638 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



Hand/ as they have not inappropriately been termed — have 

 done their work well ; and the applause with which they have 

 been greeted by the crowd of admiring spectators is the most 

 gratifying testimony they can receive of the fact. They have 

 hardly passed the cable out of the circle before they are re- 

 ceived with as enthusiastic a demonstration of approval as the 

 rules of the navy will permit. 



"Confidence is growing stronger," — this is the fourth day, — 

 " and there is considerable speculation as to the time we shall 

 reach Newfoundland. The pilot who is to bring us into Trinity 

 Bay is now in great repute, and is becoming a more important 

 personage every day. We are really beginning to have strong 

 hopes that his services will be called into requisition and that 

 in the course of a few days more we will be in sight of land. 

 But the sea ft not at all so smooth as it was the day before : 

 it is, in fact, so rough as to favor the belief that there must 

 have been a severe gale a short time since in these latitudes. 

 The condition of the vessel is such as to alarm us greatly for 

 the safety of the cable should it come on to blow very hard, 

 as the large amount already paid out and the quantity of coal 

 consumed have lightened her so much as to render her rather 

 uneasy in a heavy sea. The wind is increasing, and, although 

 it has not yet attained the magnitude of a gale, it is blow- 

 ing rather fresh for us in the present unsettled state of our 

 minds. Both wind and sea are nearly abeam; and the 

 rolling motion which the latter creates brings a strain upon 

 the cable which gives rise to the most unpleasant feelings. 

 The sea, too, seems to be getting worse every minute, and 

 strikes the slender wire with all its force. Every surge of the 

 ship affects it ; and as it cuts through each wave it makes a 

 small white line of foam to mark its track. The sight of that 

 thread-like wire battling with the sea produces a feeling some- 

 what akin to that with which you would watch the struggles of 

 a drowning man whom you have not the power of assisting. 



