CHAPTER XII 
EXPERIENCES ON A NEW ZEALAND TRAW- 
LER AND NOTES ON THE INVERTEBRATE 
FAUNA OF HAURAKT GULF 
The morning of July 20 was gloomy enough, as at daylight I 
hobbled down to the docks in my murderous New Zealand shoes, 
through a heavy rain and high wind, carrying a ponderous suit- 
case, blankets ete. The Cowan was at her wharf and Captain 
McKay welcomed me on board and assigned me quarters in his 
cabin. Although by no means palatial, the room was the best the 
boat afforded and the good skipper could do no more than give 
me his room and bunk in with his chief engineer, a very intelligent 
Scotchman by the name of Crawford, whose acquaintance I 
greatly enjoyed. The captain and his chief both being Scotchmen, 
were naturally quite chummy and I found them as fine types of 
the real British sailor-man as one can meet. 
The cook served breakfast, and a good one, in my room which 
was on the upper deck facing the bows. Soon after starting we 
were bucking our way through very rough seas and the motion 
of the short, tubby Cowan, which was a sort of metamorphosed 
Sydney tug-boat, offered the height of acrobatic performance. Of 
course the motion seemed accentuated in my room on the top deck, 
but I managed by sitting on my up-ended suitcase, with the wall 
at my back and my knees braced against the side of the bunk, to 
have at least one hand free to manage the food. The crew were 
not so fortunate however, as they ate below in the forecastle and 
a big wave was shipped while they were eating, flooding the fore- 
castle and drenching them and their food. They were used to 
such trifling misadventures however, and seemed not to be greatly 
disturbed. 
It was so rough that we were soon forced to put in and anchor 
in a little landlocked cove in the island of Waiheke (I am not 
certain of the spelling) and waited there for the weather to 
moderate. The captain and I went ashore, although it was severe 
punishment for me to walk over the rocks in my partially crippled 
condition. The island is said to be about 100,000 acres in extent 
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