Thus during this voyage among the islands was the weariness of many
a night watch relieved. There was something to be told of almost
every place at which the Falcon touched. Often the talk would turn
upon the subject of wrecks, and of the wreckers who inhabited the
storm-swept islands, and were not above welcoming a shipwreck for
the sake of the valuable spoil they might procure.
Anchored off a little port in Sanday, David told me of a minister
who, while professing to deplore the frequency of shipwrecks on the
coast, ended a prayer by saying:
"Nevertheless, if it please Thee to cause helpless ships to be cast
on the shore, oh, dinna forget the poor island of Sanday."
We pursued our tortuous course as far north as a place called
Pierowall, in the island of Westray; when we found that there was
need to continue the voyage still further to Fair Isle, a little
island that lies about midway between Orkney and Shetland, for the
people in that place, we heard, had got short of winter provisions,
and our skipper would not hear of returning until he had supplied
the deficiency.
The weather became boisterous as we entered the open sea again, and
I had my first experience of really rough sailing. For two days the
schooner tossed upon the great white-crested waves which dashed
against her bows, broke in snowy foam upon the deck, and glistened
on oilskin and sou'wester.
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