TO BIRD ROCK IN AN OPEN BOAT 155 



surf beats almost ceaselessly. For weeks, oftentimes, there 

 is no interval when it is possible either to land or to launch a 

 boat. Much of the time the lonely crag is shut in by the gray 

 walls of the fog ; even more often does the wind heap up the 



"THE FAMOUS ROCK, WITH ITS BEETLING CLIFFS AND WHIRRING MULTITUDE" 



forbidding surf. Arrive off the Rock in a sea-going vessel, 

 and you may have to " lie off" for days before a landing can 

 be made. Reach it in an open boat and find it impossible to 

 land, and there is no telling what might occur. Let the wind 

 breeze up strong, contrary for a return to shelter, and where 

 would one be ? Let the ever-ready fog shut down, and what 

 assurance is there of finding that atom amid the great waters, 

 or even of returning to the Magdalen Islands ? 



Several parties before us had tried conclusions in an open 



