n6 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



Philip Gosse was very miserable. He was the only pas- 

 senger, and the skipper was a churlish, illiterate fellow, 

 with a crew of the same stamp as himself. The fact that 

 Gosse was a " Britisher " was quite enough to warrant 

 them in the perpetration of a score of petty incivilities, just 

 short of actual insult. " The conversation," he says, " was 

 of the lowest sort, and it was not the smallest infliction 

 that every night I was compelled to hear, as I lay in 

 my wretched berth, the interchange of obscene narratives 

 between the skipper and his mate, before I could close my 

 eyes in sleep. Dirt, dirt, was the rule everywhere ; dirt in 

 the cabin, dirt in the caboose, dirt in the water-cask ; dirt 

 doubly begrimed on the tablecloth, on the cups and 

 glasses, the dishes and plates that served the food ; while 

 the boy who filled the double office of cook and waiter 

 was the very impersonation of dirt." The cabin was a 

 filthy hole, hardly large enough to stand up in, redolent 

 of tar, grease, fusty clothes, mouldy biscuit, and a score of 

 other unendurable odours combined, such as only those 

 can imagine who have been the tenants of a small trading 

 craft. The single berth on either side " in dimensions and 

 appearance resembled a dog-kennel more than anything 

 else, the state of the blankets being, thanks to the grave- 

 like darkness of the hole, but partially revealed, to sight at 

 least." The only resource was to eat with as little thought 

 as possible, to see as little as possible, and to be on deck 

 as much as possible, and this last habit was furthered by 

 the glorious weather which set in soon after they were 

 well out to sea. 



For the first few days he was horribly sick, and spent 

 the time in his little, close, dirty cabin, with nothing to 

 relieve the tedium of the voyage. But on the 24th he 

 came on deck to find that they were in the latitude of 

 Savannah, and had entered the Gulf Stream. He fished 



