SOME NARROW ESCAPES 
211 
say, he appeared now to be as anxious to get away 
to sea as he had been to go on shore. Letting 
our sails draw, we tacked ship, dipped our flag to 
the folks on shore —there is nothing like being 
polite—and squared away for the Kuril Islands 
again. 
A year or so afterwards I learnt that the news of 
our former visit had been given away by a woman. 
There was only one at the station when we were 
there then, and she and S. (who was a strapping 
young fellow) had become very intimate friends 
during his short stay on shore, whilst we had the 
headman at sea with us. 
On the way back to the Kurils we experienced a 
two days’ heavy gale with tremendous seas. About 
this time my Japanese boatswain, an excellent sailor 
and one of the best men I ever had, was taken with 
a series of convulsive fits, and apparently died ; for 
his breathing ceased, and, so far as I could detect, 
his heart stopped beating. I poured some sal 
volatile down his throat, and set to work to try and 
restore him by artificial respiration. After some 
considerable time he showed signs of life, and gradu¬ 
ally recovered. 
On October 26 we reached Raikoke, and, on 
standing in to the rookery, saw about 600 seals 
hauled up, but on that side of the island landing 
was impossible. Raikoke is an extinct volcano, 
about 2,000 feet high and a mile in diameter. Sail¬ 
ing round under the lee of the land, I went on 
shore, and made the ascent of the mountain up to 
the edge of the crater. It was very hard climbing, 
the sides being very steep and covered with loose 
scoriae. For five days we stood off and on, hoping 
