(By W. B. Christie.)
“What shall we do with ourselves during the holidays?” was a question
put by one to another amongst a dozen or so of the new and old
residents of Geraldton a few weeks ago.
“What about the Abrolhos?” someone suggested. The idea caught on,
and Mr. George Baston volunteered the use of has fishing boat the
“While-away” to take a party of us for a cruise round the islands. The
offer was accepted. The provisioning arrangements were left in the
hands of Mr. Baston.
We were all to be aboard by midnight on Thursday, 24th December, but an
hour before that time most of the party had staggered down singly or in
groups of two or three to the Esplanade jetty, where the “While-away”
was moored. Some were accompanied by friends to see the party safely
off.
At twelve o’clock the cry of “A Merry Christmas” was reciprocated from
shore to deck, and ere we had time to “blow the froth off,” the order
was given to cast off the shore lines, and a few minutes later we were
gliding slowly and silently through the maze of boats, which lay at
their moorings, out into the expanse of still waters of Champion Bay,
on whose face the gentle land breeze left scarce a ripple; out on to
the mighty deep, on whose bosom some two or three of our party were to
distinguish themselves as only landsmen can when they “go down to the
sea in ships.”
We ought to have been in bed, but were so interested in the navigation
of the Bay that our rugs were unrolled on the deck, and from the
recumbent lounge of the hard boards we watched the leading lights of
the Bluff as they came into line, and, the helm being put down, we
stood out through the channel in the Five Fathom bank, under the fitful
and intermittent glare of the revolving light of Point Moore, which
shot its rays far across the bounding billows of the ocean. But they
didn’t bound much; they simply rose and fell in long heavy undulations,
and as our good boat climbed to the top of one, and gently slithered
down, half sideways, into the trough beyond, some of our party crept
softly to the side, and taking an apparent interest in the sparkling
ripples as they danced past, remarked, “Ough-h-h,” while another
retorted “Ach-h-h”--remarks which were quite irrelevant to the general
topic of conversation--about the memorable revolt of the shipwrecked
crew of the Batavia on Pelsart Island, under the bloodthirsty “Captain
General” 280 years ago, when the attempt of the Dutch to colonise New
Holland came to an abrupt and tragic termination.
Point Moore light faded from view--the pleiades--Aldebaran, Orion and
Sirius--had passed their meridian, and were slowly sinking to the West.
Achernar had dipped into the bank of clouds which lay over the southern
horizon, Canopus blazed and twinkled as he swept in his majestic circle
round the pole; the Cross and its attendant Centauro were clinging
to their upper culmination, when the grey of the east told us that
Christmas morning was about to break.
In the gathering grey the stars faded where they hung, and as the
light broadened, we saw that our horizon was bounded by the heaving
waters. The fleecy and burnished clouds seemed to part to make way for
the sun as he emerged from the eastern sea and lighted up a glittering
path direct to our craft, as though he had singled us out as the only
participants of his glory. Scarcely a ripple was on the water. The
sails flopped lazily, and with every heave of the swell the boom gave
a dull thud as it jerked the main sheet taut, and lazily swung back to
gather force for the next thud.
“Coffee. Who says coffee?” shouted the chef, who was presiding at the
primus stove below. We all said “coffee,” and a mug of that steaming
beverage, with a biscuit, was passed round to all hands as we lay in
our rugs about the deck.
“How’s her head?” someone called to our skipper at the helm.
“Her head’s anyhow,” growled Nicholas; “we’re becalmed,” and the boom
gave another thud as we slipped over the summit of the swell.
“What depth of water here?”
“About twenty fathoms,” replied Nick.
“Any fishing here?”
“No; it’s a sandy bottom. Try if you like.”
Lines were got out, baited and thrown over. How very true the
description of fishing: “a long string, with a hook at one end and
a fool at the other.” Not a bite rewarded our efforts, although we
sat with the lines till long after breakfast. We threw over an empty
match box. It bobbed up and down beside us for a long time till a
little puff of wind blew us away from it, and then ceased so that the
boom might continue its flopping, as it toyed with the main-sheet.
The conversation drifted from the Captain General to the facility
with which mutinies could be fomented on sailing ships when they were
becalmed. Then, naturally, from mutiny to slavery, and the condition
of Carolina was discussed, and the wisdom of the remark made by the
Governor of the northern half of that State to the Governor of the
southern half--that it “was a long time between drinks.” The idea
caught on like a fish-hook to a trouser leg, but it took Mr. Baston,
who was in charge of the locker, some time to find the corkscrew. But
when he did find it--ah!
Fitful little puffs of wind tightened the sails at fitful intervals,
and sent the waters sparkling behind us, as the sun began to sink
towards the west. As sundown approached, a steady but light breeze
began to waft us slowly forward. The light clouds of the western
horizon were painted in bright golden hues, and the sun sank beneath
the waters a glaring ball of fire amid the living flame into which he
had touched the burnished clouds which overhung him.
“Plenty of wind by and bye,” remarked the skipper, as our sympathies
again went out to the slaves of Carolina. Under the influence of the
rising breeze our boat danced merrily through the waves until Nicholas,
who had mounted the masthead, said he could hear the distant roll of
the breakers as they broke over the coral-capped reefs of the Abrolhos,
and we must lay the boat to for the night. The boat was thrown up into
the wind, and everything made safe as the new moon sank beneath the
horizon, and under the splashing music of the waters we rolled into our
rugs and were lulled into that soft slumber which was only disturbed by
the hardness of the deck on which we lay. An occasional “Ough--h--h” or
“Ach--h--” smote dreamily on our ears, telling us that some, at least,
of our party did not trouble particularly whether the ducks came home
or the cows laid.
Thus was our Christmas spent. “Coffee!” shouted Miles at about five
o’clock, and we roused up to find the boat slightly careening under
a pleasant breeze, which was blowing us along at about six or seven
knots. We had drifted a good way back and northerly during the night,
and it was not till near ten o’clock, before we sighted Goss Island,
the most easterly of the middle group of the Abrolhos--a low, sandy
spit, rising only a few feet above the surrounding waters. Our
unaccustomed eyes could not distinguish it from the crested foam of a
rolling wave till long after our watchful skipper pointed it out to us,
and told us he was on the look-out for a beacon-pole which was erected
on its shore.
Passing this island at a respectful distance, so as to keep well away
from its outlying reefs, the Wallaby and Pigeon Islands hove in view,
and, entering the channel which lay between them, sailed up to a
sheltered cove, which afforded good anchorage, and dropped anchor at
about noon, having been thirty-six on a journey which with a moderate
breeze would have occupied about eight.