222 THE ALBATROSS. 



men on canned provisions I had brought for the 

 cabin table. Lucky dogs they were to get a 

 mouthful ! Cooking was out of the question. 

 But now, as the weather moderated, Mrs. Robbins 

 came to our relief. With the aid of her little 

 alcohol lamp she made coffee for those sorry 

 toilers of the sea — the strongest coffee and the 

 best, said one and all that had ever been boiled 

 aboard a wrecked blubber-hunter ! 



When, at last, the wind hauled to the south and 

 died away and the tempest was over, we began to 

 take account of stock. As O'Hoolihan has it, we 

 stood off and looked at ourselves. We counted 

 our bruises. 



Merciless Neptune, what a finding ! Jib-boom 

 gone at the cap on the bow-sprit ; fore-mast 

 broken away at the eyes of the rigging, turning 

 the fore-top over till the cross-trees pointed to the 

 zenith ; main-mast snapped off at the head ; 

 mizzen-mast gone, save a wretched stump about 

 seven feet tall; bulwarks and rails shattered; 

 and five of our six boats missing ! 



What a frightful change had come over that 

 poor, storm-stricken ship ! A handsome, well- 

 found barky she had been only two days before — 

 taut and in perfect trim, " man-o'-war fashion," 

 as sailors say — but now she was a pitiable, 



