VOYAGE OUT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21418, 9 March 1935, Page 17

VOYAGE OUT

JOOBNAI- FROM THE I cH ARLOTTK JAM! J ~ Fnnr ■ ' I-;-', r p ;IVP rn " S> pr -. i ~r Mr ; I. * September 2U. ItJSO, ' (Off the Isle of Ferro). £ my journal! I tear my will come to be considered dher f"g ile - wIlL '" <hls 1S tne s L I have been able to find Valid time to begin it. We had % pleasant voyage down the though r v."as nmch de'i?bv seasickness. y,t not so r, prevent my '<njoying the t tl - V We awoke very early m by the noise made by I]n g the anchor, and when I ilJndeck I found v,c were already Biles from Gmvesend. rn tow ' 4e Black Eagle sUnun-tuy. Wc " Chatham at a uj;»u.;kv. and -e the same day oil' Kamsgate, Zm »' ik ' s disl ' inl ; m ".u William s telescope and could r T lin j v see houses, where wo passed lEfeW happy days last summer 4- the eveningT in tin: clis'ance. Lar'y Cjuorning oil the Isic of Wignt. ISt 2 W breeze. Iho' too IjJtosee the houses plainly; to■.•mis the evening saw the coast oi JVfOßShiffi near Falmouth. Went Start point, and had a 1,-ely sail from there to Plymouth. j' dav and the day before were f down the Channel by one J oar ships, the Randolph, which f last, when the wind got lighter, 4sed as, and reached Plymouth a rjrter of a mile in front of us. During the nipht. the child of one Ctre died. ot the name tMarlev, and the first thing in the -inung' I put oil' to the land to We airangemcnts about its burial. We were all much struck by the : jguty of Plymouth Sound, by far -»mo c t beautiful iirrbour we had r er beheld. We k-y at anchor sat I] miles inside the breakTi'er, ?nd between t;s and it lay a tit-decker inan-of-war. On the -jv dmvn the channel Sammy had

! Town his cherisho'l wheelbarrow , .erboard, unci I had difficulty ||, ITn 1 Tn preventing Dickie lullowiny One of my first conitrus.-don;; cm l''plc't 'lit; i'. wiueh. a I ter 'ijjjs difficulty. I succcvded in ctoim;. "i&j not it filled with fresh ,erape:> :i fig-, which proved rnjht wei'"•<22 to our r-ickened appetites. fie-iCT. I luid speedily in return, j.t <> is quite uncertain u h-.-n the /jp was tn sail, and the Govern• -Jpt Immigration Agent wished me pbe present at the inspection of |apa -cpl,cis. The great doubtfuljL-. < f the ship's stay prevented it: 1 : ; goine on shore, and F did f||; '-t atari' after the /noi'mim. How--1 ' ' w. at <u< the slvp's uitsiness. k it cur stock, and several ( Jr "bfc s t»f thp assnciM \ flfV'-rs Simeon and Adderly coming ram ooard. we mack- formal eomiliimts as to the character ot our |..ve stock, many of which had died jen tr.e passage down the channel. ILaten the evening they were replaced by others. Air Simeon had ~i L!k with me about my duties, Produced me to Lord Warn-i-Te, ".ho had conic on board with >son, I. S. Wortley, who is one of passengers. and a very nice jung fellow, very good nutured full of mischief as lie is inches *3. Just as. it was yetting dark >5 sailing orders came on board. -J ue weighed anchor. Just at -5 moment Captain Lawrence -■d he had loft the ship's papers Mdl.im in Plymouth, so that he "obliged to leave the ship in the :i: pss of the pii'ii. with orders to £'o outside the breakwater till p joined us, which he did about 10 J: SS- and then we ihsally left the ' 'ft "f Old England. We passed J „t^"' 5lon( " p ni., and when I ii, on deck a; li next morning J I ** QBtancc was pointed out to me J ylands End. Before the other 1 had come. ~.1 deck it faded awav and then I felt thai ;*tre really cut ..IT from the old i anc ' °i fr fi iends. However. •it* j! e ot,r everyday duties J/ B "pupated tiiese reflections and ll&t 11 ' f ' d< :i n-.iich as f could j "it J 0 Set through ihem in spite of {•',®; ser >' of seasickness, and now ; ■°Jas we!! try and describe !ness duties are.

Ship's Discipline fct. place. w.- have on ' ui? irnrn 'Sninlo and settlers, *nicn aboui iOO ;n-e steerage l^nger :i an[ j n . ori . immediately ' t .;;; n y contrd. i n «, iilll<_• ■s 10 the morning and «<>t nil -JUgrants on dod: by 7 or halt ' 'a -p. * rend oVf ' r Hic.'ir names ' SSW'L?° an ' and " lve a good account, of I horn- ' i.7,f, r ? st °PPod in their ration*, i i n ne weather brin.L; their 1 '• si- anc ' spread them out 1 t-r d! C lo; ' g b(;: " v.-hicli stands -'-'fnr« e between the main and foe masts and i.s ducked in Wuckv kC cf Cabin Whe, ' e S .°. nlo j ■ Mieep are awaiting -■*stv , u 'hich come? to them • 'fa V?in the shape '"-feui , GSS - or the butcher's I n-; f i. n Jhe ladders cornniunicat--he steerasa are taken Z eight 111611 selected in turn *. t 0 v , ar! "ied and single men 11° f nd cdean iJl b»t~- f CL!S an '' :i " l° rc ;inf- \ uu deci; - i - v ' hit --h J Wnf r d and with R > tf've, Th' '"'t vf ' n,llated b - v 'Ned ini » Process "iotfc , l 0 Piirts. tin- succp*:?iOdscn,Kv asl iiiKi lllt ' "crapJi~ , n b' atl er it. We had &in T u!ty - 1 Premise vou, to S ; sevei-!i° S0 uniud '->- folks at $ ftev h- i''(-fused and utrub. r .( d ? n keen accustomed " nd mutineer fefast S y a S ai ™t a compulsed to I, . were ultimately ShW'rt to Sleep by him■Z"'"6 shin' V le boats, hansing of bjJJf S]( ' e en a wholesome Jfc heS ? nd v ' au ' ! - after 1 advisable to K since ViT s worked well ■**e } o i|.. , Pithiness of some »J hould be seen to be IKS lasted t £ s long as lhe sea " Bfcwder wl W ?, rk of Setting ■SWto th rearl y no trifle, in HS? 6® .• , c t that yoinu below ■Ll*vET 15 ! bl >' sca sick, so K? tiD tv,;. 00k a meal in the ■T^f(»iu Week: in deed had it, H " e captain Lawrence,

I never should have got them in order at all; and he at last got in such a rage with them that I expect they began to fear lest they might catch a Tartar. However, matters are now going on, as smooth as the weather. A Lonely Sea Well, after the cleaners have done their duty, the school begins, at least has done so lately (and while the cleaning lasts we have morning prayers, which the chaplain reads, the capstan covered with the Union Jack serving as a pulpit). After school comes dinner, then school again, and tea, and all in bed by 10 p.m. For the first day or two, the Randolph kept us in sight, but gradually dropped astern, and now has not been seen for more than a week. After the first few days the weathpr got provokingly adverse, and we were obliged to tack about with baffling light winds, but lately we have got into the trade winds and are careering along with every stitch of canvas set over a lonely sea, as blue as indigo. Beyond a whale or two, a few porpoises, and a flying fish, we have seen little worth notice, except that when in the Bay of Biscay, more than 90 miles from land, a poor little grey wagtail flew on board one ship, and was transferred to our cage, in an exhausted state, and died before morning. The storm petrels have followed us perseveringly, and one or two have been shot by our eager sportsmen, though for what purpose I am at a loss to imagine, as of course they could not be got. A few days ago we passed a large East India man, with her foremast broken off in some gale of wind, which we have escaped, for though it has once blown stiff enough to tear a sail to shreds, yet we have seen nothing like a storm. High Sermons j Wo have now spent two Sundays jon board, and though unlike our j Sundays on land, they have not been without their interest. A sort of seats are constructed by boards placed in buckets round the capstan. which is placed in front of the cuddy windows and there the emigrants sit; the cabin passengers seat themselves either there or in the poop overlooking the rest, and where they can hear very well. We have had very good though rather high sermons from Mr Kingdon, who is a most amiable man and evidently most anxious to do his duty and act according to the best of his judgment. Miss Bowen, however, seems to think him rather a black sheep, tho' I must sav I cannot agree with her. Early in the morning of the 171 h of this month, the captain told me he saw land ahead, but though visible to his eyes, it was long before our uninitiated optics could discover the filmy outlines of a mountainous island, the most northern of "the Madeira group, I Porto Santo. We did not approach I within several miles of it, and it is j still a moot point with us, whether I some white specks I discovered on i its distant sides were houses, or blocks of quartz. However, I have I no doubt in my mind. Tantalising Sights Towards night we were becalmed of? Madeira, but. a thick veil of clouds hid all the beauty from outsight and a fresh breeze springing up in the night, we were out of sight before morning. On the 19th we reached the most northerly of the Canaries. Palma. which lay to the westward of us most of the day about 20 miles off. As the br-icze 'died away we deluded ourselves j with all sorts of hopes of taking a 'boat ashore, but as usual it freshened and brought us off the most southerly of the Canaries, Ferro, near enough to see the white housed distant towns, and to make our mouths water at the sight of what we chose to call its orange groves, tho' to say the truth., the island is nearly the colour of a hard burned brick and bears evident traces of its volcanic origin. There again we sadly reflected on Cowper's lines, "The leanest lands supply the richest wines." However, our appearance, though it must have been evident to the whole town, did not call forth a single inhabitant except i one that Ward said he saw standing | yawning in his doorway. A pretty j good glass is Mr Ward's, we being jls miles off! Be that as it may, not a single boat came oil', nor indeed could we have discovered any place where we could have landed. Meanwhile we had on our left hand a distant, view of the celebrated Peak of Teneriffe, which towered high above the clouds 65 miles off. while between us and it lay another island, Gomera, 25 miles off. Burial at Sea September 26, 1850. Since losing sight of Tenerifie we have had very variable weather. Once rather rough when we made 220 miles in 24 hours, and two days of intensely hot weather, with the thermometer standing at 86 in my cabin and the air so suffocating as to scarcely be endured. Emma and the children suffered much, baby keeping us awake almost entirely for two nights. Early on the morning of tho twenty-fourth I was called up with the announcement, that a child was dead. It had been ailing for some time but was not worse the night before. The father was blockhead enough not to call me up in the night, tho' I had repeatedly warn ed him to do so. At 10 a.m. the poor little thing was buried, sewn up in a piece of sail cloth with a bag of sand to sink it. While the service was going on a shoal of porpoises played around the ship, but the moment, the plunge of the body took place they ail disappeared, whether to pursue it to the depths of the ocean, I know not,. We had a regular scouring out or the ship that day, to get rid of anything that might promote the spread of disease, and tho' there are several children very ill, yet none others have died. We have lately seen many flying fish: their appearance often reminds one of the game of duck and drake, as the fish do not appear to reach much further from the surface generally, and splash speedily into it again. However they certainly have the power of directing their course upwards and sideways, though we never saw them near enough to determine whether they used their fins as ! wings or merely as suspenders, like the 'living squirrels. During the gale of wind one of them flew on board and was caught, but whether i he did so from the seas or was washed on board by a wave I do not know. I have compared him with the drawing we have published by the Christian Knowledge Society which it is not very like. Two or three sharks have been seen the last day or two and a whale passed close to us this morning but neither had I the good fortune to behold. I have, however, seen some beautiful specimens of the Portuguese men of war, or rather the inflated balloon, with which he navigates the ocean; it is a kind of sepia. All you see above the water is a semicirculai; dish which looks like an inflated bladder of the most brilliant blue. (To be continued.) '