Volume I Part 2 (2/2)
BOAT CAPSIZED.
While engaged in sounding, a process which usually occupied three-quarters of an hour, a boat was always at my service when birds were about the s.h.i.+p, and the state of the sea admitted of going after them--by this means many species of petrels were obtained for the collection. On one of these occasions, owing to a mistake in lowering the stern boat before the s.h.i.+p had quite lost her way through the water, one of the falls could not be unhooked in time; consequently the boat was dragged over on her broadside, and finally capsized with eight people in her. Some reached one of the life-buoys, which was instantly let go, the others managed to roll the boat over and right her, full of water. All were eventually picked up by the leeward quarter-boat; the weather one, from the shortness of the davits, would not clear the s.h.i.+p's side, but turned over on her bilge, dipping in the water, and was rendered ineffective when most wanted. This defect in the davits was afterwards remedied by the subst.i.tution of other and longer ones, which had formerly belonged to H.M. steam vessel Thunderbolt, wrecked at Algoa Bay a short time previously.
OCEANIC BIRDS.
Among many interesting birds* procured in the above-mentioned manner, I may allude to Puffinus cinereus, a European species of shearwater, which was found to be generally distributed across the South Atlantic between the meridians of 28 degrees West and 1 1/2 degrees East; on two successive days, while in the neighbourhood of Tristan da Cunha, myriads of these birds pa.s.sed the s.h.i.+p to the westward, apparently coming from that island. A few days afterwards, while 480 miles from the nearest land, we caught a beautiful tern (Sterna melanorhyncha) hitherto considered to be peculiar to Australia.
(*Footnote. For the occurrence of Procellariadae during our outward voyage, with a view to determine the geographical distribution of the species met with by me, see Contributions to Ornithology by Sir W.
Jardine, Bart. page 94.)
PELAGIC ANIMALS.
On several occasions the towing net* produced a rich harvest, especially one day when almost becalmed in lat.i.tude 34 degrees 40 minutes South and longitude 4 degrees West. The surface of the water was absolutely teeming with marine animals. Of these a small Physalia and a Velella (V.
emarginata ?) were the most plentiful. The latter curious animal, consists of a flat oval expansion, an inch and a half in length, furnished below with numerous cirrhi and a proboscidiform mouth, and above with an obliquely vertical crest, the whole of a rich blue colour with white lines and dots, the soft parts conceal a transparent cartilaginous framework. The crest acts as a tiny sail (hence the name) and communicates to the animal a slow rotatory movement while drifting before the wind. Two kinds of Janthinae (J. globosa and J. exigua) molluscs with a fragile, snail-like sh.e.l.l, and a vesicular float, were drifting about, and, together with a very active, silvery-blue Idotea, half an inch long, prayed upon the Velellae. At another time, among many other pelagic crustacea, we obtained three kinds of Erichthus, a genus remarkable for the gla.s.sy transparency of its species, also Hyalaea inflexa and H. tridentata, curious pteropodous molluscs which swim near the surface.
(*Footnote. Not having seen a description of this useful instrument, I may mention that the kind used by Mr. Huxley and myself, consisted of a bag of bunting (used for flags) two feet deep, the mouth of which is sewn round a wooden hoop fourteen inches in diameter; three pieces of cord, a foot and a half long, are secured to the hoop at equal intervals and have their ends tied together. When in use the net is towed astern, clear of the s.h.i.+p's wake, by a stout cord secured to one of the quarter-boats or held in the hand. The scope of line required is regulated by the speed of the vessel at the time, and the amount of strain caused by the partially submerged net.)
ARRIVE AT SIMON'S BAY.
On March 8th, we anch.o.r.ed in Simon's Bay; our pa.s.sage from Rio de Janeiro, contrary to expectation, had thus occupied upwards of five weeks, owing to the prevalence of light easterly winds (from north-east to south-east) instead of the westerly breezes to be looked for to the southward of lat.i.tude 35 degrees South. We were fortunate, however, in having fine weather during the greater part of that time.
The period of our stay at the Cape of Good Hope was devoted to the construction of a chart of Simon's Bay and its neighbourhood, which has since been incorporated with the previous survey of Captain Sir Edward Belcher in H.M.S. Samarang, and published without acknowledgment. The requisite sh.o.r.e observations were made by Captain Stanley and Mr. Obree, while Lieutenants Dayman and Simpson conducted the sounding. Our detention was lengthened by a succession of south-east gales, and the state of the weather throughout was such that during the period of twenty-one days the sounding boats were able to work on six only--the other fine days were devoted to swinging the s.h.i.+ps for magnetical purposes. It was also intended to survey the Whittle shoal in False Bay, but when we sailed, the weather was so thick and unsettled, that Captain Stanley was reluctantly obliged to give it up.
SIMON'S TOWN.
Simon's Town is a small straggling place of scarcely any importance, except in connection with the naval establishment kept up here--dockyard, hospital, etc.--this being the headquarters of the Cape station. It is distant from Cape Town twenty-three miles. The neighbourhood is singularly dreary and barren, with comparatively little level ground, and scarcely any susceptible of cultivation. I have often been struck with the great general similarity between the barren and sandy tracts of this district, and many parts of New South Wales, where sandstone is the prevailing rock. In both countries there are the same low scrubby bushes, at the Cape consisting of Heaths and Proteae, and in Australia of Epacridae and Banksiae--the last the honeysuckles of the Colonists. Even the beautiful sunbirds of the Cape, frequenting especially the flowers of the Proteae, are represented by such of the Australian honeysuckers as resort to the Banksiae.
CAFFRE WAR.
We found the Cape Colony suffering from the long continuance of the Caffre war. As a natural consequence, the price of everything had risen, and there was little specie left in Cape Town. All the troops had been sent to the frontier; a party of bluejackets from the flags.h.i.+p at one time performed garrison duty at Cape Town; the emergency was so great that even some detachments of troops on their way back to England after long service in India, having put in at the Cape for refreshments, were detained and sent to Algoa Bay. We were all heartily tired of Simon's Bay long before leaving it; not the less so from having this all engrossing Caffre war dinned into our ears from morning to night as an excuse for high prices, and sometimes for extortions, which I had before supposed to be peculiar to new colonies.
On April 10th we left Simon's Bay for Mauritius. Our pa.s.sage of twenty-four days presented little remarkable. We experienced every gradation between a calm and a heavy north-east gale; during the continuance of one of the latter, we pa.s.sed near the Slot Van Capel bank of the old charts, the existence of which it was of importance to verify; * but the heavy confused sea, such as one would expect to find on a bank during a gale, rendered it dangerous to heave-to to try for soundings.
(*Footnote. I have since learned that H.M.S. Meander, Captain the Honourable H. Keppel, struck soundings on this bank, but have not been able to procure the particulars.)
OBSERVATIONS ON THE WAVES.
During this pa.s.sage some important observations were made by Captain Stanley and Lieutenant Dayman to determine the height, length, and velocity of the waves. The results will be apparent from the following tabular view.*
COLUMN 1: DATE 1847.
COLUMN 2: NUMBER OF OBSERVATIONS.
COLUMN 3: FORCE OF WIND NUMBER.
COLUMN 4: SPEED OF s.h.i.+P IN KNOTS.
COLUMN 5: HEIGHT OF WAVE IN FEET.
COLUMN 6: LENGTH OF WAVE IN FATHOMS.
COLUMN 7: SPEED OF WAVE IN MILES.
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