SCHOONER CHANCE I3 



all quite pleased. It seemed we had left Cabot Strait and fog be- 

 hind and had entered a more arctic sea. 



The land around St. John's is high and rough. We had left be- 

 hind the harbor chart but Jack knew the way. He pointed out a 

 notch in the cliffs as the mouth of the harbor. Not a house is visible 

 from the outside. No sooner were we in the narrows and had begun 

 to see the town on the hill-side beyond, than a little power boat 

 came towards us carrying two fat men in uniform. One of them 

 stepped aboard and solemnly shook hands with me. I told him we 

 needed no pilot but he replied that we would be liable, what for or 

 why I could not find out. Anyway he remained on board and I 

 steered her in. There are no shoals or rocks although the harbor is 

 small. When we were well inside another launch put out carrying 

 about eight men in uniform. They were the customs officers and 

 from them I found out that it was a half holiday and that we needed 

 a permit to take aboard gas. I immediately went to the Customs 

 House and after about an hour's standing around and an outlay of 

 some twenty dollars got the boat entered. Meanwhile with a tide- 

 waiter aboard the "Chance" had been taken to the oil wharf. We 

 had lunch after having paid the fat pilot seven dollars for nothing. 

 This rather spoiled the lunch but we had the consolation of giving 

 him a good American send-off. All hands asked him to come back 

 and pilot us out in the evening. Unfortunately he knew what was 

 good for him. After lunch all hands except Bob and Woody went 

 across in the "Evenrude" to the city. The oil man told us that we 

 could not get water without a permit, but Jack managed to fill two 

 barrels from a tap in the yard. 



We found the town squalid, dead, and dirty. The streets were 

 hardly paved and the smell of drying cod was everywhere. After 

 sending a telegram, I could find only one small store open. The 

 owner, besides being partly drunk, owned some coal mines back of 

 Robinson's. However, I managed to get what I wanted and not 



