Five Years in New Zealand | Page 7

the captain was so concerned and annoyed at
our disobedience of his orders that he refused to allow us to boat again
during the voyage. We suffered sorely for our escapade, for not
knowing the strength of a tropical sun, we exposed ourselves so that the
skin was burned and peeled off, and we were in misery for several days,
while our arms and necks were swathed in cotton wool and oil.
After leaving the tropics we had a pleasant voyage and fair winds until
we rounded the Cape, where we encountered some rough weather, and
at 56° S.L., it being then almost winter in those latitudes, we passed
many icebergs of more or less extent. Few of them appeared to be more
than ten or fifteen feet above water, but the greater portion of such
blocks are submerged, and considerable caution had to be observed
night and day to steer clear of them. They were usually observable at
first from the large number of birds resting on them, causing them to
appear like a dark speck on the horizon. One of these icebergs
(according to an entry made in the ship's log) was stated to be five
miles long and of great height, and we were supposed to have passed it
at the latter end of the night so near that "a biscuit might be thrown
upon it." I am afraid the entry was open to criticism, and that the
existence, or at any rate, the extent of this particular iceberg might have
been due to an extra glass of grog on the mate's imagination.
We sighted no land during the voyage, except the Peak of Teneriffe, as
it emerged above a cloud; and but few vessels, and of those only two
closely. One was a Swedish barque, homeward bound, the other a large
American clipper ship. We spoke the latter when the vessels were some
miles apart, but as the courses were parallel, she being bound for
London, while we were from thence, we gradually neared, when an
amusing conversation by signals took place. Our captain, by mistake of
the signaller, invited the Yankee captain to dinner, and the reply from

the American, who good-naturedly took it as a joke, was "Bad
roadstead here." Our captain thought they were chaffing him, and had
not the mistake been discovered in time, the rencontre might not have
ended as pleasantly as it did. Our captain and second mate went on
board the Yankee, and their captain returned the visit. While this was
proceeding the two ships appeared to be sailing round each other, and
the sight was very imposing. When the ceremonies were over, and a
few exchanges of newspapers, wines, etc., were made and bearings
compared, the vessels swung round to their respective courses, up flew
the sails, and a prolonged cheer from both ships told us this little
interchange of courtesies in the midst of the South Pacific was at an
end.
I think it was the same night that we experienced a very heavy gale; the
lightning, thunder, rain, and wind were terrific, and the sea ran
mountains high. I stayed on deck nearly all the night, half perished with
wet and cold; but such a storm carries with it a peculiar attraction, and
one which I could not resist. I do not know anything more weird and
impressive than the chant of the sailors hauling on the ropes, mingled
with the fierce fury of the storm, and every now and again the dense
darkness lit up by a vivid flash of lightning; the deck appears for the
moment peopled by phantoms combined with the fury of the elements
to bring destruction on the noble little vessel with its precious freight
struggling and trembling in their grasp.
The following morning the storm had quite abated, but the sea was
such as can be seen only in mid-ocean. Our little ship (she was only
700 tons) appeared such an atom in comparison with the enormous
mountains of water. At one moment we would be perched on the
summit of a wave, seemingly hundreds of feet high, and immediately
below a terrible abyss into which we were on the point of sinking; the
next we would be placed between two mountains of water which
seemed going to engulf us.
I always took a place with the sailors on emergencies, to give a hand at
hauling the ropes, and got to be fairly expert at climbing into the
rigging. The rope-hauling was done to some chant started by the

boatswain or one of the sailors--this is necessary to ensure that the
united strength of the pullers is exerted at the same moment. One of the
chants I well remember. It was:--
"Haul a bowlin', the 'Mary Anne's' a-rollin'. Haul a bowlin', a