At the back of the world

AS far back as I can remember the sea had a strange fascination for me, and if, as is the custom with old people to ask a boy, however small, what he is going to be when he is a...

BEFORE we had been out at sea a fortnight I was able to climb up the lower rigging, and had learned several things about the ship. I was very happy, I was never tired, and was o...

ON the 20th August we sighted the island of Tristan d’Acunha: when about seven miles off, our yards were backed to see if any of the natives would put off to us to barter. This,...

I SHALL never forget the sensation that passed over me when the “Bertie” dropped her anchor, and made fast to the railway wharf on arrival at Wellington. It was my first foreign...

WE had fine clear weather when leaving Wellington, the sea was smooth so that the “Bertie” made fair speed through the water with every stitch of canvas set. When passing Chatha...

IT was still snowing as we were nearing the Falkland Islands. I was on the quarter-deck with Jones and some of the sailors. We had just finished taking in some of the sails, whe...

WHEN I reached home after leaving the “Bertie” in London, a hearty welcome awaited me, every one exclaiming “my word, how you have grown.” The boys that I had known at school wo...

THE first mate, Mr. Menzies, was a man of wide experience and knowledge. He was a great powerful man, a thorough old sea-dog, with a face and fist like a prize-fighter. He was n...

AFTER losing the south-east trades we had light winds and fine weather with smooth calm sea until we sighted the Falkland Islands; standing like two silent sentinels of that sto...

JUST as George the Greek had finished his story we heard the mate calling to shorten sail. All hands sprang up in a minute. For us Christmas was over--the wind had increased rap...

MY first sight of Callao was not one to endear it to my memory, for it is a dirty, unwholesome-looking town, and, as is well known, one of the most immoral places under the sun....

I THINK I have already said that I had an uncle in Peru whom I was anxious to find during my stay in Callao. In the little time that the smuggling had left me for my own leisure...

THE Oroya Railway is the greatest engineering feat in the world. It runs from Callao on the Pacific to the goldfields of Cerro de Pasco. From Callao it ascends the narrow valley...

THERE were several places on the railway that I became very interested in during the time I was working on it, and one was a little above Turco. Here the mountains form a kind o...

STRANGE though it may seem, and to show the small value which was placed on human life in those rough times, the tragedy narrated in the previous chapter was forgotten in a few...

THE day after my arrival at Lima, I was taken ill with the Oroya fever, which must have been on me before I left the camp. I was taken to the General Hospital and although I was...

AFTER remaining in Liverpool a few weeks, during which time I was made much of by those at home, who were all undoubtedly glad to see me, and who listened with great interest to...

DURING the five months we lay at Williamstown Wharf, replacing the disabled masts and rigging, I spent what I consider the happiest time of my life. The rigging work was placed...

BELMONT was a well known and prettily situated pleasure resort in those days on one of the beautiful bays in Lake McQuarrie. The homestead of Mr. Williams stood on the top of a...

IN the previous chapter I have spoken of Mr. Warner and his fruit orchard. The old saying that misfortunes, like blessings, never come singly was verified in their case. One day...

AT Belmont, our next door neighbour, Mrs. Rebecca Smith, lived a quarter of a mile away, but this was thought little of in the Australian bush, where, frequently, your nearest n...

I ARRIVED at Newcastle and was fortunate enough on the first day to ship as able seaman on the barque “P.C.E.”--Captain Law--bound for Noumea, New Caledonia, with a cargo of coa...

AFTER staying on shore in Newcastle for three weeks, during which time I had a good holiday and spent most of the money I possessed, I joined the barque “Edinburgh” bound for We...

AFTER my experience on the barque “Edinburgh” I felt that I was entitled to a spell on shore, and, as my landlady’s daughter had responded to the attentions I showered upon her,...

THE first day of our return journey we travelled as far as the creek where we had lost our horse the day before. The poor fellows we had rescued were completely done up, so Capt...

WE stayed together in Cooktown for a couple of weeks, and then Captain Brown was offered the command of a small vessel trading between Cooktown, Townsville, and the Solomon Isla...

CAPTAIN Brown and I left the “Pelew” at Brisbane, he, because he did not care for the Solomon Island trips for the reason stated in the previous chapter, and I, because what I h...