpoises at all skipping along with the Olympia I Porpoises always prefer sailing-ships. The captain was a young man, I observed, and had before him, I hope, a good record. Land ho I On the morning of July 19 a mystic dome like a mountain of silver stood alone in the sea ahead. Although the land was completely hidden by the white, glistening haze that shone in the sun like polished silver, I felt quite sure that it was Flores Island. At half-past four p.m. it was abeam. The haze in the meantime had disappeared. Flores is one hundred and seventy-four miles from Fayal, and although it is a high island, it remained many years undiscovered after the principal group of the islands had been colonized. Early on the morning of July 20 I saw Pico looming above the clouds on the starboard bow. Lower lands burst forth as the sun burned away the morning fog, and island after island came into view. As I approached nearer, cultivated fields appeared, " and oh, how green the com ! " Only those who have seen the Azores from the deck of a vessel realize the beauty of the mid-ocean picture. At 4.30 p.m. I cast anchor at Fayal, exactly eighteen days from Cape Sable. The American consul, in a smart boat, came alongside before the Spray reached the breakwater, and a young naval officer, who feared for the safety of my ves- sel, boarded, and offered his services as pilot. The youngster, I have no good reason to doubt, could have handled a man-of-war, but the Spray was too small for the amount of uniform he wore. How- ever, after fouling all the craft in port and sinking AT THE AZORES 25 a lighter, she was moored without much damage to herself. This wonderful pilot expected a " gratifica- tion," I understand, but whether for the reason that his government, and not I, would have to pay the cost of raising the lighter, or because he did not sink the Spray, I could never make out. But I forgive him. It was the season for fruit when I arrived at the Azores, and there was soon more of all kinds of it put on board than I knew what to do with. Isl- anders are always the kindest people in the world, and I met none anywhere kinder than the good hearts of this place. The people of the Azores are not a very rich community. The burden of taxes is heavy, with scant privileges in return, the air they breathe being about the only thing that is not taxed. The mother-country does not even allow them a port of entry for a foreign mail service. A packet passing never so close with mails for Horta must deliver them first in Lisbon, ostensibly to be fumigated, but really for the tariff from the packet. My own letters posted at Horta reached the United States six days behind my letter from Gibraltar, mailed thirteen days later. The day after my arrival at Horta was the feast of a great saint. Boats loaded with people came from other islands to celebrate at Horta, the capital, or Jerusalem of the Azores. The deck of the Spray was crowded from morning till night with men, women, and children. On the day after the feast a kind-hearted native harnessed a team and drove me a day over the beautiful roads all about Fayal, " because," said he, in broken English, " when I was in America and couldn't speak a word of English, I found it hard till I met someone who seemed to have time to listen to my story, and I promised my good saint then that if ever a stranger m i>!,'^ ■4 U 1 .' \r '.!.■■ t i ( III 26 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD came to my country, I would try to make him happy." Unfortunately, this gentleman brought along an interpreter, that I might " learn more of the country." The fellow was nearly the death of me, talking of ships and voyages, and of the boats he had steered, the last thing in the world I wished to hear. He had sailed out of New Bedford, so he said, for " that Joe Wing they call ' John/ " My friend and host found hardly a chance to edge in a word. Before we parted my host dined me with a cheer that would have gladdened the heart of a prince, but he was quite alone in his house. " My wife and children all rest there," said he, pointing to the churchyard across the way. " I moved to this house from far off," he added, ** to be near the spot, where I pray every morning." I remained four days at Fayal, and that was two days more than I had intended to stay. It was the kindness of the islanders and their touching sim- plicity which detained me. A damsel, as innocent as an angel, came alongside one day, and said she would embark on the Spray if I would land her at Lisbon. She could cook flying-fish, she thought, but her forte was dressing bacalhao. Her brother Antonio, who served as interpreter, hinted that, anyhow, he would like to make the trip. Antonio's heart went out to one John Wilson, and he was ready to sail for America by way of the two capes to meet his friend. " Do you know John Wilson of Boston ? " he cried. ** I knew a John Wilson," I said, '* but not of Boston." *' He had one daughter and one son," said Antonio, by way of identifying his friend. If this reaches the right John Wilson, I am told to say that ** Antonio of Pico remembers him." i i CHAPTER IV Squally weather In the Azores — High living — ^Delirious from cheese and plums — ^The pilot of the Pinta — At Gibraltar — Compliments exchanged with the British navy — A picnic on the Morocco shore. •flj I SET sail from Horta early on July 24. The southwest wind at the time was light, but squalls came up with the sun, and I was glad enough to get reefs in my sails before I had gone a mile. I had hardly set the mainsail, double-reefed, when a squall of wind down the mountains struck the sloop with such violence that I thought her mast would go. However, a quick helm brought her to the wind. As it was, one of the weather lanyards was carried away and the other was stranded. My tin basin, caught up by the wind, went flying across a French schoolship to leeward. It was more or less squally all day, sailing along under high land ; but rounding close under a bluff, I found an opportunity to mend the lanyards broken in the squall. No sooner had I lowered my sails when a four-oared boat shot out from some gully in the rocks, with a customs officer on board, who thought he had come upon a smug- gler. I had some difficulty in making him compre- hend the true case. However, one of his crew, a sailorly chap, who understood how matters were, while we palavered jumped on board and rove off the new lanyards I had already prepared, and with a friendly hand helped me " set up the rigging." This incident gave the turn in my favour. My story was then clear to all. I have found this the way of the world. Let one be without a friend, and see what will happen ! 27 'm \h^\ 28 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Passing the island of Pico, after the rigging was mended, the Spray stretched across to leeward of the island of St. Michael's, which she was up with early on the morning of July 26, the wind blowing hard. Later in the day she passed the Prince of Monaco's fine steam-yacht bound to Fayal, where, on a previous voyage, the prince had shpped his cables to " escape a reception *' which the padres of the island wished to give him. Why he so dreaded the " ovation " I could not make out. At Horta they did not know. Since reaching the islands I had lived most luxuriously on fresh bread, butter, vegetables, and fruits of all kinds. Plums seemed the most plentiful on the Spray, and these I ate without stint. I had also a Pico white cheese that General Manning, the American consul-general, had given me, which I supposed was to be eaten, and of this I partook with the plums. Alas ! by night- time I was doubled up with cramps. The wind, which was already a smart breeze, was increasing somewhat, with a heavy sky to the sou'-west. Reefs had been turned out, and I must turn them in again somehow. Between cramps I got the main- sail down, hauled out the earings as best I could, and tied away point by point, in the double reef. There being sea-room, I should, in strict pmdence, have made all snug and gone down at once to my cabin. I am a careful man at sea, but this night, in the coming storm, I swayed up my sails, which, reefed though they were, were still too much in such heavy weather; and I saw to it that the sheets were securely belayed. In a word, I should have laid to, but did not. I gave her the double- reefed mainsail and whole jib instead, and set her on her course. Then I went below, and threw my- self upon the cabin floor in great pain. How long THE PILOT OF THE " PINTA " 39 I lay there I could not tell, for I became delirious. When I came to, as I thought, from my swoon, I realized that the sloop was plunging into a heavy sea, and looking out of the companion way, to my amazement I saw a tall man at the helm. His rigid hand, grasping the spokes of the wheel, held them as in a vice. One may imagine my astonish- ment. His rig was that of a foreign sailor, and the large red cap he wore was cockbilled over his left ear, and all was set off with shaggy black whiskers. He would have been taken for a pirate in any part of the world. While I gazed upon his threatening aspect I forgot the storm, and wondered if he had come to cut my throat. This he seemed to divine. " Senor," said he, doffing his cap, " I have come to do you no harm." And a smile, the faintest in the woxld, but still a smile, played on his face, which seemed not unkind when he spoke. '* I have come to do you no harm. I have sailed free," he said, " but was never worse than a contrahandista. I am one of Columbus's crew," he continued. " I am the pilot of the Pinta come to aid you. Lie quiet, senor captain," he added, " and I will guide your ship to-night. You have a caleniura, but you will be all right to-morrow " I thought what a very devil he was to carry sail. Again, as if he read my mind, he exclaimed: '* Yonder is the Pinta ahead we must overtake her. Give her sail ; give her sail ! Vale, vale, muy vale 1 " Biting off a large quid of black twist, he said : " You did wrong, cap- tain, to mix cheese with plums. White cheese is never safe unless you know whence it comes. Quien sabe, it may have been from lecHu de Capra and becoming capricious " " Avast, there I " I cried. •' I have no mind for moralizing." 'i ,'V- It' I>1 '■;:ii m 'mi ill r'l iii m Mi Mi! 1 1 r'liil • 'I;:;; Ml 30 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD I made shift to spread a mattress and lie on that instead of the hard floor, my eyes all the while fastened on my strange guest, who, remarking again that I would have " only pains and calentura," chuckled as he chanted a wild song : High are the waves, fierce, gleaming, High is the tempest roar 1 High the sea-bird screaming 1 High the Azore ! I suppose I was now on the mend, for I was pee- vish, and complained : ** I detest your jingle. Your Azore should be at roost, and would have been were it a respectable bird ! " I begged he would tie a rope-yam on the rest of the song, if there was any more of it. I was still in agony. Great seas were boarding the Spray, but in my fevered brain I thought they were boats falling on deck, that care- less draymen were throwing from wagons on the pier to which I imagined the Spray was now moored, and without fenders to breast her off. " You'll smash your boats ! " I called out again and again, as the seas crashed on the cabin over my head. " You'll smash your boats, but you can't hurt the Spray. She is strong ! " I cried. I found, when my pains and calentura had gone, that the deck, now as white as a shark's tooth from seas washing over it, had been swept of every- thing movable. To my astonishment, I saw now at broad day that the Spray was still heading as I had left her, and was going Uke a race-horse. Columbus himself could not have held her more exactly on her course. The sloop had made ninety miles in the night through a rough sea. I felt grateful to the old pilot, but I marvelled some that he had not taken in the jib. The gale was moder- ating, and by noon the sun was shining. A merid- iifi HIGH LIVING 31 ian altitude and the distance on the patent log, which I always kept towing, told me that she had made a true course throughout the twenty-four hours. I was getting much better now, but was very weak, and did not turn out reefs that day or the night following, although the wind fell light ; but I just put my wet clothes out in the sun when it was shining, and lying down there myself, fell asleep. Then who should visit me again but my old friend of the night before, this time, of course, in a dream. " You did well last night to take my advice," said he, " and if you would, I should like to be with you often on the voyage, for the love of adventure alone." Finishing what he had to say, he again doffed his cap and disappeared as mysteriously as he came, returning, I suppose, to the phantom Pinta. I awoke much refreshed, and with the feeling that I had been in the presence of a friend and a seaman of vast experience. I gathered up my clothes, which by this time were dry, then, by inspiration, I threw overboard all the plums in the vessel. July 28 was exceptionally fine. The wind from the northwest was light and the air balmy. I over- hauled my wardrobe, and bent on a white shirt against nearing some coasting-packet with genteel folk on board. I also did some washing to get the salt out of my clothes. After it all I was hungry, so I made a fire and very cautiously stewed a dish of pears and set them carefully aside till I had made a pot of delicious coffee, for both of which I could afford sugar and cream. But the crowning dish of all was a fish-hash, and there was enough of it for two. I was in good health again, and my appetite was simply ravenous. While I was dining I had a large onion over the double lamp stewing for a m '' 'f-i'i ' m m 32 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD M f\ i'lU* luncheon later in the day. High living to-day ! In the afternoon the Spray came upon a large turtle asleep on the sea. He awoke with my har- poon through his neck, if he awoke at all. I had much difficulty in landing him on deck, which I finally acomplished by hooking the throat-halyards to one of his flippers, for he was about as heavy as my boat. I saw more turtles, and I rigged a bur- ton ready with which to hoist them in ; for I was obliged to lower the mainsail whenever the halyards were used for such purposes, and it was no small matter to hoist the large sail again. But the turtle steak was good. I found no fault with the cook, and it was the rule of the voyage that the cook found no fault with me. There was never a ship's crew so well agreed. The bill of fare that evening was turtle-steak, tea and toast, fried potatoes, stewed onions ; with dessert of stewed pears and cream. Sometime in the afternoon I passed a barrel-buoy adrift, floating light on the water. It was painted red, and rigged with a agnal-staff about six feet high. A sudden change in the weather coming on, I got no more turtle or fish of any sort before reaching port. July 31 a gale sprang up suddenly from the north, with heavy seas, and I shortened sail. The Spray made only fifty-one miles on her course that day. August i the gale continued, with heavy seas. Through the night the sloop was reaching, under close reefed mainsail and bobbed jib. At 3 p.m. the jib was washed off the bowsprit and blown to rags and ribbons. I bent the " jumbo " on a stay at the night-heads. As for the jib, let it go ; I saved pieces of it, and, after all, I was in want of pot-rags. On August 3 the gale broke, and I saw many signs of land. Bad weather having made itself AT GIBRALTAR 33 Km. felt in the galley, I was minded to try my hand at a loaf of bread, and so rigging a pot of fire on deck by which to bake it, a loaf soon became an accom- plished fact. One great feature about ship's cook- ing is that one's appetite on the sea is always good — a fact that I realized when I cooked for the crew of fishermen in the before mentioned boyhood days. Dinner being over, I sat for hours reading the Ufe of Columbus, and as the day wore on I watched the birds all flying in one direction, and said, " Land lies there." Early the next morning, August 4, I discovered Spain. I saw fires on shore, and knew that the country was inhabited. The Spray continued on her course till well in with the land, which wa? that about Trafalgar. Then keeping away a point, she passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, where she cast anchor at 3 p.m. of the same day, less than twenty-nine days from Cape Sable. At the finish of this preliminary trip I found myself in excellent health, not overworked or cramped, but as well as ever in my life, though I was as thin as a reef-point. Two Italian barks, which had been close along- side at daylight, I saw long after I had anchored, passing up the African side of the Strait. The Spray had sailed them both hull down before she reached Tarifa. So far as I know, the Spray beat everything going across the Atlantic except the steamers. All was well, but I had forgotten to bring a bill of health from Horta, and so when the fierce old port doctor came to inspect there was a row. That, however, was the very thing needed. If you want to get on well with a true Britisher you must first have a deuce oi a row with him. I knew that weU i!i!&^ 0: '■Mn 54 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD H 'Mi'" rm ¥' Hy if enough, and so I fired away, shot for shot, as best I could. " Well, yes," the doctor admitted at last, " your crew are healthy enough, no doubt, but who knows the diseases of your last port ? " — a reason- able enough remark. " We ought to put you in the fort, sir ! " he blustered ; " but never mind. Free pratique, sir ! Shove off, cockswain I " And that was the last I saw of the port doctor. But on the following morning a steam launch, much longer than the Spray, came alongside, — or as much of her as could get alongside, — with com- pliments from the senior naval officer. Admiral Bruce, saying there was a berth for the Spray at the arsenal. This was around at the new mole. I had anchored at the old mole, among the native craft, where it was rough and uncomfortable. Of course I was glad to shift, and did so as soon as possible, thinking of the great company the Spray would be in among battle-ships such as the Colling- u/ooa, Eai/leur, and Cormorant, which were at that time stationed there, and on board all of which I was entertained, later, most royally. " ' Put it thar ! ' as the Americans say," was the salute I got from Admiral Bruce, when I called at the admiralty to thank him for his courtesy of the berth, and for the use of the steam-launch which towed me into dock. " About the berth, it is all right if it suits, and we'll tow you out when you are ready to go. But, say, what repairs do you want? Ahoy the Hebe, can you spare your sailmaker? The Spray wants a new jib. Con- struction and repair, there I will you see to the Spray? Say, old man, you must have knocked the devil out of her coming over alone in twenty- nine days! But we'll make it smooth for you here I " Not even her Majesty's ship the Collingwood COMPLIMENTS EXCHANGED 35 the at of inch kth. ^hen do ^our ^on- the kked ity- |you wod was better looked after then the Spray at Gibraltar. Later in the day came the mail : " Spray ahoy 1 Mrs. Bruce would like to come on board and shake hands with the Spray, Will it be convenient to-day?" "Very!" I joyfully shouted. On the following day Sir F. Carrington, at the time governor of Gibraltar, with other high officers of the garrison, and all the commanders of the battle- ships, came on board and signed their names in the Spray's log-book. Again there was a hail, " Spray ahoy 1 " " Hello ! " " Commander Reynold's compliments. You are invited on board H.M.S. CoUingwood, * at home * at 4.30 p.m. Not later than 5.30 p.m.** I had already hinted at the limited amount of my wardrobe, and that I could never succeed as a dude. " You are expected, sir, in a stovepipe hat and a claw-hanmier coat ! '* *' Then I can't come." ** Dash it ! come in what you have on ; that is what we mean.'* " Aye, aye, sir ! ** The CoUingwood's cheer was good, and had I worn a silk hat as high as the moon I could not have had a better time or been made more at home. An Englishman, even on his great battle-ship, unbends when the stranger passes his gangway, and when he says " at home ** he means it. That one should like Gibraltar would go without saj^ing. How could one help loving so hospitable a place ? Vegetables twice a week and milk every morning came from the palatial grounds of the admiralty. '* Spray ahoy ! ** would hail the admiral. " Spray ahoy ! ** ** Hello I ** *' To-morrow is your vegetable day, sir.** ** Aye, aye, sir! ** I rambled much about the old city, and a gunner piloted me through the galleries of the rock as far as a stranger is permitted to go. There is no ex- cavation in the world, for military purposes, at all 36 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD isMM 1 I 'I'j . approaching these of Gibraltar in conception oi execution. Viewing the stupendous works, it be- came hard to realize that one was within the Gib- raltar of his little old Morse geography. Before sailing I was invited on a picnic with the governor, the officers of the garrison, and the com- manders of the war-ships at the station : and a royal affair it was. Torpedo-boat No. 91, going twenty-two knots, carried our party to the Morocco shore and back. The day was perfect — too fine, in fact, for comfort on shore, and so no one landed at Morocco. No. 91 trembled like an aspen-leaf as she raced through the sea at top speed. Sub-lieutenant Boucher, apparently a mere lad, was in command, and handled his ship with the skill of an older sailor. On the following day I lunched with General Car- ington, the governor, at Line Wall House, which was once the Franciscan convent. In this interest- ing edifice are preserved relics of the fourteen sieges which Gibraltar has seen. On the next day I supped with the admiral at his residence, the palace, which was once the convent of the Mercenaries. At each place, and all about, I felt the friendly grasp of a manly hand, that lent me vital strength to pass the coming long days at sea. I must confess that the perfect discipline, order, and cheerfulness at Gib- raltar were only a second wonder in the great stronghold. The vast amount of business going forward caused no more excitement than the quiet sailing of a well-appointed ship in a smooth sea. No one spoke above his natural voice, save a boat- swain's mate now and then. The Hon. Horatio J. Sprague, the venerable United States consul at Gibraltar, honoured the Spray with a visit on Sunday August 24, and was much pleased to find that our British cousins had been so kind to her. i CHAPTER V Sailing from Gibraltar with the assistance of her Majesty's tug The Spray's course changed from the Suez Canal to Cape Horn — Chased by a Moorish pirate — A compariso;i with Columbus —The Canary Islands— The Cape Verde Islands — Sea life — Arrival at Pemambuco — A bill against the Brazilian govern- ment — Preparing for the stormy weather of the cape. MONDAY, August 25, the S/>ray saUed from Gib- raltar, well repaid for whatever deviation she had made from a direct course to reach the place. A tug belonging to her Majesty towed the sloop into the steady breeze clear of the mount, where her sails caught a volant wind, which carried her once more to the Atlantic, where it rose rapidly to a furious gale. My plan was, in going down this coast, to haul offshore, well clear of the land, which here- abouts is the home of pirates ; but I had hardly accomplished this when I perceived a felucca making out of the nearest port, and finally follow- ing in the wake of the Spray. Now, my course to Gibraltar had been taken with a view to proceed up the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, down the Red Sea, and east about, instead of a western route, which I finally adopted. By officers of vast experience in navigating these seas, I was influenced to make the change. Longshore pirates on both coasts being numerous, I could not afford to make light of the advice. But here I was, after all, evidently in the midst of pirates and thieve ! i changed my course ; the felucca did the same, both vessels sailing very fast, but the distance growing less and less between us. The Spray was doing nobly ; she was even more than at her best ; 37 m m mh i:' '1 1; *>'i 38 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD but, in spite of all I could do, she would broach now and then. She was carr5dng too much sail for safety. I must reef or be dismasted and lose all, pirate or no pirate. I must reef, even if I had to grapple with him for my life. I was not long in reefing the mainsail and sweat- ing it up — probably not more than fifteen min- utes ; but the felucca had in the meantime so shortened the distance between us that I now saw the tuft of hair on the heads of the crew, — by which, it is said, Mohammed will pull the villains up into heaven, — ^and they were coming on like the wind. From what I could clearly make out now, I felt them to be the sons of generations of pirates, and I saw by their movements that they were now pre- paring to strike a blow. The exultation on their faces, however, was changed in an instant to a look of fear and rage. Their craft, with too much sail on, broached to on the crest of a great wave. This one great sea changed the aspect of affairs suddenly as the flash of a gun. Three minutes later the same wave overtook the Spray and shook her in every timber. At the same moment the sheet-strop parted, and away went the main-boom, broken short at the rigging. Impulsively I sprang to the jib-halyards and down-haul, and instantly downed the jib. The head-sail being off, and the helm put hard down, the sloop came in the wind with a bound. While shivering there, but a moment though it was, I got the mainsail down and secured inboard, broken boom and all. How I got the boom in before the sail was torn I hardly know ; but not a stitch of it was broken The mainsail being secured, I hoisted away the jib, and, without looking round, stepped quickly to the cabin and snatched down my loaded rifle and cartridges at hand ; for irery trop )ken the med put :h a exit red the but king Iking :hed for CHASED BY A MOORISH PIRATE 39 I made mental calculations that the pirate would by this time have recovered his course and be close aboard, and that when I saw him it would be better for me to be looking at him along the barrel of a gun. The piece was at my shoulder when I peered into the mist, but there was no pirate within a mile. The wave and squall that carried away my boom dismasted the felucca outright. I perceived his thieving crew, some dozen or more of them, strugg- ling to recover their rigging from the sea. Alla^ blacken their faces ! I sailed comfortably on under the jib and fore- staysail, which I now set. I fished the boom and furled the sail snug for the night ; then hauled the sloop's head two points offshore to allow for the set of current and heavy rollers toward the land. This gave me the wind three points on the starboard quarter and a steady pull in the headsails. By the time I had things in this order it was dark, and a flying-fish had already fallen on deck. I took him below for my supper, but found myself too tired to cook, or even to eat a thing already pre- pared. I do not remember to have been more tired before or since in all my life than I was at the finish of that day. Too fatigued to sleep, I rolled about with the motion of the vessel till near midnight, when I made shift to dress my fish and prepare a dish of tea. I fully reaUzed now, if I had not be- fore, that the voyage ahead would call for exertions ardent and lasting. On August 27 nothing could be seen of the Moor, or his country either, except two peaksj away in the east through the clear atmosphere of .morning. Soon after the sun rose even these were obscured by haze, much to my satisfaction. The wind, for a few days foUowinisf my escape 'M ij" I '■.: . I'^S m mm i !! i; 40 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD from the pirates, blew a steady but moderate gale, and the sea, though agitated into long rollers, was not uncomfortably rough or dangerous, and while sitting in my cabin I could hardly realize that any sea was running at all, so easy was the long, swing- ing motion of the sloop over the waves. All dis- tracting uneasiness and excitement being now over, I was once more alone with myself in the realiza- tion that I was on the mighty sea and in the hands of the elements. But I was happy, and was be- coming more and more interested in the voyage. Columbus, in the Santa Maria, sailing these seas more than four hundred years before, was not so happy as I, nor so sure of success in what he had undertaken. His first troubles at sea had already begun. His crew had managed, by foul play or otherwise, to break the ship's rudder while running before probably just such a gale as the Spray had passed through; and there was dissension on the Santa Maria, something that was imknown on the Spray. After three days of squalls and shifting winds I threw myself down to rest and sleep, while, with helm lashed, the sloop sailed steadily on her course. September i, in the early morning, land-clouds rising ahead told of the Canary Islands not far away. A change in the weather came next day: storm clouds stretched their arms across the sky ; from the east, to all appearances, might come a fierce harmattan, or from the south might come the fierce hurricane. Every point of the compass threatened a wild storm. My attention was turned to reefing sails, and no time was to be lost over it, either, for the sea in a moment was confusion itself, and I was glad to head the sloop three points or more away from her true course that she might ride safely over the waves. I was now scudding ti;;, h;i : :'t .\V THE CANARY ISLANDS 4t her for the channel between Africa and the island of Fuerteventura, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, for which I was on the lookout. At 2 p.m., the weather becoming suddenly fine, the island stood in view, already abeam to starboard, and not more than seven miles off. Fuerteventura is twenty-seven hundred feet high, and in fine weather is visible many leagues away. The wind freshened in the night, and the Spray had a fine run through the channel. By dayl'ght, September 3, she was twenty-five miles clear of all the islands, when a calm ensued, which was the precursor of another gale of wind that soon came on, bringing with it dust from the African shore It howled dismally while it lasted, and though it was not the season of the harmattan, the sea in the course of an hour was discoloured with a reddish- brown dust. The air remained thick with fl)dng dust all the afternoon, but the wind, veering north- west at night, swept it back to land, and afforded the spray once more a clear sky. Her mast now bent under a strong, steady pressure, and her belly- ing sail swept the sea as she rolled scuppers under, courtesying to the waves. These rolling waves thrilled me as they tossed my ship, passing quickly under her keel. This was grand sailing. September 4, the wind, still fresh, blew from the north-northeast, and the sea surged along with the sloop. About noon a steamship, a buUock-droger, from the river Plate hove in sight, steering north- east, and making bad weather of it. I signalled her, but got no answer. She was plunging into the head sea and rolling in a most astonishing manner, and from the way she yawed one might have said that a wild steer was at the helm. On the morning of September 6 I found three ■; W i m 'M v.''ri,i':!l| 11 iii '■-■ -M '-mm 42 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD flying-fish on deck, and a fourth one down the fore- scuttle as close as possible to the fr3dng-pan. It was the best haul yet, and afforded me a sumptuous breakfast and dinner. The Spray had now settled down to the trade- winds and to the business of her voyage. Later in the day another droger hove in sight, rolling as badly as her predecessor. I threw out no flag to this one, but got the worst of it for passing under her lee. She was, indeed, a stale one ! And the poor cattle, how they bellowed ! The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a " gam," and on parting fired guns ; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now ; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning. My ship, running now in the full swing of the trades, left me days to myself for rest and recu- peration. I employed the time in reading and writing, or in whatever I found to do about the rigging and the sails to keep them all in order. The cooking was always done quickly, and was a small matter, as the bill of fare consisted mostly of flying- fish, hot biscuits and butter, potatoes, coffee and cream — dishes readily prepared. On September lo the Spray passed the island of St. Antonio, the northwestemmost of the Cape Verdes, close aboard. The landfall was wonderfully true, considering that no observations for longitude had been made. The wind, northeast, as the sloop drew by the island, was very squally, but I reefed her sails snug, and steered broad from the highland as the tecu- and the The >niall THE REGION OF DOLDRUMS 4S of blustering St. Antonio. Then leaving the Cape Verde Islands out of sight astern, I found myself once more saiUng a lonely sea and in a solitude supreme all around. When I slept I dreamed that I was alone. This feeling never left me ; but, sleeping or waking, I seemed always to know the position of th^ sloop, and I saw my vessel moving across the chart, which became a picture before me. One night while I sat in the cabin under this spell, the profound stillness all about was broken by human voices alongside ! I sprang instantly to the deck, startled beyond my power to tell. Passing close under lee, like an apparition, was a white bark under full sail. The sailors on board of her were hauling on ropes to brace the yards, which just cleared the sloop's mast as she swept by. No one hailed from the white-winged flier, but I heard some one on board say that he saw Hghts on the sloop, and that he made her out to be a fisherman. I sat long on the starlit deck that night, thinking of ships, and watching the constellations on their voyage. On the following day, September 13, a large four- masted ship passed some distance to windward, heading north. The sloop was now rapidly drawing toward the region of doldrums, and the force of the trade-winds was lessening. I could see by the ripples that a counter-current had set in. This I estimated to be about sixteen miles a day. In the heart of the counter-stream the rate was more than that setting eastward. September 14 a lofty three-masted ship, heading north, was seen from the masthead. Neither this ship nor the one seen yesterday was within signal distance, yet it was good even to see them. On the following day heavy rain -clouds rose in the south, IH m ;"• %•' ■<\f j 1 1 1, 'J. '■■ ';\ i 111* ii KvV ^,' X M 44 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD CI' ■il ' i. \nVr obscuring the sun ; this was ominous of doldrums. On the i6 the Spray entered this gloomy region, to battle with squalls and to be harassed by fitful calms ; for this is the state of the elements between the northeast and the southeast trades, where each wind, struggUng in turn for mastery, expends its force whirling about in all directions. Making this stiU more trying to one's nerve and patience, the sea was tossed into confused cross lumps and fretted by eddying currents. As if something more were needed to complete a sailor's discomfort in this state, the rain poured down in torrents day and night. The Spray struggled and tossed for ten days, making only three hundred miles on her course in all that time. I didn't say anything ! On September 23 the fine schooner Nantasket of Boston, from Bear River, for the river Plate, lumber- laden, and just through the doldrums, came up with the Spray, and her captain passing a few words, she sailed on. Being much fouled on the bottom by shell-fish, she drew along with her fishes which had been following the Spray, which was less provided with that sort of food. Fishes will always follow a foul ship. A barnacle-grown log adrift has the same attraction for deep-sea fishes. One of this little school of deserters was a dolphin that had followed the Spray about a thousand miles, and had been content to eat scraps of food thrown overboard from my table ; for, having been wounded, it could not dart through the sea to prey on other fishes. I had become accustomed to seeing the dolphin which I knew by its scars, and missed it whenever it took occasional excursions away from the sloop. One day, after it had been off some hours, it returned in company with three yellowtails, a sort of cousin to the dolphin. This little school kept together, SEA LIFE 45 except when in danger and when foraging about the sea. Their lives were often threatened by hungry sharks that came round the vessel, and more than once they had narrow escapes. Their mode of escape interested me greatly, and I passed hours watching them. They would dart away, each in a different direction, so that the wolf of the sea, the shark, pursuing one, would be led away from the others ; then after a while they would all return and rendezvous under one side or the other of the sloop. Twice their pursuers were diverted by a tin pan, which I towed astern of the sloop, and which was mistaken for a bright fish ; and while turning, in the peculiar way that sharks have when about to devour their prey, I shot them through the head. Their precarious life seemed to concern the yellowtails very little, if at all. All living beings without doubt, are afraid of death. Nevertheless, some of the species I saw huddle together as though they knew they were created for the larger fishes, and wished to give the least possible trouble to their captors. I have seen, on the other hand, whales swimming in a circle around a school of herrings, and with mighty exertion " bunching " them together in a whirlpool set in motion by their flukes, and when the small fry were all whirled nicely together, one or the other of the leviathans, lunging through the centre with open jaws, take in a boat-load or so at a single mouthful. Off the Cape of Good Hope I saw schools of sardines or other small fish being treated in this way by great numbers of cavally-fish. There was not the shghtest chance of escape for the sardines, while the cavally circled round and round, feeding from the edge of the mass. It was interesting to note how rapidly the small fry disappeared ; and though it was repeated before :;('Ji 1 .1 I \ tHH ■ ' 1 ^li ) WK HB ^iK'^f mi HH ■Ml 1 ■I I I'l iijj 1 ■A If' •■■ (■ 'i' 46 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD and the my eyes over ana over, I could hardly perceive capture of a single sardine, so dexterously was it done. Along the equatorial limit of the southeast trade- winds the air was heavily charged with electricity, and there was much thunder and lightning. It was hereabout I remembered that, a few years before, the American ship Alert was destroyed by lightning. Her people, by wonderful good fortune, were rescued on the same day and brought to Pemambuco, where I then met them. On September 25, in the latitude of 5° N., longi- tude 26° 30' W., I spoke the ship North Star of London. The great ship was out forty-eight days from Norfolk, Virginia, and was bound for Rio, where we met again about two months later. The Spray was now thirty days from Gibraltar. The Sprays next companion of the voyage was a swordfish that swam alongside, showing its tall fin out of the water, till I made a stir for my harpoon, when it hauled its black flag down and disappeared. September 30, at half-past eleven in the morning, the Spray crossed the equator in longitude 29° 30' W. At noon she was two miles south of the Ihie. The southeast trade-winds, met, rather light, in about 4° N., gave her sails now a stiff full sending her handsomely over the sea toward the coast of Brazil, where on October 5, just north of Olinda Point, without further incident, she made the land, casting anchor in Pemambuco harbour about noon : forty days from Gibraltar, and all well on board. Did I tire of the voyage in all that time ? Not a bit of it . I was never in better trim in all my life, and was eager for the more perilous experience of rounding the Horn. strangfe in a li: was common A VISIT TO DR. PERERA 47 to sauors that, having already crossed the Atlantic cwice and being now half-way from Boston to the Horn. I should find myself still among friends. My determination to sail westward from Gibraltar not only enabled me to escape the pirates of the Red Sea, but, in bringing me to Pernambuco, landed me on familiar shores. I had made many voyages to this and other ports in Brazil. In 1893 I was employed as master to take the famous Ericsson ship Destroyer from New York to Brazil to go against the rebel Mello and his party. The De- stroyer, by the way, carried a submarine cannon of enormous length. In the same expedition went the Nicheroy, the ship pu chased by the United States government during ; Spanish war and renamed the Buffalo. The D s* yer was in many ways the better ship of the two, but the Brazilians in their curious war sank her themselves at Bahia. With her sank my hope of recovering wages due me ; still, I could but try to recover, for to me it meant a great deal. But now within two years the whirligig of time had brought the Mello party unto power, and although it was the legal government which had employed me, the so-called " rebels " felt under less obligation to me than I could have wished. During these visits to Brazil I had made the acquaintance of Dr. Perera, owner and editor of " El Commercio Journal," and soon after the Spray was safely moored in Upper Topsail Reach, the doctor, who is a very enthusiastic yachtsman, came to pay me a visit and to carry me up the waterway of the lagoon to his country residence. The ap- proach to his mansion by the waterside was guarded by his armada, a fleet of boats including a Chinese sampan, a Norwegian pram, and a Cape Ann dory. ' r, ,) lilV- "mm ■■ M ly'i H% ■M-r '• \\ ■.i:iii il Ai I: li, ■,t ■ ; I ■ ' ,?H1 1. 11% ' h 48 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the last of which he obtained from the Destroyer. The doctor dined me often on good BraziHan fare, that I might, as he said, '* salle gordo " for the voyage; but he found that even on the best I fattened slowly. Fruits and vegetables and all other provisions necessary for the voyage having been taken in, on the 23rd of October I unmoored and made ready for sea. Here I encountered one of the unforgiving Mello faction in the person of the collector of cus- toms, who charged the Spray tonnage dues when she cleared, notwithstanding that she sailed with a yacht license and should have been exempt from port charges. Our consul reminded the collector of this and of the fact — without much diplomacy, I thought — that it was I who brought the Destroyer to Brazil. " Oh, yes,'* said the bland collector ; " we remember it very well," for it was now in a small way his turn. Mr. Lungrin, a merchant, to help me out of the trifling difficulty, offered to freight the Spray with a cargo of gunpowder for Bahia, which would have put me in funds ; and when the insurance com- panies refused to take the risk on cargo shipped on a vessel manned by a crew of only one, he offered to ship it without insurance, taking all the risk himself. This was perhaps pajdng me a greater compliment than I deserved. The reason why I did not accept the business was that in so doing I found that I should vitiate my yacht license and run into more expense for harbour dues around the world than the freight would amount to. Instead of all this, another old merchant friend came to my assistance, advancing the cash direct. While at Pernambuco I shortened the boom, which had been broken when off the coast of Mo- PREPARING FOR STORMY WEATHER 49 ter I :he ad rocco, by removing the broken piece, which took about four feet off the inboard end ; I also refitted the jaws. On October 24, 1895, a fine day even as days go in Brazil, the Spray sailed, having had abundant good cheer. Making about one hundred miles a day along the coast, I arrived at Rio de Janeiro November 5, without any event worth mentioning, and about noon cast anchor near Villaganon, to await the official port visit. On the following day I bestirred myself to meet the highest lord of the admiralty and the ministers, to enquire concerning the matter of wages due me from the beloved Destroyer, The high official I met said : Captain, so far as we are concerned, you may have the ship, and if you are to accept her we will send an officer to show you where she is.'* I knew well enough where she was at that moment. The top of her smoke-stack being awash in Bahia, it was more than Ukely that she rested on the bottom there. I thanked the kind officer, but de- clined his offer. The Spray ^ with a number of old shipmasters on board, sailed about the harbour of Rio the day be- fore she put to sea. As I had decided to give the Spray a yawl rig for the tempestuous waters of Patagonia, I here placed on the stern a semicircular brace to support a jigger mast. These old captains inspected the Spray's rigging, and each one con- tributed something to her outfit. Captain Jones, who had acted as my interpreter at Rio, gave her an anchor, and one of the steamers gave her a cable to match it. She never dragged Jones's anchor once on the voyage, and the cable not only stood the strain on a lee shore, but when towed off Cape Horn helped break combing seas astern that threatened to board her. HI i'-iv CHAPTER VI HI lilt m Departure from Rio de Janeiro — ^The Spray ashore on the sands of Uruguc.y — A narrow escape from shipwreck — ^The boy who found A sloop— The Spray floated but somewhat damaged — Courtesies from the British consul at Maldonado — ^A warm greeting at Montevideo— An excursion to Buenos Aires — Shortening the mast and bowsprit. ON November 28 the Spray sailed from Rio de Janeiro, and first of all ran into a gale of wind, which tore up things generally along the coast, doing considerable damage to shipping. It was well for her, perhaps, that she was clear of the land. Coast- ing along on this part of the voyage, I observed that while some of the small vessels 1 fell in with were able to outsail the Spray by day, they fell astern of her by night. To the Spray day and night were the same ; to the others clearly there was a differ- ence. On one of the very fine days experienced after leaving Rio, the steamship Sottth Wales spoke the Spray and unsolicited gave the longitude by chronometer as 48® W., " as near as I can make it," the captain said. The Spray, with her tin clock, had exactly the same reckoning. I was feeling at ease in my primitive method of naviga- tion, but it startled me not a little to find my position by account verified by the ship's chronometer. On December 5 a barkantine hove in sight, and for several days the two vessels sailed along the coast together. Right here a current was experi- enced setting north, making it necessary to hug the shore, with which the Spray became rather 3© • ■|::!- THE "SPRAY" ASHORE $1 ivere .ffer- ced oke by ake tin was iga- and the )eri- hui? Ither familiar. Here I confess a weakness : I hugged the shore entirely too close. In a word, at daybreak on the morning of December ii the Spray ran hard and fast on the beach. This was annoying ; but I soon found that the sloop was in no great danger. The false appearance of the sand-hills under a bright moon had deceived me, and I lamented now that I had trusted to appearances at all. The sea, though moderately si th, still carric* ? swell which broke with _ Tie L je on the short, i man- aged to launch my small dory from the deck, and ran out a kedge-anchor and warp ; but it was too late to kedge the sloop off, for the tide was falling and she had already sewed a foot. Then I went about " laying out " the larger anchor, which was no easy matter, for my only life-boat, the frail dory, when the anchor and cable were in it, was swamped at once in the surf, the load being too great for her. Then I cut the cable and made two loads of it instead of one. The anchor, with forty fathoms bent and already buoyed, I now took and succeeded in getting through the surf ; but my dory was leaking fast, and by the time I had rowed far enough to (kop the anchor she was full to the gunwale and sinking. There was not a moment to spare, and I saw clearly that if I failed now all might be lost. I sprang from the oars to my feet, and lifting the anchor above my head, threw it clear just as she was turning over. I grasped her gunwale and held on as she turned bottom up, for I suddenly remenibeied that I could not swim. Then I tried to right her, but with too much eager- ness, for she rolled clean over, and left me as before, clinging to her gunwale, while my body was still in the water, (iiving a moment to cool reflection, I found that although the wind was blowing mod- '1 '•■ V\P m ml IT, It.' : W »! '- 52 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD erately toward the land, the current was carrying me to sea, and that something would have to be done. Three times I had been underwater, in trying to right the dory, and I was just saying, ** Now J lay me," when I was seized by a determination to try yet once more, so that no one of the prophets of evil I had left behind me could say, " I told you so." What ever the danger may have been, much or little, I can truly say that the moment was the most serene of my life. After righting the dory for the fourth time, I finally succeeded by the utmost care in keeping her upright while I hauled myself into her and with one of the oars, which I had recovered, paddled to the shore, somewhat the worse for wear and pretty full of salt water. The position of my vessel, now high and dry, gave me anxiety. To get her afloat again was all I thought of or cared for. I had little difficulty in carrying the second part of my cable out and securing it to the first, which I had taken the precaution to buoy before I put it into the boati To bring the end back to the sloop was a smaller matter still, and I believe I chuckled above my sorrows when I found that in all the haphazard my judgment or my good genius had faithfully stood by me. The cable reached from the anchor in deep water to the sloop's windlass by just enough to secure a turn and no more. The anchor had been dropped at the right distance from the vessel. To heave all taut now and wait for the coming tide was all I could do. I had already done enough work to tire a stouter man, and was only too glad to throw myself on the sand above the tide and rest ; for the sun was already up, and pouring a generous warmth over the land. While my state could ha^ )een worse. ti ?:'! THE BOY WHO FOUND A SLOOP 53 I was on the wild coast of a foreign country, and not entirely secure in my property, as I soon found out. I had not been long on the shore when I heard the patter, patter of a horse's feet approaching along the hard beach, which ceased as it came abreast of the sand-ridge where I lay sheltered from the wind. Looking up cautiously, I saw mounted on a nag probably the most astonished boy on the whole coast. He had found a sloop I " It must be mine," he thought, ** for am I not the first to see it on the beach ? " Sure enough, there it was all high and dry and painted white. He trotted his horse around it, and finding no owner, hitched the nag to the sloop's bobstay and hauled as though he would take her home ; but of course she was too hea""y for one horse to move. With my skiff, however, it was different ; this he hauled some distance, and concealed behind a dune in a bunch 6i tall grass He had made up his mind, I dare say, to bring more horses and drag his bigger prize away, anyhow, and was starting off for the settlement a mile or so away for the reinforcement when I discovered myself to him, at which he seemed displeased and disappointed. ** Buenos dias, muchacho," I said. He grunted a reply, and eyed me keenly from head to foot. Then bursting into a volley of questions, — more than six Yankees could ask, — he wanted to know, first, where my ship was from, and how many days she had been coming. Then he asked what I was doing here ashore so early in the morning. " Your questions are easily answered," I replied ; "my ship is from the moon, it has taken her a month to come, and she is here for a cargo of boys." But the intimation of this enterprise, had I not been on the alert, might have cost me dearly ; for while I spoke this child of the campo coiled his '1' m m 54 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD m p: m lariat ready to throw, and instead of being himself carried .; the moon, he was apparently thinking of towing me home by the neck, astern of his wild cayuse, over the fields of Uruguay. The exact spo\: where I was stranded was at the Castillo Chicos, about seven miles south of the dividing-line of Uruguay and Brazil, and of course the natives there speak Spanish. To reconcile my early visitor, I told him that I had on my ship biscuits, and that I wished to trade them for butter and milk. On hearing this a broad grin lighted up his face, and showed that he was greatly interested, and that even in Uruguay a ship's biscuit will cheer the heart of a boy and make him your bosom friend. The lad almost flew home, and returned quickly with butter, milk, and eggs. I was, after all, in a land of plenty. With the boy came others, old and young, from neighbouring ranches, among them a German settler, who was of great assistance to me in many ways. A coast-guard from Fort Teresa, a few miles away, also came, " to protect your property from the natives of the plains," he said. I took occasion to tell him, however, that if he would look after the people of his own village, I would take care of those from the plains, pointing, as I spoke, to the nondescript " merchant " who had already stolen my revolver and several small articles from my cabin, which by a bold front I had recovered. The chap was not a native Uruguayan. Here, as in many other places that I visited, the natives them- selves were not the ones discreditable to the country. Early in the day a despatch came from the port captain of Montevideo, commanding the coast- guards to render the Spray every assistance This, however, was not necessary, for a guard was already THE "SPRAY" FLOATED S5 lem- itry. port loast- rhis, [eady on the alert, and making all the ado that would become the wreck of a steamer with a thousand emigrants aboard. The same messenger brought word from the port captain that he would despatch a steam-tug to tow the Spray to Montevideo. The officer was as good as his word ; a powerful tug arrived on the following day ; but, to make a long story short, with the help of the German and one soldier and one ItaUan, called " Angel of Milan," I had already floated the sloop and was saiUng for port with the boom off before a fair wind. The adventure cost the Spray no small amoimt of pound- ing on the hard sand ; she lost her shoe and part of her false keel, and received other damage, which, however, was readily mended afterward in dock. On the following day I anchored at Maldonado. The British consul, his daughter, and another young lady came on board, bringing with them a basket of fresh eggs, strawberries, bottles of milk, and a great loaf of sweet bread. This was a good land- fall, and better cheer than I had found at Maldonado once upon a time when I entered the port with a stricken crew in my bark, the Aquidneck. In the waters of Maldonado Bay a variety of fishes abound, and fur-seals in their season haul out on the island abreast the bay to breed Cur- rents on this coast are greatly affected by the pre- vailing winds, and a tidal wave higher than that ordinarily produced by the moon is sent up the whole shore of Uruguay before a southwest gale, or lowered by a northeaster, as may happen. One of these waves having just receded before the northeast wind which brought the Spray in left the tide now at low ebb, .with oyster-rocks laid bare for some distance along the shore. Other shellfish of good flavour were also plentiful, though small in size. I m :l-.i 56 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD u ; gathered a mess of oysters and mussels here, while a native with hook abd line, and with mussels for bait, fished from a point of detached rocks for bream, landing several good-sized ones. The fisherman's nephew, a lad about seven years old, deserves mention as the tallest blasphemer, for a short boy, that I met on the voyage. He called his old uncle aU the vile names under the sun for not helping him across the gully. While he swore roundly in all the moods and tenses of the Spanish language, his uncle fished on, now and then congratulating his hopeful nephew on his accom- plishment. At the end of his rich vocabulary the urchin sauntered off into the fields, and shortly returned with a bunch of flowers, and with all smiles handed them to me with the innocence of an angel. I remembered having seen the same flower on the banks of the river farther up, some years before. I asked the young pirate why he had brought them to me. Said he, "I don't know ; I only wished to do so." Whatever the influence was that put so amiable a wish in this wild pampa boy, it must be far-reaching, thought I, and potent, seas over. Shortly after, the Spray sailed for Montevideo, where she arrived on the following day and was greeted by steam-whistles till I felt embarrassed and wished that I had arrived unobserved. The voyage so far alone may have seemed to the Uru- guayans a feat worthy of some recognition ; but there was so much of it yet ahead, and of such an arduous nature, that any demonstration at this point seemed, somehow, like boasting prematurely. The Spray had barely come to anchor at Monte- video when the agents of the Royal Mail Steam- ship Company, Messrs. Humphreys & Co., sent word AN EXCURSION UP RIVER 57 Jru- but an that they would dock and repair her free of expense and give me twenty pounds sterling, which they did to the letter, and more besides. The calkers at Montevideo paid very careful attention to the work of making the sloop tight. Carpenters mended the keel and also the life-boat (the dory) painting it till I hardly knew it from a butterfly. Christmas of 1895 found the Spray refitted even to a wonderful makeshift stove which was contrived from a large iron drum of some sort punched full of holes to give it a draught; the pipe reached straight up through the top of the forecastle Now, this was not a stove by mere courtesy. It was always hungry, even for green wood ; and in cold, wet d*iys ofE the coast of Tierra del Fuego it stood me in good stead. Its one door swung on copper hinges, which one of the yard apprentices, with laudable pride, polished till the whole thing blushed like the bra< .*« binnacle of a P. & O. steamer. The Spray was now ready for sea. Instead of proceeding at once on her voyage, however, she made an excursion up the river, sailing December 29. An old friend of mine. Captain Howard cf Cape Cod and of River Plate fame, took the trip in her to Buenos Aires, where she arrived early on the following day, with a gale of wind and a current so much in her favour that she outdid herself. I was glad to have a sailor of Howard's exp^aicnce on board to witness her performance of sailing with no living being at the helm. Howard sat near the binnacle and watched the compass wliile the sloop held her course so steadily that one would have declared that the card was nailed fast. Not a quarter of a point did she deviate from her course. My old friend had owned and sailed a pilot-sloop on the river for many years, but this feat took the : A: 1:1 1 ■life 58 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD wind out of his sails at last, and he cried, " I'll be stranded on Chico Bank if ever I saw the like of it ! " Perhaps he had never given his sloop a chance to show what she could do. The point I make for the Spray here, above all other points, is that she sailed in shoal water and in a strong current, with other difficult and unusual conditions. Captain Howard took all this into account. In all the years away from his native home Howard had not forgotten the art of making fish chowders ; and to prove this he brought along some fine rockfish and prepared a mess fit for kings. When the savory chowder was done, chocking the pot securely between two boxes on the cabin floor, so that it could not roll over, we helped our- selves and swapped yams over it while the Spray made her own way through the darkness on the river. Howard told me stories about the Fuegian cannibals as she reeled along, and I told him about the pilot of the Pinta steering my vessel through the storm off the coast of the Azores, and that I looked for him at the helm in a gale such as this. I do not charge Howard with superstition, — ^we are none of us superstitious, — but when I spoke about bis returning to Montevideo on the Spray he shook his head and took a steam-packet instead. I had not been in Buenos Aires for a number of years. The place where I had once landed from packets, in a cart, was now built up with magnifi- cent docks. Vast fortunes had been spent in re- modelling the harbour, London bankers could tell you that. The port captain, after assigning the Spray a safe berth, with his compliments, sent me word to cr-i I. ill ilUUU II ill 'W^ , :w ■if '■ , . I;li n^'Ui 6o SAILING ALO NE AROUND THE WORLD of all sizes, and in great numbers. The unique ar- rangement seemed in order, for as a cask was emptied a coffin might be filled. Besides cheap whisky and many other liquors, he sold ** cider," which he manufactured from damaged Malaga raisins. Within the scope of his enterprise was also the sale of mineral waters, not entirely blame- less of the germs of disease. This man surely ca- tered to all the tastes, wants, and conditions of his customers. Farther along in the city, however, survived the good man who wrote on the side of his store, where thoughtful men might read and learn : " This wicked world will be destroyed by a comet I The owner of this store is therefore bound to sell out at any price and avoid the catastrophe." My friend Mr. Mulhall drove me round to view the fearful comet with streaming tail pictured large on the trembling merchant's walls. I unshipped the sloop's mast at Buenos Aires and shortened it by seven feet. I reduced the length of the bowsprit by about five feet, and even then I found it reaching far enough from home ; and more than once, when on the end of it reefing the jib, T regretted tliat I bad uot shortened it another iooL »* CHAPTER VII Weighing anchor at Buenos Aires — An outburst of emotion at the mouth of the Plate — Submerged by a great wave — A stormy entrance to the strait — Captain Samblich's happy gift of a bag of carpet-tacks — Ofi Cape Froward — Chased by Indians from Fortescue Bay — A miss-shot for " Black Pedro " — Taking in supplies of wood and water at Three Island Cove — Animal Life. ON January 26, 1896, the Spray, being refitted and well provisioned in every way, sailed from Buenos Aires. There was little wind at the start ; the surface of the great river was like a silver disc, and I was glad of a tow from a harbour tug to clear the port entrance. But a gale came up soon after, and caused an ugly sea, and instead of being all silver, as before, the river was now all mud. The Plate is a treacherous place for storms. One sailing there should always be on the alert for squalls. I cast anchor before dark in the best lee I could find near the land, but was tossed miserably all night, heartsore of choppy seas. On the following morn- ing I got the sloop under way, and with reefed sails worked her down the river against a head wind. Standing in that night to the place where pilot Howard joined me for the up-river sail, I took a departure, shaping my course to clear Point Indio on the one hand, and the English Bank on the other. I had not for many years been south of these regions. I will not say that I expected all fine sailing on the course for Cape Horn direct, but while I worked at the sails and rigging I thought only of onward and forward. It was when I an- chored in the lonely places that a feeling of awe 6x Hi ,"!^ij u It ;•*, |( "A 62 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD crept over me. At the last anchorage on the mo- notonous and muddy river, weak as it may seem, I gave way to my feelings. I resolved then that I would anchor no more north of the Strait of Magellan. On the 28th of January the Spray was clear of Point Indio, English Bank, and all the other dan- gers of the River Plate. With a fair wind she then bore away for the Strait of Magellan, under all sail, pressing farther and farther toward the wonderland of the South, till I forgot the blessings of oiu: milder North. My ship passed in safety Bahia Blanca, also the Gulf of St Matias and the mighty Gulf of St. George. Hoping that she might go clear of the destructive tide-races, the dread of big craft or little along this coast, I gave all the capes a berth of about fifty miles, for these dangers extend many miles from the l?nd. But where the sloop avoided one danger she encountered another For, one day, well off the Patagonian coast, while the sloop was reaching under short sail, a tremendous wave, the culmination, it seemed, of many waves, rolled down upon her in a storm, roaring as it came. I had only a moment to get all sail down and myself up on the peak halyards, out of danger when I saw the mighty crest towering masthead-high above me. The mountain of water submerged my vessel. She shook in every timber and reeled under the weight of the sea, but rose quickly out of it, and rode grandly over the rollers that followed. It may have been a minute that from my hold in the rigging I could see no part of the Spray's hull. Perhaps it was even less time than that, but it seemed a long while, for under great excitement one lives fast, and in a few seconds one may think a great deal of THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN 63 one's past life. Not only did the past, with electric speed, flash before me, but I had time while in my hazardous position for resolutions for the future that would take a long time to fulfil. The first one was, I remember, that if the Spray came through this danger I would dedicate my best energies to building a larger ship on her lines, which I hope yet to do. Other promises, less easily kept, I should have made under protest. However, the incident, which filled me with fear, was only one more test of the Spray's worthiness. It reassured me against rude Cape Horn. From the time the great wave swept over the spray until she reached Cape Virgins nothing oc- curred to move a pulse and set blood in motion. On the contrary, the weather became fine and the sea smooth and life tranquil. The phenomenon of mirage frequently occurred. An albatross sitting on the water one day loomed up like a large ship ; two fur-seals asleep on the surface of the sea ap- peared like great whales, and a bank of haze I could have sworn was high land. The kaleido- scope then changed, and on the following day I sailed in a world peopled by dwarfs. On February 11 the Spray rounded Cape Virgins and entered the Strait of Magellan. The scene was again real and gloomy ; the win J, north-east, and blowing a gale, sent feather- white spume along the coast ; such a sea ran as would swamp an ill- appointed ship. As the sloop neared the entrance to the strait I observed that two great tide-races made ahead, one verj' close to the point of the land and one farther offshore. Between the two, in a sort of channel, through combers, went the Spray with close-reefed sails. But a rolling sea followed her a long way in, and a fierce current swept around •f ■- ■!' i id m 64 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD I'll m m ■i 4 the cape against her ; but this she stemmed, and was scx)n chirruping under the lee of Cape Virgins and running every minute into smoother water. However, long traiUng kelp from sunken rocks waved forebodingly under her keel, and the wreck of a great steamship smashed on the beach abreast gave a gloomy aspect to the scene. I was not to be let off easy. The Virgins would collect tribute even from the Spray passing their promontory. Fitful rain-squalls from the north- west followed the northeast gale. I reefed the sloop's sails, and sitting in the cabin to rest my eyes, I was so strongly impressed with what in all nature I might expect that as I dozed the very air I breathed seemed to warn me of danger. My senses heard '* Spray ahoy I " shouted in warning. I sprang to the deck, wondering who could be there that knew the Spray so well as to call out her name passing in the dark ; for it was now the blackest of nights all around, except away in the southwest where the old familiar white arch, the terror of Cape Horn, rapidly pushed up by a southwest gale. I had only a moment to douse sail and lash all soUd when it struck Hke a shot from a cannon, and for the first half -hour it was something to be remembered by way of a gale. For thirty hours it kept on blow- ing hard. The sloop could carry no more than a thJee-reefed mainsail and forestaysail ; with these she held on stoutly and was not blown out of the strait. In the height of the squalls in this gale she doused all sail, and this occurred often enough. After this gale followed only a smart breeze, and the Spray, passing through the narrows without mishap, cast anchor at Sandy Point on February 14, 1896. Sandy Point (Punta Arenas) is a Chilean coal- 'm AT SANDY f>OINT «5 ing station, and boasts about two thousand inhabi- tants, of mixed nationality, but mostly Chileans. What with sheep-farming, gold-mining, and hunt- ing, the settlers in this dreary land seemed not the worst off in the world. But the natives, Patagonian and Fuegian, on the other hand, were as squalid as contact with unscrupulous traders could make them. A large percentage of the business there was traffic in " fire-water." If there was a law against selling the poisonous stuff to the natives, it was not enforced. Fine specimens of the Pata- gonian race, looking smart in the morning when they came into town, had repented before night of ever having seen a white man, so beastly drunk were they, to say nothing about the peltry of which t!iey had been robbed. The port at that time was free, but a custom- house was in course of construction, and when it is finished, port and tariff dues are to be collected. A soldier police guarded the place, and a sort of vigilante force besides took down its gans now and then ; but as a general thing, to my mind, whenever an execution was made they killed the wrong man. Just previous to my arrival the governor, himself of a jovial turn of mind, had sent a party of young bloods to foray a Fuegian settlement and wipe out what they could of it on account of the recent massacre of a schooner's crew somewhere else. Altogether the place was quite newsy and supported two papers — dailies, I think. The port captain, a Chilean naval officer, advised me to ship hands to fight Indians in the strait farther west, and spoke of my slopping until a gunboat should be going through, which would give me a tow. After can- vassing the' place, however, I found only one man wilUng to embark, and he on condition that I should r^(M 66 SAILING ALONE AROUND THfi WORLD :^^ 8o SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD t';v 1 . I I together in the shape of a peak for my square- mainsail, the tarpaulin. The day to all appearances promised fine weather and light winds, but appear- ances in Tierra del Fuego do not always count. While I was wondering why no trees grew on the slope abreast of the anchorage, half minded to lay by the sail-making and land with my gun for some game and to inspect a white boulder on the beach, near the brook, a williwaw came down with such terrific force as to carry the Spray, with two anchors down, Hke a feather out of the cove and away into deep water. No wonder trees did not grow on the side of that hill ! Great Boreas ! a tree would need to be all roots to hold on against such a furious wind. From the cove to the nearest land to leeward was a long drift, however, and I had ample time to weigh both anchors before the sloop came near any danger, and so no harm came of it. I saw no more savages that day or the next ; they probably had some sign by which they knew of the coming willi- waws ; at least, they were wise in not being afloat even on the second day, for I had no sooner gotten to work at sail-making again, after the anchor was down, than the wind, as on the day before, picked the sloop up and flung her seaward with a vengeance, anchor and all, as before. This fierce wind, usual to the Magellan country, continued on through the day, and swept the sloop by several miles of steep bluffs and precipices overhanging a bold shore of wild and uninviting appearance. I was not sorry to get away from it, though in doing so it was no Elysian shore to which I shaped my course. I kept on sailing in hope, since I had no choice but to go on, heading across for St. Nicholas Bay, where I had cast anchor February 19. It was now the loth of FIERCE WILLIWAWS 8i March ! Upon reaching the bay the second time I had circumnavigated the wildest part ot desolate Tierra del Fuego. But the Spray had not yet arrived at St. Nicholas, and by the merest accident her bones were saved from resting there when she did arrive. The parting of a staysail-sheet in a willi- waw, when the sea was turbulent and she was plung- ing into the storm, brought me forward to see instantly a dark cliff ahead and breakers so close under the bows that I felt surely lost, and in my thoughts cried, " Is the hand of fate against me, after all, leading me in the end to this dark spot ? " I sprang aft again, unheeding the flapping sail, and threw the wheel over, expecting, as the sloop came down into the hollow of a wave, to feel her timbers smash under me on the rocks. But at the touch of her helm she swung clear of the danger, and in the next moment she was in the lee of the land. It was the small island in the middle of the bay for which the sloop had been steering, and which she made with such unerring aim as nearly to run it down. Farther along in the bay was the anchor- age, which I managed to reach, but before I could get the anchor down another squall caught the sloop and whirled her round like a top and carried her away, altogether to leeward of the bay. Still farther to leeward was a great headland, and I bore off for that. This was retracing my course toward Sandy Point, for the gale was from the southwest. I had the sloop soon under good control, how- ever, and in a short time rounded to under the lee of a mpuntain, where the sea was as smooth as a mill-pond, and the sails flapped and hung limp while she carried her way close in. Here I thought I would anchor and rest till morning, the depth being eight fathoms very close to the shore. But fill N !- 82 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD ' N- I it was interesting to see, as I let go the anchor, that it did not reach the bottom before another williwaw struck down from this mountain and carried the sloop off faster than I could pay out cable. Therefore, instead of resting, I had to " man the windlass " and heave up the anchor with fifty fathoms of cable hanging up and down in deep water. This was in that part of the strait called Famine Reach. Dismal Famine Reach I On the sloop's crab-windlass I worked the rest of the night, thinking how much easier it was for me when I could say, " Do that thing or the other," than now doing all myself. But I hove away and sang the old chants that I sang when I was a sailor. Within the last few days I had passed through much and was now thankful that my state was no worse. It was daybreak when the anchor was at the hawse. By this time the wind had gone down, and cat's-paws took the place of williwaws, while the sloop drifted slowly toward Sandy Point. She came witidn sight of ships at anchor in the roads, and I was more than half minded to put in for new sails, but the \vind coming out from the northeast, which was fair for the other direction, I turned the prow oi the Spray westward once more for the Pacific, to traverse a second time the second half of my first course through the strait. CHAPTER IX Repairing the Spray's sails — Savages and an obstreperous anchor — A spider-fight — ^An encounter with Black Pedro — A visit to the steamship Colombia — On defensive against a fleet of canoes — A record of voyages th h the strait — A chance cargo of tallow. I WAS determined to rely on my own small resources to repair the damages of the great gale which drove me southward toward the Horn, after I had passed from the Strait of Magellan out into the Pacific. So when I had got back into the strait, by way of Cockbum Channel, I did not proceed eastward for help at the Sandy Point settle- ment, but turning again into the northwestward reach of the strait, set to work with my palm and needle at every opportunity, when at anchor and when saihng. It was slow work ; but little by little the squaresail on the boom expanded to the dimen- sions of a serviceable mainsail with a peak to it and a leech besides. If it was not the best-setting sail afloat, it was at least very strongly made and would stand a hard blow. A ship, meeting the Spray long afterward, reported her as wearing a mainsail of some improved design and patent reefer, hut that was not the case. The Spray for a few days after the storm enjoyed fine weather, and made fair time through the strait for the distance of twenty miles, which, in these days of many adversities, I called a long run. The 83 ..r... IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) & // Z ,.% <- ^-^ Photograpliic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. USSO (716)S72-4S03 m o 4 >>. [V O^ '^^ > >■ o 84 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD i ■ i' I «' weather, I say, was fine for a few days; but it brought little rest. Care for the safety of my vessel, and even for my own life, was in no wise lessened by the absence of heavy weather. Indeed, the peril was even greater, inasmuch as the savages on comparatively fine days ventured forth on their marau(Ung excursions, and in boisterous weather disappeared from sight, their wretched canoes being frail and undeserving the name of craft at all. This being so, I now enjoyed gales of wind as never before, and the Spray was never long without them during her struggles about Cape Horn. I became in a measure inured to the Hfe, and began to think that one more trip through the strait, if perchance the sloop should be blown ofE again, would make me the aggressor, and put the Fuegians entirely on the defensive. This feeling was forcibly borne in on me at Snug Bay, where I anchored at gray morning after passing Cape Froward, to find, when broad day appeared, that two canoes which I had eluded by sailing all night were now entering the same bay stealthily under the shadow of the high headland. They were well manned, and the sav- ages were well armed with spears and bows. At a shot from my rifle across the bows, both turned aside into a small creek out of range. In danger now of being flanked by the savages in the bush close aboard, I was obliged to hoist the sails, which I had barely lowered, and make across to the op- posite side of the strait, a distance of six miles. But now I was put to my wit's end as to how I should weigh anchor, for through an accident to the windlass right here I could not budge it. How- ever, I set all sail and filled away, first hauling short by hand. The sloop canied her anchor away, as though it was meant to be always towed in this A SPIDER-FIGHT 85 way underfoot, and with it she towed a ton or more of kelp from a reef in the bay, the wind blowing a wholesale breeze. Meanwhile I worked till blood started from my fingers, and with one eye over my shoulder for savages, I watched at the same time, and sent a bullet whistling whenever I saw a limb or a twig move ; for I kept a gun always at hand, and an Indian appearing then Within range would have been taken as a declaration of war. As it was, however, my own blood was all that was spilt — ^and from the trifling accident of sometimes breaking the flesh against a cleat or a pin which came in the way when I was in haste. Sea-cuts in my hands from pulling on hard, wet ropes were sometimes painful and and often bled freely ; but these healed when I finally got away from the strait into fine weather. After clearing Snug Bay I hauled the sloop to the wind, repaired the windlass, and hove the anchor to the hawse, catted it, and then stretched across to a port of refuge under a high mountain about six miles away, and came to in nine fathoms close under the face of a perpendicular cliff. Here my own voice answered back, and I named the place '* Echo Mountain." Seeing dead trees farther along where the shore was broken, I made a landing for fuel, taking, besides my axe, a rifle, which on these days I never left far from hand ; but I saw no living thing here, except a small spider, which had nested in a dry log that I boated to the sloop. The conduct of this insect interested me now more than anything else around the wild place. In my cabin it met, oddly .enough, a spider of its own size and species that had come all the way from Boston — a very civil little chap, too, but mighty spry. Well, the Fuegian threw up its antennae for a fight ; but my 86 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD little Bostonian downed it at once, then broke its legs, and pulled them off, one by one, so dexterously that in less than three minutes from the time the battle began the Fuegian spider didn't know itself from a fly. I made haste the following morning to be under way after a night of wakefulness on the weird shore. Before weighing anchor, however, I prepared a cup of warm coSee over a smart wood fire in my great Montevideo stove. In the same fire was cremated the Fuegian spider, slain the day before by the little warrior from Boston, which a Scots lady at Cape Town long after named " Bruce " upon hearing of its prowess at Echo Mountain. The Spray now reached away for Coffee Island, which I sighted on my birthday, February 20, 1896. i There she encountered another gale, that brought ' her in the lee of great Charles Island for shelter. On a bluff point on Charles were signal-fires, and a tribe of savages, mustered here since my first trip through the strait, manned their canoes to put off for the sloop. It was not prudent to come to, the anchorage being within bow-shot of the shore, which was thickly wooded ; but I made signs that one canoe might come alongside, while the sloop ranged about under sail in the lee of the land. The others I motioned to keep off, and in- cidentally laid a smart Martini-Henry rifle in sight, close at hand, on the top of the cabin. In the canoe that came alongside, crying their never-ending begging word " yammerschooner," were two squaws and one Indian, the hardest specimens of humanity I had ever seen in any of my travels. " Yammer- schooner " was their plaint when they pushed off from the shore, and " yammerschooner " it was when they got alongside. The squaws beckoned for food, while the Indian, a black-visaged savage. BLACK PEDRO 87 ft Stood sulkily as if he took no interest at all in the matter, but on my turning my back for some biscuits and jerked beef for the squaws, the "buck" sprang on deck and confronted me, saying in Span- ish jargon that we had met before. I thought I recognized the tone of his " yanmierschooner," and his full beard identified him as the Black Pedro whom, it was true, I had met before. " Where are the rest of the crew ? " he asked, as he looked un- easily around, expecting hands, maybe, to come out of the fore-scuttle and deal him his just deserts for many murders. "About three weeks ago," said he, " when you passed up here, I saw three men on board. Where are the other two ? " I answered him briefly that the same crew was still on board. " But,** said he, " I see you are doing all the work,'* and with a leer he added, as he glanced at the mainsail, "hombre vaUente.'* I explained that I did all the work in the day, while the rest of the crew slept, so that they would be fresh to watch for Indians a^ night. I was interested in the subtle cunning of \Ms savage, knowing him, as I did, better perhaps than he was aware. Even had I not been advised before I sailed from Sandy Point, I should have measured him for an arch-villain now. Moreover, one of the squaws, with that spark of kindliness which is somehow foimd in the breast of even the lowest savage, warned me by a sign to be on my guard, or Black Pedro would do me harm. There was no need of the warning, however, for I was on my guard from the first, and at that moment held a smart revolver in my hand ready for instant service. " When you sailed through here before," he said, " you fired a shot at me," adding with some warmth that it was " muy malo." I affected not to under- y 88 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD jr. Stand, and said, *' You have lived at Sandy Point, have you not ? " He answered frankly, '* Yes," and appeared delighted to meet one who had come from the dear old place. ** At the mission ? " I queried. " Why, yes," he replied, stepping forward as if to embrace an old friend. I motioned him back, for I did not share his flattering humour. " And you know Captain Pedro Samblich ? " continued I. " Yes," said the villain, who had killed a kinsman of Samblich — ** yes, indeed ; he is a great friend of mine." " I know it," said I. SambUch had told me to shoot him on sight. Pointing to my rifle on the cabin, he wanted to know how many times it fired. ** Cuantos ?" said he. When I explained to him that that gun kept right on shooting, his jaw fell, and he spoke of getting away. I did not hinder him from going. I gave the squaws biscuits and beef, and one of them gave me several lumps of tallow in exchange, and I think it worth mentioning that she did not offer me the smallest pieces, but with some extra trouble handed me the largest of all the pieces in the canoe. No Christian could have done more. Before pushing off from the sloop the cunning savage asked for matches, and made as if to reach with the end of his spear the box I was about to give him ;^)but I held it toward him on the muzzle of my rifle, the one that " kept on shooting." The chap picked the box off the gun gingerly enough, to be sure, but he jumped when I said, *' Quedao [Look out]," at which the squaws laughed and seemed not at all displeased. Perhaps the wretch had clubbed them that morning for not gathering mussels enough for his breakfast. There was a good understanding among us all. ^ ^ From Charles Island the Spray crossed over to Fortescue Bay, where she anchored and spent a RLD BLACK PEDRO AGAIN 89 Point. Yes." come ?" I rward back, id you led I. nsman friend id told ifle on mes it ned to is jaw hinder ts and nps of pioning twith lall the done the as if I was on the >ting." lough. uedao d and vretch lering igood ^er to )ent a comfortable night under the lee of high land, while the wind howled outside. The bay was deserted now. They were Fortescue Indians whom I had seen at the island, and I felt quite sure they could not follow the Spray in the present hard blow. Not to neglect a precaution, however, I sprinkled tacks on deck before I turned in. On the following day the loneliness of the place was broken by the appearance of a great steamship, making for the anchorage with a lofty bearing. She was no Diego craft. I knew the sheer, the model, and the poise. I threw out my flag, and directly saw the Stars and Stripes flung to the breeze from the great ship. The wind had then abated, and toward night the savages made their appearance from the island, going direct to the steamer to ** yammerschooner." Then they came to the Spray to beg more, or to steal all. declaring that they got nothing from the steamer. Black Pedro here came alongside again. My own brother could not have been more delighted to see me, and he begged me to lend him my rifle to shoot a guanaco for me in the morning. I assured the fellow that if I remained there another day I would lend him the gun. but I had no mind to remain. I gave him a cooper's draw-knife and some other small implements which would be of service in canoe-making, and bade him be off. Under the cover of darkness that night I went to the steamer, which I found toh^ the Columbia, Captain Henderson, from New York, bound for San Francisco. I carried all my guns along with me, in case it should be necessary to fight my way back. In the chief mate of the Colombia, Mr. Hannibal, I found an old friend, and he referred affectionately to days in Manila when we were there together, he \t't' I . » I 90 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD in the Southern Cross and I in the Northern Light, both ships as beautiful as their names. The Colombia had an abundance of fresh stores en bond. The captain gave his steward some order, and I remember that the guileless young man asked me if I could manage, besides other things, a few cans of milk and a cheese. When I offered my Montevideo gold for the supplies, the captain roared like a lion and told me to put my money up. It was a glorious outfit of provisions of all kinds that I got. Returning to the Spray, where I found all secure, I prepared for an early start in the morning. It was agreed that the steamer should blow her whistle for me if first on the move. I wat( hed the steamer, off and on, through the night for the pleasure alone of seeing her electric lights, a pleasing sight in con- trast to the ordinary Fuegian canoe with a brand of fire in it. The sloop was the first under way, but the Colombia, soon following, passed, and saluted as she went by. Had the captain given me his steamer, his company would have been no worse off than they were two or three months later. I read afterward, in a late California paper, " The Colombia will be a total loss.*' On her second trip to Panama she was wrecked on the rocks of the CaUfornia coast. The spray was then beating against wind and current, as usual in the strait. At this point the tides from the Atlantic and the Pacific meet, and in the strait, as on the outside coast, their meeting makes a commotion of whirlpools and combers that in a gale of wind is dangerous to canoes and other frail craft. ^ A few miles farther along was a large steamer ashore, bottom up. Passing this place, the sloop iRLD Light, stores , some ig man things, offered captain ley up. L kinds secure, tig. It whistle :eamer, e alone in con- , brand it way, saluted me his ► worse I read vlomhia ^anama lifornia id and int the et, and neeting ;rs that d other steamer e sloop A FLEET OF CANOES 9t ran into a streak of light wind, and then — a most remarkable condition for strait weather — ^it fell entirely calm. Signal-fires sprang up at once on all sides, and then more than twenty canoes hove in sight, all heading for the Spray. As they came within hail, their savage crews cried " Amigo yammerschooner,*' " Anclas aqui," ** Bueno puerto aqui,'' and like scraps of Spanish mixed with their own jargon. I had no thought of anchoring in their " good port." I hoisted the sloop's flag and fired a gun, all of which they might construe as a friendly salute or an invitation to come on. They drew up in a semicircle, but kept outside of eighty yards, which in self-defence would have been the death-line. In their mosquito fleet was a ship's boat stolen probably from a murdered crew. Six savages paddled this rather awkwardly with the blades of oars which had been broken off. Two of the savages standing erect wore sea-boots, and this sustained the suspicion that they had fallen upon some luckless ship's crew, and also added a hint that they had already visited the Spray's deck, and would now, if they could, try her again. Their sea-boots, I have no doubt, would have protected their feet and rendered carpet-tacks harmless^ Paddling clumsily, they passed down the 'trait at a distance of a hundred yards from the sloo;>, in an offhand manner and as if bound to Fortescue Bay. This I judged to be a piece of strategy, and so kept a sharp lookout over a small island which soon came in range between them and the sloop, com- pletely hiding them from view, and toward which the Spray was now drifting helplessly v»ith the tide, and tvith every prospect of going on the rocks, fcr there was no anchorage, at least, none that my cables would reach. And, sure enough, I soon saw -' i t • . g2 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD a movement in the grass just on top of the island, which is called Bonct Island and is one hundred and thirty-six feet high I fired several shots over the place, but saw no other sign of the savages. It was they that had moved the grass, for as the sloop swept past the island, the rebound of the tide carry- ing her clear, there on the other side was the boat, surely enough exposing their cunning and treachery. A stiff breeze, coming up suddenly, now scattered the canoes while it extricated the sloop from a dangerous position, albeit the wind, though friendly, was still ahead. The spray, flogging against current and wind, made Borgia Bay on the following afternoon, and cast anchor there for the second time. I would now, if I could, describe the moonlit scene on the strait at midnight after I had cleared the savages and Bonet Island. A heavy cloud bank that had swept across the sky then cleared away, and the night became suddenly as light as day, or nearly so. A high mountain was mirrored in the channel ahead, and the Spray sailing along with her shadow was as two sloops on the sea. The sloop being moored, I threw out my skiff, and with axe and gun landed at the head of the cove, and filled a barrel of water from a stream. Then, as before, there was no sign of Indians at the place. Finding it quite deserted, I rambled about near the the beach for an hour or more. The fine weather seemed, somehow, to add loneliness to the place, and when I came upon a spot where a grave was marked I went no farther. Returning to the head of the cove, I came to a sort of Calvary, it appeared to me, where navigators, carrying their cross, had each set one up as a beacon to others coming after. They had anchored here and gone on, all except the A RECOiiD OF VOYAGES 93 one under the little mound One of the simple marks, curiously enough, had been left there by the steamship Colimbia, sister ship to the Colombia, my neighbour of that morning. I read the names of many other vessels ; some of them I copied in my journal, others were illegible. Many of the crosses had decayed and fallen, and many a hand that put them there I had known, many a hand now still. The air of depression was about the place, and I hurried back to the sloop to forget myself again in the voyage. Early the next morning I stood out from Borgia Bay, and off Cape Quod, where the wind fell light, I moored the sloop by kelp in twenty fathoms of water, and held her there a few hours against a three-knot current. That night I anchored in Langara Cove, a few miles farther along, where on the following day I discovered wreckage and goods washed up from the sea. I worked all day now, salving and boating off a cargo to the sloop. The bulk of the goods was tallow in casks and in lumps from which the casks had broken away ; and em- bedded in the seaweed was a barrel of wine, which I also towed alongside. I hoisted them all in with the throat-halyards, which I took to the windlass. The weight of some of the casks was a little over eight : mdred pounds. There were no Indians about Langara ; evidently there had not been any since the great gale which had washed the wreckage on shore. Probably it was the same gale that drove the Spray off Cape Horn from March 3 to 8. Hundreds of tons of kelp had been torn from beds in deep water and rolled up into ridges on the beach. A specimen stalk which I found entire, roots, leaves, and all, measured one hundred and thirty-one feet in length. At 1 - . 94 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD this place I filled a barrel of water at night, and on the following day sailed with a fair wind at last. I had not sailed far, however, when I came abreast of more tallow in a small cove, where I anchored, and boated of! as before. It rained and snowed hard all that day, and it was no light work carrying tallow in my arms over the boulders on the beach. But I worked on till the Spray was loaded with a full cargo. I was happy then in the prospect of doing a good business farther along on the voyage, for the habits of an old trader would come to the surface. I sailed from the cove about noon, greased from top to toe, while my vessel was tallowed from keelson to truck. My cabin, as well as the hold and deck, was stowed full of tallow, and all were^,\ thoroughly smeared. '--m :i) m ■> I'll /| r. i ■■■-■J V M CHAPTER X Running to Port Angosto in a snow-stonn — A defective sheet- rope places the Spi^ay in peril — ^The Spray as a target for a Fuegian arrow — ^The island of Alan Erric — Again in the open Pac&c — The mn to the island of Juan Fernandez — an ab- ■entee Idng— At Robinson Crusoe's anchorage. ANOTHER gale had then sprang up, but the wind was still fair, and I had only twenty>six miles to run for Port Angosto, a dreary enough place, where, however, I would find a safe harbour in which to refit and stow cargo. I carried on sail to make the harbour before dark, and she fairly flew along, all covered with snow, which fell thick and fast, till she looked like a white winter bird. Be- tween the storm-bursts I saw the headland of my port, and was steering for it when a flaw of wind caught the mainsail by the lee, jibed it over, and dear ! dear ! how nearly was this the cause of dis- aster ; for the sheet parted and the boom unshipped, and it was then close upon night. I worked till the perspiration poured from my body to get things adjusted and in working order before dark, and, above all, to get it done before the sloop drove to leeward of the port of refuge. Even then I did not get the boom shipped in its saddle. I was at the entrance of the harbour before I could get this done, and it was time to haul her or to lose the port ; but in that condition, like a bird with a broken wing, she made the haven. The accident which so 93 t: 1 nil :.?■: |i|||i AT PORT ANGOSTA 99 and of each return for shelter, it is not my purpose to speak. Of hindrances there were many to keep her back, but on the thirteenth day of April, and for the seventh and last time, she weighed anchor from that port. Difficulties, however, multiplied all about in so strange a manner that had I been given to superstitious fears I should not have persisted in saiHng on a thirteenth day, notwithstanding that a fair wind blew in the offing. Many of the incidents were ludicrous. When I found myself, for instance, disentangling the sloop's mast from the branches of a tree after she had drifted three times around a small island, against my will, it seemed more than one's nerves could bear, and I had to speak about it, so I thought, or die of lock- jaw, and I apostrophized the Spray, as an impatient farmer might his horse or his ox. " Didn't you know,** cried I — ** didn't you know that you couldn't climb a tree ? ** But the poor old Spray had essayed, and successfully too, nearly every- thing else in the Strait of Magellan, and my heart softened toward her when I thought of what she had gone through. Moreover, she had discovered an island. On the charts this one that she had sailed around was traced as a point of land. I named it Alan Erric Island, after a worthy literary friend whom I had met in strange by-places, and I put up a sign, " Keep off the grass,** which, as discoverer, was within my rights. Now at last the Spray carried me free of Tierra del Fuego. If by a close shave only, still she carried me clear, though her boom actually hit the beacon rocks to leeward as she lugged on sail to clear the point. The thing was done on the 13th of April, 1896. But a close shave and a narrow escape were nothing new to the Spray, \ 100 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD /ti The waves doffed their white caps beautifully to her in the strait that day before the southeast wind, tiic first true winter breeze of the season from that quarter, and here she was out on the first of it, with every prospect of clearing Cape Pillar before it should shift. So it turned out ; the wind blew hard, as it always blows about Cape Horn, but she had cleared the great tide-race off Cape Pillar and the Evangelistas, the outermost rocks of all, before the change came. I remained at the helm, humour- ing my vessel in the cross seas, for it was rough, and I did not dare to let her take a straight course. It was necessary to change her course in the combing seas, to meet them with what skill I could when they rolled up ahead, and to keep off when they came up abeam. On the following mommg, April 14, only the tops of the highest mountains were in sight, and the Spray, making good headway on a northwest course, soon sank these out of sight. ** Hurrah for the Spray ! " I shouted to seals, sea-gulls, and pen- guins; for there were no other Hving creatures about, and she had weathered all the dangers of Cape Horn. Moreover, she had on her voyage round the Horn salved a cargo of which she had not jettisoned a pound. And why should not one rejoice also in the main chance coming so of itself ? I shook out a reef, and set the whole jib, for, having sea-room, I could square away two points. This brought the sea more on her quarter, and she was the wholesomer under a press of sail. Occa- sionally an old southwest sea, rolling up, combed athwart her, but did no harm The wind freshened as the sun rose half-mast or more, and the air, a bit chilly in the morning, softened later in AGAIN IN THE PACIFIC loi the day ; but I gave little thought to such things as these. One wave, in the evening, larger than others that had threatened all day, — one such as sailors call " fine-weather seas," — broke over the sloop fore and aft. It washed over me at the helm, the last that swept over the Spray off Cape Horn. It seemed to wash away old regrets. All my troubles were now astern ; summer was ahead ; all the world was again before me. The wind was even literally fair. My ** trick " at the wheel was now up, and it was 5 p.m. I had stood at the helm since eleven o'clock the morning before, or thirty hours. Then was the time to uncover my head, for I sailed alone with God. The vast ocean was again around me, and the horizon was unbroken by land. A few days later the Spray was under full sail, and I saw her for the first time with a jigger spread. This was indeed a small incident, but it was the incident following a triumph. The wind was still southwest, but it had moderated, and roaring seas had turned to gossiping waves that rippled and pattered against her sides as she rolled among them, delighted with their story. Rapid changes went on, those days, in things all about while she headed for the tropics. New species of birds came around ; albatrosses fell back and became scarcer and scarcer ; lighter gulls came in their stead, and pecked for crumbs in the sloop's wake. On the tenth day from Cape Pillar a shark came along, the first of its kind on this part of the voyage to get into trouble. I harpooned him and took out his ugly jaws. I had not till then felt inclined to take the life of any animal, but when John Shark hove in sight my sympathy flew to the winds. It is a fact that in Magellan I let pass many ducks \ <)lll I' ' :ttr u 102 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD that would have made a good stew, for I had no mind in the lonesome strait to take the life of any living thing. From Cape Pillar I steered for Juan Fernandez, and on the 26th of April, fifteen days out, made that historic island right ahead. The blue hills of Juan Fernandez, high among the clouds, could be seen about thirty miles off. A thousand emotions thrilled me when I saw the island, and I bowed my head to the deck. We may mock the Oriental salaam, but for my part I coidd find no other way of expressing myself. The wind being light through the day, the Spray did not reach the island till night. With what wind there was to fiH her sails she stood close in to shore on the northeast side, where it fell calm arid remained so all night. I saw the twinkling of a small light farther along in a cove, and fired a gun, but got no answer, and soon the light disappeared altogether. I heard the sea booming against the cUffs all night, and realized that the ocean swell was still great, although from the deck of my little ship it was appar- ently small. From the cry of animals in the hills, which sounded fainter and fainter through the night, I judged that a light current was drifting the sloop from the land, though she seemed all night dangerously near the shore, for, the land being very high, appearances were deceptive. Soon after daylight I saw a boat putting out toward me. As it pulled near, it so happened that I picked up my gun, which was on the deck, mean- ing only to put it below; but the people in the boat, seeing the piece in my hands, quickly turned and pulled back for shore, which was about four miles distant. There were six rowers in her and I observed that they pulled with oars in oar-locks. ILD AN ABSENTEE KING 103 mind living mdez, made imong es off. lw the :. We part I spray it wind ) shore mained UUght got no gether. night, great, appar- e hills, jh the ing the 1 night ig very ng out d that mean- in the turned t four and I >locks. after the manner of trained seamen, and so I knew they belonged to a civilized race ; but their opinion of me must have been anything but flattering when they mistook my purpose with the gun and pulled away with all their might. I made them understand by signs, but not without difficulty, that I did not intend to shoot, that I was simply putting the piece in the cabin, and that I wished them to return. When they understood my mean- ing they came back and were soon on board. One of the party, whom the rest called " king," spoke EngUsh; the others spoke Spanish. They had all heard of the voyage of the Spray through the papers of Valparaiso, and were hungry for news concerning it. They told me of a war between Chile and the Argentine, which I had not heard of when I was there. I had just visited both countries, and I told them that according to the latest reports, while I was in Chile, their own island was sunk. (This same report that Juan Fernandez had sunk was current in AustraUa when I arrived there three months later.) I had already prepared a pot of coffee and a plate of doughnuts, which, after some words of civility, the islanders stood up to and discussed with a will, after which they took the Spray in tow of their boat and made toward the island with her at the rate of a good three knots. The man they called king took the helm, and with whirling it up and down he so rattled the Spray that I thought she would never carry herself straight again. The others pulled away lustily with their oars. The king, I soon learned, was king only by courtesy. Having lived longer on the island than any other man in the world, — thirty years, — ^he was so dubbed. Juan Fernandez was then under the *'-' w "J .^ I m ■i I 104 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD administration of a governor of Swedish nobility, so I was told. I was also told that his daughter could ride the wildest goat on the island. The governor, at the time of my visit, was away at Valparaiso with his family, to place his children at school. The king had been away once for a year or two, and in Rio de Janeiro had married a Brazilian woman who followed his fortunes to the far-off island. He was himself a Portuguese and a native of the Azores He had sailed in New Bedford whale-ships and had steered a boat. All this I learned, and more too, before we reached the anchorage. The sea-breeze, coming in before long, filled the Spray's sails, and the experienced Portu- guese mariner piloted her to a safe berth in the bay, where she was moored to a buoy abreast the settlement. ^LD bility, Lighter The ray at lildren a year aziUan far-off native ledford this I d the e long, Portu- tie bay, LSt the CHAPTER XI The islanders at J nan Fernandes entertained with Yankee dough- nuts — ^The beauties of Robinson Crusoe's reahn — ^The nioun- tain monument to Alexander Selkirk — Robinson Crusoe's cave — A stroll with the children of the island — ^Westward ho t with a friendly gale — A monUi's free aailiuK with the Southern Cross and the sun for guides— Sighting the Marquesas- Experience in reckoning. THE spray being secured, the islanders returned to the coffee and doughnuts, and I was more than flattered when they did not slight my buns, as the professor had done in the Strait of Magellan. Between buns and doughnuts there was little difference except in name. Both had been fried in tallow, whicn was the strong point in both, for there was nothing on the island fatter than a goat, and a goat is but a lean beast, to make the best of it. So with a view to business I hooked my steel- yards to the boom at once, ready to weigh out tallow, there being no customs officer to say, '* Why do you do so ? " and before the sun went down the islanders had learned the art of making buns and doughnuts. I did not charge a high price for what I sold,, but the ancient and curious coins I got in payment, some of them from the wreck of a galleon sunk in the bay no one knows when, I sold after- ward to antiquarians for more than face-value. 105 * ! f-l io6 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD In this way I made a reasonable profit. I brought away mcney of all denominations from the island, and nearly all there was, so far as I could find out. Juan Fernandez, as a place of call, is a lovely spot. The hills are well wooded, the valleys fertile, and pouring down through many ravines are streams of pure water. There are no serpents on the island, and no wild beasts other than pigs and goats, of which I saw a number, with possibly a dog or two. The people lived without the use of rum or beer of any sort. There was not a police officer or a lawyer among them. The domestic economy of the island was simplicity itself. The fashions of Paris did not affect the inhabitants ; each dressed according to his own taste. Although there was no doctor, the people were all healthy, and the children were all beautiful. There were about forty-five souls on the island all told. The adults were mostly from the mainland of South America. One lady there, from Chile, who made a flying- jib for the Spray, taking her pay in tallow, would be called a belle at Newport. Blessed island of Juan Fernandez ! Why Alexander Selkirk ever left you was more than I could make out. A large ship which had arrived some time be- fore, on fire, had been stranded at the head of the bay, and as the sea smashed her to pieces on the rocks, after the fire was drowned, the islanders picked up the timbers and utilized them in the construction of houses, which naturally presented a ship-like appearance. The house of the king of Juan Fernandez, Manuel Carroza by name, besides resembling the ark, wore a polished brass knocker on its only door, which was painted green In front of this gorgeous entrance was a flag-mast all RLD rought n the could lovely fertile, es are ints on gs and sibly a use of L police Dmestic I The >itants ; Ithough lealthy, re were The South made a tallow, i island rk ever Ime be- of the on the slanders in the pesented king of besides jknocker jen In last all THE MOUNTAIN MONUMENT 107 ataunto, and near it a smart whale-boat painted red and blue, the delight of the king's old age. I of course made a pilgrimage to the old lookout place at the top of the mountain, where Selkirk spent many days peering into the distance for the ship which came at last. From a tablet fixed into the face of the rock I copied these words, inscribed in Arabic capitals : IN MEMORY . Of ■ ■ ■ • t ALEXANDER SELKIRK, MARINER A native of Largo, in the County of Fife, Scotland, who lived on this island in complete solitude for four years and four months. He was landed from the Cinque Ports galley, 96 tons, 18 guns, a.d. 1704, and was taken off in the Duke, privateer, 12th February, 1709. He died Lieutenant of H.M.S. Weymouth, a.d. 1723*, aged 47. This tablet is erected near Selkirk's lookout, by Commo- dore Powell and the officers of H.M.S. Topaze, a.d. 1868. «. ■ • • The cave in which Selkirk dwelt while on the island is at the head of the bay now called Robin- son Crusoe Bay. It is around a bold headland west of the present anchorage and landing. Ships have anchored there, but it affords a very indiffer- ent berth. Both of these anchorages are exposed to north winds, which, however, do not reach home iMr. J. Cuthbert Hadden, in the " Century Magazine " for July 1899, shows that the tablet is in error as to the year of Selkirk's death. It should be 1721. I, - i i' I to8 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD with much violence. The holding-ground being good in the first-named bay to the eastward, the anchorage there may be considered safe, although the imdertow at times makes it wild riding. I visited Robinson Crusoe Bay in a boat, and with some difficulty landed through the surf near the cave, which I entered. I found it dry and inhabi- table. It is located in a beautiful nook sheltered by high mountains from all the severe storms that sweep over the island, which are not many ; for it Ues near the limits of the trade-wind regions, being in latitude 35 p S. The island is about four- teen miles in length, east and west, and eight miles in width; its height is over three thousand feet. Its distance from Chile, to which country it belongs, is about three hundred and forty miles. Juan Fernandez was once a convict station. A number of caves in which the prisoners were kept, damp, unwholesome dens, are no longer in use, and no more prisoners are sent to the island. The pleasantest day I spent on the island, if not the pleasantest on my whole voyage, was my last day on shore, — ^but by no means because it was the last, — when the children of the Uttle community, one and all, went out with me to gather wild fruits for the voyage. We found quinces, peaches, and figs, and the children gathered a basket of each. It takes very httle to please children, and these little ones, never hearing a word in their Uves except Spanish, made the hills ring with mirth at the soimds of words in English. They asked me the names of all manner of things on the island. We came to a wild fig-tree loaded with fruit, of which I gave them the Enghsh name. '* Figgies, figgies ! " they cried, while they picked till their baskets were full. But when I told them that the ^LD WESTWARD HOI 109 being d, the hough d with ax the nhabi- sltered IS that for it , being four- t miles d feet, elongs, on. A i kept, >e, and if not ly last ^as the lunity, I fruits js, and i each, these lives irth at ced me island, uit, of nggies, U their lat the cabra they pointed out was only a goat, they screamed with Uuighter, and rolled on the grass in wild delight to think tiiat a man had come to their island who would call a cabra a goat The first child born on Juan Fernandez, I was told, had become a beautiful woman and was now a mother. Manuel Carroza and the good soul who followed him here from Brazil had laid away their only child, a girl, at the age of seven, in the little churchyard on the point. In the same half-acre were other mounds among the rough lava rocks, some marking the burial-place of native-bom chil- dren, sor^e the resting-places of seamen from passing ships, landed here to end days of sickness and get into a sailors* heaven. The greatest drawback I saw in the island was the want of a school. A class there would neces- sarily be small, but to some kind soul who loved teaching and quietude life on Juan Fernandez would, for a limited time, be one of delight. On the morning of May 5, 1896, I sailed from Juan Fernandez, having feasted on many things, but on nothing sweeter than the adventure itself of a visit to the home and to the very cave of Rob- inson Crusoe. From the island the Spray bore away to the north, passing the island of St. Felix before she gained the trade-winds, which seemed slow in reaching their limits. If the trades were tardy, however, when they did come they came with a bang, and made up for lost time ; and the Spray, under reefs, sometimes one, sometimes two, flew before a gale for a great many days, with a bone in her mouth, toward the Mar- quesas, in the west, which she made on the forty- third day out and still kept on sailing. My time was all taken up those days — ^not by standing at ii.-' I'll.- ; 110 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the helm ; no man, I think, could stand or sit and steer a vessel round the world : I did better than that ; for I sat and read my books, mended my clothes, or cooked my meals and ate them in peace. I had already found that it was not good to be alone, and so I made companionship with what there was around me, sometimes with the universe and sometimes with my own insignificant self ; but my books were always my friends, let fail all else. Nothing could be easier or more restful than my voyage in the trade-winds. I sailed with a free wind day after day, marking the position of my ship on the chart with consid- erable precision ; but this was done by intuition, I think, more than by slavish calculations. For one whole month my vessel held her course true ; I had not, the while, so much as a Hght in the binnacle. The Southern Cross I saw every night abeam. The sun every morning came up astern ; every evening it went down ahead. I wished for no other com- pass to guide me, for these were true. If I doubted my reckoning after a long time at sea I verified it by reading the clock aloft made by the Great Architect, and it was right. There was no denying that the comical side of the strange Ufe appeared. I awoke, sometimes, to find the sun already shining into my cabin. I heard water rushing by, with only a thin plank between me and the depths, and I said, " How is this ? " But it was all right ; it wps my ship on her course, sailing as no other ship had ever sailed before in the world. The rushing water along her side told me that she was sailing at full speed. I knew that no human hand was at the helm ; I knew that all was well with " the hands " forward, and that there was no mutiny on board. A MONTH'S FREE SAILING III The phenomena of ocean meteorology were inter- esting studies even here in the trade-winds. I observed that about every seven days the wind freshened and drew several points farther than usual from the direction of the pole ; that is, it went round from east-southeast to south-southeast, while at the same time a heavy swell rolled up from the southwest. All this indicated that gales were going on in the anti-trades. The wind then hauled day after day as it moderated, till it stood again at the normal point, east-southeast. This is more or less the constant state of the winter trades in latitude 12® S., where I "ran down the longitude" for weeks. The sim, we all know, is the creator of the trade-winds and of the wind system over all the earth. But ocean meteorology is, I think, the most fascinating of all. From Juan Fernandez to the Marquesas I experienced six changes of these great palpitations of sea-winds and of the sea itself, the effect of far-off gales. To know the laws that govern the winds, and to know that you know tVem, will give you an easy mind on your voyage round the world; otherwise you may tremble at the appearance of every cloud. What is true of this in the trade-winds is much more so in the variables, where changes run more to extremes. To cross the Pacific Ocean, even under the most favourable circumstances, brings you for many days close to nature, and you realize the vastness of the sea. Slowly but surely the mark of my little ship's course on the track-chart reached out on the ocean and across it, while at her utmost speed she marked with her keel still slowly the sea that carried her. On the forty-third day from land, — a. long time to be at sea alone, — the sky being beautifully clear and the moon being " in distance " \vith the sun, I itii -'1 t^ I i,'' I'. m ' :i 112 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD threw up my sextant for eights. I found from the result of three observations, after long wrestHng with lunar tables, that her longitude by observa- tion agreed within five miles of that by dead- reckoning. This was wonderful ; both, however, might be in error, but somehow I felt confident that both were nearly true, and that in a few hours more I should see land ; and so it happened, for then I made the island of Nukahiva, the southernmost of the Mar- quesas group, clear-cut and lofty. The verified longitude when abreast was somewhere between the two reckonings ; this was extraordinary. All navigators will tell you that from one day to another a ship may lose or gain more than five miles in her sailing-account, and again, in the matter of lunars, even expert lunarians are considered as doing clever work when they average within eight miles of the truth. I hope I am making it clear that I do not lay claim to cleverness or to slavish calculations in my reckonings. I think I have already stated that I kept my longitude, at least, mostly by intuition. A rotator log always towed astern, bnt so much has -y be allowed for currents and for drift, which the lof never shows, that it is only an approxima- tion, alter all, to be corrected by one's own judg- ment from data of a thousand voyages ; and even then the master of the ship, if he be wise, cries out for the lead and the lookout. Unique was my experience in nautical astronomy from the deck of the Spray — so much so that I feel justified in briefly telling it here. The first set of sights, just spoken of, put her many hundred miles west of my reckoning by account. I knew that this could not be correct. In about an hour's EXPERIENCE IN RECKONING 113 time I took another set of observations with the utmost care ; the mean result of these was about the same as that of the iirst set. I asked myself why, with my boasted self-dependence, I had not done at least better than this. Then I went in search of a discrepancy in the tables, and I found it. In the tables I found that the column of figures from which I had got an important logarithm was in error. It was a matter I could prove beyond a doubt, and it made the difference as already stated. The tables being corrected, I sailed on with self- reliance unshaken, and with my tin clock fast asleep. The result of these observations naturally tickled my vanity, for I knew that it was something to stand on a great ship's deck and with two assistants take lunar observations approximately near the truth. As one of the poorest of American sailors, I was proud of the little achievement alone on the sloop, even by chance though it may have been. I was en rapport now with my surroundings, and was carried on a vast stream where I felt the buoy- ancy of His hand who made all the worlds. I real- ized the mathematical truth of their motions, so well known that astronomers compile tables of their positions through the years and the days, and the minutes of a day, with such precision that one com- ing along over the sea even five years later may, by their aid, find the standard time of any given meridian on the earth. To find local time is a simpler matter. The differ- ence between local and standard time is longitude expressed in time — four minutes, we all know, representing One degree. This, briefly, is the prin- ciple on which longitude is found independent of chronometers. The work of the lunarian, though 3 xlEwji V^H J 1 i ^ - ,f' ' > .i ^> Uf-i 120 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD ■'< ■ r^!f:^'!ii somcv/hat primitive band of music, in front of lis, while behind was a festival or a funeral, we could not tell which. Several of the stoutest men carried bales and bundles on poles. Some were evidently bales of tapa-cloth. The burden of one set of poles, heavier than the rest, however, was not so easily made out. My curiosity was whetted to know whether it was a roast pig or something of a grue- some nature, and I inquired about it. "I don't know," said Mrs. Stevenson, " whether this is a wedding or a funeral. Whatever it is, though, captain, our place seems to be at the head of it." The Spray being in the stream, we boarded her from the beach abreast, in the little razeed Glou- cester dory, which had been painted a smart green. Our combined weight loaded it gunwale to the water, and I was obliged to steer with great care to avoid swamping. The adventure pleased Mrs. Stevenson greatly, and as we paddled along she sang, " They went to sea in a pea-green boat." I could understand her saying of her husband and herself, " Our tastes were similar." As I sailed farther from the centre of civilization I heard less and less of what would and what would not pay. Mrs. Stevenson, in speaking of my voyage, did not once ask me what I would make out of it. When I came to a Samoan village, the chief did not ask the price of gin, or say, " How much will you pay for roast pig ? " but, " Dollar, dollar," said he ; " white man know only dollar." " Never mind dollar. The tapo has prepared ava ; let us drink and rejoice." The tapo is the virgin hostess of the village ; in this instance it was Taloa, daughter of the chief. " Our taro is good ; let us eat. On the tree there is fruit. Let the day go by ; why should we mourn over that ? There are SAMOAN HOSPITALITY X2X millions of days coming. The breadfruit is yeUow in the sun, and from the cloth-tree is Taloa's gown. Our house, which is good, cost but the labour of building it, and there is no lock on the door." While the days go thus in these Southern islands we at the North are struggling for the bare necessi- ties of life. For food the islanders have only to put out their hand and take what nature has provided for them • if they plant a banana-tree, their only care after- ward is to see that too many trees do not grow. They have great reason to love their country and to fear the white man's yoke, for once harnessed to the plough, their life would no longer be a poem. The chief of the village of Caini, who was a tall and dignified Tonga man, could be approached only tlu-ough an interpreter and talking man. It was perfectly natural for him to inquire the object of my visit, and I was sincere when I told him that my reason for casting anchor in Samoa was to see their fine men and fine women, too. After a considerable pause the chief said : " The captain has come a long way to see so little ; but," he added, " the tapo must sit nearer the captain." " Yack," said Taloa, who had so nearly learned to say yes in English, and suiting the action to the word, she hitched a peg nearer, all hands sitting in a circle upon mats. I was no less taken with the chief's eloquence than delighted with the simplicity of all he said. About him there was nothing pompous ; he might have been taken for a great scholar or statesman, the least assuming of the men I met on the voyage. As for Taloa, a sort of Queen of the May, and the other tapo girls, well, it is wise to learn as soon as possible the manners and customs of these hospitable people, and meanwhile not to ill li ! ,1 4. !.;i ,11 II'. m, 122 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD I ti u ' Ml ■I : il :i mistake for over-familiarity that which is intended as honour to a guest. I was fortunate in my travels in the islands, and saw nothing to shake one's faith in native virtue. To the unconventional mind the punctilious eti- quette of Samoa is perhaps a little painful. For instance, I found that in partaking of ava, the social bowl, I was supposed to toss a little of the beverage over my shoulder, or pretend to do so, and say, " Let the gods drink," and then drink it all myself ; and the dish, invariably a cocoanut- shell, being empty, I might not pass it politely as we would do, but politely throw it twirling across the mats at the tapo. My most grievous mistake while at the islands was made on a nag, which, inspired by a bit of good road, must needs break iiito a smatt trot through a village. I was instantly hailed by the chief's deputy, who in an angry voice brought me to a halt. Perceiving that I was in trouble, I made signs for pardon, the safest thing to do, though I did not know what offence I had com- mitted. My interpreter coming up, however, put me right, but not until a long palaver had ensued. The deputy's hail, liberally translated, was: " Ahoy, there, on the frantic steed I Know you not that it is against the law to ride thus through the village of our fathers ? " I made what apologies I could, and offered to dismount and, like my servant, lead my nag by the bridle. This, the interpreter told me, would also be a grievous wrong, and so I again begged for pardon, I was summoned to appear before a chief ; but my interpreter, being a wit as well as a bit of a rogue, explained that I was myself something of a chief, and should not be detained, being on a most important mission. In LD nded avels faith s eti- For I, the )f the lo so, ink it )anut- ely as across islands bit of •t trot by the rought touble, to do, 1 com- jr, put msued. was: iw you hrough >ologies ke my is, the wrong, imoned , being that I not be Ion. In THE MERRY-GO-ROUND 123 my own behalf I could only say that I was a stranger, but, pleading all this, I knew I still deserved to be roasted, at which the chief showed a fine row of teeth and seemed pleased, but allowed me to pass on. The chief of the Tongas and his family at Caini, retufning my visit, brought presents of tapa-cloth and fruits. Taloa, the princess, brought a bottle of cocoanut-oil for my hair, which another man might have regarded as coming late. It was impossible to entertain on the Spray after the royal manner in which I had been received by the chief. His fare had included all that the land could afford, fruits, fowl, fishes, and flesh, a hog having been roasted whole. I set before them boiled salt pork and salt beef, with which I was well supplied, and in the evening took them all to a new amusement in the town, a rocking-horse merry-go-round, which they called a '* kee-kee," meaning theatre ; and in a spirit of justice they pulled off the horses' tails, for the proprietors of the show, two hard-fisted countrymen of mine, I grieve to say, unceremoniously hustled them ofif for a new set, almost at the first spin. I was not a little proud of my Tonga friends ; the chief, finest of them all, carried a portentous club. As for the theatre, through the greed of the proprietors it was becoming unpopular, and the representatives of the three great powers, in want of laws which they could enforce, adopted a vigorous foreign policy, taxing it twenty-five per cent, on the gate-money. This was considered a great stroke of legislative reform 1 It was the fashion of the native visitors to the Spray to come over the piows, where they could reach the head-gear and climb aboard with ease, and on going ashore to jump off the stern and t,ri I'; ■.■■■■ i it'TH m 'ih-m % ■■' '.fit < -i ffA I'M i 1 ■ i| i ''it .1 yi 1 '1 1 H ' i!^H u .>1^H Ij !" ' '■■ 11 , -i3S „« .1 '^BHI 124 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD swim away ; nothing could have been more de- lightfully simple. The modest natives wore lava- lava bathing-dresses, a native cloth from the bark of the mulberry-tree, and they did no harm to the Spray, In summer-land Samoa their coming and going was only a merry every-day scene. One day the head teachers of Papauta College, Miss SchiUtze and Miss Moore, came on board with their ninety-seven young women students. They were all dressed in white, and each wore a red rose, and of course came in boats or canoes in the cold- chmate style. A merrier bevy of girls it would be difficult to find. As soon as they got on deck, by request of one of the teachers, they sang, " The Watch on the Rhine," which I had never heard be- fore. " And now," said they all, " let's up anchor and away." But I had no inclination to sail from Samoa so soon. On leaving the Spray these ac- compUshed young women each seized a palm-branch or paddle, or whatever else would serve the purpose and Uterally paddled her own canoe. Each could have swum as readily, and would have done so, I dare say, had it not been for the holiday muslin^ ^ It was not uncommon at Apia to see a young woman swimming alongside a small canoe with a passenger for the Spray. Mr. Trood, an old Eton boy, came in this manner to see me, and he ex- claimed, " Was ever king ferried in such state ? " Then, suiting his action to the sentiment, he gave the damsel pieces of silver till the natives watching on shore yelled with envy. My own canoe, a small dugout, one day when it had rolled over with me, was seized by a party of fair bathers, and before I could get my breath, almost, was towed around and around the Spray, while I sat in the bottom of it, wondering what they would do next. But 3RLD lore de- re lava- he bark a to the ing and College, ird with . They ed rose, he cold- rould be leek, by :, "The eard be- anchor ail from lese ac- L-branch purpose ;h could ne so, I lin^ I young with a Id Eton he ex- itate ? " he gave matching a small dth me, I before around bottom ;t. But THE SEA-NYMPHS 125 in this case there were six of them, three on a side and I could not help myself. One of the sprites' I remember, was a young English lady, who made more sport of it than any of the others. •11 1 I f! m 'f< CHAPTER XIII Samoan royalty — King Malietoa — Good-bye to friends at Vailima — Leaving Fiji to the south — Arrival at Newcastle, Atistralia — The yachts of Sydney — A ducking on the Spray — Commo- dore Foy presents the sloop with a new suit of sails — On to Melbourne — ^A shark that proved to be valuable — ^A change of course — ^The " Rain of Blood " — ^In Tasmania. AT Apia I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. A. Young, the father of the late Queen Margaret, who was Queen of Manua from 1891 to 1895. Her grandfather was an EngUsh sailor who married a princess. Mr. Young is now the only survivor of the family, two of his children, the last of them all, having been lost in an island trader which a few months before had sailed, never to return. Mr. Young was a Christian gentleman, and his daughter Margaret was accomplished in graces that would become any lady. It was with pain that I saw in the newspapers a sensational account of her life and death, taken evidently from a paper in the supposed interest of a benevolent society, but without founda- tion in fact. And the startling head-lines saying, ** Queen Margaret of Manua is dead," could hardly be called news in 1898, the queen having then been dead three years. While hobnobbing, as it were, with royalty, I called on the king himself, the late Malietoa. King Malietoa was a great ruler ; he never got less than forty-five dollars a month for the job, as he told me himself, and this amount had lately been raised, ia6 I at Vailima ;, Aiistralia \) — Commo- ails — On to —A change Ig Mr. A. Margaret, 195. Her narried a irvivor ol them all, ch a few im. Mr. daughter at would I saw in life and [supposed founda- saying, |d hardly len been )yalty, I King Less than he told In raised, SAMOAN ROYALTY 127 so that he could live on the fat of the land and not any longer be called " Tin-of-salmon MaUetoa ** by graceless beach-combers. As my interpreter and I entered the front door of the palace, the king's brother, who was viceroy, sneaked in through a taro-patch by the back way, and sat cowering by the door while I told my story to the king. Mr. W of New York, a gentle- man interested in missionary work, had charged me, when I sailed, to give his remembrance to the king of the Cannibal Islands, other islands of course being meant ; but the good King MaUetoa, not- withstanding that his people have not eaten a missionary in a hundred years, received the message himself, and seemed greatly pleased to hear so directly from the publishers of the " Missionary Review," and wished me to make his compliments in return. His Majesty then excused himself, while I talked with his daughter, the beautiful Faamu-Sami (a name signifying " To make the sea bum "), and soon reappeared in the full-dress uni- form of the German commander-in-chief. Emperor William himself ; for, stupidly enough, I had not sent my credentials ahead that the king might be in full regalia to receive me. Calling a few days later to say good-bye to Faamu-Sami, I saw King Malietoa for the last time Of the landmarks in the pleasant town of Apia, my memory rests first on the little school just back of the London Missionary Society coffee-house and reading-rooms, where Mrs. Bell taught English to about a hundred native children, boys and girls. Brighter children you will not find an5rwhere. " Now, children," said Mrs. Bell, when I called one day, " let us show the captain that we know something about the Cape Horn he passed in the 'V m\ tf? 128 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD ■i _ Spray,** at which a lad of nine or ten years stepped nimbly forward and read Basil Hall's fine descrip- tion of the great cape and read it well. He after- ward copied the essay for me in a clear hand. Calling to say good-bye to my friends ai Vailima, I met Mrs. Stevenson in her Panama hat, and went over the estate with her. Men were at work clearing the land, and to one of them she gave an order to cut a couple of bamboo-trees for the Spray from a clump she had planted four years before, and which had grown to the height of sixty feet. I used them for spare spars, and the dutt of one made a serviceable jib-boom on the homeward voyage. I had then only to take ava with the family and be ready for sea. This ceremony, important among Samoans, was conducted after the native fashion. A Triton horn was sounded to let us know when the beverage was ready, and in response we all clapped hands. The bout being in honour of the Spray, it was my turn first, after the custom of the country, to spill a little over my shoulder ; but having for- gotten the Samoan for ** Let the gods drink," I repeated the equivalent in Russian and Chinook, as I remembered a word in each, whereupon Mr. Osboume pronounced me a confirmed Samoan. Then I said ** Tofah ! *' to my good friends of Samoa, and all wishing the Spray ton voyage, she stood out of the harbour August 20, 1896, and continued on her course. A sense of loneliness seized upon me as the islands faded astern, and as a remedy for it I crowded on sail for lovely Aus- tralia, which was not a strange land to me ; but for long days in my dreams Vailima stood before the prow. The Spray had barely cleared the islands when a sudden burst of the trades brought her down to ARRIVAL AT NEWCASTLE Z29 tt close reefs, and she reeled ofi one hundred and eighty-four miles the first day, of which I counted forty miles of current in her favour. Finding a rough sea, I swung her off free and sailed north of the Horn Islands, also north of Fiji instead of south, as I had intended, and coasted down the west side of the archipelago. Thence I sailed direct for New South Wales, passing south of New Caledonia, and arrived at Newcastle after a passage of forty- two days, mostly of storms and gales. One particularly severe gale encountered near New Caledonia foundered the American chpper- ship Patricitin farther south. Again, nearer the coast of AustraUa, when, however, I was not aware that the gale was extraordinary, a French mail- steamer from New Caledonia for Sydney, blown considerably out of her course, on her arrival re- ported it an awful storm, and to inquiring friends said : " Oh, my ! we don't know what has become of the httle sloop Spray, We saw her in the thick of the storm." The Spray was all right, lying to like a duck She was under a goose's wing mainsail, and had had a dry deck while the passengers on the steamer, I heard later, were up to their knees in water in the saloon. When their ship arrived at Sydney they gave the captain a purse of gold for his skill and seamanship in bringing them safe into port. The captain of the Spray got nothing of this sort. In this gale I made the land about Seal Rocks, where the steamship Catherton, with many lives, was lost a short time before. I was many hours off the rocks, beating back and forth, but weathered them at last. I Arrived at Newcastle in the teeth of a gale of wind. It was a stormy season. The government pilot. Captain Cumming, met me at the harbour bar m ii-«.,?,' i-'N. ■ Mi ■;:fs .'% 130 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD 1 -^im ■m and with the assistance of a steamer carried my ves- sel to a safe berth. Many visitors came on board, the first being the United States consul, Mr. Brown. Nothing was too good for the Spray here. All government dues were remitted, and after I had rested a few days a port pilot with a tug carried her to sea again, and she made along the coast toward the harbour of Sydney, where she arrived on the following day, October lo, 1896. I came to in a snug cove near Manly for the night, the Sydney harbour police-boat giving me a pluck into anchorage while they gathered data from an old scrap-book of mine, which seemed to interest them. Nothing escapes the vigilance of the New South Wales police ; their reputation is known the world over. They made a shrewd guess that I could give them some useful information, and they were the first to meet me. Some one said they came to arrest me, and — ^well, let it go at that. Summer was approaching, and the harbour of Sydney was blooming with yachts. Some of them came down to the weather-beaten Spray and sailed round her at Shelcote, where she took a berth for a few days. At Sydney I was at once among friends. The Spray remained at the various watering-places in the great port for several weeks, and was visited by many agreeable people, frequently by officers of H.M.S. Orlando and their friends. Captain Fisher, the commander, with a party of young ladies from the city and gentlemen belonging to his ship, came one day to pay me a visit in the midst of a deluge of rain. I never saw it rain harder even in Aus- tralia. But they were out for fun, and rain could not dampen their feelings, however hard it poured. But, as ill luck would have it, a young gentleman of another party on board, in the full uniform of a A NEW SUIT OF SAILS 131 very great yacht club, with brass buttons enough to sink him, stepping quickly to get out of the wet, tumbled holus-bolus, head and heels, into a barrel of water I had been coopering, and being a short man, was soon out of sight, and nearly drowned before he was rescued. It was the nearest to a casualty on the Spray in her whole course, so far as I know. The young man having come on board with compliments made the mishap most em- barrassing. It had been decided by hii club that the Spray could not be officially recognized, for the reason that she brought no letters from yacht- clubs in America, and so I say it seemed all the more embarrassing and strange that I should have caught at least one of the members, in a barrel, and, too, when I was not fishing for yachtsmen. The typical Sydney boat is a handy sloop of great beam and enormous sail-carrying power ; but a capsize is not uncommon, for they carry sail like vikings. In Sydney I saw all manner of craft, from the smart steam-launch and sailing-cutter to the smaller sloop and canoe pleasuring on the bay. Everybody owned a boat. If a boy in Australia has not the means to buy him a boat he builds one, and it is usually one not to be ashamed of. The Spray shed her Joseph's coat, the Fuego mainsail, in Sydney, and wearing a new suit, the handsome present of Commodore Foy, she was flagship of the Johnstone's Bay Flying Squadron when the cir- cumnavigators of Sydney harbour sailed in their annual regatta. The^' " recognized " the Spray as belonging to ** a club of her own," and with more Australian sentiment than fastidiousness gave her crfedit for her record. Time flew fast those days in /.ustralia, and it was December 6, 1896, when the S^'>ray sailed from r-'t . m IS I 132 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Sydney. My intention was now to sail around Cape Leeuwin direct for Mauritius on my way home, and so I coasted along toward Bass Strait in that direction. There was little to report on this part of the voyage, except changeable winds, " busters,** and rou!?h seas. The 12th of December, however, was an exceptional day, with a fine coast wind, north- east. The Spray early in the morning passed Twofold Bay and later Cape Bundooro in a smooth sea with land close aboard. The lighthouse on the cape dipped a flag to the Spray's flag, and children on the balconies of a cottage near the shore waved handkerchiefs as she passed by. There were only a few people all told on the shore, but the scene was a happy one. I saw festoons of evergreen in token of Christmas, near at hand. I saluted the merrymakers, wishing them a " Merry Christmas," and could hear them say, " I wish you the same." From Cape Bundooro I passed by Cliff Island in Bass Strait, and exchanged signals with the light- keepers while the Spray worked up under the island. The wind howled that day while the sea broke over their rocky home. A few days later, December 17, the Spray came in close under Wilson's Promontory, again seeking shelter. The keeper of the light at that station, Mr. J. Clark, came on board and gave me directions for Waterloo Bay, about three miles to leeward, for which I bore up at once, finding good anchorage there in a sandy cove protected from all westerly and northerly winds. Anchored here was the ketch Secret, a fisherman, and the Mary of Sydney, a steam ferry-boat fitted for whaling. The captain of the Mary was a genius, and an Australian genius at that, and smart. His crew, from a sawmill up the coast, had not one of ON TO MELBOURNE 133 them seen a live whale when they shipped ; but they were boatmen after an Australian's own heart, and the captain had told them that to kill a whale was no more than to kill a rabbit. They believed him, and that settled it. As luck would have it, the very first one they saw on their cruise, although an ugly humpback, was a dead whale in no time, Captain Young, the master of the Mary, killing the monster at a single thrust of a harpoon. It was taken in tow for Sydney, where they put it on exhibition. Nothing but whales interested the crew of the gallant Maty^ and they spent most of their time here gathering fuel along shore for a cruise on the grounds of! Tasmania. Whenever the word " whale '* was mentioned in the hearing of these men their eyes glistened with excitement. We spent three days in the quiet cove, listening to the wind outside. Meanwhile Captain Young and I explored the shores, visited abandoned miners* pits, and prospected for gold ourselves. Our vessels, parting company the morning they sailed, stood away like sea-birds each on its own course. The wind for a few days was moderate, and, with unusual luck of fine weather, the Spray made Melbourne Heads on the 22nd of December, and, taken in tow by the steam-tug Racer, was brought into port. Christmas day was spent at a berth in the river Yarrow, but I lost little time in shifting to St. Kilda, where I spent nearly a month. The spray paid no port charges in Australia or anywhere else on the voyage, except at Pemambuco, till she poked her nose into the custom-house at Melbourne, where she was charged tonnage dues ; in this instance, sixpence a ton on the gross. The col- lector exacted six shillings and sixpence, taking ofi pi i I'm. a '11 r 1! I 134 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD nothing for the fraction under thirteen tons, her exact gross being 12.70 tons. I squared the matter by charging people sixpence each for coming on board, and when this business got dull I caught a shark and charged them sixpence each to look at that. The shark was twelve feet six inches in length, and carried a progeny of twenty-six, not one of them less than two feet in length. A slit of a knife let them out in a canoe full of water, which, changed constantly, kept them alive one whole day. In less than an hour from the time I heard of the ugly brute it was on deck and on exhi- bition, with rather more than the amount of the Spray's tonnage dues already collected. Then I hired a good Irishman, Tom Howard by name, — who knew all about sharks, both on the land and in the sea, and could talk about them, — to answer questions and lecture. When I found that I could not keep abreast of the questions I turned the re- sponsibility over to him. Returning from the bank, where I had been to deposit money early in the day, I found Howard in the midst of a very excited crowd, telling imagi- nary habits of the fish. It was a good show ; the people wished to see it, and it was my wish that they should ; but owing to his over-stimulated en- thusiasm, I was obliged to let Howard resign. The income from the show and the proceeds of the tallow I had gathered in the Strait of Magellan, the last of which I had disposed of to a German soap-boiler at Samoa, put me in ample funds, January 24, 1897, found the Spray again in tow of the tug Racer, leaving Hobson's Bay after a pleasant time in Melbourne and St. Kilda, which had been protracted by a succession of southwest winds that seemed never-ending. 51LD IS, her matter ng on aght a ook at hes in X, not A slit water, 7e one time I n exhi- of the rhen I ame, — nd and answer I could the re- 3een to loward imagi- the sh that ted en- The of the agellan, aerman in tow after a , which ithwest A CHANGE OF COURSE 135 V 1. In the summer months, that is, December, Jan- uary, February, and sometimes March, east winds are prevalent through Bass Strait and round Cape Leeuwin ; but owing to a vast amount of ice drifting up from the Antarctic, this was all changed now and emphasized with much bad weather, so much so that I considered it impracticable to pursue the course farther. Therefore, instead of thrashing round cold and stormy Cape Leeuwin, I decided to spend a pleasanter and more profitable time in Tasmania, waiting for the season for favourable winds through Torres Strait, by way of the Great Barrier Reef, the route I finally decided on. To sail this course would be taking advantage of anticyclones, which never fail, and besides it would give me the chance to put foot on the shores of Tasmania, round which I had sailed years before. I should mention that while I was at Melbourne there occurred one of those extraordinary storms sometimes called " rain of blood," the first of the kind in many years about Australia. The " blood " came from a fine brick-dust matter afloat in the air from the deserts. A rain-storm setting in brought down this dust simply as mud ; it fell in such quan- tities that a bucketful was collected from the sloop's awnings, which were spread at the time. When the wind blew hard and I was obliged to furl awnings, her sails, unprotected on the booms, got mud- stained from clue to earing. The phenomena of dust-storms, well understood by scientists, are not uncommon on the coast of Africa. Reaching some distance out over the sea, they frequently cover the track of ships, as in the case, of the one through which the Spray passed in the earlier part of her voyage. Sailors no longer regard them with superstitious fear, but our credu- ■ft ll P 136 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD m y :m i^ni 4 ;il lous brothers on the land cry out " Rain of Blood 1 " at the first splash of the awful mud. The rip off Port Phillip Pleads, a wild place, was rough when the Spray entered Hobson's Bay from the sea, and was rougher when she stood out. But, with sea-room and under sail, she made good weather immediately after passing it. It was only a few hours' sail to Tasmania across the strait, the wind being fair and blowing hard. I carried the St. Kilda shark along, stuffed with hay, and dis- posed of it to Professor Porter, the curator of the Victoria Museum of Launceston, which is at the head of the Tamar. For many a long day to come may be seen there the shark of St. Kilda. Alas I the good but mistaken people of St. Kilda, when the Dlustrated journals with pictures of my shark reached their news-stands, flew into a passion, and swept all papers containing mention of fish into the fire ; for St. Kilda was a watering-place — and the idea of a shark there ! But my show went on. The Spray was berthed on the beach at a small jetty at Launceston while the tide driven in by the gale that brought her up the river was unusually high ; and she lay there hard and fast, with not enough water around her at any time after to wet one's feet till she vrn board Fish e of the : up the =t people did you scape all pearing. L. MY ORATORICAL BARK 141 and of the domed forest-trees on the slopes, and was fortunate in meeting a gentleman intent on preserving in art the beauties of his country. He presented me with many reproductions from his collection of pictures, also many originals, to show to my friends. By another gentleman I was charged to tell the glories of Tasmania in every land and on every occasion. This was Dr. McCall, M.L.C. The doc- tor gave me useful hints on lecturing. It was not without misgivings, however, that I filled away on this new course, and I am free to say that it is only by the kindness of sympathetic audiences that my oratorical bark was held on even keel. Soon after my first talk the kind doctor came to me with words of approval. As in many other of my enter- p ^^f*s, I had gone about it at once and without :;. mA thought. " Man, man," said he, ** great nervousness is only a sign of brain, and the more brain a man has the longer it takes him to get over the affliction ; but," he added reflectively, ** you will get over it." However, in my own behalf I think it only fair to say that I am not yet entirely cured. The spray was hauled out on the marine railway at Devonport and examined carefully top and bot- tom, but was found absolutely free from the destruc- tive teredo, and sound in all respects. To protect her further against the ravage of these insects the bottom was coated once more with copper paint, for she would have to sail through the Coral and Arafura seas before refitting again. Everything was done to fit her for all the known dangers. But it was not without regret that I looked forward to the day of sailing from a country of so many pleasing associations. If there was a moment in my voyage MP '#,:!«! Wa: W.i X42 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD when I could have given it up, it was there and then ; but no vacancies for a better post being open, I weighed anchor April 16, 1897, and again put to sea. The season of summer was then over ; winter was roUing up from the south, with fair winds for the north. A foretaste of winter wind sent the Spray flying round Cape Howe and as far as Cape Bundooro farther along, which she passed on the following day, retracing her course northward. This was a fme run, and boded good for the long voyage home from the antipodes. My old Christ- mas friends on Bundooro seemed to be up and moving when I came the second time by their cape, and we exchanged signals again, while the sloop sailed along as before in a smooth sea and close to the shore. The weather was fine, with clear sky the rest of the passage to Port Jackson (Sydney), where the Spray arrived April 22, 1897, and anchored in Watson's Bay, near the heads, in eight fathoms of water. The harbour from the heads to Parramatta, up the river, was more than ever aUve with boats and yachts of every class. It was, indeed, a scene of animation, hardly equalled in any other part of the world. A few days later the bay was flecked with tem- pestuous waves, and none but stout ships carried sail. I was in a neighbouring hotel then, nursing a neuralgia which I had picked up alongshore, and had only that moment got a glance of just the stem of a large, unmanageable steamship passing the range of my window as she forged in by the point, when the bell-boy burst into my room shout- ing that the Spray had " gone bung." I tumbled out quickly, to learn that " bung " meant that a AGAIN AT SYDNEY M3 large steamship had nan into her, and that it was the one of which I saw the stern, the other end of her having hit the Spray. It turned out, however, that no damage was done beyond the loss of an anchor and chain, which from the shock of the collision had parted at the hawse. I had nothing at all to complain of, though, in the end, for the captain, after he clubbed his ship, took the Spray in tow up the harbour, clear of all dangers, and sent her back again, in charge of an officer and three men, to her anchorage in the bay, with a polite note say- ing he would repair any damages done. But what yawing about she made of it when she came with a stranger at the helm ! Her old friend the pilot of the Pinta would not have been guilty of such lubberly work. But to my great delight they got her into a berth, and the neuralgia left me then, or was forgotten. The captain of the steamer, like a true seaman, kept his word, and his agent, Mr. Col- lishaw handed me on the very next day the price of the lost anchor and chain, with something over for anxiety of mind. I remember that he offered me twelve pounds at once ; but my lucky number being thirteen, we made the amount thirteen pounds, which squared all accounts. I sailed again. May 9, before a strong southwest wind, which sent the Spray gallantly on as far as Port Stevens, where it fell calm and then came up ahead ; but the weather was fine, and so remained for many days, which was a great change from the state of the weather experienced here some months before. Having a full set of admiralty sheet-charts of the coast and Barrier Reef, I felt easy in mind. Cap- tain Fisher, R.N., who had steamed through the Barrier passages in H.M.S. Orlando, advised me from m m ■ r I ■ i '■.\' n n^ 1 f Ii'.ri, !• il X44 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the first to take this route, and I did not regret coming back to it now. ^ The wind, for a few days after passing port Stevens, Seal Rocks, and Cape Hawk, was light and dead ahead ; but these points are photographed on my memory from the trial of beating round them some months before when bound the other way. But now, with a good stock of books on board, I fell to reading day and night, leaving this pleasant occupation merely to trim sails or tack, or to lie down and rest, while the Spray nibbled at the miles, I tried to compare my state with that of old cir- cumnavigators, who sailed exactly over the route which I took from Cape Verde Islands or farther back to this point and beyond, but there was no comparison so far as I had got. Their hard- ships and romantic escapes — those of them who escaped death and worse sufferings — did not enter into my experience, sailing all alone around the world. For me is left to tell only of pleasant experiences, till finally my adventures are prosy and tame. I had just finished reading some of the most interesting of the old voyages in woe-begone ships, and was already near Port Macquarie, on my own cruise, when I made out. May 13, a modern dandy craft in distress, anchored on the coast. Standing in for her, I found that she was the cutter-yacht Akhar,^ which had sailed from Watson's Bay about three days ahead of the Spray, and that she had run at once into trouble. No wonder she did so. It was a case of babes in the wood or butterflies at sea. Her owner, on his maiden voyage was all duck trousers ; the captain, distinguished lor the « Akbat was not her registered name, which need not be told. AN AMATEUR SHIPWRECK 145 enormous yachtsman's cap he wore, was a Mur- rumbidgeei whaler before he took command of the Akbar ; and the navigating officer, poor fellow, was almost as deaf as a post, and nearly as stiff and immovable as a post in the ground. These three jolly tars comprised the crew. None of them knew more about the sea or about a vessel than a newly bom babe knows about another world. The ^ i bound for New Guinea, so they said ; ;^erh. ^ i it was as . .1* that three tenderfeet so tender as these never reached that destination. The owner, whom I had met before he sailed, wanted to race the poor old Spray to Thursday Island en route. I dechned the challenge, natu- rally, on the ground of the unfairness of three young yachtsmen in a clipper against an old sailor all alone in a craft of coarse build ; besides that, I would not on any account race in the Coral Sea. " Spray ahoy ! " they all hailed now. " What's the weather goin' t'be ? Is it a-goin' to blow ? And don't you think we'd better go back t* r-r-refit ? " I thought, " If ever you get back, don't refit," but I said : " Give me the end of a rope, and I'll tow you into yon port farther along ; and on your lives," I urged, " do not go back round Cape Hawk, for it's winter to the south of it." They purposed making for Newcastle under jury- sails ; for their mainsail had been blown to ribbons, even the jigger had been blown away, and her rig- ging flew at loose ends. The Akbar ^ in a word, was a wreck. ^ The Murrumbidgee is a small river winding among the mountains of Australia, and would be the last place in which to look for a whale. I m Mi 1* hZ " ( 146 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD M : ri; ' *' Up anchor," I shouted, " up anchor, and let me tow you into Port Macquarie, twelve miles north of this." " No," cried the owner ; " we'll go back to New- castle. We missed Newcastle on the way coming ; we didn't see the light, and it was not thick, either." This he shouted very loud, ostensibly for my hearing, but closer even than necessary, I thought, to the ear of the navigating officer. Again I tried to persuade them to be towed into the port of refuge so near at hand. It would have cost them only the trouble of weighing their anchor and passing me a rope ; of this I assured them, but they declined even this, in sheer ignorance of a rational course. " What is your depth of water ? " I asked. " Don't know ; we lost our lead. All the chain is out. We sounded with the anchor." " Send your dinghy over, and I'll give you a lead." We've lost our dinghy, too," they cried. God is good, else you would have lost your- selves," and *' Farewell " was all I could say. The trifling service proffered by the Spray would have saved their vessel. " Report us," they cried, as I stood on — '* report us with sails blown away, and that we don't care a dash and are not afraid." '* Then there is no hope for you," and again "Farewell." I promised I would report them, and did so at the first opportunity, and out of humane reasons I do so again. On the following day I spoke the steamship Sherman, bound down the coast, and re- ported the yacht in distress and that it would be an act of humanity to tow her somewhere away from her exposed position on an open coast. That she did not get a tow from . steamer was from »* tt RLD let me i north :o New- oming ; either." tiearing, to the :ried to f refuge ,m only passing declined ourse. 1. 16 chain a lead." st your- .y would -'* report )n't care id again lid so at easons I 3oke the :, and re- mould be ;re away It. That was from FRIENDS ON THE COAST 147 no lack of funds to pay the bill ; for the owner, lately heir to a few hundJred pounds, had the money with him. The proposed voyage to New Guinea was to look that island over with a view to its pur- chase. It was about eighteen days before I heard of the Akhar again, which was on the 31st of May, when I reached Cooktown, on the Endeavour River, where I found this news * May 31, the yacht Akhar ^ from Sydney for New Guinea, three hands on board, lost at Crescent Head ; the crew saved So it took them several days to lose the yacht, after all. After speaking the distressed Akhf r and the Sherman, the voyage for many days was unevent- ful save in the pleasant incident on May 16 of a chat by signal with the people on South Solitary Island, a dreary stone heap in the ocean just off the coast of New South Wales, in latitude 30° 12' south. " What vessel is that ? " they asked, as the sloop came abreast of their island. For answer I tried them with the Stars and Stripes at the peak. Down came their signals at once, and up went the British ensign instead, which they dipped heartily. I understood from this that they made out my vessel and knew all about her, for they asked no more questions. They didn't even ask if the " voyage would pay," but they threw out this friendly message " Wishing you a pleasant voyage," which at that very moment I was having. May 19 the Spray ^ passing the Tweed River, was signalled from Danger Point, where those on shore seemed most anxious about the state of my health, for they asked if " all hands " were well, to which I could say, *' Yes." i I p [if 148 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD m m 111 j-.^'... Hi On the following day the Spray rounded Great Sanay Cape, and, what is a notable event in every voyage, picked up the trade-winds, and these winds followed her now for many thousands of miles, never ceasing to blow from a moderate gale to a mild summer breeze, except at rare intervals From the pitch of the cape was a noble hght seen twenty-seven miles ; passing from this to Lady Elliott Light, which stands on an island as a senti- nel at the gateway of the Barrier Reef, the Spray was at once in the fairway leading north. Poets have sung of beacon-light and of pharos, but did ever poet behold a great light flash up before his path on a dark night in the midst of a coral sea ? If so, he knew the meaning of his song. The Spray had sailed for hours in suspense, evi- dently stemming a current. Almost mad with doubt, I grasped the helm to throw her head off shore, when blazing out of the sea was the light ahead. ** Excalibur ! " cried ** all hands," and re- joiced, and sailed on. The Spray was now in a protected sea and smooth water, the first she had dipped her keel into since leaving Gibraltar, and a change it was from the heaving of the misnamed " Pacific " Ocean. The Pacific is perhaps, upon the whole, no more boisterous than other oceans, though I feel quite safe in saying that it is not more pacific except in name. It is often wild enough in one part or another. I once knew a writer who, after saying beautiful things about the sea, passed through a Pacific hurricane, and he became a changed man. But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves ? At last here was the spray in the midst of a sea of coral. The sea itself might be called smooth indeed, but coral rocks are PERILS OF A CORAL SEA 149 always rough, sharp and dangerous. I trusted now to the mercies of the Maker of all reefs, keeping a good lookout at the same time for perils on every hand. Lo ! the Barrier Reef and the waters of many colours studded all about with enchanted islands ! I behold among them after all many safe harbours, else my vision is astray. On the 24th of May, the sloop, having made one hundred and ten miles a day from Danger Point, now entered Whitsunday Pass, and that night sailed through among the islands. When the sun rose next morning I looked back and regretted having gone by while it was dark, for the scenery far astern was varied and charming. til I § CHAPTER XV Arrival at Port Denison, Queensland — A lecture — Reminiscences of Captain Cook — Lecturing for charity at Cooktown — A happy escape from a coral reef — Home Island, Sunday Island, Bird Island — ^An American pearl-fisherman — Jubilee at Thursday Island — A new ensign for the Spray — Booby Island — ^Across the Indian Ocean—Christmas Island. ON the morning of the 26th Gloucester Island was close aboard, and the Spray anchored in the evening at Port Denison, where rests, on a hill, the jweet httle town of Bowen, the future water- ing place and health-resort of Queensland. The country all about here had a healthful appearance. The harbour was easy of approach, spacious and safe, and afforded excellent holding-ground. It was quiet in Bowen when the Spray arrived, and the good people with an hour to throw away on the second evening of her arrival came down to the School of Arts to talk about the voyage, it being the latest event. It was duly advertised in the two little papers, " Boomerang " and " Nully NuUy," in the one the day before the affair came off, and in the other the day after, which was all the same to the editor, and, for that matter, it was the same to me. Besides this, circulars were distributed with a flourish, and the ** best bellman " in Australia was employed. But I could have keelhauled the wretch, bell and all, when he came to the door of the httle hotel where my prospective audience and I were 150 K LECTURE «5X iniscftnces clown — A ay Island, ubilee at 3by Island jr Island ;hored in 3n a hill, :e water- ed. The pearance. lous and lund. It ved, and away on vn to the it being 1 the two luUy," in nd in the ne to the ne to me. with a ralia was le wretch, the Uttle d I were dining, and with his clattering bell and fiendish yell made noises that would awake the dead, all over the voyage of the Spray from " Boston to Bowen, the two Hubs in the cart-wheels of crea- tion," as the " Boomerang " afterward said. Mr. Myles, magistrate, harbour-master, land com- missioner, gold warden, etc., was chairman, and introduced me, for what reason I never knew, except to embarrass me with a sense of vain ostentation and embitter my life, for Heaven knows I had met every person in town the first hour ashore. I kr ow them all by name now, and they aU knew me. However, Mr. Myles was a good talker. Indeed, I tried to induce him to go on and tell the story while I showed the pictures, but this he reiused to do. I may explain tliat it was a talk illustratec! ly stereopticon. The views were good, but tb** lantern, a thirty-shilling affair, was wretched, and ha(? only an oil-lamp in it. I sailed early the next morning before the papers came out, thinking it best to do so. They each appeared with a favourable column, however, of what they called a lecture, so I learned afterward and they had a kind word for the bellman besides. From Port Denison the sloop ran before the con- stant trade-wind, and made no stop at all, night or day, till she reached Cooktown, on the Endeavour River, where she arrived Mondr.y, May 31, 1897, before a furious blast of wind encountered that day fifty miles down the coast. On this parallel of latitude is the high ridge and backbone of the trade- winds, which about Cooktown amount often to a hard gale. I had been charged to navigate the route with extra care, and to feel my way over the ground, the skilled of&cer of the Royal navy who advised ''I If if m m ^4 pi. m m 152 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD me to take the Barrier Reef passage wrote me that H.M.S. Orlando steamed nights as well as days through it, but that I, under sail, would jeopardize my vessel on coral reefs if I undertook to do so. Confidentially, it would have been no easy matter finding anchorage every night. The hard Avork, too, of getting the sloop under way every morning was finished, I had hoped, when she cleared the Strait of Magellan. Besides that, the best of ad- miralty charts made it possible to keep on sailing night and day. Indeed, with a fair wind, and in the clear weather of that season, the way through the Barrier Reef Channel, in all sincerity, was clearer than a highway in a busy city, and by all odds less dangerous. But to any one contemplat- ing the voyage I should say, beware of reefs day or night, or, remaining on the land, be wary still. " The Spray came flying into port Uke a bird," said the longshore daily papers of Cooktown the morning after she arrived ; " and it seemed strange," they added, " that only one man could be seen on board working the craft." The Spray was doing her best, to bej sure, for it was near night, and she was in haste to find a perch before dark. Tacking inside of all the craft in port, I moored her at sunset nearly abreast the Captain Cook monument, and next morning went ashore to feast my eyes on the very stones the great navigator had seen, for I was now on a seaman's consecrated ground. But there seemed a question in Cook- town's mind as to the exact spot where his ship, the Endeavour, hove down for repairs on her memor- able voyage around the world. Some said it was not at all at the place where the monument now stood. A discussion of the subject was going on one morning where I happened to be, and a young RLD ae that ,s days pardize so. matter i work, norning red the ; of ad- L sailing and in through ty, was d by all templat- s day or itill. a bird," own the »trange," seen on is doing and she moored in Cook shore to lavigator isecrated in Cook- his ship, r memor- d it was lent now going on a young REMINISCENCES OF CAPTAIN COOK 153 lady present, turning to me as one of some authority in nautical matters, very flatteringly asked my opinion. Well, I could see no reason why Captain Cook, if he made up his mind to repair his ship inland, couldn't have dredged out a channel to the place where the monument now stood, if he had a dredging-machine with him, and afterward fill it up again ; for Captain Cook could do 'most anything, and nobody ever said that he hadn't a dredger along. The young lady seemed to lean to my way of thinking, and following up the story of the historical voyage, asked if I had visited the point farther down the harbour where the great circum- navigator was murdered. This took my breath, but a bright school-boy coming along relieved my embarrassment, for, like all boys, seeing that infor- mation was wanted, he volunteered to supply it. Said he : " Captain Cook wasn't murdered 'ere at all, ma'am ; 'e was killed in Hafrica : a lion et im. Here I was reminded of distressful days gone by. I think it was in 1866 that the old steamship Soushay, from Batavia for Sydney, put in at Cook- town for scurvy-grass, as I always thought, and " incidentally " to land mails. On her sick-list was my fevered self ; and so I didn't see the place till I came back on the Spray thirty-one years later. And now I saw coming into port the physical wrecks of miners from New Guinea, destitute and dying. Many had died on the way and had been buried at sea. He would have been a hardened wretch who could look on and not try to do some- thing for thems The sympathy of all went out to these sufferers, but the little town was already straitened from a long run on its benevolence. I thought of the P m m k m 'Ml' liar.' w h.r M I ',1 ■2 i ^i * ' .:li-'' 154 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD matter, of the lady's gift to me at Tasmania, which I had promised myself I would keep only as a loan, but found now, to my embarrassment, that I had invested the money. However, the good Cooktown people wished to hear a story of the sea, and how the crew of the Spray fared when illness got aboard of her. Accordingly the little Presbyterian church on the hill was opened for a conversation ; every- body talked, and they made a roaring success of it. Judge Chester, the magistrate, was at the head of the game, and so it was bound to succeed. He it was who annexed the island of New Guinea to Great Britain. *' While I was about it," said he, *' I annexed the blooming lot of it " There was a ring in the statement pleasant to the ear of an old voyager. However, the Germans made such a row over the judge's mainsail haul that they got a share in the venture. Well, I was now indebted to the miners of Cook- town for the great privilege of adding a mite to a worthy cause, and to Judge Chester all the town was indebted for a general good time. The matter standing so, I sailed on June 6, 1897, heading away for the north as befoie. Arrived at a very inviting anchorage about sun- down, the 7th, I came to, for the night, abreast the Claremont light-ship. This was the only time throughout the passage of the Barrier Reef Chan- nel that the Spray anchored, except at Port Denisan and at Endeavour River. On the very night follow- ing this, huwever (the 8th), I regretted keenly, for an instant, that I had not anchored before dark, as I might have done easily under the lee of a coral reef. It happened in this way. The Spray had just passed M Reef light-ship, and left the light dipping astern, when, going at full speed, with VORLD SUNDAY ISLAND 155 ia, which is a loan, Lat I had 3ooktown and how 3t aboard in church ; every- cess of it. e head of id. He it Guinea to * said he, lere was a of an old uch a row ;ot a share s of Cook- mite to a the town 'he matter ding away about sun- ibreast the only time ^eef Chan- rt Denisan ght follow- keenly, for •re dark, as of a coral Spray had t the light >peed, with sheets off, she hit the M Reef itself on the north end, where I expected to see a beacon. She swung off quickly on her heel, however, and with one more bound on a swell cut across the shoal point so quickly that I hardly knew how it was done. The beacon wasn't there ; at least, I didn't see it. I hadn't time to look for it after she struck, and certainly it didn't much matter then whether I saw it or not. But this gave her a fine departure for Cape Greenville, the next point ahead. I saw the ugly boulders under the sloop's keel as she flashed over them, and I made a mental note of it that the letter M, for which the reef was named, was the thirteenth one in ovn: alphabet, and that thirteen, as noted years before, was still my lucky number. The natives of Cape Greenville are notoriously bad, and I was advised to give them the go-by. Accordingly from M Reef I steered outside of the adjacent is- lands, to be on the safe side. Skipping along now, the spray passed Home Island, off the pitch of the cape, soon after midnight, and squared away on a westerly course. A short time later she fell in with a steamer bound south, groping her way in the dark and making the night dismal with her own black smoke. From Home Island I made for Sunday Island, and bringing that abeam, shortened sail, not wishing to make Bird Island, farther along, before daylight, the wind being still fresh and the islands being low, with dangers about them. Wednesday, June 9, 1897, at daylight. Bird Island was dead ahead, distant two and a half miles, which I considered near enough. A strong current was pressing the sloop forward. I did not shorten sail too soon in the night 1 The first and only Australian canoe "I 156 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD seen on the voyage was encountered here standing from the mamland, with a rag of sail set, bound for this island. A long, slim fish that leaped on board in the night was found on deck this morning. I had it for breakfast. The spry chap was no larger around than a herring, which it resembled in every respect, except that it was three times as Ic^ig ; but that was so much the better, for I am rather fond of fresh herring, anyway. A great number of fisher-birds were about this day, which was one of the pleasantest on God's earth. The Spray, dancing over the waves, entered Albany Pass as the sun drew low in the west over the hills of AustraUa. At 7.30 p.m. the Spray, now through the pass, came to anchor in a cove in the mainland, near a pearl-fisherman, called the Tarawa, which was at anchor, her captain from the deck of his vessel di- recting me to a berth. This done, he at once came on board to clasp hands. The Tarawa was a CaH- fomian, and Captain Jones, her master, was an American. On the following morning Captain Jones brought on board two pairs of exquisite pearl shells, the most perfect ones I ever saw. They were probably the best he had, for Jones was the heart-yam of a sailor. He assured me that if I would remain a few hours longer some friends from Somerset, near by, would pay us all a visit, and one of the crew, sorting shells on deck, " guessed " they would. The mate ** guessed " so, too. The friends came, as even the second mate and cook had " guessed " they would. They were Mr. Jardine, stockman, famous throughout the land, and his family. Mrs. Jardine was the niece of King Malietoa, and cousin to the RLD tanding und for in the I had larger n every Icag ; rather number ivas one Spray, y Pass hills of tie pass, near a was at essel di- Lce came s a Cali- was an brought tells, the probably ram of a remain a set, near ;he crew, ^ would, came, as ed " they I, famous i. Jardine in to the JUBILEE AT THURSDAY ISLAND 157 beautiful Faamu-Sami (" To make the sea bum "), who visited the Spray at Apia. Mr. Jardine was himself a fine specimen of a Scotsman. With his little family about him, he was content to live in this remote place, accumulating the comforts of life. The fact of the Tarawa having been built in America accounted for the crew, boy Jim and all, being such good guessers. Strangely enough, though, CaptLin Jones himself, the only American aboard, was never heard to guess at all. After a pleasant chat and good-bye to the people of the Tarawa, and to Mr. and Mrs. Jardine, I again weighed anchor and stood across for Thurs- day Island, now in plain view, mid-channel in Torres Strait, where I arrived shortly after noon. Here the Spray remained over until June 24. Being the only American representative in port, this tarry was imperative, for on the 22nd was the Queen's diamond jubilee. The two days over were, as sailors say, for " coming up." Meanwhile I spent pleasant days about the island. Mr. Douglas, resident magistrate, invited me on a cruise in his steamer one day among the islands in Torres Strait. This being a scientific expedition in charge of Professor Mason Bailey, botanist, we rambled over Friday and Saturday islands, where I got a glimpse of botany. Miss Bailey, the pro- fessor's daughter, accompanied the expedition, and told me of many indigenous plants with long names. The 22nd was the great day on Thursday Island, for then we had not only the jubilee, but a jubilee \yith a grand corroboree in it, Mr. Douglas having brought some four hundred native warriors and their wives and children across from the mainland I'M," ■ J-'i ',>■ ■ !,■ ■'!i % f ' . ',' '; .1 158 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD to give the celebration the true native touch, for when they do a thing on Thursday Island they do it with a roar. The corroboree was, at any rate, a howhng success. It took place at night, and the performers, painted in fantastic colours, danced or leaped about before a blazing fire. Some were rigged and painted like birds and beasts, in which the emu and kangaroo were well represented. One fellow leaped like a frog. Some had the human skeleton painted on their bodies, while they jumped about threateningly, spear in hand, ready to strike down some imaginary enemy. The kangaroo hopped and danced with natural ease and grace, making a fine figure. All kept time to music, vocal and instrumental, the instruments (save the mark!) being bits of wood, which they beat one against the other, and saucer-Hke bones, held in the palm of the hands, which they knocked together, making a dull sound. It was a show at once amusing, spectacular, and hideous. The warrior aborigines that I saw in Queensland were for the most part lithe and fairly well built, but they were stamped always with repulsive features, and their women were, if possible, still more ill favoured. I observed that on the day of the jubilee no for- eign flag was waving in the public grounds except the Stars and Stripes, which along with the Union Jack guarded the gateway, and floated in many places, from the tiniest to the standard size. Speak- ing to Mr Douglas, I ventured a remark on this compliment to my country. " Oh," said he, " this is a family affair, and we do not consider the Stars and Stripes a foreign flag." The Spray of course flew her best bunting, and hoisted the Jack as well as her own noble flag as high as she could. RLD BOOBY ISLAND 159 ch, for hey do rate, a ind the iced or e were I which I. One human jumped strike ingaroo 1 grace, c, vocal imark!) against le palm making musing, ensland ill built, epulsive )le, still ! no for- 3 except e Union n many Speak- on this e, " this he Stars { course I as well On June 24 the Spray, well fitted in every way, sailed for the long voyage ahead, down the Indian Ocean. Mr. Douglas gave her a flag as she was leaving his island. The Spray had now passed nearly all the dangers of the Coral Sea and Torres Strait, which, indeed, were not a few ; and all ahead from this point was plain saiUng and a straight course. The trade-wind was still blowing fresh, and could be safely counted on now down to the coast of Madagascar, if not beyond that, for it was still early in the season. I had no wish to arrive off the Cape of Good Hope before midsummer, and it was now early winter. I had been off that cape once in July, which was, of course, midwinter there. The stout ship I then commanded encountered only fierce hurricanes, and she bore them ill. I wished for no winter gales now. It was not that I feared them more, being in the Spray instead of a large ship, but that I preferred fine weather in any case. It is true that one may encounter heavy gales off the Cape of Good Hope at any season of the year, but in the summer they are less frequent and do not continue so long. And so with time enough before me to admit of a run ashore on the islands en route, I shaped the course now for Keeling Cocos, atoll islands, distant twenty-seven hundred miles. Taking a departure from Booby Island, which the sloop passed early in the day, I decided to sight Timor on the way, an island of high mount- ains. Booby Island I had seen before, but only once, however, and that was when in the steamship Soushay, on which I was " hove-down " in a fever. When she steamed along this way I was well enough to crawl on deck to look at Booby Island. Had I .iv-5' M 'm MV ini m k i6o SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD died for it, I would have seen that island. In those days passing ships landed stores in a cave on the island for shipwrecked and distressed wayfarers. Captain Airy of the Soushay, a good man, sent a boat to the cave with his contribution to the general store. The stores were landed in safety, and the boat, returning, brought back from the improvised post-office there a dozen or more letters, most of them left by whalemen, with the request that the first homeward-bound ship would carry them along and see to their mailing, which had been the cus- tom of this strange postal service for many years. Some of the letters brought back by our boat were directed to New Bedford, and some to Fairhaven, Massachusetts. There is a light to-day on Booby Island, and regular packet communication with the rest of the world, and the beautiful uncertainty of the fate of letters left there is a thing of the past. I made no call at the little island, but standing close in, ex- changed signals with the keeper of the light. Sail- ing on, the sloop was at once in the Arafura Sea, where for days she sailed in water milky white and green and purple. It was my good fortune to enter the sea on the last quarter of the moon, the advan- tage being that in the dark nights I witnessed the phosphorescent Hght effect at night in its greatest splendour. The sea, where the sloop disturbed it, seemed all ablaze, so that by its light I could see the smallest articles on deck, and her wake was a path of fire. On the 25th of June the sloop was already clear of all the shoals and dangers, and was sailing on a smooth sea as steadily as before, but with speed somewhat slackened. I got out the flying- jib made at Juan Fernandez, and set it as a spinnaker from )RLD ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN i6i ;n those on the .yfarers. , sent a general and the provised most of :hat the m along the cus- y years. 3at were irhaven, Lnd, and 3t of the e fate of made no B in, ex- it. Sail- :ura Sea, rhite and I to enter e advan- »ssed the greatest urbed it, could see ke was a ady clear Ung on a Ith speed jib made iker from the stoutest bamboo that Mrs. Stevenson had given me at Samoa. The spinnaker pulled like a sodger, and the bamboo holding its own, the Spray mended hor pace. Several pigeons flying across to-day from Aus- tralia toward the islands bent their course over the Spray. Smaller birds were seen flying in the op- posite direction. In the ^art of the Arafura that I came to first, where it was shallow, sea-snakes writhed about on the surface and tumbled over and over in the waves. As the sloop sailed farther on, where the sea became deep, they disappeared. In the ocean, where the water is blue, not one was ever seen In the days of serene weather there was not much to do but to read and take rest on the Spray, to make up as much as possible for the rough time off Cape Horn, which was not yet forgotten, and to forestall the Cape of Good Hope by a store of ease. My sea journal was now much the same from day to day — something like this of June 26 and 27, for example : June 26, in the morning, it is a bit squally ; latei in the day blowing a steady breeze. On the log at noon is 130 miles Subtract correction for slip • . • • 10 Add for currnt 120 10 •Latitude by observation at noon, 10^ 23 Longitude, as per mark on the chart. 130 4* *• (* »t •» in i(a SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD tH i :?;• ,. iJ There wasn't much brain-work in that log, I'm sure. June 27 makes a better showing, when all is told : First of all, to-day, was a flying-fish on deck ; fried it in butter. 133 miles on the log. For shp, off, and for current, on, as per guess, about equal — ^let it go at that. Latitude by observation at noon, 10° 25' S. For several days now the Spray sailed west on the parallel of lo'' 25' S., as true as a hair. If she deviated at all from that, through the day or night, — and this may have happened, — she was back, strangely enough, at noon, at the same latitude. But the greatest science was in reckoning the longi- tude. My tin clock and only timepiece had by this time lost its minute-hand, but after I boiled her she told the hours, and that was near enough on a long stretch. On the 2nd of July the great island of Timor was in view away to the nor'ard. On the following day I saw Dana Island, not far off, and a breeze came up from the land at night, fragrant of the spices or what not of the coast. On the nth, with all sail set and with the spin- naker still abroad, Christmas Island, about noon, came into view one point on the starboard bow. Before night it was abeam and distant two and a half miles. The surface of the island appeared evenly rounded from the sea to a considerable height in the centre. In outline it was as smooth as a fish, and a long ocean swell, rolling up, broke against the sides, where it lay like a -lonster asleep, motionless on the sea. It seemed to have the pro- >RLD 3g. I'm hen all fried it 3, about CHRISTMAS ISLAND 163 vest on If she r night, s back, atitude. le longi- by this her she 1 a long nor was ing day ze came >pices or he spin- it noon, rd bow. o and a ippeared iiderable , smooth p, broke r asleep, the pro- portions of a whale, and as the sloop sailed along its side to the part where the head would be, there was a nostril, even, which was a blow-hole through a ledge of rock where every wave that dashed threw up a shaft of w: ter, lifelike and real. It had been a long time since I last saw this island ; but I remember my temporary admiration for the captain of the ship I was then 1 1, the Tanjore, when he sang out one morning from the quarter- deck, well aft, " Go aloft ther* , one of ye, with a pair of eyes, and see Christmas Island." Sure enough, there the island was in sight from the royal-yard. Captain M had thus made a great hit, and he never got over it. The chief mate, terror of us ordinaries in the ship, walking never to windward of the captain, now took himself very humbly to leeward altogether. When we arrived at Hong-Kong there was a letter in the ship's mail for me. I was in the boat with the captain some hours while he had it. But do you suppose he could hand a letter to a seaman ? No, indeed ; not even to an ordinary seaman. When we got to the ship he gave it to the first mate ; the first mate gave it to the second mate, and he laid it, michingly, on the capstan-head, where I could get it 1 im.: CHAPTER XVI M' A cat! for carefvil navigation — ^Three hours' steering in twenty- three days — Arrival at the Keehng Cocos Islands — A curious chapter of social history — A welcome from the children of the islands — Cleaning and painting the Spray on the beach — A Mohammedan blessing tor a pot of jam — Keeling as a paradise — A risky adventure In a small boat — Away to Rodriguez — Taken for Antichrist — ^The governor calms the fears of the people — A lecture — ^A convent in the hills. TO the Keeling Cocos Islands was now only five hundred and fifty miles ; but even in this short run it was necessary to be extremely careful in keep- ing a true course else I would miss the atoll. On the 1 2th, some hundred miles southwest of Christmas Island, I saw anti-trade clouds flying up from the southwest very high over the regular winds, which weakened now for a few days, while a swell heavier than usual set in also from the south- west. A winter gale was going on in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope. Accordingly, I steered higher to windward, allowing twenty miles a day while this went on, for change of current ; and it was not too much, for on that course I made the Keeling Islands right ahead. The first unmistak- able sign of the land was a visit one morning from a white tern that fluttered very knowingly about the vessel, and then took itself off westward with a businesslike air in its wing. The tern is called by 164 KEELING COCOS ISLANDS x65 tv^enty- \. curious en of the >each — A paradise Iriguez — ra of the •nly five iis short inkeep- iwest of lying up regular , while a le south- iirection [ steered ;s a day ; and it nade the nmistak- ing from ly about d with a :alled by the islanders the " pilot of Keeling Cocos." Far- ther on I came among a great number of birds fish- ing, and fighting over whatever they caught. My reckoning was up, and springing aloft, I saw from half-way up the mast cocoanut-trees standing out of the water ahead. I expected to see this ; still, it thrilled me as an electric shock might have done. I slid down the mast, trembling under the strangest sensations ; and not able to resist the impulse, I sat on deck and gave way to my emotions. To folks in a parlour on shore this may seem weak indeed, but I am telling the story of a voyage alone. I didn't touch the helm, for with the current and heave of the sea the sloop found herself at the end of the run absolutely in the fairway of the channel. You couldn't have beaten it in the navy ! Then I trimmed her sails by the wind, took the helm, and flogged her up the couple of miles or so abreast the harbour landing, where I cast anchor at 3.30 p.m., July 17, 1897, twenty-three days from Thurs- day Island. The distance run was twenty-seven hundred miles as the crow flies. This would have been a fair Atlantic voyage. It was a delightful sail ! During those twenty-three days I had not spent altogether more than three hours at the helm, including the time occupied in beating into Keeling harbour. I just lashed the helm and let her go ; whether the wind was abeam or dead aft, it was all the same : she always sailed on her course. No part of the voyage up to this point, taking it by and large, had been so finished as this. * 1 Mr. Andrew J. Leach, reporting, J uly 21, 1897, through Gover- nor Kynnersley of Singapore, *o Joseph Chamberlain. Colonial Secretary, said concerning the Iphigenia's visit to the atoll : " As we left the ocean depths of deepest blue and entered the coral circle, the contrast was most remarkable. The brilliant 4 f u p j66 sailing alone AROUND THE WORLD The Keeling Cocos Islands, according to Admiral Fitzroy, R.N., lie between the latitudes of ii° 50' and 12° 12' S., and the longitudes of 96° 51' and 96° 58' E. They were discovered in 1608-9 by Captain William Keeling, then in the service of the East India Company. The southern group consists of seven or eight islands and islets on the atoll, which is the skeleton of what some day, ac- cording to the history of coral reefs, will be a con- tinuous island. North Keeling has no harbour, is seldom visited, and is of no importance. The South Keelings are a strange little world, with a romantic history all their own. They have been visited occasionally by the floating spar of some hurricane-swept ship, or by a tree that has drifted all the way from Australia, or by an ill-starred ship cast away, and finally by man. Even a rock once drifted to Keeling, held fast among the roots of a tree. After the discovery ot the islands by Captain colours of the waters, transparent to a depth of over thirty feet, now purple, now of the bluest sky-blue, and now green, with the white create of the waves flashing under a brilliant sun, the •ncircling . . . palm-clad islands, the gaps between which were to the south undiscernible, the white sand shores and the whiter gaps where breakers appeared, and, lastly, the lagoon iteelf, seven or eight miles across from north to south, and five to six from east to west, presented a sight never to be forgotten. After some little delay, Mr. Sidney Ross, the eldest son of Mr. George Ross, came off to meet us, and soon after, accompanied by the doctor and another officer, we went ashore. " On reaching the landing stage, we found, hauled up for cleaning, etc., the Spray of Boston, a yawl of 12.70 tons gross, the property of Captain Joshua Slocum. He arrived at the island on the 17th of July, twenty three days out from Thursday Island. This extraordinary solitary traveller left Boston some two years ago single-handed, crossed to Gibraltar sailed down to Cape Horn, passed through the Strait of Magellan to the Society Islands, thence to Australia, and through the Torres itrait to Thursday Island." ORLD A CHAPTER OF HISTORY 167 Ldmiral n° 50' 11' and 8-9 by vice of group on the lay, ac- a con- Dour, is i. The i, with v^e been )f some drifted -starred L a rock tie roots Captain hirty feet, with the sun, the en which s and the he lagoon and five forgotten. on of Mr. :ompanied 5d up for i gross, the the island Thursday ston some iled down an to the le Torres Kroling their first notable visitor was Captain John Clunis-Ross, who in 1814 touched in the ship Borneo on a voyage to India. Captain Ross re- turned two years later with his wife and family and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Dymoke, and eight sailor-artisans, to take possession of the islands, but found there already one Alexander Hare, who meanwhile had marked the little atoll as a sort of Eden for a seraglio of Malay women which he moved over from the coast of Africa. It was Ross's own brother, oddly enough, who freighted Hare and his crowd of women to the islands, not knowing of Captain John's plans to occupy the little world. And so Hare was there with his out- fit, z.?, if he had come to stay. On his previous visit, however, Ross had nailed the English Jack to a mast on Horsburg Island, one of the group. After two years shreds of it still fluttered in the wind, and his sailors, nothing loath, began at once the invasion of the new king- dom to take possession of it, women and all. The force of forty women, with only one man to com- mand them, was not equal to driving eight sturdy sailors back into the sea.^ From this time on Hare had a hard time of it. He and Ross did not get on well as neighbours. The islands were too small and too near for characters so widely different. Hare had " oceans of money," and might have lived well in London ; but he had been governor of a wild colony in Borneo, and could not confine himself to the tame life that prosy civilization affords. And so he hung on to ' In the accounts given in Findlay's " Sailing Directory " of some< of the events there is a chronological discrepancy. I follow the accounts gathered from the old captain's grandsons and from records, on thu spot. '■■y m Ji ^n hf . 'f; i68 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the atoll with his forty women, retreating little by little before Ross and his sturdy crew, till at last he found himself and his harem on the little island known to this day as Prison Island, where, like Bluebeard, he confined his wives in a castle. The channel between the islands was narrow, the water was not deep, and the eight Scotch sailors wore long boots. Hare was now dismayed. He tried to compromise with rum and other luxuries, but these things only made matters worse. On the day following the first St. Andrew's celebration on the island. Hare, consumed with rage, and no longer on speaking terms with the captain, dashed off a note to him, saying : " Dear Ross : I thought when I sent rum and roast pig to your sailors that they would stay away from my flower-garden." In reply to which the captain, burning with indigna- tion, shouted from the centre of the island, where he stood, " Ahoy, there, on Prison Island ! You Hare, don't you know that rum and roast pig are net a sailor's heaven ? " Hare said afterward that one might have heard the captain's roar across to Java. The lawless establishment was soon broken up by the women deserting Prison Island and putting themselves under Ross's protection. Hare then went to Batavia, where he met his death. My first impression upon landing was that the crime of infanticide had not reached the islands of Keeling Cocos. " The children have all come to welcome you," explained Mr. Ross, as they mustered at the jetty by hundreds, of all ages and sizes. The people of this country were all rather shy, but, young or old, they never passed one or saw one passing their door without a salutation. In their musical voices they would say, " Are you walking ? " 3RLD A WELCOME FROM THE CHILDREN 169 little by L at last le island ere, like le. The he water 3rs wore He tried ries, but I the day n on the 10 longer led off a ght when that they len." In indigna- id, where id! You ig are net ard that across to roken up d putting are then that the islands of come to mustered Izes. The )ut, young le passing ^ir musical ^Talking ? n {" Jalan, jalan ? ") ** Will you come along t " one would answer. For a long time after I arrived the children re- garded the " one-man ship " with suspicion and fear. A native man had been blown away to sea many years before, and they hinted to one another that he might have been changed from black to white, and returned in the sloop. For some time every movement I made was closely watched. They were particularly interested in what I ate. One day, after I had been " boot-topping " the sloop with a composition of coal-tar and other stuff, and while I was taking my dinner, with the luxury of blackberry jam, I heard a commotion, and then a yell and a stampede, as the children ran away yelling : " The captain is eating coal-tar ! The captain is eating coal-tar ! " But they soon found out that this same " coal-tar " was very good to eat, and that I had brought a quantity of it. One day when I was spreading a sea-biscuit thick with it for a wide-awake youngster, I heard them whisper, " Chut-chut ! " meaning that a shark had bitten my hand, which they observed was lame. Thenceforth they regarded me as a hero, and I had not fingers enough for the little bright-eyed tots that wanted to cling to them and follow r^^t al>out. Before this, when I held out my hand and saivi, " Come I '* they would shy off for the nearest house, and say, " Dingin " (" It's cold "), or " Ujan " (" It's going to rain "). But it was now accepted that I was not the returned spirit of the lost black, and I had plenty of friends about the island, rain or shine. One day after this, when I tried to haul the sloop and found her fast in the sand, the children all clapped their hands and cried that a kpeting (crab) U hi I '•>._ 170 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD was holding her by the keel ; and little Ophelia, ten or twelve years of age, wrote in the Spray's log-book: A hundred men with might and main On the windlass hove, yeo ho ! The cable only came in twain ; The ship she would not go ; For, child, to tell the strangest thing. The keel was held by a great kpeting. This being so or not, it was decided that the Mo- he r^-medan priest, Sama the Emim, for a pot of ja^n, should ask Mohammed to bless the voyage and mai:o the crab let go the sloop's keel, which it did, if it had hold, and she floated on the very next tide. On the 22nd of July arrived H.M.S. Iphigenia with Mr. Justice Andrew J. Leech and court officers on board, on a circuit of inspection among the Straits Settlements, of which Keeling Cocos was a dependency, to hear complaints and try cases by law, if any there were to try. They found the Spray hauled ashore and tied to a cocoanut-tree. But at the Keeling Islands there had not been a grievance to complain of since the day that Hare migrated, for the Rosses have always treated the islanders as their own family. If there is a paradise on this earth it is KeeUng. There was not a case for a lawyer, but something hati to be done, for here were two ships in port, a great man-of-war and the Spray. Instead of a law suit a dance was got up, aid all the officers who could leave their ship came ashore. Everybody on the island came, old and yourg, and the governor's great hall was filled with people. All that could get on their feet danced, while the babies lay in heaps in the corners of the room, content to look f- ORLD KEELING AS A PARADISE 171 lelia, ten log-book: ; the Mo- a pot of ►yage and ch it did, next tide. Iphigenia rt officers nong the :os was a cases by the Spray . But at grievance migrated, anders as ; Keeling, iomething n port, a of a law icers who ybody on fovemor's lat could es lay in t to look on. My little friend Ophelia danced with the judge. For music two fiddles screeched over and over again the good old tune, ** We won't go home till morning." And we did not. The women at the Reelings do not do all the drudgery, as in many places visited on the voyage. It would cheer the heart of a Fuegian woman to see the Keeling lord of creation up a cocoanut-tree. Besides cleverly climbing the trees, the men of KeeUng build exquisitely modelled canoes. By far the best workmanship in boat-building I saw on the voyage was here. Many finished mechanics dwelt under the palms at Keeling, and the hum of the band-saw and the ring of the anvil were heard from morning till night. The first Scotch settlers left there the strength of Northern blood and the inheritance of steady habits. No benevolent so- ciety has ever done so much for any islanders as the noble Captain Ross, and his sons, who have followed his example of industry and thrift. Admiral Fitzroy of the Beagle, who visited here, where many things are reversed, spoke of ** these singular though small islands, where crabs eat cocoanuts, fish eat coral, dogs catch fish, men ride on turtles, and shells are dangerous man-traps," adding thst the greater part of the sea-fowl roost on branches, and many rats make their nests in the tops of palm-trees. My vessel being refitted, I decided to load her with the famdus mammoth tridacna shell of Keel- ing, found in the bayou near by. And right here, within sight of the village, I came near losing ** the crew of the Spray " — ^not from putting my foot in a man-trap shell, however, but from carelessly neglecting to look after the details of a trip across the harbour in a boat. I had sailed over oceans ; I ft. h m 172 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD have since completed a course over them all, and sailed round the whole world without so nearly meeting a fatality as on that trip across a lagoon, where I truster! all to some one else, and he, weak mortal that he was, perhaps trusted all to me. However that may be, I found myself with a thought- less African negro in a rickety bateau that was fitted with a rotten sail, and this blew away in mid-channel in a squall, that sent us drifting help- lessly to sea, where we should have been incon- tinently lost. With the whole ocean before us to leeward, I was dismayed to see, while we drifted, that there was not a paddle or an oar in the boat ! The was an anchor, to be sure, but not enough I ope I > tie a cat, and we were already in deep water. By gr'^at good fortune, however, there was a pole piying this as a paddle with the utmost energy, and Vy the merest accidental flaw in the wind to favoui us, the trap of the boat was worked into shoal water, where we could touch bottom and push her ashore. With Africa, the nearest coast to leeward, three thousand miles away, with not so much as a drop of water in the boat, and a lean and hungry negro — well, cast the lot as one might, the crew of the Spray in a Httle while would have been hard to find. It is needless to say that I took no more such chances. The tridacna were after- ward procured in a safe boat, thirty of them taking the place of tiiree tons of cement ballast, which I threw overboard to make room and give buoyancy. On August 22, the kjjctin;^, or whatever else it was that held the sloop m the islands, let go its hold, and she swung out ■ o sea under ail sail, heading again for home. Mounting one or two heavy rollers on the fringe of the atoll, she cleared the flashing reefs. Long before dark Keeling Cocos, ORLD AWAY TO RODRIGUEZ 173 all, and 3 nearly L lagoon, le, weak to me. thought- hat was away in ing help- n incon- )ie us to I drifted, lie boat 1 t enough ep water. .s a pole t energy, wind to ked into torn and est coast I not so d a lean le might, uld have at I took re after- m taking which I uoyancy. else it et go its heading heavy ared the g Cocos, with its thousand souls, as sinless in their lives as perhaps it is possible for frail mortals to be, was left out of sight, astern. Out of sight, I say, except in my strongest affection. The sea was rugged, and the Spray washed hea- vily when hauled on the wind, which course I took for the island of Rodriguez, and which brought the sea abeam. The true course for the island was west by south, one quarter south, and the distance was nineteen hundred miles ; but I steered consid- erably to the windward of that to allow for the heave of the sea and other leeward effects. My sloop on this course ran under reefed sails for days togelner. I naturally tired of the never-end- ing motion of the sea, and, above all, of the wetting I got whenever I showed myself on deck. Under these heavy weather conditions the Spray seemed to lag behind on her course ; at least, I attributed to these conditions a discrepancy in the log, which by the fifteenth day out from Keeling amounted to one hundred and fifty miles between the rotator and the mental calculations I had kept of what she should have gone, and so I kept an eye lifting for land. I could see about sundown this day a bunch of clouds that stood in one spot, right ahead, while the other clouds floated on ; this was a sign of something. By midnight, as the sloop sailed on, a black object appeared where I had seen the rest- ing clouds. It was still a long way off, but there could be no mistaking this : it was the high island of Rodriguez. I hauled in the patent log, which I was now towing more from habit than from neces- sity, for I had L .arned the Spray and her ways long before this. If one thing was clearer than another in her voyage, it was that she could be trusted to come out right and in safety* though at the same time I al- '•I mi M ; 11.1 m 1 ■ , •' (V. li 174 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD ways stood ready to give her the benefit of even the least doubt. The officers who are over-sure, and " know it all like a book," are the ones, I have ob- served, who wreck the most ships and lose the most lives. The cause of the discrepancy in the log was one often met with, namely, coming in contact ^vith some large fish ; two out of the four blades of the rotator were crushed or bent, the work probably of a shark. Being sure of the sloop's position, I lay down to rest and to think, and I felt better for it. By daylight the island was abeam, about three miles away. It wore a hard, weather-beaten ap- pearance there, all alone, far out in the Indian Ocean, like land adrift. The windward side was uninvit- ing, but there was a good port to leeward, and I hauled in now close on the wind for that. A pilot came out to take me into the inner harbour, which was reached through a narrow channel among coral reefs. It was a curious thing that at all of the islands some reality was insisted on as unreal, while improb- abihties were clothed as hard facts ; and so it hap- pened here that the good abbe, a few days before, had been telling his people about the coming of Antichrist, and when they saw the Spray sail into the harbour, all feather-white before a gale of wind, and run all standing upon the beach, and with only one man aboard, they cried, " May the Lord help us, it is he, and he has come in a boat ! " which I say would have been the most improbable way of his coming. Nevertheless, the news went flying through the place. The governor of the island, Mr. Roberts, came down immediately to see what it was all about, for the little town was in a great commotion. One elderly woman, when she heard of my advent, made for her house and locked her- RLD ven the re, and ave ob- le most log was ,ct with J of the tably of 1, I lay r for it. t three ten ap- i Ocean, uninvit- L, and I A pilot r, which ng coral islands improb- I it hap- before, ing of ail into f wind, |ith only rd help which I way of flying island, e what a great le heard :ed her- TAKEN FOR ANTICHRIST 175 self in. When she heard that I was actually coming up the street she barricaded her doors, and did not come out while I was on the island, a period of eight days. Governor Roberts and his family did not share the fears of their people, but came on board at the jetty, where the sloop was berthed, and their example induced others to come also. The governor's young boys took charge of the Spray's dinghy at once, and my visit cost his Ex- cellency, besides great hospitality to me, the build- ing of a boat for them ^ike the one belonging to the Spray. My first day at this Land of Promise was to me like a fairy-tale. For many days I had studied the charts and counted the time of my arrival at this spot, as one might his entrance to the Islands of the Blessed, looking upon it as the terminus of the last long run, made irksome by the want of many things with which, from this time on, I could keep well supplied. And behold, here wa the sloop, arrived, and made securely fast to a pier in Rodri- guez. On the first evening ashore, in the land of napkins and cut glass, I saw before me still the ghosts of hempen towels and mugs with handles knocked off. Instead of tossing on the sea, how- ever, as I might have been, here was I in a bright hall, surrounded by sparkling wit, and dining with the governor of the island ! ** Aladdin," I cried, " where is your lamp ? My fisherman's lantern, which I got at Gloucester, has shown me better things than your moky old burner ever revealed." The second day in port was spent in receiving visitors. Mrs. Roberts and her children came first to " shake hands," they said, ** with the Spray." No one was now afraid to come on board except the poor old woman, who still maintained that the W ;.;. U 'A 11 11 Jl , i » 176 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Spray had Antichrist in the hold, if, indeed, he had not already gone ashore. The governor entertained that evening, and kindly invited the " destroyer of the worid " to speak for himself. This he did, elaborating most effusively on the dangers of the sea (which, after the manner of many of our frailest mortals, he would have had smooth had he made it) ; also by contrivances of light and darkness he exhibited on the wall pictures of the places and countries visited on the voyage (nothing like the countries, however, that he would have made), and of the people seen, savage and other, frequcn ly groaning, " Wicked world ! Wicked world I " W hen this was finished his Excellency the governor, speaking words of thankfulness, distributed pieces of gold. On the following day I accompanied his Excel- lency and family on a visit to San Gabriel, which was up the country among the hills. The good abb^ of San Gabriel entertained us all royally at the coiwetit, and we remained his guests until the following day. As I was leaving his place, the abb6 said,, " Captain, I embrace you, and of what- ever religion you may be, my wish is that you succeed in making your voyage, and that our Saviour the Christ be always with you \" To this good man's words I could only say, " My dear abbe, had all religionists been so liberal there would have been less bloodshed in the world." At Rodriguez one may now find every conve- nience for filling pure and wholesome water in any quantity. Governor Roberts having built a reser- voir in the hills, above the village, and laid pipes to the jetty, where, at the time of my visit, there were five and a half feet at high tide. In former years well-water was used, and more or less sickness )RLD , he had ertained royer of he did, 3 of the r frailest le made kness he Lces and hke the de), and equcn ly ' When ;ovemor, id pieces s Excel- i\, which he good >yally at until the lace, the of what- that vou that our a!" To My dear ;re would LAYING IN STORES 177 \ occurred from it. Beef may be had in any quantity on the island, and at a moderate price Sweet po- tatoes were plentiful and cheap ; the large sack of I hem that I bought there for about four shillings kept unusually well. I simply stored ihem in the sloop's dry hold. Of fruits, pomegranates were most plentiful ; for two shillings I obtained a large sack of them, as many as a donkey could pack from the orchard, which, by the way, was planted bv nature herself. if., N I '1; '111; 111 ■•i'ii •y conve- er in any : a reser- iaid pipes Isit, there [n former ;s sickness « 1,19; ^ ^f^- «r, *->. w. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Li 12.8 i2.5 • 50 ^^" iii^HI ■^ 1^ 12.2 IJ5 ||j^ III — < ^ 6" - ► ^>. / Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 13 WIST MAIN STRUT WiBSTH.N.V. US90 (716)872-4503 •N? \ '^ 6^ CHAPTER XVII i': ' A A dean hill of health at Mauritius — Sailing the voyage over again in the opera-house — ^A newly discovered plant named in honour of the Spray's skipper — ^A party of young ladies out for a sail — ^A bivouac on deck — A warm reception at Durban — ^A friendly cross-examination by Henry M. Stanley — ^Three wise Boers seek proof of the flatness of the earth — ^Leaving South Africa. s . i! ,-i* ■ ■ 'I ritius, anchoring at quarantine about noon. The sloop was towed in later on the same day by the doctor's launch, after he was satisfied that I had mustered all the crew for inspection. Of this he seemed in doubt until he examined the papers, which called for a crew of one all told from port to port, throughout the voyage. Then finding that I had been well enough to come thus far alone, he gave me pratique without further ado. There was still another official visit for the Spray to pass farther in the harbour. The governor of Rodriguez, who had most kindly given me, besides a regular mail, private letters of introduction to friends, told me I should meet, first of all, Mr. Jenkins of the postal service, a good man. " How do you do, Mr. Jenkins ? " cried I, as his boat swung alongside. •^You don't know me," he said. " Why not ? " I replied. ** From where is the sloop ? " " From around the world/' I again replied, very solemnly. 178 AT MAURITIUS 179 •• And alone ? " " Yes ; why not ? '* " And you know me ? " " Three thousand years ago," cried I, " when you and I had a warmer job than we have now " (even this was hot). " You were then Jenkinson, but if you have changed your name I don't blame you for that." Mr. Jenkins, for- bearing soul, entered into the spirit of the jest, which served the Spray a good turn, for on the strength of this tale it got out that if any one should go on board after dark the devil would get him at once. And so I could leave the Spray with- out the fear of her being robbed at night. The cabin, to be sure, was broken into, but it was done in daylight, and the thieves got no more than a box of smoked herrings before " Tom ** Ledson, one of the port of&cials, caught them red-handed, as it were, and sent them to jail. This was discourag- ing to pilferers, for they feared Ledson more than they feared Satan himself. Even Mamode Hajee Ayoob, who was the day-watchman on board, — till an empty box fell over in the cal in and frightened him out of his wits, — could not be hired to watch nights, or even till the sun went down. " Sahib," he cried, " there is no need of it," and what he said was perfectly true. At Mauritius, where I drew a long breath, the Spray rested her wings, it being the season of fine weather. The hardships of the voyage, if there had been any, were now computed by officers of experi- ence as nine tenths finished, and yet somehow I could not forget that the United States was still a long way off. The kind people of Mauritius, to make me richer and happier, rigged up the opera-house, which they had named the " Ship Pantai,'*^ All decks and no 1 Guinea-hen. i8o SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD H \"m bottom was this sh'p, but she was as stiff as a church. They gave me free use of it while I talked over the Spray's adventures. His Honour the mayor introduced me to his Excellency the governor from the poop-deck of the Pantai, In this way I was also introduced again to our good consul, General John P. Campbell, who had already introduced me to his Excellency. I was becoming well acquainted, and was in for it now to sail the voyage over again. How I got through the story I hardly know. It was a hot night, and I could have choked the tailor who made the coat I wore for this occasion. The kind governor saw that I had done my part trying to rig hke a man ashore, and he invited me to Government House at Reduit, where I found myself among friends. It was winter still off stormy Cape of Good Hope, but the storms might whistle there. I determined to see it out in milder Mauritius, visiting Rose Hill, Curipepe, and other places on the island. I spent a day with the elder Mr. Roberts, father of Gov- ernor Roberts of Rodriguez, and with his friends the Very Reverend Fathers O'Loughlin and McCar- thy. Returning to the Spray by way of tjie great flower conservatory near Moka, the proprietor, having only that morning discovered a new and hardy plant, to my great honour named it " Slocum," which he said Latinized it at once, saving him some trouble on the twist of a word ; and the good bota- nist seemed pleased that I had come. How different things are in different countries ! In Boston, Massachusetts, at that time, a gentleman, so I was told, paid thirty thousand dollars to have a flower named after his wife, and it was not a big flower either, while " Slocum," which came without the asking, was bigger than a mangel-wurzel ! A PARTY OF YOUNG LADIES i8i I was royally entertained at Moka, as well as at R^duit and other places — once by seven young ladies, to whom I spoke of my inability to return their hospi.ality except in my own poor way of taking them on a sail in the sloop. " The very th'ng ! The very thing ! " they all cried. " Then please name the time/' I said, as meek as Moses. " To-morrow ! " they all cried. " And, aunty, we may go, mayn't we, and we'll be real good for a whole week afterward, aunty ! Say yes, aunty dear ! " All this after saying " To-morrow " ; for girls in Mauritius are, after all, the same as our girls in America ; and their dear aunt said ** Me, too " about the same as any really good aunt might say in my own country. I was then in a quandary, it having recurred to me that on the very ** to-morrow" I was to dine with the harbour-master, Captain Wilson. How- ever, I said to myself, ** The Sj>ray will run out quickly into rough seas ; these young ladies will have mal de mer c. :d a good time, and I'll get in early enough to be at the dinner, after all." But not a bit of it. We sailed almost out of sight of Mauritius, and they just stood up and laughed at seas tumbling aboard, while I was at the helm making the worst weather of it I could, and spinning yams to the aunt about sea-serpents and whales. But she, dear lady, when I had finished with stories of monsters, only hinted at a basket of provisions they had brought along, enough to last a week, for I had told them about my wretched steward. The more the Spray tried to make these young ladies seasick, the more they all clapped their hands and said, " How lovely it is ! " and ** How beauti- fully she skims over the sea I " and " How beautiful our island appears from the distance I " and they ir >t m ( 1 182 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD still cried, " Go on I " We were fifteen miles or more at sea before they ceased the eager cry, " Go on I ** Then the sloop swung round, I still hoping to be back to Port Louis in time to keep my appoint- ment. The Spray reached the island quickly, and flew along the coast fast enough ; but I made a mistake in steering along the coast on the way home, for as we came abreast of Tombo Bay it enchanted my crew. " Oh, let's anchor here ! *' they cried. To this no sailor in the world would have said nay. The sloop came to anchor, ten minutes later, as they wished, and a young man on the cliff abreast, waving his hat, cried, " Vive la Spray ! " My passengers said, " Aunty, mayn't we have a swim in the surf along the shore ? '* Just then the harbour-master's launch hove in sight coming out to meet us ; but it was too late to get the sloop into Port Louis that night. The launch was in time, however, to land my fair crew for a swim ; but they were determined not to desert the ship. Meanwhile I prepared a roof for the night on deck with the sails, and a Bengali man-servant arranged the evening meal. That night the Spray rode in Tombo Bay with her precious freight. Next morning bright and early, even before the stars were gone, I awoke to hear praying on deck. The port officers' launch reappeared later in the morning, this time with Captain Wilson himself on board, to try his luck in getting the Spray into port, for he had heard of our predicament. It was worth something to hear a friend tell afterward how ear- nestly the good harbour-master of Mauritius said, " I'll find the Spray and I'll get her into port." A merry crew he discovered on her. They could hoist sails Uke old tars, and could trim them, too. They could tell all about the ship's " hoods," and one DRLD A BIVOUAC ON DECK 183 miles or ry, " Go I hoping appoint- , kly, and made a the way Bay it here ! " d would hor, ten man on ' Vive la mayn't shore ? '* \ 3 in sight te to get e launch ew for a esert the he night i-servant e Spray freight. fore the deck. ir in the mself on to port, worth low ear- i said, )rt." A lid hoist They land one should have seen them clap a bonnet on the jib. Like the deepest of deep-water sailors, they could heave the lead, and — as I hope to see Mauritius again ! — any of them could have put the sloop in stays. No ship ever had a fairer crew. The voyage was the event of Port Louis ; such a thing as young ladies saiUng about the harbour, even, was almost unheard of before. While at Mauritius the Spray was tendered the use of the military dock free of charge, and was thoroughly refitted by the port authorities. My sincere gratitude is also due other friends for many things needful for the voyage put on board, in- cluding bags of sugar from some of the famous old plantations. The favourable season now set in, and thus well equipped, on the 26th of October, the Spray put to sea. As I sailed before a light wind the island receded slowly, and on the following day I could still see the Puce Mountain near Moka. The Spray arrived next day off Galets, Reunion, and a pilot came out and spoke her. I handed him a Mauritius paper and continued on my voyage ; for rollers were running heavily at the time, and it was not practicable to make a landing. From Reunion I shaped a course direct for Cape St. Mary, Mada- gascar. The sloop was now drawing near the limits of the trade-wind, and the strong breeze that had car- ried her with free sheets the many thousands of miles from Sandy Cape, Australia, fell hghter each day until October 30, when it was altogether calm, and a motionless sea held her in a hushed world. I furled the sails at evening, sat down on deck, and enjoyed the vast stillness of the night, October 31 a light east-northeast breeze sprang i il 11 1 ■( 'I [ml' ii 184 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD up, and the sloop passed Cape S. Mary about noon. On the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of November, in the Mozambique Channel, she experienced a hard gale of wind from the southwest. Here the Spray suf- fered as much as she did anywhere, except off Cape Horn. The thunder and lightning preceding this gale were very heavy. From this point until the sloop arrived off the coast of Africa, she encountered a succession of gales of wind, which drove her about in many directions, but on the 17th of November she arrived at Port Natal. This delightful place is the commercial centre of the " Garden Colcmy,'* Durban itself, the city, being the continuation of a garden. The signalman from the bluff station reported the i'pray fifteen miles off. The wind was freshening, and when she was within eight miles he said : ** The Spray is shortening sail ; the mainsail was reefed and set in ten minutes. One man is doing all the work." This item of news was printed three minutes later in a Durban morning journal, which was handed to me when I arrived in port. I could not verify the time it had taken to reef the sail, for, as I have already said, the minute-hand of my time- piece was gone. I only knew that I reefed as quickly as I could. The same paper, commenting on the voyage, said : ** Judging from the stormy weather which has pre- vailed off this coast during the past few weeks, the spray must have had a very stormy voyage from Mauritius to Natal." Doubtless the weather would have been called stormy by sailors in any ship, but it caused the Spray no more inconvenience than the delay natural to head winds generally. The question of how I sailed the sloop alone, often asked, is best answered, perhaps, by a Durban news- fORLD ENTRANCE TO NATAL 185 3Ut noon, er, in the tiard gale pray suf- : off Cape ding this until the countered her about November centre of ity, being man from miles off. ^as within ning sail ; tes. One i minutes hich was could not lil, for, as my time- reefed as age, said : 1 has pre- veeks, the rage from her would ship, but ; than the one, often ban news- paper. I would shrink from repeating the editor's words but for the reason that undue estimates have been made of the amount of skill and energy re- quired to sail a sloop of even the Spray's small ton- nage. I heard a man who called himself a sailor say that " it would require three men to do what it was claimed " that I did alone, and what I found perfectly easy to do over and over again ; and I have heard that others made similar nonsensical remarks, adding that I would work myself to death. But here is what the Durban paper said : As briefly noted yesterday, the Spray, with a crew of one man, arrived at this port yesterday afternoon on her cruise round the world. The Spray made quite an auspicious entrance to Natal. Her commander sailed his craft right up the channel past the main wharf, and dropped his anchor near the old Forerunner in the creek, before any one had a chance to get on board. The Spray was naturally an object of great curiosity to the Point people, and her arrival was witnessed by a large crowd. The skilful manner in which Captain Slocum steered his craft about the vessels which were occupying the water-way was a treat to witness. The Spray was not sailing in among (greenhorns when she came to Natal. When she arrived off the port the pilot-ship, a fine, able steam-tug, came out to meet her, and led the way in across the bar, for it was blowing a smart gale and was too rough for the sloop to be towed with safety. The trick of going in I learned by watching the steamer ; it was simply to keep on the windward side of the channel ahd take the combers end on. I found that Durban supported two yacht-clubs, both of them full of enterprise. I met all the mem- I. i] IMl HI ill 1^1 m m 'III fc-i :i [ '1 ■I i86 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD bers of both clubs, and sailed in the crack yacht Florence of the Royal Natal, with Captain Sprad- brow and the Right Honourable Harry Escombe, premier of the colony. The yacht's centre-board plowed furrows through the mud-banks, which, ac- cording to Mr. Escombe, Spradbrow afterward planted with potatoes. The Florence, however, won races while she tilled the skipper's land. After our sail on the Florence Mr. Escombe offered to sail the spray round the Cape of Good Hope for me, and hinted at his famous cribbage-board to while away the hours. Spradbrow, in retort, warned me of it Said he, " You would be played out of the sloop before you could round the cape." By others it was not thought probable that the premier of Natal would play cribbage off the Cape of Good Hope to win even the Spray. It was a matter of no small pride to me in South Africa to find that American humour was never at a discount, and one of the best American stories I ever heard was told by the premier. At Hotel Royal one day, dining with Colonel Saunderson, M.P., his son, and Lieutenant Tipping, I met Mr. Stanley. The great explorer was just from Pre- toria, and had already as good as flayed President Kriiger with his trenchant pen. But that did not signify, for everybody has a whack at Oom Paul, and no one in the world seems to stand the joke better than he, not even the Sultan of Turkey him- self. The colonel introduced me to the explorer, and I hauled close to the wind, to go slow, for Mr. Stanley was a nautical man once himself, — on the Nyanza, I think, — and of course my desire was to appear in the best light before a man of his experi- ence. He looked me over carefully, and said, ** What an example of patience 1 " ** Patience is WORLD I MEET HENRY M. STANLEY 187 Lck yacht ,n Sprad- Escombe, itre-board vhich, ac- afterward ever, won After our ;o sail the me, and hile away me of it the sloop others it r of Natal i Hope to e in South s never at 1 stories I At Hotel Lunderson, met Mr. from Pre- President it did not om Paul, the joke rkey him- explorer, iv, for Mr. , — on the re was to lis experi- and said, atience is all that is required," I ventured to reply. He then asked if my versel had water-tight compartmsnts. I explained that she was all water-tignt and all compartment. " What if she should strike a rock ? " he asked. " Compartments would not save her if Fhe should hit rocks lying along her course," said I ; adding, " she must be kept away from the rocks." After a considerable pause Mr. Stanley asked, " What if a swordfish should pierce her hull with its sword ? " Of course I had thought of that as one of the dangers of the sea, and also of the chance of being struck by lightning. In the case of the swordfish, I ventured to say that "the first thing would be to secure the sword." The colonel invited me to dine with the party on the following day, that we might go further into this matter, and so I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Stanley a second time, but got no more hints in navigation from the famous explorer. It sounds odd to hear scholars and statesmen say the world is fiat ; but it is a fact thiat three Boers favoured by the opinion of President Kruger pre- pared a work to support that contention. While I was at Durban they came from Pretoria to obtain data from me, and they seemed annoyed when I told them that they could not prove it by my ex- perience. With the advice to call up some ghost of the dark ages for research, I went ashore, and left these three wise men poring over the Spray's track on a chart of the world, which, however, proved nothing to them, for it was on Mercator's projection, and behold, it was " flat." The next morning, I met one of the party in a clergyman's garb, carrying a large Bible, not different from the one I had read. He tackled me, saying, " If you respect the Word of God, you must admit that the x88 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD i i world is flat." " If the Word of God stands on a flat world — " I began. " What I " cried he, losing him- self in a passion, and making as if he would run me through with an assagai. ** What ! " he shouted in astonishment and rage, while I jumped aside to dodge the imaginary weapon. Had this good but misguided fanatic been armed with a real weapon, the crew of the Spray would have died a martjnr there and then. The next day, seeing him across the street, I bowed and made curves with my hands. He responded with a level, swimming movement of his hands, meaning " the world is fiat." A pamphlet by these Transvaal geographers, made up of arguments from sources high and low to prove their theory, was mailed to me before I sailed from Africa on my last stretch around the globe. While I feebly portray the ignorance of these learned men. I have great admiration for their phy- sical manhood. Much Ihat I saw first and last of the Transvaal and the Boers was admirable. It is well known that they are the hardest of fighters, and as generous to the fallen as they are brave be- fore the foe. Real stubborn bigotry with them is only found among old fogies, and will die a natural death, and that, too, perhaps long before we our- selves are entirely free from bigotry. Education in the Transvaal is by no means neglected, English as well as Dutch being taught to all that can aSord both ; but the tariff duty on English school-books is heavy, and from necessity the poorer people stick to the Transvaal Dutch and their flat world, just as in Samoa and other islands a mistaken policy has kept the natives down to Kanaka. I visited many public schools at Durban, and had the pleasure of meeting many bright children. \ ■\\ . RLD »n a flat ng him- ald run shouted iside to 3od but weapon, martyr n across nth my (rimming world is [raphers, and low . before I i >imd the of these tieir phy- d last of le. It is fighters, )rave be- them is I natural we our- ducation English in afford )ol-books r people world, nistaken a. )an, and children. LEAVING SOUTH AFRICA 189 But all fine things must end, and December 14, 1897, the " crew " of the , Spray after having a fine time in Natal, swung the sloop's dinghy in on deck, and sailed with a morning land-wind, which car- ried her clear of the bar, and again she was " off on her alone," as they say in Austxaiaa. CHAPTER XVIII Rounding the " Cape of Storms in oMen time — A rough Christmas — The Spray ties up for a three months' rest at Cape Town — A railway trip to the Transvaal — President Krtiger's odd definition of the Spray's voyage — His terse sayings — Distinguished guests on the Spray — Cocoanut fibre as a padlock — ^Courtesies from the admiral of the Queen's navy — Off for St. Helena — Land in sight. THE Cape of Good Hope was now the most prom- inent point to pass. From Table Bay I could count on the aid of brisk trades, and then the Spray would soon be at home. On the first day out from Durban it fell calm, and I sat thinking about these things and the end of the voyage. The dis- tance to Table Bay, where I intended to call, was about eight hundred miles over what might prove a rough sea. The early Portuguese navigators, endowed with patience, were more than sixty-nine years struggUng to round this cape before they got as far as Algoa Bay, and there the crew muti- nied. They landed on a small island, now called Santa Cruz, where they devoutly set up the cross, and swore they would cut the captain's throat if he attempted to sail farther. Beyond this they thought was the edge of the world, which they too believed was flat ; and fearing that their ship would sail over the brink of it, they compelled Captain Diaz, their commander, to retrace his course, all being only too glad to get home. A 190 \ A ROUGH CHRISTMAS 191 ■A rough s' rest at President His terse anut fibre e Queen's \ st prom- ' I could hen the day out ig about he dis- all, was t prove igators, :ty-nine ire they ;w muti- called le cross, Ihroat if lis they |:hey too jir ship Impelled race his »me. A year later, we are told, Vasco da Gama sailed successfully round the " Cape of Storms," as the Cape of Good Hope was then called, and discovered Natal on Christmas or Natal day : hence the name. From this point the way to India was easy. Gales of wind sweeping round the cape even now were frequent enough, one occurring, on an average, every thirty-six hours ; but one gale was much the same as another, with no more serious result than to blow the Spray along on her course when it was fair, or to blow her back somewhat when it was ahead. On Christmas, 1897, I came to the pitch of the cape. On this day the Spray was trying to stand on her head, and she gave me every reason to believe that she would accomplish the feat before night. She began very early in the morning to pitch and toss about in a most unusual manner, and I have to record that, while I was at the end of the bowsprit reefing the jib, she ducked me under water three times for a Christmas box, I got wet and did not like it a bit : pever in any other sea was I put under more than once in the same short space of time, say three minutes. A large English steamer passing ran up the signal, ** Wish- ing you a Merry Christmas." I think the captain was a humourist ; his own ship was throwirg her propeller out of water. Two days later, the Spray, having recovered the distance lost in the gale, passed Cape Agulhas in company with the steamship Scotsman, now with a fair wind. The keeper of the light on Agulhas ex- changed signals with the Spray as she passed, and afterward wrote me at New York congratulations on the completion of the voyage. He seemed to think the incident of two ships of so widely different types passing his cape together worthy of a place Wf] ■{'■' ' n ' Hi; II 192 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD on canvas, and he went about having the picture made. So I gathered from his letter. At lonely stations hke this hearts grow responsive and sym- pathetic, and even poetic. This feeUng was shown toward the Spray along many a rugged coast, and reading many a kind signal thrown out to her gave one a grateful feeling tor all the world. One more gale of wind came down upon the Spray from the west after she passed Cape Agulhas, but that one she dodged by getting into Simons Bay. When it moderated she beat around the Cape of Good Hope, where they say the Flying Dutchman is still sailing. The voyage then seemed as good as fmished ; from this time on I knew that all, or . nearly all, would be plain sailing. Here I crossed the dividing-Une of weather. To the north it was clear and settled, while south it was humid and squally, with, often enough, as I have said, a treacherous gale. From the recent hard weather the Spray ran into a calm under Table Mountain, where she lay quietly till the generous ^un ro.e over the land and drew a breeze in from the sea. The steam-tug Alert, then out looking for ships, came to the Spray off the Lion's Rump, and in lieu of a larger ship towed her into port. The sea being smooth, she came to anchor in the bay off the city of Cape Town, where she remained a day, simply to rest clear of the bustle of commerce. The good harbour-master sent his steam-launch to bring the sloop to a berth in dock at once, but I preferred to remain for one day alone, in the quiet of a smooth sea, enjoying the retioopect of the passage of the two great capes. On the following morning the Spray sailed into the Alfred Dry-docks, where she remained for about three months in the care of the iRLD picture : lonely id sym- 3 shown ist, and ler gave pon the \gulhas, Simons the Cape )utchman i good as it aU, or , :her. To south it igh, as I cent hard Ler Table generous J in from for ships, ,d in lieu sea being the city |y, simply The good bring the leferred to a smooth ,ge of the irning the here she [are of the ABOUT PRESIDENT KRUGER 193 port authorities, while I travelled the country over from Simons Town to Pretoria, being accorded by the colonial government a free railroad pass over all the land. The trip to Kimberley, Johannesburg, and Pre- toria was a pleasant one. At the last-named place I met Mr. Kriiger, the Transvaal president. His Excellency received me cordially enough ; but my friend Judge Beyers, the gentleman who presented me, by mentioning that I was on a voyage around the world, unwittingly gave great offence to the venerable statesman, which we both regretted deeply. Mr. Kriiger corrected the judge rather sharply, reminding him that the world is flat. " You don't mean rou.^d the world," said the president ; " it is impossible ! You mean in the world. Im- possible! " he said, " impossible ! *' and not another word did he utter either to the judge or to me. The judge looked at me and I looked at the judge, who should have known his ground, so to speak, and Mr. Kruger glowered at us both. My friend the judge seemed embarrassed, but I was delighted ; the incident pleased me more than anything else that could have happened. It was a nugget of information quarried out of Oom Paul, some of whose sayings are famous. Of the English he said, " They cOok first my coat and then my trou- sers." He also said, '* Dynamite is the comer-stone of the South African Republic." Only unthinking people call President Kruger dull. Soon after my arrival at the cape, Mr. Kriiger's friend Colonel Saunderson,* who had arrived from Durban some time before, invited me to Newlands Vineyard, where I met many agreeable people. ^ Colonel Saunderson was Mr. Kriiger's very best friend, inas- much as he advised the president to avast mounting guns. I i -r f i I i1 194 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD His Excellency Sir Alfred Milner, the governor, found time to come aboard with a party. The governor, after making a survey of the deck, found a seat on a box in my cabin ; Lady Muriel sat on a keg, and Lady Saunderson sat by the skipper at the wheel, while the colonel, with his kodak, away in the dinghy, took snap-shots of the sloop and her distinguished visitors. Dr. David Gill, astronomer royal, who was of the party, invited me the next day to the famous Cape Observatory. An hour with Dr. Gill was an hour among the stars. His discoveries in stellar photography are well known. He showed me the great astronomical clock of the observatory, and I showed him the tin clock on the Spray, and we went over the subject of standard time at sea, and how it was found from the deck of the Uttle sloop without the aid of a clock of any kind. Later it was advertised that Dr. Gill would preside at a talk about the voyage of the Spray : that alone secured for me a full house. The hall was packed, and many were not able to get in. This success brought me sufficient money for all my needs in port and for the homeward voyage. After visiting Kimberley and Pretoria, and find- ing the Spray all right in the docks, I returned to Worcester and Wellington, towns famous for col- leges and seminaries, passed coming in, still travel- ling as the guest of the colony. The ladies of all these institutions of learning wished to know how one might sail round the world alone, which I thought augured of sailing-mistresses in the future instead of sailing-masters. It will come to that yet if we men-folk keep on saying we ** can't." On the plains of Africa I passed through hun- dreds of miles of rich but still barren land, save for scrub-bushes, on which herds of sheep were brows- RLD A VISIT FROM ADMIRAL RAWSON 195 b'cmor, . The , found riel sat skipper kodak, e sloop d GiU, invited vatory. )ng the >hy are aomical the tin subject id from a clock Dr. Gill of the 3. The get in. for all id find- rned to or col- travel- of all w how hich I future ) that II • Ih hun- lave for brows- ing. The bushes grew about the length of a sheep apart, and they, I thought, were rather long of body ; but there was still room for all. My long- ing for a foothold on land seized upon me here, where so much of it lay waste ; but instead of remaining to plant forests and reclaim vegetation, I returned again to the Spray at the Alfred Docks, where I found her waiting for me, with everything in order, exactly as I had left her. I have often been asked how it was that my ves- sel and all appurtenances were not stolen in the various ports where I left her for days together without a watchman in charge. This is just how it was : The Spray seldom fell among thieves. At the Keeling Islands, at Rodriguez, and at many such places, a wisp of cocoanut fibre in the door-latch, to indicate that the owner was away, secured the goods against even a longing glance. But when I came to a great island nearer home, stout locks were needed ; the first night in port things which I had always left uncovered disappeared, as if the deck on which they were stowed had been swept by a sea. A pleasant visit from Admiral Sir Harry Raw- son of the Royal Navy and his family brought to an end the Spray's social relations with the Cape of Good Hope. The admiral, then com- manding the South African Squadron, and now in command of the great Channel fleet, evinced the greatest interest in the diminutive Spray and her behaviour off Cape Horn, where he was not an entire stranger, I have to admit that I was delighted with the trend of Admiral Rawson's questions, and that I profited by some of his suggestions, not- withstanding the wide difference in our respective commands. 'i m i s ■ > 'If w 1^1 196 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD On March 26, 1898, the Spray sailed from South Africa, the land of distances and pure air, where she had spent a pleasant and profitable time. The steam-tug Tigre towed her to sea from her wonted berth at the Alfred Docks, giving her a good offing. The light morning breeze, which scantily filled her sails when the tug let go the tow-line, soon died away altogether, and left her riding over a heavy swell, in full view of Table Mountain and the high peaks of the Cape of Good Hope. For a while the grand scenery served to relieve the monotony. One of the old circumnavigators (Sir Francis Drake I think), when he first saw this magnificent pile, sang, " 'Tis the fairest thing and the grandest cape I've seen in the whole circamference of the earth." The view was certainly fine, but one has no wish to finger long to look in a calm at anything, and I was glad to note, finally, the short heaving sea, precursor of the wind which followed on the second day. Seals playing about the Spray all day, before the breeze came, looked with large eyes when, at evening, bhe sat no longer like a lazy bird with folded wings. They parted company now, and the Spray soon sailed the highest peaks of the moun- tains out of sight, and the world changed from a mere panoramic view to the light of a homeward-bound voyage. Porpoises and dolphins, and such other fishes as did not mind making a hundred and fifty miles a day, were her companions now for several days. The wind was from the southeast ; this suited the Spray well, and she ran along steadily at her best speed, while I dipped into the new books given me at the cape, reading day and night. March 30 was for me a fast-day in honour of them. I read on, oblivious of hunger or wind or sea, thinking that VORLD om South lir, where time. The er wonted )od of&ng. filled her soon died r a heavy 1 the high r a while nonotony. icis Drake icent pile, I grandest ace of the as no wish thing, and laving sea, the second ay, before when, at bird with V, and the the moun- om a mere ard-bound iuch other and fifty ;or several this suited at her best given me ch 30 was ; read on, iking that OFF FOR ST. HELENA 197 all was going well, when suddenly a comber rolled over the stern and slopped saucily into the cabin, wetting the very book I was reading. Evidently it was time to put in a reef, that she might not wal- low on her course. March 5.1 the fresh southeast wind had come to stay. The Spray was running under a single- reefed mainsail, a whole jib, and a flying-jib be- sides, set on the Vailima bamboo, while I was reading Stevenson's delightful " Inland Voyage." The sloop was again doing her work smoothly, hardly rolling at all, but just leaping along among the white horses., a thousand gamboling porpoises keeping her company on all sides. She was again among her old friends the flying-fish, interesting denizens of the sea. Shooting out of the waves like arrows, and with outstretched wings, they sailed on the wind in graceful curves ; then f alUng till again they touched the crest of the waves to wet their delicate wings and renew the flight. They made merry the livelong day. One of the joyful sights on the ocean of a bright day is the continual flight of these interesting fish. One could not be lonely in a sea like this. More- over, the reading of delightful adventures enhanced the scene. I was now in the Spray and on the Oise in the Arethusa at one and the same time. And so the Spray reeled off the miles, showing a good run every day till April 11, which came almost before I knew it. Very early that morning I was awakened by that rare bird, the booby, with its harsh quack, which I recognized at once as a call to go on deck ; it was as much as to say, " Skipper, there's land in sight." I tumbled out quickly, and sure enough, away ahead in the dim twilight, about twenty miles off, was St. Helena. >■ a In I m igS SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD My first impulse was to call out, " Oh, what a speck in the sea ! " It is in reality nine miles in length and two thousand eight hundred and twenty- three feet in height. I reached for a bottle of port- wine out of the locker, and took a long pull from it to the health of my invisible helmsman — the pilot of the PifUa, V, WORLD h, what a e miles in id twenty- le of port- pull from iman — ^the CHAPTER XIX In the isle of Napoleon's exile — Two lectures — A guest in the ghost-room at Plantation House — An excursion to historic Longwood — Coffee in the husk, and a goat to shell it — The Spray's ill luck with animals — A prejudice against small dogs — A rat, the Boston spider, and the cannibal cricket — Ascension Island. IT was about noon when the Spray came to anchor off Jamestown, and " all hands " at once went ashore to pay respects to his Excellency the governor of the island. Sir R A Sterndale. His Excellency, when I landed, remarked that it was not often, nowadays, that a circumnavigator came his way, and he cordially welcomed me, and arranged that I should tell about the voyage, first at Garden Hall to the people of Jamestown, and then at Plantation House — the governor's residence, which is in the hills a mile or two back — to his Excel- lency and the officers of the garrison and their friends. Mr Poole, our worthy consul, introduced me at the castle, and in the course of his remarks asserted that the sea-serpent was a Yankee. Most royally was the crew of the Spray enter- tained by the governor I remained at Plantation House a couple of days, and one of the rooms in the mansion, called the ' west room," being haunted, the butler, by command of his Excellency, put me up in that — like a prince. Indeed, to make sure that no mistake had been made, his Excellency came later to see that I was in the right room, and 199 200 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD '■•I' III 111 to tell me all about the ghosts he had seen or heard of. He had discovered all but one, and wishing me pleasant dreams, he hoped I might have the honour of a visit from the unknown one of the west room. For the rest of the chilly night I kept the candle burning, and often looked from under the blankets, thinking that maybe I should meet the great Napoleon face to face ; but I saw only furni- ture, and the horse-shoe that was nailed over the door opposite my bed. St. Helena has been an island of tragedies — tragedies that have been lost sight of in wailing over the Corsican. On the second day of my visit the governor took me by carriage-road through the turns over the island. At one point of our journey the road, in winding around spurs and ravines, formed a perfect W within the distance of a few rods. The roads, though tortuous and steep, were fairly good, and I was struck with the amount of labour it must have cost to build them. The air on the heights was cool and bracing. It is said that, since hanging for trivial offences went out of fashion, no one has died there, except from falling over the cliffs in old age, or from being crushed by stones rolling on them from the steep mountains ! Witches at one time were persistent at St. Helena, as with us in America in the days of Cotton Mather. At the present day crime is rare in the island. While I was there. Governor Sterndale, in token of the fact that not one criminal case had come to court within the year, was presented with a pair of white gloves by the officers of justice. Returning from the governor's house to James- town, I drove with Mr. Clark, a countryman of mine, to " Longwood," the home of Napoleon. M. Morilleau, French consular agent in charge keeps VORLD or heard wishing lave the the west kept the nder the neet the ily f urni- over the igedies — I wailing my visit ough the r journey . ravines, of a few ;eep, were mount of :he air on said that, )f fashion, ; over the by stones Witches as with ^ther. At While in of the to court of white to James- [ryman of t)leon. M. Irge keeps AN EXCURSION TO " LONGWOOD " 201 the place respectable and the buildings in good re- pair. His family at Longwood, consisting of wife and grown daughters, are natives of courtly and refined manners, and spend here days, months, and years of contentment, though they have never seen the world beyond the horizon of St. Helena. On the 20th of April the Spray was again ready for sea. Before going on board I took luncheon with the governor and his family at the castle. Lady Stemdale had sent a large fruit-cake, early in the morning, from Plantation House, to be taken along on the voyage. It was a great high-decker, and I ate sparingly of it, as I thought, but it did not keep as I had hoped it would. I ate the last of it along with my first cup of coffee at Antigua, West Indies, which, after all, was quite a record. The one my own sister made me at the little island in the Bay of Fundy, at the first of the voyage, kept about the same length of time, namely, forty- two days. After luncheon a royal mail was made up for Ascension, the island next on my way. Then Mr. Poole and his daughter paid the Spray a farewell visit, bringing me a basket of fruit. It was late in the evening before the anchor was up, and I bore off for the west, loath to leave my new friends. But fresh winds filled the sloop's sails once more, and I watched the beacon-light at Plantation House, the governor's parting signal for the Spray, till the island faded in the darkness astern and became one with the night, and by midnight the Ught itself had disappeared below the horizon. When tnoming came there was no land in sight, but the day went on the same as days before, save for one small incident. Governor Stemdale had given me a bag of coffee in the husk, and Clark, ■i Hi Mil 202 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the American, in an evil moment, had put a goat on board, " to butt the sack and hustle the coffee- beans out of the pods." He urged that the animal, besides being useful, would be as companionable as a dog. I soon found that my saiUng-com- panion, this sort of dog with horns, had to be tied up entirely. The mistake I made was that I did not chain him to the mast instead of tying him with grass ropes less securely, and this I learned to my cost. Except for the first day, before the beast got his sea-legs on, I had no peace of mind. After that, actuated by a spirit born, maybe, of his pasturage, this incarnation of evil threatened to devour everything from flying- jib to stern-davits. He was the worst pirate I met on the whole voy- age. He began depredations by eating my chart of the West Indies, in the cabin, one day, while I was about my work for'ard, thinking that the critter was securely tied on deck by the pumps. Alas I there was not a rope in the sloop proof against that goat's awful teeth I It was clear from the very first that I was hav- ing no luck with animals on board. There was the tree-crab from the Keeling Islands. No sooner had it got a claw through its prison-box than my sea-jacket, hanging within reach, was torn to rib- bons. Encouraged by this success, it smashed the box open and escaped into my cabin, tearing up things generally, and finally threatening my life in the dark. I had hoped to bring the creature home alive, but this did not prove feasible. Next the goat devoured my straw hat, and so when I ar- rived in port I had nothing to wear ashore on my head. This last unkind stroke decided his fate. Dn the 27th of April the Spray arrived at Ascen- sion, which is garrisoned by a man-of-war crew, I WORLD put a goat the coffee- the animal, ipanionable ailing-com- l to be tied that I did tying him s I learned before the ce of mind, aybe, of his reatened to tern-davits, whole voy- g my chart lay, while I g that the the pumps, sloop proof I was hav- There was No sooner )x than my orn to rib- mashed the tearing up my life in ature home Next the when I ar- lore on my d his fate. i at Ascen- f-war crew. PREJUDICE AGAINST SMALL DOGS 203 and the boatswain of the island came on board. As he stepped out of his boat the mutinous goat climbed into it, and defied boatswain and crew. I hired them to land the wretch at once, which they were only too willing to do, and there he fell into the hands of a most excellent Scotchman, with the chances that he wou. J never get away. I was des- tined to sail once more into the depths of solitude, but these experiences had no bad effect upon me ; on the contrary, a spirit of charity and even be- nevolence grew stronger in my nature through the meditations of these supreme hours on the sea. In tie loneliness of the dreary country about Cape Horn I found myself in no mood to make one life less in the world, except in self-defence, and as I sailed this trait of the hermit character grew till the mention of killing food-animals was revolting to me. However ^ell I may have enjoyed a chicken stew afterward at Samoa, a new self rebelled at the thought suggested there of carrying chickens to be slain for my table on the voyage, and Mrs. Steven- son, hearing my protest, agreed with me that to kill the companions of my voyage and eat them would be indeed next to murder and cannibalism. As to pet animals, there was no room for a noble large dog on the Spray on so long a voyage, and a small cur was for many years associated in my mind with hydrophobia. I witnessed once the death of a sterling young German from that dread- ful disease, and about the same time heard of the death, also by hydrophobia, of the young gentleman who had just written a line of insurance in his company's books for me. I have seen the whole crew of a ship scamper up the rigging to avoid a dog racing about the decks in a fit. It would never do, I thought, for the crew of the Spray to ' t:i!li 204 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD take a canine risk, and with these just prejudices indelibly stamped on my mind, I have, I am afraid, answered impatiently too often the query, " Didn't you have a dog ? " with, " I and the dog wouldn't have been very long in the same boat, in any sense." A cat would have been a harmless animal, I dare say, but there was nothing for puss to do on board, and she is an unsociable animal at best. True, a rat got into my vessel at the Kelling Cocos Islands, and another at Rodriguez, along with a centipede stowed away in the hold ; but one of them I drove out of the ship, and the other I caught. This is how it was : for the first one with infinite pains I made a trap, looking to its capture and destruc- tion ; but the wily rodent, not to be deluded, took the hint and got ashore the day the thing was completed. It is, according to tradition, a most reassuring sign to find rats coming to a ship, and I had a mind to abide the knowing one of Rodriguez ; but a breach of discipline decided the matter against him. While I slept one night, my ship sailing on, he undertook to walk over me, beginning at the crown of my head, concerning which I am always sensitive. I slept lightly. Before his impertinence had got him even to my nose I cried " Rat ! " had him by the tail, and threw him out of the companionway into the sea. As for the centipede, I was not aware of its pres- ence till the wretched insect, all feet and venom, beginning, like the rat, at my head, wakened me by a sharp bite on the scalp. This also was more than I could tolerate. After a few applications of kerosene, the poisonous bite, painful at first, gave me no further inconvenience. From this on for a time no living thing dis- I WORLD THE CANNIBAL CRICKET 205 prejudices am afraid, y, " Didn't ig wouldn't any sense." nal, I dare D on board, t. True, a :os Islands, 1 centipede em I drove ight. This finite pains nd destruc- luded, took thing was : reassuring had a mind )ut a breach lim. While undertook of my head, /■e. I slept )t him even 3y the tail, :)nway into of its pres- ind venom, ened me by was more )lications of first, gave thing dis- turbed my solitude ; no insect even was present in my vessel, except the spider and his wife, from Boston, now with a family of young spiders. No- thing, I say, till sailing down the last stretch of the Indian Ocean, where mosquitoes came by hundreds from rain-water poured out of the heavens. Sim- ply a barrel of rain-water stood on deck five days, I think, in the sun, then music began. I knew the sound at once ; it was the same as heard from Alaska to New Orleans. Again at Cape Town, while dining out one day, I was taken with the song of a cricket, and Mr. Branscombe, my host, volunteered to capture a pair of them for me. They were sent on board next day in a box labelled, '* Pluto and Scamp." Stowing them away in the binnacle in their own snug box, I left them there without food till I got to sea — a few days. I had never heard of a cricket eating anything. It seems that Pluto was a can- nibal, for only the wings of poor Scamp were visi- ble when I opened the Ud, and they lay broken on the floor of the prison box. Even with Pluto it had gone hard, for he lay on his back stark and stiff, never to chirrup again. Ascension Island, where the goat was marooned, is called the Stone Frigate, R.N., and is rated " tender " to the South African Squadron. It lies ill 7" 55' south latitude and 14" 25' west longitude, being in the very heart of the southeast trade- winds and about eight hundred and forty miles from the coast of Liberia. It is a mass of volcanic matter thrown up from the bed of the ocean to the height 6f two thousand eight hundred and eighteen feet at the highest point above sea-level. It is a strategic point, and belonged to Great Britain be- fore it got cold. In the hmited but rich soil at the 20 6 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD top of the island, among the clouds, vegetation has taken root, and a little scientific farming is carried on under the supervision of a gentleman from Canada. Also a few cattle and sheep are pastured there for the garrison mess. Water storage is made on a large scale. In a word, this heap of cinders and lava rock is stored and fortified, and would stand a siege. Very soon after the Spray arrived I received a note from Captain Blaxland, the commander of the island, conveying his thanks for the royal mail brought from St. Helena, and inviting me to luncheon with him and his wife and sister at headquarters, not far away. It is hardly necessary to say that I availed myself of the captain's hospitality at once* A carriage was waiting at the jetty when I landed, and a sailor, with a broad grin, led the horse care- fully up the hill to the captain's house, as if I were a lord of the admiralty, and a governor besides ; and he led it as carefully down again when I re- turned. On the following day I visited the summit among the clouds, the same team being provided, and the same old sailor leading the horse. There was probably not a man on the island at that moment better able to walk than I. The sailor knew that. 1 finally suggested that we change places. " Let m' take the bridle," I said, " and keep the horse from bolting." " Great Stone Frigate ! " he ex- claimed, as he burst into a laugh, " this 'ere 'oss wouldn't bolt no faster nor a turtle. If I didn't tow 'im 'ard we'd never get into port." I walked most of the way over the steep grades, whereupon my guide, every inch a sailor, became my friend. Arriving at the summit of the island, I met Mr. Schank, the farmer from Canada, and his sister, living very cosily in a house among the rocks, as yVORLD tation has is carried man from 2 pastured storage is is heap of tified, and Lved a note the island, ,il brought :heon with arters, not jay that I ty at once* ti I landed, horse care- is if I were Dr besides ; when I re- ;he summit provided, se. There at moment Iknew that. Ices. "Let the horse ! " he ex- |is 'ere 'oss [f I didn't I walked [whereupon Imy friend. ll met Mr. his sister, rocks, as ASCENSION ISLAND 207 snug as conies, and as safe. He showed me over the farm, taking me through a tunnel which led from one field to the other, divided by an inacces- sible spur of mountain. Mr. Schank said that he had lost many cows and bullocks, as well as sheep, from breakneck over the steep cliffs and precipices. One cow, he said, would sometimes hook another right over a precipice to destruction, and go on feeding unconcernedly. It seemed that the ani- mals on the island farm, like mankind in the wide world, found it all too small. On the 26th of April, while I was ashore, rollers came in which rendered launching a boat impossible. However, the sloop being securely moored to a buoy in deep water outside of all breakers, she was safe, while I, in the best of quarters, listened to well-told stories among the officers of the Stone Frigate. On the evening of the 29th, the sea having gone down, I went on board and made preparations to start again on my voyage early next day, the boatswain of the island and his crew giving me a hearty handshake as I embarked at the jetty. For reasons of scientific interest, I invited in mid-ocean the most thorough investigation con- cerning the crew-hst of the Spray. Very few had challenged it, and perhaps few ever will do so henceforth ; but for the benefit of the few that may, I wished to clench beyond doubt the fact that it was not at all necessary in the expedition of a sloop around the world to have more than one man for the crew, all told, and that the Spray sailed with only one person on board. And so, by appoint- ment. Lieutenant Eagles, the executive officer, in the morning, just as I was ready to sail, fumigated the sloop, rendering it impossible for a person to live concealed below, and proving that only one \\ I 1.1 1,4 208 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD person was on board when she arrived. A certificate to this effect, besides the official documents from the many consulates, health offices, and custom- houses, will seem to many superfluous ; but this story of the voyage may find its way into hands unfamiliar with the business of these offices and of their ways of seeing that vessels's papers, and, above all, her bills of health, are in order. The Heutenant's certificate being made out, the spray, nothing loath, now filled away clear of the sea-beaten rocks, and the trade-winds, com- fortably cool and bracing, sent her flying along on her course. On May 8, 1898, she crossed the track, homeward bound, that she had made October 2, 1895, on the voyage out. She passed Femandb de Noronha at night, going some miles south of it, and so I did not see the island. I felt a content- ment in knowing that the Spray had encircled the globe, and even as an adventure alone I was in no way discouraged as to its utility, and said to my- self, " Let what will happen, the voyage is now on record.'' A period was made. I! \ * ' > WORLD . certificate lents from d custom- but this into hands ces and of pers, and, r. e out, the J clear of inds, com- ing along rossed the de October Femandb ;outh of it, a content- circled the was in no dd to my- is now on I' \ [ CHAPTER XX In the favoring current ofi Cape St. Roque, Brazil — All at sea regarding the Spanish-American war — An exchange of signals with the battle-ship Oregon — Off Dreyfus's prison on Devil's Island — Reappearance to the Spray of the north star — ^The light on Trinidad — A charming introduction to Grenada — Talks to friendly auditors. ON May lo there was a great change in the con- dition of the sea ; there could be no doubt of my longitude now, if any had before existed in my mind. Strange and long-forgotten current ripples pattered against the sloop's sides in grateful music ; the tune arrested the ear, and I sat quietly listen- ing to it while the Spray kept on her course. By these current ripples I was assured that she was now off St. Roque and had struck the current which sweeps around that cape. The trade-winds, we old sailors say, produce this current, which, in its course from this point forward, is governed by the coast- line of Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, and, as some would say, by the Monroe Doctrine. The trades had been blowing fresh for some time, and the current, now at its height, amounted to forty miles a day. This, added to the sloop's run by the log, made the handsome day's work of one hundred and eighty miles on several consecutive days. I saw nothing of the coast of Brazil, though I was, not many leagues off and was always in the Brazil current. I did not know that war with Spain had been 209 .11, J 210 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD declared, and that I might be liable, right there, to meet the enemy and be captured. Many had told me at Cape Town that, in their opinion, war was inevitable, and they said : *' The Spaniard will get you ! The Spaniard will get you ! " To all this I could only say that, even so, he would not get much. Even in the fever-heat over the disaster to the Maine I did not think there would be war ; but I am no politician. Indeed, I had hardly given the matter a serious thought when, on the 14th of May, just north of the equator, and near the longitude of the river Amazon, I saw first a mast, with the Stars and Stripes floating from it, rising astern as if poked up out of the sea, and then rapidly appearing on the horizon, like a citadel, the Oregon ! As she came near I saw that the great ship was flying the signals " C B T," which read, " Are there any men-of-war about "> " Right under these flags, and larger than the Spray's mainsail, so it appeared, was the yellowest Spanish flag I ever saw. It gave me nightmare some time after when I reflected on it in my dreams. I did not make out the Oregon's signals till she passed ahead, where I could read them better, for she was two miles away, and I had no binoculars. When I had read her flags I hoisted the signal " No," for I had not seen any Spanish men-of-war ; I had not been Poking for any. My final signal, " Let us keep together for mutual protection," Captain Clark did not seem to regard as necessary. Perhaps my small flags were i > -aade out ; anyhow, the Oregon steamed on with a rush, looking for Spanish men-of-war, as I learned afterward. Tbe Oregon's great flag was dipped beautifully three times to the Spray's lowered flag as she passed on. Both had crossed the line only a few hours before. I pondered Vm ,!; WORLD DEVIL'S ISLAND 2ZZ it there, to y had told 1, war was rd will get D all this I Id not get le disaster Id be war ; lad hardly en, on the , and near saw first a ig from it, I, and then citadel, the the great vhich read, light under s mainsail, nish flag I time after lals till she better, for binoculars, nal " No," ^ar ; I had ^nal, " Let Captain Perhaps lyhow, the or Spanish lie Oregon's mes to the Both had I pondered 7. long that night over the probability of a war risk now coming upon the Spray after she had cleared all, or nearly all, the dangers of the sea, but finally a strong hope mastered my fears. On the 17th of May, the Spray coming out of a storm at daylight, made Devil's Island, two points on the lee bow, not far off. The wind was still blowing a stiff breeze on shore. I could clearly see the dark-gray buildings on the island as the sloop brought it abeam. No flag or sign of life was seen on the dreary place. Later in the day a French bark on the port tack, making for Cayenne, hove in sight, close-hauled on the wind. She was falling to leeward fast. The Spray was also close-hauled, and was lugging on sail to secure an ofhng on the starboard tack, a heavy swell in the night having thrown her too near the shore, and now I considered the matter of supplicating a change of wind. I had already en- joyed my share of favouring breezes over the great oceans, and I asked myself if it would be right to have the wind turned now all into my sails while the Frenchman w^ bound the other way. A head current, which he stemmed, together with a scant wind, was bad enough for him. And so I could only say, in my heart, " Lord, let matters stand as they are, but do not help the Frenchman any more just now, for what would suit him well would ruin me!" I remembered that when a lad I heard a captain often say in meeting that in answer to a prayer of his own the wind changed from southeast to north- west, entirely to his satisfaction. He was a good man, but did this glorify the Architect — the Ruler of the winds and the waves ? Moreover, it was not a trade-wind, as I remember it, that changed for i I ,:|t;ii;| 212 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD him, but one of the variables which will change when you ask it, if you ask long enough. Again, this man's brother maybe was not bound the op- posite way, well content with a fair wind himself, which made all the difference in the world.* On May i8, 1898, is written large in the Spray's log-book : " To-night, in latitude 7** 13' N., for the first time in nearly three years I see the north star." The Spray on the day following logged one hun- dred and forty-seven miles. To this I add thirty- five miles for current sweeping her onward. On the 20 th of May, about sunset, the island of To- bago, off the Orinoco, came into view, bearing west by north, distant twenty-two miles. The Spray was drawing rapidly toward her home destination. Later at night, while running free along the coast of Tobago, the wind still blowing fresh, I was star- tled by the sudden flash of breakers on the port bow and not far off. I luffed instantly offshore, and then tacked, heading in for the island. Find- ing myself, shortly after, close in with the land, I tacked again offshore, but without much altering the bearings of the danger. Sail whichever way I would, it seemed clear that if the sloop weathered the rocks at all it would be a close shave and I watched with anxiety, while beating against the current, always losing ground. So the matter stood hour after hour, while I watched the flashes of light thrown up as regularly as the beats of the long ocean swells, and always they seemed just a little nearer. It was evidently a coral reef, — of this I ^The Bishop of Melbourne (commend me to his teachings) refused to set aside a day of prayer for rain, recommending his people to husband water when the rainy season was on. In like manner, a navigator husbands the wind, keeping a weather-guage where practicable. WORLD THE LIGHT ON TRINIDAD 213 ill change h. Again, id the op- id himself, l.» the Spray's N.. for the orth star.** . one hun- Ldd thirty- ward. On ind of To- jaring west The Spray lestination. r the coast I was star- n the port y offshore, ,nd. Find- the land, I ch altering 3ver way I weathered lave and I gainst the atter stood hes of light f the long ust a little -of this I lis teachings) □unending his IS on. In like «reatber-guage had not the slightest doubt, — and a baa reef at that. Worse still, there might be other reefs ahead forming a bight into which the current would sweep me, and where I should be hemmed in and finally wrecked. I had not sailed these waters since a lad, and lamented the day I had allowed on board the goat that ate my chart. I taxed my memory of sea lore, of wrecks on sunken reefs, and of pirates harboured among coral reefs where other ^ips might not come, but nothing that I could think of applied to the island of Tobago, save the one wreck of Robinson Crusoe's ship in the fiction, and that gave me little information about reefs. I remembered only that in Crusoe's case he kept his powder dry. " But there she booms again," I cried, " and how close the flash is now ! Almost aboard was that last breaker ! But you'll go by, Spray, old girl I 'Tis abeam now ! One surge more ! and oh, one more like that will clear your ribs and keel ! '* And I slapped her on the tran- som, proud of her last noble effort to leap clear of the danger, when a wave greater than the rest threw her higher than before, and, behold, from the crest of it was revealed at once all there was of the reef. I fell back in a coil of rope, speechless and amazed, not distressed, but rejoiced. Alad- din's lamp ! My fisherman's own lantern ! It was the great revolving light on the island of Trinidad, thirty miles away, throwing flashes over the waves, which had deceived me ! The orb of the light was now dipping on the horizon, and how glorious was the sight of it ! But, dear Father Neptune, as I live, after a long life at sea, and much among corals, I would have made a solemn declaration to that reef ! Through all the rest of the night I saw imaginary reefs, and not knowing what moment '.I li m \ :'>■! ^ p 11 ■'' I. mi II *1 4 m\ 214 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD the sloop might fetch up on a real one, I tacked ofi and on till daylight, as nearly as possible in the same track, all lor the want of a chart. I could have nailed the St. Helena goat's pelt to the deck. My course was n sv for Grenada, to which I car- ried letters from Mauritius. About midnight of the 22nd of May I aiarived at the island, and cast anchor in the roads off the town of St. George, entering the inner harbour at daylight on the morn- ing of the 23rd, which made forty-two days' sailing from the Cape of Good Hope. It was a good run, and I doffed my cap again to the pilot of the Pinta. Lady Bruce, in a note to the Spray at Pert Louis, said Grenada was a lovely island, and she wished the sloop might call there on the voyage home. When the Spray arrived, I found that she had been fully expected. ** How so ? " I asked. ** Oh, we heard that you were at Mauritius," they said, "and from Mauritius, after meeting Sir Charles Bruce, our old governor, we knev you would come to Grenada." This was a charming introduction, and it brought me in contact with people worth knowing. The spray sailed from Grenada on the 28th of May, and coasted along under the lee of the An- tilles, arriving at the island of Dominica on the 30 th, where, for the want of knowing better, I cast anchor at the quarantine ground ; for I was still without a chart of the islands, not having been able to get one even at Grenada. Here I not only met with further disappointment in the matter, but was threatened with a fine for the mistake I made in the anchorage. There were no ships either at the quarantine or at the commercial roads, and I could not see that it made much difference where I an- chored. But a negro chap, a sort of deputy harbour master, coming along, thought it did, and he ordered WORLD TALKS TO FRIENDLY AUDITORS 215 tacked of! ible in the t. I could 3 the deck, hich I car- lidnight of d, and cast 3t. George, 1 the morn- iays' sailing 1 good run, if the Pinta. Port Louis, she wished yage home, at she had ked. "Oh, ' they said. Sir Charles >uld come to ction, and it h knowing, he 28th of of the An- ica on the itter, I cast I was still [g been able »t only met er, but was I made in Lther at the land I could here I an- ity harbour he ordered me to shift to the other anchorage, which, in truth, I had already investigated and did not like, because of the heavier roll there from the sea. And so instead of springing to the sails at once to shift, I said I would leave outright as soon as I could procure a chart, which I begged he would send and get for me. " But I say you mus' move befo' you gets anyt'ing't all," he insisted, and raising his voice so that all the people alongshore could hear him, he added, " An' jes now ! " Then he flew into a towering passion when they on shore snickered to see the crew of the Spray sitting calmly by the bulwark instead of hoisting sail. " I tell you dis am quarantine," he shouted, very much louder than before. *' That's all right, general," I rephed ; " I want to be quarantined anyhow." ** That's right, boss," some one on the beach cried, *' that's right ; you get quarantined," while others shouted to the deputy to " make de white trash move Tong out o' dat." They were about equally divided on the island for and against me. The man who had made so much fuss over the matter gave it up when he found that I wished to be quarantined, and sent for an all-important half-white, who soon came alongside, starched from clue to earing. He stood in the boat as straight up and down as a fathom of pump-water — a marvel of importance. " Charts ! " cried I, as soon as his shirt-collar appeared over the sloop's rail ; " have you any charts ? " " No, sah," he replied with much- stiffened dignity ; ** no, sah ; cha'ts do'sn't grow on dis island." Not doubting the information, I tripped anchor immediately, as I had intended to do from the first, and made all sail for St. John, Antigua, where I arrived on the ist of June, having sailed with great caution in mid-channel all the way. ;fc if: i '■■■ l«rf): Mr i' 2i6 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD The Spray, always in good company, now fell in with the port officers' steam-launch at the harbour entrance, having on board Sir Francis Fleming, governor of the Leeward Islands, who, to the deUght of " all hands," gave the officer in charge instructions to tow my ship into port. On the fol- lowing day his Excellency and Lady Fleming, along with Captain Burr, R.N., paid me a visit. The court-house was tendered free to me at An- tigua, as was done also at Grenada, and at each place a highly inteUigent audience filled the hall to listen to a talk about the seas the Spray had crossed, and the countries she had visited. I\ Hh 'in WORLD now fell in the harbour ;is Fleming, rho, to the ;r in charge On the fol- ly Fleming, me a visit. me at An- and at each led the hall 5 Spray had 5d. W CHAPTER XXI Gearing for home — ^In the calm belt — A sea covered with sargasso — The jibstay parts in a gale — Welcomed by a tornado of! Fire Island — A change of plan — Arrival at Newport — End of a cruise of over forty-six thousand miles — The Spray again at Fairhaven. ON the 4th of June, 1898, the Spray cleared from the United States consulate, and her license to sail single-handed, even round the world, was re- turned to her for the last time. The United States consul, Mr. Hunt, before handing the paper to me, wrote on it, as General Roberts had done at Cape Town, a short commentary on the voyage. The document, by regular course, is now lodged in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C. On June 5, 1898, the Spray sailed for a home port, heading first direct for Cape Hatteras. On the 8th of June she passed under the sun from south to north ; the sun's declination on that day was 220. 54', and the latitude of the Spray was the same just before noon. Many think it is exces- sively hot right under the sun. It is not necessarily so. As a matter of fact the thermometer stands at a bearable point whenever there is a breeze and a ripple on the sea, even exactly under the sun. It is often hotter in cities and on sandy shores in higher latitudes; The Spray was booming joyously along for home now, making her usual good time, when of a sudden 117 2i8 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD she struck the horse latitudes, and her sail flapped limp in a calm. I had almost forgotten this calm helt, or had come to regard it as a myth. I now found it real, however, and difficult to cross. This was as it should have been, for, after all of the dangers of the sea, the dust-storm on the coast of Africa, the " rain of blood " in Australia, and the war risk when nearing home, a natural expe- rience would have been missing had the calm of the horse latitudes been left out. Anyhow, a philo- sophical turn of thought now was not amiss, else one's patience would have given out almost at the harbour entrance. The term of her probation was eight days. Evening after evening during this time I read by the light of a candle on deck. There was no wind at all, and the sea became smooth and monotonous. For three days I saw a full-rigged ship on the horizon, also becalmed. Sargasso, scattered over the sea in bunches, or trailed curiously along down the wind in narrow lanes, now gathered together in great fields, strange sea-animals, little and big, swimming in and out, the most curious among them being a tiny sea- horse which I captured and brought home preserved in a bottle. But on the i8th of June a gale began to blow from the southwest, and the sargasso was dispersed again in windrows and lanes. On this day there was soon wind enough and to spare. The same might have been said of the sea. The Spray was in the midst of the turbulent Gulf Stream itself. She was jumping like a porpoise over the uneasy waves. As if to make up for lost time, she seemed to touch only the high places. Under a sudden shock and strain her rigging began to give out. First the main-sheet strap was carried away, and then the peak halyard-block broke from WORLD sail flapped m this calm i^th. I now cross. This r all of the Q the coast istralia, and atural expe- the calm of low, a philo- t amiss, else Imost at the robation was during this deck. There i smooth and a full-rigged bunches, or id in narrow elds, strange in and out. a tiny sea- me presers^ed a gale began sargasso was ks. ough and to id of the sea. irbulent Gulf a porpoise ce up for lost high places, rigging began p was carried k broke from THE JIBSTAY BREAKS 219 the gaff. It was time to reef and refit, and so when " all hands " came on deck I went about doing that. The 19th of June was fine, but on the morning of the 20th another gale was blowing, accompanied by cross-seas that tumbled about and shook things up with great confusion. Just as I was thinking about taking in sail the jibstay broke at the mast- head, and fell, jib and all, into the sea. It gave me the strangest sensation to see the bellying sail fall, and where it had been suddenly to see only space. However, I was at the bows, with presence of mind to gather it in on the first wave that rolled up, be- fore it was torn or trailed under the sloop's bottom. I found by the amount of work done in three min- utes* or less time that I had by no means grown stiff -jointed on the voyage ; anyhow, scurvy had not set in, and being now within a few degrees of home, I might complete the voyage, I thought, without the aid of a doctor. Yes, my health was still good, and I could skip about the decks in a lively manner, but could I climb ? The great King Neptune tested me severely at this time, for the stay being gone, the mast itself switched about like a reed, and was not easy to climb ; but a gun-tackle purchase was got up, and the stay set taut from the masthead, for I had spare blocks and rope on board with which to rig it, and the jib, with a reef in it, was soon pulling again like a ** sodger " for home. Had the Spray's mast not been well stepped, however, it would have been " John Walker " when the stay broke. Good work in the building of my vessel stood me always in good stead. On the 23rd of June I was at last tired, tired, tired of baffling squalls and fretful cobble-seas. I had not seen a vessel for days and days, where I had expected the company of at least a schooner now and then. 'I I ■jj.) ■ i; ; r iiii I. 220 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD As to the whistling of the wind through the rig- ging, and the slopping of the sea against the sloop's sides, that was well enough in its way, and we could not have got on without it. the Spray and I ; but there was so much ol it now, and it lasted so long ! At noon of that day a winterish storm was upon us from the nor'west. In the Gulf Stream, thus late in June, hailstones were pelting the Spray, and lightning was pouring down from the clouds, not in flashes alone, but in almost continuous streams. By slants, however, day and night I worked the sloop in toward the coast, where, on the 25th of June, off Fire Island, she fell into the tor- nado which, an hour earlier, had swept over New York city with lightning that wrecked buildings and sent trees flying about in splinters ; even ships at docks had parted their moorings and smashed into other ships, doing great damage. It was the climax stor^n of the voyage, but I saw the unmis- takable character of it in time to have all snug aboard and receive it under bare poles. Even so, the sloop shivered when it struck her, and she heeled over unwillingly on her beam ends ; but rounding to, with a sea-anchor ahead, she righted and faced out the storm. In the midst of the gale I could do no more than look on, for what is a man in a storm like this ? I had seen one electric storm on the voyage, off the coast of Madagascar, but it was unlike this one. Here the lightning kept on longer, and thunderbolts fell in the sea all about. Up to this time I was bound for New York ; but when all was over I rose, made sail, and hove the sloop round from starboard to port tack, to make for a quiet harbour to think the matter over ; and so, under short sail, she reached in for the coast of Lon^ Island, while I sat thinking and watching : WORLD igh the rig- t the sloop's ay, and we :pray and I ; it lasted so h storm was julf Stream, ig the Spray, I the clouds, t continuous md night I where, on the into the tor- pt over New :ed buildmgs ; even ships and smashed It was the w the unmis- ave all snug ;s. Even so, er, and she ends ; but she righted t of the gale hat is a man lectric storm ascar, but it ing kept on lea all about. York ; but ,nd hove the ck, to make X over ; and the coast of d watching ARRIVAL AT NEWPORT 221 the lights of coasting-vessels which now began to appear in sight. Reflections of the voyage so nearly finished stole in upon me now ; many tunes I had hummed again and again came back once more. I found myself repeating fragments of a hymn often sung by a dear Christian woman of Fairhaven when I was rebuilding the Spray, I was to hear once more and only once, in profound so- lemnity, the metaphorical hymn : By waves and wind I'm tossed and driven. And again : But stiU my little ship outbraves The blust'ring winds and stonny waves. After this storm I saw the pilot of the Pinta no more. The experiences of the voyage of the Spray, reaching over three years, had been to me like reading a book, and one that was more and more interesting as I turned the pages, till I had come now to the last page of all, and the one more inter- esting than any of the rest. When dayUght came I saw that the sea had changed colour from dark green to light. I threw the lead and got soundings in thirteen fathoms. I made the land soon after, some miles east of Fire Island, and sailing thence before a pleasant breeze along the coast, made for Newport. The weather after t];ie furious gale was remarkably fine. The Spray rounded Montauk Point early in the after- noon ; Poiilt Judith was abeam at dark : she fetched in at Beavertail next. Sailing on, she had one more danger to pass — ^Newport harbour was mined. m i ,''.H I if!. 222 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD The Spray hugged the rocks along where neither friend nor foe could come if drawing much water, and where she would not disturb the guard-ship in the channel. It was close work, but it was safe enough so long as she hugged the rocks close, and not the mines. Flitting by a low point abreast of the guard-ship, the dear old Dexter, which I knew well, some one on board of her sang out, " There goes a craft ! '* I threw up a light at once and heard the hail, " Spray, ahoy ! " It was the voice of a friend, and I knew that a friend would not fire on the Spray, I eased off the main-sheet now, and the spray swung off for the beacon-lights of the inner harbour. At last she reached port in safety, and there at i a.m. on June 27, 1898, cast anchor after the cruise of more than forty-six thousand miles round the world, during an absence of three years and two months, with two days over for coming up. Was the crew well ? Was I not ? I had profited in many ways by the voyage. I had even gained flesh, and actually weighed a pound more than when I sailed from Boston. As for ageing, why, the dial of my life was turned back till my friends all said, " Slocum is young again." And so I was, at least ten years younger than the day I felled the first tree for the construction of the Spray. My ship was also in better condition than when she sailed from Boston on her long voyage. She was still as sound as a nut, and as tight as the best ship afloat. She did not leak a drop — ^not one drop I The pump, which had been little used before reaching Australia, had not been rigged since that at all. The first name on the Spray's visitors' book in the home port was written by the one who always HE WORLD vhere neither much water, guard-ship in t it was safe ;ks close, and Lnt abreast of which I knew ; out, " There at once and was the voice would not fire tieet now, and i-lights of the port in safety, 8, cast anchor ^-six thousand Dsence of three days over for I had profited id even gained md more than eing, why, the my friends all 4 so I was, at I felled the }pray. ion than whei: voyage. She tight as the ik a drop — ^not fcen little used ,t been rigged visitors' book in me who always BACK AT FAIRHAVEN 223 said, " The Spray will come back." The Spray was not quite satisfied till I sailed her around to her birthplace, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, farther along. I had myself a desire to return to the place of the very beginning whence I had, as I have said, re- newed my age. So on July 3, with a fair wind, she waltzed beautifully round the coast and up the Acushnet River to Fairhaven, where I secured her to the cedar spile driven in the bank to hold her when she was launched. I could bring her no nearer home. If the Spray discovered no continents on her voyage, it may be that there were no more con- tinents to be discovered ; she did not seek new worlds, or sail to powwow about the dangers of the seas. The sea has been much maligned. To find one's way to lands already discovered is a good thing, and the Spray made the discovery that even the worst sea is not so terrible to a well- appointed ship. No king, no country, no treasury at all, was taxed for the voyage of the Spray, and she accomplished all that she undertook to do. To succeed, however, in anj^hing at all, one should go understandingly about his work and be prepared for every emergency. I see, as I look back over my own small achievement, a kit of not too elaborate carpenters' tools, a tin clock, and some carpet-tacks, not a great many, to facilitate the enterprise as already mentioned in the story. But above all to be taken into account were some years of schooling, where I studied with diligence Neptune's laws, and these laws I tried to obey v/hen I sailed overseas ; it was worth the while. And now, without having wearied my friends, I hope, with detailed scientific accounts, theories, or deductions, I will only say that I have endeavoured i ill nii ■} ! h •-li ) 224 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD to tell just the story of the adventure itself. This, in my own poor way, having been done, I now moor ship, weather-bitt cables, and leave the sloop Spray, for the present, safe in port. \\ 1 Hh r^*^4L 0' ' -^ 2 & 4^ =^^^ ^=^: ^*w -y^— # ^ ^ 1 ' > 8ody>plui of the Spraji* [E WORLD itself. This, done, I now ave the sloop l\ V « :t ■Ih': ml m APPENDIX UNES AND SAIL-PLAN OF THE " SPRAY " \\ Her pedigree so far as known — ^The Lines of the Spray — ^Her self-steering qualities — Sail-plan and steering gear — ^An un- precedented feat — ^A final word of cheer to would-be navi- •'ators. FROM a feeling of diffidence toward sailors of great experience, I refrained, in the preceding chapters as prepared for serial pubUcation in the " Century Magazine," from entering fully into the details of the Spray's build, and of the primitive methods employed to sail her. Having had no yachting experience at all, I had no means of knowing that the trim vessels seen in our harbours and near the land could not all do as much, or even more, than the Spray, sailing, for example, on a course with the helm lashed. I was aware that no other vessel had sailed in this manner around the globe, but would have been loath to say that another could not do it, or that many men had not sailed vessels of a certain rig in that manner as far as they wished to go. I was greatly amused, therefore, by the flat assertions of an expert that it could not be done. The Spray, as I sailed her, was entirely a new boat, built over from a sloop which bore the same a27 •I- f 228 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD name, and which, tradition said, had first served as an oysterman, about a hundred years ago, on the coast of Delaware. There was no record in the custom-house of where she was built. She was once owned at Noank, Connecticut, afterward in New Bedford and when Captain Eben Pierce presented her to me, at the end of her natural life, she stood, as I have already described, propped up in a field at Fairhaven. Her lines were supposed to be those of a North Sea fisherman. In rebuilding timber by timber and plank by plank, I added to her free- board twelve inches amidships, eighteen inches for- ward, and fourteen inches aft, thereby increasing her sheer, and making her, as I thought, a better deep-water ship. I will not repeat the history of the rebuilding of the Spray, which I have detailed in my first chapter, except to say that, when fin- ished, her dimensions were thirty-six feet nine inches over all, fourteen feet two inches wide, and four feet two inches deep in the hold, her tonnage being nine tons net, and twelve and seventy one- hundredths tons gross. I gladly produce the lines of the Spray, with such hints as my really Hmited fore-and-aft saiUng will allow, my seafaring Hfe having been spent mostly in barks and ships. No pains have been spared to give them accurately. The Spray was taken from New York to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and, under the supervision of the Park City Yacht Club, was hauled out of water and very carefully measured in every way to secure a satisfactory result. Cap- tain Robins produced the model. Our young yachtsmen, pleasuring in the " lilies of the sea," very naturally will not think favourably of my craft. Tliey have a right to their opinion, while I stick to mine. They will take exceptions to her E WORLD THE LINES OF THE " SPRAY " 229 rst served as ago, on the jcord in the She was once raid in New ce presented she stood, as in a field at to be those Iding timber i to her free- in inches for- )y increasing ght, a better le history of lave detailed at, when fin- ix feet nine ^es wide, and her tonnage seventy one- ay, mth such t sailing will spent mostly ien spared to 5 taken from , and, under ht Club, was Uy measured esult. Cap- Our young of the sea," rably of my nion, while I >tions to her short ends, the advantage of these being most apparent in a heavy sea. Some things about the Sprav*s deck might be fashioned differently without materially affecting the vessel. I know of no good reason why for a party-boat a cabin trunk might not be built amidships, instead of far aft, Hke the one on her, which leaves a very narrow space between the wheel and the line of the companionway. Some even say that I might have improved the shape of her stem. I do not know about that. The water leaves her run sharp after bearing her to the last inch, and no suction is formed by undue cutaway. Smooth-water sailors say, " Where is her over- hang ? *' They never crossed the Gulf Stream in a nor'easter, and they do not know what is best in all weathers. For your life, build no fantail overhang on a craft going offshore. As a sailor judges his prospective ship by a '* blow of the eye '* when he takes interest enough to look her over at all, so I judged the Spray, and I was not deceived. In a sloop-rig the Spray made that part of her voyage reaching from Boston through the Strait of Magellan, during which she experienced the great- est variety of weather conditions. The yawl-rig then adopted was an improvement only in that it reduced the size of a rather heavy mainsail and slightly improved her steering qualities on^ the wind. When the wind was aft the jigger was not in use ; invariably it was then furled. With her boom broad off and with the wind two points on the quarter the Spray sailed her truest course. It never took long to find the amount of helm, or angle of rudder, required to hold her on her course, J< lil ill 230 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD and when that was found I lashed the wheel with it at that angle. The mainsail then drove her, and the main- jib, with its sheet boused flat amid- ships or a little to one side or the other, added greatly to the steadying power. Then if the wind was even strong or squally I would sometimes set a flying- jib also, on a pole rigged out on the bow- sprit, with the sheets hauled flat amidships, which was a safe thing to do, even in a gale of wind. A stout downhaul on the gaff was a necessity, because without it the mainsail might not have come down when I wished to lower it in a breeze. The amount of helm required varied according to the amount of w?.nd and its direction. These points are quickly gathered from practice. Briefly I have to say that when close-hauled in a light wind under all sail she required little or no weather helm. As the wind increased I would go on deck, if below, and turn the wheel up a spoke more or less, relash it, or, as sailors say, put it in a becket, and then leave it as before. To answer the questions that might be asked to meet every contingency would be a pleasure, but it would overburden my book. I can only say here that much comes to one in practice, and that, with such as love sailing, mother-wit is the best teacher, after experience. Labour-saving ap- pliances ? There were none. The sails were hoisted by hand ; the halyards were rove through ordinary ships' blocks with common patent rollers. Of course the sheets were all belayed aft. The windlass used was in the shape of a winch, or crab, I think it is called. I had three anchors, weighing forty pounds, one hundred poimds, and one hundred and eighty pounds respectively The windlass and the forty-pound anchor, and the " fid- I ! E WORLD e wheel with i drove her, id flat amid- other, added I if the wind Dmetimes set on the bow- Iships, which of wind. A ;sity, because B come down The anaount iie amount of > are quickly e-hauled in a I little or no I I would go 1 up a spoke y, put it in a be asked to pleasure, but an only say )ractice, and er-wit is the ir-saving ap- ; were hoisted ugh ordinary rollers. Of i of a winch, iree anchors, pounds, and :tively The ind the '* fid- AN UNPRECEDENTED FEAT 231 die-head,** or carving, on the end of the cutwater, belonged to the original Spray. The ballast, con- crete cement, was stanchioned down securely. There was no iron or lead or other weight on the keel. If I took measurements by rule I did not set them down, and after sailing even the longest voy- age in her I could not tell offhand the length of her mast, boom, or gaff. I did not know the centre of effort in her sails, except as it hit me in practice at sea, nor did I care a rope yam about it. Mathe- matical calculations, however, are all right in a good boat, and the Spray could have stood them. She was easily balanced and easily kept in trim. Some of the oldest and ablest shipmasters have asked how it was possible for her to hold a true course before the wind, which was just what the Spray did for weeks together. One of these gen- tlemen, a highly esteemed shipmaster and friend, testified as government expert in a famous mur- der trial in Boston, not long since, that a ship would not hold her course long enough for the steersman to leave the helm to cut the captain's throat. Ordinarily it would be so. One might say that with a square-rigged ship it would always be so. But the Spray, at the moment of the tragedy in question, was sailing around the globe with no one at the helm, except at intervals more or less rare. However, I may say here that this would have had no bearing on the murder case in Boston. In all probability Justice laid her hand on the true rogue. In other words, in the case of a model and rig similar to that of the tragedy ship, I should myself testifiy as did the nautical experts at the trial. Mii ' 1 ' »'Jl I :| 232 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD But see the run the Spray made from Thursday Island to the Keeling Cocos Islands, twenty-seven hundred miles distant, in twenty-three days, with no one at the helm in that time, save for about one hour, from land to land. No other ship in the history of the world ever performed, under similar circumstances, the feat on so long and continuous a voyage. It was, however, a delightful midsum- mer sail. No one can know the pleasure of sailing free over the great oceans save those who have had the experience. It is not necessary, in order to realize the utmost enjoyment of going around the globe, to sail alone, yet for once and the first time there was a great deal of fun in it. My friend the t,ovemment expert, and saltest of salt sea-captains, standing only yesterday on the deck of the Spray, was convinced of her famous quahties, and he spoke enthusiastically of selling his farm on Cape Cod and putting to sea again. To young men contemplating a voyage T would say go. The tales of rough usage are for the most part exaggerations, as also are the stories of sea danger. I had a fair schooling in the so-called " hard ships " on the hard Western Ocean, and in the years there I do not remember having once been " called out of my name." Such recollections have endeared the sea to me. I owe it further to the officers of all the ships I ever sailed in as boy and man to say that not one ever Ufted so much as a finger to me. I did not hve among angels, but among men who could be roused. My wish was, though, to please the officers of my ship wherever I was, and so I got on. Dangers there are, to be sure, on the sea as well as on the land, but the inteUigence and skill God gives to man reduce these to a minimum. And here comes E WORLD )m Thursday twenty-seven e days, with ve for about IT ship in the under similar d continuous tful midsum- ure of saihng vho have had , in order to g around the the first time My friend the : sea-captains, of the Spray, ities, and he [arm on Cape yage I would 5 for the most stories of sea the so-called Dcean, and in having once 1 recollections it further to in as boy and so much as a g angels, but My wish of my ship dangers there ill as on the God gives to d here comes A FINAL WORD OF CHEER 233 in again the skilfully modelled ship worthy to sail the seas. To face the elements is, to be sure, no light mat- ter when the sea is in its grandest mood. You must then know the sea, and know that you know it, and not forget that it was made to be sailed over. I have given in the plans of the Spray the di- mensions of such a ship as I should call seaworthy in all conditions of weather and on all seas. It is only right to say, though, that to insure a reason- able measure of success, experience should sail with the ship. But in order to be a successful navigator or sailor it is not necessary to hang a tar-bucket about one's neck. On the other hand, much thought concerning the brass buttons one should wear adds nothing to the safety of the ship. I may some day see reason to modify the model of the dear old Spray, but out of my limited expe- rience I strongly recommend her wholesome lines over those of pleasure-fliers for safety. Practice in a craft such as the Spray will teach young sailors and fit them for the more important vessels. I my- self learned more seamanship, I think, on the Spray than on any other ship I ever sailed, and as for patience, the greatest of all the \'irtues, even while sailing through the reaches of the Strait of Magel- lan, between the bluff mainland and dismal Fuego, where through intricate sailing I was obHged to steer, I learned to sit by the wheel, content to make ten miles a day beating against the tide, and when a month at that was all lost, I could find some old tune to hum while I worked the route all over again, beating as before. Nor did thirty hours at the wheel, in storm, overtax my human endurance, ■ffi' i 234 SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD and to clap a hand to an oar and pull into or out of port in a calm was no strange experience for the crew of the Spray. The days passed happily with me wherever mv ship sailed. I 's 'I I IE WORLD into or out of rience for the happily with w SAMI^SCN L€>V*/ FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 'he modern boy and his sitter crave for reading that Is modern, exciting and amusing. They want something that will satisfy their Imagination and make them say, " Gee. I wish I'd been there f *' In this list there It a wonderfully wide choice of adventure and school stories. And for the boy— or girl, who prefers fact to fiction there It the famout ** Romance " Sent* and the equally excellent ** Splendid *' Series. The younger children have not been forgotten, for there are charming Rupert Stories, and a number of fine Fairy Books. 100 SOUTHWARK ST. LONDON -i I i 'ii: B€y/» Bccrj JOHN C R E A S E Y 2/6 net BLAZING THE AIR TRAIL. James Lacre was one of the most famous long distance fliers, and with his nephew, Peter Grey, he starts as favourite for the great Round the World Flight, a test of endurance and air sicill that gives thrill after thrill. THE JUNGLE FLIGHT MYSTERY. Two famous airmen started on a flight to India . . . then only silence. Bob Owen, keenly interested in flying, begins the finest thrill of his life when he joins the air expedition going in search of the lost flyers. THE TREASURE FLIGHT. Mike, Jim Wallace's airman cousin. Kromised " fireworks " if Jim went to his cottage. But certainly e had no idea of the breathless adventures that were to follow. N T O N L I N 2/6 net SIX TOUGH FELLOWS. A foreign boy arrives at Alton bury and causes a terrific feud between the Fourth and Fifth. Suddenly he is kidnapped, rescued — ^and kidnapped again, and the book ends in a grand adventure when his chums find him and the mystery Is cleared up. SUPER TERM, YOU CHAPS ! Into Altonbury bursts the human bombshell, Bob Martin. He Is such a nuisance that everybody sits on him t left alone he gets into serious trouble and causes his brother's friends some hectic adventures. WIN THROUGH, ALTONBURY. After Sports Day at Alton- bury five boys decide to spend the summer hols. In a motor launch voyaging round the coast. They find thrills galore and ripping fun as well. DINGY AND PIPS, DETECTIVES, LTD. Dingy, the very inexpert wireless enthusiast, and Pips, the crazy csrijurer, start a Detective Agency, and by very unconventional methods solve a real mystery. SECRET SERVICE AT ALTONBURY. When Major " Monty." the new sportsmaster, came to Altonbury, no one expected the queer happenings which centred around him. The boys were thoroughly thrilled by the grand adventures they went through. JACK H E M I N G 2/6 net THE AIR TREASURE HUNT. Major Maxwell Moody In his giant flying boat flies to South America to find the Inca's treasure, but he comes up against a gang of villains who are only defeated by the pluck of a boy pilot in the expedition. [2] )rj JACK E M I N G A S E Y as one of the most ew, Peter Grey, he orld Flight, a test of ill. imous airmen started en. keenly interested hen he joins the air ace's airman cousin, ittage. But certainly lat were to follow. I N D Ives at Altonburv and i Fifth. Suddenly he ind the book ends in and the mystery is lury bursts the human B that everybody sits suble and causes his Sports Day at Alton* lis. In a motor launch ilore and ripping fun Dingy, the very azy ccrijurer, start a methods solve a real hen Major " Monty," lo one expected the m. The boys were hey went through. I N G /ell Moody In his giant i Inca's treasure, but only defeated by the THE AIR CIRCUS. The Air Circus is an air show whet* |ob Is to prove that British planes are the best. There Is a gang of spies from another country who stop at nothing to wreck the Circus, but chiefly owing to a young crack pilot the Circus wins through. PLAYING FOR THE SCHOOL. Brookwood School was in • bad way, but the new games master and a new boy, Monty Carlln, revolutionise the schooFin • way that Is full of thrills and fun. MICHAEL POOLE 2/6 net COURIERS OF THE AIR. Con and Tom Stirling find them- selves in charge of their father's Air Park. Strange commissions come their way, with more than a spice of danger. A fast-moving story of thrills among the clouds. DETECTIVES AT BURNDEN SCHOOL. With an ex-Secret Service man as Headmaster queer happenings might be expected. The schoolboy detectives chance on a mystery that leads along a strange path of clues and thrills to a secret of ominous Importance. THE SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR. Two boys )oln their form-master, who Is really a British Secret Service Agent, In defeating the terrible *' Q " plan. Their adventures, in the air or not. are terrific. MYSTERY OF CRANSTON SCHOOL. The first XI cricket pitch at Cranston was dug up at night, and It produced a super mystery that took the amateur detealvea all their time to solve. 2/- net UNDER RINGWOOD'S RULE. Jackson Wrexham decides that he does not like Ringwood School, but his chums, with some thrilling scrapes, change his vievysi G. GIBBARD JACKSON 2/6 net AIR ACES IN CHINA. Somewhere in China there Is a treasure of fabulous value. A band of English airmen set out to find it. with a gang of unscrupulous crooks close behind ! Then thrilling adventures. . . . THE AIR CROOK AT ROOFONTEIN. The lonely school on the edge of the South African veldt was suddenly plunged into a series of high-speed adventures when the son of a flying explorer starts a search for his father. AIR FIGHTERS OF THE ANDES. Rumours of a mysterious airship over the Andes begin a struggle by some airmen and boys against a man whose gang is both powerful and dangerous. [3] )'-^:' m i'J, ^ ■»t ' i im JACKSON G . O I B B A R D 2/6 net THB AIR GOLD HUNTERS. A thrilling tale of a learch for gold by sir In Papua. Adventures and thrllU all the way through 1 BAFFLING THE AIR BANDITS. A young airman and his chum invent a new type of plane, but a gang of spies try to get the designs. An exciting ana mysterious story. THE AIR PIRATES OP THE CONGO. Two boys, their father and two others set out In a seaplane up the Congo to find a huge treasure of rubies, but they meet the Air Pirates and get Into some terrific adventures before they find the rubles. AIR SPIES OP THE NORTH SEA. A splendid story of foreign spies In seaplanes outwitted by some schoolboys, whose adventures are really thrilling. FIGHTING SKYBIRDS. An aerial ouest for the treuure of a lost civilization on the Amazon. It sounds exciting but the adventures In the book will for surpass all expectation. SPEED BOAT SPIES. The boys of Cams School are much excited by the visits of a ghost and a mysterious speedboat. How a few of them clear up the mystery is very exciting reading. SCHOOLBOY SPEED-KINGS. Several boys from a school near Brooklands are Involved In the activities of a gang of car- thieves. They bring these to justice but not before going through many thrilling adventures In racing cars. FLYING SMUGGLERS. Some boys of Swanbury School discover that there are flying smugglers working In the neighbourhood. They try to defeat them, butnave a very lively time before they win. SCHOOLBOY SLEUTHS. Why does the Headmaster go to the deserted tin mine at night? Six boys at Clandon School try to find out, and their adventures make exciting reading. 2/- net THE QUEST OF THE OSPREY. The story of the hunt for a mine of fabulous value. Any amount of excitement and danger and adventure. PIRATES 'GAINST THEIR WILL. A terribly thrilling pirate yarn, of fights, raiding parties, treasure, torture and great pluck. SERCOMBE GRIFFIN 2/6 net THE CRIMSON CATERPILLAR. How a French boy and an English boy crossed the Sahara In the wonderful car with a load of salt and came to the City Beneath the Sand. Full of super adventures. C4] C K S O N tale of t letrch for ill the wiy through 1 airman and his chum ry to get the designs. Two boys* their p the Congo to find s Air Pirates and get d the rubies. splendid story of B schoolboys, whose tr the treuure of a ng but the adventures ool are much excited dboat. How a few of ding. oys from a school es of a gang of ear- before going through ibury School discover the neighbourhood. time before they win. Headmaster go to Clandon School try ng reading. Dry of the hunt for tement and danger biy thrilling pirate ire and great piuclc. I F F I N French boy and an rful car with a load iand. Full of super GODFREY F.PULLEN 2/6 net JERRY SMASHES THROUGH. Jer7 was known u a slacker at Dawnecombe, but when he leaves he snows what he Is worth and comes back to Dawnecombe to get mixed up In an adventure more exciting than those he had already had. A super-thrilling ttle. THREE STOUT FELLOWS AND ME. This book tells of the lively time four chums had at school. Scrapes, thrilling adventures and games of rugger and cricket— not a dry moment. M A R T I N KENT 2/6 net 'he flying HOOLIGANS. Peter Ross, son of the Chief Constable of Gloucester, discovers the clue to the mystery of a series of terrible disasters occurring through the country, and leads a force of airmen to combat the menace. BRACEBRIDGE HEMING 2/6 net AIR ACES OF THE NORTH. Two boys. Ter^ Brady and Jim Brock, find a fabulously valuable cache of Silver Fox furs In isiorthern Canada, but the discovery becomes known to Gadzt, an unscrupulous killer, and then the fun begins ! THE FLYING MIDGET. Professor Goss, the noted radiological scientist, Is kidnapped by a clever crook, who needs his help to Perfect an amazing ultra-modern scheme for illegal money making, larry Goss, his nephew, sets out In his tiny plane to the rescue. R . A . H . GOODYEAR 2/6 net PULLING TEMPLESTONE TOGETHER. Templestone ym going downhill till a new boy, Garth, startled the ichool by winning the inter-schools cross-country race in terrible conditions. He starts Templestone on an enthusiastic fight back Into her oM proud position. TUDORVAL6 COLOURS. Tudorvale's sports capuin Is keenly Intent on creating a new record when he loses his two chief Colours. The struggle results In matches of terrific excitement, and with a mystery and a school feud makes the year full of thrills. II- net THE HARDY BROCKDALE BOYS. Brockdale looks down on a nearby school of delicate boys, but a series of sensational adventures bring tne two scliools together on level terms. [5] R. A. H. GOODYEAR 2/- net SOMETHING LIKE A CHUM. A boy from a ship-wreck |oIm the school. Adventure follows adventure, and the bo/s have a really lively time. ALL OUT FOR THE SCHOOL. Much fun Is caused by the arrival at Wolverton School of twin masters, who add zest to the life of the school. There is much fun In this tale and some stirring accounts of Soccer matches. STRICKLAND OF THE SIXTH. Hanenhall School has fallen on bad days. But " Stride," the captain, determines to make things hum. How he does It is a very interesting story. BOYS OF THE MYSTERY SCHOOL. A story full of thrills and conuining a particularly Intriguing mystery. Fine descriptions of football and cricket games. A very good story for boys. THE FELLOWS OF TEN TREES SCHOOL. Nearly every- body resented " Jig " being a member of the School. But in the end his pluck won him the respect of masters and boys alike. 1/6 net THE SPORTING FIFTH AT RIPLEY'S. A rattling schoolboy story, with some delightful youngsters, the Inevitable mischief- maker, and fine descriptions of battles on the playing fields. WALKER ROWLAND 2/6 net BOYS OF THE AIR PATROL. The thrilling adventures of two chums who, while ranching in Canada, are able to assist the Canadian Air Patrol in rounding-up a gang of bandits. MUSKUM PETE. A stirring story of the lone scouts who blazed the western trail a century ago. It is a tale of tnjun cunning defeated, of fights, and desperate adventures. 2/-net '. THE LOST EXPEDITION. Two boys go with a party to search for an expedition lost in the wilds of the Amazonian forests. They have thrilling adventures and narrow escapes galore, but all ends well. MASTER VALENTINE BUCKET. A rippine yam of fapes and scrapes at school with Valentine Bucket. It will keep you laughing all the time. 1/6 net THE LION'S WHELP AT SCHOOL. Tony Whelpton Is up to every kind of prank, his " spoofs full of mischief and fun. 6] are super. The book Is cram* 5 '" ili! D Y E A R »m a ship-wreck loins ind the boys have a Fun Is caused by the who add zest to the cale and some stirring tail School has fallen 'nolnes to make things ;ory. \ story full of thrills ity. Fine descriptions ory for boys. lOL. Nearly every- i School. But in the s and boys alike. A rattling schoolboy B Inevitable mischief- lie playing fields. A L K E R rilling adventures of are able to assist the bandits. ne scouts who blazed un cunning defeated, ff\th a party to search azonian forests. They galore, but all ends ng yam of |apes and m keep you laughing ony Whelpton Is up r. The book is cram* BERNARD MASTERS 2/6 net AT THE SIGN OF THE WOLF'S HEAD. Here Is a bold buccaneering yarn of the Spanish Main that will thrill you the whole time. It is a great tale of fights, adventures, treachery and secret treasure. G. FORSYTH GRANT 1/6 net BURKE'S CHUM. The adventures of Burke and his chum, Percival, told in a lively manner. The story Is full of adventurous doings and thrilling exploits. THE BERESFORD BOYS. Wllmot Is accused of breaking school rules, and has a very rotten time, but eventually he proves hli innocence. THE BOYS OF PENROHN. Two brothers enter school under a cloud of sorrow, which is Intensified for Athoil by happenings to his brother. Soon, however, the facts come to light and we leave Athoil happy and popular. I/- net THE HERO OF CRAMPTON SCHOOL, i'wo chums stick to each other during a rough time at school. A great yarn which all boys enjoy. HARRY COLLINGWOOD 2/- net THE CRUISE OF THE "FLYING-FISH." The amazing flying- boat-submarine was stolen, and its owners have the most extra- ordinary adventures before it is recovered. THE WRECK OF THE "ANDROMEDA." A thrilling story of a shipwrecked party who land on a wonderful Island where many strange things happen to them. IN SEARCH OF EL DORADO. Wilfred Earle and Dick Caven- dish set out to try and discover the treasure city of El Dorado. They have the most thrilling adventures, and make the most surprising discoveries. UNDER A FOREIGN FLAG. The story of Paul Swinburne, a snotty who Is unjustly dismissed the Service. He joins the navy of another country and proves his Innocence. A fine racy yarn. 1/6 net THE VOYAGE OF THE "AURORA." Young Captain George Leicester bought the Aurora and set out for Jamaica. He had any number of breath-taking adventures before he got there. UNDER. THE METEOR FLAG. Ralph, the hero. Is one of the most dashing midshipmen who ever breathed. His adventures on secret service are super-thrllling reading. 17] ( HARCOURT BURRAGE 2/- net THREE CHUMS. The three Inseptrables were disgruntled because they had been moved from the cock house to a new house, and determined to slack both In work and games. But the new term found them Inwardly rather ashamed of themselves. C U P P L E S GEORGE 2/- net THE GREEN HAND. Starting as a very green hand, he soon became u smart as paint. Later, when sailing as a passenger, he takes command in an emergency, and returns home in charge of a prize captured by himself. EDWARDES CHARLES 2/- net THE NEW HOUSEMASTER. Who was he? The boys didn't know, nor the headmaster, nor the police. But the gang of coiners knew, and used the boarding school to cover their operations. ELRINGTON H . 2/- net THE OUTSIDE HOUSE. The house outside the school gates was altogether rotten, but Harry Vereker brings a new spirit into It, and the " outside house " makes good. A ripping yarn of pluck and adventure at school. H N G A . 2/- net JACK ARCHER. A midshipman In the Crimean War has the most thrilling adventures both at sea and on land, and covers himself with glory. 1/6 net WINNING HIS SPURS. The story of an English lad who won his spurs after many wonderful deeds and hairbreadth escapes during the Crusades. Not dry history, but a series of grand adventures. THE CORNET OF HORSE. Adventure and pluck In the gallant days of old, a ripping story of a young officer in Marlborough's fomous army. I8J ^kn: R R A G E re disgruntled because to a new house, and I. But the new term mselves. P P L E S green hand, he soon rag as a passenger, he fis home in charge of GARDES he? The boys didn't ut the gang of coiners sr their operations. G T O N tide the school gates Ings a new spirit into ripping yarn of pluck N an War has the most and covers himself English lad who won hairbreadth escapes a series of grand d pluck In the gallant er In Marlborough's PERCY GROVES J . 2/- net CHARMOUTH ORANGE. Philip Ruddock tried his best to do away with the young heir. But young Ronald Cathcart, with pluck, ome Into his own after many hair-raising tremendous adventures. N W . L . A L D E I/- net THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY BROWN. Jimmy writes his own diary — all about his own scrapes and adventures. Ripping fun. R. M. BALLANTYNE 2/- net THE YOUNG FUR TRADERS. The ripping stcry of Canada in the days of the Indian braves. Super-thrilling — it's a great yarn! MARTIN RATTLER. Hair-raising adventures In Brazil and at sea. A glorious yarn for boys. G. MANVILLE FENN 2/- net OFF TO THE WILDS. Two bovs go on a shooting expedition into the wilds of South Africa. Terrific adventures and fine fun. FIRE ISLAND. The adventures of a cheery ship's crew among Papuan savages. Cast high and dry by a tidal wave upon the shore of a volcanic island, they find It a veritable hunter's paradise. Tons of adventure. 1/6 net THE BLACK BAR. Two great chums are midshipmen In the stirring davs of the slave traders. They get into every sort of tight corner and have adventures galore. THE SILVER CAR ON. A splendid yarn of adventure and thrills on the Mexican plains, and of the Silver Cailon which contained fabulous wealth. GROUP SCOUTMASTER ROME A T T W E L L 2/- net BINDO OF AVONSIDE. Packed with thrilling adventures, sport, school-life, and wtry phase of Scouting— camping, tracking, hiking and patrol-work. [91 I. A M Y II • L • BEL 2/- net SCOUT GREY : DETECTIVE. There It a beffltnj mystery about Barnett Farm that nobody can unravel. But Scout Grey is not eully scared, and stays on to solve the mystery. THE ADVENTURES OP SCOUT GREY. Scout Grey vtras a scout of the first water. He was aisc a clever amateur detective i and his pluck and Ingenuity In unmb^king " wrong*'uns/* will delight all boys. LEW WALLACE 2/- net BEN HUR. The world-famed tale of the early Christians. The action Is powerful and vivid and holds one's attention to the last word. m * »■ ^'i i I ) ' K I T H I G S O N 2/- net THAT SURPRISING BOY, SPINKS. A super yarn of japes and fun galore, and all sorts of adventures. Spinks does some most surprising things. •. ( THOMAS HUGHES 2/- net TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL-DAYS. The greatest school story ever written, every boy will enjoy it to the last page. '• w 2/- net ROUND THE WORLD WITH DRAKE. A story of Sir Francis Drake's voyage round the world in the Go/dm Hind, of fights with Spaniards, of treasure and of great adveraure. MICHAEL SCOTT 2/- net TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. In Jamaica and the West Indies with a man whose chief interest In life seems to be to find something thrilling to do— and he always does i [10] m\\ AMY Vling mystery tbout jt (jr«y Is not eully Scout Grey wu t amateur detective ; * wrong*'uns*" will .ACE hrlstlans. The action to the last word. N uper yarn of japes Inks does some most G H E S "eatest school story page. w E story of Sir Francis Hind, of fights with c o T T West Indies with a to find something PETER MAEL If- net UNDER THE SEA TO THE NORTH POLE. A thrilling story of adventure In the Arctic regions* with hardships galore met with plucic and endurance. I N M A R R Y A T C A P T A 2/- net MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY. One of the greatest boys' stories of the sea ever written. The middy's adventures will In turn make you roar with laughter and tense with excitement. M B ■ V N T O 2/- net THE MYSTERY TRAIL. On an expedition. Honald Leslie Is captured by black men. To his amazement he fl'>ds that he hu been kidnapped by order of • white man. who Is a kind of king !n the wild country. BOB BLAIR— PLAINSMAN. A super yarn of a feud \r, Australia. Bob Blair's struggle with a bushranger's gang Is cramfuiS of thrill?. 1/6 net THE HEROIC IMPOSTER. Henry Borden vvas an Imposter | but how could he help It i so much happiness for other people depended on It. Full of intrigue and danger and tight corners. F. CARLTON-WISEMAN 1/6 net ONE EXCITING TERM. And a truly thrilling term It was. with enough excitement to last most boys a lifetime. Boy Scouts (and all other boys, too) will revel In this story of mystery and pluck and adventure. HAROLD AVERY 2/- net A BOY ALL OVER. Fred and Bob, two school chums, have a great many escapades and usually come out on top. M CALLOW D . If' net TOBY IN THE SOUTH SEAS. Twin brothers, with their family, live on a South Seas Island | they have some grand adventures and ripping fun. [11] I \m\\^ ni HARRY COLLINGWOOD AND PERCIVAL LANCASTER 2/- net IN THE POWER OF THE ENEMY. During • Zulu revolt Hugh's little brother li stolen. The wildest, most hair-raising adventures happen to both brothers. W. BOURNE COOKE 2/- net THE GREY WIZARD. A thrilling pirate story, with a kidnapped boy, a secret concerning hidden treasure, a truly poisonous villain, treachery, ptucic, and a happy ending. L E S V E R M E J U 2/- net TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. The masterpiece of all submarines, its voyages and the astounding adven- tures of Its crew make one of the most fascinating stories ever published. DROPPED FROM THE CLOUDS. Five men escaping by balloon from an American city in war-time, are carried out to sea by a hurricane. After the most acute perils they are cast upon an Island far from land. THE ABANDONED. This Is the story of the mysterious Island upon which the castaways were '* Dropped from the Clouds " and also the story of a neighbouring Island that proved even more of a mystery. THE SECRET OF THE ISLAND. A mysterious tale of an unseen person who guards • iMind of castaways. An extremely exciting book. ADRIFT IN THE PACIFIC Just the book for boys I A party of schoolboys suddenly find themselves wrecked on a lonely Island. Every type of adventure. AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS. Phtneas Fogg, for a wager, attempts to so round the earth In eighty days. It is a case of whirlwind travel for aeroplanes were not then Invented. [12] OD AND STER ring t Zulu revolt it most hair-raising o o K E I , with a kidnapped i]y poisonous villain, n E iR THE SEA. The he astounding adven- cinating stories ever men escaping by e carried out to sea ley are cast upon an ie mysterious Island m the Clouds " and roved even more of terlous tale of an rays. An extremely I for boys ! A party d on a lonely Island. iVYS. Phlneaa Fogg, eighty days. It is a not then Invented. JULES VERNE 2^ net THI CLIPPER OF THE CLOUDS. The most wonderful aero- plan* that ever flew, the story of Its world-wide voyage is one continuous thrill. THE CRYPTOGRAM. This vras the secret document, written In a difficult cypher, which proclaimed the Innocence of Joam Dacosta, a man condemned to death. It makes an enthralling story. THE MASTER OF THE WORLD. He consldera that the wonderful flying machine he has Invented gives him complete control of all nations. But he meets John Stock 1 THE FUR COUNTRY. Perils and excitement In the Arctic Circle, every boy will enjoy this thrilling book. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON AND A TRIP ROUND IT. An American determined to visit the moon, so he made an enormous gun and a huge projectile — and tried. GODFREY MORGAN. Godfrey Morgan Is weary of luxury. His fond uncle allows him to go off on a voyage with his tutor. The two are thrown upon an Island, and have much adventure. EIGHT HUNDRED LEAGUES ON THE AMAZON. Not merely a description of a journey down the most wonderful river In the world, but the story of a brave gentleman wrongfully accused of a crime. A FLOATING CITY ft THE BLOCKADE RUNNERS. The fifockode Runntn tells how a young skipper ran a cargo to the American ports during the CIvl J War. A story of tense excitement. FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON. In a balloon, the Inventor, his felthful servant, and a friend, cross Africa from East to West. Many adventures come to the Intrepid voyagers. TRIBULATIONS OF A CHINAMAN. A Chinaman writes an order to his friend to kill him. He then changes his mind and wants to live, but friend and paper have both disappeared. DICK SANDS. The responsibility of bringing a sailing ship safely to port devolves upon Dick Sands, a boy of fifteen, many adventures and hair-breadth «scapes befell him. [13] i; if ■I'liijfi I i; ill, JULES VERNE 2/- net THE END OF NANA SAHIB. A party of men travel many miles in a wonderful moving house, drawn by a marvellous steam elephant. Their many adventures and the end of the fiend of the Indian Mutiny are vciy exciting. THE FLIGHT TO FRANCE. An Interesting story of a party of charming French people who are forced to flee from Germany when war is declared between the two countries. HECTOR SERVADAC A most astonishing story of the collision between a comet and the earth, full of adventure and excitement, and incidentally, full of Information concerning certain heavenly bodies. THEIR ISLAND HOME. Jules Verne had such an admiration for the famous booic. The Swiss Family Robinson, that he himself wrote a sequel. It is quite as interesting as the book that Inspired It. THE CASTAWAYS OF THE FLAG. The final adventures of The Swiss Family Roblnsm. They are shipwrecked. After many privattons and adventures they get a very pleasant surprise. THE MYSTERY OF THE FRANKLYN. A mysterious Ule of a sea captain who went to sea — and disappeared. A |olly good yarn. THE LIGHTHOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Three men are in charge of a lighthouse on a lonely island at the southern extremity of South America. A band of pirates have a lair near-by and most exciting happenings take place. MICHAEL STROGOFF. A terrific romance of Czarlst Russia. Michael Strogoff Is a courier who has a very Important message to carry across Russia. The book Is powerfully thrilling. 1/6 net FLOATING ISLAND. An artificial Island Is made, and under Its own power, It travels to many parts of the world. The marvellous adventures of Its Inhabitants make an exciting tale. WINTER AMID THE ICE. A most thrilling book for boys, dangers and perils of every kind in the Arctic Circle. THE VANISHED DIAMOND. A fine story of the adventures of a young engineer who attempted to make a diamond. There was a diamond and It vanished i but how I Read the story. TIGERS AND TRAITORS. A thrilling story of a strange caravan that penetrates the great forests of India. Thrills and adventures In plenty. [1*1 iiiiii;!' R N E men travel many I marvellous steam of the fiend of the { story of • party flee from Germany les. ory of the colilsfon ire and excitement, ig certain heavenly luch an admiration in. that he himself oolc that inspired it. final adventures of iciced. After many sant surprise. i mysterious tale of . A jolly good yarn. : THE WORLD. lonely island at the ^ of pirates have a place. of Czarlst Russia, iportant message to ling. ftade, and under Its d. The marvellous ale. Ig book for boys, rcle. of the adventures a diamond. There id the story. 3f a strange caravan rills and adventures LES VERNE J U I/- net BURBANK THE NORTHERNER. Burbank. through his enemy's machinations* gets Into some very tight corners i a thrilling tale. TEXAR THE SOUTHERNER. Texar Is decidedly ai ugly customer. During the American Civil War he does his oest to ruin the man he hates. THE CHILD OF THE CAVERN. The story of the most extraordinary adventures in a mine of fabulous wealth. Also I/- editions of: TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA THE SECRET OF THE ISLAND ADRIFT IN THE PACIFIC THE CLIPPER OF THE CLOUDS G E LITTLE G E O R 1/6 net LIFE ON THE OCEAN. The thrilling account of twenty yeara at sea told very vividly. Fights and mutiny, cannibals and pirates, all have their share In making a very exciting and interesting book. J.MACGREGOR 1/6 net ONE THOUSAND MILES IN THE ROB ROY CANOE. This is the log of a thrilling cruise in a small canoe, over many of the rivers of Europe. A grand adventure. MARCHANT BESSIE 1/6 net ON THE TRACK. A boy finds strange papera, and a history of treasure gold, telllnc how his grandfather, many years before, left England for South Amerio, and found moving adventures and many hard knocks. t/- net IN THE CRADLE OF THE NORTH WIND. This sto7 of the sea and a hunt for a missing ship in the ice-bound regions of the north is well worth reading. [15] :i iih W.i f 11 Si 'If' n ;.'!' Mm: ..lii li:,: ■M 'p FRANCIS M ARLOW 1/6 net THE SECRET OF THE SANDHILLS. A most exciting story of hidden treasure. It tells of treachery. Intrigue, wild adventure, and final downfall of the villain-ln-chief. W. CLARK RUSSELL 2/6 net THE WRECK OF THE '«GROSVENOR." Recognised as one of the greatest sea tales ever written. The unforgettable story of the hair-raising adventures on board with the mutineers In power. THE FROZEN PIRATE. A strange, eerie story of a frozen eighteenth century pirate who comes to life. Something altogether original In sea varns. THE SEA QUEEN. An adventurous voyage In a tailing ship, with a mutiny, ship on fire and a terrific storm. |; C I E N B I A R T L U 1/6 net FROM LABRADOR TO MEXICO. This story ukes us Into many lands, among all kinds of interesting and strange people. The young man had anything but a dull time T BERNARD HELDMAN 1/6 net MUTINY ON BOARD THE "LEANDER." This book is packed with thrills of all kinds. Fire, shipwreck, savages, pirates, slavery, and final escape all tend to make breathless Interest for boy-readers. H N 1/6 net SANDY CARMICHAEL. Sandy Is a ragged little urchin, who travels far, has many adventures, and so impresses the savages he finds himself among, that they decide to make him king. [16] iliilii'li R L O W nost exciting story je* wild adventure. S S E L L Recognised as one forgetuble story of utineers In power. story of a frozen >metnlng altogether I in a failing ship. I A R T tory Ukes us Into (trange people. The ARTHUR L. KNIGHT 1/6 net IN JUNGLE AND KRAAL. The adventures of two young midshipmen In the jungles of Ceylon. An expedition Into the jungle Is planned, and, after many adventures they assist In capturing alive a herd of elephants. I/- net BROTHER MIDDIES AND SLAVERS AHOY. The adven- tures of two young " middies " who seem to have a genius for falling In and out of adventures. PERCIVAL LANCASTER 1/6 net CAPTAIN JACK 0*HARA, R.N. A rollicking story of a sailor who has many adventures, who takes all kinds of risks, and is afraid of nothing and no one but the heroine. But he succeeds there too. A N D R £ LAURIE 1/6 net THE CRYSTAL CITY UNDER THE SEA. The Crystal Cltf mder the Sea Is a fantastic tale of a young midshipman, who, washed overboard In a storm* finds himself In a wonderful glass city under Che sea. PI OMAN " This book Is ck, savages, pirates, athless Interest for N little urchin, who sses the savages he Im king. C O T T K HOPE A S 2/- net THE BOYS OFWHITMINSTER. This book recounts the adventures and misadventures of as lively a bunch of schoolboys as you could wish to meet. REDSKINS AND SETTLERS. Yarns of life In the Wild West. Many thrilling adventures are recorded in graphic style. In the times of Buffalo Bill, and Kit Carson, the times of fierce fighting with Red Indians. THE TRUANT FROM SCHOOL. A boy runs away from school and finds just how exciting life among Red Indians really is. [17] :.' " ii .1 ■:'i :■ i' 11 :*ii if i A S C O T T R . HOPE I/- net THE BANDITS OF THE BOSPHORUS. It was great fun pretending to be bandits, but they found that amateur bandits sometimes get into trouble themselves. THE VULTURE'S NEST. The hero Is a very plucky lad whose exciting experiences in the Alps will appeal to ail adventure-loving boys. "DUMPS." Tom Richardson was a ragged, bare-footed little Scot, and a delightfully interesting charaaer he was. His pluck and endurance during a very trying time at school make excellent reading. SANDY'S SECRET. A canny Scots boy fondly Imagines he has discovered a thrilling secret which involves his own quiet school- master with a pirate. WALTER C • R H O A D E S 1/6 net .-.-;:.:•,<....-.-- -^ ■.nv:,...n ^ ,. .1 :, ., OUR FELLOWS AT ST. MARK'S. Scrapes and adventures galore, and thrilling cricket and football matches. Well worth reading. S A M N O B L E / A . B . 1/6 net 'TWEEN DECK IN THE 'SEVENTIES. A great yarn of life In the navy when Sam Noble was young. It is a thrilling book which all boys enjoy. N W a 1/6 net RALPH DENHAM'S ADVENTURES. Ralph goes to Burma and has a great number of thrilling adventures in the sinister jungle. This is a book to make one's pulses beat 1 ^ W . A . R 6 I t S 1/6 net DANNY'S PARTNER. A story about a one-legged man and an orphan boy. It tells of their travelling with a wagon-team out te the wilds, and final happiness and success. [18] H A R L E S BRUCE C H I/- net A NIGHT IN A SNOWSTORM. A colleaion of very fin* stories for boys, they are exciting, Interesting and well written. BUTLER MAUDE M . I/- net MIDNIGHT PLUCK* Two young boys have a very mischievous turn of mind. They go too far one day, however, and decide upon their own punishment. It requires more pluck than they Imagined, but all ends well. H A Y D O N A . L . 2/- net UP-SCHOOL AT MONKSHALL. Fred Fulton Is sent to i fine public school by a " friend " of his father's on condition that he does exactly what he Is told to do. Later he finds he must choose between betraying his father or his chum. I it ROBERT OVERTON 2/- net A SON OF THE SCHOOL. A splendid yarn which will thrill all boys. There are fine acco^jntj of cricket and football matches and more than a spice of adventure. e-legged man and an wagon-team out to LOUIS ROUSSELET 2/- net THE SERPENT CHARMER. A splendid story of India. An Indian prince treats a white man and his children very cruelly, but there is an old snake charmer who helps them, after many adventures, to esdipe. There Is also a I/- net edition of this book, , [19] ■|:l 1} 1 iijP''' n^ m i;^'i „.i.i {■M JENNIE CHAPPELL I/- net A GOAT-BOY BARONET. An original story of ■ youni boy, who though in reality a baronet, earns money for a time by driving a goat carriage In the seaside town where he and his sisters live. ROBERT RICHARDSON I/- net THE BOYS OF WILLOUGHBY SCHOOL. A story of amping-out experiences as well as school life. A little French master is ragged a good deal by the boys, but turns up trumps In the end. I C H A R D R O W E net R »/- THE GOLD DIGGERS. A young man leaves England and '* tries his luck " In Australia. After hard times he returns to England and his people. T I D D E M A N L . E . I/- net THE ADVENTURES OF JACK CHARRINGTON. The little son of a soldier dances in the streets of Boulogne because he believes his father Is beggared. He makes friends with a delightful little lame girl. WEATHERLY F . E . I/- net THE HEAD BOY OF WILTON SCHOOL. The son of a sailor has a bad time. He is wrongfully accused of cheating, and his innocence Is not proved until his miseries have led him to run away. ... .# I/- net ' REPORTED MISSING. A boy leaving school very suddenly, does his best to support his widowed mother and sister, and to clear his father's good name. He succeeds very ably, as the story tells. HARVEY SINCLAIR. Harvey Sinclair Is as successful In business as he was at school, and is the means of bringing a wrong-doer to justice. [20] GICLJ* B€€rj A L C O T T LOUISA M • 2/6 net LITTLE WOMEN. The greatest itory for girit ever written, It concerns four sisters whose amusing scrapes and experiences are vividly described. LITTLE WOMEN WEDDED. This la a continuation of the lives of " Little Women,'* though soon we see '* Little Women " changed into *' Good Wives." This part of their lives Is very vividly and pleasantly written. LITTLE MEN. Jo, with her husband, sets up a school for poor boys, who get into the most glorious scrapes and make the book very amusing. JO*S BOYS. This delightful book shows the "Little Men" when they grow up. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bhaer they are success- ful and happy. It Is a very entertaining tale. UNDER THE LILACS. Ben and his dog run away from a circus and live with Bob and Betty. Ben is very adventurous, and his scrapes are related with all Miss Alcott's humour and sympathy. EIGHT COUSINS. A little girl. Rose, goes to live with her aunts and seven boy cousins. Her guardian. Uncle Max, is a breezy sea captain, and they have some ripping times together. ROSE IN BLOOM. The further story of Rose. The charming bud of a girl blooms out into a beautiful and lovable maiden. A very charming tale. JACK AND JILL. A vivid portrayal of the home and school life of Jack and Jill, and their friends In a New England village. Jack and Jill have a gloriously happy time doing all manner of Interesting things. AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL. A delightful study of a healthy country girl, who goes to stay with rich friends. Everybody learns to love her for her charm and unselfishness, and she proves to be a very helpful person. AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG AND SHAWL-STRAPS. The Scrap-Bag contains a number of pretty stories, and Shawl-Straps is a delightful account of the run through Europe of a party of charming American girls. SILVER PITCHERS. Eight stories In Miss ^«icott's best vein | jolly girls and equally ioiiy boys, full of life and spirits and delightful to spend an evening with. [21] m 'hi "I i ■{■ I LOUISA M. ALCOTT There are also 2/- net editions of : LITTLE WOMEN LITTLE WOMEN WEDDED I/- net LULU'S LIBRARY. A collection of delightful fairy storlei told in Miss Alcott's charming way. AUNT JO'S SCRAP-BAG. As the title suggests, the book is full of the most delightful scraps, toid In Aunt Jo's lovable style. AN ILLUSTRATED FILM EDITION OF "LITTLE MEN" iiif R. D. BLACKMORE 2/6 net LORN A DOONE. The famous story of stirring deeds on Exmoor In the time of the Doones, with huge John Ridd as hero. There Is also a I/- net edition of this book. MARY LOUISE PARKER 2/6 net JUDY ARRIVES! And Judy certainly did arrive. She was an unusual girl, but a j;ood sport, who entered eagerly into school life* and soon made njany fast friends. CAPTAIN, PRO. TEM. This story la the racy account of the ** Temporary Captain's " efforts to straighten things out at Kentnor Manor School where slacking y/na the order of the day. A JOLLY TRIO. Jean and Jane were close chums, so they were rather dubious when they heard that the daughter of a friend of Jane's mother was coming to the same school. But they need not have worried, for Joy was charming and full of life, and soon there were three fast friends Instead of two, who had glorious times together, and were mixed up in a mystery that fairly thrilled them. MADCAP JILL AT SCHOOL. When Jill went to Northdean Manor School the old place was certainly woken up. All sorts of adventures, scrapes and thrilling matches. ONE THRILLING TERM. Dean (.w rt was terribly slack, but Judith Holmes changes things with a vengeance i A story that all girls will enjoy. [22] C O T T Fairy storiei told ssts. the book Is o'a lovable style. LiTTLE MEN" li O R E deeds on Exmoor as hero. A R K ER ve. She was an gerly into school S i account of the ;s out at Kentnor le day. tns, so they were :er of a friend of ut they need not B, and soon there ;d glorious times riy thrilled them. nt to Northdean up. All sorts of srrlbly slack, but I A story that MARY LOUISE PARKER 2/6 net THE QUEER NEW GIRL. A ripping story of sport and life at a girls' school. The scrapes and adventures which the girls fall Into make a very good story. 2/- net THE MYSTERY OP THE NEW GIRL. This Is a "different" If Sool story, and its readers will be kept guessing until the end before they find out the mysterlris new girl's secret. ••MISS SPITFIRE" AT SCHOOL. The story of her life at Rolsham Manor School and how she overcomes her unpopularity will appeal to all girls. This book Is packed with excitement, fun and sport. GOOD CHUMS ALL. A ripping story of girls at school, with plenty of sport, fun and adventures. PAT OF THE FIFTH. A fine story of schoolgirl life. Pat and her friends manage to fall Into every conceivable kind of scrape and adventure. MOLLIE OF ST. MILDRED'S. Mollle and Chris became great chumi and were very successful on the sports field. A great story for girls. THE GIRLS OF ST. HILDA'S. The new capuin finds her )ob very difficult, but In the end, with great pluck she wins through. 1/6 net DIANA AND PAM-~CHUMS. Diana Templeton found Ram Weybridge just the chum she had been hoping to find. They were a gay-hearted pair of inseparables, and girls will much enjoy reading about their doings. EILEEN MARSH 2/6 net ^ AIR GIRLS AT SCHOOL. The up-to-date Headmistress of Coniston College decides that the older girls ought to learn to fly. She engages an expert woman pilot as Air Mistress, and the bright young things of the Fifth take to the new art and the new mistress equally quickly. WINGS AT MIDNIGHT. Joy longs in secret to learn to fly, then her father gets a legacy and bu/s her a plane. They spend a holiday with her scientist uncle, and soon Joy is involved in thrilling battles with a spy who has stolen her uncle's plans. TWO GIRLS ON THE AIR TRAIL. Pam and Betty are the proud owners of a high-speed amphibian aeroplane, and when their Inventor father Is kidnapped by spies they have some adventures that are simply one thrill after another. [23] ol had had some nks first made her IRENE M O S S O P 2/- net A REBEL AT ROWANS. Veronica Grayson— Ronnie, for short — took a dislike to the Rowans at first sight. She made herself thoroughly unpopular with the girls and mistresses by her defiance. SYLVIA SWAYS THE SCHOOL. Pauline, the leader of the old girls, decides that the new girls must be made to obey the tradition of ** Jo's *' and kept In a secondary position In the school. But she did not know Sylvia Darel PRUNELLA PLAYS THE GAME. Prunella was no ordinary new girl, and she caused some vtry startling shocks, but she played the game and all voted her a " good sport.'* NICKY, NEW GIRL. Diamond Kenley was jealous of her sister Nicky. The story describes the rivalry between them and Is chock full of excitement and sport. 1/6 net WELL PLAYED, JULIANA I Juliana thoroughly enjoyed her first term at school — her chief friend was a scholarship girl. In the end an exciting secret was discovered that brought them much happiness. CHRIS IN COMMAND. Two sisters. Keith and Rosalie Renford, are forced, owing to lack of money, to leave an expensive school and to go to a day school. There Is plenty of sport and excitement In this fine story of life at a girls' school. WINIFRED N O R L i N G 2/6 net LEADER OF THE REBELS. Carol and Jeryl cause Monica Merton, head girl of St. Monica's, a lot of trouble by their naughtiness, and when Jeryl Is Involved In a mystery this story becomes one that all girls will enjoy to the end. THE WORST FIFTH ON RECORD. The new junior mistress at St. Cecilia's had a very hard time, for her young sister Philippa was a pupil and In a very bad set, but she wins through In the end. A really original school story that Is very enjoyable. MONICA OF ST. MONICA'S. St. Monica's School used to be one of the best In the South of England, but It had fallen upon evil days. Monica soon inspf-^ed the old school with a new spirit. AN IMPERFECT PREFECT. Monica, a very mischievous girl, is made a prefect. Her failures are redeemed by her good deeds and love of the school. A well-written schooi-glrl story, packed with adventures. [25] i MARGARET LAYCOCK 2/6 net FIFTH FORM CRISIS. The story of a critical term at the Old- chester High School, rnd more especially of Lower V and three unusual new girls. ANN'S DIFFICULT TERM. When Wandham Hill wu amal- gamated with Wandham High School, Ann, who would have been captain at " Tha Hill," decided to take no part In games or school life at *' The Kigh." A very good school tale with plenty of sport. FORM IV DOES ITS BIT. Is one of the jolliest girls' stories ever written. Games, work, and all the round of school life are presented as they really are. The girls are one of the sportiest sets you could Imagine. M O R I N MAUD 2/6 net THAT R£D-H AIRED GIRL IN THORN'S. Pretty Brenda Maddick and " Peggy Red-head " are both new girls In Thorn House at St. Agatha's. A mystery hovers over Brenda, but Peggy stands by her till the delightful end. TO THE FRAY— ST. AGATHA'S I A ripping yarn of school life. Great descriptions of sport and games, and many adventures. LAND WALKER ROW 2/6 net THE GIRLS OF SMOKY HILL RANCH. Three girls, great chums, live on a ranch. They have great fun and terriflcally thrilling adventures. R J O R I E SEVAN M A 1/6 net THE PRIORY LEAGUE. The old school Is In danger of being sold because there is no money for repairs. There is an old legend that there Is some hidden treasure. Several of the girls determine to find It. FIVE OF THE FOURTH. A ytry merry little quartette were determined that no one should share their companionship. But Peggy Lawson, a shy new girl. Intrudes, with the result that they have more fun and adventures than ever. [26] SIBYL B . OWSLEY 2/- net DULCIE CAPTAINS THE SCHOOL. A girl who was not at all happy when the was made captain, but she set her teeth and came through with flying colours. A . E . SEYMOUR 2/- net A SCHOOLGIRL'S SECRET. She had promised not to reveal a secret, and had to endure a good deal. But she had some good staunch friends who stuck to her through thicic and thin. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 2/- net UNCLE TOM*S CABIN. The moving story about the slaves in America, it is a tale that cannot be forgotten. MABEL L. TYRRELL 1/6 net THE FORTUNES OF THE BRAITH WAITS. A jolly family take great Interest In their new neighbours and get a large number of thrills. VICTORIA'S FIRST TERM. Victoria begins her school life all wrong, and makes enemies of nearly all the girls. But she ends by being called *' a real sport." w N N MAY 1/6 net CAROL OF HOLLYDENE SCHOOL. A delightful school story, full of pranks and games and high spirits. There is also a mystery whirh sets tongues wagging against Carol, but all ends well. BERTHA LEONARD 2/- net THE HOUSE OF DOUG. Tht adventures of a lively, rollicking family who inherit a lovely old mansion— complete with a ghost 1 MRS. HERBERT MARTIN 1/6 net THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE SCHCOL. The story of the Princess Ottilia, who comes from abroad to live at an English school. Shy and reserved by nature she soon becomes '* the loneliest girl in the school." [27] liM ■I M III i' ml I *:•!!'/: I:-! I ■ 1 BESSIE MARCHANT 1/6 net CICELY FROME. A capuln's daughter finds that her father li missing, she goes to Ceylon and after many thrilling adventures the mystery Is cleared up. LEIGH HUNT ENID 1/6 net HAZELHURST. The story of a folly, good-natured family who have all kinds of adventures and fun. A book to delight all giris. THE ADVENT OF ARTHUR. Joyce Dayrell and her brother, Joceiyn, live with relations who are unsympathetic. They decide to go away and fend for themselves, but life Is often hard and dreary— until ''Arthur" comes. M . m I WITT 1/6 net AN ONLY SISTER. The four children of a French gentleman, on his death had a desperate struggle to live. But fortune smiled on them at last. N I E CHAPPELL JEN 2/- net AILSA'S CHUM. Life proceeds happily and evenly In the Brereton household until a strange baby Is thrust upon the family. Soon after, complications begin, and a fine story Is unravelled. 1/6 net GLADWYN. Gladwvn, heiress to a worthless estate, goes to London and finds success and happiness. A very interesting tale for girts. LUCIE E. JACKSON I/- net THE BADGE OF THE SCARLET POPPY. Five happy, but mciwer!y who shoots off to of the few modern real fairy spirit. It Is ROLL >ol( ever written for haracters live vividly S R I M M of these almo.{i un* heir old world cl^.r.a ges. ALICE JACKSON FAIRY TALES AND TRUE. A collection of short and delightful stories, which will appeal to all small children. TWILIGHT STORIES FROM THE NORTH. A book of charming fairy ules as told by the peasants among th? mountains of Norway. ASH IE-RATTLE. Merry, good-tempered and quick-witted, the luck of the fairies was always with Ashle-Pattle. CANDLETIME TALES. This Is a collection of delightful fairy tales gathered from Norway and Ceylon ; they are unusual and very charmingly told. BOYS' OWN BOOK OF FAIRY TALES. Here are boys' own special heroes, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, and Aladdin and his wonderful lamp. GIRLS' OWN BOOK OF FAIRY TALES. Every child loves the story of Cinderella and little Tom Thumb, and Is never tired of hearing how Jack built his house, and Mother Hubbard treated her dog. •ROMANCE* SEI^IEX This famous series contains titiej on every subject that Is Interesting to boys and girls, and each book is written by an expert on his subject. The distinguishing feature of the series is the lavish use of illustrations t nearly every volume has 100 haif-tone plates and many have colour plates In addition. Flying 3/6 net G. GIBBARD JACKSON THE WORLD'S AEROPLANES AND AIRSHIPS. The author has endeavoured to give some of the remarkable achievements of the airmen of the world, with particulars of the machines upon which chose achievements were made. [31 J CHARLES DIXON PARACHUTING. The book makes exciting reading. This book will be of Interest for the record It gives of remarkable accidenu. More thrilling than any film. THF CONQUEST OF THE ATLANTIC BY AIR. The con- quest of the North A'.iantic by air In the past ten years has been one of the most isxcitlng periods In the history of flying. HARRY HARPER THE ROMANCE OF A MODERN AIRWAY. The story of London's great airport — Croydon Aerodrome, a wonderful book for air-minded boys. CHRISTOPHER SPRIGG THE AIRSHIP. An extremely comprehensive work on the llghter- than-air craft. Its development as well as present day types. MAJOR C. C. TURNER THE OLD FLYING DAYS. Spontaneously written, this is a book that every boy will treasure, and read over and over again. Ongrineering: W . H . BO U L T O N THE PAGEANT OF TRANSPORT THROUGH THE AGES. The author has succeeded in giving us a book of absorbing general Interest. G. GIBBARD JACKSON BRITISH LOCOMOTIVES. There are few boys who can resist the appeal of machinery in mass as represented by the railway engine. A wealth of Information regarding *' Iron monsters." TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF MODERN ENGINEERING. Every phase of modern engineering Is shown Mt is a book that boys vH rev*^ in. BRITISH RAILWAYS, fhe history of our railways makes a fine tale of ^ rit and determination to overcome almost insurmountable difficulties. FROM POST BOY TO AIR MAIL. The story of the Post Office Is not well-known, but it Is extremely interesting and well worth reading. [321 I X O N reading. This book remarkable accldentt. BY AIR. The con- it ten years has been )ry of flying. R P E R VAY. The story of e, a wonderful book S P R I G G > work on the lighter- Bsent day types. P A U LEWIS y written, this Is a over and over again. L T O N >UGH THE AGES. of absorbing general C K S O N boys who can resist mted by the railway "Iron njonstcrs." N ENGINEERING. ] It Is a book that llways makes a fine most insurmountable story of the Post interesting and well THE ROMANCE OF WATER POWER. It Is the aim of this book to tell of Water Power In plain terms and simple pictures, without distressing the lay reader with scientific or technical matter. w PASSINGHAM ROMANCE OF LONDON'S UNDERGROUND. Besides the Intensely absorbing chapters devoted to the history of this gigantic enterprise, there Is a clear description of the underground to-day. WILFRID R A N D E L L THE ROMANCE OF ELECTRICITY. Electricity Is one of the (greatest powers in modern life, and the author sees the great ascinatlon of the " story " behind power stations and transmission llnM. u R N E R I ISliipis and the Sea FRANK B O W E N SHIPS WE SEE. A book of unfailing Interest In which are shown every type of ship and its work. Every boy will delight In this book. A CENTURY OF ATLANTIC TRAVEL. A fascinating history of one of the most interesting shipping routes In the world. R E CORSON THE ATLANTIC FERRY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. The romance of the giant ships which sail across the Atlantic Ocean, an ideal book for the ship-lover. CAPTAIN E. G. DIGGLE, R.D., R.hS.R. THE ROMANCE OF A MODERN LINER. A wondoKutly fine book which tells of the life of a great liner from the tme k9 Is planned till It goes to sea. G. GIBBARD JACKSON THE BOOK OF THE SHIP. The author deals with the clippers and the great days of sail ( the coming of steam, and the develop- ment of warships and merchant ships, great and small. THE ROMANCE OF THE SUBMARINE. It \n a picturesquely written and kee.nly Interesting account of the history of the submarine. [33] CHARLES E. LEE THE BLUE RIBAND. In this volume Is a readable narrative covering the events, personalities and vessels which malce up a century s history of the great shipping route. CAPTAIN W. R. WHALL THE ROMANCE OF NAVIGATION. Rear-Admiral Evans in his foreword says :— •" ' The Romance of Navigation ' Is of absorbing Interest from cover to cover* besides promising to be a standard work." REAR-ADMIRAL SIR S. EARDLEY-WILMOT OUR NAVY FOR 1.000 YEARS. The stirring story of the British Navy, an epic of courage and adventure that makes a fine book for all boys. til': I. Hobbieis H A R O L A R M I T A G E 300 THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO. All boys will find a great deal to capture their interest in these almost innumerable games and hobbles. MABEL KITTY GIBBARD HOBBIES FOR GIRLS. To the girl in search of "something to do " are explained a large number of original and fascinating hobbies. PASTIMES, HOBBIES AND SPORTS FOR GIRLS. Many excellent games, sports and hobl>tes are included in this book. G. GIBBARD JACKSON PASTIMES, HOBBIES AND SPORTS FOR BOYS. This book Is for the boy who is keen on outdoor games and Is very helpful and useful. HOBBIES FOR BOYS. The thirty-seven chapters In this book cover a tremendous amount of ground, and the boy who cannot find something worth while in these pages will be a rarity. JEAN STEWART 301 THINGS A BRIGHT GIRL CAN DO. An extraordinarily good book. No girl can fail to find something in it to take her interest. [34] EY-WILMOT (Science GERALD B E A V I S THE BOOK OF THE MICROSCOPE. A fine book which opens » vast field to the enthusiast and gives a great deal of useful help to the beginner. THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS. In this volume an attempt has been made to deal with the romantic side, to explain some of the mysteries and to footer an interest in the celestial bodies. FREDERICK J. PRESCOTT, M.Sc. MODERN CHEMISTRY. In this book the reader who wishes to know something of the more interesting and important discoveries and applications of modern chemistry is taken behind the scenes and shown how they were made. Animalii F. MARTIN DUNCAN, F.R.M.S., F.Z.S. CLOSE-UPS FROM NATURE. Mr. Martin Duncan. F.Z.S.. the well-known naturalist, gives many remarkable Intimate pictures of animal, marine and Insect life. H . J . SHEP STONE WILD BEASTS TO-DAY. This is a natural history work of unusual type, for It describes animals in captivity, wild animal farms, and reservations. GERTRUDE GLEESON THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. The " Zoo " holds a fascina- tion for nearly everyone. This book gives graphic descriptions of its inhabitants and their lives. Other Lands U R T H . AND L . CO THE ftlOMANCE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. In this book the authors have set out to tell people In an attractive manner more about the wonderful Empire. [35] ) w III '.■ft. m 1 ^ G. GIBBARD JACKSON THE ROMANCE OF EXPLORATION. There can be few more romantic sub|ects than exploration, and In this volume the author tells the story of the freat explorers and the miracles of discovery. The Ancient World w H B O U L T O N THE ROMANCE OP ARCHEOLOGY. During the past hundred years a New World has been discovered, or rather, an Old World has been resurrected from the dust of ages. The whole romance Is told here. THE ROMANCE OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. The British Museum is one of the greatest treasure houses In the World. An enchanting book. CHARLES R. BEARD THE ROMANCE OF TREASURE TROVE. A book on the ever popular subject of buried treasure, and the strange rites connected with it in ancient times. MARGARET A. MURRAY, F.S.A. EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. A fairly detailed, yet easily understood, account of some of the temples of Egypt written by a well-known Egyptologist. H J. PEAKE» M.A. EARLY STEPS IN HUMAN PROGRESS. This well-illustrated book traces primitive man's attempts to make life easier down to the Bronze and Iron ages. ALAN W. SHORTER EVERYDAY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. A popular and vivid account of Egyptian life in the times of the Pharaohs. You really live In those times while reading the book. WRIGHT M THE ROMANCE OF LIFE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. ** An attractive up-to-date survey of ancient history ... a book which is full of passages so illuminating must not be passed over . . . most stimulating." — "Times Literary Supplement." [36] I V I M E Y London ALAN THB ROMANCI OP LONDON. Written In « pleuant vein this book openi a large field of Interest to those who are attracted by the great capital. A HISTORY OP LONDON. *' This beautifully Illustrated, well- written and well*documented book Is a notable addition to the history of the Metropolis."— " City Prose.'* A . G . L I N N E Y PEEPSHOW OP THE POR ^F LONDON. An absorbing book on a subject which eve , ^ody finds Interesting. It is very well illustrated. LURE AND LORE OP LONDON'S RIVER. The author has given us an Intimate and vivid study of old Father Thames, which, with the splendid illustrations, makes a book that will be Interesting to all. General SAMUEL McKECHNIE POPULAR ENTERTAINMENTS THROUGH THE AGES. A thoroughly interesting book on a subject that is sure to capture everyone's imagination. THE ROMANCE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. Whitehall is full of romance, and this book cannot fail to Interest boys and girls. Foreword by Viscount Snowden. F . J . MACLEAN THE HUMAN SIDE OF INSURANCE. The fascinating story of the progress of insurance from it^ infancy to the present day, and the strange human dramas that it causes. NCIENT WORLD. history ... a book ot be passed over . . . [37] IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 li£|28 12.5 ta lU 122 S Ui ■2.0 |U 11.6 — 6" OOR GAMES AND \ C K S O N 4ENTS »NS Y AND AIR FORCE IPS FIVES NES UNO »aOR GAMES AND I L L I P S COLLECTING h4&CO.»LTD.