142 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SEALER 



had to pump continuously to stay afloat, and it was an old- 

 fashioned pump one without a lever handle, so that you have 

 to stand over the pipe and take hold of a crosspiece. I remem- 

 ber the details of the business mighty well, for my back aches 

 again as it comes to my mind. Off Liverpool, Nova Scotia, 

 after a week of pumping, we found the water gaining on us; so 

 we ran into the port for repairs. On the way in we were hailed 

 by an officer of customs and bidden to lay to; but as the sea 

 was heavy and the situation bad, we kept on until we found a 

 friendly mud bank on which we ran. Swift after us came the 

 irate official, who boarded us. He was a self-important fellow, 

 and, despite our explanations, full of threats and abuse. He 

 was the first of the provincials who in their manner showed 

 their delight that the Union was breaking up, in the contumely 

 they poured upon its unhappy citizens. When the situation be- 

 came intolerable, I bethought me of the document which Lord 

 Head had sent me, a most imposing charter-like affair, with 

 a huge seal and ribbons attached thereto, as I remember, from 

 the Admiralty, which in effect placed all the officers of cus- 

 toms at our disposition. I see now the awestruck look of the 

 chap as he read it over. He wonderingly asked where the gen- 

 tlemen were who were named in the paper. When I told him 

 that he had been blackguarding them for half an hour his recon- 

 ciliation was harder to bear than his previous insolence. 



After a week of delay for the needed oakum in our joints and 

 some bracing at the splices, we again set to sea to take another 

 whack of storm on our way to the Gut of Canso, the passage 

 into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When the wind died out, we 

 rested "hawse hole and scupper hole" for two days, the first of 

 my several experiences in this tedious business. The monotony 

 was broken by an incident which made so strong an impression 

 that I feel it now. An ocean steamer passed near us, swaying in 

 the sea as if she would roll over; a sailor was working aloft; I 

 was watching him through a glass, for I felt his peril. Suddenly 

 he was thrown as a stone from a sling, striking the water far 



