I remember one weighing
thirty pounds and measuring fifteen feet from tip to tip of the
wings. Cape hens about as large as good sized turkeys, ice birds, and
many other small birds. I enjoyed feeding them and it was very funny
to watch them tumble over each other in their efforts to get
something to eat. Such a noise as they did make with their
squabblings! Many sharks were caught and I never knew a sailor to
have any compunctions about disposing of these man-eating creatures.
A shark line was towed astern at different times and one day it took
the combined efforts of five men to haul one in. Whales, all of
ninety feet in length, stayed about the ship several days at a time.
We saw many sun-fish which are a light gray in color. They have one
large fin out of the water and are very hard to harpoon.
Once in a while another ship would come in view and if near enough
we always spoke to one another by our flag code. This was always an
interesting event. Certain sentences given in the code book would be
represented by certain flags, each flag representing a letter of the
alphabet.
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