Their Wages Were Ten Shillings Per Mensem,
And It Was Curious To Observe, That So Eager Were They To Do Their
Duty, That Only One Of Them Lay Down From Sea-Sickness During The
Whole Voyage.
They took in and set sail very cleverly in a short
time, and would climb out along a boom, reeve a rope through the
block, and come back with the rope in their teeth, though at each
lurch the performer was dipped in the sea.
The sailor and carpenter,
though anxious to do their utmost, had a week's severe illness each,
and were unfit for duty.
It is pleasant enough to take the wheel for an hour or two, or even
for a watch, but when it comes to be for every alternate four hours,
it is utterly wearisome. We set our black men to steer, showing them
which arm of the compass needle was to be kept towards the vessel's
head, and soon three of them could manage very well, and they only
needed watching. In going up the East Coast to take advantage of the
current of one hundred miles a day, we would fain have gone into the
Juba or Webbe River, the mouth of which is only 15 minutes south of
the line, but we were too shorthanded. We passed up to about ten
degrees north of the Equator, and then steamed out from the coast.
Here Maury's wind chart showed that the calm-belt had long been
passed, but we were in it still; and, instead of a current carrying
us north, we had a contrary current which bore us every day four
miles to the south.
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