And what a heart-delight they feel at last,
So many toils, so many dangers past,
To view the port desired, he only knows
Who on the stormy deck for many a day
Hath tossed, a weary of his ocean way,
And watched, all anxious, every wind that blows.
Southey.
One day at sundown the captain said as he looked at his watch, “At five minutes past nine this evening we shall see Farralone light.” We had altered our course several times that day; the current was strong, the wind was aft, so that only one course of sails drew; therefore we paid little attention to the remark, supposing it to be a guess, or at best a hope, rather than an opinion.
At nine o’clock P. M. Feb. 11, a man was sent aloft to see if there was a lighthouse visible. At twenty minutes after nine he called out, “Light, ho! three points on the port bow.” In five or ten minutes we saw it from the deck. We felt that this part of the voyage was over. We had been to 59° S., being five degrees south of Cape Horn, and had sailed back to 37° N. and were also now far west of Boston.