Bowdoin Boys in Labrador: An Account of the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador led by Prof. Leslie A. Lee of the Biological Department — John Shaqi
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
History
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
I got the captain to call me about 4, Wednesday morning, to fish, but
got none. We were then off North Cape, having had a good breeze all
night. The wind was light all day, but towards the latter part of the
afternoon commenced to blow from the southeast, kicking up a nasty sea
very soon. We double reefed the mainsail reefed the foresail and
hauled the flying jib down. About 8 P.M. we laid to with the jib
hauled down, on the starboard tack. The wind had backed to the east
about four points and was blowing a gale. About 12 M. it suddenly
dropped, a flat calm, leaving a tremendous sea running from the
southeast, combined with a smaller one from the east. Our motions,
jumps, rolls and pitches, can be better imagined than described. It
seemed at times that our bow and our stern were where the mastheads
usually are, and our rails were frequently rolled under.
Rice and Hunt stood one watch, Cary and I the second, and here Rice,
though a good sailor and an experienced yachtsman, finally succumbed.
We hauled everything down with infinite difficulty, owing to the
violent motion, and made it fast, then let her roll and pitch to her
heart's content. A sorrier looking place than our wardroom, and a
sicker set of fellows it would be hard to find. The dishes had some
play in the racks, and kept up an infernal racket that I tried in
every way to stop and could not. To cap all, the wind came off a gale
northwest about 4 A.M., and made yet another sea. As soon as possible
we set a double-reefed foresail, and then I turned in. When I turned
out at noon we had made Newfoundland and set a whole foresail, jib and
one reef out of the mainsail. We were becalmed, but found excellent
fishing, so did not care. The sea had gone down and we began to enjoy
the Norway-like rugged coast of Newfoundland. The mountains come right
down to the water, and are about 1,400 feet high, by our measurement,
using angular altitude by sextant and base line, our distance off
shore as shown by our observation for latitude and longitude.
There are many deep, narrow-mouthed coves and harbors, a good number
of islands and points making a most magnificent coast line. In many
cases 50 or 75 fathoms are found right under the shore. Great patches
of snow, miles in extent, cover the mountain sides. Great brown
patches, which the professor thinks are washings from the fine
examples of erosion, but which look to me like patches of brown grass
as we see in Penobscot Bay on the islands, vary with what is
apparently a scrubby evergreen growth and bald, bare rocks. As we are
about 18 miles off, the blue haze over all makes an enlarged,
roughened and much more deeply indented Camden mountain coast line.
The bays are in some cases so deep that we can look into narrow
entrances and see between great cliffs, only a few miles apart, a
water horizon on the other side. We wished very much to get in towards
the shore, but the calm and very strong westerly current, about 1-1/2
knots, prevented.
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