P ETC MORA 473 



or two ; and Captain Taylor and the mate had only- 

 had about 5 hours' sleep between them, the one relieving 

 the other. 



Seven o'clock this morning saw us at last clear of the 

 Golaievski Bank and their beacons, and we were rejoicing 

 in being able at last to say adieu to the mouth of the 

 Petchora. (Our work was done and as the sailors sang : 

 ' Ah, the girls are hauling hard at the toiv-ropes.') 



But as we sat at breakfast, the mate's coffee half 

 drunk, there was a call on deck and we ran up. A gale 

 was close at hand, and all the crew were dashing about 

 making fast, and hurriedly preparing for it. Thunder 

 had been heard during the day, and now, almost instan- 

 taneously a dense black curtain of thunder-cloud hung 

 before us on our course, while white drifting angry clouds 

 floated swiftly past against the black mass, and a water- 

 spout, not half a mile off, lashed the water up as if a 

 hundred mill- stones at once had been cast into the sea. 



The wind blew from every quarter, and white squalls 

 whirled over the water, one of which, ere it struck our 

 vessel, we traced to within twenty yards of its side. It 

 struck; the sails clapping fiercely and all in a whirl, but 

 she was ably handled by the Captain at the helm, a 

 prompt and excellent sailor, and all w^as safe. 



Then came a hot air from the eastward and a dead 

 calm, a violent thunderstorm and a downfall of rain. 

 ' All's well,' the Captain said, and added, ' it's a mercy we 

 were not amongst the shoals, but out in true blue water; ' 

 and Seebohm and I went below to sleep — 9 a.m., but I 

 first wrote up part of my journal, and nearly fell asleep 

 — in fact I nodded — with the pen in my hand while I 

 did so. 



Then the Captain came down — it was his watch — and 

 he and I had a drop of rum and water, and then chatted 

 till dinner-time (at 12) about the shoals of the ' Dry Sea ' 



