ROUTES. 339 



tended with for a week, making but little progress the while ; she 

 then had a time of it in crossing the horse latitudes. After hav- 

 ing been nineteen days out, she had logged no less than thirteen 

 of them as days of calms and baffling winds ; these had brought 

 her no farther on her way than the parallel of 26° north in the At- 

 lantic. Thence she had a fine run to the equator, crossing it be- 

 tween 33° and 34° west, the thirty-second day out. She was un- 

 avoidably forced to cross it so far west ; for only two days before, 

 she crossed 5° north in 30° — an excellent position. 



968. In proof that the Pigeon had accomplished all that skill 

 could do and the chances against her would permit, we have the 

 testimony of the barque Hazard, Captain Pollard. This vessel, 

 being bound to Eio at the same time, followed close after the 

 Pigeon. The Hazard is an old hand with the Charts ; she had 

 already made six voyages to Rio with them for her guide. This 

 was the longest of the six, the mean of which was twenty-six and 

 a half days. She crossed the line this time in 34° 30^, also by 

 compulsion, having crossed 5° north in 31°. But, the fourth day 

 after crossing the equator, she was clear of Cape St. Roque, while 

 the Pigeon cleared it in three days.* 



969. So far, therefore, chances had turned up against the Pig- 

 eon, in spite of the skill displayed by Putnam as a navigator, for 

 the Gilpin and the Fish came booming along, not under better 

 management, indeed, but with a better run of luck and fairer 

 courses before them. In this stretch they gained upon her — the 

 Gilpin seven and the Fish ten days ; so that now the abstract 

 logs show the Pigeon to be but ten days ahead. 



970. Evidently the Fish was most confident that she had the 

 heels of her competitors ; she felt her strength, and was proud of 

 it ; she was most anxious for a quick run, and eager withal for a 

 trial. She dashed down southwardly from Sandy Hook, looking 

 occasionally at the Charts ; but feeling strong in her sweep of 

 wing, and trusting confidently in the judgment of her master, she 

 kept, on the average, two hundred miles to leeward of the right 

 track. Rejoicing in her many noble and fine qualities, she crowd- 

 ed on her canvas to its utmost stretch, trusting quite as much to 



* According to the received opinion, this was impossible. Vide <J 470. 



Y 



