20th January.—Lat. 30° 37′ N., long. 19° 24′ W. Wind variable. Distance 130 miles. At 10 a.m. we sighted a steamer on weather bow, homeward bound. In a moment the tables were covered with writing desks. At 11 o’clock we neared her and found she was the General Screw Co.’s Steamship Calcutta from Australia bound to Southampton, 69 days out from Melbourne. We sent a boat to her with a bag of letters.
21st January.—Lat. 29° 51′ N., long. 19° 56′ W. Wind S.S.W. At 5 p.m. passed a large ship of war with two tiers of guns supposed to be H.M.S. Monarch, bound for the Pacific with Admiral Bruce, to replace the unfortunate Admiral Price, who shot himself before the attack on Petropaulovski.
24th January.—Lat. 24° 24′ N., long. 19° 37′ W. Took the N.E. trades, very light.
26th January.—Lat. 22° 07′ N., long. 20° 45′ W. Wind N.E., ship running 7 knots with smooth sea. A swing was put up on the poop to-day for the amusement of the ladies.
31st January.—Lat. 8° 48′ N., long 22° 7′ W. Wind N.N.E. Distance 130 miles. At 8 p.m. the ship was thrown into instant confusion by the cry of “man overboard.” The ship was quickly rounded to, the two quarter boats lowered away and after 10 minutes of intense anxiety a hearty cheer announced that they had found him. The man, who was a second intermediate passenger, could not swim but was kept up by a life-buoy.
1st February.—Lat. 5° 45′ N., long. 21° 50′ W. Wind N.E. Distance 180 miles. Ship running 12 knots before a fresh gale with light sails in. At noon the ship was again thrown into a state of alarm by the cry of “man overboard.” A sailor named John Benson, a Swede, had fallen from the jibboom. Lifebuoys were thrown to him and the two boats quickly lowered, but the wind blew strong, the sea ran high with rain and mist so that it was impossible to see any distance and after pulling for nearly an hour they returned with the sad report that they could see nothing of him.
3rd February.—Crossed the equator at 10 p.m. in 23° 9′ W., 28 days out from Liverpool and 23 from Land’s End. Took the S.E. trade and lost the favourable north wind this morning.
9th February.—Lat. 18° 15′ S., long. 34° 46′ W. Wind S.E. Distance 308 miles. This is the best day’s work since we left; indeed it is the only chance our noble ship has had of displaying her sailing qualities.
14 knots upon a bowline with the yards braced sharp up is certainly wonderful work and scarcely to be believed if it were not satisfactorily proved by the observation of the sun at noon, from which it appears we have sailed 308 miles in last 24 hours with a current against us, which is always supposed on this coast to run about a knot an hour with the wind, making an average of 13 knots an hour, and while going at this extraordinary rate she is as dry as possible, seldom shipping a spoonful of water. During the greater part of yesterday the carpenter was employed on a stage below the fore chains, where he worked as easily as if it had been calm.