The Wreck of the Nancy Bell; Or, Cast Away on Kerguelen Land

by John C. Hutcheson

Chapter Twenty One.

Getting Ashore.

Fortunately, the jolly-boat had been safely secured abaft the main hatchway, the very point at which the ship parted amidships; and, being lashed to ring-bolts athwart the deck, close to the break of the poop, the little craft remained uninjured in the general rending of timbers and splintering of planks that ensued when the beams gave way under the strain upon them. The poor Nancy Bell, indeed, seemed to fall to pieces in a moment; for, as soon as the keel broke in two and the lower works of the vessel began to separate, the hold opened out like a yawning gulf, dividing the bows and foremost sections from the stern by a wide gap. Through this the sea made a clean breach, washing out the cargo—the waves bearing away such articles as were floatable to leeward, whilst the heavier portion of the freight, after being tossed about and battered out of shape, quickly sank down to the bottom out of sight.

Some of the men had been on the forecastle immediately before this happened; but roused by Mr Meldrum’s cry of warning they had just time to escape the inrush of the sea and scramble aft to where the others were grouped together on the poop, which was now considerably elevated above the level of the water, the stern having been gradually forced up more on the rocks as the fore part sank down, until it was now nearly high and dry. This circumstance enabled all hands to proceed all the more expeditiously with the construction of the raft that had been already commenced, and which they had luckily begun here, instead of on the main-deck that had just been broken up, where they would have lashed it together but for the accidental fact of the mizzen jury-mast forming the base of the raft, and their being unable to drag it forward before the keel of the vessel began to give way. The extra quantity of provisions, too, which had been got out of the hold had also remained on the poop; and thus everything providentially was in their favour.

Certainly, their chances of escape now seemed more hopeful!

No time, however, was to be lost; for, although their haven of refuge, the stern section of the ship, was high up on the reef and almost out of reach of the remorseless waves that had already done such damage, still there was no knowing what another tide would effect if the wind should again get up. It behoved them all therefore to take advantage of the opportunity afforded them and make their preparations for getting ashore before it should be too late. Thus urged, the seamen, working with a will under the supervision of Mr McCarthy and Adams, had completed a substantial raft by eight o’clock, at which hour a spell was cried and all hands piped to breakfast.

Meanwhile, the morning had advanced; and the sky being pretty free from clouds, Mr Meldrum was able to obtain a good view of the land that surrounded the bay in which the Nancy Bell had come to grief.

The ship had, evidently, not merely been carried to leeward of the cape by the strong current before striking, but had also been taken some distance inshore as well; for the reef on which she was lying seemed more than two miles to the eastward of the projecting point which she had so much difficulty in rounding, close in to a range of rock-bound coast similar to that which they had passed to the northward and extending almost due east for from eight to ten miles—as nearly as Mr Meldrum could judge—the line of the shore then trending off to the south-west at an acute angle, as far as the eye could reach. High above this latter stretch of coast rose a series of snow-crowned hills, arranged in terraces the one above another, gradually increasing in height until their peaks culminated in one that towered far beyond all, like a giant amongst pigmies; while, to the right of this mountain, and apparently much nearer, on a spur of the chain projecting into the sea nearly south of the vessel’s position, was one solitary peak, which occasionally emitted thin columns of smoke and which, from the fact of its summit being denuded of snow, most likely marked the site of some volcanic crater in active operation.

Altogether, the prospect was sad and dispiriting in the extreme, for, nothing was to be seen in the immediate foreground but the bare black basaltic cliffs, against whose base the angry billows broke in endless repetition, throwing up clouds of spray and tracing out their indentations with lines of creamy foam; and, beyond the cliffs, were high table-lands and hills all clad in the spectral garb of winter—with never a tree or a single prominent feature to vary the monotony of the landscape!

“We must endeavour to make for that curve in the bay to the north-east, where the shore breaks off and leads southward,” said Mr Meldrum to the first mate, who, having seen the raft completed, had now come to his side for further instructions. “It is only there, as far as I can see, that there is likely to be any sort of harbour where we can land in safety.”