Whales & Porpoises

May 15th
More of the wind today and a little more of the rocking on the deep which we enjoy. It will seem strange to walk on firm ground again, we are so used to the motion of the decks. Our run today was 341 miles. Tonight the passengers gave a concert.

May 16th
This Sunday opened the stillest day we have had. Just a ripple on the water and in the afternoon that disappeared and the water was glassy – not exactly level as there was always the ocean swell, but the surface was smooth. We had services onboard today. Rev. Edward Anderson of Chicago preached and four other ministers took part. The services seemed more impressive, being on the sea, all except the music. The orchestra played and the voices were fine, but as the former was in the lower officers dining room while we were in the upper, they kept no time and the singing was a line or two behind. We always got there but usually were a little late. Our run today was 347 miles. We passed two sailing vessels. We saw two whales, half a mile or so, or rather not the whales, but just their spouting.

We saw several nautilus under full sail, thousands of white, bluish, yellow, orange and brown jelly fish and many schools of porpoises. We ran into a lot of them and for about 5 minutes 30 or 40 of them swam in front of the boat, jumping out of the water every few seconds. I was at the bow of the boat right over them and as the water is a beautiful blue I could see every movement. They are from 4-6 feet long, brown on the back and whitish on the sides and the belly. They got tired of a 15 mile an hour gait and would drop out one after another and dart to one side. We saw also some of the larger black porpoises common to New York waters.