 Chapter 16 of Sailing Alone Around the World This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Alan Chant. Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slokan Chapter 16 Consisting of A Call for Careful Navigation Three hours' steering in twenty-three days. Arrival at the Keeling-Cocas Islands. A curious chapter of social history. A welcome from the children of the islands. Cleaning and painting the spray on the beach. A Mohammedan blessing for a pot of jam. Keeling as a paradise. A risky adventure in a small boat. A way to Rodriguez. Taken for Antichrist. The Governor calms the fears of the people. A lecture. A convent in the hills. To the Keeling-Cocas Islands was now only five hundred and fifty miles. But even in this short run it was necessary to be extremely careful in keeping a true course, else I would miss the atoll. On the twelfth, some hundred miles south-west of Christmas Island, I saw anti-cloud trades flying up from the south-west very high over the regular winds, which weakened now for a few days, while a swell, heavier than usual, set in also from the south-west. A winter gale was going on in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope. Accordingly I steered higher to Windward, allowing twenty miles a day while this went on for change of current. And it was not too much, for on that course I made the Keeling Islands right ahead. The first unmistakable sign of the land was a visit one morning from a white turn that fluttered very knowingly about the vessel, and then took itself off westward with a business-like air in its wings. The turn is called by the islanders the pilot of Keeling Cocos. Further on I came among a large number of birds, fishing and fighting over whatever they caught. My reckoning was up, and springing aloft I saw from halfway up the mast coconut trees standing out of the water ahead. I expected to see this. Still it thrilled me as an electric shock might have done. I slid down the mast trembling under the strangest sensations, and not being able to resist the impulse I sat on deck and gave way to my emotions. To folks in a parlour on shore this may seem weak indeed, but I am telling the story of a voyage alone. I didn't touch the helm, for with the current and heave of the sea the sloop found herself at the end of the run absolutely in the fairway of the channel. You couldn't have beaten it in the navy. Then I trimmed her sails by the wind, took the helm, and flogged her up the couple of miles or so abreast the harbour landing, where I cast anchor at 3.30pm July 17, 1897, 23 days from Thursday Island. The distance run was 2700 miles as the crow flies. This would have been a fair Atlantic voyage. It was a delightful sail. During those 23 days I had not spent altogether more than three hours at the helm, including the time occupied in beating into Keeling Harbour. I just lashed the helm and let her go. Whether the wind was a beam or dead aft it was all the same. She always sailed on her course. No part of the voyage up to this point, taking it by and large, had been so finished as this. Footnote Mr. Andrew J. Leitch reporting, July 21, 1897, through Governor Kinesley of Singapore to Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary, said concerningly E. Fagenia's visit to the atoll, as we left the ocean depths of deepest blue and entered the coral circle the contrast was most remarkable. The brilliant colours of the water, transparent to a depth of over 30 feet, now purple, now of the deepest sky blue and now green with the white crests of the waves flashing under a brilliant sun. The encircling palm-clad islands, the gaps between them which were to the south undissernable, the white sand shores and the whiter gaps where breakers appeared, and lastly the lagoon itself, seven or eight miles across from north to south and five to six from east to west, presented a sight never to be forgotten. After some little delay, Mr. Sidney Ross, the elder son of Mr. George Ross, came off to meet us and soon after, accompanied by the doctor and another officer, we went ashore. Footnote continues, On reaching the landing-stage, we found hauled up for cleaning, et cetera, the spray of Boston, a yaw of 12.7 tonnes gross, the property of Captain Joshua Slocum. He arrived at the island on the 17th of July, 23 days out from Thursday Island. This extraordinary solitary traveller left Boston some two years ago single-handed, crossed to Gibraltar, sailed down to Cape Horn, passed through the Strait of Magellan to the Society Islands, thence to Australia and through the Torres Strait to Thursday Island. End of footnote. The Keeling-Cocas Islands, according to Admiral Fitzroy R.N., lie between the latitudes of 11 degrees 50 minutes and 12 degrees 12 minutes south, and the longitudes of 96 degrees 51 minutes and 96 degrees 58 minutes east. They were discovered in 1608 to 1609 by Captain William Keeling, then in the service of the East India Company. The southern group consists of seven or eight islands and islets on the atoll, which is the skeleton of what some day, according to the history of coral reefs, will be a continuous island. North Keeling has no harbour, is seldom visited, and is of no importance. South Keelings are a strange little world with a romantic history all their own. They have been visited occasionally by the floating spar of some hurricane-swept ship or by a tree that is drifted all the way from Australia or by an ill-starred ship cast away and finally by man. Even a rock once drifted to Keeling, held fast among the roots of a tree. After the discovery of the islands by Captain Keeling, their first notable visitor was Captain John Clunnes Ross, who in 1814 touched in the ship Borneo on a voyage to India. Captain Ross returned two years later with his wife and family and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Dimoke, and eight sailor artisans to take possession of the islands, but found there already one Alexander Hare, who meanwhile had marked the little atoll as a sort of Eden for a serrallio of Malay women which he moved over from the coast of Africa. It was Ross's own brother, oddly enough, who freighted Hare and his crowd of women to the islands, not knowing of Captain John's plans to occupy the little world, and so Hare was there with his outfit, as if he had come to stay. On his previous visit, however, Ross had nailed the English jack to a mast on Horsburg Island, one of the group. After two years Shredzavitz still fluttered in the wind, and his sailor's nothing-loathe began at once the invasion of the new kingdom to take possession of it women and all. The force of forty women, with only one man to command them, was not equal to driving eight sturdy sailors back into the sea. Footnote In the accounts given in Findlay's sailing directory of some of the events there is a chronological discrepancy. I follow the accounts gathered from the old Captain's grandsons and from records on the spot. End of footnote From this time on Hare had a hard time of it. He and Ross did not get on well as neighbours. The islands were too small and too near for characters so widely different. Hare had oceans of money and might have lived well in London, but he had been governor of a wild colony in Borneo and could not confine himself to the tame life that prosey civilisation affords. And so he hung on to the atoll with his forty women, retreating little by little before Ross and his sturdy crew, but last he found himself and his harem on the little island known to this day as Prison Island, where, like Bluebeard, he confined his wives in a castle. The channel between the islands was narrow, the water was not deep, and the eight Scotch sailors wore long boots. Hare was now dismayed. He tried to compromise with rum and other luxuries, but these things only made matters worse. On the day following the first St Andrew's celebration on the island, Hare, consumed with rage, and no longer on speaking terms with the captain, dashed off a note to him, saying, Dear Ross, I thought when I sent rum and roast pig to your sailors that they would stay away from my flower garden. In reply to which the captain, burning with indignation, shouted from the centre of the island where he stood, Ahoy there on Prison Island, you hare! Don't you know that rum and roast pig are not a sailor's heaven? Hare said afterwards that one might have heard the captain's roar across to Java. The lawless establishment was soon broken up by the women deserting Prison Island and putting themselves under Ross's protection. Hare then went to Batavia, where he met his death. My first impression on landing was that the crime of infanticide had not reached the islands of Keening-Cokers. The children have all come to welcome you, explained Mr Ross, and they mustered at the jetty by hundreds, of all ages and sizes. The people of this country were all rather shy, but young or old they never passed one or saw one passing their door without a salutation. In their musical voices they would say, Are you all king? Halan, halan! Will you come along? one would answer. For a long time after I arrived the children regarded the one man's ship with suspicion and fear. A native man had been blown away to sea many years before and they hinted to one another that he might have been changed from black to white and returned in the sloop. For some time every movement I made was closely watched. They were particularly interested in what I ate. One day after I had been boot-topping the sloop with a composition of coal-tar and other stuff and while I was taking my dinner with the luxury of blackberry jam I heard a commotion and then a yell and a stampede and the children ran away yelling, The captain is eating coal-tar! The captain is eating coal-tar! But they soon found out that this same coal-tar was very good to eat and that I had brought a quantity of it. One day when I was spreading a sea-bisket thick with it for a wide-away youngster I heard them whisper, shut, shut! meaning that a shark had bitten my hand which they observed was lame. Thenceforth they regarded me as a hero and I had not fingers enough for the little bright-eyed tots that wanted to cling to them and follow me about. Before this, when I held out my hand and said, Come! they would shy off for the nearest house and say, ding-ding! It's cold or oo-jahn! It's going to rain. But it was now accepted that I was not the returned spirit of the lost black and I had plenty of friends about the island rain or shine. One day after this when I tried to haul the sloop and found her fast in the sand the children all clapped their hands and cried that a pting or crab was holding her by the keel and little Ophelia, ten or twelve years of age wrote in the spray's log-book, a hundred men with might and main on the windless, hove, yay-ho! The cable only came in twain the ship she would not go for child to tell the strangest thing the keel was held by a great pting. This being so or not it was decided that the Mohammedan priest for a pot of jam should ask Mohammed to bless the voyage and make the crab let go the sloop's keel which it did, if it had hold and she floated on the very next tide. On the twenty-second of July arrived HMS Iphigenia with Mr. Justice Andrew L. Leach and court officers on board on a circuit of inspection among the straight settlements the keeling-cocos was a dependency to hear complaints and try cases by law if any there were to try they found the spray hauled ashore and tied to a coconut tree but at the keeling-islands there had not been a grievance to complain of since the day that hair migrated for the Rosses have always treated the islanders as their own family if there is a paradise on earth it is keeling there was not a case for a lawyer but something had to be done for here were two ships in port a great man of war and the spray instead of a lawsuit a dance was got up and all the officers who could leave their ship came ashore everybody on the island came old and young and the governor's great haul was filled with people all that could get on their feet danced while the babies lay in heaps in the corners of the room content to look on my little friend Ophelia danced with the judge for music two fiddles screeched over and over again the good old tune we won't go home till morning and we did not the women in the keelings do not do all the drudgery as in many places visited on the voyage it would cheer the heart of a Phoeesian woman to see the keeling lord of creation up a coconut tree besides cleverly climbing the trees the men of keeling build exquisitely modeled canoes by far the best workmanship in boat building I saw on the voyages was here many finished mechanics dwelt under the palms of keeling and the hum of the bandsaw and the ring of the anvil were heard from morning till night the first scotch settlers left there the strength of northern blood and the inheritance of steady habits no benevolent society has ever done so much for the islanders as the noble captain Ross and his sons who have followed his example of industry and thrift Admiral Fitzroy of the Beagle who visited here where many things are reversed spoke of the singular those small islands where crabs eat coconuts fish eat coral dogs catch fish men ride on turtles shells are dangerous mantraps adding that the greater part of the seafell roost on branches and many rats make their nests in the tops of palm trees my vessel being refitted I decided to load her with the famous mammoth tradactor shell of keeling found in the bayou nearby and right here within sight of the village I came near losing the crew of the spray not from putting my foot in a mantrap shell however but from carelessly neglecting to look after the details of a trip across the harbour in a boat I had sailed over oceans I have since completed a course over them all and sailed round the whole world without so nearly meeting a fatality as on that trip across a lagoon where I trusted all to someone else and he weak mortal that he was perhaps trusted all to me however that may be I found myself with a thoughtless African negro in a rickety bateau that was fitted with a rotten sail and this blew away in mid channel in a school that sent us drifting helplessly to sea where we should have been incontinently lost with the whole ocean before us to leward I was dismayed to see while we drifted that there was not a paddle or an oar in the boat there was an anchor to be sure but not enough rope to tie a cat and we were already in deep water by great good fortune however there was a pole plying this as a paddle with the utmost energy and by the merest accidental floor in the wind to favour us the trap of the boat was worked into shoal water where we could touch bottom and push her ashore with Africa the nearest coast to leward 3,000 miles away with not so much as a drop of water in the boat and a lean and hungry negro well cast the lot as one might the crew of the spray in a little while would have been hard to find it is needless to say that I took no more such chances the tradac no where aft was procured in a safe boat 30 of them taking the place of 3 tons of cement ballast which I threw overboard to make room and give buoyancy on August 22 the patting or whatever else it was that held the sloop in the islands let go its hold and she swung out to sea under all sail heading again for home mounting one or two heavy rollers on the fringe of the atoll she cleared the flashing reefs long before dark keeling cocas with its thousand souls as sinless in their lives as perhaps it is possible for frame mortals to be was left out of sight a stern out of sight I say except in my strongest affection the sea was rugged and the spray washed heavily when hauled on the wind which course I took for the island of Rodriguez and which brought the sea a beam the true course for the island was west by south one quarter south and the distance was 1900 miles but I steered considerably to the windward of that to allow for the heave of the sea and other lured effects my sloop on this course ran under reefed sails for days together I naturally tired of the never ending motion of the sea and above all of the wetting I got whenever I showed myself on deck under these heavy weather conditions the spray seemed to lay behind on her course at least I attributed to these conditions a discrepancy in the log which by the fifteenth day out from keeling amounted to one hundred and fifty miles between the rotator and the mental calculations I had kept of what she should have gone and so I kept an eye lifting for land I could see about sundown this day a bunch of clouds that stood in one spot right ahead while the other clouds floated on this was a sign of something by midnight as the sloop sailed on a black object appeared where I had seen the resting clouds it was still a long way off but there could be no mistaking this it was the high island of Rodriguez I hauled in the patent log which I was now towing more from habit than from necessity I learned the spray and her ways long before this if one thing were clearer than another in her voyage it was that she could be trusted to come out right and in safety though at the same time I always stood ready to give her the benefit of even the least doubt the officers who are over sure and know it all like a book are the ones I have observed who wreck the most ships and lose the most lives the cause of the discrepancy in the log was one often met with namely coming into contact with some large fish two out of the four blades of the rotator were crushed or bent the work probably of a shark being sure of the sloop's position I laid down to rest and to think and I felt better for it by daylight the island was a beam about three miles away it were a hard weather-beaten appearance there all alone far out in the Indian Ocean like land adrift the windward side was uninviting but there was a good port to Leward and I hauled in now close on the wind for that a pilot came out to take me into the inner harbour which was reached through a narrow channel among coral reefs it was a curious thing that at all of the islands some reality was insisted on as unreal while improbabilities were clothed as hard facts and so it happened here that the good abbey a few days before had been telling his people about the coming of antichrist and when they saw the spray sail into the harbour all feather white before a gale of wind and run all standing upon the beach with only one man aboard they cried may the Lord help us, it is he and he has come in a boat which I say would have been the most improbable way of his coming nevertheless the news went flying through the place the governor of the island, Mr. Roberts came down immediately to see what it was all about for the little town was in a great commotion one elderly woman when she heard of my advent made for her house and locked herself in when she heard that I was actually coming up the street she barricaded her doors and did not come out while I was on the island a period of eight days Governor Roberts and his family did not share the fears of their people but came on board at the jetty where the sloop was birthed and their example induced others to come also the governor's young boys took charge of the sprays dinghy at once and my visit cost his excellency besides great hospitality to me the building of a boat for them like the one belonging to the spray my first day in this land of promise was to me like a fairy tale for many days I had studied the charts and counted the time of my arrival at this spot as one might his entrance to the islands of the blessed looking upon it as the terminus of the last long run was irksome by the want of many things with which from this time on I could keep well supplied and behold here saw the sloop arrived and made securely fast to appear in Rodriguez on the first evening ashore in the land of napkins and cut glass I saw before me still the ghosts of hemp and towels and mugs with handles knocked off instead of tossing on the sea however as I might have been here was I in a bright hall surrounded by sparkling wit and dining with the governor of the island a lad in I cried where is your lamp my fisherman's lantern which I got at Gloucester has shown me better things than your smoky old burner ever revealed the second day import was spent in receiving visitors Mrs. Roberts and her children came first to shake hands they said with the spray no one was now afraid to come on board except the poor old woman who still maintained that the spray had anti-Christ in the hold if indeed he had not already gone ashore the governor entertained that evening and kindly invited the destroyer of the world to speak for himself this he did elaborating most effusively on the dangers of the sea which after the manner of many of our fredest mortals he would have had smooth had he made it also by contrivances of light and darkness he exhibited on the wall pictures of the places and countries visited on the voyage nothing like the countries however that he would have made and of the people seen savage and other frequently groaning wicked world wicked world when this was finished his excellency the governor speaking words of thankfulness distributed pieces of gold on the following day I accompanied his excellency and family on a visit to San Gabriel which was up the country among the hills the good abbey of San Gabriel entertained us all royally at the convent and we remained his guests until the following day as I was leaving his place the abbey said captain I embrace you and of whatever religion you may be my wish is that you succeed in making your voyage and that our saviour the Christ be always with you to this good man's words I could only say my dear abbey had all religionists been so liberal there would have been less bloodshed in the world at Rodriguez one may now find every convenience fulfilling pure and wholesome water in any quantity governor Roberts having built a reservoir in the hills above the village and laid pipes to the jetty where at the time of my visit there were five and a half feet at high tide in former years well water was used and more or less sickness occurred from it beef may be had in any quantity on the island and at a moderate price sweet potatoes were plentiful and cheap the large sack of them that I bought there for about four shillings kept unusually well I simply stored them in the sloops dry hold of fruits pomegranates were the most plentiful for two shillings I obtained a large sack of them as many as a donkey could pack from the orchard which by the way was planted by nature herself end of chapter 16 read by Alan chant in Tumbridge Kent, England chapter 17 of sailing alone around the world this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Alan chant sailing alone around the world by Joshua Slotham chapter 17 consisting of a clean bill of health at Mauritius sailing the voyage over again in the opera house a newly discovered plant named in honour of the spray skipper a party of young ladies out for a sale a Bivouac on deck a warm reception at Durban a friendly cross-examination by Henry M. Stanley three wise boars seek proof of the flatness of the earth leaving South Africa on the 16th of September after eight restful days at Rodriguez the mid-ocean land of Plenty I set sail and on the 19th arrived at Mauritius anchoring at quarantine about noon the sloop was towed in later on the same day by the doctor's launch after he was satisfied that I had mustered all the crew for inspection of this he seemed in doubt until he examined the papers which called for a crew of one all told from port to port throughout the voyage then finding that I had been well enough to come thus far alone he gave me practic without further ado there was still another official visit for the spray to pass farther in the harbour the governor of Rodriguez who had most kindly given me besides a regular mail private letters of introduction to friends told me I should meet first of all Mr. Jenkins of the Postal Service a good man how do you do Mr. Jenkins? cried I as his boat swung alongside you don't know me? he said why not? I replied from where is the sloop? from around the world I again replied very solemnly and alone? yes, why not? and you know me? three thousand years ago cried I when you and I had a warmer job than we have now even this was hot you were then Jenkinson but if you have changed your name I don't blame you for that Mr. Jenkins for bearing soul entered into the spirit of the jest which served the spray a good turn for on the strength of this tale it got out that if any one should go on board after dark the devil would get him at once and so I could leave the spray without the fear of her being robbed at night the cabin to be sure was broken into but it was done in daylight and the thieves got no more than a box of smoked herrings before Tom Ledson, one of the port officials caught them red-handed as it were and sent them to jail this was discouraging to pilferers for they feared Ledson more than a feared Satan himself even Mammo'd Hadji Ayub who was the day watchman on board till an empty box fell over in the cabin and frightened him out of his wits could not be hired to watch nights or even till the sun went down Saib he cried there is no need of it and what he said was perfectly true at Mauritius where I drew a long breath the spray rested her wings it being the season of fine weather the hardships of the voyage if there had been any were now computed by officers of experience as nine-tenths finished and yet somehow I could not forget that the United States was still a long way off the kind people of Mauritius to make me richer and happier rigged up the opera house which they had named the ship Pantei footnote Ginnihen all decks and no bottom was this ship but she was as stiff as a church they gave me free use of it while I talked over the spray's adventures his honor the mayor introduced me to his excellency the governor from the poop deck of the Pantei in this way I was also introduced again to our good consul General John P. Campbell who had already introduced me to his excellency I was becoming well acquainted and was in for it now to sail the voyage over again how I got through the story I hardly know it was a hot night and I could have choked the tailor who made the coat I wore for this occasion the kind governor saw that I had done my part trying to rig like a man ashore and he invited me to government house at Reduit where I found myself among friends it was winter still off stormy Cape of Good Hope but the storms might whistle there I determined to see it out in the mild of Mauritius visiting Rose Hill, Curie Pepe and other places on the island I spent a day with the elder Mr. Roberts father of Governor Roberts of Rodriguez and with his friends the very reverent fathers Olaflin and McCarthy returning to the spray by way of the great flower conservatory near Mocha the proprietor having only that morning discovered a new and hardy plant to my great honour named it Slocum which he said Latinised it at once saving him some trouble on the twist of a word and the good botanist seemed pleased that I had come how different things are in different countries in Boston, Massachusetts at that time a gentleman so I was told paid $30,000 to have a flower named after his wife and it was not a big flower either while Slocum which came without the asking was bigger than a mangle-wurzel I was royally entertained at Mocha as well as Reduit and other places once by seven young ladies to whom I spoke of my inability to return their hospitality except in my own poor way of taking them on a sale in the sloop the very thing, the very thing they all cried then please name the time I said as Mika's Moses tomorrow they all cried and Aunty we may go, ain't we? and we'll be real good for a whole week afterwards Aunty say yes Aunty dear all this after saying tomorrow for girls in Mauritius are after all the same as our girls in America and their dear aunt said me too, about the same as any really good aunt might say in my own country I was then in a quandary it having recurred to me that on the very tomorrow I was to dine with the harbormaster Captain Wilson however I said to myself the spray will run out quickly into rough seas these young ladies will have Maldimere and a good time and I'll get in early enough to be at the dinner after all but not a bit of it we sailed almost out of sight of Mauritius and they just stood up and laughed at seas tumbling aboard while I was at the helm making the worst weather of it I could and spinning yarns to the yarn to about sea serpents and whales but she dear lady when I had finished with stories of monsters only hinted at a basket of provisions they had brought along enough to last a week for I had told them about my wretched steward the more the spray tried to make these young ladies seasick the more they all clapped hands and said how lovely it is and how beautifully she skims over the sea and how beautiful our island appears from the distance and they still cried go on we were fifteen miles or more at sea before they ceased the eager cry go on then the sloop swung round I was still hoping to be back at Port Louis in time to keep my appointment the spray reached the island quickly and flew along the coast fast enough but I made a mistake in steering along the coast on the way home for as we came abreast of Tombow Bay it enchanted my crew oh let anchor here they cried to this no sailor in the world would have said nay the sloop came to anchor ten minutes later as they wished and a young man on the cliff abreast waving his hat cried the evil spray my passengers said auntie, meant we have a swim in the surf along the shore just then the harbour masters launch hove insight coming out to meet us but it was too late to get the sloop into Port Louis that night the launch was in time however to land my fair crew for a swim but they were determined not to desert the ship meanwhile I prepared a roof for the night on deck with the sails and a Bengali man-servant arranged the evening meal that night the spray rode in Tombow Bay with her precious freight next morning brightened early even before the stars were gone I awoke to hear preying on deck the port office's launch reappeared later in the morning this time with Captain Wilson himself on board to try his luck at getting the spray into port for he had heard of our predicament it was worth something to hear a friend tell afterwards how earnestly the good harbour master of Mauritius said I'll find the spray and get her into port a merry crew he discovered on her they could hoist sails like old Tars and could trim them too they could tell all about the ship's hoods and one should have seen them clap a bonnet on the jib like the deepest of deep water sailors they could heave the lead and as I hope to see Mauritius again any of them could have put the ship in stays no ship ever had a fairer crew the voyage was the event of Port Louis such a thing as young ladies sailing about the harbour even was almost unheard of before while at Mauritius the spray was tendered the use of the military dock free of charge and was thoroughly refitted by the port authorities my sincere gratitude is also due other friends for many things needful for the voyage put on board including bags of sugar from some of the famous old plantations the favourable season now set in and thus well equipped on the 26th of October the spray put to sea as I sailed before a light wind the island receded slowly and on the following day I could still see the Puce mountain near Mocha the spray arrived the next day of Gallet's reunion and a pilot came out and spoke to her I handed him a Mauritius paper and continued on my voyage for rollers were running heavily at the time it was not practicable to make a landing from reunion I shaped a course direct for Cape St. Mary Madagascar the sloop was now drawing near the limits of the trade wind and the strong breeze that had carried her with free sheets the many thousands of miles from sandy Cape Australia fell lighter each day until October 30 when it was altogether calm and a motionless sea held her in a hushed world furled the sails at evening sat down on deck and enjoyed the vast stillness of the night October 31 a light east northeast breeze sprang up and the sloop passed Cape St. Mary about noon on the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th of November in the Mozambique Channel she experienced a hard gale of wind from the south west here the spray suffered as much as she did elsewhere except of Cape Horn the thunder and lightning preceding this gale were very heavy from this point until the sloop arrived off the coast of Africa she encountered a succession of gales of wind which drove her about in many directions but on the 17th of November she arrived at Port Natale this delightful place is the commercial centre of the Garden Colony Durban itself the city being the continuation of a garden the signum from the bluff station reported the spray 15 miles off the wind was freshening and when she was within eight miles he said the spray is shortening sail the mainsail was reefed and set in ten minutes one man is doing all the work this item of news was printed three minutes later in a Durban Morning Journal which was handed to me when I arrived in Port I could not verify the time it had taken to reef the sail for as I have already said the minute hand of my timepiece was gone I only knew that I reefed as quickly as I could the same paper commenting on the voyage said judging from the stormy weather which has prevailed off this coast during the past few weeks the spray must have had a very stormy voyage from Mauritius to Natale doubtless the weather would have been called stormy by sailors in any ship but it caused the spray no more inconvenience than the delay natural to headwinds generally the question of how I sailed the sloop alone often asked is best answered perhaps by a Durban newspaper I would shrink from repeating the editor's words but for the reason that undue estimates have been made of the amount of skill and energy required to sail a sloop of even the spray small tonnage I heard a man who called himself a sailor say that it would require three men to do what it was claimed that I did alone and what I found perfectly easy to do over and over again and I have heard that others made similar nonsensical remarks adding that I would work myself to death but here is what the Durban paper said as briefly noted yesterday the spray with a crew of one man arrived at this port yesterday afternoon on her cruise round the world the spray made quite an auspicious entrance to Natale her commander sailed his craft right up the channel past the main wharf and dropped his anchor near the old forerunner in the creek before anyone had a chance to get on board the spray was naturally an object of great curiosity to the point people and her arrival was witnessed by a large crowd the skillful manner in which Captain Slocum steered his craft about the vessels which were occupying the waterway was a treat to witness the spray was not sailing in among greenhorns when she came to Natale when she arrived off the port, the pilot ship a fine able steam tug came out to meet her and led the way in across the bar for it was blowing a smart gale and was too rough for the sloop to be towed with safety the trick of going in I learned by watching the steamer it was simply to keep on the windward side of the channel and take the Coma's end on I found that Durban supported two yacht clubs both of them full of enterprise two members of both clubs and sailed in the crack yacht Florence of the Royal Natale with Captain Spradbrough and the right honourable Harry Escom Premier of the colony the yacht centreboard plowed furrows through the mud banks which according to Mr Escom Spradbrough afterwards planted with potatoes the Florence however won races while she tilled the skipper's land after our sail on the Florence Escom offered to sail the spray round the Cape of Good Hope for me and hinted at his famous cribbage board to while away the hours Spradbrough in retort warned me of it said he you would be played out of the sloop before you could round the Cape by others it was not thought probable that the Premier of Natale would play cribbage off the Cape of Good Hope to win even the spray it was a matter of no small pride to me in South Africa to find that American humour was never at a discount and one of the best American stories I ever heard was told by the Premier at Hotel Royal one day dining with Colonel Sanderson MP his son and Lieutenant Tipping I met Mr Stanley the great explorer was just from Pretoria and had already as good as flayed President Kruger with his trenchant pen for that did not signify for everybody has a whack at Oom Poole and no one in the world seems to stand the joke better than he not even the Sultan of Turkey himself the Colonel introduced me to the explorer and I hauled close to the wind to go slow for Mr Stanley was an article man once himself on the Nianzer I think and of course my desire was to appear in the best light before a man of his experience he looked me over carefully and said what an example of patience patience is all that is required I ventured to reply he then asked if my vessel had watertight compartments I explained that she was all watertight and all compartment what if she should strike a rock he said compartments would not save her if she should hit rocks lying along her course adding she must be kept away from the rocks after a considerable pause Mr Stanley asked what if a swordfish should pierce her hull with its sword of course I had thought of that as one of the dangers of the sea and also of the chance of being struck by lightning in the case of the swordfish I ventured to say that the first thing would be to secure the sword the Colonel invited me to dine with the party on the following day that we might go further into this matter and so I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Stanley a second time but got no more hints in navigation from the famous explorer it sounds odd to hear scholars and statesmen say the world is flat but it is a fact that three boers favoured by the opinion of President Kruger prepared at work to support that contention while I was at Durban they came from Pretoria to obtain data from me and they seemed annoyed when I told them that they could not prove it by my experience with the advice to call up some ghost of the Dark Ages for research I went ashore and left these three wise men pouring over the sprays track on a chart of the world which however proved nothing to them for it was on Mercator's projection and behold it was flat the next morning I met one of the party in a clergyman's garb carrying a large Bible not different from the one I had read he tackled me saying if you respect the word of God you must admit that the world is flat if the word of God stands on a flat world I began what? cried he, losing himself in a passion and making as if he would run me through with an as a gay eye what? he shouted in astonishment and rage while I jumped aside to dodge the imaginary weapon had this good but misguided fanatic been armed with a real weapon the crew of the spray would have died a martyr there and then the next day seeing him across the street I bowed and made curves with my hand he responded with a level swimming movement of his hands meaning the world is flat a pamphlet by these transvalgeographers made up of arguments from sources high and low to prove their theory was mailed to me before I sailed from Africa on my last stretch around the globe while I feebly portray the ignorance of these learned men I have great admiration for their physical manhood much that I saw first and last of the transval and the boors was admirable it is well known that they are the hardest of fighters and as generous to the fallen as they are brave before the foe real stubborn bigotry with them is only found among old fogies and will die a natural death and that too perhaps long before we ourselves are entirely free from bigotry education in the transval is by no means neglected English as well as Dutch is taught to all that can afford both but the tariff duty on English school books is heavy and from necessity the poorer people stick to the transval Dutch and their flat world just as in Samoa and other islands a mistaken policy has kept the natives down to Kanaka I visited many public schools in Durban and had the pleasure of meeting many bright children but all fine things must end and December 14 1897 the crew of the spray after having a fine time in Natal swung the sloops dingy in on deck and sailed with a morning land wind which carried her clear of the bar and again she was off on her alone as they say in Australia End of Chapter 17 Read by Alan Chant in Tumbridge Kent, England Chapter 18 of Sailing Alone Around the World This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Alan Chant Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum Chapter 18 Consisting of Rounding the Cape of Storms in Olden Time A Rough Christmas The spray ties up for a three months rest at Cape Town A railway trip to the transval President Kruger's odd definition of the spray's voyage His terse sayings Distinguished guests on the spray Coconut fibre as a padlock Kurtises from the Admiral of the Queen's Navy Off for St Helena Land in sight The Cape of Good Hope was now the most prominent point to pass From Table Bay I could count on the aid of brisk trades And then the spray would soon be at home On the first day out from Durban it fell calm And I sat thinking about these things and the end of the voyage The distance to Table Bay where I intended to call Was about 800 miles over what might prove a rough sea The early Portuguese navigators endowed with patience For more than 69 years struggling to round this Cape Before they got as far as Algoa Bay And there the crew mutinied They landed on a small island now called Santa Cruz Where they devoutly set up the cross and swore They would cut the captain's throat if he attempted to sail further Beyond this they thought was the edge of the world Which they too believed was flat And fearing that their ship would sail over the brink of it They compelled Captain Diaz, their commander To retrace his course All being only too glad to get home A year later we are told Vasco de Gama sailed successfully round the Cape of Storms As the Cape of Good Hope was then called And discovered Natal on Christmas or Natal Day Hence the name From this point the way to India was easy Gales of wind sweeping round the Cape Even now were frequent enough One occurring on an average every 36 hours But one gale was much the same as another With no more serious result Than to blow the spray along on her course When it was fair Or to blow her back somewhat when it was ahead On Christmas 1897 I came to the pitch of the Cape On this day the spray was trying to stand on her head And she gave me every reason to believe That she would accomplish the feat before night She began very early in the morning to pitch and toss about In a most unusual manner And I have to record that While I was at the end of the bowsprit reefing the jib She ducked me underwater three times for a Christmas box I got wet and did not like it a bit Never in any other sea was I ever put under more than once In the same short space of time, say three minutes A large English steamer passing ran up the signal Wishing you a merry Christmas I think the captain was a humorist His own ship was throwing her propeller out of water Two days later the spray having recovered the distance Lost in the gale Passed Cape Agullus in company with the steamship Scotsman Now with a fair wind The keeper of the light on Agullus Exchange signals with the spray as she passed And afterward wrote me at New York Congratulations on the completion of the voyage He seemed to think the incident of two ships Of so widely differing types Passing his cape together worthy of a place on canvas And he went about having the picture made So I gathered from his letter At lonely stations like this Hearts grow responsive and sympathetic And even poetic This feeling was shown towards the spray Along many a rugged coast And reading many a kind signal thrown out to her Gave one a grateful feeling for all the world One more gale of wind came down upon the spray From the west after she passed Cape Agullus But that one she dodged by getting into Simons Bay When it moderated she beat round the Cape of Good Hope Where they say the flying Dutchman is still sailing The voyage then seemed as good as finished From this time on I knew that all or nearly all Would be plain sailing Here I crossed the dividing line of weather To the north it was clear and settled While south it was humid and squally with Often enough as I have said a treacherous gale From the recent hard weather The spray ran into a calm under-table mountain Where she lay quietly till the generous sun Rows over the land and drew a breeze in From the sea The steam-tug alert then out looking for ships Came to the spray off the lion's rump And in lieu of a larger ship Toed her into port The sea being smooth she came to anchor in the bay Off the city of Cape Town Where she remained a day simply to rest clear Of the bustle of commerce The good harbour master sent his steam-launch To bring the sloop to a berth in dock at once But I preferred to remain for one day alone In the quiet of a smooth sea Enjoying the retrospect of the passage Of the two great capes On the following morning the spray sailed Into the Alfred Dry Docks Where she remained for about three months In the care of the port authorities While I travelled the country over From Simon's Town to Pretoria Being accorded by the colonial government A free railroad pass over all the land The trip to Kimberley, Johannesburg And Pretoria was a pleasant one At the last-named place I met Mr Kruger, the Transvaal president His excellence he received me cordially enough But my friend Judge Baez, the gentleman who presented me By mentioning that I was on a voyage around the world Unwittingly gave great offence to the venerable statesman Which we both regretted deeply Mr Kruger corrected the judge rather sharply Reminding him that the world is flat You don't mean round the world, said the president He's impossible, you mean in the world Impossible, he said, impossible And not another word did he utter Either to the judge or to me The judge looked at me and I looked at the judge Who should have known his ground, so to speak And Mr Kruger glowered at us both My friend the judge seemed embarrassed But I was delighted The incident pleased me more than anything else What happened? It was a nugget of information Quarred out of Umpool, some of whose sayings are famous Of the English, he said They first took my coat and then my trousers He also said, dynamite is the cornerstone Of the South African Republic Only unthinking people call President Kruger dull Soon after my arrival at the Cape Mr Kruger's friend, Colonel Sanderson Who had arrived from Durban some time before Invited me to Newlands Vineyard Where I met many agreeable people Footnote, Colonel Sanderson was Mr Kruger's very best friend Inasmuch as he advised the president To a vast mounting guns End of footnote His excellent Caesar Alfred Milner, the governor Had come aboard with a party The governor, after making a survey of the deck Found a seat on a box in my cabin Lady Muriel sat on a keg And Lady Sanderson sat by the skipper at the wheel While the Colonel, with his Kodak away in the dinghy Took snapshots of the sloop and her distinguished visitors Dr David Gill, astronomer Royal, who was of the party Invited me the next day to the famous Cape Observatory An hour with Dr Gill was an hour among the stars His discoveries in stellar photography are well known He showed me the great astronomical clock of the observatory And I showed him the tin clock of the spray And we went over the subject of standard time at sea And how it was found from the deck of the little sloop Without the aid of a clock of any kind Later it was advertised that Dr Gill Desired her to talk about the voyage of the spray That alone secured for me a full house The hall was packed and many were not able to get in This success brought me sufficient money For all my needs in port and for the homeward voyage After visiting Kimberley and Pretoria And finding the spray all right in the docks I returned to Worcester and Wellington Towns famous for colleges and seminaries Past coming in Still travelling as the guest of the colony The ladies of all these institutions of learning Wish to know how one might sail round the world alone Which I thought augured of sailing mistresses in the future Instead of sailing masters It will come to that yet if we menfolk Keep on saying we can't On the plains of Africa I passed through Hundreds of miles of rich but still barren lands Saved for scrub bushes on which herds of sheep were browsing The bushes grew about the length of a sheep apart And they I thought were rather long of body But there was still room for all My longing for a foothold on land seized upon me here Where so much of it lay waste But instead of remaining to plant forests and reclaim vegetation I returned again to the spray at the Alfred Docks Where I found her waiting for me With everything in order exactly as I had left her I have often been asked how it was that my vessel And all of pertinences were not stolen in the various ports Where I left her for days together without a watchman in charge This is just how it was The spray seldom fell among thieves At the Keeling Islands, at Rodriguez And at many such places I drove cocoa-nut fibre in the door latch To indicate that the owner was away Secured the goods against even a longing glance But when I came to a great island near a home Stout locks were needed The first night in port Things which I had always left uncovered disappeared As if the deck on which they were stowed Had been swept by a sea A pleasant visit from Admiral Sir Harry Rawson Of the Royal Navy and his family Brought to an end the spray's social relations With the Cape of Good Hope The Admiral then commanding the South African squadron And now in command of the Great Channel Fleet Evinced the greatest interest in the diminutive spray And her behaviour of Cape Horn Where he was not an entire stranger I have to admit that I was delighted with the trend Of Admiral Rawson's questions And that I profited by some of his suggestions Notwithstanding the wide difference In our respective commands On March 26, 1898 The spray sailed from South Africa The land of distances and pure air Where she had spent a pleasant and profitable time The steam-tug Tiger Toed her to see from her wanted birth At the Alfred Docks Giving her a good-offing The light morning breeze Which scantily filled her sails As she would go the tow-line Soon died away altogether And left her riding over a heavy swell In full view of Table Mountain And the high peaks of the Cape of Good Hope For a while the grand scenery Served to relieve the monotony One of the old circumnavigators Sir Francis Drake, I think When he first saw this magnificent pile sang Tis the fairest thing and the grandest cape In the whole circumference of the earth The view was certainly fine But one has no wish to linger long To look in a calm at anything And I was glad to note finally The short heaving sea, precursor of the wind Which followed on the second day Seals playing about the spray all day Before the breeze came Looked with large eyes when, at evening She sat no longer like a lazy bird With folded wings They parted company now And the spray soon sailed The highest peaks of the mountains out of sight And the world changed from a mere panoramic view To the light of a homeward bound voyage Porpoises and dolphins And such other fishes as did not mind Making a hundred and fifty miles a day Were her companions now for several days The wind was from the southeast This suited the spray well And she ran along steadily at her best speed While I dipped into the new books Given me at the cape, reading day and night March thirty was for me a fast day In honour of them I read on oblivious of hunger or wind or sea Thinking that all was going well When suddenly a coma rolled over the stern And slopped sorcery into the cabin Wetting the very book I was reading Evidently it was time to put in a reef That she might not wallow on her course March thirty-one The fair southeast wind had come to stay The spray was running under a single reefed mainsail A whole jib and a flying jib besides Set on the Vilema bamboo While I was reading Stevenson's delightful Inland voyage The sloop was again doing her work smoothly Hardly rolling at all, but just leaping along Among the white horses a thousand gambling Porpoises keeping her company on all sides She was again among her old friends the flying fish Interesting denizens of the sea Shooting out of the waves like arrows And without stretched wings They sailed on the wind in graceful curves Then falling till again they touched The crest of the waves to wet their delicate wings And renew the flight They made merry the live long day One of the joyful sights on the ocean of a bright day Is the continual flight of these interesting fish One could not be lonely in a sea like this Moreover the reading of delightful adventures Enhanced the scene I was now in the spray and on the oise In the arithusa at one and the same time And so the spray reeled off the miles During a good run every day till April 11 Which came almost before I knew it Very early that morning I was awakened By that rare bird the booby with its harsh quack Which I recognised at once as a call to go on deck It was as much as to say Skipper there's land in sight I tumbled out quickly and sure enough A way ahead in the dim twilight About 20 miles off was St Helena My first impulse was to call out Oh what a speck in the sea It is in reality 9 miles in length And 2,823 feet in height I reached for a bottle of port wine out of the locker And took a long pull from it To the health of my invisible helmsman The pilot of the pinter End of chapter 18 Read by Alan Chant in Tumbridge Kent, England www.sevenoaksprep.kent.sh.uk Chapter 19 of Sailing Alone Around the World This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Alan Chant Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slotham Chapter 19, consisting of In the Isle of Napoleon's Exile Two Lectures A Guest in the Ghost Room at Plantation House An Excursion to Historic Longwood Coffee in the Husk and a Goat to Shell It The Sprays Illuck with Animals A Prejudice Against Small Dogs A Rat, the Boston Spider and the Cannibal Cricket Ascension Island It was about noon when the spray came to anchor of Jamestown And all hands once went ashore to pay respects To His Excellency the Governor of the Island, Sir R. A. Sterndale His Excellency, when I landed, remarked that it was not often nowadays That a circumnavigator came his way And he cordially welcomed me and arranged that I should tell about the voyage First at Garden Hall to the people of Jamestown And then at Plantation House the Governor's Residence Which is in the hills a mile or two back To His Excellency and the officers of the garrison and their friends Mr. Poole, our worthy consul, introduced me at the castle And in the course of his remarks asserted that the sea serpent was a Yankee Most royally was the crew of the spray entertained by the Governor I remained at Plantation House a couple of days And one of the rooms in the mansion called the West Room being haunted The butler, by command of His Excellency, put me up in that Like a Prince Indeed, to make sure that no mistake had been made His Excellency came later to see that I was in the right room And to tell me about the ghosts he had seen or heard of He had discovered all but one, and wishing me pleasant dreams He hoped I might have the honour of a visit from the unknown one of the West Room For the rest of the chilly night I kept the candle burning And often looked out from under the blankets thinking that Maybe I should meet the great Napoleon face to face But I saw only furniture and the horseshoe that was nailed over the door opposite my bed St. Helena has been an island of tragedies Tragedies that have been lost sight of in whaling over the Corsican On the second day of my visit the Governor took me by carriage road Through the turns over the island At one point of our journey the road in winding around spurs and ravines Formed a perfect w within the distance of a few rods The roads though tortuous and steep were fairly good And I was struck with the amount of labour it must have cost to build them The air on the heights was cool and bracing It is said that since hanging for trivial offences went out of fashion No one has died there except from falling over the cliffs in old age Or from being crushed by stones rolling on them from the steep mountains Witches at one time were persistent at St. Helena As with us in America in the days of Cotton Mather At the present day crime is rare in the island While I was there Governor Sterndale in token of the fact that Not one criminal case had come to court within the year Was presented with a pair of white gloves by the officers of justice Returning from the Governor's house to Jamestown I drove with Mr Clark, a countryman of mine, to Longwood, the home of Napoleon Monsieur Morello, French consular agent in charge Keeps the place respectable and the buildings in good repair His family at Longwood, consisting of wife and grown daughters Are natives of courtly and refined manners And spend here days, months and years of contentment Though they have never seen the world beyond the horizon of St. Helena On the 20th of April the spray was again ready for sea Before going on board I took luncheon with the Governor and his family at the castle Lady Sterndale had sent a large fruit-cake early in the morning From Plantation House to be taken along on the voyage It was a great high-decker and I ate sparingly of it as I thought But it did not keep as I had hoped it would I ate the last of it along with my first cup of coffee At Antigua West Indies which after all was quite a record The one my own sister made me at the little island in the Bay of Fundy At the first of the voyage kept about the same length of time Namely 42 days After luncheon a royal mail was made up for Ascension The island next on my way Then Mr. Pool and his daughter paid the spray a farewell visit Bringing me a basket of fruit It was late in the evening before the anchor was up And I bore off for the west loathe to leave my new friends But fresh winds filled the sloop's sails once more And I watched the beacon light at Plantation House The Governor's parting signal for the spray Till the island faded in the darkness as Stern And became one with the night And by midnight the light itself had disappeared below the horizon When morning came there was no land in sight But the day went on the same as days before Save for one small incident Governor Sterndale had given me a bag of coffee in the husk And Clark the American in an evil moment had put a goat on board To butt the sack and hustle the coffee beans out of the pods He urged that the animal, besides being useful Would be as companionable as a dog I soon found that my sailing companion This sort of dog with horns had to be tied up entirely The mistake I made was that I did not chain him to the mast Instead of tying him with grass ropes less securely And this I learned to my cost Except for the first day before the beast got his sea legs on I had no peace of mind That actuated by a spirit born maybe of his pasturage This incarnation of evil threatened to devour everything From flying jib to Stern Davids He was the worst pirate I met on the whole voyage He began depredations by eating my chart of the West Indies In the cabin one day while I was about my work for it Thinking that the critter was securely tied on deck by the pumps Alas there was not a rope in the sloop proof against that goat's awful teeth It was clear from the very first that I was having no luck with animals on board There was the tree crab from the Keening Islands No sooner had it got a claw through its prison box That my sea jacket hanging within reach was torn to ribbons Encouraged by this success it smashed the box open And escaped into my cabin tearing up things generally And finally threatening my life in the dark I had hoped to bring the creature home alive But this did not prove feasible Now the goat devoured my straw hat And so when I arrived in port I had nothing to wear ashore on my head This last unkind stroke decided his fate On the 27th of April the spray arrived at Ascension Which was garrisoned by a man of war crew And the boson of the island came on board As he stepped out of his boat the mutinous goat climbed into it And defied boson and crew I hired them to land the wretch at once Which they were only too willing to do And there he fell into the hands of a most excellent scotchman With the chances that he would never get away I was destined to sail once more into the depths of solitude But these experiences had no bad effect upon me On the contrary a spirit of charity And even benevolence grew stronger in my nature Through the meditation of these supreme hours on the sea In the loneliness of the dreary country about Cape Horn I found myself in no mood to make one life less in the world Except in self-defense And as I sailed this trait of the hermit character grew Till the mention of killing food animals was revolting to me However well I may have enjoyed a chicken stew afterwards at Samoa A new self-rebelled at the thought suggested there Of carrying chickens to be slain for my table on the voyage And Mrs. Stevenson hearing my protest Agreed with me that to kill the companions of my voyage And eat them would be indeed next to murder and cannibalism As to pet animals there was no room for a noble large dog On the spray on so long a voyage And a small kerr was for many years associated in my mind with hydrophobia I witnessed once the death of a sterling young German From that dreadful disease And about the same time heard of the death also by hydrophobia Of the young gentleman who had just written a line of insurance In his company's books for me I have seen the whole crew of a ship scamper up the rigging To avoid a dog racing about the decks in a fit It would never do, I thought, for the crew of the spray to take a canine risk And with these just prejudices indelibly stamped on my mind I have, I am afraid, answered impatiently too often the query Why didn't you have a dog with I am the dog wouldn't have been very long in the same boat in any sense A cat would have been a harmless animal I daresay But there was nothing for Puss to do on board And she is an unsociable animal at best True, a rat got into my vessel at the Keeling-Cocas Islands And another at Rodriguez Along with a centipede stowed away in the hold But one of them I drove out of the ship And the other I caught This is how it was For the first one with infinite pains I made a trap Looking to its capture and destruction But the wily rodent not to be deluded took the hint And got ashore the day the thing was completed It is, according to tradition, a most reassuring sign To find rats coming to a ship And I had a mind to abide the knowing one of Rodriguez But a breach of discipline decided the matter against him While I slept one night, my ship sailing on He undertook to walk over me Beginning at the crown of my head Concerning which I am always sensitive I slept lightly Before his impertinence had got him even to my nose I cried rat, had him by the tail And threw him out of the companion way into the sea As for the centipede I was not aware of its presence Till the wretched insect, all feet and venom Beginning, like the rat at my head Wakened me by a sharp bite on the scalp This also was more than I could tolerate After a few applications of kerosene The poisonous bite, painful at first Gave no further inconvenience From this on, for a time No living thing disturbed my solitude No insect even was present in my vessel Except the spider and his wife from Boston Now with a family of young spiders Nothing, I say, till sailing down the last stretch Of the Indian Ocean Where mosquitoes came by hundreds From rainwater poured out of the heavens Simply a barrel of rainwater Stood on deck five days, I think, in the sun Then music began I knew the sound at once It was the same as heard from Alaska to New Orleans Again at Cape Town While dining out one day I was taken with the sound of a cricket And Mr. Branscombe, my host Volunteered to capture a pair of them for me They were sent on board next day In a box labelled Pluto and Scamp Stowing them away in the binnacle In their own snug box I left them there without food Till I got to see a few days I had never heard of a cricket eating anything It seems that Pluto was a cannibal For only the wings of poor Scamp Were visible when I opened the lid And they lay broken on the floor Of the prison box Even with Pluto it had gone hard For he lay on his back Stark and stiff, never to chirp again Ascension Island, where the goat was marooned Is called the Stone Frigate R.N. And is rated Tender to the South African Squadron It lies in 7 degrees 55 minutes south latitude And 14 degrees 25 minutes west longitude Being in the very heart of the southeast trade winds And about 840 miles from the coast of Liberia It is a mass of volcanic matter Throne up from the bed of the ocean To the height of 2818 feet at the highest point above sea level It is a strategic point And belonged to Great Britain before it got cold In the limited but rich soil at the top of the island Among the clouds, vegetation has taken root And a little scientific farming is carried on Under the supervision of a gentleman from Canada Also a few cattle and sheep Are pastured there for the garrison mess Water storage is made on a large scale In a word this heap of cinders and lava rock Is stored and fortified and would stand a siege Very soon after the spray arrived I received a note from Captain Blaxland The commander of the island Conveying his thanks for the royal mail brought from St. Helena And inviting me to lunge in with him And his wife and sisters at headquarters not far away It is hardly necessary to say That I availed myself of the captain's hospitality at once A carriage was waiting up the jetty when I landed And a sailor with a broad grin Led the horse carefully up the hill to the captain's house As if I were a lord of the Admiralty and a governor besides And he led it as carefully down again when I returned On the following day I visited the summit among the clouds The same team being provided And the same old sailor leading the horse There was probably not a man on the island at that moment Better able to walk than I The sailor knew that I finally suggested that we change places Let me take the bridle, I said And keep the horse from bolting Great stone frigate he exclaimed as he burst into a laugh This eos wouldn't bolt no faster than a turtle If I didn't tow him hard we'd never get into port I walked most of the way over the steep grades Whereupon my guide every inch of sailor became my friend Arriving at the summit of the island I met Mr. Shank the farmer from Canada and his sister Living very cosily in a house among the rocks As snug as cronies and as safe He showed me over the farm Taking me through a tunnel which led from one field to the other Divided by an inaccessible spur of mountain Mr. Shank said that he had lost many cows and bullocks As well as sheep from breakneck over the steep cliffs and precipices One cow he said would sometimes hook another Right over a precipice to destruction And go on feeding unconcernedly It seemed that the animals on the island farm Like mankind in the wide world Found it all too small On the 26th of April while I was ashore Rollers came in which rendered launching a boat impossible However the sloop being securely moored to a boy in deep water Outside of all breakers she was safe While I in the best of quarters listened to well told stories Among the officers of the stone frigate On the evening of the 29th the sea having gone down I went on board and made preparations to start again On my voyage early next day The boson of the island and his crew giving me a hearty handshake As I embarked at the jetty For reasons of scientific interest I invited in mid-ocean the most thorough investigation Concerning the crew list of the spray Very few had challenged it And perhaps few ever will do so henceforth But for the benefit of the few that may I wished to clench beyond doubt the fact That it was not at all necessary In the expedition of a sloop around the world To have more than one man for the crew all told And that the spray sailed with only one person on board And so by appointment left Tenant Eagles The executive officer in the morning Just as I was ready to sail fumigated the sloop Rendering it impossible for a person to live concealed below And proving that only one person was on board When she arrived A certificate to this effect Besides the official documents from many consulates Health offices and custom houses Will seem to many superfluous But this story of the voyage may find its way Into hands unfamiliar with the business of these offices And of their ways of seeing that a vessel's papers And above all her bills of health are in order The left Tenant certificate being made out The spray nothing loath now filled away clear Of the sea-beaten rocks and the trade winds Comfortably cool and bracing Sent her flying along on her course On May 8, 1898 she crossed the track Homeward bound that she had made on October 2, 1895 On the voyage out She passed Fernando de Narona at night Going some miles south of it And so I did not see the island I felt a contentment in knowing that the spray Had encircled the globe And even as an adventure alone I was in no way discouraged as to its utility And said to myself Let what will happen The voyage is now on record A period was made End of Chapter 19 Read by Alan Chant in Tumbridge, Kent, England www.7oaksprep.kent.sh.uk Chapter 20 of Sailing Alone Around the World This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Alan Chant Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slokum Chapter 20 Consisting of In the favouring current of Capes and Rock, Brazil All at sea regarding the Spanish-American War An exchange of signals with the battleship Oregon Off Defrasis Prison on Devils Island Reappearance to the spray of the North Star The light on Trinidad A charming introduction to Grenada Talks to friendly auditors On May 10 there was a great change in the condition of the sea There could be no doubt of my longitude now If any had before existed in my mind Strange and long forgotten current ripples Patterned against the sloop's sides in grateful music The tune arrested the ear And I sat quietly listening to it While the spray kept on her course By those current ripples I was assured that she was now off St. Rock And had struck the current which sweeps round the Cape The trade winds we old sailors say produce this current Which in its course for this point forward Is governed by the coastline of Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela And, as some would say, by the Monroe Doctrine The trades have been blowing fresh for some time And the current now at its height amounted to forty miles a day This, added to the sloop's run by the log Made the handsome day's work of one hundred and eighty miles On several consecutive days I saw nothing of the coast of Brazil Though I was not many leagues off And was always in the Brazil current I did not know that war with Spain had been declared And that I might be liable right there to meet the enemy And be captured Many had told me at Cape Town that in their opinion War was inevitable And they said, the Spaniard will get you The Spaniard will get you To all this I could only say that even so He would not get much Even in the fever heat over the disaster to the main I did not think there would be war But I am no politician Indeed, I had hardly given the matter a serious thought When, on the fourteenth of May Just north of the equator And near the longitude of the river Amazon I first saw a mast with the stars and stripes floating from it Rising a stern, as if poked up out of the sea And then rapidly appearing on the horizon Like a citadel, the Oregon As she came near I saw that the great ship was flying the signals C, B, T, which read Are there any men of war about Right under these flags And larger than the spray's mains also it appeared Was the yellowest Spanish flag I ever saw It gave me a nightmare some time after When I reflected on it in my dreams I did not make out the Oregon's signals Till she passed ahead where I could read them better For she was two miles away and I had no binoculars When I had read her flags I hoisted the signal No, for I had not seen any Spanish men of war I had not been looking for any My final signal Let us keep together for mutual protection Captain Clark did not seem to regard as necessary Perhaps my small flags were not made out Anyhow the Oregon steamed on with a rush Looking for Spanish men of war as I learned afterwards The Oregon's great flag was dipped beautifully Three times to the spray's lowered flag as she passed on Both had crossed the line only a few hours before I pondered long that night over the probability of a war risk Now coming upon the spray after she had cleared all Or nearly all the dangers of the sea But finally a strong hope mastered my fears On the seventeenth of May the spray coming out of a storm At daylight made Devil's Island two points on the lee-bow Not far off The wind was still blowing a stiff breeze on shore I could clearly see the dark grey buildings on the island As the sloop brought it a beam No flag or sign of life was seen on the dreary place Later in the day a French bark on the port-tac Making for K.N. Hove in sight close-hauled on the wind She was falling to Leward fast The spray was also close-hauled And was lugging on sail to secure an offing on the starboard-tac A heavy swell in the night having thrown her too near the shore And now I considered the matter of supplicating a change of wind I had already enjoyed my share of favouring breezes over the great oceans And I asked myself if it would be right to have the wind turned now all into my sails While the Frenchman was bound the other way A head-current which he stemmed together with a scant wind was bad enough for him And so I could only say in my heart Lord, let matters stand as they are But do not help the Frenchman any more just now For what would suit him would well ruin me I remembered that when a lad I heard a captain often say in meeting That in answer to a prayer of his own the wind changed from southeast to northwest Entirely to his satisfaction He was a good man, but did this glorify the architect The ruler of the winds and the waves Moreover it was not a trade wind as I remember it That changed for him but one of the variables Which will change when you ask it if you ask long enough Again this man's brother may be was not bound the opposite way Well content with the fair wind himself Which made all the difference in the world Footnote The Bishop of Melbourne, commend me to his teachings Refused to set aside a day of prayer for rain Recommending his people to husband water when the rainy season was on In like manner a navigator husbands the wind Keeping a weather gauge where practicable On May 18, 1898 is written large in the spray's log book Tonight in latitude seven degrees, thirteen minutes north For the first time in nearly three years I see the north star The spray on the day following logged one hundred and forty-seven miles To this I add thirty-five miles for current sweeping her onward On the twentieth of May about sunset the island of Tobago Off the Orinoco came into view bearing west by north distant twenty-two miles The spray was drawing rapidly towards her home destination Later at night while running free along the coast of Tobago The wind still blowing fresh I was startled by the sudden flash of breakers on the port bow and not far off I left instantly offshore and then tacked heading in for the island Finding myself shortly after close in with the land I tacked again offshore but without much altering the bearing of the danger Sail whichever way I would it seemed clear that if the sloop weathered the rocks at all it would be a close shave And I watched with anxiety while beating against the current always losing ground So the matter stood hour after hour while I watched the flashes of light thrown up as regularly as the beats of the long ocean swells and always they seemed just a little nearer It was evidently a coral reef of this I had not the slightest doubt and a bad reef at that Worse still there might be other reefs ahead forming a bite into which the current would sweep me and where I should be hemmed in and finally wrecked I had not sailed these waters since a lad and lamented the day I had allowed on board the goat that at my chart I taxed my memory of sea-law, of wrecks on sunken reefs and of pirates harboured among coral reefs where other ships might not come but nothing that I could think of applied to the island of Tobago saved the one wreck of Robinson Crusoe's ship in the fiction and that gave me little information about reefs I remembered only that in Crusoe's case he kept his powder dry But there she booms again I cried and how close the flash is now Almost a board was that last breaker but you'll go by spray old girl, tis a beam now one surge more and oh one more like that will clear your ribs and keel and I slapped her on the transom proud of her last noble effort to leap clear of the danger when a wave greater than the rest threw her higher than before and behold from the crest of it was revealed at once all there was of the reef I fell back in a coil of rope speechless and amazed, not distressed, but rejoiced a lad in's lamp, my fisherman's own lantern it was the great revolving light on the island of Trinidad 30 miles away throwing flashes over the waves which had deceived me the orb of the light was now dipping on the horizon and how glorious was the sight of it but dear father Neptune as I live after a long life at sea and much among corals I would have made a solemn declaration to that reef through all the rest of the night I saw imaginary reefs and not knowing what moment the sloop might fetch up on a real one I tacked off and on till daylight as nearly as possible in the same track all for the want of a chart I could have nailed the Saint Helena's goat's pelt to the deck my course was now for Grenada to which I carried letters from Mauritius about midnight on the 22nd of May I arrived at the island and cast anchor in the roads off the town of St George entering the inner harbour at daylight on the morning of the 23rd which made 42 days sailing from the Cape of Good Hope it was a good run and I doffed my cap again to the pilot of the pinter Lady Bruce in a note to the spray at Point Louis said Grenada was a lovely island and she wished the sloop might call there on the voyage home when the spray arrived I found that she had been fully expected how so I asked oh we heard that you were at Mauritius they said and from Mauritius after meeting Sir Charles Bruce Arrol Governor we knew you would come to Grenada this was a charming introduction and it brought me in contact with people worth knowing the spray sailed from Grenada on the 28th of May and coasted along under the lee of the Antilles arriving at the island of Dominica on the 30th where for the want of knowing better I cast anchor at the quarantine ground for I was still without a chart of the islands not having been able to get one even at Grenada here I not only met with further disappointment in the matter but was threatened with a fine for the mistake I made in the anchorage there were no ships either at the quarantine or at the commercial roads and I could not see that it made much difference where I anchored but an e-gro chaper sort of deputy harbour master coming along thought it did and he ordered me to shift to the other anchorage which in truth I had already investigated and did not like because of the heavier roll there from the sea and so instead of springing to the sails at once to shift I said I would leave outright as soon as I could procure a chart which I begged he would send and get for me but I say you must move before you get anything at all he insisted and raising his voice so that all the people along shore could hear him he added and just now then he flew into a towering passion when they on shore snickered to see the crew of the spray sitting calmly by the bulwark instead of hoisting sail I tell you this am quarantine he shouted very much louder than before that's all right general I replied I want to be quarantined anyhow that's right boss someone on the beach shouted that's right you'll get quarantined while others shouted to the deputy to make the white trash move along out of that they were about equally divided on the island for and against me the man who had made so much fuss over the matter gave it up when he found that I wish to be quarantined and sent for an all important half-white who soon came alongside starched from clue to earring he stood in the boat as straight up and down as a fathom of pump-water a marvel of importance charts cried I as soon as his shirt collar appeared over the sloops rail have you any charts no sir he replied with much stiffened dignity no sir charts doesn't grow on this island not doubting the information I tripped anchor immediately as I had intended to do from the first and made all sail for st. John Antigua where I arrived on the 1st of June having sailed with great caution in mid-channel all the way the spray always in good company now fell in with the port office's steam launch at the harbour entrance having on board Sir Francis Fleming governor of the Leeward Islands who to the delight of all hands gave the officer in charge instructions to tow my ship into port on the following day his excellency and lady Fleming along with Captain Burr RN paid me a visit the courthouse was tended free to me at Antigua as was done also at Grenada and at each place a highly intelligent audience filled the hall to listen to a talk about the seas the spray had crossed and the countries she had visited