“Not much damage done to her hull yet, sir,” said he, touching his hat, as he thus anticipated the Captain’s inquiry. “She were all awash, though, sir, at high-water this morning!”
“Indeed!” cried Captain Dresser. “Then, that forward bulkhead must have started when the fore compartment got full.”
“No doubt o’ that, sir,” agreed Hellyer. “Why, the tide covered her after-deck at Six Bells; and the cushions of the settees and a lot o’ dunnage were floating about in the saloon below and washing through the ports astern.”
“Her fo’c’s’le, however, keeps high and dry.”
“Aye, now it do, sir,” replied Hellyer. “But, not for long!”
“You’re right, my man,” said the Captain, after having a good squint at the object of their commiseration. “She has been working already on the shingle, and her frame has been a good deal knocked about since last night.”
The coastguardsman gave a shrug to his shoulders.
“I expect a tide or two’ll settle her hash, sir,” he observed, after thus relieving his pent-up feelings. “With the water making a clean sweep through her fore and aft every time it rises, the poor thing can’t last long, sir!”
“Aye,” said the Captain. “She’s bound to go to pieces, now, fast enough.”
“So I’ve reported to the commander, sir, this very morning,” continued Hellyer; “and, he’s sent down word as I’m to keep men stationed along the shore so as to pick up any wreckage that mebbe washed out on her.”