Voyage from Liverpool to Boston.
1911.
August 2
(No 3)
[August 2, 1911]

Off South coast of Ireland.
Herring Gulls following our ship.

  We left Queenstown about noon and spent most of the afternoon
steaming to the westward with the south coast of Ireland on our right
and more or less plainly visable [visible] through the mist-laden atmosphere but
gradually retreating. All the while we were attended closely by 50 to
200 Herring Gulls, the number varying considerably from time to time.
Whenever any food was thrown overboard they descended to and clustered
about it alighting on or hovering just over, the water, while a few were
often engaged in flying to and fro over the clearing wake of the ship.
But most of them were for the most part scaling on set wings
about on a level with her upper deck or just a little above it, on
the windward side, heading as she headed, keeping even pace with
her and gliding thus, without apparent effort and perhaps without
a single wing beat, for a mile or more at a time. It was a
not less wonderful than beautiful sight - that of this cloud of stately,
almost snow-white birds, some almost within arm's reach and
about on a level with our faces, moving ceaselessly on a level plane,