CHAPTER X. 



FITTING OUT THE EMMA STRIKING A ^ROCK MELVILLE 



BAY TROUBLES WRECKS OF GIPSY AND UNDAUNTED 



LEFT ALONE DESCRIPTION OF SWORD FISH VISITING 



STRANGE PLACES. 



IN 1857 I went as mate of the barque Emma, with 

 Captain Parker. This vessel was built of teak wood, 

 in the East Indies, and was bought by Thos. Ward, Esq., 

 of Hull, who had her doubly fortified for the Greenland 

 whaling trade. She was a fine weatherly craft, and as handy 

 as a cutter. No vessel could be better fitted out. We had 

 eighteen months' provisions on board, with a good supply of 

 best canister meat from Morton's, of Leith (one of the few 

 firms which then provided such food). We had pickles and 

 many dainties which other ships had not. She was fitted 

 with iron tanks to hold the blubber, which is a great 

 improvement from the old system of using casks for that 

 purpose. We left Hull for Stromness, in the Orkney 

 Islands, to obtain our complement of men. We brought up 

 in the harbour, which is a small one. Vessels usually lie 

 at the back of the Holms, i.e., a sandbank which lies 

 parallel with the town, but in bad weather a heavy swell 

 rolls in, which obliges the ships to ride with both anchors 

 down. It is a long way from the town, which is very 

 inconvenient. When the weather is fine, and the water 

 smooth, it is so clear that the anchor and cable can be 

 plainly discerned at the bottom, also shoals of fish called 

 si Hocks, which resemble a large sprat, but more delicious. 

 The northern islands abound in them so plentifully that some- 



