I determined, after some hesitation, not to take William home with me. He was anxious to go, but he had not been steady at Sydney, and it would not suit me to keep him permanently in my service. He got at once the offer of a place with Mr. Kemp, as house-servant, with £45 a year, and accepted It, but when we sailed he hoped to be able to cancel the arrangement, and to go as servant to Sir Everard Home, on board the Calliope, which would suit him in every way much better. Our party in the cuddy consisted of twenty-three, besides the captain, surgeon, and first and second mates. They were all Mercantile people and their families, except one young man who had been engaged in gold digging, or rather employing diggers, on the Suron (with very bad success). The cabins looked anything but inviting, the first day, all lumbered up with luggage, and covered with chips and litter of every kind. But fortunately we did not get away on the 1st March, as was intended, though we weighed anchor, and a little steamer tried to tow us down the harbour against a fresh nor'-easter. About half an hour's fruitless tugging convinced the captain that nothing could be done, and we anchored again, about two miles down, and four miles from the heads. This delay gave us time to "shake into shape" before the sea-sickness came on. The next day (the 2nd) the wind changed to south, and we got out so fast that the pilot, who had sent his boat on shore, had not time to get it off, so we carried him away to the eastward, out of sight of land, close-hauled, under double-reefed topsails, with hardly a chance of getting back. On the morning of the 3rd we tacked, and fortunately for the pilot, fetched Sydney Heads precisely. His boat was on the look-out, and met us about two miles from the land, after which our voyage might be considered as fairly begun. For three days we beat about, trying to get to page 374the southward, but making hardly any way. The best course to Cape Horn is to steer due south till you come to 50° South Lat., and then make your easting on that parallel, till you get near Cape Horn; but we were baffled by southerly winds, and obliged to go to the eastward at first. On the twelfth day we passed New Zealand, passing between the "Shares" and the Auckland Islands. Then the wind changed to the northward, and hung between N.N.E. and N.N.W. for three weeks. We were driven gradually to the southward, close hauled nearly all the time on the port tack, till we got to 60° s., after that we hauled up a little, and edged to the northward. When we passed the parallel of 55° S. the weather became very cold and unpleasant, the thermometer varying from 45° to 34° with almost perpetual fog. We were often for several days together without an observation of the sun, and sometimes it was so thick that even by day we could not see twice the ship's length ahead. Under these circumstances, it was with no small uneasiness that we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of icebergs. One morning, about eleven o'clock, the captain and I being the only people on the poop, and the ship going ten knots, with the wind about two points free, on the port tack (whole topsails and topgallant sails set) he suddenly rushed to the lee side of the poop, and after gazing for a minute earnestly into the thick fog, sung out to the chief mate to come up, for we were "in the ice". I saw by this time the ragged peaks of a large berg, looking exactly like the headlands of a rock-bound coast, emerging from the mist, not more than half a mile on the lee bow. For some minutes it was uncertain whether the berg did not extend right across our bows, but fortunately it proved otherwise, however, it was thought necessary to shorten sail instantly to double-reefed topsails, and haul up to the northward. During the remainder of that day we jogged on slowly, and saw no more ice, though we saw several fog bows, which I believe to be the same as what are called by Arctic navigators "iceblinks", indicating in thick weather the presence of bergs. The next day, April 1st, was clear, though cloudy, and about eleven o'clock we sighted an iceberg right ahead. All the passengers came on. deck, and we had a capital sight of it, page 375as we passed about a mile to leeward. The sea was covered with bits of ice (varying in size from that of the ship's longboat to that of a water-cask), which had broken off from the berg, and were drifting to leeward. This is the way in which these bergs break up, and go to pieces. The sea was breaking against it so heavily, that though it would not have been less than two hundred feet high, the spray went right over the top. I should guess (speaking roughly) that this berg was not more than two hundred yards long and half as broad. The one which we passed in the fog the day before exposed a coast line of at least one-third of a mile, I should think. The thermometer, exposed on deck as we passed the ice, stood at 41°. After this, we saw one or more bergs almost every day for some days, and probably passed many more in fogs, before and after. We had moderate weather, on the whole, all the way to Cape Horn, only one strong gale (on Good Friday) and that did not last above twelve hours. The Anglesey proved herself an excellent sea-boat, easy and dry. Lying to under bare poles, she did not take in a drop of water on her decks. But we were disappointed in her sailing qualities, especially on a wind. She could do nothing, unless she was eight points off, and once, after beating for two days, with a nice breeze and smooth water, we found ourselves nine miles to leeward, as the net result of our two days' work. She is also extremely crank, which makes it very uncomfortable in a breeze, both for the passengers to walk the decks, and for the seamen to do their work. This is partly, no doubt, the effect of her wool cargo, but chiefly of her build. She is immensely long in proportion to her beam—210 feet to 35—and though this is very effectual to prevent pitching, and to make her easy to a head sea, on the other hand, it makes her lean over terribly, so that she cannot carry the canvas she ought, and (what is a still greater evil), makes her very bad and slow in stays, so that she is not to be trusted upon a lee shore. We saw nothing worth remarking on the voyage, except the ice, and a rather unusual number of whales. One day we were in the middle of a school of them, basking and rolling and spouting all round the ship. We were forty days from the pilot's leaving us to Cape Horn—about 6000 miles. The page 376last 1950 were run in nine days. From Cape Horn we got on very well till we came about opposite the Rio de la Plata, and then we were baffled for a fortnight before we got the South-East trades. We had a good run through the tropics, were detained for a week by northerly winds to the southward of the Azores, and ran the last 1500 miles to the Channel in seven days. Our best day's run during the voyage was 256 miles. From Sydney Heads to Gravesend we took 106 days. From parting from the pilot to taking the other, 102 days.