Morning broke heavy and threatening, with the barometer at 29-87; and by noon it was blowing a whole gale, and the ship labouring so heavily that the ceremony of mustering the hands and reading the Articles of War, customary on the first Sunday of every month, was perforce dispensed with, and "Jack"-- as usual, when bad weather has fairly set in, and the ship has been made snug--got his holiday.
Towards night the gale, which had hauled gradually round from E.N.E.

to S.E.and S.S.E.in the course of some eight or ten hours, began to moderate.

By the next morning it had altogether broken, and though the clouds were still leaden, and the sea ran high after the blow of yesterday, the Sumter was once more able to make sail; and shaking the reefs out of her topsails, she stood away again towards the S.S.E.
The end of the week saw her well upon her way towards a new cruising ground, the Western side of the crossing having been fairly given up as a hopeless job, and Captain Semmes shaping his course for the Eastern crossing.

At noon on Saturday, the 12th October, the new station was reached, the vessel's position on that day being in lat.

6.56 N., long.
44.41 W.; the weather calm, the sun shining dimly through a greyish veil of mist, and the little steamer rolling from side to side upon the long, heaving swells, her yards creaking and her sails flapping heavily against the masts with that dull, hopeless sound, more trying to the sailor than the fiercest gale.
Gales and calms--sunshine and rain-squalls--long rolling swell--heavy sea, and not a break in the monotonous round.