ia--travellers
bound to the East were compelled to go south-about round the Cape of
Good Hope, whether they journeyed by steamer or by sailing-ship; and it
was no very uncommon thing for the latter to beat the former on the
passage to India, China, or Australia. Moreover, the marine steam
engine was, at that period, a very expensive piece of machinery to
operate, developing only a very moderate amount of power upon an
exceedingly heavy consumption of coal; hence it was only the nabobs who
could afford to indulge in the then costly luxury of ocean travel by
steam.

The occurrence which I regard as the starting-point of my extraordinary
yarn happened on the 27th day of October, in the year of grace 18--; the
_Salamis_--which was the ship in which it originated--being, at noon of
that day, in latitude 30 degrees south, and longitude 23 degrees west,
or thereabout; thirty days out from London, on a voyage to Melbourne.

The _Salamis_, I may explain, was a full-rigged clipper ship of 1497
tons register, classed 100 A 1; being one of the crack vessels of the
celebrated Gold Star Line, outward bound to Melbourne, as I have said,
with a full complement of saloon and steerage passengers, and a general
cargo that, while it filled her to the hatches, was so largely composed
of light merchandise that it only sank her in the water to her very
finest sailing trim; of which circumstance Captain Martin, her
commander, was taking the fullest possible advantage, by "carrying on"
day and night, in the hope of making a record passage. I, Philip
Troubridge, was one of her midshipman-apprentices, of whom she carried
six, and I was seventeen years of age on the day when the occurrence
happened which I have alluded to above, and which I will now relate.

The _Salamis_ carried three mates: chief, second, and third; and the
accident happened in the first watch, when Mr Moore, the second mate,
had charge of the deck. The wind was out from about nor'-nor'-west, and
had been blowing very fresh all day, notwithstanding which the ship was
under all three royals, and fore and main topgallant studdingsails, her
course being south-east. There was a heavy and steep sea following the
ship on her port quarter, which not only made her motions exceedingly
uneasy, but also caused her to yaw wildly from time to time, despite the
utmost efforts of two men at the wheel to keep her true to her course.

It was during one of these wild sheers that the main t