58 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OS, 



ements of the sailor, although they may lack the jaunty tie 

 of the cravat, the saucy cock of the new tarpaulin of other 

 sailors, and may make less parade of their peculiarities' on 

 shore. To be sure, they are clumsy and rough as the walrus 

 on dry land, but they only need the wash of deep blue wa- 

 ter and the excitement of the chase to bring the true ele- 

 ments of their character to the surface. No one can witness 

 the change which attends actual service in the boats, without 

 astonishment. The dull, sluggish, and sleepy become full of 

 animation, dash, and endurance. 



Fortunately our careful preparations were needless. We 

 made what was considered a good passage going west, 

 head-winds and the set of a head-current forcing us into 

 62° S., when a cape gale from the south-east sent us scud- 

 ding " norrard " at railroad speed. The log reported fifteen 

 miles an hour, continued with a nearly equal rate for forty 

 hours, and left us fairly round the cape with the broad Pa- 

 cific before us. Many ■were the stories of prolonged storm 

 and terrible suffering endured in the passage of the cape. 

 At certain seasons the great south-west storms buffet the 

 outward-bound ship for weeks, and she drifts before it, lay- 

 ■ ing to, and becoming unmanageable from the accumulation 

 of ice on her hull and rigging. We youngsters had the ben- 

 efit of a relation of these experiences, and consoled ourselves 

 with the thought that it would be at least three years before 

 we would again encounter the stormy cape. 



The following gorgeous and mythical story by Hinton 

 will give an idea of the "lay" and fibre of a Cape Horn 

 yarn: 



"We had made a good voyage. The Chelsea was full 

 of oil, and we were homeward-bound. We had mounted a 

 new suit of sails in Talcahuana — stay-sails, double-stitched 

 — and the old beauty was in perfect trim, except that her 

 copper was rolled up, and the grass and barnacles fouled 



