Diary on board the Passat 1948

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Captain proceeded to open it, but as the S.S. burst into tears, he (Capt) did not "proceed" very far. I sometimes think that by the time A. gets back to England, she will more than have "had" sailing ships. To-day she said she wished she could go for a 5 mile walk over the hills, and get away from "all this" for a while.

Friday, Jan. 28th. Yesterday (27th) and to-day very similar, lovely weather, fresh breeze and hot sun. Somewhat off our course, heading more or less for Cape Horn! Captain remarked that with this wind it would perhaps be easier to go "westabout to Australia, "but not with this crew round Cape Horn" - he will have to find some real sailors for the return journey. Espaniola's hand is very bad, much swollen and he is in severe pain, but makes such a fuss and cries and moans, that everyone gets thoroughly sick of him. To-day we put antiphlogestine on, he jumped and cried and rushed about until Captain roared at him, and then he sat quite still and silent. An incident that seemed almost mutinous occurred this morning. Bill ( an Australian) was moving a bosun's chair at the top of the mizzen mast when something happened to cause the Captain to call up to him. Bill apparent ly used bad language, and the Capt. suddenly roared at him - and when the Captain roars there is no mistaking it! Bill seemed very subdued for the remainder of the morning. A. inclined to be a literary snob, I think, very definite opinions on literature and most things - one has a feeling that one is in "the 4th form at St. Mary's" (or some such spot) at times! We are in the latitude of Bueanos Aires - but strangely enough the sunsets are very dull, there have been none worth mentioning on the voyage, so far.

Saturday, Jan. 29th. Another lovely day, fair wind and the current helping us along as well. An amusing incident on the after well-deck. A. cleaning the brass frame of the detachable port holes of the saloon, with steel wool. Steward comes along in a great state, talking fast and furiously in Swedish - apparently takes great exception to the steel wool. We cannot understand a word he says, except "Santen"! Then 3rd Mate and Chief join in, and finally Captain. They all talk their hardest and sound like a lot of magpies, "arguing" over a chop bone. A. calmly goes on polishing with the steel wool. After much talk in Swedish, they fade away one by one, and presently steward is observed not only using steel wool on the port holes - but sandpaper. A victory for A.

Sunday, Jan. 30th. Espaniola's hand improving, but still a very nasty mess. He's a hopeless individual, but not without brains. A perfect morning, went on deck about 7.30 a.m. Albatrosses seemed dotted all over the sea, "riddles" of them everywhere. This afternoon the weather became overcast and wind increased rapidly, now blowing half a gale and sails being taken in all the evening. Covered 180 miles in last 24 hours, logged 140 and the current did the rest.

Monday, Jan. 31st. Strong wind and fairly rough sea all day, we have a big list, which is not so very comfortable. Grey and coldish, covered 230 miles in 24 hrs.

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Tuesday Feb. 1st. Weather fine again, a perfect morning - but wind very light. Work still going on at great speed, Chief is a "tiger" for work. Buntlines being renewed, new hatch covers sewn and painting outside the ship. A., Steward and Mess-boy carry on an intermittent war all the time, language difficulties don't make things easier. A. has "Clementine" beaten when it comes to footwear! She takes men's 8 1/2 size. We are not so far from Tristan da Cunha - hope to see it.

Wednesday Feb. 2nd, Thursday Feb. 3rd. Perfect days - but we are becalmed. In the wind chart for month of Jan. it states there is only 1 per cent calm in these parts - and we have struck it! The Chief caught an albatross, carried it from the poop to the after well deck, where it walked up and down, putting its head down very much like an angry duck and chasing us all in turn, but it wasn't very wild as it let the Chief scratch its head. It stood very firmly on its feet, which strangely enough did not bleed. It was a lovely bird. When returned to the sea, it paddled away "growling and muttering" angrily. Tonight a S.E. wind has sprung up, it seems we will pass to the north of the Isles of Tristan da Cunha now, perhaps in the early morning. The Hitler Youth gets very monotonous with his Teutonic good looks, shouting orders in typical Nazi style and bad manners! "Here, you" when telling the boys something, seems his mode of address. His watch (which I call "The Watch on the Rhine",) is extemely fed up with him.

Friday Feb. 4th. A perfect day, warm sun and fresh breeze. Spent the morning "seeing" (to quote Captain) the mess-boy's best trousers. The legs were too long. Steward and Chief cook spent a day fitting and measuring them, and I was "roped in" to sew them! In the afternoon steward killed the largest of the 3 pigs, and made an excellent job of it, quite like a professional butcher. There was no comic opera "mucking about" (Mr. K.) as there was going to England. Looked for the Isles of Tristan da Cunha all day - but in vain.

Saturday, Feb. 5th. At breakfast the Chief looked in to say "Land-ho" and we dashed on deck to see an island to the north east of us in the far distance. I sat all day on the pin-rail amidships and looked at it thro' the binoculars. We were doing about 3 knots, so it was evening before we came abreast of the 3 islands of Tristan da Cunha. They were extremely interesting and made us long to see them at close range, we were about 10 miles off at the nearest point. Had we been abreast of them in the morning, Captain said he would have changed course and sailed past the settlement on the N.W. corner and the people would probably have come out to the ship. Inaccessible and Nightingale Is. seemed high, rugged, barren, rocky masses - very weather worn and scarred. Tristan is very much larger, for awhile we saw the whole mountain towering into the sky (7000 ft.) but cloud hung about it all day and finally the peak was completely hidden. The setting sun shining on the lower slopes showed barren ground [illegible] with deep creeks and gullies in all directions, the rest of the/moun tain side appeared dark, as if scrub covered. The cliffs looked tremendously high and dropped sheer to the sea. In the sunshine

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Inaccessible and Nightingale Is. looked whitish in color in many places, a large rock [xxxx] rose out of the sea at one end of Nightingale. It was a great thrill to see the Islands. There are four places I've always hoped to see, from the days when I used to look at the photos in the back of my atlas at school - and I've seen 3 of them - Rio de Janiero, the Amazon, and Tristan da Cunha. Pitcairn Is. is the only one I've not got to so far. Seven weeks at sea. The Australian boys are getting rather restive and anxious to arrive. The Hitler Youth seems to get more "Hitlerish" and annoying every day, everyone is fed up with his shouted orders, and constant would-be, sarcastic remarks. The H.Y. and 57 (Heinz) are most unpopular Germans (which is putting it mildly) whereas the Carpenter is pleasant and has a charming smile and is liked by everybody.

Sunday Feb. 6th. A quiet day, very little wind and grey skies. Tonight we are becalmed! Espaniola the spineless Spaniard, will not do what he is told. The Hitler Youth, for all his roaring of orders and scarasm, is very ineffectual. To-day Captain roared at Espaniola and "did give him a hiding", but I don't know exactly what he means by that remark. The crew is so mixed, many of them entirely unfitted for the life, it makes one anxious when one thinks of the journey back round the Horn.

Monday, Feb. 7th. A heavenly day, but no wind. Tonight there is a dead calm. The moon looked lovely as it was setting, the stars bright and frosty looking. We are a "mixed bag" on this ship. I look round sometimes and think it would have been difficult to pick an odder lot! "The Watch on the Rhine" take absolutely no notice of the H.Y., shout and order as he may. They often relapse into giggles, in which he joins! A. says some surprising things at times. "Out of the blue" she said she wondered if one's spirit left one's body during sleep - also that when walking, she found she was unable to think constructively and logically. I almost muttered in pure Australian, "Cripes!"

Tuesday Feb. 8th. The wind getting a little fresher all day and colder. Work going on apace, holds being cleaned, chipped and painted. The Hitler Youth appeared in very delicate baby blue silk pullover, with short sleeves, long pale blue socks, brief dark green silk shorts - he looked like "Mother's baby boy" with his flaxen hair and blue eyes - but when he roars "Here you" in raucous tones, he rather spoils the picture! In Lat. 39[degrees] Long 6[degrees]33. Tristan de Cunha 300 miles away now, 1200 to Cape of Good Hope.

Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th. Heavy sea mist coming and going all day and night, and air very much cooler. The moaning fog-horn has been overhauled by "Mossy" and now moans more loudly on two notes, it's almost tuneful, but has lost its "poi-sonality", Have discovered a local "Crazy Gang". The Hitler Youth, Espaniola, the spineless Spaniard, "Taffy" the mess-boy, and "Gladys", the young man from West Croydon, with an Oxford accent. They make a good combination - of craziness! A terrific stampede round the decks to-day, it was the H.Y. chasing "Loulu", who seems one of his major headaches. However, nothing happened, they stopped in front of a saloon porthole, and when I looked out suddenly, they faded away rather sheepishly.

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Friday, Feb. 11th. Wind light, but freshening a little. Foggy again to-night. A. and I spent the afternoon in the 'tween decks, they are clean and swept now and look rather like the London Underground. We found a small quoit, so played with it - a kind of deck tennis. The captain is kept fairly busy with minor accidents - cuts etc., but so far, no boils. To-day Chips ran a drill right thro' his first finger, he didn't murmur (he is our one nice German). Espaniola would have screamed the ship down. I have been making a speciality of sewing finger stall-s for the injured.

Saturday Feb. 12th. 8 weeks at sea to-day. All day we have been blanketted in heavy white fog, no wind. It is rather eerie, "sitting" motionless upon the sea with the visibility nil, the ship very quiet, except for the weary fog-horn giving out 3 mournful wails every few minutes - it has been going continuously for the last 24 hours. We are about 900 miles from Cape town - in Lat.42[degrees] S.

Sunday Feb.13th. Enveloped in heavy white mist most of the day. In a bright patch we saw most interesting and attractive dolphins (the Finns call them "springers") - large,, about 6 or 7 feet long, and very streamlined, marked somewhat like penguins, black backs and white bellies, white fins and long white noses, no dorsal fins. They came up to "blow" but did not roll. They could be extremely swift, but seemed to enjoy keeping just ahead of the ship.

Monday Feb.14th. At last the fog seems to have lifted - for days we have hardly moved, but now the wind is freshening a little. The ship has been so quiet and steady for so long now, it will be strange to heel over again. A few whales about this morning. When the dolphins were about yesterday, "Gladys" in a maroon dressing-gown, stepped up to the fo'castle head, peered over, exclaimed "How sweet"!

Tuesday, Feb.15th, Wednesday Feb.16th. Fresh wind, no wind, head wind, in succession and some mist. In about Longitude of Cape Town. Very slow progress and Captain gloomy. A great deal of work on the motor-boat - for weeks on the voyage to England Carpenter and Donkeyman worked on it, it was not used at all in England, and now the Chief, Several of the engineers, Carpenter and anyone else who feels inclined, have been working on it for days! It will be a miracle if it goes at Pt. Victoria!

Thursday Feb.17th. Becalmed all day - grey skies and rather cold, but the sea like glass. Albatross sitting round about the ship, chattering and squalling - 21 of them - very interesting to watch. We fed them on bread and bacon. One large brown one appeared to be the boss, and chased and snapped at all the others. Tonight a wind sprang up - but it's a head wind - as Ensio (late Steward) used to say, "Plenty vind, wrong way".

Friday, Feb.18th. Heavy wet fog all day and very cold, in Lat.44[degrees] S. head wind, so we are sailing N.W. when we want to go east. Captain fell off the hatch yesterday when cutting out a sail for the motor boat, and hurt his injured leg, so most of the day we have spent playing cards to help pass the time. While walking on the deck in the cold and damp, I remarked to old "Sails" - "This is like Cape Horn". All he said was "Vorst"!!

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Saturday, Feb.19th. Fog and sunshine in patches all day, strong N.E. wind, the sea looked lovely, very blue and many "white horses". It felt as if we were making great speed, but were not covering a great many miles.

Sunday, Feb.20th. A lovely sunny morning, sat on deck watching the men, strong N.E. wind still. In Lat.44[degrees] 45E sailing too far south. This afternoon there was almost a major scene on deck. I heard the Second (Hitler Youth) roar "Go-oop, you bleddy bustard" - I dashed on deck, the apprentice Rabbit was trying to get hold of Espaniola, they were on the cross-trees below the main upper to'gallant. Espaniola would not go out on the yard to help set the sail. As rabbit made a grab at him, he clung to the mast crying and blubbering and screaming in a panic of fear (apparently). He was swaying about and looked in imminent danger of falling. At last the Second called to R. to go on up without the spineless Spaniard, who came shivering and shaking down to the deck, and young John (just 16) went up in his place. E. slunk away for'ward, but later came crying to the 2nd. He was put on the wheel and kept there, where Captain roared at him. 2nd says he cannot send E. up in the rigging again as he will only get killed. His watch is 2 men short, as another man who is 44 has a "heart". The rest of the Watch are very fed up at having to do double duty in the rigging, especially in the cold and dark. The spineless Spaniard is very talkative, in a plausible, greasy way, on deck, but he is as liked by everyone as much as a black beetle!

Monday Feb.21st. Grey day and coldish - in Lat.45[degrees] 40.4 Long 30[degrees]47. Espaniola doing double duty on the wheel, looking very "martyred".

Tuesday Feb.22nd. In Lat.44[degrees] 38 Long.35[degrees]W. At midday the barometer fell rapidly, so the Royals were taken in. It was the Hitler Youth's watch on deck. Much cursing and muttering amoung the boys, as neither Toni (Espaniola) nor Wilby will go aloft. H.Y. shouting and nagging at Laleux without pause, it is strange how French and Germans can never agree. About 4 p.m. [xx] the wind suddenly chopped round to South-West, the sails seemed to be flapping and swinging in all directions and general pandemonium seemed to be going on. H.Y. shouting and yelling orders which no one took much notice of. He talks so much all the time that when he really should be heeded no one takes notice, a case of "Wolf, wolf!" He disturbed the Watch below, so that they couldn't sleep and were all furious. By tea time everyone was thoroughly annoyed and savage with everyone else. The constant shouting in gutteral German tones got on everyone's nerves - as Captain sometimes remarks, "Dat's the vorst of having foreigners in de ship." Heavy rain and much colder. 4,800 miles from Australia.

Wednesday Feb.23rd. Fair wind and following sea and very cold until midday, later sunshine - and becalmed!

Thursday Feb.24th. A glorious day, sunshine and blue sea - becalmed all day, and we are in the Roaring Forties! New foresail bent, both Watches out on the yard. More scenes with Espaniola, he was chased up the rigging to overhaul the bunt-lines, but would not move beyond the cross-trees. The fo'castle said unless de did