Chapter Two - K) Saturday 11th February (1956) - Logged 88 Miles

Yesterday's blow seems to have exhausted itself as happens frequently in these "variable" latitudes, and left us with an ugly swell.

Noon position:- Lat 31 - 40'S
Long. 28 - 00W

With 869 miles made good from Rea against 1250 Logged! We are not 14 days out and only half way to Tristan da Cunha! During the afternoon a stiff E breeze sprang up and we ran south, close-hauled, for several hours, logging 6 knots. Wonderful sailing.

We now have six albatrossess trailing us and we are becoming quite familiar with their individual characteristics. We want to keep them all the way to Cape Town and have tried all kinds of tit bits to attempt to please them but they have turned up their beaks to almost everything. After supper I tried them out with some J.Castaing & Fils (Coudures, Landes, France) pate de foie gras, which was a bit "off", and they just gobbled it up. Later the skipper threw them the best part of the contents of a new tin to make them further attached to us. Seems odd we have no bread but can feed albatrosses on the best French pate! The skipper filmed the birds. One of "our" albatrosses we call "Messerschmidt" on account of the ceculiar markings of his wings: -

Trolling for fish. No catch.