Ebook How the "Mastiffs" Went to Iceland

Captain Ritchie, a nautical authority great in ice, and peculiarly conversant with the Northern seas. With them we had a crew of thirty-two men, including engineer, seamen, stewards, and firemen; and thus, being fifty on board, we started from just beneath the towers of Castle \vemyss on the evening of Saturday, the 22nd June, 1878. I presume it will be known to all who may read these pages that Castle Wemyss is the abode of our host, Mr. John Burns. In the printed card of the Mastiffs, — a card with which every Mastiff was duly supplied before we started, — the names which I have given at the head of the list come nearly at the bottom, so that the four Burns' appear to be the four junior hounds of the pack; but I, writing in my own name, have altered the arrangement, seeing that the ji/asffi and all that was in it was the property of Mr. Burns, and that we were his guests from the moment we put our foot upon the deck till we left the vessel, — after the lapse o'f three weeks, — again in Wemyss Bay, under the walls of his residence. We had been summoned for Saturday, the 22nd, and were all on board the vessel that day at six p.1\i. A few minutes later the anchor was weighed, amidst the mingled cheers and lamentations of our friends on the sh-ore, — lamenting, not that we were going, but that they should not have been able to accompany us.