Saturday, September 7, 1889.

Saturday September 7, 1889.

Tonight we sighted land for the first time; Scilly Islands off Lands End, Wales, and you ought to have seen the excitement. All on Board were on deck waving handkerchiefs, then cannon were fired, colored lights thrown out and general rejoicing that we were safe across the Atlantic. Then we went into the English Channel and lost sight of everything after passing “Burgoyne” enroute for America. They saluted us and we them with colored lights. At 12 o’clock all is quite on La Gascoygne.

[I imagine the entry is supposed to read “quiet on…” rather than “quite on…”]

[Properly spelled La Gascogne and La Bourgogne, the two liners were sister ships of the French line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Information on the line and its ships can be found at this page. Photos and the plan of  La Gascogne are on this page and of La Bourgogne at this page. La Bourgogne was subsequently involved in two shipwrecks, with significant loss of life in the second wreck.]

[Based on what I have read and the lectures I have attended, a journey of 7-8 days was typical for a transatlantic voyage at this time.]