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 schooner Sea Gem. 
I commend him to every visitor to the Magdalens 
as aman 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 he 
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. 
