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 A/HZ 
 
MAN ON THE OCEAN 
 
 00k for 
 
 BY R. M. BALLANTYNE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " YOUNG FUR TRADERS," " THE GORILLA HUNTERS," ETC., KTC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; 
 EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. 
 
THE wonders of the Ocean, and all connected therewith, need no 
 preface, either by way of explanation or apology. They are of 
 
 themselves sufficiently attractive to most minds to warrant the 
 launching of this book without a preface. But we think it right, 
 in justice to ourself, to say that the information contained in the 
 following pages is by no means meant to be regarded as a complete 
 account of Ocean and its concerns. It is simply such a desultory 
 narration and explanation of things maritime historically and 
 otherwise as, it is hoped, will imbue the reader's mind with a 
 just conception of the nature of man's doings upon the Great 
 Deep from the earliest ages to the present time. 
 
 R. M. B. 
 
 EDINBURGH, 1862. 
 
PART I. 
 
 Chapter Pag 
 
 I. Treating of Ships in general, ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 II. The Earliest Days of Water Travelling, ... ... ... 13 
 
 III. Rafts and Canoes, ... ... ... ... ... 19 
 
 IV. The Sea, ... ... ... ... ... ... 37 
 
 V. Ancient Ships, ... ... ... ... ... 60 
 
 VI. Early Voyages, ... ,.. ... ... ... 73 
 
 VII. The Progress of Navigation, ... ... ... ... 81 
 
 VIII. The Mariners' Compass, ... ... ... ... 90 
 
 IX. Early Portuguese Discoveries, ... ... ... ... 101 
 
 X. Ships of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, ... 112 
 
 PART II. 
 
 MODERN NAVIGATION DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 
 
 I. Docks, ... ... ... ... ... ... 120 
 
 II. The Launch, ... ... ... ... ... ... 130 
 
 III. Outward Bound- Dangers of the Coast Wrecks in the Great 
 
 Gale of February 1861. .. ... ... ... 142 
 
 IV. Grace Darling, ... ... ... ... ... 158 
 
 V. The Brig, ... ... ... ... ... ... 173 
 
 VI. Captain Cook, ... ... ... ... ... 183 
 
 VII. The "Messenger of Peace," ... ... ... ... 216 
 
 VIII. First-rate Man-of-war, ... ... ... ... ... 233 
 
 IX. The Mutiny of the " Bounty," ... ... ... ... 252 
 
 X. Bligh's extraordinary Boat Voyage, ... ... ... 26b 
 
 XL Pitcairn Island, ... ... ... ... ... 278 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Tape 
 
 XII. Steam Frigate Blowing up of the " Amphion" Burning of the 
 
 " Kent "Foundering of the "Magpie " and " Royal George," 286 
 
 XIII. River Steamers, ... ... ... ... ... 305 
 
 XIV. Steamboat Explosions Ocean Mail Steamers Wreck of the 
 
 44 Royal Charter," ... ... ... ... ... 320 
 
 XV. The " Great Eastern," ... ... ... ... ... 334 
 
 XVI. Dangers in the Northern Seas, ... ... ... ... 360 
 
 XVII. The Atlantic Cable, ... ... ... ... ... 400 
 
MAN ON THE OCEAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TREATING OF SHIPS IN GENERAL, 
 
 THERE is, perhaps, no contrivance in the wide world more 
 wonderful than a ship, a full-rigged, well manned, gigantic 
 ship ! 
 
 Those who regard familiar objects in art and nature as 
 mere matters of course, and do not trouble themselves to 
 
10 SHIPS IN GENERAL. 
 
 wander out of the beaten track of every-day thought, may 
 not at first feel the force or admit the truth of this state- 
 ment. Let us entreat such folk to shake themselves vigor- 
 ously out of this beaten track of every-day thought. Let 
 them knit their brows and clench their teeth, and gaze stead- 
 fastly into the fire, or up at the sky, and endeavour to realize 
 what is involved in the idea of a ship. 
 
 What would the men of old have said if you had told 
 them that you intended to take yon large wooden house and 
 launch it upon the sea, and proceed in it out of sight of land 
 for a few days 1 " Poor fellow," they would have replied, 
 " you are mad." Ah, many a wise philosopher has been 
 deemed mad, not only by men of old, but by men of later 
 days. This " mad " idea has long since been fulfilled, for 
 what is a ship but a wooden house made \Q float upon the 
 sea, and sail with its inmates hither and thither, at the 
 will of the guiding spirit, over a trackless unstable ocean 
 for months together? It is a self-sustaining moveable 
 Itotel upon the sea. It is an oasis in the desert of waters, 
 so skilfully contrived as to be capable of advancing against 
 wind and tide, and of outliving the wildest storms the 
 bitterest fury of wind and waves. It is the residence of a 
 community, whose country for the time being is the ocean j 
 or, as in the case of the Great Eastern steamship, it is a 
 town with some thousands of inhabitants launched upon 
 the deep. 
 
 Ships are the electric sparks of the world, as it were, by 
 means of which the superabundance of different countries is 
 carried forth to fill, reciprocally, the voids in each. They 
 are not only the media of intercourse between the various 
 families of the human race, whereby our shores are enriched 
 with the produce of other lands, but they are the bearers of 
 
SHIPS IN GENERAL. 11 
 
 inestimable treasures of knowledge from clime to clime, and 
 of gospel light to the uttermost ends of the earth. 
 
 But for ships we should never have heard of the wonders 
 of the coral isles and the beauties of the golden south, or 
 the phenomena and tempests of the icy north. But for ships 
 the stirring adventures and perils of Magellan, Drake, Cook, 
 <fec., had never been encountered, and even the far-famed 
 Eobinson Crusoe himself had never gladdened, and saddened, 
 and romantically maddened the heart of youth with his 
 escapes, his fights, his parrots, and his philosophy, as he 
 now does, and as he will continue to do till the end of time. 
 Some account then of ships, with anecdotes illustrative of 
 the perils to which they are frequently exposed, cannot fail, 
 we think, to prove interesting to all, especially to boys, for 
 whose particular edification we now write. Boys, of all 
 creatures in this world, are passionately fond of boats and 
 ships ; they make them of every shape and size, with every 
 sort of tool, and hack and cut their fingers in the opera- 
 tion, as we know from early personal experience. They 
 sail them, and wet their garments in so doing, to the well- 
 known sorrow of all right-minded mammas. They lose 
 them, too, and break their hearts, almost, at the calamity. 
 They make little ones when they are little, and big ones 
 when they grow big ; and when they grow bigger they not 
 unfrequently forsake the toy for the reality, embark in some 
 noble craft, and wed the stormy sea. 
 
 A word in your ear at this point. Do not think that 
 because you. fall in love with a ship you will naturally and 
 necessarily fall in love with the sea ! Some do, and some 
 don't; with those who do, it is well with those who don't, 
 and yet go to sea, it is remarkably ill. Think philosophi- 
 cally about " going to sea," my lads. Try honestly to resist 
 
12 
 
 SHIPS IN GENERAL. 
 
 your own inclination as long as possible, and only go if you 
 find that you carft kelp it ! In such a case you will probably 
 find that you are cut out for it not otherwise. We love the 
 sea with a true and deep affection, and often have we tossed 
 upon her foam-top t waves, but we don't wish to be a sailor 
 by no manner of means ! 
 
 And now, boys, come along and we will conduct you as 
 pleasantly and profitably as we can from a ship's cradle, 
 through all her stormy existence to her grave. 
 
EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 13 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 
 
 ONCE upon a time there were no ships. Men did not know 
 the meaning of the word ; they did not want them, and, 
 for many many centuries, the sea-gulls had the ocean all 
 to themselves. But boats are of very ancient date. Doubt- 
 less the first boats must have been constructed by the first 
 men who dwelt on the earth. They consisted, probably, 
 for we are now in the land of Conjecture, of stumps of 
 fallen trees, seated astride of which the immediate descend- 
 ants of our first parents ferried themselves over small lakes 
 and across rivers. 
 
 Wet feet are not agreeable under any circumstances. We 
 can conceive that prolonged voyages performed in this 
 fashion say several hundred yards or a mile rendered 
 those primitive mariners so uncomfortable that they resolved 
 to improve their condition, and, after much earnest thought, 
 hit upon the plan of fastening several logs together by means 
 of twigs, and thus they formed rafts. 
 
 As time progressed, and men began to display wisdom in 
 the moulding of brass and iron, we can imagine that they 
 soon bethought them of flattening the surface of their rafts, 
 and then finding them unwieldy and difficult to manage, no 
 doubt, they hit upon the idea of hollowing out the logs. 
 Adzes were probably not invented at that time, so they be- 
 took themselves to the element of fire which is at the pre- 
 
14 EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 
 
 sent day used by savage nations for the same purpose and 
 burned out the insides of their logs. Thus canoes sprang 
 into being. 
 
 But such canoes were clumsy and heavy, besides being 
 liable to split ; so men bethought themselves of constructing 
 a light framework of wood, and covering it with bark or 
 skin. Then artificers in iron invented saws ; logs were ripped 
 up ; planks were formed ; pitch oozed ready to hand from 
 the trees ; with grass, perchance, they caulked the seams ; 
 and soon the first boat floated on the water, clumsy and tub- 
 like, no doubt, but serviceable withal, and youths of a hun- 
 dred years old, and full-grown men of two or three hundred, 
 capered and shouted on the shore with delight at the great 
 invention, while venerable patriarchs of seven or eight hun- 
 dred summers gazed in wonder, with almost prophetic 
 solemnity, and exclaimed that they had never before seen 
 the like of that in all the course of their long long lives ! 
 
 These times are old now so old that men can scarcely 
 get their minds to realize how old they are; but the things 
 that were used then are used even now, and that not only 
 among the savages of distant lands, but by men living at 
 our very doors. 
 
 The coracle, a basket boat, of the most primitive descrip- 
 tion, is still occasionally met with in South Wales. It is 
 neither more nor less than a large wicker basket covered 
 with a hide, and is tub-shaped and clumsy to a degree. 
 When the Romans invaded Britain this species of boat was 
 in common use. Like the canoe of the North American 
 Indians, it is easily upset, and we should think must be 
 rather unmanageable, but as we are not likely ever again to 
 be reduced to it in this country, we can afford to regard this 
 fact with indifference. 
 
EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 15 
 
 From little boats to big boats there is but a step, and no 
 
 THE CORACLE. 
 
 doubt rivers were soon navigated, and new countries ex- 
 plored, while those who lived near the sea- coast dared even 
 to launch their 'boats upon the ocean ; but they " hugged 
 the shore," undoubtedly, and seldom ventured to proceed at 
 night unless the stars shone brightly in the sky. Years 
 rolled on, and dwellers on the sea-coast became more and 
 
16 EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 
 
 more venturous in their voyages along the shore ; and it be- 
 hoved them to have larger boats, or barges, with numerous 
 rowers. War-galleys sprang into being. Strong winds 
 sometimes carried them off shore, and out of sight of land. 
 Ah, reader ! who can conceive the feelings of the first mari- 
 ners who saw the solid land sink on the horizon, and beheld 
 nothing in all the waste of waters save their own tiny bark 
 that reeled beneath them on the heaving billows 1 Per- 
 chance these first adventurers on the deep found their way 
 back to land, and tried the bold experiment of steering by 
 the stars. Perhaps not ; but at length it did come about that 
 ships were built, and men were found bold enough to put 
 to sea in them for days and weeks together. 
 
 The ark is the first ship of which we have any authentic 
 account. We now leave conjecture, for the ark was built by 
 Noah under the immediate direction of the Almighty, and 
 we have a minute account of it in the Bible. 
 
 More than two thousand three hundred years before our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came to earth, man's wicked- 
 ness had attained to such a height that God resolved to de- 
 stroy the inhabitants of the world by a deluge. But in the 
 midst of wrath God remembered mercy. He spared Noah 
 and his family, and saved them from destruction by placing 
 them in the ark along with pairs of the lower animals. 
 
 Every reader of the Bible knows the story of the deluge, 
 but every one may not be aware that traditions of this 
 deluge are found in every nation of the earth. East, west, 
 north, and south civilized and savage all men tell us of 
 a great flood which once covered the world, and from which 
 only one family was saved, in a boat, or a canoe, or an ark. 
 This is one proof of the universality of the flood ; but another 
 and stronger proof is, that shells and petrifactions of marine 
 
EAELIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 17 
 
 animals are found on the tops of the highest hills all over the 
 world. 
 
 What the barbarous and savage nations know dimly from 
 tradition, we know certainly and fully from the inspired 
 word of God. The ark was built ; the flood came ; Noah 
 with his family and two of every living creature entered into 
 it, and for months the first ship floated on a sea whose shore- 
 less waves flowed round and round the world. 
 
 What the ark's form was we cannot tell precisely ; but 
 we know its dimensions pretty accurately. 
 
 Although it was not intended for voyaging, the ark must 
 necessarily have been a perfect model of a vessel meant to 
 float upon the waters. To some extent, too, it must have 
 been fitted to ride upon turbulent billows, for it " went upon 
 the face of the waters " for upwards of seven months ; 
 and before it rested finally on the top of Mount Ararat, 
 " God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters 
 ass waged." 
 
 In regard to its size the most interesting way to consider 
 it, perhaps, will be to compare it with the Great Eastern 
 the largest ship that has yet been built by man. Assum- 
 ing a cubit to be about 18 inches, the length of the ark was 
 about 450 feet, its breadth about 75 feet, and its depth about 
 45 feet. 
 
 The Great Eastern's length is 680 feet, its breadth 83 feet, 
 and its depth from deck to keel 60 feet. 
 
 The ark was built of gopher- wood, which is thought by 
 some to be pine, by others cedar. It consisted of three 
 stories, and had a window and a door, and was pitched 
 within and without ; but it had neither masts nor rudder, 
 and it is evident that although it was man's refuge, the ark 
 was not designed to be managed by man, for after Noah 
 
 2 
 
18 EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER TRAVELLING. 
 
 and his ftimily had entered in, God took on himself the 
 guidance and preservation of their vessel. Thus our Saviour 
 of whom the ark was a type specially guides and protects 
 those who fly to him for refuge. 
 
 But although we have noticed the ark as being the first 
 ship, we cannot with propriety place it in the front of the 
 history of navigation. After the flood the ark seems to have 
 been soon forgotten, or at least imperfectly remembered, 
 and men reverted to their little canoes, and clumsy boats, 
 which sufficed for all their limited wants. It was not until 
 about a thousand years later in the world's history that men 
 began to build ships of considerable size, and venture on 
 prolonged coasting-voyages for the purposes of discovery 
 and commerce. Navigation had been practised, and the art 
 of ship-building had made very considerable progress, long 
 before men dared to lose sight of the shore and venture out 
 upon the mysterious bosom of the ^reat unknown sea. 
 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 To the ancients the Mediterranean was the ocean, and 
 among its bays, and creeks, and islands, maritime enterprise 
 sprang into being and rose into celebrity. Among the 
 Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and Hebrews, we find the earliest 
 traces of navigation and commerce. The first of these 
 nations, occupying the narrow slip of land between mount 
 Lebanon and the Mediterranean, rose into fame as mariners 
 between the years 1700 and 1100 before Christ the 
 renowned city of Sidon being their great sea-port, whence 
 their ships put forth to trade with Cyprus and Rhodes, 
 Greece, Sardinia, Sicily, Gaul, and Spain. Little is known 
 of the state of trade in those days, or of the form or size of 
 ancient vessels. Homer tells us, in his account of the Trojan 
 war, that the Phoenicians supplied the combatants with 
 many articles of luxury, and from Scripture we learn that 
 the same enterprising navigators brought gold to Solomon 
 from Ophir in the year 1000 B.C. 
 
 A ^short time previous to this the Phoenicians ventured 
 to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar, and for the first 
 time beheld the great Atlantic Ocean. Proceeding along 
 the coast of Spain they founded Cadiz, and, not long after, 
 creeping down the western coasts of Africa, established 
 colonies there. But their grandest feat was achieved about 
 600 years B.C.. when they sailed down the Red Sea and tLe 
 
20 RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 eastern coast of Africa, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, 
 sailed up the western coast, and returned home by the Straits 
 of Gibraltar. Bartholomew Diaz must hide his diminished 
 head before this fact, for, although he gets all the credit, 
 the Phoenicians of old " doubled the Cape " at least twenty 
 centuries before him ! 
 
 That long voyages were made by the men of old, before 
 authentic history began, seems highly probable. The 
 expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis in the year 1250 
 B.C. in search of the " Golden Fleece," is the first ancient 
 voyage that lays claim to authenticity. What the Golden 
 Fleece was is uncertain ; some think it was a term used to 
 symbolize the mines of precious metals near the Black Sea. 
 Whatever it was, \kvArgonauts went in search of it ; whether 
 or not they found it is unrecorded in history. Jason, son 
 of the King of Thessaly, was the leader of this expedition, 
 which consisted of one ship and fifty men. A man named 
 Argus built the ship, which from him was named the Argo, 
 hence the name of Argonauts. 
 
 In treating of ancient vessels, we may as well proceed on 
 the principle suggested by a sagacious child who, when his 
 mother was about to tell him a story, usually begged of her 
 to " bedin at the bedinning." We shall begin at the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 RAFTS, as we have already remarked, must undoubtedly 
 have been the beginning of navigation. But they have not, 
 like many othet species of ancient craft, been altogether 
 superseded by modern inventions. True, we do not now-a- 
 days carry on war on rafts, but we still carry on trade with 
 them in many parts of the world. How the rafts of ancient 
 times were formed we cannot tell precisely, though we can 
 easily guess; but one thing we know, and that is, that the 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 21 
 
 first improvement made in such craft, was the thrusting of 
 a few thick planks down into the water to the depth of 
 three or four feet between the logs which compose the raft. 
 These acted the part of a keel, and by pressing against the 
 water side-ways when a side wind blew, prevented the raft 
 from making much of what is called lee-way, that is, 
 drifting in the direction in which the wind happened to be 
 blowing. Some sorts of Dutch vessels use lee-boards for 
 this purpose at the present day. 
 
 The rafts now in use on the great rivers of America are 
 exceedingly curious in many respects. One peculiarity of 
 many of them is this, that they float themselves, not goods, 
 to market the pine logs of which they are constructed 
 being the marketable commodity. Some of these lumber- 
 rafts, as they are called, are of great size, and as their 
 navigators have often to spend many weeks on them, slowly 
 floating down the rivers, they build huts, or little cottages, 
 on them, cook their provisions on board, and in short, spend 
 night and day in their temporary floating homes, as com- 
 fortably as if they were on the land. 
 
 When these rafts approach a water-fall or a rapid, they 
 unfasten the lashings and allow several logs tied together to 
 run down at a time. After the rapid is passed the loose 
 logs are collected together, the raft is reconstructed, and the 
 voyage down to the sea continued. Of course huts are 
 built only on rafts which navigate the largest rivers, and are 
 not thus liable to be taken to pieces. 
 
 When the logs reach the sea they are shipped to various 
 parts of the world where timber is scarce. Large quantities 
 are imported into Great Britain from Canada and other 
 parts of America. A bold thing has once or twice been 
 done. Instead of shipping the logs in vessels, enterprising 
 
22 
 
 RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 and ingenious men built them into a solid ship, leaving a 
 small space to serve as a cabin and a hold for provisions; 
 then erecting masts they hoisted sail, and in this singular 
 craft crossed the Atlantic. On arriving at port they broke 
 up their raft-ship and sold it. 
 
 Kafts, however, have not been confined to the purposes 
 of traffic. They have frequently been the means of saving 
 the lives of shipwrecked mariners, and too often they have 
 been the means only of prolonging the wretched existence 
 of those who have ultimately perished at sea, as the follow- 
 ing sad anecdote will show : 
 
 WRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 
 
 The Medusa was a French frigate which was wrecked in 
 
KAFTS AND CANOES. 23 
 
 the year 1816 in consequence of mismanagement. On her 
 voyage to the coast of Africa she was carelessly run on a 
 sand-bank, and all efforts to get her off failed, so that the 
 passengers nd crew were obliged to take to the boats. As 
 the vessel's object was colonization, there were men of 
 various ranks, professions, and trades on board, amounting 
 to more than four hundred souls ; the boats were, therefore, 
 insufficient to convey them all off, and a raft was constructed, 
 on which one hundred and fifty persons, soldiers, and sailors, 
 embarked. Wine, biscuit, and other provisions, were put on 
 board of the boats and raft, and it was agreed that the 
 former five in number were to tow the latter. Discipline, 
 however, without which no body of men can work success- 
 fully, was not maintained by the incompetent commander. 
 One by one the crews of the boats basely and selfishly cut 
 the tow ropes, and left the raft to the mercy of the waves. 
 At first the poor creatures on it could scarcely credit their 
 senses, but when the boats disappeared the full horrors of 
 their situation burst upon them. In the haste of departure 
 from the wreck chart and compass had been forgotten, and 
 worse than all, only a small quantity of biscuit had been 
 put on board, and no other provision, except wine, of which 
 they had more than enough. But wine without food was 
 worse than useless. Having taken no food for some time 
 before they left the wreck, they were hungry, and mixed all 
 their biscuit with wine and distributed a portion to each. 
 Then they succeeded in setting up a mast and hoisting a 
 sail, but the raft sank so deep in the water that they were 
 huddled together, scarce able to move, on the part left dry. 
 Soon the wind began to rise, and the sea broke over them 
 furiously, and now the night came on, shrouding in a scene 
 of darkness and horror that our minds cannot possibly 
 
24 KAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 realize. But the dawn of the following day revealed still 
 more appalling features of their situation. During the 
 night nearly a dozen of their number had slipped between 
 the spars of the raft and been jammed to death. 
 
 The wind moderated during the day, and hope began to 
 rise, perhap a little, as they scanned the horizon earnestly 
 in search of a passing ship, or one of their own returning 
 boats. But neither ship nor boat appeared. The day 
 passed how wearily none can tell and the second night 
 came on. With it also came the wind, and before morning 
 many of the famishing crew of the raft were swept off and 
 drowned, while the weaker among them were killed by the 
 pressure of their companions. 
 
 Hope now left them, and in the despair that followed, 
 the wretched men resolved to relieve the sufferings of their 
 last hour by drinking ! Unaccountable madness ! one is 
 tempted to exclaim. God was present there. He has told 
 men to call upon him " in the time of trouble," and has 
 promised to deliver them. He was able, if need were, to 
 work a miracle for the deliverance of these poor men, yet 
 they preferred to end their days in a state of intoxication ! 
 This is not uncommon, as the history of wrecks too clearly 
 proves. They carried out their resolve by boring a hole in 
 one of the casks, and continued to drink until the sea- water 
 mixed with the wine and rendered it useless. Rendered 
 mad by drink, the men now determined to murder their 
 officers and cut the ropes that bound the raft together, and one 
 of them even began the work of destruction with a hatchet, 
 when the officers and passengers rushed upon the men in a 
 body, and seizing the fellow who had the axe, threw him 
 into the sea. The other mutineers immediately fell on their 
 knees and cried for mercy, which was granted; but only an 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 25 
 
 hour passed when they made another attempt to carry out 
 their threat; a general fight instantly ensued, and the raft 
 was quickly strewn with slaughtered men. Upwards of 
 sixty of the hapless crew perished in this disastrous affair. 
 
 But the survivors had not yet reached the extremity of 
 horror. One cask of wine remained, but this could not allay 
 the pangs of hunger, so they were compelled at last to 
 devour the flesh of their dead companions. 
 
 On the fourth day a shoal of flying fish fell upon the 
 raft and were captured. These curious fish have two fins, 
 which are so long and powerful as to enable them to leap 
 out of the water and fly for a short distance through the 
 air. They are thus enabled to escape from their inveterate 
 enemy the dolphin. Collecting these flying fish, the starving 
 crew cooked them over a fire made in an empty cask. On 
 the fourth night the mutineers again attempted to effect 
 their mad purpose, but were quickly overcome, though not 
 without the shedding of more blood. 
 
 The crew was by this time reduced to thirty men, 
 most of whom were partially disabled by wounds and 
 bruises, while some of them had all the skin chafed off 
 their legs. In order to allay their sufferings two unhappy 
 soldiers attempted to drink the remaining wine by stealth, 
 but were discovered and instantly thrown into the sea. Of 
 the men who remained only half seemed capable of surviv- 
 ing, even for a few days, the sufferings they had undergone. 
 Perceiving this, the remaining half formed the terrible re- 
 solution of throwing their dying comrades into the sea in 
 order to make their scanty provision last longer. The 
 horrible resolve was carried into effect, and the fifteen re- 
 maining men spent two more days of suffering on the raft, 
 when a vessel hove in sight and rescued them ; but six of 
 
26 
 
 RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 V 
 
 these died soon after, and of the hundred and fifty human 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 27 
 
 beings who embarked on the raft only nine survived to tell 
 their tale of suffering. 
 
 In the account of the travels of the great scientific ex- 
 plorer, Baron von Humboldt, we are told of rafts which 
 are used at the present day on the rivers of South America. 
 Our annexed Woodcut represents one of those that are used 
 near the mouth of the river Guayaquil. It is laden with 
 the fruit of those tropical regions, and is on its way to 
 market. It has a mast and sail, and covered sheds to pro- 
 tect the goods and crew, and it can stand a considerable 
 sea. It sails well too, and can veer, and tack, and sail 
 pretty close to the wind by means of lowering logs or 
 planks into the water as before described. Such rafts, or 
 " balzas" vary from 40 to 80 feet in length, and they have 
 been used by the inhabitants of Peru from the most remote 
 periods of the history of that country. 
 
 Turning now from the consideration of rafts, we shall 
 consider the canoes which succeeded them. 
 
 SMALL CAKOE. 
 
 CANOES must, we think, have been invented after rafts, 
 and were formed, as we have said, out of logs, of bark, and 
 of skins stretched upon frames of wood. Of ancient canoes 
 we can say little ; but it is probable that they were similar 
 in most respects to the canoes used by savage nations at 
 the present time, for man, in his lowest or most savage con- 
 dition, is necessarily the same now that he was in ancient 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 times. We shall, therefore, take a glance at the canoes of 
 savage nations now existing, and thus shall form a good 
 idea, we doubt not, of what canoes were in days of old. 
 Simplest among them all, perhaps, are the canoes of 
 
 the North Ameri- 
 can Indians. They 
 are built of thin 
 laths and ribs of 
 wood, and are co- 
 vered with the bark 
 of the birch-tree. 
 The sheets of bark 
 are not a quarter of 
 an inch thick ; 
 several sheets are 
 used in the cover- 
 ing of one canoe; 
 they are sewed together with the long pliant roots of the 
 pine, and the seams are rendered tight with gum, procured 
 from the same tree. So light are these canoes, that two 
 men can carry on their shoulders one capable of holding 
 eight or ten men with their provisions, &c., for a voyage of 
 many months. They are of various sizes : from the hunt- 
 ing canoe which holds one Indian, to the large canoe that 
 carries fourteen. They are propelled by short paddles in- 
 stead of oars. 
 
 Many and terrible are the risks run by voyageurs who 
 travel through the lakes and rivers of North America in 
 these canoes. 
 
 The following anecdote is related of a narrow escape made 
 by some fur- traders while descending one of the rivers in 
 the backwoods of the Hudson's Bay Territory : One fine 
 
 SMALL OANOE. 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 29 
 
 evening in autumn a north canoe was gliding swiftly down 
 one of the noble bends in the river referred to. New, 
 beautiful, and ever-changing scenes were being constantly 
 opened up to the view of the voyageurs, whose plaintive 
 and beautiful canoe songs were rolling over the waters. 
 Suddenly the song ceased as the distant roar of a waterfall 
 struck their ears, and the steersmen for there are usually 
 two, one in the bow and one in the stern prepared to land 
 and " make a portage" that is, to carry the canoe and 
 lading past the falls by land, and re-launch in the smooth 
 water below. 
 
 The approach to the landing-place at the head of the 
 fall was somewhat difficult, owing to a point of rock which 
 projected into the stream in the direction of the fall, and 
 round which point it was necessary to steer with some dex- 
 terity in order to avoid being drawn into the strong current. 
 The fearless guides, however, had often passed the place in 
 former years in safety, and, accordingly, dashed at the 
 point with reckless indifference, their paddles flinging a 
 circle of spray over their heads as they changed from side 
 to side with graceful but vigorous rapidity. The swift 
 stream carried them quickly round the point of danger, and 
 they had almost reached the quiet eddy near the landing- 
 place when the stem of the canoe was caught by the stream, 
 which instantly whirled it out from the shore and carried it 
 down stream like an arrow. Another moment and the 
 gushing water dragged them to the verge of the fall, which 
 thundered and foamed among frightful chasms and jocks 
 many feet below. The stern of the canoe overhung the 
 abyss, and now the voyageurs plied their paddles with the 
 desperation of men who felt that their lives depended on 
 the exertions of the next awful minute. For a second the 
 
30 
 
 RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 canoe remained stationary, and seemed to tremble en the 
 brink of destruction the strength of the water and the 
 power of the men being almost equally balanced then, 
 inch by inch, it began slowly to ascend the stream. The 
 danger was past ! A few nervous strokes and the canoe 
 shot out of the current like an arrow, and floated in safety 
 in the still water below the point. 
 
 CANOE ON EDGE OF FALLS. 
 
 The whole thing, from beginning to end, was the work of 
 
EAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 31 
 
 a few seconds; yet who can describe or comprehend the 
 tumultuous gush of feeling aroused during these brief 
 seconds in the bosoms of the voyageurs? The sudden, 
 electric change from tranquil safety to the verge of what 
 appeared certain destruction and then, deliverance ! It 
 was one of those thrilling incidents wtich frequently occui 
 to those who thread the wildernesses of this world, and was 
 little thought of by those to whom it occurred, beyond the 
 moment of danger ; yet it was one of those solemn seasons, 
 more or less numerous in the history of all men, when the 
 
 ESQUIMAUX CANOE. 
 
 Almighty speaks to his careless creatures in a way that 
 cannot be mistaken, however much it may be slighted, 
 
32 RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 awakening them, with a rough grasp, to behold the slender 
 cord that suspends them over the abyss of eternity. 
 
 The canoes used by the Esquimaux who inhabit the 
 Polar regions are made of a light framework of wood, which 
 is covered entirely over with seal-skin, a round hole being 
 left in the centre, in which the Esquimaux sits. Round 
 this hole there is a loose piece of skin, which is drawn up by 
 the man and fastened round his waist. The machine is thus 
 completely water-tight. No waves can dash into, although 
 they can sweep over it ; and if by chance it should upset, 
 the Esquimaux can turn it and himself up into the proper 
 position by one dexterous sweep of his long, double-bladed 
 paddle. The paddle, which varies from 10 to 15 feet, is 
 simply a pole with a blade at each end. It is grasped in 
 the centre, and each end dipped alternately on either side 
 of the kayak, as these canoes are called. Esquimaux 
 kayaks are first-rate sea-boats. They can face almost any 
 sort of weather. They are easily upset, however, and those 
 who are unaccustomed to them are pretty sure of a ducking 
 on their first attempt to paddle in them. They are ex- 
 tremely light, and are propelled by the natives very swiftly. 
 In these frail canoes the natives of Polar regions pursue 
 seals and whales, and even venture to attack the walrus in 
 his native element. The kayak is used exclusively by the 
 men. The oomiak, or women's canoe, is of much larger 
 and clumsier construction, somewhat like a boat. It is 
 open above, and can hold a large family of women and chil- 
 dren. Like the kayak, it is a framework of wood covered 
 with seal-skin, and it is propelled by means of short paddles 
 of the spoon form. 
 
 In order to show that the paddle of the canoe is more 
 natural to man than the oar, we present a picture of the 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 33 
 
 canoe used by the Indians of the' Amazon in South America. 
 Here we see that the savages of the south, like their breth- 
 
 INDIANS OF THE AMAZON. 
 
 ren of the north, sit with their faces to the bow and urge 
 their bark forward by means of short paddles, without using 
 the gunwale as a fulcrum. The oar is decidedly a more 
 modern and a more scientific instrument than the paddle, 
 
 3 
 
31 EAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 but the latter is better suited to some kinds of navigation 
 than the former. 
 
 Very different indeed from the light canoes just described 
 are the canoes of the South Sea islanders. Some are large 
 and some are small; some long, some short; a few elegant, 
 a few clumsy, and one or two peculiarly remarkable. Most 
 of them are narrow and liable to upset, in order to prevent 
 which catastrophe the natives have ingeniously, though 
 clumsily, contrived a sort of " out-rigger" or plank, which 
 they attach to the side of the canoe to keep it upright. 
 They also fasten two canoes together to steady them. 
 
 One of these double canoes is thus described by Cheever 
 in his " Island World of the Pacific : "" " A double canoe 
 is composed of two single ones of the same size placed 
 parallel to each other, three or four feet apart, and secured 
 in their places by four or five pieces of wood, curved just in 
 the shape of a bit-stock. These are lashed to both canoes 
 with the strongest cinet, made of cocoa-nut fibre, so as to make 
 the two almost as much one as some of the double ferry- 
 boats that ply between Brooklyn and New York. A flattened 
 arch is thus made by the bow-like cross-pieces over the 
 space between the canoes, upon which a board or a couple of 
 stout poles laid lengthwise constitute an elevated platform 
 for passenger and freight, while those who paddle and steer 
 sit in the bodies of the canoes at the sides. A slender 
 mast, which may be unstepped in a minute, rises from 
 about the centre of this platform, to give support to a very 
 simple sail, now universally made of white cotton cloth, 
 but formerly of mats." 
 
 The double canoes belonging to the chiefs of the South 
 Sea islanders are the largest, some of them being nearly 
 70 feet long, yet they are each only about 2 feet wide 
 
RAFTS AND CANOES. 35 
 
 and 3 or 4 feet deep. The sterns are remarkably high 
 15 or 18 feet above the water. 
 
 The war canoes are also large and compactly built ; the 
 stern being low and covered, so as to afford shelter from 
 stones and darts. A rude imitation of a head or some 
 grotesque figure is usually carved on the stern while the 
 stem is elevated, curved like the neck of a swan, and ter- 
 minates frequently in the carved figure of a bird's head. 
 These canoes are capable of holding fifty warriors. Captain 
 Cook describes some as being 108 feet long. All of them, 
 whether single or double, mercantile or war canoes are 
 propelled by paddles, the men sitting with their faces in 
 the direction in which they are going. 
 
 As may be supposed, these canoes are often upset in 
 rough weather, but as the South Sea islanders are expert 
 swimmers, they generally manage to right their canoes and 
 scramble into them again. Their only fear on such occa- 
 sions is being attacked by sharks. Ellis, in his fascinating 
 book called " Polynesian Researches," relates an instance of 
 this kind of attack which was made upon a number of 
 chiefs and people about thirty-two who were passing 
 from one island to another in a large double canoe : " They 
 were overtaken by a tempest, the violence of which tore 
 their canoes from the horizontal spars by which they were 
 united. It was in vain for them to endeavour to place 
 them upright or empty out the water, for they could not 
 prevent their incessant overturning. As their only resource 
 they collected the scattered spars and boards, and con- 
 structed a raft, on which they hoped they might drift to 
 land. The weight of the whole number who were collected 
 on the raft was so great as to sink it so far below the sur- 
 face, that they stood above their knees in water. They 
 
3& RAFTS AND CANOES. 
 
 made very little progress, and soon .became exhausted by- 
 fatigue and hunger. In this condition they were attacked 
 by a number of sharks. Destitute of a knife or any other 
 weapon of defence, they fell an easy prey to these rapacious 
 monsters. One after another was seized and devoured, or 
 carried away by them, and the survivors, who, with dread- 
 ful anguish beheld their companions thus destroyed, saw 
 the number of their assailants apparently increasing, as 
 each body was carried away, until only two or three re- 
 mained. 
 
 " The raft, thus lightened of its load, rose to the surface 
 of the water and placed them beyond the reach of the 
 voracious jaws of their relentless destroyers. The tide and 
 current soon carried them to the shore, where they landed 
 to tell the melancholy fate of their fellow- voyagers." 
 
 The South Sea islanders, of whose canoes we have been 
 writing, are some of them at least the fiercest savages 
 on the face of the earth. They wear little or no clothing, 
 and practise cannibalism, that is, man eating, from choice. 
 They actually prefer human flesh to any other. Of this we 
 are informed on most unquestionable authority. 
 
 Doubtless the canoes which we have just described are 
 much the same now as they were a thousand years ago ; so 
 that, by visiting those parts of the earth where the natives 
 are still savage, we may, as it were, leap backward into 
 ancient times, and behold with our own eyes the state of 
 marine architecture as it existed when our own forefathers 
 were savages, and paddled about the Thames and the Clyde 
 on logs, and rafts, and wicker-work canoes. 
 
T11E SEA. 
 
 37 
 
 OCEAN, BOAT, AND SHIP- 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SEA. 
 
 14 1 love, oh, how I love to ride 
 On the fierce foaming bursting tide ! " 
 
 So goes the song, and thousands in all ages act as if that 
 song were their creed. And yet how varied are the feelings 
 with which men regard the sea ! Our own early remjnis- 
 eences of it are tinged with horror. Even to this day do 
 we remember the cold clammy feel and the salt fishy smell 
 of the flannel garment in which our trembling infant form 
 was wrapt, preparatory to being carried to the sea beach 
 and bathed ! Oh, it was a hateful operation ! Who can 
 describe the gushing horror of the moment when the 
 flannel garment was removed and our panting body was ex- 
 posed to'the fresh cold air. But worse, ten thousand fold, 
 
38 THE SEA. 
 
 the moment when our frantic yells were stifled in a bubbling 
 gasp beneath the brine ! Ah, mothers, nurses, we doubt 
 the tenderness of your hearts, when we behold your ruthless 
 conduct to the sprawling, squalling, helpless little ones, 
 who are partially drowned by you, daily, in the summer of 
 the year I We are inclined to think that many a gallant 
 sailor is nipped in the bud thus. Were we in power we 
 would add a clause to Martin's Act, and constitute bathing 
 babies against their will cruelty to animals. 
 
 Fortunately, the natural love of many for the great sea 
 cannot be cooled even .by the strong measures above referred 
 to. Babies get used to bathing as eels do (it is said !) to 
 being skinned, and when they become little boys, their de- 
 light in wading in the sea and tumbling on the shore is 
 inexpressible as it is unquenchable. 
 
 Do you see yonder urchin with the flowing yellow hair, 
 and the short frock, and the fat legs, and the little pair of 
 shoes and socks, scampering over the sands 1 That fellow 
 adores the sea; moreover, he revels in it, mentally and 
 physically. Down he flies to its margin where the wavelets 
 fall with a little hiss-s-s upon the sand, and in goes one 
 foot, right over the shoe ! He didn't intend that. Nurse, 
 no doubt, told him he should be whipped if he wet his 
 feet, and he had half promised to be very careful, but he 
 ran down so fast that when he came to the edge of the 
 water he could not pull up, and so the thing is done and 
 can't be helped. What process of reasoning goes on in the 
 brain of that child we cannot tell ; perhaps he thinks that 
 having wet one foot, common justice to the other requires 
 that it should be wet too ; at any rate, in it goes and away 
 he scampers knee-deep, dashing up the water and yelling 
 with delight. He'll catch it, he knows, on returning home, 
 
THE SEA. 39 
 
 no matter, he is happy now. Presently he turns his 
 face sea-ward and becomes grave. The little wretch is 
 " outward bound ! " The water is up to his knees now, 
 and it is rather cold, no matter, he loves it, and that keeps 
 him warm. Deeper still, and the edge of his frock is wet, 
 no matter, he gathers his garments in a bundle under 
 his armpits. Hah ! he gave a gasp there, for the water 
 swelled up to his waist and sent his heart into his mouth. 
 Presently he turns in considerable trepidation to regain the 
 shore ; but the bed of the ocean is proverbially unequal ; 
 he staggers into a hole, up to the armpits the frock is let 
 go a wild scramble, and he is down, over head and ears. 
 Next instant he is up ; the hole is but a small one, and he 
 recovers his footing but oh, reader, such a pair of eyes ! 
 Saucers 1 no, that's not the idea, if you mean white saucers 
 with a large round black spot in the centre of each, you are 
 not far wrong in your conception. 
 
 He goes home in a subdued condition, and probably he 
 does " catch it," but his love for the sea is not abated one 
 jot. His passion for little boats and dockyards, for ropes 
 and spars, and blocks and tar, goes on increasing with his 
 growth, and, ten to one, you will see him some day in a 
 blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat. 
 
 Most people love the sea; some delight in its foam- 
 specked margin, where its waters kiss the land others re- 
 joice in its far-off solitudes, where its great billows heave, 
 even in the deepest calm, or rage in the wildest storms. 
 And well is it worthy of our admiration, for here the power, 
 and majesty, and terrors of God are seen more forcibly and 
 frequently than on the land. Here, too, his tender care of 
 the smallest and apparently most insignificant of his 
 creatures ^s exhibited in a wonderful degree. 
 
40 THE SEA. 
 
 Much has been written about the sea many thick 
 volumes treat of it ; but of all the works we ever read, none 
 equal the fascinating volume written by Captain Maury of 
 the United States Navy, called " The Physical Geography 
 of the Sea." Maury is a man among a thousand. He 
 makes the mysteries of science plain and comprehensible 
 to the weakest and most unscientific minds. Here is the 
 poetical commencement of his work, in which he treats of 
 that mysterious current known as the "Gulf Stream :" 
 
 " There is a river in the ocean. In the severest droughts 
 it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. 
 Its banks and its bottoms are of cold water, while its cur- 
 rent is of warm. The Gulf of Mexico is its fountain (hence 
 the name), and its mouth is in the Arctic seas. It is the 
 Gulf Stream. There is in the world no other such majestic 
 flow of waters. Its current is more rapid than the Mississippi 
 or the Amazon, and its volume more than a thousand times 
 greater. 
 
 " Its waters, as far out from the gulf as the Carolina 
 coasts, are of an indigo blue. They are so distinctly marked 
 that their line of junction with the common sea- water may 
 , be traced with the eye. Often one half of a vessel may be 
 perceived floating in Gulf Stream water, while the other half 
 is in common water of the sea, so sharp is the line, and 
 such the want of affinity between those waters, and such, 
 too, the reluctance, so to speak, on the part of those of the 
 Gulf Stream to mingle with the common water of the sea. 
 
 " At the salt-works in France, and along the shores of 
 the Adriatic, where the c salines ' are carried on by the pro- 
 cess of solar evaporation, there is a series of vats or pools 
 through which the water is passed as it comes from the 
 sea, and is reduced to the briny state. The longer it is 
 
THE SEA.. 41 
 
 exposed to evaporation the salter it grows, and the deeper 
 is the hue of its blue, until crystallization is about to com- 
 mence, when the now deep blue water puts on a reddish 
 tint. Now, the waters of the Gulf Stream are salter than 
 the waters of the sea through which they flow, and hence 
 we can account for the deep indigo blue which all navigators 
 observe off the Carolina coasts. 
 
 " These saltmakers are in the habit of judging of the rich- 
 ness of the sea- water in salt by its colour the greener the 
 hue the fresher the water. We have in this, perhaps, an 
 explanation of the contrasts which the waters of the Gulf 
 Stream present with those of the Atlantic, as well as of the 
 light green of the North Sea and other Polar waters ; also 
 of the dark blue of the trade-wind regions, and especially 
 of the Indian Ocean, which poets have described as the 
 ' black waters/ " Much curious and useful information 
 may be gathered from this capital book. 
 
 The cause of this Gulf Stream, we are told, has always 
 puzzled philosophers. 
 
 Early writers imagined that it was caused by the floods 
 poured into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River ; 
 but this lias been shown to be impossible, as the volume of 
 water discharged by that river is not equal to the three thou- 
 sandth part of that which escapes through the Mexican Gulf 
 into the ocean, moreover, the Gulf Stream is exceedingly 
 salt, while the Mississippi is fresh. More recent philosophers 
 attributed the stream to the motion of the sun in the ecliptic, 
 or to the escape of the waters that had been forced into 
 the Caribbean Sea by the trade winds. It has been proved, 
 however, that the latter of these influences is insufficient to 
 cause it. The true cause is still a matter of uncertainty; 
 but the theory most worthy of reception is that which 
 
42 THE SEA. 
 
 attributes the Gulf Stream to the combined effects of heat 
 and the motion of the earth on its axis. There is a con- 
 stant tendency of the waters of the tropics towards the 
 poles, and of those of the poles towards the tropics. In 
 short, it would seem that the warm waters go to the poles 
 to get cooled, and, in doing so, force those of the poles to 
 come to the equator to get heated. Thus circulation is 
 constantly kept up, but the currents so formed are end- 
 lessly modified by the obstructions they meet with in the 
 islands and shallows of ocean and in the configuration of 
 the land. 
 
 The value of a knowledge of this great " river , in the 
 ocean" is incalculable. In 'days of old, when daring 
 mariners groped their way over the unknown waste of 
 waters, many long and weary days and weeks were spent 
 in battling against adverse currents and winds, or in lying 
 helpless in the midst of dead calms, evils which are now 
 avoided by a knowledge of the flow of the ocean currents. 
 
 " Midway the Atlantic," says Maury, " in the triangular 
 space between the Azores, Canaries, and the Cape de Verd 
 Islands, is the Sargasso Sea. Covering an area equal in 
 extent to the Mississippi valley, it is so thickly matted 
 over with gulf weeds, that the speed of vessels passing 
 through it is often much retarded. When the companions 
 of Columbus saw it, they thought it marked the limits of 
 navigation, and became alarmed. To the eye, at a little 
 distance, it seemed substantial enough to walk upon. 
 Patches of the weed are always to be seen floating along 
 the outer edge of the Gulf Stream. ISTow, if bits of cork, 
 or chaff, or any floating substance, be put into a basin, and 
 a circular motion be given to the water, all the light sub- 
 stances will be found crowding together near the centre of 
 
THE SEA. 43 
 
 the pool, where there is the least motion. Just such a basin 
 is the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf Stream, and the Sargasso 
 Sea is the centre of the whirl. Columbus first found this 
 weedy sea in his voyage of discovery. There it has re- 
 mained to this day, moving up and down, and changing its 
 position, like the calms of Cancer, according to the seasons, 
 the storms, and the winds. Exact observations as to its 
 limits and their range, extending back for fifty years, 
 assure us that its mean position has not been altered since 
 that time." 
 
 Mariners now know how to avoid this calm sea ; more- 
 over, tfyey know how to avail themselves of regular winds 
 and regular currents, and thus shorten voyages to a few 
 weeks, which in former years required many months to 
 accomplish. 
 
 The whirling winds that seem to blow in mad confusion 
 round us, and the foaming billows of ocean that appear to 
 leap and 'dash at their own wild will, are all under fixed, 
 unvarying laws, by which our all- wise Creator has governed 
 them from the beginning of time. There is much apparent 
 disorder in this world of ours, but it is only apparent. 
 Each successive discovery made by man serves to prove 
 more clearly that He who in Scripture is described as 
 riding upon the wind, and holding the ocean in the hollow 
 of his hand, is not a God of confusion, but of order; and 
 that all the varied elements, which seem to us so conflict- 
 ing, are, to his omniscient eye, working in universal har- 
 mony. 
 
 " Modern ingenuity," continues the author just quoted, 
 " has suggested a beautiful mode of warming houses in 
 winter. It is done by hot water. The furnace and the 
 caldron are sometimes placed at a distance from the apart- 
 
44 THE SEA. 
 
 ments to be warmed. It is so with the Observatory. In 
 this case, pipes are used to conduct the heated water from 
 the caldron under the superintendent's dwelling over into 
 one of the basement ro Jins of the Observatory a distance 
 of one hundred feet. These pipes are then flared out. so 
 as to present a large cooling surface, after which they are 
 united into one again, through which the water, being now 
 cooled, returns of its own accord to the caldron. Thus 
 cool water is returning all the time, and flowing in at the 
 bottom of the caldron, while hot water is contmualty flow- 
 ing out at the top. 
 
 " The ventilation of the Observatory is so arranged tha.t 
 the circulation of the atmosphere through it is led from 
 this basement room, where the pipes are, to all other parts 
 of the building; and in the process of this circulation, the 
 warmth conveyed by the water to the basement is taken 
 thence by the air, and distributed over all the rooms. 
 Now. to compare small things with great, we have, in the 
 warm waters which are confined in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 just such a heating apparatus for Great Britain, the North 
 Atlantic, and Western Europe. The furnace is the torrid 
 zone, the Mexican Gulf and the Carribbean Sea are the cal- 
 drons, the Gulf Stream is the conducting pipe. From the 
 Grand Banks of Newfoundland to the shores of Europe is 
 the basement the hot-air chamber in which this pipe is 
 flared out so as to present a large cooling surface. Here 
 the circulation of the atmosphere is arranged by nature-; 
 and it is such that the warmth thus conveyed into this 
 .warm -air chamber of mid-ocean is taken up by the genial 
 west winds, and dispersed in the most benign manner 
 throughout Great Britain and the west of Europe. 
 . " Every west wind that blows crosses the stream on its 
 
THE -SEA. 45 
 
 way to Europe, and carries with it a portion of this heat to 
 temper there the northern winds of winter. It is the influ* 
 enceof this stream upon climate that makes Erin the 'emerald 
 isle of the sea/ and that clothes the shores of Albion in' 
 evergreen robes ; while in the same latitude on this side, 
 the coasts of Labrador are fast bound in fetters of ice." 
 
 The winds that blow upon the face of the great deep are 
 not less subject to law than the waters of the sea. From 
 the parallel of about 30 north and south nearly to the 
 equator there are two distinct breezes, named the north- 
 east and south-east trade winds, which blow, with but 
 slight interruptions, perpetually round the world. The 
 value- of two such winds to navigators need scarcely be 
 referred to. The cause of the trade winds is supposed to 
 be the flow of cool atmosphere from, the poles to the equa- 
 tor, arid back thence to the poles. From some reason not 
 yet ascertained, the cool air from, the poles travels to the 
 equator in the upper regions of the atmosphere. The cur- 
 rents from north and smith meet about the parallel of 30, 
 and, pressing against each other, produce a calm, from 
 beneath which calm two surface currents are ejected one 
 toward the equator as the north-east trades, the other to- 
 wards the pole as the south-west passage winds. Having 
 been heated at the equator, the winds again return toward 
 the poles. 
 
 The little irregularities and variations in the winds, of 
 which man is naturally observant, are the mere eddies and 
 local deviations, which bear no proportion to the grand 
 stream of atmospheric circulation which goes on perpetu- 
 ally round the globe. Thus the investigations of science 
 throw light upon the passage of Scripture which tells us 
 that " the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about 
 
46 
 
 THE SEA. 
 
 unto the north ; it whirleth about continually, and the 
 wind returneth again according to his circuits.' 1 
 
 Among the many influences that the wind has upon the 
 sea, one of the most curious is the creating of waterspouts. 
 
 A WATERSPOUT. 
 
 Waterspouts are immense columns of water which are 
 caught up from the sea into the clouds. They are seen 
 most frequently in warm latitudes, and are much and 
 justly dreaded by sailors, as ships are often overwhelmed 
 by them and sunk. They are usually seen to form under 
 a dark cloud, when the sea becomes strangely agitated, the 
 waves dart rapidly towards the centre of the agitated por- 
 tion, whence they rise whirling round in a spiral direction 
 
THE SEA. 47 
 
 towards the cloud, which sends down a long, dark tongue, 
 or inverted cone, to meet them. When the two join, the 
 waterspout is formed, and it continues often for a consider- 
 able time travelling over the surface of the sea. 
 
 Any ship coming within its influence would instantly be 
 destroyed, for the mighty mass of whirling watery vapour 
 is in many cases from fifty to eighty fathoms in diameter. 
 It is said, however, that they can be broken and dispersed 
 by a cannon ball, and that navigators often escape from 
 their power by firing a gun through them. 
 
 The following account of a storm in which waterspouts 
 were seen is extracted from Ellis's Polynesian Researches : 
 
 STOEM AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 
 
 About nine o'clock in the morning Mr. Ellis, Mr. Barff, 
 five natives, and an English sailor, embarked in a small 
 boat, intending to cross a channel of about twenty miles 
 wide between two islands. The wind being fair they 
 expected to reach the Riatean shore in three or four hours, 
 and to arrive at the residence of the friends whom they 
 wished to visit before the close of the day. They had not, 
 however, been an hour at sea, when the heavens began to 
 gather blackness, and lowering clouds intercepted the view 
 of the receding shore as well as that of the opposite moun- 
 tains. The wind became unsteady and boisterous; the sea 
 rose, not in long heavy billows, but in short, cross, and 
 broken waves the most dangerous kind of sea for an open 
 boat. Becoming uncertain of the direction in which they 
 were driving, and fearing that they should be swamped, 
 they took down their mast and sail, tied the masts, bow- 
 sprit, and oars together in a bundle with one end of a strong 
 rope, and, fastening the other end to the bow of the boat, 
 
48 THE SEA. 
 
 threw them into the sea. The bundle of masts, oars, &c., 
 acted as a kind of breakwater or floating anchor, and not 
 only broke the force of the billows that were rolling towards 
 the boat, but kept it tolerably steady, while they were driven 
 they knew not whither by the raging tempest. 
 
 The rain came down in blinding torrents, and most of the 
 natives under the influence of fear sat down in the bottom 
 of the boat, and shut their eyes or covered them with their 
 hands, expecting each, moment that the waves would close 
 over them. 
 
 In a short time the rain abated and the northern horizon 
 became somewhat clear, but scarcely had hope begun to 
 spring up in their hearts when new cause for alarm pre- 
 sented itself. " Ure ure tia moana!" exclaimed one of the 
 natives, and, looking in the direction in which he pointed, 
 they saw a large cylindrical waterspout, extending, like a 
 massive column, from the ocean to the dark and impending 
 clouds. It was not very far distant, and seemed moving 
 towards their apparently devoted boat, while the violence 
 of the storm forbade their attempting to hoist a sail in order 
 to get out of its way. The natives abandoned themselves 
 to despair,, and either threw themselves down in the bottom 
 of the boat, or sat crouching on the keel with their faces 
 buried in their hands. The sailor, however, kept at the 
 helm, while Mr. Ellis and his companion sat silently in the 
 stern, watching the alarming object before them. While 
 thus employed they saw two other waterspouts, and subse- 
 quently a third, if not more, so that they seemed almost 
 surrounded by them. 
 
 Some were well defined, extending in an unbroken line 
 from the sea to the sky, like pillars resting on the ocean and 
 supporting the clouds; others assuming the shape of a 
 
THE SEA. 
 
 49 
 
 funnel or inverted cone attached to the clouds, and extending 
 towards the waters beneath. In some they imagined they 
 
 WATERSPOUTS. 
 
 could trace the spiral motion of the water, as it was drawn 
 upwards to the clouds which every moment became more 
 awfully black. The spectacle would have been one of deep 
 and curious interest in other circumstances, but their im- 
 minent danger rendered them more solicitous about their 
 personal safety than the observation of these terrific and 
 sublime wonders of the deep. 
 
 "The roaring of the tempest," writes Ellis, "and the 
 hollow sounds that murmured on the ear, as the heavy 
 billow rolled in foam, or broke in contact with opposing 
 billows, seemed as if deep called unto deep; and the noise 
 of waterspouts might almost be heard, while we were mo- 
 mentarily expecting that the mighty waves would sweep 
 over us. 
 
 " I had once before, when seized with the cramp while 
 bathing at a distance from my companions, been, as I sup- 
 posed, on the verge of eternity. The danger then came 
 
 4 
 
50 THE SEA. 
 
 upon me suddenly, and my thoughts, while in peril, were 
 but few. The danger now appeared more imminent, and a 
 watery grave every moment more probable ; yet there was 
 leisure afforded for reflection, and the sensibilities and powers 
 of the mind were roused to an unusual state of excitement 
 by the conflicting elements on every side. A retrospect of 
 life, now perhaps about to close, presented all the scenes 
 through which I had passed in rapid succession and in 
 varied colours, each exhibiting the lights and shades by 
 
 which it had been distinguished But the most 
 
 impressive exercise of mind was that referring to the awful 
 change approaching 
 
 " The hours that followed were some of the most solemn 
 I have ever passed in my life. Although much recurred to 
 memory that demanded deep regret and most sincere repent- 
 ance, yet I could look back upon that mercy that had first 
 brought me to a knowledge of the Saviour with a gratitude 
 never perhaps exceeded. Him, and him alone, I found to 
 be a refuge, a rock in the storm of contending feelings, on 
 which my soul could cast the anchor of its hope for pardon 
 
 and acceptance before God I could not but think 
 
 how awful would my state have been, had I in that hour 
 been ignorant of Christ, or had I neglected and despised the 
 offers of his mercy." 
 
 During the whole of that day the storm continued, and 
 at intervals they beheld, through the clouds and rain, one 
 or other of the waterspouts, but they finally disappeared 
 without doing them any damage. It is not easy for an 
 individual who has never beheld them, to realize the sensa- 
 tions produced, when solitary voyagers on the Pacific, from 
 their light canoes or deckless boats, descry these sublime 
 objects towering from the water to the sky, while -the 
 
THE SEA. 51 
 
 powerful agitation of the former indicates the mighty 
 process by which they are sustained. 
 
 Many are the narrow escapes which have been made from 
 waterspouts, but we can only afford space to tell of one 
 other. It occurred to a ship in the Pacific Ocean. It was 
 sailing before a fresh breeze when a waterspout was descried 
 coming towards it. The captain instantly summoned the 
 crew on deck and prepared to take in sail. On it came 
 nearer and nearer. The column was well defined, extending 
 in an unbroken line from the sea to the clouds, which were 
 neither dense nor lowering. Around the outside of the 
 liquid cylinder was a kind of thick mist, and within, a 
 substance resembling steam, ascending apparently with a 
 spiral motion. The water at the base of the column was 
 violently agitated, while the spray which was thrown off 
 from the circle formed by the lower part of the column, 
 rose several feet above the level of the sea At first it 
 bore down direct upon the ship, but when within a short 
 distance it changed its course slightly and passed by, leaving 
 the thankful crew to pursue their voyage. 
 
 Many gallant ships have sailed to southern climes and 
 never more been heard of. May it not be possible that 
 their loss was owing to the destructive power of water- 
 spouts ] 
 
 We are told that waterspouts sometimes break upon the 
 land and do great damage. Upon one occasion one broke 
 over the harbour of Honolulu in one of the South Sea 
 Islands. " It was first observed," says Cheever, " moving 
 along slowly, of about the thickness of a hogshead, accom- 
 panied by a violent ebullition of the water at its base. 
 Upon touching the reef the column broke, causing a sudden 
 rise of the sea of three feet on the beach. Great numbers 
 
52 THE SEA. 
 
 of fish, were said to have been destroyed by the force of the 
 falling water. Other waterspouts have at different times 
 broken on the land here, and have washed away houses 
 and drowned inhabitants. They are experienced in the 
 Atlantic, where I have myself observed them, as well as in 
 the Pacific. Trees are torn up by them, valleys flooded, 
 eminences ploughed away, deep pits excavated, and habi- 
 tations, harvests, and cattle borne away." 
 
 MISCELLANEA of the sea. If being affected by the moon 
 proves a creature mad, then, undoubtedly, the sea is a 
 lunatic ! The tide in other words, the regular semi- 
 diurnal advance and retreat of the sea upon the shore, are 
 caused by the influence of the moon, which, owing to the 
 law of gravitation, attracts toward it that portion of the sea 
 over which at any time it happens to be passing, and thus 
 raises a sort of protuberance or wave. At the opposite side 
 of the earth a precisely similar wave or elevation of the sea 
 takes place ; the cause in this case being, that the attractive 
 power of the moon tends to draw the earth away from the 
 sea, while, in the former case, it tends to draw the sea 
 away from the earth. Thus, by the same power the 
 attractive force of the moon a similar result is obtained 
 on two exactly opposite points of the earth, namely, the ele- 
 vation of the sea \ and thus high tides are produced. As the 
 moon continues her progress round the world she draws, 
 as it were, these two high tides along with her, and thus, 
 necessarily, leaves the low tides behind her. The moon 
 encircles the earth once every twenty-four hours ; therefore, 
 two full and two ebb tides occur every day. 
 
 But the moon is not alone in her influence on the tides. 
 The sun also acts a part, but his distance being so great 
 he affects them very little, until in the varied course of his 
 
THE SEA. 53 
 
 evolutions lie and the moon act in concert, pull together, 
 in fact, in the same direction, and so vigorous is their 
 united effort that they produce very high, or what we call 
 spring tides. When these luminaries act in opposition the 
 result is very low, or neap tides. Spring and neap tides 
 occur twice a month. The tide takes six hours to rise and 
 six to fall, but as the circling of the moon round the earth 
 is not precisely within the twenty-four hours, so the tides 
 are constantly changing a few minutes, not quite half an 
 hour, every day. The earth at the tropics is nearer to the 
 moon than elsewhere, so that the tides are highest there, 
 while they diminish as we approach the poles. 
 
 There are numerous secondary influences at work in the 
 world which modify the tides ; thus, in the Mediterranean 
 there is little or no tide, owing to the narrowness of the 
 entrance at the Straits of Gibraltar, which prevents the 
 tidal wave from having much effect; the conformations of 
 land, too, in many places modify the tides ; but the fore- 
 going particulars are the broad outlines relative to the 
 phenomenon of tides which it were well to bear in remem- 
 brance. 
 
 The salt in the sea is that which renders it so useful as 
 a cleanser of the land. The ocean is, in fact, the scavenger 
 of the world. Into it all that is filthy or noxious is ulti- 
 mately conveyed and neutralized or dissipated. The salt- 
 ness of the sea varies in different places, and in consequence 
 of its saline properties the sea cannot freeze until it reaches 
 a very low temperature, and the ice when formed is by no 
 means perfect. The salt is expelled in the process of 
 freezing; and when in the Polar regions the surface of sea- 
 ice is melted by the summer sun and formed into pools, 
 the water is found to be fresh and good. 
 
54 THE SEA. 
 
 The phosphorescence of the sea is one of the most curious 
 and splendid of the phenomena in nature. Often the whole 
 ocean is seen to sparkle with what appears to be a host of 
 stars as bright as those in the sky, and the track left in 
 the wake of a ship seems to be a sheet of liquid flame. 
 When the sea is in this condition, spray thrown up by oars 
 or dashed from the bow of a ship glitters like a mass of 
 molten silver. For a long time the cause of this phosphoric 
 light remained a deep mystery to scientific men, but they 
 at last discovered that it is caused by the presence of 
 myriads of animalculas of the Medusa species, most of 
 which are invisible to the naked eye, being not only minute, 
 but excessively thin and transparent, and the degree of 
 brilliancy with which these tiny creatures emit their beauti- 
 ful light is supposed to depend on the condition of the 
 atmosphere. The-same species of phosphorescence is emitted 
 by decaying vegetable matter, ^rotten wood, and dead fish. 
 A traveller, in writing of his experiences in the Pacific 
 Ocean, gives the following account of a remarkable phos- 
 phoric appearance of the sea : 
 
 " We had often before observed luminous points, like 
 sparks of fire, floating here and there in the furrow of our 
 vessel, but now the whole ocean was literally bespangled 
 with them. Notwithstanding the smoothness of the surface, 
 there was a considerable swell of the sea, and, sparkling as 
 it did on every part as with fire, the mighty .heavings of 
 its bosom were indescribably magnificent. It seemed as if 
 the sky had fallen to a level with the ship, and all its stars, 
 in tenfold numbers and brilliancy, were rolling about with 
 the undulations of the billows. 
 
 " The horizon in every direction presented a line of unin- 
 terrupted light, while the wide space intervening was one 
 
THE SEA. 55 
 
 extent of apparent fire. The sides of our vessel appeared 
 kindling to a blaze, and as our bows occasionally dashed 
 against a wave, the flash of the concussion gleamed half- 
 way up the rigging, and illuminated every object along the 
 whole length of the ship. By throwing any article over- 
 board, a display of light and colours took place, surpassing 
 in briUiancy and beauty the finest exhibition of fireworks. 
 A lovely effect was produced by a line coiled to some length, 
 and then cast into the water at a distance, and also by a 
 bucket of water -dashed from the side of the vessel. The 
 rudder, too, by its motions, created splendid coruscations at 
 the stern, and a flood of light by which our track was 
 marked far behind us. The smaller fish were distinctly 
 traceable by darting lines showing their rapid course, while 
 now and then broad gleamings, extending many yards in 
 every direction, made known the movements of some mon- 
 ster of the deep." 
 
 Phosphorescence of the sea is frequently observed in the 
 waters that wash our own shores, but never to such an ex- 
 tent as described above. 
 
 The bottom of the ocean, we need scarcely say, varies very 
 considerably in depth beneath the surface, not only near 
 land, but far away from any shore. There are mountain 
 ranges and broad valleys in the sea's bed that correspond 
 with those upon the dry land ; and the mountain peaks of 
 this ocean-world form the shallows and islands of the sea. 
 There are forests too, bright, beautiful forests of sea- weeds 
 and sponges, and gorgeously-coloured coral groves, that 
 might well gladden the hearts of mer-men and rnaids, did 
 such creatures exist to enjoy them; but they are not ten- 
 antless, the atmosphere around them namely, water 
 swarms with fish of every name, shape, and size, which 
 
56 THE SEA. 
 
 hover round and round the branches of these submarine 
 groves, and poke their prying noses into the lovely coral 
 caves. Strange sights they must witness there sometimes. 
 Many a goodly cargo, many a bag of gold, lies hidden in 
 these mysterious caverns, torn from the shipwrecked mariner, 
 and tossed there to lie till that day when the secrets of the 
 deep shall be revealed. This is no fanciful idea. The fol- 
 lowing poetic description, by Percival, is said by those who 
 are most competent to judge to be true to nature : 
 
 " There, far below in the peaceful sea, 
 
 The purple mullet and gold-fish rove; 
 There the waters murmur tranquilly, 
 
 Through the bending twigs of the coral grove ; 
 There, with its waving blade of green, 
 
 The sea-flag streams through the silent water, 
 And the crimsoji leaf of the dulse is seen 
 
 To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter. 
 There, with a light and easy motion, 
 
 The fair coral sweeps through the clear deep sea; 
 And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean 
 
 Are bending like corn on the upland lea. 
 And life, in rare and beautiful forms, 
 
 Is sporting amid those bowers of stone, 
 And is safe when the wrathful spirit of storms 
 
 Has made the top of the wave his own." 
 
 The waves of the sea, to which reference is above made, 
 are by no means so large as we are led to suppose by writers 
 who talk of " mountain billows" Huge they are, un- 
 doubtedly, and to those who are tossed on their foaming 
 crests they are invested with a dread sublimity, which, 
 coupled with the smallness of the ship on which their safety 
 depends, causes them to appear immensely larger; but they 
 do not approximate to the height of mountains. To those 
 who have witnessed an Atlantic storm it is scarcely possible 
 to believe that the wildest waves do not rise much higher 
 than twenty feet. Yet such is the fact ; though of course 
 the sheets of foam and blinding spray swept from their 
 
THE SEA. 57 
 
 summits reach to a much greater height. Thus, in the 
 dark confusion of elements during a furious storm, the 
 summits of the waves may be continued upwards in .solid- 
 like banks of spray, which, mingling with the black over- 
 hanging clouds or the thick descending rain, may cause the 
 observer naturally to imagine that he beholds mountains * 
 of raging water. 
 
 The influence of the waves extends but a few fathoms 
 below the surface of the sea. The wildest storm that ever 
 lashed the angry billows into a seething foam leaves the 
 unfathomable depth of ocean in the same perpetual tran- 
 quillity which it maintains during the most death-like calm. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the water of waves rolls 
 over the surface of the sea. The wave rolls on, but the 
 water is left behind. A very simple way to obtain a correct 
 idea of a wave's motion is, to grasp the end of a long piece 
 of rope, and, raising the hand, give it one powerful shake 
 or heave upwards and downwards ; the waves that will be 
 observed to run along it from end to end are precisely 
 similar in action to those which appear to roll over the 
 Atlantic. The waves of the rope roll forward, but the rope 
 itself does not advance. It is not until waves approach 
 the shore that the water really begins to move, for then it 
 cannot sink downward, so is obliged to tumble forward in 
 order to find its level. The speed of waves is proportioned 
 to their size. The largest are said to travel at the rate of 
 from thirty to forty miles an hour. If the water compos- 
 ing waves really rolled along, ships would necessarily be 
 carried along with them at the same terrific speed ! Thus 
 navigation would be impossible. But we know that waves 
 pass under vessels, yet leave them far behind. 
 
 Let it be remembered that a wave is not a thing, but a 
 
58 THE SEA. 
 
 motion an undulatory motion, imparted to water by the 
 power of the winds. 
 
 The depth of the sea varies very much. Its extreme 
 depth has never been ascertained, and, doubtless, never will 
 be. Below eight or ten thousand feet ordinary sounding- 
 leads become useless, because they cannot communicate an 
 appreciable shock on striking the bottom at such a depth ; 
 and it is well known that ocean-currents can draw out the 
 sounding-line long after the plummet has ceased to do so, 
 thus deceiving the operator. 
 
 Many curious and ingenious, and not a few absurd, 
 machines have been invented of late years in order to 
 sound the depth of " blue water." Some have tried it with 
 silk threads, others with spun yarn. Some thought that by 
 exploding heavy charges of powder in the deep sea a sound 
 would reach the surface which might determine the depth, 
 from the rate at which sound travels through water. Others 
 constructed leads with columns of air inclosed in them, 
 which, they thought, might show the aqueous pressure to 
 which they might be subjected; and one ingenious philo- 
 sopher contrived a lead which should register the depth by 
 means of clock-work; but all these contrivances failed to 
 accomplish any satisfactory result. 
 
 At last the simple plan of fastening a cannon-ball to a 
 piece of twine was suggested by an American, and put in 
 practice ; and this sounding instrument has been more suc- 
 cessful than any other. Till within a few years back 5000 
 feet was the greatest depth that had been certainly ascer- 
 tained ; but the Americans have succeeded in sounding to 
 a depth of 25,000 feet, or five miles. That there are greater 
 depths still to be fathomed is highly probable. 
 
 Such are a few of the more interesting and curious fea- 
 
THE SEA. 59 
 
 tures of the mighty ocean, whose history we are now tracing. 
 We have touched briefly on that period in the history of 
 man when the sea was an object of unfathomable mystery 
 or superstitious fear, and when canoes and rafts were used, 
 chiefly in rivers, and sometimes along the margin of the 
 unknown deep. We shall now turn to the period when 
 boats of larger size began to be built, and when men began 
 to find out the truth of that word which was afterwards 
 written in the sacred volume : " They that go down to the 
 sea in ships, that do business in great waters ; these see the 
 works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." 
 
 But it was reserved to later generations to discover the 
 order and harmony that reigns in the apparent confusion of 
 the winds and waves; to observe more clearly how the 
 Almighty directs and governs all the elements for the good 
 of earth's innumerable inhabitants ; to appreciate more fully 
 the truth of that word : " The Lord is good to all, and his 
 tender mercies are over aU his works." 
 
 " Break, break, break, 
 
 On thy cold grey stones, sea ! 
 And I would that my tongue could utter 
 The thoughts that arise in me. 
 
 Oh, well for the fisherman's boy, 
 
 That he shouts with his sister at play ! 
 Oh, well for the sailor lad, 
 
 That he sings in his boat on tho bay I 
 
 And the stately ships go on 
 
 To their haven under the hill; 
 But oh for the touch of a vanish'd hand, 
 
 And the sound of a voice that is still ! 
 
 Break, break, break, 
 
 At the foot of thy crags, sea! 
 But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
 
 Will never come back to me." 
 
60 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 ANCIENT GALLEY, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 EVERYTHING must have a beginning, and, however right 
 and proper things may appear to those who begin them, 
 they generally wear a strange sometimes absurd aspect 
 to those who behold them after a lapse of many centuries. 
 
 When we think of the trim built ships and yachts that 
 now cover the ocean far and wide, we can scarce believe it 
 possible that men really began the practice of navigation, 
 and first put to sea, in such grotesque vessels as that re- 
 presented above. Yet such undoubtedly was the case. 
 
 In our third chapter reference has been made to the rise 
 of commerce and maritime enterprise, to the fleets and feats 
 of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Hebrews in the Mediter- 
 ranean, where commerce and navigation first began to grow 
 vigorous. We shall now consider the peculiar structure of 
 the ships and boats in which their maritime operations were 
 carried on. 
 
ANCIENT SHIPS. 61 
 
 Boats, as we have said, must have succeeded rafts and 
 canoes, and big boats soon followed in the wake of little 
 ones ; and gradually, as men's wants increased, the magni- 
 tude of their boats also increased, until they came to deserve 
 the title of little ships. These enormous boats, or little ships, 
 were propelled by means of oars of immense size ; and, in 
 order to advance with anything like speed, the oars and 
 rowers had to be multiplied, until they became very 
 numerous. 
 
 In our own day we seldom see a boat requiring more 
 than eight oars. In ancient times boats and ships re- 
 quired sometimes as many as four hundred oars to propel 
 them. 
 
 The forms of the ancient ships were curious and exceed- 
 ingly picturesque, owing to the ornamentation with which 
 their outlines were broken, and the high elevations of the 
 bows and stern. It may not be out of place, here, to pre- 
 sent our readers with a picture of some of the curious not 
 to say grotesque boats and ships used by the Chinese at 
 the present day, and to remark that in their high antiquated 
 sterns and elaborate ornamentation, they bear no small 
 degree of resemblance to the ships of the ancients. The 
 cut gives a view of the entrance to the Hoan-ho River, and 
 the curious looking craft, some of which are like resuscitated 
 antediluvians, may be seen still by any one who chooses to 
 go there to see them ! 
 
 We have no authentic details of the minutiae of the form 
 or size of ancient ships, but antiquarians have collected a 
 vast amount of desultory information, which when put to- 
 gether, enables us to form a pretty good idea of the manner 
 or working them, while ancient coins and sculptures have 
 given us a notion of their general aspect. No doubt many of 
 
62 
 
 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 these records are grotesque enough, nevertheless they must 
 be correct in the main particulars. 
 
 Homer, who lived 1000 B.C. gives, in his " Odyssey," an 
 account of ship-building in his time, to which antiquarians 
 attach much importance, as showing the ideas then pre- 
 
ANCIENT SHIPS. 63 
 
 valent in reference to geography and the point at which the 
 art of ship-building had then arrived. Of course due 
 allowance must be made for Homer's tendency to indulge 
 in hyperbole. 
 
 Ulysses, king of Ithaca, and deemed one of the wisest 
 Greeks who went to Troy, having been wrecked upon an 
 island, is furnished by the nymph Calypso with the means 
 of building a ship, that hero being determined to seek 
 again his native shore and return to his home and his 
 faithful spouse Penelope, 
 
 "Forth issuing thus, she gave him first to wield 
 A weighty axe, with truest temper steeled, 
 And double-edged ; the handle smooth and plain, 
 Wrought of the clouded olive's easy grain ; 
 And next, a wedge to drive with sweepy sway; 
 Then to the neighbouring forest led the way. 
 On the lone island's utmost verge there stood 
 Of poplars, pines, and firs, a lofty wood, 
 Whose leafless summits to the skies aspire, 
 Scorched by the sun, or seared by heavenly fire 
 (Already dried). These pointing out to view, 
 The nymph just showed him, and with tears withdrew. 
 
 " Now toils the hero; trees on trees o'erthrown 
 Fall crackling round, and the forests groan; 
 Sudden, full twenty on the plain are strewed 
 And lopped and lightened of their branchy load, 
 At equal angles these disposed to join, 
 He smoothed and squared them by the rule and line. 
 (The wimbles for the work Calypso found), 
 With those he pierced them and with clinchers bound. 
 Long and capacious as a shipwright forms 
 Some bark's broad bottom to outride the storms, 
 So large he built the raft; then ribbed it strong 
 From space to space, and nailed the planks along. 
 These formed the sides; the deck he fashioned last ; 
 Then o'er the vessel raised the'taper mast, 
 With crossing sail-yards dancing in the wind: 
 And to the helm the guiding rudder joined 
 (With yielding osiers fenced to break the force 
 Of surging waves, and steer the steady course). 
 Thy loom, Calypso, for the future sails 
 Supplied the cloth, capacious of the gales. 
 With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, 
 And, rolled on levers, launched her on the deep." 
 
 The ships of the ancient Greeks and Romans, of which 
 
64 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 our engraving gives what may be considered a correct re- 
 presentation, were divided into various classes according to 
 the number of " ranks," or " banks " that is, rows of oars. 
 Moveres contained one bank of oars ; biremes, two banks ; 
 triremes three ; guadriremes four ; quinqueremes five ; and so 
 on. But the two latter were seldom used, being unwieldy, 
 and the oars in the upper rank almost unmanageable from 
 their great length and weight. 
 
 Ptolemy Philopater, of Egypt, is said to have built a 
 gigantic ship with no less than forty tiers of oars, one 
 above the other ! She was managed by 4000 men, besides 
 whom there were 2850 combatants ; she had four rudders 
 and a double prow. Her stern was decorated with splendid 
 paintings' ;pf ferocious and fantastic animals ; her oars pro- 
 truded through masses of foliage, and her hold was filled 
 with grain ! 
 
 That this account is exaggerated and fanciful is abun- 
 dantly evident ; but it is highly probable that Ptolemy did 
 construct a ship, if not several, of uncommon size. 
 
 The sails used in these ships were usually square, and 
 when there was more than one mast, that nearest the stern 
 was the largest. The rigging was of the simplest descrip- 
 tion, consisting sometimes of only two ropes from the mast 
 to the bow and stern. There was usually a deck at the 
 bow and stern, but never in the centre of the vessel. 
 Steering was managed by means of a huge, broad oar 
 sometimes a couple at the stern. A formidable " beak " 
 was affixed to the fore-part of the ships of war with which 
 the crew charged the enemy. The vessels were painted 
 black, with red ornaments on the bows, to which. latter 
 Homer is supposed to refer when he writes of red-cheeked 
 ships. 
 
ANCIENT SHIPS. C5 
 
 Ships built by the Greeks and Romans for war were 
 sharper and more elegant than those used in commerce ; the 
 latter being round bottomed and broad in order to contain 
 cargo. 
 
 The Corinthians were the first to introduce triremes 
 into their navy (about 700 years B.C.), and they were also 
 the first who had any navy of importance. The Athenians 
 soon began to emulate them, and ere long constructed a 
 large fleet of vessels both for war and commerce. That 
 these ancient ships were light compared with ours is 
 proved by the fact that when the Greeks landed to com- 
 mence the siege of Troy they drew up their ships on the 
 shore. We are also told that ancient mariners, when they 
 came to a long narrow promontory of land, were sometimes 
 wont to land, draw their ships bodily across the narrowest 
 part of the isthmus and launch them on the other side. 
 Moreover, they had a salutary dread of what sailors term 
 "blue water," that is, the deep distant sea and never 
 ventured out of sight of land. They had no compass to 
 direct them, and in their coasting voyages of discovery they 
 were guided by the stars. 
 
 The sails were made of linen in Homer's time ; subse- 
 quently sail-cloth was made of hemp, rushes, and leather. 
 Sails were sometimes dyed of various colours and with 
 curious patterns. Huge ropes were fastened round the ships 
 to bind them more firmly together, and the bulwarks were 
 elevated beyond the frame of the vessels, by wicl^rwork 
 covered with skins. 
 
 Stones were used for anchors, and sometimes crates of 
 small stones or sand; but these were not long of being 
 superseded by iron anchors with teeth or flukes. 
 
 The Komans were not at first so strong in naval power 
 5 
 
66 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 as their neighbours, but in order to keep pace with them 
 they were ultimately compelled to devote more attention 
 to their navies. About 260 B.C. they raised a large 
 fleet to carry on the war with Carthage. A Cartha- 
 ginian quinquereme which, happened to be wrecked on their 
 coast was taken possession of by the Romans, used as a 
 model, and one hundred and thirty ships constructed from 
 it. These ships were all built, it is said, in six days; but 
 this appears almost incredible. We must not, however, 
 judge the power of the ancients by the standard of present 
 times. It is well known that labour then was cheap, and 
 we have recorded in history the completion of great works 
 in marvellously short time, by the mere force of myriads of 
 workmen. 
 
 The Romans not only succeeded in raising a considerable 
 navy, but they proved themselves ingenious in the contriv- 
 ance of novelties in their war-galleys. They erected towers 
 on the decks, from the top of which their warriors fought 
 as from the walls of a fortress. They also placed small 
 cages or baskets on the top of their masts, in which a few 
 men were placed to throw javelins down on the decks of 
 the enemy, a practice which is still carried out in principle 
 at the present day, men being placed in the tops of the 
 masts of our men-of-war, whence they fire down on the 
 enemy. It was a bullet from the top of one of the masts of 
 the enemy that laid low our greatest naval hero Lord Nelson. 
 
 From this time the Romans maintained a powerful navy ; 
 they crippled the maritime power of their African foes, and 
 built a number of ships with six, and even ten, ranks of 
 oars. The Romans became exceedingly fond of representa- 
 tions of sea-fights, and Julius Caesar dug a lake in the 
 Campus Martius specially for these exhibitions. These were 
 
ANCIENT SHIPS. 67 
 
 not by any means sham fights. The unfortunates who 
 manned the ships on these occasions were captives or 
 criminals who fought as the gladiators did to the death 
 until one side was exterminated or spared by imperial 
 clemency. In one of these battles no fewer than a hundred 
 ships and nineteen thousand combatants were engaged. 
 
 Such were the people who invaded Britain in the year 
 55 B.C. under Julius Caesar, and such the vessels from which 
 they landed upon our shores to give battle to the then 
 savage natives of our country. 
 
 A brief account of one of the greatest of the naval fights 
 of ancient days, namely the battle of Salamis, cannot fail 
 to prove interesting here. In ancient times war seems to 
 have been not only a necessity but actually a pleasure to 
 men, and some v nations, such as Sparta in Greece, made it 
 their sole occupation. The gospel of Jesus Christ the 
 message of love had not been preached at' that time, except 
 to the Jews. 
 
 Xerxes, the son of Darius, king of Persia, was a man 
 who seems to have taken special delight in conquest. 
 Having returned (480 B.C.) from a successful expedition 
 into Egypt, he resolved to invade Greece. A pretext 
 for invasion did not seem to be necessary in those times. 
 He simply remarked that he did not choose to buy the figs 
 of Attica ; he would possess himself of the country, and 
 thus have figs of his own. Accordingly, Greece was 
 invaded, and the Persians with their countless hosts were 
 at first successful, being supported by the co-operation of 
 an immense fleet of war-galleys and ships carrying provi- 
 sions, which were ordered along the coast of Asia Minor 
 towards the Hellespont. The Persian army amounted to 
 above two millions of men. The fleet consisted of fourteen 
 
68 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 hundred and twenty- seven ships of war, besides a thousand 
 smaller vessels, with crews amounting to six hundred thou- 
 sand men. 
 
 Of all the states of Greece only two were found courage- 
 ous enough to offer resistance to this overwhelming force. 
 The Athenians and Spartans joined their forces together, 
 and single-handed fought in defence of their native land. 
 Their united forces did not amount to more than eleven 
 thousand two hundred men. They were commanded by 
 Themistocles. Their fleet consisted of only three hundred 
 and eighty ships, but the knowledge of the Greeks in naval 
 tactics, and of the seas in which they afterwards fought, 
 was infinitely superior to that of the Persians. Their fleet 
 was commanded by Eurybiades, but Themistocles directed 
 all its operations. 
 
 BATTLE OF SAL AMIS. 
 
 After the famous battle of Thermopylae, where Leonidas 
 and his three hundred Spartans sacrificed themselves for 
 their country, the only hope left to the Greeks was their fleet 
 which lay at Salamis. To cope successfully with such 
 overwhelming forces seemed impossible, but to attack and 
 destroy the Persian fleet, and so cut off supplies from the 
 land forces, seemed not so hopeless ; for the overwhelming 
 majority of the enemy's fleet was neutralized by the 
 narrowness of the seas in which the battle was to be 
 fought. 
 
 Considerable strategic genius and nautical knowledge 
 were displayed by Themistocles in this famous engagement. 
 In order to draw the enemy on to attack them in narrow 
 waters, Themistocles caused it to be rumoured that the 
 Greek fleet at Salamis was preparing for flight. The arti- 
 
ANCIENT SHIPS. 71 
 
 fice succeeded. Xerxes immediately gave orders that 
 Salamis should be blockaded, and soon after the opposing 
 fleets prepared for battle. 
 
 Themistocles, knowing that a periodical wind, which 
 would be favourable, would soon set in, delayed the attack 
 till it arose. Then he gave orders to advance, and the 
 Greeks bore clown upon the foe. The Persian fleet hastened 
 to make a general attack, while their army lined the ad- 
 jacent shores, and their monarch himself was seated on an 
 eminence to view the approaching battle. The narrow 
 strait prevented the numerous ships of the Persians from 
 being regularly brought into action, while the zeal of the 
 commanders to distinguish themselves in the presence of 
 their king, tended to increase the confusion. Moreover, 
 the wind blew directly in their teeth, and the height and 
 heaviness of their vessels rendered them almost useless. 
 
 The Greeks on the other hand, having advanced in 
 steady and exact order, used their ponderous beaks with 
 terrible effect^ running into the hostile ships, and sink- 
 ing many of them. The confusion soon became general. 
 The Greeks gave the enemy no time to recover. Attack 
 followed attack, and soon many of the Persian ships were 
 driven ashore. In the midst of this mele a heroine rose 
 conspicuous. Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, who had 
 come to the assistance of Xerxes with five ships, exerted 
 herself with so much spirit, that the Persian monarch was 
 heard to say that his soldiers behaved like women in the 
 conflict, and the women like soldiers. But nothing could 
 now retrieve the fortunes of the day. The Persians fled 
 on all sides. Many ships were sunk more were taken ; 
 above two hundred were burnt ; the sea was so covered 
 with corpses as to be scarcely visible (so says the poet 
 
72 
 
 ANCIENT SHIPS. 
 
 
 ^Eschylus) ; and the rest of the fleet was completely 
 dispersed; while, on the other side, only forty Grecian 
 galleys are said to have been sunk or destroyed ; but most 
 of the crews saved themselves by swimming on board the 
 other ships, or on the neighbouring shore of Salamis. 
 
 Three-deckers and great guns have done much in modern 
 times to dye the sea with human blood ; but truly the 
 ancients, in their grotesque galleys, effected enough of 
 slaughter, one would think, to satisfy the thirst of the most 
 sanguinary son of Mars ! 
 
EAfiLY VOYAGES. 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EARLY VOYAGES. 
 
 THE idea of the ancients as to the shape of the earth was 
 what we would now style peculiar, but we cannot deny 
 that it was perfectly natural. 
 
 They thought that the world was flat, and who would 
 blame them for thinking so 1 Homer was of this belief. 
 He placed the fabled regions of Elysium and Tartarus 
 beneath the earth, and supposed that the vaulted heavens 
 rested on the summits of the highest mountains. He 
 deemed the land of the Ethiopians the most distant part 
 of the habitable globe, and the highest peak of the range 
 of the Atlas mountains, in Africa, he deified, describing it 
 as a giant supporting the canopy of the heavens on his 
 shoulders. Colchos, on the Black Sea, was believed to be 
 an ocean-city, in which was the Palace of the Sun ! Here 
 the fabled coursers of that luminary rested during the night. 
 This was Homer's eastern confine of the globe. 
 
 Rhodope, or the Eiphean Mountains, formed his northern 
 limit; and the region beyond this was peopled by his 
 fanciful and teeming brain by a race of creatures who lived 
 in perfect felicity in the recesses of their sheltered valleys. 
 They were represented as exempt from all ills, physical' or 
 moral from sickness, the changes of the seasons, and even 
 from death itself. In order to counterbalance this creation, 
 he brought into being a race of Cimmerians, whom he 
 
74 EARLY VOYAGES. 
 
 placed near the mouth of the Sea of Azof, and doomed 
 them to perpetual darkness. 
 
 Although a blind beggar, Homer was undoubtedly an 
 original and mentally prolific fellow. He made quite a 
 minute and interesting geographical sketch of the old 
 world, which had only one fault, that of being somewhat 
 incorrect. The Cyclops, a race of giants who had but 
 one eye, were placed in Sicily ; the Arimaspians (also one- 
 eyed) inhabited the frontiers of India ; and the Pigmies or 
 Dwarfs were supposed by him to dwell in Africa, India, 
 and the southern parts of the world. 
 
 Moreover, he peopled the earth and sea with monsters of 
 frightful form and size, as well as with hideous giants, 
 such as Poiyphemus, who watched poor mariners in order 
 to destroy them, and thereafter roast and devour their 
 flesh. But we ought not to suppose that Homer invented 
 all this. Doubtless the bold mariners who were driven to 
 distant and unknown lands, and returned to tell of the 
 wonders they had seen, furnished him with the ground- 
 work of all that he so graphically related, and with a poet's 
 license enlarged upon. 
 
 Homer's idea of the earth, as far as it can be gathered 
 from his writings, was that it was a flat disc, surrounded 
 by the river Ocean, and that it was about 600 miles in 
 diameter. A century later, Hesiod states that he believed 
 the space between the heavens and the earth was exactly 
 the same as that between the earth arid Tartarus, the abode 
 of darkness, beneath it. He further tells "us, that if a 
 brazen anvil were tossed from heaven, it would take exactly 
 nine days and nine nights to reach the earth, completing 
 its journey on the tenth day. No doubt Hesiod thought 
 he had ventured upon a daring flight of imagination when 
 
EARLY VOYAGES. 75 
 
 he said this, yet how wonderfully far short did he come of 
 the truth. 
 
 Four hundred years after Homer another speculative 
 philosopher started up and caused the sage folk of the 
 world to open their eyes, by stating it as his belief that the 
 earth's form was that of a short cylinder, like one of the 
 men of a backgammon board, and that its surface was con- 
 cave. Here we may see the working of fancy and observa- 
 tion. Anaximander, the philosopher in question, observed 
 the convexity of the portion of the world in which he 
 dwelt, and conceived the remainder of his idea. Thales, 
 one of the seven sages, was the first to hit upon the truth. 
 He declared his belief that 'the earth was spherical and 
 that it rested on nothing ! This was a bold idea, and few 
 were disposed to receive it. Even Herodotus, the most 
 celebrated traveller and historian of antiquity, who lived in 
 the fifth century B.C., rejected the idea of the spherical form 
 of the world as absurd. But Socrates, a century later, 
 asserted his belief in this vexed question, the rotundity of 
 the earth. 
 
 With such vague notions and limited knowledge of things 
 in general, and of the earth's form in particular, we do not 
 wonder that the ancients did not usually venture far from 
 land or on long voyages. Some of the more daring among 
 them did, however, perfonn voyages which are really mar- 
 vellous, considering the nature of their vessels and their 
 want of scientific knowledge and appliances. 
 
 Among the first recorded are the interesting 
 
 VOYAGES OF HANNO, HIMILCON, AND PYTHEAS. 
 
 Hanno lived, it is believed, before the fifth century B.C. 
 He was sent by the Carthaginians, then in the zenith of 
 
76 EARLY VOYAGES. 
 
 their maritime prosperity, on a voyage of discovery beyond 
 the Pillars of Hercules, as the two rocky mountains on 
 either side of the Straits of Gibraltar were then named. 
 The great ocean beyond was unknown, yet the intrepid 
 Hanno obeyed the order at once. 
 
 He was directed to establish colonies along the western 
 shore of Africa, and so set sail with a fleet of sixty vessels 
 each vessel being propelled by fifty oars. "No fewer than 
 thirty thousand men and women embarked with him ; 
 Hanno set sail, passed the straits, proceeded down the 
 African coast, and a week thereafter they founded a city 
 and erected a temple to Neptune. Continuing their voyage 
 they established five trading posts and entered into friendly 
 intercourse with the natives, whom they termed Lixitse. 
 
 Strange indeed were the sights which these bold navi- 
 gators witnessed as they continued their adventurous 
 voyage. All the natives were by no means so friendly as 
 the Lixitae. At one place where they attempted to land 
 they were rudely driven off by savage fellows dressed in the 
 skins of wild beasts, who sent showers of stones and other 
 missiles at them. Then they came to a river in which 
 monsters of the most hideous nature gigantic and ferocious 
 were seen gambolling in the water or crawling on the 
 muddy banks, namely crocodiles and hippopotami familiar 
 enough to men of the present age, but alarming and terrible 
 to men who had not even heard of them before. 
 
 And well might these ancients be awed and amazed ! 
 We have a vivid recollection of our own wonder at the first 
 view we had of the horrible tusks, the hideous red throat, 
 and the cavernous jaws of a live hippopotamus ! Had the 
 monster been uncaged, other sensations, besides that of 
 wonder, might perhaps have assailed us. 
 
EARLY VOYAGES. 77 
 
 Voyaging on they came to a coast close along which arose 
 high mountains covered with trees, from which the most 
 delicious perfumes were wafted out to them upon the 
 breeze. The wood of those trees was scented and beauti- 
 fully tinted. Near to this place vast plains were observed 
 on which many huge fires were blazing, and here the sounds 
 of music and the shouts of thousands of natives were heard. 
 But Hanno seems to have deemed it wise not to land, so 
 he pushed on, and arrived at a fiery region where torrents 
 of flame rushed down into the sea, and the earth was so 
 hot that the foot could not rest upon it. In the midst of 
 this region one mountain was seen, which rose above the 
 rest and was named the chariot of the gods. 
 
 Here they met with a curious set of savages whom they 
 described as being very rude indeed, and their skins un- 
 commonly rough and hairy. It is conjectured that our 
 adventurers had fallen in with a troop of the gigantic apes 
 now known as gorillas, which they had mistaken for human 
 beings ! A conjecture which is strengthened by the fact 
 that they were so wild that no intercourse could be held 
 with them, and three females who were captured made 
 such a violent and altogether unlady like struggle to escape, 
 that they were obliged to kill them ! A strange way of tam- 
 ing savages ; but the men of old were not particular they 
 stripped off their skins and carried them back to Carthage. 
 
 This is all the information we have of this remarkable 
 voyage. Antiquarians differ (by no means an unusual 
 thing) in regard to its extent. Some give to Banno's 
 course an extent of three thousand miles, others say less 
 than seven hundred. It is most probable that its utmost 
 limit was a little to the south of Sierra Leone. Want of 
 provisions compelled them to return home. 
 
78 EAELY VOYAGES. 
 
 Himilcon, a contemporary of Hanno and also a Car- 
 thaginian, was sent on a voyage to the North of Europe, 
 while his countryman was out upon the voyage just de- 
 scribed. The only account we have of this voyage is con- 
 tained in a Latin poem, from which we gather only the follow- 
 ing meagre facts, that Himilcon crossed the Bay of Biscay 
 and discovered a race of bold athletic people, who reck- 
 lessly ventured out to sea in boats made of skins sewed 
 together. That some boats of this kind are safe and can 
 stand a considerable sea, we now know from our intercourse 
 with the Esquimaux who constantly use them. 
 
 Leaving these people they crossed, in the space of two 
 days, a sea which brought them to an island which they 
 named the Sacred Island, and which was undoubtedly Ire- 
 land. Near to this was another island, which they named 
 Al-Bion. But we have no details of the voyage, neither do 
 we know that Himilcon ascertained these to be islands by 
 sailing round them. He most probably conjectured that 
 they were such. 
 
 Pytheas, a learned astronomer and geographer, was the 
 next who ventured out upon the great deep in search of 
 unknown lands, about 340 B.C. He was sent forth by 
 the citizens of Marseilles, which was established by the 
 Phocians and had originally been named Massilia. 
 
 Pytheas set sail for the north of Europe in a solitary 
 ship and without mishap arrived, in the course of a few 
 weeks in a wide gulf which turned out to be the British 
 Channel, with Himilcon's island of Al-Bion on the left. 
 Pytheas may be said to be the discoverer of Britain, for 
 although Himilcon was the first to see it and to record the 
 fact, the former was the first to sail round it and map its 
 form correctly. He described it as having the form of an 
 
EARLY VOYAGES. 79 
 
 isosceles triangle, and mentions the inhabitants of the 
 southern part of the island as being sociable, peaceful, in- 
 dustrious, and honest. They raised wheat and worked rich 
 mines of tin. Here then we have the first faint shadows 
 of the history of our native land, and it is worthy of remark 
 that the characteristic features described by Pytheas as 
 marking the natives of our country then, are those for 
 which she has in all ages been celebrated. A cause this, 
 not of self-glorification, but of thankfulness to God. 
 
 Pytheas continued his voyage northward until he reached 
 an island, or continent; he knew not which. This he 
 named Thule, and being unable to proceed further spoke of 
 it as Ultima Thule, an expression which has now come to 
 signify, in figurative language, the utmost limit of any point 
 or region. No doubt this Ultima Thule was Shetland, but 
 there are some who have deemed it to be Sweden or even 
 Iceland. Pytheas made other important discoveries; he 
 entered the mouth of the Rhine, and discovered a river sup- 
 posed to be either the Elbe or the, Oder, and finally after 
 a little less than a year's absence returned home. 
 
 Other voyages there were in those days, all more or less 
 interesting; but we may not record them here, enough has 
 been said to show their style and purpose. Oars were the 
 chief if not the only propelling power in all of them. The 
 land was hugged as much as possible and the stars at night 
 were the seaman's guide. But little resulted from such 
 voyages. They were not followed up; and it was not 
 until the great discovery of the Mariner's Compass that the 
 world began to estimate properly the value of the sea, and 
 to devote all their energies to the advancement of naviga- 
 tion in all its branches. Sails came gradually to take the 
 place of oars, though for a long period both were used in 
 
80 
 
 EARLY VOYAGES. 
 
 the same vessel, so that when one mode of propulsion 
 failed the other became available. At length in a certain 
 class of vessels sails superseded oars altogether but it was 
 long before the high fore-castle and quarter-deck were dis- 
 carded. Strange looking clumsy craft these ancient ships 
 must have been. 
 
 ANCIENT SHIP. 
 
PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 81 
 
 NORSK GALLEY. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 IT is a curious fact that the crusades of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries were the chief cause of the advancement 
 of navigation after the opening of the Christian era. 
 During the first five hundred years after the birth of our 
 Lord, nothing worthy of notice in the way of maritime 
 enterprise or discovery occurred. 
 
 But about this time an event took place which caused 
 the foundation of one of the most remarkable maritime 
 cities in the world. In the year 476 Italy was invaded by 
 the barbarians. One tribe, the Veneti, who dwelt upon 
 the north-eastern shores of the Adriatic, escaped the in- 
 
82 PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 " vaders by fleeing for shelter to the marshes and sandy islets 
 at the head of the gulf, whither their enemies could not 
 follow by land owing to the swampy nature of the ground, 
 nor by sea, on account of the shallowness of the waters. 
 The Veneti took to fishing; then to making salt, and finally 
 to mercantile enterprises. They began to build, too, on 
 those sandy isles, and soon their cities covered ninety 
 islands, many of which were connected by bridges. And 
 thus arose the far-famed city of the waters "Beautiful 
 Venice, the bride of the sea." 
 
 Soon the Venetians and their neighbours the Genoese 
 monopolized the commerce of the Mediterranean. 
 
 The crusades now began, and for two centuries the Chris- 
 tian warred against the Turk in the name of Him who, 
 they seem to have forgotten, if indeed the mass of them 
 ever knew, is styled the Prince of Peace. One of the 
 results of these crusades was that the Europeans engaged, 
 acquired a taste for Eastern luxuries, and the fleets of 
 Venice and Genoa, Pisa and Florence, ere long crowded the 
 Mediterranean, laden with jewels, silks, perfumes, spices, 
 and such costly merchandize. The Normans, the Danes, 
 and the Dutch, also began to take active part in the naval 
 enterprise thus fostered, and the navy of France was created 
 under the auspices of Philip Augustus. 
 
 The result of all this was that therd was a great moving, 
 and to some extent, co-mingling of the nations. The know- 
 ledge of arts and manufactures was interchanged, and of 
 necessity the knowledge of various languages spread. The 
 West began constantly to demand the products of the East, 
 and wealth began to increase, and the sum of human know- 
 ledge to extend. 
 
 Shortly after this era of opening commercial prosperity 
 
PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 83 
 
 in the Mediterranean, the hardy northmen performed deeds 
 on the deep which outrival those of the great Columbus 
 himself, and were undertaken many centuries before his 
 day. 
 
 DEEDS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND NORTHMEN. 
 
 These races of men inhabited the borders of the Baltic, 
 the shores of the German Ocean, and the coasts of Norway. 
 Like the nations on the shores of the Mediterranean, they 
 too became famous navigators, but unlike them, war and 
 piracy were their chief objects of pursuit. Commerce was 
 secondary. 
 
 In vessels resembling that at the head of this chapter, 
 these nations went forth to plunder the dwellers in more 
 favoured climes, and to establish colonies in other lands. 
 In the seventh century they established the Anglo-Saxon 
 dominion in England, and their celebrated King Alfred 
 became the founder of the naval power of Britain, which 
 was destined in future ages to rule the seas. 
 
 It was the Northmen who in huge open boats, pushed 
 off, without chart or compass (for neither were yet invented), 
 into the tempestuous northern seas, and, in the year 863, 
 discovered the island of Iceland ; in 983, the coast of Green- 
 land, and, a few years later, those parts of the American 
 coast now called Long Island, Ehode Island, Massachusetts, 
 Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. It is true they did not 
 go forth with the scientific and commercial views of Col- 
 umbus. Neither did they give to the civilized world the 
 benefit of their knowledge of those lands ; but although 
 their purpose was simply selfish, we cannot withhold our 
 admiration of the bold, daring spirit displayed by those 
 early navigators, under circumstances of the greatest pos- 
 
 6 
 
84 PEOGEESS QF NAVIGATION. 
 
 sible disadvantage with undecked boats, meagre supplies, 
 no scientific knowledge or appliances, and the stars their 
 only guide over the trackless waste of waters. 
 
 MAECO POLO. 
 
 In the course of time, one or two adventurous travellers 
 pushed into Asia, and men began to ascertain that the 
 world was not the insignificant disc, or cylinder, or ball, 
 they had deemed it Perhaps one of the chief among those 
 said adventurous travellers was Marco Polo, a Venetian, who 
 lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century. . He made 
 known the central and eastern portions of Asia, Japan, the 
 islands of the Indian Archipelago, part of the continent of 
 Africa, and the island of Madagascar, and is considered the 
 founder of the modern geography of Asia. His brief 
 account of the island of Japan and which, be it observed, 
 is the first account of that island given to the world, is 
 somewhat amusing, 
 
 " Zipangu, or Cipango," he writes, " is an island in the 
 Eastern Ocean, situated about fifteen hundred miles from 
 the mainland. It is quite large. The inhabitants have 
 fair complexions, are civilized in their manners, though 
 their religion is idolatry. They have gold in the greatest 
 abundance, but its exportation is forbidden. The entire 
 roof of the sovereign's palace is stated to be covered with a 
 plating of gold, as we cover churches and other buildings 
 with lead. So famous is the wealth of this island, that 
 Kublai Khan was fired with the desire of annexing it to 
 his dominions. He sent out a numerous fleet, and a 
 powerful army ; but a violent storm dispersed and wrecked 
 the ships, and thirty thousand men were thrown upon a 
 desert island, a few miles from Cipango. They expected 
 
PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 85 
 
 nothing but death or captivity, as they could obtain no 
 means of subsistence. Being attacked from Cipango, they 
 got in rear of the enemy, took possession of their fleet, and 
 put off for the main island. They kept the colours flying 
 from the masts, and entered the chief city unsuspected. 
 All the inhabitants were gone except the women. They 
 took possession, but were closely besieged for six months, 
 until, despairing of relief, they surrendered, on condition of 
 their lives being spared. This took place in the year 1284." 
 
 The adventures of this wonderful man, Marco Polo, were 
 truly surprising, and although he undoubtedly exaggerated 
 to some extent in his account of what he had seen, his 
 narrations are for the most part truthful. He and his 
 companions were absent on their voyages and travels 
 twenty-one years. They saw the pearl-fisheries of Ceylon, 
 and the diamonds of a kingdom named Murphili, where the 
 people were in the habit of dropping pieces of meat into 
 inaccessible valleys, in order that the diamonds there might 
 -stick thereto, and be brought up in the talons of vultures 
 and eagles, a custom that calls at once to remembrance one 
 of the incidents in the life of Sinbad the sailor. Marco 
 alludes to the gigantic bird called the roc, which he declares 
 could lift elephants into the air ! He became the favourite 
 of Kublai Khan, emperor of China, and dwelt with him for 
 some time at Pekin. He travelled far and wide over land and 
 sea, and ultimately returned home, so changed that his best 
 friends did not know him, but so rich in jewels and gold 
 that they very willingly made his acquaintance over again. 
 
 This great traveller very quietly and coolly settled the 
 question of the pigmies or dwarfs that were, as we have 
 before mentioned, supposed to dwell in the southern parts 
 of the world. In writing of Sumatra he says, 
 
86 
 
 PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 " It should be known that what is reported respecting 
 the mummies of pigmies sent to Europe from India, is only 
 an idle tale; these pretended human dwarfs being manu- 
 factured in this island in the following manner : The 
 
 PEARL D1V1NQ. 
 
 country produces a large species of monkey, having a 
 countenance resembling that of a man. The Sumatrans 
 
PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 87 
 
 catch them, shave off their hair, dry and preserve their 
 bodies with camphor and other drugs, and prepare them 
 generally so as to give them the appearance of little men. 
 They then pack them in wooden boxes and sell them to 
 traders, by whom they are vended for pigmies in all parts 
 of the world. But there are no such things as pigmies in 
 India or anywhere else. It is mere monkey- trade." 
 
 The Ceylon Ftarl Fishery above referred to, has long 
 been a source of wealth to mankind. It was for a time in 
 possession of the Dutch, and came into the possession of 
 the British in 1796. A year or two after, the fishery 
 yielded a revenue of nearly 200,000. 
 
 Pearls are found in oyster shells, and they are the result 
 of a disease to which the fish is liable. Some have sup- 
 posed that a grain of sand getting into the creature's body, 
 proves so irritable, that it covers it over with several coats 
 of a substance, or secretion, which forms the beautiful 
 white pea-like globule, which we call a pearl. 
 
 The fishing season commences about the middle of 
 February, and continues till the end of March. The boats, 
 with their owners, the pearl divers, who are all Indians, 
 come from the Coromandel coast and rendezvous in the bay 
 of Condatchy, where they are numbered and contracted for. 
 At ten o'clock each night, all the boats sail with the land- 
 breeze for the banks, which they reach about sun-rise, and 
 commence the fishing. The depth of water over the banks 
 varies from three to fifteen fathoms ; but the best fishing 
 is found in from six to eight fathoms. The crew of each 
 boat consists of twenty men, ten of whom are divers ; the 
 other ten remain in the boat to haul the divers up. Five 
 divers descend at a time, while the others have leisure to 
 recruit. 
 
88 PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 When about to descend, the diver seizes a rope with one 
 hand, at the end of which is a stone which he grasps with 
 his toes, and thereby hastens his descent; with the other 
 hand he seizes a second rope, to the end of which is attached 
 a basket. Thus prepared, he is lowered into the sea, and 
 allowed to descend at the utmost speed the stone can take 
 him. Arrived at the bottom, he fills his basket with osyters 
 as quickly as possible, and when unable to remain longer 
 under water, he makes a signal to his comrades above, 
 who at once draw him to the surface. The stone is pulled 
 up afterwards. 
 
 This process he continues as long as his strength will 
 permit. Sometimes he makes from forty to fifty plunges 
 a-day. The work is very fatiguing and hurtful. The time 
 a diver continues under water seldom exceeds a minute; 
 sometimes a little more, and occasionally, but very rarely, 
 two minutes. It is even said that instances have been 
 know of a diver remaining five minutes under water, but 
 the assertion is not authenticated. The effects on the men, 
 even although used to it from their infancy, are very severe, 
 and sometimes the exertion is so violent, that on coming 
 up, they discharge blood from the mouth, ears, and nostrils. 
 A few of them rub their bodies over with oil, and stuff 
 their ears with cotton, but the most are reckless, and use 
 no precautions whatever. 
 
 Besides these evils, pearl-divers are subjected to the risk 
 of being attacked by ground sharks while at the bottom, 
 and of these monsters they are naturally very apprehensive. 
 
 After the boats return to shore, the oysters are piled in 
 heaps, and allowed to remain until they have putrefied and 
 become dry, when the pearl is easily extracted without 
 being injured. 
 
PROGKESS OF NAVIGATION. 
 
 39 
 
 Such is the nature of the fishery, which has continued 
 from the time of Marco Polo down to the present day. 
 
 Marco Polo died, but the knowledge of the East opened 
 up by him his adventures and his wealth, remained be- 
 hind to stir up the energies of European nations yet there 
 is no saying how long the world would have groped on in 
 thi& twilight of knowledge, and mariners would have con- 
 tinued to " hug the shore " as in days gone by, had not an 
 event occurred which at once revolutionized the science of 
 navigation, and formed a new era in the history of mankind. 
 This was the invention of the mariner's compass. 
 
90 THE MARINER'S COMPASS, 
 
 MAN AT THE WHEEL, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 " WHAT is the compass 1 " every philosophical youth of 
 inquiring disposition will naturally ask. We do not say 
 that all youths will make this inquiry. Many there are 
 who will at once say, " Oh, I know ! It's a needle with a 
 card on the top of it sometimes a needle with a card 
 under it which always points to the north, and shows 
 sailors how to steer their ships." 
 
 Very well explained indeed, my self-sufficient friend; 
 but you have not answered the question. You have told 
 us what a compass is like, and one of the uses to which it 
 is applied; but you have not yet told what it is. A man 
 who had never heard of a compass might exclaim, " What ! 
 a needle ! Is it a darning needle, or a knitting needle, or 
 a drawing- through needle? And which end points to the 
 north the eye or the point ? And if you lay it on the 
 
THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 91 
 
 table the wrong end to the north, will it turn round of its 
 own accord 1 
 
 You laugh, perhaps, and explain; but it would have 
 been better to have explained correctly at first. Thus : 
 
 The mariner's compass is a small, flat bar of magnetized 
 steel, which, when balanced on a pivot, turns one of its 
 ends persistently towards the north pole the other, of 
 course, towards the south pole; and it does this in conse- 
 quence of its being magnetized. Above sometimes below 
 this bar of steel, usually called "the needle," a card is 
 fixed, whereon are marked the cardinal points north, 
 south, east, and west with their subdivisions or interme- 
 diate points, by means of which the true direction of any 
 point can be ascertained. 
 
 "Aha!" you exclaim, "Mr. Author, but you yourself 
 have omitted part of the explanation. Why is it that the 
 magnetizing of the needle causes it to turn to the north 1 " 
 
 I answer humbly, "I cannot tell;" but, further, I assert 
 confidently, " Neither can anybody else ! " The fact is 
 known, and we see its result; but the reason why mag- 
 netized steel or iron should 
 have this tendency this 
 polarity is one of the mys- 
 teries which man has not 
 yet been able to penetrate, 
 and probably never will. 
 
 Having explained the 
 nature of the compass, as 
 far as explanation is possible, 
 we present our reader with 
 a picture of one. 
 
 It will be seen that there are four large points K, 
 
92 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 S., E., and W. tlie cardinal points above referred to, and 
 that these are subdivided by twelve smaller points, with 
 one little black triangular point between each, and a multi- 
 tude of smaller points round the outer circle. To give 
 these points their correct names is called "boxing the 
 compass," a lesson which all seamen can trip off their 
 tongues like ABC, and which most boys could learn in a 
 few hours. 
 
 For the sake of those who are anxious to acquire the 
 knowledge, we give the following explanation: Let us 
 begin with north. The large point midway between north 
 and east (to the right), is north-east. The corresponding 
 point midway between N. and W. (to the left), is north- 
 west. A glance will show that the corresponding points 
 towards the south are respectively south-east and south- 
 west (usually written SE. and SW., as the two former 
 points are written NE. and NW.) Now> to read off the 
 compass with this amount of knowledge is very simple. 
 Thus, North, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-west, 
 west, north-west, north. But be it observed that, in the 
 language of the sea, the th is. thrown overboard, except 
 when the words north and south occur alone. When con- 
 joined with other points they are pronounced thus nor'- 
 east, sou'-east, and so on. 
 
 To come now to the smaller subdivisions, it will suffice 
 to take a quarter of the circle. The point midway between 
 NE. and N. is "nor' nor'-east" (NNE.), and the corre- 
 sponding one between NE. and E. is "east nor'-east" 
 (ENE.) These points are again subdivided by little black 
 points, which are thus named: The first, next the N., is 
 %l> nor' by east" (N. by E.); the corresponding one next the 
 E. is " east by north" (E. by N.) The second black point 
 
THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 93 
 
 from N. is " nor'-east by north" (NE. by N.), and the cor- 
 responding one namely, the second black point from east 
 is "nor'-east by east" (NE. by E.) Thus, in reading off 
 the compass, we say beginning at north and proceeding 
 to east, North, north by east, nor' nor'-east, nor'-east by 
 north, nor'-east, nor'-east by east, east nor'-east, east by 
 north, east ; and so on with the other quarters of the circle. 
 So much for "boxing the compass." The manner in 
 which it is used on board ship, and the various instruments 
 employed in connection with it in the working of a vessel 
 at sea, will be explained shortly; but first let us glance at 
 the history of the compass. 
 
 It is a matter of great uncertainty when, where, and by 
 whom the mariner's compass was invented. 
 
 Flavio Gioia, a Neapolitan captain or pilot, who lived 
 about the beginning of the fourteenth century, was gene- 
 rally recognised throughout Europe as the inventor of this 
 useful instrument; but time and research have thrown 
 new light on this subject. Probably the Neapolitan pilot 
 was the first who brought the compass into general notice 
 in Europe; but long before 1303 (the year in which it was 
 said to have been invented) the use of the magnetic needle 
 was known to the Chinese. 
 
 Loadstone, that mineral which has the mysterious power 
 of attracting iron, and also of imparting to iron its own 
 attractive power, was known to the Chinese before the year 
 121, in which year a famous Chinese dictionary was com- 
 pleted, wherein the word magnet is defined as " the name 
 of a stone which gives direction to a needle." This proves 
 not only that they knew the attractive properties of the 
 loadstone, and its power of imparting these properties to 
 metal, but also that they were aware of the polarity of a 
 
94 THE MAKINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 magnetized needle. Another Chinese dictionary, published 
 between the third and fourth centuries, speaks of ships 
 being guided in their course to the south by means of the 
 magnet; and in a medical work published in China in 
 1112, mention is made of the variation of the needle, 
 showing that the Chinese had not only used the needle as 
 a guide at sea, but had observed this one of its well-known 
 peculiarities namely, the tendency of the needle to point 
 in a very slight degree away from the true north. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, too, we find mention made of 
 the needle by a poet and by two other writers; so that 
 whatever Flavio Gioia may have done (and it is probable 
 he did much) in the way of pushing the compass into 
 notice in Europe, he cannot be said to be the inventor of it. 
 That honour doubtless belongs to the Chinese. Be that 
 as it may, the compass was invented, and, in the fourteenth 
 century, it began the revolution in maritime affairs to which 
 we have before alluded. 
 
 The first compasses were curiously formed. The Chinese 
 used a magnetized needle, which they placed in a bit of 
 rush or pith, which was floated in a basin of water, and 
 thus allowed to move freely and turn towards the poles. 
 They also made them in the form of iron fish. An Arabian 
 author of the thirteenth century thus writes : " I heard it 
 said that the captains in the Indian seas substitute for the 
 needle and reed a hollow iron fish magnetized, so that, 
 when placed in the water, it points to the north with its 
 head and to the south with its tail. The reason that the 
 fish swims, not sinks, is that metallic bodies, even the 
 heaviest, float when hollow and when they displace a quan- 
 tity of water greater than their own weight.'' 
 
 The use of the compass at sea is so simple that, after 
 
THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 95 
 
 what has been said, it scarcely requires explanation. When 
 a ship sets sail for any port, she knows, first of all, the 
 position of the port from which she sets sail, as well as that 
 to which she is bound. A straight line drawn from the 
 one to the other is her true course, supposing that there is 
 deep, unobstructed water all the way; and if the compass 
 be placed upon that line, the point of the compass through 
 which it passes is the point by which she ought to steer. 
 Suppose that her course ran through the east point of the 
 compass ; the ship's head would at once be turned in that 
 direction, and she would continue her voyage with the needle 
 of the compass pointing straight across the deck, and the 
 east and west points straight along it. 
 
 But various causes arise in the actual practice of naviga- 
 tion to prevent a ship keeping her true course. Winds may 
 be contrary, and currents may drive her either to the one 
 side or the other of it; while land promontories, islands, 
 and shallows compel her to deviate from the direct line. 
 A vessel also makes what is called " lee-way," which means 
 that, when the wind blows on her side, she not only ad- 
 vances forward, but also slides through the water sidewise. 
 Thus, in the course of a day, she may get a considerable 
 distance off her true course in sea parlance, "make a good 
 deal of lee-way." 
 
 To perform the voyage correctly and safely in the face of 
 these obstacles and hindrances is the aim and end of naviga- 
 tion ; and the manner of proceeding is as follows : 
 
 The hour is carefully noted at starting, and from that 
 moment, night and day to the end of the voyage, certain 
 observations are made and noted in the ship's journal, called 
 the Log. Every hour the rate at which the ship is going is 
 ascertained and carefully noted. The point of the compass 
 
96 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 towards which the ship is to be steered is given by the 
 captain or officer in command to the steersman, who stands 
 at the wheel with a compass always before him in a box 
 called the "binnacle" as represented in the cut at the head 
 of this chapter. The course is never changed except by 
 distinct orders from those in command, and, when it is 
 changed, the hour when the change takes place, and the new 
 point to be steered are all carefully noted down. Thus at 
 the end of the day, or at any other time if desired, the 
 position of the ship can be ascertained by her course being 
 drawn upon a chart of the ocean over which she is sailing, 
 correct charts, or maps, being provided by the captain 
 "before starting. 
 
 The estimate thus made is, however, not absolutely 
 correct. It is called the " dead-reckoning" and is only an 
 approximation to the truth, because allowance has to be 
 made for lee-way, which can only be guessed at ; allowance 
 has also to be made for variations in the rate of sailing in 
 each hour, for the winds do not always blow with exactly 
 the same force during any hour of the day. On the contrary, 
 they may vary several times within an hour both in force 
 and in direction. Those variations have to be watched and 
 allowed for, but such allowance may be erroneous in a 
 greater or less degree. Currents, too, may have exerted an 
 unseen influence on the ship, thus rendering the calculation 
 still less correct. Nevertheless, dead-reckoning is often the 
 only guide the sailor has to depend upon for days at a time, 
 when storms and cloudy skies prevent him from ascertaining 
 his true position by other means, of which we shall speak 
 presently. 
 
 Of course, in the early days of navigation there were no 
 charts of the ocean. The navigator knew not whither he 
 
THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 97 
 
 was hurrying over the wild waste of waters ; but by observ- 
 ing the relative position of some of the fixed stars to his 
 course while sailing out to sea, he could form a rough idea 
 of the proper course to steer in order to return to the port 
 whence he had started. 
 
 The compass, then, shows the sailor the course he has 
 been going, and the log (of which more presently) enables 
 him to ascertain the rate at which he has proceeded; 
 while his chronometers, or time-keepers, tell him the time 
 during which the course and rate of sailing have been kept 
 up. And many a long cruise on the unknown deep has 
 been successfully accomplished in days of old by bold 
 seamen, with this method of dead-reckoning, and many a 
 mariner at the present day depends almost entirely on it, 
 while all are, during .thick stormy weather, dependent on it 
 for days, and sometimes weeks together. 
 
 The Log to which we have referred, is the instrument 
 by which the rate at which a ship is progressing is deter- 
 mined. It is a very simple contrivance ; a triangular piece 
 of wood about the size of a large saucer with a piece of stout 
 cord fastened to each corner, the ends of the cords being 
 tied together, so that when held up the " log," as it is called, 
 resembles one of a pair of scales. One of the cords, however, 
 is only temporarily attached to its corner by means of a peg, 
 which when violently pulled comes out. One edge of the 
 triangle is loaded with lead. The whole machine is fastened 
 to the " log-line," another stout cord many fathoms long, 
 which is wound on a large reel. 
 
 Heaving the log, as we have said, takes place every hour. 
 One sailor stands by with a sand glass which runs exactly 
 half a minute. Another holds the wooden reel, and a third 
 heaves the log over-board, and " pays out " line as fast as he 
 
98 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 can make the reel spin. The instant it is thrown the first 
 sailor turns the sand-glass. The log, being loaded on one 
 side, floats perpendicularly in the water, remaining stationary 
 of course, while the man who hove it watches sundry knots 
 on the line as they pass over the stern of the ship, each 
 knot representing a mile of rate of speed in the hour. As 
 the last grain of sand drops to the bottom of the glass the 
 first sailor gives a sharp signal, and the second clutches and 
 checks the line ; examines the knot nearest his hand, and 
 thus knows at once how many knots or miles the ship is 
 sailing at that time. The sudden stoppage of the line jerks 
 the peg, before referred to, out of the log, thereby allowing 
 the other two fixed cords to drag it flat and unresisting 
 over the surface of the sea, when the line is reeled up and 
 put by. The flight of another hour calls for a repetition of 
 the heaving of the log. 
 
 As scientific knowledge advanced, instruments of peculiar 
 and more complicated form were devised to enable navigators 
 to ascertain more correctly their position on the surface of 
 the sea, but they did not, and never will, supersede the 
 method by dead-reckoning, for this reason that the latter 
 can be practised at all times, while the former are useless 
 unless the sun, moon, or stars be visible, which in some 
 latitudes they are not for many days and weeks during 
 which clouds and fogs shroud the bright sky from view. 
 
 The Quadrant is the chief of those instruments, of which 
 a representation is given below. To give a succinct account 
 of this would take up more space than we can spare. It 
 may suffice the general reader to say that by observing the 
 exact position of the sun at noon, or of the moon or a star, 
 in relation to the horizon, the precise latitude of a ship 
 that is, her distance north or south of the equator is 
 
THE MAKINER'S COMPASS. 99 
 
 ascertained. The method of " taking an observation " is 
 complicated, and difficult to explain and understand. We 
 
 refer those who are curious on the point to treatises on 
 navigation. 
 
 Chronometers are exceedingly delicate and perfect time 
 keepers, or watches, which are very carefully set at the com- 
 mencement of the voyage. Thus the time at the meridian, 
 whence the vessel started is kept up during the voyage. 
 By means of an observation of the sun with the quadrant, 
 or sextant (a somewhat similar instrument), the true time 
 at any particular point in the voyage may be ascertained. 
 A difference is found to exist between the time, at the spot 
 where the observation is taken, and the time of the 
 chronometer. A calculation founded on this difference gives 
 
 7 
 
100 
 
 THE MARINER'S COMPASS. 
 
 the ship's longitude, that is, her distance east or west of 
 the meridian that passes through Greenwich. That meridian 
 is an imaginary line drawn round the world longitudinally, 
 and passing through the north and south poles, as the 
 equator is a line passing round it latitudinally. 
 
 Thus, then, a ship's latitude and longitude having been 
 ascertained, and a line being drawn through the first, 
 parallel to the equator, and through the second, parallel to 
 the first meridian, the point where these two lines intersect 
 is the exact position of the ship upon the sea. 
 
EARLY PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 101 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EARLY PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 
 
 As we have seen in foregoing chapters the size and form of 
 ships had gradually been much improved. The compass 
 and other scientific appliances had been discovered, cannon 
 also, and gunpowder, had been invented, and seamen had 
 become more courageous and venturesome. 
 
 Still, however, men continued to " hug the land," and 
 dreaded to face the unknown dangers of the open sea. But 
 at last the Portuguese nation began that career of maritime 
 enterprise which won for it the admiration of the world. 
 
 EARLY PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 
 
 About the beginning of the fourteenth century (1330), 
 the Canary Islands, lying on the west coast of Africa, were 
 re-discovered by the accident of a French ship being blown 
 off the coast in a storm, and finding shelter amongst them. 
 This group had been known to the ancients under the name 
 of the Fortunate Islands, but had been forgotten for more 
 than a thousand years. During the course of the century 
 the Spaniards plucked up courage to make discoveries and 
 settlements upon them, although by so doing they were 
 compelled to undergo that much dreaded ordeal, sailing out 
 of sight of their fondly " hugged " land ! 
 
 In the beginning of the next century arose a prince, Don 
 Henry, son of John I. of Portugal, whose anxiety to promote 
 
102 EARLY PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 
 
 discovery, and to find a passage by sea round the coast of 
 Africa to India, induced him to send out many expeditions, 
 all of which accomplished something, and many of which 
 added very extensively to the geographical knowledge of the 
 world at that time. Navigators sent out by him from time 
 to time discovered the Madeira Islands ; sailed along the 
 western coast of Africa a considerable distance ; ascertained 
 the presence of gold dust among the savages on the gulf of 
 Guinea; discovered the Azores, besides numerous other 
 islands and lands; crossed the equator, and approached to 
 within about eighteen hundred miles of the southmost cape 
 of Africa. 
 
 The discovery of gold dust stirred up the energies of the 
 Portuguese in a remarkable degree, and induced them cheer- 
 fully to undertake ventures which without that inducement 
 they would probably never have undertaken at all. Moreover, 
 they had now learned to quail less at the idea of losing sight 
 of land, and towards the end of the fifteenth century (1486), 
 Bartholomew Diaz, an officer of the household of John II., 
 achieved the grand object which had long been ardently 
 desired by the Portuguese, he doubled the great southern 
 Cape of Africa, which King John named the " Cape of Good 
 Hope," although Diaz had named it the " Cape of Tempests. " 
 
 The circumstance is thus alluded to by a poet of that 
 period, 
 
 "At Lisboa's court they told their dread escape, 
 And from her raging tempests named the Cape. 
 'Thou southmost point,' the joyful King exclaimed, 
 'Cape of Good Hope be thou for ever named ! ' " 
 
 But a man of greater renown than Bartholomew Diaz 
 was now about to step upon the stage, and outshine all 
 previous actors in the scene. He was a Genoese by birth, 
 and his name was, 
 
COLUMBUS. 103 
 
 CHEISTOPHEK COLUMBUS. 
 
 " The world is flat," said philosophers even in the days of 
 Columbus. But centuries before bold-thinkers had asserted 
 that it was round, and in all ages there were some who 
 held that, so called, absurd doctrine. Among these " absurd 
 thinkers," was Christopher Columbus; and one of the 
 expressions of contempt used against him by the wise men 
 of Portugal, to whom he long and fruitlessly appealed for 
 assistance to carry out his daring schemes, was this, "he is 
 a foreigner who asserts that the world is round like an 
 orange, and that there are places where people walk on their 
 heads!" 
 
 Aye, he did assert that the world was round like an 
 orange, and of his revilers he might have said that as far 
 as wisdom went it mattered little whether they walked upon 
 their heads or on their feet. 
 
 Columbus was born in Genoa in the year 1435. He, 
 with his brother Bartholomew, followed his father's trade, 
 that of a wool- comber, till he was ten years of age, when he 
 was sent to the University of Pa via ; but he soon returned 
 to wool-combing, at which he continued till he was fourteen. 
 Then he took to the sea. In course of time he made a voyage 
 of discovery to Iceland; afterwards joined the Genoese fleet 
 under command of his great-uncle, and became a naval 
 warrior, fighting the Venetians and Neapolitans, and chasing 
 the pirates of the Mediterranean for about sixteen years, 
 when he was wrecked on the coast of Portugal. 
 
 In Lisbon his brother Bartholomew had settled and 
 become a drawer of plans and charts. Columbus joined 
 him, and married an Italian lady. He was in the prime of 
 life at this time ; an enthusiastic and a religious man. The 
 
104 COLUMBUS. 
 
 idea that lie should be the means of diffusing the knowledge 
 of the gospel of Jesus Christ, seems to have fired his soul 
 with an unquenchable flame. And truly had it not been 
 unquenchable the long, long years of disappointment he 
 experienced would have effectually extinguished it. 
 
 He brooded over the idea, and sought to carry it out for 
 years. At the age of forty he proposed to the senate of 
 Genoa to sail through the Pillars of Hercules, proceed 
 straight west till he reached the East Indies, and circum- 
 navigate the globe ! 
 
 The globe! "there is no globe," doubtless thought the 
 Genoese, so they declined his offer, on the plea of poverty. 
 But Columbus was not to be put down. He made a 
 similar offer to King John II. of Portugal, who with his 
 councillors treated the proposal as absurd, and also declined 
 it. Again he tried the Government of Genoa, and was a 
 second time refused. Nothing daunted, he carried his 
 proposal to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The former 
 threw cold water on him; the latter, to her honour be it 
 recorded, received, encouraged, and finally, having sold part 
 of her jewels for the purpose, equipped him for his long- 
 desired and long-procrastinated voyage across the unknown 
 seas. But many years had been wasted in these fruitless 
 appeals to governments, and Columbus had reached the age 
 of fifty-five before his first voyage of discovery began. 
 
 And now the hopes of this great man were about to be 
 realized. On the 30th of April 1492 he received letters- 
 patent from the joint sovereigns of Spain, granting him the 
 following privileges and titles, in the event of his accomplish- 
 ing the object of his voyage, 
 
 " He should receive the title of Grand Admiral of the 
 Ocean." 
 
COLUMBUS. 105 
 
 " He should be Viceroy and Governor-General of all 
 islands and mainlands he might discover." 
 
 " He should levy a tax upon all productions, spices, fruits, 
 gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, &c., discovered in or exported 
 from the lands under his authority." 
 
 " His titles should descend to his posterity for ever." 
 
 Kings and Queens were lavish in magnificent promises 
 in those days, but not careful to fulfil them. Columbus 
 performed his share of this bargain ; that his royal patrons 
 did not is evident from the fact that he died at last in 
 neglect and extreme poverty, when broken health and old 
 age had brought his celebrated and useful labours to a close. 
 
 It is a wise and merciful arrangement of God that the 
 future is concealed from mortal view. Columbus thought 
 not of the future. The present was his, and he set about 
 vigorous and immediate preparations. But difficulties met 
 him at the very outset. No sailors could be got to volunteer 
 on what seemed to all a wild, or, at least, a desperate venture. 
 Criminals, condemned or awaiting trial, were offered pardon 
 if they chose to embark with Columbus ! 
 
 The harbour of Palos was selected as the port of 
 departure. But the mariners of Palos disappeared ! they 
 hid themselves; the ship carpenters of Palos grew sick, and 
 it seemed as if the whole world conspired to prevent the 
 undertaking. 
 
 At length three brothers named Pinzon, all sailors, agreed 
 to join Columbus ; others took courage on witnessing their 
 bold conduct; three vessels were provided, and were finally 
 got ready for sea. 
 
 Now the ships of Columbus, though small, were by no 
 means so small as many historians would have us believe. 
 They were three in number, and named respectively the 
 
106 COLUMBUS. 
 
 Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina. Columbus com- 
 manded the first with a crew of sixty-six men; Alonzo 
 Pinzon the second with a crew of thirty men, and Vincent 
 Pinzon commanded the third, with a crew of twenty-three 
 men. But the smallest of the three, the Nina, afterwards 
 when at sea, took on board fifty-six men in addition to her 
 own crew, a number of cannon, and part of the rigging of 
 the Santa Maria without making any perceptible difference 
 in her draught of water. Santa Maria measured ninety 
 feet at the keel ; had four masts, two being square-rigged, and 
 two with the lateen-sails peculiar to Mediterranean craft. 
 Her main deck extended from stem to stern, and her double 
 deck on the poop was twenty-six feet long. Her sides were 
 pierced for cannon, she had a complicated arrangement of 
 ropes, blocks and pulleys, and carried eight anchors. The 
 other two vessels, however, were decked only forward and 
 aft ; the centre being entirely open. The little fleet was 
 only provisioned for one year. 
 
 Everything connected with the sailing of the squadron 
 was marked by deep solemnity, and, as should ever be the 
 case, by earnest prayer to Him who prospers or thwarts the 
 efforts of man according to His own will. 
 
 When the vessels were about ready for sea, Columbus 
 retired for a time to a monastery, and spent his days and 
 nights in prayer and meditation. 
 
 Early on the morning of the third of August 1492 the 
 fleet set sail. The crews, having previously marched 
 in procession to the monastery, where they confessed 
 their sins, and offered up prayer for success in their 
 enterprise, went on board. The inhabitants of Palos 
 crowded to the shore to witness the departure of those 
 whom they scarcely expected ever to see again; the royal 
 
COLUMBUS. 107 
 
 standard, representing tha crucifixion, was hoisted, at the 
 main of the Admiral's ship; Columbus, standing on the 
 quarter-deck, gave orders to hoist the sails "in the name of 
 Jesus Christ ; " a fair wind wafted them speedily out to sea, 
 and the memorable voyage began. 
 
 One does not wonder much that the sailors these first 
 navigators of the Atlantic grew terrified as they sailed 
 onward into the unknown ocean, and reeled upon the foam 
 of its stormy billows for weeks and weeks together. But 
 one is compelled to wonder at the cool calm self-possession 
 of the extroardinary man who pushed westward, ever west- 
 ward, undismayed by the dangers and uncertainties that 
 surrounded him, or the cowardice and mutinous threaten- 
 ings of his crews. 
 
 Columbus began a journal the day he sailed, and from 
 that time gave himself little rest night or day. He watched 
 the flight of birds ; sounded the depth of the ocean ; noted 
 the appearance of the weeds that floated upon it; and in 
 short allowed nothing to escape the notice of his eminently 
 practical mind. 
 
 Soon the fears of the men began to be aroused by the 
 unwonted appearances by which they were surrounded. The 
 course being south-west the familiar stars began to sink on 
 the horizon, and entirely new constellations appeared to view, 
 One day the compass was observed to deviate a little from 
 the pole- star ! Here was a subject to startle the stoutest- 
 hearted of the men. Their hitherto unfailing guide showed 
 symptoms of wavering from its course. Having done so 
 in a small degree, might it not do so in a greater, and, 
 perhaps, become useless in course of time? Columbus 
 viewed this variation of the needle with amazement, but he 
 concealed his feelings, and quietly and gravely told the 
 
108 COLUMBUS. 
 
 alarmed crews, " that the needle did not point directly to 
 the pole, but that in particular circumstances it described a 
 compass round it." This silenced the men for the time; 
 but soon other causes of fear arose. 
 
 The trade winds before which they were sailing, blew so 
 long and steadily from east to west that the men were 
 suddenly struck with the idea that it would never change, 
 and so all hope of being able to sail back to Spain was 
 gone ! Here was a dreadful state of things ! The thought 
 drove them to open mutiny, and possibly they might have 
 been tempted to some murderous act against their Admiral, 
 had not a contrary wind sprung up at that very time, as if 
 to rebuke their hasty conduct. 
 
 1 Believed from anxiety on this score, they were soon 
 filled with new terrors on coming to a region where the 
 sea- weed covered the ocean so thickly that the ship could 
 scarcely move, and it seemed as if they were to be for ever 
 set fast in the semi-solid mass. This was the Sargasso 
 Sea referred to in a previous chapter. To add to their 
 alarm they were for a long time surrounded by a calm so 
 deep that it resembled the very death of Nature. No 
 phantom that the imagination could conjure up, was too 
 absurd to obtain belief. They expected the weedy mass to 
 open, and frightful monsters of the deep to appear and 
 gulp them unceremoniously down. They fancied they had 
 at last reached the end of the world and must necessarily 
 perish. Little wonder then that mutinous murmurs again 
 broke out. We can sympathize with those men, for it 
 must be borne in mind that they had not the scientific 
 knowledge, the enthusiasm, or the genius of Columbus to 
 buoy them up. 
 
 At length they escaped this, as they did other dangers, 
 
COLUMBUS. 109 
 
 and continued their westward way. Columbus kept two 
 "logs," one, correctly, for his own private use, the other, 
 with the length of each day's advance shortened in order to 
 deceive his men. Columbus departed from his usual in- 
 tegrity of character in this matter. He seems to have 
 forgot that the Bible, which he reverenced, has pronounced 
 a curse against those who say, " Let us do evil that good may 
 come." On the 1st of October, one of the officers declared 
 that they were 1700 miles distant from the Canaries. 
 The admiral's log, however, gave 2100 miles as the true 
 distance. 
 
 At last the crews could no longer be restrained. They 
 insisted on the ships 7 prows being turned homeward. Even 
 the brothers Pinzon, and the other officers of the squadron 
 joined in the mutiny, and some of the more daring hinted 
 that it would be well to throw the admiral into the sea. 
 Finding that neither expostulation, exhortation, nor threat- 
 ening was of any avail, Columbus at last yielded to their 
 importunity so far as to propose that they should continue 
 the voyage for three days more, saying that, if at the end 
 of that time no land were discovered he should instantly 
 return. This proposal did not seem to the men -extravagant 
 or unfair, and Columbus felt that he did not hazard much 
 in making it, for indubitable signs of their approach to 
 land had appeared for several days past. The water had 
 gradually become shallow; flocks of strange birds, and 
 among them pigeons, were seen ; a staff curiously wrought 
 and ornamented had been picked up, and weeds of a dif- 
 ferent kind from any they had yet observed had been 
 passed. A cane which seemed to have been lately cut, and 
 a thorn with red fruit upon it were also found. 
 
 At length an island appeared on the horizon. It was 
 
110 COLUMBUS. 
 
 first seen by the crew of the Pinta, who fired a cannon and 
 instantly began to chant the Te Deum, in which they were 
 speedily joined by the crews of other ships. As they drew 
 near, extensive flat and verdant fields were seen, other parts 
 of the island were clothed with wood and diversified with 
 rivulets. 
 
 Overjoyed at the sight the crews repented of their dis- 
 obedience to Columbus, and, passing from one extreme to 
 the other, they looked up to the man whom, a short time 
 before, they had threatened and insulted, as one whom God 
 had endowed with penetration and perseverance above the 
 common lot of mortals, in which opinion they were un- 
 doubtedly not far from the truth. 
 
 Arrayed in gorgeous robes, Columbus landed, set up the 
 royal standard, and took possession of the new land for the 
 crown of Castile and Leon, all his followers kneeling on 
 the shore, kissing the ground and weeping" in the extrava- 
 gance of their joy, while crowds of natives watched their 
 proceedings in speechless amazement. They .regarded the 
 strangers as a superior order of beings, who had thunder 
 and lightning at command, and believed them to be children 
 of the sun, who had descended to stay for a little among 
 the children of men. 
 
 Thus were the West India Islands discovered, on Friday, 
 the 12th October, 1492. The island on which they landed 
 was one of the Bahama group, and was named by its dis- 
 coverer San Salvador in memory of our Saviour. 
 
 Columbus imagined that he had come upon the East 
 Indies, but he had made a far more important discovery. 
 He had touched the confines of the New World, that mighty 
 continent which was named America after a Florentine 
 merchant and seaman, Amerigo Vespucci, who did indeed 
 
COLUMBUS. Ill 
 
 visit the New World two years after Columbus, but who 
 had hot a shadow of title to the honour, which was conferred 
 upon him, long after the discovery was made, by either an 
 ignorant or a false Frenchman, who republished a narrative 
 of Amerigo's voyage, and claimed for him the right to have 
 the continent named after him. 
 
 During that year and on several successive voyages, 
 Columbus discovered and named many of the neighbouring 
 islands. He also discovered the continent of South America 
 in 1498. But we must not omit to mention that the con- 
 tinent of North America had been discovered previous to 
 that time in 1497 by John Cabot, a Venetian pilot 
 resident at Bristol, and his son Sebastian, who was born in 
 England. 
 
 We would fain linger a while with Columbus ; it is not 
 our purpose, however, to write his memoir. Other matters 
 claim our attention, The discoveries of the Spaniards under 
 Columbus close the records of the fifteenth century. Those 
 of the sixteenth open with the exploits of the Portuguese 
 under Vasco da Gama, and the Spaniards under Ferdinand 
 Magellan. The former, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, 
 sailed to Calicut, and was thus the first to achieve the long- 
 desired object of proceeding from Europe to India by sea. 
 The latter in 1519 discovered and passed those straits on 
 the extreme south of America that bear his name, but his 
 career was cut short by his being murdered by the natives 
 of one of the Philippine islands. 
 
112 SHIPS OF THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, 
 
 CHAPTER X.- 
 
 SHIPS OF THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, AND SEVENTEENTH 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 DURING the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the navy of 
 England made long and rapid strides in improvement, 
 especially under the fostering care of Henry VII. Indeed, 
 the Royal Navy may be said to have begun to assume 
 real importance in that monarch's reign, although it had 
 nominally existed for more than a hundred years. The 
 " Great Harry" built in 1488, was probably the first three- 
 masted man of war that ever belonged to the nation, and 
 she was the first vessel in which port-holes for cannon on 
 the lower deck were cut. Previously, the guns were dis- 
 charged over the bulwarks. The largest of Henry's ships, 
 named " Le Grace de Dieu" may be appropriately styled 
 the father of the British navy. She was 1000 tons burden, 
 had four masts and carried 80 guns; she was built in 
 1515. 
 
 But the first really gigantic ship of those days was built 
 in the reign of Charles I. at Woolwich dockyard about the 
 year 1637, and was named 
 
 " THE ROYAL SOVEREIGN." 
 
 The annexed engraving gives a good idea of her appear- 
 ance. This vessel is sometimes spoken of as "the Sovereign 
 of the Seas" The following account of her was published 
 
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 113 
 
 at the time of her destruction by fire in 1696, and is quoted 
 from " Charnock's History of Marine Architecture : 
 
 " The Royal Sovereign was the first great ship that was 
 ever built in England; she was then designed only for 
 splendour and magnificence, and was in some measure the 
 occasion of those loud complaints against ship-money in 
 the reign of Charles I, but being taken down a deck lower, 
 she became one of the best men of war in the world, 
 and so formidable to her enemies, that none of the most 
 daring among them would willingly lie by her side. She 
 had been in almost all the great engagements that had been 
 fought between France and Holland ; and in the last fight 
 between the English and French, encountering the * Wonder 
 of the World/ she so warmly plied the French admiral, 
 that she forced him out of his three-decked wooden castle, 
 and chasing the Royal Sun before her, forced her to fly for 
 shelter among the rocks, where she became a prey to lesser 
 vessels, that reduced her to ashes. At length, leaky and 
 defective herself with age, she was laid up at Chatham, in 
 order to be rebuilt; but, being set on fire by negligence, 
 she was, upon the 27th of this month (January), devoured 
 by that element which so long, and so often before, she 
 had imperiously made use of as the instrument of destruction 
 to others." 
 
 A very elaborate and quaint description of this vessel 
 was sent to Charles I., from which we give the follow- 
 ing extract verbatim. The author, Thomas Heywood, after 
 describing minutely her decorations, goes on to say, 
 
 "There is one thing above all these for the world to 
 take especiall notice of, that shee is besides tunnage just so 
 many tuns in burden as their have beene yeares since our 
 blessed Saviours incarnation, namely, 1637, and not one 
 
114 SHIPS OF THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, 
 
 under or over. A most happy omen, which though it was 
 not first projected or intended, is now by the true com- 
 putation found so to happen. It would bee too tedious 
 to insist upon every ornament belonging to this incomperable 
 vessel, yet thus much concerning her outward appearance. 
 She hath got two galleries of a side, and all parts of the 
 ship are carved also with trophies of artillery, and types of 
 honour, as well belonging to land as sea, with symboles, 
 emblemes, and impresses appertaining to the art of navi- 
 gation ; as also, their two sacred majesties badges of 
 honour, armes, eschutcheons, &c 
 
 "Her length by the keele is 128 foote, or thereabout, 
 within some inches. Her mayne breadth or widnesse from 
 side to side 48 foote. Her utmost length from the fore- 
 end of the sterne, a prora ad puppim, 232 foote. She is 
 in height, from the bottome of her keele to the top of her 
 lanthorne, 7 6 foote, she beareth five lanthornes, the biggest 
 of which will hold ten persons to stand upright, and with- 
 out shouldring or pressing one the other. 
 
 " She hath three flush deckes, and a forecastle, an halfe 
 decke, a quarter decke, and a round house. Her lower 
 tyre hath thirty ports, which are to be furnished with 
 demi-cannon and whole cannon throughout, being able to 
 beare them. Her middle tyre hath also thirty ports for 
 demi-culverin, and whole culverin. Her third tyre hath 
 twentie-sixe ports for other ordnance. Her forecastle hath 
 twelve ports, and her half decke hath fourteene ports. She 
 hath thirteene or fourteene ports more within board for 
 murdering-pieces, besides a great many loopholes out of the 
 cabin for musket-shot. She carrieth, moreover, ten pieces 
 of chase ordnance in her right forward, and ten right aff, 
 that is, according to land service; in the front and the 
 
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTUEIES. 115 
 
 reare. She carrieth eleaven anchors, one of them weighing 
 foure thousand foure hundred, &c., and according to these 
 are her cables, mastes, sayles, cordage, which, considered 
 together, seeing Majesty is at this infinite charge, both for 
 the honour of this nation, and the security of his kingdome, 
 it should bee a great spur and encouragement to all his 
 faithful and loving subjects to bee liberall and willing con- 
 tributaries towards the ship money." 
 
 But long before this great ship was built, England had 
 begun to prove her superiority on the ocean. Among many 
 other naval triumphs achieved during the centuries of which 
 we now write, was her 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA. 
 
 This remarkable event took place in the year 1588, and 
 while it exhibits the maritime enterprise of the Spaniards, 
 and the extent of their naval force, it at the same time shows 
 their lamentable want of pluck. 
 
 Encouraged by the immense superiority of its fleet over 
 that of the British, and anxious to crush the Protestant 
 religion, being encouraged thereto by the Pope, Spain re- 
 solved to invade Britain with an Armada consisting of 130 
 large ships, having 20,000 land forces on board. Besides 
 these, 34,000 land troops were prepared to join from the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 In very natural consternation, Queen Elizabeth of Eng- 
 land hastily marshalled her troops by land and sea to meet 
 the invaders. She had only 30 small vessels wherewith to 
 oppose the enemy's. But among the commanders of that 
 fleet there were men of renown, Drake, Frobisher, Haw- 
 kins, and others. With characteristic daring the British 
 attacked the Armada in the Channel, and gave them such 
 
116 SHIPS OF THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, 
 
 a warm reception, that the Spanish vessels were fain to 
 seek refuge on the coast of Zealand. Instead of invading 
 our country, the Spaniards now only thought of getting 
 home as fast as possible ; but the wind being contrary they 
 resolved to sail round by the Orkneys. They were followed 
 and harassed by the British fleet as far as Flamborough 
 Head, off which they encountered a terrible storm which 
 completed their defeat. Thus God mercifully came to our 
 aid, and saved the country not only from the horrors of 
 invasion, but from the withering blight of popery. 
 
 Seventeen ships, having on board 5000 men, were 
 wrecked on Ireland and the western isles, and of the whole 
 Armada only 53 ships returned to Spain to tell the tale 
 of their ignominious discomfiture. 
 
 Dr. Motley, in his new work, " The History of the United 
 Netherlands," gives the following spirited 
 
 ANECDOTE OF THE SPANISH AKMADA. 
 
 In crossing the Bay of Biscay the ships were tossed about 
 by a very severe storm. Many of the galley slaves were Eng- 
 lish prisoners, to whom this storm proved a great blessing. 
 
 "David Gwynn, a Welsh mariner, had sat in the Spanish 
 hulks a wretched galley-slave as prisoner of war for 
 more than eleven years, hoping year after year for a chance 
 of escape from bondage. He sat now among the rowers of 
 the great galley, the Vasana, one of the humblest instru- 
 ments by which the subjugation of his native land to Spain 
 and Rome was to be effected. Very naturally, among the 
 ships which suffered most in the gale, were the four huge 
 unwieldy galleys a squadron of four under Don Diego de 
 Medrado, with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, 
 and their low and open waists. The chapels, pulpits, and 
 
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 117 
 
 gilded Madonnas proved of little avail in a hurricane. The 
 Diana, largest of the four, went down with all hands; the 
 Princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, 
 and the Vasana was likewise in imminent danger. So the 
 master of this galley asked the Welsh slave, who had far 
 more experience arid seamanship than he possessed himself, 
 if it were possible to save the vessel. Gwynn saw an 
 opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. 
 He was ready to improve it. He pointed out to the captain 
 the hoplessness of attempting to overtake the Armada. 
 They should go down, he said, as the Diana had already 
 done, and as the Princess was likely at any moment to do, 
 unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best 
 with their oars to gain the nearest port. But in order that 
 the rowers might exert themselves to the utmost, it was 
 necessary that the soldiers, who were a useless incumbrance 
 on deck, should go below. Thus only could the ship be 
 properly handled. The captain, anxious to save his ship 
 and his life, consented. Most of the soldiers were sent be- 
 neath the hatches ; a few were ordered to sit on the benches 
 among the slaves. 
 
 " Now there had been a secret understanding for many 
 days among these unfortunate men, nor were they wholly 
 without weapons. They had been accustomed to make 
 toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken 
 sword-blades and other refuse bits of steel. There was not 
 a man among them who had not thus provided himself 
 with a secret stiletto. At first, Gwynn occupied himself 
 with arrangements for weathering the gale. So soon, how- 
 ever, as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he 
 looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised 
 his hand to the rigging. It was a preconcerted signal. 
 
118 SHIPS OF THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH, 
 
 The next instant he stabbed the captain to the heart, while 
 each one of the galley-slaves killed the soldier nearest him ; 
 then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered the 
 rest of the troops, and put them all to death. Coming 
 again upon deck, David Gwynn descried the fourth galley 
 of the squadron, called the Royal, commanded by Commo- 
 dore Medrado in person, bearing down upon them, before 
 the wind. It was obvious that the Vasana was already an 
 object of suspicion. 'Comrades,' said Gwynn, 'God has 
 given us liberty, and by our courage we must prove our- 
 selves worthy of the boon.' As he spoke there came a 
 broadside from the galley Royal which killed nine of his 
 crew. David, nothing daunted, laid his ship close along- 
 side of the Royal, with such a shock that the timbers 
 quivered again. Then at the head of his liberated slaves, 
 now thoroughly armed, he dashed on board the galley, and, 
 after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted by the 
 slaves of the Royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and 
 putting all the Spanish soldiers to death. This done, the 
 combined rowers, welcoming Gwynn as their deliverer 
 from an abject slavery which seemed their lot for life, 
 willingly accepted his orders. The gale had meantime 
 * abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the ex- 
 perienced and intrepid Welshman, made their way to the 
 coast of France, and landed at Bayonne on the 31st, divid- 
 ing among them the property found on board the two 
 galleys. Thence, by land, the fugitives, 466 in number 
 Frenchmen, Spaniards, Englishmen, Turks, and Moors, 
 made their way to Kochelle. Gwynn had an interview 
 with Henry of Navarre, and received from that chivalrous 
 king a handsome present. Afterwards he found his way 
 to England, and was well commended by the queen." 
 
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 119 
 
 We must pause now in the record of the progress of 
 discovery; a history of which is not the object we have in 
 view in this work. To recount, even briefly, the adven- 
 turous voyages of the Dutch and of the English at this 
 period to tell of Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Cabot, 
 Jacques Cartier, Balboa, Magellan, Cavendish, Raleigh, 
 Barentz, Hudson, and a host of others, whose achievements 
 are chronicled in almost every language, and whose very 
 names, "familiar as household words," call up vivid pictures 
 of ships, and storms, and battles upon the deep, encounters 
 with wild beasts and savage men, torrid zones and frozen 
 seas ; to tell of these, we say, even briefly, would overload 
 the pages of many a weighty tome. We shall therefore 
 quit the historical account of the progress of man upon 
 the ocean, and turn to the Second Part of our work. 
 
120 
 
 DOCKS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 MODERN NAVIGATION DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DOCKS. 
 
 HAVING now brought the subject of navigation down to the 
 commencement of modern discovery, and thus cleared the 
 way to the introduction of what may be called modern 
 
 
DOCKS. 121 
 
 navigation, our remaining space shall be devoted more 
 thoroughly to a miscellaneous collection of the countless 
 anecdotes of adventures, the discoveries and shipwrecks, that 
 crowd the pages of maritime history ; and, in fulfilling this 
 task, special regard shall be had to the distinctive 
 peculiarities of ships of different kinds and countries. 
 
 Preliminary to this, however, we will conduct our young 
 readers (of course with their permission) to the dock-yards, 
 where ships are modelled and moulded, and launched, and 
 loaded with the rich and varied freights which they are 
 destined to carry far and wide across the stormy seas. 
 
 THE DOCK-YAKD. 
 
 If we were a maker of riddles, we would ask our reader, 
 " Why is a ship like a human being ? " and having added, 
 " d'ye give it up 1 " would reply, " Because it commences 
 life in a cradle," but, not being a frabricator of riddles, we 
 don't ask our reader that question. We merely draw his 
 attention to the fact that ships, like men, have not only an 
 infancy but also have cradles, of which more here- 
 after. 
 
 Let us enter one of those naval nurseries, the dock-yard. 
 What a scene it is ! What sawing, and thumping, and 
 filing, and grinding, and clinching, and hammering without 
 intermission, from morn till noon, and from noon till dewy 
 eve ! What a Babel of sounds and chaos of indescribable 
 material ! 
 
 That little boy whom you observe standing under the 
 shadow of yonder hull, his hands in his pockets (of course,) 
 his rnouth open (probably), and his eyes gazing up fixedly 
 at the workmen, who cluster like bees on the ribs and 
 timbers of yonder infant ship has stood there for more 
 
122 DOCKS. 
 
 than an hour, and he will stand there, or thereabouts, for 
 many hours to come, for it happens to be a holiday with 
 him, and he dotes on harbours and dock-yards. His whole 
 being is wrapped up in them. 
 
 And this is natural enough. Most boys delight to gaze 
 on incomprehensible and stupendous works. Let us, you 
 and I, reader, follow this urchin's example, keeping our 
 mouths shut, however, save when we mean to speak, and 
 our eyes open. 
 
 There are ships here of every shape and size, from the 
 little coasting vessel to the great East-Indiaman, which, 
 in its unfinished condition, looks like the skeleton of some 
 dire megatherium of the antediluvian world. Some of 
 these infant ships have an enormous shed over them to 
 protect them from the weather ; others, however, are 
 destitute of such protection, for ships like men, it would 
 seem, are liable to vicissitudes of fortune, while the " great 
 ones " of the dock-yard world are comfortably housed, the 
 small ones are not unfrequently exposed to the fitful 
 buffetting of the rude elements even from their birth. 
 
 There are ships here, too, in every state of progression. 
 Here, just beside you, is a "little one" that was born 
 yesterday. The keel has just been laid on the blocks, and 
 it will take many a long day of clinching, and sawing, and 
 hammering, ere that infant assumes the bristling appearance 
 of an antediluvian skeleton. Yonder is the hull of a ship 
 almost completed. It is a gigantic infant, and wears an 
 aspect of a very thriving child; it evidently has a robust 
 constitution and a sturdy frame. Perhaps we may re-visit 
 the dock-yard to-morrow and see this vessel launched. 
 
 Besides these two, there are ships with their ribs 
 partially up, and ships with their planking partially on, and 
 
DOCKS. 123 
 
 iii a more distant part of the yard there are one or two old 
 ships hauled up high and dry to have their bottoms repaired 
 and their seams re-pitched, after many a rough and bravely 
 fought battle with the ocean waves. 
 
 Now that we have gazed our fill at the general aspect of 
 the dock-yard, let us descend a little more to particulars. 
 We shall first tell of the, 
 
 Nature and use of docks. There are two kinds of docks, 
 dry and wet. A dry dock is usually constructed with gates 
 to admit or shut out the tide. When a ship arrives from a 
 long voyage, and needs repair to the lower part of her hull, 
 she must be got out of the water somehow or other. This 
 object is frequently attained in regard to small vessels, by 
 simply running them gently on the flat sand or mud beach 
 of a bay or harbour, so that, when the tide retires, they 
 shall be left dry. But it would be dangerous as well as 
 inconvenient to do this with large ships, therefore dry 
 docks have been constructed for this purpose. They are so 
 built that when the tide is full the dry docks are also full. 
 When thus full of water, the gates of a dry dock are opened, 
 and the large ship is dragged slowly in, after which the 
 gates are shut. The tide then retires, but before this takes 
 place, the ship has been propped up on all sides with 
 timbers, in such a way that she stands upright, " upon an 
 even keel," and thus, the pressure on her hull being equally 
 distributed, she is not damaged. Then the water is let out 
 by means of . sluices in the gates, or it is pumped out, and 
 the ship left dry. When the tide returns, the gates and 
 sluices are all shut, and its entrance into the dock prevented, 
 until such time as the ship is repaired, when water is let 
 slowly in. As the vessel floats, the props and supports fall 
 away, the gates of her hospital are opened, and off she 
 
124 BUILDING A SHIP. 
 
 goes again, in all the vigour of recruited health, to wing her 
 way over the billows of the great deep. 
 
 A wet dock is somewhat similar to a dry dock, the chief 
 difference being that ships, while in it, are kept floating in 
 water. 
 
 Docks are not only used, however, for repairing and 
 building ships, they are also used for loading and unloading 
 them, and as ships are arriving and departing from them 
 almost constantly, the busy, bustling, active scene they 
 present is always agreeable and interesting. 
 
 The principal docks of the United Kingdom are as 
 follows : 
 
 Docks on the Thames, namely, 
 East and West India Bocks ; 
 London Docks ; St. Kath- 
 erine's Docks ; Commercial 
 Pocks ; Victoria Docks. 
 
 Southampton Docks. 
 
 Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks. 
 
 Bristol Docks. 
 
 Hull Docks. 
 
 Glasgow Docks. 
 
 Dundee Docks. 
 
 Leith Docks. 
 
 So much for docks in passing. Let us now turn our 
 attention to the process of, 
 
 BUILDING A SHIP. 
 
 As we think it highly improbable that any of our readers 
 intend to become either ship carpenters or ship architects, 
 we will not worry them with technical explanations. To 
 give an easily understood and general idea of the manner of 
 building a ship, is all we shall attempt. The names of 
 those parts only that are frequently or occasionally referred 
 to in general literature shall be given. 
 
 The term ship is employed in two significations. In 
 familiar language it denotes any large or small vessel that 
 navigates the ocean with sails. In nautical language it 
 
BUILDING A SHIP. 125 
 
 refers solely to a vessel having three masts, each consisting 
 of a lower-mast, a top-mast, and a top-gallant-mast. At 
 present we use the term ship in the familiar sense. 
 
 Elaborate and complicated drawings having been pre- 
 pared, the builder begins. 
 
 The keel is the first part of a ship that is laid. It is the 
 beam which runs along the bottom of a boat or ship from 
 one end to the other. In large ships the keel consists of 
 several pieces joined together. Its uses are, to cause the 
 ship to preserve a direct course in its passage through the 
 \vater, to check the lee- way which every vessel has a 
 tendency to make, and to moderate the rolling motion. 
 The keel is also the groundwork, or foundation, on which 
 the whole superstructure is reared, and is therefore im- 
 mensely strong and solid. The best wood for keels is teak, 
 as it is not liable to split. 
 
 Having laid the keel firmly on a bed of wooden block in 
 such a position that the ship when finished may slide 
 into the water, stern foremost, the shipbuilder proceeds next 
 to erect the stem and stern posts. 
 
 The stem-post rises from the front end of the keel, not 
 quite perpendicularly from it, but sloping a little outwards. 
 It is formed of one or more pieces of wood, according to 
 the size of the ship, but, no matter how many pieces may 
 be used, it is always a uniform single beam. To this the 
 ends of the planks of the ship are afterwards fastened. Its 
 outer edge is called the cut-water, and the part of the ship 
 around it is named the bow. 
 
 The stern-post rises from the opposite end of the keel, 
 and also slopes a little outwards. To it are fastened the 
 ends of the planking and the framework of the stern 
 part of the ship. To it also is attached that little but most 
 
126 BUILDING A SHIP. 
 
 important part of a vessel, the rudder. The rudder (also 
 called the helm) is a small piece of timber extending along 
 the back of the stern-post, and hung moveably upon it by 
 means of what may be called large iron hooks and eyes. 
 By means of the rudder, the mariner guides the ship in 
 whatever direction he pleases. The contrast between the 
 insignificant size of the rudder and its immense importance 
 is very striking, and its power over the ship is thus referred 
 to in Scripture, " Behold also the ships, which, though they 
 be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they 
 turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the 
 governor listeth." The rudder is moved from side to side 
 by a huge handle or lever on deck, called the tiller, but as 
 in large ships the rudder is difficult to move by so simple a 
 contrivance, an arrarjgement of ropes or chains and pulleys 
 are attached to it and connected with the drum of a wJieel 
 at which the steersman stands. In the largest ships two, 
 and in rough weather, four men are often stationed at the 
 wheel. 
 
 The ribs of the ship next rise to view. These are curved 
 wooden beams which rise on each side of the keel and are 
 bolted firmly to it. They serve the same purpose to a ship 
 that bones do to the human frame. They support and give 
 strength to it as well as form. 
 
 The planks follow the ribs. They are broad, and vary in 
 thickness from two to four inches. These form the outer 
 skin of the ship, and are fastened to the ribs, keel, stem- 
 post and stern-post by means of innumerable pins of wood 
 or iron called tree-nails. The spaces between the planks 
 are caulked, that is stuffed with oakum, which substance is 
 simply the untwisted tow of old and tarry ropes. A figure- 
 head of some ornamental kind having been placed on the 
 
BUILDING A SHIP. 127 
 
 top and front of the stem-post, just above the cut-water and 
 a flat ornamental stern with windows in it, sometimes, to 
 light the cabin, the hull of our ship is complete. But the 
 interior arrangements have yet to be described, although of 
 course they have been progressing at the same time with 
 the rest. 
 
 The learns of a ship are massive wooden timbers which 
 extend across from side to side in a series of tiers. They 
 serve the purpose of binding the sides together, of prevent- 
 ing them from collapsing, and of supporting the decks, as 
 well as of giving compactness and great strength to the 
 whole structure. 
 
 The decks are simply plank floors nailed to the beams, 
 and serve very much the same purposes as the floors of a 
 house. They also help to strengthen the ship longitudinally. 
 All ships have at least one complete deck, most have two, 
 with a half -deck at the stern called the quarter-dec^ and 
 another at the bow called the fore-castle. But the decks of 
 large ships are still more numerous. Those of a first-rate 
 man-of-war are as follows, we begin with the lowest, 
 which is considerably under the surface of the sea, 
 
 The Orlop-deck; the Gun-deck; the Middle-deck; the 
 Upper-deck; the Quarter-deck; and the Poop the latter 
 deck being the highest deck of all, a very small one, at the 
 stern. 
 
 Thus a man-of-war is a floating house with six stories, 
 the Poop being the garret, and the Orlop-deck the cellars. 
 The upper decks are lighted by sky-lights, those further 
 down by port-holes (or gun-holes), and windows, the lowest 
 of all by candles or lamps, day-light being for ever banished 
 from those gloomy sub-marine regions !~ 
 
 The bulwarks rise above the upper deck, all round the 
 
128 BUILDING A SHIP. 
 
 ship, and serve the purposes of protecting the upper deck 
 from the waves, and supporting the Maying-pins to which 
 the ropes are fastened. In ships of war the top of the 
 bulwarks form a sort of trough all round the ship, in 
 which the hammocks, (the swinging-beds) of the men are 
 stowed away every morning. This trough is termed the 
 hammock-nettings, and the hammocks are placed there to be 
 well aired, while, in action, they serve to protect the crew 
 from musketry. 
 
 The wheel, which has been already referred to, stands 
 usually at the stern of the ship, on the quarter-deck ; but 
 it is sometimes placed on an elevated platform amid-ships, 
 so that the steersman may see more clearly where he is 
 going. 
 
 The binnacle stands directly in front of the wheel. It 
 is a species of box, firmly fixed to the deck, in which is 
 placed the compass. It is completely covered in, having a 
 glass window through which the man at the wheel can 
 observe the course he is steering. 
 
 The capstan stands on the main-deck, sometimes near 
 the centre of the vessel, at other times near the bow or the 
 stern. It is a massive block of timber moving on a pivot 
 which is turned round by wooden levers called capstan 
 bars or hand-spikes, and is used for any purpose that 
 requires great tractive power. The drawing in of the cable 
 for instance, or warping the ship, which means that a 
 rope is fixed on shore, or by an anchor to the bottom of 
 the sea, and the other end of it is coiled round the capstan, 
 so that when the capstan is forced round by the hand- 
 spikes the rope coils on to it, and the ship is slowly dragged . 
 forward, 
 
 The windlass is simply a horizontal, instead of a per- 
 
BUILDING A SHIP. 129 
 
 pendicular capstan. Its sole purpose is for heaving up 
 the anchor, and it is placed close to the bow of the ship. 
 
 The galley, or cooking house, is usually near to the 
 windlass, in the front part of the vessel. Here the cook 
 reigns supreme; but this nautical kitchen is wonderfully 
 small. It is just big enough to hold the fire-place and 
 " coppers," with a small shelf on which the cook (always a 
 man and often a negro) performs the duties of his office. 
 
 The various decks below are partitioned off, by means of 
 plank walls which are called bulk-Jieads, into a variety of 
 berths and apartments ; and the greater part of the centre 
 of the vessel (in merchantmen) is called the " hold " and is 
 reserved for cargo. 
 
 The hull of the ship, being thus far advanced, now 
 gets a coat of tar all over it, which preserves the wood 
 from the action of the weather, and helps to render 
 the seams watertight. Some vessels are sheathed from the 
 keel to a short way above their water-line with thin sheets 
 of copper, to preserve them more effectually from tear and 
 wear, and especially to defend them against those barnacles 
 and marine insects that would otherwise fasten to them. 
 
 Being now ready to be launched from her cradle into the 
 sea her future hcnie we will proceed in our next 
 chapter to describe the process of launching. 
 
130 
 
 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 SHIPS begin life with a retrograde movement. They imitate 
 the crabs, in other words they are launched stern foremost. 
 Whether great or small, long or short, whether clothed 
 in patrician copper, or smeared with plebeian tar, they all 
 start on their first voyage with their stern-posts acting the 
 part of cut -water, and, also, without masts or sails. These 
 necessary adjuncts and a host of others are added after 
 they have been clasped to the bosom of their native sea. 
 One notable exception there is to this rule, the launch of 
 
THE LAUNCH. 131 
 
 the far-famed Great Eastern, which monster of the deep 
 was forced into her element sidewise, of which a full 
 account will be found in another part of this volume. 
 
 The cradles on which ships are launched are wooden 
 frameworks, so constructed as to slide down an inclined 
 plane, called the ways, bearing their burdens along with 
 them into the water. When the ship is ready for launch- 
 ing, the shores, or supports that have kept her so long in 
 position are knocked away one by one, until the entire 
 weight of the ship rests on the cradle. The ways are then 
 well greased, and it only remains to knock away one or two 
 remaining checks to allow the vessel to seek her future 
 home by means of her own weight. 
 
 But before this last act is done, a day must be fixed for 
 the launch ; friends of the owners must be invited to go on 
 board during this her first voyage ; a fair maiden must be 
 invited to go through the ceremony of giving the ship her 
 name ; paragraphs must go the round of the newspapers ; 
 as the hour draws near, crowds of human Beings, young and 
 old, male and female, must hurry to the spot to witness the 
 great event, and hundreds of little boys must beg leave 
 from school (if they can) ; in short, a great stir must be made, 
 and a great day must dawn before the last shores are knocked 
 away, and the noble structure be permitted to rush down 
 that inclined plane, and for the first time cleave the waves. 
 
 Many are the launches that have taken place since ship- 
 building began, and were we to search among the records 
 of such events for the most striking and interesting, we 
 should have to leave this work, perhaps, unwritten. Un- 
 questionably the most interesting and peculiar of all launches 
 was that of the Great Eastern, but as an account of that 
 will be found in its proper place we will at this time con- 
 9 
 
132 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 tent ourself with giving one of the most recent, as well as 
 interesting, that has come under our notice, namely, the 
 
 LAUNCH OF THE BLACK PRINCE. 
 
 This is a vessel of war, of a species which has been in- 
 vented very recently. It is sheathed with armour of iron, 
 so as to be impenetrable by cannon shot. A full account 
 of her will be found on page 247. At present it will suffice 
 to say that she was built by the Messrs. Napier of Glasgow, 
 and is upwards of 6000 tons burden. 
 
 On the day of the launch the weather was most unpro- 
 pitious. Rain fell in torrents, but the launch of a great 
 ship of a more than usually heavy and peculiar ship was 
 too great an event to miss on account of the bad weather. 
 Rain might moisten the clothes, but it could not damp 
 the enthusiasm of the good citizens of Glasgow. Umbrellas 
 in thousands darkened the very earth, and long before the 
 appointed hour, a patient and expectant crowd of certainly 
 no less than 50,000 persons thronged the neighbourhood of 
 the building-yard, and lined the banks of the Clyde. 
 
 Every kind of vehicle was engaged to convey sight-seers 
 to the scene, and special steamers were hired, and crammed 
 to suffocation, with people who could not find other means 
 of transit. As the hour approached, (half-past two), great 
 excitement prevailed ; while a magnificent display of gay 
 flags, and the enlivening strains of musical bands, united 
 their influences to wage a spirited war with the depressing 
 showers of rain. 
 
 " The arrangements for the launch, both to ensure safety 
 and expedition were very complete. The Messrs Napier had 
 previously taken the precautionary measure of getting the 
 river deepened opposite their building-yard, thereby securing 
 
THE LAUNCH. 133 
 
 a depth of water at high tide of more than thirty feet. The 
 chain, cable, and hawsers used in checking the vessel were 
 of a massive and heavy description. The bars composing 
 the links of the chain cables were 2J inches in thickness, 
 and the hawsers, which were made of hemp, were 24 inches 
 in circumference. Two chain cables, and one large hawser, 
 were attached at one end to the bow of the vessel ; the 
 cables were fastened at the other end to large anchors, weigh- 
 ing five tons each, which had been imbedded in the north 
 side of the river ; and the hawser was attached to an anchor 
 of similar dimensions, which was imbedded not far from the 
 bow of the vessel. Checking hemp hawsers and a chain 
 cable of equal strength were also attached to the vessel's 
 quarter, and two anchors also of five tons in weight. The 
 anchors were so solidly fixed in the ground that it would 
 have been difficult to conceive how they could have been 
 dragged from their position, even though the combined 
 weight and velocity of the vessel had been brought to bear 
 upon them. At the bow of the ship was an 18-inch hydrau- 
 lic machine, capable of exerting a pressure of nearly 900 
 tons upon the vessel, if she did not slide away by her own 
 weight on the removal of the dogshores. The ram was placed 
 so as to act right upon the breast of the vessel, at the point 
 where the bow rounds itself into the keel. For hours pre- 
 vious to the time fixed for the launching, spectators; were 
 moving in all directions through Messrs. Napiers' yard, to 
 gratify a curiosity very natural on an occasion which had 
 drawn together many thousands of all classes. As two 
 o'clock approached, the anxiety of the spectators increased, 
 and two spacious stands, erected to accommodate ladies, with 
 covered seats, were speedily filled with fair occupants, while 
 the gentlemen, with heroic patience, were submitting to a 
 
134 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 thorough drenching from the unceasing rain outside. At 
 two o'clock the carpenters began to knock away the bilge 
 blocks, and were occupied in this operation nearly three- 
 quarters of an hour. The vessel was then held firm for a 
 minute or two, by means of two ' dogshores/ till the inte- 
 resting ceremony of naming the ship was performed. For 
 this purpose a covered stand had been erected at the bow of 
 the vessel which was named the Black Prince by Miss Eliza- 
 beth Malcolm Napier, grand-daughter of Mr. Robert Napier, 
 and daughter of Mr. John Napier, of the firm of Messrs, 
 Napier. 
 
 " The expectation and excitement had reached its height 
 when the signal was given to remove the dogshores. This 
 was done, but the vessel did not move. The hydraulic 
 machine was immediately worked, and slowly the heavy 
 ram was seen to advance, easing up the bow by its tremen- 
 dous pressure of 900 tons. For several minutes the distance 
 travelled by the vessel was almost infinitesimal, but gradu- 
 ally the speed quickened ; she rushed along the ways with 
 tremendous and ever-increasing velocity, and darting stern 
 foremost through the water, was floating like a cork in a 
 few seconds more than five or six hundred yards down the 
 river. 
 
 " All fears of any hitch in the launch were now over, and 
 the spectators on the south side of the river relieved their 
 feelings by loud and renewed cheers, which were re-echoed 
 from the spectators on the opposite bank. 
 
 " The graceful and easy movement of the vessel down the 
 ways into the water was the theme of general remark. 
 There was no lurch or unsteadiness in her whole progress 
 into the river. Several of the checking chains and cables 
 were never put to the strain, and the noble looking vessel 
 
THE LAUNCH. 135 
 
 was rounded and brought to a right position in the river 
 without jerk or accident of any kind." 
 
 Thus was launched one of the first " mailed " warriors of 
 the sea. 
 
 And now, having shown how the launching of our ship 
 is accomplished, let us turn to consider the next step 
 towards completion, for there is yet much to be done ere 
 she is able to brave the tempest. 
 
 RIGGING A SHIP. 
 
 Although fitting-in the lower masts of a ship cannot well 
 be deemed a part of the rigging, we will nevertheless describe 
 the operation here. 
 
 As the lower masts of a large ship are from five to six 
 feet in circumference it is manifest that some powerful 
 mechanical contrivance is required to raise them over the 
 bulwarks and put them in an upright position, into their 
 appointed places. Such contrivances, in the form of enor- 
 mous cranes, are fixed in some of the larger docks, but the 
 most usual method is to have the masts put in by means of 
 
 The Shear Hulk. This is a strongly built hull of a ship, 
 moored in a part of the river or harbour that will afford depth 
 of water to float any sized vessel alongside. It has one 
 stout mast with two immense beams attached to it near 
 the deck, and sloping outwards over the bulwarks in such 
 a way that their ends overhang the deck of the vessel into 
 which masts are to be placed. These sloping beams are 
 prevented from falling overboard altogether, and their slope 
 is regulated, by blocks and tackles from the mast of the hulk. 
 By means of this contrivance, which is just a gigantic crane, 
 the ponderous lowermasts of large ships are raised and 
 lowered into their places. 
 
136 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 When these are fixed the rigging of the ship commences. 
 The method of putting it up cannot prove interesting to 
 general readers, not even to boys, for when they take to 
 rigging model ships they do not require the mechanical 
 contrivances that are necessary in rigging large vessels. But 
 all readers of sea-stories and nautical history will find it 
 of the utmost advantage to their ( clear understanding of 
 what they read, to have a general idea of the names and 
 uses of the principal parts of a ship's rigging. We will, 
 therefore, devote a small space to the explanation of this 
 subject. And, first, let us examine the 
 
 Masts. These vary in size, form, and number, in diffe- 
 rent ships, but in all they serve the same purpose to sup- 
 port the sails. Lower masts of large vessels are never formed 
 out of one tree. They are found to be stronger when built up 
 of several pieces which are fastened together by strong iron 
 hoops. Masts sometimes consist of three distinct parts. 
 The Zower-mast, ^op-mast, and top-gallant mast. In most 
 large ships there are three masts, each having three parts. 
 The centre mast, being the largest, is the main-mast, the 
 front one, which is next in size, is the fore-mast, and the 
 one next the stern, the smallest, is called the mizzen. 
 
 Although we have spoken of lower-masts, for the sake of 
 clearness, the name is never used. The name of the mast 
 itself designates the lower part of it. To name the masts 
 in order, we have the 
 
 FORE-MAST. 
 
 FORE-TOP-MAST. 
 
 FORE-TOP-GALLANT- 
 
 MAST. 
 
 MAIN-MAST. 
 MAIN-TOP-MAST. 
 MAIN-TOP-GALLANT- 
 MAST. 
 
 MIZZEN-MAST. 
 MIZZEN- TOP- MAST. 
 
 MlZZEN-TOP-GALLANT- 
 MAST. 
 
THE LAUNCH. 
 
 137 
 
 TUB MAIN-TOP. 
 
138 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 The parts of the different masts are connected and secured 
 by means cf cross-trees and caps, which are named after the 
 mast and part of the mast to which they belong. Tims, we 
 have the fore-top, the fore-top-mast cross-trees, the main-top 
 and main-top-mast cross-trees, &c. Observe, particularly, 
 that the fore-top, main-top, and mizzen-top are the platforms 
 or cross-trees at the tops of the lower masts and not as might 
 well be supposed by landsmen the extreme tops of these 
 masts. The button-like objects on the summits of the masts 
 are called the trucks-, which, besides forming a sort of finish 
 to them, are fitted with small pulleys through which signal- 
 halyards, or cords for hoisting the flags, are rove. 
 
 In our woodcut you have a representation of the main- 
 top of a large ship. In first rate men-of-war the " tops " are 
 so large that a number of men can be stationed on them. 
 Besides their other purposes they are very frequently used 
 as a place of punishment for the midshipmen, or " middies," 
 (the boy-officers), who are often sent there to air themselves, 
 and profit, if they can, by calm reflection in exalted solitude. 
 
 Shrouds and stays are the thick ropes that keep the masts 
 firmly in position. They form part of what is termed the 
 " standing gear " of a ship, in other words, the ropes that 
 are fixtures, to distinguish them from the "running-gear," 
 those moveable ropes, by means of which the sails and boats 
 and flags, &c., are hoisted. Nearly all the ropes of a ship 
 are named after the mast, or yard, or sail, with which they 
 are connected thus we have the main-shrouds, the main- 
 top-mast shrouds, and the main-top-gallant shrouds. The 
 main back-stay, the main-top-gallant back-stay, and so on 
 those of the other masts being similarly named, with the 
 exception of the first word, which, of course, indicates the 
 particular mast referred to. Shrouds rise from the "chains" 
 
THE LAUNCH. 
 
 139 
 
 which are a series of blocks called " dead eyes " fixed to the 
 sides of the ship, the shrouds are fixed to these and also to 
 the masts near the tops they serve the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the masts from breaking sideways. Back stays prevent 
 them from breaking forward, and fore stays prevent them 
 from breaking backward or "aft." Besides this, shrouds have 
 little cross ropes called ratlines attached to them, by means 
 of which rope-ladders the sailors ascend and descend the 
 rigging to furl, that is, tie up, or unfurl, that is, to untie 
 or shake out the sails. 
 
 Our cut represents a 
 sailor boy ascending 
 the mizzen - top-mast- 
 shrouds. 
 
 Yards are the heavy 
 wooden cross-poles or 
 beams to which the sails 
 are attached. 
 
 Reef points are the 
 little ropes which may 
 be observed hanging in 
 successive rows on all 
 sails, by means of which 
 parts of the sails are 
 gathered in, and tied 
 round the yards, thus 
 reducing their size in 
 stormy weather. Hence 
 
 such nautical expressions as "taking in a reef" or a " double 
 reef," and " close reefing," which last implies that a sail is to 
 be reduced to its smallest possible dimensions. The only 
 further reduction possible, would be folding it up altogether, 
 
 ASCENDING THE RIGGING. 
 
140 THE LAUNCH. 
 
 close to the yard, which would be called " furling " it, and 
 which would render it altogether ineffective. In order to 
 furl or reef sails, the men have to ascend the masts and 
 " lay-out " upon the yards. It is very dangerous work in 
 stormy weather. Many a poor fellow, while reefing sails in 
 a dark tempestuous night, has been blown from the yard into 
 the sea, and never heard of more. All the yards of a ship, 
 except the three largest, can be hoisted and lowered 
 by means of halyards. The top-gallant masts can also be 
 lowered, but the lower masts, of course, are fixtures. 
 
 The bowsprit of a ship is a mast, which projects out hori- 
 zontally, or at an angle, from the bow. It is sometimes in 
 two or three pieces, sometimes only in one. To it are at- 
 tached the jib-sail and the flying-jib, besides a variety of 
 ropes and stays which are connected with, and support the 
 foremast. 
 
 The cat-heads are two short beams which project from 
 the bows on either side and support the ship's anchors when 
 not in use. 
 
 Miscellaneous. The openings in the decks are called 
 hatches j the staircases which descend to the cabins are called 
 companions. The pulleys by which sails, &c., are hoisted, 
 are named blocks. Uraces are the ropes by which sails are 
 fixed tightly in any position. Hauling a rope taut means 
 hauling it tight. The weather side of a ship means the side 
 which happens to be presented to the wind ; the lee side 
 that which is away from the wind, and, therefore, sheltered. 
 The starboard side means the right side, the larboard signi- 
 fies the left ; but as the two words resemble each other, to 
 prevent mistakes the word port is always used for larboard 
 in shouting orders. Heaving the lead, is the act of throw- 
 ing a heavy leaden plummet with a line attached into the 
 
THE LAUNCH. 141 
 
 sea, to ascertain its depth. It is thrown from the chains 
 as far as possible ahead of the ship, so that it may reach 
 the bottom and be perpendicularly beneath the man who 
 heaves it when the ship comes up to the spot where it 
 entered the water. A peculiar and musical cry is given 
 forth by the heaver of the lead each time he throws it. 
 The fore-castle is the habitat of the ordinary sailors, and is 
 usually in nautical parlance, termed ihefoeg-s'l. 
 
 Most of what we have just described applies more or less 
 to every ship; but this will be seen in future chapters ; 
 meanwhile we would seriously recommend all those who 
 have found this chapter a dry one, to turn back to the head 
 entitled " Kigging the ship," and from that point read it all 
 over again with earnest attention. 
 
142 
 
 OUTWAED BOUND. 
 
 r 
 
 OUTWARD BOUND. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUTWAED BOUND DANGEES OF THE COAST WEECKS IN 
 THE GEEAT GALE OF FEBEUAEY 1861. 
 
 A LONG cruise now lies before us. Our ship is launched 
 and rigged and victualled, and nothing now remains but to 
 hoist our sails, up with our anchor, and singing a jovial song 
 the while, sweep out before the wind across the rolling seas. 
 
 " I love, Oh ! how I love to ride 
 On the fierce foaming bursting tide ! " 
 
WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 143 
 
 If you can echo the sentiments of that song, reader, then 
 come with us and we will give you enough perchance more 
 than enough of it. 
 
 There is danger on the deep every one knows that but 
 every one does not know that there is greater danger on the 
 shallow sea. As we have explained before, ancient mariners 
 feared the deep sea, and " hugged the land." They little 
 thought that they hugged their greatest foe. 
 
 Plenty of sea-room and blue water is the delight of the 
 sailor in modern days, because, blow high, blow low, his 
 ship, if a good one, can usually ride out the fiercest storm. 
 But when he approaches land, then begins his real danger. 
 Then comes the risk of quicksands and sunken rocks, or of 
 gales springing up and casting his bark, a battered wreck, 
 upon that dread of seamen a lee-shore. This being the 
 case, ships engaged in the coasting-trade are constantly ex- 
 posed to greater risks than those that plough the distant sea, 
 and when a gale springs up. all vessels that chance to have 
 neared their desired haven are in peculiar danger at that 
 time. Let us then begin with coasting vessels. 
 
 The records of disaster on our shores too clearly prove 
 the danger of nearing the land. 
 
 Our illustration presents several vessels, which although 
 they all at times venture out into blue water, are more fre- 
 quently found passing from point to point along our shores. 
 The best way perhaps of showing the dangers to which we 
 have above referred will be to describe some of the terrible 
 scenes that occured during a recent and terrific gale. 
 
 WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 
 
 No accounts can be more graphic than those of the news- 
 papers of the day from which we quote. 
 
144 WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 
 
 " Off the Wicklow coast the storm was terriffic. About 
 eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, at full tide, a fine brig 
 was seen beating in towards the mouth of Bray River. A 
 few moments and she was seen to strike broadside to, the 
 waves breaking over her in clouds of spray to the height of 
 her topmasts. Her name, the Endeavour, Drogheda, could 
 be plainly read. She was then within some thirty yards 
 of the shore, and five men could be seen leaning helplessly 
 over the side of the gunwale, with hands clasped beseech- 
 ingly to those who crowded quickly to the spot. For nearly 
 an hour the five men clung to the vessel, watching with 
 death-stricken faces the anxious crowd, who, for the most 
 part, could dnly return the stony gaze. At length, after 
 repeated failures, one gallant boatman took advantage of a 
 retiring wave, rushed almost under the black hull of the 
 brig, and cast a rope right into the grasp of one of the men. 
 With just strength enough left, he fastened this to a stout 
 hawser, which was quickly drawn ashore. Meanwhile the 
 vessel was madly oscillating from side to side, her masts 
 trembling like whips, and the sails flying away in ribbons. 
 Three of the men speedily got ashore by the rope, but two 
 still remained behind, and seemed to be engaged in a 
 struggle as to which was to go next. At length the 
 youngest sprang over the side and succeeded in escaping, 
 the last man, who was evidently fast losing strength, and 
 who could be seen to shake as with an ague, gazing hope- 
 lessly and helplessly on the people. It becoming quite 
 evident that he could make no effort to save himself, a 
 gallant young fellow, James Lacy, the son of Mr. Lacy of 
 Bray Head, at once volunteered to dare the fearful alternative 
 of trying to reach the ship. Three times he essayed to get 
 footing on the dark slippery sides of the rolling vessel, 
 
WEECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 145 
 
 which, amid the cheers of those on shore, he at last suc- 
 ceeded in doing. Lashing the man round the waist with a 
 rope, with a great effort he raised him to the top of the 
 gunwale; but the man, stiff and powerless as if dead, fell 
 back on the deck again. With another effort young Lacy 
 succeeded in fairly pushing the almost dead man over the 
 side, when he at once fell into the raging surf with the 
 rope from his body still secured, fortunately, across the 
 connecting hawser. A gallant rush was at once made into 
 the waves by some gentlemen and boatmen, who secured 
 the drowning man, a terrible wave at the very moment 
 boiling round the little group in a mass of foam." 
 
 Another paper gives a short summary of the amount of 
 loss as follows : 
 
 "Some faint idea may be formed of the devastation 
 occasioned by the late storm when we mention that on 
 Monday no fewer than 135 losses were reported at Lloyd's, 
 a number which has never been equalled. This, however, 
 by no means represents the actual loss, for, as many vessels 
 engaged in the coasting trade had sailed from various ports 
 on the east coast but a few hours before the sudden storm 
 burst upon them, there is only too much reason to fear 
 that a large portion of these small craft have foundered, 
 with all on board. 
 
 " A calamity similar to that at Whitby occurred in the 
 vicinity of Wells, on the Norfolk coast, near Cromer. . 
 While the gale was at its height, on Saturday morning, 
 about nine o'clock, a barque called the Favourite, Captain 
 Summers, bound to Torre del Mar from Hartlepool, was 
 driven on shore on the Blakewell West Sands. The moment 
 the ship was seen, a party of eight fishermen nobly ventured 
 out to the rescue of the crew of the stranded barque. The 
 
146 WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1681. 
 
 sea was running very high, and, on Hearing the sand, the 
 boat was capsized, and, melancholy to relate, the whole of 
 the poor fellows were drowned. They were all married, 
 and have left large families. The crew of the stranded 
 ship were afterwards rescued by another party of fishermen 
 who put off from Blakeney. The barque will become a 
 total wreck. Another vessel was lost near the same 
 place the schooner Kingston from Hartlepool for Ply- 
 mouth. 
 
 " In the Tees bay, a fleet of colliers exceeding sixty in 
 number are announced to have been wrecked. 
 
 " A sad sacrifice of life took place on the coast at the 
 mouth of the bay, near Eedcar. The brig, Lady de 
 Crespignie, Captain Price, belonging to Colchester, and the 
 schooner Apollos, of Schiedam, laden with coals, were 
 carried on to the Redcar rocks, where they became total 
 wrecks, and every soul on board them met with a watery 
 grave. A very heavy sea broke in over the beach, and the 
 following vessels were driven ashore : The Roman Empress, 
 Captain Driver, bound to the Mediterranean from Shields, 
 on the Marsk Sand; the brig Mary, from Sunderland for 
 the Thames; the Eustace, Captain Thompson, master, 
 bound to London from Sunderland ; the brig Odessa, bound 
 to London ; the Koh-i-Noor, Wildridge, master, from 
 Shields -for London; and the Marie Clotilde, bound to 
 Hartlepool. Most of these ships were going to pieces when 
 the last accounts left." 
 
 The wreck of a vessel called the Merchant shows the 
 extreme danger encountered by those brave men who form 
 the crews of our life-boats. It occurred on the coast, in 
 the Whitby district. Seven ships were driven ashore 
 there, and the crew of the life-boats had already been 
 
WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 147 
 
 making prodigious efforts to save life. An eye-witness 
 thus describes the thrilling scene : 
 
 " The Merchant was driven to the beach just to the 
 north of the pier. The life-boat was again immediately 
 launched and manned by the same noble fellows who had 
 saved the lives from all the wrecked ships. The sea was 
 now dreadful and the danger imminent. The men in the 
 life boat were warned not to go; but, undaunted, they 
 proceeded and had got to sea, when it was observed from 
 the shore that the schooner Roe, lying between the Mer- 
 chant and the coast, greatly obstructed the management of 
 the life-boat, and, in consequence, it was carried to the 
 stern of the Merchant. While attempting to get the boat 
 to lee-ward of the vessel, she was upset by a tremendous 
 cross sea, between the stern of the Merchant and the shore, 
 and the unfortunate boatmen were immediately immersed 
 in the raging sea. The scene will never be forgotten. The 
 brave fellows had on cork belts, which kept them up for a 
 short time, and they struggled hard for their lives, and 
 that within forty yards of the shore and the pier. A 
 rocket was fired over them, but the line was not reached 
 by any of them. Thousands, regardless of the sea washing 
 over them, lined the pier and the shore, and among them 
 were the wives, children, and relatives of the poor drown- 
 ing men. Some were only restrained by force from jump- 
 ing into the sea, with the vain hope of saving their dear 
 relations. The shrieks of the women and children as the 
 poor fellows disappeared one by one were most heart- 
 rending. No assistance, however, could be rendered. One 
 of the crew succeeded in getting on the bottom of the life 
 boat, which never righted, and, after clinging to it for some 
 time, and receiving fearful seas, was dashed off and perished. 
 
 10 
 
148 WRECKS IN THE GREAT GALE OF FEBRUARY 1861. 
 
 Only one out of the crew of thirteen succeeded in reaching 
 the shore, and this is t attributed to a cork waistcoat which 
 he wore in addition to the ordinary belt." 
 
 Of those thirteen men only one was unmarried. The 
 rest left eleven widows and forty children totally unpro- 
 vided for by this awful calamity. 
 
 It must be remembered that all this and a great deal 
 more that we cannot even touch upon, much less give in 
 detail, occurred during the short but terrible course of ' one 
 storm; and it is a fact of the most deeply solemn and 
 saddening character, that every gale we landsmen hear 
 sweeping past our windows is certain to dash many a ship 
 to pieces on our shores, and send many a soul with awful 
 suddenness into the presence of its Creator. 
 
 Happy, thrice happy, those who, at such an hour, have 
 not to turn with despairing cries, for the first time, to our 
 blessed Saviour. And well does it become those on shore 
 who call themselves Christians, to betake themselves to 
 their knees when the fierce tempests blow, and, in the 
 name of Jesus, pray that human beings on the sea may be 
 saved from the angry waves. 
 
 In a recent number of a periodical we find the following 
 curious and sad paragraph : 
 
 " The Wreck Chart. We have lying before us a remark- 
 able map, the wreck chart of the British Isles for 1858. It 
 is to be found in a return to Parliament, carefully prepared 
 by the Board of Trade. The chart is of the same appear- 
 ance as an ordinary map of these islands, except that the 
 whole line of coast, from the Orkneys to the Land's End, is 
 dotted with a series of black marks. Each mark indicates 
 either a shipwreck or some casualty to a vessel nearly ap- 
 proaching thafc disaster. A most melancholy effect has 
 
SLOOPS. 149 
 
 this chart when this key to its object is given. The whole 
 coast, particularly the approaches to our great commercial 
 cities, bristles with dottings, which indicate clearly the site 
 where some noble ship has gone to destruction with her 
 human freight. All round our coast, with the aid of this 
 map, we can trace clearly the frightful work of destruction 
 during the past year. In 1858 the number of vessels 
 wrecked on the coast and in the seas of the United Kingdom 
 was 1170; of these 354 were total wrecks, and 50 were 
 sunk by collision, making the number totally lost 404. By 
 these disasters the lives of 1895 persons were imperiled, of 
 which number 340 persons were actually lost. This is the 
 dark side of the doleful map. It has, however, a bright 
 side, and on that we find that, by the life boats of the 
 National Life Boat Institution, those of local bodies, and 
 various other craft, 1555 of our fellow creatures were, 
 during the past year, rescued from a watery grave." 
 
 The coasting trade, then, is replete with danger, yet it is 
 carried on with the utmost vigour, and there are always 
 plenty of " hands," as seamen are called when spoken of in 
 connection with ships, to man the vessels. The traffic in 
 which they are engaged is the transporting of the goods 
 peculiar to one part of our island to another part where 
 they are in demand. 
 
 We shall describe the vessels represented in our plate, 
 and begin with the smallest. 
 
 SLOOPS. 
 
 Like all other vessels, sloops vary in size, but none of 
 them attain to great magnitude. As a class they are the 
 smallest decked vessels we have. From 40 to 100 tons 
 burden is a very common size. A sloop of 40 tons burden 
 
1 50 SLOOPS. 
 
 is what we call a little ship, and one of 100 tons is by no 
 means a big one. The hull of such a vessel being intended 
 exclusively to carry cargo, very little space is allowed for 
 the crew. The cabins of the smaller sized sloops are 
 seldom high enough to permit of an ordinary man standing 
 erect. They are usually capable of affording accommodation 
 to two in the cabin and three or four in the forecastle, and 
 such accommodation is by no means ample. The class to 
 which vessels belong is determined, chiefly, by the number 
 of their masts and the arrangement and form of their sails. 
 
 The distinctive peculiarity of the sloop is, that it has but 
 one mast ; and its rig is, nautically speaking, fore-and-aft 
 that is to say, the sails are spread with their surfaces 
 parallel to the sides of the vessel, not stretched upon yards 
 across the vessel. The term " fore-and-aft " is derived from 
 the forward part and the after part of the ship. Fore-and- 
 aft sails, then, are such as are spread upon yards which 
 point fore and aft, not across the ship. We conceive this 
 elaborate explanation to be necessary for some readers; 
 and, therefore, don't apologize for making it. A ship 
 whose sails are spread across the huh 1 is said to be square- 
 rigged. Sometimes a sloop carries a square top-sail. 
 
 The mast, yards, and sails of a sloop are as follows : 
 As has been already said, one of the distinctive peculiarities 
 of a sloop is, that it has only one mast. This mast is 
 sometimes formed of one stick, sometimes of two; the 
 second, or top-mast, being fastened to the top of the lower 
 mast by cross-trees and cap, in such a way that it may be 
 hoisted or lowered at pleasure. A sloop has usually four 
 sails, a main-sail, fore-sail, gaff, and jib. The main-sail 
 is behind the lower mast ; it reaches from within a few feet 
 of the deck to the top of the lower mast, and spreads out 
 
SLOOPS. 151 
 
 upon two yards towards the stern or after part of the ship, 
 over which it projects a few feet. The lower yard of the 
 main-sail is called the boom, and the upper the main-sail- 
 yard. This is by far the largest sail in the sloop. Above 
 it is spread the gaf, which is comparatively a very small 
 sail, and is used when the wind is not very strong. The 
 fore-sail is a triangular sheet, which traverses on the fore- 
 stay ; that is, the strong rope which runs from the lower 
 mast-head to the bow, or front part of the sloop. On the 
 bowsprit is stretched the jib, another triangular sail, which 
 reaches nearly to the top of the lower mast. The only sail 
 that rises above the lower mast is the gaff. In stormy 
 weather this sail is always taken down. If the wind 
 increases to a gale the jib is lowered, and lashed to the 
 bowsprit. Should the gale increase, a reef is taken in the 
 main-sail. One, two, three, and sometimes four reefs are 
 taken in, according to the violence of the storm ; when the 
 last reef is taken in, the sloop is under close-reefed main- 
 sail Increased violence in the storm necessitates the 
 taking in of the main-sail and lying-to under the fore-sail, 
 or a part of it. Lying-to is putting the sloop's head to the 
 wind, and placing the helm in such a position that it tends 
 to turn the vessel in one direction, while the gale acting on 
 the fore-sail tends to force it in another, and thus it remains 
 stationary between the two opposing forces. Many vessels 
 thus lie-to, and ride out the severest storm. Sometimes, 
 however, a dreadful hurricane arises, and compels vessels 
 to take in all sails and " scud under bare poles " that is, 
 drive before the wind without any sails at all, and it is at 
 such seasons that man is forced to feel his utter helplessness 
 and his absolute dependence on the Almighty. Of course, 
 there are slight variations in the rig of sloops some have 
 
152 SLOOPS. 
 
 a square-sail, and some have & flying-jib; but these are not 
 distinctive sails, and they are seldom used in small craft. 
 
 Our Illustration represents a sloop under full sail, main- 
 sail, gaff, fore-sail, and jib, sailing with a side wind. 
 
 Now it may strike some of our observant readers, that 
 in our engraving the cutter and the sloop, although acted 
 upon by the same wind, are sailing in precisely opposite 
 directions. Perchance our sceptical friends may think they 
 have " caught us napping," putting upon paper what was 
 never seen in nature. Nevertheless, this apparent paradox 
 may be explained thus : 
 
 Suppose a vessel with the bow and stern sharp and 
 precisely alike, so that it might sail backwards or forwards 
 with equal facility. Suppose, also, that it has two masts 
 exactly the same in all respects both of them amidships, 
 one near the bow, the other near the stern. Suppose, 
 further, a square sail stretched between the two masts quite 
 flat, and remember that this would be a fore-and-aft sail, 
 namely, one extending along the length, not across the 
 breadth of the vessel. 
 
 Well, now, were a breeze to blow straight against the 
 side of such a vessel, it would either blow it over, flat on 
 its side, or urge it slowly sideivays over the water, after the 
 fashion of a crab. Now remove one of these masts say 
 the stern-most one and erect it close to the lee-side of the 
 vessel (that is, away from the wind- ward side), still keeping 
 the sail extended. The immediate effect would be that the 
 sail would no longer present itself flatly against the wind, 
 but diagonally. The wind, therefore, after dashing against 
 it would slide or whisk violently off in the direction of the 
 mast that had been removed, that is, towards the stern. 
 In doing so it would of course give the vessel a shove in 
 
SLOOPS. 153 
 
 the opposite direction, on the very same principle that a 
 boy, when he jumps violently off a chair, not only sends his 
 body in one direction, but sends the chair in the opposite 
 direction. So, when the wind jumps off the sail towards 
 the stern it sends the ship in the opposite direction, namely, 
 forward. Reverse this; bring back the mast you had 
 removed to its old place in the centre of the deck, and shift 
 the front mast near to the lee-bulwarks. The wind will 
 now slide off the sail towards the bow, and force our vessel 
 in the opposite direction, namely, backward. 
 
 By means of the rudder, and placing the sails in various 
 positions so as to cause them to press against the masts in 
 a particular manner, vessels can be made to sail not only 
 with a side wind but with a breeze blowing a good deal 
 against them in nautical phrasology, they can be made 
 to sail " close to the wind." In short, they can sail in every 
 direction except directly in the " teeth " of the wind. Some 
 ships sail closer to the wind than others ; their powers in 
 this respect depending very much on the cut of their sails, 
 and the form of their hulls. 
 
 The Lighter is a small rough clumsy species of coasting 
 vessel usually of the sloop rig. It is used for discharging 
 cargoes of large vessels in harbours, and off coasts where 
 the depth of water is not great. Lighters are usually 
 picturesque-looking craft with dingy sails, and they seldom 
 carry top-sails of any kind. Being seldom decked they are 
 more properly huge boats than little ships. But lighters 
 are not classed according to their rig, they may be of any 
 rig, though that of the sloop is most commonly adopted. In 
 the annexed wood-cut you have a specimen of one very 
 much in use. The sail of this boat is kept extended by 
 means of a sprit or wooden pole which is fastened low 
 
154 
 
 SLOOPS, 
 
 THE LIGHTER. 
 
THE CUTTER. 155 
 
 down on the mast just above the heads of the crew ; its other 
 end being fastened to the upper outside corner of the sail, 
 which, in consequence of this arrangement, is called a sprit 
 sail. The sprit in the cut is on the other side of the sail, but 
 its presence is indicated by a diagonal line on the canvas. 
 
 THE CUTTEK. 
 
 This species of vessel is similar, in all respects, to the 
 sloop, the only difference being that it is better and more 
 elegantly built. Gentlemen's pleasure yachts are most 
 frequently cutters, but yachts may be of any form or rig 
 that is, they may belong to any class of vessels without 
 changing their name of yacht. Cutter yachts are much 
 more elegantly moulded and rigged than the sloops that we 
 have just described. They are clipper-built that is, the 
 hull is smoothly and sharply shaped ; the cutwater, in 
 particular, is like a knife, and the bow wedge-like. In 
 short, although similar in general outline, a cutter-yacht 
 bears the same relation to a trading sloop that a racer does 
 to a cart horse. Their sails, also, are larger in proportion, 
 and they are fast-sailing vessels ; but, on this very account, 
 they are not such good sea-boats as their clumsy brethren, 
 whose bluff or rounded bows rise on the waves, while the 
 sharp vessels cut through them, and often deluge the decks 
 with spray. 
 
 In our Engraving we have a sloop-rigged yacht sailing 
 with a light side wind, with main-sail, gaff, fore-sail, and 
 jib set, and the Union Jack, our well-known national flag, 
 flying at the peak. 
 
 The yard observed stretching across the vessel is that on 
 which a square-sail is sometimes spread when the cutter is 
 running before a fair wind. 
 
156 THE SCHOONER A.ND BHIGANTINE. 
 
 The Schooner is the most elegant, and, for small craft, 
 the most manageable vessel that floats. Its proportions 
 are more agreeable to the eye than those of any other 
 species of craft, and its rig is in favour with owners 
 of yachts, especially with those whose yachts are large. 
 The schooner's distinctive peculiarities are, that it carries 
 two masts, which usually " rake aft" or lean back a good 
 deal; and its rig is chiefly fore-and-aft, like the sloop. 
 Of the two masts the after one is the main-mast. The 
 other is termed the fore-mast. The sails of a schooner 
 are the main-sail and the gaff on the main-mast; the 
 fore-sail, fore-top-sail, and fore-top-gallant-sail (the two 
 last being square sails), on the fore-mast. In front of the 
 fore-mast are the stay-sail, the jib, and the flying -jib; these 
 last are triangular sails. If a schooner were cut in two in 
 the middle, crosswise, the front portion would be in all 
 respects a sloop with a square top-sail; the stern part would 
 also be a sloop, minus the bowsprit and the triangular sails 
 before the mast. Schooners sometimes carry a large square- 
 sail, which is spread when the wind is " dead aft." They 
 are much used in the coasting trade, and one of their great 
 advantages is that they can be worked with fewer " hands" 
 than sloops of the same size. 
 
 THE BRIGANTINE. 
 
 A specimen of this vessel is given in our engraving. Its 
 rig is a mixture of that of the sloop and brig, which latter 
 vessel shall be "described hereafter. The Brigantine is 
 square rigged on the fore-mast, and sloop-rigged on its after 
 or mizzen mast. Of its two masts the front mast is the 
 larger, and, therefore, is the main-mast. In short a brigan- 
 tine is a mixed vessel, being a brig forward, and a sloop aft. 
 
THE BRIGANTINE. 
 
 157 
 
 Such are our coasting vessels ; but it must be borne in 
 mind that ships of their class are not confined to the coast. 
 When built very large they are intended for the deep ocean 
 trade, and many schooners approach in size to full-rigged 
 "ships." 
 
 Reference having been made to life boats, we shall, before 
 leaving this department of our subject devote a chapter to 
 them, and to an account of the heroism of a young woman 
 who dwelt in a lighthouse on our stormy coasts not many 
 years ago. 
 
158 
 
 GRACE DARLING. 
 
 THE LIFE BOAT. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GRACE DARLING. 
 
 THERE are not many women who, like Joan of Arc, put 
 forth their hands to the'work peculiarly belonging to the 
 male sex, and achieve for themselves undying fame. And 
 among these there are very few indeed, who, in thus quit- 
 ting their natural sphere and assuming masculine duties, 
 retain their feminine modesty and gentleness. 
 
 Such an one was Grace Darling. She did not, indeed, 
 like those to whom we have just referred, altogether quit 
 
GRACE DAKLING. 159 
 
 her station and follow a course peculiar to the male sex; 
 but she did once seize the oar and launch fearlessly upon 
 the raging sea and perform a deed which strong and daring 
 men might have been proud of; which drew forth the 
 wondering admiration of her country, and has rendered 
 her name indissolubly connected with the annals of heroic 
 daring in the saving of human life from vessels wrecked 
 upon our rock-bound shores. 
 
 Grace Darling was born in November 1815, at Barn- 
 borough on the Northumberland coast. Her father was 
 keeper of the lighthouse on the Longstone, one of the Farri 
 Islands lying off that coast; and here, on a mere bit of rock 
 surrounded by the ocean, and often by the howling tempests 
 and the foaming breakers of that dangerous spot, our heroine 
 spent the greater part of her life, cut off almost totally from 
 the joys and pursuits of the busy world. She and her 
 mother managed the domestic economy of the lighthouse 
 on the little islet, while her father trimmed the lantern that 
 sent a blaze of friendly light to warn mariners off that 
 dangerous coast. 
 
 In personal appearance Grace Darling is described as 
 having been fair and comely, with a gentle modest expres- 
 sion of countenance, about the middle size, and with nothing 
 in the least degree masculine about her. She had reached 
 her twenty-second year when the wreck took place in con- 
 nection with which her name has become famous. 
 
 The Farn Islands are peculiarly dangerous. The sea 
 rushes with tremendous force between the smaller islands, 
 and, despite the warning light, wrecks occasionally take 
 place among them. In days of old, when men had neither 
 heart nor head to erect lighthouses for the protection of their 
 fellows, many a noble ship must have been dashed to pieces 
 
160 GRACE DARLING. 
 
 there, and many an awful shriek must have mingled with 
 the hoarse roar of the surf round these rent and weather- 
 worn rocks. 
 
 A gentleman who visited the Longstone rock in 1838, 
 describes it thus : 
 
 " It was, like the rest of these desolate isles, all of dark 
 whinstone, cracked in every direction, and worn with the 
 action of winds, waves, and tempests, since the world began. 
 Over the greater part of it was not a blade of grass, nor a 
 grain of earth; it was bare and iron-like stone, crusted, round 
 all the coast as far as high-water mark, with limpet and 
 still smaller shells. We ascended wrinkled hills of black 
 stone, and descended into worn and dismal dells of the same ; 
 into some of which, where the tide got entrance, it came 
 pouring and roaring in raging whiteness, and churning the 
 loose fragments of whinstone into round pebbles, and piling 
 them up in deep crevices with sea- weeds, like great round 
 ropes and heaps of f ucus. Over our heads screamed hundreds 
 of hovering birds, the gull mingling its hideous laughter 
 most wildly." 
 
 One wild and stormy night in September 1838, such a 
 night as induces those on land to draw closer round the fire, 
 and offer up, perchance, a silent prayer for those who are at 
 sea, a steamer was battling, at disadvantage with the 
 billows, off St. Abb's Head. She was the Forfarshire, a 
 steamer of three hundred tons, under command of Mr. John 
 Humble, and had started from Hull for Dundee with a 
 valuable cargo, a crew of twenty-one men and forty-one 
 passengers. 
 
 It was a fearful night ; the storm raged furiously and 
 would have tried the qualities of even a stout vessel; but 
 this one was in very bad repair, and her boilers were in 
 
GRACE DARLING 161 
 
 such a state that the engines soon became entirely useless, 
 and at last they ceased to work. We cannot conceive the 
 danger of a steamer left thus comparatively helpless in a 
 furious storm and dark night off a dangerous coast. 
 
 In a short time the vessel became quite unmanageable, 
 and drifted with the direction of the tide, no one knew 
 whither.- Soon the terrible cry arose, " breakers to lee- 
 ward," and immediately after the Farn lights became 
 visible. A desparing attempt was now made by the captain 
 to run the ship between the islands and the mainland, but 
 in this he failed, and about three o'clock she struck heavily 
 on a rock bow foremost. 
 
 The scene of consternation that followed is indescribable. 
 Immediately one of the boats was lowered, and with a 
 freight of terror-stricken people pushed off, but not before 
 one or two persons had fallen into the sea and perished in 
 their vain attempts to get into it. This party in the 
 boat, nine in number, survived the storm of that awful 
 night, and were picked up the following morning by a 
 Montrose sloop. Of those left in the ill-fated ship some 
 remained in the after part, a few stationed themselves near 
 the bow thinking it the safest spot. The captain stood 
 helpless, his wife clinging to him, while several other females 
 gave vent to their agony of despair in fearful cries. 
 
 Meanwhile the waves dashed the vessel again and again 
 on the rock, and at last a larger billow than the rest lifted 
 her up and let her fall down upon its sharp edge. The 
 effect was tremendous and instantaneous ; the vessel was 
 literally broken into two pieces, and the after part, with the 
 greater number of the passengers in the cabin, was swept 
 away through the Pifa Gut, a tremendous current which is 
 considered dangerous even in good weather. Among those 
 
162 GE ACE DARLING. 
 
 who thus perished were the captain and his wife. The fore 
 part of the steamer, with the few who had happily taken 
 refuge upon it, remained fast on the rock. Here eight or 
 nine of the passengers and crew clung to the windlass, and 
 a woman named Sarah Dawson with her two little children 
 lay huddled together in a corner of the fore cabin exposed 
 to the fury of winds and waves all the remainder -of that 
 dreadful night. For hours each returning wave carried a 
 thrill of terror to their hearts, for the shattered wreck reeled 
 before every shock, and it seemed as if it would certainly 
 be swept away into the churning foam before daybreak. 
 
 But daylight came at last, and the survivors on the 
 wreck began to sweep the dim horizon with straining eye- 
 balls as a faint hope at last began to arise in their bosoms. 
 Nor were these trembling hopes doomed to disappoint- 
 ment. At the eleventh hour God in his mercy sent deliver- 
 ance. Through the glimmering dawn and driving spray, 
 the lighthouse-keeper's daughter from the lonely watch- 
 tower descried the wreck, which was about a mile distant 
 from the Longstone. From the mainland, too, they were 
 observed ; and crowds of people lined the shore and gazed 
 upon the distant speck, to which, by the aid of telescopes, the 
 survivors were seen clinging with the tenacity of despair. 
 
 But no boat could live in that raging sea, which still 
 lashed madly against the riven rocks, although the violence 
 of the storm had begun to abate. An offer of 5 by the 
 steward of Bamborough Castle failed to tempt a crew of 
 men to launch their boat. One daring heart and willing 
 hand was there, however. Grace Darling, fired with an 
 intense desire to save the perishing ones, urged her father 
 to launch their little boat. At first he held back. There 
 was no one at the lighthouse except himself, his wife and 
 
GRACE DARLING.' 163 
 
 daughter. What could such a crew do in a little open 
 boat in so wild a sea ? He knew the extreme peril they 
 should encounter better than his daughter, and very naturally 
 hesitated to run so great a risk. For besides the danger of 
 swamping and the comparatively weak arm of an inex- 
 perienced woman at the oar, the passage from the Longstone 
 to the wreck could only be accomplished with the ebb tide, 
 so that unless the exhausted survivors should prove to be 
 able to lend their aid they could not pull back again to the 
 Lighthouse. 
 
 But the earnest importunities of the heroic girl were not 
 to be resisted. Her father at last consented, and the little 
 boat pushed off with the man and the young woman for its 
 crew. It may be imagined with what a thrill of joy and 
 hope the people on the wreck beheld the boat dancing on 
 the crested waves towards them ; and how great must have 
 been the surprise that mingled with their other feelings on 
 observing that one of the rowers was a woman ! 
 
 They gained the rock in safety ; but here their danger 
 was increased ten-fold, and it was only by the exertion of 
 great muscular power, coupled with resolute courage, that 
 they prevented the boat being dashed to pieces against the 
 rock 
 
 One by one the sufferers were got into the boat. Sarah 
 Dawson was found lying in the fore cabin with a spark of 
 life still trembling in her bosom, and she still clasped her 
 two little ones in her arms, but the spirits of both had fled 
 to Him who gave them. With great difficulty the boat 
 was rowed back to the Longstone, and the rescued crew 
 landed in safety. Here, owing to the violence of the sea, 
 they were detained for nearly three days, along with a boat's 
 crew which had put off to their relief from North Sunder- 
 
 11 
 
] 04 GEACE DAKLING. 
 
 land; and it required some ingenuity to accommodate so 
 large a party within the narrow limits of a lighthouse. 
 Grace gave up her bed to poor Mrs. Dawson ; most of the 
 others rested as they best could upon the floor. 
 
 The romantic circumstances of this rescue, the isolated 
 position of the girl, her youth and modesty, and the self- 
 devoting heroism displayed upon this occasion, thrilled 
 through the length and breadth of the country like an 
 electric shock, arid the name of Grace Darling became for 
 the time as well known as that of the greatest in the land ; 
 while the lonely lighthouse on the Longstone become a point 
 of attraction to thousands of warm admirers, among whom 
 were many of the rich and noble. Letters and gifts flowed in 
 upon Grace Darling continually. The public seemed unable 
 to do enough to testify their regard. The Duke of 
 Northumberland invited her over to Alnwick Castle, and 
 presented her with a gold watch. A public subscription, 
 to the amount of 700, was raised for her. The Humane 
 Society presented her with a handsome silver tea-pot and a 
 vote of thanks for her courage and humanity. Portraits of 
 her were sold in the print shops all over the land, and the 
 enthusiasm which at first was the natural impulse of 
 admiration for one who had performed a noble and heroic 
 deed, at last rose to a species of mania, in the heat of which 
 not a few absurdities were perpetrated. 
 
 Among others, several of the proprietors of the metro- 
 politan theatres offered her a large sum nightly on condition 
 that she would appear on the stage, merely to sit in a boat 
 during the performance of a piece illustrative of the incident 
 of which she was the heroine ! As might have been 
 expected of one whose spirit was truly noble, she promptly 
 declined all such offers. God seems to have put his arm ten- 
 
LIFE-BOATS. 165 
 
 derly round Grace Darling, and afforded her special strength, 
 to resist the severe temptations to which she was exposed. 
 All proposals to better her condition were rejected, and 
 she returned to her home on the island rock, where she 
 remained with her father and mother till within a few 
 months of her death. The fell destroyer, alas ! claimed 
 her while yet in the bloom of womanhood. She died of 
 consumption on the 20th of October 1842, leaving an 
 example of self-devoting courage in the hour of danger, and 
 self-denying heroism in the hour of temptation, that may 
 well be admired and imitated by those whose duty it is to 
 man the life-boat, and launch to the rescue on the stormy 
 waves, in all time to come. 
 
 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 A life-boat is a large boat formed in such a way that it 
 cannot sink and cannot easily be overturned by rough seas. 
 Its object is to rescue the passengers and crews of vessels 
 wrecked upon the coast; and from what has been said in a 
 former chapter as to its great usefulness in saving human 
 life, the reader will readily believe that scientific and phil- 
 anthropic men have given much earnest thought to the 
 best methods of constructing it. 
 
 By means of floats, air-tight compartments, &c., the life- 
 boat is made so buoyant that it will " live," as sailors ex- 
 press it, in a sea upon which no other boat could venture 
 without being instantly swamped. The men are provided 
 with cork and air jackets or belts, in order to prevent their 
 sinking should they chance to be washed overboard; and 
 the more effectually to prevent such a catastrophe, they 
 usually lash themselves to the seats or "thwarts." Of 
 course such a boat is constantly washed over by the waves, 
 
166 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 but even when full of water it cannot sink. The chief 
 danger the life-boat runs is that of being upset altogether, 
 or being thrown upon a rock and having her planks stove 
 in, or being dashed against the side of the vessel whose 
 crew it has been brought to succour. 
 
 In former years wrecked crews had only to look for de- 
 liverance to the poor fishermen who dwelt upon the coast 
 where they chanced to have been wrecked. Now, however, 
 philanthropists have formed a society, named the " Royal 
 National Life-boat Institution" whose principal objects are 
 to construct and fit out as many life-boats as their funds 
 will admit of, and to reward with medals and sums of 
 money such persons as shall distinguish themselves in the 
 saving of life from w r reqks. 
 
 That this institution is actively engaged and doing its 
 work well, may be gathered from the following paragraph, 
 which we extract verbatim from a newspaper published in 
 March of last year (1861) : 
 
 tl ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION. A meeting of this institu- 
 tion was held yesterday Mr. Thomas Chapman, F.R.S., in the chair. 
 Rewards amounting to 156 were voted to the crews of life-boats of the 
 society, for saving the crews of various wrecked vessels during the late 
 heavy gales. Applications for life-boats were made from Tynernouth, 
 in Northumberland ; Peterhead, in Scotland ; and Aberystwith in Wales. 
 It was reported at the meeting that her Majesty the Queen, in appre- 
 ciation of the important and philanthropic character of the work of the 
 society, had signified her intention to become an annual subscriber of 
 50 to its funds. Within the last two months, the institution had ex- 
 pended nearly 3000 on its life-boat stations." 
 
 Another extract from the "Illustrated London News" of 
 Nov. 1859, shows how the agents of this society work, 
 and the feeling that exists in the public mind regarding it. 
 
 "On the first instant, (Nov. 1859^ when it was blowing 
 
LIFE-BOATS. 167 
 
 a heavy gale from the S.S.W. the screw steamer Shamrock 
 of Dublin, was seen to ground on the south end of the 
 Holm Sands. The Lowestoft beachmen, seeing the sea 
 breaking heavily over her, and from their experience know- 
 ing that no time was to be lost, collected their people and 
 immediately launched the life-boat, which is in connection 
 with the Koyal National Life-boat Institution, for their 
 rescue. When the life-boat reached the steamer the sea 
 was breaking over the mast-heads, but she was providen- 
 tially enabled to anchor in a most advantageous position 
 ahead of her ; and although the sea broke over her and re- 
 peatedly filled her, this excellent life-boat, as often in her 
 buoyancy clearing herself of the seas, was at length, with 
 difficulty, enabled to approach the steamer. A communica- 
 tion was then established with the wreck by means of ropes, 
 and the whole of the crew (fourteen men) were hauled by 
 lines through the sea to the life-boat and brought safely to 
 the shore. This act has been pronounced as daring a rescue 
 from shipwreck as was ever witnessed. 
 
 "Early on the morning of the 26th ult, this life-boat 
 again put off, during a heavy gale from the southward, to 
 the rescue of the crew of five men of the schooner Lord 
 Douglas, of Dundee. On the life-boat's return to the shore 
 the gale split her foresail, which compelled her to run on 
 Gorton Keach. Having procured another sail and changed 
 some of her men, she went off again to the assistance of the 
 crew four in number of another vessel, the Silva, of 
 Glasgow, which was on Gorton Sands. The men on the 
 wreck were drawn into the life-boat by lines. The foresail 
 was again split by the violence of the gale, and she was 
 compelled for safety to take the beach at Yarmouth. The 
 neighbouring life-boat stationed at Pakefield, has also 
 
168 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 during the recent gales rendered noble services in saving 
 life from wrecks. 
 
 " The National Life-boat Institution has voted the crews 
 of these life-boats nearly 100 for their valuable exertions 
 during the recent storms. Last summer the society built 
 a new house for the Lowestoft life-boat, at a cost of 158. 
 
 " We append some particulars of the operations of the 
 life-boats of the Royal National Life-boat Institution during 
 the present year. It appears that these boats have been 
 called into active operation on fifty-six different occasions, on 
 various points of our coast. The result has been that one 
 hundred and thirty -four lives have been saved off twenty- 
 three wrecks, besides the assisting of five vessels safely into 
 port. On twenty-three occasions it happened that when 
 the life-boats had put off, in reply to signals of distress, the 
 vessels either got out of danger or their crews were rescued 
 by other means. Again, crews assembled several times to 
 give assistance, but were not required to put off to sea. For 
 these several exertions the crews were paid nearly 600. 
 
 " Nearly all these services took place in stormy weather 
 and heavy seas, and often in the dark hours of night, and 
 yet, it is gratifying to add, not a single accident happened 
 either to the boats or to the gallant fellows who had manned 
 them. On these occasions, and at the quarterly periods of 
 exercise, the life-boats of the society were manned probably 
 by no less than four thousand persons. Such practical 
 proofs as these of the immense value of the National Life- 
 boat Institution in a maritime country like ours, cannot 
 possibly be overrated, and surely it has the highest claims 
 on our support. The more we hear of its operations at 
 various parts of the coast, the more we feel urged to press 
 its claims on public notice." 
 
LIFE-BOATS. 1 G9 
 
 The society lias stations all round our coasts, although 
 not nearly so many as could be desired, and the good done 
 is incalculable. 
 
 One of the great objects to be attained in cases of wrecks 
 is, to pass a line between the wreck and the shore by means 
 of which a stout rope may be drawn to or from the vessel 
 and connected with it, by which many, sometimes all of 
 those on board, may be saved. The great difficulty is to 
 get the line thrown on board, and in order to overcome this 
 several machines have been invented by which a line may 
 be thrown. One of those machines is a small cannon from 
 which the end of the line is shot over the wreck. Another 
 machine used for saving life is a large buoy or float, pro- 
 vided with ropes by means of which a drowning man may 
 grasp and support himself until assistance arrives. This 
 buoy is supplied with a blue light which can be fired by 
 pulling a cord, so that, when it is dark, a bright glare guides 
 those who are in search to the objects they desire to succour. 
 A representation of this buoy is given in the annexed 
 wood-cut. 
 
 It is one of the prominent features of the present age 
 that men strive by every means to turn scientific knowledge 
 to useful account. It is not enough that we should wonder 
 at the discoveries of science, and expatiate on the wisdom 
 and power of Him who made the universe. In these days 
 we endeavour to press science into the service of art, and, 
 while we admire the wisdom displayed in all that increasing 
 knowledge unfolds to us, we adore the love that prompted 
 our heavenly Father to put so much power and so many 
 wonderful materials into the hand of man, for the express 
 purpose of conducing to his temporal prosperity and 
 ,ppiness. 
 
170 
 
 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 THE LIFE-BUG?. 
 
LIFE-BOATS. 171 
 
 By careful study of the varied phenomena connected with 
 the currents in the ocean and in the atmosphere, scientific 
 men are now enabled with considerable certainty to f oretell 
 the coming of a storm, and even to point out its probable 
 course. By ingenious appliance of the well-known agent 
 electricity, we can instantly communicate our thoughts and 
 our knowledge from one end of the kingdom to the other. 
 By the union of these two powers, it is now proposed to 
 telegraph to the lighthouses along our coast at what time 
 a storm may be expected^ and in what direction it will pro- 
 bably blow, so that, by means of preconcerted signal-lights 
 ships nearing our ports may be warned of the coming dan- 
 ger and put in possession of information sufficient to enable 
 them to avoid it. A central office is proposed, to which 
 meteorological information should be telegraphed from all 
 quarters, and from which the digested information could be 
 transmitted to lighthouses and sea-ports. 
 
 Maury, the eminent and pious American philosoper, from 
 whose admirable work, the " Physical Geography of the 
 Sea" we have already quoted, gives his opinion on this sub- 
 ject, as follows: 
 
 He holds that, though storms cannot be predicted in all 
 cases, they may in many; and this by the establishment of 
 a central office to which meteorological observations should 
 be transmitted by telegraph from a wide circle of surround- 
 ing stations, and compared together. He points out that, 
 taking a general view of the world, the coasts of Britain are 
 peculiarly dangerous, for they seldom fail to present a lee- 
 shore to the sailor in any and every wind that blows. On 
 the other hand, the geographical position of these islands is 
 such as would enable them to give early and valuable 
 warnings to countries eastward, of western storms, Pre- 
 
172 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 dictions of weather founded on observations at any one 
 point would exhibit uncertainty and confusion, but when 
 derived from observations at many and distant points, in- 
 stantaneously communicated and combined, order and 
 sequence appear, and the progressive march of special storms 
 can be traced. Hence a central meteorological office is in 
 a vastly more favourable position for judging of the weather 
 than any single ship, though steered by a scientific com- 
 mander, amply provided with barometers and thermometers. 
 To every ship, therefore, when it comes into the neighbour- 
 hood of our iron-bound shores, after its solitary voyage 
 through the watery waste, it would be one of the greatest 
 boons conceivable if each lighthouse should hang out a sig- 
 nal, intimating what Captain Maury well calls " the invisible 
 dangers of the atmosphere," thereby indicating to the 
 mariner from what quarter he may presently expect a storm 
 to break forth, which coast will be dangerous, and which 
 safe for him, to be found in the neighbourhood of. 
 Had any such system been in operation when that mag- 
 nificent Australian liner, the Eoyal Charter, with its hun- 
 dreds of passengers, came in sight of our shores, after the 
 long voyage, with its prepious freight from the other side 
 of the world, the dire calamity which ensued could never 
 have occurred. That sad wreck (an account of which will 
 be found in another part of this volume) shocked the public 
 mind for a moment grievously, yet it is but a drop in the 
 great aggregate of the nation's losses in the same manner, 
 and from the same causes, as the public notifications of 
 more than a thousand wrecks in the year testify. 
 
THE BRIG, 173 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BRIG. 
 
 ADVANCING step by step in our investigation of the peculiar 
 rig and build of ships, we come to the brig. This species 
 of craft is usually, but not necessarily, larger than those 
 that have yet been described; it is generally built on a 
 larger scale than the schooner, and often approaches in 
 magnitude to the full sized, three-masted ship. 
 
 The distinctive features of the brig are, that it has two 
 masts, both of which are square-rigged. It is a particularly 
 serviceable species of craft, and is much used in foreign trade. 
 
 THE RIGGING OF THE BRIG. 
 
 The advantage of the square -rig over the fore-and-aft rig 
 is, that the sails, being smaller and more numerous, are 
 
174 THE BRIG. 
 
 more easily managed, and require fewer men, or " hands," 
 to work them. Thus, as we increase the size of our vessel, 
 the more necessity is there that it should be square-rigged. 
 The huge main-sail of the sloop and schooner could not be 
 applied to large vessels ; so that, when men came to con- 
 struct ships of several hundred tons burden, they were com- 
 pelled to increase the number of masts and sails, and dimin- 
 ish the size of them; hence, probably, brigs were devised 
 after schooners, The main-mast of a brig is the aft one. 
 
 The sails are named after the masts to which they are 
 fastened, namely, the main-sail above that the main- 
 top-sail above that the main-top-gallant-sail and some- 
 times a very small sail, named the royal, is spread above 
 all. Behind the main-sail there is a small fore-and-aft sail, 
 similar to the main-sail of a schooner, which is called the 
 boom-main-sail. On the fore-mast is a similar sail, which 
 is called the try -sail. Attached to the respective yards of 
 square-rigged ships there are smaller poles or arms which 
 can be pushed out at pleasure, and the yard lengthened, in 
 order to receive an additional little sail, or wing, on each 
 side. These wings are called studding-sails, or stun-sails, 
 and are used only when the wind is fair and light. They 
 are named after the sails to which they are fastened ; thus, 
 there are the main-stun-sails, the main-top stun-sails, and 
 the main-top-gallant stun-sails, &c. The foremast of a brig 
 is smaller than the main-rnast. It carries a fore-sail, fore- 
 top-sail, fore-top-gallant-sail, and fore-royal. Between it 
 and the bowsprit are the fore-stay-sail, jib, and flying- 
 jib. The three last sails are nearly similar in all vessels. 
 All the yards, &c., are hoisted, and shifted, and held in 
 their position by a complicated arrangement of cordage, 
 which in the mass is called the running-rigging, in contra- 
 
THE BRIG. 175 
 
 distinction to the standing-rigging, which, as we have said, 
 is fixedj and keeps the masts, &c., immovably in position. 
 Yet every rope, in what seems to a landsman's eye a be- 
 wildering mass of confusion, has its distinctive name and 
 specific purpose. 
 
 Our coloured engraving represents a brig in the most 
 dangerous of all positions, namely, off a lee-shore in a gale, 
 endeavouring to "weather" a point, that is, trying to sail 
 round without being dashed against it. She is sailing as 
 close to the wind as possible. She would get on much 
 better if she were to ease off a point or two to the left, and 
 so let the wind blow more flatly against her sails ; but 
 were she to do this she would run the risk of being blown 
 on the point of land before she weathered it. She sails, 
 it will be observed, under her fore-sail, fore-top-sail, and 
 main-top-sail, the main-sail and boom-main-sail being 
 clewed up, and her top-gallant-masts being lowered till 
 only their tops are seen above the top-mast cross-trees. 
 The top-gallant yards have been lowered on deck and 
 stowed away till the gale moderates. No doubt the jib 
 too is hoisted, but it is hid from view by the fore-sail and 
 the spray. 
 
 The brig at the head of the chapter is sailing with " a 
 wind on her quarter," that is almost, but not quite, "astern." 
 And be it carefully noted here, that "a wind on the quarter" 
 is the best that can blow for most vessels, because it acts 
 on vessels in such a way that all the sails "draw," or are 
 filled. She has not the wind, however, quite on her quarter. 
 It is nearly fair, or " dead aft," the main-sail being clewed 
 up to let the wind get at the fore-sail, shows this. On this 
 brig are set the main-top, main-top-gallant, fore, fore-top, 
 and fore-top-gallant sails, also the jib and flying jib. 
 
176 STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 
 
 Brigs and schooners, being light and handy craft, are 
 generally used by pirates and smugglers in the prosecution 
 of their lawless pursuits, and many a deed of bloodshed 
 and horror has been done on board such craft by those 
 miscreants. The following is one of the blackest we have 
 ever fallen in with : 
 
 STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 
 
 Alexander Tardy was a native of the island of St. Dom- 
 ingo, and one of the most dreadful characters by nature 
 that ever lived. Having shown a bad unsettled disposition 
 in boyhood, we are not surprised to find that in youth he 
 gave up mercantile pursuits and went to sea as steward of a 
 ship. This was shortly after the commencement of the 
 present century. This situation he left under suspicion of 
 having poisoned the captain. 
 
 From this time forward he led the life of an unsettled 
 wanderer sometimes in one employment, . sometimes in 
 another, but chiefly spending his life as a thief. Being at 
 one time on board a vessel bound for Charleston, he 
 poisoned several of the passengers and charged the crime 
 on the negro cook, who was tried, condemned, and executed, 
 although, as may be supposed, he protested his innocence 
 to the last. 
 
 This miscreant seems to have been unable to resist the 
 desire to poison his fellow-creatures, even when he could 
 have no possible reason for the perpetration of the diabolical 
 act. On another occasion he attempted to poison the pas- 
 sengers in a ship bound for Philadelphia ; but on this occasion 
 was seized and condemned to seven years hard labour. 
 
 Being liberated at the end of his term, Tardy now gave 
 himself up to the commission of every species of crime that 
 
STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 177 
 
 man is capable of committing. At last, while staying~at 
 Havanna, in Cuba, lie formed the bold and dreadful plan 
 of going on board a vessel, poisoning the captain and all the 
 crew, and thus possess himself of a ship and cargo at once. 
 
 To accomplish this, he took into his confidence three 
 Spaniards, desperadoes quite equal to himself in villany. 
 Their names were Felix, Pepe, and Courro. Having con- 
 sulted together, they resolved to take passage on board the 
 Crawford) an American brig, commanded by Captain 
 Brightman, which was about to sail for New York with a 
 cargo consisting of sugar, coffee, molasses, &c. Captain 
 Brightman happened to be unwell at the time of starting, 
 and Tardy sought to ingratiate himself in the character of 
 a doctor. Courro shipped as Tardy's servant, while Felix 
 and Pepe gave themselves out to be merchants, and, in 
 order to support this assumed position, took on board with 
 them a box full of lead and iron, which they gave in charge 
 to the captain, saying that it contained 17,000 dollars in 
 gold. The crew of the Crawford consisted of Mr. Dobson 
 the mate, and five seamen. Besides these there were four 
 other passengers, one of whom was a Spaniard named 
 Ginoulhiac, another was a Mr. Robinson, part owner of the 
 cargo. Altogether, there were fifteen souls on board the 
 ill-fated brig. 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1827, the Crawford put to sea; 
 ere that voyage was done, only Dobson the mate, Gibbs 
 the cook, and Ginoulhiac the Spanish passenger, survived 
 to tell of the dark deed of blood that had been perpetrated 
 upon the sea. 
 
 Dobson, the mate, describes the events of the tragedy 
 thus : 
 
 " The brig proceeded on the voyage with variable 
 
178 STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 
 
 winds, but with, every prospect of making a fair pas- 
 sage. One morning, after the vessel had been at sea for 
 a few days, the wind being light and the weather fair, I 
 sat -down to breakfast on deck with Tardy and the other 
 cabin passengers. Captain Brightman was still indisposed 
 and confined to his berth. 
 
 " During breakfast Tardy acted as master of the cere- 
 monies, and helped me to bacon, fried eggs, and a- bowl of 
 chocolate, all which politeness, of course, excited no suspi- 
 cion. Soon after breakfast I descended to the cabin for the 
 purpose of taking some repose, having been engaged all 
 night on duty, but I had hardly lain down for a minute, 
 when I was attacked with a violent headache, throbbing 
 about the temples, and sickness of the stomach. Unable 
 to make out the cause' of this sudden illness, I sent for 
 Tardy, who, having felt my pulse and inquired into the 
 symptoms of the disease, declared that there was bile on 
 the stomach, and recommended an emetic. Mr. Eobinson, 
 having overheard the prescription, dissuaded me from taking 
 any medicine whatever, and recommended repose. I there- 
 fore had my mattress removed to the open air on deck, 
 where I lay until eight o'clock in the evening, by which 
 time the vomiting had ceased, and I felt a good deal 
 relieved. 
 
 " During the day I had a conversation with Mr. Robin- 
 son, who communicated his fear that an attempt had been 
 made by the Spaniards to poison them, as the whole crew 
 seemed to be sick, and who proposed that, to guard against 
 anything of this kind in future, their own cook should pre- 
 pare food for the crew and other passengers, while Courro, 
 who acted as the servant of Felix and Tardy, might 
 act as cook for* the Spaniards. Nothing, however, was 
 
STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 179 
 
 settled upon definitely, and, as the vessel was going safely 
 in her course, I lay down for the night, but with orders to 
 be awaked if the breeze should spring up. 
 
 " I had slept, I think, about an hour and a half, when I 
 was waked by dreadful shrieks proceeding from all parts 
 of the vessel. Starting up with the apprehension that we 
 were boarded by pirates, I ran forward to the forecastle, 
 and there a horrid scene of slaughter met my sight. I 
 learned that Courro was the first to wake, and perceiving 
 that the time was come for action, he called up Tardy and 
 the Spaniards. Tardy then cut the throat of Dolliver 
 (one of the seamen) and gave the signal, when the Spaniards 
 set up dreadful cries which roused everybody; and, as any 
 one came up, either from the cabin or forecastle, he was 
 immediately stabbed. 
 
 "The American carpenter was the first to make his way 
 from the cabin, and was stabbed by Pepe ; but the blow not 
 proving mortal a struggle ensued, which lasted for a short 
 time, when he fell and was dispatched by an axe. During 
 the continuance of this straggle, Captain Brightman rushed 
 on deck, and received a blow from Felix which laid him 
 prostrate. The Irish passenger met the same fate, and 
 Robinson was supposed to have thrown himself from the 
 cabin windows into the ocean, upon seeing the death of the 
 Irishman. 
 
 "Courro was equally successful at the forecastle, and 
 stabbed, successively, Potter, Gibbs, and Bicknell. Deane, 
 who slept on deck, was not discovered in the darkness, and 
 threw himself overboard without being wounded. When 
 in the water, he entreated that a barrel, plank, or oar, or 
 something might be thrown out to support him as he was 
 ready to sink, and these entreaties were seconded by Mr. 
 12 
 
180 STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 
 
 Robinson (who was also in the water), but all in vain ; and 
 they both doubtless soon sank to rise no more. 
 
 " In the meantime, being wounded, I had made the best 
 of my way to the rigging, which had not escaped the notice 
 of Tardy, who called out in a loud voice for me to descend, 
 which I refused to do ; but upon repeated assurances that 
 if I came down my life would be spared, I at length 
 ventured down upon the deck, and was immediately sur- 
 rounded by Tardy and his companions. Tardy now began 
 to question me about the box which Felix had brought on 
 board, and what had become of it. I replied that I had 
 seen the box, and put it in the captain's state-room, but 
 could not tell what had become of it, if it were no longer 
 there. Tardy then explained that the Spaniards had 
 applied to the captain for the box, and upon his refusal to 
 give it up, they had resolved, instead of going to the United 
 States to seek a precarious redress from the laws, to take 
 the law into their own hands, and had accordingly killed 
 the captain and taken possession of the vessel ; that as the 
 deed was now done, it would be useless to go to the United 
 States, and they had determined to sail for Europe ; and 
 that, if I would assist them, they would not only save my 
 life, but I should be well paid for my services when the 
 cargo was disposed of. 
 
 " Of course this plausible story was a mere fabrication, 
 in order to excuse the murders and the seizure of the 
 vessel; but as I was not in a condition to dispute the 
 accuracy of the statement, I offered no objection to it, and 
 consented to do that which was requested of me, whereupon 
 I obtained permission to lie down on my mattress and take 
 some repose. In the course of the morning, after the 
 work of destruction had been completed, the Spaniards set 
 
STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 181 
 
 up loud cries of exultation, and, intoxicated with their suc- 
 cess, walked about the deck, which, as well as the sails and 
 rigging, was everywhere dyed with blood, and they occa- 
 sionally resorted to a bottle of liquor placed on the hencoop. 
 
 " They were not, however, so far gone as to neglect the 
 clearing away of all traces of the murders. They washed 
 the deck and rigging, and painted the sails to conceal the 
 blood with which they were stained. During the day all 
 the papers belonging to the brig were torn up and thrown 
 overboard, and all the chests and trunks which had belonged 
 to the passengers and crew were ransacked for plunder. The 
 American flag was also destroyed, and materials were pro- 
 duced for making a Spanish flag, which Mr. Ginoulhiac 
 (who seems to have been spared, probably because he was 
 a Spaniard) was required to put together." 
 
 Thus far we have quoted the account given by the mate. 
 After this these miscreants sailed about for some time, un- 
 certain what to do. At last Tardy resolved to run for 
 Norfolk to procure hands and provisions. But Tardy's cup 
 of iniquity was now full. He to whom vengeance belongeth 
 led the murderers blindly to their fate. Having reached 
 their port, and cast anchor about a hundred yards from the 
 shore, Tardy ordered Dobson, the mate, to get the boat 
 ready to land him. Dobson obeyed with alacrity, got 
 possession of an oar, and, while the Spaniards were aloft 
 furling the sails, he suddenly pushed off and sculled towards 
 the land, intending instantly to give information of the 
 vessel's character to the authorities. 
 
 Tardy saw, when too late, the mistake he had committed 
 in allowing the mate to enter the boat alone, and he knew 
 that his doom was fixed. Without a moment's hesitation 
 'he went into the cabin, sat down upon a box of dollars 
 
182 
 
 STORY OF ALEXANDER TARDY. 
 
 his ill-gotten gains and terminated his existence by cutting 
 his throat. Meanwhile Dobson gavfe information, the ship 
 was taken possession of and the Spaniards secured, all of 
 whom, excepting Ginoulhiac, were tried, condemned, and 
 executed a month afterwards. 
 
CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 183 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 As we have now come to treat of the larger species of craft 
 that plough the ocean, we shall proceed to visit those 
 lands, of which, without the aid of ships, we should never 
 have known the existence. We will, in fact, circumnavigate 
 the world, and, in doing so, we shall put ourselves under 
 one of the greatest circumnavigators the world ever knew, 
 namely 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 This celebrated man was born at Marton, in Yorkshire, 
 in 1728. His parents were poor; his scholastic education 
 
184 CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 scanty; but his was one of those vigorous spirits that 
 seem to thrive best in adverse circumstances. James Cook 
 educated himself, rose to be a captain in the royal navy, 
 and distinguished himself signally in the service. But all 
 his early doings sink into insignificance when compared 
 with his labours as a discoverer arid circumnavigator of the 
 world. He commenced his career of discovery as a lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 It is not our intention to write a biography of Cook. 
 Our object, in this chapter, will be to select a few interest- 
 ing anecdotes from his adventures. " Cook's Voyages " are 
 as familiar to us and as celebrated as the " Adventures of 
 Kobinson Crusoe," and we would deem it gross injustice 
 to write a book on man's deeds upon the ocean without 
 giving a prominent place to this prince of navigators, who 
 fell, alas ! while yet in the strength and vigour of his days, 
 and while engaged in prosecuting his useful and interesting 
 discoveries among the islands of the South Seas. He was 
 murdered by savages in the year 1779. 
 
 OBJECT OF COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE. 
 
 In the introduction to the beautiful illustrated edition of 
 Cook's Voyages, published by Tallis and Co., from which 
 work our quotations are made the object for which Cook 
 was first sent forth to the unknown regions of the South 
 Seas, is thus stated : 
 
 "In the latter part of the year 1767, while Wallis and 
 Carteret [two eminent navigators] were still at sea, it was 
 resolved by the Royal Society, that it would be proper to 
 send persons into some part of the South Sea, to observe 
 the transit of the planet Venus over the sun's disc, which, 
 according to astronomical calculation, would happen in the 
 
COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. 185 
 
 year 1769 ; and that the islands called Marquesas de 
 Mendoza, or those of Kotterdam or Amsterdam, were the 
 fittest places then known for making such observations. (It 
 was fixed, however, that the island of Otaheite or Tahiti^ 
 which had just been discovered by Wallis, should be the 
 point of observation.) 
 
 " This resolution having been communicated to his 
 Majesty [George III.], he directed that a vessel should be 
 fitted out for the purpose. The command was intrusted to 
 Lieutenant Cook, who had recently been employed in sur- 
 veys in Newfoundland, and had been pointed out as an 
 officer specially qualified for the service ; and he was ap- 
 pointed by the Eoyal Society. With him were associated, 
 Mr. Charles Green, assistant at the Eoyal Observatory of 
 Greenwich, Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks, long so well 
 known as president of the Eoyal Society, and Dr. Solander, 
 a Swede, and pupil of the, celebrated Linnaeus. 
 
 "The vessel employed on this occasion was the Endeavour, 
 a barque of 370 tons, built for the coal trade. A vessel of 
 this class was preferred by Cook to any other. The colh'ers 
 are particularly distinguished as excellent sea-boats, and 
 their build allows more room, and permits them to take 
 the ground or be laid on shore with more safety than any 
 other vessels of equal size. They also require fewer men for 
 their navigation." 
 
 A representation of this species of vessel, the barque 9 
 will be found in our next engraving, accompanied with a 
 detailed account of its peculiar rig. 
 
 The officers and crew, including the scientific gentlemen, 
 consisted of eighty-four men, besides the commander. 
 " The barque was victualled for eighteen months, and took 
 on board ten carriage, and twelve swivel guns, with good 
 
186 CURIOUS SEA-CREATURES. 
 
 store of ammunition and other necessaries. The instructions 
 given to the commander were, after making the necessary 
 astronomical observations at Otaheite, to prosecute the 
 design of making discoveries in the South Seas, returning 
 home by way of Good Hope." 
 
 We can fancy with what exulting enthusiasm a man like 
 Captain Cook would receive such an untrammelled commis- 
 sion to sail at will through the unknown regions of ocean and 
 plough a track, if he could, entirely round the world. He 
 was daring, enthusiastic, scientific, genial, and self-reliant, 
 and the results of this and of his succeeding voyages were 
 of the utmost importance to the interests of science and 
 humanity ; while the details are full of stirring incident and 
 romantic adventure, as well as of minute and interesting 
 accounts of new and curious species of birds, beasts, and fish. 
 
 As Captain Cook wrote his own account of those voyages, 
 we will let him speak for himself. 
 
 CURIOUS CREATURES OF THE SEA. 
 
 On the passage out, strange creatures were discovered in 
 the sea, in regard to which Cook says : 
 
 " Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander had an opportunity of ob- 
 serving many marine animals, of which no naturalist has 
 hitherto taken notice, particularly a new species of the 
 Oniscus ; and an animal of an angular figure, about three 
 inches long and one thick, with a hollow passing quite 
 through it, and a brown spot on one end, which they con- 
 jectured might be its stomach. Four of these adhered 
 together by their sides when they were taken, so that at 
 first they were thought to be one animal, but upon being 
 put into a glass of water they soon separated, and swam 
 about very briskly. These animals are of a new genus, to 
 
CURIOUS SEA-CREATURES. 187 
 
 which Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander gave the name of 
 Dagysa, from the likeness of one species of them to a gem. 
 
 " Several specimens of them were taken, adhering 
 together sometimes to the length of a yard or more, and 
 shining in the water with very beautiful colours. 
 
 " Another animal of a new genus they also discovered, 
 which shone in the water with colours still more beautiful 
 and vivid, and which indeed exceeded in variety and bright- 
 ness anything that we had ever seen. The colouring and 
 splendour of these animals were equal to those of an opal. 
 One of them lived several hours in a glass of salt water, 
 swimming about with great agility, and, at every motion, 
 displaying a change of colours almost infinitely various. 
 
 "We caught also among the rigging of the ship, when we 
 were at the distance of about ten leagues from Cape Finis- 
 terre, several birds which have not been described .by Lin- 
 naeus ; they were supposed to have -come from Spain, and 
 our gentlemen called the species Motacilla velificans, as they 
 said none but sailors would venture themselves on board a 
 ship that was going round the world. One of them was so 
 exhausted, that it died in Mr. Banks's hand almost as soon 
 as it was brought to him." 
 
 Again, just after crossing the " line," as the equator is 
 called by seamen, Cook refers to other discoveries thus : 
 " In the evening of the 29th (October) we observed that 
 luminous appearance of the sea which has been so often 
 mentioned by navigators, and to which such various causes 
 have been assigned ; some supposing it to be occasioned by 
 fish, which agitated the water by darting at their prey, some 
 by the putrefaction of fish and other marine animals, some 
 by electricity, and others referring it to a great variety of 
 different causes. It appeared to emit flashes of light exactly 
 
188 COOK MEETS WITH SAVAGES. 
 
 resembling those of lightning, only not so considerable ; but 
 they were so frequent, that sometimes eight or ten were 
 visible at the same moment. 
 
 "We were of opinion that they proceeded from some 
 luminous animal, and upon throwing out the casting net our 
 opinion was confirmed ; it brought up a species of Medusa, 
 which, when it came on board, had the appearance of metal 
 violently heated, and emitted a white light. With these 
 animals were taken some very small crabs, of three different 
 species, each of which gave as much light as a glow-worm, 
 though the creature was not so large by nine-tenths." 
 
 FIRST MEETING WITH SAVAGES. 
 
 Captain Cook proceeded southward on his voyage till he 
 passed out of the warm latitudes and reached the celebrated 
 Straits of Magellan at the southern point of South America. 
 Here he fell in with natives of Terra del Fuego. 
 
 " Having taken the boat on board," he writes, " I made sail 
 into the strait, and at three in the morning anchored in twelve 
 fathom and a half, upon coral rocks, before a small cove, 
 which we took for Port Maurice, at the distance of half a 
 mile from the shore. Two of the natives came down to the 
 beach expecting us to land ; but this spot afforded so little 
 shelter that I at length determined not to examine it. I 
 therefore got under sail again about two o'clock and the 
 savages retired into the woods. 
 
 " At two o'clock we anchored in the bay of Good Success, 
 and after dinner I went on shore, accompanied by Mr. 
 Banks and Dr. Solander, to look for a watering place and 
 to speak to the Indians, several of whom had come in sight. 
 We landed on the starboard side of the bay near some rocks, 
 which made smooth water and good landing. Thirty or 
 
MEETING WITH NATIVES. 189 
 
 forty of the Indians soon made their appearance, at the end 
 of a sandy beach on the other side of the bay, but seeing 
 our number, which was ten or twelve, they retreated. 
 
 " Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander then advanced about one 
 hundred yards before us, upon which two of the Indians 
 returned, and, having advanced some paces towards them, 
 sat down. As soon as they came up the Indians rose, and 
 each of them having a small stick in their hand threw it 
 away, in a direction both from themselves and the strangers, 
 which was considered as the renunciation of weapons in 
 token of peace. They then walked briskly towards their com- 
 panions, who had halted about fifty yards behind them, and 
 beckoned the gentlemen to follow, which they did. 
 
 " They were received with many uncouth signs of friend- 
 ship ; and in return they distributed among them some beads 
 and ribbons, which had been brought on shore for that pur- 
 pose, and with which they were greatly delighted. A mutual 
 confidence and good-will being thus produced our parties 
 joined ; the conversation such as it was became general, and 
 three of them accompanied us back to the ship. 
 
 " When they came on board, one of them, whom we took 
 to be a priest, performed much the same ceremonies which 
 M. Bougainville describes and supposes to be an exorcism. 
 When he was introduced into a new part of the ship, or 
 when anything that he had not seen before caught his at- 
 tention, he shouted with all his force for some minutes, 
 without directing his voice either to us or his companions. 
 
 " They ate bread and some beef, but not apparently with 
 much pleasure, though such part of what was given as they 
 did not eat they took away with them j but they would 
 not swallow a drop of wine or of spirits ; pike sensible 
 fellows, Cook might have added !] they put the glass to their 
 
190 QUARREL WITH OTAHEITANS. 
 
 lips, but, having tasted the liquor, they returned it with 
 strong expressions of disgust. Curiosity seems to be one 
 of the few passions which distinguish men from brutes, and 
 of this our guests appeared to have very little. They went 
 from one part of the ship to another, and looked at the vast 
 variety of new objects that every moment presented them- 
 selves, without any expression either of wonder or pleasure ; 
 for the vociferations of our exorcist seemed to be neither." 
 After having been on board for a couple of hours these 
 unprepossessing savages expressed a desire to go ashore, so 
 the boat was ordered immediately and they were landed. 
 The account thus given of these poor creatures does not give 
 us a high opinion of them, and the engraving which accom- 
 panies the description gives the features of a very repulsive 
 visage. They seem to stand low in the scale of humanity. 
 
 A QUARREL WITH THE OTAHEITEANS. 
 
 Very different indeed were the natives just described to 
 those of Otaheite, at which island Captain Cook arrived 
 some time after. They were savages, it is true, but con- 
 ducted themselves with a degree of natural politeness and 
 urbanity that made them great favourites with the sailors. 
 The wisest arrangements, however, and best intentions of a 
 commander may be frustrated by the folly of his subordi- 
 nates. An incident that occurred soon after their arrival 
 proves this. Having appointed thirteen marines and a petty 
 officer to guard the tent they had pitched near the shore, 
 Cook and some of his officers went to explore the interior of 
 the island in search of hogs for food. They were accom- 
 panied by an old chief named Owhaw : 
 
 " As we were crossing a little river that lay in our way, 
 we saw some ducks, and Mr. Banks, as soon as he had got 
 
QUAKKEL WITH OTAHEITANS. 
 
 191 
 
 over, fired at them and happened to kill three at one shot. 
 This struck them with the utmost terror, so that most of 
 them fell suddenly to the ground, as if they had been shot 
 at the same discharge. It was not long, however, before 
 
 they recovered from their fright, and we continued our route, 
 but we had not gone far before we were alarmed by the re- 
 port of two pieces, which were fired by the guard at the tent. 
 We had then straggled a little distance from each other, but 
 Owhaw immediately called us together, and, by waving his 
 hand sent away every Indian who followed us except three, 
 
192 QUARREL WITH OTAHEIT4NS. 
 
 each of whom, as a pledge of peace on their part, and an 
 entreaty that there might be peace on ours, hastily broke a 
 branch from the trees and came to us with it in their hands. 
 
 " As we had too much reason to fear that some mischief 
 had happened we hasted back to the tent, which was not 
 distant above half a mile, and when we came up we found 
 it entirely deserted, except by our own people. It appeared 
 that one of the Indians, who remained about the tent after 
 we left it, had watched his opportimity, and, taking the 
 sentry unawares, had snatched away his musket. Upon 
 this the petty officer, a midshipman who commanded the 
 party, perhaps from a sudden fear of further violence, per- 
 haps from the natural petulance of power newly acquired, 
 and perhaps from a brutality in his nature, ordered the 
 marines to fire. The men, with as little consideration or 
 humanity as the officer, immediately discharged their pieces 
 among the thickest of the flying crowd, consisting of more 
 than a hundred, and observing that the thief did not fall, 
 pursued him and shot him dead. 
 
 " We afterwards learned that none of the others were 
 either killed or wounded." 
 
 Happily no evil came of this affair, and soon after the 
 natives and sailors were as friendly as ever. 
 
 The traffic carried on at this time was chiefly with beads 
 in exchange for articles of food. A single bead as big as a 
 pea was sufficient to purchase five or six cocoa-nuts, and as 
 many bread-fruit. This latter article of food is so peculiar 
 that we shall describe it. 
 
 BREAD FRUIT, 
 
 Bread fruit grows on a tree peculiar to the South Sea 
 Islands, about the size of a middling oak. It has obtained 
 
SKIRMISH WITH SAVAGES. 193 
 
 its name in consequence of the strong resemblance of the 
 edible part of it to the crumb of loaf bread. " The leaves of 
 the tree are frequently a foot and a half long, of an oblong 
 shape, deeply sinuated like those of the fig-tree, which they re- 
 semble in consistence and colour, and in the exuding of a white 
 milky juice upon being broken. The fruit is about the size 
 and shape of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated, not 
 much unlike a truffle. It is covered with a thin skin, and has 
 a core about as big as the handle of a small knife. The eat- 
 able part lies between the skin and the core, and is as white 
 as snow. It must be roasted before it is eaten, being first 
 divided into three or four parts. Its taste is insipid with a 
 slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of 
 wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke." 
 
 We have given this particular account of the bread fruit, 
 because it is a curious and much used article of food in those 
 islands, and also because its history is connected with a series 
 of perhaps the most romantic incidents in real life that 
 have ever burst upon the astonished world, to verify the 
 saying that " truth is strange, stranger than fiction." We 
 refer to the Mutiny of the Bounty, and the subsequent 
 settlement of Pitcairn Island, details of which will be found 
 in the next chapter. 
 
 A SKIRMISH WITH THE SAVAGES. 
 
 One day the Endeavour was anchored off one of the islands, 
 and two boats were sent in shore to take soundings. " In 
 the meantime," says Cook, "the natives to the number of 
 near four hundred, crowded upon us in their canoes, and 
 some of them were admitted on board. 
 
 " To one who seemed to be a chief, I gave a piece of broad 
 cloth, and distributed some trifling presents among the rest. 
 
194 
 
 SKIRMISH WITH SAVAGES. 
 
 " I perceived that some of these people had been about 
 the ship when she was off at sea, and that they knew the 
 
 SOUTH SEA CANOES, 
 
 power of our fire-arms, for the very sight of a gun threw them 
 into manifest confusion. 
 
 " Under this impression they traded fairly ; but the people 
 in one of the canoes took the opportunity of our being at 
 dinner to tow aWay our buoy. A musket was fired over 
 them without effect ; we then endeavoured to reach them, 
 with some small shot, but they were too far off. By this time 
 they had got the buoy into their canoe, and we were obliged 
 to fire a musket at them with ball. This hit one of them, 
 and they immediately threw the buoy overboard. A round 
 shot was then fired over them, which struck the water and 
 
SKIRMISH WITH SAVAGES. 195 
 
 went ashore. Two or three of the canoes immediately landed 
 their people, who ran about the beach, as we imagined, in 
 search of the ball. 
 
 " After the ship was removed into deeper water and pro- 
 perly secured, I went with the pinnace and yawl, manned 
 and armed, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, 
 and landed upon the island, which was about three quarters 
 of a mile distant. We observed that the canoes which were 
 about the ship did not f ollow us upon our leaving her, which 
 we thought a good sign ; but we had no sooner landed than 
 they crowded to different parts of the island and came on 
 shore. 
 
 " We were in a little cove, and in a few minutes were 
 surrounded by two or three hundred people, some rushing 
 from behind the heads of the cove, and others appearing on 
 the tops of the hills. They were all armed, but they came 
 on in so confused and straggling a manner that we scarcely 
 suspected they meant us any harm, and we were determined 
 that hostilities should not begin on our part. We marched 
 towards them, and then drew a line upon the sand between 
 them and us, which we gave them to understand they were 
 not to pass. 
 
 " At first they continued quiet, but their weapons were 
 held ready to strike, and they seemed to be rather irresolute 
 than peaceable. While we remained in this state of sus- 
 pense, another party of Indians came up, and now growing 
 more bold as their nnmber increased, they began the dance 
 and song which are their preludes to a battle. Still, how- 
 ever, they delayed the attack, but a party ran to each of, our 
 boats and attempted to draw them on shore. This seemed 
 to be the signal, for the people about us at the same time 
 began to press in upon our line. 
 13 
 
10G SKIRMISH WITH SAVAGES. 
 
 " Our situation was now become too critical for us to 
 remain longer inactive. I therefore discharged my musket, 
 which was loaded with small shot, at one of the forwardest, 
 and Mr. Banks and two of the men fired immediately after- 
 wards. This made them fall back in some confusion ; but 
 one of the chiefs, who was at the distance of about twenty 
 yards, rallied them, and running forward, waving his patoo- 
 patoo (war-club), and calling loudly to his companions, led 
 them to the charge. Dr. Solander, whose piece was not yet 
 discharged, fired at this champion, who stopped short on 
 feeling the shot, and then ran away with the rest. They 
 did not, however, disperse, but got together upon a rising 
 ground, and seemed only to want some leader of resolution 
 to renew their attack. 
 
 " As they were now beyond the reach of small shot, we 
 fired with ball ; but as none of them took effect they still 
 continued in a body, and in this situation we remained about 
 a quarter of an hour. In the meantime the ship, from whence 
 a much greater number of Indians were seen than could be 
 discovered in our situation, brought her broadside to bear, 
 and entirely dispersed them by firing a few shot over their 
 heads. In this skirmish only two of the Indians were hurt 
 with the small shot, and not a single life was lost, which 
 would not have been the case if I had not restrained the 
 men, who, either from fear or the love of mischief, showed 
 as much impatience to destroy them as a sportsman to kill 
 his game. 
 
 " When we were in quiet possession of our cove, we laid 
 down our arms and began to gather celery, which grew 
 here in great plenty. After a little time we recollected to 
 have seen some of the people hide themselves in a cave of 
 one of the rocks; we therefore went towards the place, 
 
WAK-CANOES. 197 
 
 when an old Indian, who proved to be the chief that I had 
 presented with a piece of broad-cloth in the morning, came 
 out with his wife and his brother, and in a supplicating 
 posture put themselves under our protection. We spoke 
 kindly to them, and the old man then told us that he had 
 another brother, who was one of those that had been wounded 
 by the small shot, ^and inquired with much solicitude and 
 concern if he would die. We assured him that he would not, 
 and at the same time put into his hand both a musket ball 
 and some small shot, telling him that those only who were 
 wounded with the ball would die, and that the others 
 would recover ; at the same time assuring him that if we 
 were attacked again, we should certainly defend ourselves 
 with the ball,- which would wound them mortally. Having 
 now taken courage, they came and sat down by us; and as 
 tokens of our perfect amity, we made them presents of such 
 trifles as we happened to have about us." 
 
 NEW ZEALAND WAK-CANOE. 
 
 We have already made reference to the canoes of the 
 South Sea Islanders, in the beginning of this work. Cook 
 refers to those of New Zealand thus : 
 
 " The ingenuity of these people appears in nothing more 
 than in their canoes. They are long and narrow, and in 
 shape very much resemble a New England whale boat. 
 The larger sort seem to be built chiefly for war, and will 
 carry from forty to eighty or a hundred armed men. We 
 measured one which lay ashore at Tolaga; she was 68J 
 feet long, 5 feet broad, and 3^ feet deep. The bottom was 
 sharp, with straight sides like a wedge, and consisted of 
 three lengths, hollowed out to about 2 inches, or 1 J inch 
 thick, and well fastened together with strong plaiting. Each 
 
198 
 
 WAR-GANGES. 
 
 side consisted of one entire plank, 63 feet long, 10 or 
 12 inches broad, and about 1J inch, thick; and these 
 were fitted and lashed to the bottom part with great dexterity 
 and strength. 
 
 " A considerable number of thwarts were laid from gun- 
 wale to gunwale, to which they were securely lashed on 
 
WAK-CANOES. 199 
 
 each side, as a strengthening to the boat. The ornament 
 at the head projected 5 or 6 feet beyond the body, and was 
 .about 4^ feet high. The ornament at the stern was fixed 
 upon that end as the stern-post of a ship is upon her keel, 
 and was about 14 feet high, 2 feet broad, and 1J inch 
 thick. They both consisted of boards of carved work, of 
 which the design was much better than the execution. All 
 their canoes, except a few at Opoorage or Mercury Bay 
 which were of one piece and hollowed by fire, are built 
 after this plan, and few are less than 20 feet long. Some 
 of the smaller sort have out-riggers, and sometimes two 
 are joined together, but this is not common. 
 
 " The carving upon the stern and head ornaments of the 
 inferior boats, which seemed to be intended wholly for 
 fishing, consists of the figure of a man, with a face as ugly 
 as can be conceived, and a monstrous tongue thrust out of 
 the mouth, with the white shells of sea-ears stuck in for 
 eyes. But the canoes of the superior kind, which, seem to 
 be their men-of-war, are magnificently adorned with open- 
 work, and covered with loose fringes of black feathers, 
 which had a most elegant appearance. The gunwale boards 
 were also frequently carved in a grotesque taste, and adorned 
 with tufts of white feathers placed upon black ground. 
 The paddles are small and neatly made. The blade is of 
 an oval shape, or rather of a shape resembling a large leaf, 
 pointed at the bottom, broadest in the middle and gradually 
 losing itself in the shaft, the whole length being about six 
 feet. By the help of these oars they push on their boats 
 with amazing velocity." 
 
 A NAKEOW ESC/PE. 
 
 Mr. Ellis, to whose book reference has already been 
 
200 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 made, and who visited the South Sea Islands nearly half a 
 century later than Cook, tells us that the single canoes used 
 by some of the islanders are far safer than the double canoes 
 for long voyages, as the latter are apt to be torn asunder 
 during a storm, and then they cannot be prevented from 
 constantly upsetting. 
 
 Single canoes are not so easily separated from their out- 
 rigger. Nevertheless, they are sometimes upset in rough 
 seas; but the natives don't much mind this. When a 
 canoe is upset and fills, the natives, who learn to swim like 
 ducks almost as soon as they can walk, seize hold of one 
 end of the canoe, which they press down so as to elevate 
 the other end above the sea, by which means a great part 
 of the water runs out; they then suddenly loose their hold, 
 and the canoe falls back on the water, emptied in some de- 
 gree of its contents. Swimming along by the side of it, they 
 bale out the rest, and climbing into it pursue their voyage. 
 
 Europeans, however, are not so indifferent to being over- 
 turned as are the savages. On one occasion, Mr. Ellis, 
 accompanied by three ladies, Mrs. Orsmond, Mrs. Barff, 
 and his wife, with her two children and one or two natives 
 were crossing a harbour in the island of Huahine. A 
 female servant was sitting in the fore-part of the canoe 
 with Mr. Ellis's little girl in her arms. His infant boy 
 was at its mother's breasfc, and a native with a long light 
 pole, was paddling or pushing the canoe along, when a 
 small buhoe, with a native youth sitting in it, darted out 
 from behind a bush that hung over the water, and before 
 they could turn or the youth could stop his canoe, it ran 
 across the outrigger. This in an instant went down, the 
 canoe was turned bottom upwards, and the whole party 
 precipitated into the sea. 
 
A NARROW ESCAPE. 201 
 
 The sun had set soon after they started from the opposite 
 side, and, the twilight being very short, the shades of 
 evening had already thickened round them, which prevented 
 the natives on shore from seeing their situation. The 
 native woman, being quite at home in the water, held the 
 little girl up with one hand, arid swam with the other 
 towards the shore, aiding, at the same time, Mrs. Orsmond, 
 who had caught hold of her long hair, which floated on 
 the water behind her. Mrs. Barff, on rising to the surface, 
 caught hold of the outrigger of the canoe that had occa- 
 sioned the disaster, and, calling out loudly for help, informed 
 the people on shore of their danger, and speedily brought 
 them to their assistance. Mrs. Orsmond's husband, hap- 
 pening to be at hand at the time, rushed down to the beach 
 and plunged at once into the water. His wife, on seeing 
 him, quitted her hold of the native woman, and grasping 
 her husband, would certainly have drowned both him and 
 herself, had not the natives sprung in and rescued them. 
 
 Mahinevahine, the queen of the island, leaped into the 
 sea and rescued Mrs. Barff; Mr. Ellis caught hold of the 
 canoe and supported his wife and their infant until assist- 
 ance came. Thus they were all saved. 
 
 The only fear the natives have on such occasions is an 
 attack by sharks. These voracious monsters are deified by 
 some of the natives, and nothing would at one time induce 
 them to hurt them, but Mr. Ellis mentions one instance 
 in which a native showed very little respect to this fish. 
 
 CATCHING A SHARK. 
 
 " I was once," says he, " in a boat on a voyage to Bora- 
 bora, when a ravenous shark, approaching us, seized the 
 blade of one of the oars, and, on being shaken from it, 
 
202 CATCHING A SHARK. 
 
 darted at the keel of the boat which he attempted to bite. 
 While he was thus employed, the native whose oar he had 
 seized, leaning over the side of the boat, grasped him by 
 the tail, succeeded in lifting him out of the water, and with 
 the help of his companions, dragged him alive into the 
 boat, where he began to flounder and strike his tail with 
 rage and violence. Mr. Tyeman and myself, for we were 
 sailing together, were climbing up on the seats out of his 
 way, but the natives, giving him two or three blows on the 
 nose with a small wooden mallet, quieted him, and then 
 cut off his head. We landed the same evening, when, I 
 believe, they baked and ate him." 
 
 There are many varieties of canoes among these Islanders. 
 The accompanying wood-cut exhibits a very curious one, 
 described by Cook as being peculiar to the Friendly Islands. 
 The most remarkable feature about it was the sail, which, 
 being suspended by a spar from a forked mast, could be 
 so turned that the prow of the boat became the stern 
 and vice versa. It sailed with equal rapidity in either 
 direction. 
 
 BEAUTIFUL ISLES. 
 
 The innumerable islands of the South Seas, present a 
 most diversified appearance. Some hilly, some mountainous, 
 and others low and flat, but all exceedingly beautiful. 
 Those lying to the southward of the Marquesas are thus 
 described : > 
 
 " They are low, narrow islands, of coralline formation ; 
 and though among them some few, as Gambier's Islands, 
 are hilly, the greater number do not rise more than three feet 
 above the level of high water. The names of Crescent, 
 Harp, Chain, Bow, &c., which some of them have received 
 
CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 203 
 
 from their appearance, have been supposed to indicate their 
 shape. Those already known seem to be increasing in size, 
 while others are constantly approaching the surface of the 
 water. Sometimes they rise like a perpendicular wall from 
 
 CANOE OF THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 
 
 the depths of the ocean to the level of its surface. At 
 other times, reefs or groves of coral, of varied and beautiful 
 form and colour, extend, in the form of successive terraces 
 below water, to a considerable distance around. 
 
 " Here islands may be seen in every stage of their pro- 
 gress ; some presenting little more than a point or summit 
 of a branching coralline pyramid, at a depth scarcely dis- 
 cernible through the transparent waters) others spreading, 
 like submarine gardens or shrubberies, beneath the surface; 
 or presenting here and there a little bank of broken coral 
 and sand, over which the rolling wave occasionally breaks ; 
 while a number rise like long curved or circular banks of 
 sand, broken coral, and shells, two or three feet above the 
 
204 CORAL ISLANDS. 
 
 water, clothed with grass, or adorned with cocoa-nut or 
 palm trees." 
 
 These remarkable islands are often found in the form of 
 a ring or circle, enclosing a sheet of water or lagoon of con- 
 siderable extent. To these lagoons there is always, at least, 
 one narrow entrance or opening by which ships may pass 
 from the heaving breast of the Pacific, into a quiet pond. 
 Many of the coral islands, in fact, wall off, as it were, a 
 portion of the Pacific, thus forming the most splendid 
 natural harbours in the world. " In the island of Hao, the 
 Bow Island of Captain Cook, it is said, ships may sail 
 many miles after entering the lagoon. The narrow strip of 
 coral and sand enclosing the basin is sixty or seventy miles 
 in length, although exceedingly narrow. The stillness of 
 the surface of the bright blue water, within the lagoon, the 
 border of white coral and sand by which it is surrounded, 
 the dark foliage of the lofty trees by which it is sheltered, 
 often reflected from the surface of the water, impart to the 
 interior of these low islands an aspect of singular beauty 
 and solitude, such as is but seldom presented by the more 
 bold and romantic scenery of the higher lands." 
 
 Most of these lovely islands are inhabited, but, alas, 
 many of them, even at the present day, are scenes of blood- 
 shed, cruelty, and human depravity, that men in civilized 
 lands can scarcely conceive of. 
 
 THE SAVAGES. 
 
 The habits of many of the natives, especially those of the 
 Feejee group, are horrible in the extreme. Those savages are 
 exceedingly ferocious and fond of war, and are addicted to 
 cannibalism. They feast on the flesh of their enemies, and 
 a captive child has been known to have been fed on the 
 
SAVAGES. 205 
 
 flesh of her own parent. But they do not restrict them- 
 selves to the flesh of their enemies. Human flesh is 
 actually regarded as a dainty ; and when a chief desires a 
 feast he sends and kills a slave, whose body is roasted in 
 an oven, in order to gratify his monstrous appetite. 
 
 The dress of these poor wretches is exceedingly scanty ; 
 sometimes a mere shred of native cloth wrapped round 
 the loins. They also tatoo their bodies to a very great 
 extent, so much so that they look at last as if they were 
 clothed with skin-tight garments, covered with quaint and 
 complex devices. 
 
 Tatooing is the puncturing the skin in various places 
 with sharp needles of bone, and rubbing dark-colouring 
 substance into the punctures. The operation is exceedingly 
 painful, and sometimes the natives die under it. 
 
 Their whole countenances are much disfigured by this 
 practice. Each chief has imprinted on his face the marks 
 and involutions peculiar to his family or tribe; while the 
 figures tatooed on the faces of his dependants and retainers, 
 though fewer in number, are the same in form as those by 
 which the chief is distinguished. This tatooing of the face 
 of a New Zealander thus answers the purpose of the parti- 
 cular stripe or colour of a Scotch Highlander's plaid marks 
 the clan to which he belongs. It is considered highly 
 ornamental, and, in addition to the distinguishing lines or 
 curves, the intricacy and variety of the pattern thus per- 
 manently fixed on the face, constitutes one principal dis- 
 tinction between the chiefs and the common people. It 
 may, therefore, be regarded as the crest, or coat of arms, of 
 the New Zealand aristocracy. The same observation also 
 applies to the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands gene- 
 rally. 
 
206 SAVAGES. 
 
 Like all savages, these Islanders are given to boast of 
 their physical powers and prowess. Ellis says : " The 
 .warriors of New Zealand delight in swaggering and bravado, 
 for while my companion was talking with some of Koro- 
 koro's party, one of them came up to me, and several 
 times brandished his patupatu over my head, as if intend- 
 ing to strike, accompanying the action with the fiercest 
 expression of countenance, and the utterance of words 
 exceedingly harsh, though to me unintelligible. After a 
 few minutes he desisted, but when we walked away he ran 
 after us; and, assuming the same attitude and gestures, 
 accompanied us till we reached another circle, where he 
 continued for a short time these exhibitions of his skill in 
 terrifying. 
 
 " When he ceased, he inquired rather significantly, if I 
 was not afraid. I told him I was unconscious of having 
 offended him, and that, notwithstanding his actions, I did 
 not think he intended to injure me. The New Zealanders 
 are fond of endeavouring to alarm strangers, and appear to 
 derive much satisfaction in witnessing the indications of 
 fear they are able to excite." 
 
 Some of the customs of these people are thus described 
 by Cook. " Before beginning the onset (at a battle) they 
 join in a war-song, to which they all keep the exactest 
 time, and soon raise their passion to a degree of frantic 
 fury, attended with the most horrid distortion of their eyes, 
 mouths, and tongues, to strike terror into their enemies; 
 which, to those who have not been accustomed to such a 
 practice, makes them appear more like demons than men, 
 and would almost chill the boldest with fear. To this suc- 
 ceeds a circumstance, almost foretold in their fierce demea- 
 nour horrid, cruel, and disgraceful to human nature 
 
DIVING AND SWIMMING EXTRAORDINARY. 207 
 
 which is, cutting in pieces, even before being perfectly 
 dead, the bodies of their enemies, and, after dressing them 
 on a fire, devouring the flesh, not only without reluctance, 
 but with peculiar satisfaction. 
 
 " One might be apt to suppose that people capable of 
 such excess of cruelty, must be destitute of every human 
 feeling, even amongst their own party. And yet we find 
 them lamenting the loss of their friends, with a violence of 
 expression which argues the most tender remembrance of 
 them. For both men and women, upon the death of those 
 connected with them, whether in battle or otherwise, bewail 
 them with the most doleful cries ; at the same time cutting 
 their foreheads and cheeks with shells or pieces of flint, 
 in large gashes, until the blood flows plentifully and mixes 
 with their tears. 
 
 " The children are initiated, at a very early age, into all 
 the practices, good or bad, of their fathers ; so that you 
 find a boy or girl, nine or ten years old, able to perform 
 all the motions and imitate the frightful gestures which 
 the more aged use to inspire their enemies with terror, 
 keeping the strictest time in their song." 
 
 AMUSEMENTS DIVING AND SWIMMING EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 It is a curious fact that some of the games played by the 
 little naked savage children of the South Sea Islands are 
 very similar to our own. A traveller who had sauntered 
 to a part of the sea-beach of one of the islands to watch 
 the children at play, tells us that one band was busily 
 employed in playing blind-man's-buff. Another group were 
 walking on stilts that raised them three feet or so from 
 the ground; while others were engaged in flying kites. 
 These kites were of all shapes and sizes made of thin 
 
208 DIVING AND SWIMMING EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 cloth of native manufacture, and were raised to a great 
 height by means of twine, made of the fibrous husk of the 
 cocoa-nut. 
 
 But the amusement which these people take the greatest 
 delight in old as well as young is swimming and diving 
 in the sea ; and the expertness exhibited by them is most 
 extraordinary. They have two principal games in the 
 water ; one of which consists in diving off a sort of stage, 
 erected close to deep water, and chasing each other in the 
 sea. Some of them go down to extraordinary depths; 
 others skim along on the surface or roll over like porpoises, 
 or diving under each other, come up unexpectedly and pull 
 each other down by a leg or an arm. They never seem to 
 tire of this sport, and from the great heat of the water in 
 the South Seas, they can remain in it for hours at a time 
 without feeling chilled. 
 
 Even infants just able to walk waddle down to the 
 beach, throw themselves , into the water, and strike boldly 
 out to sea like ducklings. Mothers, too, jump in with 
 their little infants at their breasts, and gambol with them 
 in the water, as mothers in this civilized land sport with 
 their little ones on grassy lawns. 
 
 One would think that swimming miles out to sea, and 
 diving fathoms down into the deep, to disport among the 
 lovely coral groves at the bottom, with, now and then, the 
 chance of being bitten in two by a shark, would be excite- 
 ment enough for these savages. By no means ! They 
 must add to these amusements that riotous, boisterous, and 
 somewhat dangerous one called ( winning in the surf/ which 
 is practised as follows : 
 
 On the shores of those islands of the Pacific that are 
 not guarded by a breakwater of coral, there falls, with slow 
 
DIVING AND SWIMMING EXTRAORDINARY. 209 
 
 regular majestic thunder, a mighty billow which never goes 
 down, even in the calmest weather. It is not the result of 
 wind, it is the termination of that long rolling swell that 
 moves across the wide sea in a calm ; the ocean's breathing, 
 as it were, while asleep. In storms, of course, this billow 
 mounts in size, and rages along intermixed with a thousand 
 superficial waves, and when it reaches the shore it bursts 
 into foam upon the rocks with a savage fury that bids fair 
 to demolish the solid earth itself. But even in the deadest 
 calm the billow rises with its great broad glossy back 
 glittering with the sunbeams, until it approaches to within 
 a mile of the shore. Then it becomes like an emerald 
 wall, its crest overlaps, ripples, breaks, and, with a deep 
 solemn roar it rushes on, a world of snowy water to 
 engulf the beach. It is on this crested wave that the 
 natives ride. 
 
 They assemble in hundreds on the beach, each with a 
 short flat board in his hand. Just after a billow has 
 broken they rush into the surf with loud yells, and are 
 carried off by the seething foam of the receding wave. For 
 some time the swimmers continue to strike out to sea, 
 breasting over the swell like hundreds of black seals. 
 There they all turn, and, watching an approaching billow, 
 mount on its white crest ; each laying his breast on the 
 short flat board above mentioned, they come rolling to- 
 wards the shore, careering on the summit of the mighty 
 wave, with a speed that seems to threaten their total destruc- 
 tion, while the onlookers shout and yell in an ecstasy of 
 excitement and delight. Just as the monster wave is 
 about to fling its bulky length upon the shore, most of the 
 swimmers slide back into the trough behind it. Others, 
 slipping off their boards, seize them in their hands, and 
 
210 MURDER OF CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 plunging through the watery waste, swim out to repeat the 
 amusement, while a few come reckless on, amid the churn- 
 ing foam and spray, to the shore. 
 
 MURDER OF CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 Cook was murdered, during his third voyage, by the 
 natives of the Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, in 
 Febrary 1779. 
 
 Toward the evening of the 13th of that month, a theft 
 committed by a party of the islanders on board the Dis- 
 covery, gave rise to a serious disturbance. Pareea, a chief 
 of some importance, was accused of the theft, and a struggle 
 ensued in which he was knocked down. This passed over 
 without anything more serious, but the incident raised a 
 feeling of anger in the breasts of the natives that led to a 
 still more serious and fatal quarrel. 
 
 On the following morning the cutter of the Discovery 
 was stolen. Cook felt that he could not allow so great 
 an offence to pass unpunished, and being determined to 
 recover his boat he went on shore with a party of marines, 
 intending to invite Tereoboo, the king of the island, on 
 board his ship, and hold him as a hostage until the boat 
 should be returned. 
 
 The old king, not suspecting the object of his visitors, 
 readily consented, and agreed also to take his two sons 
 along with him. Captain King, who accompanied Cook on 
 this voyage, thus relates the details of this melancholy 
 affair: 
 
 "Things were in this prosperous train, the two boys 
 being already in the pinnace, and the rest of the party 
 having advanced near the water -side, when an elderly 
 woman called Kaneekabareea, the mother of the boys, and 
 
MURDER OF CAPTAIN COOK. 211 
 
 one of the king's favourite wives, came after him, and with 
 many tears and entreaties, besought him not to go on 
 board. At the same time two chiefs who came along with 
 her laid hold of him, and insisting that he should go no 
 further, forced him to sit down. The natives, who were 
 collecting in prodigious numbers along the shore, and had 
 probably been alarmed by the firing of the great guns, and 
 the appearances of hostility in the bay, began to throng 
 round Captain Cook and their king. 
 
 " In this situation the lieutenant of marines, observing 
 that his men were huddled close together in the crowd, 
 and thus incapable of using their arms, if any occasion 
 should require it, proposed to the captain to draw them up 
 along the rocks, close to the water's edge; and the crowd 
 readily making way for them to pass, they were drawn up 
 in a line, at the distance of about thirty yards from the 
 place where the king was sitting. All this time the old 
 king remained on the ground, with the strongest marks of 
 terror and dejection in his countenance. Captain Cook, not 
 willing to abandon the object for which he had come on 
 shore, continued to urge him in the most pressing man- 
 ner to proceed; whilst, on the other hand, whenever the 
 king appeared inclined to follow him, the chiefs who stood 
 round him interposed, at first with prayers and entreaties, 
 but afterwards, having recourse to force and violence, 
 insisted on his staying where he was. Captain Cook, there- 
 fore, finding that the alarm had spread too generally, and 
 that it was in vain to think any longer of getting him off 
 without bloodshed, at last gave up the point; observing to 
 Mr. Phillips, that it would be impossible to compel him to 
 go on board, without the risk of killing a great number of 
 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 U 
 
212 DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 " Though the enterprise that had taken Cook ashore had 
 now failed and was abandoned, yet his person did not 
 appear to have been in the least danger, till an accident 
 happened which gave a fatal turn to the affair. The boats 
 which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at 
 some canoes that were attempting to get out, unfortunately 
 killed a chief of the first rank. The news of his death 
 arrived at the village where Cook was, just as he had left 
 the king, and was walking slowly toward the shore. The 
 ferment it occasioned was very conspicuous. The women 
 and children were immediately sent off, and the men put 
 on their war -mats and armed themselves with spears and 
 stones. One of the natives, having in his hand a stone 
 and a long iron spike (which they call a pahooa), came up 
 to the captain, flourishing his weapon, by way of defiance, 
 and threatening to throw the stone. The captain desired 
 him to desist ; but the man persisting in his insolence, he 
 was at length provoked to fire a load of small shot. The 
 man having his mat on, which the shot was not able to 
 penetrate, this had no other effect than to irritate and en- 
 courage the natives. Several stones were thrown at the 
 marines; and one of them attempted to stab Mr. Phillips 
 with his pahooa, but failed in the attempt, and received 
 from him a blow with the butt end of his musket. Cook 
 now fired his second barrel, loaded with ball, and killed one 
 of the foremost of the natives. 
 
 " A general attack with stones immediately followed, 
 which was answered by a discharge of musketry from the 
 marines and the people in the boats. The islanders, con- 
 trary to the expectations of every one, stood the fire with 
 great firmness, and before the marines had time to re-load, 
 they broke in upon them with dreadful shouts and yells. 
 
DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK. 213 
 
 What followed was a scene of the utmost horror and con- 
 fusion. 
 
 " Four of the marines were cut off amongst the rocks in 
 their retreat, and fell a sacrifice to the fury of the enemy. 
 Three more were dangerously wounded ; and the lieutenant, 
 who had received a stab between the shoulders with a 
 pahooa, having fortunately reserved his fire, shot the man 
 who had wounded him just as he was going to repeat his 
 blow. Our unfortunate commander, the last time he was 
 seen distinctly, was standing at the water's edge, and call- 
 ing out to the boats to cease firing and to pull in. If it be 
 true, as some of those who were present have imagined, 
 that the marines and boatmen had fired without his orders, 
 and that he was desirous of preventing any further blood- 
 shed, it is not improbable that his humanity on this occa- 
 sion proved fatal to him. For it was remarked that whilst 
 he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any 
 violence, but that, having turned about to give his orders 
 to the boats, he was stabbed in the back and fell with his 
 face into the water. 
 
 " On seeing him fall, the islanders set up a great shout, 
 and his body was immediately dragged on shore, and sur- 
 rounded by the enemy, who, snatching the daggers out of 
 each other's hands, showed a savage eagerness to have a 
 share in his destruction." 
 
 Thus fell one of the greatest navigators and discoverers 
 of modern times, in his fifty-second year. His name will 
 live in the memory of man as long as the annals of mari- 
 time discovery are loved and read. The good which has 
 accrued to the human family by his labours is incalculable, 
 and the bulky volumes in which those labours are recorded 
 by his own pen are more stirring and much more interest- 
 
214 THE BAKQTJE. 
 
 ing than the pages of romance; for those distant isles of 
 the sea have been visited by the messengers of the gospel 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, arid many of the 
 savage isles which, in Cook's day, were the scenes of 
 horrible cruelty and disgusting practices, are now the 
 peaceful abodes of industrious Christian men and women. 
 Of this, more in the next chapter. 
 
 Meanwhile let us say a word in reference to the class of 
 vessel in which Captain Cook performed his first voyage. 
 
 THE BARQUE. 
 
 The vessel next in size larger than the brig, is the barque. 
 It does not follow, however, that its being larger consti- 
 tutes it a barque. Some brigs are larger than barques, but 
 generally the barque is the larger vessel. The difference 
 between a barque arid a brig is that the former has three 
 masts, the two front ones being square-rigged, and the 
 mizzen being fore-and-aft; rigged. The centre mast is the 
 main one. The rigging of a barque's two front masts is 
 almost exactly similar to the rigging of a brig, that of the 
 mizzen is similar to a cutter. If you were to put a fore- 
 and-aft rigged mizzen-mast into the after part of a brig, that 
 would convert it into a barque. 
 
 The term clipper simply denotes that peculiar sharpness 
 of build and trimness of rig which ensures the greatest 
 amount of speed, and does not specify any particular class. 
 There are clipper sloops, clipper yachts, clipper ships, &c. 
 A clipper barque, therefore, is merely a fast sailing barque. 
 
 The peculiar characteristics of the clipper build are, 
 knife-like sharpness of the cutwater and bow, and exceeding 
 correctness of cut in the sails, so that these may be drawn 
 as tight ftudjlat as possible. Too much bulge in a sail is a 
 

THE BARQUE. 215 
 
 disadvantage in the way of sailing. Indeed, flatness is so 
 important a desideratum, that experimentalists have more 
 than once applied sails made of thin planks of wood to their 
 clippers ; but we do not know that this has turned out to 
 be mucli of an improvement. The masts of all clippers, 
 except those of the sloop or cutter rig, generally rake aft a 
 good deal that is, they lean backwards ; a position which 
 is supposed to tend to increase speed. Merchant vessels 
 are seldom clipper-built, because the sharpness of this 
 peculiar formation diminishes the available space for cargo 
 very much. Another disadvantage in clippers is, that they 
 are usually bad sea-boats, that is, being extremely sharp in 
 the bow, they cut through the waves instead of rising over 
 them in stormy weather,, and thus deluge their decks with 
 water. They are best adapted for still waters. And of 
 course, in moderate weather they make rapid voyages on the 
 ocean. 
 
216 BCTLDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE " MESSENGER OF PEACE." 
 
 THERE are few records in the annals of ship-building, so 
 interesting as the account of the building of Williams's 
 missionary ship, the " Messenger of Peace." 
 
 In order to spread the gospel amongst the natives of 
 Polynesia Mr. Williams was at times in the habit of taking 
 passage in a ship, land on one and another of the islands in 
 passing, and sometimes allow the ship, to leave him there, 
 trusting to the arrival of another to take him off Some of 
 the islands, however, being out of the usual course of ships 
 he had to wait sometimes an inconveniently long time. In 
 order to remedy this evil and render himself more inde- 
 pendent in his movements he resolved to build a little 
 ship ! 
 
 The boldness of the mind that could entertain such an 
 idea, and the force of the will that could carry it out to 
 completion, can only be adequately understood by those 
 who knew intimately the difficulties the missionary had to 
 overcome ere his little ark was launched upon the deep. 
 
BUILDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 217 
 
 First of all he knew nothing at all about ship-building ; 
 then he had few tools except two or three of the lighter 
 and more ordinary kind used by carpenters ; his materials, 
 too, were not well adapted for the purpose they had to serve, 
 and the natives who assisted him were as ignorant as little 
 children. Yet in the face of all these and many more 
 difficulties he accomplished his object of 
 
 X 
 
 BUILDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 
 
 Mr. Williams was naturally a good mechanic, and he 
 possessed an invincible will, two circumstances which 
 account for the almost miraculous achievement of converting 
 himself into a ship-builder in a single day, and launching a 
 good serviceable ship, of nearly eighty tons burden in the 
 short space of three months. The account reads like one 
 of the marvellous deeds of our old friend Bobinson Crusoe, 
 
 " My first step," says Williams, " was to make a pair of 
 smith's bellows ; for it is well known that little can be done 
 towards the building of a ship without a forge. We had 
 but four goats on the island, and one of these was giving a 
 little milk, which was too valuable to be dispensed with, so 
 that three only were killed, and, with their skins, as a 
 substitute for leather, I succeeded, after three or four days' 
 labour, in making a pair of smith's bellows. These, however, 
 did not answer very well ; indeed I found bellows-making 
 to be a more difficult task than I had imagined, for I could 
 not got the upper box to fill properly ; in addition to which 
 my bellows drew in the fire. 
 
 "To complete my perplexities the rats, which at Raratonga 
 were like one of the plagues of Egypt, as if by general con- 
 sent congregated during the night in immense numbers and 
 devoured every particle of the goat-skin, and, on entering 
 
218 BUILDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 
 
 the workshop in the morning, I was mortified by the 
 discovery that nothing remained of my unfortunate bellows 
 but the bare boards. This was really vexatious, for I had 
 no material to supply the loss. Still bent upon the 
 accomplishment of my object, and w T hile anxiously consider- 
 ing the best means * to raise the wind,' for that was 
 essential to my success, it struck me that, as a pump threw 
 water, a machine constructed on the same principle must 
 of necessity throw wind." 
 
 Acting upon the thought the ingenious missionary very 
 soon did " raise the wind " to good purpose. He made a 
 box about eighteen or twenty inches square and four feet 
 high ; put a valve at the bottom, and fitted in a damper, 
 similar to the piston in the cylinder of a steam engine. 
 This was loaded with stones, to force it down with con- 
 siderable velocity, and affixed to it was a long lever by which 
 it was again raised. 
 
 Before placing this curious machine to the fire it was 
 tried, and, to the immense delight of the pastor and his 
 savage and wondering flock, it blew a strong and furious 
 blast. But, alas ! it was not yet perfect. On bringing it 
 into contact with the devouring element its deficiencies 
 soon became apparent. In the first place it was found that 
 there was too great an interval between the blasts, and 
 secondly that it sucked in the fire so fast that in a few 
 minutes it was in a blaze ! However, the evil was remedied 
 by the construction of a valve at the back of the pipe which 
 communicated with the fire, and opened to let out the wind 
 and shut when the machine was filling. 
 
 A little thought soon enabled Williams to overcome the 
 other inconvenience, namely, the long interval between the 
 blasts while the machine was being filled with air. He 
 
BUILDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 219 
 
 concluded that if one box gave one blast, two boxes would 
 double it, and that, by working the boxes alternately a 
 continuous blast might be kept up. The novel pair of 
 bellows worked admirably. It is true they were somewhat 
 uncouth and heavy; eight men being required to work them, 
 but labour was cheap and the natives were delighted with 
 the employment. 
 
 An anvil was the next implement required. For this a 
 stone was used. A pair of carpenters' pincers answered 
 for tongs, and charcoal made of the cocoa-nut tree served 
 for coals. With these simple implements all the iron- work 
 of the ship was afterwards made. 
 
 The open-mouthed and wide-eyed amazement of the 
 natives at all the proceedings of their missionary was very 
 amusing. "The first iron the natives saw worked," he 
 writes, " excited their astonishment exceedingly, especially 
 the welding of two pieces together. Old and young,- men 
 and woman, chieftain and peasant, hastened to behold the 
 wonder, and when they saw the ease with which heated 
 iron could be wrought they exclaimed, 'Why did not we 
 think of heating this hard stuff also, instead of beating it 
 with stones ? What a reign of dark hearts Satan's is ! ' t: 
 
 Nothing, however, excited more interest than the pumps 
 that were fitted to the ship after it was built. Even the 
 king was so much delighted that he frequently had his 
 favourite stool carried on board, and entertained himself 
 for hours pumping out the bilge water ! 
 
 But we are digressing. As Williams and his wondering 
 assistants had no saws they split the trees in half with 
 wedges, and then they adzed them down to the thickness 
 of planks with small hatchets of which they happened to 
 possess a few, and which they converted into adzes, after 
 
220 BUILDING A MISSIONARY SHIP. 
 
 a sort, by tying them to crooked pieces of wood as handles. 
 But some of the planks of the future ship behoved to be 
 bent, and they had no apparatus for steaming them. This 
 difficulty was overcome by a piece of bamboo being bent to 
 the shape of the planks required, and given as a pattern to 
 the willing natives who went into the woods and sought 
 till they found several trees crooked by nature into the 
 requisite form. By splitting these, planks suited to thoir 
 purpose were obtained. 
 
 Having very little iron they fastened the planks to the 
 frame of the vessel by boring large augur-holes through the 
 timbers and also the outer and inner planks, into which 
 they drove wooden pins, or trenails. As a substitute for 
 oakum they used cocoa-nut husk, but as this was not 
 plentiful enough on the island the deficiency was supplied 
 by dried banana stumps, native cloth, and other substances. 
 
 At every step those energetic ship-builders encountered 
 difficulties, but they were never arrested long in their work. 
 Not only had they to fashion their materials, but they had 
 frequently to make the implements by which those materials 
 were fashioned. 
 
 Thus they made excellent cordage from the bark of the 
 hibiscus, but before accomplishing this a rope machine had 
 to be constructed. Again capital sheaves were made for 
 the blocks out of aito, or iron-wood ; but in order to produce 
 those sheaves a turning lathe had to be made. 
 
 For sails they used mats, on which the natives were wont 
 to sleep, sewed together and quilted to resist the wind. The 
 hanging of the rudder proved an extremely difficult matter, 
 for having no iron sufficiently large for pintles (or rudder- 
 hinges), they were obliged to make use of a piece of a pick- 
 axe, a, cooper's adze, and a large hoe. These were found 
 
FIRST VOYAGE OF WILLIAMS's SHIP. 22 1 
 
 afterwards to serve their purpose very well, but being doubt- 
 ful of their strength Williams wisely prepared a substitute 
 for a rudder in case of emergency. 
 
 This vessel was two-masted ; sloop rigged, and carried a 
 main-sail, fore-sail, and jib. Her length was about sixty feet, 
 and her breadth eighteen. She was completed and launched 
 in fifteen weeks, and her name was The Messenger qf Peace. 
 
 Perhaps a more singular vessel was never before built, 
 either as to the peculiarity of the circumstances or her object, 
 for she carried the richest cargo that ever floated on the sea. 
 She was insured, too, without money. No raging billows, or 
 howling winds, or breaking surf upon a lee shore could touch 
 her lading, for she was freighted with the gospel of life. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Mr. Willliams did not leave a 
 still more minute account of the details of this remarkable 
 vessel. Even what we have got was written at the urgent 
 request of his friends, for his own modesty would have in- 
 duced him to pass over the building of the Messenger of Peace 
 with a few words. 
 
 FIRST VOYAGE OF WILLIAMS'S SHIP. 
 
 As the first voyage of so curious a ship, as that which we 
 have just described, must prove interesting to every one, we 
 shall insert it here, partly in the missionary's own words. 
 He says : 
 
 " Thinking it prudent to try our vessel before we ventured 
 to Tahiti, which was seven or eight hundred miles from us (!) 
 I determined on a visit to our interesting station at Aitutaki, 
 which was only about one hundred and seventy miles dis- 
 tant. The king, Makea, never having seen any other island, 
 determined to accompany me. 
 
 " Kaising our wooden and stone anchors, and hoisting our 
 
222 FIRST VOYAGE OF WILLIAMs's SHIP. 
 
 mat sails, "I took my compass and quadrant and put to sea, 
 accompanied only by natives. We had not proceeded above 
 six miles from the shore, when, in shifting the sails, the 
 natives, not observing what was said to them, and not being 
 acquainted with maritime usages, let the foresail go, and as 
 the wind was very strong, it broke our fore-mast. Providen- 
 tially, however, about twelve or fifteen feet above the deck 
 was left standing ; and having cleared the wreck, and hoisted 
 a part of our sail on the broken mast, we turned back and 
 were thankful to find that we should reach the land, although 
 several miles to leeward of the harbour. 
 
 " We filled a cask with stones, which in addition to our 
 wooden anchor, we hoped might hold the vessel outside the 
 reef; and if not, I resolved upon the desperate alternative 
 of running upon it, by which the vessel, in all probability, 
 would have been dashed to pieces ; but this was preferable 
 to being driven from the island, with a scanty supply of 
 provisions and the ship in a crippled state, in a track where 
 there was not an island within a thousand miles. Having, 
 however, a number of natives on board, and making them 
 all work, we succeeded by sunset, contrary to expectation, 
 in reaching the harbour in safety. 
 
 " We got a new mast, repaired our damages, and, in a few 
 days, sailed again. Having a strong and favourable wind 
 we reached Aitutaki on Sabbath morning, in time to conduct 
 the services of the day. 1 ' 
 
 Here they remained eight or ten days and then prepared 
 for their return voyage. But this was by no means so pros- 
 perous as the voyage out, and the alarm of the poor king 
 became quite touching. The weather was boisterous, and a 
 strong sea running, which, during the night, gave the vessel 
 several severe blows. Having never been at sea before, his 
 
FIRST VOYAGE OF WILLIAMS's SHIP. 223 
 
 \ 
 
 majesty expressed some alarm, and asked Mr. Williams 
 seriously if the ship would be knocked to pieces. On being 
 assured that there was no danger he was for a time satis- 
 fied, but not so fully as to allow the missionary for one 
 moment out of his sight. On every occasion that Mr. Wil- 
 liams went on deck the king followed hirn, and when he 
 went below again, down went the king also ; in short he 
 appeared to believe that there was no safety except close to 
 the missionary's side ! 
 
 The wind being unfavourable they were three days and 
 three nights in returning to Raratonga. On the second 
 evening the king began to get restless and anxious, fearing 
 that they had missed the island and were sailing into " wide 
 gaping space." On the third evening as the sun descended 
 beneath the horizon, and no land appeared, his distress 
 amounted almost to despair, and he expressed a belief that 
 he should never see his beloved island again, refusing all 
 consolation, even although Mr. Williams assured him that he 
 should behold his kingdom that very night. 
 
 At the time indicated Raratonga did come into view, and 
 the joy expressed by poor Makea on beholding it was un- 
 bounded. Nothing, however, appeared to excite his astonish- 
 ment so much as the accuracy with which the missionary 
 could tell the time when land would be seen. 
 
 On entering the harbour they were struck with the im- 
 proved appearance of the mission house, which had been left 
 surrounded by and almost buried in the debris of the ship- 
 building. It was beautifully neat and clean. The garden 
 was well cultivated and fenced in, while the fruit of the 
 dark red mountain plantain, and golden banana, fully ripe, 
 were smiling a welcome through the splendid leaves which 
 surrounded the trunks that bore them. 
 
224 FIRST VOYAGE OF WILLIAMS's SHIP. 
 
 - On landing Mr. Williams found that this improved state 
 of things was the result of a remark made by his wife some 
 time before to her female scholars, to the effect that she 
 would like to have the pathway and garden put' in order 
 before the return of her husband. Delighted to have an 
 opportunity of showing their gratitude and love to the mis- 
 sionaries, they at once replied, "We will not leave a chip 
 against which, on his return, he shall strike his feet." 
 
 The cargo brought back by the Messenger of Peace on this 
 her first voyage was somewhat peculiar. It consisted prin- 
 cipally of pigs, cocoa-nuts, and cats ! The king embarked 
 about seventy of the first and a large number of the last for 
 the improvement of his own beloved dominions which were 
 nearly destitute of pigs, but overflowing with rats for whose 
 special edification the cats were imported. 
 
 The rats were so numerous that nothing edible was safe 
 from them, and it is worthy of remark that the rats of Rara- 
 tonga ranked boots and shoes, and leather trunks in their 
 list of edible substances. Williams says, " The rats were 
 astonishingly numerous, so much so, indeed, that we never 
 sat down to a meal without two or more persons to keep 
 them off the table. When kneeling down at family prayer 
 they would run over us in all directions, and we found much 
 difficulty in keeping them out of our beds." 
 
 Rendered desperate by the encroachments of these wretches, 
 " war to the knife " was declared against them by the natives 
 upon one occasion. All the able-bodied, male and female, 
 old and young, turned out, and so great was the slaughter 
 that no less than thirty baskets made of cocoa-nut leaves 
 were filled with the bodies of the slain. Yet in spite of this 
 the numbers of the enemy did not appear to be in the least 
 diminished. Hence the cargo of cats, as a last resource. 
 
DEATH OF WILLIAMS. ' 225 
 
 But, strange to say, the cats, although good fighters and true 
 to their new king, did not turn out to be nearly so destruc- 
 tive to the rats as the pigs were ! These last were savagely 
 voracious, and did good service in ridding the island of the 
 intolerable nuisance. 
 
 DEATH OP WILLIAMS. 
 
 Like his predecessor in discovery, Captain Cook, this 
 noble-hearted missionary poured out his blood upon the 
 shores of one of the islands of the South Seas. He fell 
 while endeavouring to conciliate the natives of the island of 
 Erromanga, and so win them to Christ. Captain Morgan, 
 who commanded the ship in which he sailed to the New 
 Hebrides group, thus details his melancholy fate : 
 
 " The event happened the day after we left the island of 
 Tanna. There the natives received us most kindly, and Mr. 
 Williams remarked he had never been received more kindly 
 by any natives. 
 
 " We proceeded to Erromanga, and hove to on the south 
 side all night. On reaching Dillon's Bay we lowered the 
 whale boat, and took in Mr. Williams, Mr Harris, Mr Cun- 
 ningham and myself, with four hands. The natives were 
 wild in their appearance and extremely shy. They spoke 
 a different language from that of the windward Islands, so 
 that Mr. Williams could not understand a word they said. 
 He made them some presents and tried to persuade them 
 to come into our boat, but did not succeed, so we left them 
 and pulled up the bay, while some of the natives on shore 
 ran .along the rocks after the boat. 
 
 " On reaching the head of the bay, we saw several natives 
 standing at a distance. We made signs to them to come to- 
 wards us, but they made signs for us to go away. We threw 
 
22 6 DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 
 
 them some beads on shore, which they eagerly picked up, 
 and came a little closer, and received from us some fish- 
 hooks and beads, and a small looking-glass. On coming to 
 a beautiful valley between the mountains, having a small 
 run of water, we wished to ascertain if it was fresh, and we 
 gave the chief a boat-bucket to fetch us some. In about 
 half an hour, he returned running with the water, which I 
 think, gave Mr. Williams and myself more confidence in the 
 natives. They ran and brought us some cocoa-nuts, but 
 were extremely shy. Mr. Williams drank of the water the 
 native brought, and I held his hat to screen him from the 
 sun. 
 
 " He seemed pleased with the natives and attributed their 
 shyness to the ill-treatment they must have received from 
 foreigners visiting the island on some former occasion. Mr. 
 Cunningham asked him if he thought of going on shore. I 
 think he said he should not have the slightest fear, and then 
 remarked to me, < Captain, you know we like to take posses- 
 sion of the land, and if we can only leave good impressions 
 on the minds of the natives, we can come again and leave 
 teachers ; we must be content to do a little ; you know Babel 
 was not built in a day.' 
 
 " He did not intend to leave a teacher this time. Mr. 
 Harris asked him if he might go on shore, or if he had any 
 objections ; he said, ' No, not any.' Mr. Harris then waded 
 on shore ; and as soon as he landed the natives ran from 
 him, but Mr. Williams told him to sit down. He did so, 
 and the natives came close to him and brought him some 
 cocoa-nuts and opened them for him to drink." 
 
 Mr. Williams then landed and endeavoured to calm the 
 fears of the natives by offering them presents of cloth and 
 trinkets which they accepted, but still were very shy and 
 
DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 227 
 
 evidently regarded the strangers with suspicion. A few 
 children were seen playing in the woods, which was regarded 
 as a good sign by the visitors, but the total absence of women 
 was a circumstance which made the peaceable disposition of 
 the natives doubtful, because when mischief was intended 
 these savages always took the precaution to send their women 
 away. 
 
 At last three of the party advanced towards the wood. 
 Captain Morgan's letter continues : " All three walked up 
 the beach, Mr. Harris first ; Mr. Williams and Mr. Cunning- 
 ham followed. After they had walked about a hundred 
 yards, they turned to the right alongside of the bush, and 
 I lost sight of them. Mr. Harris was the furthest off. I 
 then went on shore, supposing we had found favour in the 
 eyes of the people. I stopped to see the boat anchored 
 safely, and then walked up the beach towards the spot where 
 the others had proceeded ; but before I had gone a hundred 
 yards the boat's crew called out to me to run to the boat." 
 
 The captain immediately ran, followed by Mr. Cunning- 
 ham, the only one of the three who escaped, and whose nar- 
 rative gives the details of what occurred after the trio had 
 entered the bushes. He says : 
 
 " The looks and manners of the savages I much dis- 
 trusted, and remarked to Mr. Williams that probably we 
 had to dread the revenge of the natives in consequence of 
 their former quarrel with strangers, wherein perhaps some 
 of their friends had been killed. Mr. Williams, I think, 
 did not return me an answer, being engaged at the instant 
 repeating the Samoan numerals to a crowd of boys, one of 
 whom was repeating them after him. Finding a few shells 
 on the bank, I picked them up. On noticing they were of 
 
 a species unknown to me, I was in the act of putting them 
 
 15 
 
228 DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 
 
 into my pocket when I heard a yell, and instantly Mr. Harris 
 rushed out of the bushes about twenty yards before me. I 
 instantly percieved it was run or die. I shouted to Mr. 
 Williams to run (he being as far behind me as Mr Harris 
 was in advance) and I sprung forward through the natives 
 that were on the banks of the brook, who all gave way. 
 
 " I looked round and saw Mr. Harris fall in the brook, 
 and the water dash over him, a number of savages beating 
 him with clubs. Mr. Williams did not run at the instant 
 I called to him, till we heard a shell blow ; it was an instant, 
 but too much to lose. I again called to Mr. Williams to 
 run, and sprang forward for the boat, which was out of 
 sight ; it was round a point of bush. 
 
 "Mr. Williams, instead of making for the boat, ran directly 
 down to the beach into the water, and a savage after him. 
 It seemed to me that Mr. Williams' s intention was to swim 
 off till the boat picked him up. At the instant I sighted 
 the boat I heard a yell behind me, and looking round, found 
 a savage close after me with a club. I stooped, and, pick- 
 ing up a stone, struck him so as to stop his further pursuit. 
 
 " The men in the boat had, on seeing Mr. Williams and me 
 running, given the alarm to Captain Morgan, who was on 
 the beach at the time. He and I jumped into the boat at 
 the same instant ; several stones were thrown at the 
 boat. 
 
 " Mr. Williams ran into deep water, and the savage close 
 after him. On entering the water he fell forward, but did 
 not attempt to swim, when he received several blows from 
 the club of the native on the arms and over the head. He 
 twice dashed his head under water to avoid the club, with 
 which the savage stood over him ready to strike the instant 
 he arose. I threw two stones from the boat which for a 
 
DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 229 
 
 moment arrested the progress of the other native, who was 
 a few paces behind ; but it was only for an instant. The 
 two rushed on our friend and beat his head, and soon seve- 
 ral others joined them. I saw a whole handful of arrows 
 stuck into his body. 
 
 " Though every exertion was used to get up the boat to 
 his assistance, and though only about eighty yards distant, 
 before we got half the distance our friend was dead, and 
 about a dozen savages were dragging the body on the 
 beach, beating it in the most furious manner. A crowd of 
 boys surrounded the body as it lay, in the ripple of the beach, 
 and beat it with stones, till the waves dashed red on the 
 shore with the blood of their victim. Alas ! that moment 
 of sorrow and agony I almost shrieked in distress. 
 
 " Several arrows were shot at us, and one passing under 
 the arm of one of the men, passed through the lining and 
 entered the timber. This alarmed the men who remon- 
 * strated, as, having no fire-arms to frighten the savages away, 
 it would be madness to approach them as Mr. Williams was 
 now dead." 
 
 The boat was, therefore, rowed back to the ship and an 
 attempt was made to recover the body, which proved un- 
 successful, as the savages had dragged it into the woods. 
 
 Thus perished one of the greatest missionaries that ever 
 left our shores. An effort was afterwards made to recover 
 his remains, but his savage murderers confessed that they 
 had devoured his body, and also that of Mr. Harris. Only 
 a few bones were recovered and conveyed to Samoa where 
 they were interred. 
 
 The dreadful news fell upon the islanders throughout 
 Polynesia with the stunning violence of a thunder-bolt. So 
 bitter and heart-rending was the lamentations of the native 
 
230 DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 
 
 Christians everywhere, that their heathen countrymen joined 
 in the wail from sheer sympathy. 
 
 The intelligence travelled from one island to another like 
 a black cloud of woe. When the ship reached Tanna in the 
 New Hebrides the first question asked by the eager natives 
 was, " Where is Williamu ?" (so they pronounced his name), 
 and when the sad truth was told they hung upon the hand 
 of Mr. Cunningham and wept like children. 
 
 On arriving at Samoa, the first canoe that reached them 
 was guided by a middle-aged man, who, as soon as they 
 were within hail, called out to the native teachers to inquire 
 for " Missi William." The agonizing effect produced upon 
 this man when the death of his beloved missionary was 
 announced is described as, heart-breaking. He seemed at 
 once unhinged ; he dropped his paddle, and stooped his 
 head and wept. He paddled his canoe alongside for some 
 time making occasional inquiries, ever and anon bursting 
 out into fresh cries and tears. 
 
 It was at the dark hour of midnight that poor Mrs. Wil- 
 liams was awakened to learn the awful news. Her agony 
 was indescribable, and who can wonder ? She was at first, 
 and for a considerable time, utterly paralyzed. Her anguish 
 was too deep for tears. But the bereaved widow did not 
 sorrow alone. The missionary's biographer writes, " Had 
 the death scene in Egypt been that night repeated in Samoa, 
 lamentations more bittter, and cries more piercing, could 
 scarcely have attended it, than those which this intelligence 
 awakened. In a short time every sleeping native had been 
 aroused, and through the morning twilight they were seen 
 grouped together in solemn and sorrowful communication, 
 while everywhere might be heard the sounds of distress." 
 
 The natives crowded round the house anxious to see Mrs. 
 
DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 231 
 
 Williams and comfort her as much as they could by mingling 
 their tears with hers ; but she could not bear it for many 
 hours. At last one named Malietoa was admitted. " As soon 
 as he entered the room, he burst forth into the most passion- 
 ate expressions of distress, weeping, beating his breast, and 
 crying, "Alas! Williamu, Williamu, our father, our father! 
 He has turned his face from us ! We shall never see him 
 more ! He that brought us the good word of salvation is 
 gone ! O cruel heathen ; they know not what they did ! 
 How great a man they have destroyed !" 
 
 After giving utterance to this outburst of inexpressible 
 feeling he turned to N Mrs. Williams, who was lying on a 
 sofa. Kneeling by her side, he gently took her hand, and, 
 while the tears flowed fast down his dusky cheeks, he said, 
 in the softest and most soothing tones, " O my mother ! 
 do not grieve so much; do not kill yourself with grieving. 
 You too will die with sorrow, and be taken away from us, 
 and then, oh, what shall we do 1 Think of John, and of 
 your very little boy who is with you, and think of that 
 other little one in a far distant land, and do not kill your- 
 self. Do love, and pity, and compassionate us." 
 
 Who will doubt the divine power of the blessed gospel, 
 when it can bring savage, cannibal lips to utter such words 
 of tender sympathy and consolation as these ] 
 
 We will not, after what has been written, presume to 
 pass an eulogium on the character of Mr. Williams. To 
 live beloved by thousands whom he has benefitted, and to 
 die passionately lamented by whole tribes of reformed 
 savages, is enough to stamp a man " great " in the highest 
 possible sense of the term. His history is briefly recorded 
 in the inscription on the tomb at Samoa which marks the 
 spot where his bones lie. It runs thus : 
 
232 
 
 DEATH OF WILLIAMS. 
 
 "Sacred to the memory of the Rev. John Williams, 
 father of the Samoan and other missions, aged 43 years 
 and 5 months, who was killed by the cruel natives of 
 Erromanga, on Nov. 20th, 1839, while endeavouring to 
 plant the Gospel of Peace on their shores." 
 
FULL-RIGGED SHIPS. 
 
 233 
 
 FULL-RIGGED SHIP, 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 FIRST-RATE MAN-OF-WAR. 
 
 WE now come to consider the largest class of vessel that 
 floats upon the sea, namely, the full-rigged ship, the dis- 
 tinctive pecularity of which is that its three masts are all 
 square-rigged together, with the addition of one or two fore- 
 and-aft sails. As the fore and main masts of a " ship "-are 
 exactly similar to those of a barque, which have been already 
 described, we shall content ourself here with remarking that 
 the mizzen-mast is smilar in nearly all respects to the other 
 two, except that it is smaller. The sails upon it are, the 
 spanker (a fore and aft sail projecting over the quarter- 
 deck), the mizzen-top sail and mizzen-top-gallant sail, both 
 
234 FIRST-KATE UKE-OF-BATTLE SHIP. 
 
 of which are square sails. Above all these a ship some- 
 times puts up small square-sails called the royals. 
 
 The best specimen of a " ship " which can be presented 
 to our view is a 
 
 FIEST-EATE LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP. 
 
 Within the last few years a gigantic steamer has been 
 built (of which we shall treat in another chapter), but, with 
 the exception of this, the line-of-battle ship is the most 
 magnificent and formidable vessel that floats. Few of the 
 works of man are more interesting than a first-rate man-of- 
 war, and all who have the opportunity ought to complete 
 their knowledge of our ocean homes by paying a visit to 
 this the king of ships. 
 
 It spreads an immense cloud of canvas, and its towering 
 sides are pierced with port-holes in two, and, as in first-rates, 
 in three formidable tiers. Our plate represents a full-rigged 
 line-of-battle ship. All the sails are hoisted with the 
 exception of the stay-sail and the stun-sailsj which latter, 
 as we have said, are never spread except in light-fair winds. 
 
 We may here remark that ships sometimes carry small 
 "sky-scrapers" above the royals. The complement of a 
 first-rate line-of-battle ship is upwards of a thousand men. 
 The vessel is, in fact, a floating town, in which nearly all 
 the ordinary professions and trades are carried on as 
 vigorously and as regularly as on shore. Besides the 
 captain, lieutenants, masters, chaplain, surgeons, assistant- 
 surgeons, midshipmen, clerks, schoolmasters, &c., gunners, 
 boatswains, seamen, and marines (or naval soldiers), there 
 are carpenters, cooks, sailmakers, ropemakers, armourers, 
 coopers, and barbers, who work steadily at their respective 
 trades. Everything is conducted by rule, and with the 
 
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 235 
 
 utmost regularity. Were this not the case, we can easily 
 conceive the inextricable state of confusion into which every- 
 thing would be thrown. In so magnificent a vessel there 
 are various peculiarities of detail which merit notice. The 
 tops of the lower masts, instead of being mere cross-trees, 
 as in vessels of smaller size, are large platforms, planked' 
 over and railed in, on which bodies of men may be stationed. 
 They are called the main-top, fore-top, and mizzen-top 
 respectively, and the main-top of a first-rate man-of-war 
 can accommodate forty or fifty men. The guns of which 
 there are from one hundred to one hundred and thirty, 
 vary in size, and carry shots of from fourteen to sixty- 
 eight pounds weight. They are managed by ropes and 
 blocks, and each gun requires a number of men to work it. 
 As the rigging of all three-masted ships is much the 
 same, we will not enumerate the masts, sails, and rigging 
 of a line-of -battle ship. Should the reader wish to know 
 them, let him turn to Chapter II., Part II., where he will 
 find pretty full details on such matters, many of which are 
 applicable to this as to other vessels. We shall now turn 
 to the 
 
 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 A first-rate line-of-battle ship is called a " ship of the 
 line" because in naval warfare it usually forms one of a 
 line of large vessels which advance in preconcerted arrange- 
 ment to the attack. Smaller vessels of war do not form 
 part of the line, but move about more independently, 
 somewhat after the manner of skirmishing troops in the 
 army. 
 
 A first-rate is also called a " three-decker" because it has 
 three distinct decks, or floors, or storeys, extending the 
 
236 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 entire length of the ship, on which heavy guns are planted. 
 There are also smaller half-decks of which we shall speak 
 presently. 
 
 The three decks are named the upper gun-deck or spar- 
 deck the middle or main gun-deck, and the lower gun-deck. 
 Below this is the orlop-deck, on which are no guns, it being 
 beneath the surface of the water. Below this is the hold. 
 Returning to the upper gun -deck we find the quarter-deck, 
 occupying the after part of the vessel, behind (or, as sailors 
 have it "abaft") the main-mast, and sometimes above the 
 sternmost part of this deck there is a poop. In the front 
 part of the ship rises a small deck, called the fore-castle. 
 The uses arid arrangements of these decks are as follows, 
 
 The upper deck comprises the following several portions : 
 the poop which covers the commodore's cabin, on the 
 highest part of the stern. The quarter-deck is a sacred spot 
 on board a man of war. It is appropriated exclusively to 
 the use of the officers, no one else being allowed to set foot 
 on it except in the discharge of duty. Even the midship- 
 men, or " middies," although they belong to the class of 
 officers, are only allowed to perambulate the larboard side 
 of the quarter-deck. Here the power that represents 
 royalty is supposed to sit enshrined, hence no one ever goes 
 upon it, not even the captain, without touching his cap, 
 not to the individuals who may chance to be upon it, but 
 to the locality itself. The centre part of the upper deck, 
 called the waist, between the main and fore masts is occupied 
 partly by the larger boats, and by the spare spars which 
 are always carried, to replace any of the booms, top-masts, or 
 yards that may be accidentally broken or carried away. 
 On each side of the boats are unencumbered spaces called 
 the gangways, which are free to the sailors. The fore-castle 
 
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 237 
 
 also belongs to the men. It extends from the fore-mast to 
 the bow of the ship. Hence, when it is said, so and so 
 went to sea before tlie mast, it is meant that he went as an 
 ordinary sailor was a denizen, in fact, of the fore-castle. 
 
 All round the edges of the ship runs a box or trough 
 called the hammock nettings in which the men stow their 
 hammocks, or beds, tightly rolled up during the day, and 
 so perfect are the arrangements on board a man-of-war, 
 that a thousand men can lash up and stow away their 
 hammocks in the nettings in a few minutes and without the 
 slightest confusion. The guns on this upper are the lightest 
 in the ship. 
 
 The main-deck comes next. Here we find, commencing 
 aft, the captain's cabin, over the door of which hangs the 
 timepiece of the ship, and in front of which always paces a 
 sentry. Marines, who in fact and in appearance are naval 
 soldiers, do all the sentry duty on board ship, carrying a 
 musket just as soldiers do on shore. They are a distinct 
 and separate class from the sailors or jack- tars, and are 
 trained and drilled very much in the duties of soldiers. 
 
 The duty of the sentry before the captain's cabin, besides 
 guarding the entrance, is to note the time and call out the 
 half hours to the officer of the watch on deck, who orders 
 a boy to strike the bell. Thus the time is announced, but 
 not in our shore-going style. Time at sea is divided into 
 watches and reckoned by bells. Seven watches constitute 
 the twenty -four hours. Five of these are four hours long, 
 the other two are short watches of two hours each, and are 
 termed the dog-watches. At the end of the first half hour 
 of a watch the bell is struck one; the next half hour two; 
 and so on up to eight, which terminates the four hours of 
 the watch, and then they commence with one bell again at 
 
238 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 the end of the first half hour of the succeeding watch. 
 Consequently one never hears, "What o'clock is it?" but 
 " How many bells is it 1 " 
 
 The space extending from the captain's cabin to the 
 main-mast is the half -deck, which is always kept a clear 
 space. Near the fore-mast is the galley, or cooking range 
 for the captain. The guns on this main-deck are of the 
 largest size. They are always kept in splendid order, ready 
 for action, with their shot piled or laid securely to prevent 
 rolling, beside them. To the beams overhead hooks are 
 attached to which the hammocks are slung at bed-time. 
 The space allowed for each hammock is very scrimp; but 
 in order to prevent the evil effects of crowding, it is so 
 arranged that the man to whom each alternate hammock 
 belongs shall form part of the " watch on deck," while the 
 others (facetiously termed the "watch below!") are sound 
 asleep. Thus the empty hammocks are squeezed up by the 
 sleepers on either side. When the watch is relieved, the 
 full hammocks are emptied at the same moment that the 
 empty hammocks are filled. The port-holes of the main- 
 deck are always kept open, except in very bad weather, so 
 that it is well aired. 
 
 The lower-deck lies immediately under the main-deck. 
 On the furthest aft portion of it, reaching forward to the 
 mizzen-mast, is the ward-room. Here dwell the lieutenants, 
 surgeons, purser, master, and chaplain. Close by the fore- 
 mast is the ship's galley, the exclusive domain of the cook, 
 whose office is by no means a sinecure, seeing that he has 
 periodically to fill the mouths of the entire ship's company, 
 lieutenants and middies included, with the exception of the 
 commodore and captain, and the favoured few who may be 
 privileged to mess with them. All the available space on 
 
MISERIES OF THE SICK-BAY. 239 
 
 this deck between the guns is occupied by mess chests, and 
 mess lockers, -in which latter the pots, pans, spoons, and 
 victuals used by the sailors are kept. 
 
 All that portion of this deck which extends from the 
 foremast to the bow is devoted to the sick. It is the ship's 
 hospital, and is called the sick-bay. Here the doctor reigns 
 supreme. This being the lowest gun-deck the ports are 
 always closed when the sea becomes -rough; hence it is not 
 so well ventilated as could be wished, and the sick are 
 doomed to a miserable existence. 
 
 Mr. Charles Nordhoff. in his " man-of-war life," gives the 
 following graphic account of his own experience of the 
 
 MISERIES OF THE SICK-BAY. 
 
 Nordhoff went to sea as a little boy, and, falling sick soon 
 after going on board his ship, was carried to the sick-bay 
 and laid in a hammock. 
 
 " Here," he says, " I lay sick for many days. My sick- 
 ness, or else the paregoric which was given me for medicine, 
 stupefied me. My existence seemed to me as a dream; 
 objects and events passing about me I was merely conscious 
 of, without receiving from them any impression. The 
 doctor ordered a mustard plaster to be applied to my breast. 
 Two days after I was cupped and then blistered. I stood 
 it ail, not with fortitude, but with apathy. There seemed 
 scarcely sufficient life left in my body to suffer. I said 
 nothing, ate nothing, and drank nothing but water for 
 nine days. 
 
 " In the meantime the sick-bay was filled with sick men, 
 many of them having upon them the loathsome diseases 
 contracted in their debaucheries on shore. Several men 
 {lied. While I was yet lying very low, the occupant of the 
 
240 MISERIES OP THE SICK-BAY. 
 
 hammock adjoining mine (our beds touched) died. He 
 was an Englishman, a strong man, in the prime of life, and 
 he parted from existence very reluctantly. The chaplain 
 was with him in his last moments ; and as he and the sick- 
 bay steward closed the dead-man's eyes, I heard the latter 
 whisper, pointing to me : 
 
 "'That little boy will be next, sir.'" 
 
 But that little boy was not next. He recovered and lived 
 to pen the lines we have just quoted. 
 
 " To be sick on board ship," he continues, " seems to be 
 the very height of earthly misery. The sickroom on shore, 
 surrounded as it is by every comfort, by all the appliances, 
 invented by art or suggested by love, which can make the 
 sufferer's lot more bearable, waited on by sympathizing 
 friends, watched with anxious and loving care, is yet far 
 from desirable. But to be bed-ridden on board ship is a 
 horrible fate. Cooped up with dozens of others' in a narrow 
 space on one of the lower decks, badly ventilated, and reek- 
 ing with all the odours peculiar to sick-rooms and to ship 
 holds, annoyed constantly by the fretful complaint, the dull 
 moan of pain, or the hollow cough, half stifled perhaps by 
 the feverish gasping of a neighbour, whose close proximity 
 makes it impossible for one to get a breath of fresh air, the 
 invalid lies in his cot, hour after hour, and day after day, 
 thinking and thinking, until his brain is bewildered and his 
 soul grows weary and faint. At stated intervals, a steward 
 or loblolly boy makes the round of all the hammocks and 
 cots, and supplies the wants of the sick. Twice a day, once 
 at nine A.M., and again at four P.M., the dull monotony 
 is invaded by the doctor's visit. At dark, or in bad weather, 
 the port-holes are closed, thus shutting out the last remnant 
 of fresh air, and a dingy lantern, hung to the beams, sheds 
 
THE MISEEIES OF THE SICK-BAY. 241 
 
 a faint light around its immediate proximity, by which the 
 utter darkness of the outskirts is only made more clearly 
 tangible. And there the sick man lies, his cot swinging 
 with the motion of the vessel, the bilge water rushing across 
 the deck, the timbers creaking and groaning in concert with 
 the moan of pain, until, after an almost interminable night, 
 the bustle and noise overhead announce the advent of 
 another day of misery." 
 
 Turning from this digression let us continue our ex- 
 amination of the ship's interior. We have described three 
 decks. Let us descend to the fourth, which is called, 
 
 The Orlop-deck. There are no guns here, for the good 
 reason that the orlop-deck is below the ship's water-line. 
 For the same reason there is no light, except that produced 
 by lanterns. At the after-part of this deck is a deep cavern- 
 ous apartment termed the bread-room. Its name sufficiently 
 explains its use. Next to this are the private rooms of the 
 ward-room officers. The central part of this deck is termed 
 the cock-pit. This, in time of war, is a room of horrors, 
 for here the wounded men are carried and the often over- 
 tasked surgeons ply their amputating knives, while the 
 shrieks of the sufferers mingle with the groans of those who 
 wait their turn, and with the dull thunder of artillery 
 overhead. Next to this are the steerages, where the middies, 
 and the purser's and ship's clerks mess ; the boatswains', 
 gunners', sail-makers', and carpenters' rooms; and, further 
 forward, just under the sick-bay, are the rooms appropriated 
 to the reception of boatswains', carpenters', and sail-makers' 
 stores. 
 
 To the hold is the next, and our lowest descent. It lies 
 below the orlop-deck and contains the powder magazines, 
 shot, wet provision, such as beef and pork, flour and other 
 
242 MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 
 
 dry provisions, chain cables, water-tanks, and an endless 
 variety of articles too numerous to mention. 
 
 The boats of a man-of-war are usually six in number and 
 are of various sizes. The smaller boats are hung at the 
 sides of the vessel; the larger ones are hoisted on deck. 
 They are as follows; the long-boat, or, as it is sometimes 
 called, the launch, is the largest, having a mast and sails 
 and frequently a deck. It is useful in conveying stores to 
 the ship, and in time of war is armed and equipped for 
 going on services that the ship could not attempt. Up 
 rivers, for instance, and in other shallow waters, or for 
 " cutting out," that is, stealthily attacking vessels at night, 
 or when becalmed. But all of the larger boats are used 
 more or less for the same purpose. The barge is the next, 
 then the pinnace, the cutter, the jolly-boat, and the gig, 
 the last being a small, long, narrow, and exceedingly neat 
 boat, appropriated exclusively to the use of the captain 
 when he wishes to go ashore or to visit another vessel. 
 
 Such are the interior arrangements and armament of a 
 line-of-battle ship. Before proceeding to tell of what such 
 vessels can do and have done, we shall briefly run over a 
 few curious and interesting 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 
 
 The total weight of a first-rate line-of-battle ship when 
 fully equipped for a cruise, has been estimated to be up- 
 wards of 3000 tons. If we consider that an ordinary cart 
 of coals is about one ton in weight we may form some idea 
 of what those figures represent. There are several anchors 
 of which the best bower is the largest ; it weighs about five 
 tons and costs about 350. The cable is usually made of 
 iron-chain. Cables vary in size. Not long ago they were 
 
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 243 
 
 made of hemp and were sometimes so much as 25 inches 
 in circumference. A cable of such dimensions and about 
 100 fathoms or 600 feet long, cost upwards of 400. 
 Chain cables have entirely superseded these, however, being 
 stronger, less cumbrous, and more easily managed. 
 
 The strength of the cable and the power of the windlass 
 by which it is raised are enormous. A striking illustration 
 of this occurred on board a merchant vessel once. The 
 anchor had got foul of the rocks in such a way that when 
 they attempted to pull it up it would not move. The whole 
 crew was summoned, and every man that could lay hold of a 
 part of a handspike lent his weight to turn the windlass, round 
 which the chain cable was wound, but all to no purpose. 
 So great was the strain that the bow of the ship was pulled 
 deep into the water and the stern raised up considerably. 
 Still the anchor held OIL The captain, being very loth to 
 lose a good cable which he would have been compelled to 
 slip had the anchor remained fast, ordered the men to re- 
 move a large portion of the cargo to the stern of the vessel, 
 which was done, and the weight brought the ship almost 
 quite straight again. Then the crew heaved once more on 
 the windlass, and at last the anchor came away with a jerk 
 so tremendous that the whole ship trembled with the 
 shock. On bringing the anchor to the surface it was found 
 that the fluke which had been fouled was bent completely 
 back so as to form a right angle with the shank showing 
 at once the excellence of both anchor and cable, and the 
 tremendous strain to which they had been subjected. 
 
 The length of a first-rate is usually upwards of 200 feet ; 
 
 the breadth about 60 feet. The height of the mainmast 
 
 is about 200 feet. The total cost of such a vessel hull, 
 
 rigging, sails, stores, and guns, is estimated at about 
 
 16 
 
244 THE CREW. 
 
 .100,000. About fifty acres of land are required to grow 
 the oaks that are used in the building of a single first-rate 
 man-of-war supposing each acre to contain forty of the 
 finest oaks. In other words, two thousand oaks are required 
 to build a man-of-war ! every one of which must be a 
 hundred years old. Such an amount of timber would be 
 sufficient to build the wood-work of about seven hundred 
 cottages. 
 
 A man-of-war is usually, when about to proceed to sea, 
 provisioned and watered for six months, and is supplied 
 with powder, and shot, sails, and rigging, and spare clothing, 
 sufficient to last during a cruise of three years, 
 
 THE CREW. 
 
 We have already said that the crew of a first-rate man- 
 of-war numbers about one thousand souls. Every one will 
 easily understand that in a ship, where the men are con- 
 stantly called into sudden action and sent swarming about 
 the decks and rigging, nothing but the strictest discipline 
 can prevent utter confusion. 
 
 The discipline on board men-of-war is so rigidly enforced, 
 that the most perfect order and thorough harmony prevails 
 in every part of the busy hive. A glance at the human 
 machinery of such a vessel, is quite as interesting as an 
 inspection of an intricate and beautiful piece of mechanism. 
 
 At the head of all stands the Commodore, and the ship 
 of the fleet in which he hoists his pendant is called the 
 flag-ship. He, however, interferes very little with the 
 management of the ship. His duties are to guide and 
 direct the movements of the fleet. Setting him aside, 
 therefore, the chief officer of the ship is the Captain, who 
 orders, directs, and is responsible for everything, including 
 
THE CREW. 245 
 
 the ship itself. His power is despotic. The First Lieu- 
 tenant is perhaps the most important officer in the ship. 
 He sees to having the captain's orders obeyed, and upon 
 his judgment and discretion very much depends. His 
 duties are very laborious. He does not, like the others, 
 keep watch every alternate four hours, but is on duty all 
 day. He thoroughly inspects the vessel alow and aloft at 
 least once every day, to see that all is in good order and 
 kept clean, and makes a report thereon to the captain. 
 The captain speaks to the crew through the first lieutenant, 
 and all who have occasion to make reports to the captain 
 must do it through the same individual, who is, therefore, 
 possessed of great power and influence. In short he 
 superintends everything and commands everybody. At 
 quarters, that is, when the ship is prepared for action, the 
 first lieutenant has charge of the quarter-deck. The other 
 lieutenants have charge of the deck alternately every four 
 hours. When at sea the officer of the watch, or of the 
 deck, sails the ship sees that she is kept on her course 
 keeps a reckoning of her speed, and deviations from the 
 course, and takes note of the weather and of everything 
 that may occur whether at night or during the day, within 
 the ship or without it during his watch. All of which 
 he enters on the log-slate when the watch is relieved. 
 
 The sailing master is one who cannot be said to rank 
 either after or along with the rest of the officers, inasmuch 
 as his peculiar office is permanent, and does not admit of 
 promotion either into it from a lower, or out of it into a 
 higher rank. His duty is to keep the ship's reckoning, to 
 note the bearings and distance of the nearest land or the 
 port to which the ship is bound, and report the same to 
 the captain. He also manages the storing of the hold, and 
 
246 THE CREW. 
 
 has supervision over nearly all the stores of the ship. In 
 fact, he exercises as nearly as may be the functions of a 
 captain in the merchant service. 
 
 The purser is, curiously enough, called an "idler," 
 although he is usually one of the busiest men in the ship. 
 The surgeon and his assistants, and the chaplain are also 
 thus styled the reason being that none of the three are 
 expected to keep watch, their professional duties being 
 incompatible with such a routine arrangement. These 
 officers share the same cognomen with the cook and his 
 satellites, and the officer's servants, all of whom, being on 
 constant duty during the day, are relieved from taking part 
 in the regular watches. The purser's office is a highly 
 responsible one. He has special charge of all the cash, pro- 
 visions, and clothing in the ship, and keeps all the accounts. 
 In fact, he is a nautical accountant and man of business. 
 
 The midshipmen are boy-officers of the ship, the sky- 
 larking, mischievous, dare-anything rascals who order about 
 the men as if they, the mids, were giants, and the others 
 pigmies; whose duty it is to learn their profession, and 
 whose aspiration it is to become first lieutenants, or captains 
 if possible, and admirals if they can. They muster the 
 watch at night; at quarters they muster the guns' crews; 
 and at sea, one of them has charge of the fore-castle. They 
 take the sun's altitude at noon, and work out the ship's 
 reckoning by it; they keep journals of the cruise, which 
 are periodically inspected; and in port, one takes charge of 
 every boat that leaves the ship. Their self-imposed duties 
 are innumerable and eccentric in the extreme, ranging not 
 literally, but metaphorically from "pitch and toss to 
 manslaughter." There are usually about two dozen of 
 tli em on board a first-rate. 
 
THE BLACK PRINCE. 247 
 
 Next come the warrant officers the boatsivain, gunner, 
 sail-maker, and carpenter. The first of these, the " boVn," 
 has charge of the rigging, and is responsible for its efficient 
 condition. He has, moreover, a silver whistle and a sten- 
 torian voice, with both of which he calls the men to duty 
 when required to do so. Of the crew., we can only afford 
 space to say that there are quarter-masters, captains of 
 forecastle, captains of tops, &c. Eope-makers, caulkers, 
 armourers, coxswains, coopers, stewards, able-bodied and 
 ordinary seamen and boys. 
 
 The marines are a sort of ship-police force in time of 
 peace, and sharp-shooters in action. The sailors are apt to 
 regard them with contempt; but their services on board in 
 the way of keeping order in time of peace, and fighting in 
 time of war, are the reverse of contemptible. When 
 posted on the "tops" and among the rigging, they can 
 keep up a galling fire on the decks of an enemy, in close 
 action. It was a ball from the "mizzen-top" of the Re- 
 doubtable that killed Nelson. 
 
 Such is a man-of-war, and such the general arrangements 
 and details of that class of vessels which, for centuries 
 past, have been the bulwark of our country, and earned 
 for themselves the title of the "Wooden Walls of Old 
 England." 
 
 THE BLACK PRINCE. 
 
 "There were giants in those days," is said of the men of 
 old. Truly, in reference to naval affairs, it may now be 
 said, " There are giants in these days." In times not long 
 gone by men clad themselves in steel from top to toe ere 
 they went forth to battle. Now-a-days our ships of war 
 are beginning literally to don coats of mail, and soon our 
 
248 THE BLACK PRINCE. 
 
 brave tars will have to change their tune and sing, not of 
 the wooden, but of the iron, walls of Old England. 
 
 Magnitude and strength seem to be the ruling passions 
 of the day. The Great Eastern is the climax of the first 
 the Black Prince of the second. That great instigator to 
 all that is war-like ; that ingenious inventor of curious and 
 deadly cannon ; that fomentor of discord, disturber of the 
 world's peace, and favourite son of Mars, Napoleon III., 
 some years ago, took it into his head to build a ship of 
 war which should be strong enough to run right into and 
 sink an enemy's vessel, and from whose steel-plated sides 
 cannon balls should rebound harmlessly into the sea, and 
 against which shell should be shattered to atoms. He not 
 only planned, but he built and launched this monster 
 vessel, and most appropriately (so appropriately that we 
 might almost fancy it was sarcastically) called it the 
 "Gloire!" 
 
 England was surprised, became alarmed, and followed 
 suit with the Warrior, and now the two countries are vieing 
 with each other in constructing vessels which will sink by 
 means of their artillery, or overwhelm with their gigantic bat- 
 tering-ram charge anything that floats upon the sea. What 
 is to be the result when these steel-clad warriors of the ocean 
 enter the lists against each other, no one can tell the 
 Yankees would probably "guess" there will be a "univer- 
 sal smash," we trust that we shall be for ever left in 
 ignorance, and that no necessity will arise to test their tre- 
 mendous powers. 
 
 As the general principles on which these steel-plated 
 ships are built are very similar, an account of the Black 
 Prince, the launch of which we described in a previous 
 chapter, will suffice to give an idea of what they are. 
 
THE BLACK PEINCE. 249 
 
 The dimensions of the Black Prince are as follows : 
 
 Extreme length, abbut 420 feet. 
 
 Length between perpendiculars 380 ,, 
 
 Extreme breadth 58 ,, 
 
 Depth from spar deck 41J 
 
 Builders' measurement 6173 tons. 
 
 This vessel is to be armed with Armstrong guns; and 
 the engines, though nominally 1250 horse power, may, 
 it is said, be wrought up to about 4000 or 5000. 
 
 But the great peculiarity of this ship is, the enormous 
 strength of its build and the thickness of the steel plates 
 with which it is sheathed. 
 
 About 213 feet of each side of the vessel is rendered 
 impervious to shot or shell, by armour plates of wrought 
 iron, from 15 to 16 feet long, 3 to 4 broad, and 4| inches 
 tliick, each plate averaging upivards of four tons. Their 
 edges are planed, and they are fitted together with tenon 
 and groove joints. 
 
 In order to deaden the effect of shot, 18 inches of Indian 
 teak wood are interposed between the armour and the 
 " skin," or really water-tight iron shell of the vessel. The 
 teak is of two thicknesses, 10 and 8 inches the former 
 being laid with the length-way of the plank, running fore 
 and aft, and the other layer of 8 inches being placed verti- 
 cally. This sheathing of iron and wood extends from a 
 little above the gunwale to about 5J feet below the water 
 line. 
 
 The armour-sheathed space is pierced on the main or 
 gun-deck with thirteen port-holes on each side for 26 guns. 
 These ports are contracted to about two feet, in consequence 
 of the carriage being so constructed that the gun pivots 
 round a point near the outer edge of the port. 
 
250 THE BLA CK PRINCE. 
 
 The central armour-clad space and the bottom of the 
 ship are divided into water-tight compartments in order to 
 keep the vessel afloat if seriously damaged, and by this 
 means any damage to the exterior plating, and the flooding 
 arising from it, will be merely local. 
 
 The moulded depth of the vessel is 41 feet. The armour 
 plates cover 22 feet in depth of the top sides, 1 6 of which 
 will be exposed above the water line, the armour thus de- 
 scending about 6 feet below the surface of the water. The 
 intention of government originally was that the vessel should 
 be a steam ram, for the purpose of running down an enemy's 
 vessel, and it was accordingly constructed with a stem of 
 dimensions and strength commensurate with the work it 
 was designed to accomplish. But the stem might be 
 shattered by the collision, or it might be completely blown 
 away, and so might the stern, which is not protected with 
 armour. Yet, even should the stem and stern be thus 
 blown to atoms, a new stem and stern are lying ready- 
 made underneath ! The keel of the vessel is placed inter- 
 nally where it forms one of an extensive set of girders 
 which run fore and aft, and between these deep floor-plates 
 are introduced, to the lower edge of which and to the 
 girders the plating of the bottom is attached. The frames, 
 which consist of 1 0-inch plates and angle irons, are ri vetted 
 to the inside cage of the floors, and a great part of the 
 bottom is then plated over on the inside of these, and 
 made perfectly water-tight, thus forming a double security 
 in case of injury to the bottom from grounding or any 
 other cause. The vessel is built in compartments, so that, 
 in the event of any part receiving damage, the damage is 
 confined to the particular locality. For this purpose there 
 are strong iron bulkheads running longitudinally from 
 
THE BLACK PEINCE. 
 
 251 
 
 within a few yards of tlie stern, on each side of the 
 vessel. 
 
 The figure-head, which represents Edward the Black 
 Prince in a complete suit of armour of the period, has been 
 carved with much artistic skill from a built block of wood 
 16 feet in length, by Messrs Kay and Keid, ship-carvers, 
 Glasgow. 
 
252 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 LIGHTS and shadows vary the aspects of nature, moral as 
 well as physical. This work being a sort of picture of 
 nautical affairs a somewhat sketchy and miscellaneous 
 one, no doubt we think it advisable to change the tone of 
 our colouring here, and turn from the deeds to the misdeeds 
 of man-of-war's-men. And the best illustration we could 
 bring forward perhaps is 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 This subject will again convey us to the romantic and 
 sunny regions of the South Seas. 
 
 Seventeen years after Cook's return from his first voyage, 
 a number of merchants resident in London, and connected 
 with the West India trade, being desirous of introducing 
 the bread-fruit tree into the West India Islands as an article 
 of food, preferred a request to government that a vessel 
 should be fitted out and sent to the South Seas for the 
 purpose of procuring specimens and transporting them to 
 the West Indies * 
 
 Government agreed. A small vessel of 215 tons was 
 purchased and carefully fitted out with all the necessary 
 appliances for her peculiar duty, under the able superin- 
 tendence of Sir Joseph Banks. Lieutenant Bligh, who had 
 
 * For description of bread-fruit, see page 192. 
 
THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 253 
 
 previously sailed with Captain Cook in the Resolution, was 
 appointed to command the ship, which was named the 
 
 "THB BOUNTY AT OTAHEITE. 
 
 Bounty, and which was stored and victualled for a cruise 
 of eighteen months. 
 
 The Bounty sailed from Spithead on the 23d of Decem- 
 
254 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 ber 1787, having on board a crew consisting of the com- 
 mander (High), one master, three warrant officers, one 
 surgeon, two master's mates, two midshipmen, and thirty- 
 four petty officers and seamen; besides two botanists 
 David Nelson and his assistant William Brown who were 
 to take charge of the transport of the bread-fruit trees, and 
 any other plants that might be gathered by the expedition, 
 forty-six souls in all. 
 
 The voyage out was rough and tempestuous. They tried 
 in vain to double Cape Horn, and were compelled to go by 
 the Cape of Good Hope instead, but at last arrived safely 
 at Otaheite, and anchored in Matavai Bay, on the 26th 
 October 1788. 
 
 At this time Otaheite had been visited only once or 
 twice by discovery ships, and no missionaries had yet been 
 sent to it. The natives were, therefore, absolute savages ; 
 but they seem to have always been much the reverse of 
 savage in their dispositions. At least the crew of the 
 Bounty found them extremely kind and hospitable; so 
 much so, that, during the six pleasant months they spent 
 at the island collecting plants, the natives and the sailors 
 became much attached to each other. 
 
 Besides collecting plants, the crew spent much of their 
 time in wandering among the groves of that lovely island, 
 or in rowing about its coral shores, shooting birds or pro- 
 curing fresh water. 
 
 Upwards of one thousand plants of the bread-fruit tree, 
 having been secured and planted in tubs specially pre- 
 pared for their reception, the Bounty put to sea once more, 
 and the crew unwillingly bade adieu to the hospitable shores 
 of Otaheite. 
 
 But the kindness of the natives, the romantic beauty of 
 
THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 255 
 
 the island, and the genial sunny climate had so captivated 
 the men, that three of them resolved to desert and remain 
 behind. They accordingly watched their opportunity, 
 seized one of the boats and escaped, carrying with them a 
 chest of fire-arms and ammunition. They were, however, 
 speedily captured, and, on writing a humble letter of re- 
 pentance, were pardoned. 
 
 But dark schemes were hatching among the men ; and 
 on the 28th of April 1789 they broke out into open mutiny. 
 Fletcher Christian, the master's mate, was the ringleader. 
 He was a young and able man of a quick daring spirit. 
 It is said that Lieutenant Bligh had given offence to this 
 man, and also that the mutiny was partly caused or at 
 least precipitated by Bligh's hasty and stern character. 
 There may be some truth in this, but he seems to have 
 had the comfort of his men at heart if we may judge by 
 the following remark made by him in reference to keeping 
 watch : 
 
 "I have always considered this (the division of the ship's 
 company into three watches) a desirable regulation, when 
 circumstances will admit of it, on many accounts, and am 
 persuaded that unbroken rest not only contributes much 
 to the health of the ship's company, but enables them 
 more readily to exert themselves in cases of sudden emer- 
 gency." 
 
 At dawn of day on the 28th, Christian, with a number 
 of the men whom he had gained over, got possession of fire- 
 arms, under pretence of shooting a shark, and rushed into 
 the cabin where their commander was sleeping. Bligh 
 started up in amazement, on seeing himself surrounded 
 by men armed with cutlasses and pistols, and instantly 
 called loudly for assistance. But no assistance came, for 
 
256 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 nearly all the crew either favoured the mutineers, or were 
 overawed by them. 
 
 Having bound Bligh's hands behind him they forced 
 him rudely on the deck without even allowing him to dress, 
 and kept guard over him while the boatswain and others 
 were compelled to lower the launch into which Bligh and 
 eighteen men who refused to join the mutineers were thrust. 
 Having flung them a few pieces of pork, a few pounds of 
 bread, some gallons of water and a few stores, the boat was 
 cut adrift and left floating on the wide ocean. 
 
 Fletcher Christian then took the command of the Bounty, 
 issued a dram to his fellow mutineers, and sailed for Ota- 
 heite, shouting for joy at having thus rid themselves of 
 their commander. Little did those wretched men know the 
 misery that awaited them ! 
 
 Lieutenant Bligh escaped after encountering with his com- 
 panions unparalleled perils and sufferings, details of which 
 we reserve for the next chapter. No sooner was government 
 informed of what had occurred than they sent out the Pan- 
 dora frigate, under Captain Edwards, to hunt down the 
 mutineers and bring them to justice. Eighteen months 
 after the Bounty's last departure from Otaheite, the Pandora 
 anchored in Matavia Bay. Three of the mutineers im- 
 mediately came on board and surrendered themselves. 
 They were put in irons, and soon after eleven others were 
 captured. 
 
 It was found that two of their number named Churchill 
 and Thompson were dead. One of these, Churchill, had 
 been made a king soon after quitting the Bounty ; a neigh- 
 bouring king had taken a fancy to him, invited him to his 
 court, made him his chief friend, and, dying soon after, left 
 him his kingdom ! Thompson who accompanied Church- 
 
THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 257 
 
 lull became envious of his companion's honours, and shot 
 him. The natives, enraged at the murder of their king, in- 
 stantly retaliated and stoned Thompson to death. 
 
 From journals found in possession of the prisoners it was 
 learned that after casting the boat adrift with Captain Bligh 
 and his companions the mutineers sailed to the island of 
 Toobouai where they anchored on the 25th of May 1789, 
 having previously thrown all the bread fruit plants over- 
 board. Here they proposed to settle, but being short of 
 supplies of various kinds they resolved to go to Otaheite 
 for them. 
 
 Beaching that island on the 6th June they palmed upon 
 the simple natives a story to the effect, that having fallen 
 in with Captain Cook at a newly discovered island where he 
 meant to settle, Lieutenant Bligh and part of their crew had 
 remained to assist Cook, and that Christian had been placed 
 in command of the Bounty and sent for an additional sup- 
 ply of hogs, goats, fowls, and bread fruit. 
 
 The natives at once believed this story, supplied their 
 visitors with whatever they required, and the Bounty again 
 sailed from Otaheite ; eight native men, nine women and 
 seven boys accompanied them on this trip. On the 26th 
 of June they anchored a second time at Toobouai and im- 
 diately landed and set about building a fort. 
 
 But here they found no rest. Quarrels and disputes con- 
 stantly arose among themselves, and they had frequent skir- 
 mishes with the natives, many of whom were shot. At last 
 the place became so disagreeable that they resolved to aban- 
 don it and return to Otaheite, where, it was agreed, those 
 who chose might settle, and those who preferred it might 
 remain in the ship and go where they pleased. Accordingly 
 Toobouai was abandoned, and on the 20th September, they 
 
258 WRECK OF THE PANDORA. 
 
 once more anchored in Matavia Bay. Here sixteen of the 
 men went ashore. The remaining nine with Christian at 
 their head sailed from Otaheite on the night of the 21st 
 September. They took with them nineteen natives seven 
 men and twelve women. What became of them shall be 
 told in the sequel. 
 
 Captain Edwards had now secured the fourteen mutineers 
 who were still alive, but no account whatever could be ob- 
 tained of the Bounty or of the nine remaining men. He 
 therefore gave up the search and commenced his homeward 
 voyage. However much these mutineers deserved punish- 
 ment we cannot but feel that they were treated with unneces- 
 sary barbarity on board the Pandora. They were confined 
 in irons in a place called the " Pandora's Box," which was 
 built -on the after part of the quarter-deck, was only eleven 
 feet in length, and could only be entered by a scuttle in the 
 roof. From this some of the unhappy prisoners were ere 
 long released by the total wreck of the ship, which struck 
 on a coral reef off the coast of New Holland and went 
 down. 
 
 WRECK OF THE PANDORA. 
 
 Some of the mutineers taken on board the Pandora pro- 
 tested that they were innocent, having taken no active part 
 in the mutiny, but remained silent and unwilling spectators 
 of it, and there is no doubt that this was the case. Among 
 them was young Heywood, and Stewart, the midshipmen, 
 and Morrison the boatswain's mate. But they were all 
 treated alike and confined in the " Pandora's Box." 
 
 On the 29th of August the Pandora arrived at the coast 
 of New Holland, close to a reef of coral called the " Barrier 
 Beef." A boat was sent to sound for the opening in the 
 
WRECK OF THE PANDORA. ^59 
 
 reef, but in the course of the night the ship drifted past it. 
 In his narrative of the wreck, laid before the court-martial, 
 Captain Edwards says, " On getting soundings the topsails 
 were filled; but before the tacks were hauled on board, and 
 other sail made and trimmed, the ship struck upon a reef. 
 We had a quarter less two fathoms on the larboard side, and 
 three fathoms on the starboard side. The sails were braced 
 about different ways, to endeavour to get her off, but to no 
 purpose. They were then clewed up and afterwards furled, 
 the top-gallant yards got down and the top-gallant masts 
 struck. 
 
 " Boats were hoisted out with a view to carry out an anchor, 
 but, before that could be effected, the ship struck so violently 
 on the reef, that the carpenter reported she made eighteen 
 inches of water in five minutes, and in five minutes after 
 this that there were four feet of water in the hold. Soon 
 after, eight and a half feet water was reported. 
 
 " About ten we perceived that the ship had beaten over 
 the reef, and was in ten fathoms water ; we therefore let go 
 the small bower anchor, cleared away the cable, and let go 
 the best bower, in fifteen and a half fathoms, some of the 
 guns were thrown overboard, and the water gained on us 
 only in a small degree, so we flattered ourselves that with 
 the assistance of a thrummed top-sail, which we were pre- 
 paring to haul under the ship's bottom, we might be able 
 to lessen the leak, and to free her of water." 
 
 In this expectation, however, Captain Edwards was dis- 
 appointed. During the night the water gained upon them 
 despite their utmost efforts at the pumps. Three of the 
 crew of the Bounty were let out of their " box " to assist 
 in working the pumps. The others offered their assistance 
 and begged earnestly to be allowed a chance of saving their 
 17 
 
260 WRECK OF THE PANDOKA. 
 
 lives ; but no answer was vouchsafed to them by their heart- 
 less commander, and two additional sentinels were placed 
 over them, a most unnecessary piece of precaution, seeing 
 that they were all ironed and handcuffed, besides being con- 
 fined in their cage. 
 
 Seeing no prospect of escape these wretched men betook 
 themselves to prayer. Meanwhile the ship showed evident 
 signs of being about to sink ; and the crew hastily betook 
 themselves to the boats. As Captain Edwards passed over 
 their prison-house on his way to the boats young Hey wood 
 earnestly implored him to have mercy on them. But the 
 captain passed on without reply. 
 
 The ship was at that time lying on her broadside, with 
 the larboard bow completely under water. Fortunately the 
 master-at-arms possessed a heart not quite so hard as that 
 of his commander. In slipping from the roof of the " Pan- 
 dora's Box " into the sea, he let the keys of the prisoners' 
 irons fall through the scuttle which he had opened just a 
 few minutes before, and thus enabled them to commence 
 their liberation. It is said that the master-at-arms let fall 
 the keys by accident we cannot believe it ; undoubtedly 
 it was done by design. But there was a kinder heart than 
 even his there. William Moulter, a boatswain's mate, re- 
 mained with the prisoners to assist in releasing them from 
 their shackles, saying, as he did so, that he would set them 
 free or go to the bottom along with them. 
 
 While they were thus engaged the ship went down, and 
 the master-at-arms and all the sentinels sank to rise no more. 
 The cries of the drowning men were fearful, and more than 
 half an hour elapsed ere all the survivors were picked up 
 by the boats. 
 
 Poor Stewart, the midshipman, and three of the other 
 
WRECK OF THE PANDORA. 261 
 
 prisoners went down with their hands manacled. The rest 
 escaped. Young Hey wood sprang overboard, seized a plank 
 and was making for the shore when a boat picked him up. 
 Morrison, one of the men, swam about with his handcuffs 
 on until a boat came to his assistance. 
 
 Those who had escaped took refuge on a small sandy 
 islet and hauled up the boats to repair those that were dam- 
 aged. Then the people were mustered, and it was found 
 Ihat eighty-nine of the ship's company and ten of the muti- 
 neers were saved thirty-one of the former and four of the 
 latter had perished. After suffering great hardships the 
 remnant of the Pandora's crew reached the island of Timor, 
 and getting on board a ship there, returned to England. 
 
 Here the mutineers were tried for mutiny and piracy, and 
 part of them condemned to death. Several of their number, 
 however, who had not taken active part in the mutiny of 
 the Bounty were acquitted, and some were pardoned ; among 
 the latter were young Heywood and Morrison. 
 
 Such was the end of this portion of the crew of the 
 Bounty. Turn we now to Lieutenant Bligh and his com- 
 panions. 
 
262 
 
 OPEN BOAT IN A GALE. 
 
 //' It! 
 
 OPEN BOAT IN A GALB. 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 263 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 BLIGH'S EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 FEW situations in which men can be placed are more dan- 
 gerous or dreary than that of being out upon the wide ocean 
 in an open boat. 
 
 That the risk is very great may be gathered, in some 
 degree, by a glance at the annexed woodcut where a party 
 of youths are seen caught in a squall and obliged to lower 
 their sail in order to close-reef it. The water here is seen 
 lipping up to the very edge of the gunwale near the stern, 
 while it dashes past the bow in white foam. Obviously the 
 great danger lies in the simple fact of the boat being open. 
 Size is, comparatively, an unimportant matter. If the boat 
 were decked over, it might venture out even upon the At- 
 lantic with some degree of security ; but, however large a 
 boat may be, if it is not decked, the risk of being swamped 
 in stormy weather is very great, because the waves break 
 into it faster than they can be baled out, and no one who 
 is not either mad, or at least influenced by a very strong 
 and overpowering motive, will risk his life by going to sea 
 in an open boat. Of course by " going to sea " is meant 
 undertaking a long voyage. 
 
 Nevertheless, although this be true, there are many in- 
 stances' on record of wonderful voyages having been accom- 
 plished in open boats. In some cases, men have been driven 
 off shore in a gale and compelled to undertake such voyages. 
 
264 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE, 
 
 In others tlieir ships have gone down in the distant ocean, 
 leaving them floating in their open boats like mere specks 
 upon the sea ; and sometimes, as in the instance we are 
 about to consider, mutinous crews have put the comrades 
 who would not join them into an open boat and cut them 
 adrift. 
 
 It will be remembered that in our last chapter we related 
 how the mutineers of the Bounty had put Lieutenant Bligh 
 and some of the men into an open boat and cast them loose. 
 We shall now relate a few of the details of Bligh's 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 When Fletcher Christian and his merciless companions 
 set their commander adrift in the boat, they flung them a 
 small quantity of provisions and a few stores which, together 
 with the crew, sank the boat so deep in the water that one 
 would have expected that the first breeze of wind would 
 have filled and swamped it. 
 
 The boat in which these nineteen men found themselves 
 floating in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, was the launch. 
 Its length was 23 feet; its breadth 6 feet 9 inches. In this, 
 without awning or covering of any kind and with a small 
 allowance of food scarce enough to sustain life, they en- 
 countered heavy storms and endured the severest privations 
 and sufferings from cold and exposure during a voyage of 
 several thousands of miles. 
 
 The names of the men thus cast away are as follows : 
 Lieutenant Bligh ; John Fryer, master; William Elphin- 
 stone, master's-mate ; John Hallet, midshipman ; Thomas 
 Hay ward, midshipman ; William Peckover, gunner ; Wil- 
 liam Cole, boatswain ; William Purcell, carpenter ; Thomas 
 Ledward, surgeon's-mate ; John Samuel, clerk and steward ; 
 
EXTRAORDINAKY BOAT VOYAGE. 265 
 
 s 
 
 David Nelson, botanist ; Lawrence Labogue, sailmaker ; 
 Peter Linkletter, quarter-master ; John Norton, quarter- 
 master; George Simpson, quarter-master's-mate ; Thomas 
 Hall, ship's cook ; John Smith, commander's cook ; Eobert 
 Lamb, butcher ; and Robert Tinkler, a boy. 
 
 None but a man of decided firmness and energy of char- 
 acter could have carried himself and his companions through 
 the dangers and trials of that voyage in safety. Lieutenant 
 Bligh proved himself fully equal to the emergency. 
 
 His first care after the Bounty left them was to examine 
 the condition of his boat and the amount of his provisions. 
 These last were very meagre. They consisted of one hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds of biscuit, thirty pounds of pork, six 
 quarts of rum, six bottles of wine, and twenty-eight gallons 
 of water. Of stores they had a few pieces of canvas, 
 some twine and cordage, four cutlasses, a quadrant, and a 
 compass. 
 
 The condition of the launch and her crew is beautifully 
 and forcibly expressed in the following lines : 
 
 * The boat is lowered with all the haste of hate, 
 With its slight plank between thee and thy fate; 
 Her only cargo such a scant supply 
 As promises the death their hands deny; 
 And just enough of water and of bread 
 To keep, some days, the dying ofrra the deud. 
 Some cordage, canvas, sails, and lines, and twine, 
 But treasures all to hermits of the brine, 
 Were added after, to the earnest prayer 
 Of those who saw no hope save sea and air; 
 And last, that trembling vassal of the Pole, 
 The feeling compass, navigators' souL 
 * * * * 
 
 The launch is crowded with the faithful few 
 That wait their chief a melancholy crew, 
 But some remained reluctant on the deck 
 Of that proud vessel, now a moral wreck 
 And viewed their captain's fate with piteous eyes ; 
 While others scoffed his augured miseries, 
 Sneered at the prospect of his pigmy sail, 
 And the slight bark, so laden and so fraiL" 
 
266 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 Being within about thirty miles of the island of Tofoa, 
 Bligh resolved in the first instance to proceed thither in 
 order to procure, if possible, bread fruit and water. But 
 the natives who lined the beach turned out to be of exceed- 
 ingly treacherous and fierce disposition. One of the chiefs 
 earnestly entreated Bligh to spend the night there, and upon 
 his refusing to do so, he exclaimed angrily, " Then we will 
 kill you." Thereupon he gave a signal, and immediately 
 about two hundred savages rushed upon the sailors and 
 attacked them with stones, which flew about their heads 
 like a shower of shot. Fortunately none were seriously 
 hit, and they all succeeded in getting safely into the boat 
 with the exception of John Norton, the quarter-master, who 
 boldly ran up the beach to cast off the stern fast. Upon 
 this brave but unfortunate man the natives rushed, and in 
 a few minutes stoned him to death. 
 
 The crew of the launch pushed hastily off to sea, but 
 were followed by several canoes, laden with stones, from 
 which the attack was continued. Having no fire-arms, the 
 only defence they could make was to throw back the stones 
 which happened to lodge in the boat, but in this mode of 
 warfare the savages were much more expert, and it is pro- 
 bable the Europeans would have been murdered had they 
 not hit upon the ruse of throwing part of their clothing into 
 the sea. As they expected, the natives stopped to pick up 
 the garments, and the crew of the boat pulled lustily till 
 beyond the reach of stones. Soon after, night coming on, 
 the pursuit was abandoned. 
 
 Before this occurred, however, one or two bread-fruits and 
 a few small cocoa-nuts had been gathered, and added to 
 their slender stock of provisions. 
 
 The eyes of the wretched men in the launch were now 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 267 
 
 turned anxiously towards their commander, in whose energy 
 and knowledge they felt their hope of deliverance depended. 
 It is to be hoped that, among men in such desperate cir- 
 cumstances, there were some who earnestly looked to a 
 higher Power for deliverance. The commander now in- 
 formed his men that he meant to steer straight for a Dutch 
 settlement on the island of Timor, distant above three thou- 
 sand six hundred miles, and added that the only chance 
 they had of accomplishing such a voyage successfully was 
 to place themselves voluntarily on a fixed allowance of food, 
 which, on careful calculation, he said, would afford each 
 man one ounce of bread and quarter of a pint of water per 
 day ! 
 
 To this the men readily agreed, and that night, it may 
 be said, the perilous voyage began. They gave up all idea 
 of steering for any of the islands of the Pacific, knowing 
 full well that the natives, seeing their helpless condition, 
 would slay and devour them. 
 
 " We bore away," says Bligh, " across a sea where the 
 navigation is but little known, in a small boat, twenty-three 
 feet long from stem to stern, deeply laden with eighteen men. 
 I was happy, however, to see that every one seemed better 
 satisfied with our situation than myself. It was about eight 
 o'clock at night on the 2d of May 1789, when we bore away 
 under a reefed lug-foresail, and having divided the people 
 into watches, and got the boat into a little order, we 
 returned thanks to God for our miraculous preservation, 
 and, in full confidence of his gracious support, I found my 
 mind more at ease than it had been for some days past." 
 
 But this happy frame of mind was not to last long. At 
 dawn of the following day the sun arose red and fiery a 
 sure indication of coming storms and ere the day had far 
 
268 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 advanced the gale burst upon them in all its fury; so fierce 
 was it that, we are told, the sail of the boat was actually be- 
 calmed when between the heavy billows, while, when on the 
 top of the seas, it proved almost more than they could 
 carry, yet they did not dare to take it in. The sea curled 
 constantly over the gunwale, and incessant baling was 
 necessary to keep them afloat. 
 
 In order to lighten the boat, all their superfluous clothing, 
 with some spare sails and cordage were thrown overboard, 
 and the biscuit was stowed in the carpenter's chest to pre- 
 serve it from the spray that lashed over them. 
 
 Bligh had apportioned the provisions so as to last eight 
 weeks, that being the time that would be probably required 
 under ordinary circumstances to complete the voyage; and 
 being a man of firm character he resolved to enforce the 
 rules as to food at the risk of his life if need, be. As the 
 men were exhausted with baling, and thoroughly wet, a tea- 
 spoonful of rum and quarter of a bread-fruit were served 
 out to each, but, in spite of this, their limbs were so 
 benumbed with cold when day-light came, that they could 
 scarcely continue the work of baling, upon which, under 
 God, the lives of all depended ; another tea-spoonful of rum 
 was therefore served out, by which they felt much revived. 
 
 That day the boat was kept running before the wind. 
 Five small cocoa-nuts were served out for dinner, and in 
 the evening a few pieces of bread-fruit were distributed for 
 supper, after which they commended themselves to God in 
 prayer. 
 
 The gale continued till the morning of the 5th, when it 
 began to abate, and now Bligh prepared a small log-line 
 with which he afterwards marked more correctly than 
 heretofore their progress over the unknown ocean. The 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 269 
 
 sufferings of the poor fellows from fatigue and cold were ex- 
 treme, for, in addition to their laborious work and exposure, 
 they had not sufficient room in the bottom of the boat to 
 stretch their limbs when they lay down to rest, and usually 
 awoke with severe cramps. To add to their misfortunes, 
 the biscuit, it was found, had been much damaged during 
 the gale, part of it was quite decayed and unfit for food. 
 Nevertheless it was carefully preserved. 
 
 On the 6th they came in sight of islands, but, remember- 
 ing the reception at Tofoa, the sight of land aroused fear 
 instead of joy in their breasts. On the same day they 
 hooked a fish. Circumstanced as they were, such an event 
 created a burst of anxious delight, which, alas, was almost 
 instantly changed into a groan of disappointment, in con- 
 sequence of the fish escaping while they were endeavouring 
 to get it over the side of the boat. That night each man 
 supped on an ounce of damaged biscuit, and quarter of a 
 pint of water. 
 
 Next day they were pursued by two canoes, which, how- 
 ever, failed to overtake them, although they did not give up 
 the chase till the afternoon. Well was it for them that 
 these natives did fail, and that the people in the boat had 
 resolution enough to refrain from attempting to land, for 
 the islands they were passing turned out to be part of the 
 Feejee group, the inhabitants of which are now known to be 
 the fiercest and most addicted to cannibalism, as well as the 
 most cruel and inhospitable, of all the islanders of the South 
 Seas. 
 
 Soon after this heavy rain came on, and every effort was 
 made to collect the shower. By this means their stock of 
 fresh water was increased to thirty-four gallons, and their 
 thirst, for the first time since they were turned adrift, was 
 
270 EXTKAOKDINAKY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 thoroughly quenched. But the consequences of the rain 
 were hurtful in other respects, for everything in the boat 
 and on their persons was soaked, and being compelled to 
 sleep all night in this condition, unable, from want of room, 
 to make any exertion to warm themselves by means of 
 muscular effort, they were seized with severe shiverings. 
 
 On the 8th, therefore, Bligh deemed it advisable to issue 
 a slightly more substantial breakfast, and served to each 
 man an ounce and a half of pork, half a pint of cocoa-nut 
 milk, an ounce of biscuit, and a tea-spoonful of rum, which 
 last, though so small in quantity, is said to have been of 
 the greatest service. 
 
 During all this time, and, indeed, during the whole 
 voyage, Bligh kept a short journal in a small book which 
 had been used in the Bounty for the insertion of signals. 
 He says, in regard to it, " It is with the utmost difficulty 
 that I can open a book to write, and I feel truly sensible I 
 can do no more than point out where these lands are to be 
 found, and give some idea of their extent." 
 
 Yet the persevering commander on that forlorn voyage, 
 continued to keep the journal to the end, and it, with 
 several other weather-stained relics, are now in possession of 
 his daughters. 
 
 Bligh now adopted a more certain method of doling out 
 the scanty allowance. " Hitherto," he says, " I had issued 
 the allowance by guess, but now I made a pair of scales, 
 with two cocoa-nut shells, and having accidentally some 
 pistol balls in the boat, twenty-five of which weighed one 
 pound, or sixteen ounces, I adopted one of these balls as the 
 proportion of weight that each person should receive of 
 bread at the times I served it out. I also amused all hands 
 with describing the situation of New Guinea and New 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 271 
 
 Holland, and gave them every information in my power, 
 that, in case any accident should happen to me, those who 
 survived might have some idea of what they were about, 
 and be able to find their way to Timor, which at present 
 they knew nothing of more than the name, and some not 
 even that. At night T served a quarter of a pint of water 
 and half an ounce of bread for supper." 
 
 Bligh entertained his men thus during a brief respite of 
 a few hours' fine weather and sunshine, which they availed 
 themselves of to dry their clothes and sails. But this was 
 scarcely accomplished when another gale, accompanied by 
 thunder, lightning, and rain, burst upon them, and again 
 drenched them all to the skin. 
 
 On the 10th it was very severe. The sea broke over 
 them so constantly that they were compelled to run before 
 the wind, and to keep two men constantly baling. The 
 allowance, too, was still further reduced, one twenty-fifth 
 part of a pound of biscuit, and quarter of a pint of water, 
 being the allowance for breakfast, and the same at dinner 
 and supper. Occasionally, when the weather was very bad, 
 half an ounce or so of pork, and a tea-spoonful of rum was 
 added. 
 
 " In the evening of the 12th," says Bligh, " it still rained 
 hard, and we again experienced a dreadful night. At 
 length the day came, and showed a miserable set of beings, 
 full of wants, without anything to relieve them. Some 
 complained of great pain in the bowels, and every one of 
 having almost lost the use of his limbs. The little sleep we 
 got was in no way refreshing, as we were constantly covered 
 with the sea and rain. The weather continuing bad, and no 
 sun affording the least prospect of getting our clothes dried, 
 I recommended to every one to strip and wring them 
 
272 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 through the sea-water, by which means they received a 
 warmth that, while wet with rain water, they could not 
 have." 
 
 The gale continued unabated during several days, and as 
 the nights were intensely dark, not a star being visible, 
 they were often very uncertain as to their steering. Yet, 
 although islands were seen more than once, they held on 
 their miserable course, preferring the chance of being 
 starved to death in an open boat, to the risk of being killed 
 and eaten by the savages. 
 
 The night of the 16th was horribly dark and tempes- 
 tuous, and they expected each moment that the boat would 
 be overwhelmed. That day was also marked by the issue 
 of an ounce of pork in addition to the ordinary allowance. 
 The bad weather continued, and several days later Mr. 
 Bligh speaks of some of his people seeming half dead, 
 while their appearance was " horrible." 
 
 "During the whole of the afternoon of the 21st," he 
 says, " we were so covered with rain and salt water that we 
 could scarcely see. We suffered extreme cold, and every 
 one dreaded the approach of night. Sleep, though we 
 longed for it, afforded no comfort; for my own part I 
 almost lived without it. On the 22d our situation was 
 extremely calamitous. We were obliged to take the course 
 of the sea, running right before it, and watching with the 
 utmost care, as the least error in the helm would in a 
 moment have been our destruction. It continued through 
 the day to blow hard, and the foam of the sea kept running 
 over our stern and quarters. 
 
 " The misery we suffered this night exceeded the preced- , 
 ing. The sea flew over us with great force, and kept us 
 baling with horror and anxiety. At dawn of day I found 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 273 
 
 every one in a most distressed condition, and I began to 
 fear that another such night would put an end to the lives 
 of several who seemed no longer able to support their suf- 
 ferings. I served an allowance of two tea-spoonfuls of 
 rum ; after drinking which, and having wrung our clothes, 
 and taken our breakfast of bread and water, we became a 
 little refreshed." 
 
 Next day the wind moderated, the sun came out to 
 cheer their drooping spirits, and Bligh speaks, for the first 
 time, of seeing " cheerful faces " about him. Wretched as 
 was their condition they experienced some degree of com- 
 fort and warmth, the first they had felt during the pre- 
 vious fifteen days. This moment of breathing time was 
 employed by the commander in examining into the state of 
 the provisions, which he found so reduced that a further 
 reduction in the allowance became absolutely essential. 
 He expected that a mutinous spirit would be roused in the 
 poor fellows when this was announced, but to his sur- 
 prise they at once agreed to it on the necessity being ex- 
 plained. 
 
 It was important that the rate of consumption should be 
 so proportioned that the stock might last six weeks longer. 
 Accordingly it was arranged that the allowance in future 
 should be one twenty-fifth part of a pound of bread for 
 breakfast, and the same quantity for dinner, as usual, but 
 that the proportion for supper should be discontinued ! 
 
 It seemed as if God, in his mercy, smiled upon this 
 instance of self-denial on the part of those weary and worn- 
 out men, for the very next day, about noon, some noddies 
 a small species of sea-fowl, about the size of a pigeon came 
 so near the boat that one of them was caught by the hand. 
 
 This little bird was divided, with its entrails, into 
 
274- EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 eighteen portions. Then one of the sailors was made to 
 turn his back upon the feast, while another sailor pointed 
 separately to each portion, saying " Who shall have this ? " 
 Thus every one felt that he had an equal chance with the 
 rest of getting the best portion, and all grumbling at sup- 
 posed unfairness was avoided. Curiously enough the poor 
 commander fared worst upon this occasion, for, much to 
 the amusement of the men, the beak and claws* were included 
 in the share that fell to him ! 
 
 On the same evening several boobies approached, and 
 one of them was caught and divided in the same manner. 
 It was about the size of a duck. The blood was given to 
 three of the men who had been most distressed for want 
 of food. Of course it was eaten raw. Even had they pos- 
 sessed the means of cooking it, these half famished men 
 would not have delayed their meal for such a trifle. On 
 the 26th another booby was caught. 
 
 The heat of the sun now became even more distressing 
 than cold and rain had been before, and some of the people 
 were seized with a languor and faintness that rendered 
 them indifferent to life. 
 
 At last, on the 28th, about one in the morning, the 
 sound of breakers was heard by the man at the helm, and 
 soon after they approached the " barrier reef," which runs 
 along the eastern coast of New Holland. The sea broke 
 furiously over this reef, but within the water was as smooth 
 as a pond. Along it they steered until an opening was 
 found, and passing in with a strong stream, they at last 
 found themselves in smooth water, and returned thanks to 
 God who had brought them thus far in safety. But their 
 terrible voyage was not yet done. Here they could only 
 rest and recruit their strength for a few days. 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 275 
 
 Oysters were found on the rocks in great abundance. 
 Fresh water was also found; but above all, rest sound, 
 sweet, refreshing repose to their wearied limbs and minds 
 was obtained. 
 
 With returning health, as is too often the case in such 
 circumstances, came a mutinous spirit. Bligh ordered 
 some of the crew to go along the shore to gather supplies. 
 They grumbled at what they considered too severe duty, 
 and one of them told his commander that he was as good 
 a man as himself. 
 
 Bligh says, "It was not possible for one to judge where 
 this might have an end if not stopped in time. To pre- 
 vent, therefore, such disputes in future, I determined either 
 to preserve my command or die in the attempt; and, 
 seizing a cutlass, I ordered him to lay hold of another and 
 defend himself; on which he called out that I was going 
 to kill him, and immediately made concessions. I did not 
 allow this to interfere further with the harmony of the 
 boat's crew, and everything soon became quiet." 
 
 About this time June 1 st Nelson, the botanist, 
 became very ill ; two of the men also began to show 
 symptoms of sinking under the effects of the exposure 
 and suffering they had endured, notwithstanding their 
 recent rest. But the voyage to the nearest habitable part 
 of the globe could not be delayed on this account ; so, on 
 the 3d, the little boat once more launched out into the 
 open sea. 
 
 Soon they were again reduced to the old allowance the 
 twenty-fifth of an ounce of biscuit, carefully weighed in the 
 cocoa-nut scales, with the pistol bullet; and ere long they 
 were reduced to worse straits than before. The surgeon 
 and one of the stoutest sailors broke down. 
 18 
 
276 EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 
 
 " On the morning of the 10th, after a comfortless night," 
 says Bligh, " there was a visible alteration for the worse in 
 many of the people, which gave me great apprehensions. 
 An extreme weakness, swelled legs, hollow and ghastly 
 countenances, a more than common inclination to sleep, 
 with an apparent debility of understanding, seemed to me 
 the melancholy presage of an approaching dissolution. 
 The surgeon and Lobogue, in particular, were most miser- 
 able objects. I occasionally gave them a few tea-spoonfuls 
 of wine out of the little that remained, which greatly assisted 
 them. The hopes of being able to accomplish the voyage 
 was our principal support. The boatswain very innocently 
 told me that he really thought I looked worse than any in 
 the boat. The simplicity with which he uttered such an 
 opinion amused me, and I returned him a better compli- 
 ment." 
 
 But the sufferings of this much enduring crew were 
 soon to terminate; with some in restoration to health and 
 to their native land ; with others in the last quiet resting- 
 place of man. On the llth, Mr. Bligh told his companions 
 that they were approaching Timor; and, accordingly, the 
 next day they arrived at that island, where the people 
 received them with the utmost hospitality and kindness ; 
 vieing with each other in acts of kindness, while they gazed 
 in horror and pity at the living skeletons who, with tears 
 streaming from their eyes, and words of thankfulness to 
 God upon their lips, landed on their shores. 
 
 Two months they remained here to recruit; then they 
 set forth on their return to England. But all of them did 
 not reach it. Of the nineteen who were forced from the 
 Bounty by the mutineers, thirteen survived to tell the tale 
 of their wonderful voyage and almost miraculous escape, 
 
EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE. 277 
 
 Besides Jolin Norton, who was stoned by the savages of 
 Tofoa, Nelson, the botanist, perished at Timor. Two others 
 died at Batavia, and another on the passage home. The 
 surgeon, Mr. Ledward, was left behind, and never again 
 heard of. 
 
 " Thus happily ended," says Bligh, in conclusion, 
 u through the assistance of Divine Providence, without 
 accident, a voyage of the most extraordinary nature that 
 ever happened in the world." 
 
278 prrcAiRN ISLAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 MUCH has been said, in preceding chapters, of the mutiny 
 of the Bounty and its consequences ; but we have not yet 
 done with it. The most remarkable result of that mutiny 
 has yet to be told. 
 
 The inspired psalmist says, " Surely the wrath of man 
 shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou re- 
 strain;" and never, probably, was the truth of this pro- 
 phecy more strikingly or evidently set forth than in the 
 colonization and finally the conversion of 
 
 PITCAIEN ISLAND. 
 
 When Fletcher Christian left Otaheite in the Bounty, he 
 took with him, as has been said, several native men and 
 women. The following were the comrades who accom- 
 panied him : Edward Young, midshipman ; John Mills, 
 gunner's mate ; Matthew Quintal, seamen ; William M'Coy, 
 seaman ; Alexander Smith alias John Adams, seaman ; 
 John Williams, seaman ; Isaac Martin, seaman ; and William 
 Brown, gardener. 
 
 These, with Christian and the Otaheitans, numbered 
 altogether twenty-eight souls. They sailed from Matavai 
 Bay, in 1790 ; and a long but fruitless search was made for 
 them ; in the course of years they were forgotten, and the 
 story of the mutiny of the Bounty, and all connected with, 
 became at last a tale of other days. 
 
PITCAIEN ISLAND. 279 
 
 Nearly twenty years passed away. At the end of that 
 period an American trading vessel, having gone far out of 
 her course in the southern Pacific, where few ships have ever 
 occasion to go, approached one of those solitary islands 
 against whose steep and iron-bound shores the never-silent 
 surf of the ocean bursts with tremendous violence, so as to 
 render landing in boats, except in a few places and at certain 
 times, extremely difficult. 
 
 This was Pitcairn Island, a spot so remote and out of the 
 usual course of vessels that only once or twice at the most 
 had it been seen, and perhaps never visited, since its dis- 
 covery. 
 
 Here, to his amazement, the American captain found a 
 colony of natives who spoke English ! and on inquiry he 
 found them to be the descendants of the mutineers of the 
 Bounty who had landed there twenty years before ! Only 
 one of the men who had sailed with Bligh, namely, Smith, 
 alias John Adams, was alive. The others had been mur- 
 dered. About four years after their arrival the Otaheitans 
 secretly conspired against the Englishmen and killed them 
 all with the exception of Adams, whom, however, they 
 wounded severely in the neck with a pistol-ball. On the 
 same night the exasperated women, who had all become the 
 wives of the deceased Englishmen, arose and murdered the 
 Otaheitans. Thus John Adams was the only man left alive 
 on the island. Recovering from his wound this man set to 
 work with the nine women and a few small children to till 
 the ground of their island home, which produced abundance 
 of yams, cocoa-nuts, bananas, and plantains. They had be- 
 sides plenty of hogs and ^poultry. 
 
 From Adams's narrative we learn that Fletcher Christian 
 and his comrades, after quitting Otaheite, sailed away in 
 
280 PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 search of an uninhabited island. He fell in with Pitcairn, 
 and ran the Bounty aground in order the more conveniently 
 to get the live-stock, &c., landed. Then he set the ship on 
 fire, and thus rendered any future effort to escape from the 
 island hopeless. 
 
 Everything went on smoothly for a time, but soon they 
 began to quarrel and finally to murder each other, until, as 
 has been described, the whole of the full grown males, ex- 
 cept Adams, were destroyed. When Pitcairn was, we may 
 say, rediscovered by the American captain in 1808, the 
 population of the island amounted to about thirty-five, all 
 of whom spoke English and were described as having been 
 educated by John Adams " in a, religious and moral way" 
 The grace of God had indeed touched the heart of this man, 
 as we shall see presently. 
 
 Six years passed, and no further notice was taken of Pit- 
 cairn Island. But in the year 1815 a letter was received at 
 the Admiralty from Sir Thomas Staines, commander of the 
 Briton, to the following effect :- 
 
 " I have the honour to inform you that on my passage 
 from the Marquesas Islands to this port on the morning of 
 the 17th Setember, I fell in with an island where none is 
 laid down in the Admiralty charts. I therefore hove to 
 until daylight and then closed to ascertain whether it was 
 inhabited, which I soon discovered it to be, and to my great 
 astonishment found that every individual on the island (forty 
 in number) spoke very good English. They proved to be 
 the descendants of the deluded crew of the Bounty, 
 
 " A venerable old man, John Adams, is the only surviving 
 Englishman who last quitted Otaheite in her, and whose ex- 
 emplary conduct, and fatherly care of the whole of the little 
 colony, could not but command admiration. The pious 
 
PITCAIEN ISLAND. 281 
 
 manner in which all those born on the island have been 
 reared, the correct sense of religion that has been instilled 
 into their young minds by this old man, has given him the 
 pre-eminence over the whole of them, to whom they look 
 up as the father of one and the whole family. 
 
 " A son of Christian was the first-born on the island ; he 
 is now about twenty-five years of age, and is named Thurs- 
 day October Christian. 
 
 This young man, with such remarkable names, is de- 
 scribed as being a fine tall youth full six feet high, with dark 
 hair and an open pleasing countenance. He wore no clothes 
 except a piece of cloth round his loins, and a straw hat orna- 
 mented with black cock's feathers, so that his fine figure 
 and muscular limbs were shown to great advantage. Cap- 
 tain Pipon who wrote an account of this visit, says, " Added 
 to a great share of good humour, we were glad to trace in 
 his benevolent countenance all the features of an honest 
 English face." 
 
 Thursday October Christian was accompanied on board 
 the Briton by another fine handsome youth named George 
 Young, a son of Young, the midshipman. Sir Thomas 
 Staines took these young men into the cabin and set before 
 them something to eat, when, to his inexpressible astonish- 
 ment, the semi-savages rose up, clasped their hands together, 
 and one of them said in solemn tones the familiar words, 
 " For what we are going to receive, the Lord make us truly 
 thankful." 
 
 Surprised beyond measure by all he heard and saw, Sir 
 Thomas landed, with considerable difficulty, owing to the 
 surf, and was met by old John Adams on the beach. He 
 was accompanied by his wife, a very old woman, and nearly 
 blind, and by a number of the inhabitants, all of whom were 
 
282 PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 described as being graceful in form, healthy and robust, and 
 particularly good-natured in their expressions and manners. 
 
 The women were clothed in cloth of their own manufac- 
 ture, and the form of their dress was extremely simple. 
 One piece of cloth reaching from the waist to the knees, 
 and another piece thrown loosely over their shoulders in the 
 form of a mantle, was all their costume. But what surprised 
 and delighted their visitors most was the simple modesty of 
 these descendants of the mutineers and their deep sense of 
 religion. They had been impressed by old Adams with 
 the propriety and necessity of returning thanks to the 
 Almighty for the many blessings they enjoyed, and they 
 never thought of touching food without first asking a bless- 
 ing of Him who gave it. Besides this they were in the habit 
 of repeating the Lord's Prayer and the Creed morning and 
 evening. 
 
 The means by which this remarkable state of things was 
 brought about was, the conversion of John Adams many 
 years after he had landed on the island, and long after all 
 his companions of the Bounty had perished. The only 
 books saved from this vessel were a copy of the Bible and 
 a Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 In the year 1810 he first became seriously impressed, and 
 from that time forward to the day of his death, he led a 
 consistent religious life, and spent his time and energies in 
 training the young people around him. The Holy Spirit 
 blessed his efforts, and the name of Jesus ere long became 
 precious to many of those who dwelt in that remote island 
 of the sea. A man of the name of Buffett, a sailor, was 
 left there by a whale ship in later years and became of the 
 greatest assistance to Adams in the capacity of a school- 
 master. 
 
PITCAIRN ISLAND. 283 
 
 Captain Beechy, of the Blossom, gives the following 
 account of the people of Pitcairn in 1825 when Adams was 
 in his sixty-fifth year : 
 
 " During the whole time I was with them I never heard 
 them indulge in a joke or other levity ; and the practice is 
 apt to give oifence. They are so accustomed to take what 
 is said in the literal meaning, that irony was always con- 
 sidered falsehood in spite of explanation. They could not 
 see the propriety of uttering what was not strictly true for 
 any purpose "whatever. The Sabbath-day is devoted entirely 
 to prayer, reading, and serious meditation. No boat is allowed 
 to quit the shore, nor any work whatever to be done, cook- 
 ing excepted, for which preparation is made the previous 
 evening. 
 
 " I attended their church on this day, and found the ser- 
 vice well conducted. The prayers were read by Adams, 
 and the lessons by Buffett ; the service being preceded by 
 hymns. The greatest devotion was apparent in every in- 
 dividual, and in the children there was a seriousness un- 
 known in the younger part of our communities at home. 
 In the course of the litany they prayed for their sovereign 
 and all the royal family with much apparent loyalty and 
 sincerity. Some family prayers which were thought appro- 
 priate to their particular case were added to the usual ser- 
 vice, and Adams, fearful of leaving out any essential part, 
 read in addition those prayers which are intended only as 
 substitutes for others. 
 
 " A sermon followed, which was very well delivered by 
 Buffet ; and lest any part of it should be forgotten, or escape 
 attention, it was read three times. The whole concluded 
 with hymns which were first sung by grown-up people and 
 afterwards by the children 
 
284 PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 " All that remains to be said of these excellent people is, 
 that they appear to live together in perfect harmony and 
 contentment ; to be virtuous, religious, cheerful, and hospi- 
 table beyond the limits of prudence, to be patterns of con- 
 jugal and parental affection, and to have very few vices." 
 
 The village was described as forming a pretty square ; 
 the upper corner, near a large banyan tree being the site of 
 the cottage that John Adams built with his own hands. 
 Opposite to this was the cottage of Thursday October 
 Christian. In the centre was an open plot of grass, fenced 
 in to keep the hogs and goats out. In the houses they had 
 tables, chairs, chests, and bed-steads, and indeed every com- 
 fort that could be desired. 
 
 The first severe blow this interesting colony received was 
 the death of its " father," good old John Adams, which took 
 place in 1829. He had indeed acted the part of father 
 and pastor to them since the period of his conversion. 
 Although an illiterate man he could read well, and taught 
 himself to write late in life. He celebrated all marriages 
 and baptisms according to the rites of the Church of Eng- 
 land, but never ventured on confirmation or the sacrament 
 of the Lord's supper. 
 
 John Adams passed away, but his place was ere long ably 
 filled by George Nobbs, a gentleman whose history is almost 
 as romantic as that of Adams himself. 
 
 Mr. Nobbs served as -a midshipman and afterwards as a 
 lieutenant in the British navy for many years, during which 
 he saw much service and distinguished himself on many 
 occasions. He was taken prisoner by the Spaniards off the 
 coast of Chili in 1822. He was exchanged with other 
 prisoners soon after, and took passage for England in 1822 
 in a ship which had shortly before touched at Pitcairn's 
 
PITCAIRN ISLAND. 285 
 
 Island. Mr. Nobbs was so captivated by the account of the 
 happiness of the people of that island, that be resolved to 
 visit it. He had led an adventurous and stirring life, had 
 sailed round the world four times, had encountered many 
 dangers, and was now anxious to find a peaceful home 
 where he could be of use to his fellow-creatures. But it 
 was no easy matter to get to Pitcairn, as ships never went 
 directly thither, "and for nearly two years he wandered about 
 seeking in vain for a passage. At last he formed the bold 
 resolution of going there in a boat alone, if he could find 
 no one willing to accompany him ! At Callao, in Peru, he 
 met the owner of a launch who agreed to accompany him if 
 he would fit out the boat. This Mr. Nobbs did, and, in a 
 mere boat these two men set out by themselves on a voyage 
 of three thousand five hundred miles, which they accom- 
 plished in forty-two days. The owner of the launch died 
 soon after their arrival in 1828, and Mr. Nobbs at once be- 
 gan his labour of love amongst the islanders, and became 
 the successor of John Adams when he died, in the following 
 year. 
 
 We cannot follow the fortunes of this interesting colony 
 further. It still flourishes under its beloved pastor, who, 
 only a few years ago, was ordained, and introduced to Queen 
 Victoria just previous to his setting out, with the intention, 
 we believe, of spending the remainder of his days among 
 the Christian descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty. 
 
STEAM FRIGATE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 STEAM FRIGATE BLOWING UP OF THE AMPHION BURNING 
 OF THE KENT FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE AND ROYAL 
 GEORGE. 
 
 IN our account of the Battle of the Nile mention has been 
 made of frigates. These are vessels of war and in the 
 accompanying illustration is shown the general appearance 
 of a 
 
 STEAM FRIGATE. 
 
 The word " frigate " is used to denote a particular class of 
 war-vessel, the distinguishing feature of which is that it 
 has only a single tier of guns all round. The frigate is a 
 full-rigged ship in all respects, and may or may not have 
 the addition of steam without its distinctive character being 
 in any degree affected thereby. The frigate in the engrav- 
 ing is a screw steamer ; but, as we purpose to enter at large, 
 in another place, into the subject of steam vessels, we will 
 merely remark here, that the screw propeller by which this 
 vessel is worked, projects from the stem under the water ; 
 it will be observed that the jib and flying-jib of this frigate 
 are taken down, and the main and fore-sails are clewed up, 
 in order to check speed as she approaches harbour. This 
 is further accomplished by the screw being reversed, so as 
 to act as a drag upon the hull, while for the same end the 
 sails of the fore-mast are backed. Sails can only be backed 
 when the wind is somewhat ahead. When the wind is fair 
 they cannot be backed until the ship is turned towards the 
 wind in some degree. 
 
BLOWING UP OF THE AMPHION. 287 
 
 Screw propellers are found to be of the utmost importance 
 in naval warfare, especially in frigates, which serve the pur- 
 pose of light troops, so to speak, to ships of the line, render- 
 ing them independent of. wind as long as the coals last, and 
 enabling them to proceed up deep rivers which could not be 
 entered without the aid of steam. Frigates - usually carry 
 from forty to fifty guns in a single tier. 
 
 BLOWING UP OF THE AMPHION. 
 
 On the 22d of September 1706 there occurred a most 
 appalling catastrophe, which threw a deep gloom at the time 
 over Plymouth, and desolated many a home. 
 
 On that day the Amphion frigate lay alongside the sheer- 
 hulk taking in her bowsprit close to the dockyard pier. 
 Being on the eve of sailing she was crowded not only with 
 her crew but with more than a hundred men, women, and 
 children, who had come to take farewell of relations or to 
 attend to the duties of getting the ship ready for sea. Little 
 did that bustling crowd think that sp many of them were 
 about to enter so soon upon eternity. - 
 
 The captain, Israel Pellew, was seated at dinner, in com- 
 pany with Captain Swaffield of the Overyssel, a Dutch sixty- 
 four, and the first lieutenant of the Amphion, at the time 
 of the explosion about four o'clock in the afternoon. 
 Suddenly a shock like an earthquake was felt all over Ply- 
 mouth, while the sky toward the dock appeared red as if on 
 fire. The inhabitants, with consternation depicted on their 
 countenances, rushed into the streets. All knew that some 
 appalling catastrophe had taken place ; soon the truth was 
 ascertained the Amphion frigate had blown up. 
 
 Then the horrified people hastened to the dock where a 
 scene of the most awful and heart-rending nature presented 
 
288 BLOWING UP OF THE AMPHION. 
 
 itself. The riven and blackened wrecks of masts, spars, an 
 rigging, were strewn in all directions, and the deck of the 
 sheer-hulk alongside of which the frigate had lain, was 
 covered with human blood. But the sights of that dread- 
 ful scene were scarcely more terrible than the cries of woe 
 that filled the air as fathers, sisters, mothers, wives, brothers, 
 rushed about among the mangled corpses, searching for be- 
 loved relatives, while the mutilated forms were being col- 
 lected and conveyed to the hospital. 
 
 So complete and terrible was the destruction of human 
 life that very few of the unfortunates on board the frigate 
 survived to tell either what occurred or how it happened. 
 
 It was conjectured that the explosion was caused by the 
 gunner, who was not a very sober man, and who was sus- 
 pected of stealing the powder. If so, the wretched man 
 paid the penalty of his misdeeds with his life. He was 
 among those who perished. 
 
 Just one instant before the explosion took place, the sen- 
 tinel at the cabin door happened to look at his watch. Next 
 instant he was insensible, and when he recovered he found 
 himself on shore comparatively unhurt. At the same 
 moment the party in the cabin were thrown with extreme 
 violence against the upper deck. Captain Pellew, although 
 stunned, retained sufficient presence of mind to rush to the 
 cabin window, through which, he was blown, by a second 
 explosion, into the water. He was picked up almost un- 
 injured. 
 
 Not so Captain Swaffield, who was in all probability 
 killed by the first shock, as his body was afterwards found 
 with the skull crushed together. The lieutenant sustained 
 little injury, and escaped through the cabin windows much 
 in the same manner as did his captain. 
 
B (JESTING OF THE KENT. 289 
 
 Several other singular escapes were made. One poor 
 little child was found alive and very little hurt clasped 
 tightly to its mother's breast, but that bosom was icy cold, 
 and the mother's warm heart had ceased to beat, for the 
 whole of the poor creature's body below the waist had been 
 literally blown away. Yet that fearful wrench had failed 
 to unlock the tremendous grasp that love had circled round 
 the child. 
 
 Another escape was very remarkable, showing, as indeed 
 nearly all such catastrophes do, how obviously the Almighty 
 protects, from apparently unavoidable death, those whose 
 time to die has not yet come. The boatswain was standing 
 on the bow of the frigate, giving directions to some of the 
 men who were out on the bowsprit rigging out the jib- 
 boom, when he was sent like a rocket into the air, and fell 
 insensible into the sea in the midst of a mass of wreck and 
 rigging. On recovering consciousness he succeeded in 
 extricating himself, and was finally picked up and carried 
 ashore, having sustained no greater injury than a broken 
 arm. 
 
 It is supposed that there could not have been fewer than 
 three hundred persons on board the Amphion when she 
 blew up. Of that number only eleven were saved the 
 captain, two lieutenants, a boatswain, a marine, four sailors, 
 one woman, and a child. 
 
 BURNING OF THE KENT. 
 
 Of all the dangers to which men are exposed, that of 
 fire at sea is, perhaps, the most imminent and appalling. 
 In the howling storm hope clings to the mariner to the 
 very last; but when, to the fury of elemental strife with- 
 out is added the raging of fire within, then, indeed, the 
 
290 
 
 BURNING OF THE KENT. 
 
 firmest nerves are shaken, and the stoutest hearts begin to 
 quail, and the most reckless and hardened of the crew begin 
 to call upon God for mercy. 
 
 SHIP ON FIRE. 
 
 On the 28th of February 1825, a large East Indiaman 
 was driving gallantly before a gale across that proverbially 
 stormy sea the Bay of Biscay. She was the Kent, a 
 splendid newly built vessel which had sailed from the 
 Downs only nine days before, on her voyage to Bengal and 
 China. She carried out troops with many of their wives 
 and children, and the total number of souls on board, 
 
BURNING OF THE KENT. 291 
 
 including her crew, was six hundred and forty. Upwards 
 of forty of these were women, and more than sixty were 
 children. 
 
 On the night referred to, the gale increased every moment 
 in violence, and the towering billows of that far-famed sea 
 tossed the huge vessel as if she were a cork. But her 
 timbers were new and strong; her crew was good; and her 
 commander, Captain Cobb, was brave and self-reliant. No 
 doubt, the sea-sick landsmen, and the poor women and 
 children trembled as they heard the fury of the elements, 
 and felt their rude shock, especially when some of the cabin 
 furniture broke loose and was dashed about; but the old 
 tars at the wheel, and men who were accustomed to the 
 sea, thought little, probably, of so stiff a gale. 
 
 As the violent tossing increased, the captain deemed it 
 necessary to send below to see that all was fast in the hold. 
 An officer and two seamen were, therefore, sent below with 
 a lantern. They found that a cask of spirits had broken 
 loose. The officer sent the men for some pieces of wood 
 to secure it, and while they were absent on this errand he 
 held the cask steady with one hand, and grasped the lantern 
 in the other. At that moment the ship gave a heavy lurch, 
 causing the officer to drop the lamp. In his haste to catch 
 it he let go his hold of the cask, which was stove by 
 another lurch of the ship; the spirits gushed out, and in 
 an instant the hold was in a blaze. 
 
 The lambent blue flame that burst up the hatchways 
 was quickly followed by a dense black smoke that told its 
 own tale. The ship was on fire, and so thoroughly was 
 the wood- work below ignited, that all hope of extinguishing 
 the flames very soon vanished. Still every possible effort 
 was made to subdue them. Captain Cobb proved himself 
 19 
 
292 BURNING OF THE KENT. 
 
 equal to the terrible emergency, and gave his orders as 
 coolly and collectedly as if there were no danger. 
 
 The terror that spread throughout the doomed ship may 
 be described but cannot be conceived ; and it was increased 
 to its utmost pitch when the captain, as a last resource, 
 ordered the lower deck to be scuttled, and the lower ports 
 opened to admit the sea. As the black water rushed freely 
 into the ship, hissing into the raging fire, and mingling 
 clouds of hot steam with the rolling smoke, it seemed to 
 the panic-stricken passengers that they were only privileged 
 to choose between a death by drowning or by fire. 
 
 Nearly all the six hundred and forty people in the ship 
 rushed upon the upper deck in frantic terror and confusion, 
 many of them almost in a state of nudity. Some of the 
 women and children were rushing about in search of 
 husbands or fathers with an undefined feeling of hope that 
 safety might be found beside the strong arms and loving 
 hearts that were wont to protect them ; but, alas ! the 
 pride of man was brought low on that dreadful occasion, 
 and his arm, in most cases, was paralyzed. Some fell on 
 their knees and prayed aloud for mercy; others stood 
 silent and stupified ; while many cried aloud in despair and 
 agony. In the poet's words, 
 
 " Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave." 
 
 Many a secret trait of character is brought to light at 
 such times that would fill a calm observer with surprise. 
 Some who are noted for stern severity of disposition ex- 
 hibit blanched cheeks and the tremours of unmanly fears, 
 while others and most frequently the females seem to 
 rise above the present danger, and in looking up to Him 
 who alone can deliver them, find a comfort and exhibit a 
 
BURNING OF THE KENT. 293 
 
 composure that might well convince us of the truth of that 
 word, " God is a very present help in trouble." Not only 
 did many of the ladies and soldiers' wives find comfort at 
 that hour on board the Kent in reading the Bible and in 
 prayer, but they were enabled even to console, in some 
 degree, the raving men around them. 
 
 When the terror and confusion was at its height, a man 
 who had been sent to the mast-head uttered a shout, and 
 waving his cap, cried, " A sail on the lee-bow ! " The 
 change from despair to hope was instantaneous. A sail 
 was soon observed, and the sailors greeted her with three 
 enthusiastic cheers, while flags of distress were hoisted and 
 guns fired to attract attention. The stranger proved to be 
 the Cambria, a small brig of 200 tons, on her way to 
 Vera Cruz, in Mexico. The boats of the Kent were imme- 
 diately lowered, and the females and children placed in 
 them and rowed to the brig. Afterwards the men left, and 
 Captain Cobb was among the last to quit the burning 
 wreck. But this work of transferring six hundred human 
 beings from one ship to another in such a sea was not 
 accomplished without difficulty and terrible loss of life. 
 
 The only way of getting into the boats after they had 
 been launched was by sliding down a rope suspended from 
 the spanker-boom over the stern. This the men did one 
 at a time; but the hearts of many failed when they came 
 to attempt to creep out on the smaU spar which at one 
 moment almost dipt into the sea, and the next was lifted 
 nigh forty feet above it; while those who overcame this 
 difficulty and slid down the rope, sometimes hung a minute 
 in mid-air, or were plunged several times into the water 
 before they managed to drop into the boat. 
 
 Fortunately the soldiers maintained the most thorough 
 
294 FOUNDERING. 
 
 discipline throughout the whole of this trying scene, but 
 in spite of every precaution many fell into the sea and were 
 drowned. Some of the sick and a few of the poor children 
 were suffocated in their cabins. One man fell into the 
 blazing hold ; and a few of the men refused to quit the 
 ship. For what reason no one can tell. Probably the 
 excitement and terror of their situation had destroyed their 
 reason. 
 
 Before the wreck of the Kent was finally abandoned, 
 about eighty human beings perished, twenty of whom were 
 children. 
 
 But although thus mercifully saved from immediate 
 danger, the situation of those on board the Cambria was 
 such as to cause extreme anxiety. Upwards of six hundred 
 persons were huddled into a small vessel of only 200 tons, 
 without food to last for more than a few days, and obliged 
 to risk suffocation in the cabins and hold, for the state of 
 the weather compelled the crew to keep the hatches closed. 
 God, in his goodness, however, sent them a favourable gale, 
 and on the 3d of March they arrived in safety at Falmouth 
 Harbour. 
 
 FOUNDERING. 
 
 When a ship fills with water and sinks, she is said to 
 founder. Many a gallant ship has sailed from port, with 
 spreading sails and flying colours; with friends waving 
 adieu on the pier-head, and hopeful sailors on the deck 
 and rigging replying with a cheer disappeared on the 
 horizon, and never more been heard of. 
 
 Long years have passed. Loving, anxious hearts have 
 beat in hope, and tearful eyes have gazed out to sea in sad 
 expectancy. Long, long years have passed still the anxious 
 
FOUNDERING. 
 
 295 
 
 eye, and the constant examination of " Skipping intelligence " 
 have proved that there is such a thing as hoping against 
 hope ; but the heart has been again and again " made 
 sick," the absent ship returns not the world, long years 
 ago, has forgotten her, and ceased to look for her arrival, 
 " for," they say, " she must have foundered at sea" And 
 thus, year by year, hundreds of our fellow-creatures perish; 
 
 
 SCUDDING BEFORE THE GALE. 
 
 hundreds of our bereaved fellow-creatures wail for the dear 
 ones lost to them for ever; yet we pay but little heed to 
 
296 FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. 
 
 such terrible facts until, perchance, in the providence of 
 God, the blow delivered on so many around is at last 
 suffered to descend on us. 
 
 Ships founder in many ways, and the destruction is 
 usually so instantaneous and complete that very few human 
 beings, of all the thousands who have been on board such 
 vessels when they went down, have lived to tell the cause, 
 or relate the details. Sometimes a ship is upset in a 
 squall, fills, and goes done at once. Sometimes it springs 
 a leak and gradually sinks. At other times, while scudding 
 before the gale, under bare poles, and with masts partially 
 gone (as represented in our woodcut), a mighty wave lifts 
 its white crest higher than the surrounding billows, falls 
 with a thunder-clap on the devoted vessel, crushes in her 
 deck, and sweeps her from the face of the raging sea in a 
 single moment, leaving not even a shattered remnant of 
 the wreck to show that she once had been there. 
 
 But of all the instances of foundering we ever heard of, 
 the following is the most singular and terrible. Our in- 
 formation is derived from Gilly's admirable work, " Ship- 
 wrecks of the Royal Navy." 
 
 FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. 
 
 The Magpie was a small schooner which sailed under 
 Lieutenant Smith, in 1826, to the western shores of the 
 Island of Cuba. The object, of the cruise was to capture a 
 pirate vessel which had become the scourge of that neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 On the 27th of August she was cruising off the Colorados 
 Roads, on the west coast of Cuba. " The day had been 
 extremely sultry, and towards evening the schooner lay 
 becalmed, awaiting the springing up of the land breeze, a 
 
FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. - 297 
 
 blessing which only those can appreciate who have enjoyed 
 its refreshing coolness after passing many hours beneath 
 the burning rays of a tropical sun. 
 
 " About eight o'clock a slight breeze sprung up from the 
 westward. Towards nine it shifted to the southward, and 
 a small dark cloud was observed hovering over the land. 
 This ominous appearance, as is well known, is often the 
 precursor of a coming squall, and seems as if sent as a 
 warning by Providence. 
 
 " The lurid vapour did not escape the practised eye of 
 the mate, who immediately reported the circumstance to 
 Mr. Smith. All hands were turned up, and in a few minutes 
 the schooner was placed in readiness to encounter the 
 threatened danger. 
 
 " In the meantime, the cloud had gradually increased in 
 size and density. The slight breeze had died away, and a 
 boding stillness reigned around. Suddenly a rushing, 
 roaring sound was heard ; the surface of the water, which 
 a moment before was almost without a ripple, was now 
 covered with one white sheet of foam. The schooner was 
 taken aback; in vain her commander gave the order to cut 
 away the mast it was too late, and in less than three 
 minutes from the first burst of the squall, the devoted 
 vessel sank to rise no more. ^ 
 
 "At this fearful juncture, a vivid flash of lightning 
 darted from the heavens, displaying for a moment the pale 
 faces of the crew struggling in the water; the wind ceased 
 as suddenly as it had begun, and the ocean, as if un- 
 conscious of the fearful tragedy that had so lately been 
 enacted upon its surface, subsided into its former repose." 
 . Such is a brief, startling account of the foundering of 
 the 'Magpie. But the story does not end here. One of 
 
298 FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. 
 
 her crew, a gunner's mate, named Meldrum, succeeded in 
 laying hold of a pair of oars that were floating near to the 
 spot where he rose. Clinging to these, he supported him- 
 self for some time in silence and almost in a state of 
 stupor. At length his horrible situation forced itself upon 
 him with fearful intensity. He thought of his late com- 
 rades, and peered into the surrounding gloom, but nothing 
 was to be seen, the darkness was too intense. He listened, 
 but not a sound met his ear save the ripple of the waves, 
 and the beating of his own heart. So agonizing were his 
 thoughts, that he at last began to envy those who were 
 gone, when a voice came faintly towards him. Pushing in 
 the direction whence it came, he found one of the schooner's 
 boats floating, keel uppermost, with seven persons clinging 
 to it. One of these was Lieutenant Smith. 
 
 In a few minutes the lieutenant spoke to the men, some 
 of whom were lying across the keel, and urged them to 
 make an effort to right the boat and bale out the. water, as, 
 on their succeeding in this depended, in all probability, 
 their deliverance from death. Encouraged by his words, 
 the men who were on the keel slipped into the water, and 
 after some time they managed to turn the boat over, and two 
 of the men got in and began to bale her out with their caps. 
 
 Hope now began to re-animate the men as they watched 
 the gradual diminishing of the water, but it was suddenly 
 and rudely changed into terror by the cry from one of them 
 of " a shark ! a shark !" 
 
 The horror of the poor fellows at this, the most dreaded 
 of all dangers, cannot be conceived. Their self-possession 
 forsook them, they attempted to climb into the boat and at 
 once upset her. Mr. Smith alone maintained his coolness. 
 He encouraged them to resume their efforts to right and 
 
FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. 299 
 
 bale out the boat, and, as no sharks appeared, they followed 
 his advice. 
 
 The night passed away, and the morning dawn broke, 
 and they were succeeding in their efforts to empty the 
 boat, when, a second time, the dreaded cry was raised. 
 This time it was not a false alarm, the monsters were ac- 
 tually seen, and, in the panic that followed, the boat was 
 again upset. For a few minutes the men remained un- 
 injured, though the sharks actually rubbed against them as 
 they darted to and fro, as if stirring themselves up to com- 
 mence the work of destruction. But it was not long before 
 a fearful shriek told that the first victim had perished. He 
 had been seized by a leg, and the water round the spot 
 where he was dragged down was dyed with his blood. 
 
 In the midst of this awful scene, Lieutenant Smith never 
 lost his self command, but encouraged the men to re- 
 commence their efforts to turn the boat. Once more they 
 were successful, and some of them had clambered in 7 when 
 poor Smith was seized by a leg. It was torn from his 
 body, but, with unparalleled heroism, he suppressed the cry 
 of agony that rose to his lips, lest he should alarm his com- 
 panions. In a minute more, a shark seized the other leg 
 and tore it off. The hero's endurance was now indeed tried 
 to the utmost. With a deep groan he relaxed his hold of 
 the boat, and would have sunk altogether, had not those 
 who were baling seized him and dragged him in. Smith 
 gave his last instructions to one of the men. He exhorted 
 him, in the event of his escaping, to tell the admiral that 
 the men had done their duty, and that no blame could be 
 attached to them, " And tell -him," he said, in conclusion, 
 " I have but one favour to ask, and that ' is that he will 
 promote Meldrum to be a gunner." 
 
300 FOUNDERING OF THE MAGPIE. 
 
 Towards evening this gallant and unselfish man appeared 
 to sink rapidly, but ere he breathed his last, the sharks, 
 which during the day had left their victims, re-appeared. 
 In the panic that ensued, the boat gave a lurch and upset, 
 and the well-nigh lifeless body of the unfortunate lieutenant 
 sank to rise no more. 
 
 And now, deprived of the cheering voice of their brave 
 commander, the remaining men once more attempted the 
 weary task of turning the boat and baling it out, but soon 
 two of them, giving way to despair, let go their hold and 
 sank. Four men were now left, and these succeeded in 
 getting into the boat, but, before they had emptied it of 
 water, two of the four sprang over the side in a fit of 
 delirium, and disappeared. 
 
 Meldrum and Maclean alone remained. They persevered 
 in the work of baling till the boat was almost dry, but their 
 relief seemed to be only temporary. Again and again their 
 anxious eyes scanned the horizon still no sail appeared, 
 and they thought with horror of the fate that awaited them 
 death by starvation and were tempted to end their 
 sufferings as some of their companions had already done. 
 Hour after hour passed. The sun rose and sank and rose 
 again, and the two solitary men sat, gazing in mute despair 
 on the sea. 
 
 Suddenly, about eight in the morning, a white speck 
 appeared on the horizon. They, sprung up in hopeful 
 expectation. It looked like a sail it was a sail ! It stood 
 towards them, and as the sails and hull gradually rose to 
 view, the spirits of the castaways revived. Just as deliver- 
 ance seemed to be certain, the brig, when about half a mile 
 distant, slightly altered her course. Those on board had not 
 seen the boat. The two men shouted with the vehemence 
 
FOUNDERING OF THE ROYAL GEOEGE. 301 
 
 of despair, but their voices failed to travel so great a distance. 
 Possibly they had been weakened by prolonged want and 
 suffering. In this extremity, Meldrum, who happened to be 
 a good swimmer, sprang overboard, and struck out in a 
 direction that might, perhaps, enable him to intercept the 
 brig. It was a desperate hazard. Success or death hung 
 on the result death not only to himself but to his 
 comrade. 
 
 Maclean watched the bold swimmer as he breasted the 
 waves, becoming less and less distinguishable, until 
 he was altogether lost in the distance. Then he gazed 
 at the brig, and watched her every movement with the 
 intensity of one who felt that, under God, his life depended 
 on her. 
 
 Meanwhile Meldrum accomplished two-thirds of the dis- 
 tance, when his strength began to give way. A few minutes 
 more and he knew that the vessel would have passed. 
 Throwing all his remaining strength into the effort, he 
 shouted loud and long. The cry was heard. The brig was 
 hove-to, the boat was lowered, in a few minutes the gallant 
 sailor was saved, and it was not long before his comrade 
 also was received on board in safety. 
 
 FOUNDEKING OF THE KOYAL GEORGE. 
 
 In the year 1782, the Royal George a first-rate line-of- 
 battle ship of 100 guns foundered at her moorings in 
 Portsmouth harbour, under the most singular circumstances, 
 and attended by a fearful loss of life. 
 
 This magnificent vessel was fitting out, at the time of the 
 accident, for the purpose of joining the fleet that was 
 destined to sail to the relief of Gibraltar, at that time 
 undergoing its prolonged and celebrated siege. " It is said 
 
302 FOUNDERING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE. 
 
 of the Royal George, by one who wrote at the time of her 
 loss, that " she was the oldest first-rate in the service, her 
 keel having been laid down in 1751. She was rather short 
 and high than agreeing with the rules of proportion at pre- 
 sent laid down, yet so good a sailer that she has had more 
 flags on board than any vessel in the service. [This refers to 
 her having been iheflag-ship of the admirals commanding the 
 fleet]. Lord Anson, Admiral Boscawen, Lord Bodney, and 
 several other principal officers, had repeatedly commanded in 
 her. Lord Hawke commanded the squadron in her, which 
 fought the French under Conflans, when the Superbe of 
 seventy guns was sunk by her cannon, and the Soleil Royal 
 of eighty-four was driven on shore and burnt." 
 
 Some of the planks of the Royal George had to be 
 removed before the vessel was deemed in a fit state to go to 
 sea. In ordinary circumstances the work of renewing them 
 would have been done in a dry dock, but haste was requisite, 
 the ship was already almost equipped, and, as the planks 
 referred to were not far below its water-mark, it was 
 thought that by careening r , that is, pulling the ship a little 
 over to one side so as to raise the other slightly out of the 
 water, the end in view might be accomplished. 
 
 Accordingly early in the morning of the 29th of August 
 the work of careening began, yet so little was thought of it 
 that the duties of taking in stores and provisions, &c., were 
 not interrupted. The admiral himself Kempenfelt was 
 engaged in writing in the cabin, and an immense number of 
 people were on board, either attending to their several 
 duties or taking leave of their friends. A victualling vessel 
 lay alongside, and, in short, everything was going on as 
 usual. Besides the officers and crew, amounting to about 
 nine hundred men, there were upwards of three hundred 
 
FOUNDERING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE. 303 
 
 women and children, relatives of the men, on board at the 
 time. 
 
 The danger of thus careening -a ship in calm water is not 
 very great, but, unfortunately, it was found that repairs had 
 to be effected lower down on the hull than had been anti- 
 cipated, and it lay a little more over on its side than had 
 been intended. The scuppers of the lower deck had been 
 left open, so that the water began to enter slowly. At 
 this juncture an unexpected squall struck the ship, and she 
 began to heel over to an alarming extent. The order was 
 instantly given to beat to quarters to right the ship ; but 
 alas ! it was too late. The ports were all open, the sea 
 rushed in, and, in a moment, the Royal George filled and 
 went down. So sudden was the catastrophe that men had 
 barely time to shout " The vessel is sinking ! " when it dis- 
 appeared with all on board. 
 
 All who were between decks sank to rise no more, and 
 these were the greater number of the people on board. 
 Many of those who were on the upper deck, including the 
 guard, were saved by the boats of the fleet, which instantly 
 pulled to the rescue of the drowning men. The saved 
 amounted to about three hundred in all ; the lost to from 
 nine hundred to one thousand, and among the latter 
 was Admiral Kempenfelt and a number of his officers, 
 'fhe victualling ship alongside was dragged down in the 
 whirlpool, and several vessels not far distant narrowly 
 escaped. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive the effect of such a terrible 
 scene, and it is awful to think of the suddenness with 
 which so many human beings were at that hour called into 
 eternity to meet their God. 
 
 In the course of after years, some of the guns and other 
 
304 
 
 FOUNDERING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE. 
 
 materials, and a few portions of the hull, were recovered, by 
 means of the diving-bell ; but, with these trifling exceptions, 
 the loss of the Royal George in Portsmouth harbour was as 
 complete as if it had occurred in the midst of a tempest far 
 out at sea. 
 
RIVER STEAMERS. 
 
 305 
 
 RJYRK STEAMER ON TUB HUDSON. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 RIVER STEAMERS. 
 
 ONE night, in the year 1807, a terrible sight was witnessed 
 oy the inhabitants of the banks of the river Hudson, in 
 America. 
 
 Men love what is marvellous, and they will go a long 
 distance out of their way to see that which is terrific and 
 horrible ; but, on the night in question, there was no need 
 to go far. The farmers had only to look out of their win- 
 dows, and the sailors of the shipping had only to lift their 
 heads above the bulwarks, to behold a sight that appalled 
 the stoutest hearted, and caused the very hair on the 
 craniums of the timid to stand on end. 
 
 The object that caused so much consternation was a 
 " monster of the deep ! " In some parts of the river, men 
 could not tell what it was like, for the night was dark when 
 it passed, but a dark shadowy idea they obtained by the 
 light of the fire which the creature vomited from its jaws j 
 
306 RIVER STEAMERS. 
 
 and they formed a tremendous conception of At$ size and 
 power from the speed at which it travelled, the splashing 
 which it made, and the hideous groans with which it 
 burthened the night air. 
 
 This " fiery monster of the deep " was the first river 
 steamer, the Glermont ! 
 
 Before going further into the details of this the first of a 
 class of ships which have, within the last fifty years, almost 
 completely changed the whole system of navigation, let us 
 take a cursory glance at the first attempts made to propel 
 ships by means of steam. 
 
 The subject has occupied mankind much longer than 
 many people suppose. So long ago as the year 1543, a 
 naval captain of Spain applied an engine to a ship of about 
 two hundred tons, and succeeded in moving it at the rate 
 of about two miles an hour. The nature of his engine the 
 captain kept secret, but it was noted that part of it consisted 
 of a caldron of boiling water ! 
 
 This we are told by Thomas Gouzales, the director of the 
 royal archives of Simancas ; but his veracity is now called 
 in question, at any rate nothing further was afterwards 
 heard of the discovery. 
 
 The first authentic record we have of steam navigation 
 occurs in a work written by the Marquis of Worcester in 
 1665, in which allusion is made to the application of 
 engines to boats and ships, which would " draw them up 
 rivers against the stream, and, if need' be, pass London 
 Bridge against the current at low water." 
 
 Many attempts, more or less successful, were made by 
 ingenious men from time to time. Papin of France in 
 1690; Jonathan Hulls in 1736; and M. Genevois in 1759, 
 were each successful to a certain extent in constructing 
 
RIVER STEAMERS. 307 
 
 working models, but nothing definite resulted from their 
 labours. Yet we would not be understood to undervalue 
 the achievements of such men. On the contrary, it is by 
 the successive discoveries of such inquiring and philosophical 
 men that grand results are at last attained. The magni- 
 ficent structures that crowd the ocean were not the creations 
 of one era, or the product of one stupendous mind. They 
 are the result of the labours of thousands of men whose 
 names have never been known to fame. 
 
 The men who, working upon the materials supplied by 
 preceding generations, brought the propulsion of boats by 
 steam nearest to perfection, just before the commencement 
 of navigation, were Mr. Miller of Dumfries, Mr. Taylor his 
 friend, and tutor in his family, and Mr. Symington, all of 
 whom were, in a very important degree, instrumental in 
 ushering in the great event. Symington, in 1788, fitted an 
 engine to a large boat, in which he attained the speed of 
 seven miles an hour. 
 
 The man to whom the credit belongs of introducing steam 
 navigation is undoubtedly Mr. Fulton of America. This 
 gentleman, who was contemporary with those just mentioned, 
 visited France and England, in the former of which he en- 
 deavoured unsuccessfully to carry out his projects, while in 
 the latter he met with Symington and obtained much 
 valuable information from him. 
 
 We have no sympathy whatever with those who seem to 
 rate in to the credit of their own country every discovery 
 and invention they possibly or plausibly can. We did 
 much towards the commencement of steam navigation, but 
 we did not begin it. We pushed considerably in advance 
 of other nations in the invention of apparatus by which 
 boats might be propelled by steam ; we constructed models, 
 20 
 
308 THE FIRST STEAMER. 
 
 tried it on a small scale, and found the tiling to answer 
 admirably ; but we rested there. Meanwhile an enterprising 
 American came and saw our achievements, ojdered an 
 engine in England, carried it across the Atlantic, and com- 
 menced the era of steam navigation, on the river Hudson, by 
 building and launching 
 
 THE FIRST STEAMER. 
 
 Robert Fulton, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston 
 of America, planned, built, and launched a boat in the 
 spring of 1807, which they named the Clermont. It was 
 propelled by steam, and averaged the rate of five miles an 
 hour on its first voyage from New York to Albany, a dis- 
 tance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 All discoveries and novelties, great and small, are treated 
 with ridicule at first by the mass of mankind, so it is not 
 to be wondered that the crowds which flocked to the wharf 
 to see the Clermont start on her first trip were somewhat 
 satirical and jocose in their remarks. But when the steam 
 was turned on, and they heard the first of that series of 
 snorts that was destined, ere long, to shake the trembling 
 air of land and sea, and saw the great uncouth paddle- 
 wheels all guiltless of paddle-boxes revolve powerfully in 
 the water and churn it into foam, a shout, tinged, doubt- 
 less, with prophetic fervour, greeted the triumphant 
 engineer as his little steamboat darted from the shore. 
 
 Golden, in his Life of Fulton, speaks thus of the Cler- 
 monfs first voyage : 
 
 " She excited the astonishment of the inhabitants of the 
 shores of the Hudson, many of whom had not heard even 
 of an engine, much less of a steamboat. There were many 
 descriptions of the eifects of her first appearance upon tne 
 
THE FIRST STEAMER. 309 
 
 people of the banks of the river. Some of these were 
 ridiculous, but some of them were of such a character as 
 nothing but an object of real grandeur could have excited. 
 She was described by some who had indistinctly seen her 
 passing in the night, as a monster moving on the waters, 
 defying the winds and tide, and breathing flames and smoke ! 
 She had the most terrific appearance from other vessels 
 which were navigating the river when she was making her 
 passage. The first steamboat (as others yet do) used dry 
 pine w r ood for fuel, which sends forth a column of ignited 
 vapour many feet above the flue, and whenever the fire is 
 stirred, a galaxy of sparks fly off, which, in the night, have 
 a very brilliant and beautiful appearance. 
 
 " This uncommon light first attracted the attention of 
 the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and 
 tide, which were adverse to its approach, they saw with 
 astonishment that it was rapidly coming towards them ; and 
 when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and 
 paddles was heard, the crews if what was said in the 
 newspapers of the time be true in some instances shrunk 
 beneath their decks from the terrific sight, and left their 
 vessels to go on shore, whilst others prostrated themselves, 
 and besought Providence to protect them from the ap- 
 proaches of the horrible monster which was marching on 
 the tide and lighting its path by the fires that it vomited !" 
 
 The Clermont became a regular passenger boat on the 
 Hudson, and the progress of steam navigation continued to 
 advance, until nearly all the navigable rivers of the world, 
 and the great ocean itself, were covered with these clanking 
 ships of commerce, which have added more to the comfort, 
 the wealth, and the power of man the power of doing good 
 as well as evil than the feeble human mind can conceive. 
 
310 THE COMET THE ARGYLE. 
 
 THE COMET. 
 
 It was not until five years after the Americans set us tlie 
 example, that we launched our first passenger steamboat, 
 the Comet, a vessel of about twenty-five tons, with engines 
 of three horse power. This little vessel was started by 
 Henry Bell, of Helensburgh, on the Clyde. It began its 
 career in 1812, and plied regularly for two years. 
 
 Like her predecessor the Clermont, she was regarded 
 with no small degree of scepticism, and with a large amount 
 of surprise by the thousands who saw her set forth. 
 Nevertheless she soon proved her value, became a success- 
 ful speculation to her owners, and was, ere long, followed 
 by many other vessels of a similar kind. 
 i 
 
 THE ARGYLE, AFTERWARDS NAMED THE THAMES. 
 
 In 1813 the Argyle was launched. This vessel was the 
 first European steamer that pushed out into the more 
 dangerous navigation of the open sea-coast. She was pur- 
 chased by a company in London. On her passage she was 
 as nearly as possible wrecked on a lee-shore, but, by her 
 steam-power, was enabled to go straight against the wind at 
 the rate of three and a half knots an hour, and so escaped. 
 
 One of the passengers has left us an interesting account 
 of this interesting voyage, from which we cull one or two 
 paragraphs : 
 
 " The weather had now become so stormy and bad that 
 our captain determined to put in to the port of Wexford, 
 his great object being to navigate the vessel safely to 
 London, rather than, by using great dispatch, to expose her 
 to unnecessary risk. We put to sea again at two o'clock 
 P.M., on May 30th, and steered for St. David's Head, the 
 
THE ARGYLE. 311 
 
 most westerly point of Wales. During our passage across 
 St. George's Channel, one of the blades of the starboard 
 paddle-wheel became out of order: the engine was stopped 
 and the blade cut away. Some hours afterwards a similar 
 accident happened to the other wheel, which was remedied 
 in the same manner. 
 
 " About two o'clock in the afternoon, twelve hours after 
 leaving Wexford, we reached the pass of Ramsay: we 
 remained there for three hours to oil the engine, and to 
 give the stoker, who had not quitted his post an instant 
 since leaving Wexford, a little rest. In a short time 
 several boats were seen coming to our assistance, the idea 
 prevailing here, as at Wexford, that our vessel was on fire. 
 We landed on the island of Ramsay, a most desolate spot, 
 containing only one habitation ; we, however, procured some 
 bread, butter, milk, cheese, and ale, with which we returned 
 to the vessel, and commenced steaming through the straits 
 and across St. Bride's Bay. . 
 
 "The weather had now become unfavourable, and the 
 sea ran alarmingly high in the bay. On the south side of 
 St. Bride's Bay, between Skomar Island and the mainland, 
 is a nasty passage called Jack Sound. Our pilot warned 
 us of the danger of attempting this passage excepting at 
 high water and with a favourable wind, as there were 
 several formidable whirlpools which would seize the vessel 
 and carry her on the rocks. Captain Dodd, how r ever, who 
 knew the power of his engine, insisted on going through 
 the sound, in order to save five hours and another night at 
 sea. The pilot repeated his .remonstrances, at the same 
 time trembling for fear; but we passed through all the 
 whirlpools with the greatest ease. Nothing, however, can 
 be conceived more frightful than the aspect of some of the 
 
312 THE ARGYLE. 
 
 rocks, and especially of those called the Bishop and his 
 Clerks. Had we been in a sailing vessel our position would 
 have been most perilous ; but our steam was all-powerful 
 and brought us safely to Milford Haven. 
 
 "We put to sea again late on the evening of the 31st, 
 and on Friday morning we were in the middle of the 
 Bristol Channel, with no land visible ; but, towards evening, 
 we discovered the high coast that terminates England in 
 the west. As the weather, however, again assumed a 
 gloomy aspect, our new pilot judged that it would be im- 
 prudent that night to double Land's End, so we shaped 
 our course towards St. Ives. 
 
 " On approaching the shore we perceived a crowd of 
 small vessels making towards us with all possible rapidity, 
 by means of oars and sails. Here, as elsewhere, the alarm 
 was taken, on seeing a vessel, judged to be on fire, steering 
 towards the town, and ah 1 the disposable craft immediately 
 put to sea. All the rocks commanding St. Ives were 
 covered with spectators ; and, when we entered the harbour, 
 the aspect of our _ vessel appeared to occasion as much 
 surprise amongst the inhabitants, as the ships of Captain 
 Cook produced on his first appearance amongst the islanders 
 of the South Seas. 
 
 "Another night passed, a night of storm and danger, but 
 the little Thames (the vessel had been re-named by the new 
 company who purchased her) behaved nobly, and next day 
 reached Plymouth. Here," continues the narrative, " the 
 harbour-master, who had never seen a steam- vessel before, 
 was as much struck with astonishment when he boarded 
 the Thames, as a child is on getting possession of a new 
 plaything. He steered the vessel, and we passed round 
 several ships of war in the sound. The sailors ran in 
 
THE ARGYLE. 313 
 
 crowds to the sides of their vessels as we passed them, and 
 mounting the rigging, gave vent to their observations in a 
 most amusing manner. 
 
 " We left Plymouth at noon on the following day, and 
 steamed without interruption to Portsmouth, where we 
 arrived on Friday, June 9th, having accomplished one 
 hundred and fifty miles in twenty -three hours. At Ports- 
 mouth astonishment and admiration were, if possible, more 
 strongly evinced than elsewhere. Tens of thousands of 
 spectators were assembled to gaze on the Thames; and the 
 number of vessels that crowded around us was so great that 
 it became necessary to request the admiral to give us a 
 guard to preserve some degree of order. 
 
 "We entered the harbour in the most brilliant style, 
 steaming in, with the assistance of wind and tide, at the 
 rate of from twelve to fourteen miles an hour. A court- 
 martial was at the time sitting on board the Gladiator 
 frigate, but the novelty of our steamboat presented an 
 irresistible attraction, and the whole court came off to us, 
 excepting the president, who was obliged by etiquette to 
 retain his seat until the court was regularly adjourned. 
 On Saturday, June 10th, the port-admiral sent his band 
 and a guard of marines at an early hour on board; and 
 soon afterwards he followed, accompanied by three admirals, 
 eighteen post-captains, and a large number of ladies. The 
 morning was spent in steaming amongst the fleet, and 
 running over to the Isle of Wight. From Portsmouth we 
 proceeded to Margate, which we reached on Sunday 
 morning. Here we remained until the following day, when 
 we embarked for our final trip, at half -past eight in the 
 morning, and about six in the evening arrived at Lime- 
 house, where we moored." 
 
314 AMERICAN RIVER-STEAMER. 
 
 We have entered thus at considerable length into this 
 voyage, because, besides being the first steam sea-voyage, 
 it serves to exhibit very distinctly how great and how 
 rapid has been the progress of steam navigation within the 
 last fifty years. In reading such an account as this, in 
 these days of " ocean-mail steamers " and " Great Easterns/' 
 we can scarcely believe that in it reference is made, not to 
 the middle ages, but to the year 1813. 
 
 In the accompanying engraving are represented a mer- 
 chant screw-steamer and a river-steamer or tug-boat ; both 
 of which may be seen in hundreds every day on the Thames 
 and the Clyde. Of the first of these, we shall speak again. 
 The steamboat that heads this chapter is an 
 
 AMERICAN RIVER-STEAMER. 
 
 Owing to the immense distance, sometimes more than a 
 thousand miles, that the American inland steam craft pro- 
 ceed up rivers, they are constantly liable to come into ex- 
 tremely shallow waters ; they are therefore built very 
 differently from those of this country, which are chiefly used 
 in the comparatively deep waters at the mouths of our 
 largest rivers. They are long, broad, and very flat in the 
 bottom ; but they tower upwards, deck upon deck, to such 
 an extent that they sometimes almost cease to resemble boats, 
 and become more like to floating castles. Everything, in 
 short, is above deck, engines and all ; and as they are gaily 
 painted, they' look very iniposing as they dart round a richly 
 wooded point, or through a rippling narrow in the lovely 
 lakes and rivers of the West. 
 
 The decorations of American river boats are in many in- 
 stances of the most gorgeous and regal kind. Pier-glasses, 
 painted panels, stained glass, gilded cornices, polished chairs 
 
OCEAN-STEAMERS. 315 
 
 and tables of the most costly woods, and sofas cushioned 
 with the richest velvets, constitute the furniture of the cabins. 
 These boats are remarkably fast sailers, and have powerful 
 engines, partly for the purpose of attaining very high speed, 
 and partly to enable them to stem the strong currents of 
 the rapids against which in many places they have to con- 
 tend. They are a little apt to upset, owing to the slight 
 hold they have of the water; and in many of them men are 
 stationed with trucks loaded with heavy weights, ready to 
 be dragged quickly to either side of the steamer when the 
 passengers rush to one side for the purpose of gazing at a 
 passing view in the landscape. 
 
 In some of the wilder parts of that remarkable land the 
 river-steamers have a decided tendency to blow up ; owing, 
 first, to the fact that most of the engines are high-pressure ; 
 and second, to the seemingly irresistible desire the captains 
 have to sit on the safety valve ! a practice which undoubt- 
 edly secures their superior elevation in case of a blow up ; 
 but this does not afford much consolation, probably, to those 
 who are killed. 
 
 OCEAN-STEAMERS. 
 
 After that momentous era when steam was first success- 
 fully applied to useful purposes, human progress and im- 
 provement in all departments of science and art seemed to 
 have been hooked on to it, and to have thenceforth rushed 
 roaring at its tail, with truly " railroad speed," towards per- 
 fection ! 
 
 Scarce had the first model steamboat splashed with its 
 ungainly " blades " the waters of a pond, than river traffic by 
 means of steamboats began. And no sooner had this been 
 proved to be a decided success than daring schemes were 
 
316 OCEAN STEAMERS. 
 
 laid to rush over old ocean itself on wheels. Men were not 
 long about it, after the first start was made. Their intellec- 
 tual steam was up, and the whirl of inventive effort racked 
 the brains of engineers as the wheels of their steamboats 
 tortured the waters of the deep. 
 
 And here again the name of Fulton comes into notice. 
 Early in 1814 he conceived the idea of constructing a steam 
 vessel of war, which should carry a strong battery with fur- 
 naces for red-hot shot. Congress authorized the building 
 of such a ship, and before the end of the same year it was 
 launched. Fulton died the following year, but the fame of 
 that enterprising engineer will never die. 
 
 The new vessel received the rather quaint title of the 
 Fulton the First. She consisted of two boats joined together. 
 Those who were appointed by Congress to examine her and 
 report, give the following account of this curious man-of- 
 war: 
 
 " She is a. structure resting on two boats and keels, sepa- 
 rated from end to end by a channel 15 feet wide and 66 
 feet long. One boat contains the caldrons of copper to 
 prepare her steam ; the cylinder of iron, its piston, lever, 
 and wheels, occupy part of the other. The water wheel 
 revolves in the space between them. The main or gun-deck 
 supports the armament, and is protected by a parapet, 4 ' 
 feet 1 inches thick, of solid timber, pierced by embrasures. 
 Through thirty port-holes as many thirty-two pounders are 
 intended to fire red-hot shot, which can be heated with 
 great safety and convenience. Her upper or spar-deck, 
 upon which several thousand men might parade, is encom- 
 passed by a bulwark, which affords safe quarters. She is 
 rigged with two stout masts, each of which supports a large 
 lateen yard and sails. She has two bowsprits and jibs, and 
 
OCEAN STEAMERS. 317 
 
 four rudders, one at each extremity of each boat, so that 
 she can be steered with either end foremost. Her machinery 
 is calculated for the addition of an engine which will dis- 
 charge an immense column of water, which it is intended 
 to throw upon the decks and through the port-holes of the 
 enemy, and thereby deluge her armament and ammunition. 
 
 " If in addition to all this we suppose her to be furnished, 
 according to Mr. Fulton's intention, with hundred-pound 
 columbiads, two suspended from each bow, so as to .discharge 
 a ball of that size into an enemy's ship ten or twelve feet 
 below her water-line, it must be allowed that she has the 
 appearance, at least, of being the most formidable engine 
 for warfare that human ingenuity has contrived." 
 
 Certainly she was ; and even at the present time the 
 Fulton the First would cut no insignificant figure if placed 
 alongside our gunboats and floating batteries. 
 
 It is not easy to get intelligent men to believe in things that 
 savour of the marvellous ; yet there seems to be a point past 
 which, if once a man be got, he will go on to believe almost 
 anything, no matter how absurd. In those days few people 
 in Europe would credit the truth of this ship's proportions ; 
 but when, in the course of time and from indubitable testi- 
 mony, they were compelled to believe, they flew to the 
 opposite extreme of incredulity and believed anything, as the 
 following curiously comical paragraph will show. It is said 
 to have appeared in a Scotch treatise on steamships, and 
 is intended for a " full, true, and particular account" of this 
 monstrous American man-of-war steamer. After giving her 
 dimensions three times larger than they were in reality, the 
 author continues : " The thickness of her sides is thirteen 
 feet of alternate oak plank and cork wood. She carries 
 forty-four guns, four of which are hundred pounders ; quar- 
 
318 THE SAVANNAH STEAMER. 
 
 ter-deck and forecastle guns, forty-four pounders : and further 
 to annoy an enemy attempting to board, can discharge one 
 hundred gallons of boiling water in a minute ; and, by me- 
 chanism, brandishes three hundred cutlasses with the ut- 
 most regularity over her gunwales ; works also an equal 
 number of heavy iron spikes of great length, darting them 
 from the sides with prodigious force and withdrawing them 
 every quarter of ~a minute ! " 
 
 This vessel, although probably intended for an ocean- 
 steamer, was never used as such, as the war between Eng- 
 land and America ceased soon after it was launched. But 
 not long after, a vessel propelled by steam ventured to cross 
 the Atlantic, and thus became the parent of commercial steam 
 navigation. This vessel was 
 
 THE SAVANNAH STEAMER. 
 
 Unfortunately, little information as to this the first ocean 
 steamer has been chronicled. 
 
 She was launched at New York on the 22d of August 1818, 
 and in the following year made her first voyage to Sa- 
 vannah, from which she sailed for Liverpool soon after, and 
 crossed the Atlantic in twenty-five days: during eighteen 
 of which she used her engines. 
 
 The Savannah was about 350 tons burden, and was on 
 this occasion commanded by Captain Moses Rodgers. She 
 was fitted with machinery for taking in her wheels in stormy 
 weather, which was found to work admirably and she is 
 mentioned as having been seen on the ocean going at the 
 rate of nine or ten knots. 
 
 From Liverpool this steamer went to St. Petersburg and 
 afterwards returned to Savannah in safety. 
 
 This was the insertion of the wedge. Our own country 
 
THE SAVANNAH STEAMER. 
 
 319 
 
 did not follow the lead until 1838, when the good people 
 of New York were thrown into a state of excitement by the 
 arrival of two steamers, the Sirius and the Great Western 
 from England. So long a time had elapsed since the voy- 
 age of the Savannah that men had well-nigh forgotten it, 
 and were disposed to regard these vessels as the first ocean- 
 steamers. Indeed some narrow-minded and ungenerous 
 writers have asserted that they were the first totally 
 ignoring the prior claim of the Savannah. 
 
 From that period ocean-steamers began to run frequently 
 across the Atlantic. They now do so regularly, as well as 
 to many other parts of the world. 
 
320 STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 STEAMBOAT EXPLOSIONS OCEAN MAIL-STEAMERS WRECK 
 OF THE ROYAL CHARTER. 
 
 Since steam navigation began many a noble steamboat has 
 been wrecked, and many thousands of human lives have been 
 lost. River and ocean steamers alike have been destroyed, 
 by tempest, by accident, by fire, and by the explosion of 
 boilers. Volumes might be filled with the sad details of such 
 melancholy events, but we cannot do more than select one 
 or two, at random, as illustrations of the calamities of this 
 kind which are permitted to fall upon man. 
 
 About thirty years ago, there occurred on one of the 
 American rivers the following 
 
 STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 
 
 The details of this dreadful event are thus narrated by 
 an eye-witness : 
 
 " On the morning of the 24th February 1830, the Helen 
 M'Grregor steamboat stopped at Memphis, on the Mississippi 
 river, to deliver freight and land a number of passengers, 
 who resided in that section of Tennessee. The time occupied 
 in so doing could not have exceeded three quarters of an 
 hour. When the boat landed, I went ashore to see a gentle- 
 man with whom I had some business. I found him on the 
 beach, and after a short conversation I returned to the boat 
 I recollect looking at my watch as I passed the gangway ; 
 it was half-past eight o'clock. A great number of persona 
 
STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 321 
 
 were standing on what is called the boiler deck, being that 
 part of the upper deck situated immediately over the boilers. 
 It was crowded to excess, and presented one dense mass of 
 human bodies. In a few minutes we sat down to break- 
 fast in the cabin. The table, although extending the whole 
 length of the cabin, was completely filled, there being up- 
 wards of sixty cabin passengers, among whom were several 
 ladies and children. 
 
 " The number of passengers on board, deck and cabin 
 included, was between four and five hundred. I had almost 
 finished my breakfast, when the pilot rung his bell for the 
 engineer to put the machinery in motion. The boat having 
 just shoved off, I was in the act of raising my cup to my 
 lips, the tingling of the pilot bell yet on my ear, when I 
 heard an explosion resembling the discharge of a small piece 
 of artillery. The report was perhaps louder than usual in 
 such cases, for an exclamation was half uttered by me that 
 the gun was well loaded, when the rushing sound of steam 
 and the rattling of glass in some of the cabin windows, 
 checked my speech and told me too well what had occurred. 
 
 " I almost involuntarily bent my head and body down 
 to the floor. A vague idea seemed to shoot across my mind 
 that more than one boiler might burst, 'and that, by assum- 
 ing this posture, the destroying matter would pass over 
 without touching me. 
 
 " The general cry of, ' A. boiler has burst ! ' resounded from 
 one end of the table to the other; and, as if by a simultane- 
 ous movement, all started on their feet. Then commenced 
 a general race to the ladies' cabin, which lay more towards 
 the stern of the boat. All regard to order or deference to 
 the sex seemed to be lost in the struggle for which should 
 be first and furthest removed from the dreaded boilers. The 
 
322 STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 
 
 danger had already passed away. I remained standing by 
 the chair on which I had been previously sitting. Only 
 one or two persons stayed in the cabin with me. As yet, 
 no more than half a minute had elapsed since the explosion ; 
 but in that brief space how had the scene changed ! 
 
 " In that f drop of time ' what confusion, distress, and dis- 
 may ! An instant before, and all were in the quiet repose of 
 security another, and they were overwhelmed with alarm or 
 consternation. It is but justice to say, that in this scene of 
 terror the ladies exhibited a degree of firmness worthy of all 
 praise. No screaming, no fainting : their fears, when uttered, 
 were not for themselves, but for their husbands and children. 
 
 "" I advanced from my position to one of the cabin doors, 
 for the purpose of inquiring who were injured, when, just 
 as I reached it, a man entered by the opposite one, both his 
 hands covering his face, and exclaiming, ' God ! God ! 
 I am ruined ! ' He immediately began to tear off his clothes. 
 When stripped, he presented a most shocking spectacle. 
 His face was entirely black ; bis body without a particle of 
 skin. He had been flayed alive. He gave me his name 
 and place of abode, then sank in a state of exhaustion and 
 agony on the floor. 
 
 " I assisted in placing him on a mattress taken from one 
 of the berths, and covered him with blankets. He com- 
 plained of heat and cold as at once oppressing him. He 
 bore his torments with manly fortitude, yet a convulsive 
 shriek would occasionally burst from him. His wife, his 
 children were his constant theme ; it was hard to die with- 
 out seeing them l it was hard to go without bidding them 
 one farewell.' Oil and cotton were applied to his wounds, 
 but he soon became insensible to earthly misery. 
 
 " Before I had done attending to him, the whole floor 
 
STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 8^3 
 
 of the cabin was covered with unfortunate sufferers. Some 
 bore up under the horrors of their situation with a degree 
 of resolution amounting to heroism. Others were wholly 
 overcome by the sense of pain, the suddenness of the dis- 
 aster, and the near approach of death. Some implored us, 
 as an act of humanity, to complete the work of destruction 
 and free them from present suffering. 
 
 " To add to the confusion, persons were every moment 
 running about to learn the fate of their friends and rela- 
 tives fathers, sons, brothers j for in this scene of unmixed 
 calamity it was impossible to say who were saved, or who 
 had perished. The countenances of many were so dis- 
 figured as to be past recognition. 
 
 " My attention after some time was particularly drawn 
 towards a poor fellow, who lay unnoticed on the floor, 
 without uttering a single word of complaint. He was at a 
 little distance removed from the rest. He was not much 
 scalded; but one of his thighs was broken, and a principal 
 artery had been severed, from which the blood was gush- 
 ing rapidly. He betrayed no displeasure at the apparent 
 neglect with which he was treated. He was perfectly 
 calm. I spoke to him. He said he was very weak, but 
 felt himself going it would soon be over. A gentleman 
 ran for one of the physicians. He came, and declared that 
 if expedition were used he might be preserved by ampu- 
 tating the limb but that to effect this it would be neces- 
 sary to remove him from the boat. Unfortunately the 
 boat was not sufficiently near to run a plank ashore. We 
 were obliged to wait until it could be close hauled. I 
 stood by him calling for help. We placed him on a mattress 
 and bore him to the guards. There we were detained some 
 time, from the cause we have mentioned. Never did any- 
 
 21 
 
324 STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION. 
 
 thing appear to me so slow as the movements of those 
 engaged in hauling the boat. 
 
 " I knew, and he knew, that delay was death that life 
 was fast ebbing. I could not take my gaze from his face ; 
 there all was coolness and resignation. No word or ges- 
 ture indicative of impatience escaped him. He perceived, 
 by my loud and perhaps angry tone of voice, how much I 
 was excited by what I thought the barbarous slowness 
 of those around. He begged me not to take so much 
 trouble ' they were doing their best.' At length we got 
 him on shore. It was too late he was too much exhausted, 
 and died immediately after the amputation. 
 
 " As soon as I was relieved from attending on those in 
 the cabin, I went to examine that part of the boat where 
 the boiler had burst. It was a complete wreck a picture 
 of destruction. It bore ample testimony to the tremendous 
 force of that power which the ingenuity of man had brought 
 to his aid. The steam had given everything a whitish hue; 
 the boilers were displaced ; the deck had fallen down ; the 
 machinery was broken and disordered. Bricks, dirt, and 
 rubbish, were scattered about. Close by the bowsprit was 
 a large rent, through which, I was told, the boiler, after ex- 
 ploding, had passed out, carrying one or two men in its mouth, 
 
 "Several dead bodies were lying around. Their fate 
 had been an enviable one compared with that of others; 
 they could scarcely have been conscious of a pang ere they 
 ceased to be. On the starboard wheel house lay a human 
 body, in which life was not yet extinct, though apparently 
 there was no sensibility remaining. The body must have 
 been thrown from the boiler-deck, a distance of thirty feet. 
 The whole of the forehead had been blown away. The 
 brains were still beating. 
 
OCEAN MAIL-STEAMERS. 325 
 
 " The number of lives lost will in all probability never 
 be distinctly known. Many were seen flung into the river, 
 most of whom sank to rise no more. I am inclined to 
 believe that between fifty and sixty must have perished. 
 The cabin passengers escaped owing to the peculiar con- 
 struction of the boat. Just behind the boilers were several 
 huge iron posts, supporting, I think, the boiler-deck ; across 
 each post was a large circular plate of iron, of between one 
 and two inches in thickness. One of these posts was 
 placed exactly opposite the head of the boiler which burst. 
 Against this plate the head struck, and penetrated to the 
 depth of an inch; then broke and flew off at an angle, 
 entering a cotton bale to the depth of a foot. The boiler 
 head was in point-blank range with the breakfast table in 
 the cabin, and had it not been obstructed by the iron post, 
 it must have made a clear sweep of those who were seated 
 at the table." 
 
 Instances innumerable might be given of similar explo- 
 sions, attended often with more or less loss of life, that 
 have occurred on .the lakes and rivers of America within 
 the last half century. In countries where low-pressure, or 
 condensing engines are used, accidents of this kind are 
 much less frequent. 
 
 OCEAN MAIL-STEAMERS. 
 
 To such a pitch of perfection has steam navigation now 
 arrived, that the mails are carried, with as steady regularity 
 as if on land, across those stormy oceans over which not 
 half a century ago ships ploughed their course with uncer- 
 tain speed, and on which went forth, three hundred and 
 seventy years ago, Columbus and his compeers, in utter 
 ignorance of the world that lay beyond the seas. 
 
326 WRECK OP THE ROYAL CHARTER. 
 
 Our engraving gives an illustration of one of those 
 magnificent vessels which now ply regularly between 
 America and on what is termed the " Overland Route to 
 India." She is a paddle-steamer, with two funnels, and 
 engines of nine hundred horse power. The rig is in most 
 points very similar to that of a barque, namely, square- 
 rigged fore and main-masts, and sloop-rigged mizzen. 
 
 These ocean-steamers are of immense size, and their 
 interior fittings resemble those of a gorgeous palace. The 
 Persia is the largest of them, with the exception of the 
 Great Eastern, which being a unique colossus of the deep 
 we do not class with other vessels. She shall be fully 
 treated of in another chapter. The Persia is 376 feet long 
 by 75 feet broad, about three thousand tons burden, and 
 has engines of nine hundred and thirty horse power. She 
 carries nearly three hundred first-class passengers, and 
 is fitted up in a style of the utmost luxury and magni- 
 ficence. 
 
 Nearly all the large steamers are now built of iron, that 
 substance being found in many respects superior to wood ; 
 but as the Great Eastern is an iron vessel, and is described 
 elsewhere, we shall, in order to avoid repetition, omit further 
 reference to the peculiarity of their construction here. 
 
 Iron ships, however, have peculiar faults of their own, 
 as the awful wrecks that sometimes take place too clearly 
 prove. 
 
 One of the saddest and most fatal of those that have 
 occurred of late years, was the 
 
 WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER. 
 
 Many and many a time has the raging sea opened its 
 ravening maw to swallow the ships, and property, and lives 
 
WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER. 327 
 
 of men ; but seldom has it swept so many human beings 
 into eternity so suddenly, and under such deeply melan- 
 choly circumstances, as when it dashed the Royal Charter 
 on the rocks of Anglesea just an hour or two from port, 
 and at the termination of a long successful voyage. 
 
 Ah ! little do men know what a day or an hour may 
 bring forth. On board that doomed steam vessel there 
 was a clergyman. He must have been a good man, for he 
 had gained the affection of all the passengers, who, on the 
 day before that on which they expected once more to tread 
 their native land, subscribed of the gold they were bringing 
 home from the Australian mines, and presented a costly 
 gift to him. Before that next day came, the clergyman 
 and those with whom he sailed were on their knees crying 
 to God for deliverance from the fearful storm; and before 
 the morning dawn had brightened into day, he with more 
 than four hundred of the passengers and crew were num- 
 bered with the dead. 
 
 It is past now. Men have ceased to talk, as they once 
 did in solemn tones, of the ct Wreck of the Royal Charter;" 
 but there are those living now in our land whose riven hearts 
 will carry the memory of that awful wreck to the grave. 
 
 The Royal Charter sailed from Melbourne for Liver- 
 pool, on the 26th of August 1859, having on board three 
 hundred and eighty-eight passengers, and a crew of one 
 hundred and twelve men and officers. She was an iron- 
 built screw-steamer of about two thousand seven hundred 
 and nineteen tons, and two hundred horse power, and was 
 considered a first-rate vessel. Her cargo was small, con- 
 sisting chiefly of wool and skins ; but she carried a rich 
 freight of gold. Many of the passengers were returning 
 home from the mines with the golden produce of long 
 
328 WEECK OF THE ROYAL CHAETEE. 
 
 years of hard, hard toil. Yet we can well believe they 
 thought little of their gold as they neared the cliffs of 
 England, unless, perhaps, they thought of how much joy 
 it might be the means of giving to dearly loved ones " at 
 home." 
 
 It is estimated that the value of the gold dust and 
 specie on board could not have been far short of 500,000. 
 
 On Tuesday evening, the 26th of October, she was off 
 the coast of Anglesea, near Point Lynas, at which time there 
 was a violent gale blowing from the E.N.E. Captain 
 Taylor, who commanded her, continued to throw up signal 
 rockets for several hours, in the hope of attracting a pilot ; 
 but none came. The gale increased in violence, and, not 
 having a pOAverful engine, the vessel continued to drift 
 toward the beach. It was pitch dark no help w r as near 
 a rock-bound coast was on the lee. The captain, there- 
 fore, let go both anchors. But the gale had now become 
 a perfect hurricane, and lashed the sea up to madness, and 
 in spite of the engines, which were worked at their full 
 power, the Royal Charter continued to drift toward the 
 shore. One of the passengers who were saved gives the 
 following narrative of the wreck : 
 
 " On Tuesday night when the gale became so strong, 
 opposite the Skerries, the ladies and many of the passengers 
 became exceedingly nervous. For my part, however, I had 
 such confidence in the captain, officers, and ship, that I 
 went to bed at ten o'clock. I could only doze, and was 
 aroused in an hour or two by the fearful storm. I heard 
 a voice in the cabin crying out, l Come directly, we are all 
 lost ! I will take your child ; come along directly.' 
 
 " The voice was that of Captain Withers, a passenger, 
 who had lost his own vessel in the South Pacific. I jumped 
 
WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER. 329 
 
 out of bed and opened the cabin door, but all were gone 
 from there. Hastily putting on a few articles I ran on 
 deck. The ship bumped heavily two or three times against 
 the ground. On going into the general saloon I found it 
 crowded with ladies and gentlemen in the utmost state of 
 tremour. Families were all clinging to each other; the 
 young children were crying out piteously, whilst parents 
 were endeavouring to soothe them with cheering hopes. 
 
 " The Kev. Mr. Hodge, a Church of England clergyman, 
 belonging to East Eetford, instituted a prayer -meeting, 
 and a great number of passengers fervently participated in 
 the service. The ship struck, however, so fearfully, and 
 the huge waves came down upon her with such tremendous 
 force, rushing into the cabin through the skylights, broken 
 by the falling rigging and hatches, that all became absorbed 
 in the idea of personal danger. 
 
 " All tried to soothe the ladies and children. Captain 
 Withers came into the cabin, remarking, ' Now, ladies, you 
 need not be at all afraid; we are on a sandy beach, and 
 imbedded in the sand; we are not ten paces from the 
 shore, and the tide will leave us dry, and in ten minutes 
 3 T ou will all be safe.' Dr. Hutch, a government medical 
 officer, also cheered the passengers. Captain Taylor came 
 down afterwards to give encouragement, and he made a 
 similar representation, which had the effect of greatly allay- 
 ing the excitment. Great order was consequently kept on 
 board. 
 
 " At half -past five o'clock the bumping went on worse 
 than ever, until at last the water jcame rushing in. When 
 day-light began to peep I was knocked by the force 
 of the waves with great violence against the side of the 
 saloon, and the screams were now dreadful. It was impos- 
 
330 WRECK OF THE EOYAL CHARTER. 
 
 sible to know what to do. I went on deck, but with the 
 greatest difficulty maintained my equilibrium. At this 
 time a great sea came against the broadside and divided 
 the ship into two, just at the engine-house, as one would 
 smash a pipe stump, and the sea washed quite through 
 her. The two parts 'slewed' round, and became total 
 wrecks. Parties were carried down with the debris, and 
 as many must have been killed as drowned. 
 
 " Having made up my mind that I had best jump over- 
 board on the lee side, I attempted to descend by a rope, 
 but fell deep into the water, which was so thickly strewn 
 with portions of the wreck that I had to open up a passage 
 with my head. I was repeatedly thrown ashore, and as 
 often washed back, until some people on shore managed 
 to rescue me. By this time I was almost t worn out and 
 insensible." 
 
 Such is the sad statement of one who went through the 
 perils of that awful night, and was among the few who 
 were mercifully preserved. But there are some incidents 
 which occurred that are not alluded to in the above nar- 
 rative. 
 
 Most of those who were saved owed their lives, under 
 God, to a Maltese seaman named Joseph Rodgers, who 
 boldly leaped into the sea, and succeeded in conveying a 
 rope to the shore. Had the vessel held together for two or 
 three hours longer, there is little doubt that most, if not 
 all, of the passengers and crew of the Royal Charter would 
 have landed in safety ; but the rope had been fastened only 
 a short time, and a few only of those nearest to it had 
 gained the rocky ledge, when the vessel broke up and sank. 
 In the course of his evidence given before the commission 
 appointed to inquire into this wreck, Rodgers said : 
 
WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER. 331 
 
 " About half-past ten o'clock the watch was called to put 
 the ship about. I went aft to haul in the spanker sheet 
 on the port side. After the main-top-sail was set, they 
 clewed it up again. They went up aloffc to furl 'the sails, 
 and the wind was so strong, that the roving poles were 
 broken. I was nearly pitched off the yard. I came down 
 and said I could not furl the sail ; and Mr. Stephens told 
 me to go back again and make it fast to the yard-arm. 
 Shortly after this the port anchor was let go, and after 
 that the starboard anchor was let go. When both the 
 chains parted, we cut away the masts, and she went ashore. 
 Captain Taylor gave me an order to clear away the port 
 life-boat. The mizzen-stay, being cut away, came down by 
 the run, and fell upon the life-boat. When the ship struck 
 upon the rocks I was on the forecastle, and I asked the 
 boatswain's mate what he was going to do ; and he said, 
 1 Go you ashore, and I will go too.' I went inside the 
 forecastle, and found a chap with a line, and he said, ' Are 
 you going ashore ? ' I said ' Yes.' I went on the top-gal- 
 lant forecastle, and made the rope fast round my waist. 
 Mr. Stephens asked me what I was going to do, and 
 wanted to give me a life-buoy, but I said * No,' and I 
 lowered myself down by a flying jib-boom. I was washed 
 back *three times to the ship, but at last succeeded in get- 
 ting ashore, where I saw some people, and they said, ' Give 
 us the line,' and they took me away. I wanted to stop to 
 pull the hawser ashore, but they would not let me." 
 
 For, this brave deed the noble fellow afterwards received, 
 from the National Life-boat Institution, a gold medal, a 
 sum of <5, and a vote of thanks engrossed on vellum. 
 
 But neither strength nor courage were of any avail on 
 that fatal morning. Captain Withers was right when he 
 
332 WRECK OF THE EOYAL CHARTER. 
 
 said, in endeavouring to calm the fears of the ladies, * that 
 they were only ten paces from the shore ; ' but he was wrong 
 when he added that it was a ' sandy beach.' It was a 
 sheer wall of rock which rose against the doomed passengers 
 of the Royal Charter, and hurled them back, in all proba- 
 bility lifeless, into the raging sea. A very small narrow 
 ledge at the base of this wall was the spot oil which the 
 few who were saved landed. 
 
 The work of destruction was complete and almost in- 
 stantaneous. It was seven in the morning when she broke 
 up. Those who were not killed by being dashed on the 
 rocks, were carried down and killed in the debris of the 
 wreck, and in the course of a very few minutes, four hun- 
 dred and fifty -nine persons were numbered with the 
 dead. 
 
 The news of the dreadful wreck spread quickly over the 
 land, carrying the bitterest anguish into hundreds of homes; 
 and, for many weeks afterwards, the road to the remote 
 and scarcely known bay of Moelfra was crowded with 
 visitors to the scene of the disaster ; some of whom were 
 attracted by idle curiosity, but, alas ! many and many a 
 one hurried along that dreary road with bursting heart 
 and clioking sobs, to gaze on the faces of the recovered 
 corpses, and claim their dead. 
 
 A little church stands on the bleak coast of Anglesea, 
 not much more than a mile from the scene of the wreck. 
 To this the bodies were conveyed as they were washed 
 ashore, and laid side by side, in their wet and torn gar- 
 ments, on the stone floor. It was a ghastly spectacle, the 
 interior of that church. During those terrible weeks, a 
 silent sermon was preached there such as is seldom ad- 
 dressed to man. In one place lay the body of a stout sea- 
 
WRECK OF THE EOYAL CHARTER. 333 
 
 man, with the countenance flushed, as if still in life, and an 
 expression of pain fixed upon it. Close to it lay the form 
 of a woman, and beside her that of a little child. In 
 another spot lay the remains of a man, so mangled as to 
 be scarcely recognisable ; and, not far from him, one whose 
 countenance had been completely torn off. Some were 
 contorted, as if they had died in agony; others lay with a 
 peaceful expression, as if they had fallen asleep. But 
 there they all lay in awful silence the lady and the ser- 
 vant maid, the little child and the full-grown man, the 
 passenger and the seaman, the muscular and the feeble ; 
 some in the* full glare of light that fell upon the pavement of 
 the centre aisle, others in the shadow of the pews, and -some 
 in gloomy corners of the church. Yet those who went there to 
 search for relations were, for the most part, but little affected 
 -by the fearful sight. Intense anxiety and fear lest they 
 should behold among them the well-remembered faces, 
 absorbed all other emotions. The hurried, nervous glance, the 
 gleam of hope as one after another of these ghastly faces 
 passed under review, and the countenance sought for was not 
 recognised; and the frequent groan of agony, the shriek of 
 despair that resounded within those walls these things 
 will long dwell in the memory of those who witnessed 
 them, and especially in the memory of that good man, the 
 Rev. Mr. Hughes, the pastor of Llariallgo church, who, 
 with his humane brother, was so kind and tender to the 
 living, and so painstaking and gentle with the dead, at the 
 time of the wreck of the 'Royal Charter. 
 
334 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 THE Great Eastern steam ship deserves to be regarded as 
 the eighth^ wonder of the world, beyond all question. She 
 is, at present, by far the largest vessel in the world, and is 
 the most magnificent creation of naval architecture that was 
 ever launched upon the sea. 
 
 Whether this monster ship will fully come up to the 
 expectations of her projectors ; whether her vast size will 
 prove an advantage or a disadvantage; or whether her 
 career will show to man that there is a limit to the dimen- 
 sions of his structures, beyond which it is vain to attempt 
 to pass, remains yet to be seen. Hitherto, the Great 
 Eastern has been attended with under the circumstances 
 a fair measure of success. She has crossed the Atlantic 
 and returned to us in safety several times ; and she has 
 weathered, both in and out of harbour, some of the severest 
 storms that ever blew. 
 
 The substance of the following account of this interest- 
 ing ship has been gathered principally from the Times, the 
 Illustrated London News, and from a pamphlet sold on 
 board, by permission of the proprietors. 
 
 The Great Eastern was intended for the Indian and 
 Australian route by the Cape of Good Hope. The result 
 of large experience in steam navigation has proved that the 
 size of the ship (when steam is used) must be in proportion 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 335 
 
 to the length of the voyage. Mr. Brunei, the talented en- 
 gineer to whose genius and perseverance this monster ship 
 owes her existence, acting on this principle, calculated that 
 the voyage to Australia and back being 22,500 miles a 
 vessel of 22,500 tons burden (or a ton burden for every 
 mile to be steamed), would require to be built capable of 
 carrying fuel for the entire voyage; it being impossible, 
 without incurring enormous expense, to procure coal for 
 such a vessel at intermediate ports. 
 
 The Eastern Steam Navigation Company undertook the 
 Herculean work; the total cost of construction was esti- 
 mated at 804,522 ; Mr. Brunei prepared the designs ; a 
 spot of ground was chosen on the banks of the Thames, in 
 the building yard of the company at Millwall, and the 
 building was commenced, on the lines laid down by Mr. 
 Scott Russell, on the 1st of May 1854. 
 
 Every minute detail of the arrangements and building of 
 this wonder of the world is fraught with interest. The 
 mere preparing of the ground to receive her enormous 
 weight was calculated to fill the minds of men with aston- 
 ishment. Her supports and scaffoldings, and the machinery 
 by which she was ultimately launched, taxed the skill of 
 her engineers even more than her construction. A very 
 town of workshops, foundries, and forges, sprang into being 
 round her hull, and as this rose, foot by foot, in all its 
 gigantic proportions, the surrounding edifices dwindled 
 down into insignificance, and the busy population of artifi- 
 cers clustered upon her like ants upon a prostrate monarch 
 of the forest trees. 
 
 The hull of the Great Eastern is built entirely of iron, 
 and is 680 feet in length, 83 feet in breadth, and 60 feet in 
 height, from keel to deck. It is divided transversely into 
 
336 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 ten separate compartments of 60 feet each, rendered per- 
 fectly water-tight by bulkheads, having no openings what- 
 ever lower than the second deck; whilst two longitudinal 
 walls of iron, 36 feet apart, traverse 350 feet of the length 
 of the ship. 
 
 The mind will be better able to realize the magnitude of 
 these dimensions, if we add that the Great Eastern is six 
 times the size of the Duke of Wellington line-of -battle ship, 
 that her length is more than three times the height of the 
 Monument, while her breadth is equal to the width of Pall 
 Mall, and a promenade round the deck affords a walk of 
 more than a quarter of a mile. 
 
 There is no keel properly so called, but in its place a flat 
 keel-plate of iron, about two feet wide and one inch thick, 
 which runs the entire length from stem to stern. This is 
 the base upon which all the rest is reared, plates and 
 girders alike. The iron plates which form her planking 
 are three-quarters of an inch thick. Up to the water-mark, 
 the hull is constructed with an inner and outer skin, two 
 feet ten inches apart, both skins being made of three-quarter 
 inch plates, except at the bottom, where the plates are an 
 inch thick; and between these, at intervals of six feet, run 
 horizontal webs of iron plates, which bind the two skins to- 
 gether, and thus it may be said that the lower part of the 
 hull is two feet ten inches thick. 
 
 This mode of construction adds materially to the safety 
 of the vessel; for, in the event of a collision at sea, the 
 outer skin might be pierced, while the inner might remain 
 intact. This space may also at any time be filled with 
 water, and thus ballast, to the amount of 2500 tons, be 
 obtained. 
 
 Some idea of the magnitude and weight of the vessel 
 
THE GKEAT EASTERN. 337 
 
 may be formed from the fact, that each iron plate weighs 
 about the third of a ton; and is fastened with a hundred iron 
 rivets. About thirty thousand of these plates have been 
 used in her construction, and three million rivets. The 
 fastening of these rivets was one among the many curious 
 operations performed in course of building. The riveting 
 men were arranged in gangs, each gang consisting of two 
 riveters, one holder-up, and three boys. Two boys were 
 stationed at the fire or portable forge, and one with the 
 holder-up. This boy's duty was to receive the red-hot 
 rivet with his pincers from the boy at the forge, and insert 
 it in the hole destined for its reception, the point protrud- 
 ing about an inch. The holder-up immediately placed his 
 heavy hammer against the head of the rivet and held it 
 firmly there, while the two riveters assailed it in front with 
 alternate blows, until the countersunk part of the hole was 
 filled up, after which the protruding head was cut off 
 smooth with the plate ; the whole operation scarce occupy- 
 ing a minute. In riveting the double part of the ship, 
 the holder-up and his boy were necessarily in the in- 
 terior part of the tubes, and passed the whole day in the 
 narrow space between (of two feet ten inches wide) in 
 comparative darkness, having only the glimmer afforded 
 by a single dip candle, and being immediately under the 
 deafening blows of the riveters. 
 
 The deck of the Great Eastern is double, or cellular, after 
 the plan of the Britannia Tubular Bridge. The upper deck 
 runs flush and clear from stem to stern, and he who takes 
 four turns up and down it from stein to stern walks upwards 
 of a mile. The strength of this deck is so enormous that, 
 if the ship were taken up by its two extremities with all its 
 cargo, passengers, coals, and provisions on board, it would 
 
338 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 sustain the whole. The deck has been covered with teak 
 planking, and has been planed and scrubbed to man-of-war 
 whiteness. Not even a stray rope's end breaks the wonder- 
 ful effect produced by its immense expanse. Her fleet of 
 small boats (which are about the size of sailing cutters) hang 
 at the davits, ten on each side. There are six masts and five 
 funnels. The three centre square-rigged masts are of iron. 
 They were made by Mr. Finch of Chepstow, and are the 
 finest specimens of masts of the kind that were ever manu- 
 factured. Each is made of hollow-wrought iron in eight-feet 
 lengths, strengthened inside by diaphragms of the same 
 material. Between the joints, as they were bolted together, 
 was placed a pad of vulcanized india-rubber, which gives a 
 spring and bouyancy to the whole spar greater than wood, 
 while at the same time it retains all the strength of the 
 iron. The other masts are made of wood, and the canvas 
 that can be spread is no less than 6500 square yards. On 
 deck are four small steam winches or engines, each of which 
 works a pair of cranes on both sides of the vessel ; and with 
 these 5000 tons of coals can be hoisted into the vessel in 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 The engines and boilers are qf immense power and magni- 
 tude. There are both screw and paddle engines, the former 
 being capable of working up to 6500 horse power, the latter 
 to 5000 ; and the speed which has yet be'en attained is 
 about 18 miles an hour, but it is expected that she will go 
 much faster, and accomplish the voyage between England 
 and Australia in from 33 to 36 days. There are 10 boilers 
 and 112 furnaces. The paddle engines, which were made 
 by Messrs. Scott, Russell, and Co., stand nearly 40 feet 
 high. Each cylinder weighs about 28 tons, and each 
 paddle-wheel is 58 feet in diameter, or considerably larger 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 339 
 
 than the ring in Astley's Circus. The screw engines were 
 manufactured by Messrs. Watt and Co. of Birmingham. 
 They consist of four cylinders of 84 inches diameter, and 4 
 feet stroke. The screw propeller is 24 feet in diameter and 
 37 feet pitch ; and the engine shaft is 160 feet long, or 12 
 feet longer than the height of the Duke of York's column. 
 The paddles and screw, when working together at their 
 highest pitch, will exert a force equal to 11,500 horse 
 power, which is sufficient to drive all the cotton mills in 
 Manchester! The consumption of coal to produce this 
 force is estimated at about 250 tons per day. Besides 
 these engines there are also several auxiliary engines for 
 pumping water into the boilers, &c. 
 
 The passenger accommodation in the Great Eastern is very 
 extensive, namely, 800 first-class, from 2000 to 4000 
 second-class, and about 1200 third-class passengers; or if 
 troops alone were taken, it could accommodate 10,000 men. 
 
 The saloons are fitted up in the most elaborate and 
 costly manner. The chief saloon is magnificently furnished. 
 It is said that the mirrors, gilding, carpeting, and silk 
 curtains for this apartment alone cost .3000. In the 
 berths, of course, no attempt is made at costly decoration 
 of this kind, though the fittings are good and sufficiently 
 luxurious. The berths are arranged in three classes, those 
 for parties of six or eight, and these are large rooms those for 
 parties of four; and the rest in the usual style of double 
 cabins. All are very roomy as cabins go very lofty, well 
 lit, and those on the outer sides exceedingly well ventilated. 
 On the lower deck the berths are even larger, loftier, and 
 more commodious than those on the upper. Both the 
 berths and saloons here are in fact almost unnecessarily 
 high, having very nearly! 5 feet in the clear. The kitchens, 
 
 22 
 
340 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 pantries, and sculleries are all on the same extensive scale, 
 and fitted with all the large culinary requisites of first-class 
 hotels. The ice-house holds upwards of 100 tons of ice; 
 and the lofty wine vaults for such, in fact, they are 
 contain wine enough to form a good freight for an Oporto 
 trader. 
 
 Miscellanea. In addition to the boats of the Great Eastern 
 (twenty in number), she carries two small screw steamers, 
 each 100 feet long, 16 feet broad, 120 tons burden, and 40 
 horse power, suspended aft of the paddle-poxes. These 
 are raised and lowered by the auxiliary engines above 
 referred to, and will be used for embarking and landing 
 passengers. 
 
 As the captain's voice could not be heard half way 
 to the bow, even with the aid of the ancient speaking- 
 trumpet, that instrument is supplanted by semaphore signals 
 by day, and coloured lamps by night ; the electric telegraph 
 is also used in connection with the engine-rooms. There 
 are ten anchors, four of them being Trotman's patent, 
 weighing seven tons each. The cables are each 400 fathoms 
 long, and their united weight is 100 tons. The tonnage of 
 the Great Eastern is 18,500 register, and 22,500 tons 
 builders 1 measurement. The Crew at first consisted of 13 
 officers, 17 engineers, a sailing master, and a purser, 400 
 men, and two or three surgeons, all under the command of 
 the late Captain W. Harrison (formerly of the Cunard's line). 
 
 The launch of this leviathan was a most formidable un- 
 dertaking, and was accomplished by means of powerful 
 hydraulic rams which propelled the vessel down the launch- 
 ing " ways." The ship rested on two gigantic cradles, and 
 was forced sidewise down the inclined plane, until she 
 floated on the river. By a complication of ingenious con- 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 341 
 
 trivances the great ship was regulated in her descent so as 
 to proceed slowly and regularly down the ways. Several 
 unsuccessful attempts were made to launch her, and several 
 of the hydraulic rams broke down ere she floated on the 
 bosom of Old Father Thames, and the cost of this operation 
 alone is said to have been nearly 100,000. 
 
 The trial of the engines, both screw and paddle, took 
 place for the first time on the 8th of August, 1859, when 
 the completion of the vessel was celebrated by a banquet 
 on board. The first movement of the gigantic cranks and 
 cylinders of the paddle engines was made precisely at half- 
 past one, when the great masses slowly rose and fell as 
 noiselessly as the engines of a Greenwich boat, but exert- 
 ing in their revolutions what seemed to be an almost 
 irresistible power. There was no noise, no vibration, nor 
 the slightest sign of heating, and the tremendous frame of 
 ironwork sprang at once into life and motion, with as much 
 ease as if every rod and crank had been worked for the 
 last ten years. 
 
 The trial trip of the Great Eastern was an event that 
 excited intense interest all over the kingdom. For the 
 first time, she cast off her moorings on Wednesday morning 
 (the 7th September), and reached the Nore on Thursday, 
 where she anchored for the night before proceeding to sea. 
 * On Friday morning, at ten minutes past nine, she started 
 on her first salt-water voyage. A conviction of the extreme 
 steadiness of the vessel must speedily have seized every one 
 on board. There was no perceptible motion of any kind. 
 The giant ship was speedily surrounded by yachts, tugs, 
 fishing smacks, and, indeed, by a representative of almost 
 every kind of vessel which is prevalent at the Nore. 
 These accompanied her as far on her way as their limited 
 
342 THE GEEAT EASTEEN. 
 
 sailing powers would permit. Although there were sharp 
 squalls and a chopping sea nearly all through the trip, not 
 the slightest inconvenience was felt by any of the visitors, 
 not even among the fairer portion of the passengers. The 
 morning, which was rather fine at starting, suddenly became 
 clouded, and the shifting squalls increased in violence. 
 Though the squally state of the weather damped the 
 pleasure of all on board, yet it afforded an opportunity of 
 trying the properties of the ship, now under paddle as well 
 as screw ; and it was the wish of Mr. Scott Eusselt and all 
 on board to meet a good gale of wind. At a moderate 
 computation, the distance from the deck to the water could 
 not be much less than 40 feet, while the vessel is nearly 
 700 feet long. This area would, of course, present an 
 enormous surface to the force of the wind, and formed the 
 subject, of considerable discussion as to the effect it would 
 have on her sea-going qualities. The ship was as stiff and 
 steady as though she still remained on her cradles in the 
 Isle of Dogs, and her course was as calm and true as though 
 . she were on a lake without a capful of wind. 
 
 It is said that at one portion of the voyage she steamed 
 1 9 miles an hour. 
 
 The explosion. All went well till the ship had passed 
 Folkstone. About half-past five o'clock, while the majority 
 of the passengers w r ere on deck, and a few gentlemen only 
 remained in the dining saloon, a tremendous explosion 
 occurred, and in an instant showers of broken glass, and 
 fragments of wood and iron, came crashing through the sky- 
 light. Those in the cabin rushed on deck. The ship was 
 still pressing onward ; at either end all was still and deserted, 
 while in the centre all was smoke, fire, vapour, and confu- 
 sion. The great funnel, of eight tons weight, had been shot 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 343 
 
 up as if from a mortar, and fell on the deck broken in two 
 pieces. The whole centre of the ship seemed to be only 
 one vast chasm, and from it was belching up steam, dust, 
 and something that looked like incipient conflagration. 
 Captain Harrison acted nobly on this terrible occasion. 
 He had been standing on the bridge overhead, looking into 
 the binnacle, and the moment he heard the report, and 
 whilst the destructive showerwas still falling fast, he jumped 
 upon the deck, and ordered an immediate descent to the 
 ladies' saloon, in the firm conviction that they were all there 
 as on the previous evening. But many of the men were 
 panic-stricken, and had already shrunk away from the 
 explosion. A foolish passenger had raised a cry of " The 
 boats," and, assisted by some of the sailors, was madly 
 attempting to let them down. In one moment all would 
 have been lost, for the rush to the boats would have been 
 general, and hundreds would have been drowned, whilst the 
 noble ship would have been left to certain destruction. But 
 the voice of the captain was heard like a trumpet, calling 
 out, " Men, to your duty; officers, to your posts; give me 
 a rope, and let six men follow me!" The effect of this 
 short address was electric. In an instant he had slid down 
 the rope into the saloon, followed by his brave boatswain 
 Hawkins, and six volunteers were not long wanted for the 
 forlorn hope. One after another he dashed open the gilded 
 panels, but the splendid apartment had, strange to say, only 
 two inhabitants, his little daughter Edith, and her pet dog. 
 It was the reward of his gallantry that his own child should 
 be thus the one to be so providentially saved. But even 
 then he did not for a moment lose his self-command. 
 Snatching up the child, and with one glance seeing she was 
 unharmed, he exclaimed, "Pass her along to the deck, 
 
34:4 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 there are more rooms to be searched." In this way did he 
 move about rapidly, but coolly, and did not again return to 
 the deck until he had satisfied himself that not a single 
 woman was in the burning, steaming, suffocating chamber. 
 His intimate friend, Mr. Trotman, who had followed him 
 down almost immediately, found the poor lap-dog moaning 
 under a heap of ruins, and was the means of restoring it to 
 its little mistress. 
 
 The magnificent saloon was a mass of torn and shattered 
 furniture, mirrors, and ^ornaments. Had the passengers 
 adjourned to this apartment after dinner, instead of to the 
 deck, the consequences would have been awful. 
 
 An eye-witness describes the scene of devastation as 
 follows : - 
 
 " The mirrors which formed the covering of the funnel 
 which had been the cause of so much mischief were literally 
 smashed to atoms, and large fragments of the broken glass 
 were hurled upon deck, a long distance aft of the paddle- 
 wheels. The ornamental bronzed columns which supported 
 the gilt cornices and elaborate ornamentation were either 
 struck down or bent into the most fantastic shapes ; the 
 flooring, consisting of three-inch planks, was upheaved in 
 several places ; the gangways leading to the sleeping cabins 
 at the sides were shot away; the hand-rails were gone, and 
 the elegant carpet concealed beneath a chaos of fragments 
 of finery. The books on the shelves of the library remained 
 unmoved, the piano was thrown on one side, and the floor 
 presented huge upheaved and rent chasms, through which 
 might be seen the still greater ruin in the lower cabin. 
 Below the saloon, or drawing-room, is the saloon of the 
 lower deck, which was, of course, traversed by the same 
 funnel as the one above it. On each side of these spacious 
 
THE GEEAT EASTEEN. 345 
 
 saloons were small staircases leading to blocks of sleeping 
 cabins, scarcely one of which would have been without its 
 two or more occupants a few hours later in the evening, 
 They were now blown down like a house of cards. The 
 furniture which they contained formed heaps of dislocated 
 chairs, and wash-stands, and basins ; the doors were off their 
 hinges, the partitions were forced outward, the staircases 
 leading to them had to be sought in the splinters and broken 
 wood which lay in heaps in the lower saloon." 
 
 The unhappy men who were working in the stoke-holes 
 and tending the furnaces were the sufferers by this cata- 
 strophe. Believing that one of the boilers had exploded, 
 fears were entertained that the whole body of stokers and 
 engineers attending the paddle engines were killed. Mr. 
 Trotman went down the air-shaft communicating with the 
 other boilers. Seeing by the light of the furnace a number 
 of men moving about, he inquired if they were all right, 
 and the response sent up from these lowest depths of the 
 ship was, " All right at present, but we don't know how 
 long." They were told to keep quiet, and stay where 
 they were ; that they could be of no service on deck, and 
 all would be well in a few minutes. The gallant fellows 
 remained by their fiery furnaces with resolute goodwill. 
 In the case of the firemen tending the other set of boilers a 
 very different scene was taking place. Hopes were thrown 
 down, and one by one, wounded, bleeding, and staggering 
 men were drawn up, their black, begrimed faces forming a 
 ghastly contrast with scalded portions of their limbs and 
 bodies. The men were taken aft to the hospital, and to the 
 cabins, where mattresses and blankets were laid for them. 
 
 Two or three of these poor fellows walked up to the deck 
 almost, if not quite, unassisted. Their aspect told its own 
 
346 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 tale, and none who had ever seen blown-up men before 
 could fail to know at a glance that some had only two or 
 three hours to live. Where not grimed by the -smoke or 
 ashes, the peculiar bright, soft whiteness of the face, hands, 
 or breast, told at once that the skin, though unbroken, had 
 in fact been boiled by the steam. One man walked along, 
 and seemed quite unconscious that the flesh of his thighs 
 (most probably by the ashes from the furnace) was burnt in 
 deep holes. To some one who came to his assistance he 
 said quietly, " I am all right. There are others worse than 
 me ; go and look after them." This poor man was the 
 first to die. It was seen at once that but little hope existed 
 for many, if not the majority of the sufferers, who were 
 twelve in number. Most of them seemed very restless and 
 almost, if not quite, delirious ; but a few of those whose 
 injuries were likely to be more immediately fatal remained 
 quiet, half unconscious, or at most only asking to be 
 covered up, as if they felt the cold. For these latter all 
 knew that nothing whatever could be done, as, in fact, 
 they were then dying. 
 
 The explosion had occurred in the double casing round 
 the bottom of one of the funnels. We have not space to 
 describe this minutely, and by the general reader the de- 
 scription, were it given, would scarce be understood ; but it 
 is well to remark that the piece of machinery which caused 
 the deplorable accident had been previously condemned in 
 strong terms by competent judges, and there is no doubt 
 that the hot-water casing round the funnel ought never to 
 have been there. 
 
 After the catastrophe the Great Eastern kept on her 
 course as though nothing had happened, although the force 
 of the explosion was sufficient to have sent any other ship 
 
THE GKEAT EASTERN. 347 
 
 to the bottom. The damage is estimated at 5000. She 
 arrived at Portland on the 10th, and remained there for 
 some time undergoing repairs. Afterwards she continued 
 her trial trip to Holy head, where she arrived on the 10th 
 of October. The results of the trial, excepting, of course, 
 the accident, were most satisfactory. Her speed under 
 disadvantageous circumstances had been good, and her 
 engines had worked admirably. Against a gale of head 
 wind she went as steadily as if in harbour, but with the 
 wind a-beam she rolled considerably. Altogether there was 
 good reason to hope that the Great Eastern would fulfil 
 the sanguine expectations of her warmest admirers. 
 
 The following account of the continuation of her trial 
 trip from Portland to Holyhead, as gathered from the 
 Times, is exceedingly interesting : When steam was up 
 and all ready for starting from Portland, the crew were 
 sent forward to heave up the anchor. Eighty men sufficed 
 to drag the Great Eastern* up to and over her moorings. 
 Bringing the anchor out of the ground, however, was not 
 so easily managed; and it was not till all the musical re- 
 sources known to sailors on such occasions were nearly 
 exhausted that the tenacious gripe of Trotman's patent was 
 released, when a slow drift with the tide showed that the 
 great ship was again set free. In- another minute, without 
 shouting, confusion, or hurry of any kind, and with less 
 noise than is made by a 100-ton coaster, a slight vibration 
 through the ship, with a thin line of foam astern, showed 
 that the screw engines were at work and the vessel once 
 more under way. With such ease, with such perfect 
 quietness and good order was everything accomplished, that 
 the occasional cheering from the yachts and steamers was 
 almost the first token given to those on board that the 
 
348 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 trial trip had commenced. At a quarter to four the "way" 
 on the vessel was rapid ; her head went round like turning 
 a pleasure-boat, and so little sign was given of the ship 
 being under steam that it seemed rather as if the break- 
 water had got adrift and was slowly floating past, than that 
 the monster vessel was really cleaving the blue waves with 
 a force which, as yet, we have seen no wind or sea to resist 
 or check. Directly the anchor was fished, Captain Harri- 
 son passed the word to steam ahead with both engines 
 easily, and the wheels began their revolutions, slowly at 
 first, but, nevertheless, making a track of foam upon the 
 water such as they never made on the first start from Dept- 
 ford to the Nore. The accession of speed from working 
 the paddles was at first but slight not from any want of 
 power, however, but simply from the fact that both engines 
 were ordered to work slowly, and though propelling the 
 great ship at something like eleven knots, were really scarcely 
 driving at indicated half-speed. 
 
 Quitting Portland, it was necessary to make rather a 
 round turn on leaving the breakwater, as right ahead on 
 the starboard bow was a small light-ship, looking like the 
 skeleton of a vessel, and marking the presence of a danger- 
 ous shoal, known by the most appropriate and significant 
 name of " The Shambles." Inside this lay a long and tur- 
 bid ridge of angry water, where the race of Portland ran, 
 and where a deep rolling swell, like the Bay of Biscay on a 
 reduced scale, kept tumbling and breaking into spray like 
 drifts of snow against the high, gaunt cliffs. It, however, 
 required no actual watching of the low green mounds of 
 water, which seemed butting against the coast, to convince 
 all on board that the Great Eastern was at sea. To the 
 infinite relief and comfort of all the passengers, the vessel 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 349 
 
 began to yield to reason, and to behave as much like 
 another ship as she could consistently with her size. It 
 would be too much to say she rolled at this time, for when 
 the Great Eastern rolls, if ever she does roll, travellers 
 may depend upon her accomplishing something in that 
 peculiar style of ocean navigation quite in proportion to her 
 bulk ; but one thing is certain that she went from side to 
 side sufficiently to show that she was susceptible of the 
 motion of the water, and that if ever she steams across a 
 beam sea, she is likely to move to it with a will, though 
 slowly and easily. 
 
 Continuing for a considerable time under little more than 
 half steam, the Great Eastern averaged more than thirteen 
 knots (fifteen miles) an hour. The best guide to the rapidity 
 of the ship's progress was the way in which she passed fast- 
 sailing schooners and overhauled the steamers. At this time 
 nearly all the swell had ceased, and the monster ship was 
 rushing over what to her were the mimic waves, and leav- 
 ing less wake upon the waters than is caused in the Thames 
 by a Gravesend boat. The only peculiarity about her pro- 
 gress was the three distinct lines of 'frothy water which her 
 screw and paddles made, and which, stretching out in the 
 clear moonlight like a broad highway, seemed as if the 
 Great Eastern had fulfilled her purpose, and really bridged 
 the sea. 
 
 For a considerable part of the way the paddles were work- 
 ing easily, at from nine to ten, and the screw at from thirty- 
 two to thirty-four revolutions per minute. It will give most 
 readers a better idea of the tremendous nature of the size and 
 speed of the engines which worked so easily when it is said 
 that, at ten revolutions, the paddle-wheels dashed through 
 the water at something like 1600 feet per minute, and the 
 
350 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 screw revolved at 2500. When accomplishing this, the 
 consumption of fuel was at the rate of 250 tons a day for 
 botli engines, the indicated power being above 5000 horses 
 about 2000 horses for the paddles, and a little over 3500 
 for the screw. In order to secure her going at full speed, 
 however, under such circumstances, the great ship should 
 have been down by the stern at least eighteen inches more 
 than she really was, for not less than a foot of the screw- 
 blades was out of the water, and the slip or loss of power 
 was of course very great. Off the coast of Cornwall, the 
 swell caused her to roll very considerably as long as she 
 was a-beam of the long swell. 
 
 Soon after this a small brig was seen right under the 
 starboard bow.. As usual with these small coaster s, jshe was 
 showing no light and keeping -no look-out, and but for the 
 anxious vigilance exercised on board the big ship, the brig 
 would have been under the waves in two minutes more. 
 Her escape was narrow enough, and nothing short of the 
 instant stoppage of the engines and actually reversing the 
 screw saved her from swift destruction. She drifted from 
 under the starboard paddle within twenty yards quite close 
 enough to enable Captain Harrison to speak to her master, 
 and to express a very strong opinion on his style of naviga- 
 tion and conduct generally. 
 
 Towards the close of the trip all the fore arid aft sails 
 were set. The look of her vast spread of canvas and the 
 extraordinary effect it produced as one stood at the wheel- 
 house and gazed beneath the long vista of brown sails 
 stretched to the very utmost, and sending off the wind 
 with the sustained roar of a volcano, was something almost 
 indescribable. No mere description could convey a fair 
 idea of the curious effect of the long unbroken avenue of 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 351 
 
 masts, sails, and funnels, like a whole street of steam- 
 ships, if such a term is fairly applicable. 
 
 The rate of going throughout the whole trip was very 
 satisfactory. Allowing for the want of trim on the part of 
 the vessel, and consequent absence of immersion in both 
 screw and paddles, it was calculated from this data by all 
 the nautical authorities on board, that, in proper condition, 
 the vessel might be depended on for eighteen miles an hour 
 throughout a long voyage, and under steam alone. That, in 
 a strong and favourable breeze she would at times accomplish 
 eighteen knots, or more than twenty-one miles an hour, 
 there was no reason to doubt. 
 
 Among other tests to which the Great Eastern was sub- 
 jected was the terrible storm of the 25th and 26th October. 
 She lay at anchor in the harbour of Holyhead during that 
 storm. So fierce was the gale that a large part of the break- 
 water was destroyed, and several vessels went down inside 
 the harbour, while some were driven on shore. For one hour 
 the big ship was as near destruction as she is ever likely to 
 be. Her salvation, under God, was due to the experience and 
 energy of Captain Harrison and his officers. During the 
 whole gale the captain was on the watch, sounding the lead to 
 see if she dragged, and keeping the steam up to be in readiness 
 to put to sea at a moment's notice. The gale roared and 
 whistled through the rigging with indescribable fury. The 
 captain, in trying to pass along the deck, was thrown down, 
 and his waterproof coat was blown to ribbons. The cabin 
 skylights were thrown open with a fearful crash, the glass 
 broken, and deluges of rain and spray poured into the 
 saloons. Two anchors were down, one seven tons, the other 
 three, with eighty and sixty fathoms of chain respectively ; 
 but the ground was known to be bad and the lee shore 
 
352 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 rocky, while the waves came curling and writhing into the 
 harbour, straining the cables to the utmost, and dashing 
 against the rock;s like avalanches of snow. The dash of 
 these billows on the breakwater was like the roaring of 
 artillery. All this time the red light at the end of the 
 breakwater shone out cheerily in the midst of a turmoil of 
 spray. At last masses of the timber-work and solid 
 masonry gave way. The gale rose to its fiercest, and one 
 huge billow came rolling in ; it towered a hundred feet 
 . above the breakwater ' it fell, and the red light was seen no 
 more. The danger was now imminent. The cables could 
 evidently bear no more, and the gale was increasing ; so the 
 screw was set going, but the wreck of timber from the 
 breakwater fouled it and brought it to a dead lock. Then 
 the wind veered round more to the north-east, sending a 
 tremendous swell into the harbour, and the Great Eastern 
 began to roll heavily. In this extremity the paddle-engines 
 were set going, and the ship was brought up to her anchors, 
 one of which was raised for the purpose of being (Jropped 
 in a better position. At this moment the cable of the other 
 anchor parted, and the great ship drifted swiftly toward 
 what seemed certain destruction ; but the heavy anchor 
 was let go, and the engines turned on full speed. She 
 swung round head to wind, and was brought up. This 
 was the turning-point. The gale slowly abated, and the 
 Great Eastern was saved, while all round her the shores 
 and harbour were strewn with wrecks. 
 
 After the gale the Great Eastern started on her return 
 trip to Southampton, which she reached in safety on the 
 morning of the 3d November. In this, as in her previous 
 experiences, the mighty ship was well tested, and her good 
 and bad points in some degree proved. At the very outset 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 353 
 
 the steam gear for aiding in lifting the anchors broke down, 
 and one of the anchors refusing to let go, was broken in 
 half. The condenser of the paddle engines seems to have 
 been proved too small in this trip. For some time she went 
 against a stiff head-wind and sea which is now well known 
 to be the great ship's forte with perfect steadiness ; but on 
 getting into the channel she rolled slowly but decidedly, as 
 if bowing acknowledging majestically the might of the 
 Atlantic's genuine swell. Here, too, a wave actually over- 
 topped her towering hull, and sent a mass of green water 
 inboard ! But her roll was peculiarly her own, and wonder- 
 fully easy. 
 
 The vessel made eighteen knots an hour, she was under 
 perfect command, even in narrow and intricate channels, 
 and despite her varied mishaps and trials passed through 
 this stormy period of her infancy with credit. 
 
 Disaster to Great Eastern in September 1861. Having 
 made three successful voyages to America, the Great Eastern, 
 after all her troubles, was beginning to establish her repu- 
 tation, to confirm the hopes of her friends and silence the 
 cavils of her enemies, when the bad fortune that has been 
 her portion from the cradle, once more overwhelmed her, and 
 shook, if it did not altogether destroy, the confidence in her 
 capabilities which the public had been beginning tardily to 
 entertain. 
 
 There is nothing more difficult to ascertain than the true 
 state of the case with reference to culpability, accidental 
 circumstance, inherent or incidental weakness, negligence, 
 unavoidable risks, &c., in such a disaster as that which 
 happened to the great ship in September of 1861. And 
 nothing could be more unfair than to pass judgment on her 
 without a full knowledge of the minute particulars, and, 
 
354 THE GREAT EASTERN 
 
 moreover, a pretty fair capacity to understand such details 
 and their various relations. Before proceeding with the 
 narrative of the event referred to, we may remark that while, 
 on the one hand, it may be argued, with great plausibility, 
 that her numerous disasters and misfortunes prove very 
 clearly that she is unfitted for the navigation of the sea, it 
 may, on the other hand, be argued with equal plausibility, that 
 the very fact of her having come through such appalling trials 
 unconquered, though bufletted, is strong presumptive evi- 
 dence that she is eminently fitted for her work, and that, under 
 ordinary circumstances and proper management, she would 
 do it well. It is believed that any other vessel afloat would 
 have been sunk had she been exposed to the same storm 
 under similar circumstances. It must be borne in mind 
 that although other vessels weathered the same storm suc- 
 cessfully, they did not do so with their rudder and rudder- 
 posts gone, their captains and part of their crews new to 
 them, and their chain cables, cabin furniture, and other 
 material, left as totally unsecured as if she had been a river 
 steamer about to start on a few hours' trip. 
 
 We do not pretend to be an apologist for the ship ; but 
 we would deprecate the passing of a hasty judgment on a 
 vessel which may, indeed, come at length to merit our 
 condemnation, but which up to the present time is strictly 
 entitled to our attentive regard and admiration. 
 
 On Tuesday the 10th of September the Great Eastern 
 left Liverpool for America with 400 passengers and a large, 
 though not a full, general cargo. Between 100 and 2 00 of 
 the passengers occupied the berths in the principal cabins, 
 the remainder of them occupied the intermediate and steer- 
 age cabins. 
 
 All went on prosperously until the Thursday, when, as 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 355 
 
 the ship was in full steam and sail, she encountered a terrific 
 gale about 280 miles to the west of Cape Clear, and, in spite 
 of the best seamanship, she failed to ride over the storm, 
 which, with tremendous fury, swept away both her paddles. 
 Simultaneously the top of the rudder-post, a bar of iron 
 ten inches in diameter, was suddenly wrenched off, and her 
 steering gear being also carried away, she broached to and 
 lay like a huge log in the trough of the sea. From Thurs- 
 day evening until two o'clock on Sunday, her bulwarks 
 almost touching the water, she rolled about like a disabled 
 hulk, the passengers and crew expecting that she would 
 every moment go down. The working and rolling of the 
 vessel, at one instant of dread, displaced and destroyed all 
 the furniture of the cabin and saloons, and broke it to pieces, 
 throwing the passengers pell mell about the cabin. Every- 
 thing that occupied the upper deck was washed away, and 
 a large part of the passengers' luggage was destroyed. Be- 
 tween twenty and thirty of those who were on board, includ- 
 ing several ladies, had limbs and ribs fractured, with numerous 
 cuts and bruises. One of the cow sheds, with two cows in it, was 
 washed into the ladies' cabin, together with other things on 
 board, and caused indescribable consternation and confusion. 
 
 On Sunday evening, after two days of terrible suspense, 
 a temporary steering gear was fitted up, and the disabled 
 vessel with her distressed crew made for Cork harbour, 
 steaming with her screw at nine knots an hour. Her flag 
 of distress was sighted at about three o'clock in the after- 
 noon of Tuesday, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and H.M. 
 ship Advice at once steamed out to her assistance and towed 
 her to within a mile of the lighthouse off Cork Harbour by 
 about nine o'clock. 
 
 Such is a general outline of this disaster one which is 
 23 
 
356 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 rendered all the more remarkable from the circumstance that 
 the vessel had only been recently surveyed by the officers of 
 the marine department of the Board of Trade, when new 
 decks and other requirements were carried out and com- 
 pleted at a cost of 15,000. 
 
 The scene in the, grand saloon, as described in detail by 
 various passengers, was absolutely terrific. None of the 
 furniture had been secured, and when the gale became 
 violent and the rolling of the vessel increased, sideboards, 
 tables, chairs, stools, crockery, sofas, and passengers were 
 hurled with fearful violence from side to side in a pro- 
 miscuous heap. When it is said that at each roll the top 
 platform of the paddle-boxes dipped into the sea, any one 
 who has seen the towering sides of the Great Eastern may 
 form some conception of the angle of the decks, and the riot 
 of unfastened articles that continued below during the 
 greater part of the gale. The destruction was universal. The 
 largest mirror in the grand saloon, which was about twelve 
 feet high, was smashed to pieces by a gentleman going head 
 foremost into it. Although much bruised and cut, strange 
 to say he was not seriously injured. The chandeliers fell 
 from the ceiling and the crashes they made in falling added 
 to the general din. One of the other mirrors was smashed 
 by a large stove. Some of the passengers escaping from 
 the dining-room were dashed against the iron balconies 
 which gave way with the pressure, and falling on the glass 
 flooring at the sides dashed it to atoms. The noise and 
 turmoil of destruction below, together with the howling of 
 the tempest above and the dashing of spray over the decks 
 whence it flowed in copious streams down into the cabins, 
 formed a scene which cannot be fully conceived except by 
 those who witnessed it. 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 357 
 
 On deck the confusion was equally great and destructive. 
 Many of the boats were carried away ; the great chain cables 
 rolled from side to side until they were actually polished 
 bright by the friction, while they were a source of perpe- 
 tual danger to the crew in the performance of their duties. 
 The oil tanks broke loose, and after tumbling about for a 
 time fell down through the upper hatchway. And the two 
 cows that fell with their cowshed down into the ladies' cabin 
 were killed by the violence of the shock. The chief cook 
 was flung against one of the paddle-boxes, and having put 
 out his hand to save himself, had his wrist sprained. He 
 was then flung towards the other side, and coming against 
 a stanchion in the way, had his leg fractured in three places. 
 One lady had a rib fractured ; another her shoulder dislo- 
 cated ; another her wrist. These are only specimens selected 
 to show what the poor people were subjected to. It is said 
 that there were twenty-two fractures altogether, among pas- 
 sengers and crew, besides innumerable cuts and bruises. 
 The cabins were flooded to the depth of several feet, and 
 broken articles of furniture floated about everywhere. The 
 luggage in the luggage room, which had not been secured, 
 was hurled about until trunks, boxes, valises, &c., striking 
 against each other and against the sides of the compartment, 
 were utterly destroyed, the very leather of the trunks 
 being torn into small shreds. 
 
 Throughout all this terrible scene the passengers behaved, 
 with one or two exceptions, admirably. The ladies espe- 
 cially displayed great courage, remaining in accordance with 
 the desires intimated to them, in their cabins, while the 
 gentlemen did their best to keep order. On the Friday they 
 appointed a sort of committee or police force, of upwards of 
 twenty strong, who took the duty in turns of going round 
 
358 THE GREAT EASTERN. 
 
 the vessel, keeping order, carrying information to, and re- 
 assuring, the ladies and children. Four only of these, who 
 were called directors, had the privilege of speaking to the 
 captain during the storm, thus saving him from the annoy- 
 ance of repeated and ceaseless questioning. 
 
 The crew also did their duty nobly. Captain Walker 
 acted throughout with calmness, courage, and good judg- 
 ment, and from the tenor of resolutions passed at an indig- 
 nation meeting held by the passengers after their return into 
 port, it would appear that they entirely exonerated him from 
 any blame in reference to the disaster. The fitting up of 
 temporary steering gear, which was begun on the Sunday 
 when the storm moderated, was a work of great difficulty 
 and danger. It was accomplished chiefly through the cour- 
 age and cleverness of two men, John Carroll and Patrick 
 Grant, who volunteered for it and were let down over the 
 stern at the imminent risk of their lives ; and an American 
 gentleman, Mr. Towle, a civil engineer, rendered great 
 assistance in superintending and directing the work. 
 
 It was not until two o'clock on Sunday morning that 
 the vessel got up steam in her screw boilers and steered for 
 Cork Harbour. The whole of the iron work of both paddle 
 wheels was carried entirely away. The ladder leading up 
 to the larboard paddle-box was twisted in an extraordi- 
 nary manner. The boats on the starboard side were all 
 gone, and those on the other side were hanging loosely from 
 their fastenings. Altogether the great ship presented a 
 most melancholy spectacle as she was towed into port. 
 
 At the meeting of the passengers already referred to, the 
 first resolution was expressive of their grateful acknowledg- 
 ments to Almighty God for his kind care in protecting them 
 during the storm, and bringing them in safety out of 
 
THE GREAT EASTERN. 359 
 
 their danger. The second condemned the directors, and 
 stated that " The Great Eastern was sent to sea thoroughly 
 unprepared to face the storms which every one must ex- 
 pect to meet with in crossing the Atlantic ; and that, if it 
 had not been for the extraordinary strength of the hull, and 
 the skill which was manifested in the construction of the 
 vessel and its engines, in all human probability every soul 
 on board would have perished." 
 
 It has been said that if the ship had been more deeply 
 laden she would have weathered the gale more easily. This, 
 if true, is an argument in her favour. But in viewing the 
 whole circumstances of this and previous disasters, and, 
 indeed, the vessel's career from the launch to the present 
 day we cannot avoid being deeply impressed with the fact 
 that the Great Eastern has not yet had fair play. In her 
 construction and general arrangements there have been some 
 grave, and numerous more or less trivial errors. From first to 
 last there has been a little pardonable, and a great deal of 
 culpable, not to say gross, mismanagement; but the Great 
 Eastern steam ship cannot yet, with justice, be pronounced 
 a failure. It is possible that she may yet live to ride out 
 many a wild Atlantic storm, and perchance become who 
 knows ] the first of a race of ponderous giants who shall 
 yet walk the deep, to the utter confusion of timid croakers, 
 and to the immense advantage of the world. 
 
360 
 
 DANGERS IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 
 
 SHIP EMBEDDED IN ICEBERGS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DANGERS IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 
 
 THE mysteries and the wonders of the polar regions were 
 first made known to us by those adventurous mariners whose 
 chief pursuit was the capture of the whale ; and the people 
 who first prosecuted the whale-fishery as a commercial pur- 
 suit were undoubtedly the Frenchmen who dwelt on the 
 shores of the Bay of Biscay in the twelfth century. 
 
 Those Frenchmen of the middle ages, however, attacked 
 only such whales as frequented their own seas ; the English 
 and the Dutch were the first who followed that finned giant 
 called the " true whale " to his own peculiarly loved haunts 
 hi the frozen seas of the north, and there, amid perils such 
 
DANGERS FROM ICE. 361 
 
 as other navigators had not even dreamed of, attacked and 
 captured so many fish that the trade soon became, and has 
 ever since continued, extremely lucrative. 
 
 It is not our purpose to record the history of the whale 
 fishery. Passing from this preliminary reference to its com- 
 mencement, we proceed to give a few anecdotes illustrative 
 of the peculiar dangers to which those mariners are exposed 
 who push their ships into the Northern Seas. The sub- 
 stance of the following paragraphs is gathered from an inte- 
 resting account of the northern whale fishery in the well- 
 known work entitled, " Polar Seas and Regions." 
 
 DANGERS FROM ICE. 
 
 A furious storm assailed one of the whale ships, which 
 belonged to the Dutch, when near the edge of the Spitz- 
 bergen ice in the year 1 639. Though the ship was violently 
 agitated, the captain succeeded in steering her clear of the 
 great bank and thought himself out of danger, when suddenly 
 two immense icebergs appeared before him right in the 
 course in which the wind was driving his vessel. An attempt 
 was made to penetrate between the bergs, but the vessel 
 was driven against one with a shock so terrible that it was 
 immediately disabled and seemed about to sink. 
 
 By cutting away one of the masts, she was enabled to right ; 
 but as she continued to take in water rapidly, several of the 
 boats were launched. These being instantly overcrowded, 
 sank, and all in them perished. Those who remained found 
 their condition becoming more and more desperate. The 
 fore part of the vessel sauk so deep in the water that it be- 
 came almost impossible to stand on deck ; while one of the 
 masts broke, fell into the sea, and carried a number of the 
 crew along with it, involving them in the fate of those who 
 
362 
 
 DANGERS FROM ICE. 
 
 had gone before. At length the stern separated from the 
 rest of the ship, and here again several men were lost. The 
 
 SHIP BKTWRRX TWO ICEBERGS. 
 
 survivors still adhered to the shattered wreck, but one after 
 another was washed off by the fury of the waves ; half 
 dead with cold, and unable to retain their grasp of the 
 ropes and bulwarks, they dropped into the sea. The crew 
 
DANGERS FROM ICE. 363 
 
 of eighty-six was thus speedily reduced to twenty-nine, 
 when the ship suddenly changed its position, and assumed 
 one in which they could more easily keep their footing- on 
 board. Soon after this the sea calmed, and during the re- 
 spite thus afforded some of the wretched men experienced 
 an irresistible tendency to sleep to some who gave way it 
 proved the fatal sleep of extreme cold from which they never 
 awoke. One man suggested the construction of a raft, which 
 was accordingly framed with much difficulty, and contrary 
 to the captain's advice. Happily no sooner was it launched 
 than the waves swallowed it up. The remnant of the vessel 
 encountered next night another severe gale ; and the suffer- 
 ings of the crew from cold, and hunger, and burning thirst 
 were so extreme that death in every form seemed now to 
 have encompassed them. In the morning, however, a sail 
 was descried ; their signals were understood, and twenty 
 survivors were, after two days and two nights of extreme 
 suffering and danger, restored to safety. 
 
 The wreck of the Bleacher, in 1670, is another instance of 
 the dangers encountered among the ice by whale ships. 
 This vessel, commanded by Captain Pit was during a gale 
 driven against the ice with such violence that all her rigging 
 was instantly dashed to pieces. Soon after the catastrophe 
 twenty-nine of the crew quitted the ship, and leaping 
 by the help of poles from one fragment of ice to another, 
 contrived to reach the main field. The captain, with seven 
 men, remained on board and endeavoured to open a passage ; 
 but the ship soon struck again, when they were obliged to 
 get into a boat and forsake her. The snow fell so fast and 
 thick at first that they could scarcely see each other, but 
 the weather cleared soon after, and they descried their com- 
 rades on the ice, who threw a whale line to them and dragged 
 
364 DANGERS FROM ICE. 
 
 them to the same spot. Here they waited twelve hours, 
 and then took to their boats and were most providentially 
 saved, soon after, by a Dutch vessel. 
 
 Many hundreds of whale ships have been destroyed by 
 the ice in every possible variety of manner, and many thou- 
 sands of lives have been sacrificed, since the fishery began. 
 Sometimes they are lost in the midst of furious storms ; 
 sometimes in beautiful calm weather by the closing of 
 the ice and the crushing in of their sides. This latter 
 disaster is called "nipping," and very few ships return 
 from the polar seas without bearing the marks of having 
 been nipped more or less severely. 
 
 A vessel was lying becalmed in the ice on one occasion. 
 The captain was pacing the deck, when the steward sum- 
 moned him to breakfast. He glanced round on the ice- 
 laden sea before going down. All was calm, bright, and 
 peaceful. The ship lay in a narrow channel of water be- 
 tween two immense fields of ice. Seeing nothing to alarm 
 him the captain descended to the cabin, but five minutes 
 -had not elapsed when the ice closed gradually in so gently 
 as to be scarcely perceptible ; but when the edges of the 
 two vast fields touched the ship she was crushed together 
 like an egg shell. The crew had barely time to rush on 
 deck and leap out on the ice when the fields quietly sepa- 
 rated, and the vessel sank between them. The whole thing 
 was done in little more than ten minutes, and the crew were 
 left without food on the floating ice. Fortunately another 
 vessel was near and picked them up. 
 
 Something similar to this happened to the Breadalbane 
 transport, a small vessel sent out in connection with one of 
 the recent Franklin searching expeditions. The men had 
 just time to leap upon the ice when her timber and beams 
 
THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 365 
 
 were crushed together " as one would crush a box of lucifer 
 matches in one's hand." 
 
 THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 
 
 Great though the perils encountered in the ice by whalers 
 undoubtedly are, they are not equal to the risk run during 
 the encounters with whales. 
 
 The whale is immensely powerful, and were it aware of 
 its own strength man would not dare to attack it ; but the 
 Creator has seen fit to bestow upon the northern whale a 
 timid and gentle disposition, so that it rather flies from, 
 than courts attack. The sperm whale of the Southern Seas 
 is much fiercer hence the South Sea whale fishery is much 
 more dangerous. 
 
 Sometimes, however, the northern whale exerts his ut- 
 most force in violent and convulsive struggles, and every- 
 thing that comes into contact with him when thus enraged 
 is destroyed in an instant. 
 
 One day, in the year 1807, the elder Mr. Scoresby was 
 engaged in attacking a whale. The fish had been struck 
 with a harpoon and had dived ; soon it reappeared on the 
 surface, but in such a violent state of agitation that they 
 dared not for some time approach to throw a second har- 
 poon. Mr. Scoresby courageously undertook to attack it 
 in a boat alone, and was fortunate enough to strike another 
 harpoon into it. Meanwhile the first boat had approached 
 too close. The agonized whale brandished its tail in the 
 air, and brought it down just over the bow on which the 
 harpooneer was standing. The man had presence of mind 
 enough to dive into the sea and scarcely had he done so 
 when the tail came down like a thunder clap on the spot 
 lie had left and cut the boat entirely asunder. Happily 
 
366 THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 
 
 all the others escaped injury and were picked up by another 
 boat. The harpooneer returned to the surface, also unhurt. 
 
 When a whale is harpooned it usually darts away with 
 incredible speed, dragging the line after it with such velo- 
 city that the mere friction of it against the head of the boat 
 would set the wood on fire were not a man stationed to 
 pour water upon it. One of the greatest and commonest 
 risks run by whalemen is getting entangled in the line as 
 it flies out, and having a limb torn off or being dragged into 
 the sea and drowned. An accident of this kind happened 
 to a sailor belonging to a Greenock ship. Happening to 
 step into the centre of a coil of running rope his foot was 
 instantly carried off, and he was obliged to have the lower 
 part of his leg amputated. 
 
 On another occasion a harpooneer belonging to the Hen- 
 rietta, had carelessly cast part of the line beneath his feet, 
 when a sudden dart of the whale caused it to coil round 
 his body. He had just time to cry out, " Clear away the 
 line ! dear ! " when he was almost cut in two, dragged 
 overboard and never more seen. 
 
 A very terrible accident of this kind happened to a har- 
 pooneer belonging to Scoresby in the year 1822. It is thus 
 described by that intrepid whaleman : 
 
 " The whale they pursued led them into a vast shoal of 
 the species. They were indeed so numerous that their 
 blowing was incessant ; and they believed they could not 
 have seen less than a hundred. Fearful of alarming them 
 without striking any, they remained for some time motion- 
 less, watching for a favourable opportunity to commence an 
 attack. One of them at last rose so near the boat of which 
 William Can-was harpooneer, that he ventured to pull towards 
 it, though it was meeting him, and afforded but an indifferent 
 
THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 367 
 
 chance of success. He, however, fatally for himself, suc- 
 ceeded in harpooning it. The boat and fish passing each 
 other with great rapidity after the stroke, the line was jerked 
 out of its place, and, instead of " running " over the stern, 
 was thrown over the gunwale ; its pressure in this unfavour- 
 able position so carreened the boat, that the side sank be- 
 low the water, and it began to fill. 
 
 " In this emergency the harpooneer, who was a fine, active 
 fellow, seized the bight of the line, and attempted to relieve 
 the boat, by restoring it to its place \ but by some singular 
 circumstance which could not be accounted for, a turn of 
 the line flew over his arm, and in an instant dragged him 
 overboard, and plunged him under water to rise no more ! 
 So sudden was the accident that only one man, who had his 
 eye upon him at the time, was aware of what had happened, 
 so that, when the boat righted, which it immediately did, 
 though half full of water, they all at olice, on looking round 
 at an exclamation from the man who had seen him launched 
 overboard, inquired what had got Carr ! It is scarcely pos- 
 sible to imagine a death more awfully sudden and unexpected. 
 The murderous bullet, when it makes its way through the 
 air with a velocity that renders it invisible, and seems not to 
 require a moment for its flight, rarely produces such instan- 
 taneous destruction. The velocity of the whale on its first 
 descent is usually (as I have proved by experiment) about 
 eight or nine miles per hour or thirteen to fifteen feet per 
 second. Now, as this unfortunate man was occupied in 
 adjusting the line at the very water's edge, where it must 
 have been perfectly tight, in consequence of the obstruction 
 to its running out of the boat, the interval between the 
 fastening of the line about him and his disappearance could 
 not have exceeded the third part of a second of time ; for 
 
368 
 
 THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 
 
 in one second only lie must have been dragged to the depth 
 of ten or twelve feet ! The accident was indeed so instan- 
 taneous that he had not time for the least exclamation ; 
 and the person who witnessed his extraordinary removal, 
 observed that it was so exceedingly quick, that although his 
 eye was upon him at the instant, he could scarcely distin- 
 guish the object as it disappeared." 
 
 WHALE TOSSING A BOAT. 
 
 Sometimes a whale on being harpooned whirls his power- 
 ful tail, or " flukes " underneath a boat and sends it high 
 into the air, as represented in the above engraving. One 
 would imagine that in such circumstances every man in the 
 boat would be killed or seriously injured. Yet such is not 
 the case. The crew are thrown violently into the water, 
 
THE DANGERS OF THE WHALE FISHERY. 3G9 
 
 and a leg or an arm may be broken, but usually they swim 
 about or cling to portions of the wreck until picked up by 
 other boats. 
 
 A more common occurrence than the above is the boat 
 being dragged under water by the whale when the line is 
 all run out. In the year 1812, a boat's crew belonging to 
 the Resolution harpooned a whale near the margin of a floe, 
 or field of ice. Being supported by a second boat they felt 
 much at their ease, there being scarcely any instance in which 
 the assistance of a third boat was required in such circum- 
 stances. Soon, however, a signal was made for more line, 
 and, as Mr. Scoresby was pushing towards them with his 
 utmost speed, four oars the signal of the greatest distress 
 were raised. The boat was now seen with its bows on 
 a level with the water, while the harpooneer, from the fric- 
 tion of the line was enveloped in smoke. At length, when 
 the relief was within a hundred yards, the crew were seen 
 to throw their jackets on the nearest ice, and then leap into 
 the sea ; after which the boat rose into the air, and, making 
 a majestic curve, disappeared beneath the waves with all 
 the line attached to it. The crew, however, were saved. 
 A vigorous pursuit was immediately commenced ; and the 
 whale being traced through narrow and intricate channels, 
 among the ice, was discovered considerably to the eastward, 
 when three harpoons were darted into him. The line of 
 two other boats was then run out, when by an accidental 
 entanglement, it broke, and the whale made off, carrying 
 with it about four miles of rope, which, with the harpoons 
 and the boat, were valued at 150 ! The daring whale- 
 men were not to be thus robbed of their prey. They con- 
 tinued the pursuit ; again they came up with the fish and 
 two more harpoons were struck into it. At last it became 
 
370 WINTERING IN THE ICE. 
 
 exhausted, the men plied their lances with effect, and the 
 huge creature succumbed to its persevering enemies. Be- 
 fore it was finally secured it had drawn out no less than 
 10,440 yards, or about six miles, of line. Two miles of this 
 and a boat were lost by the disengagement of a harpoon 
 during the chase. 
 
 WINTERING IN THE ICE. 
 
 Among other risks encountered by whale fishers, as well 
 as by all who voyage in the polar seas, is that of being 
 overtaken by winter and frozen in, or, as it is termed, set 
 fast. Whalers, of course, dread this misfortune, both on 
 account of the loss of time and their inadequate supply of 
 provisions and necessaries, with which to encounter the 
 rigours of so severe a climate. But those who go to those 
 regions for the purposes of discovery, lay their account with 
 having to spend one or more winters there, and make pre- 
 parations accordingly. The records of the winter sojourn 
 of discoverers in the realms of ice and prolonged night, 
 form some of the most interesting chapters in Arctic his- 
 tory that ever were penned. 
 
 The voyage of M l Clintock in the Fox, is marked by one 
 of the most singular instances on record of being set fast 
 in the ice. Unlike most Arctic voyagers he was frozen in 
 by immense fields of unfixed ice, in the centre of Baffin's 
 Bay, arid, although to all appearance the Fox lay embedded 
 in the firm ice during the whole of a Jong winter, she was 
 carried along with the whole field, slowly, imperceptibly, 
 but steadily to the southward; and thus, lying still and 
 apparently fixed, with her sails furled and her rigging frozen, 
 the Fox performed a voyage unfortunately in the wrong 
 direction of about 1385 miles! The following descrip- 
 
WINTERING IN THE TOE. 371 
 
 tion will show what ships can encounter and come out of 
 in safety. 
 
 The Fox was a small screw steam yacht, of one hundred 
 and seven-seven tons, which was sent out by Lady Frank- 
 lin to search for her husband's ships in the spring of 1857 ; 
 Captain M'Clintock, E.N". commanding. The first part of 
 the voyage was prosperous, but winter laid his icy hand 
 on the little vessel in September, and on the 18th of that 
 month they were frozen in completely in Baffin's Bay. 
 Nevertheless, although all their plans had been thus pre- 
 maturely blasted, and they were doomed to spend a long 
 winter of absolute inutility, and in comparative peril and 
 privation, the commander and his men faced their difficulties 
 cheerfully, and preparations for wintering and sledge-travel- 
 ling were carried on with unflagging energy. On the 24th, 
 two bears were seen and chase was given, but without suc- 
 cess. Games on the ice, skating, seal-shooting excursions, 
 bear-hunting, and scientific observations filled up their time. 
 Among other sources of amusement they had a beautiful 
 hand organ. It had been presented by Prince Albert to 
 the searching vessel bearing his name, which was sent out 
 by Lady Franklin in 1851. The effect of this instrument 
 on their Esquimaux interpreter was very amusing. He 
 had never seen or heard of an organ before, and he regarded 
 it with such awe and admiration, and seemed so entranced 
 with delight as he turned the handle, that his shipmates 
 felt quite envious ! 
 
 As there was no hope of release from the ice till the fol- 
 lowing spring, the Fox was housed over and banked up 
 with snow all round; when she assumed somewhat the 
 appearance of the vessel represented in our illustration. 
 
 During the winter furious gales roared round their wooden 
 24 
 
372 
 
 WINTERING IN THE ICE. 
 
 home out upon that frozen sea; but they had warm cabins, 
 and heeded them not. When the weather was fine they 
 
 A BRIG SET FAST. 
 
 took long rambles over the ice, for the purpose of killing 
 seals, as well as for the sake of health. A school was set 
 on foot, which was immediately filled with zealous full- 
 grown students of the three r's reading, 'riting, and 'rith- 
 metic. Scientific experiments were made with the pendu- 
 lum, and an attempt made to discover the amount of azone 
 in the air. 
 
 As winter advanced, the days shortened, until at last 
 
WINTERING IN THE ICE. 373 
 
 perpetual night settled down upon the dreary sea. Out- 
 door amusements were thus curtailed, and life began to 
 grow very monotonous; yet it was relieved occasionally 
 with such an event as the following : 
 
 "There was a sudden call to arms to-night," writes 
 M'Clintock; "whether sleeping, prosing, or schooling, every 
 one flew out upon the ice on the instant, as if the magazine 
 or the boiler was on the point of explosion. The alarm of 
 'a bear close to, fighting with the dogs/ was the cause. 
 The luckless beast had approached to within twenty-five 
 yards of the ship ere the quartermaster's eye detected his 
 indistinct outline against the snow. So silently had he 
 crept up that he was within ten yards of some of the dogs. 
 A shout started them up, and they at once flew round the 
 bear and embarrassed his retreat. In crossing some very 
 thin ice he broke through, and there I found him surrounded 
 by yelping dogs. Poor fellow ! Hobson, Young, and Peter- 
 sen, had each lodged a bullet in him; but these seemed 
 only to increase his rage. He succeeded in getting out of 
 the water, when, fearing harm to the numerous bystanders 
 and dogs, or that he might escape, I fired, and luckily the 
 bullet passed through his brain." 
 
 .On the evening of the 28th of October, there occurred 
 an unwonted and alarming disruption of the ice not two 
 hundred yards from the vessel. The sound sometimes re- 
 sembled the continued roar of distant surf; at other times, 
 it was loud and harsh, as if trains of heavy waggons with 
 ungreased axles were slowly labouring along. The sun 
 took his final leave for the winter on the 1st November, 
 and thenceforth they dwelt in constant lamp -light inboard, 
 while, outside, they were dimly illuminated at times by the 
 stars and moon, or by the aurora borealis. But very often 
 
374 WINTEKING IN THE ICE. 
 
 these pale lights were completely quenched by stormy clouds 
 and whirling drifts of snow. 
 
 In the midst of this scene of gloomy desolation the little 
 community was visited by death. Scott, the engine-driver, 
 received a fall which resulted in his death on the 4th of 
 December. A hole was cut through the ice to the water, 
 and his body was committed to the deep by his sorrowing 
 comrades. 
 
 Thus the winter passed away, while the Fox lay unable 
 to move from her icy bed, yet drifting all the time over 
 miles and miles of ocean. Spring returned, and with it 
 came daylight, and heat, and the hope of speedy deliver- 
 ance ; but with it also came the imminent dangers of dis- 
 rupting ice. About the middle of April the ice began to 
 break up. On the 24th, M'Clintock writes : 
 
 " It is now ten o'clock; the long ocean swell already lifts 
 its crest five feet above the hollow of the sea, causing its 
 thick covering of icy fragments to dash against each other 
 and against us with unpleasant violence. It is, however, 
 very beautiful to look upon the dear old familiar swell ! 
 it has long been a stranger to us, and is welcome in our 
 solitude. A floe- piece near us, of one hundred yards in 
 diameter, was speedily cracked so as to resemble a sort of 
 labyrinth, or, still more, a field spider's web." Gradually 
 the ice opened out, and the Fox, by aid of wind and steam, 
 bored slowly but steadily out of the pack, receiving and 
 returning many a sounding thump that caused her frame to 
 shake, her bells to ring, and her crew to stagger. They 
 were at last mercifully delivered from their dangerous posi- 
 tion, having drifted down Baffin's Bay and Davis Straits 
 1194 geographical, or 1385 statute miles, during a sojourn 
 of 242 days in the pack. 
 
THE TERROR NIPPED BY THE ICE. 375 
 
 THE TERROR NIPPED BY ICE. 
 
 During the voyage of the Terror in the Arctic seas in 
 1836 under Captain Back, that vessel received one of the 
 severest nips on record. It occurred on the 14-th of Sep- 
 tember, within about four miles of Cape Comfort, and shows 
 what rough usage ships can stand when properly prepared 
 and strengthened for such navigation. 
 
 " A violent, agitative, landward motion pressed' all the 
 surrounding ice into the utmost possible compactness, raised 
 much of it into ponderous pointed heaps of twenty feet and 
 upwards in height, and jammed the ship with perilous 
 tightness between the nearest masses. Not a pool of water 
 was now to be seen ; not a foot of shelter marred the terrors 
 of the blast, and the hardy adventurers could look only to 
 the interposition of Providence for deliverance and protec- 
 tion. * None but those who have experienced it,' said 
 their brave leader, 'can judge of the weariness of heart, 
 the blank of feeling, the feverish sickliness of taste which 
 get the better of the whole man under circumstances such 
 as these.' 
 
 " The hapless ship was for many days drifted backward 
 and forward along the coast and away from it, over a range 
 of about thirty miles, just as the wind, or the current, or 
 the tide directed. The black frowning cliffs of Cape Com- 
 fort might have seemed to the most sluggish imagination 
 to grin upon her in irony. She lay in the grip of the ice- 
 masses as helplessly as a kid does in the folds of a boa 
 constrictor ; and once, when she slipped from that grip, or 
 was hurled into a change of position, she left her form as 
 perfectly impressed behind her as if it had been struck in 
 a die. The many old Greenland seamen on board all de- 
 
376 THE TERROR NIPPED BY THE ICE. 
 
 clared that they had never before seen a ship which could 
 have resisted such a pressure. The perils, too, were in- 
 creasing; arid at length, on the 24th of September, the 
 officers unanimously expressed a conviction, founded on the 
 experiences of the preceding thirty-four days, that all hope 
 of making further progress that season toward Repulse Bay 
 was gone. 
 
 " Captain Back now resolved to cut a dock in the only 
 adjacent floe, which seemed sufficiently large and high to 
 afford the ship fair protection. But on the very next day, 
 by one of those extraordinary convulsions which are the 
 last hope of the ice-bound Arctic voyager, the whole body 
 of ice for leagues around got into general commotion, and 
 burst into single masses; and commencing an impetuous 
 rush to the west, tossed many blocks into heaps, ground 
 others to powder, whirled all into a hurly burly, and bore 
 away the ship like a feather toward the Frozen Strait. No- 
 thing could be done by the crew but to await the issue ; 
 and when the storm subsided they found themselves mid- 
 way between Cape Comfort and the entrance of the Frozen 
 Strait, about three miles from the shore, without any pros- 
 pect of either forcing their way into a harbour or finding 
 some little shelter in a floe. They were once more firmly 
 beset, with the additional calamity of being so much tilted 
 up that the stern of the ship lay seven and a half feet above 
 the horizontal, and the bow was jammed downward on the 
 masses ahead. 'This/ says Captain Back, 'ended a month 
 of vexation, disappointment, and anxiety, to me personally 
 more distressing and intolerable than the worst pressure of 
 the worst evils which had befallen me in any other ex- 
 pedition.' " 
 
STRUCTURE OF ARCTIC SHIPS. 377 
 
 STRUCTURE OF ARCTIC SHIPS. 
 
 It may naturally occur to our reader's mind, that ships 
 intended for such rough work as that just recorded, must 
 be built in a much stronger fashion than ordinary vessels. 
 Such is indeed the case. The hulls of ships intended for 
 ice-laden seas, are either built expressly for their peculiar 
 service or they are strengthened externally, as well as in- 
 ternally, to resist the rude shocks to which they are exposed. 
 Usually a stout sheathing of oak, or other hard wood planks 
 is fixed round the chip's bottom from the keel to within a 
 few feet of the bulwarks, and beams are placed in such 
 parts as are likely to be subjected to severe pressure. In 
 the bow, especially, the timbers and beams, both outside 
 and in, are so heavy and numerous that that part of the 
 ship is almost solid. 
 
 The Fox, to which reference has already been made, was 
 prepared for her cruise in the following manner. "The 
 velvet hangings and splendid furniture, and everything not 
 constituting part of a vessel's strengthening, were removed. 
 The large skylights and capacious ladderways were reduced 
 to limits more adapted to a Polar clime. The whole vessel 
 was externally sheathed with stout planking, and internally 
 fortified by strong cross beams, longitudinal beams, iron 
 stanchions, and diagonal fastenings. The false keel was 
 taken off; the slender brass propeller replaced by a massive 
 iron one; the boiler taken out, altered, and enlarged. The 
 sharp stern was cased in iron until it resembled a ponder- 
 ous chisel set up edge -ways, and the rig was considerably 
 altered." 
 
 CHARGING THE ICE. 
 
 During the recent Franklin searching expeditions an in- 
 
378 . CHARGING THE ICE. 
 
 stance of charging the ice occurred which is worth relating 
 here. The expedition ships of 1850 were all beset in Mel- 
 ville Bay, and among them was a small vessel, the Prince 
 Albert, which is said to have done marvellous deeds in the 
 way of boring through the ice. One of her exploits is thus 
 described in Mr. Snow's interesting journal : 
 
 " As the wind was blowing right down upon the ice, and 
 was pretty fresh, it was determined by Captain Forsyth 
 boldly to try and break through the impediment by forcing 
 the ship on it under a press of canvas. Accordingly, all 
 sail was set, and the ship was steered din|ct for the narrowest 
 and most broken part of the neck. 
 
 " As this was the first and only time the Prince Albert 
 was made to come direct upon the ice to break it with the 
 force she could derive from a press of sail, we were all anxious 
 to see how she would stand it ; and right well did she bear 
 the test. The two mates were aloft in the crow's nest * to 
 con the -vessel. I was standing on the extreme point of 
 her bow, and holding on by the fore-stay to direct her move- 
 ments when immediately upon the ice ; and Captain Forsyth 
 was by the side of the helmsman. Every man was at some 
 particular station, and ready to perform anything that was 
 instantly required of him. Cook and steward were also on 
 deck, and throughout the ship an almost breathless anxiety 
 prevailed ; for, it must be remembered, it was not a large 
 and powerful ship, but a small and comparatively fragile 
 one that was now about to try, of her own accord, and with 
 her own strength, to break a piece of ice some feet thick, 
 though not very broad. On either side of her were heavy 
 floes and scone pieces and it required the greatest nicety 
 
 * The nest or sort of shelter, at the mast-head of whale ships, in which the man 
 on the look out for whales sits. 
 
CHARGING THE ICE. 379 
 
 in guiding her, that she might, in the strongest part the 
 b ow hit the precise spot where the neck was weakest, and 
 not come upon any other part where she could do nothing 
 but severely injure herself. 
 
 " On she came at the rate of full five miles per hour, gain- 
 ing, as she proceeded, increased impetus, until she rushed 
 towards it at the rate of at least eight miles in the hour. 
 The distance from the neck was about a mile, and the breeze 
 blew steadily upon it. The weakest and narrowest part 
 was that close to the starboard floe, and to that our eyes 
 were all directed. , * Port, starboard ! so o steady ! ' 
 was every now and then bawled out with stentorian lungs 
 from aloft, and as energetically and powerfully repeated by 
 the captain below to the man at the wheel. Presently she 
 came close to she was almost upon it a mistaken hail from 
 aloft would have put her helm a-port, and sent her crushing 
 upon the heavy floe. I heard the order * a-port ! ' and, be- 
 fore it had been repeated, shouted loudly, with the men 
 around me, who also saw the mistake, ' starboard ! starboard ! 
 hard a-starboard ! ' and the next instant, with a tremendous 
 blow that for a moment made her rebound and tremble, she 
 struck the ice in the exact point and caused it to rend apart 
 in several fragments. Ice-poles and boat-hooks were im- 
 mediately in request; and myself and half a dozen men sprang 
 instantly over the bows, working with hands, and feet, and 
 with all our might, in removing the broken pieces by push- 
 ing them ahead of the vessel ; in which labour she herself 
 materially aided us by her own power pressing upon them. 
 In a moment or two it was effected ; and throwing ourselves 
 aboard again like so many wild cats, we prepared for the 
 next encounter. This, however, proved nothing like the 
 other. The first blow sent the whole of it flying in all 
 
380 CHARGING THE ICE. 
 
 directions ; and the little Prince, as if in haughty disdain, 
 passed through without once stopping, pushing aside the 
 pieces as they came against her." 
 
 Since steam began to come into general use in navigation 
 vessels bound for the Arctic seas have gradually begun to 
 adopt ft as an auxiliary force. Many of the whale ships now 
 carry screw propellers, and are thus enabled to save much 
 time and move about freely in calms, which in former years 
 would have compelled them to remain for days at a time 
 inactive. Ships are also enabled to act the part of batter- 
 ing rams more effectively than heretofore, and to force their 
 way through " necks " of solid ice. 
 
 One of the steamers in connection with the searching ex- 
 peditions of 1850, above referred to, made several desperate 
 charges at the ice. The incident is thus briefly described 
 by the same author from whom we have quoted the preced- 
 ing account of the Prince Albert : "We came to a heavy 
 nip," says Mr. Snow, " and all the vessels had to be made 
 fast to a floe until a passage could be cleared. The Pioneer 
 (steamer), immediately on casting off the Resolute' } s tow-rope, 
 was directed to dash at the impediment under full power. 
 This she did boldly and fearlessly, rushing, stem on, and 
 fairly digging her bows into it in the most remarkable 
 manner. Backing instantly astern, and then again going 
 ahead, she performed the same manoeuvre, fairly lifting 
 herself up on end like a prancing war-horse. By this time 
 the nip was too heavy to be so broken, though both steamers 
 had previously cleared many similar impediments in that 
 manner. It was now, however, necessary to resort to other 
 means ; and, accordingly, parties from every ship were sent 
 on the ice to assist in blowing it up and removing the frag- 
 ments as they got loosened. The same plan as that, I believe, 
 
EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 381 
 
 adopted in blasting rocks was here pursued. Powder was 
 sunk to a certain depth, a slow match applied, and at a given 
 signal ignited. Due time was allowed, and then the enor- 
 mous masses would be seen in convulsive movement, as 
 though shaken by a volcanic eruption, until piece upon 
 piece was sent into the air and the larger bodies were com- 
 pletely rent into innumerable fragments. The steamers 
 then darted forward, and with warps dragged out the 
 immense blocks that had been thus dissevered." 
 
 EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 
 
 Of all the navigators who have penetrated into the dark 
 and dangerous regions of the Polar seas none have surpassed, 
 and, with the exception, perhaps, of Sir John Franklin, none 
 have equalled in daring and indomitable perseverance Dr. 
 Kane, the American, who commanded the second expedition, 
 sent out by Mr. Grinnell of New York to search for Franklin. 
 One or two extracts from his intensely interesting journal 
 of that voyage will strikingly exhibit some of the peculiar 
 phases of the Arctic regions, and at the same time show 
 what can be done by true heroism, and what was endured 
 by the wood and iron of the little brig in which he sailed. 
 
 The name of Dr. Kane's vessel was the Advance. It was 
 a brig of 144 tons, a good sailer, strengthened for her pecu- 
 liar work and fitted out with every requisite but few 
 luxuries for a prolonged search in the Arctic seas. Spartan- 
 like simplicity was the prominent feature of this expedition 
 simplicity of arrangements, simplicity (and brevity) of 
 instructions, and simplicity of intentions. The leader and 
 his officers were at once eminently scientific and thoroughly 
 practical men. Here is their code of laws : " We did not 
 sail under the rules that govern our national ships ; " writes 
 
382 EXPLOITS OP DR. KANE. 
 
 Kane, " but we had our own regulations, well considered 
 and announced beforehand, and rigidly adhered to after- 
 wards through all the vicissitudes of the expedition. These 
 included first, absolute subordination to the officer in com- 
 mand, or his delegate ; second, abstinence from all intoxi- 
 cating liquors, except when dispensed by special order ; 
 third, the habitual disuse of profane language. We had no 
 other laws." 
 
 It is worthy of special remark that the crew of this little 
 vessel, although they used no strong drink whatever, under- 
 went and overcame hardships more severe, and prolonged, 
 perhaps, than any on record. 
 
 On the 30th of May 1853 the Advance left New York 
 with a crew of eighteen picked men, including the com- 
 mander, and proceeding to the head of Baffin's Bay entered 
 the unknown seas beyond Smith's Sound. At the very 
 outset they had a foretaste of their coming struggles. 
 Fearing they should be set fast in the ice during a stiff 
 breeze while heading towards Cape York, they endeavoured 
 to make fast to a large iceberg, and after eight hours of heavy 
 labour, warping, heaving and planting ice-anchors, they suc- 
 ceeded in effecting their object. 
 
 A narrow escape from sudden and overwhelming destruc- 
 tion was the result. " We had hardly a breathing spell," 
 writes Dr. Kane, " before we were startled by a set of loud 
 crackling sounds above us ; and small fragments of ice, not 
 larger than a walnut began to dot the water like the first 
 drops of a summer shower. The indications were too plain. 
 We had barely time to cast off before the face of the terg 
 fell in ruins, crashing like near artillery." 
 
 Esquimaux dogs are not pleasant companions, although 
 undoubtedly they are most useful creatures in dragging 
 
EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 
 
 383 
 
 sledges for many hundreds of miles over the snow. Dr. 
 Kane purposed continuing the search in native sledges after 
 
 T11E ADVAKCK ESCAPING FROM ICEBERGS. 
 
 the winter ice should set fast his brig, so he purchased more 
 than fifty dogs which he speaks of as " ravening wolves," 
 and classes among his minor miseries. To feed this canine 
 family was a matter of great difficulty. Two bears lasted 
 the cormorants only eight days. They were ready to eat 
 
384 EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE, 
 
 up everything that came in their way. In order to provide 
 for them, a party set out with rifles to shoot walrus, of 
 which elephantine creatures there were many in the sea 
 around them. But although they aimed well, the hides of 
 the walrus were so thick that their " rifle-balls reverberated 
 from their sides like cork pellets from a pop-gun target," 
 and they failed to get within harpoon range. However, they 
 were somewhat consoled by the discovery of a dead narwhal 
 or sea-unicorn, which secured for them, in the doctor's words, 
 "at least six hundred pounds of good, fetid, wholesome 
 flesh ! " The horn of this unicorn was four feet long, of 
 * beautiful ivory ; and his blubber or flesh yielded two barrels 
 of oil. But this supply did not last them long, as we find 
 from the following passage, which occurs a few days later 
 in the journal : 
 
 " More Jbother with these wretched dogs ] Worse than 
 a street in Constantinople emptied upon our decks ; the 
 unruly, thieving, wild beast pack ! Not a bear's paw, or 
 Esquimaux cranium, or basket of mosses, or any specimen 
 whatever, can leave your hands for a moment without their 
 making a rush at it, and after a yelping scramble swallow- 
 ing it at a gulp. I have seen them attempt a whole feather 
 bed, and here, this morning, one of my Karsuk brutes has 
 eaten up two entire birds' nests which I had just before 
 gathered from the rocks, feathers, filth, pebbles and moss 
 a peckful at least ! " 
 
 A gale, of the fiercest kind, arose one day, and well-nigh 
 wrecked them. They had seen it coming, and were ready 
 with three good hawsers out ahead, fixed to a ledge of rocks 
 named God-send ledge, and everything was snug on board 
 the little brig. But the gale proved fiercer than had been 
 anticipated. On it came heavier and heavier, Dr. Kane 
 
EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 385 
 
 had just turned in to warm and dry himself, after protracted 
 watching and exposures, when he heard the sharp twanging 
 snap of a cord. Their six-inch hawser had parted, and they 
 were swinging by the two others the gale roaring like a 
 lion to the southward. Half a minute more, and " twang, 
 twang ! " went a second report, which by the shrillness of 
 the ring was known instantly to be the whale-line. They 
 were now left swinging by only one hawser, but that one 
 was good and strong, a " noble ten-inch manilla." On hear- 
 ing the snap of the whale-line Dr. Kane sprang up and was 
 in the act of hurrying on his socks and seal-skin boots when 
 M'Gary, one of the crew, descended the companion ladder, 
 saying that he thought the hawser could not hold on much 
 longer. On reaching the deck the commander found the 
 cable proving its excellence, and the crew, as they gathered 
 round him, were loud in its praises. 
 
 " We could hear," writes the doctor, " its deep Eolian 
 chant swelling through all the rattle of the running-gear 
 and moaning of the shrouds. It was the death-song ! The 
 strands gave way with the noise of a shotted gun ; and in 
 the smoke that followed their recoil we were dragged out by 
 the wild ice at its mercy." 
 
 Instantly they were hurried away into the rushing drift, 
 and it seemed as if nothing could be looked for but swift 
 destruction. But their course was not yet run. There was 
 work for them still to do, and the hand of the Almighty 
 preserved them in this terrible crisis. Ahead, in the direc- 
 tion in which they were being driven, heavy ice-tables were 
 grinding up and clogging the passage. Out of this they must 
 keep at all hazards. There was but one course left, to drop 
 the anchors ere they closed with the piling masses. The 
 heaviest anchor was let go with the desperate hope of wind- 
 
386 EXPLOITS OF DE. KANE. 
 
 ing the brig ; but there was no withstanding the ice-torrent 
 that followed them. They had only time to fasten a spar 
 to the chain as a buoy and let her slip. So went the best 
 bower ! 
 
 They now drifted with the gale, scraping helplessly on a 
 lee of ice seldom less than thirty feet thick. One upturned 
 mass rose above the gunwale, smashed in the bulwarks and 
 deposited half a ton of ice in a 4ump on the deck. Soon a 
 new enemy appeared in sight ahead. Just beyond the line 
 of the ice-floes against which they were alternately sliding and 
 thumping was a group of bergs. They had no power to 
 avoid them. To run upon them before the full power of 
 the howling storm would have proved as certain and instant 
 destruction as if they had been launched on solid rocks. 
 Their hopes were almost gone when a narrow passage was 
 observed between the bergs and the edge of the floe. In a 
 moment they were in the midst of thern^ and then, to their 
 consternation, they found that the bergs were not at rest, 
 but bearing down on each other, and threatening to crush 
 the brig between them. At the same time the wind failed, 
 from some inexplicable cause. Just then a low mass of ice 
 drove past them ; an anchor was cast upon it as it passed, 
 and in the wake of this novel tug they were dragged past 
 the ice walls in safety. But it was a close shave so close 
 that the yards had to be braced to clear the bergs, and the 
 port quarter boat would have been crushed had they not 
 taken it from the davits. Next moment they were under 
 the lee of a berg in comparatively open lead. " Never," 
 concludes Dr. Kane, " did heart-tired men acknowledge with 
 more gratitude their merciful deliverance from a wretched 
 death." 
 
 A boat expedition was undertaken, when they afterwards 
 
EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 
 
 387 
 
 found it impossible to advance further to the northward in 
 the brig. It was termed the Forlorn Hope. The men who 
 
 THE FORLORN HOPB. 
 
 went in it were rigged out in Esquimaux habiliments seal- 
 skin coats and boots with the hair left on and with their 
 faces bearded and bronzed, and their hoods up, the sailors 
 looked so like Esquimaux that at a short distance no difference 
 could be discerned between them. Into the minute details 
 of this interesting boat journey we cannot enter. It was 
 rough and toilsome. When they could advance no further 
 on account of ice the boat was abandoned and the journey 
 continued with a sledge. Their usual night halts were upon 
 knolls of snow under the rocks, on one of which they were 
 caught by the rising tide, and, not being able to effect a re- 
 25 
 
388 EXPLOITS OF DE. KANE. 
 
 treat in time, had to stand in the water holding their sleep- 
 ing gear in their arms until the tide fell. The skeletons 
 of Musk oxen were found in various places along the coast, 
 which was rocky and wild in the extreme. Protruding tongues 
 of glaciers and wide chasms in the ice-belt were crossed 
 with much difficulty ; and when, at last, they arrived at 
 the places over which the sledge could not be dragged, the 
 provisions and scientific instruments were strapped on the 
 shoulders of the stoutest men, and the journey was con- 
 tinued on foot. 
 
 On their fifth day they discovered a noble river which 
 was named the Mary Minturn, after the sister of Mr. Grin- 
 nelL Here they encamped and listened with delight to 
 the unusual sound of running water ; and " here," writes 
 Dr. Kane, " protected from the frost by the infiltration of 
 the melted snows, and fostered by the reverberation of solar 
 heat from the rocks, we met a flower growth, which, though 
 drearily Arctic in its type, was rich in variety of colouring. 
 Amid festuca and other tufted grasses, twinkled the purple 
 lichens and the white star of the chickweed ; and, not with- 
 out its pleasing associations, I recognised a solitary hesperis, 
 the Arctic representative of the wall- flowers of home." 
 
 Seal-hunting became not only an amusement to Dr. 
 Kane and his men, during their long sojourn of two winters 
 in the Polar regions, but an absolute necessity. They were 
 again and again reduced to the verge of starvation, and had 
 it not been for the kind assistance rendered them several 
 times by the Esquimaux, they must have perished. 
 
 One day Dr. Kane was nearly drowned while out after 
 seals, with his Esquimaux interpreter Hans. The two 
 hunters were dashing at a brisk gallop over the floes in 
 their dog- sledge. Suddenly " Hans sang out at the top of 
 
EXPLOITS OF DR. KANE. 389 
 
 his voice," writes Kane, " ' Pusey ! Puseymut ! seal ! seal !' 
 At the same instant the dogs bounded forward, and as I 
 looked up I saw crowds of grey netsik the rough or hispid 
 seal of the whalers disporting in the open sea water. 
 
 " I had hardly welcomed the spectacle when I saw that 
 we had passed upon a new belt of ice that was obviously 
 unsafe. To the right and left and front, was one great ex- 
 panse of snow-flowered ice. The nearest solid floe was a 
 mere lump, which stood like an island in the white level. 
 To turn was impossible ; we had to keep on our gait. We 
 urged on the dogs with whip and voice, the ice rolling like 
 leather beneath the sledge runners. It was more than a 
 mile to the lump of solid ice. Fear gave the poor beasts 
 their utmost speed, and our voices were soon hushed to 
 silence. 
 
 " The suspense, unrelieved by action or effort, was intoler- 
 able. We knew that there was no remedy but to reach the 
 floe, and that everything depended on our dogs and our 
 dogs alone. A moment's check would plunge the whole 
 concern into the rapid tideway. No presence of mind or 
 resource, bodily or mental, could avail us. This desperate 
 race against fate could not last. The rolling of the tough 
 salt-water ice terrified our dogs ; and when within fifty paces 
 of the floe they paused. The left hand runner went through ; 
 our leader Toodlamick followed, and in one second the entire 
 left of the sledge was submerged. My first thought was 
 to liberate the dogs. I leaned forward to cut poor Tood's 
 traces, and the next minute was swimming in a little circle 
 of pasty ice and water alongside him. Hans, dear good 
 fellow, drew near to help me, uttering piteous expressions 
 in broken English ; but I ordered him to throw himself on 
 his belly, with his hands arid legs extended, and to make for 
 
390 EXPLOITS OP DR. KANE. 
 
 the island by cogging himself forward with his jack-knife. 
 In the meantime a mere instant I was floundering about 
 with sledge, dogs, and lines, in confused puddle around me. 
 
 " I succeeded in cutting poor Tood's lines and letting 
 him scramble to the ice, for the poor fellow was drowning me 
 with his piteous caresses, and made my way for the sledge ; 
 but I found that it would not buoy me, and that I had no 
 resource but to try the circumference of the hole. Around 
 this I paddled faithfully, the miserable ice always yielding 
 when my hopes of a lodgment were greatest. During this 
 process I enlarged my circle of operations to a very un- 
 comfortable diameter, and was beginning to feel weaker after 
 every effort. Hans meanwhile had reached the firm ice 
 and was on his knees, like a good Moravian, praying incohe- 
 rently in English and Esquimaux. At every fresh crushing 
 in of the ice he would ejaculate ' God ! ' and when I re- 
 commenced my paddling he recommenced his prayers. 
 
 " I was nearly gone. My knife had been lost in cutting 
 out tiie dogs; and a spare one which I carried in my trousers' 
 pocket was so enveloped in wet skins that I could not reach 
 it. I owed my extrication at last to a newly broken team 
 dog which was still fast to the sledge, and in struggling 
 carried one of the runners chock against the edge of the 
 circle. All my previous attempts to use the sledge as a 
 bridge had failed, for it broke through to the much greater 
 injury of the ice. I felt it was a last chance. I threw 
 myself on my back, so as to lessen as much as possible my 
 weight, and placed the nape of my neck against the rim 
 or edge of the ice ; then with caution slowly bent my leg, 
 and, placing the ball of my moccassined foot against the 
 sledge, I pressed steadily against the runner, listening to 
 the half yielding crunch of the ice beneath. 
 
FIGHTS WITH POLAR BEARS. 391 
 
 " Presently I felt that my head was pillowed by the ice, 
 and that my wet fur jumper was sliding up the surface. 
 Next came my shoulders ; they were fairly on. One more 
 decided push and I was launched on the ice and safe. I 
 reached the ice floe, and was frictioned by Hans with fright- 
 ful zeal. We saved all the dogs, but the sledge, kayack, 
 tent, guns, snow-shoes, and everything besides were left be- 
 hind." 
 
 FIGHTS WITH POLAR BEARS. 
 
 The white bears of the frozen seas are both large and 
 fierce, and almost all navigators in those regions have occa- 
 sional encounters with them in some cases prolonged and 
 for a time doubtful, but usually terminating in the destruc- 
 tion of the bears. 
 
 There is a story related of one man who was out walking 
 on the ice unarmed and at some little distance from his ship 
 when he was met and chased by a bear. The sailor ran fast, 
 but the bear ran faster, and no doubt the matter would have 
 ended seriously had not the man accidentally dropped one 
 of his mittens. The bear stopped to smell it, and then re- 
 sumed the chase. The man observed the fact, and dropped 
 another mitten this time intentionally. Again the bear 
 paused a moment, and the man gained a little distance. 
 Thus by dropping one thing after another he reached his 
 ship, where a volley of musket balls from his comrades 
 arrested bruin's advance and sent him to the right about. 
 
 Esquimaux attack polar bears sometimes single-handed, 
 and with no other weapon than a spear. They do not, 
 however, attempt this unless compelled to it ; but two 
 natives never hesitate to attack and make sure of killing a 
 bear. They proceed thus : When the two men have 
 
392 FIGHTS WITH POLAR BEARS. 
 
 advanced pretty near to the bear they separate and approach 
 him in different directions so as to distract his attention ; 
 then the one on his left side makes a feint with his spear ; 
 bruin turns to defend himself and immediately receives a 
 prick from the man on his right side. With a growl of rage 
 he turns to inflict summary vengeance on this enemy, but 
 scarcely has he turned his eyes away when he receives a 
 deadly thrust in the heart from the man on his left, and 
 falls. If the men are cool and courageous, as they usually 
 are, there is very little danger attending this mode of attack, 
 though the polar bear is terrifically powerful and more than 
 a match for a dozen men if they did not use strategy in 
 their assault. 
 
 Dr. Kane mentions a circumstance which shows the 
 strength of this animal. He had made a cache, or deposit 
 of provisions, in the course of one of his journeys, but on 
 returning to it found that the bears had discovered and 
 broken it up. " It had been built," says he, " with extreme 
 care, of rocks which had been assembled by very heavy 
 labour and adjusted with much aid from capstan-bars as 
 levers. The entire structure was, so far as our means per- 
 mitted, most effective and resisting. Yet these tigers of 
 the ice seem scarcely to have encountered an obstacle. Not 
 a morsel of pemmican remained except in the iron cases, 
 which, being round, with conical ends, defied both claws and 
 teeth. They had rolled and pawed them in every direc- 
 tion, tossing them about like footballs, although over eighty 
 pounds in weight. An alcohol-case, strongly iron-bound, 
 was dashed into small fragments, and a tin can of liquor 
 mashed and twisted almost into a ball. The claws of the 
 beast had perforated the metal, and torn it up as with a cold 
 chisel. They were too dainty for salt meats. Ground 
 
FIGHTS WITH POLAR BEARS. 393 
 
 coffee they had an evident relish for. Old canvas was a 
 favourite for some reason or other ; even our flag, which 
 had been reared 'to take possession 1 of the waste, was 
 gnawed down to the very staff. They had made a regular 
 frolic of it ; rolling our bread-barrels over the ice-foot and 
 into the broken outside ice ; and, unable to masticate our 
 heavy india-rubber cloth, they had tied it up in unimagin- 
 able hard knots. M'Gary describes the whole area around 
 the cache as marked by well-worn paths of these animals, 
 and an adjacent slope of ice-covered rock, with an angle of 
 45, was so worn and covered with their hair, as to suggest 
 the idea that they had been amusing themselves by sliding 
 down on their haunches a performance, by the way, in 
 which I afterwards caught them myself." 
 
 There is no doubt that polar bears are the reverse of nice 
 in their tastes. It is said that a party of Arctic travellers 
 once shot a bear, in the stomach of which they found, among 
 other things, a quantity of raisins, tobacco, and sticking- 
 plaster ! No doubt this fellow had fallen in with a cache 
 somewhere, and had made free with the doctor's, as well as 
 the steward's stores. 
 
 Ever since man invaded the northern regions he has had 
 to enter into contest with the polar bear. When the Dutch 
 attempted to plant a settlement on the bleak and barren 
 coasts of Spitzbergen so long ago as the year 1633, they 
 met and battled with this formidable animal. One day 
 seven sailors who wintered on that island turned out of 
 their hut to repel a bear which seemed inclined to make 
 more intimate acquaintance with their settlement than was 
 agreeable. Two balls were lodged in his throat, and while 
 he was endeavouring to pick these out with his claws the 
 whole seven sailors rushed upon him with their lances. The 
 
394 FIGHTS WITH THE WALRUS. 
 
 bear dashed at one of them, tore the lance from his hand, 
 and threw him on the ground ; but as the animal was about 
 to destroy his victim another sailor struck and obliged 
 him to quit his hold. Afterwards, however, though 
 pursued by all the seven, he plunged into the sea and 
 escaped. 
 
 From that time forward every northern navigator has 
 had to tell of encounters, more or less successful, with those 
 white monsters, which Dr. Kane has well styled the " tigers 
 of the. ice." 
 
 FIGHTS WITH THE WALRUS. 
 
 If the Arctic bear may be styled the tiger, much more 
 may the walrus be termed the elephant of the ice ; for that 
 huge creature's resemblance to the elephant, in size as well 
 as appearance, is very striking. Dr. Kane, whom we think 
 more graphic in his descriptions than any other writer, says 
 that the head of the walrus is not oval, like that of the seal ; 
 on the contrary, the frontal bone is so covered as to present 
 a steep descent to the eyes, and a square, blocked out aspect 
 to the upper face. The muzzle is less protruding than the 
 seal's, and the cheeks and lips are completely masked by 
 heavy quill-like bristles. The tusks are sometimes seen 
 nearly 30 inches long, and his body not less than 18 feet. 
 When of this gigantic size his aspect is terrible ; and being 
 possessed of a fierce and vindictive disposition he is truly 
 a formidable foe. 
 
 Sometimes when attacked in boats the walrus, instead of 
 shunning the fight, will collect in numbers and act on the 
 offensive. 
 
 Morton, one of Dr. Kane's crew, went out on a walrus 
 hunt with Myouk, an Esquimaux, and a party of his friends. 
 
FIGHTS WITH THE WALRUS. 395 
 
 The ice was dangerous and thin, but the natives were border- 
 ing on starvation, so they pushed on to where they expected 
 to find walrus. 
 
 " After a while Myouk became convinced, from signs or 
 sounds or both, for they were inappreciable by Morton 
 that the walrus were waiting for him in a small space of 
 recently open water that was glazed over with a few days' 
 growth of ice ; and, moving gently on, they soon heard the 
 characteristic bellow of a bull awuk. His vocalization was 
 something between the mooing of a cow and the deepest 
 baying of a mastiff ; very round and full, with its barks or 
 detached notes repeated rather quickly seven to nine times 
 in succession." The party now formed in single file and 
 approached the open pools, winding behind hummocks of 
 ice as they went. " When within half a mile of these the 
 line broke and each man crawled towards a separate pool 
 Morton on his hands and knees following Myouk. In a few 
 minutes the walrus were in sight. They were five in number, 
 rising at intervals through the ice in a body, and breaking 
 it up with an explosive puff that might have been heard for 
 miles. Two large grim looking males were conspicuous as 
 the leaders of the group. 
 
 " Now for the marvel of the craft. When the walrus is 
 above water, the hunter is flat and motionless ; as he begins 
 to sink, alert and ready for a spring. The animal's head is 
 hardly below the water line before every man is in a rapid 
 run ; and again, as if by instinct, before the beast returns, 
 all are motionless behind protecting knolls of ice. They 
 seem to know beforehand not only the time he will be absent, 
 but the very spot at which he will reappear. In this way, 
 hiding and advancing by turns, Myouk, with Morton at his 
 heels, has reached a plate of thin ice, hardly strong enough 
 
396 FIGHTS WITH THE WALKUS. 
 
 to bear them, at the very brink of the water-pool the wal- 
 rus are curvetting in. 
 
 " Myouk, till now phlegmatic, seems to awake with excite- 
 ment. His coil of walrus-hide, a well- trimmed line of many 
 fathoms length, is lying at his side. He fixes one end of 
 it in an iron barb, and fastens this loosely by a socket upon 
 a shaft of unicorn's horn ; the other end is already looped. 
 It is the work of a moment. He has grasped the harpoon ; 
 the water is in motion. Puffing with pent-up respiration, 
 the walrus is within a couple of fathoms close before him. 
 Myouk rises slowly his right arm thrown back, the left 
 flat at his side. The walrus looks about him shaking the 
 water from his crest ; Myouk throws up his left arm, and the 
 animal, rising breast-high, fixes one look before he plunges. 
 It has cost him all that curiosity can cost ; the harpoon is 
 buried under his left flipper. 
 
 " Though the awuk is down in a moment, Myouk is run- 
 ning at desperate speed from the scene of his victory, pay- 
 ing off his coil freely, but clutching the end by its loop. He 
 seizes as he runs a small stick of bone, rudely pointed with 
 iron, and by a sudden movement drives it into the ice. To 
 this he secures his line, pressing it down close to the ice- 
 surface with his feet. 
 
 " Now comes the struggle. The hole is lashed into mad 
 commotion with the struggles of the wounded beast ; the 
 line is drawn tight at one moment, the next relaxed. The 
 hunter has not left his station. There is a crash of the ice, 
 and rearing up through it are two walruses, not many yards 
 from where he stands. One of them, the male, is excited, 
 and seemingly terrified ; the other, the female, collected 
 and vengeful. Down they go again, after one grim sur- 
 vey of the field and on the instant Myouk has changed 
 
FIGHTS WITH THE WALRUS. 397 
 
 his position, carrying his coil with him and fixing it 
 anew. 
 
 " He has hardly fixed it before the pair have again risen, 
 breaking up an area of ten feet diameter, about the very 
 spot he has left. As they sink once more he again changes 
 his place. And so the conflict goes on between address and 
 force, till the victim, half exhausted, receives a second 
 wound, and is played like a trout by the angler's reel 
 
 " When wounded the walrus rises high out of the water, 
 plunges heavily against the ice, and strives to raise himself 
 with his fore flippers upon its surface. As it breaks under 
 his weight, his countenance assumes a still more vindictive 
 expression, his bark changes to a roar, and the foam pours 
 out from his jaws till it froths his beard. 
 
 " Some idea may be formed of the ferocity of the walrus, 
 from the fact that this battle which Morton witnessed, not 
 without sharing some of its danger, lasted four hours dur- 
 ing which the animal rushed continually at the Esquimaux 
 as they approached, tearing off great tables of ice with his 
 tusks, and showing no indications of fear whatever. He re- 
 ceived upwards of seventy lance wounds, Morton counted 
 over sixty; and even then he remained hooked by his tusks 
 to the ice, unable or unwilling to retire. His female fought 
 in the same manner, but fled on receiving a lance wound. 
 
 " The Esquimaux seemed fully aware of the danger of 
 venturing too near ; for at the first onset of the walrus they 
 jumped back far enough to be clear of the broken ice. 
 Morton described the last three hours as wearing, on both 
 sides, the aspect of an unbroken and seemingly doubtful 
 combat. 
 
 " The method of landing the beast upon the ice, too, 
 showed a great deal of clever contrivance. They made two 
 
398 ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA IN ARCTIC REGIONS. 
 
 pair of incisions in the neck, where the hide is very thick, 
 about six inches apart and parallel to each other, so as to 
 form a couple of bands. A line of cut hide, about a quarter 
 of an inch in diameter, was passed under one of these bands 
 and carried up on the ice to a firm stick well secured in the 
 floe, where it went through a loop, and was then taken back 
 to the animal, made to pass under the second band, and led 
 off to the Esquimaux. This formed a sort of ' double pur- 
 chase,' the blubber so lubricating the cord as to admit of 
 a free movement. By this contrivance the beast, weighing 
 some seven hundred pounds, was hauled up and butchered 
 at leisure." 
 
 ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA IN ARCTIC REGIONS. 
 
 No part of the globe presents such variety of singular 
 and beautiful phenomena as the regions of ice around the 
 poles. The sudden and violent changes in temperature caused 
 by the accumulation or dispersion of ice have a good deal to 
 do with the phenomena referred to, but some of the singular 
 appearances especially those of the Aurora Borealis have 
 not yet been satisfactorily accounted for. Philosophers say 
 that electricity is the cause of the aurora, but having said 
 this, they have dived their deepest into the subject, for elec- 
 tricity, like fire, is a mere name employed to indicate an 
 agent with the substance of which we are unacquainted. 
 
 Whatever the cause, the effect of the aurora is indescrib- 
 ably splendid. Its colour and coruscations are much 
 more brilliant and lovely than they are in our more southern 
 climes, and its light seems, though in a very small degree 
 indeed, to make up for the long absence of the sun. 
 
 Another of the curious results of ice-influence on the 
 atmosphere is refraction, which causes objects to appear as 
 
ATMOSPHEEIC PHENOMENA IN ARCTIC REGIONS. 399 
 
 if floating in the air, and sometimes inverted. Thus ships 
 are frequently seen in the sky upside down, as represented 
 in our cut. 
 
 REFRACTION. 
 
 Scoresby, in his voyage of 1822, saw the rugged surface 
 of the ice assume the forms of castles, obelisks, and spires, 
 which, here and there, were so linked together as to present 
 the appearance of an extensive city. At other times it 
 resembled a forest of naked trees, and it scarcely required 
 the aid of fancy to discover the forms of lions, bears, and 
 other wild animals among them. 
 
400 THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 IT is a trite mode of expressing inexpressible wonder at 
 anything inexpressibly wonderful, to say, " Had we soberly 
 asserted, fifty years ago, that so and so would have happened, 
 we would have been regarded as a hopeless lunatic." Yet 
 we cannot find a more forcible method of realizing the 
 wonderful nature of the Atlantic telegraph than to call to 
 life, in imagination, the last generation, teh 1 it that we have 
 actually held instantaneous communication with America by 
 means of electricity, and watch the expression of unutter- 
 able amazement that would overspread that generation's 
 visage, when it heard, understood, and believed the news ! 
 
 It matters not that, for practical purposes, the Atlantic 
 telegraph has proved, hitherto, a failure. It does not in the 
 least detract from the great, stupendous consummation, that 
 " the cable " is now lying, like the great sea serpent, dead, 
 drawn out, elongated, attenuated to the size of its original 
 back-bone rotting at the bottom of the sea. The cable 
 has been laid ; gushing words of liquid fire have passed, in 
 a single moment, from land to land, through seas over 
 which all the mariners of ancient days battled with such 
 difficulty ; the Atlantic telegraph is a fait accompli, and it 
 needs not the gift of prophecy to tell that many years shall 
 not pass away before we shall be sending messages at so 
 much a word to our friends in the New World as we now 
 do to those in the Old. 
 
LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 401 
 
 LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE/ 
 
 The idea of uniting England and America by means of an 
 electric telegraph, originated in America, and the attempt 
 to accomplish this strange yet desirable union was made, in 
 the summer of 1857, conjointly by the two countries, under 
 the auspices of The Atlantic Telegraph Company. 
 
 Scientific explorations made in the bed of the Atlantic, 
 by Lieutenant Maury, had proved that there is a submarine 
 ledge or bank extending from Cape Clear in Ireland, to Cape 
 Race in Newfoundland, varying from two to two and a half 
 miles in depth. Along this bank it was resolved that the 
 cable should be laid, and the time fixed for doing it was 
 between the middle of July and the middle of August. A 
 fleet of British and U.S. vessels were appointed for the 
 work. It consisted of the U.S. steam frigate Niagara, and 
 her H.M.S. Agamemnon, with six attendant vessels. The 
 Niagara and Agamemnon w r ere each to contain one half of 
 the cable ; they were to attach the ends to their respective 
 shores and then steam off; meet in the middle of the 
 Atlantic, and fasten the other ends together. 
 
 Some idea of the stupendous nature of the undertaking 
 may be gathered from the following facts : 
 
 The Niagara commenced shipping the cable from the 
 factory at Birkenhead late in June, and a month elapsed 
 before that part of the work was completed. The length of 
 the entire cable was 2200 miles. The construction of the 
 cable was first a core, or conductor, composed of seven 
 copper wires twisted tightly together; second, three coats 
 of gutta-percha ; third, six strands of yarn ; and, last, 
 eighteen strands of iron wire. The cable was little more 
 than half an inch in diameter, but it was so strong that six 
 
402 LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 miles of it might be suspended in water without breaking, 
 and so flexible that it could be tied in a knot round the arm 
 without injury. Its weight was 1860 pounds to the mile, 
 which gives a weight of 4,092,000 pounds to the whole 
 cable. 
 
 On the 4th of August the telegraph fleet assembled in 
 Valentia Bay; the next evening the shore end of the cable 
 was laid from the stern of the Niagara by a boat's crew of 
 American sailors, in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, and an immense crowd of spectators. On the 
 6th the expedition sailed, and in a few days returned, with 
 the sad news that the cable had broken in deep water after 
 335 nautical miles of it had been laid. 
 
 The enthusiastic looked grave ; the sceptical said, or 
 looked, with the usual self satisfied smile, " I told you so," 
 and the laying of the cable was postponed to another year. 
 With an energy worthy of the cause, the Atlantic Telegraph 
 Company prepared to repeat the attempt; the Niagara and 
 Agamemnon were again placed at its disposal by their 
 respective Governments, and they set sail in June 1858. 
 The plan, however, had been changed. The two vessels 
 were to proceed to mid-ocean ; there splice the ends of the 
 cable, and, turning stern to stern, make for their respective 
 shores. 
 
 Storm and disaster awaited them, and once more the 
 fleet returned to port unsuccessful. But the company was 
 not to be defeated. The vessels were once again sent out ; 
 they spliced the cable in mid- Atlantic, and, on the 28th of 
 July 1858, began to "pay-out" the cable. 
 
 And now commenced days and nights of care and an- 
 xiety on board these two ships as they steamed away from 
 each other, paying out the delicate wire rope as carefully as 
 
LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 403 
 
 if their lives depended on the issue ! And it is a strange 
 thing to reflect that as the distance grew, and hundreds of 
 miles of ocean lay between them, still that subtle current 
 passed along the wire, and told the electricians on board 
 each vessel that all was well. The minds of all men of 
 science, officers and crews of both ships were on the stretch 
 during the whole voyage. The grandeur and importance of 
 the achievement if accomplished, the delicacy of the cable, 
 its liability to accident, and the possibility of failure, kept 
 every one in a state of constant anxiety, while those who 
 had charge of the coil watched the index that told of "con- 
 tinuity" with intense and constant interest. 
 
 On the evidence of this continuity of the current every- 
 thing depended. When the continuity was active, hearts 
 were light and hopes high ; when it became dull and un- 
 certain, a load pressed on every bosom ; if it should cease 
 despair ! 
 
 Once and again this continuity did become defective, so 
 much so that it was impossible to send a signal through the 
 cable. Still it did not absolutely cease, so there was hope. 
 For nearly two hours, at one time, there were none but 
 blank faces on board, and it was whispered that "something 
 was wrong," but the continuity returned, and although 
 many a gallant tar knew not the meaning of the term, his 
 heart beat freely again when the electricians translated it 
 into the well-known words, " all's right again." 
 
 Then came the time when the change of the wire from 
 one coil to another had to be made from .the coil on the 
 main-deck, for instance, to that on the deck below. It was 
 a critical moment. Long before it had to be done, everything 
 was prepared for it, and, more than an hour before, crowds 
 of anxious men stood round the circles to watch the great 
 
404 LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 event. The last coils of the circle began to pass out, and 
 every one gazed with silent suspense ; only a few turns re- 
 mained, and the order was given by the chief engineer to 
 diminish speed, and the cable passed slowly out astern. 
 The point was to pass the bight, or point of connection, 
 safely out astern, and men stood ready to lift the cable at 
 this part when it began to unwind. At last it reeled off, 
 was sent safely overboard, and a murmur of applause 
 greeted the event as the speed of the ship was again got up. 
 Such incidents occurred several times in both vessels 
 during the voyage. Once it was found that defective con- 
 tinuity was caused by the wire not being properly insulated 
 at a particular spot, and the cable had to be cut and 
 rejoined; this was successfully accomplished, and the con- 
 tinuity returned in as strong force as ever. 
 
 But there were other causes of anxiety besides the risk 
 of breaking the cable by accident or clumsy management in 
 any of the delicate operations that had to be performed. 
 The consumption of coal and diminishing of the cable's 
 bulk lightened the ships so much that they rolled uneasily, 
 and subjected the wire to heavy strains and jerks. The 
 Agamemnon, too, experienced some very rough weather, 
 though the voyage of the Niagara was comparatively quiet ; 
 but the beautiful and ingenious apparatus for paying out 
 the cable the invention of Mr. Everett of the U.S. navy 
 worked so admirably that everything went well, and the 
 crews at last began to entertain sanguine hopes that their 
 work was really about to be accomplished triumphantly. 
 
 On the seventh day the Niagara sighted land, and the 
 same evening entered Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. They 
 were cheered by the signal u all's well" from the Agamemnon, 
 which was now drawing near to the Irish coast. The 
 
LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 405 
 
 Americans landed their end of the cable on the 5th of 
 August amid the cheers and rejoicing of the crews of their 
 portion of the telegraphic fleet, and of the few persons who 
 had long and anxiously awaited their appearance at the 
 telegraph station. But it is a bleak, wild, uninhabited 
 district on which the station stands, so there were no crowds 
 assembled on the shore to witness the consummation of the 
 great event, and welcome their new and interesting " con- 
 nection " with lusty cheers. 
 
 The event was most appropriately celebrated by thanks- 
 giving and prayer. Taking up his position on a pile of 
 boards, "the officers and men standing round, amid 
 shavings, stumps of trees, pieces of broken furniture, sheets 
 of copper, telegraph batteries, little mounds of lime and 
 mortar, branches of trees, huge boulders, and a long cata- 
 logue of other things equally incongruous, Captain Hudson, 
 of the Niagara, said to those around him : 
 
 "We have just accomplished a work which has attracted 
 the attention and enlisted the interest of the whole world. 
 That work has been performed not by ourselves ; there has 
 been an Almighty hand over us and aiding us ; and, with- 
 out the divine assistance thus extended to us, success was 
 impossible. With this conviction firmly impressed upon 
 our minds, it becomes our duty to acknowledge our in- 
 debtedness to that overruling Providence who holds the 
 sea in the hollow of His hand. 'Not unto us, O Lord, 
 not unto us, but to thy name be all the glory.' " 
 
 After these most appropriate remarks he then offered up 
 the same prayer which was offered at the laying of the cable, 
 with a few necessary alterations to suit the occasion. 
 
 The Agamemnon was equally successful in performing her 
 part of the arduous task. The two ends of the cable 
 
406 LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 having been attached to their respective telegraph appa- 
 ratus, the work was completed, and a message was trans- 
 mitted across the Atlantic from shore to shore. 
 
 The first message that winged its way through the deep, 
 over the rocks, and sands, and mysterious caverns of ocean, 
 was from the directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company 
 in England to the directors in America, and its purport was 
 eminently appropriate to the occasion on the 16th of 
 August 1858 it left England, and the same day it rang 
 throughout the whole Northern and Western states of 
 America "Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, 
 good-will toward men." 
 
 Immediately after, the Queen's message was telegraphed, 
 but, owing to necessary repairs to the cable, it was inter- 
 rupted in its course, and did not reach its destination in a 
 complete form till the following day, (the 17th). It ran as 
 follows : 
 
 " The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon 
 the successful completion of this great international work, 
 in which the Queen has taken the greatest interest. The 
 Queen is convinced the President will join her in fervently 
 hoping that the electric cable which now connects Great 
 Britain with the United States will prove an additional link 
 between the two nations, whose friendship is founded on 
 their common interest and reciprocal esteem. The Queen 
 has much pleasure in thus directly communicating with the 
 President, and in renewing to him her best wishes for the 
 prosperity of the United States." 
 
 To this President Buchanan replied on the same day : 
 
 "The President cordially reciprocates the congratulation 
 of her Majesty, the Queen, on the success of this great 
 international enterprise, accomplished by the science, skill, 
 
LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 407 
 
 and indomitable energy of the two countries. It is a 
 triumph more glorious, because far more useful, to mankind, 
 than ever was won by conqueror on the field of battle. May 
 the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove 
 to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the 
 kindred nations, and an instrument designed by Providence 
 to diffuse religion, civilization, liberty, and law throughout 
 the world. In this view will not all the nations of Chris- 
 tendom spontaneously unite in the declaration, that it shall 
 be for ever neutral, and that its communications shall be held 
 sacred in passing to the place of their destination, even in 
 the midst of hostilities] JAMES BUCHANAN." 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be generally known that the 
 Atlantic Telegraph was in active operation for twenty-three 
 days before it ceased to work and proved a failure. During 
 that period 400 messages, consisting of 4,359 words com- 
 posed of 21,421 letters were transmitted along the wires 
 between the two countries, and there is little doubt that 
 the success of the undertaking would have been complete 
 had it not been for the faulty and careless manner in which 
 the cable was constructed. But enough has been accom- 
 plished to show that the laying of an Atlantic Telegraph is 
 both feasible and desirable. 
 
 We have merely selected a few of the most prominent 
 and singular achievements that have of late years marked the 
 progress of man, in connection with the ocean and with 
 things pertaining thereto. Our space forbids us to touch 
 upon, much less to enter into, the details of many naval 
 structures and marine appliances, which are nevertheless 
 deeply interesting and well worthy of our intelligent regard. 
 The magnificent floating palaces that cross the Atlantic, 
 
408 ENORMOUS CABLES. 
 
 summer and winter, week after week, with the regularity 
 of clockwork ; the splendid steam fleet of the Oriental and 
 Peninsular Steam Company; the electric cables that con- 
 nect England with France, Europe with Africa the "west" 
 with the "east," and render communication with distant 
 parts of the world almost instantaneous; the diving-bells 
 that enable men to wrest from the sea the treasures which 
 for long, long years she has held in her firm grasp; and 
 an innumerable host of kindred subjects, crowd upon our 
 attention, and claim our regard. But one book cannot 
 contain them all. We are constrained, most unwillingly, 
 to come to a close and bid our reader farewell. 
 
 The great wide ocean is filled with and surrounded by 
 subjects of the deepest interest to mankind. As it is the 
 great reservoir into which all the turbid streams of earth 
 flow, there to be purified and sweetened, so is it the scene 
 to which poets, philosophers, scholars, and mechanists may 
 turn, find congenial subjects of contemplation, and, if they 
 will, have their minds and hearts purified and lifted up in 
 reverent adoration of Him whose word tells us that 
 " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business 
 in the great waters ; these see the works of the Lord and 
 his wonders in the deep."