Charleston, September 27th, 1869⁠—It is high tide, and three o’clock in the afternoon when we leave the Battery-quay; the ebb carries us off shore, and as Captain Huntly has hoisted both main and top ...

September 28th⁠—John Silas Huntly, the captain of the Chancellor, has the reputation of being an experienced navigator of the Atlantic. He is a Scotchman, a native of Dundee, and is about fifty years ...

September 29th⁠—Captain Huntly’s bill of lading, that is to say, the document that describes the Chancellor’s cargo and the conditions of transport, is couched in the following terms:⁠— Bronsfield and...

September 30th to October 6th⁠—The Chancellor is a rapid sailer, and more than a match for many a vessel of the same dimensions. She scuds along merrily in the freshening breeze, leaving in her wake, ...

October 7th⁠—This is the tenth day since we left Charleston, and I should think our progress has been very rapid. Robert Curtis, the mate, with whom I continue to have many a friendly chat, informed m...

October 8th to October 13th⁠—The wind is blowing hard from the northeast; and the Chancellor under low-reefed topsail and foresail, and labouring against a heavy sea, has been obliged to be brought ah...

October 14th⁠—At last we are free from the sea of vegetation, the boisterous gale has moderated into a steady breeze, the sun is shining brightly, the weather is warm and genial, and thus, two reefs i...

October 15th to October 18th⁠—The wind is still in the northeast. There is no change in the Chancellor’s course, and to an unprejudiced eye all would appear to be going on as usual. But I have an unea...

October 19th⁠—Everything, then, is clear. The uneasiness of the crew, their frequent conferences, Owen’s mysterious words, the constant scourings of the deck and the oppressive heat of the cabins whic...

October 20th and 21st⁠—The Chancellor is now crowded with all the canvas she can carry, and at times her topmasts threaten to snap with the pressure. But Curtis is ever on the alert; he never leaves h...

What my feelings were I cannot describe; but it was hardly in terror so much as with a kind of resignation that I made my way to Curtis on the forecastle, and made him aware that the alarming characte...

October 22nd⁠—Curtis has told the captain everything; for he persists in ostensibly recognizing him as his superior officer, and refuses to conceal from him our true situation. Captain Huntly received...

October 24th to 29th⁠—For the last five days the sea has been very heavy, and although the Chancellor sails with wind and wave in her favour, yet her progress is considerably impeded. Here on board th...

October 29th:⁠—night⁠—The scene, as night came on, was terrible indeed. Notwithstanding the desperateness of our situation, however, there was not one of us so paralyzed by fear, but that we fully rea...

The night of the 29th continued⁠—It was not yet midnight; the darkness was most profound, and we could see nothing. But was it probable that we had stranded on the coast of America? Very shortly after...

October 30th⁠—At the first gleam of daylight we eagerly scanned the southern and western horizons, but the morning mists limited our view. Land was nowhere to be seen. The tide was now almost at its l...

October 30th⁠—Once again I talked to M. Letourneur about our situation, and endeavoured to animate him with the hope that we should not be detained for long in our present predicament; but he could no...

October 31st to November 5th⁠—Our first proceeding on the morning of the 31st was to make the proposed tour of the reef, which is about a quarter of a mile long. With the aid of our sounding-lines we ...

November 6th to November 15th⁠—For the first five days after the Chancellor had run aground, there was a dense black smoke continually rising from the hold; but it gradually diminished until the 6th o...

November 15th to 20th⁠—The examination of the hold has at last been made. Amongst the first things that were found was the case of picrate, perfectly intact; having neither been injured by the water, ...

November 21st to 24th⁠—There was assuredly no time to be lost before we ought to leave Ham Rock reef. The barometer had been falling ever since the morning, the sea was getting rougher, and there was ...

November 24th to December 1st⁠—Here we were then once more at sea, and although on board a ship of which the stability was very questionable, we had hopes, if the wind continued favourable, of reachin...

December 2nd and 3rd⁠—For four hours we have succeeded in keeping the water in the hold to one level; now, however, it is very evident that the time cannot be far distant when the pumps will be quite ...

December 4th⁠—The first attempt at mutiny being thus happily suppressed, it is to be hoped that Curtis will succeed as well in future. An insubordinate crew would render us powerless indeed. Throughou...

Night of December 4th⁠—Curtis caught young Letourneur again in his arms, and running with him across the flooded deck deposited him safely in the starboard shrouds, whither his father and I climbed up...

December 5th⁠—The day was very hot. December in latitude 16° N. is a summer month, and unless a breeze should rise to temper the burning sun, we might expect to suffer from an oppressive heat. The sea...

December 6th⁠—I must have fallen asleep for a few hours, when at four o’clock in the morning, I was rudely aroused by the roaring of the wind, and could distinguish Curtis’s voice as he shouted in the...

December 6th continued⁠—The Chancellor no longer maintained her equilibrium; we felt that she was gradually going down, and her hull was probably breaking up. The maintop was already only ten feet abo...

December 7th⁠—The ship was sinking rapidly; the water had risen to the foretop; the poop and forecastle were completely submerged; the top of the bowsprit had disappeared, and only the three mast-tops...

Will this frail float, forty feet by twenty, bear us in safety? Sink it cannot; the material of which it is composed is of a kind that must surmount the waves. But it is questionable whether it will h...

December 7th continued⁠—Our first day on the raft has passed without any special incident. At eight o’clock this morning Curtis asked our attention for a moment. “My friends,” he said, “listen to me. ...

December 8th to 17th⁠—When night came we wrapped ourselves in our sails. For my own part, worn out with the fatigue of the long watch in the topmast, I slept for several hours; M. Letourneur and André...

December 18th to 20th⁠—On the 18th the wind freshened a little, but as it blew from the same favourable quarter we did not complain, and only took the precaution of putting an extra support to the mas...

December 21st⁠—No further disturbance has taken place amongst the men. For a few hours the fish appeared again, and we caught a great many of them, and stored them away in an empty barrel. This additi...

December 21st, night⁠—The boatswain rushed to the halliards that supported the sail, and instantly lowered the yard; and not a moment too soon, for with the speed of an arrow the squall was upon us, a...

December 22nd⁠—Daylight came at length, and the sun broke through and dispersed the clouds that the storm had left behind. The struggle of the elements, while it lasted, had been terrific, but the swo...

December 23rd to 30th⁠—After the storm the wind settled back into its old quarter, blowing pretty briskly from the northeast. As the breeze was all in our favour it was important to make the most of i...

January 1st to 5th⁠—More than three months had elapsed since we left Charleston in the Chancellor, and for no less than twenty days had we now been borne along on our raft at the mercy of the wind and...

January 5th and 6th⁠—The whole scene made a deep impression on our minds, and Owen’s speech coming as a sort of climax, brought before us our misery with a force that was well-nigh overwhelming. As so...

January 7th⁠—During the last few days since the wind has freshened, the salt water constantly dashing over the raft has terribly punished the feet and legs of some of the sailors. Owen, whom the boats...

January 8th⁠—All night I remained by the side of the poor fellow’s corpse, and several times Miss Herbey joined me in my mournful watch. Before daylight dawned the body was quite cold, and as I knew t...

January 9th and 10th⁠—On the 9th the wind dropped, and there was a dead calm; not a ripple disturbed the surface of the long undulations as they rose and fell beneath us; and if it were not for the sl...

January 11th to 14th⁠—Owen’s convulsions returned with increased violence, and in the course of the night he expired in terrible agony. His body was thrown overboard almost directly; it had decomposed...

January 15th⁠—After this further shattering of our excited hopes death alone now stares us in the face; slow and lingering as that death may be, sooner or later it must inevitably come. Today some clo...

January 16th⁠—If the crew of any passing vessel had caught sight of us as we lay still and inanimate upon our sailcloth, they would scarcely, at first sight, have hesitated to pronounce us dead. My su...

January 17th⁠—As a natural consequence of the alleviation of our thirst, the pangs of hunger returned more violently than ever. Although we had no bait, and even if we had we could not use it for want...

January 18th⁠—After this excitement I awaited the approach of day with a strange anxiety. My conscience told me that Hobart had the right to denounce me in the presence of all my fellow-passengers; ye...

January 19th⁠—All through the day the sky remained unclouded and the heat intense; and night came on without bringing much sensible moderation in the temperature. I was unable to get any sleep, and, t...

January 20th to 22nd⁠—For the day or two after the horrible repast of the 18th those who had partaken of it appeared to suffer comparatively little either from hunger or thirst; but for the four of us...

January 23rd⁠—Only eleven of us now remain; and the probability is very great that every day must now carry off at least its one victim, and perhaps more. The end of the tragedy is rapidly approaching...

January 24th⁠—I have inquired more than once of Curtis if he has the faintest idea to what quarter of the Atlantic we have drifted, and each time he has been unable to give me a decided answer, though...

January 25th⁠—Last night was very misty, and for some unaccountable reason, one of the hottest that can be imagined. The atmosphere was really so stifling, that it seemed as if it only required a spar...

January 26th⁠—All heard and understood the proposition; in fact, it had been in contemplation for several days, but no one had ventured to put the idea into words. However, it was done now; lots were ...

January 26th⁠—I understood it all; the devoted father having nothing more to give, had given his life for his son. M. Letourneur was no longer a human being in the eyes of the famished creatures who w...

January 27th⁠—I did not close my eyes all night, and was keenly alive to the faintest sounds, and every ripple of the water, and every murmur of the waves, broke distinctly on my ear. One thing I noti...

January 27th continued⁠—A change came over me as if by miracle. No longer had I any wish to die, and already Curtis, who had heard my cries, was throwing me a rope. I seized it eagerly, and was hauled...

January 27th continued⁠—Curtis, no doubt was right. The discharge from the mouth of the Amazon is enormously large, but we had probably drifted into the only spot in the Atlantic where we could find f...