The wind for a few days was
moderate, and, with unusual luck of fine weather, the _Spray_ made
Melbourne Heads on the 22d of December, and, taken in tow by the
steam-tug Racer, was brought into port.
Christmas day was spent at a berth in the river Yarrow, but I lost
little time in shifting to St. Kilda, where I spent nearly a month.
The _Spray_ paid no port charges in Australia or anywhere else on the
voyage, except at Pernambuco, till she poked her nose into the
custom-house at Melbourne, where she was charged tonnage dues; in this
instance, sixpence a ton on the gross. The collector exacted six
shillings and sixpence, taking off nothing for the fraction under
thirteen tons, her exact gross being 12.70 tons. I squared the matter
by charging people sixpence each for coming on board, and when this
business got dull I caught a shark and charged them sixpence each to
look at that. The shark was twelve feet six inches in length, and
carried a progeny of twenty-six, not one of them less than two feet in
length. A slit of a knife let them out in a canoe full of water,
which, changed constantly, kept them alive one whole day. In less than
an hour from the time I heard of the ugly brute it was on deck and on
exhibition, with rather more than the amount of the _Spray's_ tonnage
dues already collected. Then I hired a good Irishman, Tom Howard by
name,--who knew all about sharks, both on the land and in the sea, and
could talk about them,--to answer questions and lecture.
Pages:
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167