To go back to the period when we ourselves began to think of going out.
After some months of serious consideration we resolved to make the
attempt, and at once began to face the question of how to get there. To
get to Tristan da Cunha is no easy matter; it took us nearly five months.
There is no regular communication with it, and it has no harbour.

Formerly a man-of-war from the Cape station visited it once a year, but
since the South African War this annual visit has been discontinued. Mr.
Dodgson advised us to go to St. Helena and there await a whaler. He had
found this the best plan. So accordingly we set off from Southampton on
November 18, 1905--my husband, our maid and myself, taking with us a
year's food supply and a very limited amount of furniture. St. Helena was
reached in seventeen days. An interview with the American Consul, who was
courtesy itself, convinced us there was no likelihood of getting a
passage. The whalers that called there were from New Bedford in America,
and none were expected. Our visit, however, was not entirely in vain,
because we had the advantage of meeting the Bishop of St. Helena, who
showed us much kindness, and of talking over our plans with him. The
diocese of St. Helena must be unique. It consists of the three islands,
St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha. There is no clergyman on the
two last, and only the bishop and three clergymen on St. Helena. No bishop
of St. Helena has as yet landed upon Tristan da Cunha.

We decided to go on to Cape Town by the next steamer, which port we
reached early in January, knowing no one beyond a few fellow-passengers.
Not wishing to go to an hotel we took some rooms of which we heard from
the chaplain of the Seamen's Mission. For the next few weeks my husband
spent his time visiting the different shipping agencies and the docks, but
to no purpose, as no ship would call at Tristan. We even cabled to a