The sixth installment of Annie’s diary…

Xmas day was bright but rather cold.  Santa Claus did not forget to call on Harold and Harry gave me a gold curb bracelet in memory of the first Xmas we have spent together.

The men had a good dinner, roast fowls, plum pudding, mince pies, a cake for their tea, and boiled beef. I also gave each man a lb of tobacco, and they had two drinks of grog. Harry gave the Engineers and Officers a packet of cigars each and they all seemed very pleased.

The weather now began to get warmer and the days shorter. There is a very strong current against us and with a head wind we don’t get along very quickly. All along the coast of Brazil the weather was most trying, it must be fearful for the Engineers and the firemen in the stokehole.

At night we could go out on deck and see the sky illuminated with the lightning over the land, not an occasional flash but a continual sheet, almost like fireworks. Although about 50 or 60 miles off the land we had several butterflies and birds fly on board. Some of the butterflies were very beautiful and a tremendous size.

We sighted a steamer and kept her in sight for about a week arriving at St Lucia within half an hour of each other. The sea was swarmed with flying fish and it was a pretty sight to see them in shoals looking like silver in the sunlight, some almost as small as sprats, others as large as mackerel, and these would fly for a mile or two. I here saw some nautilus sailing along like miniature boats, looking so pretty with their pink and blue sails set to catch the breeze and lowering them when any large wave came – Portuguese Men of War the sailors call them as they say they are only seen in fine weather.

We sighted the West Indies on the morning of the 18^th January, arriving at St Lucia about 5.30pm. Here we got our letter from home and it was good to get news after three months of waiting. St Lucia is a very mountainous island, with just a few settlements here and there. We could see groves of coconut and banana trees. The inhabitants are black and the women mostly labour carrying the coal on board the ships in baskets on their heads. Here we got a plentiful supply of oranges, nuts and bananas – such large ones I have never seen; I believe the natives mostly live on them.

In the evening we went on board the “Cuzco” the ship we had been in company with for several days. The Captain had his wife and two children on board, a baby boy of 7 months and a girl six years old.  Harold was delighted to have a game with one of his own size and had fine times.

At 6am on the 19th we were once more on our journey and until midnight the next day we were steaming amongst the West Indian Islands, just catching a glimpse of them in the distance.

We now were in the midst of the north east trade winds and experiencing the full benefit of them, the whole of the passage being rough.  On the 21^st two stowaways turned up – I think they are deserters from the army –  and as we were too far from land to put back we have to take them on to New York, where no doubt they will be imprisoned and sent back to their regiments.  I wonder how it is we have been favoured (?) in this way.  I expect they heard from the sailors the Captain was a decent sort of a chap, although he will have to give these up to the Authorities when we arrive at New York…