LAND?
"Land" is the only word to be found at the beginning of the
nineteenth chapter of Edgar Poe's book. I thought it would be a
good idea--placing after it a note of interrogation--to put it as
a heading to this portion of our narrative.
Did that word, dropped from our fore-masthead, indicate an island or
a continent? And, whether a continent or an island, did not a
disappointment await us? Could they be there whom we had come to
seek? And Arthur Pym, who was dead, unquestionably dead, in spite of
Dirk Peters' assertions, had he ever set foot on this land?
When the welcome word resounded on board the _Jane_ on the 17th
January, 1828--(a day full of incidents according to Arthur Pym's
diary)--it was succeeded by "Land on the starboard bow!" Such
might have been the signal from the masthead of the _Halbrane_.
The outlines of land lightly drawn above the sky line were visible
on this side.
The land announced to the sailors of the _Jane_ was the wild and
barren Bennet Islet. Less than one degree south of it lay Tsalal
Island, then fertile, habitable and inhabited, and on which Captain
Len Guy had hoped to meet his fellow-countrymen. But what would this
unknown island, five degrees farther off in the depths of the
southern sea, be for our schooner? Was it the goal so ardently
desired and so earnestly sought for? Were the two brothers, William
and Len Guy, to meet at this place? Would the _Halbrane_ come there to
the end of a voyage whose success would be definitely secured by the
restoration of the survivors of the _Jane_ to their country?
I repeat that I was just like the half-breed. Our aim was not merely
to discover the survivors, nor was success in this matter the only
success we looked for. However, since land was before our eyes, we
must get nearer to it first.
That cry of "Land" caused an immediate diversion of our
thoughts. I no longer dwelt upon the secret Dirk Peters had just
told me--and perhaps the half-breed forgot it also, for he rushed
to the bow and fixed his eyes immovably on the horizon. As for West,
whom nothing could divert from his duty, he repeated his commands.
Gratian came to take the helm, and Hearne was shut up in the hold.
On the whole this was a just punishment, and none of the old crew
protested against it, for Hearne's inattention or awkwardness had
really endangered the schooner, though for a short time only.
Five or six of the Falklands sailors did, however, murmur a little.
A sign from the mate silenced them, and they returned at once to
their posts.
Needless to say, Captain Len Guy, upon hearing the cry of the
look-out man, had tumbled up from his cabin and eagerly examined
this land at ten or twelve miles distance.
As I have said, I was no longer thinking about the secret Dirk
Peters had confided to me. Besides, so long as the secret remained
between us two--and neither would betray it--there would be
nothing to fear. But if ever an unlucky accident were to reveal to
Martin Holt that his brother's name had been changed to Parker,
that the unfortunate man had not perished in the shipwreck of the
_Grampus_, but had been sacrificed to save his companions from
perishing of hunger; that Dirk Peters, to whom Martin Holt himself
owed his life, had killed him with his own hand, what might not
happen then? This was the reason why the half-breed shrank from any
expression of thanks from Martin Holt--why he avoided Martin Holt,
the victim's brother.
The boatswain had just struck six bells. The schooner was sailing
with the caution demanded by navigation in unknown seas. There might
be shoals or reefs barely hidden under the surface on which she
might run aground or be wrecked. As things stood with the _Halbrane_,
and even admitting that she could be floated again, an accident
would have rendered her return impossible before the winter set in.
We had urgent need that every chance should be in our favour and not
one against us.
West had given orders to shorten sail. When the boatswain had furled
the top-gallant-sail, the top-sail and royal, the _Halbrane_ remained
under her mainsail, her fore-sail and her jib: sufficient canvas to
cover the distance that separated her from land in a few hours.
Captain Len Guy immediately heaved the lead, which showed a depth of
twenty fathoms. Several other soundings showed that the coast, which
was very steep, was probably prolonged like a wall under the water.
Nevertheless, as the bottom might happen to rise sharply instead of
following the slope of the coast, we did not venture to proceed without
the sounding line in hand.
The weather was still beautiful, although the sky was overcast by a
mist from south-east to south-west. Owing to this there was some
difficulty in identifying the vague outlines which stood out like
floating vapour in the sky, disappearing and then reappearing
between the breaks of the mist.
However, we all agreed to regard this land as being from twenty-five
to thirty fathoms in height, at least at its highest part.
No! we would not admit that we were the victims of a delusion, and
yet our uneasy minds feared that it might be so!
Is it not natural, after all, for the heart to be assailed by a
thousand apprehensions as we near the end of any enterprise? At this
thought my mind became confused and dreamy. The _Halbrane_ seemed to
be reduced to the dimensions of a small boat lost in this boundless
space--the contrary of that limitless sea of which Edgar Poe
speaks, where, like a living body, the ship grows larger.
When we have charts, or even sailing directions to instruct us
concerning the hydrography of the coasts, the nature of the
landfalls, the bays and the creeks, we may sail along boldly. In
every other region, the master of a ship must not defer the order to
cast anchor near the shore until the morrow. But, where we were,
what an amount of prudence was necessary! And yet, no manifest
obstacle was before us. Moreover, we had no cause to fear that the
light would fail us during the sunny hours of the night. At this season
the sun did not set so soon under the western horizon, and its rays
bathed the vast Antarctic zone in unabated light.
From that day forward the ship's log recorded that the temperature
fell continuously. The thermometer in the air and in the shade did
not mark more than 32° (0° C.), and when plunged into water it
only indicated 26° (3° 33' C. below 0°). What could be the
cause of this fall, since we were at the height of the southern
summer? The crew were obliged to resume their woollen clothing,
which they had left off a month previously. The schooner, however,
was sailing before the wind, and these first cold blasts were less
keenly felt. Yet we recognized the necessity of reaching our goal as
soon as possible. To linger in this region or to expose ourselves to
the danger of wintering out would be to tempt Providence!
Captain Len Guy tested the direction of the current repeatedly by heavy
lead lines, and discovered that it was beginning to deviate from its
former course.
"Whether it is a continent," said he, "that lies before us, or
whether it is an island, we have at present no means of determining.
If it be a continent, we must conclude that the current has an issue
towards the south-east."
"And it is quite possible," I replied, "that the solid part of
the Antarctic region may be reduced to a mere polar mound. In any
case, it is well to note any of those observations which are likely
to be accurate."
"That is just what I am doing, Mr. Jeorling, and we shall bring
back a mass of information about this portion of the southern sea
which will prove useful to navigators."
"If ever any venture to come so far south, captain! We have
penetrated so far, thanks to the help of particular circumstances,
the earliness of the summer season, an abnormal temperature and a
rapid thaw. Such conditions may only occur once in twenty or fifty
years!"
"Wherefore, Mr. Jeorling, I thank Providence for this, and hope
revives in me to some extent. As the weather has been constantly
fine, what is there to make it impossible for my brother and my
fellow-countrymen to have landed on this coast, whither the wind and
the tide bore them? What our schooner has done, their boat may have
done! They surely did not start on a voyage which might be prolonged to
an indefinite time without a proper supply of provisions! Why should
they not have found the resources as those afforded to them by the
island of Tsalal during many long years? They had ammunition and
arms elsewhere. Fish abound in these waters, water-fowl also. Oh
yes! my heart is full of hope, and I wish I were a few hours
older!"
Without being quite so sanguine as Len Guy, I was glad to see he had
regained his hopeful mood. Perhaps, if his investigations were
successful, I might be able to have them continued in Arthur Pym's
interest--even into the heart of this strange land which we were
approaching.
The _Halbrane_ was going along slowly on these clear waters, which
swarmed with fish belonging to the same species as we had already
met. The sea-birds were more numerous, and were evidently not
frightened; for they kept flying round the mast, or perching in the
yards. Several whitish ropes about five or six feet long were
brought on board. They were chaplets formed of millions of
pearly shell-fish.
Whales, spouting jets of feathery water from their blow-holes,
appeared at a distance, and I remarked that all of them took a
southerly direction. There was therefore reason to believe that the
sea extended far and wide in that direction.
The schooner covered two or three miles of her course without any
increase of speed. This coast evidently stretched from north-west to
south-east. Nevertheless, the telescopes revealed no distinctive
features--even after three hours' navigation.
The crew, gathered together on the forecastle, were looking on
without revealing their impressions. West, after going aloft to the
fore-cross-trees, where he had remained ten minutes, had reported
nothing precise. Stationed at the port side, leaning my elbows on
the bulwarks, I closely watched the sky line, broken only towards
the east.
At this moment the boatswain rejoined me, and without preface said:
"Will you allow me to give you my opinion, Mr. Jeorling?"
"Give it, boatswain," I replied, "at the risk of my not
adopting it if I don't agree with it."
"It is correct, and according as we get nearer one must really be
blind not to adopt it!"
"And what idea have you got?"
"That it is not land which lies before us, Mr. Jeorling!"
"What is it you are saying?"
"Look attentively, putting one finger before your eyes--look
there--out a--starboard."
I did as Hurliguerly directed.
"Do you see?" he began again. "May I lose my liking for my
grog if these heights do not change place, not with regard to the
schooner, but with regard to themselves!"
"And what do you conclude from this?"
"That they are moving icebergs."
"Icebergs?"
"Sure enough, Mr. Jeorling."
Was not the boatswain mistaken? Were we in for a disappointment?
Were there only drifting ice-mountains in the distance instead of a
shore?
Presently, there was no doubt on the subject; for some time past the
crew had no longer believed in the existence of land in that direction.
Ten minutes afterwards, the man in the crow's-nest announced that
several icebergs were coming from the north-west, in an oblique
direction, into the course of the _Halbrane_.
This news produced a great sensation on board. Our last hope was
suddenly extinguished. And what a blow to Captain Len Guy! We should
have to seek this land of the austral zone under higher latitudes
without being sure of ever coming across it!
And then the cry, "Back ship! back ship!" resounded almost
unanimously on board the _Halbrane_.
Yes, indeed, the recruits from the Falklands were demanding that we
should turn back, although Hearne was not there to fan the flame of
insubordination, and I must acknowledge that the greater part of the
old tars seemed to agree with them.
West awaited his chief's orders, not daring to impose silence.
Gratian was at the helm, ready to give a turn to the wheel, whilst his
comrades with their hands on the cleats were preparing to ease off
the sheets.
Dirk Peters remained immovable, leaning against the fore-mast, his
head down, his body bent, and his mouth set firm. Not a word passed
his lips.
But now he turned towards me, and what a look of mingled wrath and
entreaty he gave me!
I don't know what irresistible motive induced me to interfere
personally, and once again to protest! A final argument had just
crossed my mind--an argument whose weight could not be disputed.
So I began to speak, and I did so with such conviction that none
tried to interrupt me.
The substance of what I said was as follows:--
"No! all hope must not be abandoned. Land cannot be far off. The
icebergs which are formed in the open sea by the accumulation of ice
are not before us. These icebergs must have broken off from the
solid base of a continent or an island. Now, since the thaw begins
at this season of the year, the drift will last for only a short
time. Behind them we must meet the coast on which they were formed.
In another twenty-four hours, or forty-eight at the most, if the
land does not appear, Captain Len Guy will steer to the north again!"
Had I convinced the crew, or ought I to take advantage of Hearne's
absence and of the fact that he could not communicate with them to
make them understand that they were being deceived, and to repeat to
them that it would endanger the schooner if our course were now to
be reversed.
The boatswain came to my help, and in a good-humoured voice
exclaimed,--
"Very well reasoned, and for my part I accept Mr. Jeorling's
opinion. Assuredly, land is near! If we seek it beyond those
icebergs, we shall discover it without much hard work, or great
danger! What is one degree farther south, when it is a question of
putting a hundred additional dollars into one's pocket? And let us
not forget that if they are acceptable when they go in, they are
none the less so when they come out!"
Upon this, Endicott, the cook, came to the aid of his friend the
boatswain.
"Yes, very good things indeed are dollars!" cried he, showing
two rows of shining white teeth.
Did the crew intend to yield to Hurliguerly's argument, or would
they try to resist if the _Halbrane_ went on in the direction of the
icebergs?
Captain Len Guy took up his telescope again, and turned it upon
these moving masses; he observed them with much attention, and cried
out in a loud voice,--
"Steer south-sou'-west!"
West gave orders to execute the manoeuvres. The sailors hesitated an
instant. Then, recalled to obedience, they began to brace the yards
and slack the sheets, and the schooner increased her speed.
When the operation was over, I went up to Hurliguerly, and drawing
him aside, I said,--
"Thank you, boatswain."
"Ah, Mr. Jeorling," he replied, shaking his head, "it is all
very fine for this time, but you must not do it again! Everyone
would turn against me, even Endicott, perhaps."
"I have urged nothing which is not at least probable," I
answered sharply.
"I don't deny that fact, Mr. Jeorling."
"Yes, Hurliguerly, yes--I believe what I have said, and I have no
doubt but that we shall really see the land beyond the icebergs."
"Just possible, Mr. Jeorling, quite possible. But it must appear
before two days, or, on the word of a boatswain, nothing can prevent
us from putting about!"
During the next twenty-four hours the _Halbrane_ took a
south-south-westerly course. Nevertheless, her direction must have
been frequently changed and her speed decreased in avoiding the ice.
The navigation became very difficult so soon as the schooner headed
towards the line of the bergs, which it had to cut obliquely.
However, there were none of the packs which blocked up all access to
the iceberg on the 67th parallel. The enormous heaps were melting
away with majestic slowness. The ice-blocks appeared "quite new"
(to employ a perfectly accurate expression), and perhaps they had
only been formed some days. However, with a height of one hundred
and fifty feet, their bulk must have been calculated by millions of
tons. West was watching closely in order to avoid collisions, and
did not leave the deck even for an instant.
Until now, Captain Len Guy had always been able to rely upon the
indications of the compass. The magnetic pole, still hundreds of
miles off, had no influence on the compass, its direction being
east. The needle remained steady, and might be trusted.
So, in spite of my conviction, founded, however, on very serious
arguments, there was no sign of land, and I was wondering whether it
would not be better to steer more to the west, at the risk of
removing the _Halbrane_ from that extreme point where the meridians of
the globe cross each other.
Thus, as the hours went by--and I was only allowed forty-eight--it
was only too plain that lack of courage prevailed, and that everyone
was inclined to be insubordinate. After another day and a half, I could
no longer contend with the general discontent. The schooner must
ultimately retrace her course towards the north.
The crew were working in silence, whilst West was giving sharp short
orders for manoeuvring through the channels, sometimes luffing in
order to avoid a collision, now bearing away almost square before
the wind. Nevertheless, in spite of a close watch, in spite of the
skill of the sailors, in spite of the prompt execution of the
manoeuvres, dangerous friction against the hull, which left long
traces of the ridge of the icebergs, occurred. And, in truth, the
bravest could not repress a feeling of terror when thinking that the
planking might have given way and the sea have invaded us.
The base of these floating ice-mountains was very steep, so that it
would have been impossible for us to land upon one. Moreover, we saw
no seals--these were usually very numerous where the ice-fields
abounded--nor even a flock of the screeching penguins which, on
other occasions, the _Halbrane_ sent diving by myriads as she passed
through them; the birds themselves seemed rarer and wilder. Dread,
from which none of us could escape, seemed to come upon us from
these desolate and deserted regions. How could we still entertain a
hope that the survivors of the _Jane_ had found shelter, and obtained
means of existence in those awful solitudes?
And if the _Halbrane_ were also shipwrecked, would there remain any
evidence of her fate?
Since the previous day, from the moment our southern course had been
abandoned, to cut the line of the icebergs, a change had taken place
in the demeanour of the half-breed. Nearly always crouched down at
the foot of the fore-mast, looking afar into the boundless space, he
only got up in order to lend a hand to some manoeuvre, and without
any of his former vigilance or zeal. Not that he had ceased to
believe that his comrade of the _Jane_ was still living--that thought
never even came into his mind! But he felt by instinct that the
traces of poor Pym were not to be recovered by following this course.
"Sir," he would have said to me, "this is not the way! No,
this is not the way!" And how could I have answered him?
Towards seven o'clock in the evening a rather thick mist arose;
this would tend to make the navigation of the schooner difficult and
dangerous.
The day, with its emotions of anxiety and alternatives, had worn me
out. So I returned to my cabin, where I threw myself on my bunk in
my clothes.
But sleep did not come to me, owing to my besetting thoughts. I
willingly admit that the constant reading of Edgar Poe's works,
and reading them in this place in which his heroes delighted, had
exercised an influence on me which I did not fully recognize.
To-morrow, the forty-eight hours would be up, the last concession
which the crew had made to my entreaties.
"Things are not going as you wish?" the boatswain said to me
just as I was leaving the deck.
No, certainly not, since land was not to be seen behind the fleet of
icebergs. If no sign of a coast appeared between these moving
masses, Captain Len Guy would steer north to-morrow.
Ah! were I only master of the schooner! If I could have bought it
even at the price of all my fortune, if these men had been my slaves
to drive by the lash, the _Halbrane_ should never have given up this
voyage, even if it led her so far as the point above which flames
the Southern Cross.
My mind was quite upset, and teemed with a thousand thoughts, a
thousand regrets, a thousand desires! I wanted to get up, but a
heavy hand held me down in my bunk! And I longed to leave this cabin
where I was struggling against nightmare in my half-sleep, to launch
one of the boats of the _Halbrane_, to jump into it with Dirk Peters,
who would not hesitate about following me, and so abandon both of us
to the current running south.
And lo! I was doing this in a dream. It is to-morrow! Captain Len
Guy has given orders to reverse our course, after a last glance at
the horizon. One of the boats is in tow. I warn the half-breed. We
creep along without being seen. We cut the painter. Whilst the
schooner sails on ahead, we stay astern and the current carries us
off.
Thus we drift on the sea without hindrance! At length our boat
stops. Land is there. I see a sort of sphinx surmounting the
southern peak--the sea-sphinx. I go to him. I question him. He
discloses the secrets of these mysterious regions to me. And then,
the phenomena whose reality Arthur Pym asserted appear around the
mythic monster. The curtain of flickering vapours, striped with
luminous rays, is rent asunder. And it is not a face of superhuman
grandeur which arises before my astonished eyes: it is Arthur Pym,
fierce guardian of the south pole, flaunting the ensign of the
United States in those high latitudes!
Was this dream suddenly interrupted, or was it changed by a freak of
my brain? I cannot tell, but I felt as though I had been suddenly
awakened. It seemed as though a change had taken place in the motion
of the schooner, which was sliding along on the surface of the quiet
sea, with a slight list to starboard. And yet, there was neither
rolling nor pitching. Yes, I felt myself carried off as though my
bunk were the car of an air-balloon. I was not mistaken, and I had
fallen from dreamland into reality.
Crash succeeded crash overhead. I could not account for them. Inside
my cabin the partitions deviated from the vertical in such a way as
to make one believe that the _Halbrane_ had fallen over on her beam
ends. Almost immediately, I was thrown out of my bunk and barely
escaped splitting my skull against the corner of the table. However,
I got up again, and, clinging on to the edge of the door frame, I
propped myself against the door.
At this instant the bulwarks began to crack and the port side of the
ship was torn open.
Could there have been a collision between the schooner and one of
those gigantic floating masses which West was unable to avoid in the
mist?
Suddenly loud shouts came from the after-deck, and then screams of
terror, in which the maddened voices of the crew joined.
At length there came a final crash, and the _Halbrane_ remained
motionless.
I had to crawl along the floor to reach the door and gain the deck.
Captain Len Guy having already left his cabin, dragged himself on
his knees, so great was the list to port, and caught on as best he
could.
In the fore part of the ship, between the forecastle and the
fore-mast, many heads appeared.
Dirk Peters, Hardy, Martin Holt and Endicott, the latter with his
black face quite vacant, were clinging to the starboard shrouds.
A man came creeping up to me, because the slope of the deck
prevented him from holding himself upright: it was Hurliguerly,
working himself along with his hands like a top-man on a yard.
Stretched out at full length, my feet propped up against the jamb of
the door, I held out my hand to the boatswain, and helped him, not
without difficulty, to hoist himself up near me.
"What is wrong?" I asked.
"A stranding, Mr. Jeorling."
"We are ashore!"
"A shore presupposes land," replied the boatswain ironically,
"and so far as land goes there was never any except in that rascal
Dirk Peters' imagination."
"But tell me--what has happened?"
"We came upon an iceberg in the middle of the fog, and were unable
to keep clear of it."
"An iceberg, boatswain?"
"Yes, an iceberg, which has chosen just now to turn head over
heels. In turning, it struck the _Halbrane_ and carried it off just as
a battledore catches a shuttlecock, and now here we are, stranded at
certainly one hundred feet above the level of the Antarctic Sea."
Could one have imagined a more terrible conclusion to the
adventurous voyage of the _Halbrane_?
In the middle of these remote regions our only means of transport
had just been snatched from its natural element, and carried off by
the turn of an iceberg to a height of more than one hundred feet!
What a conclusion! To be swallowed up in a polar tempest, to be
destroyed in a fight with savages, to be crushed in the ice, such
are the dangers to which any ship engaged in the polar seas is
exposed! But to think that the _Halbrane_ had been lifted by a
floating mountain just as that mountain was turning over, was
stranded and almost at its summit--no! such a thing seemed quite
impossible.
I did not know whether we could succeed in letting down the schooner
from this height with the means we had at our disposal. But I did
know that Captain Len Guy, the mate and the older members of the
crew, when they had recovered from their first fright, would not
give up in despair, no matter how terrible the situation might be;
of that I had no doubt whatsoever! They would all look to the
general safety; as for the measures to be taken, no one yet knew
anything. A foggy veil, a sort of greyish mist still hung over the
iceberg. Nothing could be seen of its enormous mass except the
narrow craggy cleft in which the schooner was wedged, nor even what
place it occupied in the middle of the ice-fleet drifting towards
the south-east.
Common prudence demanded that we should quit the _Halbrane_, which
might slide down at a sharp shake of the iceberg. Were we even
certain that the latter had regained its position on the surface of
the sea? Was her stability secure? Should we not be on the look-out
for a fresh upheaval? And if the schooner were to fall into the
abyss, which of us could extricate himself safe and sound from such
a fall, and then from the final plunge into the depths of the ocean?
In a few minutes the crew had abandoned the _Halbrane_. Each man
sought for refuge on the ice-slopes, awaiting the time when the
iceberg should be freed from mist. The oblique rays from the sun did
not succeed in piercing it, and the red disk could hardly be
perceived through the opaque mass.
However, we could distinguish each other at about twelve feet apart.
As for the _Halbrane_, she looked like a confused blackish mass
standing out sharply against the whiteness of the ice.
We had now to ascertain whether any of those who were on the deck at
the time of the catastrophe had been thrown over the bulwarks and
precipitated into the sea?
By Captain Len Guy's orders all the sailors then present joined
the group in which I stood with the mate, the boatswain, Hardy and
Martin Holt.
So far, this catastrophe had cost us five men--these were the first
since our departure from Kerguelen, but were they to be the last?
There was no doubt that these unfortunate fellows had perished,
because we called them in vain, and in vain we sought for them, when
the fog abated, along the sides of the iceberg, at every place where
they might have been able to catch on to a projection.
When the disappearance of the five men had been ascertained, we fell
into despair. Then we felt more keenly than before the dangers which
threaten every expedition to the Antarctic zone.
"What about Hearne?" said a voice.
Martin Holt pronounced the name at a moment when there was general
silence. Had the sealing-master been crushed to death in the narrow
part of the hold where he was shut up?
[Illustration: The _Halbrane_ fast in the iceberg.]
West rushed towards the schooner, hoisted himself on board by means
of a rope hanging over the bows, and gained the hatch which gives
access to that part of the hold.
We waited silent and motionless to learn the fate of Hearne,
although the evil spirit of the crew was but little worthy of our
pity.
And yet, how many of us were then thinking that if we had heeded his
advice, and if the schooner had taken the northern course, a whole
crew would not have been reduced to take refuge on a drifting
ice-mountain! I scarcely dared to calculate my own share of the vast
responsibility, I who had so vehemently insisted on the prolongation
of the voyage.
At length the mate reappeared on deck and Hearne followed him! By a
miracle, neither the bulkheads, nor the ribs, nor the planking had
yielded at the place where the sealing-master was confined.
Hearne rejoined his comrades without opening his lips, and we had no
further trouble about him.
Towards six o'clock in the morning the fog cleared off, owing to a
marked fall in the temperature. We had no longer to do with
completely frozen vapour, but had to deal with the phenomenon called
frost-rime, which often occurs in these high latitudes. Captain Len
Guy recognized it by the quantity of prismatic threads, the point
following the wind which roughened the light ice-crust deposited on
the sides of the iceberg. Navigators know better than to confound
this frost-rime with the hoar frost of the temperate zones, which
only freezes when it has been deposited on the surface of the soil.
We were now enabled to estimate the size of the solid mass on which
we clustered like flies on a sugar-loaf, and the schooner, seen from
below, looked no bigger than the yawl of a trading vessel.
This iceberg of between three and four hundred fathoms in
circumference measured from 130 to 140 feet high. According to all
calculations, therefore, its depth would be four or five times
greater, and it would consequently weigh millions of tons.
This is what had happened:
The iceberg, having been melted away at its base by contact with
warmer waters, had risen little by little; its centre of gravity had
become displaced, and its equilibrium could only be re-established
by a sudden capsize, which had lifted up the part that had been
underneath above the sea-level. The _Halbrane_, caught in this
movement, was hoisted as by an enormous lever. Numbers of icebergs
capsize thus on the polar seas, and form one of the greatest dangers
to which approaching vessels are exposed.
Our schooner was caught in a hollow on the west side of the iceberg.
She listed to starboard with her stern raised and her bow lowered.
We could not help thinking that the slightest shake would cause her
to slide along the slope of the iceberg into the sea. The collision
had been so violent as to stave in some of the planks of her hull.
After the first collision, the galley situated before the fore-mast
had broken its fastenings. The door between Captain Len Guy's and
the mate's cabins was torn away from the hinges. The topmast and
the top-gallant-mast had come down after the back-stays parted, and
fresh fractures could plainly be seen as high as the cap of the
masthead.
Fragments of all kinds, yards, spars, a part of the sails, breakers,
cases, hen-coops, were probably floating at the foot of the mass and
drifting with it.
The most alarming part of our situation was the fact that of the two
boats belonging to the _Halbrane_, one had been stove in when we
grounded, and the other, the larger of the two, was still hanging on
by its tackles to the starboard davits. Before anything else was
done this boat had to be put in a safe place, because it might prove
our only means of escape.
As a result of the first examination, we found that the lower masts
had remained in their places, and might be of use if ever we
succeeded in releasing the schooner. But how were we to release her
from her bed in the ice and restore her to her natural element?
When I found myself with Captain Len Guy, the mate, and the
boatswain, I questioned them on this subject.
"I agree with you," replied West, "that the operation involves
great risks, but since it is indispensable, we will accomplish it. I
think it will be necessary to dig out a sort of slide down to the
base of the iceberg."
"And without the delay of a single day," added Captain Len Guy.
"Do you hear, boatswain?" said Jem West. "Work begins to-day."
"I hear, and everyone will set himself to the task," replied
Hurliguerly. "If you allow me, I shall just make one observation,
captain."
"What is it?"
"Before beginning the work, let us examine the hull and see what
the damage is, and whether it can be repaired. For what use would it
be to launch a ship stripped of her planks, which would go to the
bottom at once?"
We complied with the boatswain's just demand.
The fog having cleared off, a bright sun then illumined the eastern
side of the iceberg, whence the sea was visible round a large part
of the horizon. Here the sides of the iceberg showed rugged
projections, ledges, shoulders, and even flat instead of smooth
surfaces, giving no foothold. However, caution would be necessary in
order to avoid the falling of those unbalanced blocks, which a
single shock might set loose. And, as a matter of fact, during the
morning, several of these blocks did roll into the sea with a
frightful noise just like an avalanche.
On the whole, the iceberg seemed to be very steady on its new base.
So long as the centre of gravity was below the level of the
water-line, there was no fear of a fresh capsize.
I had not yet had an opportunity of speaking to Dirk Peters since
the catastrophe. As he had answered to his name, I knew he was not
numbered among the victims. At this moment, I perceived him standing
on a narrow projection; needless to specify the direction in which
his eyes were turned.
Captain Len Guy, the mate, the boatswain, Hardy, and Martin Holt,
whom I accompanied, went up again towards the schooner in order to
make a minute investigation of the hull. On the starboard side the
operation would be easy enough, because the _Halbrane_ had a list to
the opposite side. On the port side we would have to slide along to
the keel as well as we could by scooping out the ice, in order to
insure the inspection of every part of the planking.
After an examination which lasted two hours, it was discovered that
the damage was of little importance, and could be repaired in a
short time. Two or three planks only were wrenched away by the
collision. In the inside the skin was intact, the ribs not having
given way. Our vessel, constructed for the polar seas, had resisted
where many others less solidly built would have been dashed to
pieces. The rudder had indeed been unshipped, but that could easily
be set right.
Having finished our inspection inside and outside, we agreed that
the damage was less considerable than we feared, and on that subject
we became reassured. Reassured! Yes, if we could only succeed in
getting the schooner afloat again.