Such a scene at the dock gates. Not a sailor will join
till the last moment; and then, just as the ship forges ahead
through the narrow pass, beds and baggage fly on board, the men
half tipsy clutch at the rigging, the captain swears, the women
scream and sob, the crowd cheer and laugh, while one or two pretty
little girls stand still and cry outright, regardless of all eyes.
'These two days of comparative peace have quite set me on my legs
again. I was getting worn and weary with anxiety and work. As
usual I have been delighted with my shipwrights. I gave them some
beer on Saturday, making a short oration. To-day when they went
ashore and I came on board, they gave three cheers, whether for me
or the ship I hardly know, but I had just bid them good-bye, and
the ship was out of hail; but I was startled and hardly liked to
claim the compliment by acknowledging it.
'S. S. ELBA: May 25.
'My first intentions of a long journal have been fairly frustrated
by sea-sickness. On Tuesday last about noon we started from the
Mersey in very dirty weather, and were hardly out of the river when
we met a gale from the south-west and a heavy sea, both right in
our teeth; and the poor ELBA had a sad shaking.
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