What a strange manner of men are these captains. There is little wind yet we are being blown hither and thither like a kite in the sky. Meanwhile our leader protests that the vessel's motion is so gentle and smooth that one might play bowls on deck. He claims that the waters, while not displaying the mirror-like surface upon which one hopes that all such journeys should commence, are truly becalmed. I had to question myself as to whether we were speaking of the same waters. Having procured a dish of Indian tea, I was wont to hammer my teem on every occasion I lifted it to my mouth. The captain informed me that were there more wind we would ride these waves in easier style, but at present, at least to my observations, we were forced to rise and fall like a cork according to Neptune's whims.
Sea terms: RATLINES, the rope ladders by which the sailors climb the shrouds; the COMPANION, the cabin-head; REEFS, the divisions by which the sails are contracted; STUNSAILS, additional sails, spread for the purpose of catching all the wind possible; the FORE-MAST, MAIN-MAST, MIZEN-MAST; FORE, the head; AFT, the stern; TO BELAY A ROPE, to fasten it.
The air has turned bitter, and the rain merely dribbles and denies us the spectacle of a cascade. The sailors have found some difficulty in surviving their watch, and I am unhappy to report that three have already been consigned to the ocean, their hardiness expiring in these trying conditions. As for Isabella, I fear the worst. Her malady has assumed a more active appearance. In our kingdom we have a quack who claims to have some formal training in medicinal science, but he is unable to pronounce upon her condition beyond useless generalizations that a child might deliver upon a cursory glance at the poor creature. His parting advice was to inform me that sea-sickness soon masters us all. I am truly distressed to see Isabella in such a plight and can discover nothing to give her relief. Both food and physic have been employed to little purpose. Nothing will sit on her stomach, and through the night she thrashes about her cot as though intermittently possessed by the devil.
This morning, as though nature were bestowing a gift upon us, a fair wind rose and a gentle gust filled our sails and ushered us forward with most marvellous ease and swiftness. But she did not stop there. The gust become violent, the face of the sea grew ruffled, and waves were dashed against our stern causing the ship to pitch from side to side as though about to roll over. This wind continued to rise and punch the ocean in all directions, whilst the horizon vanished as a sheet of rain approached joining sky to sea. The distant, towering clouds were soon obscured as the heavens assumed an ominous hue of bluish-black.
I was, when this drama commenced, consulting with the captain, who took the precaution of snuffing out one of his candles and readying himself to affix the other to the table. However, before he could make it secure, the sudden lurch of the ship threw it from the table-top and for a moment we were plunged into complete darkness. And then the noise! Never did you hear such an intolerable clamour. The cracking of bulkheads! The sawing of ropes! The screeching of the wood! The trampling of the sailors! The clattering of crockery! Everything above and below all in motion at once! Chairs, writing-desks, boxes, books, fire-irons, flying all about as though emancipated from gravity's governance. The livestock screamed and grunted, causing a cacophony no less disturbing than the cries of distressed humanity. And, of course, there was always the fear that the demise of the animals might lead to hardships of diet.
I took advantage of a momentary lull and returned to my quarters, where I was alarmed at the febrile condition of my faithful Isabella. My servant and constant companion for these past twenty years, there is nobody who knows more of the sorrows and joys of my heart than dear Isabella. Since my late mother's departure abandoned a sorrowful ten-year-old girl to my father's jurisdiction, Isabella has been both mother and friend. I now cursed myself for having inflicted this voyage upon her, for her life's journey had proceeded far beyond the first fresh bloom of youth. Yet her outward vigour always seemed to belie the true nature of her advanced and advancing years. But what now? She no longer attempts to put food on her stomach, and she talks already of what we have done and passed through, as opposed to the adventures we intend to achieve at our journey's end. The captain came down to inspect his ailing passenger and left without a word, but with a grave mien painted upon his visage. It would have cost this rum-soaked man little to have advertised some outward display of affability, for his melancholy must have served only to increase the inner misery that my dear Isabella was trying so hard to conceal.
This sad night has passed with difficulty, and I am now resigned to the prospect of continuing my voyage alone. The captain asked to speak with me, and so for a few moments I abandoned my Isabella. The bluntness of this curmudgeon occasioned little surprise, but his missive took the wind from my sails. It appears that Isabella has contracted a fever common to sailors from which she will not recover. And, in order that I might be spared potential suffering, the captain insisted that come morning she should be removed to solitary quarters. Although reluctant, I could see that I had little choice but to comply with his wishes, and so I composed myself and returned to Isabella. However, the seas were once again running mountain-high, and the waves breaking with such outrageous strength that they could clearly be heard pounding against the decks. They soon punished the caulking, and by dint of some pertinacious efforts wormed their way through the exposed seams, flooding our small private world. All night we were saluted by streams of brackish water which poured over our faces.
This morning there was little relief as the clamour achieved a pitch of frightening intensity. Bright scarves of fire lit the sky, and the wind raged with unabated force. All hands were now called, not only the crew but every man or jack who could assist in this dreadful emergency. The ship was one moment being tossed up towards the clouds, the next descending with such violence that she trembled for a full half-minute, beholden to Him that her planks were still joined together. Throughout this torment, Isabella clung to my sodden hand with her weakening fingers. Then, as though involved in this thundering drama, my dear Isabella contrived to depart from this world with a theatrical flourish, so that both the tempest and her world were gone as one, and sorrow was stealthily ushered through my door. It came to pass that the sailors and myself muttered the same prayer having both witnessed a tremendous scene of suffering.
'At last from all these horrors, Lord,
Thy mercy set us free,
While in the confidence of prayer,
Our souls laid hold on thee.'
A burial at sea is a pitiful ceremony. I cannot help but shy from describing it for fear of reviving the hurt that it occasioned to my soul. Suffice to say our lugubrious captain did his best to mutter a few solemn words, and men he had the melancholy office of dispatching the swollen corpse of my Isabella to the watery depths. Sad to recount, but she was swiftly followed by the cabin-boy, whose life never afforded him the pleasure of travelling shore to shore, and whose pit-bull terrier leapt over after him in a flight of loyalty that elicited from the scorbutic crew little more than howls of rude laughter. My schemes for the present frustrated, I therefore submitted myself to His powerful hand, and prayed that trust in His goodness would control this evil known as fate.