November 5th- 115 days out.  Latitude 10 degrees, o minutes North.

Another Sunday has gone and we are still jogging along, and we have only 10 degrees further west to go.  We are in the tropics and the NE Trades with ________ clear marine _________ weather with occasionally a refreshing shower .  But the thermometer begins to go down a little, telling us plainly, that very soon a great change must come in the weather.  We are steering now for

Cape Hatteras, while we have got the Easterly winds…
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On our last voyage home, we lost poor Charles Makens overboard.  We have lost nobody this voyage, and God grant, we may continue safe to the end.
I began to think we were never going to see any vessels, but Friday we saw two and yesterday three.  One was a little English fore and aft schooner, very near us.  We hoisted our colors and saluted him and he gracefully returned it.  They were steering towards”______ Cape”.  19 years ago, my first voyage in the Tropics I passed into the Caribbean Sea by that passage.  I have had a stormy life since that.  The day we passed….
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…voyage journal I’ve _______ it in the same place, the same water, X days out.
Today I have been thinking of the old days.  One by one they come back to me. How ________ it is that these long forgotten _____ will spring up again, but my guitar is broken.  I broke it in Ilo-ilo.  I have hardly played it t his voyage.  Yesterday I get it out and glued it together.  It seemed like an old friend _____ ______ ______ to try and play a little this evening, but I have got an awful headache, and all I can do is to think.
The cockroaches give me some fun.  They run like the old when I am round.  They are afraid of my slippers.  The ______ are always on watch and as soon as I kill a cockroach, they will run out from their hiding places and grab his carcass and run off with it.  And so I lay on my sofa and watch them.

 

Monday, November 13th

124 days out.  Latitude 27 degrees North.  Longitude 66 degrees West.
Since writing the foregoing, a long tedious time has passed.  We have been in the place called “Horse Latitudes” very near the West Indies, almost becalmed, never making more than 60 miles a day, some days thirty.  It seems _______ to be laying idle here, when winter is coming on so rapidly.  But no doubt it is all for the best.  The weather has been so warm that we have slept without blankets with the windows open, longing for a breath of air.  I have had a severe attack of “Dyspepsia”, and it has made me long to get _______.  I have made a couple of baskets to work it off, but it won’t go.  Our ship is painted to the water’s edge and shines and glistens like a new dollar, and is all agog to get in Boston in about…
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… the most impatient we get.  We had a serious accident last week.  Our Bowsprit broke, but not so bad that we couldn’t patch it by fixing as they do a broken ________.
Yesterday after service, a little _____ came to us from the North.  After it the wind came snorting along at great rate.  Running dead before it was a Yankee rig and a schooner.  It done us good to see them.  This sent the thermometer down bout 5 degrees and last night was quite comfortable.  Though the wind sighed and moaned through the rigging like a real wintry wind, as it was, and put me in mind of other days….
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“Maine heath(?) on my _____”
Now Chin the steward is rigging up the stove, for soon it will be too cold for birdy and the plants.  They are all doing well.  I call the little bird “Sing Song”.  The kittens have found out that the cabin is a nice place, and forsaken old Dunn and taken up their abode aft.  So I have quite a family of pets.
My traps are nearly all packed, and there is a pile of them, 18 or 20 boxes and barrels.  But I think it will be too late for the Atlantic Steamer.  My boys are a study.  They came away from Boston young lads, they are returning men.  The young Reginald Clary is sporting a pair of whiskers and it is fun to see him feel of them when he thinks no one is looking.  I asked him last night if he was going home to see his mother. (She is a widow and lives in Spanish Connecticut, and he is her only child)  He said he thought not.  I asked him how he thought she would feel…
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…for Clary.  A boy that has probably cause his mother many nights of anguish.
I have been reading the private history of the life of _______ Napoleon.  He was a queer character.  Now I am reading Lamastuel’s(?), History of the French Revolution of 1848.  It’s very interesting and paved the way for Napoleon’s Empire.  Looking over some English papers, I find the following notice, so it seems there is now more than one W. Drew in the world, more than one clergyman by that name.  he was not much younger than my uncle of that name.

(News clipping here)

Death! What an awful mysterious word.  The ________ of the future, the translator from this life, to what?  No man knows.  We only know that he will surely come…
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Saturday, Nov. 17th, 1871.  128 days out.  Latitude 33 degrees North, Longitude 77 degrees West.

I must write this in black ink, my blue one is so poor, and it is very appropriate for what is to follow.  Since  my last writing, we have had great changes.  The wind went round to the South with the sun and came out from West in true Yankee style- spitting rain at us.  But we did not mind that, we were expecting it.  Last Tuesday, the new moon shone itself like a pale gold ribbon setting in the West, and I thought it would light our way to Boston, and that my darling would see it, and say their father was looking at it too.  I have often heard say that it was bad luck to see the new moon over the left shoulder.  But it was something I never cared about, or believed in.  I saw this over my left shoulder.  Since tha,t it has been blow-

 

-ing heavy.  Our sails and spars and rigging are getting old, and we can’t curry sail so hard as I could ______.  Thursday evening, the wind was increasing, with that cold, leaden misty sky and great hungry sea running that is so dismal to look at.  We took in top gallant sails at 8 PM , and at 9 I wished to go below.  I had been on my feet ever since 5 that morning.  Mr. Graves, the second mate, was the officer of the deck.  I told to keep a sharp look out and if it blowed harder to let me know.  So I went to my cabin and laid down.  The weather was not very cool.. I had not been asleep 5 minutes before the second mate in that shrill voice of his, that the upper foretopsail clew-some(?) was gone.  I asked him if it was blowing harder. He…

 

…said no Sir. Only puffy.  I told him to free the topsail and let her go, but I could not get to sleep again-  I got up and sat in my chair.  Presently a door got to slamming and I was crossing the cabin to shut it, when I heard an awful cry.  I have heard it too many times to not know what it  meant.  Still, I did not realize ‘till the man at the wheel give it that shake that strikes dismay to a sailors heart- “A Man Overboard!”   A man overboard in such a night as this!  What chance is there for him?  And the thoughts that quicken the electricity flash through my mind.  In an instant I was on deck.  From the mad roar of the waves, there came up a cry of despair, so near as if it whirled about the ship- Oh!

 

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Oh! Oh! Save Oh!  Where are you?  Look out for this rope, but the rope was afoul and could not reach him.  Hard down your wheel.  Al hands- man overboard!  And I grabbed the wheel platform, some pieces of board for the helmsman to stand on and I hove it after the drowning.  I reached forward not a man was in sight.  I called the Mate, asleep in his berth below.  I tore open the forecastle door and called the watch below up.  I looked aloft, every one of the Second mates watch was on the topsail yard.  Now was the time for the Captain to decide quickly what to do.  The boats- not one of them could be put over the side.  Must I leave him to his fate?  God Forbid!

 

We must near ship was the quickest, and cruise for him, there is a _____ chance, that he may get to rest on that platform, and we might pick him up.  Stranger things have been done.  Well! Haul up the mainsail!  Hard up your wheel!  Now the scene was gloomy enough- the cry of the sailors at the ropes, the whistling and shrieking of the winds, the thundering and ____ of the sails, the sharp orders of the Mate, the water pouring over the ships as she fell into the trough of the sea, and lurching so as to heave everything that was not lashed, head over heels.  All this mingled with the echoing cry of the doomed man and added to the awful anxiety of my position- filled me with a weight that seemed to ____ me to the deck.  Half of the men were aloft yet.  The watch on deck could not attend the yards fast enough.  Every roll of the ship threatened to take the masts out of her.  Every slat of the sails might shake them to pieces, and we had no more to replace them with.  The yards were aback and any moment might break them in two, and lastly, the rudder was in danger. All this night we crawled

 

…with care and time, and the men all at their proper places.  But time!   Every moment lost was to insure his death, who I determined to save if possible.  I staked all for his life.  But now the top Gallant sheet had parted and got into the fore topsail _____ block, and the yard could not be started.  It seemed an age before we could get it clear.  I had to keep all this time, the exact course the ship was making, so we could retrace our steps.  Now who was it that fell overboard?  Nobody knew.  Mr. Graves? Who fell had been aloft.  Mr. Graves!  Mr. Graves!  No answer, a weight like lead froze to my heart.  Mr. Graves was lost!  Well, no time for grief now.  _______ must not give way in times like this.  At last we got the ship round on the other tack.  It was just an hour from the time he went over the ship & peer into the water and see if we could see him.  I was chilled though the thermometer had fallen 10 degrees.  I calculate we arrived at the place he went over at 11:30 o’clock, but no signs of him.  Should I cruise til daylight and try and find him then?  There was a lame chance.  So we kept to…

 

…that spot until daylight.  The days have grown very short, and it was not till 6AM that we could see anything.  Aloft, below, everybody was straining their eyes- but no Mr. Graves.  Just before light, a light was discovered- it was a vessel steering before the wind, coming right for us.  We showed  him our lights.  We kept off but we had taken in so much of our canvas that the ship did not move fast enough to get out of the strangers way.  I called all hands, thinking that we might soon be following poor Mr. Graves, but all at once, the strangers vessel saw us and steered clear.  It was a narrow escape.  And my heart grew increasingly lighter as I saw him ______  _______ clear.

 
Now we gave up our poor Sec. Mate and kept sorrowfully on our way.  I enquired of the men on the topsail yard how he went.  No one knew.  No one saw him go.  He was the last one that came up, they said- and one man saw him go out to windward.  That was the last.  Everybody is sorrow stricken now.  When a man dies on shore the gap is instantly filled up, and it is not so much minded.  But here, in our little lone world, where we have been together so long, and know one another so well, that it seems peculiarly hard.  More so when taken so suddenly.  More so because it is the loss of a strong willing arm we so much need, and doubly so when it is an officer.  I have seen many men go in my time in various appalling ways, but I never felt grieved than at this time.  Augustus…

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…Graves belonged in Duxbury, Mass.  He was 25 years old, and had been at sea six or seven years.  He was the smartest man to perform feats of agility aloft I ever saw.  He would go where he could get a handhold.  His disposition was sweet and kind.  His brother Frank was with me last voyage, and this one came out with me before the mast this time.  He said no one would help him along, so, when I protected him, he was very grateful.  Just before we sailed from Ilo-ilo, he sent his father and mother, who are poor, an order for one hundred dollars to be drawn on his wages.  His familial affections were strong.  And now he is gone!  Cut down in the flower of his youth, gallantly doing  his duty, and so near home, after eighteen months absence, that he could almost count the days.  What sweet visions of home were blotted out by those cold waves.

 

The cold cruel Atlantic claimed him and into its great hungry maw, he went to his “Ocean graveyard.”  But that is not all.  He is better off- no more trouble for him.  No more storms.  But that poor mother, who is now counting down the hours that will bring him back to her.  How can I tell her that her precious boy was lost from my ship.  That I- his Captain could not save him.  Oh Lord help me!  I have been through that scene once!  I never want to behold it again.  One brother of mine lays very near here, another not far off.  I saw my mother receive the news of the last one, it nearly broke my heart to see her.  But there is One that can help her.  May she and her family all be drawn near to Him “who suffereth the Sparrow not to fall in the rain.” “The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away.  Blessed by the ____ of the Lord.”

 

The blew falls heavy here.  I thought a great deal  more of him than I knew for.  Perhaps I had a pride in promoting him.  He was so smart, and so fair and so steady, and good.  Then he was almost the image of my brother, “Edwin”, and I was in hopes of seeing them together.  And we needed him here so much.  But I have done all that could be done to save him- and I have shed bitter scalding tears to think of his end.  I try to think of it as the Lords will.  He wanted him more than I.  And then the dear boy is at rest.  There is comfort in that.  Sharp and dreadful as the agony of death was, he reigns on High now.  He will have none of the bitter trials that I have had- there is gain in that.
Everything seems so uncertain now,  the other day, I was thinking of the joy of getting in, and meeting my wife, my children, my little Mary, my boys.  And as I looked at the new moon, I called it the Thanksgiving moon, for I thought it would take me to then to get there about that time.  Now all is changed.  This awful visitation has made me feel as though it were no use to think of anything but death.  God forgive if it is wrong.  I have been dreadfully tired lately.  My eyes grow weak…

 

…and sore from looking for the plants to get observations.  They get filled saltwater.  And at 8 last night I had  no sleep for nearly two days.  I am Sec. Mate as well as Captain and standing my watch as I am to do.  I hate to put in a Sec. Mate now when we are so near our port- only five hundred miles.  But we may be a good while yet.  I was one, when Mate of the Dolphin- 28 days from here in December.  Seven days we laid in one gale, with nothing but the Lee clew of the main topsail, all buried up in water- no fire- little ____ and mighty poor at that.  I don’t like to think of those times much.
We got our fire going in the cabin for the first time today- more for the bird and the plants then anything else.  But it will be cold in a day or two.  The wind is North now and we are standing in for _______ so the next time the wind goes round to the West, we can run for Cape Cod

“Brother rest from your Sin and Sorrow
Death is over and Life is won
Upon thy slumber dawns no ______
Rest, thine earthly race is run.”

 

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Sunday –the- 19th Nov. 130 days out.
Latitude 33 degrees 30 minutes.  Longitude 72 degrees 00 minutes West.

“And I heard a voice from Heaven saying, Write.  Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth.  Yea, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.”
We hold funeral for the lost one this morning.  Reading the whole of the sublime service of the English Church.  The death has made _________ impressions on us all.  There is no disguising it.  It is all over now, but we can’t forget it.  Let us leave him to God who loves  his children better than we knew, and ….
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130 days out.  The days we allowed to get to Boston.  It’s no use to _______ anything.  Man ______ and God _______.  It seems now that if we get there in ten days more, we should be lucky.  Though it is only five hundred miles to Cape Cod, it is all for the best, no doubt.  Today is pleasant and beautiful.  The wind is from the North, but the sun shines warm- and with our fire in the cabin, the bird and the plants are as comfortable as possible.
So we go- another week and I hope we will be in the Promised Land.  Can we hear what may be in store for us?
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Sunday the 28th
Home Again!

Our voyage is up!  Our distance met.  Thank God.  Our ship is safe, our storm as are over.  The last week has been a hard one.  Last Wednesday was a regular whirlwind of storms.  We passed through it all safe as usual- and got our way through the _______________ the water going up from 70 to 82 and as suddenly down to 68.  We got our soundings all right.  45 fathoms.  Fine grey sand Sir!  A strong current swept us quickly up between Nantucket and George’s shoal.   Next day it was cloudy out came…
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…________ up the water as we go swiftly along- at 3 in the afternoon a long dark bank perging out of the mist ahead.  Land Ho!  Sweet America I see thee at last.  On in we fly, but night is coming on.  At 6 it is pitchy dark and raining from SE.  Cape Cod light twinkles from astern – at 8 the winter’s care is very great.  A long dark night coming on, a Lee shore.  Shall we stand on?  Or stop while it is time?  The risk is too great.  He decides for the latter, hauls his hip to the Eastward.  At ten o’clock her, turn her round, and lets her go in again.
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Yet Lo!  He looks to Leeward.  A pilot by jove.  Yes, one passed him in the night!  He sets his colors, we answer.  Now a horrible thought torments me.  He may have orders for me to go to New York.  But no- he springs over the rail, salutes and takes over command,  but the wind has come out dead ahead and we have 20 miles further to beat, so we stretch away toward the Kennebec river.  At 12 o’clock we are off of Thatcher’s Island.   It is _______ a living gale, the water is so white with froth.  The Spars _____ and crack!  About ship, and with a noise like thunder, our noble ship springs round another tack.  Now pilot anchor my ship inside Boston lights tonight and I’ll send your wife a fan!  I’ll  do it responds the pilot.
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The look cold and tires, and some of them have as many as four shirts on. But they see the dome of Boston State House and they don’t care.
The ship is so still that seems strange.  We take our frugal tea by a cozy fire, then write up our journals, finish our manifests for the Custom House f__t up the sailor’s accounts to see how much it will take to pay them up.  Go on deck.  Boston light flames like “______” of old right over our heads.
“Oh, beacon to the vessel here.”  But it is cold and snowing here, we go to bed and wrap ourselves in half a dozen blankets, and know nothing more ‘till five this morning- when we wake to a fine day.  At 8 o’clock the steamer came, and we were swiftly towed up, but had to anchor again…
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The reporter has come and gone.  We have had a chance to go and look ______… Old Boston, it looks so ____ good.  That does us good.  There is _____ and ______ perhaps, where are discharged and loaded so many times.  Where so long we went again and again, total and disappointment.  And we would be glad to go onshore, but our letters are all at WF Weld’s or perhaps seized with the rest of their books, and if we went to Dorchester, perhaps there would be no one there, so we couched.
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This is the last of the pages, with obvious water damage, from Captain John Drew’s Journal aboard The Franklin’s voyage, June 1870 through November 1871.