Part 12 (2/2)
As a matter of course, sail was reduced as fast as it becaht the shi+p down to a close-reefed main-top-sail, the fore-top-mast staysail, the fore-course, and the mizen-staysail This was old fashi+oned Canvass; thethen unknown
Our situation was now far froh latitude, run with great velocity; and, then, at a reatest importance to know precisely where the shi+p ere left to the painful uncertainty of conjecture, and theories that h, notwithstanding, to keep on the larboard tack until daylight, in the hope of getting in sight of the o No one, now, expected we should be able to fetch through the Straits; but it would be a great relief to obtain a sight of the land, as it would enable us to get soht caht no certainty The weather was so thick, between a drizzling rain, sea-ue around us, and frequently not half a eneral direction of the eastern coast of Terra del Fuego, is fro us rooet embarrassed in some one of the many deep indentations of that wild and inhospitable shore
Captain Willia circumstances in which ere placed The shi+p was just far enough south to render it probable she could weather Falkland Islands, on the other tack, could we rely upon the currents; but it would be ticklish work to undertake such a thing, in the long, intensely dark nights we had, and thus run the risk of finding ourselves on a lee shore He deter as possible, on the tack ere on, expecting to get through another night, without co us the hope that ere drawing near to the terale I presume he felt more emboldened to pursue this course by the circumstance that the wind evidently inclined to haul little by little,our chances of laying past the islands, but lessened the danger fro that second night He re watch; not that he distrusted my discretion in the least, but because he distrusted the wind and the land I never saw him in so much concern before, for it was his habit to consider himself a timber of the shi+p, that was to sink or sith the craft
”Miles,” said he, ”you and I know so of these 'bloody currents,'
and we know they take a shi+p one hile she looks as fiercely the other as a pig that is dragged aft by the tail If we had run down the 50th degree of longitude, noepast the Cape, with this very wind; but, no, the old felloould have had no islands in that case, and he never could be happy without half-a-dozen islands to bother hiitude,” I answered, ”we should have had twenty degrees to h the Straits of Le Maire, six or eight of those very sa”
”Only lay through the Straits of Le Maire, on the 10th Nove in this quarter of the world, of May, and with less than nine hours of day-light! And such day-light, too! Why, our Newfoundland fogs, such stuff as I used to eat when a youngster and a fishers are out of the question hereabouts; and, before one has hauled in the deep-sea, with all its line out, his cut-water s ahead so fast, that we shall see _terra firma_ before any one has a notion of it The old o trends to the north-west, that the land will fall away fro enough to persuade all hands that he is right!”
Marble and I were conversing on the forecastle at the time, our eyes turned to the ard, for it was scarcely possible for him to look in any other direction, when he interrupted hi to the after-braces, my lads--man mizen-staysail downhaul!” This set everybody in motion, and the captain and third-mate were on deck in a ot theway fast, as she got the wind more aft, her helm threw her stern up, and away she went like a top The fore-topmast staysail-sheet was tended with care, and yet the cloth emitted a sound like the report of a swivel, when the sail first filled on the other tack We got the starboard fore-tack forward, and the larboard sheet aft, by two tre fairly to quiver, as they felt the strains Everything succeeded, however, and the Crisis began to drag off froo whither, no one could precisely tell She headed up nearly east, the wind playing about between south-and-by-east, and south-east-and-by-south On that course, I own I had now great doubt whether she could lay past the Falkland Islands, though I felt persuaded wedistance from them There was plenty of tie
As soon as the shi+p was round, and trirave conversation with the chief-mate, on the subject of his reason for what he had done Marble limpse of the land ahead--”Just as you know I did of la Da there was no time to be lost, I ordered the helm hard up, to ware off shore” I distrusted this account, even while it was in the very process of co out of the chief mate's mouth, and Marble afterwards admitted to me, quite justly; but the captain either was satisfied, or thought it prudent to seem so By the best calculations I afterwards ues from the land ore shi+p; but, as Marble said, when he h for ull coast; and there may be 'bloody currents' on this side of the Cape of Good Hope, as well as on the other We've got just so ale and a foul wind to weather, and the shi+p will do both quite as ith her head to the eastward, as with her head to the ard”
All that day the Crisis stood on the starboard tack, dragging through the raging waters as it ain, she wore round, once , the wind increased, and towards evening we found it necessary to furl our topsail and fore-course Mere rag of a sail as the former had been reduced to, with its four reefs in, it was a delicate job to roll it up Neb and I stood together in the bunt, and never did I exert myself more than on that occasion The foresail, too, was a seriouseither Just as the sun set, or as night caloomy day, the fore-topmast-staysail went out of the bolt-rope, with a report that was heard all over the shi+p; disappearing in thein the heavens A few minutes later, the mizen-staysail was hauled down in order to prevent it fro the saave the shi+p, made her tremble from her keel to her trucks
For the first time, I noitnessed a tempest at sea Gales, and pretty hard ones, I had often seen; but the force of the wind on this occasion, as ales of wind, as the force of these had exceeded that of a whole-sail breeze The seas see at over the surface of the ocean, fairly preventing the; or, where a mound of water did appear, it was scooped up and borne off in spray, as the axe dubs inequalities froan to blow the hardest, there was no very apparent swell--the deep breathing of the ocean is never entirely stilled--and the shi+p was as steady as if hove half out, her lower yard-ar the water, an inclination at which they remained as steadily as if kept there by purchases A few of us were coh as the futtock-shrouds to secure the sails, but higher it was iet I observed that when I thrust out a hand to clutch anything, it was necessary to make the movement in such a direction as to allow for lee-way, precisely as a boat quarters the strea it was difficult to keep the feet on the ratlins, and in descending, it required a strong effort to force the body doards the centre of gravity I roped my way up to the cross-trees, and leaped overboard my body would have struck the water, thirty or forty yards fro froered no one on deck
When the day returned, a species of lurid, so was visible but the ocean and the shi+p Even the sea-birds seee in the caverns of the adjacent coast, none re-appearing with the dawn The air was full of spray, and it ith difficulty that the eye could penetrate as far into the humid atmosphere as half a mile All handsto sleep at a time like that As for us officers, we collected on the forecastle, the spot where danger would first make itself apparent, did it come from the side of the land It is not easy to make a landsman understand the embarrassments of our situation We had had no observations for several days, and had been , in a part of the ocean where the tides run like aa little hurricane Even nohen her boere half subed, and without a stitch of canvass exposed, the Crisis drove ahead at the rate of three or four knots, luffing as close to the wind as if she carried after-sail It was Marble's opinion that, in such smooth water, do all we could, the vessel would drive towards the ain, between sun and sun of that short day, a distance of from thirty to forty miles ”Nor is this all, Miles,” he added to me, in an aside, ”I no more like this 'bloody current,' than that we had over on the other side of the pond, e broke our back on the rocks of Madagascar You never see as smooth water as this, unless when the wind and current are travelling in the same direction” I made no reply, but there all four of us, the captain and his threeanxiously into the vacant mist on our lee-bow, as if we expected every moment to behold our hoazing in the sa of the curtain, I fancied I saw a beach of long extent, with a dark-looking waste of low botto inland, for a considerable distance The beach did not appear to be distant half a knot, while the shi+p see it, as compared with visible objects on shore, at a rate of six or eight miles the hour It extended, almost in a parallel line with our course, too, as far as could be seen, both astern and ahead
”What a strange delusion is this!” I thought to myself, and turned to look at , one at the other, as if to ask a common explanation
”There is no mistake here,” said captain Williaentleospel,” answered Marble, with the sort of steadiness despair soives ”What is to be done, sir?”
”What _can_ be done, Mr Marble?--We have not rooe more sea-room ahead than astern”
This was so apparent, there was no disputing it We could still see the land, looking low, chill, and of the hue of Nove, it fell off a little towards the northward, while astern it seely stretched in a due line with our course That we passed it with great velocity, too, was a circumstance that our eyes showed us too plainly to ad of sail, borne down by the wind as she had been for hours, and burying to her hawse-holes forward, it was only to a racing tide, or current of some sort, that we could be indebted for our speed We tried the lead, and got bottom in six fathoms!
The captain and Marble now held a serious consultation; That the shi+p was entering some sort of an estuary was certain, but of what depth, how far favoured by a holding ground, or how far without any anchorage at all, were facts that defied our inquiries We knew that the land called Terra del Fuego was, in truth, a cluster of islands, intersected by various channels and passages, into which shi+ps had occasionally ventured, though their navigation had never led to any other results than so one of these passages, and under favourable circuh so purely accidental, was the common belief; and it only ree, while we had day-light Fortunately, as we drove into the bay, or passage, or what ever it was, the te to this and other causes, the atrew clearer By ten o'clock, we could see fully a league, though I can hardly say that the wind blew less fiercely than before As for sea, there was none, or next to none; the water being as san to feel increased uneasiness at the novelty of our situation Our hope and expectation were to find soe; but to obtain this it was indispensable also to find a lee As the shi+p moved forward, we still kept the land in view, on our starboard hand, but that was a lee, instead of a weather shore; the last alone could give our ground-tackle any chance, whatever, in such a teradually away fro us additional sea-room The fact that ere in a powerful tide's way, puzzled us thefor the circumstance Had we entered a bay, the current must have been less, and it seemed necessary there should be some outlet to such a swift accu of the water, swelling in an estuary, but an arrow-like glancing of the eleh a pass We had a proof of this last fact, about eleven o'clock, that admitted of no dispute Land was seen directly ahead, at that hour, and great was the panic it created A second look, however, reassured us, the land proving to be ht acres in extent We gave it a berth, of course, though we exae near it, as we approached The islet was too low and too s-ground The notion of anchoring there was consequently abandoned; but we had now soress The shi+p was kept a little away, in order to give this island a berth, and the gale drove her through the water at the rate of seven or eight knots This, however, was far fro us onward at a furious rate, in addition Even Captain Willia that rock at the rate of fifteen knots!
It was noon, and there was no abatee in the current, no ; aere driven, like events ruled by fate The only change was the gradual clearing up of the atot farther reale had, in a sree, abated, by two o'clock, and it would have been possible to carry so no sea to injure us, it was unnecessary, and the shi+p continued to drive ahead, under bare poles Night was the ti us, and that was this:--we thought the shi+p had entered one of the passages that intersect Terra del Fuego, and that there was the chance of soon finding a lee, as these channels were known to be very irregular and winding To run in the night seemed impossible; nor was it desirable, as it was almost certain we should be compelled to return by the e had entered, to extricate ourselves froan to appear, e itself, was beginning to diminish in width Under the circu ready, and to let go two anchors, as soon as we could find a suitable spot Between the hours of two and four, the shi+p passed seventeen islets, some of them quite near; but they afforded no shelter At last, and it was ti to fall very low, as we could see by the waning light,an island of soht afford us a lee The tide had changed too, and that was in our favour Turning to ard, however, was out of the question, since we could carry no sail, and the night was near Anchor, then, we must, or continue to drive onward in the darkness, sheered about in all directions by a powerful adverse current It is true, this current would have been a ers ahead, could we carry any canvass; but it still blew too violently for the last To anchor, then, it was determined
I had never seen so much anxiety in Captain Willia the island h to observe its outlines and shores, the last appearing bold and pro As the island itself may have been a mile in circuit, it made a tolerable lee, when close to it This was then our object, and the helm was put to starboard as ent slowly past, the tide checking our speed The shi+p sheered into a sort of roadstead--a very wild one it was--as soon as she had rooht hit a rock; but ent clear, luffing quite near to the land, where we let go both bowers at the same instant The shi+p's way had been sufficiently deadened, by throwing her up as near the wind as she could be got, and there was no difficulty in snubbing her The lead gave us seven fathoms, and this within pistol-shot of the shore We kneere tereat point was to ascertain how the vessel would tend, and with how ht, it was found ere in a moderate eddy, that drew the shi+p's stern from the island, and allowed her to tend to the wind, which still had a fair range from her top-sail yards to the trucks
Lower down, the te first to one side, and then to the other, in a way to prove howimpetuosity was broken and checked by the land It is not easy to describe the relief we felt at these happy chances It was like giving foothold to soht a descent of the precipice was inevitable
The shi+p was found to ride easily by one cable, and the hands were sent to the windlass to heave up the other anchor, as our lead told us, we had rocks beneath us, and the captain was afraid of the chafing The larboard-bower anchor was catted ie of cable overhauled, in readiness to let go at a et their suppers
As for us officers, we had other things to think of The Crisis carried a small quarter-boat, and this was lowered into the water, the third-mate and myself manned its oars, and aent to carry the captain round the shi+p, in order that he et under way in the night The examination was satisfactory, on all points but one; that of the holding-ground; and we returned to the vessel, having taken good care to trust ourselves in neither the wind nor the current An anchor-watch was set, with a mate on deck, four hours and four hours, and all hands turned in
I had thewatch What occurred fro-watches himself,) until a few h I understood generally, that the wind continued to blow in the saetting down to soht The shi+p rode er an eddy, the current sucking round each side of the island in a very unusual ular watch on deck, all hands were called; I ran on deck, and found the shi+p had struck adrift, the cable having parted Marble had got the vessel's head up to the wind, under bare poles as before, and we soon began to heave in the cable It was found that thechafed two-thirds through As soon as the current took the vessel's hull with force, the cable parted We lost our anchor, of course, for there was no possible way of getting back to the island at present, or until the ebb again made
It wanted several hours of day, and the captain called a council He told us, he ot into one of the Terra del Fuego passages, guided by Providence; and, as he supposed we must be almost as far south as Staten Land, he was of opinion we hadas the wind held where it was, and he was disposed to make sail, and push the examination of the channel, as far as circumstances would allow Captain Williams had a weakness on this point, that was amiable and respectable perhaps, but which hardly co shi+p-estion; and, in spite of the danger, curiosity added its iet back as the wind then was, and ere disposed to ation, they see ahead, and the passage itself greider Our course, however, wasthe shi+p close up by the wind, once more