Five Years in New Zealand | Page 5

and generally just what they should be.
Our cabins we had (in accordance with the usages of emigrant ships)
furnished ourselves, and they were roomy and comfortable, but I will
not readily forget the horror with which I woke up during the first night
at sea, with an indescribable feeling that I was being crawled over by
some loathsome things. In a half-wakeful fit, I put out my hand, to find
it rest upon a huge rat, which was seated on my chest. I started up in
my bunk, when, as I did so, it appeared that a large family of rats had
been holding high carnival upon me and my possessions; fully a dozen
must have been in bed with me. I had no light, nor could I procure one,
so I dressed and went on deck until morning. As a boy I was fond of
carpentering, and was considerably expert in that way. My father
thinking some tools would be useful to me, provided me with a small
chest of serviceable ones (not the ordinary amateur's gimcracks), and
this chest I had with me in my cabin. On examination I discovered
several holes beneath the berth, where no doubt the previous night's
visitors had entered. I set to work, and with the aid of some deal boxes
given me by the steward, I had all securely closed up by breakfast,
where the others enjoyed a hearty laugh at my experience of the night.
The captain said there were doubtless hundreds of rats on board, and
seemed to regard the fact with complacency rather than otherwise.
Sailors consider that the presence of rats is a guarantee of the

seaworthiness of the ship, and they will never voluntarily take passage
in a vessel that is not sound.
The captain's supposition proved true enough, and it was not unusual of
an evening to see these friendly rodents taking an airing on the ropes
and rigging, and upon the hand-rails around the poop deck, and while
so diverting themselves, I have endeavoured to shake them overboard,
but always in vain; they were thoroughbred sailors, knew exactly when
and where to jump, and flopping on the deck at my feet would
disappear, with a twist of their tails amidships.
I do not think that the sailors approved of the rats being destroyed, and
rather preferred their society than otherwise.
We soon settled down to our sea life, and the groans of sickness and the
screaming of children from between decks ceased in time. Our own
party of nine had the poop to ourselves, and were very comfortable; we
soon got to like the life, and generally arranged some way of spending
each day agreeably. We had a fair library, chess, backgammon, whist,
etc., and when we got into the Tropics and had occasional calms, we
went out in the captain's gig; then further south we had shooting
matches at Cape pigeons and albatrosses, and in all our amusements the
captain and Lapworth took part.
There were not many incidents on the voyage worthy of note, but I will
mention the most interesting of them which I can recollect. The first
was when we encountered a white squall about a week out from
England. It was a lovely evening, a slight breeze sending us along some
four knots under full sail. We were lounging on deck watching the
sunset, and occupied with our thoughts, when suddenly there was a cry
from the "look out" in the main fore-top which created an instantaneous
and marvellous scene of activity on board. It was then that we
witnessed the first example of thorough seamanship and discipline; the
shrill boatswain's whistle, the captain shouting a few orders, passed on
by the mates, a crowd of sailors appearing like magic in the rigging,
and in another instant the ship riding under bare masts; a deathlike
stillness for a few seconds, and then a snow white wall of foam,
stretching as far as the eye could reach, came down upon us with a

sweeping wind, striking the ship broadsides, and over she went on her
beam ends. Half a minute's hesitation or bungling would in all
probability have sent us over altogether. There was a shout to us
novices to look out--away went deck chairs and tables. The Misses
Hunt--poor old ladies--who had been quietly knitting unconscious of
any coming danger, were unceremoniously precipitated into the lee
scuppers. I seized the mizen-mast, while C---- falling foul of a roving
hen-coop, grasped it in a loving embrace, and accompanied it to some
haven of safety, where he stretched himself upon it until permitted to
walk upright again. The officers and crew appeared like so many cats in
the facility with which they moved about; so much so that deciding to
have a try