CHAPTER I 



DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND — PORTO SANTO — MADEIRA FUNCHAL 



HAMMER-HEADED SHARK MOLLUSCA GRAND CURRAL — PHOS- 

 PHORESCENCE OF SEA — PORTO GRANDE — BOTANY OF ST. VINCENT 

 MARINE ZOOLOGY, FISH, MOLLUSCA. 



In the month of June 1866 I had the good fortune to receive 

 the appointment of naturalist to H.M.S. " N"assau," a small 

 steamer of between six and seven hundred tons, then about to 

 leave England, under the command of Captain R. C. Mayne, 

 for the purpose of surveying the Strait of Magellan and the 

 adjacent channels on the west coast of Patagonia ; and, about 

 two months later, I joined the above-mentioned ship, which was 

 fitted out at Woolwich Dockyard. On the 24th of August, 

 all preparations being completed, we set forth, leaving the 

 Woolwich Arsenal, off which we had been lying for some days, 

 and proceeded down the river as far as Greenhithe, where we 

 remained for the night. Next morning we started for Spit- 

 head, which we reached about 5 o'clock a.m. on the 26th, a 

 beautiful bright Sunday, which displayed the wooded slopes 

 of the Isle of Wight to full advantage. On the following 

 afternoon we left our anchorage, but did not proceed far, in 

 consequence of a strong head-wind, which compelled us to 

 come to a halt in Yarmouth Eoads, where we spent the night, 

 leaving early on the 28th for Plymouth. Soon after we got 

 under way I gained a fine view of the Needles, which I had 

 never had an opportunity of seeing previously ; and, in the 

 afternoon, I spent some time on deck, gazing with interest on 



B 



