Diary: James P. Stabler, 1827 (Volume 1)

light but were afraid _ Lat 45° 49' _ a few porpoises to windward — and mother Carey's chickens almost gone

At 2 oclok the wind abated and reduced our flight to about 9 knots the h^r. This morning went to the bow and witnessed the effect of so large a body ploughing the mighty deep _ for 20 yards round the sea would appear when meeting the ship, as a boiling soap suds — and a little distance off sometimes appears as if it was a remendous cauldron of water boiling with fury. Longitute 33° 18' and the higest sea that we have yet had. _ and thro the day 11 1/2 to 8 knots an hour, Course NE. This day of the week 1st not observed at sea, as we have none of the orthodox on board but M^rs Vance [shorthand] Shaving & dressing however among the Sailors is one symptom of "Sabbath" usages for they look clean & neat and are here and there engaged reading the Tracts that are forced upon them by the righteous

2nd day 7mo 2nd

A thick fog this morning – damp and rainy – A ship bound to London (as supposed) with Timber from Canada within half a mile of us – pass'd her very soon as we do every thing else of the ship kind –

The wind aft, with a high swell which makes us roll from side to side more than ever – This took place during the night and seems to make every thing creak again – It however produces no Sea Sickness – My appetite good but my pulse more frequent – an uneasy sensation about my liver, but may be from the rolling from side to side in the birth – Damp and rainy all day – confined me to the cabin or "jail" as D^r Johnson calls a sea voyage "with a chance of being drowned" – have tried in vain to write something to pass away the time – 8 or nine knots an hour & steering E by S. A fine school of several hundred porpoises but I dare not venture out to

to see them. – Made an attempt to harpoon them – wounded one and they all disappeared in an instant —

3rd day 7mo 3rd

A fine wind aft, all last night going at the rate of ten knots an hour and this morning about thirteen miles to the hour!!! — This is real going. Longitude to day 24° 19' Lat 49° The wind still fine and the Captⁿ marked our situation on the chart, which appears about 600 miles from Cape Clear – Struck at another school of porpoises this evening, with the usual want of success. — Still a fog which they say is as common here from a SW wind as it is with us in "The States" (as the United States are called upon the ocean and perhaps on the Eastern side) to have the same with a NE wind – very likely too – for in either case it would appear as if the wind raised the vapour in passing over so large an agitated

a surface as this "big branch" is.

— The spray from the breaking of the waves frequently washes over the sides of the ship on deck and often flies to considerable height.

4th day 7mo 4th

This appears by our reckoning to be the day doomed to give yankees a head ache, and from certain symptoms I fear it may be the case here. — At any rate we have a watering time to commence with, as the fog is thick and seems to pervade every nook and corner of this floating palace in which we are confined, with only two and a half inches between us and this bottomless gulph upon whose surface we are borne apparently at the mercy of the waves, and wind – But by the appreciation of those powers in man, by which the Heavens are sealed and the deeps are fathomed. Even the winds and waves are made subservient to our safety. – Not that they can secure it for one moment.– without

the superintending care of Him who is the benevolent author of every comfort and security that man enjoys – and whose power on Land and sea is still the same whether amid the Meridian Sun, or polar snows – at midnight or at noonday!– As the psalmist expresses it – "If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me."

By dead reckoning our longitude to day 18° 50' but too thick an an to take the latitude — A Lottery set on foot to day to while away the time, and prevent we poor thoughtless mortals from thinking of something worse (better? yes —) It was to be divided into 24 tickets of 5 Shillings (or 1.00) each – these corresponding to the hours of the day when when we might take the pilot on board at Point Linas off Holyhead._ Whoever has the ticket corresponding with the hour he comes on board takes the whole 24$ – – I say nay – and they