Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 15 The return to Canada of Newman and Cutler is, we are sorry to say, unchronicled. Stevenson, however, who came back some three or four weeks later than his fellows gives us the following day by day description of a rather hectic crossing. The month Cutler and Newman in England of September was marked throughout the world by a series of hur- ricanes and violent gales. The Kastalia had the bad luck to run into one of the more ferocious of the hurricanes. :1: 21: :Zz :Ez :iz Friday, September Sth. We came down to Swansea fRhodes and IJ yesterday afternoon but only signed articles today. After lunch today we strolled over to D shed and came upon a somewhat discouraging cargo-boat, the Kastalia. The Kastalia is a 2,500 ton ship and, according to the other men on board, has an un- pleasant corkscrew motion while at sea. She is taking aboard a cargo of tin which is, I believe, a rather steady article: but I don't think there's nearly enough of it to make her as steady as I should like. Saturday, September 9th. Our crew this trip is very different from that on the Sa1acia coming over. My present fellows are all Canadians and, so far anyway, a very decent lot. Most of them

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11 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD Sunday, July 23rd. Well, I had my bath today with disastrous results. I stood with nothing on outside our bunkhouse and pro- ceeded with a bucket of warm water, to eradicate some of the growth about me, the while a crowd of ribald individuals collected on the deck above me and made rude remarks. Then they pelted me with grease and, when I had taken refuge in the bunkhouse, made off with my clothes. I had lunch in my birthday suit. The clothes turned up one by one throughout the course of the after- noon until finally I was able to discard the blanket which I had adopted. When one has tended cattle for ten days one gets to know their characteristics pretty thoroughly. One also learns all sorts of little tricks for managing them. For instance, if one wishes a steer to get up, let a little drop of water from a bucket trickle down the back of his neck. Steers don't like this, and get up rather quickly. When we were getting the beasts aboard at the beginning of the trip I discovered a wonderful method of making these stubborn beasts move. All one does is simply grasp the steer's tail and curl it into a loop,-then twist vigorously: when you do this in the aforesaid manner the results are surprising and as follows: if he is a good steer he shoots forward like a rocket and then stops in exactly the right positiong if he is not a good steer he shoots forward but fails to stop,-then bedlam breaks loose. Monday, July 24th. We sighted land this evening and it won't be long now is on everybody's lips. I can scarcely believe that only three weeks ago I wrote Trig. at T.C.S. This morning we hauled forty bales of hay out of the hold to get at four bales of straw underneath them. It seems rather peculiar so near the end of the trip but We actually had life-boat drill today. Tuesday, July 25th. We worked and sweated all this morning getting five hundred bales of hay out of the hold, that is, all Worked except myself for I had the job of tally-clerk. After lunch I switched with Eben for some minutes for he was a bit done,--he'd been down there over four hours. When we docked this afternoon we were forced to get to Work in our best clothes and lift the blasted bales onto the deck. We must have looked a pretty ragged crew when We finally got through the customs, all coated in hay and dust and sweat. After losing our way several times while looking for the address given us where we might get lodgings we finally entered a temperance hotel and went to bed. . 1 v. 4. .-

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16 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD play the mouth organ, and as there is only one such instrument on board, mine, I don't get much chance to show my own musical prowess. This afternoon we lRhodes and Il went into town and got some books. I got For Sinners Only, the chief book of the Oxford Group, and Rhodes got a work of Weismullefs on how to swim the crawl. The latter seems to con-sist of a lot of Weismuller and not much crawl. Sunday, September 10th. There are twelve of us all told and we have been divided into six pairs to take it in turn washing up for the day. This morning, it being our turn, and I not knowing that the clock had been put back, got ,up at six thinking of course that it wa.s seven. Rhodes with the instinct of the really lazy didn't get up till eight. Washing up a cargo-boat takes away all onefs appetite. Grease abounds, a thick slimy grease that no amount of rubbing and wash- ing will do away with. Fortunately it had all dried up by lunch- time and was not noticed by the others! Monday, September 11th. There's no lack of sleep on the Kastalia. I turned in at .seven last night, and got up at the same hour this morning. Breakfast turned out to be uncooked porridge and a nauseating mess of curry and we were soon all in a very bad temper. However we had a sing-.song tonight with the mouth-organ and a penny whistle for accompaniment. What we lacked in harmony we at least made .up in volume. Tuesday, September 12th. I should imagine that the Atlantic is very seldom as flat and motionless as she is and has been for the past few days. Comparing the Kasta1ia with the Salacia I find very little to choose between them. The Kastalia is more modern but is smaller than the Salacia and rolls more, then too her refrig- eration prevents bad meat although the meals are awful. As for the crews I've come to the conclusion that any bunch of men taken from all sources are, on the whole, very good fellows. Wednesday, September 13th. Well, the bad weather has come at last and in abundance. All morning and afternoon the wind increased in velocity and the waves in height. Tonight at dinner twelve of us sat down to eat, but only three survived the meal, I was not one. Rhodes was sick outside the bunkhouse and went so far as to faint. Thursday, September 14th. Very rough weather. Self total- by incapacitated. Day passed in bunk. Consumption-nil.