ABSTRACT

The chartering was delayed. Port Louis harbor was full of sailing ships trying to undercut one another’s freight rates. Captain Korzeniowski, dogged and suspicious, did not want to let anyone get the better of him but in the end he had to accept the season’s lowest rates. The mixture of reserve and simplicity in Conrad’s manner gave the girls courage to subject their guest to the ordeal of the confession album—which was then having a vogue. Toward the middle of January the ship arrived in Melbourne harbor after a normal voyage. There had been an unprecedented drought that year in Australia, the original cause of the famous “land crack,” the effects of which Australia was to feel for many years. On his arrival at Port Adelaide Captain Korzeniowski has a long talk with his owners and tells them of his desire to take the Otago for a year to the China Seas.