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Title: Perseverance Island - Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century
Author: Frazar, Douglas
Language: English
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[Illustration: ABANDONING THE "GOOD LUCK."--_Frontispiece._]
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND
Or
The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century
by
DOUGLAS FRAZAR
Author of "Practical Boat Sailing" etc.
Illustrated
Boston
Lee and Shepard Publishers
New York Charles T. Dillingham
1885
Copyright,
1884,
By Lee and Shepard.
All Rights Reserved.
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND.
ELECTROTYPED BY
C. J. PETERS AND SON, BOSTON.
To My Wife.
PREFACE.
In all works of the Robinson Crusoe type, the wreck is always near at
hand, the powder dry and preserved, and the days for rafting the same
ashore calm and pleasant. This unfortunate had no such accessories;
and his story proves the limitless ingenuity and invention of man,
and portrays the works and achievements of a castaway, who, thrown
ashore almost literally naked upon a desert isle, is able by the use
of his brains, the skill of his hands, and a practical knowledge of
the common arts and sciences, to far surpass the achievements of all
his predecessors, and to surround himself with implements of power and
science utterly beyond the reach of his prototype, who had his wreck as
a reservoir from which to draw his munitions.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
Boyhood and youth of the author. Sailor's life. The "Good Luck."
South Pacific Island scheme. Loss of crew off Cape Horn. 3
CHAPTER II.
Push forward for the Society Islands. Driven into Magellan Straits
by stress of weather. Anchor in a land-locked bay. Search for fresh
water. Attacked by savages. Serious injuries to Capt. Davis and
one of the crew. Return to the schooner and make sail for the open
ocean. Resolve to return to England. Finally lay our course for
Easter Island. 9
CHAPTER III.
Captain Davis's condition. Only five men fit for duty. Terrific
storm. The schooner thrown on her beam ends and dismasted. Loss of
three more of the crew. Taking to the whale-boat. Foundering of
the schooner "Good Luck." Death of Captain Davis. Storm again,
running to the southward before the tempest. Strike upon a reef.
The author cast on shore. 19
CHAPTER IV.
Return to consciousness. Seek for my comrades. Commence a
calendar, and take inventory of my effects. 38
CHAPTER V.
Attempt to make a fire. Distil salt water. First meal. Reflections.
Hat-making. Repose. 45
CHAPTER VI.
Build fireplace. Make knife and spear from anchor. Build tower of
stones for perpetual lamps. Resolve to explore the island. 56
CHAPTER VII.
Improve my lamp-tower. Make a bow and arrow, and fish-hooks and
lines. Capture a large turtle. Improve my steel and flint, and
build a hut. Procure some salt, and make arrangements to explore
the island on the morrow. 65
CHAPTER VIII.
Rainy day. Reflections concerning climate, season of the year,
tides, etc. Plant several varieties of my seeds. Make a pocket
compass, and prepare for my exploration of the island. 73
CHAPTER IX.
Exploration of the island: First day. Fresh water at Rapid River.
Wild goats, quail, tortoise, tobacco, wild ducks, trout, sweet
potatoes, mussels. Name the island and principal points, etc. 85
CHAPTER X.
Exploration of the island: Second day. Find coal and sulphur,
seals, more turtles, gulls, etc. 96
CHAPTER XI.
Exploration of the island: Third day. Stalking goats. Mirror lake
and river and bay. Sad moonlight thoughts. 105
CHAPTER XII.
Exploration of the island: Fourth day. Finish the exploration of
the island, and build stone house at Rapid River. 113
CHAPTER XIII.
Make a hatchet of my iron hammer. Make matches and utensils for
house. Team of goats, chair, table, etc. Birch-bark canoe.
Arrangements for winter. 124
CHAPTER XIV.
Make chairs, and arrange my house, seal-skins, and goat-skins.
Provide provisions for winter. Discover wild grapes, and make wine
and vinegar. Find potassium, or saltpetre. Make gunpowder, and by
means of my compass discover iron. Thoughts of the future. 136
CHAPTER XV.
Make a mould for bricks. Build a brick-kiln and make bricks. Build a
smelting-house, blast-furnace, kiln for cleansing ore. Meditations.
Build water-wheel and fan-wheel, and set my machinery for an
air-blast to reduce the ore. 151
CHAPTER XVI.
Smelt my iron and make Bessemer steel and all kinds of tools. Erect
an anvil and forge. Build a saw-mill, and plant a farm and
kitchen-garden. 166
CHAPTER XVII.
Make an astrolabe, and obtain the latitude of the island, and, by
an eclipse of the moon, the longitude also. By means of the Epitome
make a chart on Mercator's projection, find out the distance
from any known land. 176
CHAPTER XVIII.
A resumé of three years on the island. Daily routine of life.
Inventions, discoveries, etc. Fortification of the Hermitage.
Manufacture of cannon and guns. Perfection and improvement of the
machine shop. Implicit faith of ultimately overcoming all obstacles
and escaping from the island. Desire to accumulate some kind of
portable wealth to carry with me, and desire to explore the island
for its hidden wealth and the surrounding ocean for pearl oysters. 189
CHAPTER XIX.
Construct a submarine boat, to be propelled by goat power and to
make its own air, to examine the bottom of the ocean near the
island for pearl oysters. 206
CHAPTER XX.
Launch the submarine boat. Experiment with it in Stillwater Cove. 223
CHAPTER XXI.
Explore the bottom of the ocean in the vicinity of the island with
my submarine boat. Discover pearl oysters and invent a great
improvement to my boat. 237
CHAPTER XXII.
Manufacture glass. Build a steam yacht, and circumnavigate the
island. Lay up large stores of valuable pearls obtained from the
pearl oysters. 252
CHAPTER XXIII.
Discovery of a human habitation. The skeleton and manuscript. 265
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Pirate's manuscript. 277
CHAPTER XXV.
Finding of the sunken wreck. The submarine explosion of the hull.
Recovery of over ten millions in bars of gold and silver. 295
CHAPTER XXVI.
Chess and backgammon playing. Fortification of the island. Team of
white swans. Goats as servants, and opponents in backgammon
playing. 310
CHAPTER XXVII.
Discovery of gold. Turn the stream out of the lake, and build
portable engine to separate the gold. 321
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The sea serpent. Attack and capture one of the species, thus
putting the question of its existence forever at rest. 339
CHAPTER XXIX.
Make a balloon and flying machine, in which I make a successful
ascension. 349
CHAPTER XXX.
The manuscript sent forth. 362
THE MANUSCRIPT.
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND, SOUTH PACIFIC.
_To the Person who shall find this Manuscript_, GREETING,--
I hope that in the mercy of God these lines may come to the hands
of some of my fellow-creatures, and that such action may be taken
as may be deemed best to inform the world of my fate and that of
my unfortunate comrades; if the finder will, therefore, cause the
accompanying account to be published, he will confer a lasting benefit
upon his humble servant,
ROBINSON CRUSOE,
Otherwise called WILLIAM ANDERSON.
Everybody must remember the setting out of the schooner "Good Luck"
from the Liverpool docks, England, in the summer of 1865, with the
advance guard of a colony to be established in the Southern Pacific, on
one or more of its numerous islands to be selected; and from that day
to this, the non-reception of any news of her from her day of sailing.
I am the only survivor of that ill-fated vessel, and record here, in
hopes that the manuscript may reach the eyes of those interested, all
the facts of the case, and pray that they will speedily send to my
relief some vessel to take me home, and permit me once more to gaze
upon the faces of my fellow-men before I die.
THE FINDING OF THE MANUSCRIPT.
SHOTTSVILLE, DELEFERO COUNTY, TEXAS,
April 1, 1877.
Returning to my home in the evening after a hard day's work on my
quarter-section farm, I saw in the twilight an object dangling in the
air, and apparently fast to a young walnut sapling. I approached it
and found that it was a small balloon of about three feet in diameter,
made, I should think, of some kind of delicate skins of beasts or
birds sewed cunningly together. Attached in the place where the car
should be, I found the manuscript herewith submitted, written on
some kind of parchment, which, being taken home and read, I found of
such startling interest that I have, although poor, ordered the same
published at my expense in hopes that some action may be taken by
those whom it may concern to move further in the matter. I further
depose that the accompanying manuscript is the original one found
by me attached to the balloon, and that it has never been tampered
with or allowed to leave my possession till this moment. It can be
examined, as well as the balloon, at any time, by any responsible
person, by calling upon me.
[Signed] REUBEN STANLEY.
STATE OF TEXAS,
SHOTTSVILLE, DELEFERO COUNTY, S.S.
April 1, 1877.
Then personally appeared before me the said Reuben Stanley, to me well
known, and made oath that the above deposition made by him is true.
[Signed] RICHARD HILLANDIER,
_Justice of the Peace_.
[Illustration: CHART OF PERSEVERANCE ISLAND.]
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND;
OR,
THE ROBINSON CRUSOE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER I.
Boyhood and youth of the author. Sailor's life. The "Good Luck." South
Pacific Island scheme. Loss of crew off Cape Horn.
I was born in the year 1833, in the State of Vermont, United States of
America, and at an early age lost both parents by that fearful scourge,
the small-pox. I was an only child, and upon the death of my parents,
which happened when I was about six years of age, I was taken charge
of by a friendly farmer of a neighboring town, who put me to school
for several years in the winter, and at work upon the farm in the
summer. I had no known relatives in the wide world, and often felt the
bitter pangs of orphanhood. My master was not, however, unkind, and I
grew up strong, robust, and with rather a retiring, quiet disposition,
with a great love of mechanics and tools. Under all this quietness,
however, lurked, I well knew myself, an unappeasable love of adventure
and enterprise. I loved to lie in the open fields at night under the
full moon; to explore swamps and brooks; and I soon learned to swim
in the pond near by. At the age of fourteen I left my master, with
his consent, and went to work in a neighboring machine-shop, where
castings, etc., were made. I loved all manner of mechanical tools and
instruments, and evidently had a taste in that direction. At the age
of eighteen I became restless, and, having read during leisure hours
many books of adventure and discovery, I took it into my silly head to
become a sailor, and upon the inspiration of a moment I packed up my
small bundle of clothes, and, bidding good-by to my workmates, started
out on foot for Portsmouth, N. H. I arrived there and shipped as green
hand in the schooner "Rosa Belle" for Boston, at which port we in
due season arrived. From thence I shipped again before the mast in a
large, square-rigged vessel for a voyage round the world. It is not my
intention here to give a detailed account of my adventurous life till
I joined the "Good Luck;" suffice it to say that during fourteen years
at sea I passed through all the grades of boy, seaman, able seaman,
boatswain, third mate, second mate, and first mate. It was after my
discharge from a large clipper ship in Liverpool, lately arrived from
China, in the latter capacity, that, having some few hundred dollars by
me, I began to look about to see if I could not gain a livelihood in
some easier way than by going to sea, being by this time heartily tired
of the life, and for want of friends and relations with little chance
of rising higher in the profession; it was at this time, I say, that
this cursed project of the "Good Luck" was brought to my attention. As
fate would have it, the schooner lay in the same dock with ourselves,
and I became interested in her by hearing the talk upon the dock that
she was bound to the South Pacific Islands to seek for pearls, sandal
wood, tortoiseshell, etc., and to establish a colony of which the
persons who were going out on this trip were the advance guard and
projectors. I remember now, oh! how sadly, the Utopian ideas that were
advanced, and although I, as a sailor in those seas, knew many of them
to be false, yet imagination proclaimed them true. I could not resist
the impulse to join my fortune to theirs. Having made up my mind, I
called upon the chief movers in the matter and offered my services. It
was first a question with them whether I could subscribe any money to
the project, and secondly, what position I desired in the adventure?
I satisfied them upon the former, by stating that if I was pleased
with their plans I could subscribe four hundred dollars in cash, and
my services as a seaman and navigator in those seas. This seemed very
satisfactory, and I was then asked, more pointedly, what position I
demanded. I said that I should be satisfied with the position of chief
officer, and second in command on board of the schooner, and fourth
in command on the island as concerned the colony,--that is to say, if
their plans suited me, which I demanded to know fully before signing
any papers and bound myself by oath not to disclose if, after hearing
and seeing everything, I declined to join them.
This straightforward course seemed to please the managers, and I was
put in full possession of all their plans, and immediately after signed
the papers.
It is sufficient for me to give an outline of this plan simply, which,
through the act of God, came to naught, and left me, a second Robinson
Crusoe, on my lonely island.
The company was formed of one hundred persons, who each put in one
hundred pounds to make a general capital,--except a few like myself,
who were allowed a full paid-up share for eighty pounds, on account of
being of the advance guard, and wages for our services according to our
station, with our proportionate part of the dividends to be hereafter
made.
With this fund paid in, amounting to about nine thousand eight hundred
pounds, the managing committee purchased the schooner "Good Luck."
She was a fore-topsail schooner, of one hundred and fifty-four tons
measurement, built in Bath, Maine, and about seven years old,--strong,
well built, sharp, and with a flush deck fore and aft. She cost two
thousand four hundred pounds. The remainder of the money was used in
purchasing the following outfit for the scheme we were engaged in:--
Four breech-loading Armstrong cannon, nine pounders, four
old-fashioned nine-pounders, twenty-five Sharpe's breech-loading
rifles, and twenty-five navy Colt's revolvers, with plenty of
ammunition for all. These, in conjunction with boarding-pikes,
cutlasses, hand-grenades, and a howitzer for the launch, comprised our
armament. The hold was stored with a little of everything generally
taken on such adventures,--knives, hatchets, and calico for the
natives, and seeds, canned meats, and appliances for pearl fishing,
house-building, etc., for ourselves. To these were added a sawmill, an
upright steam-engine, a turning-lathe, blacksmith tools, etc.
Our plan was to find an island uninhabited, that would form a good
centre from which to prosecute our purpose of pearl gathering, and to
there establish a colony, sending home the "Good Luck" for the rest of
our companions and their families.
Ten of us were chosen as the advance guard (all but three being
sailors), to make the first venture, establish the colony, load the
schooner, leave part of our force upon the island selected, and the
remainder to bring back the schooner to Liverpool. "Man proposes, but
God disposes."
On July 31, 1865, we set sail upon this disastrous voyage, and from
that day to this have I never seen the faces of civilized beings except
those on board of the schooner, and not those for many months. Our
captain was a fine, manly fellow, of about eight and thirty years of
age, and we all liked him. Duty on board was of course different than
it would have been in a common vessel; and although we had watches and
regular discipline, each was familiar with the other, having, as we
had, an equal stake in the adventure.
We had a tough time off Cape Horn, and, although the "Good Luck"
behaved well, it was here that we met with our first misfortune. In
stowing the jib, in a gale of wind, preparatory to laying-to, three men
were swept overboard, and we never saw them more. This cast a damper
upon the remaining seven, and was but a precursor of what was yet to
happen. We rounded Cape Horn the first part of October, and, steering
northwest, soon reached more pleasant weather. Our course was towards
the group of islands, so well known in the South Pacific, called the
Society Islands.
CHAPTER II.
Push forward for the Society Islands. Driven into Magellan Straits
by stress of weather. Anchor in a land-locked bay. Search for fresh
water. Attacked by savages. Serious injuries to Capt. Davis and one
of the crew. Return to the schooner and make sail for the open ocean.
Resolve to return to England. Finally lay our course for Easter Island.
We had proceeded but a very short way towards the Society Islands when
a terrific storm arose from the westward, driving us back upon the
coast of South America. We lay to for many days, bending down before
the blast, and drifting all the time rapidly to the southward and
eastward; till one morning we discovered land broad off our lee beam,
and, by a forenoon observation which the captain obtained, we found
that we were off the western opening of the Straits of Magellan, and
we soon put the schooner's head before the howling blast and ran in
for shelter, rest, and repairs. We came up with the land very rapidly
under easy sail, and passed the frowning cliffs and rocks on our port
hand, not over a mile distant, as we knew we had plenty of water and
to spare. After having passed the opening we hauled the schooner up
on the port tack, heading her well up to the northward, intending to
find some quiet land-locked cove where we could anchor and repair the
damages--small in detail, but quite grave in the aggregate--that we
had received in our buffeting of the last ten days.
About eight bells in the forenoon we found ourselves well inside the
land, and with a smooth sea and a good fair working breeze, we kept the
land well on the port beam and gradually crawled in toward it.
At about 4 P. M. we estimated that we were twenty miles inside the
headlands, and having come to an arm of a bay trending well to the
northward, we hauled the schooner sharp on a wind and steered into it;
we discovered soon that it was about ten miles deep and thirty wide as
near as we could judge; and as we came toward the head of the bay we
found that we could run into a small inner bay of about three miles in
area, with evidently smooth water and good anchorage. Into this inner
bay or anchorage we quietly sailed and let go an anchor in six fathoms
of water, and at a distance of about one mile from the shore.
When the sails were all properly furled, and everything put in
"ship-shape and Bristol fashion," as the saying is amongst sailors, we
had time to look about us; and the motion of the vessel having ceased,
and the creaking of the masts and cordage, the flapping of the sails,
and the usual noises of the sea, having come to an end, we were struck
with the awful and sublime solitude of our surroundings. By this time
the moon had risen, and by its light we saw the shadowy shapes of
monstrous cliffs and miniature headlands covered with tangled forests
of a species of pine, mirrored in the little bay in which we hung at
anchor; but not one sound of life, no lights on shore, no cry of bird
or beast, but the depressing, awful solitude of an unknown land; no
noise except the graceful rise of the "Good Luck" to the miniature
waves of the bay as she lay at anchor with twenty fathoms of chain out.
We all spoke in whispers, so awe-striking was the scenery, and when we
set the anchor watch and turned in it was unanimously conceded that we
had little to fear in landing on the morrow either from natives or wild
beasts.
Glad enough were we, after our long fight with the stormy ocean, to
turn into our berths. It was chilly, although now past the middle of
October, yet we saw no snow upon the ground, and the air had the smell
of spring and verdure. This was easily accounted for when we remembered
that in reality we were in the latter part of April as to seasons, and
that we were no further south, than Great Britain is north, as concerns
latitude. No doubt, also, the climate was favorably affected by this
great arm of salt water penetrating the land. At any rate we had
nothing to complain of on the score of ice and snow, which we should
have found in plenty had we arrived a month or two earlier. Our captain
had some very good traits, and was very systematic. For instance, he
said that he would never allow a boat to leave the vessel to visit the
shore, to be gone even an hour, without being properly rationed, and
with flint, steel, and tinder, and also two large tin canisters filled
with garden seeds. He had a hobby that it was our duty to plant seeds
in all of the out-of-the-way places that we visited, for the good of
those who might come after us. Carrying out these ideas, he had had
our whaleboat on deck--whilst we were running by the land--righted and
filled with the above-named articles, ready for use in the morning;
that is to say, he had ordered to be put on board of her cooked rations
for six days for four men, two breakers of fresh water, one bag of hard
tack, a compass, two large tin canisters with water-tight screw-heads,
filled with peas, beans, cucumber seeds, one hatchet, one knife, and a
spare coil of rope.
The next morning, when we arose, there was a general desire to land
upon the unknown coast, and we bethought ourselves of the plan of
drawing lots to see who should stay on board and who go ashore, as the
vessel would need the care of at least three hands, leaving four of us
to go in the boat. Lots were drawn, and the privilege of going in the
boat fell upon Captain Davis, two of the sailors, and myself. I was
overjoyed at the opportunity of exploring this new world. Captain Davis
told us to arm ourselves well with rifles and revolvers, and to be in
readiness to start after breakfast, sharp.
No pleasanter party ever shoved off from a vessel's side than we
on that pleasant October morning. We soon reached the shore, and,
pulling up the boat upon the beach, were soon roaming here and there,
stretching our legs and enjoying the novelty of our position. It was
evident that the place was a complete solitude, and we doubted if any
civilized persons had ever visited the shores of the bay before.
We wanted most of all things a supply of fresh water, and to this end
we wandered somewhat apart and towards the upper part of the bay,
concealed by overjetting cliffs, to see if there was not some stream or
river flowing into it. After a little we heard a cry of delight from a
comrade in advance, and hastening toward him found that after turning
a short and abrupt point of rocks, a river of some considerable width
lay before our eyes, evidently navigable with a small boat for some
miles, but, as far as the eye could extend, no sign of any habitation.
We ran gayly back to the boat, launched her, and soon pulled round the
overhanging cliff that had concealed the presence of the river from us.
I should judge that we had pulled some five or six miles when we began
to get hungry, and thought by the sun that it was about noon, and that
we would land and eat our dinner. Up to this time we had found no side
brook or spring entering the main river, and each turn was so enticing
that we kept on passing bend after bend.
We landed upon a nice sandy beach, and soon had a pot boiling, and some
clams, of which there were vast quantities in the sand, cooking upon
hot stones. We made a capital meal, and after a good smoke took our
oars again and went on up the river. Shall I ever forget the ending of
that pleasant day? As we were chatting and passing a bend, and opening
a new reach, in one moment of time our ears were filled with awful
shrieks and shouts, and we had become the centre of a perfect shower of
missiles from the cliff underneath the base of which we had just passed.
Our first instinct was to drop our oars and grasp the firearms, and
a dropping, irregular fire into the bushes at the foot of the bend
and towards the higher cliff towering above us brought to a sudden
cessation the shower of stones with which we had been assailed, and
with wild cries of fear, pain, and awe these untutored savages fled
into the dense forest behind them.
I was amazed at the ease with which we had repelled them, until I
bethought me that probably our firearms were the first they had ever
heard. I wondered why we had not fired more, and quicker, and turning
my eyes from their disappearing bodies, I saw, with horror, the cause.
Captain Davis lay in the stern sheets of the boat with a large stone
across both legs, dropped evidently from the cliff, which was some
twenty or thirty feet above us, upon them. He had fainted away, or
else was dead from some other wound, for he did not offer to stir or
remove the stone. I glanced towards my other two comrades, and found,
upon examination, one with a serious fracture of the left arm, which,
however, did not prevent his holding on to his revolver in a most
determined manner, and the other with only a few slight bruises. I
beckoned him to come aft and help lift the stone off the captain's
legs, we did so, and threw water in his face to revive him. We dared
not imagine how bad his injuries were, and left him lying as we found
him, after throwing overboard the stone, which undoubtedly would
have gone through the bottom of the boat and sunk us, if it had not
encountered the legs of the captain in its descent. As for our other
comrade, we bound up his arm as best we could. I felt dizzy and weak,
but did not suspect any serious injury. All that I have written was
performed quickly, as sailors always act in an emergency. Bill Thompson
and I soon got the boat's head pointed down stream, and the way we
pulled for the ship was a sight to behold; pausing once in awhile to
lift a hand and explode a revolver to keep the savages from attacking
us again; but they had evidently had enough of it, for we saw no signs
of them, and after a long and arduous pull we came to the ship's side,
and sad was the news that we had for our comrades. We slung the boat
and hoisted her on board, and I ordered the anchor to be weighed at
once, and we set sail from this treacherous bay. It was found upon
examination that one of the captain's legs was broken, evidently a
compound fracture, and the other much bruised and inflamed. He was
carried with care and affection to his stateroom, and I took charge of
the deck. The sailor's arm was found to be a simple fracture, and we
soon had it in splints and himself in his berth. After the schooner
was fairly under way and heading out of the bay, I went below to my
stateroom, and found that I had received several severe blows, but
none that had drawn blood, except in the back of my head, where I
found the hair under my cap bloody and matted together. This it was
that had made me dizzy, although my excitement had been so great that
I could not fix where the pain was till all was over. I washed myself,
and went on deck again, to remain there during the night and run the
schooner out into the open sea. What thoughts passed through my brain
as the little vessel gallantly slipped along by the land, towards the
ocean!--what in the world were we to do should Captain Davis die,
and where were we to recruit, for during the long watches of that
night it was agreed that we had become too short handed to prosecute
our enterprise, and that the best thing that we could do would be
to make our way back to England and start afresh; but after a long
consultation, it was acknowledged that we were in no condition to face
Cape Horn, and that we must get somewhere to recruit before we dare
attempt the passage home. The captain, who had his senses perfectly,
although suffering bodily pain, said "that we must make one of the
easterly of the Society Islands before attempting to go home, and there
recruit ourselves, overhaul the vessel, and by that time he should know
what he was to expect of his own health, but feared that his injuries
were beyond mortal aid." Towards morning the open sea appeared ahead,
and at about eight bells, we issued from the mouth of Magellan Straits,
and I laid the course of the schooner northwest, so as to hit Easter
Island, or some of the islands further to the westward should the wind
haul. At two bells in the forenoon we were bowling along on our course
with everything set, and a fine working breeze from north-northeast,
and a smooth sea. Of course we talked over the disastrous trip of the
day before, and, as in all such cases, wondered why we did not do so
and so, and why we were not more careful, etc., but to what good. The
deed was done: our comrade with his broken arm, and our captain with
his broken leg, were mute reminders of our folly and carelessness. My
greatest fear at this time was that we should lose the captain, and
that his duties would devolve upon me. He seemed throughout this day
slightly better, but upon examination we found that we could not set
his leg as we had the sailor's arm, and that, although he complained of
little pain, his leg had a puffed and swollen appearance, and I feared
the worst. I was somewhat in favor of changing the course and making
a port on the South American coast; but the captain would not hear of
it. He said "you can at least get to the Society Islands and land your
cargo in some port under some flag where it will be safely kept till
you return to England for a new crew. I shall not get well any sooner,
if at all, on the South American coast than I shall in the Society
Islands. We are bound by honor to push the adventure to its legitimate
end, or as near it as possible." This and many other convincing things
were uttered by him. "If my leg should have been amputated it should
have been done before this; and it will be too late to do anything
at Santiago as well as at Easter Island. You can still do a great
deal towards making the adventure a success; perhaps you can even get
volunteers enough in the islands to fill up your ranks, so as not to
have to go back to England till you have your headquarters established
and a cargo ready to ship back." And thus this sick and dying man
cheered us on.
The end of the day found us with a still fresh working breeze headed
for Easter Island.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN DAVIS WOUNDED.--PAGE 14.]
CHAPTER III.
Captain Davis's condition. Only five men fit for duty. Terrific storm.
The schooner thrown on her beam ends and dismasted. Loss of three more
of the crew. Taking to the whale-boat. Foundering of the schooner
"Good Luck." Death of Captain Davis. Storm again, running to the
southward before the tempest. Strike upon a reef. The author cast on
shore.
The next fifteen or twenty days passed over us without anything
material interfering with our advancement towards the islands.
During this time the change in the condition of Captain Davis had
become worse; and we could all see that he was failing surely but
rapidly; the sailor with the broken arm, on the other hand, was every
day gaining strength and health, and bid fair to be soon amongst us
again and at work. Bill Thompson and myself had fully recovered from
the bruises and blows that we had received, and were in excellent
health.
The duty at this time was rather exhaustive, as there were only five
of us, including myself, fit for duty, and our turn at the wheel came
about pretty often, as we, being so short-handed, had each to take our
"trick." Our vessel was small, to be sure, and easily handled, but
reduced, as we were, to five men, it was no boy's play to manage her.
In the first place, it needed a man at the helm night and day; then
there was the cooking to be taken charge of; and at night the lookout
man on the forecastle; these were three imperative duties which
admitted of no change or neglect, and, divided amongst five persons,
and including the watches at night, gave us plenty to do and to think
of.
On November 5 we went about our usual duties in the morning, washing
down the decks, and making everything snug and cleanly, as seamen like
to see things. At noon I was able to get a good observation of the
sun, which gave us lat. 40° 89' 12'' S., and longitude by two forenoon
observations by chronometer, 112° 5' 54'' W. from Greenwich. The wind
had for the last two weeks steadily hauled ahead, and we had been
close-hauled and often unable to lay our course, hence I found the
schooner much too far to the southward, but with her longitude well run
down, and it was my purpose to decrease our latitude, even if we had to
stand on the other tack to the northward and eastward. We were about
fifteen hundred miles to the westward of the Straits of Magellan, which
was not a bad run for a small vessel of the size of the "Good Luck;"
especially when it was to be remembered that we had also made several
degrees (about ten) of northing, in latitude.
The afternoon shut down cloudy and threatening, and I hastened to the
cabin to consult the barometer; I found no great change, but marked
it with the side regulator, so as to be able to see if there was any
sudden change within the next hour or two. At about eight bells (4 P.
M.) the wind shifted suddenly to about N. N. W., and then died away and
left us bobbing about in a heavy cross-sea, with dark, dirty weather to
the northward and westward, but with little or no wind.
I examined the barometer again, and to my dismay saw that the mercury
had fallen rapidly since my last visit. Everything about us showed
that we were about to catch it, and although I knew that we were out
of the track of typhoons and cyclones, still we were evidently about
to experience a heavy gale of wind; the admonitions of nature were too
evident and palpable to be misunderstood. I called all hands, and we
went to work with a will to put the schooner in order for the coming
blast.
We soon had the foretopsail lowered on the cap, close reefed, and then
furled to the yard. We then took two reefs in the mainsail, and reefed
and then stowed the foresail; got the bonnet off the jib, and the
outer jib furled. Under this short sail we awaited the coming of the
inevitable. First, the day grew darker, and was overcast with clouds
of inky blackness; then came the mysterious sobbing and moaning of the
ocean that all sailors have experienced; then the jerky and uneven
motion of the schooner on the heavy swells for want of enough wind to
keep her canvas full and herself steady.
Finally, towards evening, the pent-up storm came madly down upon us
from the N. N. W., where it had been so long gathering its strength
and forces. We laid the schooner's head to the westward and awaited
the blast. Oh! if we only could have had wind enough to have gotten
steerage-way upon her, so as to have luffed up into the howling blast,
I might have been spared writing this narrative; but lying, as we were,
almost dead upon the waste of water, we were compelled to receive the
blast in all its strength, not being able to yield an atom to it. We
had done all that men could do, except to await the result and trust
in the mercy of God. I do not think that there was very much fear as
to the result; there was a certain anxiety, however; but sailors never
believe that wind or sea can hurt them till it does so. We expected to
be struck hard, and to suffer some damage; but I think no one on board
of that schooner had the slightest idea of the shock that we were about
to receive. As the storm, or rather advance whirlwind, approached, we
took our different stations and awaited the result. It came upon us
with a crash, and in spite of all our care and skill the foretopmast
went over the side, followed by the jibboom and maintopmast, as if
the whole fabric had been made of paper, and the schooner was thrown
violently upon her beam-ends. We lowered away the mainsail halyards,
and, by cutting away the wreck to leeward, finally got her head before
the wind, when she righted, and we dashed off before the tempest
with nothing set but the jib, the mainsail having blown out of the
bolt-ropes. Black night shut down upon us like a pall, and sheets of
rain and spray fell upon us in torrents; thunder and lightning played
about us, lighting up the decks one moment as bright as noonday, and
the next leaving us in the most intense darkness, with a feeling about
the eyes as if they had been burned up in their sockets. After the
"Good Luck" once got started she did pretty well, scudding before it,
but the forward sail was too small for the tremendous sea getting up
astern of us; and we were in deadly peril of being pooped, and feared
it each moment. We could set no square sail, everything forward above
the foretop having been carried away; and we had no means of hoisting
the foresail, even if we had dared to set it, as the peak-halyards had
been carried away with the fall of the topmast, and we could not repair
them; so all we could do was to fasten down the companion-way and trust
to luck in letting her run before it under the jib. I thought that I
had seen it blow before, but such a gale as this I never experienced;
the voice of the tempest howled so through the rigging that you could
not hear the faintest sound of the human voice in its loudest tones.
I stood at the wheel, after helping to cut away the wreck, aiding the
man at the helm through that long and awful night. We lashed ourselves
to the rail and rudder-head; and well was it that we did so, for we
were repeatedly pooped, and large masses of water came in over the
stern, and rushed forward over the decks, that would have carried us
to a watery grave if we had not been lashed to our post. My comrade
Bill Thompson and I had no means of knowing whether the others forward
had fared as well as we, or had been swept overboard by the repeated
invasions of the sea.
Before we had been able to cut clear from the wreck we had received
several severe blows from the timbers alongside, how severe I had no
means of judging as yet, but my great fear was that we had started a
butt or been seriously injured by these floating spars before we had
been able to get rid of them.
About two bells (1 A. M.) as near as we could judge, the thunder and
lightning ceased; and the puffs of wind were less and less violent, so
that it was easy for us to feel confident that the strength of the gale
had passed us. At eight bells (4 A. M.) there was a great difference
both in the sea and wind; the former was no longer to be feared, and
the latter was fast dying out. With what anxiety did we watch for the
first light of day,--hours of agony unknown to those who have never
led a sailor's life. As the gray of the morning began to come upon
us, both wind and sea abated more and more, till in the full light
of the morning we lay a dismantled wreck upon the waste of waters,
with scarcely wind enough for a fair topsail breeze, and the seas
momentarily going down.
My first care was to rush into the cabin, and to the locker, and
pounce upon some food, and my next to carry some to my companion at
the wheel. After this I looked around me to take in our situation. The
foremast was gone near the head, the foreyard had evidently parted in
the slings, and the foretopmast, topsail, and hamper, all gone together
over the port bow.
Bill Thompson and I both strained our eyes for a view of some of our
companions forward, but not a living soul met our gaze. I descended
into the cabin, and found the captain and the sailor with the wounded
arm doing as well as could be supposed after such a night of horrors.
Captain Davis was evidently much weaker and much worse. I gave them
an outline of the misfortunes that had overtaken us, and then went
forward with a beating heart to the companion-way, threw it open, and
passed into the forecastle and found it empty; not one soul left of
three gallant fellows to tell the story of their swift destruction. The
repeated poopings that we had received during the night must have swept
them into the sea. I passed on deck, and thence aft. I noticed that the
cook's galley was gone, and the bulwarks on the starboard side, and all
the boats, except our whaleboat, which, although full of water, still
remained pinned down to the deck by the lashings across her frame to
the numerous ringbolts. As I walked aft, I could not but think that
the schooner seemed low in the water; but I for the moment put it down
to her changed appearance on account of the loss of her bulwarks. By
this time the sun had risen and as beautiful and mild a day as one
might desire to see burst upon us. I relieved Thompson at the wheel,
and the wounded sailor soon took it with his one arm; the vessel
scarcely moving through the water with the light air now stirring. I
went below for the sounding-rod, and hastened to the well, as I knew
we must have made much water during the storm, and I prayed to God
that it might be no worse. I pulled out the pump-bucket and inserted
the rod, it came back to the deck, marking at least FIVE FEET of water
in the hold. I struggled one moment with my emotion, and then, turning
to my companions, I said, "Get Captain Davis on deck; clear away the
whaleboat; this vessel, curse her, is doomed. She will not float one
hour; she has started a butt."
Amazement was depicted upon the faces of my companions; but,
sailor-like, they hastened to obey my commands. We went into the
cabin, and with infinite care and solicitude lifted the captain out
of his berth and carried him to the deck. We then gathered round the
whaleboat, relieved her from her slings and fastenings, tipped her over
upon the deck, and got out all the water, and righted her, and then
launched her over the starboard side through the broken bulwarks, and,
putting her in charge of the broken-armed sailor, let her drop astern
by her painter. We commenced at once rummaging for stores; and out
of a mass of stuff brought on deck I ordered the following into the
boat (the spritsail and oars were already lashed to the thwarts): Two
half casks of fresh water, one bag of hard tack, one bag of uncooked
salt junk, a fishing-line and hooks, a pair of blankets, some canned
meats, a compass, charts and quadrant, a Nautical Almanac, Bowditch's
Epitome, and a very valuable book of my own, a Compendium of Useful
Arts and Sciences, a few pounds of tea and coffee, four tin canisters
containing garden-seed, matches, two rifles and four revolvers, and
ammunition for the same; this, with the usual clothing of the men, was
as much as I dared load the boat with; and, pulling her up alongside,
we lowered the captain on board on a mattress, and proceeded to stow
away the articles I have enumerated in as good order as possible.
We stepped the spritsail forward and unlashed the oars, and got the
steering oar out aft through the becket made for that purpose. I
feasted my eyes upon the treasures round about me, but had sense enough
not to allow the boat to be overloaded with trash, so as to swamp us in
the first gale of wind. Having got everything on board, and carefully
noted the day of the month, November 6th, in the Nautical Almanac, we
cast off from the unlucky "Good Luck," and set our sail to keep near
her till her final destruction took place, which to our practised eyes
could not long be postponed, as she was evidently in the throes of
death. We found that she was making so little headway on account of
the light breeze, and from having settled so deep in the water, that
we took in our sail and lay to upon our oars at a safe distance and
watched her.
[Illustration: LAUNCHING THE WHALE BOAT.--PAGE 26.]
Could anything be more miserable than our condition? Four unfortunate
men, two of whom were crippled, one probably to the death, cast on the
open ocean in an open boat, at least a thousand miles from any known
land.
I thought of all the open-boat exposures of which I had ever read;
of Lieutenant Bligh and the "Bounty," and others equally startling.
I shuddered when I thought what our fate might be. I ran through,
in my mind, the rapid events that had followed each other since our
departure from England, and the unexplainable series of fatalities that
had robbed us of our comrades till we remained only the little group
now seated in this frail boat. In what direction should we steer? what
was to be our fate? what had God still in store for us in the shape of
misfortune and horror? It seemed as if the bitter cup had been full
to overflowing, and that we had drained it to the very dregs. I was
awakened from my day-dream by the voices of my comrades, who drew my
attention, without speech, by pointing to the doomed vessel. We lifted
Captain Davis in our arms, and with fixed eyes and set teeth saw the
misnamed schooner drive her bows under the water, and then shortly
after, majestically raising her forefoot high in air, sink down grandly
into the abyss of ocean, leaving us poor unfortunates adrift upon its
treacherous bosom.
After we had seen the last of the schooner we gathered together for
consultation as to our course. It was demonstrated by the chart that
we were much nearer to Easter Island than to any other land, say some
eight hundred miles distant by projection. But, on the other hand, the
wind hung persistently from the northward and placed us to leeward
of our port. It was too far to think of standing back to the South
American coast, and we felt that we must keep a northwesterly course,
and if the wind headed us off from Easter Island, that we could at
least fetch some of the more westerly of the Society Group.
Having decided upon this, we set our foresail and laid our course about
W. by N., which was as high as the wind would allow us to lie. The
day was pleasant and the wind light, and the sea quiet. I inaugurated
at once a system of daily allowance, and for this first day we were
to issue no rations, we all having had at least, although coarse and
interrupted, one meal and plenty of water, before leaving the schooner.
The days were growing perceptibly longer and warmer, and we ran all
that afternoon quietly along over quite a smooth sea, making good
headway to the westward, but little northing, which I was so anxious to
make. As the sun went down Captain Davis, although very weak, called
us all aft around him and, in a faint voice on the lonely ocean, from
memory repeated for us all the Lord's Prayer; the loneliness of our
situation and the solemnity of the occasion remain vividly in my mind
to this day. We all saw that we must soon lose our captain, but no one
dared to say as much to his neighbor; we could plainly see that his
hours were few, and that the motion and exposure of the boat could
not be endured by him much longer. After the sun went down I took the
steering oar aft, and telling the men to lie down and get all the rest
they could, I kept the boat on her course and seated myself near the
captain, stretched on his mattress at my feet. At about ten o'clock,
as near as I could judge, after a long and absolute silence, I heard
Captain Davis utter my name. I bent down towards him, and he said,
"Do not be shocked. I am soon, very soon, about to depart, the sands
of life have almost run out, and I am weary and want to be at rest in
the Haven of Repose. If you ever get back to England, tell them that
I did my duty faithfully. I, as you know, have no wife or child to
mourn for me, but I want you all to remember me as a just captain,
with all my faults. I have no fear of being buried in the sea; God
can find me anywhere at the great day, when we shall all be mustered
on the quarter-deck for inspection, and, if worthy, promotion. If you
are driven out of your course, keep to the westward still, and you
will eventually find land. Say a prayer or two over my body when you
commit me to the deep; and now wake up the men and let me say good-by
to them, for I am going fast." I called up the men, and the two poor
fellows came aft and shook the hand of our captain in sore distress;
and we sat watching, unwilling to sleep or break the silence of that
solemn moment. In about an hour Captain Davis opened his eyes, that had
been closed, raised his arm slowly to his head, touched an imaginary
hat, and said, "Come on board to report for duty, Sir,"--and passed
away like a child dropping to sleep. We covered the body with our spare
clothing, and each sat in sad reflection. Bill Thompson soon after
relieved me at the oar, and I laid down in the forward part of the boat
and tried to sleep; and such was exhausted nature that, in spite of
our unfortunate condition, I soon dropped off. I was awakened early
in the morning by a slight call from Bill, and sat up in the boat,
rather bewildered for a moment, till I saw the outline of the body in
the stern sheets, and then everything flashed back to my memory. I have
little doubt but what that sleep saved me for the purposes that God
has preserved me for to this day. It was thought best to dispose of
the body before the full breaking of the day, and we for that purpose
gathered around the remains, and, in compliance with the dead man's
request, I recited the Lord's Prayer, and we committed the body to
the deep. This event produced a new shock to our already overstrained
systems, and we looked sadly enough upon each other with almost vacant
eyes. We as yet were blessed with pleasant weather, and, although we
were not heading up to our course, we were making westing quite fast.
This day, November 7th, we passed without any remarkable event. As
there were now only three of us left we found plenty of room in the
boat to lie down at our ease, and it only took one of us to steer and
look after the boat. We rearranged everything, and stowed all our
articles in convenient places. So far, we had seen no signs of vessel
or land, and we passed the day in sleeping and refreshing ourselves for
whatever the future might have in store for us. The night was quiet
and the stars shone down upon us with their silvery light, and we used
them to keep our course by, having no light to see the compass in
the night-time. Towards eight o'clock in the morning of the 8th the
weather began to change, and large clouds to gather in the northern
horizon; it was at this time that we made another discovery, and that
was that one of the breakers of water had leaked out quietly till there
was scarcely enough in it for our rations for that morning; this was
caused by its not having been used for some time before we filled it
on board of the ship. This discovery caused us great uneasiness, and
although the breaker had evidently ceased leaking now, having swollen
with the water placed in it, it was no longer useful, as we had no
water to replace that which was lost. The weather to windward caused
me great disquietude, and I was sadly afraid, in case of a blow, that
my Nautical Almanac and Epitome and Compendium would be destroyed,
either by rain or seas that we might ship. I bethought me, therefore,
of copying off the declination of the sun for a few days, and the
tables that I might want to use, on a spare leaf of the Epitome, and
take out the head of the now useless breaker and enclose all the books
and charts in it and head it up. This was accordingly done. We started
the hoops, took out the head, put the books and charts in, carefully
wrapped up in a piece of blanket, and replaced the head and closed
up the bung-hole. I felt relieved after this, as I looked upon the
preservation of my books as of the utmost importance in our future
navigation, and I could think of no greater loss to people in our
condition than to have them lost or destroyed. It was with infinite
satisfaction that I saw them thus safely preserved from the water till
I could again take them out in good weather and examine and copy from
them.
Whilst we had been busy at this task the weather to windward was fast
becoming bad and threatening. I dealt out a fair ration of hard tack
and canned meat to my two comrades, and then ordered them to take
the sprit out of the foresail, and bring the peak down to the foot
of the mast, and lash it to the inner leach of the sail, and fasten
what was before the after leach to the foot; so as to make a sort of
double leg-of-mutton sail, with the body low down and along the boom.
We labored with a will at our work, for the freshening breeze was
fast coming down upon us, and at twelve o'clock, as I judge, we were
plunging along quite well for so small a boat, in about half a gale of
wind, which allowed us to head up as high as N. N. W. The sea, however,
was getting up fast, and I foresaw that unless it moderated we should
have to bear away and run before it. As I feared, we now commenced
to take in considerable water, which, although not in dangerous
quantities, gave us work to do in the shape of bailing with the empty
meat cans, whilst the attention of one was needed without remission
at the steering oar and sheet. We were, thank God, blessed with that
best of seaboats, a Nantucket whaleboat; and although she was low in
the water, she was also buoyant, and rode the waves better than could
be expected of any other craft of her size. I felt, too, that we could
at any time make easy weather of it by scudding or running before the
wind, for which she was admirably fitted, being sharp at both ends, and
therefore in no danger of being pooped; but this was the last thing
that I desired to do, as it would take us from our course towards the
islands and far to the southward, as such a boat would make rapid way
before the wind, with even this small sail.
At about two o'clock the wind hauled more to the westward and headed
us off to the southward. At three o'clock we had broken off to S. W.,
and the wind increasing, and the sea getting up fast, so fast that I
already had to let the boat go very free before it, to keep her from
being swamped.
At sundown the gale had greatly increased, and I found that to preserve
us, and on account of the steady change of the wind, that I was
compelled to steer about S. by W., and to allow ourselves to run before
the tempest. As the darkness set down upon us like a pall, I gave
ourselves up as lost. I clung to the steering-oar and guided the boat
before the wind; the only clew that was given me how to steer was the
angry roar of the combing billows astern and the rush of the wind by
the side of my face: by these two senses of hearing and feeling, I was
enabled to tell when the boat was about to broach to, which would have
been destruction, and how to steer so as to keep her before the wind.
The darkness was the darkness of the ocean in a storm, and torrents of
rain and spray flew over us. I was unable to see an atom of even the
sail ahead of me in the boat. And thus we plunged on, into the inky
darkness, followed by the angry roar of the disappointed waves that we
left astern. We were moving with frightful rapidity through the water;
but in what direction I had no means of knowing.
I clung to the steering-oar, and my companions to their bailers; how
many hours we thus rushed along I know not. I had become hardened to
the situation, and the angry roar astern had become a familiar noise
in my ears. I commenced to people the darkness with vessels, islands,
sunlight, and music; I had long ceased to care what fate might have in
store for me; I felt that the night must be nearly passed, and wondered
whether we should survive to see the daylight. I dreamed, and became
semi-unconscious, but still guided the boat onward before the wind.
I felt that nature could not be sustained much longer, and that in
a few hours I must succumb. My comrades pottered round at my feet,
their efforts to bail becoming more and more feeble. I was in this
reckless, half-dazed state when, without one moment's warning, I was
thrown with a crash into the forward end of the boat, and in another
instant surrounded by pieces of the boat and floating débris. I found
myself hurled rapidly forward by an incoming wave, and rolled over and
over some hard substance; the next instant the retreating wave found
me clinging to a mass of what was evidently land of some kind, and the
sea already had a faint, distant sound to my ears. The next incoming
wave dashed over some evident obstacle between me and it, and I clung
to the object at which I had first clutched, ready to receive it. I was
buried beneath it, but managed to keep my hold, and, as it retreated,
the noise again became fainter, and it flashed over me that, by the
first wave, I had been washed over some reef or barrier between the
open ocean and where I now hung, and that each wave was broken by this
barrier before reaching me.
Before the next wave came I had gained my feet, and felt that I was
standing upon rocky ground, and clutching masses of rock-weed in each
hand. I was again buried, but hung on with desperation till the wave
had retired. Evidently I had been washed over the reef; but what was to
leeward of me. By a sailor's instinct I knew that it was smooth water,
and that I had at least a rocky barrier between me and the raging ocean
outside. Every wave did not submerge me, but most of them did, and
I felt that it was only a question of a few moments more how long I
could hold on before trusting myself to swimming to leeward. O for some
knowledge of what lay behind me. One flash of lightning, one speck of
God's blessed daylight!
Was there land behind me? or should I let go my last hold upon life
when I unclasped my hands from the rock-weed that they held to? My
brain worked with lightning-like rapidity. I knew that I must not hang
on to this reef, submerged every few moments, till all my strength
was gone, so that I could not swim; this was to seek certain death;
whereas, in letting go and swimming to leeward I had one chance to be
saved. _If_ there was land, it no doubt could be easily approached on
account of the sea being stopped by the barrier to which I now clung.
On the other hand, if the land to which I now hung was the only land,
and the pitiless sea alone to leeward, then God have mercy upon my
soul! I must do something. Although used to swimming and diving, I
could not stand this submersion much longer, and my arms were fast
giving out; therefore, when the next wave came, I let go my hold,
and crying out, in my despair, "Oh, help me, Lord!" allowed myself
to be carried away with it. In a moment I felt that my conjectures
about smooth water had been correct. I swam without difficulty, in
comparatively smooth water, encumbered only by my clothes. Should I
find land before me? Oh, for light! Hark! did I hear the break of water
upon land before me? and so near. Down went my feet, and I found myself
standing in water not up to my armpits. The revulsion was terrible.
I fell into the water, and scrambling, fighting, fainting, plunged
forward till I found myself safe on shore and at some distance from the
water, when I fell down unconscious on the sand.
CHAPTER IV.
Return to consciousness. Seek for my comrades. Commence a calendar,
and take inventory of my effects.
How long I lay unconscious where I had scrambled and fallen down I
shall never know, but when I awoke and stared around me, I found that
it was broad daylight, and, by the sun, at least eleven or twelve
o'clock in the day. I gazed around me and tried to collect my thoughts,
and the horrors of the preceding night came slowly back to my memory. I
arose and stretched my limbs, and with the exception of some stiffness
in my joints, and bruises that were not of a serious nature, I found
myself all right. I fell upon my knees and devoutly thanked God for
my deliverance, and then arose and looked around me. I found myself
standing on a smooth, sandy beach, which, by the sun, evidently ran
nearly, if not quite, east and west; a narrow strip of water not more
than a short quarter of a mile separated me from the reef over which
I had evidently been swept the previous night. To my right hand, as I
stood facing the north, ran a level beach of a mile or so in extent,
ending in an elevation and hills at the extreme end, faced, its entire
length, as far as I could see, by this natural breakwater or reef in
front of me. To the left I discerned an opening to the sea about one
mile distant; and beyond, low land extending for several miles, and
ending in a promontory of some elevation. Turning about, I saw behind
me, running down almost to the sandy beach, a grove of trees, with many
of which I was familiar, and wooded higher land in the background.
My nautical knowledge told that there was no known land in this part of
the world. Where was I? Where were my companions in the boat? Was the
island inhabited by savages? Had I been saved to become their prey? All
these questions rushed through my mind, but were unanswerable. I began
to feel faint and sick with thirst, hunger, and fatigue, and devoured
with an unappeasable curiosity to know the fate of my comrades; and to
this end, I stripped off my clothing and waded into the water towards
the reef over which I had so providentially been cast. I found the
water shallow and with a pure, sandy bottom, and had only to swim a
few rods to regain my feet again, and be able to reach the breakwater.
With what intense excitement, fierce but restrained, I climbed the
rocks, and gazed upon the open sea, you who have never been cast away,
from home, kindred, and society can never know. I looked about me upon
the rocks, and at the treacherous sea, now as smooth and smiling as a
sleeping infant. In vain did I search for any traces of my comrades.
Not a sign of them was to be seen. Now that the storm had gone down,
this breakwater of rocks stood several feet above the sea, irregular
in width and height. By aligning myself on the place on shore where
I had landed, and whence I had come, I felt sure that I must be near
the spot where the boat had struck. I passed a little farther to the
right, and came upon the scene of my disaster. Upon the rocks I found
small portions of the boat, broken to atoms not larger than my hand,
but no friend, no comrade, no living soul to cheer my despair. I saw
in a very few minutes that if they had not been swept over the reef at
the very first sea, as I had been, they had inevitably been washed back
again into the ocean, dashed amongst the rocks, and sucked in by the
undertow, never more to be seen by man. A very few moments' examination
convinced me that such must have been the case. But one single chance
remained, and that was, if they were swept over the reef as I was, if
alive, their tracks would show on the sand of the shore behind me. I
did not have the slightest faith in this, but saved it in my mind to
be proved when I returned to the shore. Striving to put the horror
of my position far from me, and trying to see if there was anything
to be saved that could be useful to me in my miserable condition, I
began to look about me in the crevices of the rocks for any small
article that might have escaped the maw of the ocean. In about an
hour's search I had gathered the following together, which was every
atom that seemed to remain of the boat and her appurtenances,--the
remainder had evidently been ground into powder against the rocks,
and hurled back with the retiring waves into the insatiable ocean:
One piece of boat-planking, about nine feet long and ten inches wide,
which I preserved on account of its containing several nails which
had bolted it to the keelson; one tin meat-can that we had used as a
bailer, somewhat bent, which I found securely jammed in a crevice of
the rock; one canister of preserved meat, thrown by the sea into a sort
of natural cavity or pocket in the rocks; and last, the most important
of all, the boat's anchor and rope cable, which had washed across the
reef and hung with the end in the quiet waters of the inner bay. I
grasped it and coiled it up, following it to the outer side of the
reef, whence I pulled up the anchor, and found myself in possession of
it and some twenty fathoms of good inch-and-three-quarter manilla rope.
This constituted all my earthly fortunes, and, placing the anchor and
rope and the empty meat canister and the full one upon the piece of
boat-planking, which just barely supported them when submerged in the
water, I thrust them carefully before me towards the other shore, and,
getting too deep to wade, I guided them with one hand and pushed them
before me till, again touching bottom with my feet, I soon had them on
land, safe and sound, at the place where I had first landed, and beyond
the reach of the sea.
As soon as these were secured, I started off to the left to examine
the pure white sand to see if any human foot had come on shore but
my own; but, alas, there was no sign. Turning, when I had reached
a distance beyond which it would have been useless to look, I came
back and made a similar exploration to the right. As I advanced I
saw something black rolling quietly up and down the beach with each
miniature wave. For one instant I mistook it for the body of one of my
comrades; the next I knew it for one of the breakers that had been in
the boat. I rushed into the sea and grasped it, its light weight told
me at once that it was the one containing my charts, books, Epitome,
and Nautical Almanac, that its very lightness had preserved it and
allowed it to be cast over the reef at the very first sea, instead of
being crushed, as the one full of water evidently had been, with the
boat. With gratitude to God for even this slight mercy and solace, I
dragged the cask well towards the land and beyond all danger of the sea.
Having made sure that there was nothing else to be saved, I came back
to my first landing-place, sat down fainter than ever, but managed to
get on my clothes, and with one of the rusty nails from the boat's
plank to scratch upon a large stone near by, "November 9, 1865," after
which I forced open the top of the canister of preserved meats, by
means of the same nail and a small pebble, taking care not to cut the
whole top quite out, but to leave it hanging by a kind of hinge. By
punching hole after hole around the periphery of the canister with the
point of the nail, close together, I soon had it off except in one
portion purposely preserved. Pressing this cover back, I took a draught
of what to me, in my state, might be called nectar, for it was both
food and water, but which was in reality simply beef soup.
After this refreshing draught, I lay myself down upon the bank and gave
myself up to meditation. After reclining upon the ground about half an
hour, my eyes became fixed upon an object slowly approaching me from
the right hand, and evidently going out of the narrow inlet in front of
me with the tide, which was then at ebb. I rubbed my eyes, and thought
I recognized an article belonging to the boat. I took off my clothes
again and entered the water, and soon had hold of one of the large red
powder-canisters, which had been filled with seeds and stored in the
boat when we entered Magellan Straits. I eagerly seized upon my prize
and brought it safely to shore, and found that it had been preserved
perfectly water-tight by the screw in the top, through which hole the
seeds had been dropped into it and then closed. I carried this canister
to my former seat and sat myself down with all my worldly goods about
me. I made mentally the following inventory of effects:--
On my person I had the following: I had lost my hat in the gale, and
the remainder of my clothing consisted of one pair of coarse shoes, one
pair of woollen stockings, one pair of flannel drawers, one pair of
cheap woollen trousers, one flannel undershirt, one blue flannel shirt,
one silk necktie. On the ground before me: one empty tin canister
that we had used as a bailer, one empty tin canister that had lately
contained the beef soup, one large tin canister, filled with garden
seeds, one anchor of about forty pounds weight, and twenty fathoms of
line, one piece of boat-planking with several nails, and the empty
breaker, containing, as I knew by memory, one Bowditch's Epitome,
one Nautical Almanac, one large book, entitled, "Compendium of Useful
Arts and Sciences," and one chart of the South Pacific Ocean. In the
pocket of my trousers I found one piece of plug tobacco, a small piece
of twine, a hair comb, and clay pipe. My knife, for which I would have
given so much, had either been laid down in the boat or since lost; it
was, at any rate, gone, and I mourned for it.
My various duties in collecting these things about me; my former
fatigue and depression, aided by the food I had swallowed, soon
brought me to a state of drowsiness; and as the sun was now fast
declining, I drew myself further upon the island and under a sort of
cedar-tree,--the thick and low boughs of which formed a covering for
my body from the dews,--and gathering my household goods about me, I,
after meekly resigning myself to my fate and commending myself to God,
lay quietly down and fell to sleep with the setting sun.
CHAPTER V.
Attempt to make a fire. Distil salt water. First meal. Reflections.
Hat-making. Repose.
I slept all night soundly in spite of the cool air and the novelty of
my situation. When I awoke, the sun was about two hours high, and I
came out from under my cedar-tree feeling quite refreshed, with the
exception of an intolerable thirst. The want of water had troubled me
on the preceding day, and it flashed across my mind, What shall I do if
I find no fresh water?--what shall I do if I find no fresh water?--and
this refrain kept now running through my head, accompanied with another
tune, What will you do for fire?--what will you do for fire? These
two melodies filled my ears without cessation. I arose from my seat
on the bank, and proceeded to the sea in front of me, and washed my
face and combed out my hair. I then fell upon my knees and invoked the
assistance of Divine Providence in my distress. Having ended these
duties I began to look about me for water,--water.
Should I start off at a venture and run the chance of finding water,
failing in which I should perish, or should I at once begin to work
with the brains that God had given me, to procure in a scientific
manner that which Nature had refused? If, thought I, I start off
and use up all my strength in a vain search, I can then but lay down
and die; whilst on the other hand, by commencing now whilst I am
comparatively fresh, to try and overcome this obstacle, I have two
chances of life: for, failing here, I can as a last resort push forward
into the island till I find water or lie down and die for want of it.
Having thus firmly made up my mind, I began to think. To procure water
I must first make fire. How should I do it? Matches I had none; flint,
steel, or tinder I was without, and no means of procuring them. I
_must_ find steel, flint, and tinder, but where? how? My eyes fell upon
the anchor, and that gave me an idea, but I knew that the iron of which
it was composed was too soft and rusty to be of use for my purpose. I
bethought me of the nails in the planking, but upon examination they
also were too soft.
An inspiration struck me. I drew off one of my shoes, and by means of
one of the larger nails and a pebble soon had one of the heels off,
displaying a row of nails that I hoped were hard enough for my purpose.
I pounded one of the most likely looking ones out of the leather, and
found it quite hard and polished. I ran towards the line of pebbles
that the sea had for ages cast up, and looked for a flinty stone to
strike my nail upon. I tried several, but could get no spark. I began
to despair. I had in boyhood thrown large stones together in the night
time on purpose to see the sparks fly, but I was well aware that,
obtained in this manner, they would be too weak to ignite any tinder,
and my only salvation was in my shoe nail and a flint, or at least a
flinty stone. I sought and sought, and tried and tried, without the
slightest success. The sweat began to drop from my brow in great beads
of excitement; finally I edged more towards the upper part of the beach
and towards a small cluster of rocks further inland, whose base was
also surrounded by small pebbles. I had almost given up hope, when,
pushing the pebbles to one side, I turned up to the light one of a
dirty yellow color that I was convinced was a veritable piece of flint.
I seized upon it and wiped it upon my clothes, for it was damp, and
felt convinced that it was genuine flint. I had to lay it in the sun to
dry before I could prove it, and you can little know the agony that I
endured in that short interval. At last the flint was dry, and, taking
it in my hand, I struck it against the nail. Eureka! Eureka! A faint
but perfect spark shone for an instant in the open air. I rushed back
with my prize to my cedar-tree, and placing the nail and flint where I
could easily find them, I plunged into the grove to look for tinder.
I took within half an hour a hundred different substances in my hand
to examine them and see if they would serve my purpose. Walking on, I
came to a little open field with a short, sour grass, and it was here
that I hoped to find my prize. Do you ask what I was looking for? I
was looking for one of those dried-up balls, that, as boys, we used to
burst open and see the dust fly, that we called nigger-balls. Moving
along I came upon a plant that is sometimes used to make pickles of,
and I knew that the pod contained a soft silky substance something like
cotton. I seized upon this and pulled off an old last year's pod, and
found the substance I was in search of. I did not know whether it would
do for tinder or not, but I hoped so. I ran about the field looking to
the right and the left, and as I was about to give the search up, right
under my nose I espied a large nigger-ball. I fastened upon it and
posted back to my bank near the cedar-tree. The time for the final test
had come. Now to the supreme trial.
I burst open the nigger-ball and extracted a small quantity of the
dark, dust-like powder that it contained, and laid it carefully upon
a small, smooth stone. I then extracted some of the cotton-like fibre
from my milkweed pod, and picked it carefully apart into minute atoms
with my fingers, and mixed it into the dust before me on the stone. I
gathered together minute dry twigs and leaves all ready to place upon
the tinder should I be able to ignite it. I leaned over my tinder,
and with the shoe nail grasped carefully and firmly in the left hand
I placed it near to it, and with the right hand containing the flint
struck it a smart blow. The first spark missed the tinder entirely. I
moved my hand slightly, and the next stroke sent a fine spark into the
very centre of the pile, and in one moment it was ignited, and a little
snake of fire began to run in and out of the tinder. I blew carefully
upon this and put little pieces of wood in the right places, petted
and worked upon it until, with a careful but increasing blast, it burst
into flame. I piled on wood and sticks till I felt sure of the result,
and then commenced dancing and singing round about the flame, till in
my weakness and excitement I fell down in a dead faint. I opened my
eyes again to see my fire burning cheerily away as if it was the most
natural thing in the world.
[Illustration: STRIKING FIRE WITH FLINT AND STEEL.--PAGE 48.]
Now for water! water! I seized upon the canister of garden seeds, which
was an old powder canister formerly, and would contain, I should say,
a gallon of water, and poured out the seeds through the screw hole in
the top upon a large flat stone, and covered them with a few leaves.
Weak as I then was, I recognized beans, wheat, rice, corn, cucumbers,
&c. I took the empty canister to the sea and washed it carefully out
and brought it back filled with salt water, and placed it upon my
fire, which was now burning splendidly. I rushed again to the seashore
and picked up several long pieces of kelp, which we boys used to call
devil's apron, and which I knew were long, hollow tubes that would suit
my purpose admirably. With the small twine in my pocket, and a piece of
my flannel shirt and various leaves, I bound one of these long tubes
of kelp to the screw hole of the canister on the fire, and supported
it clear of the flames by means of crotched sticks, which I tore from
trees near by, and also built a wall round about the fire, to confine
it more, made out of stones, upon which I rested the opposite edges of
the canister. I led this tube of kelp, which was at least ten feet
long, gradually down hill towards the ocean, and, digging a long furrow
in the sand, I filled it with wet kelp and seaweed, placed my tube
therein, and covered it up again with sand; at the orifice I dug quite
a deep hole, and set one of the empty meat-cans under it to catch the
dropping water that I knew must appear as soon as my powder canister
commenced to boil. I took the bailer and rushed to the ocean, and
saturated, by repeated trips, the sand under which my tube was buried.
By this time my thirst was fearful, and having heard that bathing is
sometimes useful in such circumstances, I dragged off my clothes, and,
too weak to swim, I lay down in the cool water at full length upon
the sandy bottom, within view of my fire and condenser. Anxious as I
was, I knew that I must sustain my strength, and I could think of no
better method than this. The cool sea water revived me greatly, more
than I could have believed possible, and, fearing to stay in too long,
I tottered ashore and to my little well. Water! water! There it was
dribbling out of the tube of kelp into the meat-can--already an inch
or two had collected. Although tasting badly of the salt kelp tube
through which it had passed, you can little know the rapture with which
I swallowed it and thanked God. In a few moments more I had enough for
another swallow, and of a much better quality, less brackish, and by
quietly waiting I soon had two or three inches of quite good water,
brackish to be sure, but pure enough to support life and to course like
quicksilver through my veins and give me a new lease of life. Suffice
it to say that, by renewing my canister on the fire, I had in a few
hours both the meat-cans full of water, and my craving thirst entirely
quenched. Brains had won. I had both fire and water--two of the four
elements--at my command. As soon as my thirst was appeased I commenced
to feel the pangs of hunger, but this gave me little disquietude, for
I had not been digging in the sand without observing that there were
plenty of clams on every side of me, and with a short stick I soon
had as many as I wanted on the surface, and from thence to the hot
stones of my fire, where I covered them with wet seaweed and allowed
them to roast. Whilst this was going on I strayed away to the left a
short distance, where I had seen many gulls gathered together, and
sure enough, as I suspected, I found the crevices of the rocks full of
eggs. I took upon myself, as proprietor of the island, to abstract some
dozen of them, and taking the large canister and rinsing it out with a
very little of the precious fresh water, I poured the remainder into it
from the meat-can, and started with the latter to the sea, and returned
with it filled with sea water, which I placed upon my fire, and dropped
into it half a dozen of my new-found eggs, which soon commenced to
boil right merrily. By this time my clams were baked or roasted, and I
sat down to my first meal, consisting of boiled eggs, baked clams, and
fresh water, with a thankful and even a cheerful heart; for had I not
overcome impossibilities almost, and made sure of the two great wants
of humanity, fire and water, which meant food, life, everything?
Nature being satisfied, I began to think of the horror of my situation,
the only survivor of a company of gallant fellows that had left England
in such good spirits only a few months ago. Here was I, a poor Robinson
Crusoe, alone and desolate on an unknown island. I tried to penetrate
the dark future and discover what fate still held in store for me. By
this time the day had passed into afternoon, and I felt the necessity
of preparing for the coming night. My great fear was that the island
was inhabited by savages, and if so I had preserved my life to little
purpose, for I should, upon being discovered, probably be killed at
once, or else be made to drag out a miserable existence as their slave,
or be kept a captive by them for the term of my natural life.
I glanced about me and saw that the island was fair to look upon, and
evidently of considerable extent. I desired to explore it, but prudence
and fear restrained me. My first care was to get some covering for my
head; the rays of the sun, although not oppressive, were uncomfortable.
I passed again through the grove of cedars and into the open field, and
looked about for something to make a hat of, but found nothing then to
suit me. I returned to the seaside again, and what would do for the
purpose struck my eye at once, namely, a sort of saltwater rushes which
grew out of the sand in large quantities, not far from me to the right,
similar to what we used to call at home sedge. I gathered sufficient
of the riper and less green leaves and stalks for my purpose, and
commenced to lay them up into what sailors call five-strand sennit, and
what young ladies would call five-strand braiding. I soon had several
yards of this material laid up, and found it quite well suited for my
purpose. When I had what I deemed sufficient I took the nail I had
before used to open the meat-can with, and which I kept in my pocket,
and commenced to bring its end to a sharp point by grinding it upon
a soft pebble that lay beside me, and having brought it to a point I
went to work and unlaid about a fathom of my manilla rope, and, taking
the edge of a clam-shell, sawed off one of the strands, and from that
I selected a few threads, which I laid up again into a good strong
twine. I then commenced at the crown of my straw hat, and by turning
the sennit round upon itself I soon had that part completed, for as I
passed once round, I, with the sharp nail as a pricker, forced holes
through each part at distances of every two or three inches of the
circumference, and passed my manilla twine through, knotted it, and
cut it off with the edge of my clam-shell. In this way, in an hour or
two I had quite a good straw hat with a large wide brim, and, although
hastily tacked together instead of being sewed, it answered my purpose
admirably. My hand being now in, I made, in the same manner and of
the same stock, quite a long, deep bag, which I fitted with a strong
manilla string to pass over my shoulder and hang by my side.
My next task was to get together plenty of wood for my precious
fire during the night. But this was an easy affair, the very edge of
the grove abounding in fallen and dried branches of every kind and
description.
I made another trip to the gulls' eggs, equipped in my new hat and with
my bag slung at my side, and returned with it filled with as many as I
desired, and for contingencies I boiled quite a large number of them in
salt water in my meat-can over the fire.
As a last thing, I went to the field and brought back an armful of
grass, which I strewed under my cedar-tree, and increased it with a
large bundle of dried seaweed for bed-clothing, and a good-sized stone
for a pillow. Having completed all these arrangements, eaten again of
my gulls' eggs and baked clams, and carefully attended to my fire, I
cut up some of the small quantity of tobacco remaining to me with my
clam-shell, and placing it in my pipe had a quiet smoke.
By this time the sun was sinking to rest, and I took care to make the
record of the day upon the boat-planking, and also opened a calendar
account upon one of the branches of my cedar-tree by means of my
pointed nail and clam-shell.
As the dusk came on I began to think, What is the next most important
thing for me to do? My mind answered me, Preserve your fire, or invent
means so that you can light it without trouble. I should say that I
had already burned a piece of the cotton lining of my trousers, and
carefully preserved it between two clean, large sea-clam shells for
tinder.
I thought that I saw my way clear to protect my fire on the morrow,
and also to give myself some weapons of offence, and after having
asked God's pity upon my condition I dropped asleep in my seaweed bed,
thinking of these things, with my fire near by me well covered up with
ashes.
CHAPTER VI.
Build fireplace. Make knife and spear from anchor. Build tower of
stones for perpetual lamps. Resolve to explore the island.
I slept soundly and pleasantly all night, and jumped out of bed in the
early morning light, ran to the beach, and had a nice plunge in the
smooth and sparkling waters. Just as I was about to leave the water I
espied two or three quite large dog-fish sharks, which were four or
five feet in length, and, although I had no fears of them as concerned
myself, they immediately gave me an idea of how I could utilize them
could I succeed in capturing them. I ran back to the bank, got into my
clothes, and, you may be well sure, knew that the fire was all right
even before I started to bathe; ran again to the seaside and dug a few
clams, and filled the bailer with salt water, and soon had my usual
meal of boiled eggs and roast clams under way. Whilst my breakfast
was cooking I commenced building, and completed a superior kind of
fireplace, with nice, strong sides of stone, set up on edge, and just
wide enough apart to sustain my condenser. After having eaten my
breakfast, quenched my thirst, and had a good, quiet smoke, I set the
fresh-water apparatus to work again, and commenced to apply myself to
the task of the day. With my clam-shell I cut the manilla warp from
the anchor, and the latter lay before me under my fixed gaze. I saw
that the stock, which was of iron also, was passed through a hole in
the solid iron forming the shank of the anchor, and was retained by a
shoulder on one side and a large ball at the extremity of its arm on
the other. My first attempt was to unship this iron stock or arm from
the rest of the anchor, and release it from the hole through which
it was rove and kept in place. To effect this I set up in the sand a
large stone, with quite a flat, smooth top, as my anvil, and procured
another, of an oblong, irregular shape, which I could grasp with my
right hand, and with which I could strike quite a powerful blow, as my
hammer. Thus equipped, I started a nice fire in my new fireplace and
put the condenser on that, leaving me the open fire for my blacksmith's
shop. I next went to the beach and got a piece of kelp, and with my
clam-shell cut it into suitable lengths for my purpose, and, thrusting
the ball at the end of the anchor-stock into the fire, I commenced
operations.
To increase the heat of the fire I piled on the sort of semi-charcoal
that had been formed by the wood covered in the ashes the night before,
and sprinkled the same carefully with a little water, and to still
further promote affairs I thrust one end of my pieces of kelp under the
warm ashes, towards the bottom and centre of the fire, and by putting
the other end to my lips I forced a blast of air through the flames
as nicely as if I had had a pair of bellows. The iron soon became
red-hot, and, snatching it out of the fire and on to my anvil, I, by a
few well-directed blows, soon had the ball reduced so as to be able to
unship the stock from the rest of the anchor, and held in my hand a bar
of iron about an inch in diameter and three feet long; quite a weapon
in itself, but not sufficient for such a mechanic as I was.
I took this bar of iron, and, putting the end again in the fire,
commenced upon my kelp bellows, and soon pulled it out, quite hot and
malleable. Suffice it to say that in not a very long space of time,
and by repeated beatings and hammerings, I had fashioned out quite a
respectable knife, of about eight inches in length and at least quarter
of an inch thick in the back; and although the sides were a little
wavy and irregular, I knew that grinding would nearly take that out.
Whilst the knife that I had made was still fastened to the original bar
of iron I drew it down to a long, thin point, and by grasping it and
bending it to the right and left soon had it free.
My next task was to temper this piece of metal, and by repeatedly
plunging it into water and back into the fire I soon got it quite
hard, and fit for my present purposes. I sought out a coarse-grained
stone, and with my tin of water sat down to moisten it and grind my
knife to an edge. I passed several hours at this work, but in the end
found myself possessed of quite a good-looking knife, with a good
sharp point and fair edge. I picked up a suitable piece of wood for a
handle, and soon had it in shape, and, slightly heating the pointed,
unfinished end, I drove it home with a stone firmly into the handle,
and my knife was done. Pleased enough was I with my success; but I did
not stop here. The hole in the shank of the anchor, whence I had drawn
the stock, fascinated me. I saw before me a hammer of iron, all ready
made to my hand. I thrust the anchor into the fire just below this
hole, towards the flukes, and set my kelp bellows to work with a will.
After repeated heatings and poundings I had brought the iron down to so
small a size that I was able, as before, to part it from the original
bar, by bending it backward and forward till the crystallization of the
iron was destroyed, exactly as you break off a nail by hitting it with
a hammer a few times in opposite directions. I had to get the ring off
at the end of the anchor in the same manner, and then found myself in
possession of a piece of iron almost exactly like what we sailors call
a top-maul, a flat-headed hammer with a long end. I speedily fitted
this with a good, strong handle, and, after beating it and tempering
it to the best of my ability, put it into use at once. Taking the bar
from which I had made my knife I soon made it take the shape of a kind
of spear, or rather harpoon, with a sharp, flat head, similar to those
arrows always printed on charts to show the direction of currents or
winds.
This, when finished, tempered, ground, and lashed firmly to a smooth
staff of wood, some two inches in diameter and eight feet in length,
was really a formidable weapon, either for offence or defence.
Armed with my harpoon and knife, I made my way to the seaside, having
still another project in my head. Proud, indeed, was I of my weapons,
and my natural courage was increased. I took off my clothes and waded
quietly into the water, and had not long to wait till I saw some of
my friends the dog-sharks, and picking out one that suited me,--for
I had no difficulty in approaching them, they showing no fear of
me,--I thrust my harpoon into him, and dragged him ashore, cut him
open with my knife, took out his liver, and dragged back the carcase
into the sea. I served three of them in this manner. From the last
one--which was the largest and had a beautiful skin--I cut a large
strip, out of which to make a case for my knife, which I did whilst it
was green, fitting it nicely, and also a small tip to cover the barbs
of my harpoon when not in use. I sewed these up, or, rather, fastened
them by means of a bradawl sharpened in the fire from one of the boat
nails, tempered and fitted with a handle, and nice, strong thread made
from my manilla rope. I brought back with me to the fireplace quite
a good-sized flounder, that I had also speared without the slightest
trouble, and it was soon cut up and broiling away for my dinner, it
being now about noon. I hung my shark livers in the sun, upon a tree, a
little distant from my camp, where they would not offend me, and placed
myself at table, the fish being now cooked, and plenty of cold boiled
eggs on hand.
I could spare no time for much dinner. My condenser had been taken off
long ago in the forenoon, my two meat-cans being full of water. After
dinner I stopped to take a few whiffs at my pipe, and then to work
again, for I had much to do ere the setting of the sun. In the first
place I proceeded to the right of my camp a short distance, and had no
difficulty in picking up as many large shells as I desired, some of
them being fully a foot in circumference, and beautiful enough, with
their pink, open mouths, to ornament the table of any lady. I gathered
together some fifteen or twenty of these, and transported them to the
seaside, and thence to my camp, having washed them out carefully, and
ascertaining that they would each hold about a quart or more of water.
I then set my condenser hard at work, determined to get a supply ahead
of any contingency.
For my next task I got hold of the breaker that contained my books and
charts, and by means of my hammer soon had the hoops off and the head
out. But I was mortified to see that a little water had worked into the
cask, and that the motion of the boat had caused the books, in moving
to and fro, to completely destroy the chart, and, with the little water
that had entered, reduced it to a pulp and beyond recognition and
repair. Tears started into my eyes at this cruel blow of fate, and it
was with the greatest anxiety that I seized upon the books and examined
them. Their strong canvas covers had preserved them, and although
battered, chafed, and damp they seemed intact,--all except the Nautical
Almanac, which had suffered somewhat in different portions, to what
extent I had now no time to examine minutely. My Compendium of Useful
Arts and Sciences, and Bowditch's Navigator, were, at least, saved,
and these were a library and tower of strength in themselves. I put
the three books carefully in the sun, where they might dry, and, after
heading up the breaker again and setting on the hoops strongly and
firmly, I went back to where I had gathered my shells and fastened on
to one that I had before discovered, that would hold many gallons,--it
is called, I think, sometimes, a sea oyster. With this burden I
struggled along to my tree where I had hung the sharks' livers, and
placed this huge basin under them to catch the dripping oil; and, as I
did not expect much result for a day or two, I cut off a portion of one
of the livers and took it to my fireside and carefully tried it out in
small pieces, in numerous clam-shells, and poured the oil thus obtained
into one of my shell reservoirs.
My next task was to go back into my grass-field and gather some of the
clayey earth that I had noticed there, and to bring it in my hat to
the camp, getting a sufficient quantity in two trips. With this clayey
earth I mixed pounded-up clam-shells and a small quantity of seaweed,
fine sand, and water. Then, near my cedar-tree, and protected by it, I
built a tower of flat stones, using this material as mortar. I built it
in a circular form, of about two feet in diameter, and perhaps three
feet high. At the bottom I left interstices every once in a while,
varying in size, but none of them larger than a half inch in diameter.
Towards the top I left the same kind of airholes, but rather larger in
size. On one side, about half way up, I left two stones so that they
could be taken out by hand and replaced, and when taken out would leave
quite a large aperture, large enough to put my arm into and explore
the interior. In the exact centre of this stone circular tower I drove
a strong stake, standing at least three feet higher than the walls,
and by means of sedge, rushes, manilla twine, and large leaves I made
the pointed top--of which this stake was the apex, and the top of the
circular wall the base--completely waterproof, the sedge projecting
beyond the walls in every direction.
Within this tower I placed my flint-stone, steel, and tinder, and
upon four smooth stones that I placed inside I fitted up on each a
large sea-clam shell full of shark's-liver oil, and from milkweed pods
provided each of them with a soft, cottony wick, which I lighted, and
then closed the aperture. By peeping through the interstices I could
see that my lamps burned splendidly, and by blowing I was unable to get
up any current inside. My gigantic lantern was made. If my fire should
go out, my flint and steel fail me, here was perpetual light. I placed
four lights within, so that in case the roof should leak a drop in a
heavy rain, some one or two of the shells would run a chance of not
being put out. I did not intend to allow my fire to go out this night,
but to burn the lamps as a test only of how much oil they would need,
and how they would appear in the morning, so as to know what to expect
should I leave them for any length of time.
Fixing my lamp-tower and pouring the condensed water into the breaker,
getting wood for the fire, and my other labors, had made the day a hard
one; but as the sun went down, and I supped upon the remains of my fish
warmed up, and the inevitable eggs, and enjoyed my pipe, I could but
think of how far I had advanced even in one twenty-four hours. Weapons
by my side, a breaker full of fresh water, and perpetual light in a
waterproof tower beside me. With the deepening shadows came, however,
the bitter feelings of desolation and solitude, mingled with the
uncertainty of the magnitude of my island, and the impossibility of my
being able, except by exploration, to prove it uninhabited.
During this day my heart jumped into my mouth many times when I heard
the least unusual noise, or, carelessly glancing up, mistook every
tree for a savage. My complete freedom from any annoyance up to the
present time was in itself satisfactory to my mind, and strong probable
reason that the island was unpeopled. Then its unknown position--for
I felt convinced that there was no known land where I was now
sitting--improved the probabilities. I foresaw that my next task would
be the exploration of the island and a search for fresh water; and,
wondering what the future would bring forth, I rolled drowsily over
into my seaweed bed, and dropped asleep in the very act.
CHAPTER VII.
Improve my lamp-tower. Make a bow and arrow, and fish-hooks and lines.
Capture a large turtle. Improve my steel and flint, and build a hut.
Procure some salt, and make arrangements to explore the island on the
morrow.
I arose at sunrise and found another lovely day commencing. God had
blessed me with pleasant weather each day so far. I went first to my
calendar, and with the point of my knife inscribed the day and date,
as usual; thence to my lamp-tower, and found all the lamps burning
splendidly, but with not oil enough to have lasted more than two or
three hours more. I foresaw that I must get a much larger and more
shallow dish to have any certainty of keeping them alight for any
length of time without replenishing them each morning and night. The
principle upon which they were built was exactly that which I had often
observed in the northern part of China, where the Chinese burn peanut
oil in exactly the same way in shallow dishes, with a pith wick hanging
over the side. The principle involved necessitated a shallow dish, and
that the wick should be in nearly a horizontal position, to suck up the
oil to its end which projected over the side of the clam-shell. If the
reservoir for the oil was deep instead of shallow, the receding of the
oil as it was consumed by the wick would soon let the lamp go out. I
saw that I should have to improve upon my lamp business, and concluded
to work out the problem whilst taking my morning bath and breakfast.
As I started towards the beach, I saw at a little distance to my left
a huge turtle, the first I had seen, making for the sea. I ran with my
utmost speed, and contrived to upset him upon his back before he had
reached it, and soon dragged him to my fireplace, and, although still
upon his back, for fear of any accident or escape, at once beheaded him
then and there. I then quietly took off my clothes and had my usual
bath, taking care, however, not to go out of my depth, as I saw several
dog-fish sharks, and possibly larger ones of their species might be in
the bay, but, from its shallowness, I did not much think it. Whilst
bathing, I solved my problem about the lamps, and returned in good
spirits to my fire and clothes, and soon had a nice turtle soup boiling
and a steak of the same broiling upon the embers.
This turtle was a godsend, and was just what I needed to change my
diet. I made a hearty meal, and with reluctance cut into the small
piece of tobacco left me and filled my pipe, and had a short smoke,
and then to work. I took two of my largest conch-shells, that would
hold nearly a quart a-piece, and filled the lips up with my mortar
that I had used the day before in the construction of the lamp-tower,
leaving an orifice at the larger end, of sufficient size to pour
liquid into easily, and one at the smaller end very small indeed. I
then thrust both of the shells into the hot embers, and hardened the
mortar or cement so that it was soon dry and compact. I then went to
my grass-field and chose some minute grass-straws of about a foot in
length, and inserted two in the small orifice of each shell, and fixed
them in with moist cement. I then went to my lamp-tower, took the roof
carefully off, and with a base of stones, and by means of twine with
which I fastened them to the central stake, soon had my shells lashed
and secured in an upright position, with the four straws pointing into
the four clam-shell lamps. I then went with my bailer to the large
sea-oyster shell and dipped up the oil that had distilled under the
rays of the sun from the dog-sharks' livers, and in several trips
filled my shell-reservoirs with oil, and had the satisfaction of seeing
each straw dropping oil into the clam-shell lamp beneath. The dropping
being rather fast, I easily regulated it by thrusting seaweed stoppers
into the upper orifice of the shells till the feeding was very slow,
but very perfect and exact. I felt now that I could leave my tower,
days without care, and be sure of finding the lamps burning upon my
return. I carefully replaced the roof, lighted the lamps again, and
made all snug and secure. I did all this work about the lamps to make
myself doubly sure of always having fire. I was well aware that with
my hardened knife I could strike fire much better than I at first did
with my shoe-nail, but I wanted to be sure and take every precaution,
and to that end I went to work upon the nails in the boat-planking,
and, finding one to my mind, I flattened it out at my anvil into a
narrow ribbon of iron, which I hardened and steeled in the fire and
water; and, after carefully testing it with my flint, which, by the
way, I broke into several fragments, I put it and a piece of the flint
into my pocket, and returned the remaining fragments with another
nail, hardened and heated in the same manner, to the custody of the
lamp-tower. I took thence a small quantity of the burned tinder I had
made of my clothing, some of the nigger-ball powder, and cotton of the
milkweed, and taking one of the numerous pods of last year's growth
that I had gathered of these, and also stored there out of the rain,
I split it lengthwise with my knife, and removed most of the core and
cotton, and in its place inserted the tinder and powder that I have
just mentioned, and secured the whole together by winding round about
it some manilla twine; and, not satisfied with that, I cut a small
piece from my flannel shirt and wrapped that also about it, and secured
it with twine. Thus I carried on my person the means of starting a
fire at any time; and, feeling secure, I allowed myself to throw this
terrible fear off my mind.
[Illustration: CAPTURING A TURTLE.--PAGE 66.]
All my energies were pointing to one direction,--to be able to arm
and equip myself, so as to make the tour of my island as speedily as
possible; but I foresaw that, with my utmost speed and care, I should
not be able to be ready to start until the morrow, if then. I went into
my grass-field and passed beyond it into the natural undergrowth of
trees, and soon had picked out exactly what I wanted, a sort of ash or
walnut tree, evidently dead some time since from some cause, the limbs
of which I tested and found of the right elasticity. I cut off with
my knife several portions that suited my purpose, and returning to my
fire, I soon had a handsome bow of fine elasticity, some six feet in
length, finished to my hand. From a lighter kind of wood, a sort of
alder, I manufactured without much difficulty some half-dozen arrows,
and sharpened and hardened as many nails to form heads for them, which
I securely lashed on with fine manilla twine. I then proceeded to my
gulls' nests retreat, and picked up such feathers as I thought might
suit me, and also brought back a load of fresh eggs in my bag.
I then took off my clothes again and waded into the sea with my
harpoon, and soon had on shore one of my dog-shark friends, and his
bladder and fins in a short time in my bailer over a slow fire, for I
wanted some glue badly. I took occasion, whilst this was preparing, to
thoroughly oil my bow and arrows and to wipe them off nice and clean
again with leaves and seaweed.
I soon had plenty of glue, and of a good quality also, which I poured
out into a large clam-shell, and filled my bailer again with water
to boil and cleanse it out. I then proceeded with great care to lay
up three strands of fine manilla, about ten feet long each, and made
each of them fast to a tree near each other; and, stretched as, they
were in this manner, I saturated them with the liquid glue, and then
brought them together and laid them up right-handed, so as to make a
very fine-looking and strong bowstring, with which I was delighted. By
means of the glue I easily fitted each arrow with three nice feathers,
and I also dipped the seizing round the heads, that held on the iron
barbs, into the same, which gave them a fine finish and smoothed down
all the standing fibres of the manilla twine, making all "ship-shape
and Bristol fashion," as sailors say.
Whilst my hand was in I made also a fishing-line of great strength and
of considerable length, and managed to forge out two quite respectable
fish-hooks from the wrought nails of the boat's planking. I took my
usual meal at noon, but it was of delicious turtle soup, instead of
fish, clams, or eggs, none of which did I, however, by any means
despise. After dinner I sat down and sharpened and perfected the points
of my arrow-heads and fish-hooks. I was not able to make any barbs to
the latter, but had to run the risk, when I hooked a fish, never to let
him have any slack line till he was landed.
Having finished these various labors and looked after my condenser,
I commenced another round tower similar to the one already built,
and near to it. I wanted a place of safety for books, and with the
stones at hand and some new mixed mortar, or cement, I in a few hours
completed my task, and had the pleasure of seeing them in safety from
rain or damp. I was afraid to put them in the lamp-tower for fear of
their catching fire in some unforeseen manner, and I would not risk the
chance, however remote it might be.
This being finished, I went to the wood and cut down with my knife
several small trees, about six feet in height, leaving a crotch like
the letter Y at the top of each. I brought these near my cedar-tree,
and with my hammer drove them into the ground, so that they stood at
an equal height of about four feet in the front row and one foot in
the rear row. I stopped this work for a season to fill the bailer,
which I had cleansed of the glue, with salt water, and let it, during
the afternoon, gradually boil down several times, till I had collected
quite a quantity of salt. After attending to this, I returned to my
hut-building, and soon had the uprights crossed with light sticks and
branches, and upon these I placed large masses of sedge as thatch,
which I kept in place by numerous flat stones that I placed upon the
roof. I wove into both the long sides, and one end, some manilla
strands and pliable small branches, working them in and out in a
horizontal position and at right angles to the uprights. To this rough
basket work, or trellis, I bound, by means of more manilla strands,
large bundles of sedge, till I had a nice hut of about eight feet in
length and six wide, with one end left open some two feet wide, and the
roof four feet high on one side fronting the sea and two feet high on
the land side. Into this hut I carried all my few earthly treasures,
and made me a nice bed of seaweed and sedge on one side, and with a
large clam-shell and the flukes of the anchor cut out a nice trench
round about it, under the overhanging eaves, and piled the spare
earth up against the sides of the hut. I was proud of my work. After
everything was all finished to my satisfaction, I sat down to a hearty
meal, and, being too tired even to smoke, I pulled a small cedar-tree
that I had cut down for the purpose, against the opening in the end of
my hut, from the inside, and threw myself upon my seaweed bed, and fell
instantly to sleep.
CHAPTER VIII.
Rainy day. Reflections concerning climate, season of the year, tides,
etc. Plant several varieties of my seeds. Make a pocket compass, and
prepare for my exploration of the island.
"Man proposes, but God disposes." This was what I thought when I woke
in the morning and looked out upon a foggy, drizzling day; not very
much wind, but a regular Scotch mist, and with every look of settling
into a real downright rain. I could not well complain, for I had been
blessed with pleasant weather since my arrival, and it was but natural
that all days should not be as pleasant; and the fast-approaching
appearance of rain delighted me in another sense, for I was not at all
sure about my supply of fresh water, and I was not sorry to see that
the island was visited with rain, which I foresaw that in the future
I could utilize should all other methods fail. My nautical experience
had been correct; in less than an hour the rain fell freely, and the
wind got up quite strong from the northward and eastward. I saw that I
must put aside all idea of exploring my island for this day, and I was
not sorry, as I had several things that I desired to complete first,
and my great fear of not being able to obtain plenty of water of a good
quality was fast being dissipated. I got to my fire and started it
briskly, so that it would not be disturbed by the rain, and for more
security lighted a small one inside my hut under cover, so as to run no
risks at all. Although I felt confident that I had the means at present
of starting a new fire at any time, I was morbid on this subject, and
could not prevail upon myself to allow any of the three flames to be
extinguished, namely, the lamps, the regular fire, and the small one in
my hut, so fearful was I about it. Up to the present time fire was not
only fire to me, but it was water. Once secure concerning the latter I
felt that I could allow my fires to go out with better faith. I found
during this day my hut a great comfort, and blessed my stars that I
had completed it so luckily before this storm commenced. The rain was
not cold, being from the direction of the equator; and I therefore,
throughout the day, moved about in it in my flannel shirt and drawers,
with my broad-brimmed hat and shoes and stockings, leaving my other
clothing dry in the hut. I was pleased to observe that the thatching
was a perfect success, and the interior as dry and nice as possible.
My first task was to go and get the other half of the sea-oyster
shell that I had placed under my shark's livers and bring it near the
house. I had no fears of the rain interfering with the former, for I
knew that, although exposed, the rain would not mix with the oil, but
would, if anything, purify it, and that I could easily skim off every
particle with a clam-shell when the weather became again clear. Having
got my sea-oyster shell, which would hold some gallons, placed under
one of the dripping eaves of my hut, I sat down to breakfast, which I
made very pleasantly of turtle steaks and eggs. After breakfast I drew
forth from my trousers pocket my precious piece of tobacco, and looked
with grief at its diminished proportions, but, urged on by solitude
and the rain, I could not resist filling my pipe and taking a good
long smoke. Whilst smoking, the following thoughts of what I had seen,
and what I might expect ran through my head, and I repeated them to
myself to fix them in my memory, so that they might serve me in the
future. In the first place I calculated that this day, the thirteenth
of November, must in this part of the world represent the thirteenth
of May in the northern hemisphere, and that therefore I was in the
very spring-time of the year, and at a proper season to plant some of
my seeds and note the result. Although I did not know how far south I
was, still I knew within a degree or so by the reckoning that I had on
board of the "Good Luck." I felt assured that I was somewhere between
the fortieth and forty-fifth parallel of latitude, and that the climate
must therefore be somewhat like that of countries situated between the
same parallels of north latitude, like that of England, France, or the
New England States of America. Knowing this I had a sort of general
knowledge of what seeds would probably prosper, and also what kind of a
winter I might expect. Surrounded as I was, as I suspected, by water, I
thought that the winter ought to be milder than those of the northern
hemisphere, and for the same reason the summers milder. I remembered
that many fruits would mature in England, in latitude 52° north, that
would not grow in the open air in New England in only 42° north. In
imagination I gave my island a climate even milder than England, first
on account of its being nearer the equator, and next on account of its,
as I supposed, small extent, completely surrounded by water. I was also
led to this belief by the balmy, spring-like, and warm air of the days
I had already passed upon the island, and the advancement in vegetation
that I saw upon all sides of me; the latter completely satisfying me
that the springs must be very early, and that the winters could not
be very severe. I had also noticed that the rise and fall of the tide
was considerable; I should say at a venture at least ten feet. I had
no doubt but what I could wade almost across the gulf separating me
from the breakwater at mean low tide, at any rate a few strokes only of
swimming would be necessary, I felt convinced. From these subjects I
passed to thinking of my lonely fate, and made up my mind to cross over
again to the breakwater this very day and examine anew the scene of my
disaster. What a miserable fate was reserved for me. Here was I only
thirty-two years of age, in the very prime of my life, cut off from
intercourse with all my fellow-men; cast upon a desert island, without
even the comforts and necessities that my predecessor in history had
given him to his hands, with nothing but the few miserable trifles that
I have enumerated; cast on shore, to care for myself, protect myself,
and live for whatever God might have in store for me. The bitter tears
ran through my fingers at the desolate picture my imagination had
conjured up. Why was I punished in this manner? what had I done that
I should be imprisoned in this solitude? But then, on the other hand,
what should prevent me from building in the future a boat or raft and
escaping from my prison, or why should I despair of some day seeing a
vessel within sight of my island that I could hail?
My greatest fear, I found in consultation with myself, was the fear
of savages; that the island was inhabited. This made me shudder with
fright; I felt that I should never rest easy till I had explored it
from end to end; I felt that I must do this, and at the very earliest
moment. I knew, too, that I ought each day to have crossed to the
breakwater and to have looked for some passing ship, but my fire and
water and weapons had taken all my time and attention. I made up my
mind to attend to this better in future, but then again my sailor's
knowledge gave me little to hope for from this source; nothing but the
accident of the ocean, or exploration, or discovery, would, I felt
confident, ever bring a vessel in this direction. This gave me the
horrors again, for my mind convinced me that I might live my lifetime
on this island without any reasonable hope of ever seeing a vessel
approach it. The very fact of its not being laid down on any chart in
so late a year as 1865 proved to me conclusively two facts,--one that
it must be quite small in extent, and the other that it was wholly and
completely, as I felt that it was, out of the course of vessels engaged
in any pursuit, and the chances of its discovery exceedingly small.
My meditations were abruptly ended by the hissing of the ashes in the
heel of my pipe, and I sadly arose and placed it carefully away, and
betook myself to my labors for the day. I knew that it must be at this
time about low water, and as the clothing I had on was already quite
wet, I started forth, without undressing, to the beach, and, armed
with my harpoon, waded in and headed for the breakwater. I found, as
I supposed, that with the exception of about fifteen or twenty yards
in the middle, which I was compelled to swim, I could wade the whole
distance. I soon arrived at the opposite side and clambered up the
rocks. I could see but little way seaward on account of the rain and
slight fog, but at my feet was the same uneasy, treacherous sea, that
had swallowed up my shipmates. I could find no sign of the boat or of
them, and I knew that whatever articles lay at the base of these rocks
would by this time either be buried deep from human eye or destroyed by
the everlasting motion of the undertow. The bottom also, to judge by
the sides of the rocks, was no doubt covered with kelp and rock-weed,
amongst which, even on land, it would be almost impossible to find
anything; how much more so at the bottom of the ocean! I gave up all
thought of ever recovering anything more from the boat, and sadly and
silently retook my way back to my hut. This trip, and looking after
my fresh water and lamps and fire and wood, took up my forenoon and
brought me to dinner, which, although lonely, I enjoyed. I took this
opportunity to also cook some spare pieces of the turtle and to gather
them together in layers, with salt between, to serve me for food in my
proposed exploration. I cooked and prepared quite a quantity, as I did
also of the boiled eggs. After dinner and the cooking and preparing of
these rations, I started forth upon a more important business. I went
to my field in the rear of the hut, and picking out one corner where
the soil seemed fair, I, by the aid of the fluke of my anchor, turned
up the soil in some twenty-five or thirty places, in a circular form,
some twenty-four inches in diameter, and carefully removed the turf.
I knew that with my tools I could not expect to plough or spade up
any portion of great extent, so I took this means. I left the sward
intact, except in these circular places, some six or eight feet apart,
which I prepared for my seeds, and sparingly from each I planted the
following: in five of them, apple seeds; in another five of them,
pear seeds; in another five, grape seeds; and in the same and other
ones, cucumbers, beans, squashes, celery, blackberries, strawberries,
tomatoes, lettuce, etc. My wheat, rye, and rice, I carefully kept on
hand, with the exception of one plat that I sowed with wheat wholly,
simply as a precaution to preserve the seed if it should mature. Having
finished this labor, I commenced upon another task, one that was to
tax my ingenuity, namely, a compass. I did not feel like undertaking
the examination of the island without this useful instrument. I first
procured some nice, strong, birch-bark, sound and well seasoned, of
which there was plenty in the grove, and by means of my sharpened nail
awl and manilla thread soon had formed a nice little box of about three
inches in diameter and two high, with a good-fitting cover to same.
By means of a piece of manilla thread held firmly by my thumb on a
nice, flat piece of bark, and the awl fastened to the other extremity,
I had no difficulty in marking out a disc that would fit within the
circumference of my box. I soon cut this out with my knife, and by
means of a straight stick and a small piece of charcoal and some
little measurement, soon had it marked off into thirty-two points;
making the north point with an arrow-head to distinguish it, and the
other cardinal points large and black. I soon had quite a respectable
compass-card before me. I then took one of the wrought nails from the
boat-planking, and, in spite of the rain, soon had it beaten out on
my anvil into a narrow ribbon, which I hardened and converted into
steel of the length of the diameter of my compass-card or disc. By
repeated poundings and drawing this ribbon over my knife from heel to
point, I magnetized it so that it would adhere to iron or steel quite
forcibly. I fastened this upon the underside of my compass-cover with
fine manilla thread near each extremity. I should have said that whilst
this ribbon was red hot, I had forced, with another nail, quite a
large hole, perhaps three-eighths of an inch in diameter, through its
centre. I broke out one of the teeth of my horn hair-comb and lashed it
firmly for an upright into the centre of my box, and over the centre
of my compass-card I cut out a hole of about an inch in diameter, and
over this fastened a little cone about the size of a woman's thimble,
only coming to a peak, instead of a round head, and about an inch in
height, also made of bark. Into this cone I forced a small piece of the
polished lip of one of my sea shells, as an agate or face upon which
my horn pivot was to rest and the disc rotate. Passing the disc into
the box and the horn pivot up through the hole in the magnet into the
inverted cup or cone containing the small portion of shell, I found
that I had a real, quick, and good compass. The card had to be balanced
by placing, with my glue, small portions of bark on its underneath
surface till it floated evenly upon its pivot, and my task was done. I
felt that with this implement I could not get lost in my explorations,
and although rude in construction, its value was as sterling as one
made of brass and with paper disc. I filled the whole box with the soft
cotton of my milkweed pods, both above and below the card, and put on
the cover so that there could be no motion to wear the pivot. I only,
of course, intended to use it in case of necessity, and I had then only
to carefully open it, remove the card and cotton, and set it back upon
its pivot, after placing it carefully on the ground and protecting it
from any sudden blast of wind. I was proud of my instrument, and felt
much more secure, in its possession, as to my ability to explore the
island successfully.
This ended my day's work, and the setting sun gave signs of a pleasant
day for the morrow. I felt pleased that I had planted my seeds during
the rain, which would give them a good start, and sat down to my supper
with a feeling that I had again overcome some of the difficulties
that surrounded me. I visited my oyster-shell outside the eaves, and
although the sky had been for an hour or two fast clearing up, I saw
that I had several gallons of pure rain water, for which I was, I
hope, duly thankful. I meditated upon the morrow. Upon my exploration
depended all my security for the future. Should I find the island
inhabited, a long farewell to all content. If uninhabited, I could,
I felt certain, take care of myself till it pleased God to remove
me from the solitude to which I was tied. I envied the old Robinson
Crusoe, to whom I likened myself, and thought, why could not I have
been as fortunate as he; if the "Good Luck" must be destroyed why
could she not have come ashore on this island where I could have saved
something from her, and, more precious yet, some of the lives of my
shipmates? How many years must I stagnate on this island? But I am
young and determined to improve my position. Have I not a book of all
the practical sciences to aid me in forcing Nature to give up her
secrets? Why should I not be able to improve my condition far beyond
that which my predecessor in history had been able to do? He had not
the education of the nineteenth century to aid him; he knew nothing
about the science of steam, railroads, steamboats, telegraphs, etc,
whilst I had a book treating of these and a thousand other subjects
of infinite interest. I could not help thinking that if I could find
iron, I could do almost anything, and why should I not be able to find
it? I knew that it was a metal like gold, disseminated throughout all
parts of the earth. By my labors as a boy in it I felt that I could,
as a mechanic, do almost anything if I could discover this ore, and
coal to smelt it. If I found water, I felt assured of the future, and I
could not but believe that my exploration would enable me to discover
that. It was impossible that so large an area as my eye could gather
in should be without it. Once found, I felt no fears for food. I felt
assured of my physical well-being, and the climate, I felt convinced,
could not be very severe in the winter months with such delightful
weather in this spring month of November. I could in time build some
kind of a boat, and reach the Society Islands to the northward of me,
or the South American coast to the eastward, or even New Zealand to the
westward. I was not without hope, and, although far from cheerful in my
dreadful solitude, I could not but think that I should be comparatively
happy and contented if I felt sure of my island being uninhabited; but
I dreaded, in my exploration about to be undertaken, to come suddenly
upon some savage village, that would destroy all my desire to still
live, and almost put me in a mood to take my own life with my own
hands.
My nerves were unstrung now all the time, and the slightest noise
caused my heart to palpitate with fear, as it had never before done in
the severest gale at sea or in face of the greatest practical dangers.
I was fast becoming a coward, and felt that I should continue to be
one till my problem was solved; then, if successful in ascertaining
the extent of the island and its freedom from savages, I felt that I
could resign myself with fortitude to the designs that Providence had
in my behalf. These thoughts brought me well into the evening, and,
commending myself to the divine care, I lay down upon my sea-weed couch
and dropped to sleep.
CHAPTER IX.
Exploration of the island: First day. Fresh water at Rapid River. Wild
goats, quail, tortoise, tobacco, wild ducks, trout, sweet potatoes,
mussels. Name the island and principal points, etc.
I arose very early in the morning and saw that I was to be favored with
a very pleasant day. I went to the seaside and took my usual bath;
thence to my lamp-tower and arranged all the wicks and reservoirs for a
long burning; then to breakfast, which I quickly dispatched, and then
my preparation to start, which consisted of the following: I first
filled my powder canister with nice, pure rain-water, and fitted it
with sennit straps of manilla to hang on my back, taking care to put
the screw in the head solidly home, so that it would not leak. In my
bag made of sedges I stowed my boiled eggs and turtle-steaks, already
cooked, also several other articles of value rolled up in different
parcels of birch-bark, including my fishing-line and hooks, and some
spare manilla strands, and bradawl, and carefully wrapped up my compass
and several large pieces of birch-bark and charcoal, intending to make
a sketch of the island as I explored it, being in my younger days
quite a good draughtsman. In my trousers pocket I placed my pipe and
tobacco, my flint and steel, and my tinder, tied up in my milkweed pod.
I then slung over my back my bow and arrows, the latter in a light
quiver of birch-bark that I had made for them; secured my knife in its
shark-skin sheath about my waist, and took my harpoon in my hand, and,
thus accoutred, started forth.
Before I advanced in any direction I bethought myself that I would
commence by naming the island and all prominent parts that my eye
could take in, and to continue this during my exploration. Accordingly
I walked down and faced the breakwater, and, drawing forth a piece
of birch-bark and charcoal, sketched rudely the outline before me.
Determined as I was to succeed, and remembering that I had overcome the
want of water and fire, I deliberately named the island _Perseverance
Island_. The point that ended the breakwater slightly to the westward
of me I named _Point Deliverance_; the reef in front of me, the
_Breakwater_, the water between me and the Breakwater, _Stillwater
Cove_, on account of its uniform quietness, being almost land-locked.
Having finished this I gave one long look of affection upon my
miserable hut, and, with a mental prayer for aid and assistance, struck
out on the pure, white, sandy beach towards the eastward part of the
island. I went naturally in this direction first, for I was too good
a sailor to walk around the island left-handed, or, as we say at sea,
"against the sun." I had just enough superstition to believe that such
a course would have brought me bad luck. I followed my beach about
one mile and a half, having on my left hand Stillwater Cove, and on
my right hand small groves of tree with long vistas between them,
giving me a view into the interior of the island, and over fields
of natural grass. I often left the beach to inspect these openings,
which I approached with perfect awe, expecting every moment to chance
upon some native village, or other sign of the presence of man. But
nothing of the kind occurred. And yet before I reached the end of my
beach I met with so startling an adventure that I was unmanned for
over an hour, and had to sit down and rest before proceeding on my
journey. Approaching one of these openings or glades I peered in as
usual, keeping myself on my hands and knees, to see if I could find any
signs of my dreaded enemies. But the place was as peaceful as any of
the others, and, standing up to my full height, I gave vent to a sigh
of relief, when, without a moment's notice or warning, some three or
four forms jumped from the long grass where they had been concealed
and made for the thickets further inland. I was so frightened that I
sank to the earth nearly senseless. But as my mind was just about to
leave me I had force of character enough to observe that they were not
savages, but animals. The revulsion, however, was too great, and I sat
down in a faint and sick state, as I have related. When I could collect
my mind I easily recognized the shapes I had seen as some species of
goats, and delighted indeed was I at the discovery. But it immediately
set me thinking, How could there be goats on this island? I well knew
that they would not be here naturally; that they must have been put
here, and probably by some whaler, for those vessels I well knew often
carry several of these animals with them. But if they had been placed
upon the island thus, why was it not reported, why was it not known? I
could conceive of only one reason, and that was that the unfortunate
vessel that had discovered it had afterwards been lost, and therefore
its existence had again become unknown. But this was only theory on my
part. The quickness with which they left me showed that they were wild,
and probably had been many years upon the island. If I should see only
this flock of four or five I should feel as if some of the human race
had, within a comparatively short time, visited the island. But if in
my explorations I should fall upon more of these creatures, I should
know that they had propagated and increased through untold years, and
from a commencement that would never be revealed.
Having completely overcome my faintness, and rejoiced at my discovery,
I passed back to the beach, and in a few moments came to a place where
it turned abruptly to the right. The land also, being quite rocky
and of some elevation, obstructed my view, and, preparing my bow and
arrow in one hand and my harpoon in the other, I crept round the bend
cautiously on my hands and knees. A beautiful sight struck my eyes. To
my right hand, and within a hundred yards of me, a dashing, sparkling
waterfall of some eight or ten feet in height, and fifteen or twenty
wide, poured its waters into Stillwater Cove; and beyond and inland as
far as my eye could reach, till the river mixed with the foliage on
either bank, and was undistinguishable, I saw smaller and less abrupt
falls of water coming down the gorge between the hillsides; in short, a
large mountain brook or small river, bubbling and gurgling its way to
dash itself at last over a fall into Stillwater Cove.
I forgot all about savages and natives, and, dashing down my weapons,
I rushed towards the fall, where it fell into the cove, and, holding
my hands under it, filled them with what my mouth proved to me to be
soft, pure, fresh river water. I danced, I sung; I was for a little
time as crazy as a loon, and here had I been distilling water and
racking my brains for days to provide, and a bubbling, running brook,
almost a river, within at least two miles of me all the time. But in
my happiness I soon forgot my past labors and distress, all that was
gone by. Here was a supply of water that kind Heaven had granted me,
inexhaustible, and of delicious coolness and taste. Having returned
a little to my senses, I went back for my weapons, and sat down and
enjoyed the scene before me. It was indeed beautiful. I saw that I was
at the head of Stillwater Cove, and that by crossing upon the stones
below the fall I should be on the side of the Breakwater, which I now
saw was part of the mainland, being a narrow peninsula running nearly
east and west, and enclosing Stillwater Cove, and joining the mainland
at the spot where I now was seated.
Oh, what a lovely spot I found myself sitting in. I named the beautiful
stream _Rapid River_, and drew out my birch-bark chart and sketched
and located it. I felt that this would be my home; and could anything
be more beautiful. As I sat upon a large stone near the river this is
what I saw round about me. To the westward, I knew that just around
the bend, but concealed from my eyes as I sat, was the long, beautiful
beach of Stillwater Cove, with its inland glades that I had just passed
over; to the northward and eastward, a gradually ascending grade of
land, covered with lovely groves of trees in full foliage; on both
sides of the river a beautiful valley of some quarter of a mile in
extent, covered with a natural turf and fringed at its circumference
with these beautiful groves; farther to the right a mountain that
seemed of considerable magnitude. Birds passed me in their flight from
one portion of the grove to the other, and I distinguished the wild
pigeon and wood-dove and several others that were familiar to my eye. I
observed that they came to one of the upper falls to drink, and after
enjoying to the full the beautiful scenery round about me, I followed
them there and tried to get a shot with my bow. I found that I could
get quite near to them, say within twelve or fourteen yards, but I
fired many times before I was successful enough to kill one, and even
then I should not have been able to have succeeded if it were not for
the innumerable number that came to drink and replace those whom I
frightened away by my repeated bad marksmanship. Each shot, however,
improved me, and I had also a determination to become skilled, and
therefore studied and discovered the error of each shot, and improved
upon it by the next. Looking down upon the terminus of Stillwater Cove
from this upper fall was superb; there it lay, a pure basin of white
sand, with this mountain stream dashing into it. Having feasted my
eyes, I got out my flint and steel and built me a nice fire in a short
time without any difficulty, and soon had my pigeon roasting at the end
of a long stick over the blaze. He eat so very nicely that I took to my
bow again, and after a few shots killed another, which I devoured in
the same way. I found that the air and exercise and my wanderings here
and there had made me very hungry, and I added to the roast pigeons
several of the boiled eggs and a long draught of pure water from the
running river at my feet. Having feasted abundantly, I arose, and
leaving my heavy powder canister of water behind me, I crossed Rapid
River just below the lower falls, and found myself on the further
side of Stillwater Cove. I turned to the left and walked towards the
Breakwater, and soon found myself heading for the place where the
boat had first struck on the reef, and opposite to my late residence.
Upon arrival there I could look across to my little hut, but I kept
on till I came to the end of the Breakwater and to Point Deliverance.
As I walked along the Breakwater I noticed on the inner side large
masses of mussels nearly a foot in length, larger than anything of the
kind I had ever seen before, the shells of which would make capital
dishes. I stored the fact in my memory for use hereafter. I stood at
last upon Point Deliverance and looked out to sea, but no sign of any
friendly vessel met my eyes. I turned to the westward and saw a large
bay, formed by my island, at least three miles across and three or
four deep, bounded on the northwestern side by a slight promontory,
which I concluded not to name, from the distance at which I now stood,
and on account of the uncertainty of what lay behind it, now not to
be seen from my present position; and as I was determined to pass
round the whole island I knew that I should come to it in due season.
The bay before me, into which Stillwater Cove poured its waters, I
named _Perseverance Bay_, and marked the same upon my birch-bark
chart. Having gazed about me and seen nothing to examine further, I
retraced my steps to Rapid River, and again sat down at the upper fall,
refreshing myself with a good long pull at the pure water. I started
up the gorge and penetrated for about a mile into the interior of the
island, and found that the river became smoother and more level as
I advanced, and that the groves of trees in places receded, leaving
meadows of grass, and long vistas often, on each bank. I made on this
trip of a mile or so several discoveries, the most important of which
was that there were plenty of goats upon the island, for I started
several herds, one numbering as large as ten or twelve, from the long
grass of the bottom land. This convinced me that years must have passed
since they had been put upon the island, as they were evidently very
numerous. I saw also a great many terrapin, or land tortoises, and saw
in them a luxury for the future. I felt convinced that sea turtle would
not often come to my island on account of its southerly position and
climate, and I looked upon the one I had captured as an exceptional
case; still, further in the summer they might be more plenty, their
presence would prove my theory correct about the mildness of the
climate, and I hoped it might prove true on every account.
[Illustration: ROAST PIGEON.--PAGE 91.]
In the pure limpid waters of Rapid River I saw several fish darting
about, some of which I was convinced were similar to brook trout, but I
had not fine enough fishing gear to try for them. In the long grass of
the meadow, near the bushes on the border, I started a veritable bevy
of quail,--or such I took them to be, and I had known the bird well
in boyhood,--and when they flushed and whirled into the air a feather
would have knocked me down. My nerves were, however, getting stronger
and stronger, for I reasoned that no human being could be on the island
and allow such a paradise as this to remain uninhabited. I recognized
amongst the trees, pines, hemlocks, maples, elms, oaks, etc.; and
amongst the bushes and plants several with which I was familiar. On one
of the smooth reaches of the river, passing from the meadow to higher
and firmer ground, I disturbed a large flock of ducks. On the left
bank of the river, which was not wooded, I came upon what I believed
to be a joyful discovery for me, namely, the tobacco plant. I was not
sure, but I had seen the weed growing in Virginia, and I felt sure
that, although stunted, and dispersed here and there, this was the
veritable article. I determined at my earliest opportunity to test some
of it by curing it, and in fact plucked a small portion of the leaves
for that purpose and thrust it into my bag. The taste in the green
state confirmed me in my opinion, and I felt sure I was right. This
discovery would be a great solace to me in my loneliness, and I felt
very thankful for it.
I crossed the river by wading and jumping from stone to stone, and
descended it on the other side, still seeking for new discoveries. My
friends the goats were often disturbed by me, and I saw with pleasure
that they were very numerous. They were, however, very shy, and ran
away with great speed and evident fright, and gave me no opportunity
to shoot at them. It was on this side of the river that I made the
discovery that gave me bread, or rather something in lieu of it. I
noticed a running vine upon the ground, and my memory told me that it
resembled that of the sweet potato. I pounced upon it, and, plucking
up the root, held in my hand the evidently half-grown bulb that I was
in search of. It had not yet matured, but it was bread for all future
time. I felt that I held in my hand the sweet potato of Virginia and
the Carolinas. This set me to thinking again, Was this nature or man?
Who had planted these two things, tobacco and potatoes, that I so much
desired, God or man! I felt that I should never know. The shades of
evening were by this time beginning to fall around me, and I made my
way back to the second fall on Rapid River and arranged for the night,
gathered wood for my fire, and grass for my couch, which I placed
under the overhanging and low branches of a cedar, similar to the one
near my hut, which I concluded to call the _Landing Place_, and so
marked it upon my chart. I was pleased with my explorations so far, and
foresaw that I could gather everything about me in the way of comfort
that a man could desire, except that one great instinct of our nature,
companionship with our fellow men. I ate my supper of turtle steaks and
eggs with great satisfaction, and by the light of my fire sought my
humble couch and slumber.
CHAPTER X.
Exploration of the island: Second day. Find coal and sulphur, seals,
more turtles, gulls, etc.
The next morning the sun rose with his customary brilliancy and brought
to poor me another beautiful day. I arose from my hard and humble
couch, and raked apart the ashes of my last evening's fire, and put
on some new wood and soon had a cheerful blaze. I stepped down to the
river and soon with my bow and arrows had two or three of my wild
pigeons despatched, which I quickly plucked and soon had roasting over
my fire. So far I had been more successful than I could have hoped to
have been; no savages, no noxious or deadly animals, but all a seeming
paradise. I soon finished my simple repast, and strapping my canister
upon my back and taking my harpoon in hand I commenced my pilgrimage
round about the island, which I was determined to accomplish before I
undertook any other task.
I passed across Rapid River and pressed towards the sea coast and
finally, after a walk of about a mile in a northeasterly direction,
came out upon a bold shore with quite a promontory on my right hand.
How wistfully I looked out upon the ocean, the day being so clear that
I could see to a great distance; but my view encountered no welcome
sail,--only the everlasting waste of waters spread out before me. With
one long sigh of repining at my fate, I passed on to the right and
commenced ascending the promontory before me. I trudged on through
open land and small groves of trees till I arrived at the summit,
which was barren and gave me a great view seaward and convinced me
that I was on the extreme northeastern extremity of my island; for
I could see nothing to the northward of me, but in my rear and to
the eastward I saw another projection extending into the sea, to the
southward of which I could not observe. From my elevation I was able
to see somewhat of the interior of the island, and this was what met
my view: to the south of me and at about two miles distance, as I
should judge, I saw quite an elevation, and far away to the southwest
another large hill, almost a miniature mountain. The island seemed well
wooded in all directions and presented a beautiful appearance in the
brilliant morning sun and pure clear air. I looked long and anxiously
to the eastward for land, but saw nothing: and my friends the goats
seemed to have deserted me in this part of the island, for I saw no
signs of them. I turned to pass to the southward and eastward along
the coast-line, when I was attracted by the appearance of the ground
round about me, having in seams amongst the rocks a dark appearance.
I stooped down and by the aid of my knife broke off some portions of
this familiar looking substance, when lo and behold! I held in my hand
veritable anthracite or bituminous coal,--I was not expert enough to
know which, although I thought it to be the former. What a discovery
was this for me, and yet what a natural one, after all. I could not
rest satisfied with my own convictions that it was really coal that I
held in my hand; but then and there drew out my flint and steel and
started a wood fire, at which I had become expert, and digging up
large fragments with my harpoon and knife, which I took care not to
break or dull in the operation, I cast them upon the flame. Yes, it
was true past peradventure,--I had found coal, veritable coal, that
burned readily in the midst of my wood fire where I had piled it in the
glowing embers and flames. Every once in a while it seemed to give off
quick jets of flame, and this led me to examine the specimens before me
more carefully to ascertain the cause. And upon breaking open, with a
stone, quite a large fragment, I saw within it a large broad streak, as
wide as my finger, of a yellowish cast, which I instantly recognized as
sulphur, and in fact my memory told me that the coal received from the
island of Formosa, in China, especially from the surface collections,
abounded in sulphur, sometimes so much so as to be disagreeable for
house use. But one thought flashed into my mind upon this discovery,
matches! matches! matches! Yes, here was before me the foundation
of all lucifer matches, and I had only to consult, on my return, my
Compendium of Useful Arts and Sciences, to avail myself of it and find
out how to combine it with the other necessary articles to have real
_bonâ fide_ matches. I was overwhelmed with joy, and blessed the hour
that had been so fruitful in comforts for me, should I have to remain
upon this island.
I went to work and soon had sufficient of crude sulphur or brimstone--I
do not know which it should correctly be called--to answer all my
purposes for experiment, and carefully wrapping it up in some leaves
and fastening it with a thread of my manilla, I placed it in my bag. I
thought how rapidly my fortunes were changing: here had I within a few
hours insured myself against cold and loss of fire by the few gifts of
nature laid at my feet. I tried, in spite of my miserable solitude, to
be thankful. Before leaving the promontory I drew out my birch-bark
chart and named the point _East Signal Point_, as it was evidently a
capital place at some future day to erect a signal of some kind upon,
being high, bold, and barren, and overlooking the surrounding country.
The place where I had found the coal and sulphur, I simply named the
_Coal Mine_.
Having marked these carefully down, I rolled up my chart and took
my way towards the easterly cape to the southward of where I stood.
After a walk of about a mile and a half, I found myself upon what was
evidently the extreme eastern end of my island, not nearly so high
as East Signal Point, but well elevated and barren towards the sea,
backed with a thick forest inland. Standing on this point, which I
named _Eastern Cape_, I saw that this was the limit of my island in
this direction, and by figuring in my head and looking at my chart I
estimated that I was about six miles from my landing-place in a direct
line, and about eight by the coast line.
I saw nothing here to attract my attention except many seals on the
southerly shore, which was now opened to my view for the first time.
On the broken and jagged rocks of this coast-line I saw great numbers
of these animals of different sizes, and I should think of different
species.
It being by this time about noon by the sun, I sat down and opened my
bag and regaled myself upon turtle steaks and cold boiled eggs, for
I did not go to the trouble of lighting any fire; this, washed down
with water from Rapid River in my tin canister, formed my frugal meal.
Towards the southwest I saw trending a long sandy beach similar to the
one inside the breakwater, except that this was lashed by the long
regular billows of the ocean without any intervening barrier. After
taking a good long rest, I got upon my feet and started again upon my
journey. I soon came down upon the hard sea sand from my elevation,
and the seals that I had seen from above seemed little inclined to
move at my approach, and I passed quite near to several amongst the
rocks before reaching the beach. No one can credit what pleasure I
experienced in simply observing these poor dumb creatures so near me,
with their great, beautiful black eyes, and I lingered near them for
over an hour, so fascinated was I by them; they seemed almost like
companions to me, so subdued and lonely had I become for want of the
society of my fellow-creatures, even in these few days. I talked to
them, and they answered me by snorts of surprise, and by gazing at me
with their great staring eyes. I would not have hurt one of them for
all the wealth of the world, and when I left them I took off my clumsy
hat and bid them good-by as I would intelligent beings.
After leaving the seals behind me I became despondent again, and
cursed my cruel fate. My loneliness rushed upon me with renewed force;
however, I tried hard to thrust it from me, and before I had made a
mile upon the beach was in better spirits again. I saw flying round
about me several birds that I recognized as gulls, and ahead of me a
turtle made his way into the sea, but I made no attempt to stop him,
having plenty of food and to spare, but I was glad to see that my
expectations, or rather desires, were more than fulfilled, and that my
capture upon the other side of the island had not been an exceptional
one, and I could look to this creature also for food; but that
question, as well as the one of water and fire, was fast disappearing
from my mind, as the certainty of providing all easily was being hourly
forced upon me. I foresaw that I should not want for any of these
things, that I should, with a little care and labor, have comforts
undreamed of when I first found myself cast on shore.
The question of savages even was fast being settled, for I reasoned
that I could not have made such a distance round about the island
without finding some traces of human beings, if there were any upon
the island; still I cannot say that all my nervousness was gone, I was
yet too lonely, depressed, and solitary, and knew yet too little of
the whole island, to have recovered all my usual and natural evenness
of temperament; but I was improving, and my head was already filled
with ideas of boats, balloons, and I know not what, in which I was in
some way yet to escape. After walking about three miles along this
lovely beach I came, upon turning a slight elevation, to the mouth of
a small trickling brook not over three feet wide, which found its way
to the ocean from a background of forest trees. I sat down by the side
of it, and soon ascertained that the water was pure, cool, and fresh.
I almost smiled at the fury with which I had attacked this problem of
water upon my first arrival upon the island; but on the other hand I
felt pleased to think that I had also overcome it, and had made Nature
serve me. I took quite a rest at this point, and, after sauntering
about, concluded, as the sun was sinking towards the west, to make
it my resting-place for the night. For this purpose I went a little
further back from the beach under the trees, and carried up there
large quantities of good dry seaweed, and made me a nice comfortable
bed, lighted a good fire, and after a quite good supper of my eggs
and turtle steak, which I warmed in the ashes and roasted over the
hot coals, I took out my pipe and tobacco to smoke and meditate. With
the precious weed that I drew from my pocket I mixed a small quantity
of the wild weed that I had found, and having of course had no time
to cure it I first shrivelled it up over my hot embers and then mixed
it with my tobacco. By the scent and fragrance whilst it was being
dried in this manner, I had no longer any doubt but what I had found
the veritable article, and when I came to mix it in my pipe I felt
convinced.
It being early, and feeling that I surely had a supply of this luxury,
I indulged in a second pipe-full, and whilst I was puffing away I was
also trying to look into the future. My remembrance of the original
Robinson Crusoe was that he was a bungler at anything and everything
that he undertook, whilst I felt that I was a good mechanic, thoroughly
versed in the use of all tools, and especially in working in iron;
that I had a fair, sound, common-school education, and that I had been
ingenious and inventive both on sea and land from my boyhood; that I
had had good experience in navigation and seamanship, and intercourse
with many nations; that I knew, and had acquired, the little every-day
habits of many curious people, and that I had seen numerous ways of
doing the same things in different parts of the world. Besides all
this I had a valuable book which would serve me in the very points in
which I was deficient, and I felt that with it I could do thousands of
things that the old Robinson Crusoe never dreamed of doing. I felt that
if there was iron to be found in the island there would practically be
no end to the improvements and comforts that I could gather about me;
with tools of iron and steel, with my knowledge of mechanics, what I
could not make would almost be the question.
I felt convinced that there must be iron upon the island, even if not
in large quantities, enough for my purpose if I could only find it. I
knew that the Japanese islands had plenty of it, that Formosa and New
Zealand abounded in it, and I was determined to find it if it was to be
found.
I had already made up my mind to move to Rapid River for my home,
unless future discoveries showed me a different state of affairs in the
western part of the island than I expected to find.
I wondered, as I sat, whether my famous lamp tower was performing its
duties during my absence, but it did not trouble me any longer even
if it were not, for I found that my flint, steel, and tinder were
all-sufficient for my purpose, and was I not soon going to make real
matches?
Sitting smoking, and revolving all these thoughts in my mind, I saw the
sun sink into the western ocean, and shortly after wrapped myself up in
my seaweed covering, under the shelter of a bunch of low shrubs, and
dropped asleep.
CHAPTER XI.
Exploration of the island. Third day. Stalking goats. Mirror lake and
river and bay. Sad moonlight thoughts.
I awoke to still another pleasant day, having scarcely moved in my
seaweed bed during the night. My first duty was to make my way to the
running brook and have a good wash, and then to look about me for
breakfast. I bethought myself all at once of the turtle that I had seen
on the beach the previous day, and I made my way back to the place
where I observed the marks of its ingress into the sea, and, looking
about carefully, I soon found its eggs nicely covered up in the sand. I
took as many as I wanted and turned about and made my way back to camp,
and soon had them roasting in the ashes.
After breakfast I pushed my way a little into the island, and found
pleasant groves and fields, in one of the latter of which I observed
a flock of goats feeding. They did not see me, and I found by the
direction of the wind that I was to leeward of them, and therefore
beyond their scent, and I determined to stalk them, or creep in
upon them, and try to get a shot with my arrows. For this purpose I
divested myself of all extra articles, and, armed only with my bow
and two arrows, and my knife in its sheath, I got upon my hands and
knees and commenced the task. At first this was not difficult, for the
animals were at least two hundred yards distant from me, and by taking
advantage of different clumps of trees and shrubs I soon approached
within one hundred yards of them; but then my labors commenced. I
felt that I must get very near to be sure of my aim with arrows, and
to pierce them sufficiently deep to produce death; at least within
twenty-five yards.
I made progress for some twenty or thirty yards quite well by keeping
within range of intervening objects, but when I found myself within
about sixty or seventy yards of them I found my task difficult, and I
had often to lie upon my belly and drag myself along, inch by inch, so
as not to be seen, and with one hand to clear the ground before me of
the smallest twig or anything that would make the slightest noise when
my body was passing over it. It took me a full hour to make twenty-five
yards in this manner, which brought me within, as I should judge,
thirty-five yards of them. Here my precautions had to be increased, and
it was with infinite labor, and the expenditure of at least another
hour (but what was time to me) before I found myself behind a low clump
of bushes, on the other side of which, not more than twenty yards
distant, I could hear the goats feeding. Silently I fitted an arrow to
the string, and rising inch by inch till the muscles of my arms and
thighs were nearly worn out from immovability, I saw through the thin
tops of the bushes one of the goats not fifteen paces from me. I was
at a fever heat of excitement, and drawing my arrow silently to the
head, and with the utmost force of my arm, I launched it at the game,
and saw it pierce the goat through and through, who fell upon his side,
but immediately regaining his feet made off with amazing swiftness;
its companions, to the number of some six or eight, scattering in
all directions. I followed as fast as possible on foot, and saw with
satisfaction that my game had not gone more than one hundred yards
before it began to waver and to lose its speed, and within the next
fifty yards, in the open field, to fall upon its side, and, just before
I arrived, expire, in its fall breaking the arrow short off. I looked
down upon the creature with exultation, for it was food, and good food,
and I had won it by honest and persevering labor, and by means of what
in our day was considered a contemptible weapon.
I took out my knife and cut the creature's throat and let the blood
escape, and then taking him--for it was a buck--by the hind-legs I
threw him over my back and started for my camp on the rivulet, where I
dumped him down beside my fire and commenced to skin him. This, with
my knife, I soon completed, and, cutting off some of the tender chops
I soon had them roasting on the coals, for, although I had breakfasted
a few hours before, I could not resist the temptation of tasting fresh
meat, which, on account of my sea voyage, it was so long since I had
enjoyed. I found it exceedingly good in flavor, but a little tough,
my customer evidently being far from young. He carried a very handsome
pair of curved horns, and a long, majestic beard. The hair was of
rather a finer texture than I expected to find it, and was not very
long or thick; another proof, I thought, of my theory of the mildness
of the climate. The animal was such a true, commonplace goat, such as
one sees on whalers, that I felt convinced that the breed had at some
long-distant day been left on the island in this manner, but no signs
had I yet found of the island having ever been lived upon or explored.
Then, again, it might with great probability have been stocked fifty
or sixty years ago, and any signs of persons having been here, except
they had left enduring monuments of some kind, would long ago have
been effaced or destroyed. I made up my mind to accept the blessing
without puzzling my brains any more to find out how it happened that
they were here. I was pained to know what to do with the large mass
of flesh that I had remaining, and having, at Buenos Ayres, seen the
jerked beef of the prairies, I cut large portions of this creature into
strips and hung it on the surrounding trees and bushes to dry and cure
in the pure air. A large portion of what was left I roasted and put in
my bag, throwing away the remainder of the turtle steaks and gulls'
eggs, of which I had become somewhat tired. All this brought me to the
afternoon, and, packing up all my articles, after a good long smoke,
harpoon in hand I started forth again, heading towards the westward.
Two miles' walk brought me to an elevation running out into the sea,
which was evidently the southern extremity of my island, and I marked
it upon the chart _South Cape_, and the hill-top _Watch Hill_, for the
reason that I could see from this position much further in both an
easterly and westerly direction than from any point upon the island
that I had yet reached.
To the right of me as I faced to the southward was a beautiful and
lovely bay, at least a mile and a half deep and three-quarters wide,
as smooth as glass, in which the shadows of the surrounding shores and
hill-tops were pictured. I marked it down upon my chart as _Mirror
Bay_. Long and steadily I looked to the southward before leaving South
Cape, but no sign of land met my longing view. To the westward, on
the other side of Mirror Bay, trended the white sand beach, backed by
groves of beautiful trees which were in full verdure. Drinking in all
the beauties of Nature round about me, I turned my steps towards the
head of Mirror Bay, and in about a mile and a half came to a river of
considerable size pouring into it, which seemed of some depth, and was
at least thirty or forty yards wide. I followed this stream about a
mile and a half more, when, struggling along by the side of the river,
which I named _Mirror River_, through a short undergrowth of a sort of
scrub oak, I all at once came out upon the most lovely lake imaginable,
fringed round about by beautiful groves of trees, and looking like
molten lead or silver in its quietness and calm. I named it at once
_Mirror Lake_, but in forcing my way to its margin, after having for
a few moments enjoyed its beauties, I started up from its borders
innumerable flocks of birds, amongst which I distinguished geese,
swans, ducks, and other birds of which I knew not the name. I sat down
upon the borders of this beautiful sheet of water and contemplated it
in silence.
After having enjoyed its beauties to my fill, I passed again to the
river bank to pass over and get again to the seaside, but I found
the water rapid and quite deep, although not over my head, and I was
obliged to undress and carry my things over one by one, and to make
several trips before I stood with all my weapons round about me on the
southwestern bank. This lake I should say was about one mile in extent
and half a mile wide, of nearly an oval form, and its waters, which
I tasted and found excellent, singularly pure and limpid, with hard,
sandy shores, and free from any slime or stagnant water. A walk of a
mile brought me again to the seaside, and I trudged on, I should judge,
about three miles, till I saw a ledge of rocks jutting into the sea and
confining my vision as to the extent of the island in that direction.
As I drew nearer I saw forms upon the rocks that looked like human
figures,--like soldiers in full uniform,--but singularly small in size.
For just one moment I was deceived,--nay, even frightened,--but the
next my sailor's eyes told me they were penguins, and sure enough, as
I approached, my soldiers gravely plunged into the ocean and swam out
seaward. I named the point, _Penguin Point_, being the first of these
birds that I had seen. From this point the coast ran in a northerly
direction in almost a straight line, but I had no time to examine it
further on this day, for the beautiful sun was fast dipping into the
western ocean before my eyes, with nothing to veil the magnificent
sight. Eagerly did I look for land as its lower limb touched the water
and set it all in a blaze, but nothing met my view.
I did not find here the thick, shady trees of the remainder of the
island; but short, stumpy cedars and pines, and I noticed that the land
was flat and sandy. I built a small fire so as to light my pipe and
enjoy its company, and gathered together my customary bed of seaweed.
The stars came out in all their brilliancy, and by and by the moon came
creeping up behind me over the island, but I could not sleep as usual.
I was too solitary and desolate to enjoy that luxury of forgetfulness,
and I sat for long hours into the night, listening to sounds that, in
any but a sailor's ear, would have created fear and anxiety; for on
the ocean side I heard the never-ending pulsations and throbs of its
ceaseless breathing, and inland the nameless noises of the night which
I had learned years before in anchor-watches in some distant river of a
far-off clime. I was not afraid, but I was lonely, and in the agony of
my spirit I prayed for rescue from my living tomb; but better feelings
came to my mind as the night wore on, and I thought over how much I
had to be thankful for, and how many comforts I could get round about
me with a little industry and foresight. I suppose that it was about
midnight when I put out my pipe and fell asleep; at any rate, when I
awoke it was broad daylight, and the sun at least two hours high.
CHAPTER XII.
Exploration of the island: Fourth day. Finish the exploration of the
island, and build stone house at Rapid River.
I soon had my fire in a blaze and my breakfast despatched, and started
forward on my explorations. As I advanced, I saw that I was on a
smooth, hard sand-beach, with a scanty growth of cedars and pines on
my right hand inland. After walking a few miles I turned to the right
and walked inland, expecting, from the formation of the land, that
the part of the island I was upon could not be very wide; and sure
enough, after a short half mile through the stunted cedars, I came out
upon Perseverance Bay, and within plain sight of Point Deliverance and
Stillwater Cove, some three miles distant. I found that I was upon a
narrow tongue of land which formed the western boundary of Perseverance
Bay and ended in the promontory that I had seen from Point Deliverance
in looking across the bay on the first day of my explorations.
I did not consider it worth while to pass back again to the west shore,
but kept along on the beach on the margin of Perseverance Bay towards
the point to the northward. In a mile or two more I reached it, and
found that it consisted of quite a sandy elevation, covered with
stunted cedars, and evidently the extreme northern point of my island.
I named it _West Signal Point_. Here I sat down and took a review of
my situation. I had virtually made the circuit of the island; for from
where I sat I could see the margin of Perseverance Bay, which, if I
followed, would end in landing me at the mouth of Stillwater Cove, near
my hut.
I saw that my task was completed, and that I was alone on my island,
the only living human being, the latter-day Robinson Crusoe. My
feelings were those of joy and grief,--joy, that it had pleased
Providence to keep me out of the hands of savages, where I could
pass my life in peace, if it was so willed; grief, that I should be
forced to this lonely and solitary life. I sat many hours at this
spot, thinking over plans for the future, and what I should do to
make myself comfortable and protected from wind and weather, and from
future enemies, should any ever visit me. On the whole, I found my mind
much relieved at the positive proof that I had of the island being
uninhabited, and when I arose and started for home it was with a freer
step and lighter heart than I had had since my landing.
A trudge of about seven miles, as near as I could judge, brought me
to Stillwater Cove without adventure of any kind, although I passed
many objects in the way of birds, trees, and vegetables that were of
intense interest to me. From thence, a walk of about a mile brought
me to my hut at about five o'clock by the sun, hungry and tired, but
perfectly well and strong. Convinced as I was of the utter solitude of
the island, still it was with care and almost awe that I approached
my hut, almost expecting to see some strange creature, either human
or savage, within its walls. Nothing met my ear or eye. Quietness
and solitude reigned, and everything was exactly as I had left it. I
examined my lamp tower, and found that two of the lights had gone out,
I suppose on account of the wick, but the others were burning well but
dimly. I immediately gave matters here my attention, and soon had all
to rights and "ship-shape." I had even a feeling of comfort as if I
had arrived home, and I went about the matter of getting supper and
starting my fire with a cheerful feeling; and whilst doing so I caught
myself at one time quietly humming an old sea ditty.
I saw plainly that my residence at this point was at an end, and that
Rapid River was the place for me to make my home. So I took little
care to arrange matters about me on this evening, but sat down in a
matter-of-fact way and ate my supper, whilst the sun was sinking into
the west; but when night came on, with my pipe as a solace, I thought
of everything, and these are a few of the thousand and one things that
coursed through my mind. I gathered together the following facts:--
_First._ That the island was uninhabited, fruitful, and fertile,
abounding in everything that could conduce to my comfort; pure fresh
water in several localities, birds and fishes of many varieties, goats,
trees of all sizes and growth, tobacco and sweet potatoes, coal and
sulphur; an evidently mild and even climate, and many useful things, no
doubt, which I had not yet discovered in my hasty circuit of it.
_Second._ That I was the only living soul upon it, and that all these
natural treasures were mine to avail myself of by industry, ingenuity,
and perseverance.
Such being the facts of the case, what should be my future course, and
what my plans and duty? Amongst the many that flashed through my mind,
I picked out these, as forming the most important to first receive my
attention.
_First._ To erect a strong, serviceable habitation at Rapid River,
which I had already in my mind concluded to call the _Hermitage_.
_Second._ To ascertain at as early a day as possible, by the best means
at my service, and by the assistance of my "Bowditch's Navigator," the
latitude and longitude of my island, as near as I could come at it.
_Third._ To project a chart from the "Epitome," and find out how far I
was from other lands.
_Fourth._ To never desist from seeking for iron ore at every
opportunity, for with that I could do almost anything.
_Fifth._ To study out some way of building a boat, of size and
strength, without the use of iron or timbers to strengthen her.
_Sixth._ To take the greatest care of my seeds, and watch with the
utmost solicitude those which I had planted.
_Seventh._ To capture at as early a date as possible one or two of the
wild goats, so as to be able to breed up tame ones for my use.
_Eighth._ To procure at once some kind of ink, and keep up my journal
and reckoning on birch-bark leaves.
These were amongst the first tasks that my brain gave my body to
execute, and although thousands of others ran through my head, they all
more or less depended upon the consummation of these cardinal ones.
At a late hour I sought my seaweed couch in my hut, and fell asleep.
The next morning I commenced work in earnest. I had my idea about ink
(which, if my memory served me right, the old Robinson Crusoe had so
much difficulty about and was unable to make), and wending my way to
the beach of Stillwater Cove, with my harpoon in hand, I waded in, and
commenced looking carefully for squid or cuttle-fish, feeling positive
that the ground was too good for them not to be found there, having
seen them frequently lying dead in the seaweed whilst passing around
the island.
I had not long to hunt before I saw several on the pure white sand
before me at the bottom of the water, about the usual size of those at
home, say some six inches in length, but when I attempted to strike
one with the harpoon it darted out of the way, backwards, just as they
used to do in my boyhood days, ejecting at the same time the fluid
from his body which I desired to preserve. I saw that it was useless
to try and get any of these in deep water, and therefore waded ashore
and commenced looking for them in the numerous shallow pools that
the receding tide had left near the margin of the water, and I was
successful in finding five nice fellows embayed in a small, shallow
pool, not six feet in circumference, whence I had no difficulty in
kicking them out upon the sand, opening them with my knife, and pouring
the contents of their dark fluid (which is the sepia of commerce)
into a deep mussel-shell. I had the foundation for good ink, and with
the addition of a little water, and a quill made from the feathers
of my friends the gulls, I was easily fitted out with pens, ink, and
birch-bark, which was all I needed for many a long day to come.
This task ended, and a trial made of my new ink by making some notes
and entries of my doings up to this time, I commenced upon another,
and that was the building of the Hermitage at Rapid River. I selected
a beautiful spot a short distance below the fall, the noise of which
was delightful to my ears, and laid out the foundations for my future
residence. I was at least three weeks preparing all the materials for
the building of the same, passing over each day to my task and back to
the hut to sleep. I was determined that my future residence should be
strong and well built, and able to withstand the action of wind and
rain, and for this purpose I passed my time in gathering large masses
of clam and oyster shells, and reducing them to lime by the action
of fire. This was long and laborious work, but I needed lime to make
mortar, and I could only get it in this way. I also wanted some hair
to mix into my mortar, and this puzzled me for a day or two, but I
bethought me of the goat's skin that I had brought home with me from
near Mirror Lake, and I at once put it to soak in one of the large
sea-oyster shells in water impregnated with wood ashes and some of my
lime to make the hair come off, which it readily did after a few days.
I then went about, whilst burning my shells for lime, to capture some
more of the goats, and by means of numerous snares made of my manilla
rope, and placed in the localities that I found they frequented, I
had no difficulty in capturing as many as I desired, all of which I
killed and cut the flesh into narrow strips and cured it in the air for
future use. The lye in which I soaked the skins gave me the hair for my
mortar, and the skins remaining, although not tanned in a proper sense,
were useful to me in a thousand ways.
When I had gotten together a sufficient quantity of lime, hair, and
nice dry sand, and an immense pile of the largest stones that I could
move, I commenced to build my house.
I marked out a parallelogram of what I should judge by my eyes to be
about twelve feet in width by eighteen feet in length, and upon these
staked-out lines I dug a trench some three feet in depth, and into it
I pushed my heaviest stones for the foundations, taking care to place
particularly large and smooth ones at the corners.
Luckily building material was plenty and at no great distance. Rocks of
all sizes were to be found at the base of the rocky point that was just
below me on Stillwater Cove. Of course I used much larger stones than
I could lift, which I got to where I wanted them, and into place, by
means of small rollers, which were sections of quite large tree-limbs,
that I had cut off with infinite care and patience with my knife, into
the requisite length, and large, strong stakes of wood, made in the
same manner, which I used as crowbars, or as we sailors should call
them, and more properly, handspikes. After my first tier was laid round
about the whole trench, I rolled in other stones on top, putting mortar
between them before I pried them into place. When the trench was filled
I commenced to use smaller stones, but still ones that were quite large
and almost unmanageable; and as the walls got higher, I had to content
myself with stones that I could lift with my hands. But then, again,
I at this point commenced to double my wall, using two stones side by
side where I had formerly at the base used one. In this way my house,
gradually, after some three months' incessant labor, began to take
shape. On the front, sides, and rear, at proper distances and height,
I inserted large timbers so as to form windows. These timbers, which
were often as large as my thigh, I obtained by finding dead trees
that would suit my purpose in the woods, and burning them off at the
proper length, so that I could handle them. Of course a foot or two or
a burned end was of no consequence, as it was laid upon the wall in a
horizontal position, and mortared into its place with the stones that
were piled upon it. In this way I formed rough but strong uprights and
cross-pieces for my door and windows, all of them firmly built into the
wall, and forming part of the solid walls themselves.
[Illustration: BUILDING THE STONE HUT.--PAGE 120.]
At the end of some three months, after incessant and exhaustive labor,
I had the satisfaction of seeing the stone work to my house all done,
the top of the walls being at least two feet above my head, and I
should say at least twelve inches thick; this was all mortared up both
on the outside and inside, and was as strong as a fort. The last layers
of stone gave me the most trouble, but by means of a large, nearly
round stone, upon which I stood, I was enabled to finish my task,
although at great pains. The erection of the roof was comparatively
an easier matter, although that also took me a long time and was only
completed after great patience. I found growing on the shores of Rapid
River a species of cane, and I found that I could cut these down
without difficulty, and gathering a large number of them, I spliced
them together for my uprights and ridge-pole, with manilla yarns, and
then laid the remainder close together from the ridge-pole to the
eaves, projecting over the latter some two feet. These were secured
to the ridge-pole by manilla strands, and in the centre of my house a
strong forked tree as large as my leg received the ridge-pole from both
ends of the house, and sustained it. This cane roofing, which was both
light and strong, I thatched heavily with sedge, similar to that with
which I had covered my hut. I fastened up the openings that I had left
for windows with goat skins for the present, hanging them on wooden
pegs which I could remove when the weather was fine. At the rear end
of my house I had, I should have said, built me a nice open fire-place
and a tall chimney, which I had had to finish after the roof was done,
so as to stand upon the latter to carry the chimney up high enough to
make it safe to carry away the sparks from my thatch. Into this large,
dry, airy, and clean room, I brought by different trips all my worldly
goods. I had put out the lamps in the tower at the landing-place hut
long ago, having no further need of it, but I still kept it as a
receptacle for my spare flint, steel, and tinder, and knew that I could
go there to obtain them to start a fire should I by chance be without
them on my own person.
Whilst my house was in course of construction I had not been idle about
a thousand and one other things, but I had let nothing of importance
interfere with this--to me--imperative duty. After my house was all
finished I commenced setting out round about it, at about fifty paces
distant, a species of alder, which I noticed grew rapidly and thickly,
and which I foresaw would in a very few years entirely conceal my
habitation. When I had gotten things well about me, I found by my
journal that I was in the month of March,--in other words, that the
summer had passed and that I had been none too soon in preparing myself
for the winter, which was yet to visit me.
CHAPTER XIII.
Make a hatchet of my iron hammer. Make matches and utensils for house.
Team of goats, chairs, table, etc. Birch-bark canoe. Arrangements for
winter.
I have said that when the Hermitage was finished the summer had
passed away. Let me describe what the weather had been, and something
concerning the climate and fruits and plants that had been coming to
maturity, whilst I was hard at work on my house.
I found the summer days often hot, but never very unpleasantly so. I
experienced the usual amount of rainy weather that it would be natural
to find in a similar latitude in the northern hemisphere. There were
days, of course, in which it was very hot, and there were other days
in which large quantities of rain fell, but upon the whole the climate
was delightful, more like that of the inland sea in southern Japan than
anything else to which I can compare it. The island was singularly
free from fogs and mists, but then I might reasonably look for these
later in the season. When the day was very sultry, I had always the
beautiful sandy basin of Stillwater Cove to bathe in. So far I had
nothing to complain of on this score, and felt confident that the
winter would be mild and short. It was about this time that I felt the
need of more tools, and especially a hatchet, which I finally concluded
to make out of my hammer, which, be it remembered, I had constructed
out of the boat's anchor. I took this hammer, and by repeated heatings
and beating with a piece of the remaining shank, I forged it into the
shape of a hatchet, still leaving the eye as it was when used for a
hammer. I then went to the place where I had been cast on shore, and
procured some clay like that from which I had made my lamp tower, and
formed some rough crucibles by burning them in hot wood fires. Into one
of these I put my hatchet-head and filled round about it with small
pieces of charcoal and slips of the skin of my goats and small pieces
of unburned, soft wood, and carefully sealed up the orifice with a
quantity of the moist clay, and cast the crucible into a hot fire; not
hot enough to fuse the iron, however, and kept it there, watching it
carefully from time to time, nearly three days, when I dragged it out
of the flames, broke open the crucible, and took out my hatchet-head,
converted into excellent steel of superior hardness and temper. I soon
procured a soft species of stone as a whetstone, and by the labor of a
few hours brought the edge to a fine degree of sharpness, and, having
fitted a handle by means of my knife, I had a splendid instrument to
aid me. No mortal ever looked upon the works of his own hands with more
admiration than did I upon my steel hatchet. Many things which I had
not before deemed possible I could now attempt. After I had made my
hatchet I commenced many improvements round about me. I made several
trips to my vegetable garden, and saw with the utmost satisfaction
that all my seeds had sprouted, and I supplied myself with all kinds
of vegetables during the whole season. I took great care to preserve
carefully a great plenty of the seeds of each species, and thought more
of that than enjoying them, but they were so plenty that I had ample
of nearly all for food. My wheat, however, I saved every kernel of for
sowing next year.
I had by this time several very tame goats tied up about the hermitage,
and I made up my mind to break a span or two of them to harness, and
for this purpose, as I could not construct wheels, I made a sled by
bending two small limbs in the shape I desired, and fastening them
by cross pieces, all of which I held together by straps of manilla
lashings and by holes burned with a hot nail from one part into the
other, into which I drove small pegs of hard, seasoned wood, and
finally turned out quite a respectable sled, about twice as large as a
common boy's sled, and the runners much wider, so as not to sink into
the soil. To this I attached my four goats, making the harness out of
the hides of those that I had killed, which I sewed together in good
shape with strong manilla twine by means of my bradawl, making real
good, strong work. The traces I made by laying up small strands of
the manilla rope, and ended by turning out four sets of breast-plate
harnesses; strong and durable, and easily adjusted.
I found very little difficulty in breaking my team into drawing this
sled, and by means of it I brought home many useful acquisitions for
my winter's use, but chiefly coal from my coal mine, which was about
two miles distant. I used to carry my sled across Rapid River, below
the falls, and then drive over my team upon a sort of rocky causeway
that I had built so that they did not have to tread very deep in the
water, and then, harnessing them up, I used to start for the mine,
and by means of the anchor-fluke, I dug out easily enough coal in a
short time to load my sled, and dragged it home to the river, whence I
transported it across in a basket of willow twigs that I had made in my
leisure moments. In this way, before winter, I had at least two tons of
coal near the door-way of the hermitage, all handy for winter use. With
this same sled and team, I gathered also a large amount of wood, which
I could now cut into proper lengths with my hatchet. I constructed of
small stones and mortar in one side of my large fire-place, a sort of
grate, with a chimney made of sections of pottery pipe manufactured
of clay from the landing place, that led up into the main chimney, in
which I could burn my coal if I wished to, or make a wood fire beside
it. I found very little difficulty in making several clumsy but useful
vessels of clay, which I baked successfully and glazed with salt; my
book of useful arts and sciences giving me an idea how to do it. My
next task was to make matches, and the information necessary for this
I also procured from my book. The wood I easily obtained by splitting
up small, thin sections of well-seasoned pine with my hatchet, and
these again I sub-divided into matches with my knife. I then caught a
quantity of fish with my harpoon, which I had no difficulty in doing
at any time, especially the small dog-shark species, and chopped up
the bones of the head with my hatchet, placing them at a distance from
my habitation. These I allowed to putrify till they were luminous with
phosphorus, which I gathered carefully in the night-time by separating
it from the putrid mass and carefully pressing it. I then procured some
turpentine from the resinous trees near to me, and made a mixture of
sulphur, phosphorus, and turpentine, which I heated, and into which
I dipped each match singly, and laid it aside to dry. I afterwards
dipped each into a melted solution of pure spruce gum, very thin, to
preserve them from the weather. I made several attempts before I was
successful, but at last I obtained the right proportions and made me
a stock of matches that worked well if they were used with care, and
if the weather was not too damp, when I was often driven to the use of
my flint and steel. For winter provisions I visited, with my sled and
team, the sweet-potato fields, and laid in a large stock, also picking
a quantity of the tobacco plant and curing it for my own use, and this
was my greatest solace in my loneliness.
I found upon the island a species of gourd, and I soon had in my home
a set of these useful utensils, which, by dividing, I also made into
bowls and saucers. I also, from Breakwater ledge, procured any number
of the large deep mussel-shells, nearly a foot in length, which were
useful as receptacles for all sorts of things.
I found no difficulty, by a treatment which I found in my book, in
preserving, by means of tannin procured from the inner bark of a
species of scrub oak with which the island abounded, all the skins
of my goats, and I soon gathered together a stock of both tanned and
untanned ones, some with the hair on and some with it removed. I hated
to attack my friends the seals, and yet it was about this time that I
made a trip across the island and killed ten of them for the purpose of
procuring their skins, which I added to my stock.
I found no difficulty, by means of my knife, in cutting out quite a
respectable pair of trousers, and a sort of hunting jacket from the
goat-skins; but the sewing of them together was a harder task. Still,
before winter set in, I was clothed in quite a nice buckskin suit,
and had, with my seal-skins and goat-skins with the hair left on, the
withal to make at any time a winter suit that would protect me from
the cold, so that I had that trouble off my mind. As for shoes, I
easily made me a pair of moccasins of the goat-skin, with the hair side
within, which were very comfortable and useful. I also from my skins
made me a much more useful and ornamental cap to replace the one of
rushes that I had worn throughout the summer.
I also made me a nice tobacco pouch, and several other useful articles
of skin, including a sort of game bag, which I carried over my shoulder
by a broad skin band; this latter was especially useful to me. I also
made from my clay several useful but rather clumsy pipe-heads, and with
a reed stem I was fitted on this score and had no more fears about
breaking my old clay one. For meat for the winter I laid in large
stocks of my dried or jerked goat's flesh, and I had little fears on
this score, as I could always procure fresh meat now, when I desired
it, for my goats had begun to propagate already. From them I already
obtained milk, in larger quantities than I had any use for, but had too
many things to think of, of more importance than to try at this time
to make cheese. I caught in the river large quantities of a species
of herring, and also a few fine salmon, which visited the river, but
only for a short time, being unable to ascend the falls. All of these I
cured by smoking, by building a hut round about them and keeping them
for a long time in the densest smoke by burning green wood underneath
them. I cured also in this way some few hams of my goats.
After having gotten these things about me, I tackled others of less
importance, perhaps, but necessary for my comfort. In one of my
excursions to the coal-mine I discovered what I felt convinced was
limestone, and upon bringing a piece home, and testing it by fire, I
found I was correct, so here I had all the lime I should ever need
for any purpose, easily procured by burning the stone and gathering up
the residue. I now commenced upon the interior of my house, and in the
first place made myself a nice hammock of four goat-skins, with the
hair inside, which I stretched from the central post of my room to one
of the window jambs. I then went to work upon a bed, and cut first with
my hatchet four uprights with forked ends, like the letter Y, from as
many limbs, about four inches in diameter and three feet high; into
these forks I placed two long poles, some two inches in diameter, and
fastened them there securely by means of manilla strands. I then braced
the ends and sides by lashing, both lengthwise and endwise, poles about
one foot from the ground, which kept the whole in shape, and although
it was not so strong as if dovetailed together by a cabinet-maker, it
answered all purposes, and when pushed up against the wall, in the
corner, was further supported upon two sides. Across this I stretched
cords of manilla, and over them I laid long, soft, pliable rushes, and
over them again seal-skins, with the hair side upward; and I had at
last a capital bed. My chairs did not give me so much trouble, for I
found two old roots of trees, that, with a little hacking off here and
there with my hatchet and a goat skin for a seat, made as easy chairs
as any body ever sat in; of course they were too heavy to be moved
about, but for all practical purposes they were perfect, and I could
rest in them with the greatest comfort and ease.
With my clay I easily baked some shallow dishes with a handle, into
which I poured my sharks' liver oil and fitted with pith wick and had
no want of light. One of these lamps I suspended from the ridgepole in
nearly the centre of the room, just clear of the upright, and two or
three feet above my head, fitted with three wicks, which, when lit at
night gave me a pleasant and abundant light. I made favorites of one
or two of my young goats, and used to allow them to occupy the house
with me, and became much attached to them, and in the evening when not
too busy, amused myself by teaching them to walk on their hind legs,
and other playful tricks which seemed for a moment to make me forget
my loneliness. I was not satisfied with what I had yet done for the
interior of my house, and I therefore went to work, and made myself a
table on the same plan as the bed, except that it was higher and much
lighter, and across this I stretched a large section of birch bark
which I stripped from a tree; this table pleased me so much that I went
to work and made a lighter one still for my ink, pens, and books, etc.,
retaining the other for eating purposes. In fact, before the winter was
ended I had four of these tables in the house, which were very handy,
and yet after all were not difficult to make. For a door, I cut several
canes and lashed them together with manilla rope strands, and hung it
by the same material, but it would not open or shut very well, and I
was forced to lift it carefully, but then I only closed and opened it
once a day, morning and night. The floor of my house troubled me more
than anything else, but finally I covered it with a coating of clay
that I brought on the sled by repeated trips to the clay field; this I
mixed with a quantity of lime and sand and put it down whilst moist,
and it formed a sort of cement, and soon became hard and firm, but it
was always dusty to a degree and not as clean as I could have wished,
but it did very well,--at least, I could think of nothing to improve it.
It was at this time, when I seemed to have gotten everything well
about me for the winter, which was sensibly approaching, for it was
now the month of May, and some of the days had been quite chilly and
unpleasant, that I was taken with the insane idea of building a boat. I
do not know for what earthly purpose I desired one, except, possibly,
I might coast along in Stillwater Cove or the margin of Perseverance
Bay and if I found anything that I needed I could transport it better
in the boat than any other way. I was well aware that I had no tools
to make a boat with, but for that very reason I was determined to
make one. I had made up my mind, if I must play the part of Robinson
Crusoe, that I would at least prove to myself, if to no one else,
that thousands of things can be accomplished by a little ingenuity
and contrivance that seem difficult upon first view. For instance, I
thought at once of several ways in which I could make a boat: one, by
hollowing out a log with my hatchet and by means of fire; another by
making a light frame of twigs and stretching skins over it; or still
another and very much the best method, by taking the bark from a birch
tree and making an Indian birch-bark canoe. This latter was the easiest
and simplest, and a plan that I knew something about, so I went about
in the woods till I found a splendid great birch that pleased my eye,
some two feet or more in diameter, with a bark seemingly without a
flaw. It took me nearly a day to build up a kind of platform of wood
and stones, so as to reach high enough up the trunk of the tree to
make a circular incision with my knife at about fifteen feet from the
ground, and then one perpendicular till within about two feet of the
ground, where I made another round about the tree, leaving me a strip
of bark some thirteen feet in length. This I forced off, using great
care not to tear or split it, by means of a series of wedges which I
forced in under the bark with my hatchet. At last the piece lay before
me upon the ground, and the worst part of my task was done, for I soon
brought the ends together, filling them first with melted pitch, and
lashed them with thin withes of a kind of willow which I split for the
purpose, the same as the Indians do; and having sewed and lashed up
both ends, after cutting the bark with my knife in the right shape,
I split up with my hatchet long, limber, thin pieces of a species of
ash, in the green state, something like hoops to a flour barrel, but
somewhat wider and stronger, and with these cut in different lengths,
and inserted within the bark, I gave the canoe its shape, the longest,
widest, and strongest ones being in the centre, from which they
shortened towards each end. Inside of the gunwale the whole length on
each side I stretched a pliable cane pole, rolling the bark round about
it and sewing the whole down with manilla strands and green withes of
willow.
It was amazing to see what a beautiful, light, and graceful boat I had
produced with only about a week's labor; one that I could put upon my
head and carry towards the water with ease. I soon, by means of my
hatchet and knife, fashioned out a paddle, and my canoe was complete. I
launched her in Stillwater Cove, and she floated like a duck, and was
besides of a beautiful model, and, as I well knew, would stand terrific
weather if properly handled, being one of the best sea-boats in the
world, not excepting the famous Nantucket whale-boats. I was delighted
with my success.
I did not gather all these things about me without many bitter hours
of loneliness and despair; but their constructions and the reading
of my book, which I consulted almost nightly, kept me often from
miserable repinings. I felt that I was gaining, and that I had not yet
done making nature, ingenuity, and industry improve my condition and
increase my comforts.
CHAPTER XIV.
Make chairs, and arrange my house, seal-skins, and goat-skins. Provide
provisions for winter. Discover wild grapes, and make wine and
vinegar. Find potassium, or saltpetre. Make gunpowder, and by means of
my compass discover iron. Thoughts of the future.
The completion of my canoe, which I named the "Fairy," was a great
delight to me, and I made several trips in her along the coast in
Stillwater Cove, and made an exploration near the place where I had
first landed. Somewhat into the interior of the island, I came upon
what was a great discovery for me,--although I had the seeds amongst my
stores, and had already planted some,--and that was grapes, in large
and abundant clusters, growing wild and naturally. Here was both food
and drink for me, and they were at this time in their prime. From them
I could make vinegar, wine, and raisins. I gathered a large quantity,
which I placed in the canoe and transported to the Hermitage, and
although late in season hung up many bunches to dry in the still quite
warm sun, and from the remainder I extracted the juice by pressing them
between my hands and catching the liquor in several of my numerous
earthen jars. The flavor of these grapes was a little wild, but
pleasant and agreeable. I knew that fermentation would take place, and
that in time I should have a light claret wine, and thereafter good
wine vinegar. To cause fermentation, and to improve the flavor, I put a
piece of goat's flesh into each vessel, and covered up the mouths with
earthen covers that I had made to each.
I was no longer in any fear about expending my manilla rope, for I
had some time since begun to use strips of rawhide of the goats skins
for lashings, than which nothing could be better, and I also cut many
skins into very fine strips after they were tanned, which served me for
smaller strings, and even thread for rough sewing. For finer sewing
I often used the sinews of these creatures, and I had by this time
converted several of my nails into steel, after having pierced them
with an eye, and by grinding them down and polishing them upon stones I
had made several very good sail-needles, which were extremely useful,
and it was a small matter to make a "palm," or sailor's thimble, from
the skin of a goat, to go upon the right hand, to force the needle
through any material, exactly the same as is done by sailors in all
their stitching and sail-making. In place of the little round thimble
fixed into the centre of the palm, to receive the head of the needle
in pushing, I inserted a flint-stone with a roughened surface, which
answered the purpose very well, and I could now do all kinds of rough
sewing without the use of my awl, which had been a slow and laborious
manner of proceeding. From this time forth I had no difficulty in
sewing my jackets and trousers with strong sinews, which held them
firmly together in the seams. It is scarcely credible how many things I
gathered around about me that were useful as well as ornamental.
Before I had done completely furnishing my house I set about making me
a movable chair, as well as the easy ones that I had made of old roots,
and this I did by means of my hatchet. I procured four smooth limbs of
trees, two of which were about four feet in length and two about one
foot six inches. The latter were to serve as the front legs, the former
as the back legs and also the back of the chair. These limbs were about
two inches in diameter, as I did not wish the chair to be heavy, but
light and portable. Into all these uprights I bored holes at proper
distances by means of my anchor shank, heated to a red heat, which I
thrust through them, and cutting smaller round limbs for rungs I forced
them into the holes made by the hot iron, and soon had the skeleton of
a nice light chair made to my hand. I was so pleased with it that I set
about another immediately, and soon had it also finished. It was not
at all a difficult job for a mechanic. For the seat of these chairs,
upon one I wove rushes thick and strong, and upon the other I laced a
fine piece of seal skin with the fur left on. They were both useful and
comfortable, but rather straight in the back, like the old ancestral
chairs that I used to see in the attics in Vermont.
I had got tired by this time shooting at the wild pigeons with
my arrows, and found no difficulty in capturing all I wanted by
means of snares, made from the hair of my goats, which I set at the
watering-place whenever I wanted any of them for food, and gave over
firing ten or fifteen shots before I could kill one, when I could
capture a dozen in an hour should I need them.
I took down my goat-skins at the windows and replaced them by thin
skins of the same animal, almost parchment, which gave some light
through them, and fastened them up with thorns, driven into the wood,
for the winter, the open door giving me, with their subdued light,
enough to see by so as to perform all the work that I wanted to inside,
and when night came I had my lamps in full blast, for oil cost me
nothing.
I made, before winter set in, several excursions, in all directions,
and especially one in the direction of the mountain that lay upon my
right hand, only about a mile from the Hermitage, when I went to the
coal-mine. This mountain I made up my mind to ascend, and see if I
could not make some new discovery. I fought my way up its steep sides
till I had arrived at nearly one-half the distance, apparently, from
its summit, when I was halted by the appearance of a small brook that
trickled past my feet. I noticed that the water and the stones were
both of a brown, rusty color, and it flashed upon me that it must be
caused by iron. If I could only find that substance I thought that I
could be almost happy, even in my solitude. What could I not do with
that metal to aid me? the handling of it would be to me child's play.
I could make of it cast-steel, and of cast-steel all manner of tools
by means of moulds. This working in iron had been my trade, and I had
no occasion to consult my book to know how to avail myself of it should
I be so fortunate as to find it. I followed this little trickling
brook, not over six inches wide, till it branched into two smaller
ones, and, still following the smaller one, traced it till I came to a
place where, in a bubbling spring, the water issued from the mountain's
side. The discoloration of all the stones near me proved to me that I
was near iron, and that the mountain whence the tiny streams issued
contained it; but in how large masses I could not judge.
I left my little stream and looked about me carefully, to the right
and left, for I did not want to pierce the mountain whence the water
issued, as I wanted a dryer spot to make my explorations, and knew
that if there was iron it would be found near by the brook as well
as in the exact spot whence the spring burst forth. I finally, at a
little distance to the left hand and rather down the hill, found a
place that looked as if it might prove a good locality to prosecute my
search. The ground was covered with boulders, of different sizes, and
there was quite an opening on the mountain side, the undergrowth being
only shrubs and plants, with the trees and groves below me in larger
groups. In this opening I set to work, turning over such boulders as I
could lift, and there were many that by aid of a handspike, cut from
a sapling with my hatchet, I was able to remove and send bounding
down the mountain side. I scratched into the side of the mountain
in this way till I had made quite a little excavation, but I was
obliged to give it up and return home for my pickaxe, as I called my
anchor-fluke, and with this instrument, and carrying my dinner with
me, I attacked the mountain the next day and made more progress. After
working some little, in an irregular way, into the mountain side,--for
I had to avoid the heavier boulders and solid stone,--I came upon a
crystallized mass between two rocks that seemed to be exuding from the
mountain side. It looked something like common salt, and I put some of
it in my mouth to see if I could recognize what it was by the taste.
It had hardly reached my palate before I sank down upon the earth
where I stood, with the excitement of the knowledge of the discovery
that I felt sure I had made. My sense of taste told me plainly that I
had found saltpetre, and saltpetre meant _gunpowder_! GUNPOWDER! and
gunpowder meant strength to protect myself with and power to blow the
mountain to atoms to come at my iron should nature try to resist me by
enfolding it concealed in its bosom. I grasped my pickaxe and picked
out quite a lump of my precious discovery, and started hastily for home.
It was too late to do much on that day, as my usual household cares
and the milking of my goats and getting supper took up most of my
time; besides I wanted to consult my book as to the proportions in
which to mix my ingredients to make gunpowder. I knew nearly the
right proportions, and felt confident that I could get it exactly by
repeated experiment, but I also knew that my book would give it to me
exactly and save me much loss of time in this direction. I knew also
that willow or alder made the best charcoal for gunpowder, and, thank
God, there was no lack of these trees upon the island. If I obtained
gunpowder I could make some kind of a gun, for I knew that, in ancient
history, cannon even had been made of _leather_, and fired repeatedly
without bursting. I could certainly make a tube of some kind, so
strongly reinforced with skin and twine and raw hide, that it would
stand the discharge of a small quantity of powder without bursting, and
if I found iron I would soon solve all the difficulties about a gun
barrel, let me once get hold of the raw material in any quantity.
A thought struck me in this connection. I would soon prove whether
there was iron in the mountain side by taking my compass there on the
next trip, and seeing if it was drawn from the true north towards
the mountain side, and if so, in what direction: this would tell me
how to dig towards my treasure, and not waste time by going in any
wrong direction. This seemed a happy thought, and I was jubilant over
having conceived it. The only thing that I did to help things along
for the morrow was to pick out carefully, from my wood-fire ashes,
small pieces of charcoal that I thought would serve my purpose, and
to pick off from several pieces of my coal a quantity of sulphur all
ready for my experiments. The next morning I set to work in good
earnest, and having discovered the proportions in which to add my
different ingredients, I soon had the pulverized charcoal, sulphur, and
saltpetre together, and then, moistening the mass slightly, I kneaded
them together till they were completely incorporated. I then, by a slow
heat, dried my gunpowder cake upon hot stones that I heated at the
fire and then carried to a distance, first carefully dusting them, and
placed my gunpowder paste upon them in an earthen jar to be dried. As
my cake was not very large, I was not very many hours in doing this;
and as I knew that I ought not to use any iron or stone in pulverizing
the mass, whilst this was going on, I procured a smooth rolling-pin
made from the round branch of a tree, and smoothed quite a surface
on the upper side of a large fallen tree with my hatchet, so that I
had a sort of table to roll my powder upon. Again, to prevent all
accidents, when my cake was thoroughly dry, I carried it bit by bit,
having broken it by a blow of my wooden rolling-pin, to my fallen-tree
table, where I crushed it under the roller, putting pieces no larger
than my thumb-nail under the roller at one time, so if there should be
an explosion, it would be on so small a scale that it would not injure
me in the least, should it take place. As fast as this small amount was
pulverized, I carried it again to a distance and placed it in a gourd
for safe keeping, but I pulverized very little before I interrupted
my task to rush with quite a handful to my fire, and, taking a pinch,
I cast it into the flame, and, puff, puff, puff, it ignited as it
struck the fire, just as the particles used to do in my boyhood days.
Even this did not, however, satisfy me. I laid the rest down upon the
floor, and standing at a distance with a coal in one end of a cleft
stick, touched it, when it exploded as quickly and completely as any
ever turned out by any mill. One more proof and I would be convinced. I
ran and got from the sea-shore one of the large shells for which I have
no name, but which I had formerly used as lamp reservoirs, and going
to my powder table, soon pulverized enough to pour a handful into it,
and to close up the lips with moist clay, except one orifice; to this I
laid a piece of manilla soaked in the dampened powder as a slow match,
and having set fire to the same, and retired to a safe distance, I
awaited the result. It seemed an eternity before the slow match burned
to the orifice, but when I had almost given up hope, in one instant,
with a loud report, the sea-shell was burst into a thousand fragments.
I was successful; power and strength were added to my resources. I
lay down upon the sand by the sea-shore where I had retired to watch
the explosion, and fell into a brown study, which enwrapped me, body
and soul, for many hours, till I was called to myself again by the
decreasing light of the setting sun. The next day I sallied forth,
armed with my compass, for the mountain side, and upon arrival I noted
the direction of the magnetic north by my compass, the card of which I
had released from its packing and set upon its pivot. Having carefully
ascertained this, I entered the small hole that I had made in the
mountain side, and held the compass in several places against the
earth, when the needle turned perceptibly away from the magnetic north
and pointed in towards the interior of the mountain, and by several
experiments I found out in just what direction I ought to advance, and
by the attraction of the needle I felt sure that the ore, which I now
was convinced was there, could not be very far distant from where I
stood, and that one large blast would lay it open to me. I therefore
went to work and gathered quite a quantity of the saltpetre and started
for home to make my gunpowder for the blast that was to open up to me
my long-sought treasure, valuable to me far beyond any other metal on
this earth in the circumstances in which I was placed.
In five days' time I found myself in possession of over twenty pounds,
I should judge, of good gunpowder. I found by my book that it was not
at all peculiar to find potassium as I had found mine, and further,
that to purify it I needed to mix it with equal parts of wood-ashes,
and then add water and allow it to stand a few hours, and then draw off
the lye and place it for three days in the sun, in shallow vessels,
to evaporate, and then boil down what was left, to procure absolutely
pure saltpetre, all of which I did. And when I had manufactured my
powder, and observed by experiment that it was much sharper and louder
in explosions than before, showing the improvement of purifying the
saltpetre, I placed the whole lot in my goatskin bag and started for
the mountain. Arriving at my excavation, I looked about to see what
I could do to make my explosion effectual and do the most good. By
examination, I found that there was quite a space between the two inner
boulders that obstructed my way, and a sort of vent-hole that led, I
knew not where. Into this I commenced to pour my powder, and used up
over two-thirds of all I possessed before I saw any result. Finally,
the crevice, just as I began to despair and thought I had thrown away
and lost it all, showed that it was full by refusing to receive any
more. As soon as I noticed this, I knew that I had an excellent chance
to make a good blast, and I therefore pushed in the powder in sight,
and was able, by shoving it downwards, to add at least two pounds
more. I then carefully inserted a strand of manilla previously soaked
in wet powder, and dried, into the mouth of this crevice, and well
down into the powder; I then stuffed the whole with small pebbles and
moist earth, and finally placed quite a large rock against the vent,
and, with a prayer for success I lighted the fuse and retired to a
safe distance to watch the effect. As before, it seemed as if it would
never ignite, and I waited and waited, taking care to be well distant
and well sheltered behind a large boulder, till finally, with a dull,
low, smothered noise, the charge exploded. I was disappointed, and was
afraid that my powder was too weak or ill-made, but when I arrived
at the spot I was amazed at the execution that had taken place: the
whole roof had been uplifted and thrown open, and the boulders that had
resisted my further entrance cast to one side, and the whole side of
the mountain pierced and opened in a wonderful manner. I dashed into
the opening that had been made, and the first fragment that my hand
closed upon was pure iron ore. I was like one mad with joy. I acted as
insanely as I had once or twice before since landing upon the island,
and danced and sang, and ended by sitting down and bursting into tears.
Upon further examination I was inclined to believe that the whole
mountain was composed of iron, and that I only needed to pierce the
crust in any direction to get the precious metal. My discovery lay just
about one mile from my home, and quite accessible.
I found that the blast had brought to view quite a large surface, on
one side, of my saltpetre, whilst further to the southward appeared
the iron ore in masses that I could pry out with my pickaxe. After
having feasted my eyes long enough upon my treasure, I started down the
mountain, smoothing the pathway wherever it was rough, and opening up a
way for my team and sled to bring down the ore to the hermitage.
I absolutely saw no end to the improvements that I could make now that
I had iron to work with. I could do anything within reason, and make
anything I chose to make. A thousand and one schemes of escape by
its means rose up before me. If at this moment I could have had the
companionship of my fellow-kind, I should, I think, have been unable
to ask any blessing to be added to my lot. Here was I in evidently one
of the finest climates of the earth, with everything about me even now
to sustain life, and with many of its luxuries, and with the foundation
laid for many more.
Upon a close examination of the specimen that I had brought away with
me in my bag, home to the Hermitage, and by consultation with my book,
I felt convinced that I had discovered what is called magnetic iron;
that is, iron ore that is most universally dispersed over the earth.
The action of the compass added to this belief, and the limestone
formation was exactly fitted to this kind of ore, which is the same as
is generally called the Swedish iron ore, one of the best-known irons
in the world. The color was a sort of black iron shade, and the ore
brittle and attracted by the magnet of my compass; whereas, if my iron
ore had been hematite it would have been of a dull steel color, and
probably without magnetic properties.
How I revelled in what I was going to do. First, I was to build my kiln
and put the ore through that to purify it of sulphur, arsenic, water,
&c., then to a blast furnace, to be heated with a flux of limestone
and coal, and in the melted form run into pigs in the sand of the
smelting-room. Once in this melted form I could make, from moulds,
chisels, axes, hatchets, plane-irons, and saws, by a treatment of the
melted iron ore. By means of blasts of cold air I could change the
whole mass into Bessemer steel. With the tools I have named, in my
hand, I could go to work at once to erect a sawmill on Rapid River,
near the Hermitage, and with the greatest ease saw out all the plank
I should want for any purpose under the sun. Then my thoughts strayed
away to nautical instruments, some kind of a quadrant, then the
latitude and longitude of my island, and then a chart on Mercator's
projection from my Epitome; and then turning-lathes, iron boats,
electric wire, gunmaking, steam engine and propeller boat, torpedoes
for defence, and all the means to escape from this miserable solitude.
All these things, I say, ran through my head like wildfire. Nothing was
now impossible. I had got my genie, and I was determined to make him
work. The weather was getting cooler and cooler, and one or two storms
had already warned me of the approach of winter. The leaves began to
fall, and the whole island commenced to look dreary and forsaken; the
grass, however, retained its freshness in a remarkable degree.
It was in the latter part of May that I discovered my iron ore, and
I knew that this was the same month comparatively as November would
be in the northern hemisphere; and although there had as yet been no
actual frost, much less any ice or snow, yet I saw signs, not to be
disregarded, that the weather would be more severe and colder before
the spring days would come, and yet evidently I had not much to fear
from a very great degree of cold, as my theory concerning the climate
had so far been singularly correct. I commenced, therefore, at once,
without loss of time, to collect my ore by means of my team of goats,
and transport it from the mountain to Rapid River. I did not bring it
over as I had the coal, for I determined to erect my blast furnace
and kiln on the further side, and opposite to my home, as being more
convenient in many respects.
I worked hard myself, and worked my team hard, in bringing to Rapid
River both the iron ore and coal, and also quite a large quantity of
the potassium, which I carefully took into the hermitage till I should
need it to make more powder. It did not take very many trips, however,
after all, to get the iron ore that I should use during the winter, at
least, but the coal to smelt it took me longer. After I had gathered
all of each that I thought I should need I gave my goats a rest, and
set to work to make arrangements for my smelting-furnace, kiln, and
smelting-room, and how I proceeded I will now go on to relate.
CHAPTER XV.
Make a mould for bricks. Build a brick-kiln and make bricks. Build a
smelting-house, blast-furnace, kiln for cleansing ore. Meditations.
Build water-wheel and fan-wheel, and set my machinery for an air-blast
to reduce the ore.
In the first place I went to work, and with my knife and hatchet
fashioned out two quite smooth pieces of wood about four feet long,
three inches wide, and perhaps one inch thick. I smoothed these on
one side with a great deal of care, and finished them off by means
of dry shark's skin, which stood me admirably in place of sandpaper.
I placed these two slips of wood parallel to each other, about four
inches apart, and fastened them in that position by means of blocks
of wood of the same size and thickness, placed between them at equal
distances of about six inches, which subdivided the whole into eight
equal compartments, fastening the cross-pieces in by means of hardwood
pegs driven into holes in the side, made by a red-hot nail. When my
labor was finished my affair looked like a set of pigeon holes, such
as are used in an office, except they were open on both sides and had
no back, and each compartment was four inches wide, three inches deep,
and six inches long. This was an insignificant looking thing in itself,
and, except the smoothing of the inside in all parts, was not a labor
of any great magnitude, and yet by means of this instrument I intended
to make a great stride forward in civilization. The thing that I had
made was a press or mould for bricks. I do not know the technical name,
but I knew that if I placed this instrument upon the level hewn side
of any fallen tree for a table, and filled each compartment with clay
properly moistened, I should at each filling and emptying turn out
eight equal-sized, unburned bricks, all ready for the kiln.
To enable me to prosecute this work I moved for a few days to the
landing-place, where clay in abundance was to be found, and where my
old hut would give me shelter. When I say I moved there for a few days
I should say that I came home to the Hermitage every second day to
care for my flock of goats and look after my household cares. Upon my
arrival at the clay pits I soon set to work, and my clay was so pure
that I had little trouble in moulding it; and, after having fixed
a smooth plane upon a fallen tree as a table for the bottom of my
mould, by levelling the same with my hatchet, smoothing with my knife,
and finishing with my shark-skin sandpaper, I set to work moulding,
getting my water at a short distance inland from a boggy piece of
ground abounding in springs, which existed right under my nose, a
little to the left, when I was so anxiously distilling water upon my
first arrival at this very spot. I transported this water, by means of
gourds and my canister, easily, to the clay pits, and soon had a fine
array of bricks, the moulding being simple, and I found I could work
quite fast; and by means of my knife and a sharp clam-shell or two,
and with a large mussel-shell for a shovel, I had no difficulty in
filling the mould quickly and trimming off all superfluous clay very
rapidly. As fast as I finished one set I dashed the mould over with
fresh water, so that the next lot moulded would slip out easily after
being carefully pressed in. As fast as I made the bricks I allowed
them to lie for a day or two in the air till they hardened, and then
commenced to pile them up in shape to be burned and perfected into
bricks. As a boy I had often examined brick-kilns, and I knew that I
must make, or rather leave, a sort of oven under them, and, throughout
the whole pile, apertures through which the flames and heat would
penetrate so as to bake the whole mass. I built my kiln with care and
on the above principles, and in less than a week had a goodly array of
bricks all built up in complete form. I then with my goat team drew to
the kiln all the old dead wood I could manage, and with my hatchet cut
it into suitable lengths to be thrust into my ovens, for I had three
of them in the whole pile, and with great glee set fire to them all
one evening, and saw that they had a good draft and burned fiercely.
I worked like ten men to keep these fires perpetually going, and,
prepared as I had been in the commencement by laying in a large supply,
I, with the aid of the team of goats, was able to keep up with them
and feed them regularly. I do not remember now how many days I burned
these bricks, but it was very easy to examine them and see when they
were sufficiently hardened and burned; and when they suited my eye,
and I experimented upon several by breaking them open, I let the fires
gradually go down, and found myself in possession of a nice stack of
bricks, fit for any purpose. These, as they cooled, I transported
in the canoe to the landing opposite to the Hermitage, where I had
determined to arrange all my appurtenances for smelting the iron ore.
In the first place I commenced a house or workshop, about twenty feet
long and twenty wide, by building up walls of stone, as I had done
for my Hermitage, but in a much rougher and coarser manner, without
foundations, and very much lower, not over six feet in height. Over
this I erected the usual bamboo roof and rushes for thatch, with one
opening for a window, and one for an entrance, in opposite sides. The
floor of this room I covered with pure white sea-sand for one half, and
the other half with soft, pulverized, dry, clayey loam that would do me
for castings. In one end of this smelting-house, as I called it, with
the feeding-place outside, I built, in an aperture in the wall left for
that purpose, a solid blast furnace of my bricks, which I lined with
my pottery cement, and made in every way complete to receive the ore
and smelt it. This was to me, except the manual labor, boy's play. The
opening for the fused iron was within the smelting-house, and I could
run the ore on to the sandy floor in channels made for that purpose,
and thus procure my pig iron or Bessemer steel as the case might be.
In this blast-furnace I left several channels to be connected in some
way with a blast of cold air, for without this blast I could not of
course expect to smelt the ore. To improve the draught, and to have
Nature help me all possible, I built the chimney or cone of the blast
furnace at least twenty feet high, of bricks, tapering the same in a
cone form from the base to the apex. I worked upon this matter like
a beaver, and felt well satisfied with my work when it was done. My
smelting-house stood quite near to Rapid River Falls on the further
side, for I had foreseen that I should have to use some power to get up
speed to move some kind of a fan wheel, and I knew that I could only do
it by means of water, and had therefore, for that very reason, placed
the house near to the bank and had built the blast-furnace on the end
of the house nearest the river.
After finishing my blast-furnace completely I left it to dry and
harden, and set to work at my roasting-kiln, on which my ore was to be
first purified and cleansed. This was comparatively an easy affair,
and was made wholly of bricks, underneath which large fires could be
built, and through the numerous interstices the flame would reach the
ore placed upon the bed above; the flame, after passing through and
over the ore, to be carried out at the other end of the bed by means of
a brick chimney about twelve feet in height, high enough to give a good
draught.
As soon as I had my kiln done I commenced drying it by lighting a fire
under it, and found that it had a good draught and would answer my
purpose admirably. I then went to work again with my team of goats,
and dragged near to the smelting-house all the dead wood--and there
were large quantities of it--that I could lay hands upon, that was
anyway near or convenient. Being now in the month of June, I found the
mornings often quite snappishly cold, and was glad of a little fire
often in my home. But I worked so hard in these days that I scarcely
had time, after finishing my supper, to smoke a pipe of tobacco before
I was ready to throw myself upon my seal-skin bed and fall asleep.
In these times I worked so hard and persistently that I often cooked
enough corned meat to last me a week at a time, and could always
draw upon my stores of salted fish and smoked salmon, and goats'
hams, vegetables, etc., whenever I needed them. Of course many days
I was unable to work in the open air on account of rain and storms.
Those were the times that I took to improve my clothing, patch up my
moccasins, and make up warm skins for the cold weather; look after my
little flock of goats, which often strayed away short distances, but by
being careful to feed them each night regularly on a little delicacy of
some kind, mostly sweet potatoes, they always came back to the shelter
of a nice warm shed that I had constructed for them near my home, made
on exactly the same principle as my hut at the landing-place.
It would take too long to enumerate the various little articles that I
had gathered around about me, and how perfectly my mind was at rest
on the following subjects: First, that I could not suffer for want of
food, for I had enough and to spare of everything; amongst many others
the following principal ones,--dried goats' flesh, jerked goats' flesh,
smoked goats' flesh, smoked goats' hams, wild pigeons, eggs, fresh fish
for the catching, smoked and salted herring and salmon, sweet potatoes,
cabbages, turnips, beets, etc., vinegar, wine, salt, milk, etc. Second,
that I had a large quantity of nice skins, both cured and uncured, of
seals and goats, to last me a lifetime; with fuel, light, and covering
against all contingencies, and tobacco for my solace. Third, that I
felt confident and perfectly satisfied that the island was uninhabited
and unknown, and I went to sleep each night without fear of being
interrupted on the next day. My nerves had wholly regained their tone,
and I was grown strong, rugged, and hearty, whilst my experiments
with my iron ore and my hard work upon the smelting-house gave me the
necessary incentives to keep me from thinking of my own sad fate. I
saw such a future before me, could I have iron in all its forms ready
to my hand, that I was kept in a state of excitement just right for my
temperament, and was restrained thereby from gnawing at my own heart
with bitter regrets which would avail me nothing. I do not mean to say
that I did not have bitter and dreadful moments of despair and utter
hopelessness, but these occurred usually in the evening when I felt my
loneliness the greater than when I was at work in the open air. But
I began to dispel this even by giving another current to my thoughts,
making my pet goats go through their little series of tricks to amuse
me and draw me away from myself. A good smoke at my pipe, and a glass
of quite fair claret wine used often at these times to freshen me up
and dispel my mournful thoughts. When these would not work I used
to seek oblivion from my thoughts by plunging into my "Epitome" and
studying out some problem that would aid me in, at some future day,
fixing the latitude of my island, or else amused myself by reading
something from my book of useful arts and sciences that might be of
service to me some time.
Up to this season of the year no snow had as yet fallen, but ice had
skimmed the little fresh-water pools outside of the main river, and
some few nights had been cold outside; but, thanks to God who had been
so merciful to me, I was warmly clothed and housed, and had nothing to
fear from wind or weather.
During some of the stormy days I puzzled over the problem of how I was
to get blasts of air forced into my furnace. And this is how I did it
eventually. I cleared away a small portion of the fall of Rapid River,
so that the water rushed with great force through a sort of flume of
about four feet in width and three feet deep. I secured and regulated
this floor by means of a series of gates and pieces of wood that I
drove into the soil on either side. I procured them by cutting a tree,
about twelve inches in diameter, into sections of about five feet in
length with my hatchet, by infinite labor, and splitting them with
hard-wood wedges into long rough clapboarding or scantling about an
inch thick and I had no time to smooth them, but had to use them as
they came to hand, rough from being split with the wedges; but as the
wood was straight-grained I got quite a quantity of very fair pieces
of board that suited my purpose, although not smoothed. I drove these,
as I have said, into each side of the flume in the dam to protect the
sides from being washed away, and arranged a sort of gate so as to keep
all water from passing through when I so desired. It was a bungling
sort of a job, and not very strong, but answered my present purposes
quite well. I then went to work upon my water-wheel, which I intended
to hang in this flume, and, by opening the gate above, allow the water
to flow down upon it with great force and turn it, so as to obtain
motion, and power to which to connect pulleys and wheels on the land
side upon the axle of the wheel. I studied long over the formation of
this wheel, and finally constructed it by taking for the axle a smooth,
strong limb of a hard-wood tree, about four inches in diameter, and
apparently perfectly circular in form. From this I stripped the bark,
polished it with shark's skin, and cut it off so as to leave it about
seven feet in length. I then, by means of rawhide and willow withes,
fastened, at right angles to this axle, light but strong arms made
of cane, extending about three feet in each direction from the main
axle. These I again strengthened by means of crosspieces parallel to
the main axle, which I bound across the arms, and over these again
lighter canes yet, crossing the whole fabric from the extremity of one
arm to the base of another, till I had a framework of a wheel, light
and fragile to be sure, but very tough and well bound together, and
each withe and rawhide string set well taut and securely fastened in
real sailor style,--and sailors can make immensely strong articles
bound together only with string, the secret being that they know how
to make each turn do its work, and how to fasten the whole securely. I
sunk into the ground on each side of the flume a strong post of wood
some eight inches in diameter, each ending at the top in two natural
branches, or a crotch, like the letter Y, which I smoothed out by means
of my knife and fire so as to receive the axle of my wheel and allow it
to revolve in them. These posts I set in the ground very deep and very
securely, and battered down stones around their foundation, and braced
them also with other stakes driven into the ground near to them, at an
angle, and lashed securely to them. Upon my framework of the wheel I
tied on, with rawhides, slats or "buckets," as they are called, of my
split clapboarding, to be acted upon by the water and cause the wheel
to revolve. Outside the axle, upon the shore side, I fitted a wheel
of cane, about three feet in diameter, constructed in the same way as
the main wheel, but not more than six inches in width. This was to
receive a belt to communicate the power and motion of the water-wheel
to a series of pullies that I was yet to make. After getting the wheel
in place, and the axle set in the crotches of the two uprights, I
opened my gateway and saw with pleasure that it revolved very rapidly,
evenly, and with great strength. I also observed that the paddles were
submerged just as they ought to be, only about a foot in the water,
and that the rest of the wheel revolved in air. I also discovered that
I could regulate the speed exactly by letting a larger or smaller
quantity of water into the flume by means of my gate. I did not do
all this without infinite detail and hard work, and it was at least
a month before my wheel was completed and hung in its position. This
brought me into July, and now I commenced to see ice form in the smooth
pools near the river, and once, upon the fifteenth, was visited with a
severe snow storm, but a day or two of pleasant weather soon carried it
off. There were days also in this month when storms arose and lashed
the ocean into monstrous billows, and at these times I visited the
breakwater and East Signal Point and looked upon its grandeur. These
were the days in which I felt blue and dispirited. But I also knew
that the winter must ere this have reached its greatest severity, and
although it was now really cold and everything frost-bound, yet it was
not like zero weather at home. There were more mild and pleasant days
than cold and unpleasant ones. There was evidently a warm current of
the ocean embracing the island and keeping the climate mild. I felt
confident that cold weather would soon be gone, and that I had nothing
to fear on that account, for I found no difficulty in keeping myself
perfectly warm at any time in the open air by a little exercise. As
for my moccasins, they were warmer than any shoes I had ever worn,
and my skin clothing was, even in this winter weather, uncomfortably
warm, and on mild days I often used to change my sealskin coat that I
had made myself for one of pliable goatskin leather without any hair
upon it. My water-wheel I found was, although wonderfully light, of
excellent strength, and when I constructed it I was well aware of the
tough properties of the cane used in its formation, which might writhe
and give, but would not break. I kept the axle down in the crotches or
"journals" formed for it, by means of greased straps of rawhide, so
that it could not jump upward, and yet would revolve easily without
being bound or cramped. My next task was to connect my water-wheel with
a series of pullies on the shore and near to the blast-furnace, so as
to force a column of air into and through the ore that I intended to
smelt, by means of the different channels that I had left for that
purpose when building it, all of which ended or entered into one
opening in the side nearest the water-wheel.
Near this opening I built, at about three feet distant, a little room
completely of brick, about two feet wide and six feet high, with
the narrow end pointing towards the opening in the blast-furnace
that connected with all the interior air-channels that I had left
when building it. This room I covered on top with flat stones firmly
cemented down, and closed it up air-tight, except an opening left in
the brickwork at the top, six inches in diameter. Opposite the opening
into the blast-furnace, which was at the same height, and on the two
sides of the structure, equidistant from the ground and the top, I
left two similar holes in the brickwork, and opposite to them planted
two stakes in the form of the letter Y. In other words, I constructed
this building to contain a wheel similar to my water-wheel, about six
feet in diameter, which was to revolve in air instead of water, and
force a column into the blast-furnace. I should say that I made such a
wheel with paddles and hung it in its bearings before putting on the
top of flat stones or building up all around it. When completed I had
a wheel enclosed in an air-tight place, the paddles of which would,
when revolving, push the air into the opening left at the top of the
end facing the blast-furnace. Around about the axle on each side the
openings were not closed, purposely; for it was here that the machine
was to suck in the air which it discharged into the blast-furnace
opening by means of a tube made of goatskin which connected the two
together. On the outside of the axle I built a small and very light
wheel of cane, only a foot in diameter, to receive the pulley for the
wheel on the axle of the water-wheel. I had only to connect these two
together and my task was done. The two pulleys were distant about
fifteen feet, and I had to make a band of goatskin, about three inches
wide, over thirty feet in length, to connect the two. This I did by
cutting strip after strip and sewing them strongly together in length
till I completed my band. I had only to place this upon my pulleys,
open the gate, let on the water, and the task would be finished. Having
arranged everything so as to be all ready the next day, I got across
the river on my stepping-stones, and went to my home to think matters
over. I knew, as a mechanic, that the affair would work, and that I
had much more power even than I had any need of. But I could not rest.
I should not be content till on the next day I saw all the wheels,
already greased and lashed into their sockets with rawhide, revolving
by the mere motion of my lifting the gateway and letting on the water.
I smoked and thought and paced my room for hours, and finally, when I
went to bed from sheer weariness of mind and body, I passed a disturbed
night. Morning saw me bright and early upon my feet, and, snatching
a hasty morsel of food, I started for the smelting-house, got out my
band and stretched it from pulley to pulley, and with trembling hands
went to the gateway at the dam and let on the water to my undershot
water-wheel. It did not hesitate a moment to obey the force of nature
and the law of mechanics, and the volume of water had scarcely struck
the paddles before the whole apparatus began to work, the axle to
revolve, and the band to move.
[Illustration: OPENING THE WATER GATE.--PAGE 164.]
I let on a very little head of water first, and rushed to my fan-wheel.
There it was, moving with great rapidity, and the connecting goatskin
bag was evidently distended with air. Thence I rushed to the other
side of the blast-furnace, where the feeding-place for fuel was, and
by casting in small, light objects saw them sucked up the chimney at
once. I was successful. I had at least ten times the power that I
needed for my purpose. I rushed back to the dam and cut off the water,
perfectly content with the experiment without bringing any shock upon
my machinery by putting on a full head of water, which I saw I did not
need, as my fan-wheel, as I supposed, was turned with the utmost ease,
having no resistance except the air. I could do nothing more this day
but admire my handiwork, and arrange little matters here and there to
perfect the whole affair and get ready for my first smelting of the
ore.
CHAPTER XVI.
Smelt my iron and make Bessemer steel and all kinds of tools. Erect an
anvil and forge. Build a saw mill, and plant a farm and kitchen garden.
Having gotten everything all ready for my purpose, I placed, as nearly
as I could judge, about a ton of the broken ore in my kiln to be
roasted or calcined, and after this was accomplished, I transferred it
to my blast furnace and added to the calcined ore about a ton and a
half of half-burned coal, and one-third of a ton of limestone; these
being the proper proportions, as I was well aware. Under this, and
around it, I placed a large amount of coal fuel, and having ignited it
by means of a large quantity of wood placed under the whole mass, I
went, when it was well started, to my gateway on Rapid River, and set
my machinery agoing, which started the fan-wheel, which immediately
created a terrific blast, and the whole furnace was soon in a glow.
I kept this up by feeding new fuel, till by certain signs I felt
confident that the mass of ore was smelted, when I shut down my gateway
so as to regulate the blast to its minimum and keep the fan-wheel just
revolving. I then dug away the clay at the orifice of the blast-furnace
that opened into the smelting-room, and had the supreme satisfaction
of seeing the molten ore flow out like water into the furrows of sand
that I had formed and excavated to receive it. I had made this furrow
for a purpose also, and had something in mind when I formed the sand
mould, something like a foot in depth and eighteen inches in length,
exactly under the nozzle of the delivery orifice of the furnace. The
molten ore ran into this rapidly and soon filled it, forming a rough
block of iron a foot thick, a foot wide, and eighteen inches long. When
the fiery fluid had completely filled this, I shut off the discharge
by thrusting some moist clay into the orifice. This block that I had
just made was to be my anvil, and as it was large and would take time
to cool, I directed the orifice of the furnace to one side by means of
a clay channel, so that the next discharge should not interfere with
it; and as my desire was now to get steel in smaller quantities so that
I could use it, I drew narrow and shallow channels through my sand at
quite long distances from the blast furnace, but all coming together in
one deep channel under the orifice, but spreading to different parts
of the smelting house, as the ribs of a fan do from the point at which
they are collected. Into these channels I allowed the remainder of the
molten ore to flow, and it extended itself through all these minor
channels, and when it was cool I had several long bars of cast steel
that, on my anvil, I could work up into any form.
After a few days, when my anvil was perfectly cool, I mounted it upon
a block of wood and commenced to build a forge near by it, of brick
and stone, into the fire-place of which I led a branch flexible tube
of goat's skin from the fan-wheel, which I could easily detach and
connect, and which gave me a blast instead of the usual bellows. At
this forge I worked for a week steadily, turning out the simplest and
most necessary tools, such as chisels, hammers, hatchets, axes, nails,
bolts, plane irons, gouges, etc., which I tempered and hardened when
needful. I also made myself tongs and shovels, pickaxe, and crowbars,
and as fast as one tool was made at my forge, such as a pair of tongs
and a hammer, I had means to make others better and rapidly. In this
week I saw treasures gather up about me fast, and, having finished my
iron work, I set to, to arrange them into tools. In the first place,
by means of cold chisels, I cut out from a large mass of soft stone,
that seemed as if it would suit my purpose, a grindstone some two feet
in diameter; this I set up on two standards and connected with my
water wheels. By means of this I could sharpen and bring into shape
all the rough pieces of iron tools that I had forged out, and I had
no difficulty in sharpening all my axes, planes, hatchets, chisels,
etc., and, when necessary, giving them a finer edge on a whetstone,
which I had found to suit my purpose. After getting these all in shape,
my next task was to affix handles to them. This was not difficult
to do, and it is hardly credible how soon I had my shop hung round
about with useful tools. I soon had my planes in order, and my work
then commenced to have a finish that it had before lacked. I did not
stop here, however, for I was now in my element. I was ambitious of
producing much better tools than I had yet finished by the very means
that I already had, made to my hands, for creating them. I hope it is
understood that the result of my smelting was not common iron, but
what is known as Bessemer steel. By the numerous air passages through
the ore and my fan-wheel, I had been enabled to turn out the result in
steel in bulk by what is called the Bessemer process, leaving the metal
all ready to my hand for tools, etc. This steel was not hard enough
for some purposes for which I needed it, and having forged some pieces
into the proper shape, I treated them to the crucible and blast, having
beforehand stamped them with a cold chisel, and finally turned out some
splendid files, which was what I most needed to advance in my iron
work. As a boy, I used to be expert in this case-hardening of files and
steel, and my knowledge now stood me in excellent need.
As soon as I got my files made, I felt as if I could make anything,
and my next smelting procured for me--for it only took about twelve
or fourteen hours to smelt--some thin sheets of steel, which I set to
work upon to smooth by means of my grindstone, so as to make hand-saws;
and, of a larger and thicker piece, two fine up-and-down sawmill saws,
destined for my sawmill yet to be built. All of these I sharpened and
hardened to the necessary temper, and by this time I discovered that my
iron was of an excellent quality and as tough as possible. I had never
seen finer, even in imported Swedish iron so much sought for at home.
I think that the pleasantest noises I had yet heard since arriving on
the island was my axe cutting into the side of a tree; my saw splitting
the same into small boards when needed; and my planes smoothing these
easily to a fine level surface. I did not attempt to saw out one board
more than I needed, for I intended that my sawmill should do all that
for me, and the planing too without much trouble on my part. So I set
to work at this matter in earnest and cast me an axle for my water
wheel, which I concluded to erect on my own side of the river. This
wheel that I made was not much like the other, but was of wood and
iron, strong and well built, and fastened with iron bolts, and set in
iron sockets.
I dug away quite a space of the natural fall of Rapid River, and
erected a strong flume and gateway, so as to control my wheel
perfectly. I took little pains with the covering of my mill, making
it hastily and with little care; but the foundations I laid out well
and strong, and built it parallel with the side of the river, and had
running down into the latter, from the mill, smooth timbers at an angle
of about forty-five degrees, on which I intended, by means of my goats
or the machinery of the mill itself, to "parbuckle" the logs up into
the mill in front of the saw. For a mechanic the arranging of my mill
was an easy task, not easy in its details, being laborious and hard,
but easy I mean in its mechanical construction, which did not give me
a moment's thought. About six weeks saw it all finished and everything
in place; revolving knives for my planing-machine and a splendid
up-and-down saw for my log-splitting. Of course all my machinery was
of a different style, now that I had means to work with, than the
rude wheels on the other side of the river. I had before me a good,
substantial sawmill--rather rough, to be sure, in some details, but I
did not care for that. Nobody, I am sorry to say, would ever look upon
it and find fault with its want of finish.
Having this all done, I launched the "Fairy" above the falls and
paddled up the river for about half a mile, marking on either bank
with my axe the trees I wished to cut down--some of pine and cedar,
and others of a hard, dark wood, like walnut, that I knew not the name
of. A week's hard work with the axe saw some twenty of these in the
water and floated to the dam, whence I rolled them out of the water as
I needed them, and cut them into the requisite lengths for my sawmill,
when I pushed them by handspikes again into the stream, and floated
them in front of my inclined planes, up which they soon mounted by
rolling themselves over and over in the two bights of a rope at each
end, being slowly wound by the machinery of the mill on a drum inside,
or, in other words, as sailors would say, "parbuckled" into the mill,
where a few movements of the handspike put them in position on the
cradle in front of the saw. Let it suffice for me to say that in a week
or two I had all the planed boards that I should need for years, and
also plank and joist nicely piled outside the mill, and covered with a
light roof of rushes and cane from the rain and sun. It was a great
thing for one man to be able to do so much, but then I had now got a
start where nothing could stop me. Nature was under my thumb; I was the
master.
All these works in iron, steel, and mill-building brought me to
spring-like weather, in the month of October, and I began to see
signs of returning summer. I hastened, therefore, to drop all these
matters, and put myself and goats seriously to work to provide for
my coming wants in the vegetable line, and for this purpose went to
the landing-place and cleared a space of I should think an acre with
a light subsoil plough and two yokes of goats, and planted the whole
with different kinds of the seeds that I still had on hand, and which I
had preserved. About this open space, or natural glade, were the usual
trees and shrubs of the island, and with my axe I made them serve at
distances for posts, filling in the intervals with limbs and shrubs,
and, where absolutely necessary, using some of my precious boards,
till I had made a very coarse, rough, but serviceable fence about my
garden that goats or other animals could not get through and destroy
the young vegetation when it should sprout up. It was here that I sowed
some of my precious wheat, retaining a little in case of accident. In
this garden I planted seeds that would mature late in the season, and
would in a measure take care of themselves. Near the Hermitage I laid
out a similar garden, with the same kind of fence, but not more than
one hundred feet square. In this I planted all the little things that
I needed at hand for my table, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, beans,
radishes, celery, blackberries, strawberries, lettuce.
I found that my apple and pear seeds had taken root, for I visited them
before winter had set in, and I took this opportunity, in ploughing, to
manure with chopped fish the circular places that I had planted before
the winter, and care to avoid turning up with the ploughshare any of
the soil where these precious seeds were buried, and where the small,
slight stems, leafless, now protruded. Spring came rapidly forward, and
I found myself in almost warm weather and pleasant days before I had
finished all my gardening, which was near the end of September.
These tasks nearly finished the year for me, within a month and a few
days, and what had I accomplished? On Thursday, November 9, 1865, I
was, by the providence of God, saved when all my shipmates were lost. I
had been preserved for some good purpose evidently, or else the hand of
the Almighty would have swept me out of existence with my messmates.
On that terrible day in November I was cast on shore, with scarcely any
food, no hat, no coat, and without water. With no aid but that given me
by God, and by the use of my own hands and brain, I was to-day sitting
in front of my home, erected by myself alone. In this short space of
time, one year, I had wrested from Nature many things, showing the
supremacy of mind over matter, and knowledge, over ignorance and sloth.
I had in this year made fire without the aid of matches, distilled
salt water to procure fresh, made myself implements of defence, and
erected towers of perpetual lamps, made myself flint, steel, and
tinder, bows and arrows, fish-hooks and lines; discovered coal,
sulphur, saltpetre, and iron, and captured goats, fish, seals, birds,
etc., and at the end of the year found myself sitting at my house door
surrounded with my flock of goats, my garden and farm planted, my
mill and smelting-house in running order, my canoe at my feet in the
quiet water of the cove, and everything about me that could please or
charm the eye. From absolutely nothing I had created everything; that
is to say, the ground was now so laid out that in the future I saw no
end to the daring attempts that I should make, and could make with
every chance of success. I felt, now that the year was ending, that my
hardest work was done; that I had so much now to do with, that all that
I should now undertake would be comparatively easy; but then, on the
other hand, my ambition was so great that I could see things in the dim
future that would tax the strength and brain of any man to consummate,
but which from my temperament and loneliness I knew I should be forced
to attempt. Many problems were already turning themselves over in my
head, and from them I picked out this one, What is the position of your
island in latitude and longitude?
I gave myself this as a special task, and whilst I was at work at
little matters around about the Hermitage my mind kept asking me
(for it had no one else to talk to), What is the position of your
island in latitude and longitude? and it was repeated so often and so
persistently that I tried to answer it, which I did in the following
manner, as you shall hear.
CHAPTER XVII.
Make an astrolabe, and obtain the latitude of the island, and, by an
eclipse of the moon, the longitude also. By means of the Epitome make
a chart on Mercator's projection, and find out the distance from any
known land.
I found in my book a description of an instrument used by the ancients
to ascertain altitudes and to measure angles, called an Astrolabe,
which, upon careful study and examination of the cut, I felt confident
would serve my purpose admirably. So to work I went, and in this
manner. I made first a strong four-legged stool or bench, about three
feet in height and four feet long, and two feet wide upon the top. I
then took some nice planed pieces of my dark hardwood and made a smooth
surface about an inch thick and five feet square. On this, afterwards
to be erected on the stool at right angles like an inverted letter T,
I drew a circle with a pair of immense dividers that I made for this
purpose, taking in all the area possible, which made my circle about
fifty-nine inches in diameter, leaving a margin of one inch,--supposing
my inches to have been of the right length; and this I determined by
the length of the knuckle of my thumb, which I formerly used for quick
measurement, and from which standard I constructed the only rule
I ever have used on the island. How nearly correct it is I have no
means of knowing. This groove I impressed into the wood by repeatedly
turning the dividers around the circumference. I then went to work
and subdivided this circle into degrees and minutes, which I did by
marking the circle once across at any angle passing through the centre
mark, and then by another mark crossing this one at exactly right
angles, which I determined by means of my dividers--as laid down in
Bowditch's Epitome--by the use of them at equal distances from the
centre on the line already marked, sweeping them till the two lines
crossed beyond the circumference, making a small mark there so as to
erect a perpendicular on the base already drawn. This cut my circle
at once into quadrants of 90° each, and these were subdivided again
in like manner. I made the circle large on purpose, so as to be able
to mark it plainly to sections of one minute each, and by its size
to avoid any error in any angle, the chances of which were greatly
decreased by every inch of diameter. As I constructed it, I had nearly
one-half an inch of circumference to mark sixty minutes upon, and as
I only subdivided one of the quadrants it did not take me very long,
each degree being represented by a space slightly smaller than a half
inch, which was a good large scale to work upon. Having finished the
marking of my board I nailed it firmly to the stool in an upright
position, with the quadrant, that I had carefully subdivided on the
marked circumference, pointing with one of its angles to zenith, and
the other on a line with the top of the stool. I then procured a nice
straight piece of cane some six feet in length and about an inch in
diameter, and with a heated rod of iron burned out all the pith between
each joint till I had made a nice tube of that length. Just within the
aperture at one end I fastened with a little fish glue a large strong
hair from the beard of one of my goats. I then fastened, by means of
a hole through the centre of my upright disc, this tube or telescope
to it on the side that was subdivided into degrees, and about an inch
from the face. I fastened this so that it was held firmly in place,
and yet could be moved upon its centre by the pressure of my hand on
either arm. This tube I then furnished with a small delicate pin on
the outside, in an exact line with the stretched hair inside the tube,
and pointing to the degrees and minutes on the marked circumference
on the disc, which it almost touched. In other words, if I moved one
arm of the tube, the needle on the outside would follow the grooved
circumference on the disc, and upon being released would mark some
given degree or minute. Having gotten this machine all in order and
complete, I placed it one day so as to examine the sun near noon, and
here is how I obtained my latitude. What I was doing now was not so
very difficult. I well knew that there were several ways to determine
latitude. I was aware that the difference of a minute or two even in
my altitude, as apparently observed, would not disturb my computation
more than a mile or so. In fact each minute marked upon the disc
practically stood for one mile of latitude, and the mean of several
observations would correct even any errors from this cause.
I waited till I knew that it was nearly noon by the appearance of the
sun, and then commenced operations. In the first place I aimed my tube
at the sun, and to be able to do so without injuring my eye, I would
say that I had fitted the orifice of the tube nearest to me with a
piece of smoke-colored membrane or backbone of the squid, which is as
transparent as glass, and very thin and delicate. Having, by moving
the tube with my hand, brought the sun so that it seemed to stand upon
the hair in the outer end of the tube, or like a great capital O upon
a base line [O_], I left it carefully in that position for a moment or
two, and then applied my eye again, and found, as I supposed, that the
sun no longer seemingly rested upon the hair in my tube, but had risen,
which forced me to again lower the arm nearest me and elevate the
other extremity, and proved to me that it was not yet noon, and that
the sun had not yet reached the meridian. This I did many times, till
at last the sun seemed for a minute or so to stand still, as sailors
say, and I knew that it was at meridian. I took good care not to touch
the instrument, but waited quietly till, by glancing through it, I saw
in a few moments the disc of the sun, or lower limb as it is termed,
begin to drop below the hair in my tube, and I was then positive that
it had passed the meridian. Being assured of this, I went carefully to
the marked circumference on the upright disc and noted carefully the
degree and minute to which the needle in the side of the tube pointed,
which in this case was 54° 51'. Having carefully marked this down with
ink upon birch bark, I went again to the other end of the tube, and,
elevating it, brought the outer end down toward the sea till the hair
and the horizon seemed to be one. I then again carefully observed the
degree and minute at which the needle pointed, which in this case was
7° 16', and my task was done; for, by subtracting 7° 16' from 54° 51'
I obtained 47° 35', which was exactly the apparent altitude of the sun
at noon on September 22, 1866, civil account; and, having that, it was
easy to determine the latitude in the following manner:--
At noon observe the altitude of the sun's lower limb
bearing North 47° 35'
Add for semi-diameter, dip, etc. 12'
----------
47° 47'
Subtract from 90° 00'
----------
Sun's zenith distance 42° 13' S.
Declination for longitude, say 115° W 8' S.
----------
Latitude by observation 42° 21' S.
Thus I demonstrated the latitude of my island; but now for the
longitude. To obtain that I knew that I must first ascertain the time
at the island: I could do nothing without that; for longitude was,
as I well knew, simply time changed into degrees. I thought of fifty
different ways to obtain correct time, but believed none of them
sufficiently accurate for my purpose. I could make a sundial for one
thing, find out the length of the day by the Epitome and Nautical
Almanac, make candles to burn such a length of time, sand to run down
an inclined plane at such a rate, but none of these would do.
The difference of a minute, or one-sixtieth of a degree, in an observed
altitude would only affect, as I have said, my latitude just one
mile, whilst an error of time of one minute from true time would, as
I was well aware, throw my longitude out just fifteen miles; hence it
behoved me to have exact time if I desired to get exact longitude, and
therefore I saw nothing for it but that I must construct a clock, and
at it I went. It was not such an enormous undertaking after all. Of
course I should make it of wood, and in my boyhood I knew many wooden
clocks that kept excellent time; besides, if I could only construct
something that would keep time for an hour or two without much error,
it would answer my purpose. If I had a clock that I could set at noon
by my observation, nearly correct, I could correct it perfectly by an
afternoon observation, and have for an hour or so true time, even if it
did gain or lose a few minutes in twenty-four hours. So to work I set,
and soon turned out the few small wheels necessary, and the weight and
pendulum for the same. I spent little time upon the non-essentials, but
put it together inside my house on the wall, open so that I could get
at it, and furnished it with wooden hands and a thin wooden face.
After I had arranged it and found that it would tick, and by
observations at noon for a few days been able to regulate the pendulum,
I went diving into the Epitome and the Nautical Almanac as to how
I should utilize it so as to get my longitude, after all; when one
evening, in turning over the Nautical Almanac, which was calculated for
1866, 1867, 1868, and 1869, my eye fell upon the following, and I felt
that my task was done:--
Total eclipse of the moon, September 30,1866, invisible at Greenwich,
visible in South America, South Pacific Ocean, and parts of Africa,
Asia, and Indian Ocean.
FORMULA (CIVIL ACCOUNT).
Day. Hour. Min.
Moon enters penumbra 30 5 44 A.M.
Moon enters shadow 30 6 53 "
Total phase begins 30 8 49 "
Total phase ends 30 9 39 "
Moon leaves shadow 30 10 45 "
Moon leaves penumbra 30 11 55 "
This was all I needed to verify my longitude past peradventure, and I
went to work at once, calculating when the eclipse ought to take place,
nearly, with me.
At a rough calculation I knew that my island was situated somewhere
between the 110° and 120° of longitude west of Greenwich, that is to
say, in the neighborhood of seven hours' difference of time later than
Greenwich time. Therefore I knew that if the moon entered the penumbra
at Greenwich (although invisible) on the 30d. 5h. 44 min. A.M. that
I ought to look for it to occur visibly to my eyes somewhere from one
to two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, or seven hours later.
The _exact_ difference in the time between Greenwich and that to be
observed on my island, changed into degrees and minutes, would, of
course be the true longitude west of Greenwich.
It was with the utmost anxiety that I awaited the coming of the 30th
of September, for it all depended upon pleasant weather whether or not
I should be able to make my observation. I placed my astrolabe so as
to be able to move it quickly in any needed direction, as I intended
to use the tube to look at the sun through so as not to blind my eyes.
I also prepared my birch bark in the house, and commenced practising
myself in counting seconds, for I should have to leave my instrument
and go to the house, counting all the time to note the time marked
by my clock. I found upon practice that I could not make this work
very successfully, and that according to the state of my feelings or
excitement I counted long and short minutes. This would not do; I must
invent something better; and I finally bethought myself of counting the
beatings of my pulse with the finger of one hand upon the wrist of the
other, and applying the proportion to the interval between the observed
time by my clock.
The morning at last came that I so much desired, and nothing could be
more beautiful than the balmy, spring-like day that surrounded me. The
sky was cloudless and the sun shone down in splendor through a clear
and pure atmosphere. The morning passed slowly away, and it seemed
as if the moon and sun would never approach each other; but finally,
in the afternoon, the heavens showed me that the eclipse would soon
take place, and I made my arrangements to take four observations, as
follows: Time when moon entered shadow; time when total phase began;
time when total phase ended; time when moon left shadow.
Nothing could have been better than the afternoon I experienced to make
these observations, and in less than six hours the whole affair was
over, with the following result, I having carefully regulated my clock
as near as possible by an observation at noon:--
Day. Hour. Min.
Moon enters shadow at island (civil account) 30 2 50 P.M.
Moon enters shadow at Greenwich 30 6 53 A.M.
------------------------
Difference 7 57
Total phase begins at island 30 4 48 P.M.
Total phase begins at Greenwich 30 8 49 A.M.
------------------------
Difference 7 59
Total phase ends at island 30 5 34 P.M.
Total phase ends at Greenwich 30 9 39 A.M.
------------------------
Difference 7 55
Moon leaves shadow at island 30 6 41 P.M.
Moon leaves shadow at Greenwich 30 10 45 A.M.
------------------------
Difference 7 56
Hours. Min.
Sum of differences, four observations 31 47
Hours. Min. Sec.
Mean of same 7 56 45
Which, reduced to time, gives the longitude of the island 119° 11'
15'' west of Greenwich.
There, my problem was done and I was for the moment happy. Perhaps
some will wonder why I cared to obtain the latitude and longitude
of my island at all. Let me explain. My Bowditch's Epitome gave the
latitude and longitude of all prominent capes, harbors, headlands,
light-houses, etc., in the whole Pacific Ocean. In other words, knowing
now the latitude and longitude of my own island, I had only to project
a chart on Mercator's projection, pricking off the relative positions
of the land on all sides of me, as well as the position of my island,
to have a practical and useful chart. Of course I should not be able
to draw the coast line or the circumference of any island, but my
chart would show just what latitude and longitude Easter Island was
in, for instance, and just how far and in exactly what direction my
island lay from it. Also, how far I was from the American coast, and
the exact distance and course from any of the principal ports such as
Lima, Valparaiso, Pisco, etc. How far from New Zealand and the Society
Islands, and in what direction from them.
Having marked the exact latitude and longitude of each of these places,
which were fully given in the Epitome, on my chart, I could call upon
my memory often to fill in the coast lines, and even if I should in
the case of the islands, make them even imaginary, there would be no
harm done, for the little black star on each would show me where the
latitude and longitude met exactly, and I should be furnished with a
practical chart as far as sea navigation was concerned, but not one
that would be of much account in entering any harbors.
I cannot say that at this time I had any fixed plan of escaping from
the island, but I very well knew that nothing in the world would aid
me so much in the attempt as to know the position in latitude and
longitude that the island occupied, and a chart of the surrounding
seas, with its numerous islands and headlands on the main land. It can
well be conceived that my first task after determining the position of
my island was to turn to the Epitome to ascertain the nearest land to
me there marked down, and after diligent search this is what I found:--
"Easter Island Peak," 27° 8' south latitude and 109° 17' west longitude.
"Island," 28° 6' south latitude and 95° 12' west longitude.
"Group of Islands," 31° 3' south latitude and 129° 24' west longitude.
"Massafuera," 33° 45' south latitude and 80° 47' west longitude, which
I speedily worked out, by the principles of Mercator's sailing, to be
in course and distance from my island, as follows:--
Course. Distance.
Easter Island Peak N. N. E. 1/2 E. 1,040 miles.
Island N. E. 3/4 E. 1,440 "
Group of Islands N. W. 3/4 N. 840 "
Massafuera N. N. E. 1/4 E. 1,540 "
Of these four places only two ever had a name, and I did not know
whether Easter Island was inhabited or not, and about Massafuera I was
totally ignorant.
Easter Island, I knew, of course, was one of the so-called Society
Islands, and was the nearest practical land to which I could escape.
But how was I safely to pass over a thousand miles of water? This
investigation only proved to me what I had so long feared, namely, that
my island was out of the track of all trade, and that it would be a
miracle should I be preserved by the arrival of any vessel. I knew now
that I must really give up all hope in that direction, and set to work
seriously to help myself.
I therefore applied myself with great vigor to my chart which I
outlined upon nice goatskin parchment, which I glued together till I
had a surface nearly four feet square, upon which I could lay out all
the Pacific Ocean on a nice, large scale, by Mercator's projection.
I went on with my daily work, and made this matter one for evening
amusement, and as I pricked off the latitude and longitude of some
well-known place, that I in former years had visited, my heart swelled
within me with grief and mortification, and I had often to stop and
wipe the tears from my eyes before I could proceed.
Release from my prison seemed farther from me than ever, as I advanced
in my task, and although I had a sort of morbid pleasure in my work,
and a fascination to linger over it, yet I saw plainly that I was
indeed cast away; for what could I do alone in a boat, even supposing
that I could build one strong enough to resist one thousand miles of
water? Who was to steer when I was asleep? and then supposing I should
be able to arrive at Easter Island, what guarantee had I that I should
not be murdered at once by the natives?
No, here I was fixed beyond fate upon my own island, where, with the
exception of companionship, I had everything that human heart could
wish for. But on the other hand, without companionship I lacked
everything that is worth living for in this world. I felt that the
problem of all problems hereafter to me would be how can I escape to
some civilized country in safety? And from what I now knew, it seemed
as if it would remain a problem till my bones were left whitening in
the Hermitage.
My discovery of the latitude and longitude of the island had brought me
no comfort, and I felt much more uneasy now than I did before finishing
my task. But as the summer weather came on, I regained to a degree
my good spirits, keeping, however, the problem of escape continually
working in my mind, for I knew that there must be some way to solve it,
especially with the resources that I had gathered around about me.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A resumé of three years on the island. Daily routine of life.
Inventions, discoveries, etc. Fortification of the Hermitage.
Manufacture of cannon and guns. Perfection and improvement of the
machine shop. Implicit faith of ultimately overcoming all obstacles
and escaping from the island. Desire to accumulate some kind of
portable wealth to carry with me, and decide to explore the island for
its hidden wealth and the surrounding ocean for pearl oysters.
I shall not become tedious by inflicting upon my readers the routine
of each day, or even of each month or year that I have passed on this
island, but shall pick out the most startling events of my life here,
both as to the inventions that I have made and the accidents and
adventures of which I have been the victim and hero.
Of course my discovery of iron gave me wonderful power to advance and
preserve myself. After my first set of tools were made, as I have
enumerated in detail, all other work, even if slow, was comparatively
easy.
My next task, after making the common tools that I needed and various
castings that were useful to me, was to erect a turning lathe,--one for
wood, which was quite simple, and one for iron, which was a work of
some magnitude,--and a whole year elapsed before I had it perfected to
my taste. The castings were rough, but solid and useful, and the other
parts were, with care and attention, at last made mathematically true,
and this, with a drilling machine and some iron rollers to roll out my
metal when coming from the furnace, completed my iron foundry, as I was
now pleased to call it.
Having all these things about me it was a small matter to cast several
small cannon, of some four or six pound calibre, and bore them out
on my turning-lathe and table. These I mounted on wooden trucks, and
placed one on East Signal Point, one on Eastern Cape, one on South
Cape, which I transported there by water in the canoe Fairy, one on
Penguin Point, and one on West Signal Point. It was fun for me to make
these things, and therefore, to protect myself still more, I made a
number, of smaller calibre even, which I placed pointing out through
embrasures in a wall with which I had encircled the Hermitage, and
surrounded with a strong picket fence, made of cast-iron, which I found
no difficulty in casting in sections of nearly ten feet in length. At
all the stations at the extremities of the island I hid a little amount
of ammunition, near the cannon erected, and also a flint and steel and
a limestock or slow-match, so that at any time, if needful, I could
load one of these cannon at once and discharge it. The touchholes I
covered nicely with a piece of goatskin, so as to protect the guns from
the weather, and fitted all the muzzles with a wooden plug, so that the
interior would be kept clear and dry.
[Illustration: PLACING THE CANNON.--PAGE 190.]
In the wall that now surrounded my Hermitage I built a strong iron
gate, that I could see through and yet too strong to be broken down by
any savage hands. The iron fence or comb which ran round the summit of
this wall, and of which I have spoken, crossed also above the gateway,
and made my house impregnable to anything except artillery. My doorway
facing this, in the Hermitage itself, had long been replaced by a nice
hard-wood one, with iron hinges, with several loopholes left, through
which I could poke a gun-barrel or discharge an arrow.
I had six cannon mounted on my wall, two in front, two on each side,
and one in rear, which was, however, naturally protected by a thick and
almost impenetrable grove of trees and undergrowth. These guns were
mounted in a peculiar manner upon carriages that allowed the muzzles to
be depressed at least thirty degrees, and I kept in store, to load them
with, quantities of iron ball castings, from the size of an English
walnut to a common musket bullet, which at close quarters would do
fearful execution. I approached these guns, from the interior, by means
of step ladders, made of wood, leading up to each from the enclosure,
and an oval hole, like an inverted letter U, was left in the iron
fencing to allow the muzzle to protrude over the wall. This opening,
however, was small, and not large enough to admit even the head of a
man, much less his body. The erection of the whole wall, which was some
nine feet high, cost me infinite labor and patience.
The fencing on top of it was, as I have said, rapidly turned out from
the casting mould, and gave me, comparatively speaking, little trouble.
To further protect this my fortress from any assaults, I brought the
water underground from Rapid River into the Hermitage, through a series
of pipes made of pottery thoroughly baked, glazed, and made so as to
fit one into the other, and controlled the flow by means of a stopcock
fixed into a piece of cane. The signs of this underground connection
with Rapid River I took care to thoroughly efface. And, furthermore, I
made it a duty to always keep at least six months' salted provisions
in store, ahead of all demands,--such as salted and smoked herring,
salmon, and other fish, with corned and dried goat's flesh, and some
few preserved vegetables such as I might have on hand.
In rear of my house, between the end of the house and the wall, I
dug a subterranean passage, leading under my wall, and coming again
to the surface in the midst of a seemingly impenetrable thicket of
undergrowth, some thirty yards away from the wall. This outlet was
carefully closed by a trapdoor, and soil even strewed on top and grass
allowed to grow over it. I did not know but what there might come a
time when I should have to use this passage, as the last recourse, to
save my life; and although now in security I built it carefully, to be
prepared for what might happen in the future.
After all these tasks for my defence were finished I commenced upon
a set of guns and pistols, or rather rifles,--for I had not the
slightest use for a shotgun, being able, in a hundred ways, by means of
steel-traps and similar devices, to capture all the birds and animals I
needed,--which I desired to protect myself against any human enemies,
should such ever appear. To this end I easily bored myself out some
four nice rifle barrels, and some half dozen of a smaller size for
pistols; these I had to stock, and mount with the old-fashioned flint
and steel, for I had no means of making any percussion-powder. I worked
at these for a long time, but at last I had them all in good order,
and used to amuse myself by practising with ball at the pigeons on the
trees, and the ducks on the river. I did not make the best shooting
in the world, for, not being able to procure lead, I was forced to
make my bullets of steel, and to revolve them in a cylinder for a long
time with sand, to make them globular and regular. The barrels of my
guns and pistols also had to be smooth bored to use these projectiles;
as a rifled barrel, if I could have made one, would have been ruined
by cast-steel bullets; still at a hundred yards, with a nice greased
patch, I was able to make good execution, and the pistols shot with
strength at a distance of at least twenty yards. Both weapons suited me
practically, and with my guns I had no difficulty in shooting several
of the wild goats, and also seals, whenever I needed their meat or
skins.
My flock of tame goats all this while had grown and increased, and
I added to my home comforts cheese and butter; but I made the wheel
on the further side of the river do all the churning by a simple
application of the machinery to a revolving clapper in an upright churn.
The parchment windows in the Hermitage had long since been reinforced
by iron shutters on the outside, that, if needed, could be bolted
securely on the inside, and the roof had been refitted and made of
timber and boards, and the whole covered with tiles, so as to be
fireproof. Up through this roof I had also built a tower, of brick,
not very large but quite high, some feet above the ridge-pole, which I
mounted to by a flight of stairs from the attic; for the upper part of
the house was floored off and completed when I erected the new roof,
having no want now of either boards or timber.
Up to this tower I trotted every morning before unbarring the door of
the Hermitage or the gate of the enclosure. From this lookout I could
see quite well in several directions, and notice if anything had been
touched or changed from the evening before. I missed, I think, at this
time, books more than anything, but then, again, from the very want of
them, I was forced to study with my Epitome and Book of Useful Arts
and Sciences, which possibly I might have thrown to one side for less
useful but more entertaining ones if I had had them. Wanting them, I
was becoming versed in many things which when I came upon the island I
knew nothing about, and I was pleased to think that, although alone,
I was improving, and the usefulness of a really good book was brought
forcibly before me each day, for I could not open either of mine
without finding food for reflection and study. I had always had my head
full of vagaries of different kinds that I should like some time to try
and experiment upon, and here seemed my opportunity; and it will be
observed, in its proper place, further on, that I attempted many things.
It was, I think, in my third year that I felt that my daily routine was
fixed for life, as far as concerned comforts and food; for by that time
I had wheat for my bread, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits that
I have before enumerated, in profusion. My apple and pear trees would
soon begin to bear, and in a year or two more I should have them to
add to my comforts. I had already commenced to preserve blackberries,
strawberries, etc., and found that my maple trees, in the spring,
were just as prolific as those in my Vermont home, and that I had no
difficulty in obtaining all the sugar I needed. Roasted wheat had,
however, to stand me instead of Java coffee, but this made me quite a
pleasant drink.
All these comforts were enhanced by a climate so uniform in temperature
that it was a pleasure to even exist, the winters bringing scarcely an
inch of snow or ice with them, and the summers even and mild; warm,
to be sure, but still far from being hot or oppressive. As I have
said so often in this narrative before, what in the world could one
want in excess of all this but companionship? Ah! it is little known
how many bitter hours of solitude I passed in gathering all these
comforts about me, and how, with a tenderness almost womanly, I made
friends with every kid, duck, young bird, seal, and living animal that
I gathered around me, and made pets of them all. My hardest duties
were to destroy these animals for my own consumption, and I latterly
destroyed what I could with the gun rather than touch one of those that
were domesticated. Some of these I could not bear to lay my hand upon,
especially my young kids and team of goats; but thank God there was no
need of it. I could easily destroy one of their species, when I needed
the flesh, with my rifle, for I veritably believe that I should have
gone without animal food rather than touch one of these pets. Two of
the kids, especially, followed me about all the time, and even into my
canoe when I took short trips abroad.
I had by this time, by means of snares, captured seven species of
birds which resembled our blackbirds and bobolinks of the north, and I
took great delight in feeding them in the cages I had made for them,
and listening to their music in the morning and evening hours. Long
search had taught me to feel sure that the island had no venomous
insects or reptiles, and it was also wholly free from that nuisance
the horse-fly, which is said to follow civilization, and that other
pest, the mosquito, was wholly unknown. In their stead there were a few
sand-fleas, a sort of wood-tick, which troubled the goats somewhat,
and a small black wood-fly, that was not troublesome except in some
seasons, in the woods, and on the coast. In December and January,
green-headed flies were apt to take hold of me once in a while, but not
so as to incommode me.
The air was so pure that meat would keep a long while without
putrefaction, even in the warm weather, and having nothing better to
do to take up my mind, I had, during the past winter, collected quite
an amount of thin ice from Rapid River, which, in a small subterranean
ice-house, roofed over with planks, and covered with sawdust, I had
stored for summer use, and on very warm days luxuriated in.
This life of solitude had made me tender to even inanimate things,
and it was wonderful to myself how the passion, self-importance, and
arbitrary manner of one accustomed to command at sea was dying out in
me. I began to almost have a reverence for flowers and all beautiful
inanimate things, and many hours of my life were passed in my garden
and on my farm, but especially the former, in examining and cultivating
some beautiful wild flower or trailing vine that I had transported
hence from the forest. I felt even that the bearing of my body was
changed from what it used to be when in days gone by I trod the
quarter-deck in all the pride and majesty of power.
I cannot say that I was at this time contented, but I can say that
I was much more patient, and the impetuosity of my temperament was
greatly subdued, and many things, both animate and inanimate, were
becoming, in spite of myself, very dear to my eyes. I even at times
began to feel homesick when I was absent over a day, in my canoe, from
the Hermitage, and came back to its comforts with an exclamation of
gratification and a swelling of the heart with joy when it came in
view, and showed itself intact during my temporary absence; and the
welcome given me by my goats, tame pigeons, ducks, and birds was very
touching, and, as I have said, endeared them to me greatly. Still for
no moment did the problem of escape leave my mind. Although without
relatives or children, I often dreamed of escaping from the island and
returning with friends to enjoy it with me and end my days here in
peace. I often thought how happy I could be here, far from the cares
of the world and all its vain excitements, could I see around about
me smiling faces of my fellow-men, who would look up to me as their
benefactor and ruler, for I had yet left some of the seaman's instinct
of desire to rule.
Up to this time I had done little exploring of the island; my first
trip around about it had been my last, and my excursions into the
interior had been short, and without making any material discovery of
moment. This was caused by the great tasks that I had given myself near
home, and the consummation of which had taken all my time. I had worked
very hard to accomplish all that was laid out before my eyes, and had
had little time for wandering about or being idle.
No sign of any vessel, or canoes of savages, had ever disturbed me.
I had often, during the last year, visited the points of my island
nearest to me, _i.e._ East and West Signal Points and the breakwater,
but no welcome sail had ever met my eye. The sight of the ocean also
from these points always gave me the blues, and sent me home troubled
and discontented, for the intellect given me by the Creator on such
occasions rebelled against my fate, and the ocean seemed my enemy, whom
I must overcome, and whom I could overcome if I could only think of the
means, for I would never acknowledge myself beaten, but only unable
for the present to cope with my adversary; and I used to talk to it,
and say: "Some day, thou mighty sea, with God's help, I will overcome
and conquer thee, and compel thee to carry me wherever I desire to be
borne. Power has been given man over the beasts of the field and over
all nature, and I have only to use my mind, with which God has endowed
me, to some day make thee, now my master, my slave. Roll on, therefore,
for a day shall come, God willing, in which thy billows shall carry me,
and the winds of heaven waft me to civilized lands, where the Creator
of both thee and me is adored and worshipped. You shall not always
separate me from the place whence I came. With my strong hold that
I have obtained I will yet overcome thee, and make thee my steed of
deliverance, instead of, as now, the boundary line of my imprisonment."
My daily life at about this time was something like this. I arose
in the morning, and, if the season would admit of it, took a plunge
in Stillwater Cove, first, however, visiting my tower to see if
everything was all right in all directions. I usually, with a sailor's
habits, arose early, and with the sun. After my bath I proceeded to
feed my numerous flock of goats, kids, pigeons, etc., and then to the
cares of my dairy, milking my goats and conveying the result of my
labors to my ice-house, near by, to be kept there, and at proper season
to be made into butter and cheese. Then to my breakfast, which I could
change in many various ways, as my appetite dictated, always commencing
the same, in these days, by thanking God for his preservation of me,
and expressing gratitude for the food before me, and hopefulness of
ultimate delivery from my island prison. After breakfast I went about
any work that might be on hand, such as fishing, gunning, or arranging
my household things, working in my iron ore, conveying coal or iron
from the mines, or running my sawmill, or else digging in my garden or
attending to my farm near the landing-place, and the thousand and one
daily things that had to be done with one pair of hands, to keep my
establishment in order.
When I thought it noon by the sun (for I soon gave over the attempt
to keep my clumsy clock agoing after I had obtained my latitude and
longitude) I repaired to the Hermitage, and if the weather was warm
and pleasant made my meal in the outer air, under the shade of a fine
large tree of the maple species, surrounded by my domestic birds; if
in winter, by my fireside, inside the house. After dinner I again
commenced my daily toil, first taking a good long smoke of my favorite
pipe, which, all things considered, was my greatest solace, and after
this taking up the work that I had laid down at the dinner hour. I kept
myself employed till sunset, or nearly so,--for I did not now overwork
myself as I used to in the beginning, in my impetuosity, but took
everything mildly, quietly, and comfortably,--when I again called my
flock together and attended to my milking. I knew that cheeses would
keep a long while, and, looking always forward to an escape, I was
gradually laying up a stock of this nutritious article for use in the
future should I ever need it, knowing well how palatable and refreshing
it always is at sea. After the milking was finished, which was not till
I had gathered the flock from their feeding pastures, I entered my
house for the night, taking with me one or two of my favorite kids, and
barring the iron gate in the enclosure wall carefully behind me, and
doing the same with the door of the Hermitage.
Once within, I lighted my lamps and gave myself plenty of light, and
took my supper, followed by the inevitable pipe, and often a glass of
my claret wine, as I called it, made from the pure juice of the grape.
Then I got out a sheet of parchment and commenced a history of the
day's proceedings, which I wrote down in detail, and from which this
narrative is condensed. This was a very important task, for upon the
daily performance of it rested the accuracy of my calendar. This often
carried me well into the evening, and if it did not, and I was not
very tired, I got out my Bowditch's Epitome and solved a problem or
two, and then turned to my Book of Useful Arts and Sciences and stored
my mind with some new fact, or tried to decipher some of the things
that were daily becoming more clear to me, and which I had commenced by
understanding scarcely a word about. When I found myself nodding over
this work I quietly betook myself to bed, preferring, as a rule, my
upright bedstead to the swinging hammock. I never put out the lights
and only removed my outer clothing when I slept, but then the latter
was a very natural act to a person who had for years turned in "all
a standing," as sailors say, and ready for a call at any time of the
night or day. My arms and ammunition were placed within easy access of
my hands, and, commending my soul to God, I used to sleep.
In winter I kept of course more within doors, and busied myself upon
my clothing and such things as needed sewing and lashing together,
fixing little nicknacks of shell and wood around about the room, to
hold flowers and ferns, or any little thing that had attracted my eye,
or would please me in my solitude. On rainy days I almost always went
to work in my smelting house at the forge, and if there was nothing
else to do I would busy myself in the making of nails for future use,
I having to beat out each one on the anvil; but when finished each of
my nails was a wrought one, and worth a dozen cast by machinery. I
always found plenty to do here, but I worked leisurely, always looking
toward the future. I got together a large quantity of rolled iron, of
about a quarter of an inch in thickness, and in sheets nearly two feet
wide and some eight or nine in length. This workshop I kept improving
till I had, besides my forge and all its tools, turning-lathes both for
wood and iron, many other useful things, which I had constructed at odd
times, such as a small but very strong derrick, which I fitted with
iron blocks and chains and with a winch and band, so that I was able to
handle large masses of iron with ease. My rollers, also, for rolling
out the iron when at a white heat, were in this room, and I had long
since improved and strengthened my water-wheel, so that I had all the
power at any time that I needed or desired, to move any or all of my
machinery.
Besides gathering together these sheets of iron I put them under my
drilling machine and punched the edges with holes of an uniform size,
so that they could at some time be riveted together, for I had an idea
in my head what I should use them for. The making of a large number
of rivets to fit these holes also took plenty of my time, as did the
making of different sizes of spikes, and once in a while some new
tool that I felt the need of. My files, also, once in a while had to
be re-marked and again hardened, and thus I found myself always with
plenty to do whenever I entered the smelting-house; and it was there
that I enjoyed myself the most, for I was a born mechanic, and I liked
the work, and nothing pleased me so much as to see something turning
out under my hand from a crude mass of iron into some useful tool, or
article of which I had need. Therefore when the stormy and rainy days
came it was with absolute pleasure that I walked into my smelting-house
and set to work. It was here that I saw my deliverance must be worked
out, and never a day passed but what my machinery was improved or
increased in some way, and made more perfect and reliable. A great
deal of it, to be sure, was crude, but it was also practical; and when
a piece of machinery would not perform well I went to work, and kept
at it until it would, and in the end had not the slightest trouble in
rolling, casting, drilling, planing, and turning iron or cast-steel, in
all reasonable shapes. To be sure my machinery was not painted, or even
well finished, except in the working parts, but to those sections I
gave a mechanic's care. I not only worked here, however, on stormy days
alone, but also nearly every spare moment that I had from other duties
that were also pressing.
As my riches began to accumulate I began to think seriously of
exploring the island for its hidden wealth, and see if I could not
during these years that I was waiting for escape--which I had made up
my mind was sure to come--lay up enough wealth, in some shape, to take
with me when I should depart, that would make me rich for the remainder
of my days. Knowing that such wealth, to be conveyed away by me, must
necessarily be in a small compass, I was working out a problem at this
very time to explore the bottom of the ocean around my island, and see
if I could not hit upon some pearl-oyster beds, whence I could draw
riches to carry away with me when I should leave this island, and the
theory that I had gotten into my head, and which I was trying to put
into actual practice, was the following:--
CHAPTER XIX.
Construct a submarine boat, to be propelled by goat power and to make
its own air, to examine the bottom of the ocean near the island for
pearl-oysters.
Yes, as I have hinted in the preceding chapter, I had fully made up my
mind to explore the _bottom_ of the ocean that surrounded my island,
and I did not intend to commence in the stupid way in which the former
Crusoe went to work, and build me a boat and then be unable to launch
it. Far from it. My very first care was to erect ways running down
into Stillwater Cove, made out of large square timbers, placed at a
considerable decline, so that I felt confident that what I should erect
upon them could be launched by me into the water without difficulty
or trouble. These ways I bolted strongly together, and made firm and
enduring, and upon them erected a kind of raft, which I kept in place
by means of upright iron bolts through the timbers of the ways, which
prevented it, for the time being, from slipping into the water if it
should be so inclined, but which, when the bolts were removed, and the
three timbers upon which it rested well greased, I felt sure would, at
the proper moment desired, slip into Stillwater Cove.
Upon this raft I commenced to construct my submarine boat. These
launching-ways were erected near the smelting house, and not far below
the falls, just where the water became deep enough for my purpose, and
yet as near as possible of access to my forge and shop. The raft that
I built and erected upon the ways was only as a cradle to support my
submarine boat so that I could float the whole affair to the mouth of
Stillwater Cove before allowing the latter to be submerged; for where
I now was there was not water enough for my experiment, and I well
knew that if my boat, which was to be of iron, was once launched, and
should, by its displacement or specific gravity, go to the bottom, that
I should be unable to raise it again, and that in the water directly
in front of the ways it would touch the bottom even before it would
be submerged. On the other hand, if I should erect my ways running
into deep water at some place near the mouth of Stillwater Cove, and
opposite Point Deliverance, I should have no means at hand to complete
it, all my forges, iron-work, tools, and shop being too far distant for
such an undertaking. I saw, therefore, that I must construct it near
to my foundry, and hence I chose this method of a cradle, or raft, to
carry out my plan. This raft, or cradle as I shall call it in future,
was of itself quite an undertaking, for I had to make it of mortised
pieces of wood, so that at the proper time I could take it to pieces,
and allow its load, the submarine boat, to drop into the ocean, at some
place yet to be determined, to which I should tow it, where the water
would be smooth, and protected from the billows of the ocean, and not
too deep for my experiment.
I had also another care in forming this cradle, and that was, that
it should be buoyant enough to sustain the submarine boat, and not,
when launched, go to the bottom of Stillwater Cove with its precious
freight, on account of the weight of the latter. This cradle,
therefore, took both time and care to make, and long hours were passed
by me in figuring out the weight of the iron boat I was about to build,
and how large and extensive my cradle ought to be to sustain it. By
studying my book, and by experimenting in different ways with small
vessels of pottery and bladders blown up with air, that I submerged, I
got at what I thought would be about the weight of my submarine boat
and its relation to the cradle, and I saw plainly that the latter would
have to be improved in some way to sustain the necessary weight. So
this is how I went to work to overcome this obstacle.
On the two long sides of the cradle running parallel to the timber
ways, beyond which they extended several feet (although the ways
themselves were some six feet wide from the outside of one timber to
the outside of the other, by my island rule), I lashed firmly with iron
bands and bolts two water-tight iron tanks, which I constructed of my
rolled iron, riveted together, fully six feet long, three feet wide,
and three feet deep. The dimensions of the cradle itself were about
these: Ten feet wide and eighteen feet in length, resting firmly upon
the three declined timbers or ways, which were six feet wide from side
to side and some forty feet in length from where they commenced on the
shore to their terminus under the water in Stillwater Cove, at a depth
of about eight or nine feet at high water. They were kept in place by
their own weight, being of as large a size as I could handle with my
team of goats, and of hard-wood, the inclination they received from the
shore ends forcing the outer ends to the bottom of the water. Of course
these ways were not made of one piece of timber but of several, which
were as large as I dared cut them with any hope of being able to handle
them, and were fished together to make the required length, being first
sawed out at the mill, planed upon the upper side by hand, and then let
down again over the inclined planes of the mill into Rapid River, and
thence thrust over the falls into the shallow water and conveyed to
their place, where I pulled them on shore by means of rollers and my
team of goats, till I had each in place and mounted upon short uprights
of other timber, that I had placed at equal distances from each other,
and higher one than the other as they were erected landward from the
water.
The underpinning of my cradle was exactly like the wooden underpinning
of a house, and consisted of a parallelogram, eighteen feet by ten
feet, with timbers of about eight inches square. Across these timbers
were placed smaller ones in sockets, exactly as slats are placed
across a bed, and this was to form the foundations upon which I was to
erect my boat.
When I desired to submerge it I had only to saw away each of these
slats, on either side, and it would drop into the ocean, leaving the
outer framework--or bedstead, if you please--floating; for my boat was
to be built, of course, less than eighteen feet long and ten wide, so
as to rest wholly upon these slats and not upon the framework of the
cradle that supported the slats. This took me a long time to finish;
but what was time to me whilst revolving the problem of my escape,
which was not yet solved. Till I knew _how_ I was to escape I should
never again be in a hurry.
To build my boat I commenced by making two watertight tanks, each
sixteen feet long and two feet square, and two smaller ones, each six
feet long and of the same dimensions otherwise as the long ones; these,
placed upon the slats of my cradle, gave me a parallelogram composed
of four water-tight tanks, all made out of my rolled iron and riveted
together firmly. I had to erect a derrick to hoist them into place, but
once in the cradle I had only to bind the two ends of each extremity of
the long tanks to the short ones placed at right angles to them and I
had the foundations of my boat laid. I bound the small tanks in place,
as also the large ones, by bands of iron, several in number, which I
brought together on one side by means of what is called a turn buckle,
such as is often seen on iron bridges, both ends of the bands being
formed with a screw-thread, and fitting into this turn-buckle nut on
both sides, which could be then tightened by means of a lever, so as to
bring an immense binding force upon each band.
Upon the outer edge of this parallelogram of tanks I had left a sort of
comb of iron, some three inches in height, already pierced, or rather
punched, ready to receive the roof of the boat, also air-tight, to be
bolted to it, so that when all was done my platform of tanks would be
nearly two feet wide within the boat, and allow me plenty of margin to
rest any kind of a movable platform upon, or deck over the space that
was left open, some fourteen feet long by six feet wide.
The nearest description that I can give of this roof is, that it rose
in all directions at an angle of about forty-five degrees till it was
bolted to a large flat surface made up of several sheets of rolled
iron, which formed the top, which was ten feet long and four feet wide.
This flat roof was fitted with a manhole, somewhat large in proportion
to the rest of the boat, at least two feet square, and fitted over a
raised rib of iron, which was packed with greased milkweed floss, and
closed on the inside by set-screws, that were worked with a short iron
lever, so as to make the opening perfectly air-tight.
I commenced this chapter by saying that I did not intend to make such a
fool of myself as the old Robinson Crusoe did, and that I was not going
to make any errors either of judgment or figures; and yet I had not my
boat completed as far as I have described before I discovered that I
had been a silly ass, fully as silly as it was possible for a mechanic
to be, and one day it flashed upon me that my whole cradle, with its
air-tight chests, was an egregious folly; that I had not the least need
in the world for it, and that I had wasted time, labor, and patience
in perfecting it. Carried away, as I was, with the means I intended to
employ to sink and raise my boat I had totally overlooked the fact that
as now being built, and as it would be launched, that it would float
itself, the size of the four air-tight tanks being sufficient to float
five times the upper structure built on top of them.
As I am writing a veritable history, and no fable, it behooves me to
tell the truth, and it was with feelings of both mortification and
mirth that I surveyed my partially finished work. It was the mental
contemplation of a series of air-cocks, weights, pumps, etc., to be
hereinafter described, that had led me astray as to the buoyancy of
the boat as it now stood, and it was what I was going to use the tanks
for, rather than what they now were, that had led me to this error.
But then there was no great harm done. I had not to change the plan of
the boat in the minutest particular, and the cradle might after all
be advantageous in launching it, and preserve it from any casualty.
Therefore, with the exception of my loss of time, I was nothing the
worse; still I was rather crestfallen to think what a mistake I had
made. But after mourning for a short time I set to work with renewed
ardor to complete my task.
After having strapped the four tanks together and covered them with
the iron roof, as described, I went on to complete the remainder of
the boat, in this manner. In the interior, which I could easily reach
by getting up from underneath the ways through two of the slats of the
cradle, I arranged the following: The space in which I had to work was
about fourteen feet in length, six feet wide, and eight feet high from
the bottom of the tanks to the flat roof, which contained the manhole,
which, for the present I left open, to give me both light and air. In
the first place I connected all these four tanks together by means of
a half-circular arm of piping some three inches in diameter, which I
placed in each of the four corners of the parallelogram formed by the
interior of the boat, leading from one tank to the other, where the
latter met at an angle, so that the air that each contained was put
in direct communication with the others. These connecting pipes were
fitted in with a flange and riveted, and were placed a few inches from
the bottom of the tanks, thus making really one tank of the whole.
As the roof was fastened to the outside of these tanks, I had a seat
or margin running round all the sides of the interior two feet wide,
from the outer or further side of which arose the roofing. I could,
therefore, easily lay any kind of a movable deck over this open space
of fourteen feet by six feet, resting the ends of all my planks upon
the top of the tanks in any direction.
Having connected all the tanks so as virtually to form one, so far
as concerned being one air-chamber, I then went to work and pierced
the perpendicular side of one of the tanks quite near the bottom and
inserted a similar pipe to the horizontal ones that connected the tanks
at the angles. This pipe, however, was in the form of a right angle, or
rather its two ends were at a right angle, the bend being of a circular
form. It pierced the tank near the bottom, as I have said, extended in
a horizontal line some eight inches, and then gradually turned in a
circular manner till the other end, about one foot in length, pointed
downward, in an exact right-angle from the end entering the tank. This
was put on with a flange, and made water-tight, and in the top of it,
about three inches from the tank, was fixed a stopcock, with a long
rod, which arose inside the boat, parallel with the side of the tank,
till it ended in a handle, situated some ten inches higher than the
top of the tanks. Near this, also, I erected another piece of pipe,
which entered the top of the tank and pierced the roof of the boat,
which was also fitted with a stopcock. Still another pipe pierced the
roof, which was fitted with a stopcock outside as well as inside, and
depended down into the boat some four feet from the roof. These four
pipes, with their stopcocks, were so arranged as to be all near to each
other, so that I could control them all without moving in my position,
and were made at about the middle of what I called the starboard side
of my boat, though it would be hard to say which side starboard was,
as both ends of the boat were exactly alike up to the present time.
But as I was eventually to have a propeller and rudder, which would
define the stern, I had already concluded that the part of the boat
nearest the water should be the bows, and hence I knew which to call
the starboard side and which the port side. Added to the pipes and
stopcocks already enumerated was one which was simply about a foot in
height, which pierced the tank on the top, some few inches from the
inner edge, and near the others. It was also fitted with a stopcock,
and, that my readers may fully understand the uses to which I put all
these appliances at a later day, it will be well, perhaps, to name
them, so that when used it will be possible to understand to which of
the numerous ones I refer; and to prevent confusion, and to make myself
understood, I will say that the pipes at the angles of the tanks I
took no note of, they not being fitted with any cocks, and only made
to connect all the tanks together, so that any action I might make
with any of the stopcocks would be communicated to the whole system of
tanks, of which the foundations and main part of the boat was formed.
The pipes with stopcocks I named as follows: The one leading down into
what would be the water when the boat was launched, and below the
bottom of the tank some inches, fitted with a long rod and handle, I
called the water-pipe and stopcock; the one that connected the tank
with the roof, the tank air-pipe and stopcock; the one that pierced the
roof and depended into the interior, the atmospheric pipe and outer
and inner stopcocks; the one that stood erect, ten inches in height,
the pump-pipe and stopcock. So that I had four pipes and five stopcocks
to my boat, all of which had their uses, as shall be related.
Besides all these four pipes I also made near to them an opening into
the tanks, which was fitted with a screw thread, upon which I could,
when occasion demanded, erect a quite large and powerful pump, that I
had made for the express purpose.
One more thing remained to be done, and that was to make all around
the boat inside a sort of movable step, that would ship and unship. I
was well aware that, unless the centre of gravity was kept well down,
my boat would capsize and spill out all the air when in use, and to
prevent this I made these movable steps, which it is difficult to
describe. They were made of an upright piece of wood that was over
four feet in length, and on the top of which another piece of wood was
nailed horizontally, some twelve inches in width, like one arm of the
letter T, whilst at the other end of the upright of four feet in length
was nailed another horizontal piece, some twelve inches in width, on
exactly the opposite side, like the letter L; so that when the whole
was done the upper horizontal board rested one foot on the top of the
tanks, whilst at the other end of the upright, two feet below the
bottom of the tanks, was the other horizontal board, facing in towards
the centre of the boat in all directions, and forming a kind of step
or shelf, upon which weights could be placed so as to prevent all
chance of the capsizing of the boat, the vomiting out of its air, and
perhaps the destruction of its constructor and inventor. I had this so
arranged that I could speedily ship and unship it in sections, for it
was of course greatly in the way, and of no use except when the boat
was launched.
I then completed my deck, which I made of light planks, marked and
arranged so that I could readily board over all the space in the
interior or leave part of it open. Upon further thoughts, some of this
deck I made permanent, leaving only a space of about six feet by four
open in the forward end, which I could cover or uncover.
I then entered upon another part of the programme, namely, the motive
power by which I was to move this submarine monster, but that I had
long ago solved in my own mind. For some months I had been practising
two fine young goats upon a treadmill fitted to their size and
strength, all the time having in view the end of using them to create
the motive power of my boat; and for this purpose I had left the
manhole two feet square so as to be able to take them down with me into
it. I now went to work and transported the treadmill to the boat, and,
having fixed it in place, I each day conveyed the goats on board and
set them to work, so that they might get used to it. They were already
used to the motion of the mill, and I noticed that with the precision
of step of their race they worked the rounds of the mill much better
than horses usually do, and they soon became accustomed to the boat
and worked rapidly and well, obeying the least word of command. In fact
they were to me almost companions, and it would be amazing to relate,
if I had time, all I have taught these really sagacious and gentle
creatures since I have been on the island; not these very ones of which
I am now speaking in particular, but several of their race. Perhaps
before I am through with my narrative I may give an idea of the many
interesting things which I taught them.
For a long time I allowed the mill to be turned daily, without making
up my mind just how I would connect it with the wheel or screw that I
foresaw that I should have to make to propel the boat. I at last fixed
upon a propeller, to work in the open space of water in the interior of
the boat, and which I readily set up with good strong gearing, that I
could as readily take down by hand when needful. By means of bevelled
gearing I obtained several revolutions of my propeller to one of the
balance-wheel of the treadmill, and I saw, as a mechanic, that my boat
would move forward, perhaps not very fast, but still at the rate of
three or four knots an hour, which would answer all purposes.
I had one more necessary thing to make, and that was a rudder, which
I connected to the outside of the rear tank of the boat, bringing the
tiller or steering rods into the interior of the boat under the bottom
of the tank. I took care to fasten the heel of the rudder, which was
quite wide, above the line of the bottom of the tank, so that if the
boat grounded it would not be injured or destroyed.
And now I came to the most important part of my boat, and, in fact,
upon the success of which, and practical application, rested the
actual consummation of all my efforts. It was to obtain a supply of
air whilst under the surface of the water without connection with the
atmosphere, from which I was of course debarred. This problem solved,
I had, I felt, the whole matter under control,--and let it not be
believed that I had proceeded thus far in my self-imposed task without
seeing a way out of this difficulty. The following every-day facts were
easily ascertained from my Book of Useful Arts and Sciences, and upon
the following conclusions I had based my invention. It is well known
that oxygen is the portion of atmospheric air which supports life,
and that it composes nearly twenty-two per cent of the same, whilst
nitrogen, the remaining portion, is incapable of sustaining life. It
is also well known that water also contains oxygen, in the proportion
of two parts to one of hydrogen, of which two gases water is composed;
or, in other words whilst atmospheric air holds only twenty-two per
cent of the life-giving principle, water contains about sixty-six per
cent, or, by weight, eight-ninths of oxygen to one-ninth of hydrogen. I
also ascertained that the specific gravity of nitrogen is 0.94, whilst
that of hydrogen is only 0.0692. Now if I could release the oxygen
in the water I could make new air and at the same time precipitate
the nitrogen and carbonic acid in the boat, that might be in the
atmosphere, that had accumulated by my repeated breathings. Now the
only problem to solve was evidently how to release this oxygen with
which the water was so freely impregnated, charged, or made up of,
and by the breathing of which fishes sustained life. And this is how
I set about to do it. I made a very light paddle-wheel, full six feet
in diameter, with many, but light arms, and only six inches across the
face of each paddle; this was arranged so as to ship inside the boat,
upon sockets arranged so that the lower paddles would just touch the
water, and was adjustable by set screws, so that the journals could
be lowered or elevated as the pressure of the water in the boat might
show itself, higher or lower, according to the depth the boat might
be at. By this arrangement I could have the paddles, which were more
like a set of large-teethed combs than paddles, dip just such distance
into the water as I desired. This wheel was connected by series of
light wheels to the drum of the treadmill, so that I could obtain many
revolutions of the water-wheel to one of the latter. My idea was this.
By violent motion of the extreme ends of my comb-paddles through the
water I intended to throw up into the interior of the boat a mass of
minute spray, that in that form would itself release the oxygen that it
contained, or at least a large part of it, and grant to my exhausted
air the vitality it needed by new oxygen, or the life-sustaining
principle, and at the same time precipitate the carbonic acid that
the used-up atmosphere might contain. By this simple contrivance I
intended to renew my air, and thus remain just as long below the
surface as I might desire. The test that I should have that my air
was becoming impure would be the dimness with which the candles would
burn, with which I was to furnish the boat; and if after the use of the
spray-wheel they again flashed up brilliantly, I should know that my
theory was correct.
I had only one more thing to make to complete the whole affair, and
that was a compass, which, having finished, I took within the boat
to see and note its variations from the true north on account of the
attraction of the iron, and to regulate it so that I might be aware
always of my true course, for upon the exactitude of this instrument
rested the responsibility of my ever again reaching land should I dare
to go out into the ocean, supposing that the boat should work according
to my desires and theory.
For light I had nothing but the light contained in the water and my
candles. I could only pass from spot to spot by compass alone, and in
case of utmost disaster plunge into the water within my own boat and
try to reach the surface by coming up outside. It was not my intention
to propel the boat near the bottom but only when near the surface. When
near the bottom a turn or two of the propeller would send me in any
needed direction.
A few blocks of iron to place upon my hanging shelves, and four anchors
with strong rawhide hawsers, completed the appurtenances of the boat,
and it was finished. By examination of my diary I found that I had been
just nine months and eleven days in completing it from the day I had
started to work upon the ways.
CHAPTER XX.
Launch the submarine boat. Experiment with it in Stillwater Cove.
Having completely finished and arranged my boat, my next task was to
launch it and arrange for a series of experiments to ascertain its
practical value. So one fine morning I went forth, with a beating
heart, from the Hermitage, and waited patiently till nearly high water,
and having greased my launching ways, and confined the cradle with a
long and strong rope of rawhide, so that its momentum, when launched,
should not carry it across Stillwater Cove without being checked before
it reached the other side, I, with anxiety and almost fear, withdrew
the iron bolts in front of it on the ways, and, going to the upper
end, applied a crowbar to the still stationary mass, and after a few
motions of the bar it began to move, and with one grand rush, not very
fast, and yet majestic and striking, the cradle, with its precious
freight, dashed into the water, and, being brought up by the long rope
of rawhide fast to it, in a moment or two rested quietly upon its bosom.
I took the canoe "Fairy" and paddled all about it and saw that it sat
well balanced, and secure, and that it floated beautifully. I then
made fast to it with a short piece of rawhide rope, and commenced
towing it to the mouth of Stillwater Cove, where the water was deep but
smooth, to still further carry on my experiments. It was a good hard
day's work to tow the heavy cradle to the place that I had fixed upon,
which was at the mouth of Stillwater Cove, just within the breakwater,
and about one mile beyond the landing-place and two or three miles from
the Hermitage. This place was admirably fitted for my purposes, the
shore being of a smooth sand and the water gradually deepening towards
the centre of the cove. Nothing but clear, pure sea-sand on the bottom,
and no rock to injure the boat or interfere with any experiment I might
choose to make. Having arrived, I was glad to anchor the whole concern
safely, and to make my way home in the canoe.
The next day, fitted out with all I thought I should need, including
my two goats for the treadmill and provisions for a day or two, I
made my way back again in the canoe to the floating cradle. I found
everything all right, as I had left it, and proceeded to prove the
practical efficiency of my invention. In the first place I took the
goats on shore and tethered them, so that they could feed, but not
escape. I then went to work and anchored the cradle in about twelve
feet of water, it then being nearly low tide, or slack water. After
having secured both it and the boat also, I went to work sawing off the
slats of the cradle upon which the latter rested, and in less than
two hours the last one was off, and I had the satisfaction of seeing
my boat floating in the water, drawing only a few inches, certainly
not over six, with the manhole open, sustained wholly by the confined
air in the tanks, which held up the superstructure bravely. After the
slats were cut away I drove out the pins from the mortised framework of
the cradle and left my iron boat floating calmly on the bosom of the
smooth waters of Stillwater Cove. Floating the timbers to one side that
had formed the cradle, I allowed them to drift up stream with the now
incoming tide, the boat being securely anchored by two anchors, one in
advance and one at the stern, which were made fast to two ringbolts on
the roof, placed at each extremity.
And now for my final test. I had made up my mind, if the thing was
not a success, that I did not intend to be personally implicated in
any disaster. Two things only could happen; one, that the boat might
capsize, and if so I was prepared to go on board with little clothing,
so that if it vomited me up I could easily reach the surface and then
swim ashore, which was distant only a few rods; the other, that I
should be unable to improve my air, once vitiated or used up. In the
latter event I had only to dive out from under the boat and again make
my way to the shore, losing, however, the lives of my poor goats.
I commenced my work by going on board of the boat by means of a short
ladder, which reached from the manhole to the deck beneath. In the
first place I shipped or hung the wooden shelves on each of the tanks,
and loaded them with several iron weights, and also large smooth stones
and the two anchors that belonged to the boat. This made it very firm,
and sunk the tanks at least two inches more. I then went on shore and
brought off my goats in the canoe and passed them on board through the
manhole, which I had made large for this very purpose. I then went to
work in the interior and fixed my compass, steering-gear, treadmill,
and propeller, taking great care to see that my spray-wheel was all in
order, and at hand ready to be hung.
I also conveyed on board some candles, flint and steel, matches, and
provisions, and as the last thing took in the stern anchor, so that the
boat lay with the tide, tailing up stream. The other hawser I conveyed
also--by means of the canoe and with a boathook--under the forward
tank, so that I held the end within the interior, and could cast it
off at anytime. It was by the sun about eleven o'clock when I gave one
glance around me, and, standing on the last round of the ladder, I drew
the manhole cover over my head and commenced screwing it down on the
inside, which having done I lighted several candles, although I had a
fair light reflected from the water and the bottom of the cove, formed
of white sea-sand, directly beneath me, and distant, I should judge by
the state of the tide, some twenty to twenty-five feet. My goats had
become so accustomed to the boat that they showed little surprise at
the rather dim light, and stood ready to perform their part whenever I
should put them to their customary task.
My heart beat rapidly, not with fear, but with excitement and
expectation. Here I was, already shut out from the outer air, and in
a little world of my own. I hesitated to complete my experiment, and
before going further I turned to my provisions and took a good long
drink of claret wine to strengthen my courage and steady my nerves.
If I was in a scrape I could get out of it, but my poor goats! they,
I was afraid, would have to pay for any error in judgment on my part.
Having regained perfect composure, I made up my mind to make the
first test of the practical value of my boat, and that was to see if
I could descend to the bottom of the ocean, that lay beneath me. By
moving around I felt convinced that my calculations about the centre of
gravity had been correct, and I felt that the boat would not capsize.
It was remarkably stiff and steady, and would, I felt confident, remain
so when submerged. This bugbear was already off my mind, and gave
me confidence to proceed. So, moving to the place on the starboard
side where all my pipes and stopcocks were congregated, I commenced
by opening the stopcock of the water-pipe, which, as I had foreseen,
brought no perceptible change. Some little water rushed into the tanks,
but only what was sufficient to compress the air to the extent of the
weight of the superstructure of the boat. This experiment did not sink
it one particle; its buoyancy remained exactly the same, for the same
air remained in the tanks, although compressed, and was not able to
escape on account of the position of the outlet of the pipe that had
opened communication between it and the water, pointing, as it did,
directly to the centre of the earth. After waiting a little, and seeing
that this all worked well, I placed my hand upon the stopcock of a more
important pipe, namely the tank air-pipe, which led from the tanks to
the outer surface of the superstructure.
Now, or never! Upon turning this cock I should descend or my theory
would be incorrect. The moment my hand opened this valve the air would
be expelled by the pressure of the boat upon the water, conveyed to
the air in the tanks by the water-pipe, which was already open; and,
as it was expelled, so the buoyancy of the boat would be decreased,
and I should descend. The fatal moment had come, and with a firm
hand I opened the tank air-pipe, and plainly heard the escaping air,
the incoming water, and felt the boat descending, and saw the sandy
bottom apparently approaching me. I cut off the discharge of the tank
air-pipe, and with a slight rebound the boat arose again a few inches
towards the surface, simply regaining its true position in equilibrio,
that it had for a moment passed, by the momentum of its descent. By
little turns of this stopcock I discovered, as I expected, that I
could move the boat in a descending direction even an inch at a time.
The movement was a perfect fascination, but each delivery of air was
bringing me nearer the bottom, and as yet I had tried no means of
rising again to the surface.
When I had gotten to within about six feet of the former I thought it
time to see if I could again rise towards the surface. I was well aware
that, having used up this air, it was so much loss to me, but I was in
hopes to be able to replace it; and even if I could not replace it to
make the boat rise to near the surface without it. I could do this in
one way, by casting overboard the anchors and weights lying upon the
wooden shelves; but this, if done to any great extent, might cause the
capsizing of the whole affair. No; I had a better way than this, and at
it I went. In the first place I closed the water-pipe, and then, having
opened the screw-valve in the connected tanks, I screwed upon it the
pump and commenced discharging the water from them--that had run in
to take the place of the discharged air--into the water of the ocean,
which formed, in one sense, the interior flooring of my boat.
To make this pump work I of course opened, and left open, the
pump-pipe, so that the air from the interior rushed in and filled the
tank as fast as the pump discharged the water, and at each stroke of
the pump, after the first few, the boat, as I had hoped, began to rise;
the water, having been just so much ballast to carry it down, being
discharged by the pump, was just so much thrown overboard in weight to
allow it to rise. By persistent pumping I made my boat rise quite near
the surface, but not to the buoyant position it at first maintained,
for I had in my descent used up considerable of the air in the tanks,
which I had as yet not replaced, or rather what I had used from them
had been replaced from the air of the interior when I pumped out the
water, which I could only do by allowing the connection between the
tanks and the interior to be open, so as to make the pump work. In
short I had lost just so much buoyancy as was equal to the escaped air;
but still I had been able to make the boat descend and ascend.
These experiments took me over two hours, and I commenced to feel the
need of new air, and to notice that my candles began to burn a little
dimly. I was thus warned that my air was being used up and charged with
carbonic gas, and that it was time for me to renew it. So I unscrewed
the pump and closed the valve, opened the water-pipe, and placed my
hand upon the tank air-pipe and prepared to descend. One effect I
should have noticed of my loss of air, and that was that the water in
the interior of the boat rose considerably, and a large portion of
the tanks was now submerged. A few turns of the stopcock of the tank
air-pipe carried me near to the bottom, where I desired to be, to try
my last and most important experiment.
Arriving to within a few feet of the bottom I rigged my spray-wheel,
and connected it with the drum of the treadmill and set the goats at
work. And it was time, for my breathing had become oppressive, and the
animals themselves seemed dull and frightened. I had waited almost too
long. My candles also commenced to burn more dimly, and I prepared to
take my plunge into the water and come up outside of the boat should
my experiment now fail. But wonder of wonders! my spray-wheel made
but a few revolutions, dashing large quantities of minute spray into
the interior by its rapid motion, before my lungs were relieved, the
candles renewed their brilliancy, and the goats recovered from the
lassitude under which they had a moment before seemed to be laboring.
The problem was solved. I had made my own air. I could remain below
the surface as long as I desired. Everything about me was rather damp
and moist from the dashing of spray about the interior, and several
of the candles, that I had not protected, were put out; but two, in
the extremity of the boat, were preserved, and now that my problem was
solved I did not again light the former, the two remaining ones being
all-sufficient. And in fact I did not need them; my own lungs, I found,
were sufficient as a guide to tell me in future when to renew the air.
Still it was fascinating to see these two candles burning brilliantly
that had but a moment before been so dim. The reflected light from the
pure sandy bottom just below me was amply sufficient for all purposes.
I imagined, by the slight shadow that the boat cast on the bottom
beneath, from the brilliant sun that I knew was shining overhead, and
from counting up in my mind all I had done since leaving the surface,
that the air had lasted me, as nearly as I could judge, two hours;
and that seemed to be the extreme limit to which I could go and not
renew it. I also knew by the quantity of tallow consumed in the candles
that it must be nearly that amount of time. I also noticed that the
spray-wheel had not only purified my air, but that whilst it was in
operation the boat had slightly ascended, proving that I had gained a
lighter gas for the nitrogen and carbonic acid precipitated.
One more thing remained to be tested, and I should feel that my labors
were complete. In the first place I made the boat ascend as far as
possible, by means of the pump and stopcocks, as before described, and
then I went to work and rigged my propeller and set the goats at work.
I got the boat as near the surface as possible before communicating
motion to it, so as not to run against any obstacle if possible. But
then the body of water in which I was submerged was so pure, and free
from anything of that nature, that there was little danger after all.
With a feeling of confidence that I had not had in all the other
experiments, I cast off the hawser affixed to the anchor that held the
boat, and started the goats. Mechanics did not trouble me, and it was
with no surprise, but only gratification, that I saw by the bottom
that the boat was moving forward, and that it readily obeyed the helm.
I turned it completely around by the tiller, and made an excursion of
fully half a mile, I should think, up Stillwater Cove, once in a while
getting out of the channel, when by stopping the goats and reversing
the propeller I was able to back into the channel again, and finally
to turn around by a series of forward and backward motions till I
again arrived at the place from which I had started, which I knew by
the anchor lying in mid-channel. By observation of the bottom I should
say that the boat was propelled at least three miles an hour, which was
sufficient for all my purposes.
After arriving back to my first position I pointed the boat towards
the sandy beach, and when the hanging shelves touched the bottom I
carefully removed them and their weights to the top of the tanks, in
the interior, and, with a short pole, pushed the boat still nearer the
shore, till the tanks rested on the sand; and this I did with care
and quickly, for I was a little afraid of a capsize when the hanging
shelves were removed, which was only for a moment or two, however,
before the boat was at rest on its own foundations, on the sand. I then
forced down under the water from the interior quite a large block of
wood under the tank that had the water pipe protruding, so that the
latter should not be hurt by being driven into the sand when the whole
boat was stranded at low water.
The tide being now at ebb, I knew that I had not long to wait before
the whole boat would be high and dry upon the sand. But having gotten
my piece of timber under the tank to protect the water pipe, I opened
the atmospheric pipe and let the whole boat sink solidly to the bottom,
in all its parts, as well as the forward part that was resting on
the sand. I then cautiously opened the manhole, ready to close it
immediately should it yet be below the surface; but, as I supposed, it
was out of the water at least six inches, and, throwing it open, I once
again emerged into the open air of day.
I released the goats and carried them on shore, and as the tide receded
all the water left my tanks through the water pipe, which I then
closed, and there was my boat as buoyant again as when it was first
launched, with all the tanks full of air, and ready to be towed to an
anchorage as soon as the next incoming tide should float it.
I lay down upon the sea-side and contemplated my work, and wondered
if it would not make me a rich man if I could transport it to some
civilized portion of the earth. Was it possible for me to make a boat
of this kind on a large scale, with a team of goats, fifteen or twenty
in number, and traverse the depths of the ocean till I arrived at some
Christian land? One thing at least was in its favor: I need fear no
storms or any dangers of the ocean from waves or wind, and one other
great obstacle would be overcome. I could leave the helm at any time
and go to sleep, feeling sure that my boat would not be driven about by
waves and winds, but repose peacefully in eqilibrio till I again awoke,
and forced it forward upon its passage.
There was matter for great thought in all this. But on the other hand,
should my air fail me, or my tanks leak, or steering apparatus get
out of order, I should either be stifled to death, drowned, or left
beneath the ocean to wear out a miserable existence till death relieved
me. The risk was too great. Besides I had no means but a compass of
ascertaining where I was going, no glass lens to give me any light;
but perhaps I might possibly make the latter. It was all well enough
for me to venture out from my island where at the worst I could escape
and swim ashore; and, if the truth must be spoken, I found myself too
much in love with my island, and all its comforts, to hazard too much
to escape from it. I cannot say that I did not long and long to escape,
and that I did not mourn for companionship; but I must also confess
that I had begun to love my island home also, in one sense, and I could
see far enough ahead now into the future to acknowledge to myself that,
should I escape, it would be only to return with companions to here end
my days.
These were different feelings than what I had when first cast on the
island, as will readily be perceived by perusal of this manuscript,
if ever, by the mercy of God, it comes to anybody's hands to read.
But what could I--an old sailor, but not an old man, who had banged
around the world--ask for more than I could obtain on my island except
companionship? Nothing.
Having secured the boat, and put the goats and spare traps into the
canoe, I at the close of the day paddled myself back to the Hermitage,
determined on the morrow to make an excursion out of Stillwater Cove
into the ocean, and see what I could discover. To be doubly secure I
made up my mind to tow the canoe with a long rope of rawhide on the
surface of the water, astern of the submarine boat below it, so that
if I did meet with disaster or shipwreck I could get into the former
and make my way to the shore in safety,--in fact this arrangement would
take away all danger from the enterprise, as I felt confident that I
could always escape from the boat, and it would be well worth while to
have the canoe at hand to jump into, if I had to do so.
CHAPTER XXI.
Explore the bottom of the ocean in the vicinity of the island with my
submarine boat. Discover pearl-oysters, and invent a great improvement
to my boat.
I arose early the next day, and started in my canoe, accompanied by my
two goats, to the mouth of Stillwater Cove. It was a beautiful day, and
one just suited for my purpose. I had made up my mind to make my way
out of the cove into the open ocean, and along the coast line of the
breakwater, taking care, if possible, not to get too near in, so as
to be troubled with the undertow. To enable me to do this I was first
obliged to land on the breakwater, and with my compass to lay out some
of the bearings and directions of the land and shore line--so as to be
able to make a kind of chart--upon a piece of birch bark that I had
brought for that purpose, to enable me to find my way back into the
cove, or, missing that, at least to bring up somewhere on the shores
of Perseverance Bay. Having gotten everything arranged, I went on
board of my boat, which I found floating and in perfect order, having
first recovered my anchor in the stream and taken that also on board.
Once in the interior I shipped the hanging shelves and distributed the
weights in their usual places. My goats evidently took everything as
a matter of course, and quietly remained where I had fastened them,
near the treadmill. I put my movable deck in good order, saw that my
fresh water, provisions, and candles were all right, with a bundle of
hay for the goats also. I then carefully examined all the stopcocks,
the steering apparatus, and spray-wheel, and finding everything in
order, and a fine, sunshiny day overhead, I made fast the "Fairy" to
a ringbolt on the outside of the boat, and paid out a long scope of
rawhide rope, so that I could sink at least forty fathoms without
drawing her after me. Then, giving one more look at everything, and
lighting a candle in case I should need one in any emergency, I shipped
my propeller, attached the band to the treadmill, cast off my moorings,
started the goats, and got under way, standing out in a westerly
direction into the ocean.
As soon as I was clear of Point Deliverance, and when about a hundred
fathoms seaward to the eastward, I changed my course to the northward,
all this time moving along with the manhole wide open, out of which
I often looked to see how I was proceeding, and in what direction to
steer. But I had scarcely got the head of the boat to the eastward
before a heavy sea broke all over me, and came dashing down the
manhole, but did me no harm, falling back, as it did, in the interior,
into its own element. The inside deck was rather spattered, to be sure,
and the goats evidently began to be surprised, if not frightened, at
the motion of the boat, and I saw that the time had come to submerge
it; but I kept on, for I was determined to keep above the surface, if
possible, till I found myself opposite the place on the breakwater at
which I had first been cast on shore, and which I well knew; for it was
there that I determined to make my first descent, and see if I could
not find some remains of the articles that were in the whaleboat when I
was cast away. So to keep out the water I closed the manhole cover, but
once in a while ran up the ladder, opened it and looked about me, till
I at last found myself opposite the spot, and not more than a quarter
of a mile distant.
I then, by a word, stopped the goats, and shut down the cover of the
manhole, and screwed up the set-screws, opened the water-pipe, and
placed my hand upon the air-tank stopcock and allowed some of the air
to escape. In one instant the boat that had before been buffeting about
upon the billows was as quiet and steady as a rock. I did not descend
far before I shut off the escape of air, and sat down to think. In the
first place I saw that by a series of experiments I could easily, in
the future, tell just how far I was descending by the rise of the water
inside of the boat upon the sides of the tanks; for, as I descended,
the pressure upon the air was of course increased, and therefore
compressed, so that the water rose higher within, and nearer to the
movable deck.
Having examined my compass I started the goats again, and made for
the outside of the breakwater, hoping to strike the very place where
the whaleboat had formerly been destroyed. As I advanced towards the
shore I found that I was not deep enough down to see the bottom, so
I again descended till I could plainly see it below me, not ten feet
distant. I spoke to my goats and had them relax their speed, and moved
slowly forward. The bottom laid out to my view was composed of sand,
rocks, and an infinite variety of sea plants. How can I expect to
convey to anyone the beauties of this submarine view. The water--by its
transparency and the light that I obtained by reflection--could not
have been more than six fathoms deep, and in fact I knew that it was
in that neighborhood, for I had often, in my canoe, been outside of
the breakwater before, fishing and for other purposes, and I knew very
nearly what water I ought to have.
Although anxious to explore I could not resist the temptation to stop
and gaze upon the beauties that lay before me, in all their marvellous
freshness, unseen before by the eyes of mortal man since their creation
by the Almighty. Many of the plants before me, that seemed like
sparkling gems, I knew well would look so only as they now stood, in
their native garden, surrounded by water, and that, taken from the
element or cast on shore, would fade ten times quicker than any land
plant. Fishes of various sizes darted in every direction, and simply to
please my own conceit I deliberately dropped a line amongst them and
captured several, which I again allowed to escape. But even in my own
solitude I could not help smiling at the idea of a mortal man sailing
along at the bottom of the ocean and capturing its denizens at his
leisure,--the thing was too comical.
Although I had stopped the goats, my boat still had a motion, or rather
I should say that I could see that the tide was drifting it sideways
to the northwest, but very slowly, not more than a knot an hour. I
think that I could have sat hours and looked upon this scene. It was
like a new world opening up before me. Everything was plain, for no
ripple blurred the surface of the water in the interior of my boat, and
no wind of heaven rushed over it to destroy, for a moment even, its
transparency. It was as still and motionless as death, and as quite
large rocks and new objects seemed to pass by below me, I was sometimes
startled at their beauty and grandeur. It was a panorama. I seemed to
be stationary, fixed, as immovable as the foundations of the earth; and
these objects passed in review before me exactly as if moving along in
space. It was difficult to disabuse my mind of the fact that I was not
stationary, but that the objects upon which I was gazing were. This
feeling was increased in a marked degree by the absolute stillness and
want of motion, in itself, of my submarine boat.
I hated to break in upon this deathlike silence by the motion of my
propeller, but I was being swept by the tide slowly away from my
destination, and it would not do to proceed too far, so as to lose the
true course by compass. Reluctantly then I spoke to my goats and put
the boat in motion, and proceeded upon my way. I had not advanced,
far when I perceived that I was entering a perfect forest of submarine
plants and kelp, the long tendrils of which, sustained by the water,
reached upwards towards the surface. I saw that I was upon dangerous
ground, and therefore stopped the treadmill and reversed my propeller,
and backed out from my position. I then rigged my pump and made the
boat ascend so as to pass over their heads, and again forced the boat
towards the breakwater, but this time I found that I was getting into
the undertow, and the forest beneath me warned me not to descend; so
I had nothing to do but to back out seaward and give up all idea of
exploring the place of my shipwreck.
When I had pushed back so as to be clear of the tangled plants that
seemed to surround the margin of the island on this side, I commenced
again to descend, and allowed the boat to rest within a few feet of the
bottom, and, rigging my spray-wheel, went to work to renew and purify
my air, which I had no difficulty in doing. I then moved about in
different directions, taking care all the time to keep a reckoning by
my compass of the courses sailed and the distances passed over, by dead
reckoning. During one of my stationary moments I had a complete view of
as large a shark as I have ever seen. He passed directly beneath me,
and took no more notice of the boat than if it had been a stationary
rock. He was at least sixteen feet in length, and would have made but a
mouthful of poor me.
[Illustration: THE SUBMARINE BOAT.--PAGE 243.]
I wish that I could describe the sights that I saw. It seemed as if I
was in another world, and had passed from this existence to one more
advanced, in which I floated in space. The extreme silence of all
about me, and the rigidness of all objects seen, was very striking. At
each moment some beautiful fish or plant struck my view, of which I
had never before had any knowledge. I moved about in all directions,
trying to find, if possible, some bank of pearl-oysters, and I had a
good idea of how they ought to look, for I had once, in my younger
days, descended with the divers in the East Indies to the pearl-oyster
beds, and knew the whole practical science of the business. At last,
at a point by compass and dead-reckoning about northeast from Point
Deliverance, and distant two miles, I came upon what I wanted,--or
rather what I hoped was what I wanted,--namely, a perfect bank of
oysters, in thousands, clustered together. My first act was, after
stopping the boat, to throw over a light anchor, to hold it in
position; the next to cast into the water a small grapnel, to which was
attached a long piece of rawhide rope, fully forty fathoms in length,
ending in a wooden buoy, shaped like a tenpin in a bowling-alley, and
of about the same size. This, after dropping the grapnel, by means of a
short boat-hook I thrust under the tank of the boat, and saw it rapidly
take up the spare line as it ascended towards the surface. And as it
was so ascending it flashed upon me that here was also a practical way
of determining at all times the depth of water; for this buoy only
took out about seven or eight fathoms of the line before it became
stationary, evidently having reached the surface. I used this buoy to
anchor the reef, so as to be able to find it in future trips, when I
had only to stand out towards it, on pleasant days, on the surface of
the water, and, when I found it, descend and find myself on the reef.
And for measurement of my depth below the surface I had only, in
future, to fasten a light, buoyant piece of wood to a small cord,
marked off into fathoms, which I could at any time thrust under the
tanks and allow to ascend to the surface, and note how many of the
fathoms of line were taken up, which would denote my depth below the
surface, and then draw my sounding-buoy back again into the boat for
further use, simply reversing the method that is used on shipboard.
That is to say, instead of throwing a lead with a marked line to the
bottom of the ocean, I threw a buoy to the surface. Nature seemed to be
capsized, and everything upside down, as used to appear in using the
inverted telescope in my first attempts to take the altitude of the
sun with a sextant. If I had not lived so solitary a life I could have
laughed at many of the things that befel me in this submarine boat.
Having gotten the boat securely anchored, and the buoy thrown out as I
have related, I went to work gathering the oysters. I had taken care
to bring with me a light pickaxe, a crowbar, and a sort of hand-rake,
similar to ones used by East Indian divers, which I proceeded to
employ upon the mass of oysters below me. I had no difficulty in
detaching all I wanted of them, and filling my decks, and particularly
the hanging shelves, which I relieved of their stones and weights,
replacing them by masses of the oysters. I made a long job of this,
and, having gotten all I desired, I drew up my anchor and got again
under way, ascending as near as possible to the surface before
advancing towards the land. During all this time, whenever necessary, I
had renewed my air by use of the spray-wheel.
Being near the surface, which I was made aware of in several ways, such
as the increased light, the disappearance of the bottom from view, and
a slight noise of the waves above me, and a little motion of the boat,
caused by their agitation, I put the goats at full speed, feeling sure
that for at least two miles nothing was in my way. After I had, as
I calculated, gone this distance, I slowed down, and proceeded more
cautiously; but after an hour's work I made no land, nor found any
great shallowing of the water. Here was a pretty scrape. By my chart I
was past Stillwater Cove, and even in the interior of the island, and
not a sign of the land or shallow water could I find. I began to be
seriously troubled, and I foresaw that unless I soon made some shallow
water I should be obliged to dive under my tanks, and look about me and
see where I was. But before I did this I descended and anchored, and
found out for the first time that I was at last in a strong current,
setting towards the westward. This frightened me still more, and I
ascended at once, stripped off the little clothing that I had on, and
plunged into the water and came up buoyant as a cork on the surface,
and pulled the canoe towards me and got into it without much effort.
One glance showed me what the trouble was. I had gradually, during the
whole day, drifted to the westward, and had passed West Signal Point,
and was, in the direction I was pursuing, leaving the island on the
port hand, behind me. One glance in the open air cleared my brain, and
gave me a true idea of where I was, for I confess that the many courses
that I had sailed beneath the surface had rather confused me.
Taking one more good look about me, I plunged into the sea under my
tanks, and was again inside my boat, which I speedily started in the
right direction, and in less than two hours made shallow water, when I
once more had to dive out of the boat and look about me, when I found
that I had made a pretty good landfall, as I was in Perseverance Bay,
not more than a quarter of a mile from the mouth of Stillwater Cove,
having overrun it; and as I was so near home I dove back again, started
the goats, and soon had the pleasure of finding myself in the cove,
some part of the bottom of which I already recognized; and I foresaw
that if I should make many trips I should be able to recognize the
bottom just as easily as one recognizes familiar objects on land.
I stranded my boat in the usual manner, and waited for the tide,
which was now at an ebb, to leave the top exposed, for the buoyancy
of the boat was not very great from my frequent use of the air-tank
stopcock. During this time I busied myself in casting the oysters to
the bottom, and then moving the boat, which was thus lightened, a
little to one side, so that, when the tide returned, the former would
be exposed clear of the boat. I then unshipped the movable shelves
and put everything in order in the interior, and sat down and ate a
hearty meal, after which I tried the manhole, which, by the pressure
of the tanks upon the sand, I felt confident was above the surface,
which proved to be the fact. I soon had the goats ashore, who seemed
to be glad to escape from the confinement of the boat, and gambolled
about me. I waited patiently for the tide to go down far enough for me
to get at my oysters, which I conveyed to the land, above high-water
mark, and, sitting down, commenced with my knife to open one or two of
them. I think it was the third that I was opening when my knife-blade
struck against something that made my heart beat. I laid open the
oyster, and there within it, nestled near to the upper shell, was as
beautiful and perfect a pearl as anyone could desire to see. It was not
very large,--perhaps the size of a common pea,--but of a pure cream
color, and of perfect oval form. I knew at once that it was a jewel
of value and price, and I carefully hid it away in my clothing. This
prize sufficed me. It proved to me the importance of my discovery, and
I was determined that the sun should do the remainder of the work for
me, and therefore left the oysters where they lay, to be made putrid by
exposure, when the pearls that they might contain could be very easily
washed out.
I was not wholly satisfied with my boat. I did not like the idea of
having to dive overboard to find out where I was, as I had had to
to-day, and I commenced racking my brains to overcome it; and at
last I accomplished it in theory, and it may be as well to state
here that it served me perfectly when put in practice on many future
occasions, and in fact almost took the place of the spray-wheel. It
was this. I arranged, in the first place, a sort of air-boat, in the
shape of the half shell of an English walnut, but shallower, nearly
four feet in length. This boat was made of very thin sheet-iron, but
perfectly airtight, and upon it was lashed, in a horizontal position,
a cylinder of sheet-iron, closed at one end and open at the other, a
foot in diameter, and in length the same as the shallow, airtight,
walnut-shaped boat that sustained it. At the end of this boat, just
below the mouth of the cylinder, was affixed a solid iron ring, and
to this was spliced a strong rawhide rope of great length. To utilize
this machine I made two long bars of iron, which I could arrange in
the interior of the boat, across its greatest diameter, in the form of
the letter V, pointing downwards towards the bottom of the ocean, and
at the point of contact was arranged a block through which the rope
attached to the air-boat could be rove. This inverted derrick, in the
form of a letter V, was still further braced by another bar, leading
to one of the short diameters of the boat, in the interior, forming
a tripod. To use the air-boat I had only (at any time when beneath
the surface and in need of air, either to purify that surrounding me
or obtain enough to force the boat out of water on the surface, after
having used up the air in the tanks) to reeve the rawhide rope through
the derrick, as above, and erect the same in an inverted form, pointing
towards the bottom, and then put the air-boat in the water in the
interior of the submarine boat, force it bodily down in a horizontal
manner till the cylinder was filled with water, and then start the
goats so that the rope attached to the nose of the air-boat, leading
down to the inverted apex of the tripod, through the block, and thence
to the drum of the treadmill, would be tautened, and cause it to erect
itself in a perpendicular manner, and be forced down under the water
towards the apex of the tripod. When submerged enough to clear the
bottom of the tank I slackened the rope gradually, pressing it at the
same time out and clear from the tank, and yet keeping enough strain
upon it to prevent its touching the latter; when, as soon as it was
clear, I slacked the rope wholly, to allow it to arise to the surface
outside, which it rapidly did on account of the confined air in the
air-tight shell. Of course immediately upon its arrival at the surface
it righted itself, and presented the appearance, on a small scale, of
a barrel with one head out, placed in a horizontal position upon a
small sled or vessel. In this position all the water that had been in
the cylinder was at once discharged, and, to get a measure of fresh
air exactly equal to the dimensions of this cylinder, I had only to
set the goats to work, to take the rope to the drum of the treadmill,
the first effect of which was to depress the nose and open mouth of
the cylinder on the air-boat, at the surface, and the next to drag it
down under the water in a perpendicular position, with the cylinder
charged with air, which could not escape. As soon as it appeared clear
of the outside of the tank, against which it rubbed in its descent,
and was brought down near to the inverted apex of the tripod, I
commenced slacking the same rope till it arrived at the surface of
the water within the submarine boat, when I cast off the rope and it
righted itself violently, discharging at the same time the contents of
the cylinder in the shape of new air, and I had only to repeat this
process of conveying fresh air from the surface to obtain all I needed,
taking care only, in sending the apparatus to the surface, to see
that, when the air-boat was first pointed under water ready to ascend,
it took back with it none of its precious freight, which was easily
obviated when it was held in a semi-perpendicular state, and half
submerged ready to ascend, by pushing upon the part out of water till
it was forced into a horizontal position, the air from the cylinder
discharged, and replaced by water, when, after descending towards the
connecting points of the tripod and pushed clear of the side tank, it
was allowed to ascend to the surface, discharge the water, and descend
again filled with air.
With this apparatus I found that I could even compress the air in the
interior, and in many future expeditions I had no trouble in making
my submarine boat, at any time, self-sustaining on the surface of the
water, and I could by a little labor come to the surface, open my
manhole, and look about me and see where I was.
[Illustration: THE AIR BOAT.]
CHAPTER XXII.
Manufacture glass. Build a steam yacht, and circumnavigate the island.
Lay up large stores of valuable pearls obtained from the pearl oysters.
After I had perfected my submarine boat I used it often to gather the
pearl oysters, and it was not difficult to steer straight to the buoy
on the reef, fill the shelves of my boat, arise again to the surface,
and return home. After allowing my first load to putrify, I went to
work upon them and washed them out in the water of Stillwater Cove,
obtaining nearly a handful of seed-pearls, some twelve of the size of
peas, and four very handsome and perfectly-shaped larger ones. This
induced me to keep on; for here was portable wealth such as I could
take away with me when I left the island. Let it suffice to say that,
during repeated trips at intervals, I ended by obtaining probably the
finest private collection of pearls in the world. I had some eighteen
of enormous size, nearly as large as English walnuts, but as perfect
as if from the turning-lathe,--except one that had a slight blemish,
and one that was irregular in form,--and I much doubted if there were
more perfect and larger ones in any royal crown. They were regal in
size and appearance, and were, I knew, of immense value. Besides these
sixteen perfect gems without price, I had at least four hundred and
sixty as large as a small filbert nut, and several hundreds as large as
common peas, not to speak of vast quantities of seed-pearls, too many
to enumerate. If I could escape from the island, these treasures would
keep me in ease and comfort in any part of the world.
During the year succeeding the finishing of my submarine boat, I was
taken up with many new inventions almost too numerous to mention. I
enclosed another large piece of ground as a pasture for my goats, of
which I had now as many as I chose to keep; in fact, I loosed many of
the she-goats and kids into the woods to return to a state of nature,
having more than I could attend to. From the remainder I made cheese,
butter, jerked meat, etc. It may be possible that some persons have
lived as well as I, but at this time I had everything that could be
desired. I improved upon my ways of preserving my fruits, and from
a ground-nut that I found on the island extracted a most delicious
oil, which I used in all my cooking. I had by this time, by repeated
breedings, brought the wild quail, that I saw when first arriving at
the island, to a state of barnyard fowl, and I had their delicate
flesh and eggs added to my larder. From my grapes I was able to make
several kinds of pleasant light wines. In fact I had everything but
companionship.
But by my temperament I could not keep still, so I must yet invent
something new that would be of use to me. What I wanted most at
this time was glass, plate-glass for my submarine boat, and I was
determined to have it. So, with my book to guide me, at it I went.
I knew that silicic acid, practically glass, was represented by
sea-sand. I also knew, or rather discovered from perusal and study of
my book, that this sea-sand, freed from iron, formed the base of glass.
Also that silica, silicic acid, or oxide of silicon exists in great
abundance in nature, being the principal constituent in rock and stone,
and that crystal and quartz held it in its purest forms. This, combined
with potash or soda, and subjected to a powerful heat, would, I knew,
make glass, if mixed in the right proportions.
In the first place I gathered some five or six hundred pounds of
the finest, purest, and whitest sea-sand that I could find. This
I carefully washed in some seven or eight waters of Rapid River,
till it was purified of all its salt, and then it was placed in my
ore-cleansing kiln, and burned, or rather heated, to a red heat, to get
rid of all vegetable matter, and then sifted through wire screens to
get rid of any pieces of fuel with which it might have become charged.
Having thus gotten my sand all in order, purified, and cleansed, I went
with the goat team, and a handy little cart with cast-iron wheels and
frame, that I had made during odd times, to the coal mine, to bring
home some of the chalk there to be found, of which there were large
quantities, and of a fine quality. This I brought home and reduced to
a fine powder by pounding it up with hammers, and sifting it through
fine sieves. I then went to work and built some large fires upon the
seaside, upon which, when in full blaze, I placed large quantities of
kelp or barilla, which was finally converted into ashes. After I had
burned sufficient of it, I allowed the fires to go out, and gathered
the ashes carefully, to which I added a quantity of fresh water
and stirred it about carefully, preserving the fluid in open iron
pans, which I placed upon fires and evaporated, and had carbonate of
soda as the result; and, although on a desert island where there is
supposed to be nothing, my book informed me that kelp or barilla was
the best article from which to make carbonate of soda, and some kinds
of sea-sand the very best base of which to form glass. Having thus
procured the component parts of which to make my glass, I set to to
make a large clay pot in which to fuse it, that would fit in the base
of my iron-smelting furnace, so as to be surrounded by the air blasts.
My clay pits fitted me out with this without any trouble, and I then
had to manufacture a level plate of iron, about two feet square, with
a raised rim of some inch and a half in height, and this I placed in
a horizontal position in front of the door of the furnace, and rigged
above it a large iron roller to work by machinery, that could be passed
over its face. I then mixed my ingredients by hand in the following
proportions:--
Prepared sand 400 lbs.
Carbonate of soda 250 "
Ground chalk 30 "
and put the empty clay pot into the furnace and started an immense
fire around it. As soon as it was at a white heat I filled it with my
mixture, placing it in the pot by means of a long iron spoon some six
feet in length, protecting my face with a mask of goatskin, and my
hands by gloves of the same material. When vitrification was complete,
which took place in about eighteen hours, and which I ascertained by
plunging a long rod of iron into the pot, I ladled out a lot of the
mass by means of a clay-lined, long-handled, iron ladle, and poured the
rapidly-cooling but pliable substance upon the iron table constructed
for it, and, pressing the iron roller upon it in all its parts, soon
rolled out a sheet of glass two feet square and at least an inch and
a half thick. Allowing this to cool, I repeated the process after
removing it, till I had made six large squares. I then changed the
roller so as to come lower down to the iron plate, and by this method
commenced turning out sheets of plate glass two feet square and about
one quarter of an inch thick. My task was done. I had all the glass I
should ever want as long as I should live; enough for the side lights
of my boat, and also for windows to the Hermitage. Fully satisfied with
my task, I allowed my fire to go down, and the large slabs of glass to
cool.
On the next day I set to work to polish the glass I had made, and
this I found a laborious and slow task. But it had to be done, and
I commenced with fine pulverized and sifted sand, or rather quartz,
and ended with chalk. It was many weeks before all was done, for I
needed emery to help me in this task, and could find none, and had
to make other things do. But at last I had four fine slabs of plate
glass quite well polished and clear, each two feet square, and one
and a half inches thick; and several that were of a quarter of an
inch in thickness, many of which I had broken in attempting to polish
them. The latter were soon fitted into position as window lights in
the Hermitage, and pleasant enough they made the interior look. The
former were made to fit into four holes cut out of the solid iron of
the boat and fitted with flanges, into which they were set with great
care by means of what the Chinese call _chenam_, a sort of water cement
made of lime, oil, white of eggs, and clam shells powdered fine, used
by them in making all their vessels water-tight. These four panes of
plate glass, each two feet square, and an inch and a half thick, were
placed at either end and both sides of my boat on the slanting roof,
and gave me a chance to see in what direction the boat was moving,
to avoid obstacles, and aid me in submarine navigation. They were
also thick enough to withstand a blow of great force, and not to be
affected by the pressure of water upon them when at great depths; but,
to preserve them more fully from any danger, I built outside of them
all a wire screen, the meshes of which were perhaps two inches apart,
and distant from the face of the glass outwards some six inches, made
of strong iron wire at least three eighths of an inch in diameter, so
that if by chance the boat should receive a blow, or be forced upon or
back against any object, these screens would receive the blow and not
the naked glass, although I am ready to believe that the latter would
have sustained an immense shock without breaking, it was so thick and
perfect, without crack or flaw. I should have said that all my glass
had just the faintest tinge of green, caused by the minute particles
of iron in the sea-sand of which it was composed, of which I had not
been able to completely free it, although I had used magnets to extract
large portions of it; but enough remained to give it this very light
tinge of which I have spoken.
I had no difficulty in cutting my thin glass into any shape I
desired, by means of case-hardened steel, which would scratch it deep
enough to be broken off, although a glazier's diamond would have
perhaps performed the operation better; but a piece of sharp-edged
chilled-steel answered all practical purposes. Later on I had occasion
to again make glass, but at this time I did not waste a moment in
making household utensils, glasses, or bottles, my earthenware, wooden
ware, and ironware doing excellent service for me, and I had need of no
utensil that they could not supply.
With my submarine boat perfected and supplied as it now was with its
immense windows, I made many trips, and the sights under the water that
my eyes gazed upon I could write thousands of pages about. I made no
great discovery, however, in all my wanderings, except to find two
more oyster-banks, more to the northeast than the first one, but not so
prolific. I saw often many creatures that never come to the surface,
and for which there is no name, some of them small and seemingly
harmless, and others quite frightful and startling. I passed over, upon
three different occasions, enormous cuttle-fishes, or squids, with
tentacles at least six or eight feet in length, and eyes three inches
in diameter; but they never, upon any occasion, paid the slightest
attention to my boat, but remained perfectly motionless, clinging to
the stony bottom, waiting for their prey, and I took good care never
to disturb them. Immense crabs and lobsters, the very patriarchs of
the ocean, often lay on the bottom to my view, and seemingly deformed
and curious fishes, large and small, some like serpents and some like
inflated balls, often met my view as I floated along with the tide a
few feet above the bottom. I never wholly got over the sensation of
being at the bottom of the ocean; it always seemed as if I had entered
another world, where all was changed, and in which every living thing
was compelled to keep an eternal silence.
Many parts of the bottom, especially that near the pearl-oyster reef
and the approaches to Stillwater Cove, became, shortly after using my
glass windows, as familiar to me as similar places would have been
on land; there being fully as many distinguishing marks, peculiar in
themselves, as upon the rocks and protuberances of the island itself.
I loved this lonely under-water drifting about, and indulged in it as
a recreation as well as to increase my store of pearls. I sometimes
watched for hours the habits and movements of the animals below me,
that seemed not to care for my presence; but quite often some huge
monster of the sea would pass by me, making me hold my breath with awe,
if not fright. But I often thought that my iron boat would be a hard
mouthful for anything beneath the waters to attempt to swallow.
I had long, long ago given over any idea of being attacked by savages,
and my nerves had become again, as in my younger days, hard as steel;
yet I often used to think of how I could lie concealed in this boat,
beyond discovery from any source, should I ever be attacked, or how,
rising to the surface amongst a fleet of canoes, I could spread dismay
by my appearance alone from the bottom of the ocean, among any body of
savages, however numerically strong or valiant.
No one will ever know the gardens of the ocean that I often sailed
over, more beautiful far than anything upon the earth.
My restless energy did not stop at the consummation of this submarine
boat, but during this year I went to work upon a beautiful small steam
yacht, to use for my pleasure and recreation. It was built partly of
wood and iron, and constructed upon the ways from which the submarine
boat was formerly launched. This steam yacht was not very large, but
it was of a fine model and graceful lines. I built it twenty feet in
length and six feet in width, and three feet draft of water, with
nearly the whole decked over except the cockpit aft. It was fitted with
one long mast, situated near the bows, and only to be used in case of
emergency. The building of the boiler and engine, of about four-horse
power, was to me a pleasure, not a labor, and the casting of the
screw was the only thing that gave me any trouble. But this I finally
overcame, after a few trials with different moulds. The little house
that contained the cabin and engine-room was lighted with small pieces
of plate glass, and I fitted the interior with a nice cot to sleep
upon, lockers for provisions, coal, and fuel, a small cast-iron stove
for cooking purposes, and all the handy appurtenances of a small yacht.
My sail was not a very elegant one, and was made out of strong matting,
light but coarse; I having, as yet, not attempted to make cloth in any
shape. My cable was of rawhide, and my anchors, of course, of iron.
With this boat, after a preparatory trial of its engine, in company
with one of my pet goats I set out upon the circumnavigation of my
island. It was one fine December morning that I steamed down Stillwater
Cove, the yacht moving rapidly and evenly along through the water, and
the machinery and screw working well and smoothly. I had invented a
sort of comb to retain the tiller in any given position whilst absent
from the deck in the engine-room to put on more fuel or oil the engine,
so that the yacht would proceed in a straight course till my return to
the deck. I intended to make a complete circuit of the island, and
to be absent several days if needful; so before leaving the Hermitage
I put everything in order. As to my flocks and birds, they at this
season could take care of themselves very well for a few days. I laid
my course first for West Signal Point, and, when I had doubled it,
I pointed the yacht due north, and made quite an excursion in that
direction, fully twenty-five miles; but, as I suspected, found no sign
of any other land, although I climbed upon the mast and looked about me
in all directions, the island astern being in the dim distance. I found
that my little yacht was a splendid sea-boat, and, decked over as she
was, plunged into the waves of the Pacific unharmed. Its rate of speed,
in smooth water, I estimated at fully nine knots, and in a seaway at
least five or six. Having in vain looked about me for land, which,
however, I did not expect to find, I put about and steered back to the
island, leaving West Signal Point on the port hand, and close aboard,
making my way to the southward, and parallel with the western shore of
the island, distant not over one mile.
When off Penguin Point I again put to sea, at least twenty-five miles
due west; but as in the former case discovered no land. When I had
again come up with the island the day was nearly spent, and I took
the yacht into a small cove, just to the westward of Mirror Bay,
and, having anchored in smooth water, ate my supper, played with and
caressed my goat, and went to bed. In the early morning I again got
under way and stood out to sea, to the southward, but no sign of land.
Thence I proceeded to Eastern Cape, and from there made a trip seaward,
to the eastward, but with similar barren results. From thence I made my
way home to the Hermitage, pleased with my yacht and with the trip, but
doubly convinced that my island was alone and distinct, and not one of
a series or group. As I passed Mirror Bay on this trip I was tempted
to enter it and explore the island more fully in that direction, but
as I found on the second day that my machinery of the yacht needed
some slight alteration and change, I made my way home, as I have said,
determined to make a new trip for this very purpose, and therefore,
upon my arrival, I immediately went to work upon those parts of the
engine that did not exactly please me by their working, and improved
and perfected them in my workshop, by means of my turning-lathe and
other tools, till they suited my mechanical tastes and worked perfectly
to my satisfaction. I fitted my yacht with two nice iron howitzers, of
about three pounds caliber, and had hung up in the cabin a harpoon and
lance, with two of my smooth-bored guns and plenty of ammunition. The
coal that I had stored on board would last me many days, for there was
at least three tons, and the furnace of my little boiler did not use
more than one-quarter of a ton daily, if as much. I had also on deck a
very light small boat, not over six feet in length, in which I could
reach the shore whenever I anchored the yacht near it.
Thus fitted out, which took me several days, I started again upon my
exploration, and it was upon this trip I made one of the most startling
discoveries yet since I had been shipwrecked; one that changed all
my views about the island, and the future, and carried me completely
out of my every-day life into a period of excitement, curiosity, and
amazement, and which, as will be disclosed, had a marked effect upon
all my future movements.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Discovery of a human habitation. The skeleton and manuscript.
It will be remembered that I had never been able in my own mind to
account for many things that I had found upon the island; amongst
others, the goats, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. I could not disabuse
my mind of the impression that some one else had been before me on
this lonely spot of earth; that man at some age of its existence had
placed his foot upon the soil. I little knew when I started on my
trip to Mirror Bay how soon some of these mysteries, that had so many
years confused me, would in a moment be made plain. I looked forward
to no startling adventure, and yet I was, without knowing it, sailing
straight towards the solution of many problems, guided, unknown to
myself, by a mightier hand than mine.
I arrived safely in Mirror Bay, and proceeded up towards the river, the
machinery of my yacht working beautifully. When I arrived at the mouth
I found that I could still ascend, but thought it best to anchor near
the western bank, just inside the mouth, and not a stone's throw from
the bank. I had come by the way of the Eastern Cape, and having started
early in the morning, at daybreak, about four o'clock, I found myself
at anchor at about seven o'clock by the sun, having made the run in
three hours, or at least six knots an hour, the distance being, as near
as I can judge, eighteen miles.
When my yacht was nicely anchored, and the fire put out and the engine
placed in order, I took my little flat-boat and went on shore with my
goat, intending to walk inland in a northwesterly direction, towards
Mirror Lake; but I had scarcely taken ten steps into the open woods
before I recoiled with a sensation of fear, such as I have never
before experienced, and made for my boat, but before I reached it my
horror had become curiosity. Turning about, I faced the direction from
whence I had come; and, taking my shot-gun from my shoulder, I looked
carefully to the flint to see that it was all right, eased a knife that
I carried at my belt in its sheath, and thus, with my mind collected,
but with my brain almost confused with excitement, I advanced slowly
towards the place from which I had just retreated in so startled a
manner. Yes; there could be no mistake; looking through the boughs of
an intervening tree of small growth, I saw a HUMAN HABITATION, and
the habitation evidently of a civilized, or at least semi-civilized,
being. Before me--in ruins, to be sure, but still unmistakably the work
of human hands, and skilled ones, too--stood a stone hut at least ten
feet square, and with dilapidated stone walls at least eight feet high,
without roof, and with evident remains of a door and two apertures for
windows facing towards the sea in the direction I stood. I leaned
against the tree that I stood near, faint and overcome with emotion. A
thousand thoughts rushed through my mind, but I soon convinced myself
that this habitation had been deserted by man for long ages of time.
Should I ever know how long? Everything about the hut denoted extreme
age and decay; trees were even growing from the interior, and showed
above the walls where the roof ought to be; rank weeds and grass grew
in the open doorway, and vines crept around the dismantled walls; yet
there it stood, a monument unmistakable of a human presence at some
previous time, and a civilized one, too. No savage hands ever erected
those walls or pierced those apertures for door and windows. I sat
down, still gazing at the hut, and tried to gather my wits together and
to overcome my agitation. Fifteen minutes in this position brought to
me a certain amount of composure, for nothing presented itself that I
could fear, and it seemed as if little information could be gained by a
closer inspection.
Those who had built this hut had long since departed whence they came,
or were stilled by the hand of death; there was nothing left for
me,--no companionship, no information, nothing but the knowledge gained
that the island had been inhabited either by chance or by colonization,
and those who had visited it had built this hut, and, no doubt, brought
the goats, tobacco, and sweet potatoes that had so long puzzled my
brains to account for. Was this hut all, or was it one of a series? Was
it the preparatory discovery to many others, or lone and solitary?
Alas! I knew not.
Having completely recovered my composure and stilled my beating
pulses, I advanced to examine more minutely the cause of my amazement
and fright. Passing within what had formerly been the door, I found
myself in a space of at least nine feet square, enclosed within rough,
strong, but ruined walls. The remains of shelves were plainly visible
upon the walls, and evidences of a prolonged occupation at some former
day by civilized persons met my view. The hut had evidently never had
any flooring, and in its place a long and luxuriant grass flourished.
Passing further into the interior, I moved towards the southerly
wall--the door opening towards the eastward--and proceeded to examine
that portion. My eye caught, half way up the wall, a sort of projecting
shelf, with something evidently made by human hands still clinging
to its battered and weather-worn surface. I rushed eagerly towards
it, but, before my hand could grasp it, I was almost thrown down by
catching my feet in an obstacle hidden in the long grass, between me
and my object. Regaining myself with difficulty, I glanced down to see
what had obstructed my progress, and found my feet _mixed up in the
bones of a human skeleton_. I was not frightened, but shocked, and,
clearing my feet with care, I stepped back and examined these mute
witnesses of former life. Here then, thought I, are the remains of one
at least who has lived and died upon my island long ages ago. How did
he come here? How long did he live here? Why did he die? Would this
eventually be my fate, and should I some day have to lie down and die,
too, with no one to inter my bones? This human being was either alone
or else the last to succumb, or otherwise his bones would have been
interred and not left to whiten the surface of the earth. Would this
be my fate? To be sure, I had not as yet been sick one day so as to
be confined to my bed, and had only suffered from minor ills, such as
colds and slight summer attacks, but how long was it to be before I
should be laid up in my own house, with fever or delirium, with none
to care for me? To be sure, I had carefully arranged affairs about my
bed in case of such a contingency, having arranged a shelf, upon which
I had placed simple remedies, such as I had been able to collect,
near to my hand, such as sulphur and saltpetre, with a few steeped
herbs enclosed in jars ready for use to my hand, with spare matches,
and lamps, and some preserved suet, etc. I had done everything that I
could do to preserve myself should I be taken suddenly and dangerously
ill; but what was to prevent me from at last coming to this very state
before me, to die in my bed, and remain a grinning skeleton for some
future generation to discover. Nothing but Divine Providence could
keep me from this pitiable end. For if I did not escape it was only a
matter of time when I should appear before others as this poor mortal
appeared before me. I could not and would not believe that I was
reserved for so cruel a fate. I was unwilling to believe that God, who
had endowed me with enough intellect to construct and invent the many
useful articles I had gathered around me, would allow me to perish,
alone, uncared for, and unwept. My courage arose as I gazed upon the
skeleton before me, and I moralized thus: You must have lived in an
age when God had not granted to mortals the permission to discover
and utilize many of the arts and sciences of my day; you did not live
when steam was the motive power, when the lightnings of the heavens
were made obedient to man to convey his demands and requests, when the
paddle-wheels of floating steamers beat the waters of all the oceans of
the earth. All of these things, and many others, were unknown to you.
My case is not as bad as yours was, if you were shipwrecked. I, of this
century, on this same island, have gathered about me, from nothing,
strength and power. You, seemingly, have had only this rude hut over
your head. I have chances of escape; I doubt if you ever had any from
the first day of your arrival, for I cannot conceive of your having
willingly remained upon this desert isle. And now, poor mortal, passed
away so long ago, let us see if you can do anything for me, your living
prototype.
[Illustration: FINDING THE SKELETON.--PAGE 268.]
And, thus ending my musings, I kneeled down and commenced cutting
away with my knife the long grass that surrounded and that was even
interwoven with the bones. The clothes, if there had ever been any at
the time of death, had long since been destroyed and blown away by
the winds of heaven. From the narrow bone of the middle finger of the
left hand, which was nearest me, I drew off a handsome gold-chased
ring, with a fine carbuncle for a jewel, the whole in a state of
perfect preservation. This at once announced that my unfortunate was a
civilized being and one of some importance. Moving towards the right
hand, I found the bones of the fingers imbedded in a tuft of grass,
and, releasing them, I ascertained that they grasped some object in
their clasp, which remained partly buried in the ground and soil
that nature had piled up around it. Taking the point of my knife, I
released it, and held in my hand a beautifully chased silver snuff-box,
encrusted and soiled by exposure, to be sure, but in a remarkable state
of preservation. I forced open the lid, and took out a small piece of
parchment, which almost crumbled under my fingers. Being, however,
warned by my discovery, I acted with caution, and took the box and its
contents to a smooth stone outside the hut, and commenced examining
the contents with care. The wrapper of parchment that crumbled under
my fingers disclosed another within it that was much better preserved,
and, noticing carefully that there was no writing upon the outer
covering, I cast it away and commenced opening the second, which was
also of parchment, but in a good state of preservation. This was also
blank, but within it was enclosed a third piece, not more than six
inches square when opened, on which were written these words:--
_Anno Dom. 1781,_
_Dec. ye 17th._
[cross]
_Being neare to death I putt this on record in hopes that some
God-fearing mann maye find it and become my heir. I have burried under
ye foot of ye large tree, distant 27 pases from ye sou-yeste corner
of this hous, a fulle and complete hystorie of my life and where my
treasur lyes. Alas! at ye bottom of the sea, but hence it maye by
skill and fortytude bee recovered._
_Who he be that redes this, if of Christan breeding, I proclaim heir
to me. If not Christan I hope he wille nott be able to read this, or
discover my secret. Lette my bones be burried. My curse upon himn
who uses this treasur butt for good, which I acquired by yeares of
bloodshed. Wille God ever forgive me?_
_THOMAS SUTLAND._
As I finished reading the above I glanced out beyond the ruined walls,
and saw before me the tree that was mentioned, but I did not move to
solve the mystery further. Here was matter enough for thought before
me where I sat. What had been this mortal's life that he should here
set down that he had gained a treasure through bloodshed? I examined
carefully the ink with which the document was written, and made up my
mind that it was composed of blood, that this human being had probably
written these lines with blood from his own veins some eighty years
ago; and, although the characters were faint, they were perfectly
legible. Treasure! what was treasure to me that was at the bottom of
the sea? Ah! but I had a submarine boat with which I could seek for
it. My curiosity began to be aroused, but my thoughts were still so
conflicting that I did not yet fully grasp the information that the
parchment conveyed. After a long musing I commenced again my search
around the hut, and, in the first place, took from the shelf the
article that had attracted my notice, which proved to be a perfectly
formed clay pipe, of heavy and ancient pattern, but as well preserved
as the day it was laid upon the shelf. The stem, of whatever material
formed, had disappeared, but there was the bowl, just as used eighty
years ago. I put it carefully to one side, and again commenced my
explorations of the hut, which I began, by clearing away all the grass
and shrubbery from within, and exposing, as far as practicable, the
former flooring. Suffice it to say that, after a long day's work,
this was the amount of my discoveries and collections,--one rusty
gun-barrel, with stock and lock gone; the rusty remains of two large
pistols, and one cutlass; the remnants of an iron pot, and open
fireplace; and parts of a steel-plated helmet or fighting hat; with
smaller pieces of iron and steel, of which it was impossible now to
distinguish the use or form, a golden ring, a silver snuff-box, a
pipe, a mass of useless, broken, rust-eaten steel and iron utensils,
and a human skeleton. This was all, when gathered together, that my
explorations brought to view, except the precious document that was
to explain the whole. With a sad and despondent heart I called my pet
goat to my side, and descended towards the yacht, and went on board
to think over my strange adventure. This island then had been known
eighty years ago, had been inhabited, even. Had this unfortunate
been cast on shore alone as I was? No; his arms, hut, and utensils
told another story. Why had he remained in this solitary spot? To
expiate some horrible crime? By the confession before me, it seemed
like it. How much character did this parchment, on the face of it,
proclaim? In the first place, a bloody and savage nature, by its own
confession; second, a fair, but not over excellent, education; third,
a superstitious or cowardly fear of the Almighty in the hour of death,
after confessed deeds of blood; fourth, a love of display, as exhibited
in the snuff-box and ring; fifth, authority and command of some degree,
as shown by the remains of costly weapons. Thus I gave my brain
excitement all the night, instead of indulging my curiosity by trying
to discover the history referred to. My life had been so lonely that I
postponed as long as possible the final revelation of the life of this
man. I played with the sensations that my discovery had evoked, as a
cat does with a mouse, or as a sailor with his last piece of tobacco
at sea, or a miser his gold. The sensation was so intoxicating to have
something to think about out of the usual run that I did not choose to
have it solved, and yet was on fire to solve it. In the morning, after
a restless, sleepless night, I plunged into the waters of the bay and
took my customary bath, and then to breakfast, after which I commenced
the proseecution of my search with vigor. I proceeded to the southeast
corner of the hut and paced off twenty-seven paces, which brought me
to the tree that my eye had already picked out as the one alluded to.
With some iron utensils that I had brought from the yacht, including
the iron coal-shovel and poker, I commenced making an excavation in the
ground. I dug a hole at least four feet deep before I found anything
out of the ordinary, but when at about that depth, my shovel struck
upon something that was not earth, as I felt assured, and I soon laid
open before my eyes the top of what was evidently a wooden box of some
foot or two in diameter, but so interwoven with the roots of the tree
that had evidently grown about it since it was placed there, that I
was unable to extricate it. I therefore went on board of the yacht and
returned with a hatchet, and soon cleared away these obstructions,
and dragged to the surface a rough wooden box, of an oblong shape,
made of wood, of at least two inches in thickness originally, but now
worm-eaten, rotten, and ready to be broken to pieces with my hands
alone. With a slight use of my hatchet I forced this carefully apart,
and found, within, a package rolled in what had evidently at some
former time been birch bark. Peeling this off, I came to a glazed
earthen or porcelain pitcher or jug with a large mouth and with handle,
that would hold at least two quarts, the color of which was a dirty
white or dusky brown. The mouth of this jug was closed with parchment,
once carefully tied down, but now in a state of decomposition. Grasping
my prize, I went on board of my yacht to examine it more fully at my
leisure. This whole adventure had so worked upon my nervous system that
I even went to work and got up steam and buoyed my anchor, ready to
cast off at a moment's notice, before I would proceed further with my
examination. Why I did this I cannot tell. It was a sort of sailor's
precaution, engendered by years of care and prudence. My reason told me
I had nothing to fear; my nerves told me to get ready for any emergency.
Having seated myself quietly on deck, after making all the above
arrangements, I took the jug again in hand and commenced to tear off
carefully the parchment at the mouth. The outside one, being removed,
disclosed another in a better state of preservation, and this second
a third, which, when removed, showed a large soft-wood plug or cover,
fitting into the mouth of the jug, and profusely covered with a sort
of pitch, which had evidently been melted and poured upon it, and was
probably made from the resinous gums with which the island abounded.
I soon had this started by repeated knocks of my knife-handle, and
the plug exposed, which, with the point of my knife, I had little
difficulty in extracting; having done which, I emptied upon the deck a
roll of parchment, tied up with a broad band of the same material. With
intense emotion I opened the roll, consisting of several sheets; and,
written in black ink, but with similar errors and ancient spelling, as
in the first document, I found the following, which, corrected into
modern English, read thus:--
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Pirate's Manuscript.
ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN,
October, 1781.
In grief and sorrow, and great bodily pain, I write these lines,
fearing that I shall not recover from my wounds, and that death will
soon seize upon me. I ask Christian burial for my bones, and that God
will forgive me my many sins.
I was born an Englishman and passed an adventurous life till, in the
year 1778, I found myself, after a life of villainy and piracy, captain
of the armed brig "Rover," at the age of thirty-three, and cruising
in these seas. It would take too long and be of little interest to
relate how through years of bloodshed I had arrived at this eminence.
It is enough to say that for the last ten years of my life I have
spared neither man, woman, nor child, and that God in his power has
at last brought this retribution upon my head. I could relate scenes
of horror, and hairbreadth escapes, that would not be believed or
credited, therefore I skip them all and come to the causes of my being
imprisoned on this desolate island. The brig that I commanded had on
many occasions been successful in preying upon the Spanish galleons of
this coast, and many a South American city had even been put under
contribution; but to the immense wealth and plunder thus obtained
was to be added still another capture. On the morning of the 14th of
August, 1781, the brig "Rover" lay in near the coast of South America
waiting for the passage of two galleons, loaded with treasure from the
Northern mines of El Dorado, for Valparaiso. From spies in that city
I had found out that the treasure was estimated at twelve millions,
in gold and silver bars, and that these galleons were armed with six
eighteen-pounders each, and with a crew of Spaniards and natives,
numbering sixty men. Two long weeks had we been lying near the coast
standing out in the morning, and in towards the evening, waiting for
our prey; when, on this fatal morning, after heading seaward for
four hours, we discovered the enemy on the horizon to the northwest.
The "Rover" was a strong, well-built brig of three hundred tons,
and was manned by one hundred and twenty human devils, drawn from
all nations, but mostly Englishmen, with a few South Americans and
natives. We carried eight eighteen-pounders, and one long thirty-two
pivot gun amidships. Our vessel was fast and a splendid sea-boat. We
were favored with a wind from the southeast, which put the enemy to
leeward of us, and we boldly clapped on all sail to come up with him,
which perceiving, and also that we had the weather gauge, the cowardly
Spaniards put up their helm and kept off before the wind, hoping to
outsail us; but before they commenced this manoeuvre we had approached
near enough to be sure that they were what we had been waiting for, and
therefore, rigging out stu'nsails on both sides, we bowled along before
the wind to the northwest, after the retreating enemy.
It was soon apparent that the "Rover" was the faster sailer, and also
that one of the galleons was a much better sailer or better handled
than her consort; for we were coming up hand over hand to one of them,
whilst the other, some two miles ahead, held her own much better. As
we neared the sternmost and lagging galleon, we commenced firing from
our bow-chasers, but without apparent effect. I think to this day that
if the two had kept together they might possibly have beaten us off,
but, separated as they were by their own cowardice, they would, I felt
convinced, fall an easy prey to our designs. As we gradually neared
the galleon, the crew of the "Rover" became more and more excited; and
the cursed thirst for gold, and subsequent license and revel that was
sure to follow its acquisition, glowered in each countenance. The time
had come for our usual unholy rites, and, ordering up the steward, the
usual cask of brandy was hoisted to the deck, the contents poured into
two large tubs, and one of them transported to the quarter deck, whilst
the other was left at the main hatch, and, at a preconcerted signal,
the two bow-chasers were discharged at the enemy, the black flag run
up to the mizzen peak, and all hands called upon to splice the main
brace, or in other words, to craze their brains by partaking of the
fiery liquor poured out before them; the quantity on the quarter deck
having been mixed with gunpowder, to be distributed at the guns during
the coming conflict as I might deem best or proper. We were now rapidly
advancing upon our prey, but none of our shot seemed to have taken
effect and as yet she had made no reply.
Commanding silence fore and aft, I ordered more sail crowded upon the
"Rover," and stood on till we were nearly alongside, and not a gunshot
distant, and then, having brought all the eighteen-pounders to the
starboard side, had them loaded with grape and canister. I ordered
in sail, running in all the stu'nsails, and clearing the deck for
action; but at last the enemy seemed to have waked up, for, whilst
this was being done, she poured into us her broadside, killing and
wounding several of the crew, but doing no further damage, and then
immediately came to the wind, close hauled on the starboard tack. We
followed rapidly, but, as all the guns were on the starboard side, I
ran under her lee rather than try to keep the weather gauge, and at
short pistol distance sent the contents of eight eighteen-pounders
into her sides and rigging. The result was to have been anticipated:
down came her top hamper and light sails, and she lay a wreck upon the
water. Shooting ahead in the "Rover," I shortened sail, and, crossing
her fore foot, held my vessel with the main topsail to the mast and
poured in six broadsides of canister and grape, raking the enemy fore
and aft, to which she could not reply with a single gun, and at the
termination of which she lay a complete wreck upon the bosom of the
ocean. Without a moment's delay the main yard was squared away, and,
turning upon her heel, the "Rover" made all sail for the other galleon.
It was four hours before we came up to her so as to be within shot,
when a discharge from our pivot gun cut away some of her top-hamper,
so that we commenced overhauling her rapidly; but this one, although
she had run away in the commencement, now evidently meant fight, and
she replied to our broadsides with bravery and vigor, so much so that
I saw that there was nothing for it but to board her and carry her
by assault, as we were being cut up in a fearful manner, and my crew
dropping at each discharge. Seeing this, I sung out to the helmsman,
"Lay her alongside," and, with a crash, we in a few moments struck her
fore chains, having the weather gauge, and in a moment were securely
lashed together. Mounting the taffrail, I sung out "Boarders away," and
jumped upon the deck of the galleon, followed by my crew. It was with
the same results I have so often seen before: no mercy, no quarter, and
down under the blows of the cruel Rovers soon fell the Spaniards, and
the galleon was ours. It was time, as she was evidently commencing to
leak badly. Some of the crew were ordered to the pumps, and the main
hatch was burst open, and, under threat of instant death, the position
of the treasure was pointed out by the Spanish captain. The amount,
estimated at some seven millions, was passed by sixty hands as fast as
possible to the hold of the "Rover," down the companion way; and, when
all was over, freeing the brig from the galleon, I took position near
to her, crashing into her broadside after broadside, till she, with her
wounded, dying, and living, sank beneath the waves. We had scarcely
finished our awful work when night set down upon us, and, taking the
bearings of the other wreck, we moved slowly forward toward her under
shortened sail, so as not to pass her in the darkness. Upon mustering
the crew it was found that twenty-seven had paid the penalty of death,
whilst seventeen were seriously wounded, and twenty-one slightly.
When morning broke, there lay the other galleon, not one mile distant
broad on our weather bow. We soon came up to her and saw that she
showed no signs of life, and, hauling off, we commenced repairing
injuries that we had suffered in the conflict with her consort, and,
having everything in as good order as possible, ranged up alongside
preparatory to boarding, and in fact made fast with grappling-irons
to the wreck; but not a man opposed us. Pouring in upon her decks,
and questioning the wounded still on board, we ascertained that all
remaining alive--not over twenty in number, it seemed--who were not
wounded so as to be unable to do so, had escaped during the night in
the shallop and made for the coast, trusting to the mercy of the sea
rather than to ours. We soon had the bullion we were after exposed to
view and rapidly transferred to the "Rover," which amounted, by the
reckoning of the wounded Spaniards, to about five millions, so that the
"Rover" had actually under hatches the enormous weight of some eighty
tons in solid silver, and twenty-five tons in gold, all in bars, so as
to overflow the usual stronghold and necessitate stowage in the hold,
as one might stow cargo.
Having helped ourselves to all the casks of wine and brandy on board,
we cut adrift from the wreck, and in spite of the cries of the wounded
upon her decks, by numerous well-directed broadsides sent her to the
bottom of the ocean, where dead men tell no tales. After this horrid
crime was perpetrated, we set sail upon the "Rover" to the southward
to avoid any vessels that might be sent for our capture, as I made
up my mind that we should keep well to sea and out of the way of all
traffic till search for us had been given up. To this end I steered
in a direction out of the track of all known land, till on the 15th
September, in the morning, we discovered this unknown island dead
ahead, and, finding that it showed no signs of being inhabited, I
passed around to the southward and eastward to see if there was a good
bay for anchorage, determined to allow the crew to go on shore and have
their carouse, if such was the case. We soon opened this bay, where
this is written, and, having sent a boat on shore and ascertained that
there was good fresh water and evidently no inhabitants, I brought the
"Rover" well into the bay and anchored her in six fathoms.
This being done, a detail of the crew was made to build this hut for
my accommodation. The weather being cool, and thinking that we had
found a splendid stronghold for the future, I commanded several goats
to be landed, and as my men strolled hither and thither they were
instructed to plant a sweet potato once in a while, of which we had
plenty on board, and some seeds of the tobacco plant were also planted,
I believe, at nearly the other side of the island, near some river. I
made up my mind that this should be our rendezvous in the future, for
I could not find the island put down upon any chart, and I believed
it utterly unknown. I made known my resolves to my subordinates, and
they to the crew, which seemed to please them much; and now, having
gotten everything in readiness and a watch set aboard the vessel, casks
of brandy were hoisted from the hold and landed upon the island. To
these were added a large stock of provisions; and an enormous tent
was erected of spare sails. Details by lot were made of men to cook,
and a watch to keep guard in the vessel, and then for three days all
discipline was relaxed, and drunken orgies too fearful to be related
commenced, at the end of which a new detail of the most sober was made
for the watch on the ship and the cooking, when the same recommenced.
During these six days I withdrew with one servant from all this into
this hut that I had ordered built, and passed the time as pleasantly
as I could, with trips once in a while to the vessel and back. Each day
I received the usual report of so many men killed in drunken brawls or
so many wounded; but I never moved a finger to stop the affray, feeling
that this was the best way to allow them to work off their bad blood
and passions. It was, however, on the seventh day that I saw cause
for alarm, and, alas! too late. I had noticed that there seemed to
be some trouble brewing, and that my second in command, when he came
to make his daily report, had not the air of respect that he used to
have, and that the reports of serious fights were more frequent than
on former carousals of a similar nature. Why, here were some five men
killed and seven wounded since we had been on the island, and upon
inquiry I found that they were all men whom I knew were devoted to
me, if a pirate may use that term. All at once it flashed upon my
brain that my second in command was inciting the crew to my downfall
and his own elevation. In fact, the matter was made too apparent on
that very day; for, after hearing the report, I was sitting at the
door of this hut when an unearthly confusion and din commenced at the
large tent and the air was filled with the report of pistols (all guns
being positively forbidden on shore), and shouts and cries of men in
terrible earnest mixed with the screams of the wounded. I buckled on
my cutlass and picked up my two pistols, and, calling upon my servant
to follow me, made for the tent; but before I arrived there I was met
by a retreating body of my men who were making for my hut, crying out,
"Treason, treason, treason!" followed by another portion of the crew,
at the head of whom was my second in command, all disguise now thrown
off, cheering his part of the crew on to my destruction. I gathered
about me the retreating men loyal to me, and we faced the rest. The
first man who advanced I shot dead, the second also, and the day had
almost turned in my favor when, with a well-directed pistol-shot and
with a curse mingled with the report, my rival brought me to the
ground, the ball having passed through my chest and out at the back. I
fell to the ground, and in one instant my prestige of years was gone.
When I say gone I mean that it was so far gone that it barely saved my
life, for the men still stood quite firm upon my side, when, with the
wit and talent worthier of a better cause, my rival moved between the
conflicting lines and called for a truce, uttering at the same time the
following words: "Now look a-here, shipmates, what is the use of our
cutting each other's throats any more? There lies your late captain,
still alive to be sure, but good for nothing more. I am bound to be
captain of the 'Rover,' and you see I have more men to back me, and a
head to them also, than you have. What's the use of our cutting each
other's throats when we have some ten or fifteen millions to spend?
If you don't like to give in I only admire you the more for it; and
if you will join my side and lay down your arms, I promise before you
all not to injure one hair on the head of our late captain, but to
leave him here on this island without further molestation. Come, that
is a fair offer. You have done enough for honor. Do you accept? Why,
who have you on your side that can navigate a vessel? Who will give
you as much liberty and money as I will? We will live in common, and
have no more of this damned supposed superiority. But as for Captain
Sutland, dead or alive, he and I can't sail in the same vessel again.
I will do all I say, and swear it,"--and amidst the wildest cheers
of excitement and drunken enthusiasm, I found myself lying deserted
and, as I believed, bleeding to death. After some little hand-shaking
and congratulations, however, I was, by order of my rival, carried
carefully to this hut, where my wound was examined by the doctor and
proclaimed not necessarily mortal. Food and water in profusion, fuel
for my fire, and anything that I should naturally require during my
convalescence, should it ever take place, was, with the reckless
generosity of sailors, piled up near me; and with a few farewells
from some who really cared for me, I was left alone, my whole crew,
under the command of their new leader, working like beavers to take
down their tent, get on board and to sea, and thence to some haven of
rest, where they could as quickly as possible squander the wealth so
criminally acquired. They had placed me upon my wooden bed, so that I
could look out of the open window upon the bay and ship, and see their
departure. It was nearly sundown before they had everything ready, and
with a heavy heart I heard them at work weighing the anchor, leaving me
alone to solitude, my outraged God, and probably death.
[Illustration: SHOOTING THE PIRATE CAPTAIN.--PAGE 286.]
Lying on my bed of pain, I saw the topsails mastheaded and everything
made ready for a start, and as the sun sank to rest in the west,
shedding a glow upon the waters, the "Rover" got under way and stood
out to the southward and eastward, leaving me upon this desolate
island to live or die. I knew what would be the eventual end of their
reckless career, for I knew that the pirate who had superseded me,
although of great animal courage, had very little education, and that
he was wanting in the art of practical navigation. The sun had not been
down an hour before the whole heavens changed their appearance, and
dark clouds from the southward commenced to overcast the stars. The
wind began to moan amongst the trees, and the sea to give forth that
solemn sound or breathing that often forbodes a storm. In less than
three hours it was blowing heavily from the southeast, the direction
the vessel had taken to clear the island, and exactly opposite to the
light northwest wind that had in the first part of the evening wafted
her off the island's coast. At midnight it was blowing a hurricane, and
still I gazed from my bed through the open casement towards the sea.
There was not much rain, and what there was did not reach me, my bed
being some distance from the window of the hut. At this time, in spite
of my misery and the fever of my wound, I, after drinking a draught of
water placed beside me, fell asleep, or rather dozed, from which I was
awakened by the sound of guns,--yes, great guns. Wounded, feverish, as
I was, I moved in my bed to glance into the outer darkness. The tempest
was raging with increased fury, and as I looked into the inky blackness
seaward, not more than four miles distant as I should judge flashed the
discharge from a cannon, and in a moment after, the dull but deadened
report met my ear. I kept my eye fixed upon the spot, for I knew that,
if it came from anywhere near the same spot again, the "Rover" was on
a reef, and that there would be little hope for her. In a few minutes
another flash occurred, and I saw that it was in the same situation.
Good God, and had your retribution met them then so suddenly? I saw in
my mind at once the actual state of affairs as readily as if I had been
on board.
The "Rover" had stood to the southeast with a fair wind, and all the
crew under their new master, being without discipline, had allowed
themselves to be caught by the gale from the opposite direction with
all sail set, or too much at least; that she had either been taken
aback and lost her masts at once, weakened in previous conflicts, or
else, before she could be squared away before the blast, been cast
on her beam ends, and for safety had had them cut away. After which,
unmanageable with a drunken crew and an incompetent master, she had
drifted in the trough of the sea, back slowly but gradually towards the
anchorage she had just left, until, brought up upon some sunken ledge
outside the harbor, she was pounding out her life upon the jagged rocks
concealed beneath the water. This was, I felt, the case, and would any
be saved to be my companions on this desolate island? I knew that not a
living soul would be left to tell the tale. The mighty roar of the wind
and the noise of the surf on the beach, with the groaning of the trees,
extinguished all hope.
No more firing was heard, and nothing but the blackness of night
surrounded me, and the cry of the angry blast filled my ears. I became
insensible and fell back in my bed without life or motion. When I again
opened my eyes, the light of a bright spring morning flashed upon them,
and although the wind had gone down, the angry rush of the surf was
still to be heard thundering upon the shore; and there, yes there, not
far at sea, and plainly beneath my sight, and in full view, lay part of
the hull of the once famous "Rover," dismasted, dismantled, and beating
her ribs out upon an outer bar or reef. I saw that she could not last
long, and that no human being could have survived the preceding night.
I should have said that, before the pirates sailed, they had buried the
men who had been killed upon the island; but I saw plainly that many
bodies would now be swept on shore that would never see Christian or
any other burial but that of the white, glistening sands of the beach,
and the maws of insatiable sea monsters; whilst I thought even, the
vessel was fast breaking up under my eye, each mighty wave, hitting her
seaward bulwark, was thrust high into air, passing over and burying
her in an ocean of spray and water such as no handiwork of man could
long resist. At each succeeding appearance, masses of the hull had
disappeared, and it was only a question of time how soon some twelve
million of dollars in gold and silver, guarded by a crew of some eighty
resolute men when in their senses, who had gone before, would be buried
in the ocean forever. I could not take my eyes from the scene, but
mechanically felt for my jar of water with one hand, whilst I kept my
attention fixed upon the wreck.
After looking and dozing for hours, I again fell asleep, and when I
awoke it was nearly sundown, and yet the cruel sea was beating over the
remains of the hull, which were greatly diminished, and I bethought
myself--weak, sick, and feverish as I was--to line the position from
my hut before she had wholly disappeared. This I did by moving my head
and body slightly till I brought the frame of my southerly window on
its southeasterly side to range with a small fir-tree that stood some
thirty feet distant, which was in a line with the wreck. I scratched
with my thumb-nail a mark upon the window-frame where my eye glanced,
and upon the trunk of the tree I picked out a small peculiar branch
which aligned upon the wreck. I then, with my right hand, cast some
wood that was within my reach upon the fire not far distant, and,
over-exerted by all this, fell again into slumber and unconsciousness.
It was well into the next day before I regained my senses, and my first
glance was for the brig, but not a vestige of her was to be seen,
although the ocean was as calm and blue as an inland lake, and nothing
but my bearing told me the place where she had gone to pieces.
My wound was a very peculiar one. It will be remembered that the ball
had passed completely through my body, breaking no bone, and only
injuring my left lung above the heart and just under the shoulder
blade. I had not lost much blood, and the doctor, when he left me,
gave me strong hopes of recovery, if I could lie perfectly still for
at least a week. On this morning I found my fever much better and
my appetite returning, and my wound much less painful, but stiff. I
crawled from my cot with the greatest care, and renewed my fire from
the hidden hot ashes, and soon had a good blaze; for it was chilly
during the nights, although I had ample bed-clothing of all kinds
heaped about me. I remained in bed for three days more, when I mustered
courage to leave my cot and stagger to a chair, where I sat down near
the fire. I remained here during the day, and at night crept back again
to the bed and closed the shutter of my open window (the door and other
window had been closed during all my sickness) and dropped to sleep.
The next day I was able to move about quite well, and the orifice of
my wound in the back had healed, but the front still discharged and
was not closed. I was troubled with a hacking cough, but with the
exception of this, on the tenth day, could waddle around, and even
into the open air, and procure some of the pure spring water near the
hut. Thus I went on till the first of October, getting better and
better each day, and making rapid progress towards health. The first
excursion I made was towards the shores of the bay, but not a sign
of my late comrades in crime could I discover. I also carefully cut
upon the fir-tree, with my knife, a notch deep and enduring in the
trunk, that lined or ranged upon the place where the wreck had last
been seen by my eyes, and at the exact height to have the range pierce
the water at the very spot, not more than four or five miles distant.
After these two first cares, I began to look about me and see what I
had to live upon. My arms were left me, as also was a small bottle of
ink that I had brought on shore to keep the daily account of the crew,
tides, etc., and several sheets of parchment. These, with my pipe, a
little tobacco, quite a quantity of ammunition, my cutlass, a tomahawk,
and knife, formed my little store. To be sure I had my wooden cot-bed
and plenty of bedding, but this was all. I knew that sweet potatoes
had been planted upon the island in several places, and that at least
three female and one male goat had also been landed; and as I was fast
getting tired of my dry bread and salt provisions, I commenced taking
small trips upon the seashore, bringing home eggs, fish, oysters,
mussels, etc., and thought at one time that my troubles were all over,
and that my wound was healed, but as the orifice closed, I commenced
to cough more violently than before, and in the morning my throat was
filled with phlegm. And as the middle of the month advanced, I became
weaker and weaker, and felt that my end was near, or, if not, it was
important that I should guard against all accidents, and for that
reason I have written this short memoir of my life and placed it here,
to stand as a witness for me, in case of accident or death, that my
solitude and wound have brought me to a proper state of mind to view my
life with utter abhorrence, and to pray to God in my poor miserable way
to forgive me, if it be possible to forgive so great a sinner as I. On
this, the 20th of October, 1781, I place this jar in its resting-place,
having had the hole to receive it long excavated. I am too weak to even
get in and out of my bed, and have spread my clothing upon the floor of
my hut, where I can move about easier in the night and get at anything
I may want. I close this history here, and I ask all good Christians
to pray for my soul should God take me away. It will take me days now
in my weak state to cover this up so that the weather and water cannot
reach it. I feel that my days are numbered. May the finder of my riches
make good use of them, and give largely to the poor, and have masses
said for the repose of the blood-stained soul of
THOMAS SUTLAND.
CHAPTER XXV.
Finding of the Sunken Wreck. The Submarine Explosion of the Hull.
Recovery of over Ten Millions in Bars of Gold and Silver.
This, then, was the history of my predecessor; and his legacy consisted
of millions of dollars at the bottom of the sea. He no doubt thought
that some of it could be recovered, as he said, "with skill and
fortitude;" perhaps by anchoring some boat over the reef, and fishing
for it, or in some such lame way as that. He had little idea, when he
wrote this eighty years ago, that it would be read by a mortal who had
invented a submarine boat, and built it from materials drawn from the
very bowels of this very island, and who could descend and examine
every part of his famous pirate ship. The reading of this history set
my impulsive nature to work at once to acquire the lost treasure. But,
to do this, I must first find out where it lay,--its exact locality;
and I very much feared that time had effaced the marks that aligned
upon the spot, and, if so, I might search for it in vain.
But what was the use of my regaining it? Inside of my brain I was
continually answered, "You will escape! you will escape! and with this
treasure, added to your stock of pearls and ownership of the island,
with its mineral wealth of coal, iron, saltpetre, and sulphur, you
will be the richest man in the world. With these industries once
developed, your submarine boats multiplied, and pearl oysters procured
by thousands, and your island peopled with contented and happy working
people, not even the Rothschilds or Barings will be able to compete
with you."
Having carefully put aside the manuscript that I had just finished
reading, I went on shore to see if I could find any signs of the
bearings upon the spot where the "Rover" had formerly gone to pieces.
On the window-frame mentioned, I found, although defaced by the
weather, a deep cut made in the general direction pointed out, which
was no doubt the one referred to; and, encouraged by this, I picked out
with my eye several trees of the species referred to in the manuscript,
between me and the sea, that I thought might be the one designated;
and, having chosen three that seemed likely ones, I went towards them
to look for the notch that I ought to find cut in one of their trunks.
I found it instantly on the first tree I approached, which had seemed
to me the most likely. There it was, plainly marked upon the side of
the trunk,--grown over, to be sure, and the tree evidently old and
time-worn,--but showing that the wound in its side had been made with
deliberation and care, and such as would occur from no natural cause.
Being satisfied upon this point, I went back to the hut and placed my
eye along the bearings, and found that my sight struck the ocean at
some four or five miles distant. This was sufficient for the present;
so, getting back to my yacht, I went to bed and to sleep, it being now
nearly dusk. In the morning I got under way, and stood out of the bay
and rounded Eastern Cape for home, and soon ran up Stillwater Cove,
and found everything all right at the Hermitage. I then went to work
and made two sheet-iron discs, about three feet in diameter, which I
mounted upon iron rods fully fifteen feet in length. I whitewashed one
of these with a preparation of lime, and left the other its natural
dark color. I then, after caressing, feeding, and attending to my flock
of goats and barn-yard fowl, again set out for Mirror Bay, taking
these targets with me. Arriving safely, I soon had them on shore,
and, after an hour or two of measurements and calculations, had them
driven into the ground so as, when in line with each other, to point to
the same position on the surface of the ocean, as the old marks were
supposed to do, except that they stood clear of all intervening trees
or obstructions, and could be seen from the seaward perfectly well.
Having these all arranged, I went to work, and, with care and decency,
transferred the bones of my predecessor to the hole excavated under the
tree, and, reverently placing them within, I said a prayer or two for
the repose of his soul, and covered them carefully up. This being done,
I made my way back to the Hermitage, and arranged everything about the
submarine boat to start early the next day to look for the pirate ship
beneath the waves of the ocean.
Bright and early I started down Stillwater Cove in the steam yacht,
carrying my treadmill team of goats and all necessary things for my
trip. At the mouth of the cove I hauled alongside of the submarine boat
lying quietly at anchor, and, leaving the "Fairy" and steam yacht, I
went on board, rigged the pendant steps, and started my goat-power
propeller, and headed out of Perseverance Bay and around Eastern Cape.
The day was a beautiful one; so smooth was the ocean that I did not
have to descend beneath it, but held on my way with the manhole wide
open; and my goats by this time, by repeated trips, had become quite
good sailors and did not seem to mind a little swell any more than old
salts would have done. My progress in this clumsy boat was not as fast
as in the beautiful and graceful steam yacht; and I was seven hours
making the neighborhood of where I expected to find the wreck. I stood
on till I obtained a good view of my white and black discs. The one
nearer the sea being black, I sailed along, in the first place, till I
brought the two in line, and then, the white disc appearing above the
black one, I commenced sailing in towards the land, still keeping them
on a line, till the former gradually sank down, seemingly, behind the
face of the latter, when I stopped the boat, fastened down the manhole,
and descended. When I arrived near the bottom I let out my buoy line
to the surface, and found that I was in nine fathoms of water, and no
sign of a reef of any kind, a firm sandy bottom appearing before me.
I therefore still pointed the boat by compass towards the shore, and
commenced slowly creeping forward. I had not advanced more than a few
hundred yards before the abrupt walls of a solid reef met my view. I
ran near to it, and then, by pumping, ascended towards the surface,
along its face, till I arrived at the top, which I found by my surface
lead line to be not quite three fathoms beneath the water. If any
reader should ask how I knew how much a fathom was, I would simply say
that every sailor becomes used to measuring off fathoms of rope during
his sea life, and finally becomes so skilful as to measure fifty and
sixty fathoms of line, and not be but a few inches out of the way, by
grasping a piece of rope and stretching it at arm's length across the
breast, which, with two inches added, in a man of my stature, should be
just six feet, or one fathom, and by this measurement as a standard was
my floating surface lead line marked, and it agreed substantially with
the foot standard that I had made from my thumb joint, as heretofore
described. When I arrived at the top of the reef, I knew in a moment
that if I had lived on this side of the island I should in some heavy
gales have seen the surf break in this spot; for, by calculation of
the tide, which was now nearly at high water, this reef must at times
be within eight or nine feet of the surface at dead low water; and
in gales of wind I could readily believe that the surf would break
over it. Having made all these discoveries and calculations, but with
no signs of the wreck, I again descended half way down the nearly
perpendicular face of the reef towards the smooth bottom at its base.
It was a strange formation, rising abruptly from the bottom of the sea,
five or six fathoms, like the walls of a citadel. I saw plainly that a
vessel could at one moment, by a cast of the lead, get nine fathoms,
and in the very next find herself hard and fast upon the reef, if she
drew over eighteen feet of water. Holding myself in equilibrio at about
half distance from the surface and the bottom, I moved cautiously
along the face of this wall to the eastward, looking for my prize. I
went nearly a quarter of a mile in this direction without result, and,
turning about, I retraced my steps and made to the westward, feeling
sure that at the base of this barrier lay the sunken pirate ship, and
that she had never probably passed above its surface; for, having
nothing else to do, I had already calculated by means of my Epitome
what the state of the tide would have been on the evening of the 23d
or 24th of September, 1781, at midnight; and, knowing by the pirate's
manuscript that it was probably on one of those nights that the "Rover"
was lost, and that an error of a day would only make one hour error in
the calculation, I was enabled to find out that it was high water on
those days at 5 or 6 P. M., and that the vessel must have struck the
reef at very nearly, if not quite, dead low water, when it was within a
few feet of the surface, and, being bilged, the rising tide would not,
even during the storm, lift her one inch, but only hold her upon the
jagged edges, whence she must eventually drop to the tranquil waters
at the base. I felt confident that this theory was correct, and that I
had only to move along this rocky face till I came to the spot where
the vessel had finally fallen back to the bottom of the ocean; and such
was the case, for as I was thinking out the problem in my own head, lo!
and behold! there lay the wreck nearly beneath my feet, not fifty yards
distant.
I approached it with awe, and held myself suspended in the water above
it. I then descended and circumnavigated it in all possible directions,
and ended by dropping a grapnel near to it, attached to a good strong
line ending in a buoy, which I pushed under the tanks, and allowed to
ascend to the surface to mark its position for me in the future. I
then set my air-boat at work, and soon had enough new air to fill my
exhausted tanks, and to rise to the surface and take off the man-hole
cover and look about me. I saw that my discs were a little off, and
that the wreck lay a little nearer shore and more to the southward
than where they pointed. But they had fulfilled their part; they were
henceforward useless. I had found the wreck, and had it buoyed so as
to be able to again find it, and should I lose it by the buoy being
washed away at any time in a storm, the very variation in the discs
from the true direction, now known, would show me where to look. I
again descended and commenced examining my prize. She lay upon her
side, perfectly free from sand or rocks, and had evidently not moved
since she sank back from the rocky summit to her cradle at the base.
She was terribly beaten and worm-eaten, and both masts had evidently
been cut away, as the pirate captain in his manuscript supposed. Her
ribs were exposed, and her decks torn up, and innumerable barnacles and
shell-fish had fastened upon her timbers. Still falling back into this
comparatively tideless and quiet abyss, she had changed very little, I
should think, from the day she sank, over eighty years ago. And as she
lay I saw that I had another problem to solve, and that was to get at
the riches she contained still confined in her hull as in an immense
casket. I saw plainly that I should have to blow open the hull to get
at what I wanted and expose it. In the meanwhile I was fascinated with
the thousand and one old-fashioned shapes about the hull that struck
my eye,--the peculiar long brass eighteen pounders, some of which lay
beside her, covered with barnacles, but yet showing their shape and
general formation; the blunt bows of what the pirate captain had termed
a fast-sailing vessel; the comical anchors, and peculiar formation of
the decks, that to me, as a sailor, were very interesting. She looked
to me more like Noah's ark than the vessel of a civilized nation. How
rapidly and almost imperceptibly had we advanced in this science since
this tub was called a vessel, fast, strong, and staunch; and how many
hours would she have been able to keep in sight a modern clipper-ship,
much less overtake her. In comparison to the latter she seemed like a
ship's jolly-boat. And so indeed she was, being about 300 tons, as
against the 2,000 and 2,500 tons ship of my day and time.
Having satisfied my curiosity and seen that the grapnel to the
watch-buoy held all right, I drew in some new air, rose to the surface,
and made for Mirror Bay, not over four miles distant. I ran up to the
river's mouth near the hut and came to an anchor, and made all snug
about the boat, and then, tethering out the goats on the shore, I
struck out manfully for home across the island, for I saw plainly that
I should have to make Mirror Bay my headquarters for some time to come,
and that I must get home and bring together all the powder I possessed,
and the steam yacht.
I had a pleasant walk home of about four miles without difficulty, as
during the last two years I had several times before crossed the island
in this direction, but not often. I put everything to rights at the
Hermitage, and then with the steam yacht I visited Eastern Cape, East
and West Signal, and Penguin Points, and gathered together all the
gunpowder placed there beside the cannon mounted at those stations.
I added to this stock nearly all I possessed at the Hermitage before
starting, and at the end of two days made my way back to Mirror Bay,
stopping at South Cape, and getting all the powder there. Arriving at
Mirror River, I found my poor goats glad enough to welcome me back.
Putting all the powder I possessed together, I should think that there
was perhaps fifty pounds in all. This I put carefully by itself in the
deserted hut, and, taking the steam yacht, returned to the Hermitage
and my workshop. It was busy days with me now, and I scarcely gave
myself time to eat and drink. In my workshop I made a thin cylinder of
sheet iron that would contain my fifty pounds of powder, but before
bolting it together, and making it water and air-tight, I arranged in
the interior two flint locks, exactly like the locks to a gun, only
larger. My cylinder was in the shape of a large painter's oil can,
which it resembled. Out of the mouth of this can came four strings, two
of which would cock the locks, attached inside, and two attached to
the triggers would fire them off, or rather release the hammer so that
the flint would strike upon a steel plate attached to the side of the
interior. These were kept free also from the powder with which the can
was to be filled, by placing the latter, when to be exploded, upon its
side, with the locks uppermost and clear; the capacity of the can being
much greater than the amount of powder to be placed within it, at least
one third.
Having my infernal machine all made, and having experimented with the
strings leading out of the mouth, and finding that I could cock one
or both locks and fire them by pulling the opposite string, I set
sail again for Mirror Bay. I had made my infernal machine with two
locks simply that, if one did not explode the charge, the other might.
Arriving, I went on shore with it and filled it with the powder there
stored, taking good care first to see that the hammers of the two locks
in the interior were down upon the steel, and not cocked ready for a
discharge. Till they were cocked, the powder was as safe in the can as
in any other utensil in which it could be stored. And now, being all
ready, I went on board the submarine boat for my final test.
I made my way to the wreck, and, descending, was soon balanced opposite
the mouth of the main hatch, which was partially open, and large enough
to admit ten cans of the size of mine. And now came the dreadful moment
in which, under the sea, and far from any helping hand, I must cock
these locks within the can, surrounded, as they were, by the powder.
It was a supreme moment. I loved my life in spite of its solitude.
If anything was wrong in my mechanism, I should in a moment more be
blown to atoms, and, if not now, perhaps whilst lowering the machine
into the hold of the vessel. I finally mustered up courage to pull
upon the string attached to one of the cocks, first placing the can
upon its side, and heard it cock inside; but with fear and trembling
I slackened the cord that cocked it, and I did not have nerve enough
to cock the other, but, forcing in a plug at the orifice, which had
already been fitted and had grooves for the four strings, I smeared
the whole over with resin that I melted in a lighted candle near me.
With a sailor's caution the four strings leading into the can had been
nicely coiled upon the tanks ready to pay out of themselves as the can
should descend into the hold of the vessel through the open hatchway.
Lashed to the outside of the can, I should have said, was a large bar
of iron, sufficiently heavy to make it descend in spite of the air it
contained. It was with a beating heart that I dropped the whole concern
into the water, by a line attached to the middle, and commenced shoving
it with my boat hook into the hole in the main hatch where it was to
be exploded. During all this time I had the pleasant sensation that
if the small cord attached to the trigger should become entangled in
any way, and pull with any strain, the charge would be exploded, and
I should be blown to atoms. The cold perspiration stood upon my brow,
but finally, with a careful but strong push, the can entered the open
hatchway and descended quietly to the side of the vessel, where it
rested. I immediately cast off from the grapnel that held me near the
wreck, and let the submarine boat float away with what little tide
there was, paying out, as she drifted, the small line attached to the
trigger, a pull upon which, any time during the last fifteen minutes,
would have been certain death. As the line began to run out quite
freely I began to breathe again; and when several fathoms had run out,
so that I knew I was some way distant from the wreck, I began to find
relief to my overtaxed brain, and felt that I was again safe, and even
as I paid out the small line I thanked God fervently and sincerely.
Feeling now sure that I was beyond harm, I commenced to work the pump
and to ascend, and at the same time to drift further away, as I did not
know what the result of the explosion might be. When I had arrived at
as near the surface as the pump would carry me, and felt confident,
from the amount of string I had paid out, that I was far enough away
to be out of danger, I gathered in all the slack line, and then, with
one strong, quick jerk, I proved the practical value of my machine. In
one instant the result was conveyed to my ears by a subdued murmur, and
the effect by a motion conveyed to the boat as if she had been upon
the surface of the ocean instead of beneath it. I was perfectly well
aware that, when I pulled the string, the sealed plug in the orifice of
the can, through which the string led, would be pulled out, and let in
the water; but the same action would also discharge the flint upon the
steel inside and cause the explosion at the same instant, before one
drop of water could enter, or else I should have fifty pounds of powder
wasted. But the muffled roar and the commotion of the water told me
that my mechanical ingenuity had not failed me, and that my powder had
been exploded if nothing else had been accomplished.
I commenced to descend again and make my way towards the wreck, but
was met with such a mass of muddy, stirred-up water, that I was glad
to throw a grapnel to the bottom, and lie quietly till it had passed
by with the slow motion of the tide. When the water had become again
clear, I advanced, and, arriving at last over what had been the hull
of the wreck, I looked down upon what might have been considered a
vast bird's nest, of which the late timbers of the hull formed the
twigs, outline, and shape of the nest, inextricably locked together and
interlaced, and in the centre of which appeared, in place of enormous
eggs, in relative size to the bird's nest, a large, irregular mass of
still yellow and shining metal, although in many places tarnished and
dim, that seemed in quantity greater than the mind of man had ever
conceived. I descended upon this treasure and hooked up bar after bar,
which I placed upon my hanging shelves till I could take no more, and,
renewing my air with the air-boat, I made my way to Mirror Bay, and
landed my precious freight.
My next work was to bury my treasure where it would be safe, and
for this purpose I excavated a large, square hole in the earth near
to the ruined hut. Suffice it to say that after many weary trips,
extending through months, I had recovered and buried in safety at
least ten millions of money, besides having saved six of the brass
eighteen-pounders, and a large quantity of copper spikes and bolts.
Whilst at this work I came often upon the skulls and bones of the men
who had once manned this pirate craft, mixed in with the _débris_ of
the wreck. Whilst I was engaged in this labor I had to make trips to
the Hermitage, and look after my flock, and prepare food for myself,
and this was by far the busiest year that I had ever yet had on the
island. After carefully covering up my treasure I conveyed all the
copper bolts and the old eighteen-pounders to my workshop at the
Hermitage, on the steam yacht, where they would be extremely useful
to me, as heretofore I had had no brass or copper, and I often felt
the need of them in my mechanical arts. I also obtained from the wreck
a small quantity of lead in different forms, which was also very
acceptable. Having gathered all these riches about me, was I happier
than before? I often asked myself this question, and was obliged to
answer it in the negative. The very acquisition of this enormous wealth
made me impatient of restraint, and more and more determined to solve
the problem of my escape. I had the knowledge of being the possessor
of this immense amount of money, and at the same time the painful
conviction that at present it was worth to me no more than the sand on
the seashore.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Chess and backgammon playing. Fortification of the island. Team of
white swans. Goats as servants, and opponents in backgammon playing.
Yes, here I was, with the wealth of an emperor around me, and not one
penny available, in any shape or manner. The acquisition of so much
wealth had changed my whole plans; I no longer dared to leave the
island, for fear that somebody might discover it during my absence and
claim it for their own, and not even allow me to land upon it again,
much less become possessed of the immense treasure that I had buried
upon it, and which I could only take away by the assistance of others,
and they under my own command and discipline. Much as I had bemoaned
my fate in being cast on shore, I now feared to leave the island that
I had so long hated. The acquisition of riches had brought its usual
curse, and from being almost happy and contented I had returned to a
state of petulance and nervousness, similar to that which I suffered
under during the first two years of my enforced captivity.
The time had come when I felt confident that I could leave the island
in some way, in safety, and I did not dare to,--did not dare to run the
risk of someone's coming to the island during my temporary absence, and
remaining upon it. My common sense told me that I had waited years
enough, and seen no one, and that no one would come in my absence,
whilst my miserly cupidity and unnatural nervousness told me that it
would be just my luck to leave it and return and find it occupied,
and all my labors lost; for how could I expect to obtain any legal
proceedings to help me, or prove my claim, should such happen. I well
knew that in these seas justice was little recognized, and that my
return and claims would be scoffed at by any who might have replaced me
during my absence. I was at last placed in the woeful predicament of
seeing myself aching and longing for freedom, and afraid to accept it
should it be offered me. In fact, my cupidity overcame my other desires
so greatly that I passed my time at this season in improving all my
fortifications, and making myself as strong as possible to resist any
attack that might be made upon me. I even went so far as to experiment
in the direction of torpedoes, to be placed at the mouth of Stillwater
Cove, and in Perseverance Bay and Mirror Bay, to be exploded by
electricity should I be attacked. I did not, however, consummate this
work, but had it strongly in mind.
I also, at this time, built a small harbor at the mouth of Stillwater
Cove, and enclosed the entrance by old stumps and broken limbs of
trees, to conceal it, into which I conveyed the submarine boat and
steam yacht, when not in use. The "Fairy" I could easily conceal near
the Hermitage,--but then, if an enemy ever got as far as this, it
would be impossible for me to conceal the sawmill and foundry, and
other works below the falls. I was so frightened at this time of being
visited, that I built a battery of four guns, to rake the whole of
Stillwater Cove, about half a mile below the Hermitage, and to stop the
advance of any enemy in that direction. I well knew that, if it was
known what wealth I had accumulated, I should stand little chance of
ever enjoying it, unless some man-of-war should discover me. It would
be very easy for some trader or whaler to dispose of me, and acquire my
wealth, and the world never hear of it. Thousands of tragedies occur in
these seas of which the world never hears, as I was well aware. My gold
and silver I had buried at Mirror Bay, and my pearls I now buried, with
care, in a corner of the Hermitage.
At one time I bethought me of making a trip to Easter Island, in my
submarine boat, and see if I could not induce the natives, if any, to
make me their chief, and if so, to return and, with their aid, build a
large vessel, and carry off my treasure to their island, or carry back
enough of them to mine to aid me in navigating me to some neutral port,
having first fully armed her and taught them seamanship. But if I left
the island, I had, in the first place, to run the chance of striking
Easter Island, and, having done that, the greater chance of ever again
being able to find my own island. This, added to the risk of submarine
navigation, which I had before thought over, deterred me. I only seemed
to be able to make up my mind to one thing, and that was to protect
myself in all possible ways from assault, and to try and study out
some way to escape with my treasure in safety.
[Illustration: PLAYING BACKGAMMON WITH THE GOAT.--PAGE 313.]
After some months of this worry, I commenced to return to myself again
in a measure, and, having no work of any magnitude on hand, I amused
myself in many ways to change the monotony of my existence. Amongst
other things that I invented for my amusement were a nice chess-board
and men. I had been fond of the game for many years, and I used in the
evening to pit myself against an imaginary opponent and set to work. I
always played strictly according to rule, and never took a move back
or allowed my adversary to do so; and it was amusing to see how hard
I tried to beat my other self. I wiled away many weary evening hours
in this way, and also with a pack of parchment cards, with which I
played solitaire, to my heart's content. But my greatest game, and one
in which I took the most interest, was backgammon, which I played with
my pet goat. I had here to move for both the goat and myself; but the
excitement consisted in the fact of my making him take the dice-box in
his mouth and shake out his own dice, so that I really played against
somebody in part. I increased this excitement by pitting one goat
against the other and making each throw the dice, when I would make the
move and reward the winner by a little morsel of sugar, or something of
which he was fond. I also managed to make myself quite a serviceable
flute, upon which I performed by ear all the old tunes I could
remember; and, to preserve them, I marked the notes in a rough style
on parchment; but, only knowing their names as A, B, C, etc., I simply
marked down these letters to denote any tune, heading it with the name,
as "Yankee Doodle," _a_, _a_, _b_, _c_, _a_, _a_ _g#_, _e_,--_a_, _a_,
_b_, _c_, _a_, _g#_. I did not know enough about music to keep any
other record, but by this method I felt that I could preserve the tunes
that I now knew, so as to enjoy them in my old age, if God willed it
that I should never escape from this cursed island. At this time I
did not know what it was to want for anything: each year my harvests
had been greater and greater, and I now enjoyed both apples and pears
in great abundance. With saltpetre and salt, and my smoking-house, I
was able to preserve all the meat of all kinds that I desired, and my
larder and ice-house was overstocked instead of understocked, and I
had everything that heart could desire; and yet, since my successful
attempt at both the pearl fishery and the sunken treasure, I had been
unhappy and discontented. Up to this time I had scarcely seen an hour's
sickness since being upon the island.
It was wonderful how good God had been to me; but the delightful
climate, and my out-door life and pure water and good wholesome food,
had all tended to sustain me; but, with my inventive mind, I did not
intend to be caught napping, even in this respect, so to work I went
to educate my goats as servants, in case I should be seriously ill.
I taught one, after repeated attempts and great attention, to take
a little pail that I had made for him, and, at my command, go to the
river and fill it with water, and bring it to me at my bedside. After
months of teaching, this goat would at last do this duty as well as
the best trained servant, and finally I taught him so perfectly that I
could get into my bed, touch a little bell that I had made, one tap,
when he would immediately look about for his little pail, in whatever
part of the Hermitage it might be, and, finding it, march off to the
river, fill it with water, and bring it back, and place it always in
just the same spot, upon the low sideboard or table, beside my bed.
The other pet I taught to bring me a small bag of flour that was kept
for that purpose. As I have before said, on a shelf near the bed I had
already placed a lamp, spare oil, matches, flint and steel, and all the
simple remedies that I had, with candles and a sort of night lamp that
I had constructed, with kettle and basin attached. I did not know how
soon I might be attacked at any moment with fever and delirium, and
I was determined to do all possible beforehand, so as to be able to
help myself in my days of necessity; hence my teaching, so that, when
too weak to move, I might rely upon my pet goats for good, pure, fresh
water and a little food fit for gruel. This teaching was an amusement
for me, and not a task; and it was amazing how intelligent these
animals became, and how fond I was of them and they of me.
I had noticed that there were upon Mirror Lake, when I had visited it
upon several occasions, some magnificent swans, and, having nothing
better in my head to do, I made up my mind to capture some of them to
transplant to the Hermitage. I made many futile attempts before I could
fix upon a plan to secure any of them. I could at times have shot some
of them, for they were not very wild, but that was not what I wanted.
Finally, after studying their habits, I ascertained exactly where
they nestled on shore at night to roost, which was near some stunted
trees on the westerly side of the lake. I made myself a large net of
strong grass twine and rawhide, nearly forty feet square, with the
meshes at least a foot apart, so that the work was not a very hard or
laborious one. Armed with this in the daytime, whilst the swans were
away, either in the centre of the lake or elsewhere, I visited their
resting-place, and attached it to the trees and different uprights, and
arranged it so that it could be drawn down and over them at one pull by
a cord which I led out into the lake a long distance and buoyed there.
Having arranged all my apparatus to suit me, I left it alone for at
least a month, not even going near it; when one fine moonlight night I
started early, before sundown, across the island to the lake. Hiding
myself in the long grass and trees on the border, I saw my friends
the swans, about eighteen in number, take their way for their usual
roosting-place, and as the light shut down I stripped off my clothing
and swam out boldly for the buoy in the lake, which was not over two
hundred yards distant from me, but at least four hundred from them.
Arriving at it, I grasped the line and gave one tremendous pull with
all my strength, and such a flapping of wings and squalling was never
heard. All the fowl in the vicinity--and there were large numbers--got
on the wing and commenced making night hideous. I hastened ashore,
and, slipping on a few clothes, made my way at a run to the place
where the net had been sprung. It was as I expected; several of the
swans had become entangled, and, having thrust their heads through the
large meshes, were endeavoring to make their enormous bodies follow
through the same hole, at the same time foolishly threshing about with
their wings and trying to fly. It was well that my net was mostly of
rawhide, for I found the creatures terribly strong and fierce, but
after a fight of over two hours I was in possession of six fine large
swans, as beautiful creatures as could well be imagined. All of these I
bound with rawhide, with their wings to their sides, and small lashings
around their bills, for I found that they could attack with them quite
fiercely. After having carefully bound them so that they could not
escape, and for further protection drawn the net about them, I made my
way home, leaving them where they lay for the night.
The next morning early I appeared on the scene with the canoe, having
come around in the steam yacht to the river, which I had ascended as
far as practicable, and then taken to the canoe. I soon had my splendid
great fellows all in the boat, and thence into the steam yacht in a
very short time, when I proceeded leisurely home by the Western Cape,
as I wanted to see how that part of my island looked. I saw nothing
strange or novel, except the penguins on Penguin Point, who were drawn
up as usual in martial array, and I could not help wishing that I had a
few brave and devoted sailors with me at this time. How soon we would
make the forests of this island echo with the stroke of our axes,
and how soon would a strong, staunch vessel arise from the stocks at
Rapid River; one that could stand the weather well enough to make the
trip with ease to Valparaiso or the Sandwich Islands, or some other
civilized place.
Arriving home, I made some arrangements for my new guests, and riveted
upon one leg of each a long rawhide rope, which was made fast to a
stake on the border of the river. For the first few days there was a
great deal of fluttering, sputtering, and squalling, but, being careful
not to feed them all this time, I soon brought them to subjection,
and in less than a month's time they would eat out of my hand. I then
went to work and made a long, light whip, with which I educated them
each day for two more months. In the intervals, I was at work in the
workshop, and turned out two cylinders, shaped like cigars, about eight
feet long and one foot in diameter, made of rolled iron little thicker
than common sheet-iron. Upon these, placed distant from each other
about six feet, I fitted a nice little deck and an easy, comfortable
chair. Having this all completed and arranged, I launched it in
Stillwater Cove, and brought it over near the Hermitage. I then made a
broad piece of skin that would slip over the head of each swan and rest
against the breast, to which was attached a small cord. Putting one of
these yokes upon each of my swans, I drove them down to where the boat
or car was resting; for I had trained them so that they would obey the
whip just as well if not better than a yoke of oxen. Having arrived at
the car, I attached them by yokes of two to a central rope attached
to the car, and, cracking my whip, set off on a tour of pleasure down
Stillwater Cove. Did ever man drive such a car and team before? and yet
it was by just such artifices as these that I kept myself from going
mad and gave myself excitement and pleasure. No one knows, till they
have tried, how easily the birds of the earth are taught. I had often
seen a Chinaman make the cormorant fish for him all day long, and make
his body of ducks that he was watching as obedient as so many dogs. I
knew that my team of swans was of no practical use to me, but it was a
pleasure, and that was sufficient. They certainly made a magnificent
sight, moving over the quiet, pure waters of Stillwater Cove, and I
could not help thinking that, if I should be discovered now, I should
be taken for Neptune or some merman of the ocean disporting himself
with his favorite team. Having taken a good long ride, I, with a snap
of my whip, turned my team about and made towards home. Home! yes, that
was the word; it had really become home, and more so than ever since
I had become so rich. I could not make up my mind to try and solve
the problem which, if solved, would separate me from my island and my
riches, and yet I could not go on in this way; I must make up my mind,
and that quickly; I must do something; I must choose. If I feared to
trust my submarine boat, I could make a catamaran on a large scale,
almost exactly on the same plan as the car I was now seated upon,
which could not capsize or sink; a life raft, or, better yet, I could
construct a boat wholly of iron, with water-tight compartments; but who
was to steer whilst I slept,--my goat?--and who was to take care of my
island during my absence and keep it safe from all inquisitive eyes? I
suppose I should have, perhaps, used up years thinking of this matter,
if my attention had not been drawn to other affairs almost as startling
as any that had yet befallen me, making me almost believe that I was
to be driven crazy by accumulation of wealth which I was not to be
allowed ever to enjoy or spend. It occurred to me to make a gunning
expedition to Mirror Lake, to obtain some of the wild ducks that were
so plenty there. And having now a little lead, I was able to make shot,
with which I was more successful than with the steel bullets. With this
intention I went to Mirror River in the steam yacht, prepared to stop
for a few days and enjoy the sport, and what happened me there I will
go on to relate.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Discovery of gold. Turn the stream out of the lake, and build portable
engine to separate the gold.
I started with the canoe to the mouth of Stillwater Cove, having first
attended to my numerous flocks, and put on board two of my best guns,
with some lead bullets and shot, and provisions for some time, and
also carrying with me my two inseparable friends, the pet goats. When
I arrived, at the mouth of the cove, I entered the concealed harbor,
and got out the steam yacht and commenced putting her in order. I
soon had a fire built under the boilers, and in an hour's time was
all ready to set out. Leaving the canoe behind me, I pushed out of
the cove into Perseverance Bay, and made my way to the west about for
Mirror Bay. I arrived safely and in good season, and landed to examine
my treasure-ground, and found the grass growing over it nicely, and it
seemed well concealed. Going on board again, I pointed the yacht up the
river towards the lake. I had heretofore always stopped before reaching
the latter, for fear of striking the bottom on account of shoal water,
but I now made up my mind to proceed in a cautious manner into the
lake itself, if possible. I thought that there was water enough if
I could keep clear of any boulders or rocks that might possibly be
concealed beneath the water. The yacht did not draw over three feet,
and I felt confident that she could carry that draft to the lake if she
could be kept clear from any unknown obstructions. So I steamed along
very carefully and slowly, and often left the helm to rush forward and
look over the bows, and, oftener yet, stopped the boat completely and
examined ahead before proceeding. In this manner I advanced towards the
lake slowly but surely, taking land marks as I went on to enable me
to return without injuring my craft by running her upon any submerged
danger. At last the lake opened before me, and with a few careful turns
of the propeller, I soon floated upon its surface safe and sound.
The moment the yacht came in sight, numbers of swans and other fowl
commenced to rise from different parts of the lake, and take their
departure to more quiet and distant places. I knew, however, that I had
not disturbed them greatly, and that they would return during the day,
flock after flock. I kept on across the lake to the mouth of a little
brook pouring into it, not over fifteen feet wide, and, entering this,
I ran on for about a hundred yards, till the water commenced to shoal
and to be filled with numerous rocks. Here I moored the yacht carefully
to the bank and went on shore. I had no occasion to build any fire or
erect any habitation. The steam yacht served me for home, kitchen,
bedroom, and parlor, and I had on board of her everything that possibly
could be asked for. Tethering out my two pet goats, I took with me
two of my guns and quite a lot of ammunition, and the small landing
skiff, and made my way back again to the lake. I carried with me also
some twelve or fifteen nice decoy ducks, that I had made of wood and
dyed with black and red colors, similar to the ducks that frequented
the lake. These I anchored at an easy gunshot from the shore, and then,
landing, took out my guns and ammunition, which I carefully placed on
the sand, and, shouldering the boat, carried it into the bushes near
by and concealed it carefully. I then went to work with a hatchet and
cut down some of the small cedar and fir trees with which the back part
of the shore of sand was lined, and soon had them driven into the sand
near the edge of the water, and converted into a blind, from which I
could shoot into the flocks of ducks and geese that might come to my
decoys without being seen by them. Even whilst I was at work, several
flocks were almost willing to alight, hovering over my decoys, but
finally departing as they saw me at work. When I had everything to suit
me, I retired into my blind and waited for a chance for a good shot. I
used to shoot well with a percussion gun in younger days, but I had too
little lead now, and too little practice, to try and kill these birds
on the wing with a flint-lock gun, and my only chance was to wait till
a whole flock settled down, when I intended, by a discharge of one gun
whilst they were in the water, and another as they arose, to get as
many as possible; and that it may not be thought that I must have had
a great stomach for ducks, I would say that I intended to pick and
preserve these birds in saltpetre and salt, to use during the winter
seasons, and to make of their feathers a nice soft mattress.
I had not long to wait before a small flock settled to my decoys, and,
after sailing about a little, became disgusted and made off before I
could fire. But after them came a larger lot that settled boldly down,
and as I had found out that they would not long remain ignorant of the
cheats that had enticed them, I let drive at once into their midst
with one gun, and gave them the other as they rose to fly away. As the
result of my fire, I counted eleven large ducks dead upon the water and
three badly wounded, which I soon despatched by hastening to the shore
with my light landing boat and killing them with a boat-hook, and,
picking up my dead, brought onto the shore fourteen nice fat ducks. I
then drew up my boat and waited for more shots, but the discharge had
made the others somewhat wary; but finally my patience was rewarded
with two other good shots during the day, in which I bagged three geese
and seven more ducks. With this game I made my way back to the yacht,
highly pleased with my day's sport. I had noticed, both to-day and in
my former trips to the lake, that the species of duck that I had shot
were divers, and seemed to get their food by seeking at the bottom of
the lake for it, and particularly at this place where the spring water
poured into it from this brook or inlet, which evidently arose in a
mountain back of me, and, fed by springs, enlarged so as to pour into
the lake quite a volume of pure water. As I had to name everything upon
the island, I called this brook Singing Water Brook, on account of the
low musical murmur that was wafted to my ears from the miniature falls
and rocks over which it bounded, gurgled, and found its way, further
in the interior, where, from the sound, it evidently was more rapid in
its descent from higher ground, but distant enough not to be noisy, but
musical, in its progress towards the lake.
I first went to work and picked my whole twenty-one ducks and the three
geese, carefully saving all the feathers. I then proceeded to open them
preparatory to salting them away in casks which were on board of the
yacht, that I had brought for that purpose. I had opened and dressed, I
should think, some five or six, when I became curious to know what food
they fed upon, and to know if it was to obtain it that they kept diving
below the surface. To settle this problem I grasped with my left hand
the gizzard of the duck that I had just dressed, and, observing that it
was well inflated, I drew my knife across it to expose its contents. It
seemed to contain the usual amount of sand and gravel, and a sort of
semi-digested food that I was unable to determine as to whether it was
fish, flesh, fowl, or good red herring. As I was picking the mass to
pieces with my hands, I laid open to view quite a large pebble, fully
as large as a pea, that was as yellow as gold. I pounced upon it, for I
had seen too much virgin gold in California and Australia not to know
it. I had it not one moment in my hand before my sight and its weight
convinced me that it was indeed, in verity, a pure golden nugget.
Could it be possible? I had heard before of gold being taken from the
crops of chickens bought in Siam and on the coasts of Africa, but I
never before had credited the stories; but here before my eyes, in
all its unmistakable purity, lay a piece of virgin gold. Then it was
this that my ducks were gathering with their other food, mistaking it
probably for some kind of grain. To work, therefore, I went upon all of
the gizzards of my slain, and my search was rewarded by the finding of
seven pieces more, two much larger than the first specimen obtained,
fully as large as beans, and the others much smaller. When I had buried
my treasure, I had kept out, to have on hand at the Hermitage, several
of the ingots of gold and two or three of the bars of silver; why,
I do not know, but it was human to have a little amount of gold and
silver near at hand,--for what I cannot say; but it was natural, and
probably arose from former education and habit. I was not yet perfectly
content with the evidences of my senses or the malleability of the
metal before me, which I tested by beating one of the pieces with a
hammer; but before I would wholly give myself up to the belief that my
discovery was really gold, I intended to make a certain and positive
test. Stories ran through my head of vessels in olden times, which made
voyages to the East Indies, returning home with what they considered
gold ore in ballast, which only turned out upon arrival to be simply
mica or silica. Whalers also, as I had heard, had given up whole
voyages and filled their casks in different parts of the world with
worthless earth, thinking that they had become possessed of the wealth
of the universe. I was not to be deceived in this manner. I determined,
as I have said, to make a final and complete test before I gave myself
up to the excitement that would undoubtedly attend my magnificent
discovery, if true. For this purpose I left all my ducks and geese,
except two for cooking purposes, and made my way as rapidly as possible
back to the steam yacht, and, although it was nearly sunset, got under
way and started back to the Hermitage with my precious pebbles or
nuggets with me. I arrived safely by the aid of a magnificent moon,
and ran into Stillwater Cove and up to the Hermitage, when I moored
the yacht and went on shore and into my bed; but a restless night I
made of it, and early morning saw me at work in the foundry at my
proposed test. In the first place I went to work and made a nice pair
of balances of steel, with little pans on each side to contain the
substance to be weighed. I then went to work and made a mould of iron,
by boring out a small oval hole with my steel drills in the face of two
pieces of steel, which I hinged together exactly like a bullet mould,
only much smaller.
After having everything arranged I set to work and smelted a portion
of one of my golden ingots, and whilst in this fused state I moulded
several golden bullets in my mould, some ten or twelve in number. I
then put the remainder of the gold away, cleaned out the crucible
perfectly, and put my nuggets in it and smelted them, and with them
made also eleven impressions of my mould in the shape of bullets. I
kept these far from the others, so as not to get things mixed. I then
placed one of the true bullets of gold in one pan of the balance, and
added small clippings of iron in the other pan, till it was exactly
balanced. I then took it out and replaced it by one of the bullets made
from the metal I had found. The problem was solved,--they were exactly
of a weight, or, rather, so nearly so that a minute atom of iron dust
added to the pan preserved the balance, for my metal bullet, proved by
the very slightest degree to be the heavier. Yes, this was gold,--gold
beyond peradventure; but, to satisfy my mind, I weighed and weighed
them by one and by twos, and by fours and by fives; always with the
same result, scarcely a hair's breadth between them. Practically, they
were exact. I knew that no other metal could approach gold in weight
so as to deceive me beyond this test. I was living on an island that
was a vast gold mine, or at least contained it in large quantities;
for it would be impossible for me to have found seven nuggets in a few
ducks unless the bottom of the lake was strewed with them at or near
the mouth of Singing Water Brook, which must have poured them into the
lake for ages, carrying them along from their first resting-place, the
mountain, to the westward from which it took its rise. Convinced that
my discovery was real and true, I gave myself up to all manner of day
dreams, and it was a week before I made up my mind to return to the
lake and explore further. At times I gave up the idea of gathering
any of this gold that I now knew lay at the bottom of the lake, and
at others the desire to be possessed of it all swayed me also. But,
finally, dreaming gave way to my natural temperament, and I made all
preparations possible to secure my prize. Should I pen in a portion of
the lake opposite the mouth of Singing Water Brook, turn the latter
aside, lay bare the bottom of the lake and sift and examine the sand?
Alas, this would take great time and pains, and I was afraid also that
the water would be forced back, after I had pumped it out, though
the sand of which the bottom was formed. Should I lower the outlet
of the lake so as to draw off the water in a degree? This was not
very feasible, as it was already quite deep, and it would take great
time and application to deepen it enough to draw off the water of the
lake to any extent. No, I had another plan than this, which I finally
decided upon, and that was to use the submarine boat. Having fixed
upon the means, I hastened to put them into execution. I made all my
preparations, and, taking the submarine boat in tow of the steam yacht,
made my way back to Mirror Lake. I had some trouble in getting the
former into the lake, but finally succeeded after considerable labor. I
had provided myself with some utensils, to pan out the sand with, and
also a rocker, that I had built to be placed on shore, and worked by a
belt from a driving-wheel of the steam engine of the yacht, which I had
attached to it for that purpose only, intending to use it by anchoring
the yacht, disconnecting the propeller gear, and leading the belt from
the rocker on shore to the engine room of the yacht, and thence to the
driving-wheel attached. Let it suffice to say here that during my long
stay at Mirror Lake I made weekly trips to the Hermitage and attended
to my flocks, but gave up all idea of making butter, and only brought a
few of my female goats to this side to give me milk.
Having gotten the submarine boat into the lake, I made a descent in
it and examined the bottom. It was almost wholly of pure sand. The
water varied from a depth of a few feet near the margin to about three
fathoms near the centre. I saw several kinds of fish but none of large
size. Having made this examination, I commenced upon the work before me
of finding the gold. I went quite near to the mouth of Singing Water
Brook, and descended and filled the tops of the tanks with sand from
the bottom, failing to find any nuggets with the eye; but I afterwards
found several in different trips, but never many or of very large size.
Having loaded the boat, I arose to the surface, and beached her near
the mouth of the brook, and landed my sand in baskets upon the shore. I
then went to work with the pan and washed it in the mouth of the brook,
and as the result of this one trip gathered together more gold-dust
and small nuggets than I could hold in one hand. This was placer mining
with a vengeance, the cream of all mining while it lasts. But I felt
that I was going back-handed to work; so the next day, instead of
coming on shore with my sand, I took the pan into the submarine boat,
and as I pulled it up with a sort of long-handled shovel, washed it
then and there in the water of the lake inside the submarine boat;
but this again was, during a long day, tiring to my brain, as I had
to keep renewing the air by rowing the boat ashore, for it was too
shallow to use the air-boat, and I had long ago given up the idea of
using the spray-wheel except in case of actual necessity, the air-boat
superseding it.
Here I was in the ninth year of my captivity, working hard in my own
gold-field. I worked nearly six months of this year, at all spare
moments, in this manner, occasionally shovelling sand into the rocker
on shore, which I procured from the edges of the lake near the mouth of
the brook, just under water, and extracting the gold-dust by means of
a belt from the steam yacht. I was quite successful with this method
also, but the largest quantity of the dust had evidently been for ages
swept into the lake opposite the mouth of Singing Water Brook. I also
ascended the brook several times during these months, till it led me
to a mountain of some eminence, where it ended in little branches that
tumbled down its side.
I got "signs" of gold often,--in fact almost always at the eddies of
this brook, and even in its branches,--but never in as large quantities
as in the sand at the mouth, although I obtained one very large nugget
in the sands of a quiet pool fully half a mile from the lake. I also
ascertained that the mountain was composed mostly of quartz,--which
miners term the mother of gold,--and all the little pebbles that I
picked up in the running brooks were of this description, several of
them being prettily marked with little veins of gold. There was no
doubt whence the gold came; it had been pouring down from this mountain
side in these small trickling streams for centuries, veining the pieces
of quartz that contained it till the latter, by friction and water,
deposited itself in the shape of sand, and the released gold as dust
or nuggets, at the mouth of the brook, having been, perhaps, centuries
making the descent from the mountain side to the lake, a distance
perhaps of one mile. I knew perfectly well that the mountain contained
the inexhaustible mine from which this precious dust escaped, but I
also knew that without quicksilver it was beyond my reach to gather it.
For in quartz-mining I should need iron stamps, fuel, steam-engine,
amalgamator, rocking-table, etc., all of which I could supply, perhaps,
except the quicksilver; but this troubled me very little, for I knew
that there was more gold at the mouth of the lake than I could gather
in perhaps a lifetime, unless I could invent some way to come at it
more convenient than the ways that I was now employing. I had often,
at the end of a day's work, at this time, nearly as much gold-dust as I
could hold in my two hands, much more than one handful, and in value,
of which I could only guess, at least $200 to $250. After getting quite
a quantity together,--say a week's work,--I used to transport it to the
Hermitage, take it to the workshop, smelt it, and preserve the button
by burying it within the enclosure of the Hermitage.
I had at the end of some six months become greedy and was not satisfied
with my daily gains, but longed to extend my operations. During these
months I had not been idle, but had studied upon the problem of how to
get at the bottom of the lake. I was thinking about this one day, when
nearly half-way between the lake and the mountain side, passing the
brook once in a while and looking into its waters for quartz-pebbles
marked with gold. At once it struck me, why not turn the brook from
the lake towards the sea, in a new direction. I struck my head with
my fist to think what a fool I had been for so many months; why,
here, even where I stood, was a natural valley on my left, that would
convey the water to the sea. I dashed down my pan and worked my way
seaward. Why here was even a little mountain brook already tending in
that direction, and, following it about two miles, I saw it pierce the
sand of the seaside, at least two feet wide, and discharge its tiny
current into the ocean. I was crazy with excitement. I dashed back
again to the point where I had left my pan, and, picking it up, made
for the lake. When I arrived, I went to the inlet and examined it.
I felt that I had the whole matter under my thumb, and without much
labor, too; for if I should turn the direction of Singing Water Brook
so that it would not pour into Mirror Lake, the latter at its outlet
would be exactly as low as the bottom, over which a rapid current was
now flowing, but which would, by this process, be in one sense brought
to the surface; and, as it appeared, I could work upon it, and cut it
down, and as I cut it down so would the lake be drawn off, till, if cut
little by little, a passage-way which I could timber up to the depth
of eighteen feet, all the water of the lake would be drawn off, and
the whole bottom exposed to my view, and the golden accumulation of
untold ages beneath my feet to pick and choose from. It was feasible,
fool that I was, not to have thought of it before. The very next day,
armed with axes, tools, and shovels, which I had to make two trips to
convey, I found myself at the place on the brook where the natural
valley leading towards the sea seemed to meet it, and where a little
further on to the seaward I had found the miniature brook, trickling
its way to the southward. At the point that I commenced work the brook
was not over ten or twelve feet wide, rapid to be sure, but with not a
very great descent just at this point. I commenced in the first place
by cutting and opening on its southerly bank, towards the sea and into
the valley. I did not cut the bank away so as to let the water in
yet to its new channel, but worked a little distance from it. For two
whole weeks I dug at this, making a good bed for the brook to rush
into in its new passage that I intended to give it to the sea. Having
this to suit me, I commenced cutting down trees to fall across the
brook as it now ran, and these I filled in with pebbles and stones.
It was hard work, but at the end of three weeks I had made such a dam
across the original brook that I opened the passage for the water into
the new one, and kept on strengthening the former till all the water
in a day or two bounded down its new course to the sea as if it had
always run in that direction. I restrained my curiosity, however, to
look for gold in the now dried up bed of the brook, but felled more
trees, and put in more stones, and banked up with more earth, till I
felt convinced that even in a storm the brook would no longer seek an
outlet in the direction of the lake over such a barrier, and with the
bed of its new course so well dug out by itself even now, helped as
it had been by my labor of two weeks, before allowing it to seek it.
Finally I felt my work complete, and, breaking up my camp that I had
so long made in the woods, I went back to the lake, looking once in
a while into the now empty brook. I should have said that of course,
before I undertook this work, I had taken the yacht and submarine boat
out of the way,--the submarine boat to its old resting-place at Still
Water Cove, and the yacht at anchor in Mirror Bay near the shore. I
had been living a hard, rude life in the woods, and had only come out
once to go to the Hermitage for food and to attend to my flocks; and I
hurried down now to look at the lake, which I knew would be lowered to
exactly the former depth of the water at the outlet, some four or five
feet. As I came in view of it I saw at once the effects of my work; it
looked already woefully shrunken and belittled, but I did not stop to
look at it, or for nuggets either. I felt convinced that I had passed
many in the bed of the deserted brook, but at present I was intent upon
my work of changing the face of nature. In two trips I had all my traps
and tools conveyed to the outlet, and it was here that I established my
new camp. I had to go to the saw-mill and get some plank, and by the
aid of the goats and wagon finally, after bringing them around in the
yacht, got them to the outlet where I needed them. I commenced digging
in its bed, and the water soon began to pour out, as I did not have to
dig a great distance, as the decline was quite sharp. I found that I
should not need my boards till I had gotten considerably down, if even
then, for my work consisted only in shovelling the bed of the late
stream out upon each side and in making a channel lower than the water
still remaining in the lake. Suffice it to say that in three months I
had the lake drawn off, so as to expose a very large margin of the late
bottom. It would take too long to relate how I travelled over these
exposed sands and the deserted bed of Singing Water Brook; it will be
sufficient to say that my findings were immense, and in the bed of the
brook I found several nuggets in what had before been eddies, weighing
as high as two or three pounds, as near as I could judge. I soon,
however, got tired of tramping over the sand to try and find nuggets by
the eye, and arranged to go to work in a more thorough and satisfactory
manner. To do this, I left my gold-fields for several months, and
went to work at my forge to turn out a portable steam-engine, with
a rocker or sand-washer attached. When this was finished I took it,
in pieces, to the bed of the lake and erected it on wheels. It was
arranged with sections of pipe and hose so as to be placed near the
sand that was to be washed, and the water pumped for that purpose from
that still remaining in the lake, and which I had left for this very
purpose, intending to draw it off and expose more bottom by opening
the outlet whenever I should have been over the sands now exposed to
view. It was well also that I should have had to make this engine, for
the fishes contained in the lake had commenced to die, and the air was
impregnated with their effluvia, and the surface was covered with their
dead bodies. When I got to work with my rocker and engine it seemed as
if the sands were inexhaustible. I often gathered, as far as I could
judge, in one day's work, the sum of at least $500, and some days I
must have gathered hard upon $1,000, not to mention the nuggets large
enough to pick up with my hand, that I was continually coming upon.
But at last I got absolutely tired of gathering this golden harvest,
and abandoned it for other occupations, having already more than I
knew what to do with, and of not one dollar's value to me unless I
could escape or be rescued. After my fierce excitement was over in this
direction, I returned to the old problem of escape.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The sea serpent. Attack and capture one of the species, thus putting
the question of its existence forever at rest.
It was in my tenth year of captivity that the following adventure
occurred to me, which is of such importance to the scientific world,
and settles forever such a disputed question, that I cannot forbear
to relate it here in the interest of science, and to set at rest all
doubts upon this subject forever.
I had started upon one of my trips to the pearl oyster reef in the
submarine boat, to obtain some of those bivalves, to convey to the
shore for examination. The day was beautiful, and the sky clear and
almost without a cloud, with a light air moving from the northwest. I
was standing out toward the reef from Perseverance Bay with the manhole
open, and all goat power on, when all at once, as I was gazing about
the horizon, I saw to leeward of me and off the eastern end of the
island, a strange commotion in the regular waves of the ocean. Some
animal or fish was evidently splashing the water about into the air
in huge quantities. At one time it looked as if the disturbance was
caused by porpoises disporting themselves in their native element,
and following their leader, in a long string; but I soon saw this
was not the case. At another moment it seemed as if a whole fleet of
empty barrels had been suddenly left bobbing about in mid-ocean, and
then again as if detached quantities of dry seaweed had been floated
seaward by the tide, and showed itself as it rose and fell upon the
summits of different waves. Whilst the object was taking all these
different shapes to my gazing eyes, I was steadily approaching it,
having changed the course of the boat, and as I advanced I found that
it also was coming towards me, and when within perhaps one half mile,
the creature (for it proved to be an animal), suddenly raised its head
at least twenty feet above the waves of the ocean, and looked about
him in every direction. At once the truth flashed upon me. Here was in
verity the sea serpent of which so much has been written and so much
doubted. There was no deception; all was too plain before me to deceive
a child: but, to prove the matter beyond doubt, I stopped the boat and
waited for his near approach. He happened to be heading so that he
would naturally pass very near to me, and I got ready to clap down the
manhole and descend into the ocean if he made any attack upon me. Just
as he was coming along finely towards me, he suddenly plunged beneath
the surface and was lost to view. Here was a pretty ending to all my
desires to observe him. He had not as yet come near enough for me to
describe him, so as to be believed. What should I do? I hated to lose
him in this manner, and I felt confident that he had sounded, not on
account of perceiving my boat, which he could have scarcely noticed,
but, because he was at that moment in the humor or was feeding. Whilst
I was uttering useless regrets at having lost him, and making up my
mind whether or not to descend myself and try to find him, I was
disturbed by a loud splash astern of where I was looking, and, facing
about, I looked into the eyes of the horrible creature, not forty yards
distant from me.
He did not, however, seem to notice me in the least, but to clap down
the manhole cover and descend was with me the work of a moment, for
I knew too little of his habits to trust him. I have perhaps before
in this narrative stated that, when beneath the surface of the water,
all fishes and animals seemed not to take the slightest notice of me;
either taking my boat for a submarine rock, or else for a creature
like themselves; why it was so, I, of course, cannot say, but that
such was the fact I can aver. I had often put my hand down into the
water upon the back of quite large fish, when beneath the surface,
and it was not till they were touched that they seemed to know that
anything out of the ordinary was happening. I had been fully as near
the sea serpent as I desired, and descended for safety; his horrible
eyes and face haunting me as I fell slowly towards the bottom. Having
arrived to within ten or twelve feet, I checked the boat, intending to
wait a reasonable time for his lordship to depart, and then to rise to
the surface and go on my way rejoicing that he had not injured me;
but I had not remained more than five minutes in my position before I
saw a sight that frightened me more than meeting this creature on the
surface; for, glancing about towards the bottom, my eyes fell upon
the serpent making his descent from above, and moving along slowly on
the bottom, evidently seeking for his prey. His horrible head passed
within at least ten feet of the boat, of which he seemed to take not
the slightest notice. As it passed from my view it was followed by
the body, at least one hundred feet in length, and as large around
as a common-sized flour barrel. I was too startled to move, but kept
the boat quietly in position till the whole body passed slowly out of
sight. As the tail went by me, my first impulse was to get out of the
way, and ascend to the surface, and start for home; my next was to
remain where I was and see what would happen. Sitting down, I thought
the whole matter over. My solitary existence had given me an inordinate
appetite for excitement. I wanted something to stir my stagnant blood,
something to call into action all my physical and mental powers. You
who have never been cut off from the rest of mankind cannot credit
this thirst for something new, something moving, something strange.
The daily conversation, the crowded streets, the incidents of life,
feed this desire and keep it satisfied; but when there is nothing of
this kind, the mind and body both ache to fill the void produced. Add
to this such a temperament as mine, and it can be understood that,
just saved from an attack from this unknown monster, I determined to
attack him, and, if possible, capture him. I don't know why I should
have brought myself to this conclusion, or why I should risk my life,
but such is man. From a state of fear I entered into one of fierce
excitement, and made every preparation to attack the danger I had just
escaped.
I had always with me in the boat, two strong, sharp harpoons with long,
seasoned, wooden staffs, in complete order, and also a lance and knife.
To the harpoons was attached a raw-hide rope, some fifty fathoms in
length, and with this I made up my mind to strike the serpent if I
could get the chance. To the end of the raw-hide rope, I attached a
wooden buoy, and, thus armed, I started the goats, and headed the boat
in the direction the monster had taken but a few moments before, and
in such a leisurely manner. I had not gone far before I saw the end of
his tail coming in view, as he lay stretched upon the sandy bottom.
I lowered the boat till I floated about eight feet above the hidden
form, and, plucking up my courage, steered forward over him, with his
huge body for a guide. As I arrived near his head I stopped the goats,
and let the boat drift, the tide luckily being in the direction that I
desired to go, that is, what there was of it, which was very little.
As the head came slowly into view, I saw that the monster was engaged
in quietly crunching in his horrible jaws a fish of some size, that he
had evidently just caught, and, upon which his attention seemed to
be fixed. The moment was propitious, and, as the boat slowly drifted,
not eight feet over the head of the terrible creature, I stood with
the harpoon in my hand, and deliberately drove it downward with all my
might through his head, just abaft the eyes.
I did not stop to see the effect of my blow, but immediately tumbled
into the water, as fast as possible, several of the large stones that
I used on the shelves for ballast, so as to ascend at once towards the
surface, casting overboard at the same time the line attached to the
harpoon, with the buoy at the end. Relieved of the ballast, the boat
commenced to ascend instantly and rapidly, but none too soon, for, as
it was rushing towards the surface, just below me came the sweep of the
creature's terrible tail in its death agony. If I had been struck with
it, it would inevitably have capsized my boat, and perhaps have killed
me, or, at least, left me to swim ashore to the island, distant some
miles, or else be drowned; but, luckily, the blow missed me; the ascent
of the boat was so rapid, the very moment I kicked and threw over some
of the ballast. Having risen as near the surface as possible, I rigged
my pump and ascended still further, and then, setting up my tripod and
shipping my air-boat, I soon had air enough to rise completely above
the surface, and to open the manhole and look about me. Of course, my
first glance was to discover my buoy. Yes; there it lay, not fifty
yards from me, without any motion, except what it received from the
waves upon which it floated. I could hardly credit that at the other
end lay the sea monster, transfixed through the brain with my trusty
harpoon; but such, I felt sure, was the case. The mark had been too
near and quiet for me to fail, and I had with my own eyes seen the iron
driven in up to the staff through the centre of its head. I longed
to find out the state of affairs, but did not dare to descend for
fear of being caught in the folds of the dying monster. I steered for
the floating buoy, and, getting hold of it, by means of a boat-hook
thrust out of the manhole, I pulled it towards me, and gathered in
all the slack line, till I could feel that I was pulling direct upon
the harpoon. No vibration came to me through it, and I could slightly
raise the weight evidently attached to the other end, but I was afraid
of possibly drawing out the harpoon, so I did not attempt much in this
direction; but, being assured that the creature was dead, I finally
mustered up courage to descend and look at him. As I came near the
bottom, I stopped the boat and advanced in the direction that the line
from the buoy trended in. Yes, there he was, dead as a door-nail; but
his whole body, that had so lately been stretched along the bottom, was
coiled up and around the staff of the harpoon, which had pinned the
head to the ocean's bed. I came near enough to see that the creature
was really dead, and then, rising to the surface, I made all haste for
Stillwater Cove. Arriving, I got up steam on the yacht, and made all
haste back to the buoy, towing the submarine boat behind me. When I
got upon the ground, I descended in the submarine boat, and, by means
of ropes, and pulling and hauling in each direction, I got the body
of the serpent somewhat straightened out and the head clear. Around
the neck I fastened a good, strong, rawhide rope and attached the buoy
rope to it. I then, at a distance of some thirty or forty feet from
the head, lashed to the back of the creature my air-boat, to sustain
that part somewhat, so that it would not drag upon the bottom. I then
arose to the surface and went on board of the yacht, and took the buoy
rope to the balance-wheel in the engine-room, and hove the head of
the monster nearly to the surface; the water sustaining it, so that
it was not very heavy. I trusted to my air-boat to help sustain the
remainder of the body, and, thus accoutred, with the submarine boat
towing far astern out of the way, I headed slowly for Stillwater Cove,
towing my prey behind me. When I arrived at the opening of the cove
I drew the carcase as far as possible, by means of the steam yacht,
on to the sandy seashore, where the tide would leave it out of water
when it receded. I then liberated my goats, and moored the boat in
the harbor near by, and, taking my pets on board, after anchoring the
serpent safely, steamed towards the Hermitage, where I landed them, and
took on board some empty barrels and knives, hatchets, and saws, to
dissect my sea monster. When I arrived back the sea had already fallen
so as to leave the head and at least twenty feet of the body high and
dry. After the tide had wholly gone down, I measured the monster, and
these were the dimensions. Taking my measure of a fathom as a standard,
the creature was twenty-two and one-half fathoms long, and, at its
largest girth--about two fathoms below the neck--over one fathom and a
quarter in circumference. It is difficult to describe the monster, but
I will try. The head was at least eight feet long, and the extent to
which the mouth could be opened over six feet; the gullet was small;
the teeth numerous, but small; the nostrils large and prominent; the
eyes fully six inches in diameter, and with an expression that, even
now that the creature was dead, I could not stand when I looked into
them. In the stomach I found only small pieces of different kind of
fishes, and, by the smallness of the teeth and gullet, I am inclined
to believe that the creature is naturally quite harmless, like most of
the mighty animals of the earth,--as the sperm whale, elephant, etc.,
which never attack anyone unless disturbed. Beyond the head, and, for
a distance of some ten feet, grew a sort of mane, formed of pendant
tissues of flesh some five or six feet in length, exactly like those
to be found on the sides of the mouth of the Mississippi cat-fish or
smaller horn-pout. Towards the tail, and some distance from it, was
an adipose fin, that was at least a foot high and fifteen feet long.
The skin of the creature was of a mottled greenish hue, rough, and
discolored, something the color of the shell of a very young crab, and
at least a good quarter of an inch in thickness. Having taken all the
dimensions of the monster, I went to work and cut off his head, and
left it purposely where the fishes, lobsters, etc., would feed upon
it at high water, so as to in time preserve its skeleton when all the
bones were completely articulated. The remainder of the body I skinned
in sections, at different times, and was glad to roll the rest of the
body into the current of Stillwater Cove, to be carried out to sea.
[Illustration: THE SEA SERPENT.--PAGE 347.]
I have enough on hand, at the time of writing this, to prove to any
one that I have both seen and captured the veritable sea serpent; for,
as I sit in the Hermitage, the whole skull, with jaws, teeth, and part
of the vertebræ attached, is hung up near me, and below it a circular
piece, nearly four feet long, of the hide of the animal at its greatest
girth. The frontal bone of the skull, which is not very thick, is
broken where the harpoon iron entered and caused immediate death. With
this exception the whole specimen is in complete order; and I have also
a sketch of the animal drawn upon parchment, from actual life, taken by
myself before he was at all mutilated or cut up.
I hope that this truthful, consistent, and convincing recital will
close forever this mooted question; for there is a sea serpent, and I
have been able to capture and preserve one of his species.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Make a Balloon and Flying Machine, in which I make a Successful
Ascension.
My thoughts turned wholly now upon means of defending my vast treasures
in case of invasion, and devising ways of escape from the island. As
to the former, I overhauled all my artillery at the different points,
increased my stock of gunpowder, and had each cannon well supplied with
ammunition. I also perfected my battery at Stillwater Cove, and kept
the armament on the walls of the Hermitage in excellent order. Not
content with this, I went to work in the foundry and turned out several
cylinders, similar to the one I had exploded the sunken wreck with,
which I fitted with flint and steel, ready to be filled with powder; in
short, a species of torpedo, which I had fully determined to take into
the submarine boat and explode beneath the bottom of any hostile vessel
that should dare to attack me, so much had the acquisition of vast
riches changed my disposition. I felt that any vessel approaching and
anchoring would be at my mercy; for in the night-time I could approach
her, wherever she might be anchored, unknown to anyone, and, attaching
one of my infernal machines, send her to the bottom with all on board.
I do not say that I should have done this, but I was prepared for all
emergencies, and determined to defend my treasure to the last. For
means of escape I turned my attention to ballooning,--a subject which
I had thought much about, but heretofore had done nothing in that
direction. For several years I had been quietly gathering in all the
dried pods of milkweed, floss, or silk that I could find,--and large
spaces of the island were covered with it,--determined at some time to
weave me some kind of cloth or silk from its fibre. I now commenced
seriously upon this work, and took hold of it in earnest. It would take
too long to relate how many changes I had to make in my loom, which
I built of cast-iron, to be moved by water-power, before I could get
it to work at all; but I had the theory all correct, and it was only
practice that I needed to make cloth. The machine for spinning the
floss into threads took me the longest time, but I finally accomplished
it. After a while, and with many failures, I commenced to turn out from
my loom a sort of cloth, about a yard wide, which was very strong,
flexible, and light, but of an uneven surface, on account of the
irregularity in the size of my threads, and fuzzy, like coarse flannel;
but for strength and practical use I found the material all that could
be desired; and, having tested it, I set carding and spinning wheels
to work daily to procure thread for my loom. After making some hundred
yards of this cloth, I stopped all the operations to experiment in
another direction. In my boyhood I had seen balloon-ascensions made by
filling the bag with a gas, created by pouring sulphuric acid upon iron
or steel filings in this manner: Several old hogsheads were brought
upon the field where the ascension was to take place, and into each
of them was poured a quantity of iron filings, scraps, etc., and upon
this was poured sulphuric acid; the casks were then headed up, and
through a small orifice the gas engendered was led by a pipe from each
to the balloon, which was thus inflated. If I could make this gas and
successfully inflate a small balloon, it would then be time enough for
me to advance with my clothmaking for a large one. I easily ascertained
from my book how to make sulphuric acid. And this is how I did it: I
got together a quantity of sulphur or brimstone, and setting fire to
it in a closed vessel, with just enough draught for it to burn, I led
the fumes into a closed vessel of water through a short funnel, where,
combining with the water, I had at once sulphuric acid. To test this
I tackled my friends the dog-sharks, in Stillwater Cove, and obtained
several bladders, very thin and light, just suited for my purpose,
which I blew up with atmospheric air, and allowed to dry perfectly
in the sun. When they were in proper condition I placed in one of my
porcelain jars a few handfuls of iron and steel filings, and poured
upon it some of the sulphuric acid that I had made, and then lashed the
neck of the bladder to the orifice of the jar. I watched my experiment
with subdued excitement. I felt sure that I was right in theory; would
the thing work in practice? I had yet to see. After leaving the bladder
on for a considerable time, I drew a string around it perfectly tight
so that no gas could escape and released it from the jar. With fear
and trepidation I loosed my hold upon it, and in one moment it shot up
into the sky like a rocket till it was nearly beyond my sight, when it
disappeared in a northeasterly direction before a strong wind that was
blowing. I was as pleased as a boy with his first toy-balloon, and,
like a child, I let off several of these bladders as fast as filled
with gas, perfectly fascinated to see them ascend and then disappear in
the blue ether.
Here was a means at once of sending up daily messengers to all parts
of the world, stating the latitude and longitude of the island, and
asking for rescue. Aye, but there was the rub; without my treasure how
gladly would I have seized upon this method of letting my captivity be
known, but with it I had become a coward. I wanted to escape, and did
not dare to ask anyone to aid me. The knowledge that I could ask was,
of course, a satisfaction, but as yet I did not dare to risk it, and
put the matter on one side for further meditation at some future day.
Finding that my theory about the gas was correct, I went to work again
upon my clothmaking, and worked hard at it nearly six months, when I
had sufficient quantity for my purpose, which was to make a balloon
of large enough size to make an ascension in myself. I did not have
any foolhardy idea of leaving the island in a balloon and landing I
knew not where, but I was determined to make a series of experiments
in several directions, that had been running through my head for years
before, and to see what they were worth. In the first place I went
to work and made a balloon, in the shape of an immense cigar, of the
cloth that I had manufactured, which was some thirty feet long, and
ten feet in diameter. My theory was this. In all balloon ascensions
navigators heretofore had only been able to fill a sack with gas, and
to ascend into the air, and descend by allowing the same to escape,
in other words, to have but little control of the machine except to
ascend and descend, and this in a limited degree. I had often noticed
that, in the severest storms, seabirds would remain poised in the air
without moving a wing, facing the wind, and yet not recede before it,
but by a slight motion of the wings, not up and down or a stroke, but
a sort of elevation of the body, dart dead to windward against it. I
had also noticed that, if a tin plate was thrown into the air against
a strong wind, it would often, if at the right angle, increase its
speed greatly after leaving the hand, and dart into the wind's eye with
extreme velocity. Hence I thought that a balloon could be made to tack
in the air exactly as a boat tacks in the water, except that the motion
of tacking should be perpendicular instead of horizontal. Suppose that
a balloon, cigar-shaped like mine, was poised in air at an altitude
of one thousand feet, and that at each end of the car was arranged
a light but large horizontal flat surface, exactly like a barn door
laid upon the ground, with its hinges attached to the car. To advance
against the wind why not elevate the one in front and depress the one
in rear to the right angle, or till they were filled as we should say
of sails, and then advance into the wind's eye, increasing at the same
time the elevation, as the tin plate is forced forward; and, having
made a tack upward and forward, why not elevate the rear screen and
depress the front one, and descend towards the earth at an angle,
still eating our way to windward, and when near the surface reverse
the action and mount again heavenward, but still to windward. Besides
this, why should not my balloon be filled with gas till it would lift
myself, the screens, the car, and all its apparatus _within one or two
pounds_. That is to say, to have just enough gas in the balloon, not to
raise the apparatus, but to so nearly raise it that another person, if
present, could lift the whole in his hand; practically to reduce the
weight of my body to that of a good sized duck; then with small wings,
not immense cumbersome ones, the same size that would raise a duck, I
ought to be able to raise myself, and sail in the air. Could it be done?
After I had made my balloon bag I covered all the cloth and the seams
with a fine varnish that I made from the resinous trees of the island.
This part of my task caused me little trouble. Having finished it I
went to work upon my car and its appurtenances, which I made almost
wholly of small cane, very strong but very light. I made also two
immense screens or fans, which I fastened to either end, so that they
could be elevated or depressed, and covered the light framework with
cloth. Underneath the centre of my car was hung vertically a propeller,
also made of cane, and the blades covered with cloth, and on each side
a fan wheel some six feet in circumference and two wide. The shaft
of these fan wheels and propeller was brought into the car, and, by
a series of bevelled gear made of the lightest iron possible, was
connected with a treadmill for one of my goats, motion upon which would
give over five hundred revolutions per minute to the fan wheels and
propeller. In this car I also fixed a jar of iron filings and a bottle
of sulphuric acid to make gas, if necessary, to replace that which
would in time leak out of the balloon if long inflated. I also provided
the machine with sand ballast in case I should need it to keep up the
equilibrium in case the gas should escape faster than I expected,
when I could keep my elevation by discharging it. After this was all
arranged, the next thing was to make the experiment.
I have always thought that great advancement has been made in all the
arts of navigating the ocean on account of the ease and safety with
which experiments can be made, but to experiment in the air one must
go into the air, and if the theory does not work in practice, down he
comes, perhaps a corpse, on to the hard earth, whilst a capsize in the
ocean in experimenting is nothing. Now I had made up my mind to go up
in this machine, if possible, but I had also made up my mind that I
would go over the water and not over the land, so that if anything did
not work, I should only take a cold bath and nothing more; besides,
by my theory, I need not go high, and could keep a few feet above the
surface of the sea, and if disaster occurred I could swim ashore. I put
my goat daily upon his treadmill and worked my machine theoretically
till I was satisfied with it. I then made myself a nice life preserver
of fish bladders, and put into the car some few provisions and water.
The next task was to launch myself properly into space without any
disaster. To enable me to do this I went to the mouth of Stillwater
Cove and erected a sort of wharf from the shore out into the water
at nearly high tide, about four feet wide, upon which I could rest
my car with the fan wheels hanging over each side and the propeller
clear underneath, the wharf not being planked, but consisting of a few
uprights and cross pieces only.
I carried here all my utensils for making gas and had everything
prepared for a start. I needed in the first place a day with but little
wind, but what there was to be from the southward so as to blow me
off into Perseverance Bay when I should start. After some waiting,
such a day came and I hastened to take advantage of it. In the first
place I took the canoe in tow of the yacht, and anchored it nearly a
mile from shore in the direction that the wind blew, so as to be able,
perhaps, to reach it if I should find myself too far from land in case
of disaster. I then returned and went to work filling my balloon with
gas. This I did on shore, till I had sufficient in the balloon to make
it steady, when I conveyed it over the car upon the wharf, where I
attached it by its numerous cords, and then connected it again with the
orifice of the pipe that was supplying the gas. I had before in a rude
balance ascertained my own weight in sand-bags, and these I had in the
car to represent myself. I put the goat on the treadmill, all harnessed
in, ready to start at a moment's notice, and in fact I did start him
before the balloon was very buoyant, to see if everything was working
right. I walked about the car, lifting it once in a while to see how
buoyant it was. I should have said that the propeller had been changed
from my first idea, as had the paddles. The former was so arranged as
to work vertically, and motion from it ought to force me into the air,
whilst the latter were arranged in the form of two lateral propellers,
I having bethought myself in season that a revolving wheel in the air
would not force me in any direction, whilst a propeller would. The time
finally came when the car and all its appurtenances weighed only a
few ounces in my hand, in fact nearly ready to take flight of itself.
I then cut off the gas and placed myself in the car and commenced
quietly emptying over the side the sand bags that represented my own
weight; and these being exhausted, I boldly threw over at once two bags
weighing nearly or fully twenty-five pounds each, as I was determined
to start clear and rapidly from my resting place, knowing that I
could easily descend by letting out a very little gas. The effect was
instantaneous, and I arose rapidly and commenced floating slowly out
over Perseverance Bay; but I had no desire to go high, and I opened
the throttle valve at the very moment the balloon started, and at the
height of about one hundred feet it was already commencing to slowly
descend, which I allowed it to do, till it was about twenty-five feet
above the water, when I threw out of gear the lateral propellers and
started the goat; the effect was instantaneous in checking the descent,
and the vertical propeller was forcing me upward with magnificent
speed, in fact I found myself quite too high for comfort before I
bethought myself of stopping the goat, which being done I commenced
again to descend, but quite leisurely, being very evenly balanced in
the air. When I came near the water, I set the vertical propeller again
to work and arose heavenward. All this time I was drifting slowly out
seaward over Perseverance Bay, and I thought it time to try my lateral
propellers; so, setting the gear at once by a handset, I put on all
goat power, being at a distance of some fifty feet above the water, as
near as I could judge. Everything worked admirably, and I saw that I
was rapidly increasing my speed seaward. When I descended too near the
ocean I put on the vertical propeller, but I noticed that the lateral
ones sustained me as well as forced me forward. I soon ran past the
place where the "Fairy" was anchored, and I had now to try my last
experiment. By this time I had become at ease in my car, and began to
feel as safe and secure as in the submarine boat. By stopping one of
the lateral propellers I soon had my balloon turned round and facing
the wind, which was at this elevation and out to sea, rather more
than I had reckoned upon. As the point of the cigar-shaped balloon
came to the wind, I put on the vertical propeller and ascended higher
than I had ever yet been, and then, depressing the forward screen and
elevating the rear one, I made a dive in a slanting direction towards
the ocean; and here I had like to have been shipwrecked, for my car
commenced descending with such rapidity that I had scarcely time to
reverse the action before I was in the ocean, but happily, by starting
the vertical propeller I saved myself, and found the car going just as
rapidly upwards.
I had solved the problem. _I was tacking to windward in the air._ I
was utilizing the action that causes a boomerang to take the seemingly
erratic course it does through space. Having tacked a few times I
stopped in mid-air, and, as I had evidently lost some little gas,
threw over a small amount of sand, till I sailed again almost in
equilibrio. I then put on all the speed of my lateral propellers, and
found that I could stem the wind, and that I was approaching the shore.
By the action of either one propeller or the other I could change the
direction of the car at will, and was enabled to hover over the very
wharf whence I started, and to land upon it with a shock no greater
than sitting down upon a hard chair.
I then let the gas escape from the balloon, and released my little
goat, who had been my mainstay through all this perilous adventure. I
had made a more successful ascension than had ever before been made in
the world, and if I could replace my goat-power by some other--such as
a caloric engine, or some method of compressed air--I should have a
vehicle worthy of the nineteenth century. Of course it would not do to
have an engine, however small, fed with coal, or I should inevitably
have an explosion. At the present I felt that the goat power must do
me; and, even if he should fail, my weight was also so nearly that
of a few ounces or pounds that I could not fall hard, or with much
velocity, even if he should from some reason refuse to work, or some
of my machinery give way. The only thing that I feared was the tacking
business; this I considered dangerous, with the crude appliances that
I had, and I made up my mind not to be tipped out into the ocean, and
therefore took them off the car, making up my mind that I would not
make an ascension when there was more wind than I could head against
with the lateral propellors, and, furthermore, now I had tested the
machine, there was no need of my going off the island, over the sea,
but I was free to sail all over the land, and if a storm of wind should
arise, in which my crude car would be unmanageable, I had only to
descend, and walk home.
I may as well say here, that I often afterwards enjoyed myself in
the air, floating over my own island, and that I never met with the
slightest accident, of any kind; but I could not utilize my discovery
enough to dare to attempt an ocean voyage with it. It was a pretty
plaything, and would make my fortune if amongst civilized people; but I
have no objection to both my submarine boat and balloon becoming public
property, as far as I am concerned, I having enough actual wealth,
in solid metal, to enable me to enjoy everything in this life worth
enjoying.
If this manuscript ever comes to the hands of any one, they can go
ahead and manufacture without infringing upon my patent-rights; but
should they make an immense fortune, as they are sure to do, why then
they can remember the inventor, if they choose; if God wills it that I
should ever be where any of my fellow-men can help me, or I them. By my
series of experiments in ballooning I had exhausted all my inventions
for escape, and I still returned to one of two things: To let the
world know of my distress by sending the news by balloons, or else
escape myself, in my steam yacht, or life raft, and run the risk of
finding the island occupied upon my return, and myself debarred from my
treasures and ownership. Between these two I felt that it was time for
me to choose, definitely and speedily.
CHAPTER XXX.
The manuscript sent forth.
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND, SOUTH PACIFIC,
January, 1877.
I have decided. I am no longer in doubt. My mind is fully made up as
to the course I must take, and that it is of no use for me to remain
upon this island fretting my life away. I must escape, I must have
companionship, and I must choose. Each method presented to my mind has
its advantages, and I have long been in doubt which to adopt: but the
struggle is ended; I have fully made up my mind, and shall not swerve
from it. If I should try to escape I have the following methods open to
me: First, the submarine boat. If I should decide to use that method,
I should, in the first place, have to build a much larger one, with
room for provisions and bed; and, being larger, it would be propelled
much slower by goat power, for I could not utilize a steam-engine on
account of the oxygen it would eat up, and the necessary space that
would be needed for fuel. Now to build another, and larger boat, would
take time and patience, and would be practically useless when built;
so I dismissed this from my mind. The one I now had was too small
to carry provisions for myself and goats, enough to last any great
length of time; and the whole fabric was too crude to trust myself
in for a voyage of any length, supposing, even, that I could carry in
it sufficient food to sustain life. There was one principle, however,
in the submarine boat that I hated to give up, and that was the
perfect safety from storms on the surface: these I could escape at all
times,--and, again, I should never lose in the night-time what I made
in the day. There would be no drifting back, before the wind, whilst
I was asleep, but by descending from the surface at night I should
rest peacefully till morning, subject only to the slow drift of any
ocean current that I might encounter. In stormy weather also I could
always keep on my way in perfect calm, beneath the surface, without
resistance of any kind except the friction of the water. These points
were strongly in my favor; but I could not see any way to utilize them.
One great impediment would be the want of air. If I should have to
remain below the surface for any length of time beyond a few hours, I
should have to keep to work preparing and introducing new air. Then, if
my steering apparatus should get out of order, it would be difficult
to repair it, and if my goats should die, or become sick, I should
be utterly without any means of locomotion, and liable to be left
drifting about in mid-ocean till death ended my troubles. No; after
long and anxious consultation with myself, I was forced to give up all
idea of using my submarine boat, and, having so decided, put it wholly
and completely out of my mind, and did not allow myself to think of
it again in connection with my escape. This gave my mind relief to
concentrate itself upon the second means of escape, namely, the steam
yacht.
Here I was again puzzled. There was a great deal in its favor. I
should, of course, have to sleep, and during my sleep I should go to
leeward, before the wind, without reckoning of where I should bring
up. I felt that I could stop this drifting, to a degree, by making a
sort of bag of canvas, to be submerged in the ocean to a certain depth
to which the yacht could be anchored, so to speak, during the night.
She would, of course, still drift, but not one-quarter as much as she
would without it. Such an anchor was often used successfully, as I well
knew, in larger vessels, in gales of wind, to keep them head to sea,
and to prevent them drifting so rapidly to leeward before the blast as
they would without it. If I should risk this drifting I might also be
exposed to all kinds of weather and gales of wind to which my little
boat was hardly equal. I felt confident that she would not be safe in
a heavy seaway, and, if the machinery should break down, I should be
reduced to sails alone, which I could only handle in the daytime, and
which, in any sudden squall, might cause my being capsized for want
of assistance in taking them in. No; I knew the risk was too great.
I might never see land for months, if at all, if my machinery should
give out so as to compel me to use sails, which would often become
unmanageable by myself alone. No, I must give this idea up; and I did
so.
I next turned my thoughts to a catamaran boat, or life raft,--something
upon hollow cylinders, that could not capsize, and upon which I should
feel sure of being safe, as far as any fear I might have of the ocean.
This seemed more feasible than anything yet,--slow, to be sure, but
more safe than any of the foregoing. I had here the danger of being
washed off such a raft, the discomforts of being forced to go without
fire during any gale of wind, and to be utterly unable to advance,
with any great speed, towards my place of destination, unless the
wind should be, by chance, favorable. By this third method I should,
in reality, be exposed upon an open raft to the winds of heaven, for
how long a time God only knew. That I should suffer infinitely I felt
certain. I was too old not to see plainly just what I should have to go
through with to put to sea in such a vessel. I knew that it had been
done, and that just such rafts had crossed the Atlantic after many
weary days of passage, and others had started that were called life
rafts,--and believed so to be both by practical and scientific men, who
had examined them before their departure,--which had never been heard
of again. No, I would not trust myself to the mercies of the sea in
this manner, and exchange my pleasant island for its dangers.
My last chance of escape was by my flying-machine, and the many things
in its favor tempted me greatly, and at one time I thought that they
had overcome in my mind the danger. I could easily construct one of
these machines, that would take into the air both myself, my two
goats, provisions, spare sulphuric acid and steel filings to make
new gas, and if my machinery would work I could escape in safety, I
felt convinced. I could, as I have said, make new gas, even when on
my voyage; and if I should use up all my sand-bags, and needed more
ballast, I had only to let down a bucket into the ocean, attached to a
long line, and pull up as much water as I might need to overcome the
buoyancy of any new gas I might make. I might, also, if a favorable
wind should commence, fly like a bird towards the continent of South
America. But, on the other hand, if a gale should arise, I might, if
one of my fragile propellers should become broken, be hurled before
the blast till I floated above the vast ocean far beyond the reach
of mortal aid. If I dared trust my machinery this would be the way I
should make my attempt; but I did not feel that I had the right to risk
my life in this manner, or by any of the above methods, till I had
exhausted all means of making the outside world come to me. Therefore,
after due and serious consideration, I made up my mind firmly not to
try to escape by any of the above plans, or by any means, till I had
tried the other alternative.
This decision having once been firmly made, I felt that more than half
my task was already done; for it was this shilly-shallying that was
undoing me. Anything was better than to waste my life in this useless
wavering. What good to me was all my wealth unless I could utilize it?
and to do so I must run some risks, and the quicker I undertook them
the quicker I should be put out of my pain and misery if my plans were
to be successful, and the more years I should have to enjoy my princely
revenues. I could not better affairs by any act of mine. It was all in
the hands of God, and I might as well now, as at any time, give myself
up to what He might order for the best.
Having thus made up my mind to let my position be known to the outside
world, and to ask for assistance and aid, I had next to settle upon the
best plan. If I should send up, daily, one or more small balloons, with
a piece of parchment attached, giving the latitude and longitude of the
island and asking for rescue, I ran several risks. In the first place,
I was well aware that in these days, on board steamers, with passengers
especially, anything and everything was thought of to pass away an
idle hour, and that albatrosses, when caught, were fitted out often
with letters and legends tied to their feet; that, in sport, bottles
were often thrown overboard containing fables and yarns of shipwreck
and disaster, and I was very much afraid that, if one of my balloons
should be picked up, it would be taken as a hoax, as the first thing
would be to examine the chart, and no island would be found to exist
where I now write these lines. Besides, if anybody should pick up one
of my balloons, which at sea was improbable, it would, I fear, be taken
little account of. For, although I might send up hundreds, the chance
of their falling into the water so as to be seen by any vessel, in the
daytime, near enough to be distinguished from a nautilus, was extremely
and infinitesimally small. No, I had little hope in this direction.
On the other hand, should they reach land, the chart would show that
there was no known land in the direction specified, and the whole thing
would be taken as a hoax from the next neighboring town, and I felt
sure no attention would be paid to it. And if any of them landed on the
coast of South America, as was possible, and even probable, the English
language, in which they would be written, would be so much Greek to
the natives. On the other hand, should one of them be picked up by a
vessel, and search made for the island, what guarantee had I that I
would be allowed to preserve my treasure?
No! I felt that small balloons would be of little use to me, and, in
fact, might do more harm than good. What should I do to prove that I
was in earnest; that there was such an island, and that I was upon
it, in person; and that I needed help and assistance, which I could
repay? Why, I felt convinced, by writing a history of all my sorrows,
troubles, and tribulations, that would bear upon its face the impress
of truth, would carry conviction to any mind that would read it, and
would prove to the intellect of any one that it was not _fiction_, but
truth, in all its majesty, never to be mistaken for the former.
This, I felt, was the only way to reach out towards a rescue, and it
is for this purpose that all that has been herein set down has been
penned. Having made my mind up firmly to this, I have written all the
above, to be launched into space. Let me beg that my story may be
believed, and that I may be rescued; let me ask of you, who find this,
by God's grace, to weigh each word and sentence, and feel that you are
reading no romance. I shall attach this to a balloon of size, so as to
float long in the air, and to attract attention, if ever observed by
any one, both by the strangeness of its make and these parchment sheets
upon which I have written.
And now let me proclaim to the world the following,--for if this
manuscript ever does come into the hands of anyone who intends to seek
me out, let all that is contained therein be perfectly understood:--
PROCLAMATION.
_In the name of God, Amen._--Be it known to all men, that I, William
Anderson, a citizen of the United States of America, do here solemnly
declare that I am the discoverer, and at this present the occupant, of
an island in the South Pacific Ocean, which I have named Perseverance
Island, and that said island lies in the latitude of 42° 21' S., and
longitude 119° 11' 15'' W. of Greenwich. That I was cast on shore, and
miraculously saved by the goodness of God, on Nov. 10, 1865, and that
I claim as my own, in the name of the United States, all this hitherto
unknown island as my property, belonging to me and my heirs forever;
and, inasmuch as I have discovered upon and about this island immense
treasures, as recited in a narrative hereto annexed, I ask, demand, and
pray for the protection of the United States, and hope that it will
be deemed both fitting and proper to dispatch a man-of-war to protect
me, for which assistance I am fully ready and capable of reimbursing
the government for any outlay; and further, let it be well understood
that I, the aforesaid William Anderson, will resist to the death any
encroachment upon my property, by whomsoever made; and that for the
protection of myself, my treasure, and my island, it is hereby plainly
stated, all manner of instruments of defence have been made by me, the
said William Anderson, and that the harbors of the island are strewed
with torpedoes, and that it is highly dangerous to attempt to land
upon any part of the island without intercourse with, and consent of,
myself. And that there may be no mistake, and that I may know that if
any that approach have seen this proclamation, and acknowledge my just
claims and pity my long years of solitude and suffering, I issue the
following set of signals, to be by them used in token of amity and that
they come to me as friends, otherwise they will be treated as enemies;
and although my wealth is great, as herein related, it is believed that
pity for my sufferings will touch the heart of any in the civilized
world, and I do look most for succor and comfort from the ships of war
of the United States of America.
The signals to be made by any vessel approaching the island, which
would be in safety, and rules for anchorage, etc., are the following,
and must be strictly observed:--
If in the daytime, the vessel, if a steamer, will stand in to the mouth
of Mirror Bay till the two iron discs on the mainland are in line, or
nearly so, when she will anchor, in six fathoms of water, and then
fire three guns, two from the starboard side, one from the port side,
and then run up the colors of her nation to the mizzen peak. A sailing
vessel will follow these orders except that greater license will be
granted her in coming to in a line with the two discs.
If a vessel makes the island in the night-time, she will heave to, or
stand off and on, and not attempt to approach, by boat or otherwise,
at her peril, till the morning; keeping up, during the night, a red
signal lantern at the fore, and firing one gun; when, in the morning,
she can stand in under the rule preceding this, for daytime. Having
anchored and signalled, the same will be answered by the occupant of
the island by two guns from South Cape, when a boat can then come on
shore, containing three persons, one officer and two seamen, who, if
unarmed, will be allowed to land, and, if honest and true men, as is
to be hoped, remuneration for all their trouble in seeking me out
will be freely granted. But let it be distinctly understood that all
my treasures, of both gold, silver, and pearls, are no longer hidden
in the places described in my narrative, but have been removed, and
carefully re-hidden, and that an attempt to take my life and possess
one's self of my treasures will be futile, for their burying-place will
never be known; and I shall resist all aggression with all my might and
strength, and, if need be, give up my life in defending my treasure,
that I have watched over for so many years.
In my lonely, solitude, with none but the hand of the ever-present
Providence spread over to protect me, I sign the above proclamation as
my will and desire.
WILLIAM ANDERSON.
PERSEVERANCE ISLAND, South Pacific, Jan. 10, 1877.
And now I have done. I am about to cast this manuscript to the winds
of heaven, to be conveyed hence to where God shall think best. Let me
beg that the subject-matter of the "Good Luck" may be published in the
London newspapers, when attention may be brought to the case, and the
old society may send for me, and believe in me much quicker than the
outside world will.
I know but little French, but, to still further protect this manuscript
I add these few lines, from what remains to me in memory, of the
sailor's French that I once picked up, in Havre, in years gone by, so
that this may not be thrown carelessly away if it falls into the hands
of any who can speak that lingo.
AVIS.
Ne jetez pas cette papier; c'est écrit en Anglais et est DE GRAND
IMPORTANCE. Faites rendre en Français, et vous trouverai une vraie
historie d'or et de l'argent trouvé par moi sur une isle dans l'océan
Pacific.
* * * * *
I have no more to add. I have finished my story with regret. I am tying
this manuscript together, and inflating the balloon that is to carry it
where God wills.
I will believe in His justice, and await in patience His reply to my
many prayers.
WILLIAM ANDERSON.
[Illustration: THE MANUSCRIPT COMMITTED TO THE WINDS.--PAGE 372.]
L'ENVOI.
It may be interesting to call to the attention of those whose eyes it
may have escaped, the following that appeared in the _New York Herald_
of June 16, 1880:--
"_In addition to our account of the wonderful story and succor of
William Anderson, from his Pacific Island, with all his treasures,
and his arrival at this port in the U. S. S. S. Tallapoosa, published
in our last evening's edition, we have to state that, at a late hour,
it was ascertained that this remarkable personage, who appears in
excellent good health and spirits, will at once sail by one of the
Cunarders for London to confer with his associates there, who were
the originators of the "Good Luck" scheme. He states that, having no
relatives, he shall, without doubt, expend the larger portion of his
immense wealth for charitable purposes, and that it is very probable
he may return to Perseverance Island, with a colony, there to end his
days._"
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's
original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Perseverance Island - Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century" ***
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