January 1900
In January of 1900 I travelled to New York in company with Captain George T. Spicer. He was going to relieve Captain Dewis Spicer of his command of the ship “Glooscap”. My husband William Miles Collins was mate of that ship, that was why I went.

After being there a few weeks he was asked to take command of the Barque “Edward L. Mayberry,” chartered to carry a general cargo to New Zealand; she was quite an old vessel and had to undergo some repairs before sailing.

It was hard for me to make up my mind to accompany him as it was a long voyage and I had always been very seasick, even on short trips. I had left a four-year-old boy at home with his grandparents, so it is easy to see that it was rather difficult for me to make a decision.

After I had really decided to make the trip, with some persuasion from Miles, there were many things to think about. Mrs. Sanford, a friend in New York, was most kind in helping me shop. There was warm clothing to be thought about for cold weather and thin clothing for the tropical weather as we would have many changes of climate in a twelve month voyage. We bought blankets and I remember a bright red and green plaid shawl that I got and wore when I sat on deck in the cold weather; it must have had a cheery look; winter things had mostly been put away in New York and we had to take what we could get.

March: New York departure

On March 16th all was ready and we towed out of New York harbour; we had gales and very rough weather in the North Atlantic and I was terribly seasick for three weeks; was in my berth all the time. I do not think I ate anything in those weeks. How the vessel did roll and creak and how I did wish I had gone home from New York.

Looking out of the window all I could see was the sky and water meeting and just this speck of a vessel on a great ocean. Never shall I forget the ‘all gone’ feeling it gave me.

The Captain’s time was pretty full; he was of course, on deck a great deal and needed some sleep so I did not get much attention. The cook and steward were very kind, bringing me some food that they thought I might eat.

The weather began to get fine and in about three weeks I began to feel like getting on deck and soon I was able to go to the table and eat the ship’s food: pea soup, rice and curry or whatever it might be; I learned to be very fond of curried rice and meat.

As the weather got fine I spent much time on deck reading or working at the fancy work I had brought along with me and sleeping a good deal; I guess the motion of the vessel was conductive to sleep and it was surprising how quickly the days passed. On April 23rd we got the N.E. trade winds with lovely smooth sailing every day.

After a week of this fine sailing we got light, variable winds with rain and squalls in about five degrees north latitude; weather very warm and I felt the heat very much and got out my thin dresses.
We were now in the vicinity of the equator with its calms, variable winds and torrential rains known to mariners as the doldrums. On May 9th we crossed the equator and were in south latitude with the doldrums behind us and a good beginning of the S.E. trade winds; everybody in good spirits with steady winds and fine weather.

Getting a little cooler and very pleasant, I spent much time on deck. The Captain had me at the helm a few times to give me some lessons in steering but I was not an apt pupil. After two weeks of sailing in a southerly direction we began to get more varied weather with strong winds and I was not on deck so much; stayed below and read. We had lots of magazines given us for reading before we left new York and besides we had bought quite a number of books. This was followed by uneventful days with only the working of the ship and changing watches at eight bells which was every four hours (the bell is struck every half hour, thus making eight bells every four hours). I was always ready for meals when the bells were struck at noon. We had plenty of stores, canned fresh meat, which we always had for dinner on Sundays; canned corn and tomatoes and different kinds of fruit, condensed milk and evaporated milk; then there was salt beef and baked beans and pork and occasionally a fish was caught on the trolling line, so we had a good variety of food.

June: Cape of Good Hope
For many days after leaving the trade winds and fine weather we sailed in a south-easterly direction until on May 29th in Latitude 32 degrees south and Longitude 15 degrees west we began our sailing eastward and southerly until June 9th when we were in the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope we began what the Captain calls “running down our easting” and east we sailed for many days. One day when it was very rough and the wind blowing a gale we shipped some seas that broke the skylight and flooded the cabin and completely drenched me; I was on one of the sofas reading at the time and you can imagine the shock it gave me. Miles carried me to my berth and covered me with warm blankets. The seas kept breaking over and things got loose and went banging around the cabin. Our books and papers were soaked and ruined.

It was, without exception, the worst night I ever spent at sea. Next day was fairly fine and we got things out on deck and dried up, furniture fastened down again, skylight covered with canvas and battened down which made the cabin quite dark until we got some glass in again. As far as I can remember things went smoothly after that. It was June in the south Atlantic, quite cold, and I stayed in the cabin most of the time reading or sleeping or watching the weather from the companionway window and the birds; albatross and mollyhawks, cape hens and pigeons; it was interesting watching them following the vessel day after day. The time did not seem long. We passed between the two small islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam and although only twenty miles apart the heavy fog and mist that hung over them kept us from seeing them. I was sorry as the Captain had promised to show me these islands. Still sailing east in the Indian Ocean 38.20 south and longitude 77 east off Tasmania south of Australia, but too far away to see the island. We were now in the Pacific Ocean still sailing east until July 28th we sighted the coast of New Zealand in 40.40 south latitude at 5 a.m. (the Captain must have called me as I never was up that early) and five hours later we passed Cape Farewell about three miles off. It was a welcome sight to see the green fields again after seeing nothing but sky and ocean meeting for one hundred and twenty eight days. We had not sighted another ship in all that time. Our French sailor was at the wheel when we first saw the land and he said,”I don’t see any sheep”: New Zealand being a great sheep-raising country, I guess that was the first thing he expected to see.

We sailed through Cook Strait and next day towed into Wellington Harbour. I helped the steward get the carpets down, the furniture uncovered and new curtains up and things in readiness to see visitors; the cabin looked pretty nice.

Land, after 130 Days
The first on board was a man from the office with all our mail; there was quite a bunch of letters and I did not lose a minute in getting my letters opened. It was a long, long time not to hear from home but I had not worried but was so glad that my little boy and everyone was well when the letters were written although they were a month or more old; it took quite a while to get through the bunch of mail. There had not been any sickness on board and strange to say, the time had not seemed very long on the voyage. The stores had lasted well; we still had plenty of canned goods and hard tack but it was good to get some fresh vegetables and fruit. It was good to walk on the land again after one hundered and thirty days on the deck of a rolling vessel.

The vessel was moored at Queen’s wharf; it was a long wharf leading to the street and at the end there was an iron gate where a customs officer stood to see that no smuggling was done; there was always a policeman standing there to keep order. As the vessel was American owned, we were Americans while we were there.

It was certainly good to meet people again; we went to church twice while there and I was invited to the minister’s house one afternoon. They were English people and very nice; there were two boys in the family, one said grace; the minister stood up and sliced the bread as it was needed; that was new to me and seemed funny.

The house of Parliament was in session and we were given complimentary tickets to attend one evening; our seats were in the gallery but not on the same side; I was seated on the women’s side and Miles with the men. We could see the men getting up and speaking but could not hear what they said; the women were there with fancy work. It was all quite interesting. It was the first and only time that I attended a session of parliament. Another evening I went to a political dance in a big hall with some ladies I met; we sat and watched the dancers and was sorry I could not dance; one old man danced until he was gasping for breath; it was fun to watch him. Another evening we were invited to a home, it was called “Horace Villa” and their name was Arnold, he was a magistrate. It was a social gathering; some of the members of parliament and their wives were there; we were entertained with music and stories; one man whose name was Hogg said he had been asked what he was doing now-a-days and he said “raising hogs”; rather strange that I should remember that, but I recall that everyone laughed. We were served very nice refreshments and it was a very pleasant evening.

We visited the museum and saw the birds with such brilliant plumage and a large variety of them; there were carvings that the Maoris had made years ago. There were no animals when the islands were discovered. I have a picture of a boy and a girl in native costume, also of a Maori chief with greatly tattooed face. Married women had their chins tattooed and I sometimes met one on the street.

We were two weeks in Wellington where part of the general cargo was discharged; this consisted of cases of kerosene oil, patent medicine, clothespins, barbed wire fencing and other things that I do not remember. Altogether our stay there was pleasant; weather mild, lovely flowers growing wild.

August: Bound for Auckland
About the middle of August we towed out of Wellington Harbour for Auckland; it was not a long run but we had gales and head winds, terribly rough weather and I was seasick again, sixteen days making the run. Mr. Butts, the coast pilot, got a bad fall which almost disabled him for the trip; he could get on deck very much. After sixteen days we arrived in Auckland Harbour; it was good to be in port again. Auckland has a wonderful harbour; large enough, someone said, to hold all the British fleet. The heavy part of the cargo was discharged here.

Some of the sailors wanted to be paid off but were not to be paid off until the end of the voyage; they discovered a small rotten place in the foremast and to be spiteful they reported to headquarters. A survey was held of captains and ship carpenters and it was decided a new foremast and upper mail topsail yard must be put in. It caused a great deal of trouble and care for the captain and a huge expense having it done there; however it had to be done and made a long and tiresome stay in Auckland.

Mr. Black, the mate, had been there before and he told me about a Miss Olive, a St. John lady who had been there for her health for several years; she was tubercular and never expected to come home again but seemed very contented to stay and had many friends; she spent some time on board with us. I was at her home once and around the country some with her; saw the beautiful tree ferns and kidney ferns not found in any other part of the world; I have some pressed ones. Her uncle was engineer-in-chief for New Zealand (civil). We attended church here and met the minister, the Reverend Joseph Clark, and his family; one of his daughters was on board the ship for dinner one day and I was at their house once for supper; Mrs. Clark had been dead a short time; there were twelve in the family and they were all at the table for supper. Mr. Clark was very friendly and called to see us several times; we have his picture. His church was built for the Reverend Thomas Spurgeon, son of the noted preacher Charles H. Spurgeon of London. Mr. And Mrs. Robert Fowler from New York were in Auckland when we arrived; they had travelled across the continent to San Francisco and by steamer from there, had been only five weeks on the way which seemed very short as compared with our four months. He was agent for Arnold Cheney & Co. Of New York; they were a young married couple, very fine and were sometimes on board to see us. The cargo was consigned to Sarle & Fowler. The American Consul Mr. Dillingham and his wife had dinner on board with us one day; they were very sociable people and dignified; they belonged in San Francisco. Mrs. Fowler and I were invited to a luncheon at their home on one occasion. We had quite a number of visitors on board for meals; the cook was always good about preparing some extras for visitors.

Speaking of New Zealand being a sheepraising country, mutton was the only kind of fresh meat we ever had; I did not care for it. Oranges and bananas were very cheap and plentiful and there were fresh figs also. It was the winter season, opposite of our season, warm and pleasant and a shower would come up suddenly so it was always better to carry an umbrella. Did not do much shopping, only for beautiful yarn to knit on the way home and some curios.

Auckland had a wonderful curiosity shop and museum where I spent some time looking around; there were all kinds of curios, native weapons, native pottery, tapa cloth and articles of quaint design scattered around in profusion. There were carved figures in green stone and hundreds of things that I could not possibly remember. We always regretted that we did not get to the hot lake district at Rotorua Whakarewarewa to see the boiling lake and the marvellous pink and white terraces, wonderful scenery we were told. The Captain could not leave the work around the vessel so we missed all that.

October: Heading Back
At last on October 19 it began to look like getting away; the cargo of kauri gum (valued at $200,000) was in, stores and supplies for the long trip homeward, everything ready for a start except getting some sailors on board. It was hard to get men, only one of the six who went with us came back; that was Brodie, the Scotchman, he was a nice boy and wanted to get back to Scotland. They liked the climate there and I did not blame them. Mr. Black, the mate, of course came back; we had a new second mate who was much better than Mr. Folly who went with us.

On October 20th we said goodbye to Miss Olive and our other friends and towed into the harbour, got the rest of the men on board and towed out to sea at 5:30 p.m. Our stay had not been as long as that of other disabled vessels. At 10:00 p.m. we passed Channel Rock; the night was dark but clear; I remember it very well; and so we saw the last of New Zealand after a stay of two months and twenty days. Had made some friends at both ports; heard from some of them after we got home. Altogether it had been really wonderful, all so new to me.

Now began the long stretch homeward; we had made a very good start with strong fair winds, everyone apparently in good spirits. Captain said he has a good crew so are hopeful of a good trip to New York. On October 22nd we passed the meridian of 180 and the Captain put an extra leaf in his diary as we had an extra day, two Mondays. Now we had changed from East longitude to West longitude with head winds and rough weather so that I was unable to be on deck; had to stay below with my knitting and reading. All went well with the usual routine of working ship and changing watches at eight bells. We had the same mate and cook (Edward Dixon) faithful as ever, giving us very good meals, even in rough weather; I do not know how he kept his pots on the stove. We had brought along a supply of fresh fruit that lasted quite awhile.

I never went to the galley; the Captain said it was better not to; I guessed it was not too clean; had a blue flame oil stove in the cabin where I made the tea and coffee for myself as I did not care for the tea and coffee from the galley; drank water at the table.

November: Cape Horn
On November 18th we were off Cape Horn that I had heard so much about. Latitude 56.28 South Longitude 69.00 West. The weather being fine we passed inside Diego Ramarez Islands, a group of about eight rocky islands.

We had a splendid view of Cape Horn that day, only about three miles off. Cape Horn is only about five hundred feet high but there are higher peaks back of it; these were covered with snow. Well, we round the Horn without the difficulties and storms that I had heard so much about going, around from east to west owing to the prevalence of westerly winds. I will remember the high seas, how the vessel would go down on the seas and up on the waves again; it was quite scary but we “rounded the Horn” safely.

Now I must write something about the beautiful penguins we could see on the high rocks as we sailed along, standing up and looking almost like men with their white shirt fronts and iridescent feathers, if they could be called feathers; it is between fur and feathers; they do not fly but how they can swim and dart and dive through the water. The mate spent all of one of his watches below trying to grain one; he would throw the grains but the bird would be some place else. It was exciting for me watching him and he was tired when he gave up. A grain is similar to a harpoon, only it has four fingers with barbs on them; a rope is attached to it and a man holds the end of the rope; porpoise are harpooned and brought on board this way. The albatross and other big birds the same as we had off Cape of Good Hope were following us day after day; it was company to watch them. We had two onboard; they were caught by baiting a hollow triangle of copper baited with a piece of pork; a line was attached to it and the bird was hauled on board; it was not a cruel way to catch them. They were great clumsy birds on deck but beautiful in the water; their feathers were a mottled brown and white; as we got into warm weather they all left us or we left them behind. It was summertime and about twenty hours of daylight, light enough to read until nearly midnight. For the next three or four weeks we had variable winds and did not make the progress we hoped to but on Christmas day we were off the coast of Brazil with light winds and had to keep tacking ship for several days until we passed Cape San Roque; that was always monotonous when we were not getting anywhere. Christmas day was kept like Sunday with only the working of the ship; the men generally had a wash day on those days. On January 22nd we crossed the equator in beautifully fine weather and very warm; had hoped to get some rain as the water was getting short but did not get the usual rain. For awhile we were rationed to water, which was rather hard; how I did long for a drink of good cold water. Now we had the N.E trade winds and steady sailing day after day up to the island of Barbados, where we put in for a fresh supply of water; it had been hard not having plenty of water. On February second we arrived there and were hardly anchored when the boats were swarming round us, all wanting to take us on shore and some were telling us the news. Frank and Sadie had been there a short time before in the “Altona”; he had been sick and they had been delayed until he was able to go on again. Johnson Morris was mate and he had been a help in looking after the vessel.

Barbados
When we got on shore we found that a memorial service was being held for Queen Victoria; all the ladies were dressed in white for the service and so the ladies at the hotel got me dressed in one of their white dresses that happened to fit me and we attended the service with them. It was a very solemn service; a lot of local people were there and some of them wept all the time. A service was going on in London at the same time; it was 11a.m. in Barbados.

We were taken for a drive around the island that afternoon; some other captains with their wives were on the trip with us. That day the tanks were filled with water; we bought fresh fruit, sweet potatoes and guava jelly and sailed away in the moonlight. After leaving Barbados we had fine weather and very good sailing; passed some of the West India Islands close enough to get a very good view of them; passed the south end of Dominica island and through the Sail Rock passage which brought us into the North Atlantic.

On February 11th we had left the lovely tropical weather and trade winds behind us, for which I was sorry as I liked the warm weather. We caught a dolphin one day which was very good eating; sometimes we had a flying fish on board and they were very good to eat. Catching a shark was very exciting; I think it is a tradition among mariners that if a shark is sighted swimming around the vessel he must be caught; we never saw more than one at a time. A very strong hook with chain attached and a thick line attached to the chain; the hook was baited with a large piece of pork or beef and lowered over the stern, the shark saw the bait, turned on its side and swallowed the hook and bait; then the struggle began to get it on board; every able man came to help haul it on board; what thrashing around it did when it was finally brought on deck; it was seven and a half feet long; guess this is enough about sharks.

For the next twenty days there seemed to be a succession of cloudy weather and gales, very rough and I got weary of the constant rolling of the vessel. Could not be on deck very much; it was cold; there was a stove in the cabin but if a fire was made in it it smoked and it was better to be cold than to be smoked out.

On February 17th, sighted S.S. “Mechanician” of Liverpool and asked to be reported all well; thought the ones at home and the owners might be getting uneasy about us. When we arrived in New York we found that we had not been longer than other vessels from the West Indies. Men cleaning ship and Miles painting the cabin so everything would look its best when we arrived in New York.

March: New Jersey in Sight
On March 5th we are in sight of Barnegat light, New Jersey; everyone’s spirits reviving to be in sight of land again; next, March 6th we towed to the quarantine station, had the doctor on board, found everyone in good health for which we were thankful so as not to be delayed there. Passed the stately Statue of Liberty, the woman with her right arm upraised and hand holding a torch, symbolic of liberty enlightening the world. We towed on to New York and docked with the valuable cargo of Kauri Gum.
It was wonderful to be back in the big city again with its skyscrapers and all the stir and activities of a great city. It was grand to walk on the streets again and ride in the street cars, to see old friends and get home letters, which was best of all.

On March 1901 we arrived in New York after one year of a never-to-be-forgotten voyage around the world in a sailing vessel.

On March 7th Mr. Hay, the owner, came on board to tell us that the vessel had been sold and we began to pack up our goods to move. The vessel had become like home in spite of all the rough weather we had encountered and we felt a little lonely at leaving. I went to Mrs. Sanford’s at Fifth Avenue Bank in Brooklyn to board. Miles was still on board part of the time looking after the discharging of the cargo. Stayed in New York about three weeks and got fitted out with new clothes; my old ones were very old fashioned, styles had changed so much in a year. We did a little sightseeing; visited the Museum of Art and that of Natural History.

I came through to Boston where Effie joined me; she was coming from Mobil with Whitney and Cecil and we came home together. My little boy whose name was Reid had not forgotten me, had grown a lot and had been somewhat spoiled by his grandparents and his aunts.

The entire absence from home covers a period of one year and three months.

Written in West Advocate, N.S.
January 9, 1952