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Matkin enjoyed Lisbon, and gives his first
descriptions of the tedium of dredging in these letters written on what
should have been a short journey from Lisbon to Gibraltar, drawn out
by what would become their long daily routine of dredging and sounding.
| Sunday, January 12
We left Lisbon at 4pm for Gibralter & left no mail behind, so
I shall have to post this at the rock. It has been a beautuful summer's
day & the city looked splendid as we steamed down the river.
I don't suppose I shall ever see Lisbon again...but it certainly
is a beautiful place and has a splendid climate. |
Considering Mr. Matkin's unusually good command of English,
we can certainly overlook his consistent misspelling of "Gibraltar"
(and Professor Wyville-Thomson's name!)
| January 13th & 14th, off the Spanish coast
The progress has been very slow as we have been sounding & dredging
all day & only made sail at night with a very light wind. we shall
not reach Gibraltar this week at this rate. When the dredge came
up this morning full of mud & shell fish it was laughable to see
the scientific gents with their sleeves rolled up overthauling the
mud for Fish & insects &c. The Captain's son Mastr. Willie Nares,
aged 9, was also very busy amongst the mud--I don't know whether
I told you before that he was on board but he is going with us all
the commission. |
 20
January
We sighted the coast of Africa on Tuesday night (the 17th) at the
entrance to the Straits, and during the night we passed right through
into the Mediterranean sea, where we hove to until Saturday morning
early, then steamed into the Bay of Gibralter. |
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