igoi] CROSSING THE LINE 69 



immediately above a large canvas bath, and the numerous 

 members of our company who had not yet been introduced to 

 His Majesty succeeded one another in this rather trying 

 ordeal. The victim was blindfolded, and seated on the bare 

 edge of a plank over the bath; in front of him stood the 

 barber, with a huge jagged pantomime razor, and the barber's 

 assistant, with a whitewash brush and a bucket of soft soap ; 

 the unfortunate tyro was then asked questions, and the barber's 

 assistant showed his deftness with the lather when he opened 

 his mouth to reply ; after a good deal of such rude horseplay, 

 usually prolonged in proportion to the victim's reluctance as 

 shown by his struggles to escape, a last push sent him 

 floundering into the bath below. 



Immediately on crossing the line we fell in with the S.E. 

 trade wind, and stopped our engines to give them a much- 

 needed refit. Remaining under sail during the ensuing nine 

 days, we had some opportunity of gauging the sailing 

 qualities of the ship, and found to our chagrin that they were 

 exceedingly poor. Although we made some progress through 

 the water, the course laid and the leeway made carried us far 

 to the westward, and comparatively close to the South American 

 coast. On September 9 we raised steam and shaped our course 

 for South Trinidad Island. Since our departure from Madeira 

 we had suffered some trouble from the leaking of the ' Dis- 

 covery.' Much of it sprang from the hopeful prediction of the 

 builders that there would be no leak, and in consequence of 

 this no flooring had been placed in the holds to lift the pro- 

 visions above any water which might collect, and the provision 

 cases had been packed close down to the keel. When the 

 water began to enter, therefore, there was no well in which it 

 could lie, and it rose amongst the cases, causing a good deal of 

 damage. In the old days it had always been expected that a 

 wooden ship would leak, and the more pleasing hope with 

 regard to the ' Discovery ' was based on the fact that she 

 possessed two layers of planking on the outside of her frames 

 and one on the inside. In this respect, however, the fact 



