ENPages
p. 61
[Saturday scored through]Sunday March 7th 1858. I slept little all night partly from the storminess of the weather (for it blew hard all night & the ship rolled & pitched a good deal) & also for thinking on poor Robinson. he was the healthiest looking man on board. I did all I could to save him poor fellow but it was beyond my power he wanted me continually beside him poor fellow. this ought to teach us an example to be always ready for we know not at what day or hour we may be called on. We buried him today, day at 10-30 am. Sewn up in a hammock with the Union Jack over him the Capt. read the funeral service. 4 stout sailors raised the body & consigned it to the boiling & raging deep. A heavy splash & all was over. O' Lord grant that these warnings may not be lost upon us. we are daily shown that this is not
p. 62
our resting place. May I be kept from a careless & lukewarmness & also from the many wily snares which so constantly surround us. Monday Mch. 8th till [Thursday scored through] Friday March 12th. Rough weather continued till yesterday some of the squalls were very violent. I have slept in the after cabin since poor Robinson's death. have been very dull since. Man (soldier) called yesterday knocked down insensible by sunstroke. better this morning however. he came round by the constant pouring of cold water on his head (see Med Journal) A sentry ordered on deck to keep men from going in the Sun. We have now got half our voyage done. I wish it were finished, for what seemed to be very pleasant at first setting out has turned out very melancholy indeed.
p. 63
Saturday March 13th. 1858.
It is now exactly 7 months this evening since I left home I recollect that night well & will as long as I live. It seems to me foolish now to have left all my dearest friends for any sort of worldly advantage. I often picture to myself now what I might have done at home. I might have settled down in some beautiful country spot had a nice comfortable house & garden. I would have my horse & go round my visits & come home cheerful & happy & then I would have had my mother living with me & my father & brothers & sisters coming to stay with me whenever they had time to spare & our time would have passed thus happily but still I cannot look back with regret as yet. My youth would have prevented my obtaining practice for length of time & I hope I may ever be able to look back with joy on the year or two
p. 64
I may spend abroad if spared. I have reason to be thankful that as yet my news from home has been of so cheering a kind. I had a search through my letters this morning as I thought I had lost Mary's + Willies last. I was as happy when I found it as if I had met an old friend. In fact I look upon letters as my only friends here I must begin & make a note or two about the manners & customs of the "Belgravia". it is a dry old stick of a ship but still it suits me very nicely. Here is the old Major Genl who has been in India 50 years & only once home during that period he is a good natured old man although he got rather crusty the other day when I kept drumming away upon the stewards concertina (playing from the music as of old). he has been dyspeptic the last day or two [but scored through] & looks rather glum
p. 65
Then here is the Captn. He & I are capital friends. In fact he is the only one I have in the meantime to associate with. he is a Yorkshireman. & is part owner of the ship. he too has been billious & dyspeptic the last few days & takes no grub in consequence. Poor Robinson we have lost. We miss him very much. he was so lively & hearty. & used to help us all alive he poor fellow. Sleeps. now. where nothing can disturb him. there is something melancholy in a burial at sea. it impresses one much more than the cemetery on land probably from being more accustomed to the latter.
The Ocean Burial The Sun's bright [gleamed scored through]rays gleamed oer the sea & Kissed each dark blue swelling wave As o'er their surface, bright & free A noble ship sped onward brave A form lay on the silent deck A form of manly beauty rare.