Part 4 (1/2)
I was looking about how to get down, when I saw Brunel descending by a rope to his a.s.sistance. I got hold of one of the iron ties, and slid down into the water hand over hand with a small rope, and tried to make it fast round his middle, whilst Brunel was doing the same. Having done it he called out, 'Haul up.' The man was hauled up. I swam about to see where to land. The shaft was full of casks.
Brunel had been swimming too.
The first alarm, as I heard it, was as follows: Goodwin, in No. 11, said to Roger, in the next box, 'Roger, come, help me.' Roger said, 'I can't, I have my second poling down, and my face will run in.'
In a little time Goodwin said, 'You must come,' which Mr. Beamish directed him to do. Roger turned round and saw Goodwin through a sheet of water. Corps, a bricklayer, went to help Goodwin: he was knocked down. Roger made his way alone, calling to Mr. Beamish, 'Come away, sir, 'tis no use to stay.' Roger saw Corps fairly washed out of his box like a lump of clay.
Sir Isambard's journal continues:--
_May 19._--Relieved as I have found myself, though by a terrible catastrophe, of the worst state of anxiety, that which I have been in for several weeks past, I had a most comfortable night. Isambard and Gravatt descended with the diving-bell, and stood upon the tails of Nos. 10, 11, and 12.
_May 20._--Having descended into the hole and probed the ground, I felt that the staves were in their places, and that the brickwork was quite sound. It is evident that the great hole has been a dredging spot. A large ma.s.s of bags full of clay, and united together with ropes, was let down. The Rotherhithe curate, in his sermon to-day, adverting to the accident, said it was a fatal accident, that it was but a just judgment upon the presumptuous aspirations of mortal men, &c.! The poor man!
_May 23._--Went with the diving-bell to examine the ground and the bags, which do apparently well, but it is working rather in the dark. It cannot, however, fail of making a much better stratum than that we had before. The plan is therefore good.
On the 30th a raft was sunk over the s.h.i.+eld, and the water in the shaft was brought so low that the last flight of steps was visible. However, on the next day the river broke in again; and as it was found that the raft was open at the west side, it was raised and towed on sh.o.r.e.
_June 5._--There is much danger in getting out of the diving-bell, the bags are so loose in some places. One might sink and be swallowed, which had very nearly happened to-day. Isambard and Pinckney being down, the latter lost his hold. The footboard being accidentally carried away, he could not have recovered himself had not Isambard stretched out his leg to his a.s.sistance.
_June 17._--Visited by Charles Bonaparte. Isambard took him into the arch with the yawl. Isambard fell overboard.[20]
On June 19, a general meeting of the proprietors was held, to consider the position of the company. Sir Isambard addressed the meeting, and also presented a long report, in which he entered very fully into the circ.u.mstances of the recent accident and the causes which led to it. He then described the means he had taken to restore the works by sinking bags of clay and gravel. He adds: 'I have already succeeded in closing the hole through which the water first penetrated, and feel confident that the second opening which afterwards appeared is also stopped, but a short time is necessary to elapse for the new ground over the s.h.i.+eld to settle and consolidate. It has already supported a head of water of thirty-five feet.'
_June 25._--At 7 P.M. made preparations to re-enter the s.h.i.+eld.
Isambard, mustering the men who had been the last to quit the frames, told them they would be the first to take possession of them again--a precedence due, as he said, to them. Rogers, Ball, Goodwin, Corps, and Compton, were accordingly ordered to trim themselves for the expedition, provided with a phosphorus box, and dressed in light clothes, to be fit for a swim.
At about ten o'clock, Isambard and Mr. Beamish, accompanied by Ball and Woodward (miners), went down with the punt, and got to the large stage, the head of the crane just emerging. It was found impossible to get into the frames, as a mound of clay and silt closed the entrance. The centering was in place and quite sound, and of course the brickwork. Finding that they could not get nearer, they gave three cheers, which were rapturously answered by the men at the mouth of the Tunnel. Having placed candles upon the ground that closed the entrance, and upon the head of the crane, they returned. Isambard, having promised that the men who had left the frames last should be the first to re-enter, returned with them. This is a great day for our history!
_June 27._--Mr. Beamish was able to get to the frames, which he found firm and undisturbed.
A small tarpaulin was now spread over the frames, and operations commenced for cleaning them. This was a most difficult and dangerous work, especially as the water was still so high that the frames could only be approached by boats. The men, even the best hands, were at first greatly alarmed at the danger they were in; but the example set by Mr.
Brunel and Mr. Beamish produced, as Sir Isambard notes, the best effect, and they soon became reconciled to their situation.
_July 7._--Very uncomfortable in the frames; the candles cannot burn, the ventilation cannot act. Isambard went several times to-day down in the diving-bell. On one occasion the chain slipped through the stoppers, but most providentially it jammed itself tight before being altogether run out. _The consequence might indeed have been fatal._ Can there be a more anxious situation than that which I am constantly in? Not one moment of rest either of mind or body. Mr. Beamish always ready. Poor Isambard always at his post too, alternately below, or in the barges, and in the diving-bell.
On July 11, Sir Isambard thought that matters had so far advanced that a large tarpaulin, which it was proposed to sink over the frames, 'would have its full effect.' It was accordingly sunk on the following day, under the superintendence of Mr. Brunel. Sir Isambard adds to his account of the operation--'This reflects great credit on Isambard, and the apparent facility with which it was effected evinces his presence of mind, for a single _faux pas_ would have spoilt the whole.'[21]
_July 21._--During the early part of the night an alarm was given, by Fitzgerald calling for clay wedges, and exclaiming that the whole of the faces were coming in altogether. Rogers collected a quant.i.ty of wedges to go to the frames, but no boat was to be seen.
He called to the men in the frames, but received no answer. Taking the small boat in the east arch, he reached the frames, but found n.o.body, nor any appearance of derangement in the ground.
Conjecturing they might be drowned, he explored further, and saw the four men stretched on the small stage, not drowned, but sound asleep!
_July 26._--Water nearly out of the arches. For the first time we could walk to the frames--a most gratifying circ.u.mstance indeed!
_Two months and eight days._
_September 30._--How slow our progress must appear to others; but it is not so, if it is considered how much we have had to do in righting the frames and in repairing them; what with timbering, shoring, s.h.i.+pping and refitting--all these operations being in confined situations, the water bursting in occasionally, and the ground running in: in short, it is truly terrific to be in the midst of this scene. If to this we add the actual danger, magnified by the re-echoing of the pumps, and sometimes (still more awful warning!) the report of large pieces of cast iron breaking, it is in no way an exaggeration to say that such has been the state of things. Nevertheless, my confidence in the s.h.i.+eld is not only undiminished--it is, on the contrary, tried with its full effect, and it is manifest now that it will soon replace us in good ground, and in a safe situation. No top staves have given way. That is our real protection.
_October 17._--At 2.15 A.M. Kemble, having first called upon Gravatt, came to Isambard in a hurry, and, quite stupefied with fright, told him that the water was in. Says Isambard--'I could not believe him. He said it was up the shaft when he came. This being like positive, I ran without a coat as fast as possible, giving a double knock at Gravatt's door in my way. I saw the men on the top, and heard them calling earnestly to those whom they fancied had not had time to escape. Nay, Miles had already, in his zeal for the aid of others, thrown a long rope, and was swinging it about, calling to the unfortunate sufferers to lay hold of it, encouraging and cheering those who might not find it, to swim to one of the landings. I immediately, I should say instantly, flew down the stairs. The shaft was completely dark. I expected at every step to splash into the water. Before I was aware of the distance I had run, I reached the frames in the east arch, and met there Pamphillon, who told me that nothing was the matter, but a small run in No. 1 top, where I found Huggins and the _corps d'elite_.
They were not even aware that any one had left the frames. The cause of the panic was one of the labourers; hearing the man in No.