A small bird flies on board in an exhausted condition; it is quite tame and eats food from our hands. Our inquiries in reference to its home and destination, were in vain; it remained on board during the day, and seemed to appreciate our kindness.
It is rumored that one of our passengers is dying; a shark is at this moment passing under the bow of the ship, as if anticipating his prey. 4th, rainy morning; it clears up at one, and we have a most delightful evening; a heavy cloud settles around the horizon, leaving us, as it were, in a lake as calm as a mirror. I never witnessed a more beautiful scene; I am, however, in no humor to enjoy it. This is our thirty-eighth day out, and the prospects most discouraging; I am over due at home, and half the journey yet to be performed.
At 7 P.M. it was announced that Wm. F. Capron, of Palmyra, N. Y., was dead; he was sewed up in a canvas shroud, and thirty minutes after his death, with lights on deck, in latitude 6° 34´ N., he was consigned to the ocean.
5th. Delightful morning, with fine breeze. We saw a large turtle floating on the surface of the water, asleep; we lowered a boat, and pulled off for him, but he awoke, and suspecting our movements, applied his propellers with great dexterity, and diving toward the bottom he was soon out of sight. He probably hailed from Cocus Island, distant one hundred and twenty miles; his object in cruising in these waters we were unable to learn. It being Monday, it was shrewdly suspected that he had been out, on the previous night, in search of bright eyes. His being asleep in the middle of the day, and his apparent embarrassment on being discovered, were evidence upon which almost any jury would have convicted him.
6th. Calm, heat insupportable, and we are short of provisions. I have a warm conversation with the captain, and draw up a protest, have it signed by the passengers, designing to lay it before the consul at Panama.
PROTEST.
We, the undersigned, passengers on board the ship Edward Everett, Capt. Henry Smith, do hereby most solemnly aver that we were induced to take passage on said ship by representations made by said Capt. Smith and his agents, which representations were, that he had on board an extra supply of ship-stores, and that extra provisions had been made for the comfort of passengers. For this extra provision an extra charge of $100 in the first, and $25 in the second cabin, had been made, above that of any vessel sailing from the same port for the same destination, during the present season.
The above-named Capt. Smith, through public advertisements and otherwise, called the attention of invalids particularly, to the superior arrangements made for their comfort, that a physician would be in attendance, &c.
Immediately upon getting under weigh we learned, to our sorrow, that we had been grossly deceived; that the above representations were false. Our provisions, many of them, were damaged, and, we were credibly informed, were purchased as such at San Francisco. Of some of the articles that are indispensable at sea, we were short, and immediately put upon allowance.
Some of the passengers had made arrangements to work their passage, but upon first putting to sea were unable to do duty. The Captain called upon them in person, ordering them from their berths and on duty, threatening, in case of non-compliance, to put them ashore on the first island. Mr. Saml. B. Lewis, of Elmira, N. Y., who was working his passage as under-steward, was compelled to do duty when unable, and finally compelled to take to his berth, from which he never arose. Just previous to his death he manifested a wish to see the Captain, and said, “If I die my blood will be upon the Captain’s head.”