In the course of a long cruise in the South Atlantic and up the South American rivers, in the years 1880 and 1881, with my little yacht the Falcon, I found myself, more by accident than intention, in ...

Such is the story of the Trinidad treasure, a story that seemed to me to bear the stamp of truth, and it was difficult to conceive that⁠—allowing Captain P⁠⸺’s narrative to be correct, and there is ev...

To fit out and store a vessel for a lengthy expedition may be a somewhat arduous task, but it is an interesting and pleasant one, which is more than can be said with regard to that equally important w...

The article in the St. James’s Gazette attracted a considerable amount of attention, as was proved by the bewildering mass of correspondence with reference to the expedition which I received during th...

Our preparations were hurried on at Southampton, and I was never left in peace, but was in a condition of perpetual work and travel, my sole relaxation being the frequent farewell dinners given to mys...

As soon as dinner was over the whaleboat was put into the water, and I pulled off to the landing-place with two of my companions. The men on shore were still employed in carrying the barrels up to the...

At four in the afternoon we hoisted the sails and weighed the anchor. I was at the helm at the time, and was very surprised at the extraordinary manner in which the vessel now behaved. She seemed bewi...

All hands turned out early on the morning after our arrival anxious for shore leave, so that they might inspect the city that rose before them so majestically from the edge of the green water. Now cou...

We sailed on towards the desert island under all canvas, but did not reach it for eight hours from the time we first sighted it. As we neared it, the features of this extraordinary place could gradual...

On the following morning⁠—November 21⁠—as soon as breakfast was over, the doctor and myself started for the shore. In view of the rough climbing before us we did not burden ourselves with much baggage...

Having smoked our pipes we continued our journey. At first I was a very sanguine guide. I thought I should have no difficulty in recognising the ravine by which, nine years before, I had descended to ...

As we stood on the Col, the steep wall of the Sugarloaf rising to the left of us, the view over Southwest Bay was exceedingly fine. The bay is of semicircular form, with a distance of about a mile and...

We started early on the following morning, November 23, and reached the summit of the landslip before the sun had heated the black rocks, and the layer of close air immediately over them, to that high...

The patience of my men was now to be severely tried. Here before them was the mysterious isle, with all its golden possibilities; but for five days the sea was in far too disturbed a condition to perm...

We hoisted our leaky lifeboat into the davits when we got on board, intending to repair her on the following morning. During the night fierce gusts blew down the ravine from the northeast, and black m...

At last, on December 7, communication between the yacht and the shore was resumed; for the wind and sea had greatly moderated, and the doctor was enabled to come off to us at midday, with four volunte...

As it was a Sunday there was no work done on the first day of my stay in camp; all hands had the usual holiday, which they chiefly employed in fishing, and in mending their clothes. I walked up the ra...

I remained on shore for a fortnight, during which the weather was fine, though a slight shower generally fell in the morning. We had still a large supply of stores, both on shore and on board; but the...

It was blowing hard on the day of our departure from Bahia, and we sailed down the bay under mizzen and head sails, so as to see what it was like outside before hoisting our mainsail. A high sea was r...

The doctor and his companions had plenty to tell. They had dug a great deal and had cleared away the landslip, till they had arrived at what appeared to be the original rocky bottom of the ravine. The...

The five men I had left on the island had certainly done their work well. The doctor had made an excellent leader, and had organised all the operations capitally. They had toiled hard, and had kept up...

We had bidden farewell to the wild spot that had been our home for three months, but we did not lose sight of Trinidad for upwards of thirty hours. We had got underway at sunset on February 14. A slig...