Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833

Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833
John Auldjo

Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833

TO

SIR WILLIAM GELL

Dear Sir,

On quitting Naples, for those scenes which your pen and pencil have so faithfully illustrated, I promised to fill my note book. I now offer you its contents, as a small and unworthy token of my gratitude for the long continued kindness you have shown.

Your faithful and obedient servant,

    The Author.

Naples, April, 1835.

PREFACE

The publication of the pages of a journal in the crude and undigested form in which they were originally composed appears so disrespectful to the public, that it requires some explanation. They were written, "currente calamo," among the scenes they describe; more as a record of individual adventure, and to fix the transient impressions of the moment for the after gratification of the author, than with any hope of affording amusement during an idle hour, even to those who might feel an interest in all he saw and noted.

The intense curiosity, however, which exists at present to learn even the minutest particulars connected with Greece and Turkey, and the possibility that some of his hurried notices might not be altogether devoid of interest, have induced the author to submit them to the public attention. In so doing, he has preferred giving them in their original state, with all their defects, to moulding them into a connected narrative; his object being not to "make a book," but to offer his desultory remarks as they arose; to present the faint outline he sketched upon the spot, rather than attempt to work them into finished pictures.

With some hope, therefore, of receiving indulgence from the critics, whose asperity is rarely excited except by the overweening pretensions of confident ignorance and self-sufficiency, he ventures on the ground already trodden by so many distinguished men, whose works, deep in research, beautiful in description, and valuable from their scrupulous fidelity, have left little to glean, and rendered it a rather hazardous task for an humble and unskilful limner to follow in their wake.

While thus disclaiming all pretensions to the possession of their enviable talents, still, if the author should succeed in affording his readers a few hours' pleasure from the perusal of his Journal, or enable any one to re-picture scenes he may himself have visited, the principal object of its publication will have been attained.

Naples, April, 1835.

JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO CONSTANTINOPLE, ETC

DEPARTURE OF THE ACTÆON.Saturday, 6th April, 1833.– Well! All seems at length arranged, and the oft postponed departure of H. M. S. Actæon for Constantinople, will probably take place this evening. But is there no chance of a further detention? Yes; and many a palpitating heart watches anxiously the state of the heavens.

The morning had been dark and stormy, and heavy vapours rolled along from the north: about noon, however, the weather brightened; yet an occasional cloud, passing over and discharging its liquid contents on the lovely Naples, afforded some expectation that the evening might prove unfavourable. If there were heaving bosoms on shore, there were responding hearts on board; where there were few, indeed, who did not feel some pang at bidding the syren city farewell.

The St. Lucia was thronged with numerous groups of pedestrians, and a long line of carriages, with "weeping beauty filled," – all manifesting a deep interest in the scene. Sailors have generous hearts, which, like wax, are soon warmed, and easily impressed; but as easily the image may be effaced. Thus ladies assert, that blue jackets

"In every port a true love find."

Reflections akin to these, probably, may have tortured more than one of the fair spectators; and mamma, perhaps, considered it extremely mortifying that an opportunity was not given to land the prize, as well as hook it; and that sailors, like jacks, were exceedingly difficult to catch.

Boats pass rapidly to and from the ship; – the yards are manned; the ambassador's flag flies at the main; and as the smoke from the salute cleared away, the shore, with its precious and weeping burthen, was seen fast receding from the sight. The Actæon had actually sailed; and the white handkerchiefs, with the ivory arms that waved them, gradually became lost to the view, till distance mingled the entire scene into one grey mass, and

"All was mist, and Naples seen no more."

Such were the transactions that marked the 6th of April, 1833, when I became one of the ship's company, and received an honourable place in her log.

ISLAND OF CAPRI.We were compelled to pass close under Capri[1 - As we sailed through the strait formed by it and the mainland, – and a very beautiful scene it affords, – I was informed by those on board, that a shoal is marked down upon the ship's chart as being in the centre. Having never before heard the slightest allusion to this fact, I intend to ascertain its accuracy, by actual inspection, at some more favourable opportunity.], and its bold perpendicular cliffs towered magnificently above us, casting a deep shadow over the vessel as she sailed along. There was little wind outside the isle, and we were nearly becalmed; but this delay was amply compensated by the extreme beauty of the night. The brilliant moon, shining with far greater lustre than I ever remember to have witnessed, during the height of summer, in less favoured climes, lighted up with its silver beams the whole of that beautiful coast extending along the bay of Salerno, from Amalfi to Palinuro. Long did I remain upon deck, gazing on

"Heaven's ebon vault,
Studded with stars unutterably bright;
Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls."

MY FIRST NIGHT AT SEA.But at length, overcome by weariness, I hastened to my cot. – My cot! how shall I describe thee? thou oblong, narrow, swinging thing! rest still a while, nor fly me thus each time I essay to get within thy narrow precincts. Oh! for a chair, a stool, a rope; or have they purposely swung thee so high? hadst thou been o'er a gun, indeed, one might have scaled thee by the breech. So! In at last; yet, with that eternal sentinel walking his rounds within a few paces of my ear, how is it possible to sleep? Exhausted, however, by the novelty and excitement of the past day, at length wearied nature asserted her rights; and I had just begun to sink into a refreshing slumber, when "Quarter," rang in my ears: again I start; ducks cackle, geese scream, pigs grunt, cocks crow, men bawl; all the horrors of the incantation scene in Der Freyschütz would seem to accompany that same striking of the bells.

"A ship is a thing you never can sleep quiet in,"

says an old song; and most feelingly did I subscribe to the veracious assertion: at length, towards morning, by dint, I think, of conning over that very line, I once more fell asleep.

But my slumbers were of short duration, for with daylight came the order, "Wash decks." Then began slushing and swabbing, and bumping my cot. All the live stock, too, were again in motion, and in fact, I soon perceived it would be better at once to turn out. This was neither easy nor agreeable, the deck being drenched with wet. However, I made up for my night's restlessness by a hearty breakfast, and appeared on the quarter-deck with a face exhibiting no symptoms of squeamishness. We are making for Stromboli, which was visible in the horizon.

SUNDAY ON BOARD.Sunday, 7th.– This morning, after the crew had appeared at quarters, – that is, every man to his station, – the bell rang for divine service, and all the chairs and benches above and below, were put in requisition. The captain then read prayers on the main deck, in a manner at once solemn and impressive. It may here be remarked, that, when the ship carries out an ambassador, the youngsters are exempt from school duties, and their holidays on the present occasion are likely to be of considerable duration. The schoolmaster of the Actæon is a Scotchman, and his office cannot be an enviable one, if half the tricks in store for him be ever put in practice; while the fact of his hammock being swung close alongside those of his pupils, by no means diminishes the facility of their execution. To-day being Sunday, we dined at three o'clock; and our band, consisting of a drummer and amateur fifer, played us to table with the well-known enlivening air of "The roast beef of old England."

MUSTER OF THE CREW.In the evening we had a general muster, and I am confident very few ships ever possessed a finer company than the Actæon. Really it was a gallant sight to witness this assemblage of stout, able, daring fellows, equipped with their cutlasses and boarding pikes. Looking at them, one no longer felt surprised at the vast naval superiority which Great Britain has ever maintained in her contests with foreign nations. The boatswain's mates, and the quartermasters, are really handsome men, weatherbeaten and bold. Williams, one of the latter, seems a most eccentric character. He is married, and constantly receives letters from his absent rib: these, however, he never takes the trouble to open, but keeps them all neatly tied up. On his return, he says, she can read them to him, all of a lump!

STROMBOLI.are now close to Stromboli, which appears to be the remaining half of a large conical crater; the semicircle which is lost, having fallen away into the sea. There is a small cone in the very centre, from which the explosions take place. They were but slight on the present occasion; and two small apertures emitted a continual cloud of white vapour. The upper part of the old crater consists of layers of rock rising regularly one above the other; and the whole surface much resembles that of Somma.[2 - "The ridge of the Somma forms a semicircle, the curve of which lies north-east, its two extremities stretching out south-east. The front, which faces the south-west and the cone of Vesuvius, is almost perpendicular; but the side towards the north is a sloping plain, cut lengthwise by deep ravines, and covered with vineyards, except a few hundred feet near the summit, which are clothed with small chestnut and oak trees." —Sketches of Vesuvius, p. 2.] The atmosphere was so clear that the island appeared quite close to us, and I could scarcely credit the master when he asserted it was full fifteen miles distant.

My cot being moved forward, I am infinitely more comfortable, having now only the geese to disturb me. The vessel continued beating to windward till mid-day, when she approached the Faro; and the breeze strengthening, we had every prospect of clearing it.

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS.Scylla now appeared in view, – the bold, rocky, and much dreaded Scylla, —

"Where sing the syren maids,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious sounds,
That raptured mortals cannot hear, and live."

    Lycophron. Cassandra.
It exhibits itself in the form of a grey perpendicular cliff; and as we sailed by, the town appeared behind it, built on the face of a steep slope, of the same colour as the surrounding mass. This is a dangerous lee shore for a speranaro, but not much to be dreaded by a skilful seaman. However, we were not gratified with the sight of any of those monsters with which the imaginations of classic poets have peopled this celebrated spot; we heard no barkings, nor did the waves even roar as they lashed its famous rocks. Out of one scrape, into another! —

"Close by, a rock of less tremendous height
Breaks the wild waves, and forms a dangerous strait:
Full on its crown a fig's green branches rise,
And shoot a leafy forest to the skies;
Beneath, Charybdis holds her boisterous reign,
Midst roaring whirlpools, and absorbs the main.
Thrice in her gulphs the boiling seas subside;
Thrice in dire thunders she refunds the tide.
9
Oh! if thy vessel plough the direful waves,
When seas, retreating, roar within her caves,
Ye perish all! though he who rules the main
Lend his strong aid, his aid he lends in vain."

    Odyssey, B. 12.
PREPARATIONS TO LAND.We were now close upon Charybdis, where the water is shallow, and the low sands exceedingly dangerous, as at times it is difficult to discern them. A most wretched village, and a miserable lighthouse, represent this terror of the ancient Greek mariners. A few Indian figs and stunted olive trees are almost the only symptoms of vegetation discernible; and two fat priests, who were basking in the sun, upon the sand, seemed the only inhabitants.

The coast on either side the Faro is very beautiful; and the land, judging from the number of houses, villages, and appearance of general cultivation, must be fertile. The wind having changed, we approached Messina rapidly, gallantly nearing it, with all sail set. The heavens threatened bad weather; and therefore the ambassador, tempted by the neat and clean appearance of the town, resolved to go ashore. Every preparation was made accordingly; the chain cable was clear, and the men at the best bower-anchor; when, it being considered injudicious to lose so fair a breeze, we again set sail, to the disappointment of most persons on board; and Messina, with all its gay attractions, was soon far astern. The wind, though fair, was rising into a gale as we got into the open sea off Spartivento, and the ship rolled terribly. Dined to-day with the captain, and found some difficulty in stowing away his good fare, but got creditably through, until the wine began to circulate at the dessert, when I was compelled to make a precipitate retreat, and arrived at the gangway only just in time to save the honour of the quarter-deck. However, I soon righted again, and at night took my grog kindly in the pighole; which was considered no bad sign for an incipient tar.

SEA SICKNESS.The following morning I was awakened at daylight by a host of grievances, – a scraping above and a scraping below, that set all my nerves in commotion. Oh! that some other means could be devised for cleaning decks, than that of holy stoning them! It roused me from a pleasant slumber, to the horrid consciousness of the ship's pitching and rolling to such a degree that I was unable to raise my head from the pillow. Then the alarm I was in, lest I should be compelled to get up, and have my cot stowed away before eight o'clock. Yet it was some consolation to know that we were scudding across the Adriatic at the tremendous rate of ten, and sometimes eleven, knots an hour; so that, if we continue to proceed thus rapidly much longer, the voyage will soon be at an end. I was allowed to swing in my cot all day, and partook of a good dinner into the bargain, which Master Thew, one of the ship's boys, with whom I had become a great favourite, brought and forced me to partake of. Got up in the evening for half an hour, and showed on deck. What a splendid sight! The ship, with comparatively very little canvas set, majestically ploughed her course through the mighty billows, that seemed vainly endeavouring to arrest her career; though, from the way in which she rolled, she must occasionally have been so unpolite as to display her naked keel to the heavens.