“It was a very natural thought of yours,” said Mr Meldrum, to soothe his sense of defeat. “I would have held to the same but for the carpenter.”
“Ah! he’s a roight good man, sorr,” chimed in Mr McCarthy, “and a cridit to the sarvice that brought him up. Sure, an’ he’s a sailor ivry inch ov him, from the crown of his hid to the sole of his fut!”
The sky was still obscured by clouds and the stormy billows were tossing about, striving to bear down the ship and beat her to pieces; but she bravely held her own, head to sea, and rode out the gale all that day and night, as if she had been at anchor, although drifting steadily the while in a south-easterly direction, the impulse of the waves and the force of the wind on her hull carrying her thither.
It was the same the next day; but, on the third morning, the gale somewhat moderated, although still blowing with considerable force from the northward and westward, and under Mr Meldrum’s advice, which Captain Dinks now eagerly sought on every occasion, sail was got upon the ship and she was allowed to run before the wind, hoping that the vessel might reach smoother latitudes and fine weather, when they would be able to repair damages and continue their voyage.
It was but a poor pretence of making sail, however!
All they could set was a close-reefed mizzentop-sail and a fore staysail, which latter was hoisted on a jury-mast rigged forwards in place of the foremast; while the missing rudder was replaced by an ingenious makeshift, the joint handiwork of Mr Meldrum and the carpenter, composed of lengths of a spare hawser and some of the smaller spars, sawn up, lashed together, and then planked over, so as to offer a yielding surface to the sea, and secured under the stern by guys and tackles leading from the quarter galleries, the steering gear being then attached.
This contrivance was found to work admirably in guiding the ship before the wind, although if they had tried to wear her or put her about by it, there might have been some difficulty and danger in the operation.
Towards the evening of this day, while the crippled Nancy Bell, so ruthlessly shorn of her fair proportions, was going along pretty bravely, nevertheless, at some six knots an hour or more under the little sail she was carrying, with the sea still rough and wintry and the sky all clouded over, the thermometer was noticed to go down again several degrees; and Mr Meldrum, who alone had made the discovery for the wind having been bitterly cold for days past the feeling in the air would not have specially attracted attention—at once warned Captain Dinks that they had run so far southwards that he was certain they were near ice, and consequently it would be best to keep a strict look-out.
“Ice?” exclaimed the captain aghast. “Why, we aren’t much below the latitude of the Cape, I take it!”
“You’ll find you are wrong when we’re able to get an observation,” replied Mr Meldrum. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find that we were far below ‘the Forties,’ with all that drift and leeway we’ve had! However, wherever we are, we’re not far from ice, take my word for it, whether it be a wandering berg out of its latitude or the drift from the Antarctic ice-fields.”