Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/481

Rh tried six harbours, of which four were well worked. The fifth (Swains Bay) took us three days to enter, and, after being ten minutes inside trying to get up the channel, our clever captain put his ship about, and thanked his lucky stars he had got safely out of the treacherous "hole." Down this fjord the wind without notice struck the foresails, while the wind astern drove her forward. Here the trouble started, but fortunately quickly ended by good management and good fortune. Had we touched the entrance island the ship would at once have been broken into matchwood. From this place I carried pleasant recollections, more on account of the bold contour and strangeness of the island than because it pleased my friends to chart it as a tribute to myself. Strange as it may read, among the finding of shipwreck remains there were letters and bottles from a sealing captain mentioned in Prof. Moseley's 'Challenger Notes' twenty years ago. Capt. Fuller is an old hand at the business, and evidently has the indomitable pluck of the American in the making and losing of fortunes in rough waters! As for ourselves, we managed to quit the land safely on Feb. 18th, although for a few hours we could not get over a severe loss we made at the last moment. Having, on the 17th, killed, skinned, and anchored a batch of skins to the value of £250, all hands on board heaved anchors next morning to stand into a near bay to take them off. Two storms now showed their effects: one in driving all the skins ashore and burying them in the sand; the other in driving us off the bay altogether.

With a threatening sky our tight and dry little brig, the 'Edward,' now headed for Melbourne, and we started a direct homeward course of 3400 miles. This was duly accomplished in twenty-two days, and we experienced a phenomenal wind for the latter fourteen days, which was from the north instead of the prevailing one from the west, a circumstance of exceedingly rare occurrence.