THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE LEAVING IRELAND Day 5

Day 5 Wednesday, November 13th, 1867.

On Wednesday, I arose and went on deck. The spray was dashing over the bulwark. You would have thought it was raining. But, it was not long until it got worse. The wind was right ahead of the ship and a person could not stand on deck without being wet. For every little while a great wave would wash over the foredeck. Sometimes it would dash up over the cooking house and then run down on the people that would be standing about.

I got pretty wet myself. That day I was up on deck and was standing at the side of the cooking house when a great wave came over the cooking house and ran down upon my head so that I got wet all over. Some of the people that were standing by laughed heartily at me, but I had not long to wait until I got a laugh at them. For a few minutes another wave came over the ship and cooking house and ran down upon them which I was not sorry to see.

At the same time the water was ankle  deep on deck. For the greater part of the day the way that the water came over, the carpenter closed the front hatchway and nailed canvasses on it to keep out the water. 

The ship is rolling from side to side and heaving up and down so that it is very hard to keep from falling. It is now 9:00 at night and it is as course as ever. Blowing so hard that it would almost blow a man off his feet and the water still dashing over her forefront. 

The wind is now on the right side of the ship and is blowing very strong. But, clear sky and moon so clear that I almost see to read. Wednesday night it was very stormy all night. This was the 13th.

---------------to be continued.