William Strapps Diary Part 1

These trade winds are very good I should fancy for homeward bound sailors

Frid Jany 23rd 1880

274 miles 27 [degrees] 57 Lat S 12 [degrees] 37 Long E Lovely morning sun shining brightly with a stiff breeze Just to give you an idea of practical jokes the which you have to go thro I turned in pretty early after tiring myself with a game of taking the castle by storm Several of us took up position between the Donkey engine covers the enemy attacked us on both sides and we sallied out knocked them down push them back pull them in & thrust them out the other side how we broke through the ropes & stuff without breaking our legs is a mystery but to return I had just turned in for a comfortable snooze when some of the young

fellows seized my legs and my back was grinding on the bunk edge before I could Jack Robinson and a drop of 3 1/2 feet is one of the very best of sensations couple with a few more feet occupied in planning the deck with your backbone which caused a yell & a laugh at my expence You are not able to do any thing else beside laugh too so after rubbing my poor bones I turned in again and after about 5 minutes sleep oh 'delicious sensation' I felt some water trickling down my back another joke not a very nice one this was the cooling balm for the other one I suppose It is not at all pleasant to sleep between wet sheets & blankets but "necessity is the mother of invention" there

fore I got in and slept once more. It reminded me of the whole comical saying of one of our compositors "All flesh is grass & grass is hay we are here tomorrow & gone to-day" We sighted a vessel off the star board side this afternoon. The wind is rising and the sea is rather lumpy.

Sat Jany 24th 1880

240 miles 31 [degrees] 8" Lat S 15 [degrees] 24" Long E Another speciman of the freaks we have on board was practiced last night. Some of our chums went to some of the bunks of some chaps who are fond of lying in bed The pulled out their bed clothes an tied them in knots to or three fellows at each end to pull them tight so that when they came down

to sleep there was an hour or so to be spent in getting things to rights The sea is rather rough to day & our vessel as a good turn at pitching The forecastle is pretty clear this morning with the excepti on of about 7 feet from the head where a few of us lay huddled up together like a flock of sheep We have been laughing at some of the others who had got a ducking but sweet was the ducking we got a tremendous wave swept clear over the bows soaking us & we were forced to decamp. Several of the ladies were sick to day & some of our party complain of heaviness. There are any amount of a black kind of duck what the sailors call "Shags" they may be of

counted by the thousand. A few Albatrosses and a number of other birds also are flying round us It is very cold to-day & a very heavy sea is rolling. It is the roughest we have had since leaving the Bay of Biscay All the hatches are closed up with the exception of a little hole we can squeeze through. The sea must be much shallower here as it is of a light green colour

Sun Jany 25th 1880

192 miles 33 [degrees] 30" Lat S 17 [degrees] 58" Long E Quite a change this morning instead of tumbling about the sea is almost as placed as a lake being of a dirty yellowish brown color The sailors sighted land about 8 oclock this morning but we could not see it for some time after. We hugged the coast down to the cape. The coasts presents a long line of