The novice when making his first descent beneath the waves in a diving
dress is apt to find himself confronted with numerous surprises. In the
first place he discovers that the dress itself, which, when he stood
upon the deck, had appeared such a cumbersome and altogether unwieldy
affair, becomes as light as any feather as soon as he is below the
surface. To his amazement he is able to move about with as much freedom
as he was accustomed to do on land. And despite the fact that his supply
of air is being transmitted to him through many yards of piping from a
pump on the deck above, and in consequence smells a little of
india-rubber, he is relieved to find, when he has overcome his first
nervousness, that he can breathe as comfortably and easily as when
seated in the cabin of the vessel he has so lately quitted.
As stated in the previous chapter, as soon as the glass had been screwed
into the front of my helmet I waved a farewell to my friends on the
schooner's deck and began to descend the ladder on my adventurous
journey. Men may take from me what they please, but they can never
destroy my reputation as a diver. And, indeed, the task I was about to
attempt was one that any man might be proud of accomplishing
successfully.
The bottom on which I had landed was of white sand, covered here and
there with short weeds and lumps of coral, the latter being of every
conceivable shape and colour. Looking up I could distinguish through the
green water the hull of the schooner, and could trace her cable running
down to the anchor, which had dropped fifty feet or so from the spot
where I now stood. Before me the bottom ascended almost precipitously,
and, remembering what I had been told, I gathered that on the top of
this was the rock upon which the unfortunate vessel had come to grief.
Having noted these things, I turned myself about until I could see the
boat herself. It was a strange and forlorn picture she presented. Her
masts had gone by the board, and as I made my way towards her I could
plainly distinguish the gaping rent in her bows which had wrought her
ruin.
Clambering over the mass of coral upon which she was lying, I walked
round her examining her carefully, and, when I had done so, began to
cast about me for a means of getting on board. This, however, proved a
rather more difficult task than one would have at first imagined, for
she had not heeled over as might have been supposed, but had settled
down in her natural position in a sort of coral gully, and in
consequence her sides were almost as steep as the walls of a house.
However, I was not going to be beaten, so, taking my life-line in my
hand, I signalled to my tender above, by a code I had previously
arranged with him, to lower me the short iron ladder which had been
brought in case its services should be required. Having obtained this I
placed it against the vessel's side, but not before I had taken the
precaution to attach one end of a line to it and the other to my waist,
so that we should not part company and I be left without a means of
getting out of the vessel again when once I was inside. Mounting by it,
I clambered over the broken bulwarks and was soon at the entrance to the
saloon companion ladder on the promenade deck. Already a terrible and
significant change was to be noticed in her appearance: a thick green
weed was growing on the once snow-white planks, and the brilliant
brasses, which had been the pride and delight of her officers in bygone
days, were now black and discoloured almost beyond recognition.
Remembering what she had once been, the money she had cost, the grandeur
of her launch and christening, and the pride with which she had once
navigated the oceans of the world, it was enough to bring the tears into
one's eyes now to see her lying so dead and helpless below the waves of
which she had once been so bright an ornament. I thought of the men and
women, the fathers and mothers, the handsome youths and pretty girls who
had once walked those decks so confidently; of the friendships which had
been begun upon them, and the farewells which had there been said, and
then of that last dread scene at midnight when she had crashed into the
unknown danger, and a few moments later had sunk down and down until she
lay an inert and helpless mass upon the rocky bed where I now found her.
Feeling that, if I wished to get my work done expeditiously, I had
better not waste my time looking about me, I attempted to open the door
of the saloon companion ladder, but the wood had swollen, and, in spite
of my efforts, defied me. However, a few blows from my axe smashed it in
and enabled me to enter. Inside the hatch it was too dark for me to see
very clearly, but with the assistance of my electric lamp this
difficulty was soon overcome, and, holding the latter above my head, I
continued my descent.
On the landing, half-way down, jammed into a corner, I encountered the
first bodies, those of a man and woman. My movement through the water
caused them to drop me a mocking curtsey as I passed, and I noticed that
the man held the woman in his arms very tight, as though he were
resolved that they should not be parted, even by King Death himself.
Reaching the bottom of the ladder, I passed into the saloon, not without
a shudder, however, as I thought of the work that lay before me. God
help the poor dead folk I saw there! They were scattered about
everywhere in the most grotesque attitudes. Some were floating against
the roof, and some were entangled in the cleated chairs. I have entered
many wrecks in my time, and have seen many curious and terrible sights,
but what I saw in this ill-fated vessel surpassed anything I have ever
met with in my experience. Any attempt to give a true description of it
would be impossible. I must get on with my story and leave that to your
imagination.
By the time I had made my way so far I had had about enough of it for
the time being, and stood in need of a rest. Accordingly I retraced my
steps to the deck and signalled to my tender that I was about to return
to the surface. The change, when I did so, from the semi-obscurity of
that horrible world below the seas to the brilliant sunshine I found
existing above, was almost startling in its abruptness. But it was good
after what I had seen below to find myself once more in the company of
living people. Leversidge's surprise at seeing me reappear so soon was
almost pathetic. He could scarcely contain his eagerness to question me,
and as soon as the front glass of my helmet had been removed he
accordingly set to work.
"What has brought you up from below so soon?" he inquired. "You have
only been gone a quarter of an hour. Have you found the pearl?"
I shook my head. "I have not even been able to discover the man's cabin
yet," I answered. "I came up because I needed a rest. I'm working at a
big depth, you must remember. And, besides, there are those who are far
from being the best of company down below."
"But tell me about the vessel herself," the old gentleman continued.
"What is she like, and did you experience any difficulty in getting
aboard her?"
I answered his questions to the best of my ability, and after a few
minutes' rest ordered the glass to be screwed into the helmet again, and
then once more descended to the bottom of the ocean.
Being familiar by this time with the best means of getting on board the
wreck, it was not very long before I was making my way down the
companion ladder into the saloon. Then, without wasting further time
looking about me, I pushed on in search of the cabin I wanted, which, as
I have already said, was on the port side, third door from the steward's
pantry. It was not long before I found it, and had broken open the door.
Having done so, I held my lamp aloft and entered. Never shall I forget
the sight I saw there. Well prepared as I was for something gruesome,
the horrible sight that now met my eyes almost overcame me. The body of
Mr. Leversidge's unfortunate agent was lying on his chest, half in and
half out of his bunk, for all the world as if he were looking for
something under his pillow. His coat and waistcoat were off, otherwise
he was fully dressed. Withdrawing my eyes from him, not without some
difficulty, I looked about the cabin for his luggage, and for some
moments could see no sign of it. Then I caught sight of a trunk and a
Gladstone bag beneath one bunk, and another trunk beneath that opposite.
All were as rotten as sodden brown paper, by reason of their long
immersion in the salt water. By dint of some manoeuvring, however, I
managed to get them out of the cabin into the alleyway without
disturbing the body in the bunk, and then by degrees carried them up the
companion ladder to the deck above. Having done this, I signalled to my
friends to lower their lines, and, as soon as I had made them fast, had
the satisfaction of seeing them drawn up to the schooner above. This
having been accomplished, I returned once more to that awful cabin in
order to search the body and to make quite sure that I had left nothing
behind me that I might afterwards wish I had brought away.
Reaching the cabin again, I--but there, how can I tell you the rest?
Suffice it that I pulled the remains of what had once been Mr.
Leversidge's agent out of his bunk, glanced at him, and then dropped him
again with a cry that echoed in my helmet until I thought it would have
burst the drums of both my ears. The shock of the discovery I had made
was almost too much for me, and for upwards of a minute I leant against
the bulkhead, staring at the poor corpse before me in stupefied
amazement. Then I roused myself, and kneeling upon the floor began my
search for something which, when I had found it, I placed carefully in
the canvas bag I carried round my waist. Then I set off as fast as I
could go to reach the surface once more. God knows I had made an
astounding enough discovery in all conscience, and as I climbed the
ladder I wondered what Mr. Leversidge would have to say to it.