A whaler's condition after a cruise. 353 



keep off to the southward, and learned that we were 

 bound round the Cape. In the afternoon we saw 

 the Coirabra, overhauled and passed her; our stud- 

 ding-sails giving us a great advantage over her when 

 the wind is free. The following day, in order to 

 compete with us, she made and bent studding-sails ; 

 but this was as far as she could go, and we were still 

 to windward of her, as we had made and bent mizzen, 

 maintopmast, and maintopgallaut staysails, which 

 gave us a slight advantage. 



On account of the length of time, and the chafing 

 of whales alongside and under the ship, the copper 

 was in a desperate condition. Looking at her bottom, 

 when the sea was calm and clear, nothingcouldbe seen 

 but an irregular bunch of vegetable matter ; looking, 

 from her waterways to the kelson, as much like a 

 collection of old rags, as anything else that I could 

 compare it to, whilst in many places whole sheets of 

 copper were gone, and in others it was rolled up in 

 scrolls. I hooked up a piece, and, on examination, 

 found it of an almost transparent thinness. All 

 these inequalities in the surface of the bottom natu- 

 rally tended to retard the speed ; and, consequently, 

 when whalers start for home, they strive to make 

 amends for all deficiences by a greater spread of 

 canvass, and venture to carry it longer than any 

 other class of vessels afloat, relying on the number 

 and skill of their men to prevent disaster in time of 

 emergency. 



We kept on with a light fair wind to the south- 

 ward and eastward for some days, and, from the 

 agreeableness of the weather, augured a pleasant 

 passage around ; but when opposite Cape I'Agulhas 

 30* X 



