THE SEAWEED SEA
Of all the adventures through which we had passed, perhaps there was
none so dangerous as that which now befell us. We had shaped our course
to the east, on the look-out for a new group of islands, among which
Hartog expected to find the Island of Gems, when, one morning, we
observed the horizon to have assumed a black look as though a storm was
brewing, but on nearing this phenomenon, we found it to consist of an
immense growth of seaweed floating upon the ocean, and extending as far
as the eye could reach.
The course we were steering would have carried us into the midst of the
weed, so we hauled our wind, and coasted along it to the south, hoping
either to find an opening through which we might pass, or to come to
the end of the floating mass, but the farther we proceeded the thicker
the weed became, while other masses now appeared to larboard, so that
we feared we might be enmeshed in such a manner that we would find it
impossible to extricate ourselves. I had read of a sea covered by a
weed which held ships entangled as in a net, and I feared that this was
the danger into which fate had now led us. Portions of the kelp
detached from the main mass, which floated alongside the ship, proved
it to be a growth of extraordinary strength, the weed extending twenty
feet and more below the surface of the water, and being so tough that
two of our men between them were unable to break a specimen we drew on
board, so that if we should become entangled in the kelp, we knew that
death by slow starvation, when our provisions were exhausted, would
await us.
During the day upon which we first sighted this phenomenon we attempted
every manoeuvre of navigation to keep the ship clear of the weed, but
in spite of all we could do, and the ceaseless watch Hartog and I
between us kept on deck, the dawn of the next day found the ship as
stationary as though we had run ashore.
"Nothing but a gale from the right quarter can save us, Peter," said
Hartog when we held a consultation together in the cabin, "and even a
gale will not help us unless it comes soon and before the weed
gathers."
I knew what he said was plain truth, yet I advised we should keep a
brave face before the men, as nothing would be gained by provoking a
scare.
Notwithstanding our assumed cheerfulness, however, we could see the
crew were becoming alarmed, and as each day added to the accumulation
of the weed which collected between us and the open sea, anxious looks
were turned to the horizon in the hope of detecting the long-expected
breeze.
So as to give the men occupation, and prevent their brooding, Hartog
gave directions to man the boats in order that an attempt might be made
to tow the ship through the weed, but after two days' fruitless effort
the attempt was abandoned. It was dreadful to contemplate our impotence
in the face of this danger, which hourly grew upon us. The seaweed, in
itself so harmless that it becomes the sport of children when washed
ashore upon the beaches at home, here, in its original and monstrous
growth became more terrifying than all the Leviathans of the deep.
There was something irresistible in this brown mantle which drew its
folds so silently and yet so surely around us that even Dirk Hartog's
indomitable spirit quailed at the thought of what might be before us.
"What demon led us hither, Peter?" he said to me when a week had
passed, and we still rode motionless in the grip of the seaweed. "Of
all the perils which mariners must face, whoever heard of a ship's
company being brought to their doom by floating kelp?"
I told him of the sea of which I had read, and which I believed we had
come to. He listened to me with patience, and then relapsed into a
reverie, from which I found it impossible to arouse him.
On coming on deck I detected Van Luck at his old game of sowing discord
among the men. They did not, however, appear to pay much attention to
what he said. He had now no authority over them, and none but Janstins
and Bantum, who were with us on this second voyage, remembered him as
the first officer of the "Endraght". The ingratitude of the man,
however, after the consideration we had shown him, angered me, and I
spoke to him roughly, and ordered him to quit the deck.
"Take heed," I warned him, "that I do not have you put in irons, or
sent adrift upon a second voyage."
Van Luck obeyed me with a scowl, and slunk below, but I could see an
evil light in his eyes which I attributed to madness, though I was
subsequently to learn there was much method in it. I did not like to
add to Hartog's anxieties by telling him of Van Luck's conduct, and,
indeed, when I considered our present predicament, it seemed unlikely
that Van Luck, or anybody else, could do us much harm or good.
And now another event occurred to add to our perplexities. The kelp
around the vessel suddenly became alive with a small species of black
crab. These creatures must have scented the food from our vessel, and
they came in millions to besiege us in order to devour it. The deck was
soon black with them, and they swarmed below in ever-increasing
numbers. Nothing escaped them, and most of our provisions were quickly
demolished. We killed them in thousands, and the stench from their
crushed bodies almost drove us out of our minds, but other thousands
quickly filled their places, and the crustaceans continued to pour down
the hatches like black streams of evil-smelling water.
But this visitation, dreadful though it was, eventually proved our
salvation. The weed, now alive with marine life, lost its density, and
when, at length, the breeze came, we could feel we were making headway.
But had we not been able to force our passage into the open I verily
believe we would all have been devoured alive by black crabs, which
swarmed upon us. As it was, many of the men suffered severely from the
bites of these creatures, and weeks elapsed before the ship was clear
of them and the stench which they had brought aboard. But when the
breeze freshened from the right quarter, and we felt our vessel moving
toward the open sea, we were too thankful for our escape from a
horrible death to think of the lesser evils from which we suffered,
though the destruction of such a considerable quantity of our stores
was a serious loss, and set Hartog thinking as to whether our immediate
return to Amsterdam was not imperative.
"I had made up my mind for another year in these latitudes, Peter," he
said, "and I am loath to go back without setting foot upon the Island
of Gems, but man is but a straw in the hands of Destiny, and who am I
to set myself against the decrees of Fate?" So with mixed feelings of
disappointment and pleasure we once more found ourselves homeward
bound.
I had hoped that from this voyage I might return a rich man, able to
make honourable proposals to Count Holstein for his daughter's hand,
but it seemed now that fortune was not to be won so easily. My share of
the treasure found on Cortes' island might enrich me sufficiently to
buy a small interest in my master's business, but this was all I could
hope for, and the bright dreams which Hartog and I had formed of the
Island of Gems seemed about to dissolve, as is the way with phantoms,
into thin air.
But who can trace the course of Destiny, or fathom the mysteries of
Fate?