JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xxi of the vessel concealed and ornamented with flags of different nations. Chairs were set for the officers and passengers on the poop, and round the afterpart of the deck, and spars laid across the remainder as seats for the sailors, who attended Church in clean shirts and trowsers, and well washed and shaved. In the space between the capstan and half-deck was a small table set for me and the purser, who acted as clerk, and I read prayers, and preached one of my Hodnet Sermons, slightly altered, to a very attentive and orderly congregation, of altogether, I should think, 140 persons. The awning made really a handsome church, and the sight was a very pleasing one. June 24.-This morning we were roused, after a night of much vexatious rolling, by the intelligence that a sail was in sight, by which we might send letters to England. I had some ready and finished others. She was pretty close with us at about eight; a small dark-sided brig, of very beautiful build, and with a British pendant, which made her pass for a man of war, though, on a nearer approach, the apparent slovenliness of her equipment, and a crowd of foreign and dirty-looking people on board, gave rise to various conjectures. Captain Manning hoisted out one of his cutters with ten oars, besides the quarter-master and the midshipman who commanded, a handsome boat, making, from the appearance of the men, and their discipline, a show little inferior to that of a man of war. He sent our letters, together with two newspapers, xxii JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. and two bottles of milk, a present which he said would fairly pay for the carriage of our dispatches to England. She turned out to be a Falmouth packet, nine days out of Lisbon, crowded with different adventurers who had volunteered their services to the Spaniards and Portuguese, and were now returning dispirited and disappointed. About noon several porpoises were seen, and a remarkable. fish passed the ship, which some of the sailors called a devil-fish, others, I believe more correctly, a sun-fish. It was a very large and nearly circular flat fish, with, apparently, some rather vivid colours about it, like those tints which are found in the jelly-fish. It impelled itself forward lashing the water with its tail, and swam exactly on a level with the surface. I, at first, thought that it was dead, but was soon satisfied to the contrary. The sailors seemed to regard it as a curiosity. The afternoon was cloudy, cold, and rainy, a bad summer's day in England, and what I should have still less expected in the parallel of Spain. June 25.—We had this day a considerable swell with a foul wind, though not much of it. A grampus came close to the ship and played round us for some time. In his apparent size he disappointed me, though every body said that if he had been on deck, he would have measured fourteen or fifteen feet. He presented, as I should conceive, a complete miniature of a whale, blowing out water in JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. xxiii the same manner. Manning, and most persons on board, suppose that the grampus is only a young whale; another, or the same grampus, in the course of the day was seen chased by a group of porpoises, and a real (or full grown) whale was also seen, but I was not then on deck. The wind sunk again before evening; a number of little birds, like swallows, continued flying on the surface of the water and piping. The seamen called them "mother Carey's chickens," and said that a storm might be expected. Accordingly, on the wind rising a little after sun-set, all hands were called to take in the royal or upper top-gallant sails, and the company were told off with a reference to the duties expected from them with more than usual hurry. It blew hard about ten o'clock, and from two to three the storm was regarded as serious. I find, indeed, that Captain On the morning of the 26th nothing remained but a violent rolling and pitching sea. June 30.-Two brigs were seen in the offing in the same course with ourselves, one of which gained on us fast, and overtook us about 3 p. m. She was the Christiana of Liverpool, in ballast, bound for Bahia, and to touch at Madeira by the way. An opportunity thus offered of sending our letters to the latter place, and thence to England. The poop of the ship would be no bad place for air, study, or recreation, (it is indeed used as such xxiv JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. by most of our young writers and cadets,) had it not the terrible drawback of a vile stench from the wretched imprisoned fowls, whose hen-coops cover it. These miserable birds suffer dreadfully for the gratification of our luxury. Though less crowded on board the Grenville than in most vessels of the kind, they are even here packed like bottles in a rack, with hardly room to stir. July 2.-During the night we made a somewhat better progress than we had done for a good while. The breeze continued to freshen from the N. E. and the day was pleasant. A vessel bound for London, three days from Funchal, passed us at dinner-time. We regretted bitterly that we had sent our packets by the Christiana, and that we had, (now that so much better an opportunity occurred,) nothing ready to despatch; but it was not to be helped. Captain Manning hailed the vessel, and asked her Master to report at Lloyd's that he had spoken the Thomas Grenville in such a latitude, " all well," so that this, at least, our friends will have the satisfaction of seeing in the newspapers ere many days are over. My wife's eyes swam with tears as this vessel passed us, and there were one or two of the young men who looked wishfully after it. For my own part I am but too well convinced that all my firmness would go if I allowed myself to look back even for a moment. Yet, as I did not leave home and its blessings without counting the cost, I do not, and I trust in God that I shall not, regret the choice I have made. But knowing how much JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. XXV others have given up for my sake, should make me both more studious to make the loss less to them, and also, and above all, so to discharge my duty, that they may never think that these sacrifices have been made in vain. July 3.-We made an excellent progress during the night. At about five in the evening we saw Madeira on our larboard bow. The horizon was unfortunately hazy, and the night shut in with clouds, otherwise we should, about an hour after, have had a fine view of the land at about twenty miles distance on the beam. As it was we could barely distinguish its outline through the mist; but the very sight of land, and the sense of progress which it communicated were very exhilarating, and kept us all on deck till it was quite dark. During this evening the gale and the sea had continued to increase; some of the cabins on the gun-deck had shipped water; Mr. Burnet predicted uncomfortable weather; and the Captain, though he did not shorten sail, gave orders to have all the lower ports secured. We went to bed, therefore, not unprepared for a little tossing, though certainly not for all that followed. The wind was high during the night, and the swell more than commensurate, and our furniture, though we had secured it with unusual care, seemed alive. The moon, during the latter part of the night, was clear, and the view of the following surge from the cabin windows, was very majestic; but to enjoy it, it was necessary to hold hard with both hands. |