Monday morning, June 6th, SS Chingtu, at anchor off Cookstown, Queensland, 7 o’clock. We have just arrived here. We weighed anchor on Sunday morning at 5:45 & steamed till last night (Sunday) 6:30 & got away again shortly after 12 this morning. We had it very cold, cloudy, & breezy all yesterday, getting a little spray on deck during afternoon. We passed close into Cape Melville at 1:30 p.m. yesterday (Sunday), a very barren, rocky promontory. If you consult the map you will see what a clearly defined point it is. Early yesterday morning, we passed another light ship & then, soon after, met a steamer. I did not mention that when coming through the Albany Pass, we saw hundreds of huge ant hills, just like haycocks.[1] The ants are very destructive, especially the white ant[2]. Once they get into a structure, it is doomed to destruction. Some buildings in Hong Kong are constructed of iron & stone only, as a preventive to the destructive propensities of these insects. (At Amoy the table feet & also book case & side board feet were all placed in saucer shaped vessels & which was a liquid to prevent these insects making inroad). No fish caught on Saturday night. Many of us sat on deck till about 11 o’clock, it being so very delightful. Our position yesterday at noon was Lat. S. 14.8, Long. E. 144.16, 142 run & now we have completed that stage. We are due at Townsville tomorrow morning. We don’t stop long here & are about 1 mile from the shore [4:32] & no-one will land. It’s a very insignificant place, tho’ it looks a snug little harbour, very shallow water. The hills are majestic & very beautiful, but by no means an inviting place to reside at. Some of the passengers have their lines over now & eagerly fishing. We may get fresh fish for breakfast if they have any success.
I hope you all had a happy Sunday yesterday; no service on board. Fire & boat drill is held every Sunday morning at 10, inspection first. All the men are dressed, & well they look in their clean varied dress. The quarter masters & ABs all man-o’-war style, the Chinamen in their native costumes, pigtail also, & the officers dressed in uniform. The same was observed on the P&O boats on Sundays, but they did all much more thoroughly.
[1] A somewhat rounded conical pile of hay.
[2] termites