The first matter to which I gave consideration, after we were fairly
under way, and had parted company with the longboat, was that of food
and drink; and I began by taking stock roughly of what we had, and
jotting down the items in my pocket-book. To begin with, we had four
five-gallon breakers of fresh water--twenty gallons in all. Then we had
two sacks of cabin bread, which, by a partial count, I estimated to
contain about three hundred biscuits altogether. And in addition to
these we had one dozen tins of ox tongue; six small tins of potted
meats; four jars of marmalade and two of jam; two bottles of pickles;
four bottles of lime juice; one bottle of brandy; and two bottles of
rum. When I had jotted everything down I made a few calculations, and
then I spoke.
"Shipmates," I said,--"and I include you, Mr Cunningham, in the term,
for this misfortune puts us all upon the same footing--you no doubt
heard Mr Bligh say, a little while ago, that according to his reckoning
we are somewhere about twelve hundred miles from Rio, which is our
nearest port. That means a twelve days' voyage, with a fair wind all
the time, blowing fresh enough to keep us going, hour after hour, at the
rate of five knots. Now, those of us who have used the sea don't need
to be told that such a favourable condition of affairs is so exceedingly
unlikely that it is scarcely worth talking about. To begin with, we are
making a bad start, for instead of doing our five knots we are doing
little if anything more than half that, with every prospect of a flat
calm within the next three or four hours. Therefore I think it will be
wise of us to recognise, at the outset, that our voyage is a good deal
more likely to take twenty days than it is to be accomplished in ten.
"Of course, in saying this I am regarding the matter from its most
unfavourable point of view. I remember that we have had easterly winds
without a break ever since we crossed the line, and it may be that the
Trades are extending unusually far south just now, and that we are still
on the southerly fringe of them. If this should prove to be the case we
shall be all right, for by steering a west and by no'th course we shall
be edging to the nor'ard and working our way back into the permanent
trade winds. But, on the other hand, this easterly wind may not be the
trade wind at all--and my own opinion is that it is not--in which case
we may expect a westerly breeze--that is to say, a foul wind--at any
moment; and I think we should only be acting with common prudence to
take such a probability into consideration.
"Now, this brings me to the question of food and water. As you have
seen, I have been taking stock of what we have, and making a few
calculations, with the following result. First, with regard to the
fresh water. We have just twenty gallons of it, or one hundred and
sixty pints. If we could be certain of making our voyage in ten days
that amount of water would afford sixteen pints per day to be equally
divided between the five of us, which is a fraction over three pints per
day per man, or, say, half a pint at each of three meals and another
half-pint at three intervals between meals. Little enough, you will
say. Very true; yet I think we must endeavour to do with less. We must
try to be satisfied with four half-pints per day of twenty-four hours
per man, by which means we shall be able to make our water last sixteen
days, and in sixteen days many things may happen: we may end our voyage,
if we have luck; or we may be picked up; or we may have rain enough to
enable us to replenish our water supply. But since neither of these
things may happen, we ought, in common prudence, to determine at the
outset not to drink more than four half-pints per man per day; and I
think we may be able to manage upon that without any very great
hardship. What say you?"
"I think we can manage it, if we set our minds to do it," at once
answered Mr Cunningham, and after a little further talk the boatswain,
carpenter, and sailmaker also agreed to make the attempt. In the same
way we arrived at a determination to be satisfied with four biscuits per
day each, with a suitable proportion of tongue, potted meat, jam, and
what not; and we also agreed upon the quantity of spirits which was to
constitute each man's daily allowance, Cunningham being of opinion that
a very small allowance of stimulant would be almost a necessity, seeing
that our food was to be so restricted in quantity. And then, having
settled this important question, we piped to supper, each man receiving
the exact quantity of food agreed upon; and when we had finished we were
all of the one opinion, namely, that although our appetites were far
from being satisfied, it would be quite possible for us to sustain life
under such conditions for a fortnight or three weeks without serious
deterioration of either health or strength.
By the time supper was over it had fallen dark, and we had lost sight of
both the longboat and the barque. It was a magnificent night, the sky a
deep indigo cloudless blue, studded with myriads of stars, the water
perfectly smooth, save for the long, low undulations of the swell; and
the only fault that I had to find with the weather was that there was
too little wind, the breeze having died down until we were making
scarcely two knots in the hour. Fortunately we had no difficulty in the
matter of determining our course, for it happened that Mr Cunningham
wore a small compass attached to his watch chain as a charm; and after I
had made the necessary allowance for variation we soon managed, with the
assistance of this miniature compass and a match, to pick upon a star
low down on the horizon by which we could steer a fairly straight course
for at least a couple of hours, at the expiration of which it would, of
course, be easy to pick another.
Then we arranged the matter of watches. There were four of us in the
boat who were sailors, and my first proposal was that each of us should
take a watch of three hours; but Mr Cunningham would not hear of this.
He was, it appeared, a civil engineer by profession, but he had a
natural love of the sea and all matters pertaining to sea life, and was
quite an enthusiastic amateur yachtsman, with a sufficient knowledge of
the way to handle a boat to justify me fully in entrusting him with
temporary charge of the gig, at least in fine weather; and he insisted
on taking his fair share of whatever work there might be to do. We
therefore decided that he also should be allowed to stand a watch. I
undertook to stand the first watch, from six o'clock to nine; and, this
being arranged, the boatswain, carpenter, and sailmaker at once disposed
themselves for sleep, two upon the thwarts and the third coiled up in
the eyes of the boat, while Cunningham, who declared that he had no
inclination for sleep, placed himself beside me in the sternsheets and
began to chat in a low tone of voice, so that he might not disturb the
others.
Naturally the subject uppermost in our minds was the mutiny, and we
began to talk about it. I happened to express some surprise that
Bainbridge had allowed the doctor to leave the ship, upon which
Cunningham gave vent to a low chuckle of amusement.
"My dear chap," he said, "Bainbridge didn't dare to keep him. He fully
intended to do so at first, and acquainted Morrison with the fact, but
the doctor wouldn't have it at any price--swore that if he were not
allowed to leave with the rest of us he would poison all hands within a
week! After that, Bainbridge was only too glad to let him go."
We continued to chat for some time upon the subject, wondering what
possible motive Bainbridge could have for proceeding to such an extreme
as that of capturing the ship; by what means he had contrived to win the
men over; and how he had managed to do it without exciting the slightest
suspicion, and so on: and then Cunningham began to speak of himself. He
was, it appeared, an orphan, twenty-eight years of age, without a single
friend in the world who felt enough interest in him to care what might
become of him. He had already explained, a little earlier in the
evening, that he was by profession a civil engineer; and he now went on
to tell me that, entirely without friends or influence as he was, he had
found it so difficult to make headway in England that he had at last
determined upon going out to Natal, in which colony, it being
comparatively speaking a new country, he had hoped to find some scope
for his professional knowledge. "But that," he added, "is all knocked
on the head by that young villain, Bainbridge, who has not only
prevented me from reaching Natal, but has actually turned me adrift in
an open boat to fetch up who knows where, with only the clothes I stand
in. And yet, not exactly that either," he corrected himself with a
quiet chuckle of amusement; "for although my expensive surveying
instruments and all my kit are on board the _Zenobia_, I contrived to
get at my trunks this morning and extract therefrom a bag containing one
hundred and forty sovereigns, as well as my telescope and half a dozen
sticks of tobacco, all of which I carefully secreted about my person and
have with me now."
"Well," returned I, "if that is the case you may call yourself lucky,
for you will find a hundred and forty British sovereigns exceedingly
useful when we get ashore; as for your telescope, it may prove of the
utmost value to us before this trip is over. You are considerably
better off than I am, for I was allowed to leave the ship with literally
only the clothes that I am wearing. The remainder of my clothes,
together with my sextant, nautical and other books, and some sixteen
pounds odd in cash, are still in my berth aboard the barque, if that
swab has not already seized them. But of course I am hoping to find a
ship at Rio, aboard which I may be able to work my passage home; and
once back in London the owners are bound to find me another berth."
"But supposing there shouldn't happen to be a ship at Rio in which you
can work your passage home. What will you do in that case?" asked
Cunningham.
"Oh," I said, "I should simply have to take the first berth I could
find, irrespective of where the vessel might happen to be bound for!
Or, in the last resort, I can place myself in the hands of the British
Consul, and be sent home as a shipwrecked seaman."
"I see," said Cunningham thoughtfully. "But," he resumed, after a
moment's silence, "there is no need for you to adopt either of these
courses, you know, old chap. My hundred and forty sovereigns will be
quite sufficient to see us both comfortably home from Rio, and you can
repay me whenever you happen to be able."
I very heartily thanked the young civil engineer for his exceedingly
generous offer, but protested that I could not possibly accept it--that,
in fact, there was not the least likelihood that things would turn out
so badly in Rio as to compel me to avail myself of his generosity; but
nothing would satisfy my companion short of a definite promise that I
would accept his help should matters result awkwardly upon our arrival.
Eventually I very reluctantly yielded to his importunities and gave him
the required promise, and thus began a sincere friendship between us
that was only further strengthened by the long series of remarkable
adventures that lay ahead of us both, although at that moment we little
dreamed that anything out of the ordinary run of events was to befall
either of us.
Toward the end of my watch the breeze evinced a slight tendency to
freshen, and when at nine o'clock I handed over the charge of the boat
to the boatswain, and Cunningham and I disposed ourselves to secure such
sleep as might come to us, we were slipping along through the water at
the rate of a good honest four knots in the hour.
As may be imagined, my sleep that night was of a somewhat intermittent
character, for a boat's thwart is not the most comfortable bed in the
world, and I was fully conscious of the responsibility that had been
laid upon me to guide the gig, and the lives which had been entrusted to
her, over the trackless ocean, without the aid of chart or nautical
instruments of any kind save the toy compass attached to Cunningham's
watch chain. I was well aware that my only hope of success lay in the
keeping of the most accurate account possible of the boat's progress and
direction, and, therefore, was up and looking about me at least half a
dozen times during the night.
The fine weather continued all through the hours of darkness, and during
the boatswain's and carpenter's watches the wind gradually freshened up,
until by three o'clock, when Chips called the sailmaker to relieve him,
the boat was buzzing merrily along at a speed of between six and seven
knots; but after that the wind began to soften rapidly away again, until
at length, when the sun swept into view above the eastern horizon, we
scarcely had steerage way, and half an hour later it fell a flat calm.
We accordingly lowered the sail, and, this done, I directed Simpson, the
sailmaker--who was the lightest of us, and therefore the least likely to
capsize the boat--to shin up to the masthead and see if he could detect
any sign of the longboat or the barque, and incidentally take a good
look round the entire horizon upon the off-chance of there being a sail
anywhere in sight; but he reported the horizon bare in every direction
except in the eastern board, where he fancied he could occasionally
detect a faint something that might possibly be the sails of the
longboat, although he was by no means sure even as to that, opining that
what he had seen, if indeed he had seen anything at all, might be the
distant fin of a prowling shark.
The mention of sharks gave me an idea, and I asked my companions whether
perchance any of them happened to have any small stuff about them out of
which we might contrive to make a fishing line; whereupon Chips, with a
smile, requested me to vacate my seat in the sternsheets for a moment,
and, opening the locker in the after thwart of the boat, produced an
excellent cod line, with hooks and sinker all complete, explaining that
as soon as he gathered an inkling of what Bainbridge intended on the
previous day, he contrived, while engaged in knocking up a temporary pen
for the sheep, to filch the said line out of the cook's galley and to
secrete it, afterward seizing an opportunity to transfer it to the gig's
locker when he learned that she was about to be turned over to us.
There happened to be a piece of dry shrivelled bait still transfixed
upon one of the hooks; we therefore dropped it over the side, paid out
the line, made fast the inner end to one of the thwarts, and forthwith
forgot all about it in the small bustle of getting breakfast.
But while we were still engaged upon the meal we suddenly became aware
that our fishing line was being violently agitated, and upon hauling it
in found that we had been fortunate enough to hook a young dolphin about
two feet long. Now, raw dolphin is not exactly an appetising dish,
especially to those who, like ourselves, possessed nothing keener than a
really strong, healthy hunger; still, there was the fish, so much to the
good as supplementary to our rather meagre breakfast allowance, and--
well, in short we--at least the boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, and
myself--managed to eat nearly half of him. Cunningham had not yet
arrived at the starvation-point where raw fish could be devoured with a
relish, and he declined to share our banquet, for which I did not blame
him; but really, after I had succeeded in so far conquering my prejudice
against raw food as to nibble cautiously at my portion, I found that it
was by no means so repulsive as I had imagined. And although it was
certainly not at all inviting it was undoubtedly nutritious; and when at
length I finished my breakfast, not only was my hunger completely
satisfied, but I felt refreshed and invigorated after my meal.
Breakfast disposed of, Simpson once more shinned aloft and took another
look round; but there was still nothing in sight--indeed, how should
there be, seeing that there was no wind to fan anything into our ken?
He could not now even discern the faint appearance to the eastward which
he had imagined might indicate the position of the longboat, but that of
course might be due to the fact that, like ourselves, they had lowered
their now useless canvas. With not a breath of air stirring it was
intensely hot, the rays of the unclouded sun beating down upon us
fiercely as the breath of a furnace, and I inwardly execrated that
scoundrel Bainbridge and his lawless crew as I thought of the crowded
longboat and the hapless women and children--to say nothing of the
wounded skipper--pent up in her, with nothing to protect them from the
pitiless heat and glare.
"Well, shipmates," I said, "we shall do ourselves no good by lying here
idly sweltering. This calm may last for a week, for aught that we can
tell; there is not the slightest sign of a breeze springing up, so far
as I can see. I propose, therefore, that instead of doing nothing we
strike the mast, out oars, and go in search of a wind. There is no
need," I continued, seeing signs of a protest on the faces of my
companions, "for us to exert ourselves very greatly; and we can scarcely
make ourselves hotter than we are, do what we will. I therefore suggest
that we throw out the oars and paddle quietly ahead upon our proper
course. We ought to be able to get three knots out of the boat with
little exertion, and every mile of progress means so much to the good:
moreover, I want you all to remember that we cannot afford to lie idly
here; our stock of provisions will only last a certain time, and just
picture to yourselves what our condition will be if, through suffering
ourselves to be delayed by calms, these provisions--and our water--
should become exhausted before we reach land or are picked up. My idea
is that four of us should pull while the fifth steers, and that at the
end of one hour by the watch he who steers should relieve one of us at
the oars, so that every four hours each of us will get one hour's rest.
Now, what say you, lads? It is Mr Cunningham's watch, therefore let
him take the first spell at the yoke lines."
It was easy enough to see that the others did not like the idea of
working at the oars in that blistering sun, nor was that to be wondered
at; but my reminder to them of the possibilities in store for us should
our provisions and water be exhausted before relief in some shape or
other came to us had its effect. With many grumblings and imprecations
at the inopportune calm, they set to work to strike the mast, ship the
rowlocks, and get out the oars; and five minutes later, myself pulling
stroke, and Cunningham in the sternsheets with the yoke lines in his
hands and his compass charm on the seat beside him, we were moving
quietly and easily to the westward at a speed of quite three knots.
Fortunately for us the gig was a particularly good boat of the whaleboat
type, built for speed, long and flat on the floor, with beautiful lines;
and apart from the low swell, which did not trouble us at all, the water
was smooth as oil. When, therefore, we had once got way upon the boat
it was an easy matter to keep her going without very much exertion. But
hot! Only those who have been exposed in an open boat at sea in a
tropical calm can in the least understand or appreciate what we
suffered. The sun's rays, striking almost vertically down upon our
heads, and reflected upward again from the shining surface of the water,
scorched us like fire, and before the first hour had passed my face was
_so_ painful that I scarcely dared touch it. And oh, how we perspired!
In less than ten minutes my singlet and drawers--which were all that I
had on, having like the rest stripped off all the rest of my clothing--
were as wet as though I had been overboard. And the natural result of
such profuse perspiration was that we soon became intolerably thirsty.
I don't know which of us was the first to suffer from this cause, but I
know that I had not been at my oar more than twenty minutes when I began
to feel that I would willingly give everything I possessed for a good
long cooling draught of spring water. However, I clenched my teeth and
said nothing, for I knew perfectly well that if the word "thirst" were
once mentioned all hands would instantly begin to clamour for water, and
I might have the greatest difficulty in restraining the others from
making a raid upon the breakers, regardless of consequences.
But, after all, my self-restraint was of little practical value, for
presently the carpenter flung the loom of his oar athwart the boat until
it rested upon the gunwale, and, tossing his clenched fists above his
head, cried in a husky, unnatural tone of voice:
"Great jumpin' Gehosophat, how thirsty I am! Mr Temple, I votes we
knock off long enough to have a drink all round. I'm as dry as a
limekiln inside; my tongue's beginnin' to rattle again' my teeth, an'--"
"The more reason why you should keep it quiet, Chips," I retorted
sharply. "Thirsty! Of course you are; so are we all, for that matter:
but there is no reason why we should yelp about it. And as for having a
drink, you know as well as I do that, with the small quantity of water
which we have in the boat, it has been necessary for us to pledge
ourselves solemnly to take no more than a certain quantity daily, and we
must wait for our next drink until dinner-time comes along--"
"But, Mr Temple," interrupted the sailmaker, who with the others,
myself included, had now cocked his oar, "our proper 'lowance of water
is 'alf a pint at each meal, and another 'alf a pint at some other time.
Can't we 'ave that there hextry 'alf pint now?"
"No, you certainly cannot," I answered, as well as I was able to speak
for the saliva that gathered in my mouth at the mere thought of that
nectar-like half-pint of water. "If you did, you would be as thirsty as
ever within the next half-hour, and then you would be sorry enough that
there was no more water coming to you, except at meal times, for the
rest of the day. But I'll tell you what I'll do. It is now," glancing
at my watch, "within three minutes of nine o'clock. At ten we will take
a spell of ten minutes, and each man shall then have the third part of
half a pint of water, with a suspicion of rum in it as a pick-me-up.
Then at twelve we shall dine, and each man shall have his half-pint; at
three o'clock we will have another third of half a pint; at six we shall
have supper; and at nine o'clock, if we find that we really require it,
we will have the remaining third of half a pint. Now, that is the best
I can do; it is the only thing that we dare do, and we must just make
the best of it."
"Yes," agreed Cunningham, "you are quite right, Mr Temple; we must be
satisfied with our strict allowance, and ask for no more. But there is
one thing we may do to ease our thirst, and it is wonderfully
efficacious. Let each man take off his clothes, saturate them with salt
water, and put them on again soaking wet. If we do this, say, once
every half-hour, we shall find ourselves marvellously refreshed, and
quite able to wait for a drink until the proper time for it arrives."
"Ay," said I, "I have heard of that trick before, and a splendid one it
is, too, I believe, although I have never had occasion to try it until
now. Let us test it at once, lads. I remember once hearing a man say
that if shipwrecked people would only keep their clothes thoroughly
saturated with salt water, they could practically manage to do without
drinking at all." And without further ado I stripped off my singlet and
pants, wrung the perspiration out of them, plunged them over the side,
and put them on again, my example being immediately followed by the
others. Then, the time having arrived for Cunningham to take a spell at
the oar, he exchanged places with the sailmaker, and we again proceeded.
The sensation of coolness imparted by the contact of our wet clothing
with our bodies was very refreshing, and as long as it lasted we were
able to pull a quick, steady stroke that put us along at the rate of
about three knots with little or no fatigue. The worst of it was that
it did not last long, for within ten minutes the sun had dried our
clothes again, and we began to perspire once more. But we soon found a
simple remedy for this by ceasing work just long enough to enable us to
pour two or three buckets of water over each other, and then getting to
work again; and although these frequent stoppages no doubt had the
effect of retarding our progress to some extent, I do not think our
actual loss of speed was very great, for the refreshment derived from
these often-repeated sousings was such that we were able to put a good
deal more life and vigour into our work than would otherwise have been
possible. As regards the alleged abatement of thirst, although I did
not experience any perceptible relief during the first half-hour of the
experiment, I certainly did afterwards, and so did the others; and
although at ten o'clock we each avidly took our third of half a pint of
water, there were no further complaints of thirst. And here let me
mention, for the benefit of any reader who may be so unfortunate as to
find himself at any time in a similar predicament, that I then made the
important discovery that the most effectual method of assuaging thirst
with a very limited quantity of water is not to gulp it down and have
done with it, but to sip it slowly, about a teaspoonful at a time, and
retain each sip in the mouth at least half a minute before swallowing
it. The amount of comfort--not to say enjoyment--relief, and
refreshment thus obtainable is nothing short of marvellous.
But, despite every device that we could think of to obtain relief, our
sufferings during that day were terrible; for although, by assiduously
sousing each other with salt water at frequent intervals, we contrived
to avoid the worst torments of thirst, our faces, arms, and hands--in
fact all the exposed portions of our bodies, were so frightfully
scorched by the sun that even before knocking-off work to take our
midday meal we had begun to blister, and by nightfall our faces and arms
were covered with blisters. And all through that interminable day we
toiled on and on at the oars, with not a shred of cloud to be seen in
any direction, the blazing sun scorching us remorselessly, and the sea
all round us a polished, shining, gently undulating, colourless plain,
unbroken by so much as a solitary ripple, save those created by our oar
blades, the passage of the gig through the water, the occasional dash of
half a dozen flying-fish out of the sea under the boat's stem, and once
or twice the thin wake cut by the dorsal fin of a cruising shark.
But about three-quarters of an hour before sunset the carpenter, who was
then steering the boat, shouted: "Hurrah, my bullies, there's a change
of some sort comin' at last! See the edge of that there cloud liftin'
over the sea line ahead? That means wind, or I'll eat my hat; ay, and
p'rhaps rain too. What do you think, Mr Temple?"
With one accord we all cocked our oars, and, standing up, I took a good
long look ahead, secretly welcoming, I will confess, the excuse to cease
pulling for a minute or two; for my back was by this time aching
frightfully, and the skin of my thumbs, just where they joined the
hands, was so completely chafed away that the flesh was red, raw, and
bleeding. Yes, there was the edge of a cloud, distinct enough, the
white, clean-cut, sharp-edged upper portion of a big thunder cloud,
unless I was greatly mistaken. And it was rising fast, too, so fast
that, even as I stood gazing at it, it fully doubled its area and
permitted us a glimpse of the soft, slaty-blue tint merging into the
white.
"Yes," I agreed, replying to Parsons' question, "the change is coming
all right, and it will not be very long before it is here. Lay in your
oars, men. I think, in prospect of what that cloud promises, that we
may venture to spare ourselves any further ash-flourishing to-day, for
we shall have a breeze before very long, with thunder, lightning, and
rain as well, unless I am greatly mistaken. And we will pipe to supper
at once, so that we may be able to get our meal in peace and quietness,
and have it over and done with before the breeze comes. We are likely
enough to have plenty of other matters than eating and drinking to think
about and attend to when that happens."
The oars were laid in, willingly enough, for the other four were in just
as bad a plight as I was. Cunningham, indeed, was far worse, for,
unlike ours, his hands were soft and tender, and when, after the oars
had been laid in, he stretched out his hands, palms upwards, and showed
them to me, they presented a positively sickening sight. But when I
murmured my regret and commiseration he only smiled and expressed the
conviction that they would be all right again in a week, for he was one
of the pluckiest men I ever met, grit all through, straight as a die,
and with not a bad spot anywhere in him; he was, in fact, everything
that we are apt to think a typical Briton should be.
We lost no time in getting the meal that we called by courtesy "supper";
and within half an hour had disposed of it, and were waiting patiently
for whatever was to come. But while it was still calm and light I had
the mast stepped, and sent the sailmaker aloft to take a good,
comprehensive look round and see whether he could discover any sign of a
sail; and no sooner had he, with much pain and tribulation, climbed to
the top of his precarious perch than he sang out that he could just see,
in the northern board, what looked like the heads of a ship's royals.
Of course he could not tell in which direction she was bound, for, like
ourselves, she was becalmed, and slowly "boxing the compass," that is to
say, her head was pointing first one way and then another; but while he
was aloft, clinging to the boat's masthead, and watching the stranger in
the hope of being able to make some further discovery concerning her,
her people started to clew up and furl her royals, which circumstance
Simpson duly reported. It served as a hint to us in the gig, for if the
stranger had detected symptoms that her royals would presently be too
much for her, it was high time for us to look after ourselves; and we
accordingly proceeded forthwith to close-reef our lug, and otherwise
make such preparations as were possible to enable us effectively to meet
the onslaught of the threatened squall.