The carpenter again got the sounding rod down, and we anxiously watched his face by the light of the lantern as he measured the wet place on the iron.
“The water has only gained a scant inch, sir,” he reported.
That was reassuring; so we waited more hopefully for morning, and as the first gray light of dawn showed in the east the gale began to moderate, and by eight o’clock we were able to get about the decks again and commence to clear up the wreck.
We found, on inspection, that all our sails were blown away with the exception of the jib and main-trysail. In addition, the three topgallant masts had been carried away, the head of the mizzen topmast was gone, and the fore yard was badly sprung in the slings, while the starboard, or lee quarter boat, had been washed from the davits.
Fortunately we had a new suit of sails below, that I had been keeping for use in coming on our coast in the winter season. These we got up and bent; new topgallant masts were fitted and sent aloft from our spare spars; the fore yard was fished, and by night we were standing on our course all a-tanto again.
We passed the Cape of Good Hope a couple of weeks later, and on Christmas Day we anchored in the roads off the island of St. Helena. Here we sent down the fore yard and bought a new spar on shore and had the bends calked by carpenters, while we overhauled and refitted our rigging with the ship’s crew. This work detained us for a week at the island.
As this was my first visit to St. Helena, I made the usual pilgrimage to Longwood and to Napoleon’s grave. The remains of the great Emperor had been removed to France by the Prince de Joinville a few years before, in 1840, but there were several people on the island who remembered him perfectly during his residence at Longwood, and it was very interesting to listen to their stories and personal reminiscences of General Bonaparte, as they usually called him.
Our repairs completed, we sailed and had a fine run till we came on the coast, when we encountered some heavy weather and head winds, but at last we got a favorable slant, and on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, we sighted Cape Ann Light, and the following day anchored off Commercial Wharf after a voyage of fifteen months, which had been full of adventure and had more than once promised to be most disastrous in its outcome. But thanks to divine Providence, I had been enabled to finish it in safety and with success for myself and my employers.