The first suggestion of this Record of a very charming trip came from Sir Donald Currie , the genial and courteous Host of our palatial ‘House Boat.’ Others pressed the task upon me; but no great pressure was required for so congenial a work. Indeed, I need hardly say that the preparation of the story of our Cruise has given me infinite pleasure. My efforts have been ably seconded by the artistic skill of my fellow-guests, Dr. Lennox Browne of London, and Miss Cecilia G. Blackwood , whose facile

7. Sunday. —Sailed past Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Dunottar Castle, Montrose, the Bass Rock, etc. Anchored at Leith. 8. Monday. —Visited the Forth Bridge in the ‘Iolanthe.’ Ship visited by Corporations of Edinburgh and Leith, and by the public. Guests debarked. Ship sailed for London in the evening. CRUISE OF THE ‘DUNOTTAR CASTLE’ CONCERNING THE GOOD SHIP The ‘Dunottar Castle’ is the twenty-first ship built for the ‘Castle’ Company, and is the largest, and in all respects the most perfect, of all the

The ‘Dunottar Castle’ is the twenty-first ship built for the ‘Castle’ Company, and is the largest, and in all respects the most perfect, of all the vessels engaged in the South African Royal Mail Service. This fine vessel was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow, under the direction of Mr. Saxon White, the Manager of that Company, and the supervision of Mr. John List and Mr. George Scott of the ‘Castle’ Line. The fact that the ship was ordered from the Fa

Perhaps few of those who entered on the expedition realised the useful purposes which it served. They thought only of the pleasant holiday provided for them; but in truth it answered a more practical and more important end. It was, in fact, a preliminary trial, in which the crew and all the officers, including the stewards, were put through their facings, and in which the commissariat and other resources of the management were subjected to a pretty severe test. The whole routine of the daily lif

Loch Buy Head—from Carsaig, Mull. The Irish coast remained in sight for several hours; but still more attractive was the view of the west coast of Cantire. Machrihanish Bay awakened pleasant memories in the golfers on board. They had been there, and still would go; and very tempting the bay looked with its gleaming sands and sparkling wavelets. Our course now lay through the Sound of Islay, which runs between that island and its sister Jura. Long before we reached the Sound, we were once more in

Next morning (Tuesday) finds us in the Sound of Mull, one of the most beautiful and romantic of Highland seas. The lighthouse full astern stands on the point of the island of Lismore, anciently the seat of the Bishops of Argyll, and still more famous as the home of its Dean, James Macgregor, who, in the sixteenth century, made a valuable collection of poems in Gaelic and English, well known as the ‘Book of the Dean of Lismore.’ The picturesque ruin at the entrance to the Sound, on the eastmost p

Loch Scavaig. The object of stopping at that point in the voyage was to visit Loch Coruisk, the wildest and most desolate of Highland lochs, imbedded in the heart of the Coolins. In spite of the mist and the threatening rain, nearly the whole party started in the ‘Iolanthe’ for the head of Loch Scavaig. Scavaig itself is a very grand loch, partaking of the gloom of the mountains that surround it,—a gloom relieved only by the breakers on the rocky coast, and the glint of the wings of sea-birds. T

The morning of Thursday brought a welcome change. The day opened grandly, and the good weather which then set in blessed us during the remainder of the cruise. Those who rose early, of whom our Special Artist was one, were rewarded with a splendid view of the hills behind Portree, and of the bay and harbour. We started soon after breakfast in the ‘Iolanthe’ for Strome Ferry, where several members of the party were to leave us, and where others were to take their places, while all eagerly awaited

Friday , September 5th, was perhaps the most enjoyable day of the whole cruise. We started, in magnificent weather, with the intention of steaming up the west coast to Cape Wrath, and thence eastward along the north coast to Thurso. We steered up the Inner Sound, between Raasay and Rona on the one hand, and the rugged coast of Applecross on the other. We crossed Loch Torridon, at the head of which Ben Liugach rose in calm and majestic splendour. Opposite Gairloch, we had a fine view of Ben Slioc

During the night we were rocked in the cradle of the deep, even at our anchorage, by the north-west wind, which blew strongly; and at an early hour in the morning, the anchor was weighed, and we steamed steadily through the Pentland Firth, generally a tempestuous passage, and then northward past the rugged islet of Copinsay, with its myriads of sea-birds, into Shapinsay Sound. Balfour Castle, on the island of Shapinsay, was the most prominent object in the landscape. One is apt to wonder how the

We passed Aberdeen about six o’clock, but at too great a distance to obtain a definite view. About breakfast-time we were off Stonehaven, which threw back from its windows the rays of the morning sun. It was a glorious day. Not a cloud darkened the sky, not a ripple broke the surface of the sea except in the track of the ship. Presently we were abreast of the ruins of Dunottar Castle, perched on its rocky pedestal—the veritable name-mother of our ship. The breakfast-bell was ringing (a welcome s

‘“They shall come from the East”—the land of immemorial traditions and gorgeous imaginations, of Oriental splendour and barbaric gold: the cradle of civilisation, and philosophy, and religion: where, a thousand years before Christ, mystics dreamed of a blessedness which could be reached only by those who mortified the flesh, and contemplated the unseen glories of the spiritual world;—the East, with its patient millions who have borne without complaint the yoke of a cruel bondage: with its franki

The Bell Rock Lighthouse. A heavy haze now began to gather on the shore. No trace of St. Andrews could be seen. The East Neuk of Fife, with King’s Barns on the one side and Crail on the other, was only dimly visible. Steaming close to the Isle of May, we saw very plainly its lighthouses, its store-houses, and its ruined chapel of St. Adrian. We were reminded, in view of recent events, that this island is nearly of the same size as Heligoland; and one wonders that it has not been turned to as goo

In the forenoon, a delightful trip was made in the ‘Iolanthe’ up to and under the Forth Bridge; and those who made it were rewarded with a splendid view of that wonderful structure. As every one knows, the view of the Bridge from the sea is the finest that can be obtained. You see it as a whole. You take in at a glance all its details. You see each of the cantilevers separately, as well as the connecting girders. You see the width of the great spans and the height of the ‘fair-way’; and you unde

T. AND A. CONSTABLE Printers to Her Majesty MDCCCXC...