8 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN 



Prior to our departure, I went with my wife for a 

 short holiday with our old and valued friend, now Sir 

 William Dalrymple Hay — at that time a clerk in the 

 Treasury — to Clovelly, where we amused ourselves 

 by sea fishing in the waters of the ocean on which I 

 was so soon to embark. We lodged with a retired 

 merchant captain, who regaled us with comforting 

 anecdotes of the horrors of the Atlantic, especially 

 when the equinoctial gales were in full blast. One 

 particular aphorism he was especially fond of citing : 



" Of one thing you may be certain 

 On an Atlantic trip, 

 You're sure to ship a sea 

 Though you never see a ship : " 



a theory the truth of which was destined to be very 

 shortly realised to its fullest extent. 



