22 
BILGE-WATER. 
tlie battens were at length removed, the hatches opened, 
and the cool, fresh ocean air, and the bright light of a 
sunny day permitted to enter our long-closed apartments, 
we found that our white-paint-work was entirely ruined. 
It was as black as ink, — a kind of bluish black, — and most 
unpleasantly damp and greasy to the touch. 
“Our first object was to' get our bedding and clothes 
up on deck for an airing, and our second to get our mess 
and state-rooms as dry and free from bilge-water as 
possible. We therefore commenced breaking out our 
clothes; and our horror may be imagined when we found 
that the blackening fumes had ruined most of our uni- 
forms, and had rendered unfit for use (previous to passing 
through the hands of the washerwoman) the greater part 
of our under-clothing. A cry arose as general as that 
which swelled through Egypt for the loss of the first- 
born : no one had escaped. Some of us lost hundreds of 
dollars from the effects of the destroying effluvia; all had 
lost something. 
“In a few days another gale crossed our path, then 
another calm, then another fair wnnd: finally, we rubbed 
our eyes one fine morning and looked upon the blue out- 
lines of Africa’s extreme southern point, and the next 
day \ve were well in with the land. Here we were again 
headed off by a three days* spell of bad weather, at the 
expiration of which we stood in for the harbour of Si- 
mon’s Town, and were so fortunate as to pick up Mr. John 
Koutze, the pilot, who took us into a snug anchorage just 
as another gale was beginning to sing through our rig- 
ging. We were the first anival: they knew nothing of 
the rest of the squadron.** 
