Chapter AGUN-BOAT to ALBATROSS of A by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

152.

1604.—“The other foule called Alcatrarzi is a kind of Hawke that liueth by fishing. For when the Bonitos or Dolphines doe chase the flying fish vnder the water.… this Alcatrarzi flyeth after them like a Hawke after a Partridge.”—Davis (Hak. Soc.), 158.

c. 1608-10.—“Alcatraz sont petis oiseaux ainsi comme estourneaux.”—Mocquet, Voyages, 226.

1672.—“We met with those feathered Harbingers of the Cape.… Albetrosses.… they haue great Bodies, yet not proportionate to their Wings, which mete out twice their length.”—Fryer, 12.

1690.—“They have several other Signs, whereby to know when they are near it, as by the Sea Fowl they meet at Sea, especially the Algatrosses, a very large long-winged Bird.”—Dampier, i. 531.

1719.—“We had not had the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come Southward of the Streights of Le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black Albitross, who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us as if he had lost himself, till Hatley (my second Captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagin’d from his colour, that it might be some ill omen. … But be that as it would, he after some fruitless attempts, at length shot the Albitross, not doubting (perhaps) that we should have a fair wind after it.…”—Shelvocke’s Voyage, 72, 73.

1740.—“.… a vast variety of sea-fowl, amongst which the most remarkable are the Penguins; they are in size and shape like a goose, but instead of wings they have short stumps like fins.… their bills are narrow like those of an Albitross, and they stand and walk in an erect posture. From this and their white bellies, Sir John Narborough has whimsically likened them to little children standing up in white aprons.”—Anson’s Voyage, 9th ed. (1756), p. 68.

1754.—“An albatrose, a sea-fowl, was shot off the Cape of Good Hope, which measured 17½ feet from wing to wing.”—Ives, 5.

1803.—

“At length did cross an Albatross;
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul
We hailed it in God’s name.”

The Ancient Mariner.

c. 1861.—

“Souvent pour s’amuser, les hommes d’équipage
Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers,
Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,
Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers.”

Baudelaire, L’Albatros.