VI 



VOYAGE TO ALGERIA TO OBSERVE THE ECLIPSE 



1870 



THE opening of the Eclipse Expedition was not pro- 

 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 Spithead. 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, San- 

 down, Shanklin, Yentnor, 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 com- 

 mitted ourselves to the Bay of Biscay. The roll of the 

 Atlantic was full, but not violent. There had been 

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