HOW TO STEER SMALL—HOW TO RUN THE GAUNTLET WITH A SHIP—HOW TO GO
CLEAR—A NEW-FASHIONED SCREW—DOCK, AND CERTAIN MILE-STONES.
Captain Poke no longer deliberated about the course we were to steer.
With his pumpkin for a chart, his instinct for an observation, and his
nose for a compass, the sturdy sealer stood boldly to the southward;
or, at least, he ran dead before a stiff gale, which, as he more than
once affirmed, was as true a norther as if bred and born in the
Canadas.
After coursing over the billows at a tremendous rate for a day and a
night, the captain appeared on deck, with a face of unusual meaning,
and a mind loaded with its own reflections, as was proved by his
winking knowingly whenever he delivered himself of a sentiment; a habit
that he had most probably contracted, in early youth, at Stunin’tun,
for it seemed to be quite as inveterate as it was thoroughbred.
“We shall soon know, Sir John,” he observed, hitching the sea-lion skin
into symmetry, “whether it is sink or swim!”
“Pray explain yourself, Mr. Poke,” cried I, in a little alarm. “If
anything serious is to happen, you are bound to give timely notice.”
“Death is always untimely to some critturs, Sir John.”
“Am I to understand, sir, that you mean to cast away the ship?”
“Not if I can help it, Sir John; but a craft that is foreordained to be
a wrack, will be a wrack, in spite of reefing and bracing. Look ahead,
you Dick Lion—ay, there you have it!”
There we had it, sure enough! I can only compare the scene which now
met my eyes, to a sudden view of the range of the Oberland Alps, when
the spectator is unexpectedly placed on the verge of the precipice of
the Weissenstein. There he would see before him a boundless barrier of
glittering ice, broken into the glorious and fantastic forms of
pinnacles, walls, and valleys; while here, we saw all that was sublime
in such a view heightened by the fearful action of the boisterous
ocean, which beat upon the impassable boundary in ceaseless violence.
“Good God! Captain Poke,” I exclaimed, the instant I caught a glimpse
of the formidable danger that menaced us, “you surely do not mean to
continue madly on, with such a warning of the consequences in plain
view?”
“What would you have, Sir John? Leaphigh lies on the t’other side of
these ice-islands!”
“But you need not run the ship against them—why not go round them?”
“Because they go round the ’arth, in this latitude. Now is the time to
speak, Sir John. If we are bound to Leaphigh, we have the choice of
three pretty desperate chances; to go through, to go under, or to go
over that there ice. If we are to put back, there is not a moment to
lose, for it may be even now questioned whether the ship would claw
off, as we are, with a sending sea, and this heavy norther.”
I believe I would, at that moment, gladly have given up all my social
stakes to be well rid of the adventure. Still pride, that substitute
for so many virtues, the greatest and the most potent of all
hypocrites, forbade my betraying the desire to retreat. I deliberated,
while the ship flew; and when, at length, I turned to the captain to
suggest a doubt that might, at an earlier notice, possibly have changed
the whole aspect of affairs, he bluntly told me it was too late. It was
safer to proceed than to return, if indeed, return were possible, in
the present state of the winds and waves. Making a merit of necessity,
I braced my nerves to meet the crisis, and remained a submissive, and,
apparently, a calm spectator of that which followed.
The Walrus (such was the name of our good ship) by this time was under
easy canvas, and yet, urged by the gale, she rolled down with alarming
velocity towards the boundary of foam where the congealed and the still
liquid element held their strife. The summits of the frozen crags waved
in their glittering glory in a way just to show that they were afloat;
and I remembered to have heard that, at times, as their bases melted,
entire mountains had been known to roll over, engulfing all that lay
beneath. To me it seemed but a moment, before the ship was fairly
overshadowed by these shining cliffs, which, gently undulating, waved
their frozen summits nearly a thousand feet in air. I looked at Noah,
in alarm, for it appeared to me that he intentionally precipitated us
to destruction. But, just as I was about to remonstrate, he made a sign
with his hand, and the vessel was brought to the wind. Still retreat
was impossible; for the heave of the sea was too powerful, and the wind
too heavy, to leave us any hope of long keeping the Walrus from
drifting down upon the ragged peaks that bristled in icy glory to
leeward. Nor did Captain Poke himself seem to entertain any such
design; for, instead of hugging the gale, in order to haul off from the
danger, he had caused the yards to be laid perfectly square, and we
were now running, at a great rate, in a line nearly parallel with the
frozen coast, though gradually setting upon it.
“Keep full! Let her go through water, you Jim Tiger,” said the old
sealer, whose professional ardor was fairly aroused. “Now, Sir John,
unluckily, we are on the wrong side of these ice mountains, for the
plain reason that Leaphigh lies to the south’ard of them. We must be
stirring, therefore, for no craft that was ever launched could keep off
these crags with such a gale driving home upon them, for more than an
hour or two. Our great concern, at present, is to look out for a hole
to run into.”
“Why have you come so close to the danger, with your knowledge of the
consequences?”
“To own the truth, Sir John, natur’ is natur’, and I’m getting to be a
little near-sighted as I grow old; besides, I’m not so sartain that the
danger is the more dangerous, for taking a good, steady look plump in
its face.”
Noah raised his hand, as much as to say he wished no answer, and both
of us were immediately occupied in gazing anxiously to leeward. The
ship was just opening a small cove in the ice, which might have been a
cable’s length in depth, and a quarter of a mile across its outer, or
the widest part. Its form was regular, being that of a semicircle; but,
at its bottom, the ice, instead of forming a continued barrier, like
all the rest we had yet passed, was separated by a narrow opening, that
was bounded on each side by a frowning precipice. The two bergs were
evidently drawing nearer to each other, but there was still a strait,
or a watery gorge between them, of some two hundred feet in width. As
the ship plunged onward, the pass was opened, and we caught a glimpse
of the distant view to leeward. It was merely a glimpse—the impatient
Walrus allowing us but a moment for examination—but it appeared
sufficient for the purposes of the old sealer. We were already across
the mouth of the cove, and within a cable’s length of the ice again;
for as we drew near what may be called the little cape, we found
ourselves once more in closer proximity to the menacing mountain. It
was a moment when all depended on decision; and fortunately, our
sealer, who was so wary and procrastinating in a bargain, never had
occasion to make two drafts on his thoughts, in situations of
emergency. As the ship cleared the promontory on the eastern side of
the cove, we again opened a curvature of the ice, which gave a little
more water to leeward. Tacking was impossible, and the helm was put
hard aweather. The bow of the Walrus fell off, and as she rose on the
next wave, I thought its send would carry us helplessly down upon the
berg. But the good craft, obedient to her rudder, whirled round, as if
sensible herself of the danger, and, in less time than I had ever
before known her to wear, we felt the wind on the other quarter. Our
cats and dogs bestirred themselves, for there was no one there, Captain
Noah Poke excepted, whose heart did not beat quick and hard. In much
less time than usual, the yards were braced up on the other tack, and
the ship was ploughing heavily against the sea, with her head to the
westward. It is impossible to give one who has never been in such a
situation, a just idea of the feverish impatience, the sinking and
mounting of hope, as we watch the crablike movement of a vessel that is
clawing off a lee-shore, in a gale. In the present case, it being well
known that the sea was fathomless, we had run so near the danger that
not even the smallest of its horrors was veiled from sight.
While the ship labored along, I saw the clouds fast shutting in to
windward, by the interposition of the promontory of ice—the certain
sign that our drift was rapid—and, as we drew nearer to the point,
breathing became labored and even audible. Here Noah took a chew of
tobacco, I presume on the principle of enjoying a last quid, should the
elements prove fatal; and then he went to the wheel in person.
“Let her go through the water,” he said, easing the helm a little—“let
her jog ahead, or we shall lose command of her in this devil’s-pot!”
The vessel felt the slight change, and drew faster through the foaming
brine, bringing us, with increasing velocity, nearer to the dreaded
point. As we came up to the promontory the water fell back in spray on
the decks, and there was an instant when it appeared as if the wind was
about to desert us. Happily the ship had drawn so far ahead as to feel
the good effects of a slight change of current that was caused by the
air rushing obliquely into the cove; and, as Noah, by easing the helm
still more, had anticipated this alteration, which had been felt
adversely but a moment before, while struggling to the eastward of the
promontory, we drew swiftly past the icy cape, opening the cove
handsomely, with the ship’s head falling off fast towards the gorge.
There was but a minute or two, for squaring the yards and obtaining the
proper position to windward of the narrow strait. Instead of running
down in a direct line for the latter, Captain Poke kept the ship on
such a course as to lay it well open, before her head was pointed
towards the passage. By this time, the two bergs had drawn so near each
other as actually to form an arch across its mouth; and this, too, at a
part so low as to render it questionable whether there was sufficient
elevation to permit the Walrus to pass beneath. But retreat was
impossible, the gale urging the ship furiously onwards. The width of
the passage was now but little more than a hundred feet, and it
actually required the nicest steerage to keep our yard-arms clear of
the opposite precipices, as the vessel dashed, with foaming bows, into
the gorge. The wind drew through the opening with tremendous violence,
fairly howling as if in delight at discovering a passage by which it
might continue its furious career. We may have been aided by the
sucking of the wind and the waves, both of which were irresistibly
drawn towards the pass, or it is quite probable that the skill of
Captain Poke did us good service on this awful occasion; but, owing to
the one or the other, or to the two causes united, the Walrus shot into
the gorge so accurately as to avoid touching either of the lateral
margins of the ice. We were not so fortunate, however, with the loftier
spars; for scarcely was the vessel beneath the arch, when she lifted on
a swell, and her main-top-gallant-mast snapped off in the cap. The ice
groaned and cracked over our heads, and large fragments fell both ahead
and astern of us, several of them even tumbling upon our decks. One
large piece came down within an inch of the extremity of Dr. Reasono’s
tail, just escaping the dire calamity of knocking out the brains of
that profound and philo-monikin philosopher. In another instant the
ship was through the pass, which completely closed, with the crash of
an earthquake, as soon as possible afterwards.
Still driven by the gale, we ran rapidly towards the south, along a
channel less than a quarter of a mile in width, the bergs evidently
closing on each side of us, and the ship, as if conscious of her
jeopardy, doing her utmost, with Captain Poke still at the wheel. In a
little more than an hour, the worst was over—the Walrus issuing into an
open basin of several leagues in extent, which was, however, completely
encircled by the frozen mountains. Here Noah took a look at the
pumpkin, after which he made no ceremony in plumply telling Dr. Reasono
that he had been greatly mistaken in laying down the position of
Captivity Island, as he himself had named the spot where the amiable
strangers had fallen into human hands. The philosopher was a little
tenacious of his opinion; but what is argument in the face of facts?
Here was the pumpkin, and there were the blue waters! The captain now
quite frankly declared that he had great doubts whether there was any
such place as Leaphigh at all; and as the ship had a capital position
for such an object, he bluntly, though privately proposed to me, that
we should throw all the monikins overboard, project the entire polar
basin on his chart as being entirely free from islands, and then go
a-sealing. I rejected the propositions, firstly, as premature;
secondly, as inhuman; thirdly, as inhospitable; fourthly, as
inconvenient; and lastly, as impracticable.
There might have arisen a disagreeable controversy between us on this
point; for Mr. Poke had begun to warm, and to swear that one good seal,
of the true quality of fur, was worth a hundred monkeys; when most
happily the panther at the masthead cried out that two of the largest
mountains, to the southward of us, were separating, and that he could
discern a passage into another basin. Hereupon Captain Poke
concentrated his oaths, which he caused to explode like a bomb, and
instantly made sail again in the proper direction. By three o’clock,
P.M., we had run the gauntlet of the bergs a second time, and were at
least a degree nearer the pole, in the basin just alluded to.
The mountains had now entirely disappeared in the southern board; but
the sea was covered, far as the eye could reach, with field-ice. Noah
stood on, without apprehension; for the water had been smooth ever
since we entered the first opening, the wind not having rake enough to
knock up a swell. When about a mile from the margin of the frozen and
seemingly interminable plain, the ship was brought to the wind, and
hove-to.
Ever since the vessel left the docks, there had been six sets of spars
of a form so singular, lying among the booms, that they had often been
the subject of conversation between the mates and myself, neither of
the former being able to tell their uses. These sticks were of no great
length, some fifteen feet at the most, of sound English oak. Two or
three pairs were alike, for they were in pairs, each pair having one of
the sides of a shape resembling different parts of the ship’s bottom,
with the exception that they were chiefly concave, while the bottom of
a vessel is mainly convex. At one extremity each pair was firmly
connected by a short, massive, iron link, of about two feet in length;
and, at its opposite end, a large eye-bolt was driven into each stick,
where it was securely forelocked. When the Walrus was stationary, we
learned, for the first time, the uses of these unusual preparations. A
pair of the timbers, which were of great solidity and strength, were
dropped over the stern, and, sinking beneath the keel, their upper
extremities were separated by means of lanyards turned into the
eye-bolts. The lanyards were then brought forward to the bilge of the
vessel, where, by the help of tackles, the timbers were rowsed up in
such a manner that the links came close to the false keel, and the
timbers themselves were laid snug against each side of the ship. As
great care had been taken, by means of marks on the vessel, as well as
in forming the skids themselves, the fit was perfect. No less than five
pairs were secured in and near the bilge, and as many more were
distributed forwards and aft, according to the shape of the bottom.
Fore-and-aft pieces, that reached from one skid to the other, were then
placed between those about the bilge of the ship, each of them having a
certain number of short ribs, extending upwards and downwards. These
fore-and-aft pieces were laid along the waterline, their ends entering
the skids by means of mortices and tenons, where they were snugly
bolted. The result of the entire arrangement was, to give the vessel an
exterior protection against the field-ice, by means of a sort of
network of timber, the whole of which had been so accurately fitted in
the dock, as to bear equally on her frame. These preparations were not
fairly completed before ten o’clock on the following morning, when Noah
stood directly for an opening in the ice before us, which just about
that time began to be apparent.
“We sha’nt go so fast for our armor,” observed the cautious old sealer;
“but what we want in heels, we’ll make up in bottom.”
For the whole of that day we worked our devious course, by great labor
and at uncertain intervals, to the southward; and at night we fastened
the Walrus to a floe, in waiting for the return of light. Just as the
day dawned, however, I heard a tremendous grating sound against the
side of the vessel; and rushing on deck, I found that we were
completely caught between two immense fields, which seemed to be
attracted towards each other for no other apparent purpose than to
crush us. Here it was that the expedient of Captain Poke made manifest
its merits. Protected by the massive timbers and false ribs, the bilge
of the ship resisted the pressure; and as, under such circumstances,
something must yield, luckily nothing but the attraction of gravitation
was overcome. The skids, through their inclination, acted as wedges,
the links pressing against the keel; and in the course of an hour the
Walrus was gradually lifted out of the water, maintaining her upright
position, in consequence of the powerful nip of the floes. No sooner
was this experiment handsomely effected, than Mr. Poke jumped upon the
ice, and commenced an examination of the ship’s bottom.
“Here’s a dry-dock for you, Sir John!” exclaimed the old sealer,
chuckling. “I’ll have a patent for this, the moment I put foot ag’in in
Stunin’tun.”
A feeling of security, to which I had been a stranger ever since we
entered the ice, was created by the composure of Noah, and by his
self-congratulation at what he called his project to get a look at the
Walrus’s bottom. Notwithstanding all the fine declarations of
exultation and success, however, that he flourished among us who were
not mariners, I was much disposed to think that, like other men of
extraordinary genius, he had blundered on the grand result of his
“ice-screws,” and that it was not foreseen and calculated. Let this be
as it may, however, all hands were soon on the floe, with brooms,
scrapers, hammers, and nails, and the opportunity of repairing and
cleaning was thoroughly improved.
For four-and-twenty hours the ship remained in the same attitude, still
as a church, and some of us began to entertain apprehensions that she
might be kept on her frozen blocks forever. The accident had happened,
according to the statements of Captain Poke, in lat. 78 degrees 13′
26″—although I never knew in what manner he ascertained the important
particular of our precise situation. Thinking it might be well to get
some more accurate ideas on this subject, after so long and ticklish a
run, I procured the quadrant from Bob Ape, and brought it down upon the
ice, where I made it a point, as an especial favor, the weather being
favorable and the proper hour near, that our commander would correct
his instinct by a solar observation. Noah protested that your old
seaman, especially if a sealer and a Stunin’tunner, had no occasion for
such geometry operations, as he termed them; that it might be well
enough, perhaps necessary, for your counting-house, silk-gloved
captains, who run between New York and Liverpool, to be rubbing up
their glasses and polishing their sextants, for they hardly ever knew
where they were, except at such times; but as for himself, he had
little need of turning star-gazer at his time of life, and that as he
had already told me, he was getting to be near-sighted, and had some
doubts whether he could discern an object like the sun, that was known
to be so many thousands of millions of miles from the earth. These
scruples, however, were overcome by my cleaning the glasses, preparing
a barrel for him to stand on, that he might be at the customary
elevation above his horizon, and putting the instrument into his hands,
the mates standing near, ready to make the calculations when he gave
the sun’s declination.
“We are drifting south’ard, I know,” said Mr. Poke before he commenced
his sight—“I feel it in my bones. We are at this moment in 79 degrees
36′ 14″.—having made a southerly drift of more than eighty miles since
yesterday noon. Now mind my words, and see what the sun will say about
it.”
When the calculations were made, our latitude was found to be 79
degrees 35′ 47″. Noah was somewhat puzzled by the difference, for which
he could in no plausible way account, as the observation had been
unusually good and certain. But an opinionated and an ingenious man is
seldom at a loss to find a sufficient reason to establish his own
correctness, or to prove the mistakes of others.
“Ay, I see how it is,” he said, after a little cogitation, “the sun
must be wrong—it should be no wonder if the sun did get a little out of
his track in these high, cold latitudes. Yes, yes; the sun must be
wrong.”
I was too much delighted at being certain we were going on our course
to dispute the point, and the great luminary was abandoned to the
imputation of sometimes being in error. Dr. Reasono took occasion to
say, in my private ear, that there was a sect of philosophers in
Leaphigh, who had long distrusted the accuracy of the planetary system,
and who had even thrown out hints that the earth, In its annual
revolution, moved in a direction absolutely contrary to that which
nature had contemplated when she gave the original polar impulse; but
that, as regarded himself, he thought very little of these opinions, as
he had frequent occasion to observe that there was a large class of
monikins whose ideas always went uphill.
For two more days and as many nights, we continued to drift with the
floes to the southward, or as near as might be, towards the haven of
our wishes. On the fourth morning, there was a suitable change in the
weather; both thermometer and barometer rose; the air became more
bland, and most of our cats and dogs, notwithstanding we were still
surrounded by the ice, began to cast their skins. Dr. Reasono noted
these signs, and stepping on the floe, he brought back with him a
considerable fragment of the frozen element. This was carried to the
camboose, where it was subjected to the action of fire, which, within a
given number of minutes, pretty much as a matter of course, as I
thought, caused it to melt. The whole process was watched with an
anxiety the most intense, by the whole of the monikins, however; and
when the result was announced, the amiable and lovely Chatterissa
clapped her pretty little pattes with joy, and gave all the other
natural indications of delight, which characterize the emotions of that
gentle sex of which she was so bright an ornament. Dr. Reasono was not
backwards in explaining the cause of so much unusual exhilaration, for
hitherto her manner had been characterized by the well-bred and
sophisticated restraint which marks high training. The experiment had
shown, by the infallible and scientific tests of monikin chemistry,
that we were now within the influence of a steam-climate, and there
could no longer be any rational doubt of our eventual arrival in the
polar basin.
The result proved that the philosopher was right. About noon the floes,
which all that day had begun to assume what is termed a “sloppy
character,” suddenly gave way, and the Walrus settled down into her
proper element, with great equanimity and propriety. Captain Poke lost
no time in unshipping the skids; and a smacking breeze, that was well
saturated with steam, springing up from the westward, we made sail. Our
course was due south, without regard to the ice, which yielded before
our bows like so much thick water, and just as the sun set, we entered
the open sea, rioting in the luxuriance of its genial climate, in
triumph.
Sail was carried on the ship all that night; and just as the day
dawned, we made the first mile-stone, a proof, not to be mistaken, that
we were now actually within the monikin region. Dr. Reasono had the
goodness to explain to us the history of these aquatic phenomena. It
would seem that when the earth exploded, its entire crust, throughout
the whole of this part of the world, was started upwards in such a way
as to give a very uniform depth to the sea, which in no place exceeds
four fathoms. It follows, as a consequence, that no prevalence of
northerly winds can force the icebergs beyond 78 degrees of south
latitude, as they invariably ground on reaching the outer edge of the
polar bank. The floes, being thin, are melted of course; and thus, by
this beneficent prevention, the monikin world is kept entirely free
from the very danger to which a vulgar mind would be the most apt to
believe it is the most exposed.
A congress of nations had been held, about five centuries since, which
was called the Holy-philo-marine-safety-and-find-the-way Alliance. At
this congress the high contracting parties agreed to name a commission
to make provision, generally, for the secure navigation of the seas.
One of the expedients of this commission, which, by the way, is said to
have been composed of very illustrious monikins, was to cause massive
blocks of stone to be laid down, at measured distances, throughout the
whole of the basin, and in which other stone uprights were secured. The
necessary inscriptions were graved on proper tablets, and as we
approached the one already named, I observed that it had the image of a
monikin, carved also in stone, with his tail extended in a right line,
pointing, as Mr. Poke assured me, S. and by W. half W. I had made
sufficient progress in the monikin language to read, as we glided past
this watermark—“To Leaphigh,—15 miles.” One monikin mile, however, we
were next told, was equal to nine English statute miles; and,
consequently, we were not so near our port as was at first supposed. I
expressed great satisfaction at finding ourselves so fairly on the
road, however, and paid Dr. Reasono some well-merited compliments on
the high state of civilization to which his species had evidently
arrived. The day was not distant, I added, when it was reasonable to
suppose, our own seas would have floating restaurants and cafes, with
suitable pot-houses for the mariners; though I did not well see how we
were to provide a substitute for their own excellent organization of
mile-stones. The Doctor received my compliments with becoming modesty,
saying that he had no doubt mankind would do all that lay in their
power to have good eating and drinking-houses, whereever they could be
established; but as to the marine milestones, he agreed with me, that
there was little hope of their being planted, until the crust of the
earth should be driven upwards, so as to rise within four fathoms of
the surface of the water. On the other hand, Captain Poke held this
latter improvement very cheap. He affirmed it was no sign of
civilization at all, for, as a man became civilized, he had less need
of primers and finger-boards; and, as for Leaphigh, any tolerable
navigator could see it bore S. by W. half W. allowing for variation,
distant 135 English miles. To these objections I was silent, for I had
frequent occasion to observe that men very often underrate any
advantage of which they have come into the enjoyment by a providential
interposition.
Just as the sun was in the meridian, the cry of “land ahead” was heard
from aloft. The monikins were all smiles and gratitude; the crew were
excited by admiration and wonder; and as for myself, I was literally
ready to jump out of my skin, not only with delight, but, in some
measure also, from the exceeding warmth of the atmosphere. Our cats and
dogs began to uncase; Bob was obliged to unmask his most exposed
frontier, by removing the union-jack; and Noah himself fairly appeared
on deck in his shirt and night-cap. The amiable strangers were too much
occupied to be particular, and I slipped into my state-room to change
my toilet to a dress of thin silk, that was painted to resemble the
skin of a polar bear—a contradiction between things that is much too
common in our species ever to be deemed out of fashion.
We neared the land with great rapidity, impelled by a steam-breeze, and
just as the sun sank in the horizon our anchor was let go, in the outer
harbor of the city of Aggregation.