As in most single-screw ships, her crank must have thrown down when connected but a foot or two above her bilge, and when it tore loose it must have struck full power at each and every wild throw of the piston.
My business was not to raise her, however. She was not worth it, having insurance, and being better as a total loss. I was after getting into the treasure room situated just beneath the main deck forward of the boilers.
The room, from the drawings furnished by her builders, was an iron compartment ten by fifteen feet. At one end of it—the forward one—was built the huge safe. This was bolted down, and to the beams.
It was not a new affair, having done duty for years in the African trade, but it had a very effective combination lock of the usual kind, and, as one would have to open the strong-room door before being able to get to the combination of the safe, it was considered perfectly competent to carry any amount of treasure.
Mr. Haswell, of Haswell & Jones, submarine experts, came aboard from the powerful wrecking tug, which lay near us. He was a little man, but quite fat. Red hair and whiskers gave his pale face a peculiar sickly tint, but he was not a sickly man. He was reckoned one of the best deep-water workers in England, and could stand a very high pressure for a long time. Little pale eyes looked shrewdly at me as he presented his card, coming aboard as he did from a boat rowed by six sturdy blacks—"kroo boys," he called them. I met him at the side, and shook hands.
"We're ready to begin whenever you say," he said. "I got the firm's letter, and have only just arrived myself. They told me you had the gear aboard with you."
"Yes, I have plenty of gear, all right," I answered, "and you can commence work to-day if you want to. This place is too cold for me, and I'd just as soon get away from here the next day, if possible."
"It's some hot, all right, but one don't notice it below so much. I suppose those derricks you've got will hold all right—what?" And he gazed at our hoisting gear.
The thermometer was one hundred and six under the after awning, and not a breath of air stirring. The hot, sandy coast shone like a white band, fringing the blue water, and I wondered what kind of weather it was on that white, sandy shore.
We went over the gear together, and then sat sweating and panting for air, while the steward brought us something cool to drink—that is, as cool as could be procured. Then I went with Mr. Haswell aboard the wrecking tug, and was introduced to the working force.