sailed again. From Sunda Straits we had a good run till near the Cape.
Here we had calms again, and the grass and barnacles grew very fast.
Indeed, the ship's bottom was like a half-tide rock, and when the water
washed up the sides, as she rolled, the noise made by the barnacles was
like the surf on a sea-beach. We were followed for several days by a
shoal of dolphins, which we caught in great numbers night and morning.
Finally we got round the Cape, and to St. Helena, where we stayed four
days, and employed men to assist us in chopping off grass and barnacles
as far as we could reach. Then we proceeded on our way once more.

We had a wearisome time in the "doldrums" about the equator, only
enlivened by catching dolphins and watching crabs, which would leave the
grass for a swim and then return to the ship. After getting clear of the
calm belt, we had a very good run to Bermuda, where we encountered a
heavy gale, with tremendous heavy seas.

When the weather moderated we found to our dismay that the rudder was
adrift, the pintles having been broken by the heavy seas. I was now
compelled to put before the wind and run for St. Thomas, in the West
Indies, and when near the entrance of the port a passenger, Captain
George Adams, "went off his head," and thus gave no little addition to
my anxieties. Finally we arrived safely in port. Here more troubles
began. I was advised to do many things, some of which would have been
much to the benefit of some of my advisers. One thing was to land and
store the cargo.[*] This I positively refused to do. But after all I
found that there was only one European blacksmith in the place, and he
had but a small shop. This man contracted to do the repairs, and after I
had got the rudder to his shop he coolly asked me if I had a good
carpenter or other handy man to help him, as the job was too heavy for
his negro assistant to weld. I proposed to him another plan. So at last