Bowdoin Boys in Labrador: An Account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador led by Prof. Leslie A. Lee of the Biological DepartmentCilley, Jonathan Prince
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Bowdoin Boys in Labrador: An Account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador led by Prof. Leslie A. Lee of the Biological Department
Cilley, Jonathan Prince
Labrador (N.L.) -- Description and travel; Scientific expeditions
The morning of the fourth day the coasts of Cape Breton were in sight,
but the wind came straight out of the Gut of Canso in half a gale, and
then our rival, owing to her greater weight, forged ahead, and it
seemed that we were to be beaten. However, much to our amusement, when
we got a few miles off the mouth of the Gut, we found a calm, into
which the "Minnie Mac" had run and where she stayed till we came up.
With us also came a breeze, and we forged ahead of her into the
anchorage at Port Hawksbury just as we had said we would do when we
left Red Bay. Here we spent the rest of the day, laying in a stock of
much needed fresh provisions, and sending nine of our college
base-ballists, at the invitation of the Port Hawkesbury nine, to give
them some points on the game. About the fifth inning the game closed
on account of darkness, with score in Bowdoin's favor something about
30-0.
A short run brought us into Little Canso, where we had to turn to the
west to go along the Nova Scotia coast to Halifax, but fog shut down
so we spent a day inspecting the plant of the Mackay-Bennett cable,
which has its terminus at Hazel Hill, about two miles from Canso,
finding some very agreeable acquaintances in the persons of Mr.
Dickinson, the manager, and Mr. Upham, his first assistant electrical
expert, who proved to be a Castine man and was deligted to meet some
Yankees from his old cruising grounds, Penobscot Bay, and getting some
interesting knowledge concerning ocean telegraphy. It seemed strange,
to say the least, to be in communication, as we were, with a ship out
in mid-Atlantic, repairing a cable, and to have an answer from Ireland
to our message in less than a minute after it was sent.
[Solid shot at Halifax] With one stop on account of fog and
threatening storm, we reached Halifax in two more days. The
introduction to it, though, was not so pleasant, for as we were
running up the harbor solid shot from one of the shore batteries came
dropping around us and skipping by us, altogether too near for
comfort. However, no damage was done beyond the injury threatened to
Her Majesty's property in the proposition for a while considered to
call away boarders, land and take the battery. We found later that it
was merely target practice and nothing disrespectfully intended
towards the flag flying from our peak, so were satisfied that we had
not made any hostile response.
Once ashore the hospitable Haligonians began by inviting the Professor
and others to a dinner at the Halifax Club. The next day we enjoyed
an official reception, and accompanied by Premier Fielding and members
of his Cabinet, Consul General Frye and other gentlemen, were taken on
an excursion about the beautiful harbor in the steam yacht of one of
our entertainers, given a dinner and right royally toasted at one of
the public buildings, and were finally taken to the Yacht Club House
for a final reception.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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