Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
black water Slocum mused on the difference between the two ves-
sels. Ironically, it was the frail little
Spray
that proved the more dur-
able. SS
Columbia
was wrecked off California the following year.
Slocum had much work to do repairing sails and damaged gear
before braving the open sea again and took his time along the chan-
nel. One day he came upon the wreckage of a vessel that had been
less fortunate than
Spray
in the great gale and salvaged several casks
of tallow which he planned to trade during the next leg of the jour-
ney. He reached Port Angosto, close to the exit from the strait, at the
end of March. Six times he tried to reach the Pacific and six times he
was driven back by contrary winds. At last, on 13 April,
Spray
broke
free of the land and Slocum raised his voice in relief and exultation.
“'Hurrah for the Spray!” I shouted to seals, sea-gulls and penguins;
for there were no other living creatures about.'
21
He bore away for Juan Fernandez, an island intermittently oc-
cupied since Dampier's visit and now ruled on behalf of the Chilean
government by a governor of Swedish extraction. Slocum stayed
eight days among the hospitable islanders, who much to his sur-
prise, had read of his exploits in newspapers brought out from Val-
paraiso. He climbed to the mountain lookout to gaze upon the me-
morial to Alexander Selkirk placed there twenty-eight years before
by the officers of HMS
Topaze.
And he wondered why the castaway
had ever left what seemed to be an idyllic location:
The hills are well-wooded, the valleys fertile, and pouring down
through many ravines are streams of pure water. There are no ser-
pents on the island, and no wild beasts other than pigs and goats . . .
The people lived without the use of rum or beer of any sort. There was
not a police officer or a lawyer among them. The domestic economy of
the island was simplicity itself. The fashions of Paris did not affect the
inhabitants; each dressed according to his own taste. Although there
was no doctor, the people were all healthy, and the children were all
