Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 83]
attempts the engine again started working & with the men from the Schooner aboard we weighed anchor & got out of danger; then like a well-whipped cur the "Lili" returned to her moorings.
The schooner was eventually towed to a place of safety and the "Lili" instead of proceeding south went to Alexis Hafen for repairs. I have just returned from there & have arranged to leave at daylight tomorrow for Stephansont.
Saturday 14th on board "Lili", Errima Hafen 8 am : I am becoming somewhat tired of these worn-out motor ketches which "sail not neither do they spin" (along). We put in a wretched time yesterday. We left Wmshafen [Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen] at 6 am & she ran beautifully till we reached Stephansont. We discharged our cargo & took the cocoanuts aboard. The anchorage is simply an open roadsted which is safe enough in the morning but about midday a nasty sea comes up which makes it exceedingly dangerous for small vessels.
I was anxious to be away and we started off at about 12.30 pm. We had not gone above 100 yards when the engine again broke down. We immediately made sail & endeavoured to claw off the land. The seas came rolling in from the north & we made but poor progress.
"With wind & tide fair in your tail
Right on ye send your seaway;
But in the teeth o'baith to sail
Ye make an unco' leeway."
The poet must have had the "Lili" in mind when he wrote those lines. At any rate they fit her very well. We vainly endeavoured to make Konstantin Hafen to do which she need only lay 6 pts off; but, No! she would lay about 8 pts & even then make leeway. In despair I decided to return to Stephansont & take my chance. We did so & dropped anchor; the sea by this time had got up considerably and