|
[CHAPTER
I.] | |
| [THE
GREAT ATLANTIC FERRY.] | PAGE |
| The “Grand
Tour” of Former Days—The only Grand Tour left—Round the
World in Eighty Days—Fresh-water Sailors and Nautical
Ladies—Modern Steamships and their Speed—The Orient—Rivals—Routes round
the Globe—Sir John Mandeville on the Subject—Difficulties in
some Directions—The Great Atlantic Ferry—Dickens’s
Experiences—Sea Sickness—Night at Sea—The Ship Rights—And then
Wrongs—A Ridiculous Situation—Modern First-class
Accommodation—The Woes of the Steerage—Mark Tapley—Immense
Emigration of Third-class Passengers—Discomfort and
Misery—Efforts to Improve the Steerage—“Intermediate”—Castle Garden, New
York—Voyage Safer than by the Bay of Biscay—The Chimborazo in a
Hurricane | 1 |
|
[CHAPTER
II.] | |
| [OCEAN
TO OCEAN—THE CONNECTING LINK.] | |
| The Great Trans-Continental
Railway—New York to Chicago—Niagara in Winter—A Lady’s
Impressions—A Pullman Dining Car—Omaha—“The Great Muddy”—Episodes of Railway
Travel—Rough Roads—Indian attempts at catching Trains—Ride on a
Snow Plough—Sherman—Female Vanity in the Rocky Mountains—Soaped
Rails—The
Great Plains—Summer and Winter—The Prairie on Fire—A Remarkable
Bridge—Coal Discoveries—The “Buttes”—The City Gates of Mormondom—Echo
and Weber Cañons—The Devil’s Gate—Salt Lake—Ride in a
“Mud Waggon”—The City of the
Saints—Mormon Industry—A Tragedy of Former Days—Mountain Meadow
Massacre—The “Great
Egg-shell”—Theatre—The Silver State—“Dead Heads”—Up in the Sierra Nevada—Alpine
Scenery—The Highest Newspaper Office in the World—“Snowed-up”—Cape Horn—Down to the Fruitful
Plains—Sunny California—Sacramento—Oakland and the Golden
City—Recent Opinions of Travellers—San Francisco as a
Port—Whither Away? | 14 |
|
[CHAPTER
III.] | |
| [THE
PACIFIC FERRY—SAN FRANCISCO TO JAPAN AND CHINA.] | |
| The American Steamships—A Celestial
Company—Leading Cargoes—Corpses and Coffins—Monotony of the
Voyage—Emotions Caused by the Sea—Amusements on
board—“Chalked”—Cricket at
Sea—Balls Overboard—A Six Days’ Walking
Match—Theatricals—Waxworks—The Officers on Board—Engineer’s
Life—The Chief Waiter—“Inspection”—Meeting the America—Excitement—Her
subsequent Fate—A Cyclone—At Yokohama—Fairyland—The
Bazaars—Japanese Houses—A Dinner menu—Music and Dancing—Hong
Kong, the Gibraltar of China—Charming Victoria—Busy
Shanghai—English Enterprise | 31 |
|
[CHAPTER
IV.] | |
| [THE
PACIFIC FERRY—ANOTHER ROUTE.] | |
| The Hawaiian Islands—King and
Parliament—Pleasant Honolulu—A Government
Hotel—Honeysuckle-covered Theatre—Productions of the
Islands—Grand Volcanoes—Ravages of Lava Streams and
Earthquakes—Off to Fiji—A rapidly Christianised People—A Native
Hut—Dinner—Kandavu—The Bush—Fruit-laden Canoes—Strange Ideas of
Value—New Zealand—Its Features—Intense English Feeling—The New
Zealand Company and its Iniquities—The Maories—Trollope’s
Testimony—Facts about Cannibalism—A Chief on
Bagpipes—Australia—Beauty of Sydney Harbour—Its
Fortifications—Volunteers—Its War-fleet of One—Handsome
Melbourne—Absence of Squalor—No Workhouses Required—The
Benevolent Asylums—Splendid Place for Working Men—Cheapness of
Meat, &c.—Wages in Town and Country—Life in the
Bush—“Knocking Down One’s
Cheque”—Gold, Coal, and Iron | 45 |
|
[CHAPTER
V.] | |
| [WOMAN
AT SEA.] | |
| Poets’ Opinions on Early
Navigation—Who was the First Female Navigator?—Noah’s Voyage—A
Thrilling Tale—A Strained Vessel—A Furious Gale—A Birth at
Sea—The Ship Doomed—Ladies and Children in an Open Boat—Drunken
Sailors—Semi-starvation, Cold, and Wet—Exposed to the Tropical
Sun—Death of a Poor Baby—Sharks about—A Thievish
Sailor—Proposed Cannibalism—A Sail!—The Ship passes
by—Despair—Saved at Last—Experiences of a Yachtswoman—Nearly
Swamped and Carried Away—An Abandoned Ship—The Sunbeam of Service—Ship on
Fire!—Dangers of a Coal Cargo—The Crew taken off—Noble Lady
Passengers—Two Modern Heroines and their Deeds—The Story of
Grace Darling—The Longstone Light and Wreck of the Forfarshire—To the
Rescue!—Death of Grace Darling | 56 |
|
[CHAPTER
VI.] | |
| [DAVY
JONES’S LOCKER AND ITS TREASURES.] | |
| Clarence’s Dream—Davy Jones’s
Locker—Origin of the Term—Treasures of the Ocean—Pearl
Fishing—Mother o’ Pearl—Formation of Pearls—Art and Nature
combined—The Fisheries—The Divers and their modus
operandi—Dangers of the Trade—Gambling with
Oysters—Noted Pearls—Cleopatra’s Costly Draught—Scottish Pearls
very Valuable—Coral—Its Place in Nature—The Fisheries—Hard Work
and Poor Pay—The Apparatus Used—Coral Atolls—Darwin’s
Investigations—Theories and Facts—Characteristics of the
Reefs—Beauty of the Submarine Forests—Victorious Polyps—The
Sponge a Marine Animal—The Fisheries—Harpooning and
Diving—Value of Sponges | 66 |
|
[CHAPTER
VII.] | |
| [DAVY
JONES’S LOCKER AND THOSE WHO DIVE INTO IT.] | |
| Scientific Diving—General
Principles—William Phipps and the Treasure Ship—Founder of the
House of Mulgrave—Halley’s Wooden Diving-Bell and Air
Barrels—Smeaton’s Improvements—Spalding’s Death—Operations at
Plymouth Breakwater—The Diver’s Life—“Lower away!”—The Diving-Belle and her Letter from
Below—Operations at the Bottom—Brunel and the Thames Tunnel—The
Diving Dress—Suffocation—Remarkable Case of Salvage—The
“Submarine Hydrostat”—John Gann
of Whitstable—Dollar Row—Various Anecdotes—Combat at the Bottom
of the Sea—A Mermaid Story—Run down by the Queen of
Scotland | 79 |
|
[CHAPTER
VIII.] | |
| [THE
OCEAN AND SOME OF ITS PHENOMENA.] | |
| The Saltness of the Sea—Its
Composition—Tons of Silver in the Ocean—Currents and their
Causes—The Great Gulf Stream—Its Characteristics—A Triumph of
Science—The Tides—The Highest Known Tides and
Waves—Whirlpools—The Maelström—A Norwegian Description—Edgar
Allan Poe and his Story—Rescued from the Vortex—The
“Souffleur” at the Mauritius—The
Colour of the Sea—Its Causes—The Phosphorescence of the
Ocean—Fields of Silver—Principally Caused by Animal Life | 90 |
|
[CHAPTER
IX.] | |
| [DAVY
JONES’S LOCKER—SUBMARINE CABLES.] | |
| The First Channel Cable—Now-a-days
50,000 Miles of Submarine Wire—A Noble New Englander—The First
Idea of the Atlantic Cable—Its
Practicability admitted—Maury’s Notes on the Atlantic
Bottom—Deep Sea Soundings—Ooze formed of Myriads of
Shells—English Co-operation with Field—The First Cable of
1857—Paying Out—2,000 Fathoms Down—The Cable Parted—Bitter
Disappointment—The Cable Laid and Working—Another Failure—The
Employment of the Great Eastern—Stowing Away the Great Wire
Rope—Departure—Another Accident—A Traitor on Board—Cable Fished
up from the Bottom—Failure—Inauguration of the 1866
Expedition—Prayer for Success—A Lucky Friday—Splicing to the
Shore Cable—The Start—Each Day’s Run—Approaching Trinity
Bay—Success at Last—The Old and the New World bound
together | 98 |
|
[CHAPTER
X.] | |
| [THE
OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS.] | |
| Perfection in Nature’s smallest
Works—A Word on Scientific Classification—Protozoa—Blind
Life—Rhizopoda—Foraminifera—A Robbery Traced by
Science—Microscopic Workers—Paris Chalk—Infusoria—The
“Sixth Sense of Man”—Fathers of
Nations—Milne-Edwards—Submarine Explorations—The Salt-water
Aquarium—The Compensating Balance required—Brighton and
Sydenham—Practical Uses of the Aquarium—Medusæ: their Beauty—A
Poet’s Description—Their General Characteristics—Battalions of
“Jelly-fish”—Polyps—A Floating
Colony—A Marvellous Organism—The Graceful Agalma—Swimming
Apparatus—Natural Fishing Lines—The “Portuguese Man-of-War”—Stinging Powers of
the Physalia—An Enemy to the Cuttle-fish | 111 |
|
[CHAPTER
XI.] | |
| [THE
OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS (continued).] | |
| The Madrepores—Brain, Mushroom, and
Plantain Coral—The Beautiful Sea-anemones; their Organisation
and Habits; their Insatiable Voracity—The
Gorgons—Echinodermata—The Star-fish—Sea Urchins—Wonderful Shell
and Spines—An Urchin’s Prayer—The Sea Cucumber—The Trepang, or
Holothuria—Trepang Fishing—Dumont d’Urville’s Description—The
Commerce in this Edible—The Molluscs—The Teredo, or
Ship-worm—Their Ravages on the Holland Coast—The Retiring
Razor-fish—The Edible Mussel—History of their Cultivation in
France—The Bouchots—Occasional Danger of Eating Mussels—The
Prince of Bivalves—The Oyster and its Organisation—Difference
in Size—American Oysters—High Priced in some Cities—Quantity
Consumed in London—Courteous Exchange—Roman Estimation of
them—The “Breedy Creatures”
brought from Britain—Vitellius and his Hundred Dozen—A Sell:
Poor Tyacke—The First Man who Ate an Oyster—The
Fisheries—Destructive Dredging—Lake Fusaro and the Oyster
Parks—Scientific Cultivation in France—Success and Profits—The
Whitstable and other Beds—System pursued | 122 |
|
[CHAPTER
XII.] | |
| [THE
OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS (continued).] | |
| The Univalves—A Higher Scale of
Animal—The Gasteropoda—Limpets—Used for Basins in the Straits
of Magellan—Spiral and Turret Shells—The Cowries—The Mitre
Shells—The Purpuras—Tyrian Purple—The Whelk—The Marine
Trumpet—The Winged-feet Molluscs—The Cephalopodous Molluscs—The
Nautilus—Relic of a Noble Family—The Pearly Nautilus and its
Uses—The Cuttle-fish—Michelet’s Comments—Hugo’s Actual
Experiences—Gilliatt and his Combat—A Grand Description—The
Devil-Fish—The Cuttle-Fish of Science—A Brute with Three
Hearts—Actual Examples contrasted with the Kraken—A Monster
nearly Captured—Indian Ink and Sepia—The Argonauta—The Paper
Nautilus | 139 |
|
[CHAPTER
XIII.] | |
| [THE
OCEAN AND ITS LIVING WONDERS (continued).] | |
| The Crustaceans, a Crusty Set—Young
Crabs and their Peculiarities—Shells and no Shells—Powers of
Renewal—The Biter Bit—Cocoa-nut-eating Crabs—Do Crabs like
Boiling?—The Land Crab and his Migrations—Nigger Excitement—The
King Crab—The Hut Crab—A True Yarn—The Hermit or Soldier
Crab—Pugnaciousness—Crab War and Human War—Prolific
Crustaceans—Raising Lobster-pots—Technical Differences—How do
Lobsters shed their Shells?—Fishermen’s Ideas—Habits of the
Lobster—Its Fecundity—The Supply for Billingsgate—The
Season—“Lobster Frolics” in
British North America—Eel-grass—Cray-fish, Prawns, and
Shrimps | 150 |
|
[CHAPTER
XIV.] | |
| [OCEAN
LIFE—THE HARVEST OF THE SEA.] | |
| Fishes and their Swimming
Apparatus—The Bladder—Scientific Classification—Cartilaginous
Fish—The Torpedo—A Living Galvanic Battery—The Shark—His Love
for Man in a Gastronomic Sense—Stories of their
Prowess—Catching a Shark—Their Interference with Whaling—The
Tiger-Shark—African Worship of the Monster—The Dog-fish—The
Sturgeon—Enormous Fecundity—Caviare—The Bony Fishes—The Flying
Fish: its Feats; its Enemies—Youth of a Salmon—The Parr, the
Smolt, and the Grilse—Flourishes in the See—The Ponds at
Stormontfield—The Salmon’s Enemies—The Ettrick Shepherd—Canned
Salmon, and where it comes from—The Fish a drug in N. W.
America—Canoes impeded by them—The Fisheries of the Columbia
River—The Fishing Season—Modes of Catching Salmon—The Factories
and Processes employed | 159 |
|
[CHAPTER
XV.] | |
| [OCEAN
LIFE—THE HARVEST OF THE SEA (concluded).] | |
| The Clupedæ—The Herring—Its
Cabalistic Marks—A Warning to Royalty—The “Great Fishery”—Modes of Fishing—A Night
with the Wick Fishermen—Suicidal Fish—The Value of Deep-sea
Fisheries—Report of the Commissioners—Fecundity of the
Herring—No fear of Fish Famine—The Shad—The Sprat—The Cornish
Pilchard Fisheries—The “Huer”—Raising the “Tuck”—A Grand Harvest—Gigantic
Holibut—Newfoundland Cod Fisheries—Brutalities of Tunny
Fishing—The Mackerel—Its Courage, and Love of Man—Garum
Sauce—The formidable Sword-fish—Fishing by Torchlight—Sword
through a Ship’s side—General Remarks on Fish—Fish
Life—Conversation—Musical Fish—Pleasures and Excitements—Do
Fish sleep? | 168 |
|
[CHAPTER
XVI.] | |
| [MONSTERS OF THE DEEP.] | |
| Mark Twain on Whales—A New Version of
an Old Story—Whale as Food—Whaling in 1670—The Great Mammal’s
Enemy the “Killer”—The Animal’s
Home—The so-called Fisheries—The Sperm Whale—Spermaceti—The
Chase—The Capture—A Mythical Monster—The Great Sea
Serpent—Yarns from Norway—An Archdeacon’s Testimony—Stories
from America—From Greenland—Mahone Bay—A Tropical Sea
Serpent—What is the Animal?—Seen on a Voyage to India—Off the
Coast of Africa—Other Accounts—Professor Owen on the
Subject—Other Theories | 178 |
|
[CHAPTER
XVII.] | |
| [BY THE
SEA-SHORE.] | |
| English Appreciation of the
Sea-side—Its Variety and Interest—Heavy Weather—The Green
Waves—On the Cliffs—The Sea from there—Madame de Gasparin’s
Reveries—Description of a Tempest—The Voice of God—Calm—A Great
Medusa off the Coast—Night on the Sea—Boating Excursion—In a
Cavern—Colonies of Sea-anemones—Rock Pools—Southey’s
Description—Treasures for the Aquarium—A Rat Story—Rapid Influx
of Tide and its Dangers—Melancholy Fate of a Family—Life under
Water | 190 |
|
[CHAPTER
XVIII.] | |
| [BY THE
SEA-SHORE (continued).] | |
| A Submerged Forest—Grandeur of
Devonshire Cliffs—Castellated Walls—A Natural Palace—Collection
of Sea-weeds—The Title a Miserable Misnomer—The Bladder
Wrack—Practical Uses—The Harvest-time for Collectors—The Huge
Laminaria—Good for Knife-handles—Marine Rope—The Red-Seeded
Group—Munchausen’s Gin Tree Beaten—The Coralline a
Vegetable—Beautiful Varieties—Irish Moss—The Green Seeds—Hints
on Preserving Sea-weeds—The Boring Pholas—How they
Drill—Sometimes through each other—The Spinous Cockle—The
“Red-noses”—Hundreds of
Peasantry Saved from Starvation—“Rubbish,” and the difficulty of obtaining
it—Results of a Basketful—The Contents of a Shrimper’s
Net—Miniature Fish of the Shore | 199 |
|
[CHAPTER
XIX.] | |
| [SKETCHES OF OUR COASTS—CORNWALL.] | |
| The Land’s End—Cornwall and her
Contributions to the Navy—The Great Botallack Mine—Curious
Sight Outwardly—Plugging Out the Atlantic Ocean—The Roar of the
Sea Heard Inside—In a Storm—The Miner’s Fears—The Loggan
Stone—A Foolish Lieutenant and his Little Joke—The Penalty—The
once-feared Wolf Rock—Revolving Lights—Are they Advantageous to
the Mariner?—Smuggling in Cornwall—A Coastguardsman
Smuggler—Landing 150 Kegs under the Noses of the Officers—A
Cornish Fishing-town—Looe, the Ancient—The Old Bridge—Beauty of
the Place from a Distance—Closer Inspection—Picturesque
Streets—The Inhabitants—Looe Island and the Rats—A Novel Mode
of Extirpation—The Poor of Cornwall Better Off than
Elsewhere—Mines and Fisheries—Working on “Tribute”—Profits of the Pilchard
Season—Cornish Hospitality and Gratitude | 207 |
|
[CHAPTER
XX.] | |
| [SKETCHES OF OUR COASTS—CORNWALL
(continued).] | |
| Wilkie Collins’s Experiences as a
Pedestrian—Taken for “Mapper,”
“Trodger,” and Hawker—An
Exciting Wreck at Penzance—The Life-line sent out—An Obstinate
Captain—A Brave Coastguardsman—Five Courageous Young
Ladies—Falmouth and Sir Walter Raleigh—Its Rapid Growth—One of
its Institutions—A Dollar Mine—Religious Fishermen—The Lizard
and its Associations for Voyagers—Origin of the Name—Mount St.
Michael the Picturesque—Her Majesty’s Visit—An Heroic Rescue at
Plymouth—Another Gallant Rescue | 218 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXI.] | |
| [SKETCHES OF OUR SOUTH
COASTS—SOUTHAMPTON.] | |
| Southampton: its Antiquity—Extensive
Commerce—Great Port for Leading Steamship Lines—Vagaries of a
Runaway Steamer—The Isle of Wight—Terrible Loss of the
Eurydice—Finding of the
Court-martial—Raising Her from the Bottom—“London by the Seaside”—Newhaven and
Seaford—Beachy Head—An Attempt to Scale it—A Wreck
there—Knowledge Useful on an Emergency—Saved by Samphire—The
Coast-guard: Past and Present—Their Comparatively Pleasant Lot
To-day—The Coast-guard in the Smuggler Days—Sympathies of the
Country against them | 225 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXII.] | |
| [SKETCHES OF OUR SOUTH COASTS (concluded).] | |
| Eastbourne and its Quiet
Charms—Hastings—Its Fishermen—The Battle of Hastings—Loss of
the Grosser Kurfürst—The
Collision—The Catastrophe—Dover—The Castle—Shakespeare’s
Cliff—“O’er the Downs so
free”—St. Margaret’s Bay—Kingsdown—Deal—A Deed of
Daring—Ramsgate and Margate—The Floating Light on the Goodwin
Sands—Ballantyne’s Voluntary Imprisonment—His Experiences—The
Craft—The Light—One Thousand Wild Ducks caught—A Signal from
the “South Sand Head”—The
Answer—Life on Board | 235 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXIII.] | |
| [SKETCHES OF OUR EAST
COASTS:—NORFOLK—YORKSHIRE.] | |
| Harwich; its fine Harbour—Thorpeness
and its Hero—Beautiful Situation of Lowestoft—Yarmouth; its
Antiquity—Quays, Bridges—The Roadstead—Herring and Mackerel
Fishing—Curing Red Herrings and Bloaters—A Struggle for
Life—Encroachments of the Sea—A Dangerous Coast—Flamborough
Head—Perils of the Yorkshire Fisherman’s Life—“The sea gat him!”—Filey and its Quiet
Attractions—Natural Breakwater—A Sad Tale of the
Sea—Scarborough; Ancient Records—The Terrible and the Gay—The
Coupland Helpless—Lifeboat
out—Her men thrown out—Boat crushed against Sea Wall—Two
Killed—Futile Attempts at Rescue—A Lady’s Description of a
Scarborough Gale—Whitby—Robin Hood’s Bay—An Undermined
Town | 217 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXIV.] | |
| [THE
ART OF SWIMMING—FEATS IN NATATION—LIFE SAVERS.] | |
| Lord Byron and the Hellespont—The Art
of Swimming a Necessary Accomplishment—The Numbers Lost from
Drowning—A Lamentable Accident—Captain Webb’s Advice to
Beginners—Bold and Timid Lads—Best Places to Learn in—Necessity of
Commencing Properly—The Secret of a Good Stroke—Useful and
Ornamental Natation—Diving—Advice—Possibilities of Serious
Injury—Inventions for Aiding Swimming and Floating—The Boyton
Dress—Matthew Webb—Brave Attempt to Save a Comrade—The Great
Channel Swim—Twenty-Two Hours in the Sea—Stung by a
Jelly-Fish—Red Light on the Waters—Cape Grisnez at
Hand—Exhaustion of the Swimmer—Fears of Collapse—Triumphant
Landing on Calais Sands—Webb’s Feelings—An Ingenious Sailor
Saved by Wine-bottles—Life Savers—Thomas Fowell
Buxton—Ellerthorpe—Lambert—The “Hero of
the Clyde”—His Brave Deeds—Funny Instances—The Crowning
Feat—Blinded and Neglected—Appreciation at Last | 257 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXV.] | |
| [THE
HAVEN AT LAST—HOME IN THE THAMES.] | |
| The “Mighty
Thames”—Poor Jack Home Again—Provident Sailors—The
Belvedere Home and its Inmates—A Ship Ashore—Rival
Castaways—Greenwich Pensioners—The Present System Compared with
the Old—Freedom Outside the Hospital—The Observatory—The
Astronomer Royal—Modern Belief in Astrology—Site of Greenwich
Park—Telescopes and Observations—The Clock which Sets the Time
for all England—Sad Reminiscences—The Loss of the Princess
Alice—The Old Dreadnought—The Largest
Floating Hospital in the World—The Trinity House: Its
Constitution, Purposes, and Uses—Lighthouses and
Light-vessels—Its Masters | 272 |
|
[CHAPTER
XXVI.] | |
| [WHAT
POETS HAVE SUNG OF THE SEA, THE SAILOR, AND THE SHIP.] | |
| The Poet of the Sea still
Wanting—Biblical Allusions—The Classical Writers—Want of True
Sympathy with the Subject—Virgil’s “Æneid”—His Stage Storms—The Immortal
Bard—His Intimate Acquaintance with the Sea and the Sailor—The
Golden Days of Maritime Enterprise—The Tempest—Miranda’s
Compassion—Pranks of the “Airy
Spirit”—The Merchant of Venice—Piracy in
Shakespeare’s Days—A Birth at Sea—Cymbeline: the Queen’s
Description of our Isle—Byron’s “Ocean”—Falconer’s “Shipwreck”—His Technical Knowledge—The
“True Ring”—The Dibdins—“Tom
Bowling”—“The Boatman of the
Downs”—Three Touching Poems—Mrs. Hemans, Longfellow, and
Kingsley—Browning’s “Hervé
Riel”—The True Breton Pilot—A New Departure—Hood’s
“Demon Ship”—Popular Songs of
the Day—Conclusion | 290 |
| [GENERAL INDEX] | 305 |
