Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/277

 group of islands, on the afternoon of the 27th of November we bade farewell to our kind friends in  Honolulu, and, the squadron in company, took our final  leave of the Hawaiian Islands, and set sail for the East  Indies.

HAWAIIAN IDOL.

The Vincennes was a rapid sailor, and we had a good,stiff breeze right abeam, and she was given all the sail that she could possibly carry, and our gallant ship reeled off thirteen knots an hour,and we were reminded that at the end of each hour we were thirteen knots nearer our homes. Bright lookout was kept for land, as islands had been reported as having been seen in this locality, but we saw none.

On the 7th of December we dropped a day, having passed into east longitude; the day beautifully clear. In some parts of the ocean we have sailed in, the sea has been  of a dark, or light green, blue, or olive color, and in some  places as clear as the raindrops. Here it was so transparent that our pot, which was a large, old-fashioned, three-legged, iron one, painted white, when lowered into  the water, bottom upwards, was seen at thirty-two fathoms  (one hundred and ninety feet) deep.

On the 19th we made Wakes Island, which is of coral formation, eight feet above the sea, with a large lagoon,  which was well filled with fish. Here we found the short-tailed albatross. After surveying this, Gugan, and Assumption Islands, we stood on our course.