CHAPTER II.
Failure as a fisherman--A voyage around the world projected--From Boston to Gloucester--Fitting out for the ocean voyage--Half of a dory for a ship's boat--The run from Gloucester to Nova Scotia--A shaking up in home waters--Among old friends.
I spent a season in my new craft fishing on the coast, only to find that I had not the cunning properly to bait a hook.

But at last the time arrived to weigh anchor and get to sea in earnest.

I had resolved on a voyage around the world, and as the wind on the morning of April 24,1895, was fair, at noon I weighed anchor, set sail, and filled away from Boston, where the _Spray_ had been moored snugly all winter.

The twelve-o'clock whistles were blowing just as the sloop shot ahead under full sail.

A short board was made up the harbor on the port tack, then coming about she stood seaward, with her boom well off to port, and swung past the ferries with lively heels.