CHAPTER SIX.
IN SEARCH OF A SUBMERGED WRECK.
To return to the _Flying Fish_. It was exactly two o'clock p.m. whenLieutenant Mildmay announced that, according to his "dead reckoning,"they were now on or very near the spot indicated on the chart by theprofessor, and that, if there was no objection, he should like to riseto the surface in order to obtain the astronomical observationsnecessary to verify the ship's position. The engines were accordinglystopped, and the water being ejected from the water chambers, thetravellers once more found themselves above water, advantage being takenof the opportunity to throw open the door of the pilot-house and stepout on deck.
The first discovery made by them was that a moderate breeze was blowingfrom the westward, with a corresponding amount of sea and a very longheavy swell, which, however, to their great gratification, affected the_Flying Fish_ only to a very trifling extent. When end-on to the seashe pitched a little, it is true, but when broadside-on she simply roseand fell with the run of the sea, being as completely free from rollingmotion as though she had still been on the stocks.
Their next discovery was that a large steamer was in sight, some sevenmiles distant; and, whilst they stood watching the way in which thecraft plunged along over the heavy swell, pitching "bows under"occasionally, she suddenly altered her course and steered direct towardthem, her crew having apparently only that moment sighted the _FlyingFish_, and being evidently in great perplexity as to what she couldpossibly be.
"Be as quick as you can with your observations, Mildmay, and let us getunder water again," said the baronet. "We shall perhaps be expected toexplain who and what we are if that steamer gets within hail of us, andI am not particularly anxious to do that."
The sights were taken, and, whilst the steamer was yet some five milesdistant, the _Flying Fish_ quietly sank once more beneath the waves;doubtless to the intense astonishment of those who were making suchhaste to get alongside her.
Rapidly, yet steadily, and with a perfectly level deck, the craft sanklower and lower, the light diminishing momentarily, until it at lengthvanished altogether, and the darkness became so intense that it wasimpossible for the occupants of the pilot-house to discern each other;whilst the silence which prevailed around them was first oppressive andthen awe-inspiring in its intensity.
Suddenly a light shuffling sound arose within the pilot-house, and inanother moment the inky depths through which they were descending becamebrilliantly illuminated with a clear white penetrating light, in whichevery detail of the ship's hull fore and aft stood out distinctlyvisible, whilst here and there, above, below, and on either side ofthem, a momentary gleam revealed the presence of some startled andhastily retreating denizen of the deep. The professor had lighted upthe electric lanterns, the especial purpose of which was to illuminatethe sea around the ship, leaving the interior of the pilot-house stillin darkness, in order that its occupants might enjoy, to the fullestextent, the novelty of the scene thus suddenly revealed to them, andalso that, on reaching the bottom, they might the better be able todistinguish external objects.
Lower and lower sank the _Flying Fish_, and at length, after what seemedto the travellers an almost interminable descent, she reached thebottom.
"Now, gentlemen," exclaimed the professor, with some slight evidences ofexcitement in the tones of his voice, "look around you, and see if youcan discover anything unusual in our neighbourhood."
The persons addressed did as they were requested, the professor himselfalso peering eagerly out of each of the pilot-house windows in turn, butwithout result; the electric lamps, though they brilliantly illuminatedthe scene on all sides for fully fifty yards, and rendered objectsdistinguishable for at least three times that distance, revealed nothingbut a plain completely covered with rocks and boulders, some of whichwere of enormous size, and all thickly overgrown with sea-weed.
"What is it you expected to find down here, professor?" asked thecolonel, when it had become perfectly evident that nothing but rocks laywithin their range of vision.
"The hull of a ship," answered the professor. "She foundered on or nearthe spot indicated by me, and cannot be far off; unless, indeed, we areout in our reckoning. Have you worked out your calculations, Mildmay?"
"Not yet," answered the lieutenant, "but I soon will do so if you willoblige us with a little light inside here."
"Ah, true! I had forgotten," murmured the professor apologetically, andhe lighted the lamp which hung suspended above the table in the pilot-house.
The lieutenant sat down and rapidly worked out his observations, withthe resulting discovery that they were exactly two miles north-east ofthe spot they were seeking, having doubtless been swept that much out oftheir proper position by the tide. The _Flying Fish_ was accordinglyraised some fifty feet from the bottom, her engines were once more setin motion, slowly this time, however, and the ship's head laid in theproper direction, the occupants of the pilot-house stationing themselvesat the windows and peering out eagerly ahead on the look-out for theobject of their search.
The engines being set to work dead slow and stopped at intervals whenthe speed became too high, the speed of the _Flying Fish_ was kept downto about twelve knots per hour, at which rate she would occupy tenminutes in traversing the required distance. She had been under weighexactly nine minutes when Mildmay exclaimed:
"Sail ho! That is to say, there is a large object of some kind deadahead. Port _hard_, professor, or we shall be into it."
The professor, who was not absolutely ignorant of nautical phraseology,promptly ported his helm and at the same moment stopped the engines, bywhich manoeuvre the _Flying Fish_ glided close past the object so slowlythat it was easily distinguishable as a huge pinnacle of rock.
They were now on the exact spot indicated by the professor on the chart,but nothing in the slightest degree resembling the hull of a ship was insight. Rocks in the form of pinnacles, huge fantastic boulders, andboldly-jutting reefs appeared all round, as far as the powerful lamps ofthe ship could project their rays, but no ship was to be seen. Theyrose some fifty feet higher, in order to see over the more lofty rocks,some of which intercepted their view, but with no more successfulresult.
"There is no ship here, professor," at last remarked the baronet, afterall hands had carefully inspected the whole of the ground within theirken. "Are you quite sure of the accuracy of your information?"
"My information has reference only to an _approximate_ position; theship is hereabout--within a few miles of this spot--and I consideredthat our best chance of discovering her lay in coming here first, and,if necessary, prosecuting our search with this position as a starting-point."
"Very good. Then, as the object of our quest is manifestly not here, Ipropose that we proceed with our search at once."
By way of reply the professor put the helm hard over, and once more setthe engines slowly in motion, thus causing the ship to travel in acircle about the spot; all hands going, as before, to the windows of thepilot-house on the look-out.
The circle described by the _Flying Fish_ was a very small one--not morethan two hundred feet in diameter--and the inmates of the pilot-housewere therefore able to carefully examine every inch of ground within itscircumference. One complete circuit having been accomplished withoutresult, the helm was very slightly altered, and the ship then went on ina continually widening spiral which must necessarily at length take herto the object of her search, if indeed it actually existed.
That it did so was ultimately demonstrated, the professor himself beingthe first to make its discovery.
The wreck, when first sighted, was distant about one hundred yards ontheir starboard hand, and only just within range of the circle ofelectric light. The ship's head was at once turned in that direction,the engines being at the same time stopped, to permit of a very gradualapproach.
All eyes were of course intently fixed upon the strange object; and theyhad neared it to within about one hundred feet, when Lieutenant Mildmayexclaimed in a low,
awe-struck voice:
"Just as I suspected! It is the _Daedalus_!"
"Yes," replied the professor very quietly; "it is that most unfortunateship. And now, gentlemen, with your permission I will anchor the_Flying Fish_, and pay a visit--unaccompanied--to the wreck."
It was evident, from the extreme gravity of the professor's demeanour,that his proposed visit was prompted by some other motive than that ofmere idle curiosity; his companions therefore simply bowed in token ofacquiescence, and permitted von Schalckenberg to follow undisturbed thebent of his own inclinations.
The _Flying Fish_, meanwhile, had been caused to descend to the bottom,to which she was at once secured by her four grip-anchors; immediatelyafter which the professor, with a somewhat hurried and incoherentapology, left his companions and descended to the diving-room.
Left to themselves, the trio occupying the pilot-house had ample leisureto note the position and surroundings of the ill-fated steamer.
She had settled down upon a flat ledge of level rock, and rested, keeldownwards, in a perfectly upright position, having apparently recoveredherself whilst settling down. She was greatly damaged, both in hull andrigging; the spar-deck and forecastle being swept away, and her maindeck blown up in midships, very possibly through the explosion of herboilers. Her bowsprit and mizzen-mast were gone, as was also her foretopmast; and the mainmast, with topmast and all attached, was leaningaft, and so far over the side that the observers would not have beensurprised to see it fall at any moment. Loose ropes were trailing inall directions; and the tattered remains of sails still hung from someof the yards and stays, swaying occasionally in a slow, weird, ghostlymanner, with the mysterious intermittent under-currents of the sea.
The trio were still discussing the particulars of the sad disaster,which, on a stormy September night, had resulted in the drowning ofnearly five hundred people, and the plunging of the ship herself to thedepths wherein they had so strangely found her, when the figure of theprofessor, clad in his suit of diving armour and dwindled in apparentdimensions by his great distance below them, was seen to emerge from theblack shadow of the _Flying Fish's_ hull and make his way slowly andlaboriously over the rocky bottom toward the wreck. A couple of minutessufficed him to perform the short journey; and; scrambling up the sideby the aid of some of the dangling gear, he entered the poop cabin anddisappeared.
The party in the pilot-house finished their chat; and then sauntereddown into the music saloon, of which they had seen nothing since thenight of their departure from London--actually only two nights before,but they had since then been so satiated with novel sights andexperiences that it really seemed as though at least a month had elapsedsince they last passed the threshold. Here they beguiled the time soeffectually with music, vocal and instrumental, that it was not untilGeorge appeared announcing dinner that it occurred to either of themthat the professor had been out of the ship nearly three hours.
"Where can the man be? Surely some accident must have befallen him!"exclaimed the baronet, starting up in alarm.
"Not necessarily," replied the colonel. "The professor is pretty wellable to take care of himself. It is much more probable that he hasdiscovered some object of exceptional interest on board the wreck, orhas fallen into a scientific reverie as to the actual cause of thedisaster--the cause, I mean, from a _scientist's_ point of view. Soundthe gong, George; water is a good conductor, and he may possibly hear itand be awakened to a consciousness that time flies."
The gong was accordingly struck, and the three companions hastened tothe pilot-house to watch for results. The call proved effectual, for inless than five minutes afterwards the professor made his appearance onthe deck of the wreck, soon afterwards rejoining his friends on boardthe _Flying Fish_ in the vestibule outside the saloons. He carried inhis hand a small compact package, which he deposited carefully on thesideboard, and then, with a much more cheerful mien than he had wornwhen setting out upon his solitary journey, took his accustomed place atthe table, apparently quite prepared to do full justice to the mealwhich was about to be served.
The soup and fish were discussed in silence; a glass of wine was thenimbibed with much apparent enjoyment, and this unlocked the professor'slips.
"I feel it to be due to you, gentlemen--and more especially to _you_,Sir Reginald--to offer some explanation of the motive which influencedme in my proposal that we should come hither," he remarked, setting hiswine-glass down on the table. "I had a threefold object in view. Inthe first place, I felt curious to know whether it would be possible tofind, _at the bottom of the sea_, an object the position of which isonly approximately known. In the second place, I was anxious to securea relic. And in the third place, I was almost equally anxious torecover a most valuable document which I was convinced had gone down inthe unfortunate _Daedalus_. With regard to the first-named object, youhave already witnessed our complete success. I have also beensuccessful in the remaining two."
The speaker paused here; but it was so evident from his manner that hehad not yet said all he had to say upon the subject that his companionscontented themselves with mere simple monosyllabic murmurs of politecongratulation, and then awaited in silence a further communication.
The professor continued silent and evidently plunged deep in a somewhatsombre reverie for several minutes; then he lifted his head and saidsomewhat hesitatingly:
"You will perhaps be surprised to learn that my life has not been leftwholly ungilded by the halo of romance. Five-and-twenty years ago, whenScience had perhaps not obtained so tight a grip upon me as she now has,it was my fate to meet the loveliest woman I have ever beheld. She wasan only daughter, of English parentage; and chance threw us somewhatmore intimately together than is usual with people who become acquaintedcasually and informally. I fell blindly, madly in love with thispeerless creature; and, gentlemen, I have since--and alas, too late!--had reason to believe that, strange as such a circumstance may appear toyou, she did not altogether escape a reciprocal passion. But mystudious habits had brought with them one serious disadvantage--I wasindescribably diffident and shy; so much so that when the time arrivedthat I must either unbosom myself or let her pass away out of my life,perhaps for ever, I found myself without the courage to make thenecessary declaration. We parted without a word of love having passedbetween us. She remained single for five years--to give me anopportunity of declaring myself, as I now know--and then married a manfar more worthy of her than I could ever have proved. Gentlemen, heronly child, a lad of fifteen, went down with the ill-fated _Daedalus_;and the mother is to-day breaking her heart because, by some perversechance, she does not possess a single memento of her lost boy. My visitto the wreck, however, will remove that source of grief; for I shallhave the melancholy satisfaction of transmitting to the dear lady, bythe first safe conveyance which offers itself, the watch and chain andthe signet-ring which he wore when he bade her a final farewell. In themoment that I conquered the last difficulty connected with theconstruction of this ship, and felt assured that she would prove asuccess, I vowed to myself that, by the courtesy of our amiable host, Iwould avail myself of the means she would offer for securing somememento of that poor lad; and I have to-day at once performed my vow andpassed through scenes of such surpassing horror as probably no mortalhas ever witnessed before, and which language has no words to describe.
"The third object of my visit to the wreck is before you in the shape ofyonder package. It is a manuscript book filled with jottings andmemoranda, the result of some thirty years of profound research in themany bypaths of science. It was the property of an officer of the shipwith whom I had corresponded for many years; and, knowing how greatly Icoveted the book, he left it me in his will, probably little thinking,poor fellow! that it was fated to go with him to the bottom of the sea.On being made acquainted with the circumstances of his death, and alsowith his bequest, I surmised at once that the precious volume must havebeen in his immediate possession when the ship foundered. And havingvisited him on board, a
s well as had occasion to notice the place inwhich the book was ordinarily kept, I had very little difficulty inplacing my hand upon it."
"I suppose matters are in a very terrible state on board the wreck?"asked the baronet.
"So bad," was the reply, "that, knowing what I now know, I cannot thinkof any motive powerful enough to induce me to repeat my visit. I hadtwo very strong motives for going on board the ship; and, as eachsuccessive horror presented itself, I thought, surely there can benothing worse than this; and I pressed onward, only to encounter greaterand still greater horrors at every step. But I would not go there againeven to achieve what I have achieved to-day."
"Ah!" said the baronet, "I have a great curiosity to see what the shipherself looks like after such a tremendous catastrophe; but, if thesights to be witnessed on board her be one-tenth part so bad as yourwords would lead one to suppose, I would not go near her for the world."
"Nor I," said the colonel.
"Nor I," added Mildmay.
"You are wise, gentlemen," remarked the professor. "I can quiteunderstand your curiosity; but, were you to gratify it, your pleasurewould be effectually destroyed for the remainder of the voyage."
"That reminds me to ask the question, Where are we going next?" said SirReginald.
The professor shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands, palmsupwards.
"The world is all before you where to choose," he replied. "You haveonly to name a place, and it will be strange indeed if we cannot getthere."
"Well, for my own part, I am of opinion that it will be wise for us todevote this trip as far as possible to the visiting of such spots as itis difficult or impossible to reach by any other means. What say you,gentlemen?"
This from the baronet.
The others expressed their full coincidence in this opinion.
"Very well, then," continued Sir Reginald; "my proposal is that, as thedays are now at their longest, and this is therefore the most favourabletime for such an expedition--and as, moreover, the _Flying Fish's_stores have as yet been barely broached--we make the best of our wayforthwith _to the North Pole_, there to enjoy a little of the choicesport which we may reasonably hope to find among animals that have neveryet seen the face of man."
"A most admirable proposal, and one which we are especially well adaptedto successfully carry out," exclaimed the professor enthusiastically.The colonel and Mildmay also gave their cordial assent to the plan.
"Very well, then; that is settled," remarked von Schalckenberg. "Now,to revert for a moment to the subject of the wreck. You have not beenon board her, as I have; but, even with the comparatively distant viewyou have had of her, I think you must have seen that she is injuredbeyond all possibility of repair; to say nothing of the fact that she islying in a spot from which it would be difficult--quite impossible,indeed, without our assistance--to recover her. Now, it has occurred tome that, all things taken into consideration, it would be a good deed todestroy her. What say you, gentlemen? It would afford us an excellentopportunity for making trial of one of our shells."
"Destroy her, by all means," said the baronet.
"I can see no possible objection," observed the colonel.
"Nor I," remarked Mildmay. "As to assisting in her recovery, I wouldnot stir so much as my little finger to do it; she has already drownedsome five hundred human beings, which is quite enough mischief for oneship."
"Quite so," coincided the professor. "Then we will do the deed afterdinner."
Accordingly, half an hour later, the party rose from the table and madetheir way to the pilot-house, where the professor delivered a littlelecture on the mode of firing the shells. Then, accompanied by thecolonel, who had proffered his assistance, von Schalckenberg proceededto the fore end of the ship to make the requisite arrangements. Itbeing a first experiment, the preparation occupied fully ten minutes--orten times as long as he should allow himself in future, the professorremarked. Then, all being ready, a return was made to the pilothouse;the anchors were withdrawn from the ground, and the _Flying Fish_ wasgot under weigh. The monster circled once or twice round the doomedwreck, seeking the most suitable point of attack, which having beendecided upon, the sharp nose of the submarine ship was pointed straightat the _Daedalus_, and the professor touched a knob. At the sameinstant--so it appeared, so rapid was the discharge--there was ablinding flash of light on board the wreck, a terrific concussion, butno sound, and the wreck _vanished_; that is the only word whichadequately describes the suddenness and completeness of her destruction.The concussion was so violent that it jarred the _Flying Fish_throughout the whole of her vast frame; indeed, but for her tremendousstrength she would in all probability have herself been destroyed. Asit was, no damage or harm whatever was done on board beyond throwing thefour occupants of the pilothouse somewhat violently to the floor, andterrifying the cook and the hitherto sedate George almost out of theirsenses.
But perhaps even they were less frightened than were the captain andcrew of a small Levant trader which happened at the moment to be almostdirectly above the scene of the explosion. All hands felt the jar; thewatch below frantically sprang on deck under the impression that theyhad collided with another vessel; and the skipper, who happened to bestanding near the taffrail, was horrified beyond expression to see animmense cone of water some thirty feet high rise out of the sea justastern of his vessel, to fall next moment with a deafening splash and anaccompanying surge which tossed the little vessel as helplessly aboutfor a moment or two as though she had been the merest cockle-shell. Ittook that skipper nearly half an hour to fully recover his faculties;and when he did so, his first act was to go below and solemnly make anentry in his official log to the effect that, on such and such a date atsuch an hour, in latitude and longitude so and so, the weather at thetime being fine, with a moderate breeze from S.W., the schooner _Pomona_had experienced a terrific shock of earthquake with an accompanyingdisturbance of water which nearly swamped the ship. This entry hesigned in the presence of the mate, secured that officer's signature toit also, and then, reviving his courage with a glass of grog stiffenough to float a marlinespike, he retired to his bunk.
The Log of the Flying Fish: A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure Page 6
