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[[boxed]] 1860 Saturday Oct. 27 [[/boxed]]
At 1 o'clock the wind ^[[being]] still on the increase, the small anchor has just been [[strikethrough]] use [[/strikethrough]] dropped. At 12 I made the record as below (preceeding page) now (one ^[[o'clk]]) I make record Bar 29.350 Ther 4[[degree symbol]]! [[underline]] "Four" [[/underline]] only above zero. Wind NW. New sights almost daily - the wind is passing us at the rate of 60 miles per hour & the Sea Smoking! [[strikethrough]] abow [[/strikethrough]] Astern of the G.H., in her wake from here to the islands, is a track distinguished from all else around. The smoke of the waters is lifting itself comparatively lazily while on either side of said track the smoke is caught by the wind & carried along at the speed stated above. Out in the Bay we can see volumes of vapor riding on the wind. It gives me a capital chance to see how rapid is the speed of the wind in a gale. I am on deck most of the time enjoying the play of the elements around me. I long to see the Thermometer at 50-60-[[degree symbol]] or even 70[[degree symbol]] below 0 point. I would prefer there should be no gale when such a temperature visits us! But my preferences will have but little - [[underline]] will have nothing to do [[/underline]] with what the wind & weather shall be! [[underline]] God is the Author & Disposer of Events! [[/underline]] I am invigorated by this increase of cold weather! Then blow ye winds - Come frigid air - bring your brothers & sisters; Ices & Virgin snows - & make me to dance for joy, that thou art of God's Creation! It is now 2[[degree symbol]] thermometer, two above 0. Bar 29.387. Wind N.W. still blowing 60 miles per hour! Steam now ^[[a-]] days is a good representative of swiftness. That White wing is now still sweeping over the waters of these Northern Seas! - Sixty miles an hour is great speed for man to accomplish. But after living some 6000 years, the Race - [[underline]] Homo Sapiens, [[/underline]] man: "The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals." - has accomplished it! Sixty miles an hour by rail-[[strikethrough]] race [[/strikethrough]] road! But what think you of Six thousand millions of miles in an hour? Hide thy face O, Man, when thou hast looked up into the Heavens ,& seen in the constellations. [[strikethrough]] Cyg???[[/strikethrough]] Cygnus, the [[underline]] Handiwork of God, [[/underline]] as represented in twin-Worlds travelling through space at that incredible velocity.
Mate Gardiner says that [[strikethrough]] the great [[/strikethrough]] present gale will go down at Sun-Set. Strong Wind at Sunrise generally gives way at Sun-Set. It is a pretty scene, the Sun Shining so brightly, while the storm is sweeping [[strikethrough]] as [[/strikethrough]] furiously [[strikethrough]] around us Jugn [[/strikethrough]] bye us, carrying with it vaporing clouds that now & then reflect [[strikethrough]] beautiful above the [[/strikethrough]] Rainbows that [[strikethrough]] erng [[/strikethrough]] ^[[serve]] greatly to beautify it!
Three O'clke 30 min.- Thermometer "0"! (Zero) Three cheers! Sun about to descend behind Western mountains. Moon rising in the E. The wind still unabated. The "White Wing" of speed still traversing the face of the deep. Barometer 29.500. The billows running high. At V, one degree below "0"! At VI, two degrees below. Bar 29.537. Still blowing a gale from N.W.
While on deck to-day, kept myself warm by racing with my Esquimaux dog Melak! He likes play as well as the Elements - or I. After racing a while, he let me harness [[strikethrough]] him [[/strikethrough]] his dog-sled when I have excellent drives back & forth-fore & aft! An excellent friend is Maluk - always on the lookout for my appearance on [[strikethrough]] dest [[/strikethrough]] deck - giving me a hearty greeting every time he sees me! [[strikethrough]] Thos [[/strikethrough]] His Esquimaux coat has been [[strikethrough]] specked over [[/strikethrough]] tipped all over with [[strikethrough]] witt [[/strikethrough]] [[underline]] "white" [[/underline]] same as my whiskers & moustach when with him, [[strikethrough]] all day[[/strikethrough]] the day long! Jack Frost is an artist- [[underline]] in White! [[/underline]]
At VII O'Clk this evening. All at once the Aurora made its appearance in the S. & S.W.. Simultaneously a few beams shot up in the East, leaving a space of 90[[degree symbol]] around the horizon from S. to E. without any. I must not attempt [[strikethrough]] thers [[/strikethrough]] the display of to-night! I am sure ^[[every]] [[strikethrough]] all [[/strikethrough]] lover of the grand & the beautiful could not have refrained on witnessing it, at one time to-night, from exclaiming: 'Great God, can this be real- or am I dreaming!' There seems to be a favored spot for the Aurora S. W., as it were over Frobisher's Bay, for, nearly every night, the finest exhibition of it - the most prolonged - the brightest - most varied - are to be seen in that direction. The fine scene there to-night ^[[is]] [[strikethrough]] wie [[/strikethrough]] beyond the power of ^[[human]] language to describe! For the 1st time, ^[[that I have seen here]] prismatic colors have attended the Aurora. There [[strikethrough]] wee [[/strikethrough]] ^[[were]] crimson, pea-green, golden-light, ^[[&]] gradations of others, that made the picture ^[[fitly]] [[strikethrough]] waiting to be [[/strikethrough]] hung, [[strikethrough]] only [[/strikethrough]] [[underline]] on the ^[[azure]] Walls of [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] Heavens![[/underline]] Though the Moon was high up & Shining brightly, thus beating back the light of Myriads of stars, yet, the Aurora beamed forth in livid light. Though the Gale was strong as anytime during the day & the Ther. at 2 degrees below zero, yet the Aurora [[strikethrough]] seemed to [[/strikethrough]] was more magnificent than ever. Its changes were more rapid. Extreme brilliancy ^[[to mortal eye]] cannot last forever. It soon died away, after having ^[[become]] united by a wall of light, with the beams in the E.
At VII 1/2 the Aurora was gone! Nearly all the officers have had more or less to say, relative to how Parker is enduring this gale. Capt. P ^[[Sr.]]^ started yesterday for Eng. This is Saturday night. Prepare me O, God for keeping thy day holy. As to-morrow's Sun is shut out of view by the Western Mountains, may I be prepared to say: 'This has been a day devoted to Thee, my Creator! IX O'Clk Ther 1 1/2 below zero, Bar. 29.600, Gale stronger & stronger. For this harbor, astonishing waves from the N.W. Cloud-making ^[[growing on]]^ up the Bay. They pass but 500 feet above our heads. X O'C. Bar. 29.525 Ther 1 1/2 minus. Strong Gale! N.W. [[right margin vertical note]] Moon bright. It was clear! [[/right margin vertical note]]
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* For the constellation Cygnus, Star "[[underline]]61 [[/underline]]" according to Flamsteads Catalogue of Stars, is [[underline]] double [[/underline]], when viewed through a telescope. Velocity 6000 millions miles per hour! Transcription Notes:
Flamsteads Catalogue of Stars should probably by Flamsteeds, but I left it as written.--thomasc
Throughout the diary, Hall abbreviates barometer as "Bar" and Thermometer as "Ther". His "n" and his "r" look a lot alike, but in the third line it is "Ther 4 degrees", not "then 4 degrees"-thomasc
