“Far upon the unknown deep,
With the billows circling round
Where the tireless sea-birds sweep;
   Outward bound.

“Nothing but a speck we seem,
In the waste of waters round,
Floating, floating like a dream;
   Outward bound.”

CHAPTER II.

The G.S.  Wright, on which we were embarked, was a screw steamer of two hundred tons burthen, a sort of pocket edition of the new boats of the Cunard line.  She carried the flag and the person of Colonel Charles S. Bulkley, Engineer in Chief of the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition.  She could sail or steam at the pleasure of her captain, provided circumstances were favorable.  Compared with ocean steamers in general, she was a very small affair and displayed a great deal of activity.  She could roll or pitch to a disagreeable extent, and continued her motion night and day, I often wished the eight-hour labor system applied to her, but my wishing was of no use.

Besides Colonel Bulkley, the party in the cabin consisted of Captain Patterson, Mr. Covert, Mr. Anossoff, and myself.  Mr. Covert was the engineer of the steamer, and amused us at times with accounts of his captivity on the Alabama after the destruction of the Hatteras.  Captain Patterson was an ancient mariner who had sailed the stormy seas from his boyhood, beginning on a whale ship and working his way from the fore-castle to the quarter deck.  Mr. Anossoff was a Russian gentleman who joined us at San Francisco, in the capacity of commissioner from his government to the Telegraph Company.  For our quintette there was a cabin six feet by twelve, and each person had a sleeping room to himself.

Colonel Bulkley planned the cabin of the Wright, and I shall always consider it a misfortune that the Engineer-in-Chief was only five feet seven in his boots rather than six feet and over like myself.  The cabin roof was high enough for the colonel, but too low for me.  Under the skylight was the only place below deck where I could stand erect.  The sleeping rooms were too short for me, and before I could lie, at full length in my berth, it was necessary to pull away a partition near my head.  The space thus gained was taken from a closet containing a few trifles, such as jugs of whiskey, and cans of powder.  Fortunately no fire reached the combustibles at any time, or this book might not have appeared.

[Illustration:  Over six feet.]

There was a forward cabin occupied by the chief clerk, the draughtsman, the interpreter, and the artist of the expedition, with the first and second officers of the vessel.  Sailors, firemen, cook and cabin boys all included, there were forty-five persons on board.  Everybody in the complement being masculine, we did not have a single flirtation during the voyage.