“Been going along fine style all night about 10 knots an hour, but it is getting much colder as we are now in Lat 40. We are shipping a lot of seas to-day as the wind has shifted behind us & we roll so much then.

There are a lot of birds about of different kinds: snow birds, cape hens & pigeons, albatross & stormy petrel but we are going too fast to attempt at catching any. The pig was killed today, but as the cook did not stick him quite right we had a concert for about 20 minutes, for which the men say we shall have a gale of wind soon. We are now Lat 42 south, Long 8 W. & are therefore pretty near the island of Tristan d’Acunha & have now a straight line to go for Melbourne.”

Travel journal extract from A.Whelen’s sailing from England to Australiaaboard the Hesperides in 1878