42 N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



false alarms were raised from the mast-head ; ships were seen 

 and passed ; none spoken. We watched the little pilot-fish un- 

 der the bows, and the great albatrosses as they sailed about 

 the ship or floated gracefully on the water. About the Bra- 

 zil Banks several of these great birds were taken by baiting a 

 floated hook with fat pork. As the " Antient Mariner" hath 

 it : " It ate the food it never had eat ;" and, in consequence, 

 it fell into the hands of those who had not the awful warn- 

 ing of the slayer of albatross before their eyes. We caught 

 and killed them to obtain the long, hollow bones of the wings, 

 for ornamental needle-cases for the " girl I left behind me." 

 One grand old fellow, whose stretch of wing was guessed as 

 twelve feet, and whose great, hooked beak seemed little in- 

 jured by his capture, we preserved from death to convert 

 into a messenger. Writing the words " Chelsea, of N. L., 



Captain B ; all well; lat, 27 S., long. 36 W.," we secured 



the paper in oiled silk. This was waxed, varnished, render- 

 ed perfectly water-proof, and secured by a cord around the 

 base of the bird's neck. A red ribbon streamer was attach- 

 ed to attract attention. All being prepared, we headed our 

 messenger by compass a true course for our " sweethearts 

 and wives," and launched him on the wing with a loud hur- 

 ra. Forty-two months from this time we learned the con- 

 clusion of our venture. Five months after we had released 

 the bird in lat. 27 S., it was shot from a pilot-boat off the 

 harbor of New York, and our dispatch, with the manner of 

 conveyance, made an item in the papers of that city. This 

 was the first news our friends had received of the wild wan- 

 derers. Thus the albatross had come like a voice from the 

 sea to many anxious hearts, bearing a welcome message five 

 thousand miles, and, like the messenger from Marathon's 

 bloody field, dying in delivering it. As I have anticipated 

 in the case of the albatross, let me do the same with the lit- 

 tle pilot-fish which leads our good ship on her way. From 



