and damp and though the thermometer stood at fifty-five degrees it seemed much colder.  At this time we began to prepare for the heavy weather of our Easting, as the run across the Indian Ocean is called.  New sails were bent and everything battened down.  The days were very short, the sun rising at about half past seven and setting at five o’clock.  We usually made the run about forty degrees south in order to get better winds.  What a dreary outlook it was!  Nothing but sky and water with waves which were mountains high.  The only bit of life outside of our ship’s company was a number of birds of a different nature from any I had ever seen and they followed the ship day after day.  Cape pigeons and albatross were in large numbers.  We caught many of the latter and measured them.  I remember one weighing thirty pounds and measuring fifteen feet from tip to tip of the wings.  Cape hens about as large as good sized turkeys, ice birds, and many other small birds.  I enjoyed feeding them and it was very funny to watch them tumble over each other in their efforts to get something to eat.  Such a noise as they did make with their squabblings!  Many sharks were caught and I never knew a sailor to have any compunctions about disposing of these man-eating creatures.  A shark line was towed astern at different times and one day it took the combined efforts of five men to haul one in.  Whales, all of ninety feet in length, stayed about the ship several days at a time.  We saw many sun-fish which are a light gray in color.  They have one large fin out of the water and are very hard to harpoon.

Once in a while another ship would come in view and if near enough we always spoke to one another by our flag code.  This was always an interesting event.  Certain sentences given in the code book would be represented by certain flags, each flag representing a letter of the alphabet.  The questions usually asked were, “Where are you from?” “Where bound?” “How many days out?” and then a wish for a pleasant passage.  My experience in running down the Easting has always been the same and I have made the trip a number of times.  I have heard of ships running across the Indian Ocean with royals set but whenever I have been, we have had a succession of heavy gales.  In thirty-six degrees fifty minutes south and Lon. twenty-nine degrees fifty-nine minutes east a heavy gale sprung up which gradually turned into a hurricane.  The barometer was falling fast when I retired and at eleven o’clock it stood at 28.50.  I have merely to close my eyes now and I can hear the wind as it shrieked and roared about us.  We ran before those mountainous seas with but one thought and that to keep them from breaking over the ship.  All hands were on deck all night, each one lashed, with the exception of those who were between decks passing out oil cases which were broken open and thrown overboard by those on deck.  Fifteen hundred cases were used that night with good effect.  The seas were as high but the oil prevented them from