CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
A VOYAGE IN THE SUNBEAM.
HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.
WORK IN THE LONDON DOCKS.
PRETTY MRS OGILVIE.
BURNABY’S RIDE IN TURKEY.
WEDDING EXTRAVAGANCES.
CANINE CUNNING.
IN MEMORIAM.
No. 750.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1878.
A VOYAGE IN THE SUNBEAM.
We have not for a long time perused a morelively and interesting book than that written byMrs Brassey, purporting to be an account of hervoyage round the world, in the yacht named theSunbeam. The lady was accompanied by herhusband, Mr Thomas Brassey, M.P., also herchildren and a few private friends. The yacht,a handsomely fitted up and commodious vessel,possessed three masts, and had a powerful sailingcapacity, but was provided with a screw and steam-power,to be used as occasion required.
Though laying no claim to literary skill, MrsBrassey writes pleasingly in the form of a diary;and she may be complimented on her untiringenergy in bearing fatigue, and the good taste withwhich she describes the multiplicity of scenes andcircumstances calling for observation. Mr Brassey,usually called Tom in the narrative, was his ownnavigator, which infers no small degree of nauticalknowledge; and we are led to believe that thiswas not his first expedition with the Sunbeam.He was, of course, assisted by a sailing-master,a boatswain, and engineer, besides a crew of atleast twenty able-bodied seamen; the full complimentbeing made up by a steward and stewardess,cooks, nurse, lady’s-maid, and other domestics.
One can fancy the pleasurable excitement inpreparing for a year’s voyage of this kind,the arrangements to be made, the articles to betaken; the hopes probably predominating overthe fears, the farewells on going on board. Itis the fate of few to have so splendid a chanceof making a tour of the globe, carrying fromclime to clime not a few of the comforts of home—anelegant saloon for daily resort, a libraryof seven hundred volumes for amusing reading,nicely fitted-up cabins, baths, a first-rate cuisineand larder, everything else to make life pass awayagreeably; letters of introduction, abundant means,liberty to sail where and when you like. Whatmore could anybody desire? Such is yacht-life.It was brought to perfection in the Sunbeam.Looking to the elegant form of the vessel, andthe large quantity of sail she carried, we canform an idea of her great speed when runningbefore a