JOURNAL AT SEA, &c. Ship ALBION, 10th March, half-past 10 o'clock, a.m. 10th March.-At 10 o'clock went on board the steamboat Connecticut, and found a large party of our friends. They accompanied us about twenty miles, to Sandy Hook, where we reached the Albion, which had dropt down in the night. It was the very spot where we dropped anchor on our arrival in the Western World, sixteen months before, and brought strongly to my recollection, my feelings at that time, when about to land a stranger on a foreign shore. Our friends have just taken leave of us, with three cheers, and the large steam-boat, which moved gracefully from us, is now fast disappearing towards the Narrows. 4 o'clock. The passengers are beginning to survey each other a little. They consist of the Chief Justice of Bermuda, Lord K- -, two American physicians, and several English, French, and American merchants, in all nineteen, besides three children and a lady, who have not yet appeared on deck.-Have just been talking with Judge E-, whose impressions, with respect to America, correspond with mine. We have just passed the Radius, bound to London. The morning was very fine, and the day beautiful; it is now rather rough. 11th, Sunday.-At one o'clock, the Chief Justice read the Church Prayers, and one of Blair's Sermons on Public Worship; many of us are beginning to feel sea-sick. Distance run since twelve o'clock yesterday, 181 miles. 12th. Dull weather-rather rough-many of us unwell. The lightning, last night, led us to suppose we were in the Gulf Stream, but it seems we were wrong. A little bird is in the rigging, though we are 300 miles from land.-Our two cabin boys have never been at sea before, and are suffering terribly.-Distance run, 173 miles. 13th.-A beautiful morning-after breakfast a large reading party on deck; the wind moderate in the morning, improving towards night—it is now (midnight) carrying us eight and a half knots an hour.-The moon is shining sweetly on the waves, and the air is so soft and fresh, I hardly like to retire.-Saw some sea-gulls to-day. Distance run, 72 miles; long. 66°, lat. 39° 18'. 14th.-Wet, and rather wild-the wind fair—all driven to the cabin, where some are reading, some writing the invalids disordered.-Distance 184 miles. 15th.-Last night we had a severe gale, and were obliged to take in all our sail, except the foresail-rose this morning, sore all over with the rolling of the vesseland so i with sickness and head-ache that I could *See Appendix A. not open a book, or look up-the sea rough and unpleasant. In the course of the day saw some bottle-nose whales.-223 miles. 16th.-Am again able to read on deck, but cannot stay in my state-room, nor take any meals below.-183 miles. 17th.-Fine calm day-the invalids better. We believe we have now left the Gulf Stream, in which it is supposed we have been during the last two days.-Saw a ship on the horizon, but indistinctly; it is the first we have seen since we left New York, this day week. This evening have been walking with the Chief Justice, on deck; he tells me the cause of visiting England is, that the Governor, has suspended him and two more of the Executive Council, for differing from him in opinion. The courts, during his absence, are closed, the lawyers refusing to plead, except before professional men.-115 miles. 18th, Sunday. So violent a storm, that we can have no service on board. Still we have an opportunity of seeing the "works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." The waves are mountains high-sometimes crested with foam-sometimes curling and pouring down a torrent of green water, like the heavy mass in the middle of the Falls of Niagara. Our rails have been under water a great part of the day; and those of us who staid on deck, have been lashed to the side. The wind has been constantly heavy, and sometimes has come up in squalls, which drove us at a tremendous rate, though we had only our foresail set, and the mizen-top-gallant yards were brought on deck. The waves seemed to rise on every side, as if they were going to form into a cone, and close in upon ussometimes to let us down into an abyss, from which it seemed impossible we should ever rise.-Distance 201 miles. 19th. During the night the wind has been completely round the compass.—It is now fair, (10 o'clock, a. m.) the day dry, but cloudy; the wind cold; while yesterday it was quite warm, though so violent; in both cases from the south.-173 miles.-The weather seemed to intimate that we were within the influence of the Banks of Newfoundland, and an observation confirmed the idea. The captain thought we were a little to the south of them, but the mate supposed, from the colour of the water, that we were passing over the edge. While the rest were at dinner, he and I tried the temperature of the water, which, on the Banks, is almost always at 34". In the air it was 48'; but on letting it into the water, it sunk at once to 34°. 20th. The wind very high, and the ship, for some time, driven more rapidly than the captain remembers on any former occasion. This morning, 12 a. m. we have a fine north-west wind.-10 o'clock, p. m. we have now a violent gale one of our sails has just been carried away.-251 miles. "Our path is on the mountain wave." The storm has driven my companions to their births, and gives my table sometimes an horizontal, sometimes almost a perpendicular position; and sometimes suspends both it and me, at an angle of 45". At seven o'clock this evening, it was a fine star-light night; and in less than an hour, we were all in confusion, with a sudden blast of the equinoctial gale, which has shivered one of our sails, and is now roaring around us, as in some of the terrible nights on shore, when we pity the poor fellows who are exposed to the boisterous seas. We have, however, got all our sails down, except one, and now feel snug, as the sailors call it, although the wind is driving us along at a tremendous rate, and tossing us about as if our ship was a feather. But I have great confidence in the excellence of our vessel, and the skill of our captain; though in some of our critical moments these would be broken reeds, if we did not repose on Him who "stilleth the raging of the seas." plunging into the abysses from which it would seem impossible our bark should ever rise, I often think of the lines, "And when in dreadful whirls we hung, 66 High on th' impending wave, * When of 12 o'clock, p. m.-I have just been on deck-the gale is moderating the lightning has ceased-and some stars are again appearing.-I cannot help smiling when I look around me; exactly opposite is Lord Kfast asleep in his birth; behind, Captain the British Navy-the other passengers all in their births, but less accustomed to the sea, awake and restless, and alarmed, and knocked about till they are sore -my servant and the steward stretched on beds on the cabin floor-while I am writing by a handsome glass lamp, which seems more fit for a drawing-room than a cabin, and as if the slightest breeze would shiver it to pieces; but it is so hung, that it remains safe in all the tossing of the vessel.-It is again just midnight. |