CHAPTER XXX. Passage north of the Falkland Islands-Icebergs-Perilous situation of the Potomac -Arrival at Rio-Naval etiquette-Excursion up the Bay-Island of PaquetaNational festival-Sad for the United States-Arrival at Boston-Public despatches-Splendid ball on board-End of the voyage. AFTER passing the Falkland Islands we stood on to the north, shaping our course for Rio de Janeiro. On the morning of the seventeenth of March, at an early hour, land was reported from the look-out aloft. The commodore was on deck, and though the outlines of the object ahead could be clearly seen, in despite of the mist, no one believed that an island was to be met with north of the Falklands, which had for centuries remained undiscovered, in the common highway of nations. A short time removed all uncertainty; as we bore down under a heavy press of sail, a towering iceberg, shrouded in a cold mist and fog, was moving slowly on, by the power of deep currents, from the gloomy and cheerless regions of the south. "Thus in the Atlantic, oft the sailor eyes, It moved along with awful, but not solitary grandeur, being but one of a squadron which successively rose to the view; so that in sailing more than two degrees, we occasionally encountered these floating pyramids-now clothed in vapour, and again showing forth in a pure, cold, and silvery brightness. On the morning of the nineteenth the Potomac was for a moment in imminent peril, as she dashed through between two of these crystal towers, the large hummucks grating along her sides with a force that showed the power of their resistance. "Hard down the helm !" resounded on deck, and the order was instantly obeyed, followed again by the harsh grating of the ice along the sides and copper of the vessel. For a moment, the frigate bore off in perfect obedience to her helm; when an iceberg on the other bow required the counter order, "hard up the helm! steady! steady! she will now go clear !" and our noble ship passed out unscathed!To manage a vessel under such circumstances requires the highest exertion of nautical skill. It is not easy to do justice to the profession of the sailor. His noblest efforts are witnessed only by the few hardy spirits who are themselves actors along with him. Not so in other professions. The persuasive accents of the pulpit orator fall upon the ears of an attentive and tranquil audience, and by the numerous chords of human sympathies are preserved and extended to a crowded circle; the resistless advocate, while in the courts of justice he pleads the cause of injured innocence, or stays the strong arm of the proud oppressor, is surrounded by multitudes, who can pay homage to his eloquence; the erudite judge records his opinions, and his name will be referred to in the coming time; while the venerable senator, it may be said, by means of the press, speaks to a listening nation, and not unfrequently to an admiring world; the artist, whose pencil imparts life to the "glowing canvass," leaves the impress of his genius to mellow and improve with time; the writer of romance creates and peoples realms of his own, and keeps alive a world of ideal sympathy and passion in the human heart! Not so the sailor. Much of the grandeur, we might say sublimity, of his profession, is lost to the rest of the world: nor can any language breathe into description the imbodied spirit of his experience! While we admire the noble bark, that breasts the billows, and moves on battling with the elements until she reaches the point of her destination, though it be the farthermost port in the known world, yet how much more sublime to our contemplation is the intelligence which directs her movements with such unerring certainty! And how often, amid the wide waste of ocean, is that intelligence brought to contend with the wild spirit of the storm, the goodly ship writhing beneath the angry tempest, while a single error in command, or the mind unpoised for an instant, would be fatal to all on board. How the good ship, among the proudest monuments of the genius of man, still rides on, till the very elements have wasted their strength, and wearied themselves into repose, in vain attempts for the mastery! But of this mighty |