THE MAGDALENS 151 



squalls, the prevalence of fogs, and the surprising 

 rapidity with which the latter change a sunlit hori- 

 zon to closely crowding gray walls — all of which 

 make navigation in these waters more than usually 

 dangerous. Furthermore, it is to be remembered 

 that Bird Rock is not a port in which one could seek 

 safety from a storm, but a spot to be approached 

 only in the calmest weather. One might therefore 

 start for the Rock under the most favorable condi- 

 tions, be caught in a squall and, as a result, find one's 

 self at sea with the recently desired haven changed 

 to an element of danger. 



With the Rock glimmering in the sunlight and 

 apparently almost within reach, it was not easy to 

 believe tales of disaster which had befallen those 

 who in small boats had attempted to reach it, and I 

 was more impressed with its inaccessibility by the 

 fact that only one of the many fishermen with whom 

 I talked, had ever landed on this inhospitable resort 

 of sea birds. 



This man proved a friend in need — one Captain 

 Hubbard Taker, of the thirty-ton scbooner Sea Gem. 

 I commend him to every visitor to the Magdalens 

 as a man and a sailor. It was when the difficulties 

 of reaching the Rock by small boat appeared insur- 

 mountable that Captain Taker returned from a fish- 

 ing trip to the Labrador coast. He proved to be 

 one of those rare but exceedingly satisfactory indi- 

 viduals with whom anything is possible, or at least 

 who believes it is until the contrary is shown. Could 

 he take us to Bird Rock ? " Why, of course ; and 

 whenever you are ready." So without delay we 

 boarded the Sea Gem. 



