Nineteen days after Fastnet Rock was lost
to view, the shores of Newfoundland rose before them. That was fine
sailing for the landfall was made almost exactly opposite St. Johns.
The harbor of St. Johns is like a great bowl. The entrance is a narrow
passage between high, beetling cliffs rising on either side. From the
sea the city is hidden by hills flanked by the cliffs, and a vessel
must enter the narrow gateway and pass nearly through it before the
city of St. Johns is seen rising from the water's edge upon sloping
hill-sides on the opposite side of the harbor. It is one of the safest
as well as most picturesque harbors in the world.
As the _Albert_ approached the entrance Doctor Grenfell and the crew
were astonished to see clouds of smoke rising from within and
obscuring the sky. As they passed the cliffs waves of scorching air
met them.
The city was in flames. Much of it was already in ashes. Stark,
blackened chimneys rose where buildings had once stood. Flames were
still shooting upward from those as yet but partly consumed. Some of
the vessels anchored in the harbor were ablaze.
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