Part 8 (2/2)

In this gale I made the land about Seal Rocks, where the steamshi+p _Catherton_, with many lives, was lost a short ti back and forth, but weathered theale of wind It was a stor, met me at the harbor bar, and with the assistance of a steamer carried my vessel to a safe berth Many visitors ca the United States consul, Mr Brown Nothing was too good for the _Spray_ here All government dues were remitted, and after I had rested a few days a port pilot with a tug carried her to sea again, and shethe coast toward the harbor of Sydney, where she arrived on the following day, October 10, 1896

I caht, the Sydney harbor police-boat giving athered data from an old scrap-book of ilance of the New South Wales police; their reputation is known the world over They ive them some useful information, and they were the first to meet o at that

[Illustration: The accident at Sydney]

Su with yachts Some of them came down to the weather-beaten _Spray_ and sailed round her at Shelcote, where she took a berth for a few days

At Sydney I was at once a-places in the great port for several weeks, and was visited by reeable people, frequently by officers of HMS

_Orlando_ and their friends Captain Fisher, the coentle to his shi+p, cae of rain

I never saw it rain harder even in Australia But they were out for fun, and rain could not das, however hard it poured But, as ill luck would have it, a young gentlereat yacht club, with brass buttons enough to sink hiet out of the wet, tumbled holus-bolus, head and heels, into a barrel of water I had been coopering, and being a short ht, and nearly drowned before he was rescued It was the nearest to a casualty on the _Spray_ in her whole course, so far as I know The youngcome on board with co It had been decided by his club that the _Spray_ could not be officially recognized, for the reason that she brought no letters from yacht-clubs in A and strange that I should have caught at least one of thefor yachtsreat bea power; but a capsize is not uncos In Sydney I saw all -cutter to the s on the bay Everybody owned a boat If a boy in Australia has not the means to buy him a boat he builds one, and it is usually one not to be ashaoa new suit, the handsoshi+p of the Johnstone's Bay Flying Squadron when the circuatta They ”recognized” the _Spray_ as belonging to ”a club of her own,” and with ave her credit for her record

Time flew fast those days in Australia, and it was December 6,1896, when the _Spray_ sailed from Sydney My intention was now to sail around Cape Leeuwin direct for Mauritius ontoward Bass Strait in that direction

There was little to report on this part of the voyage, except changeable winds, ”busters,” and rough seas The 12th of December, however, was an exceptional day, with a fine coast wind, northeast

The _Spray_ early in thepassed Twofold Bay and later Cape Bundooro in a shthouse on the cape dipped a flag to the _Spray's_ flag, and children on the balconies of a cottage near the shore waved handkerchiefs as she passed by There were only a few people all told on the shore, but the scene was a happy one I saw festoons of evergreen in token of Christ them a ”Merry Christmas” and could hear them say, ”I wish you the same”

From Cape Bundooro I passed by Cliff Island in Bass Strait, and exchanged signals with the light-keepers while the _Spray_ worked up under the island The wind howled that day while the sea broke over their rocky home

A few days later, December 17, the _Spray_ ca shelter The keeper of the light at that station, Mr J Clark, caave me directions for Waterloo Bay, about three ood anchorage there in a sandy cove protected from all westerly and northerly winds

Anchored here was the ketch _Secret_, a fisherman, and the _Mary_ of Sydney, a stea The captain of the _Mary_ was a genius, and an Australian genius at that, and smart His crew, from a sawmill up the coast, had not one of them seen a live whale when they shi+pped; but they were boatmen after an Australian's own heart, and the captain had told them that to kill a whale was no more than to kill a rabbit They believed him, and that settled it As luck would have it, the very first one they saw on their cruise, although an ugly hu, the le thrust of a harpoon It was taken in tow for Sydney, where they put it on exhibition Nothing but whales interested the crew of the gallant _Mary_, and they spentshore for a cruise on the grounds off Tas of these listened with excite the _Spray_ out of the Yarrow River, a part of Melbourne harbor]

We spent three days in the quiet cove, listening to the wind outside

Meanwhile Captain Young and I explored the shores, visited abandoned old ourselves

Our vessels, parting co they sailed, stood away like sea-birds each on its own course The wind for a few days was moderate, and, with unusual luck of fine weather, the _Spray_ made Melbourne Heads on the 22d of Deceht into port

Christmas day was spent at a berth in the river Yarrow, but I lost little ti to St Kilda, where I spent nearly a es in Australia or anywhere else on the voyage, except at Pernambuco, till she poked her nose into the custoe dues; in this instance, sixpence a ton on the gross The collector exacted six shi+llings and sixpence, taking off nothing for the fraction under thirteen tons, her exact gross being 1270 tons I squared theon board, and when this business got dull I caught a shark and charged them sixpence each to look at that The shark elve feet six inches in length, and carried a progeny of twenty-six, not one of theth A slit of a knife let theed constantly, kept them alive one whole day In less than an hour froly brute it was on deck and on exhibition, with rather e dues already collected Then I hired a good Irishman, Tom Howard by name,--who knew all about sharks, both on the land and in the sea, and could talk about them,--to answer questions and lecture When I found that I could not keep abreast of the questions I turned the responsibility over to him

[Illustration: The shark on the deck of the _Spray_]

Returning from the bank, where I had been to deposit money early in the day, I found Howard in the inary habits of the fish It was a good show; the people wished to see it, and it wasto his over-stin The incoathered in the Strait of Magellan, the last of which I had disposed of to a German soap-boiler at Samoa, put me in aain in tow of the tug _Racer_, leaving Hobson's Bay after a pleasant time in Melbourne and St Kilda, which had been protracted by a succession of southinds that see

In the summer months, that is, December, January, February, and soh Bass Strait and round Cape Leeuwin; but owing to a vast a up froed now and emphasized with much bad weather, so much so that I considered it impracticable to pursue the course farther Therefore, instead of thrashi+ng round cold and stormy Cape Leeuwin, I decided to spend a pleasanter andfor the season for favorable winds through Torres Strait, by way of the Great Barrier Reef, the route I finally decided on To sail this course would be taking advantage of anticyclones, which never fail, and besides it would give me the chance to put foot on the shores of Tasmania, round which I had sailed years before

I should mention that while I was at Melbourne there occurred one of those extraordinary storms sometimes called ”rain of blood,” the first of the kind in many years about Australia The ”blood” came from a fine brick-dust matter afloat in the air froht down this dust simply as mud; it fell in such quantities that a bucketful was collected fros, which were spread at the tis, her sails, unprotected on the boo