"It Was Quite a Pleasure Trip Up to This Time..."

 Indelible pencils, or copying pencils.   Described as an "ordinary lead pencil, but more permanent, as the marks cannot be erased with rubber".  These pencils are considered the predecessors of the ball point pen. They were "convenient (no need to continually dip one's pen into the ink well), provided firm pressure (superior to fountain pens of the time), and generated relatively permanent markings. Their usefulness is demonstrated by the wide range of applications to which they were enlisted".  From The Book and Paper Group Annual Volume 17 1998. The Copying Pencil:  Composition, History, and Conservation Implications by Liz Dube.  https://cool.culturalheritage.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v17/bp17-05.html

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 "...At 5 a.m. the revellie (sic)  (spelled reveille: A bugle call, trumpet call, drum, fife and drum or pipes call most often associated with the military. It is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise. Wikipedia.org) is sounded & we are soon on deck & with mop scrubber squeegee swab & broom we are quite busy at scrubbing decks, an exercise which we had to indulge in every morning at the same hour as mentioned above. Next comes our morning ablution (washing) & as we are on board ship our supply of fresh water is very limited & if you do not manage to be very soon at the ablution room instead of getting a wash in clean water you stand a chance of getting a good thick bath. We are getting still...

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 ...nearer the Isle of Wight & it is whispered around that we are going to let down our pilot here & he will take ashore letters from the ship & not a few avail themselves of the opportunity of sending a few lines written hastily & in most cases with a black lead pencil, some having (provided?) themselves before leaving Chatham with an Indelible pencil are considered to be rather above the ordinary. We get breakfast served up at 7 a.m coffee & bread with a little butter.  Shortly after breakfast we observe a small sailing vessel making toward us but no land visible...this eventually proves to be the pilot cutter come out from Portsmouth to take off our pilot, so after a little anxious watching the cutter is skillfully brought alongside of our ship & the pilot taken off without the necessity of stopping the ship.  Nothing of particular note occurred during the first morning but after dinner....

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...we are told we are not far from Cornwall & that during the night we should pass the lands end so that afternoon and evening was spent in watching for glimpses of coastline in the distance & as night drew nearer there was more than a few sighs heaved at the thought of leaving behind entirely old England but there was no help for it & as the ship would not stop by being told she has (?) on at full speed after passing the Lizard & we went to bed. By the following we were nearing Cape Ushant the first bit of French coast sighted after leaving our own shores. Cape Ushant is a very formidable pile of rock abutting out from the main land and strikes the watcher as he gazes at it from the distance that this forms as it do a very formidable foe to storm tossed broken hearted vessels whose misfortune it is to come in contact with it." 

"A formidable pile of rock abutting from the mainland...."

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"We kept the French coast in sight more or less until we reached the Bay of Biscay & in crossing we were privileged with very beautiful weather, so much so that the bay was like the proverbial mill pond...it was quite a pleasure trip up to this time. As you may guess, sea sickness was the order of the day among a large number of people on board, but personally I was permitted to escape for a few days longer. After passing through the bay of Biscay, we (were?) not long in sighting Cape Finisterre, which by the way we sighted on a beautiful evening when the sun was setting, with a beautiful crimson, a scene which made the cape show up to magnificent advantage." 

Modern day tourists enjoying the sunset on Finsterre, which literally means 'the end of the world'. It is the most westerly point in Europe. Raw Travel  https://rawtravel.com/walks/camino-de-finisterre/

 "This was on the evening of the third day at sea, and after this we did not loose (sic) sight of land for (?) time together until we had passed Gibralter on the morning of the fifth day after leaving England, the famous straits of Gibralter was sighted and as we approached nearer all eyes we (were) eagerly watching....(page 17)....our advance to behold at one & the same time, the two continents of Europe and Africa." 

The journey of the Rewa past the Isle of Wight, past the Lizard and Land's End in Cornwall.  Google Maps.

 Ushant to Fisterra to Gibralter.  Google Maps.