NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 147 



day passage to Peru. The hotel was an admirable base from 

 which to take short sight-seeing walks in the evenings, and it 

 was convenient to the clubs and theatres. The berth in Balboa 

 had been too remotely situated from Panama City. 



The principal work done in dry-dock was repairing the copper 

 sheathing, installing new bearings on the winch, changing the fore- 

 mast supports, and painting all deck-houses and quarters. We 

 had as our dock-mate the submarine S-16, and several of the 

 party had a splendid opportunity for inspecting this fascinating 

 vessel. 



Our evening ambles about the city led us to many interesting 

 places. We visited the ruins of Old Panama, the unfortunate 

 city that was sacked by Henry Morgan's buccaneers. We also 

 saw the famous golden altar, saved during these raids by being 

 taken to sea. It was later cleverly disguised with whitewash, 

 and hidden in the wall of a church. Here and there about Panama 

 City we saw small groups of San Bias Indians squatting on the 

 street-corners, or window-shopping like ourselves. None of the 

 party took any extended trips from Balboa. Soule crossed the 

 Canal Zone to Coco Solo by train and bus, in a search for new 

 cable for the multithermograph. The "working" of the rigging, 

 and corrosion, had broken the circuit running to the masthead. 

 It was desirable to install an entirely new length of conductor 

 rather than make temporary repairs. But he was not successful, 

 and we were forced to carry on until some cable could be ordered 

 from Washington. 



Captain Ault and Paul made a Sunday excursion to Taboga 

 Island as guests of the Yale boys on their round-the-world schooner. 

 Chance. This little vessel had once been engaged under Iselin of 

 Harvard in oceanographic work in the North Atlantic. These 

 boys, recently graduated from college, had bought her and were 

 making a romantic journey through the South Pacific. Bad 

 luck pursued them from the start. They were caught by the 

 terrible hurricane in September, and managed to crawl for safety 

 into a harbor on Haiti. When they arrived in Panama, their 

 "skipper" was taken ill and had already been laid up for six weeks 

 at the time of our visit. This party preceded us through the 



