During the night from the 4 to the 5 June „Elisabeth“ had reached her Eastern-most point of the journey near the Loyalty islands — 167° 36′ longitude East of Greenwich — and at that time the course was set towards San Cristoval of the Solomon group. The wind remained fairly constant during the 5th so that there was still a heavy pitch but then relented on the 6th. The temperature on deck but especially in the cabins announced the approaching tropical region and the weather similarly changed in character on the 6th. The sky was often cloudy and rain storms came down with increasing intensity towards the evening.

During intense rain a large flock of terns (Hydrochelidon fuliginosa) was flying around the ship, some of which sat on the yardarm of the main mast and attracted everybody’s attention by their cries. When a sailor climbed up and caught one of these gliders of the air with his bare hands despite the great darkness, the terns startled by this circled again in the air and crashed into the foresail light as well as the two position lights. Two of the birds apparently much exhausted landed on the deck and were captured without effort.

We used the two days, as well as we could in this wind and weather, to package and store our acquisitions from New Caledonia as well as completing our diary entries.

Links

• Location: At Sea to the Solomon islands
• ANNO – on 05.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Das Heiratsnest“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.