Bowdoin Boys in Labrador | Page 3

boasts herself the
most strongly fortified city of America, together with the flag-ship
Bellerophon and two other vessels of the Atlantic squadron, the Canada
and the Thrush, the latter vessel until lately having been commanded by
Prince George, gave the harbor and town a martial tone that was
heightened upon our going ashore and seeing the red coats that throng
the streets in the evening. Halifax, with its squat, smoky, irregular
streets is well known, and its numerous public buildings, drill barracks,
and well kept public gardens, all backed by the frowning citadel,
probably need no description from me. After receiving the letters for
which we came in, and sending the courteous United States Consul
General, Mr. Frye, and his vice-consul, Mr. King, Colby '89, ashore
with a series of college yells that rather startled the sleepy old town, we
laid a course down the harbor, exchanged salutes with the steamship
Caspian, and were soon ploughing along, before a fine south-west
breeze for Cape Canso.
[Ward Room of the Julia Decker] While our little vessel is driving
ahead with wind well over the quarter, groaning, as it were, at the even
greater confusion in the wardroom than when we left Rockland, owing
to the additional supplies purchased at Halifax, it may be well to briefly
describe her appearance, when fitted to carry seventeen Bowdoin men
in her hold in place of the lime and coal to which she has been
accustomed. Descending, then, the forward hatch, protected by a plain
hatch house, the visitor turns around and facing aft, looks down the two
sides of the immense centreboard box that occupies the centre of our
wardroom from floor to deck. Fastened to it are the mess tables, nearly
always lighted by some four or five great lamps, which serve to warm

as well, as the pile of stuff around and beneath the after-hatch house
cuts off most of the light that would otherwise come down there. On
the port side of the table runs the whole length of the box; two wooden
settles serve for dining chairs and leave about four feet clear space next
the "deacon's seat" that runs along in front of the five double-tiered
berths. These are canvas-bottomed, fitted with racks, shelves, and the
upper ones with slats overhead, in which to stow our overflowing traps.
At the after end, on both sides of the wardroom, are large lockers
coming nearly to the edge of the hatch, in which most of the provisions
are stowed. At the forward end, next to the bulkhead that separates us
from the galley, are, on the port side, a completely equipped dark room
in which many excellent pictures have already been brought to light,
and on the starboard side a large rack holding our canned goods,
ketchup, lime-juice, etc. Along the bulkhead are the fancy cracker
boxes, tempting a man to take one every time he goes below, and under
the racks are our kerosene and molasses barrels. Between the line of
four double-tier berths on the starboard side and the rack just described
is a handy locker for oil clothes and heavy overcoats. Lockers run along
under the lower berths, and trunks with a thousand other articles are
stowed under the tables. A square hole cut in the bulkhead, just over
the galley head, lets heat into the wardroom and assists the lamps in
keeping us warm. As yet, in spite of some quite cold weather, we have
been perfectly comfortable. Sometimes, however, odors come in as
well as heat from the galley, and do not prove so agreeable. If to this
description, clothes of various kinds, guns, game bags, boots, fishing
tackle and books, should, by the imagination of the reader, to be
scattered about, promiscuously hung, or laid in every conceivable nook
and corner, a fair idea of our floating house could be obtained. On deck
we are nearly as badly littered, though in more orderly fashion. Two
nests of dories, a row boat, five water tanks, a gunning float, and an
exploring boat, partly well fill the Julia's spacious decks. The other
exploring boat hangs inside the schooner's yawl at the stern. Add to
these two hatch houses, a small pile of lumber, and considerable fire
wood snugly stowed between the casks, and you have a fair idea of our
anything but clear decks. A yellow painted bust, presumably of our
namesake Julia, at the end of figure-head, peers through the fog and
leads us in the darkness; a white stripe relieves the blackness of our

sides; a green rail surmounts all; and, backed by the forms of nineteen
variously attired Bowdoin men, from professor, their tutor, alumnus, to
freshmen, complete our description.
[The Fourth of July] Meanwhile the night, clear but windless, has come
on, and we drift