| Sunday, 19th | Glorious day, just a fair treat. So calm you forget you are at sea. Wind shifting about in all directions so had a lot of frigging about. Splendid night almost as light as day. | ||
| Monday, 20th Lat 1°30’N Long 24°50’W |
Not moving. Great smell of sharks so put our shark hook over the side. Braced the yards round about twenty times today. Hot. | ||
| ⚪ | Tuesday, 21st | Lots of dolphins, albercons, and porpoises round the ship, We did not catch any. We camped outside tonight as our house is getting cleaned and painted. We had to take all our meals on deck Just like a picnic. | |
| Wednesday, 22nd Lat 0°5’S Long 25°42’W |
Crossed the Line about 10 a. m. and by night were 4 miles south of it. 110 degrees of heat today, which is about equal to 160 on land. Our dog got shaved and went mad and ran along the bulwarks and on to the poop. The old man was standing on one leg on the sky-light. At night we dumped him. | ||
| Thursday, 23rd | Sighted a small shark this morning, and all our watch were on the poop ready. Mate put down the hook with pork on it, but he would not bite, when all of a sudden a larger one came up, turned over on his journalback and swallowed the hook. After a lot of hauling he was got on deck. He jumped about like a demon. We hit him on the head with a capstan-bar, and cut off his tail with a chopper, and I rammed a capstan bar down his throat. He was over five feet long. | ||
| Friday, 24th | Commenced the pleasant job of chipping, scraping and painting bulwarks. 9.30 p.m. not moving and at 10.30 p.m. going about 9 knots, having picked up the trades. | ||
| Saturday, 25th Lat 4°11’N Long 28°15’W |
In South East Trades now. We are again shooting along grand. Got into a bit of a scrape today for not cleaning out our house. Exceedingly hot. | ||
| Sunday, 26th | Did not do a stroke of work today, except to take way regular wheel. Spend the time yarning and sleeping. | ||
| Monday, 27th | Started chipping at 5,50 a.m. and did not finish till 5.50 p.m. Still very hot. | ||
| Tuesday, 28th | Been at bulwarks all day, Skuse again made a fool of himself by ringing 8 bells twice. A large 4 master bound from Hull to Rio 48 days out has been auite close to us. | ||
| Wednesday, 29th Lat 15°32’S Long 32°59’W |
Steamer passed us today. Overhauling blocks. Fine job. The last few nights have been grand. Almost as light as day and quite calm. | ||
| Thursday, 30th | Still overhauling blocks on the fore. Can't put your bare journalfoot on deck. It was 88 in the shade at 1 p.m. | ||
| Friday, 31st | Finished overhauling gear and started bulwarks again. Heavy rain this morning, and it is kind of squally. Very hot. | ||
| ⚪ | FEBRUARY 1896 | ||
| Sunday, 2nd Lat 20°10’S Long 35°5’W |
At breakfast we caught another shark, which was full of flying fish, and had a large number of “suckers”. Also caught a dolphin. Very good eating. Very calm. Tonight a good breeze sprung up. Had a salt water bath today, also had my hair cut. | ||
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