Free The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne Page A

murmured some expression of assent, and we all
felt that there was something touching in the words of the
orphaned, friendless girl who had found her long-lost sense
of happiness on a lonely rock in the Atlantic.

Chapter XIX - The Cargo Unloaded
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    NOVEMBER 6 to November 15. — For the first five days
after the Chancellor had run aground, there was a dense
black smoke continually rising from the hold; but it gradually diminished until the 6th of November, when we might
consider that the fire was extinguished. Curtis, nevertheless, deemed it prudent to persevere in working the pumps,
which he did until the entire hull of the ship, right up to the
deck, had been completely inundated.
    The rapidity, however, with which the water, at every retreat of the tide, drained off to the level of the sea, was an
indication that the leak must be of considerable magnitude;
and such, on investigation, proved to be the case. One of the
sailors, named Flaypole, dived one day at low water to examine the extent of the damage, and found that the hole was
not much less than four feet square, and was situated thirty
feet fore of the helm, and two feet above the rider of the
keel; three planks had been stove in by a sharp point of rock
and it was only a wonder that the violence with which the
heavily-laden vessel had been thrown ashore did not result
in the smashing in of many parts beside.
    As it would be a couple of days or more before the hold
would be in a condition for the bales of cotton to be removed
for the carpenter to examine the damage from the interior of
the ship, Curtis employed the interval in having the broken
mizzen-mast repaired. Dowlas the carpenter, with considerable skill, contrived to mortise it into its former stump.
and made the junction thoroughly secure by strong ironbelts and bolts. The shrouds, the stays and backstays, were
then carefully refitted, some of the sails were changed, and
the whole of the running rigging was renewed. Injury, to
some extent, had been done to the poop and to the crew's
lockers in the front; but time and labor were all that were
wanted to make them good; and with such a will did everybody set to work that it was not long before all the cabins
were again available for use.
    On the 8th the unlading of the ship commenced. Pulleys
and tackling were put over the hatches, and passengers and
crew together proceeded to haul up the heavy bales which
had been deluged so frequently by water that the cotton was
all but spoiled. One by one the sodden bales were placed in
the boat to be transported to the reef. After the first layer
of cotton had been removed it became necessary to drain
off part of the water that filled the hold. For this purpose
the leak in the side had somehow or other to be stopped, and
this was an operation which was cleverly accomplished by
Dowlas and Flaypole, who contrived to dive at low tide
and nail a sheet of copper over the entire hole. This, however, of itself would have been utterly inadequate to sustain
the pressure that would arise from the action of the pumps;
so Curtis ordered that a number of the bales should be piled
up inside against the broken planks. The scheme succeeded
very well, and as the water got lower and lower in the hold
the men were enabled to résumé their task of unlading.
    Curtis thinks it quite probable that the leaks may be
mended from the interior. By far the best way of repairing
the damage would be to careen the ship, and to shift the
planking, but the appliances are wanting for such an undertaking; moreover, any bad weather which might occur
while the ship was on her flank would only too certainly be
fatal to her altogether. But the captain has very little doubt
that by some device or other he shall manage to patch up the
hole in such a way as will insure our reaching land in safety.
    After two days' toil the water was entirely reduced, and
without further difficulty the unlading was completed. All
of us, including even Andre Letourneur, have been