ON joining the barque British Duke — an iron vessel of 1,400 tons — at Middlesborough, I was glad to find that Norris was again my shipmate, and that there were two others on board whom I had known before.

One of these happened to be the third mate who had been in the Worcester with me, and the other was a fellow-apprentice whom I had got to know before joining the British Duke, and who, luckily for me, shared a two-berth cabin with me. We had seven apprentices on this voyage, with accommodation for six only in the apprentices' berths ; so that two of us were lucky enough to be allotted a cabin to ourselves under the poop, and I must say I was made most comfortable on this last voyage I made on a sailing ship.

We carried a cargo of railway iron (iron rails) to Calcutta, and I was much interested in the way this was stowed in order to raise the centre of gravity, and guard against the possibility of any of the rails breaking loose in bad weather and piercing the ship's side.

We used to see some very fine Arab-owned sailing ships at Calcutta, which were always beautifully clean, and carried marvellously agile crews, who ran out along the yards without the support of lifelines, and I never saw them use a foot-rope to lay out on a yard.

At Calcutta we took in a cargo consisting mainly of gunny bags and linseed for San Francisco, and in order to get the best winds, shaped a course to pass to the southward of Australia and New Zealand before hauling up for 'Frisco.

The shark is the enemy of most people, but the sailor dislikes him most of all, for when winds are light in the tropics there is usually a shark skulking near the ship ready to grab anyone or anything that goes over the side, so naturally sailors miss no opportunity of catching them, and once the apprentices of my watch below hooked a shark that nearly had my leg off before we got him aboard.

We hooked the shark while fishing for him over the taffrail, and in trying to slip a running bowline or noose over his head, jammed on the chain above the hook.

The line used for the bowline was a part of the ship's running rigging, which had to be cleared before we could pull the shark further forward to hoist him aboard in a more suitable place than the poop, so I slipped down a line to clear the bowline. Just then a long swell rolled up unexpectedly, and I found myself in the water alongside the shark, and as we were not visible to my companions on the poop, the line on the shark-hook had not been tightened. As soon as Master Shark felt the strain on the hook relax, he thought he would have a bit of his own back, and was in the act of snapping at my leg when the ship's stern rose and tightened the line just in time to save me.

All the apprentices got on better together than on either of my previous voyages, and we used to box, play with single-sticks and do things on a horizontal bar I rigged up, so that we all had a good time during the dog-watch. Norris and I often played " follow- my-leader " aloft, joined by one or other of the apprentices, but none of us could touch Norris. In this way time passed pleasantly, and when the weather was not fine enough for games on deck, Norris and I prepared ourselves for the examination we would be required to pass at the Board of Trade for our Second Mates' Certificates, as soon as we arrived home.

At 'Frisco we took on board the usual cargo of grain, which on this occasion was to be taken direct to Liverpool. As we were making a longer voyage than had been anticipated when we left home, the owners had sent us, by another of our vessels, an extra supply of salt beef and pork ; but our captain, thinking that we should have more provisions than we should need on the way back, gave the sister ship that had brought the provisions a cask of pork. This we all had reason to be sorry for before we arrived at Liverpool, because we were becalmed for about seven weeks altogether, including three days off Cape Horn, which was a most unusual occurrence.

It was bitterly cold and snowy during the calm spell off Cape Horn, and we were all kept busy shovelling snow overboard to clear the decks. This no one minded, as it kept us warm, but we felt rather anxious as the running gear was frozen stiff, and if the wind had risen suddenly we could not have reduced sail, as the ropes would not run. However, a thaw came before the wind freshened to gale force, so all was well.

Once in fine weather latitudes, a boat had to be kept in readiness to board every vessel we fell in with, so that we might secure any provisions she could spare, as we found by now that we would not have enough food to carry us to Liverpool. Even though we managed to get something from each vessel boarded, we were put on half rations for the last month of the voyage, and ate the remnants of our stores on the day we arrived in port.

The first thing I did in Liverpool was to recover my indentures, and then present myself at the Board of Trade in London for examination for Second Mate.

I was the first to pass the examinations, and fearing that some mistake had been made, I hurried away for fear of being called back. In a few days I called again for the certificate and my papers, and once I had possession of these I felt a load fall off my mind.

In the meantime a friend had obtained an appointment for me in the British India Steam Navigation Company, which company very kindly allowed me to leave the steamer I had been appointed to at Port Said, in order to visit my parents at Beyrout, Syria.

After two months there, wishing to join their coasting steamers in India, I went on board a steamer bound for Bombay.

I have not had an opportunity of revisiting Beyrout since then, one reason being that force of circumstances prevented my leaving China for twenty years ; and another, that as my father died in harness in 1890, and my mother took her family to England, there has been no inducement to take me there beyond seeing old friends and renewing old associations.