Narrative of Bahama Extedition. 227 



feared was a long calm, which might possibly have caused our 

 water supply to run short, a danger never lost sight (^f b\' 

 those accustomed to the peculiar conditions surrounding the 

 navigation of sail vessels, which are, of course, absolutely 

 dependent upon winds and currents. On this account skip- 

 pers are alwa}s relieved after the\- have crossed the belt of 

 calms known as the '• Horse Latitudes," between Lat. 31" 

 and 33° N. Those who sail in the •• fruiters "trading betweett 

 the Bahamas and Baltimore have terrible stories to tell of fruit- 

 laden vessels being caught in these regions by the dreaded 

 calms, and having to roll week after week on the glass}' sur- 

 face of the ocean, exposed to the pitiless glare of the sun 

 and, worst of all, the fearful odors of the mass of rotting fruit 

 in the hold, which must all be thrown overboard if the calm 

 lasts many days. The stench from this putrid mass must 

 be unspeakable, if that \ielded by onlv a few rotting •• pines " 

 can be taken as a sample. 



We were wonderfully fortunate throughout our cruise in 

 the matter of weather. Three months are rarelv passed at 

 sea without encountering at least one really severe storm, and 

 perhaps several trying calms. We .escaped them both, as 

 nothing like a storm or long calm was met with during the 

 whole cruise. The squalls on the outward voyage were 

 some of them rather severe, and for one da\" we were com- 

 pelled to lay to, but neither of these amounted to what sailors 

 w'ould call a storm or a gale. So wonderfully were we favored 

 in this matter that the captain grew vmeasy. feeling that such 

 a stretch of Ime weather was abnormal and almost uncanny. 

 He was evidently most anxious to get his vessel safelv into port, 

 having an ill-concealed fear that there was something porten- 

 tous in the meteorological conditions. And he was doubtless 

 right, as will be acknowledged when we reflect that shortly 

 after our return the West Indies and our South Atlantic coast 

 were visited by a hurricane of appalling force and furv. 

 attended by the greatest loss of life and shipping that has e\-er 

 been experienced in those regions. It seems to be the belief 

 of sailors that long-continued periods of fair weather are 



