Astonishing spectacle of a "sea-fire." In the wake of the vessel I
behold a streak of fire so strong that it would have been easy to
read by its light; the water round the ship looked like a glowing
stream of lava, and every wave, as it rose up, threw out sparks of
fire. The track of the fish was surrounded by dazzling inimitable
brilliancy, and far and wide everything was one dazzling
coruscation.
This extraordinary illumination of the sea is of very unfrequent
occurrence, and rarely happens after long-continued, violent storms.
The captain told me that he had never yet beheld the sea so lighted
up. For my part, I shall never forget the sight.
A second, and hardly less beautiful, spectacle came under our
observation at another time, when, after a storm, the clouds, gilt
by the rays of the sun, were reflected as in a mirror on the bosom
of the sea. They glittered and shone with an intensity of colour
which surpassed even those of the rainbow.
We had full leisure to contemplate Eddystone Lighthouse, which is
the most celebrated building of the kind in Europe, as we were
cruising about for two days in sight of it. Its height, and the
boldness and strength with which it is built, are truly wonderful;
but still more wonderful is its position upon a dangerous reef,
situated ten miles from the coast; at a distance, it seems to be
founded in the sea itself.
We often sailed so near the coast of Cornwall, that not only could
we plainly perceive every village, but even the people in the
streets and in the open country. The land is hilly and luxuriant,
and appears carefully cultivated.
During the whole time of our cruising in the Channel, the
temperature was cold and raw, the thermometer seldom being higher
than 65 to 75 degrees Fah.
At last, on the 24th of July, we came to the end of the Channel, and
attained the open sea; the wind was tolerably favourable, and on the
2nd of August we were off Gibraltar, where we were becalmed for
twenty-four hours. The captain threw several pieces of white
crockeryware, as well as a number of large bones overboard, to show
how beautifully green such objects appeared as they slowly sank down
beneath the sea; of course this can only be seen in a perfect calm.
In the evening we were greatly delighted by numbers of moluscae
shining through the water; they looked exactly like so many floating
stars, about the size of a man's hand; even by day we could perceive
them beneath the waves. They are of a brownish red, and in form
resemble a toadstool; many had a thick pedicle, somewhat fimbriated
on the under part; others, instead of the pedicle, had a number of
threads hanging down from them.
