No time was now lost in commencing the repairs of which the steamer
stood so much in need. It will be remembered, that the structure of
the ship's side has been elsewhere described, and that the angle-irons
are, in fact, the ship's ribs. The split amidships had taken place in
the middle of the iron plate, between the two angle-irons immediately
before the after sponson-beam. It extended downwards full seven feet
from the deck on either side the vessel; and, as the distance from the
deck to the water-line, with a moderate draught of water, is only from
three feet four inches to three feet six inches, it must have extended
under water for about the same distance as it did above. But the whole
_semi_-circumference of the vessel's hull is only about twenty-three
feet and a half. Therefore, as the crack was full seven feet in length
on each side of the ship, there only remained sixteen feet on each side
of the ship's hull, or about two-thirds in all, not separated in two.
In other iron vessels more recently constructed by the same builder,
Mr. Laird, of Birkenhead, it is satisfactory to know that full
provision has been made against the recurrence of any similar
accidents. The Phlegethon, which was afterwards built upon the same
model, has been constructed in such a manner, by the addition of
bulkheads, &c., that not only could there be no apprehension of
the accident, but an almost impossibility of its recurrence. The
accompanying woodcut will explain the improvement.
[Illustration:
TRANSVERSE SECTION AT THE ENGINE-ROOM OF H.E.I.
COMPANY'S IRON STEAM VESSEL PHLEGETHON.
Shewing the method of giving additional strength by originally
building-in the coal-box bulkheads as part of the vessel.
A Keel.
B Floorings.
C Keelsons.
D Deck beams (iron).
E Deck.
F Covering-board, 18ft. by 4in.
G Longitudinal iron bulkheads, built into the vessel, forming
the sides of the coal-boxes.
H Angle-iron stay-beam between.
I Side frame and coal-box bulkhead.
N.B.--These bulkheads appear to have remedied the weakness
complained of in the Nemesis, as the Phlegethon is reported,
after nearly three years' hard service (including the passage
round the Cape, when she experienced very bad weather), in as
good order as when she left England, never having required any
alteration or strengthening.
]
The first thing now to be done was evidently to remove the broken iron
plates, and to rivet in new ones in their place. In order to provide
for additional strengthening of the vessel inside, the large timbers
which had been purchased were made use of, as being exactly adapted
for the purpose. Three of these were placed across the angle-irons
against the side of the vessel, the longest and stoutest, which was
twenty-three feet in length, one foot broad, and six inches thick,
being placed highest up, about two to three feet below the deck. This
was secured in its place by bolts, each a foot long, which were run
through the ship's side, one at the centre of the space between each
of the angle-irons. As there would, however, be a space left between
the face of the beam and the side of the vessel, except at those points
where it rested upon the angle-irons, this interval was filled up with
well-seasoned red pine, which added very much to the solidity of the
contrivance. To "make assurance doubly sure," two other beams, of the
same depth and thickness, but not of the same length, and secured in a
similar manner, were also employed. By this means, it is very evident
that the ship was made a vast deal stronger than she ever was before,
though not stronger than was proper for her size and shape. The whole
length of the new plates put in the ship's sides was eight feet two
inches; and so effectually was the work done that the whole of it
remained perfect, stringers and all, at the end of two years and a half
of severe and uninterrupted service.
These contrivances added very little to the weight of the vessel, and
gave it very great support in the weakest part, and just where it was
most required, to enable her to carry coals on deck, &c.
[Illustration:
PLAN SHEWING THE SIDE OF THE NEMESIS REPAIRED AND
STRENGTHENED BY STRINGERS.
A The old plate cut away between the angle-iron frames.
B Part of the old plate left remaining inside the new.
C Stringers, 1ft. by 6in.; the space under them between the
angle-irons made solid with wood.
D Knee.
E Deck angle-iron.
F Angle-iron side-frames.
G Coal-box bulkhead angle-iron.
H Paddle-beam, of wood, 21 in. by 15.
N Diagonal bracing of wood between the stringers.
N.B.--Stringers secured by seven-eighths in.; bolts driven
through all between each two angle-irons.
]
[Illustration:
END VIEW OF THE STRINGERS, SHEWING ALSO THE SECTION OF
THE SHIP'S SIDE.
I Deck beam of iron.
K Flat of deck.
L Covering board, 12 in. by 4 in.
M Waist stanchion.
C Ends of the stringers.
]
During her detention of twelve days, the Nemesis had been an object of
great curiosity to the native Africans, as well as to the Portuguese
settlers. The chiefs of some of the tribes were occasionally allowed to
look at the vessel, and expressed the greatest possible astonishment at
what they saw. It happened to be just the time of year when the king
of one of the tribes most friendly to the Portuguese (probably, as it
appeared, because they have large dealings together in slaves) usually
came down from his own country, about thirty miles distant, to pay his
annual visit to the Portuguese governor. On these occasions, there is
a vast attempt on both sides to appear very friendly to each other,
with precisely that degree of sincerity which, as a _minimum_, is
indispensable to the advantageous barter of slaves and ivory for iron
and spirits, or occasionally gold-dust for various trifling articles,
which in the eyes of a savage possess inestimable value.
There appears, in general, to be very little good feeling existing
between the native tribes and the Portuguese. The former look upon
the latter with some degree of dread, arising from the injuries which
they have at various times received at their hands; and the latter
regard the former merely as degraded savages, fit for little else than
the speculations of the slave trade. On both sides there is a degree
of mistrust, arising from the debasing tendency which such a traffic
necessarily exercises upon all concerned in it. In Captain Owens
narrative, an instance is related of the most savage cruelty, exercised
by Portuguese Christians upon a few unarmed and oppressed natives
who fell into their hands, which it is impossible to read without
shuddering.
On the present occasion, the native chief who came to do honour to the
governor was a decrepit old man, nearly seventy years of age, attended
by about seven hundred or eight hundred of his most doughty warriors,
partially clothed in skins, and ornamented with ostrich-feathers stuck
in their heads. He himself, as being a very great man, was clothed in a
loose sort of dressing-gown, with a red nightcap on his head, a present
from the governor himself. Every man had three spears of different
sizes, probably to be thrown at different distances, together with a
stout club and shield; and in the use of these weapons they exhibited
great dexterity.
The governor had invited Captain Hall and his officers to witness the
performance of their war-dance, which was, in reality, as savage an
exhibition as it was possible to conceive.
As evening advanced, the attendants of the old chief were called upon
to drink the governor's health, out of a large _tub-full_ of rum; and,
in order to ensure fair play, a corporal stood by with a stout cane
in his hand, with which he most courageously belaboured all those who
shewed an uncivilized disposition for helping themselves to more than
their share. But the passions of the savage are not so easily to be
subdued; and, if the mere sight and smell of the liquor had warmed them
up into something like a quarrelsome mood, what was to be expected
from the actual taste and fire of it? Words ran high, and all the
threatening gestures of the excited savage promised even bloodshed;
until, at length, the corporal's stick being insufficient to allay
the disturbance, he very quietly upset the whole remaining contents
of the tub, and soon dispersed the mighty men-of-war, in apparent
reconciliation.
The negro tribes of these parts adopt the practice of tattooing their
faces, but not in that peculiarly neat and regular manner for which the
New Zealanders are distinguished. It is here more like a rude system
of notching the skin, as if done rather to shew how manfully they can
endure pain, than as a mere ornamental art.
A more sensible practice among some of the tribes about Delagoa Bay,
is that of shaving a large portion of the thick wool off their heads,
tending greatly to cleanliness in a tropical country. Occasionally it
is trimmed into some fanciful shape, like the old yew-trees in some of
our English villages, which stand forth as curious specimens of nature
improved; while, again, the natives on some parts of the Madagascar
coast, generally stout, athletic men, divide their hair into little
tufts all over the head, each of which is frequently tied round the
roots, and thus made to stand out on all sides in little knobs, giving
a very singular appearance to the head, more particularly when they are
seen working side by side, as I have often witnessed at the Mauritius,
with close-shaved Indian or Chinese labourers.
As the king above-mentioned and his followers had come from a
considerable distance, and were reported to possess great influence
among their neighbours, it was thought a good opportunity both to
impress them with a knowledge of our power, and to conciliate them
by a show of our good-nature. There was the more reason for this, in
consequence of pretty certain evidence having been obtained that the
crew of an American trading-vessel, which had been wrecked on the coast
not long before, had been most barbarously treated by the tribe into
whose hands they fell. As such a misfortune might again happen, it
was thought a good opportunity to make an impression upon the native
tribes, which was sure to be communicated from one to the other, by
means of the old king and his adherents. Accordingly, the old man (who
was called Appelli by the Portuguese) was one day invited to go on
board the Nemesis, with one or two of his attendants. The vessel had by
this time been got nearly ready for sea, and on this occasion, in order
to produce greater effect upon all the lookers-on, was dressed out with
her flags, and, being newly-painted, presented a very gay appearance.
A Portuguese merchant accompanied the veteran chief to the ship as
interpreter, and, rather unexpectedly, several women also came off with
him, dressed in showy colours, and impelled, perhaps, as much by the
flattering thought that they would quite astonish the white man, as by
the mere feeling of curiosity.
The moment the king put his foot upon the deck, the single fife and
drum which was on board set up "God save the king!" and the old man
appeared well pleased both with the tune and the attention. After
this, a particularly ugly, repulsive-looking fellow, who turned out
to be the king's fool, though as old as the king himself, set up a
most discordant note of admiration upon three reeds which he held in
his hand, something after the manner of pan-pipes. At intervals he
treated you to a sort of explanatory text of his own, in the shape of
a few uncouth words, yelled out in a manner particularly edifying to
all _except_ those in whose honour it is supposed they were especially
poured forth. His appearance was rendered more uncouth by a large
bag tied under his chin, for what purpose was not very evident, but
probably to contain either his charms or his tobacco.
The queen herself had also accompanied her lord upon this occasion, and
exhibited no fear, and certainly no beauty. Picture to yourself a young
sable queen, a capital caricature of one of the Egyptian statues in
black marble, plump and shiny as her prototype, only less expressive.
Then invest her in your imagination with sundry huge scars about her
cheek and nose; not those delicate lines and graceful curves which
decorate the upper lip of royalty among New Zealand tribes, but regular
lumps, squeezed up and dried, as it were into large warts, particularly
about the nose, as if a race of gigantic musquitoes had held a feast
there!
However, to do justice to the lady's rank, if not to her looks, Captain
Hall thought proper to shew her due attention, and, accordingly, a
glass of wine was offered to her, as well as to her lord. The old
man, though at first suspicious, like all half-savages, very gladly
swallowed it, as soon as one of the officers had tasted it first.
But for the queen wine was not good enough; rum was the nectar for
her--_that_ was the soul-stirring influence which could bend her pride,
and warm her heart to gentleness.
Having by these means warmed the royal pair to good humour, the next
thing was to bewilder them with astonishment. This was not difficult.
They were requested to examine the ship's side, and to assure
themselves that she was made entirely of iron. A loud Heugh! was their
exclamation. To them it seemed a boundless mine of wealth, that mass
of precious stuff, to purchase which was all their ambition. They were
calculating in their own minds how many thousands and tens of thousands
of slaves they would have to procure, before they could be able to
obtain so much of the valued metal. But, when the engine was shewn
to them, with all its polished bars, and massive parts, and its uses
partly explained through the interpreter, their astonishment knew no
bounds.
Before the chief's departure, great care was taken to explain to him
the barbarous cruelties which had been committed upon the shipwrecked
seamen by some of the tribes on the coast. He declared that he had
never heard of the occurrence, and affected to be very much horrified
at it. He was made to understand that he was to communicate to all the
people of his tribe, as well as to all others whom he might fall in
with, that, if ever any injury were done to any white men when driven
upon any part of the coast, an iron vessel, even more terrible than
the one he was then in, would be sent to punish the people. On the
contrary, if he conducted himself peaceably, and treated white men well
on all occasions, he would be considered the friend of the English, and
of all other white men. He was also to make it publicly known wherever
he went, that white men were always to be treated kindly when in
distress. This he promised to do, with every appearance of sincerity,
and upon the whole shewed more intelligence than might have been
expected.
In consideration of the king's promises, and in order the more fully
to gain his influence, a present was made to him, the most valuable
he could have received--namely, a musket and bayonet, with its
accoutrements. His surprise and delight were beyond all bounds; he
almost seemed to get young again with pleasure as he grasped the
precious weapon in his hands. On leaving the vessel, he insisted on
shaking hands with almost every one on board.
On the following day, he returned again to the ship in high glee,
bringing with him his own spear and shield, with other implements of
war and of the chase, which he laid at the captain's feet, as the most
valuable presents he could offer to a "faithful ally."