196 
FROM VALPARAISO TO PORTSMOUTH. 
What a contrast the sunny bay of Vigo, enclosed by scenery famed far and wide for its 
loveliness, presented to the stormy seas outside! High above the town rose the fortress, 
conspicuous in the 
pages of history for 
the several sieges 
which it has sus¬ 
tained. 
H.M.S. “Challen¬ 
ger ” took her depar¬ 
ture on the 21st, and 
after a quick run 
across the Bay of 
Biscay—this time in 
less angry mood — 
sighted the light on Ushant in the evening of the 23rd, and on the following morning 
arrived in the English Channel. It was near sunset when we passed the Needles, and 
proceeded up the Solent towards Spithead. A cold north-easter blew down the Channel, 
and, wrapped in our greatcoats, we crowded the bridge amidships, straining our eyes through 
the mists of the evening to see the shores of Old England, so often the theme of our songs 
and conversation throughout our voyage of three and a-half years. 
TOWN AND FORTRESS OF VIGO. 
“Ye! who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene 
Which is his last, if in your memories dwell 
A thought which once was his, if on ye swell 
A single recollection, not in vain 
He wore his sandal-shoon and scallop-shell; 
Farewell!” 
