R.L.Stevenson
The Vagabond
Give to me the life I love,
Let
the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above And
the highway by me. Bed
in the bush with stars to see Bread
I dip in the river, There’s the life for a man like me, There’s
the life for ever.
April 7, 1969 Leslie Hambleton - from the journal of his first solo voyage
across the Pacific from Vancouver. Departure date March 31, 1969. " Both my six
volt lanterns are out, bulbs are broken and no spares. ... the batteries would
be needed later for the radio ... 0330
... making sail ... 0430 ... back in the cabin ... no wind. ... 0630 ... on our
way. "After washing
the mold [sic] off of bacon in sea water had a good feed of bacon and
eggs." (p13/14) How many miles to Babylon? How many miles to Babylon? Three-score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. If your heels are nimble and light, You may get there by candle-light. Milton, Book 12 (lines 646-649)
Paradise Lost The World was all before them, where to
choose
Thir place of rest, and Providence thir
guide:
They hand in hand with wandring steps and
slow,
Through Eden took thir solitarie way.
June 16, 1819
George Back's Journal (p3)"Lieutt Franklin - Doctor Richardson - Messrs Back
and Hood - and two seamen - forming the Land Arctic Expedition - left Stromness
- (Orkneys) and embarked on board the Hudsons Bay Ship... Prince of Wales - ...
off the Island of Resolution - ... we saw with horror a towering perpendicular
cliff - some hundred feet above us - at this moment she struck - ... "We soon
found our Ship had received considerable damage - ... "Perceiving
then that our Ship must sink that night ... when some felt was applied - and a
sail covered with oakum placed under the bottom - these had an immediate effect
- and the sounding rod soon informed us - that the water was diminishing (in
the hold) ... We then assembled in the cabin - where Lieutt Franklin
read prayers and returned thanks for the very providential manner in which we
had been saved."
John Lydgate Tarry no longer: toward thine heritage Haste on thy way, and be of right good
cheer. Go each day onward on thy pilgrimage; Think how short time thou shall abide
here... April 22, 1969 Leslie Hambleton - from the journal of his first solo voyage
across the Pacific from Vancouver. Departure date March 31, 1969. "Awoke at 0800
... In my ignorance I headed West right for the centre of the oncoming
storm. By noon the boat was sailing
like crazy." (32) "The sail nearly
flat in the water ... the water pouring over the cockpit coaming ... the
clutching wind ... racing forward along the side of the cabin trunk ...
frantically pulling out the belaying pins and clawing down the sails. ... Finally, after a long time, with muscles
feeling like overstretched elastic, I lashed the sails down securely and
leaving the boat to the sea went below." (34) The Travels of Marco Polo 1254-1324 When the Tartars are going on a long
expedition, they carry no baggage with them. They each carry two flasks to hold
the milk they drink and a small pot for cooking meat. They also carry a small
tent to shelter them from the rain. In case of need, they will ride a good ten
days’ journey without provisions and without making a fire, living only on the
blood of their horses; for every rider pierces a vein of his horse and drinks
his blood. They also have their dried milk which is solid like paste... January 31, 1820 George Back's Journal Regarding Franklin's party after trekking
from Cumberland House along the Saskatchewan (p35): "As we were considerably fatigued from the constant use of
the snow shoes it was resolved to make some stay at Carlton to relieve
ourselves as well as to rest the dogs ... and we enjoyed the luxury of what a
sailor terms (cutting off the muzzle lashing) but what politer people call a
shave; as well as a wash - no little comfort when considered it was the only
one in fourteen days - our pemican [sic] and dried meat has so hardened our
jaws, that I verily believe it would have been of little consequence whether
our next meal had been granite or limestone - it was far different when instead
of either one or the other - a fine dish of good steakes [sic] was brought
before us - and though wanting bread and vegetables I can conscientiously say
it was the sweetest meal I ever tasted - besides the idea of being sheltered
from the storm - the comforts of a table and chair - the cheerful crackling
fire and the suspension of present labour - formed in our minds the very
picture of happiness - " The Listeners 'Is there anybody there?' said the
Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the
grasses Of the forest's ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller's head And he smote upon the door again a second
time; 'Is there anybody there?' he said. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the
moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the
dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller's call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark
turf, 'Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:- 'Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word,' he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the
still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone. Late May, 1969 Leslie Hambleton - from the journal of his first solo voyage
across the Pacific from Vancouver. Departure date March 31, 1969. At 405 miles from
Kahalui, Maui at ("lat. 27. 04N long. 153,08W course 206 405 miles")
he writes, "I looked around
the horizon and out of a rain cloud about four miles away emerged a (bomb-laden
Vietnam-bound) freighter heading straight at me. ... "Horrified I
thought he's not going to stop, so I wigwagged my arms frantically and hollered
Hey stop, for crissake stop. The
captain hollered back "Okay, Okay, Okay" in that tone of voice
usually reserved for the insistent ringing of a telephone." "The captain
looked down at me and through a megaphone boomed, "What's your
problem?" Cupping my hands around my mouth I hollered "Could I get a
position check, I've been out here six weeks." With that I heard him say "My God." and he disappeared
into the wheelhouse. We slowly drifted
apart. The silence seemed intense after
that brief exchange." " First came
cartons labelled emergency water and then bulging seabags which I had to haul
in frantically in order to get them aboard before they hit the water." Marjorie Wilkins Campbell p 227 The Saskatchewan,
1950 "Most Hudson's Bay Company people who
went up the river for the great post-rebellion celebration at Edmonton late in
August 1885, travelled aboard the Marquis or the Northwest. The
water was still comparatively high.
Only a few shoals delayed progress.
At each wooding place and each settlement on the way up one or more
people or entire families came aboard in festive mood. From The Pas they came, and Cumberland
House. On the long river bends below
Nipawin the fiddlers tuned their fiddles and the passengers revelled in
dancing. ... At historic Fort La Corne, at Prince Albert
and Carlton, Battleford, Fort Pitt, and Frog Lake Landing more passengers came
aboard. Some, nearing Edmonton, brought
their horses and carts with them." 
Walter
de la Mare