any event worth mentioning, and about noon cast anchor near
Villaganon, to await the official port visit. On the following day I
bestirred myself to meet the highest lord of the admiralty and the
ministers, to inquire concerning the matter of wages due me from the
beloved _Destroyer_. The high official I met said: "Captain, so far as
we are concerned, you may have the ship, and if you care to accept her
we will send an officer to show you where she is." I knew well enough
where she was at that moment. The top of her smoke-stack being awash
in Bahia, it was more than likely that she rested on the bottom there.
I thanked the kind officer, but declined his offer.

The _Spray_, with a number of old shipmasters on board, sailed about
the harbor of Rio the day before she put to sea. As I had decided to
give the _Spray_ a yawl rig for the tempestuous waters of Patagonia, I
here placed on the stern a semicircular brace to support a jigger
mast. These old captains inspected the _Spray's_ rigging, and each one
contributed something to her outfit. Captain Jones, who had acted as
my interpreter at Rio, gave her an anchor, and one of the steamers
gave her a cable to match it. She never dragged Jones's anchor once on
the voyage, and the cable not only stood the strain on a lee shore,
but when towed off Cape Horn helped break combing seas astern that
threatened to board her.

CHAPTER VI

Departure from Rio de Janeiro--The _Spray_ ashore on the sands of
Uruguay--A narrow escape from shipwreck--The boy who found a
sloop--The _Spray_ floated but somewhat damaged--Courtesies from the
British consul at Maldonado--A warm greeting at Montevideo--An
excursion to Buenos Aires--Shortening the mast and bowsprit.

On November 28 the _Spray_ sailed from Rio de Janeiro, and first of
all ran into a gale of wind, which tore up things generally along the
coast, doing considerable damage to shipping. It was well for her,
perhaps, that she was clear of the land. Coasting along on this part
of the voyage, I observed that while some of the small vessels I
fell in with were able to outsail the _Spray_ by day, they fell astern
of her by night. To the _Spray_ day and night were the same; to the
others clearly there was a difference. On one of the very fine days
experienced after leaving Rio, the steamship _South Wales_ spoke the
_Spray_ and unsolicited gave the longitude by chronometer as 48
degrees W., "as near as I can make it," the captain sai