Sunday 1 June 2008

Diary 2.6.1883



Saturday June 2

The sea is still very lumpy, quite cold again, this day is a day that is not soon to be forgotten. The sailors came on duty at 12 o’clock, were sent aloft to take in sail and while they were reefing in one of the top sails in, one of them was reaching over the crosstree and got hold of the sail when a squall of wind blew him right over and he fell from out of the sail on to the deck, a distance of seventy feet. He only lived ten minutes after, it took place about 12:20 and the funeral was at 4:30. He never spoke after the sad event and it cast a gloom all over the ship. I was below at the time I could hear the thump, Emily was just at the bottom of the hatchway, if she had not called to see Mrs Hebdon she would have been at the top of the main hatch. He dropped about four yards from the top of it.

Just after tea Ruth Emmeline had a bad fall, she had one of the drinking tins in her hand and fell on top of it with her mouth and knocked out one of her front teeth. Lat. 44.21S Long. 65.19E.

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