THE VOYAGE OF THE SWATARA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4289, 18 December 1874, Page 3

THE VOYAGE OF THE SWATARA.

(From the New York Herald.) United States Steamer Swatara, Cape Town, Cape op Good Hope, August 5, 1874. The United States steamer Swatara, with the Venus Transit Commission on board, arrived here this morning, fifty-nine days from New York, including four days spent at Bahia, Brazil, where we touched for coal and fresh provisions. This is an unusually quick passage, and gives us all the more time here for preparing the ship for the real work of the expedition, and affords ample opportunities to the officers of the commission for regulating their chronometers, arranging details and putting the finishing touches to their outfits. At the Cape there is no telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, and the mails are very uncertain, otherwise it is peculiarly well fitted for a starting point for the transit expedition. Not only because it is a free port, and sea stores, provisions and clothing of all kinds are cheap and good, but also for the reason that the longitude of the place has been very accurately determined by the English National Observatory here, and consequently tho astronomers of the commission will have no difficulty in rating the thirty odd chronometers, upon which they will be obliged to rely in determining the geographical position of their stations. THE VOYAGE FROM NEW YORK. Cape Town is about 7,000 miles from New York, and lies almost directly to windward, so that in making the passage under sail, a vessel is obliged to make three long stretches, crossing the Atlantic each time. This swells the distance to nearly 9,000 miles—long miles, too, for they are made with the yards braced sharp up and the sheets hauled flat aft. First, we sailed across to the southward and eastward toward the Cape de Verde Islands, so as to be able to take advantage of the north-east trade winds, which we pick up about midway, carrying them as far as the Doldrums, or the Equatorial belt of calms, storms, and variables ; when, as if disgusted with the climate, they soar straight up and take the back track, leaving us to furl our canvass and make the best of our way across tho debatable water between the two great trade wind belts under steam ; across a region where the weather is forever unsettled, where Eolus seems to be always tuning his bagpipes, where there is no old probabilities, no clerk of the weather ; a latitude where the wind plays at merry-go-round, shifting thirty-five points in as many minutes, blowing high and blowing low ; where tho very mercury in the barometer seems to have given up all hope of keeping the run of things, and has crawled away down out of sight, as if to keep out of the rain, which comes down in unceasing showers ; where the sky is a mass of disorganised, savage-looking squall clouds, each one sailing, apparently, under a roving commission, and all converging upon tho vessel ; where the sea is a tumult of confused waves, crushing around in a bewildered sort of way, as .if looking for the winds which had brought them so far and deserted them. THE COMMISSIONERS NOT PROOF AGAINST SEASICKNESS. Hitherto the motion of the vessel had been rather insinuating, but graceful and easy—a kind of waltz movement, a combination of tho glide and tho Boston dip—and very few had been actively sick. But when the ship encountered the heavy, irregular sea of the Doldrums nearly every member of the commission succumbed. Nature seemed to have a special and particular grudge against these scientists, whose business it is to pry into her secrets, and gratified it accordingly. The motion was so violent, indeed, that John Foster, captain of tho forecastle, and Peter Wilkins, chief boatswain’s mate, in conclave with some half dozen other old zoophites and sea skimmers, decided with heavy hearts, that the weather

would not admit of the performance of the traditional, time-honored farce of “crossing the line,” and so the greenhorns and landsmen escaped for this time. However, after four days of this battledore and shuttlecock, we crossed this part of the terrible zone and fell in with the south-east trades, which begin to play their part in maintaining the perpetual commerce of heat between the Equator and the Poles in latitude one degree south, and, hauling our fires and setting everything that would draw, one fine, breezy afternoon saw us at anchor in the HARBOR OF BAHIA, one-half of the distance to the Cape accomplished in thirty days, Bahia is a picturesque, unsavory old city, very much like Lisbon iu appearance, with its narrow streets and overhanging balconies. It is situated upon the north shore of the large Bahia (bay) do Todos los Santos. The real name of the city is San Salvador, but in some way or other the whole world has dropped into the habit of calling it Bahia. It is famous for the yellow fever, for its oranges (the finest in the world), for its ■ whale fisheries, for being the outlet of the Brazilian diamond mines, and for its churches and convents, it being the archiepiscopal city of Brazil. It is noted, too, for its being the scene of the capture of the Confederate cruiser Florida during the war of the rebellion, and finally for being the port from which Robinson Crusoe sailed upon his memorable cruise. MILITARY FACTS. They keep a considerable military force stationed here, and in one of the regiments the patron -saint of the city, the blessed San Antonio, holds a commission. He rendered some miraculous service to the Bahianos during the old buccaneering times, for which he was appointed a sergeant ; later, he was appointed to a captaincy, which he holds to this day, and the priests have drawn his pay and allowances for lights, washing, fuel, &c., for nearly three hundred years. PHOTOGRAPHING THE EXPEDITION. They have two seasons here, the wet and the showery, and while we were here it rained every day, but this did not prevent the photographers of the expedition from taking dozens of views of the city and surroundings. And here we left one of the gentlemen, Hi'. Seebohm, chief photographer of the Chatham Island. He had been so prostrated by sea sickness that the surgeon of the Swatara, fearing that another trip would prove fatal, recommended that he be sent home. Mr. Buhler, his senior assistant, takes his place. THE SWATARA —HER PERFORMANCE AT SEA.

We remained here for four days just long enough to fill our bunkers with coal and our lockers with oranges—then steamed out, bound for the Cape. Just outside we met with weather which gave us an opportunity, for the first time, of testing the seagoing qualities of our ship, and, especially, of proving the excellence of her engines. The Swatara is a new ship, just from the hands of the naval constructor, and is fitted with compound engines, designed and built by the navy department, and, being the first of the type ever used in the navy, there was some question as to whether they had power sufficient to control the movements of the ship when we arrived in the stormy regions of the Crozet and Kerguelen stations, which lie right in the track of. the “ brave west winds,” at the very heart of the “ roaring forties,” where, as the sailors say, “ it blows hard enough to blow the teeth right down your throat.” All doubts upon this point were, however, soon set at rest, for they carried us right to -windward against the heavy head wind and sea of the south-east trades—blowing a gale at this season—at a rate of from seven to nine knots, driving us along as though we were a passenger steamer built for speed alone, and furnishing convincing proof that we could more than hold our own against anything short of a hurricane. Speaking of the Swatara and her fitness for the expedition, I must add that she is fast and what the sailors call “ handy ” under sail, making upon more than one occasion from twelve to thirteen knots, with her yards braced up and topgallant sails set, dragging her four-bladed propeller. OBSERVATIONS WHEN AT SEA. We made a very good run across to the Cape, making 4000 miles in twenty-three days. The early part of the voyage was very pleasant and was especially interesting to the astronomers, who had now an opportunity of observing—most ■of them for the first time—the brilliant constellations of the Southern Hemisphere and of speculating upon the origin and cause of those curious phenomena, the Magellan clouds, and especially upon the most remarkable one, called the Coal Sack, which lays right alongside of the Southern Cross ; in speaking of which Sir John Herschell says that, in looking through his largo reflecting telescope, “it appeared as a black, ragged rent in the firmament, through which ho could see out beyond the shell, so to speak, of our own celestial sphere into empty, immeasurable space.” The latter part of the voyage was rather stormy and disagreeable, but this was soon forgotten in the pleasure of being in port once more. The officers of the station were very kind and attentive, giving us a secure and comfortable berth in the dock, placing the observatory at the disposal of the astronomers, and furnishing the ship with a complete set of charts of the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands, besides extending to us all sorts of courtesies. Wo will remain here a short time, just long enough to make our final preparations.