Our Only Resource Was To Give Ourselves Up
To A Sort Of DOLCE FAR NIENTE Existence, And Lounge Upon The
Deck, Sipping Lemonade Or Lime-Juice, Beneath A Large Awning Which
Extended From The Fore To The Mizen Masts.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, lat.
39 degrees 28 minutes S., long. 136 degrees 31
minutes E. - Early this morning one of the sailors died, and before noon
the last services of the Church of England were read over his body; this
was the first and only death that occurred during our long passage, and
the solemnity of committing his last remains to their watery grave cast a
saddening influence over the most thoughtless. I shall never forget the
moment when the sewn-up hammock, with a gaily coloured flag wrapped round
it, was launched into the deep; those who can witness with indifference a
funeral on land, would, I think, find it impossible to resist the
thrilling awe inspired by such an event at sea.
FRIDAY, 20, lat. 38 degrees 57 minutes S., long. 140 degrees 5 minutes
E. - Sighted Moonlight Head, the next day Cape Otway; and in the afternoon
of Sunday, the 22nd, we entered the Heads, and our pilot came on board. He
was a smart, active fellow, and immediately anchored us within the bay
(a heavy gale brewing); and then, after having done colonial justice to a
substantial dinner, he edified us with the last Melbourne news. "Not a
spare room or bed to be had - no living at all under a pound a-day -
every one with ten fingers making ten to twenty pounds a-week." "Then
of course no one goes to the diggings?" "Oh, that pays better still -
the gold obliged to be quarried - a pound weight of no value." The
excitement that evening can scarcely be imagined, but it somewhat
abated next morning on his telling us to diminish his accounts some 200
per cent.
MONDAY, 23. - The wind high, and blowing right against us. Compelled to
remain at anchor, only too thankful to be in such safe quarters.
TUESDAY, 24. - Got under weigh at half-past seven in the morning, and
passed the wrecks of two vessels, whose captains had attempted to come
in without a pilot, rather than wait for one - the increased number of
vessels arriving, causing the pilots to be frequently all engaged. The
bay, which is truly splendid, was crowded with shipping. In a few hours
our anchor was lowered for the last time - boats were put off
towards our ship from Liardet's Beach - we were lowered into the first
that came alongside - a twenty minutes' pull to the landing-place -
another minute, and we trod the golden shores of Victoria.
Chapter III.
STAY IN MELBOURNE
At last we are in Australia. Our feet feel strange as they tread upon
TERRA FIRMA, and our SEA-LEGS (to use a sailor's phrase) are not so
ready to leave us after a four months' service, as we should have
anticipated; but it matters little, for we are in the colonies, walking
with undignified, awkward gait, not on a fashionable promenade, but
upon a little wooden pier.
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