this
forenoon, and some large albacores seen. After dinner the first
mate hooked a fellow which he could not hold, so he let the line go
to the captain, who was on the bow. He, holding on, brought the
fish to with a jerk, and snap went the line, hook and all. We also
saw astern, swimming lazily after us, an enormous shark, which must
have been nine or ten feet long. We tried him with all sorts of
lines and a piece of pork, but he declined to take hold. I suppose
he had appeased his appetite on the heads and other remains of the
bonitos we had thrown overboard.

Next day's entry records the disaster. The three boats got away, retired
to a short distance, and stopped. The two injured ones were leaking
badly; some of the men were kept busy baling, others patched the holes
as well as they could. The captain, the two passengers, and eleven men
were in the long-boat, with a share of the provisions and water, and
with no room to spare, for the boat was only twenty-one feet long, six
wide, and three deep. The chief mate and eight men were in one of the
small boats, the second mate and seven men in the other. The passengers
had saved no clothing but what they had on, excepting their overcoats.
The ship, clothed in flame and sending up a vast column of black smoke
into the sky, made a grand picture in the solitudes of the sea, and
hour after hour the outcasts sat and watched it. Meantime the captain
ciphered on the immensity of the distance that stretched between him and
the nearest available land, and then scaled the rations down to meet the
emergency; half a biscuit for dinner; one biscuit and some canned meat
for dinner; half a biscuit for tea; a few swallows of water for each
meal. And so hunger began to gnaw while the ship was still burning.

(Diary entry) May 4. The ship burned all night very brightly, and
hopes are that some ship has seen the light and is bearing down upon
us. None seen, however, this forenoon, so we have determined to go
together north and a little west to some islands in 18 degrees or 19
degrees north latitude and 114 degrees to 115 degrees west
longitude, hoping in the meantime to be picked up by some ship. The
ship sank suddenly at about 5 A.M. We find the sun very hot and
scorching, but all try to keep out of it as much as we can.

They did a quite natural thing now: waited several hours for that
possible s