This Day We Saw The Last Of The Albatrosses, Which Had Been Our
Companions A Great Part Of The Time Off The Cape.
I had been
interested in the bird from descriptions which I had read of it,
and was not at all disappointed.
We caught one or two with a
baited hook which we floated astern upon a shingle. Their long,
flapping wings, long legs, and large, staring eyes, give them a
very peculiar appearance. They look well on the wing; but one
of the finest sights that I have ever seen, was an albatross
asleep upon the water, during a calm, off Cape Horn, when a heavy
sea was running. There being no breeze, the surface of the water
was unbroken, but a long, heavy swell was rolling, and we saw the
fellow, all white, directly ahead of us, asleep upon the waves,
with his head under his wing; now rising on the top of a huge billow,
and then falling slowly until he was lost in the hollow between.
He was undisturbed for some time, until the noise of our bows,
gradually approaching, roused him, when, lifting his head, he stared
upon us for a moment, and then spread his wide wings and took his flight.
CHAPTER VI
LOSS OF A MAN - SUPERSTITION
Monday, Nov. 19th. This was a black day in our calendar. At seven
o'clock in the morning, it being our watch below, we were aroused
from a sound sleep by the cry of "All hands ahoy!
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