VI. 



VOYAGE TO ALGERIA TO OBSERVE THE 

 ECLIPSE. 



1870. 



rr\ HE opening of the Eclipse Expedition was not pro- 

 -L pitious. Portsmouth, on Monday, December 5, 

 1870, was swathed by fog, which was intensified by 

 smoke, and traversed by a drizzle of fine rain. At 

 six P. M. I was on board the ' Urgent.' On Tuesday 

 morning the weather was too thick to permit of the 

 ship's being swung and her compasses calibrated. The 

 Admiral of the port, a man of very noble presence, came 

 on board. Under his stimulus the energy which the 

 weather had damped appeared to become more active, 

 and soon after his departure we steamed down to Spit- 

 head. Here the fog had so far lightened as to enable 

 the officers to swing the ship. 



At three p. M. on Tuesday, December 6, we got away, 

 gliding successively past Whitecliff Bay, Bembridge, 

 Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, and St. Catherine's 

 Lighthouse. On Wednesday morning we sighted the 

 Isle of Ushant, on the French side of the Channel. 

 The northern end of the island has been fretted by the 

 waves into detached tower-like masses of rock of very 

 remarkable appearance. In the Channel the sea was 

 green, and opposite Ushant it was a brighter green. 

 On Wednesday evening we committed ourselves to the 

 Bay of Biscay. The roll of the Atlantic was full, but 

 not violent. There had been scarcely a gleam of sun- 

 shine throughout the day, but the cloud-forms were 

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