The Survivors of the Chancellor (9 page)

On the 8th the unlading of the ship commenced. Pulleys
and tackling were put over the hatches, and passengers and
crew together proceeded to haul up the heavy bales which
had been deluged so frequently by water that the cotton was
all but spoiled. One by one the sodden bales were placed in
the boat to be transported to the reef. After the first layer
of cotton had been removed it became necessary to drain
off part of the water that filled the hold. For this purpose
the leak in the side had somehow or other to be stopped, and
this was an operation which was cleverly accomplished by
Dowlas and Flaypole, who contrived to dive at low tide
and nail a sheet of copper over the entire hole. This, however, of itself would have been utterly inadequate to sustain
the pressure that would arise from the action of the pumps;
so Curtis ordered that a number of the bales should be piled
up inside against the broken planks. The scheme succeeded
very well, and as the water got lower and lower in the hold
the men were enabled to résumé their task of unlading.

Curtis thinks it quite probable that the leaks may be
mended from the interior. By far the best way of repairing
the damage would be to careen the ship, and to shift the
planking, but the appliances are wanting for such an undertaking; moreover, any bad weather which might occur
while the ship was on her flank would only too certainly be
fatal to her altogether. But the captain has very little doubt
that by some device or other he shall manage to patch up the
hole in such a way as will insure our reaching land in safety.

After two days' toil the water was entirely reduced, and
without further difficulty the unlading was completed. All
of us, including even Andre Letourneur, have been taking
our turn at the pumps, for the work is so extremely fatiguing
that the crew require some occasional respite; arms and back
soon become strained and weary with the incessant swing of
the handles, and I can well understand the dislike which
sailors always express to the labor.

One thing there is which is much in our favor; the ship
lies on a firm and solid bottom, and we have the satisfaction
of knowing that we are not contending with a flood that
encroaches faster than it can be resisted. Heaven grant that
we may not be called to make like efforts, and to make them
hopelessly, for a foundering ship!

NOVEMBER 15 to 20. — The examination of the hold has
at last been made. Among the first things that were found
was the case of picrate, perfectly intact, having neither been
injured by the water, nor of course reached by the flames.
Why it was not at once pitched into the sea I cannot say;
but it was merely conveyed to the extremity of the island,
and there it remains.

While they were below, Curtis and Dowlas made themselves acquainted with the full extent of the mischief that
had been done by the conflagration. They found that the
deck and the cross-beams that supported it had been much
less injured than they expected, and the thick, heavy planks
had only been scorched very superficially. But the action
of the fire on the flanks of the ship had been of a much more
serious character; a long portion of the inside boarding had
been burned away, and the very ribs of the vessel were considerably damaged; the oakum caulkings had all started away
from the butt-ends and seams; so much so that it was little
short of a miracle that the whole ship had not long since
gaped completely open.

The captain and the carpenter returned to the deck with
anxious faces. Curtis lost no time in assembling passengers and crew, and announcing to them the facts of the
case.

"My friends," he said, "I am here to tell you that the
Chancellor has sustained far greater injuries than we suspected, and that her hull is very seriously damaged. If we
had been stranded anywhere else than on a barren reef, that
may at any time be overwhelmed by a tempestuous sea, I
should not have hesitated to take the ship to pieces, and construct a smaller vessel that might have carried us safely to
land; but I dare not run the risk of remaining here. We
are now 800 miles from the coast of Paramaribo, the nearest
portion of Dutch Guiana, and in ten or twelve days, if the
weather should be favorable, I believe we could reach the
shore. What I now propose to do is to stop the leak by
the best means we can command, and make at once for the
nearest port."

As no better plan seemed to suggest itself, Curtis's proposal
was unanimously accepted. Dowlas and his assistants immediately set to work to repair the charred frame-work of
the ribs, and to stop the leak; they took care thoroughly to
calk from the outside all the seams that were above low
water mark; lower than that they were unable to work, and
had to content themselves with such repairs as they could
effect in the interior. But after all the pains there is no
doubt the Chancellor is not fit for a long voyage, and would
be condemned as unseaworthy at any port at which we might
put in.

To-day the 20th, Curtis having done all that human power
could do to repair his ship, determined to put her to sea.

Ever since the Chancellor had been relieved of her cargo,
and of the water in her hold, she had been able to float in
the little natural basin into which she had been driven. The
basin was enclosed on either hand by rocks that remained
uncovered even at high water, but was sufficiently wide to
allow the vessel to turn quite round at its broadest part, and
by means of hawsers fastened on the reef to be brought with
her bows towards the south; while, to prevent her being
carried back on to the reef, she has been anchored fore and
aft.

To all appearance, then, it seemed as though it would be
an easy matter to put the Chancellor to sea; if the wind
were favorable the sails would be hoisted; if otherwise, she
would have to be towed through the narrow passage. All
seemed simple. But unlooked-for difficulties had yet to be
surmounted.

The mouth of the passage is guarded by a kind of ridge
of basalt, which at high tide we knew was barely covered
with sufficient water to float the Chancellor, even when entirely unfreighted. To be sure she had been carried over
the obstacle once before, but then, as I have already said,
she had been caught up by an enormous wave, and might
have been said to be LIFTED over the barrier into her present position. Besides, on that ever memorable night, there
had not only been the ordinary spring-tide, but an equinoctial
tide, such a one as could not be expected to occur again for
many months. Waiting was out of the question; so Curtis
determined to run the risk, and to take advantage of the
spring-tide, which would occur to-day, to make an attempt
to get the ship, lightened as she was, over the bar; after
which, he might ballast her sufficiently to sail.

The wind was blowing from the northwest, and consequently right in the direction of the passage. The captain,
however, after a consultation, preferred to tow the ship over
the ridge, as he considered it was scarcely safe to allow a
vessel of doubtful stability at full sail to charge an obstacle
that would probably bring her to a dead lock. Before the
operation was commenced, Curtis took the precaution of
having an anchor ready in the stern, for, in the event of the
attempt being unsuccessful, it would be necessary to bring
the ship back to her present moorings. Two more anchors
were next carried outside the passage, which was not more
than two hundred feet in length. The chains were attached
to the windlass, the sailors worked at the hand-spikes, and
at four o'clock in the afternoon the Chancellor was in motion.

High tide would be at twenty minutes past four, and at
ten minutes before that time the ship had been hauled as
far as her sea-range would allow; her keel grazed the ridge,
and her progress was arrested. When the lowest part of her
stern, however, just cleared the obstruction, Curtis deemed
that there was no longer any reason why the mechanical action of the wind should not be brought to bear and contribute its assistance. Without delay, all sails were unfurled
and trimmed to the wind. The tide was exactly at its height,
passengers and crew together were at the windlass, M.
Letourneur, Andre, Falsten, and myself being at the starboard bar. Curtis stood upon the poop, giving his chief
attention to the sails; the lieutenant was on the forecastle;
the boatswain by the helm. The sea seemed propitiously
calm and; as it swelled gently to and fro, lifted the ship
several times.

"Now, my boys," said Curtis, in his calm clear voice, "all
together! Off!"

Round went the windlass; click, click, clanked the chains
as link by link they were forced through the hawse-holes.

The breeze freshened, and the masts gave to the pressure
of the sails, but round and round we went, keeping time in
regular monotony to the sing-song tune hummed by one of
the sailors.

We had gained about twenty feet, and were redoubling
our efforts when the ship grounded again.

And now no effort would avail; all was in vain; the tide
began to turn: and the Chancellor would not advance an inch.
Was there time to go back? She would inevitably go to
pieces if left balanced upon the ridge. In an instant the captain has ordered the sails to be furled, and the anchor
dropped from the stern.

One moment of terrible anxiety, and all is well.

The Chancellor tacks to stern, and glides back into the
basin, which is once more her prison.

"Well, captain," says the boatswain, "what's to be done
now?"

"I don't know," said Curtis, "but we shall get across
somehow."

NOVEMBER 21 TO 24. — There was assuredly no time to be
lost before we ought to leave Ham Rock reef. The barometer had been falling ever since the morning, the sea was
getting rougher, and there was every symptom that the
weather, hitherto so favorable, was on the point of breaking;
and in the event of a gale the Chancellor must inevitably be
dashed to pieces on the rocks.

In the evening, when the tide was quite low, and the rocks
uncovered, Curtis, the boatswain, and Dowlas went to examine the ridge which had proved so serious an obstruction.
Falsten and I accompanied them. We came to the conclusion that the only way of effecting a passage was by cutting
away the rocks with pikes over a surface measuring ten feet
by six. An extra depth of nine or ten inches would give a
sufficient gauge, and the channel might be accurately marked
out by buoys; in this way it was conjectured the ship might
be got over the ridge and so reach the deep water beyond.

"But this basalt is as hard as granite," said the boatswain;
"besides, we can only get at it at low water, and consequently could only work at it for two hours out of the
twenty-four."

"All the more reason why we should begin at once, boatswain," said Curtis.

"But if it is to take us a month, captain, perhaps by that
time the ship may be knocked to atoms. Couldn't we manage to blow up the rock? we have got some powder aboard."

"Not enough for that," said the boatswain.

"You have something better than powder," said Falsten.

"What's that?" asked the captain.

"Picrate of potash," was the reply.

And so the explosive substance with which poor Ruby had
so grievously imperiled the vessel was now to serve her in
good stead, and I now saw what a lucky thing it was that
the case had been deposited safely on the reef, instead of being thrown into the sea.

The sailors went off at once for their pikes, and Dowlas
and his assistants, under the direction of Falsten, who, as an
engineer, understood such matters, proceeded to hollow out
a mine wherein to deposit the powder. At first we hoped
that everything would be ready for the blasting to take place
on the following morning, but when daylight appeared we
found that the men, although they had labored with a will,
had only been able to work for an hour at low water and
that four tides must ebb before the mine had been sunk to the
required depth.

Not until eight o'clock on the morning of the 23d was
the work complete. The hole was bored obliquely in the
rock, and was large enough to contain about ten pounds of
explosive matter. Just as the picrate was being introduced
into the aperture, Falsten interposed:

"Stop," he said, "I think it will be best to mix the picrate
with common powder, as that will allow us to fire the mine
with a match instead of the gun-priming which would be
necessary to produce a shock. Besides, it is an understood
thing that the addition of gunpowder renders picrate far
more effective in blasting such rocks as this, as then the
violence of the picrate prepares the way for the powder
which, slower in its action, will complete the disseverment of
the basalt."

Falsten is not a great talker, but what he does say is always very much to the point. His good advice was immediately followed; the two substances were mixed together,
and after a match had been introduced the compound was
rammed closely into the hole.

Notwithstanding that the Chancellor was at a distance
from the rocks that insured her from any danger of being
injured by the explosion, it was thought advisable that the
passengers and crew should take refuge in the grotto at the
extremity of the reef, and even Mr. Kear, in spite of his
many objections, was forced to leave the ship. Falsten, as
soon as he had set fire to the match, joined us in our retreat.

The train was to burn for ten minutes, and at the end of
that time the explosion took place; the report, on account of
the depth of the mine, being muffled, and much less noisy
than we had expected. But the operation had been perfectly
successful. Before we reached the ridge we could see that
the basalt had been literally reduced to powder, and that a
little channel, already being filled by the rising tide, had been
cut right through the obstacle. A loud hurrah rang through
the air; our prison-doors were opened, and we were prisoners no more.