 Introduction of The Sea. Its stirring story of adventure, peril, and heroism. Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Sea. Its stirring story of adventure, peril, and heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper. Introduction. The Sea. One can hardly gaze upon the great ocean without feelings akin to awe and reverence, whether viewed from some promontory where the eye seeks in vain another resting place, or when sailing over the deep, one looks around on the unbounded expanse of waters. The Sea must always give rise to ideas of infinite space and indefinable mystery hardly paralleled by anything of the Earth itself. Beneficient in its calmer aspect, when the silvery moon lights up the ripples and the good ship scuds along before a favoring breeze, terrible in its might when its merciless breakers dash upon some rock-girt coast, carrying the gallant bark to destruction, or when rising mountains high, the spars quiver and snap before the tempest's power. It is always grand, sublime, irresistible. The great highway of commerce and source of boundless supplies it is notwithstanding its terrors infinitely more man's friend than his enemy. In how great a variety of aspects may it not be viewed. The poets have seen in it a type of the infinite and one of the greatest has taken us back to those early days of Earth's history when God said, Let there be firmament amid the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. So he, the world, built on circumfluous waters calm in wide crystalline ocean. Water, said the great Greek lyric poet, is the chief of all. The ocean covers nearly three-fourths of the surface of our globe. Earth is its mere offspring. The continents and islands have been and still are being elaborated from its depths. All in all it has not, however, been treated fairly at the hands of the poets, too many of whom could only see it in its sterner lights. Young speaks of it as merely a dreadful and tumultuous home of dangers at eternal war with man, wide-opening and loud-roaring still for more. Ignoring the blessings and benefits it has bestowed so freely, forgetting that man is daily becoming more and more its master, and that his own country, in particular, has most successfully conquered the seemingly unconquerable. Byron, again, says, Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll. Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. Man marks the earth with ruin. His control stops with the shore. Upon the watery plain, the wrecks are all thy deeds. And though this is but the exaggerated and not strictly accurate language of poetry, we may, with Pollock, fairly address the great sea as strongest of creation's sons. The first impressions produced on most animals, not excluding altogether man, by the aspect of the ocean, are of terror and greater or lesser degree. Livingston tells us that he had intended to bring to England from Africa a friendly native, a man courageous as the lion he had often braved. He had never voyaged upon nor even beheld the sea, and on board the ship, which would have safely borne him to a friendly shore, he became delirious and insane. Though assured of safety and carefully watched, he escaped one day and blindly threw himself headlong into the waves. The sea terrified him, and yet held and drew him, fascinated as under a spell. Then at ebb tide says Michelet, when placid and wary the wave crawls softly on the sand. The horse does not recover his courage. He trembles and frequently refuses to pass the languishing ripple. The dog barks and recoils, and, according to his manner, insults the billows which he fears. We are told by a traveller that the dogs of Kamchatka, though accustomed to the spectacle, are not the less terrified and irritated by it. In numerous troops they howl through the protracted night against the howling waves and endeavor to outvi in fury the ocean of the north. The civilized man's fear is founded, it must be admitted, on a reasonable knowledge of the ocean, so much his friend, and yet so often his foe. Man is not independent of his fellow man in distant countries, nor is it desirable that he should be. No land produces all the necessaries, and the luxuries which have begun to be considered necessaries, sufficient for itself. Transportation by land is often impracticable, or too costly, and the ocean thus becomes the great highway of nations. Vessel after vessel, fleet after fleet arrive safely and speedily, but as there is danger for man lurking everywhere on land, so also is there on the sea. The world's wreck chart for one year must, as we shall see hereafter, be something appalling. That, for the British Empire alone in one year, has often exceeded 1,000 vessels, great and small. Averaging three years, we find that there was an annual loss during that period of 1,095 vessels and 1,952 lives. Nor are the ravages of ocean confined to the engulfment of vessels, from rotten coffin ships to splendid iron clads. The coasts often bear witness of her fury. The history of the sea virtually comprises the history of adventure, conquest and commerce, in all times, and might almost be said to be that of the world itself. We cannot think of it without remembering the great voyagers and sea captains, the brave naval commanders, the pirates, rovers and buccaneers of bygone days. Great sea fights and notable shipwrecks recur to our memory, the progress of naval supremacy, and the means by which millions of people and countless millions of wealth have been transferred from one part of the earth to another. We cannot help thinking too of poor Jack and life before the mast, whether on the finest vessel of the Royal Navy or in the worst form of trading ship. We recall the famous ships themselves and their careers. We remember too the toilers of the sea, the fishermen, whalers, pearl divers and coral gatherers, the noble men of the lighthouse, lifeboat and coast guard services, the horrors of the sea, its storms, hurricanes, whirlpools, waterspouts, impetuous and treacherous currents rise vividly before our mental vision. Then there are the inhabitants of the sea to be considered from the tiniest germ of life to the great Leviathan or even the doubtful sea serpent and even the lowest depths of the ocean with their mountains, valleys, plains and luxurious marine vegetation are full of interest. While at the same time we irresistibly think of the submerged treasure ships of days gone by and the submarine cables of today, such are among the subjects we propose to lay before our readers. The sea as one great topic must comprise descriptions of life on, around and in the ocean, the perils, mysteries, phenomena and poetry of the great deep. The subject is too vast for superfluous detail. It would require as many volumes as a grand encyclopedia to do it justice whilst the formal and chronological history would weary the reader. At all events the present writer proposes to occasionally gossip and digress and to arrange facts and groups not always following the strict sequence of events. The voyage of today may recall that of long ago. The discovery made long ago may be traced by successive leaps as it were to its results in the present epic. We can hardly be wrong in believing that this grand subject has a special interest for the English reader everywhere, for the spirit of enterprise, enthusiasm and daring which has carried our flag to the uttermost parts of the earth and has made the proud words Britannia rules the waves no idle vaunt is shared by a very large proportion of her sons and daughters at home and abroad. Britain's part in the exploration and settlement of the whole world has been so preeminent that there can be no wonder if among the English speaking races everywhere a peculiar fascination attaches to the sea and all concerning it. Boundless thousands of books have been devoted to the land, not a tithe of the number to the ocean, yet the subject is one of almost boundless interest and has a special importance at the present time when so much intelligent attention and humane effort is being put forth to ameliorate the condition of our seafarers. Stirring Story of Adventure, Paral and Heroism Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Sea. It's Stirring Story of Adventure, Paral and Heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Wemper. Men of War. Part 1 If the reader should at any time find himself a visitor to the first naval port of Great Britain, which he need not be told is Portsmouth, he will find lying placidly in the noble harbor which is large enough to accommodate a whole fleet, a vessel of modern antique appearance and evidently very carefully preserved. Should he happen to be there on October 21, he would find the ship gaily decorated with wreaths of evergreen in flags, her appearance attracting to her side an unusual number of visitors and small boats from the shore. Nor will he be surprised at this when he learns that it is none other than the famous victory that carried Nelson's flag on the sad but glorious day of Trafalgar and went bravely through so many a storm of war and weather. Very little of the offshattered hulk of the original vessel remains, it is true. She has been so often renewed and patched and painted, yet the lines and form of the old three-decker remain to show us what the flagship of Hood and Jervis and Nelson was in general appearance. She towers grandly out of the water, making the few sailors and loiterers on deck look like marionettes, mere miniature men, and as our wary approaches the entrance port we admire the really graceful lines of the planks diminishing in perspective. The triple battery of formidable guns peeping from under the stout old ports out of them, the enormous cables and spare anchors, and the immensely thick masts heavy shrouds and rigging which she had in old times must have given an impression of solidity in this good old heart of oak which is wanting even in the strongest built iron vessel. Many a brave tar has lost his life on her, but yet she is no coffinship. On board one notes the scrupulous order, the absolute perfection of cleanliness the large guns and carriages alternating with the mess tables of the crew and we should not think much of the man who could stand emotionless and unmoved over the spots still pointed out on the upper deck and cockpit below where Nelson fell and Nelson died on that memorable 21st off Trafalgar Bay. He had embarked only five weeks before from the present resting place of his brave old ship when enthusiastic crowds had pressed forward to bless and take one last look at England's preserver. I had their hurrahs before, said the poor shattered hero. Now I have their hearts, and when three months later his body was brought home the sailors divided the leaden coffin into fragments as relics of St. Nelson as his gunner had termed him. The victory was one of the largest ships of war of her day and generation. She was rated for one hundred guns but really carried one hundred two and was classed first rate with such ships as the Royal Sovereign and Britannia both of a hundred carrying only two in excess of the brave old Temeraire made still more famous by Turner's great picture and the Dreadnaught which but a few years back was such a familiar feature of the reach of the Thames in front of Greenwich. She was of two thousand one hundred sixty four tons burden and having been launched in seventeen sixty five is now a good one hundred twelve years of age. Her compliment was eight hundred forty one men. From the first she deserved her name and seemed destined to be associated with little else than success and triumph. Nelson frequently complains in his journals of the unsee worthiness of many of his vessels but this his last flagship was a veritable heart of oak and endured all the tests that the warfare of the elements or of man could bring against her. The good ship of which we have spoken more particularly is now enjoying a well earned repose after passing nearly unscathed through the very thick battles inscribed on the most brilliant page of our national history. Her part was in reality a very prominent one and a glance at a few of the engagements at which she was present may serve to show us what she and other ships like her were made of and what they were able to affect in naval warfare. The victory had been built nearly thirty years when in seventeen ninety three she first came prominently to the front at the occupation and subsequent siege of Toulon as the flagship of Lord Hood then in command of a large fleet destined for the Mediterranean. France was at that moment in a very revolutionary condition but in Toulon there was a strong feeling of loyalty for the Bourbons and monarchical institutions. In the harbor a large French fleet was assembled, some seventeen vessels of the line besides many other smaller craft. While several large ships of war were refitting and building the whole under the command of the Comte Troyeuf, an ardent royalist. On the appearance of the British fleet in the offing two commissioners came out to the flagship the victory to treat for the conditional surrender of the port and shipping. The government had not miscalculated the disaffection existing and the negotiations being completely successful, seventeen hundred of our soldiers, sailors and marines were landed and shortly afterwards when a Spanish fleet appeared an English governor and a Spanish commandant were appointed while Louis the 17th was proclaimed king. But it is needless to say that the French Republic strongly objected to all this and soon assembled a force numbering forty five thousand men for the recapture of Toulon. The English and their royalist allies numbered under thirteen thousand and it became evident that the city must be evacuated although not until it should be half destroyed. The important service of destroying the ships and magazines had been mainly entrusted to Captain Sir Sidney Smith who performed his difficult task with wonderful precision in order and without the loss of one man. Shots and shells were plunged into the very arsenal and trains were laid up to the magazines and storehouses. A fire ship was towed into the basin and in a few hours gave out flames and shot accompanied by terrible explosions. The Spanish admiral had undertaken the destruction of the shipping in the basin and to scuttle two powder vessels but his men in their flurry managed to ignite one of them in place of sinking it and the explosion which occurred can be better imagined than described. The explosion shook the Onion gunboat to pieces killing the commander and three of the crew and a second boat was blown into the air but her crew were miraculously saved. Having completed the destruction of the arsenal Sir Sidney proceeded towards the basin in front of the town across which a boom had been laid where he and his men were received with such volleys of musketry that they turned their attention in another direction. On the inner road were lying two large seventy-four gun ships the Eros and Themostical filled with French prisoners. Although the latter were greatly superior to the attacking force they were so terrified that they agreed to be removed and landed in a place of safety after which the ships were destroyed by fire. Having done all that man could do they were preparing to return when the second powder vessel which had only been scuttled by the Spaniards exploded. It was wonderful to relate although the little swallow Sir Sidney's tender and three boats were in the midst of the falling timbers and nearly swamped by the waves produced they escaped in safety. Nowadays torpedoes would settle the business of blowing up vessels of the kind in a much safer and sureer manner. The evacuation was affected without loss nearly 15,000 Toulonnes refugees, men, women and children being taken on board for removal to England. 15 French ships of war were taken off as prizes while the magazines, storehouses and shipping were destroyed by fire. The total number of vessels taken or burned by the British was 18 at the line, 9 frigates and 11 corvettes and would have been much greater but for the blundering or treachery of the Spaniards and the pusillanimous flight of the Neapolitan's. Thus the victory was the silent witness of an almost bloodless success so far as our forces were concerned in spite of the noise and smoke and flame by which it was accompanied. A little later she was engaged in the siege of Bastia Corsica which was taken by naval force numbering about one fourth of their opponents and again at Calvi where Nelson lost an eye and helped to gain the day. In the spring of 1795 she was again in the Mediterranean and for once was engaged in what had been described as a miserable action although the action or want thereof was all on the part of a vice admiral who, as Nelson said, took things too coolly. 23 British line of battleships whilst engaging off the Yere Ziles only 17 French with the certainty of triumphant results if not indeed of the complete annihilation of the enemy were signaled by Admiral Hotham to discontinue the fight. The disgust of the commanders in general and Nelson in particular can be well understood. The only prize taken, the Alcide, blew up with the loss of half her crew as if in very disgust at having surrendered and we can well believe that even the inanimate timbers of the victory and her consorts groaned as they were drawn off from the scene of action. The fight off the Yere Ziles must be inscribed in black but happily next to be recorded might be well written with letters of gold in the annals of our country although its glory was soon afterwards partially eclipsed by others still greater. When Sir John Jervis hoisted his flag on board the victory it marked an epic not merely in our career of conquest but also in the history of the navy as a navy. Jervis, though then over 60 years of age, was hail and hearty and if sometimes stern and severe as a disciplinarian should long be remembered as one who honestly and constantly strove to raise the character of the service to its highest condition of efficiency and he was brave as a lion. As the Spanish fleet loomed through the morning fog off Cape St. Vincent it was found that Cordova's force consisted of 29 large men of war exclusive of a dozen 34-gun frigates, 70 transports, and other vessels. Jervis was walking the quarter-deck as the successive reports were brought to him. There are 18 sails of the lion, Sir John. Very well, Sir. There are 20 sails, Sir John. Very well, Sir. There are 27 sails of the lion, Sir John. Nearly double our own. Enough, Sir. No more of that, Sir. If there are 50, I'll go through them. That's right, Sir John, said hallowell his flag captain and a jolly good licking will give them. The grand fleet of Spain included six ships of 112 guns each and the flagship Santissima Trinidada, a four-decker carrying 130. There were besides 22 vessels of 80 and 74 guns. To this large force, Jervis could only oppose 15 vessels of the lion only two of which carried 100 guns, three of 98 guns, one of 90 and the remainder with one exception, 74 each. Owing to gross mismanagement on the part of the Spaniards, their vessels were scattered about in all directions and six of them were separated wholly from the main body. Neither could they rejoin it. The English vessels advanced in two lines, compactly and steadily and as they neared the Spaniards were signaled from the victory to tack and succession. Nelson, on the captain, was in the rear of the line and he perceived that the Spaniards were burying up before the wind either with the intention of trying to join their separated ships or perhaps to avoid an engagement altogether. By disobeying the Admiral's signal, he managed to run clear a thwart the boughs of the Spanish ships and was soon engaged with the great Santissima Trinidada, four other of the larger vessels and two smaller ones. Trowbridge and the Culloden immediately came to the support and for nearly an hour the unequal contest continued till the Blenheim passed between them and the enemy and gave them a little respite, pouring in her fire upon the Spaniards. One of the Spanish 74s struck and Nelson thought that the Salvador of 112 guns struck also. Cullingwood wrote Nelson, maintaining the parade of taking possession of beaten enemies most gallantly pushed up with every sail set to save his old friend and messmate, who was to appearance in a critical situation. For the captain was being peppered by five vessels of the enemy's fleet and shortly afterwards was rendered absolutely incapable, not a sail shroud or rope left with a top mast and steering wheel shot away. As Dr. Bennett sings, ringed round by five three-deckers, she had fought through all the fight and now, a log upon the waves, she lay a glorious sight, all crippled but still full of fight, for still her broadsides roared, still death and wounds, fear and defeat, into the dawn she poured. Two of Nelson's antagonists were now nearly Ordicomba, one of them the San Nicolas in trying to escape from Cullingwood's fire, having got foul of the San Josef. Nelson resolved in an instant to board and capture both an unparalleled feat which, however, was accomplished, although, to get at the San Josef it seemed beyond a hope. Out then our Admiral spoke and well his words are blood could stir, in borders to the 74 will make a bridge of her. The bridge was soon taken but a steady fire of musketry was poured upon them from the San Josef. Nelson directed his people to fire into their stern and sending for more borders led the way up the main chains exclaiming, Westminster Abbey or victory. In a few moments the officers and crews surrendered and on the quarter-deck of a Spanish first-rate he received the swords of the vanquished which he handed to William Fereny, one of his bargemen, with the greatest sang-fois and a perfect sheaf under his arms. The victory came up at that moment and saluted the conquerors with hearty cheers. It will be hardly necessary here to point out the altered circumstances of naval warfare at the present day. A wooden vessel of the old type with large and numerous portholes and affording other opportunities for entering or climbing the sides is a very different affair to the modern smooth-walled iron vessel on which a fly would hardly get a foothold with few openings or weak points and where the grappling iron would be useless. Apart from this with heavy guns carrying with great accuracy and the facilities afforded by steam we shall seldom hear in the future of a fight at close quarters skillful maneuvering impossible with a sailing vessel will doubtless be more in vogue. Meantime the victory had not been idle. In conjunction with two of the fleet succeeded in silencing the Salvador del Mundi a first raid of 112 guns. When, after the fight, Nelson went on board the victory Sir John Jervis took him to his arms and insisted that he should keep the sword taken from the Spanish rear admiral. When it was hinted during some private conversation that Nelson's move was unauthorized Jervis had to admit the fact but promised to forgive any such breach of orders accompanied with the same measure of success. The battle had now lasted from noon and at 5 p.m. four Spanish line of battle vessels had lowered their colors. Even the great Santissima Trenidad might have become a prize but for the return of the vessels which had been cut off from the fleet in the morning and which alone saved her. Her colors had been shot away and she had hoisted English colors and token of submission. When the other ships came up and Cordova reconsidered his step Jervis did not think that his fleet was quite equal to a fresh conflict and the Spaniards showed no desire to renew the fight. They had lost on the four prizes alone 261 killed and 342 wounded and in all probably nearly doubled the above. The British loss was 73 killed and 227 wounded. Of Trafalgar and of Nelson both day and man so intimately associated with our good ship what can yet be said or sung that has gone unsaid unsung. How, when he left Portsmouth the crowds pressed forward to obtain one last look at their hero England's greatest hero and knelt down before him and blessed him as he passed that beautiful prayer and died it in his cabin made the great God whom I worship grant to my country and for the benefit of Europe in general a great and glorious victory and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature of the British fleet or the now historical signal which flew from the mizzen to gallant mast of that noble old ship and which has become one of the grand matos of our tongue our faxes familiar to every reader as household words. The part played directly by the victory herself in the battle of Trafalgar was second to none from the very first she received a raking fire from all sides which must have been indeed severe when we find the words exhorted from Nelson this is too warm work to last long addressed to Captain Hardy at that moment 50 of his men were lying dead or wounded while the victory's mizzen mast and wheel were shot away and her sails hanging in ribbons to the terrible cannon aiding of the enemy Nelson had not yet returned a shot he had determined to be in the very thick of the fight and was reserving his fire now it was that Captain Hardy represented to Nelson the impractability of passing through the enemy's line without running on board one of their ships he was coolly told to take his choice the victory was accordingly turned on board the Redutabd the commander of which Captain Lucca in a resolute endeavor to block the passage himself ran his bow sprit into the figure head of the Mushantar and the two vessels became locked together not many minutes later Captain Harvey of the Temeraire seeing the position of the victory with her two assailants fell on board the Redutabd on the other side so that these four ships formed as compact a tear as though moored together the victory fired her middle and lower deck guns into the Redutabd which returned the fire from her main deck employing also musketry and brass pieces of larger size with most destructive effects from the tops redoubtable they called her a curse upon her name to us from her tops the bullet that killed our hero came within a few minutes of Lord Nelson's fall several officers and about 40 men were either killed or wounded from this source but a few minutes afterwards the Redutabd fell on board the Temeraire the French ships bow sprit passing over the British ship now came one of the warmest episodes of the fight the crew of the Temeraire lashed their vessels to their assailants ship and poured in a raking fire but the French captain having discovered that owing perhaps to the sympathy exhibited for the dying hero on board the victory and her excess of losses in men her quarter deck was quite deserted now ordered an attempt at boarding the latter this cost our flagship the lives of Captain Adair and 18 men but at the same moment the Temeraire opened fire on the Redutabd with such effect that Captain Lucca and 200 men were themselves placed or decomba in the contest we have been relating the coolness of the victories men was signally events when the guns on the lower deck were run out their muscles came in contact with the sides of the Redutabd and now was seen an astounding spectacle knowing that there was danger of the French ship taking fire the firemen of each gun on board the British ships stood ready with a bucket full of water to dash into the hole made by the shot of his gun thus beautifully illustrating Nelson's prayer that the British might be distinguished by humanity in victory less considerate than her antagonist the Redutabd threw hand grenades from her tops which, falling on board herself, set fire to her and the flame communicated with the force of the Temeraire and caught some ropes and canvas on the booms of the victory risking destruction of all but by immense exertions the fire was subdued in the British ships whose crews lent their assistance to extinguish the flames on board the Redutabd by throwing buckets of water upon her chains and foxel setting aside for the purpose of clearness the episode of the taking of the Fugo which got foul of the Temeraire and speedily surrendered we find five minutes later the main and mish and mass of the Redutabd falling the former in such a way across the Temeraire that it formed a bridge over which the boarding party passed and took quiet possession Captain Lucca had so stoutly defended his flag that out of a crew of 643 only 123 were in a condition to continue to fight 522 were lying killed or wounded the Bouchanta soon met her fate after being defended with nearly equal bravery the French Admiral Villeneuve who was on board said bitterly just before surrendering La Bouchanta a rempli sattage La mienne n'est pas encore achive let the reader remember that the above are but a few episodes of the most complete and glorious victory ever obtained in naval warfare without the loss of one single vessel to the conqueror more than half the ships of the enemy were captured or destroyed and remained or escaped into harbour to rot in utter uselessness 21 vessels were lost forever to France and Spain it is to be hoped and believed that no such contest will ever again be needed but should it be needed it will have to be fought by very different means the instance of four great ships locked together dealing death and destruction to each other has never been paralleled imagine that seething fighting dying mass of humanity all the horrible concomitance of deafening noise and blinding smoke and flashing fire it is not likely ever to occur in modern warfare the commanders of steam vessels of all classes will be more likely to fight it outmaneuvering and shelling each other than to come to close quarters which would generally mean blowing up together it would be interesting to consider how Nelson would have acted with and opposed to steam frigates and iron clads he would no doubt have been as courageous and far-seeing and rapid in action as ever but hardly as reckless or even daring and still through seventy years boys have gone who without pride names his name tells his fame who at Trafalgar died may we always have a Nelson in the hour of national need End of Men of War Part 1 Recording by Pete McKelvin Chapter 1 Part 2 of The Sea Its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Sea Its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper Mid of War Part 2 The day for such battles as this is over There may be others as gloriously fought but never again by the same means ships, armaments and modes of attack and defense are and will be increasingly different Those who have read Nelson's private letters and journals will remember how he gloried in the appreciation of his subordinate officers just before Trafalgar's happy and yet fatal day when he had explained to them his intention to attack the enemy with what was practically a wedge-formed fleet He was determined to break their line and Nelson like he did but that which he facetiously christened the Nelson touch would itself nowadays be broken up in a few minutes and thrown into utter confusion by any powerfully armed vessel hovering about under steam or if the wedge of wooden vessels were allowed to form as they approached the apex a couple of ironclads would take them in hand coolly one by one and send them to the bottom while their guns might as well shoot peas at the ironclads as the shot of former days Taking the victory as a fair type of the best warships of her day a day when there was not that painful uncertainty with regard to naval construction and armament existing now in spite of our vaunted progress we still know that in the presence of a powerful steam frigate with heavy guns or an 11,000 ton ironclad she would be literally nowhere she was one of the last specimens and a very perfect specimen too of the wooden age this is the age of iron and steam one of the largest vessels of her day she is now excelled by hundreds employed in ordinary commerce the Royal Navy today possesses frigates nearly three times her tonnage while we have ironclads of five times the same the monster Great Eastern which has proved a monstrous mistake is 22,500 tons but size is by no means the only consideration in constructing vessels of war and indeed there are good reasons to believe that in the end vessels of moderate dimensions will be preferred for most purposes of actual warfare of the advantages of steam power there can of course be only one opinion but as regards iron versus oak there are many points which may be urged in favor of either with a preponderance in favor of the former a strong iron ship strange as it may appear is not more than half the weight of a wooden vessel of the same size in class it will to the unthinking seem absurd to say that an iron ship is more buoyant than one of oak but the fact is that the proportion of actual weight in iron and wooden vessels of ordinary construction is about six to twenty the iron ship therefore stands high out of the water and to sink it to the same line will require a greater weight on board from this fact the actual thinness of its walls its carrying capacity and stowage are so much the greater this which is a great point in vessels destined for commerce would be equally important in war but these remarks do not apply to the modern armored vessel we have iron clads with plates 18 inches and upward in thickness what is the consequence? their actual weight with that of the necessary engines and monster guns employed is so great that a vast deal of room on board has to be unemployed day by day we hear of fresh experiments in gunnery which keep pace with the increased strength of the vessels the invulnerable of today is the vulnerable of tomorrow and there are many leading authorities who believe in a return to a smaller and weaker class of vessel provided however with all the appliances for great speed and offensive warfare at a distance Nelson's preference for small easily worked frigates over the great ships of the line is well known and were he alive today we can well believe that he would prefer a medium-sized vessel of strong construction to steam with great speed and carrying heavy but perhaps not the heaviest guns to one of those modern unwieldy masses of iron which have had so far a most disastrous history the former might so to speak act while the latter was making up her mind even a Nelson might hesitate to risk a vessel representing six or seven hundred thousand pounds of the nation's money in anything short of an assured success we have however yet to learn the full value and power of our ironclad fleet of its cost there is not a doubt sometime ago our leading newspaper estimated the expensive construction and maintenance of our existing ironclads at eighteen million pounds Mr. Reed states that they have cost the country a million sterling per annum the first organization of the fleet warfare will soon become a luxury only for the richest nations and regarding it in this light perhaps the very men who are racking their powers of invention to discover terrible engines of war are the greatest peacemakers after all they may succeed in making it an impossibility hereafter naval powers prepared with the necessary fleet will be able to transport the base of operations to any point on the enemy's coast to learn the strongest positions and baffle the best arranged combinations thanks to steam the sea has become a means of communication more certain and more simple than the land and fleets will be able to act the part of movable bases of operations rendering them very formidable to powers which possessing coasts will not have any navy sufficiently powerful to cause their being respected so far as navy to navy is concerned this is undoubtedly true yet there is another side to the question a fort is sometimes able to inflict far greater damage upon its naval assailants than the latter can inflict upon it a single shot may send a ship to the bottom whilst the fire from the ship during action is more or less inaccurate at Sebastopol the whole French fleet firing at ranges of 1600 to 1800 yards failed to make any great impression on a fort close to the water's edge while a wretched earthen battery mounting only five guns inflicted terrible losses and injury on four powerful Englishmen of war actually disabling two of them without itself losing one man or having a gun dismounted while as has been often calculated the cost of a single sloop of war with its equipment will construct a fine fort which will last almost forever while that of two or three line of battleships would raise a considerable fortress whilst the monster ironclad with heavy guns would deal out death and destruction when surrounded by an enemy's fleet of lighter iron vessels or wooden ones as strong as was the victory she would herself run great risk in approaching closely fortified harbors and coasts where a single shot from a gun heavy enough to pierce her armor might sink her her safety would consist in firing at long ranges and in steaming backwards and forwards the lessons of the Crimean war as regards the navy were few but of the gravest importance and they have led to results of which we cannot yet determine the end the war opened by a Russian attack on a Turkish squadron at Sinopi November 20th, 1853 that determined the fact that a whole fleet might be annihilated in an hour or so by the use of large shells no more necessity for grappling in close quarters the iron age was full in view and wooden walls had outlived their usefulness and must perish but the lesson had to be again impressed and that upon a large English and French fleet yet in fairness to our navy it must be remembered that the Russians had spent every attention to rendering Sebastopol nearly impregnable on the seaside while a distinguished writer who was present throughout the sea assures us that until the proceeding spring quite indifferent in regard to the strength of the fortifications on the land side and the presence of the allied fleets was the undeniable cause of one Russian fleet being sunk in the harbor of Sebastopol while another dared not venture out season after season from behind stone fortresses in the shallow waters of Kronstadt a great naval authority thinks that while England was at the time almost totally deficient in the class of vessels essential to attacking the fleets and fortifications of Russia the fact that the former never dared to accept the challenge of any British squadron, however small is one the record of which we certainly may read about without shame but of that period it would be more pleasant to write exultingly than apologetically. When the allies had decided to commence the bombardment of Sebastopol on October 17, 1854 it was understood that the fleet should cooperate and the attack should be made by line of battleships in a semi-circle. They were ready at 1pm to commence the bombardment. Lions brought the Agamemnon followed by half a dozen other vessels to within 700 yards of Fort Constantine the other staying at the safer distance of 1800 to 2200 yards the whole fleet opened with a tremendous roar of artillery to which the Russians replied almost as heavily. 17 was several times silenced and greatly damaged but on the other hand the Russians managed to kill 47 and wound 234 men in the English fleet and a slightly smaller number in the French. They had an unpleasant knack of firing red hot shot in profusion and of hitting the vessels even at the distance at which they lay several were set on fire and two for a time had to retire from the action. These were practical shots at our wooden walls. This naval attack has been characterized as even a greater failure than that by land meaning of course the first attack. Here we may for a moment be allowed to digress and remind the reader of the important part played by red hot shot at that greatest of all great sieges Gibraltar. As each accession to the enemy's force arrived General Elliot calmly built more furnaces and more grates for heating his most effective means of defense. Just as one of their wooden batteries was on the point of completion he gave it what was termed at the time a dose of cayenne pepper. In other words, with red hot shot and shells he set it on fire. When the ordnance portable furnaces for heating shot proved insufficient to supply the demands of the artillery he ordered large bonfires to be kindled on which and these supplies were turned by the soldiers hot potatoes for the enemy. But the great triumph of red hot shot was on that memorable 13th of September 1782 when 46 sail of the line and a countless fleet of gun and mortar boats attacked the fortress. With all these appliances of warfare the great confidence of the enemy or rather combined enemies was in their floating batteries planned by d'Arconne French engineer and which had cost a good half million sterling. They were supposed to be impervious to shells or red hot shot after persistently firing at the fleet Elliot started the admiral ship in one of the batteries commanded by the Prince of Nassau. This was but the commencement of the end the unwieldy Leviathans could not be shifted from their moorings and they lay helpless and immovable and yet dangerous to their neighbors for they were filled with the instruments of destruction. Early the next morning eight of these vaunted batteries indicated the efficacy of the red hot defense. The light produced by the flames was nearly equal to noon day and greatly exposed the enemy to observation enabling the artillery to be pointed upon them with the utmost precision. The rock and neighboring objects are stated to have been highly illuminated by the constant flashes of cannon and the flames of the burning ships forming a mingled scene of sublimity and terror. An indistinct clamor with lamentable cries and groans arose from all quarters. When four hundred pieces of artillery were playing on the rock at the same moment Elliot returned the compliment with a shower of red hot balls bombs and carcasses that filled the air with little or no intermission. The Count d'Artois had hastened from Paris to witness a capitulation. He arrived in time to see the total destruction of the floating batteries and a large part of the combined fleet attempting a somewhat feeble joke he wrote to France. Elliot's cooking apparatus and roasted balls beat it all to nothing. Red hot shot has been entirely superseded in civilized warfare by shells. It was usually handled much in the same way that ordinary shot and shell is today. Each ball was carried by two men having between them a strong iron frame with a ring in the middle to hold it. There were two heavy wads, one dry and the other slightly dampened between the powder and the ball. At the siege of Gibraltar however, manners were managed in a much more rough and ready style. The shot was heated at furnaces and wheeled off to the guns and wheelbarrows lined with sand. The partial failure of the Navy to cooperate successfully with the land forces so far as bombardment was concerned during the Crimean War has had much to do with the adoption of the costly iron clad floating fortresses, armed with enormously powerful guns of the present day. The earliest form indeed was adopted during the above war but not used to any great extent or advantage. The late Emperor of the French saw that the coming necessity or necessary evil would be some form of strongly armored and protected floating battery that could cope with fortresses ashore and this was the germ of the iron clad movement. The first batteries of this kind used successfully at Kinburn were otherwise unsee worthy and unmanageable and were little more than heavily plated and more or less covered barges. The two earliest European iron clads were La Gloire in France and the Warrior in England. The latter launched in 1860. Neither of these vessels presented any great departure from the established types of build and large ships of war. The Warrior is an undeniably fine, handsome looking frigate masted and rigged as usual but she and her sister ship, the Black Prince, are about the only iron clads to which these remarks apply, every form and variety of construction having been adopted since. As regarded size, she was considerably larger than the largest frigate or ship of the line of our navy although greatly exceeded by many iron clads subsequently built. She is 380 feet in length and her displacement of more than 9100 tons was 3000 tons greater than that of the largest of the wooden men of war she was superseding. The Warrior is still among the fastest of the iron armored fleet. Considered as an iron clad however, she is a weak example. Her armor, which protects only three-fifths of her sides is but four-and-a-half inches thick with 18 inches of wood backing and five-eighths of an inch of what is technically called skin-plating for protection inside. The remote possibility of a red-hot shot or shell falling inside has to be considered. Her bow and stern rudder head and steering gear would of course be the vulnerable points. From this small beginning one armored vessel our iron clad fleet has grown with the greatest rapidity till it now numbers over 60 of all denominations of vessels. The late Emperor of the French gave a great impetus to the movement and other foreign nations speedily following in his wake it clearly behoved England to be able to cope with them on their own ground should occasion demand. Then there was the scare of invasion which took some hold of the public mind and was exaggerated by certain portions of the period till it assumed serious proportions. Leading journals complained that by the time the Admiralty would have one or two iron clads in commission the French would have ten or twelve. Thus urged the government of the day must be excused if they made some doubtful experiments and costly failures. End of Men of War Part 2 Recording by Pete McElven Chapter 1 Part 3 of The Sea Its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Sea Its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism Volume 1 by Frederick Wemper Men of War Part 3 Part 3 But apart from the lessons of the Crimea and the activity and rivalry of foreign powers attention was seriously drawn to the iron clad question by the events of the day. It was easy to guess and theorize concerning this new feature in warfare but early in 1862 practical proof was afforded of its power. The naval engagement which took place in Hampton Rhodes near the outset of the great American Civil War was the first time in which an iron clad ship was brought into collision with wooden vessels, and also the first time in which two distinct varieties of the species were brought into collision with each other. The Southerners had, when the strife commenced, seized and partially burned the Merrimack, a steam frigate belonging to the United States Navy, then lying at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The Hulk was regarded as nearly worthless until the 19th century. The Hulk was not only a threat to the enemy, but also a threat to the enemy's means to annoy their opponents. They hid on the idea of armoring her in the best manner attainable at the moment and for a while at least this condemned wreck resuscitated, patched up and covered with iron plates became the terror of the enemy. She was provided with an iron prow or ram capable of inflicting a severe blow which extended over the screw and rudder. This was built of oak and pine covered with iron, the latter being four and a half inches thick and the former aggregating 20 inches in thickness. While the hull was generally iron plated, the bow and stern were covered with steel. There were no masts, nothing seen above but the smokestack, funnel, pilot house and flag staff. She carried eight powerful guns, most of them 11 inch. As she came plowing through the water wrote one eyewitness of her movements she looked like a huge half submerged crocodile. The southerners rechristened her, the Virginia but her older name has clung to her. The smaller vessels with her contributed little to the issue of the fight but those opposed to her were of no inconsiderable size. The Congress, Cumberland, Minnesota and Roanoke were frigates carrying an aggregate of over 150 guns in nearly 2000 men. They however were wooden vessels and although in two cases in particular defended with persistent heroism had no chance against the iron clad hastily as she had been prepared. There is little doubt that the officers of the two former vessels in particular knew something of the nature of the forlorn hope in which they were about to engage when she hoeved inside on that memorable 8th of March 1862. It is said that the sailors however derided her until she was close upon them, so close that their laughter and remarks were heard on board. That southern bugaboo that old secesh curiosity were among the milder titles applied to her. The engagement was fought in the Hampton Roads which is virtually an outlet of the James River Virginia. The latter, like the Thames, has considerable breath and many shallows near its mouth. The Merrimack left Norfolk Navy Yard which holds to the James River somewhat the position the sheerness does to the Thames hurriedly on the morning of the 8th and steam steadily towards the enemy's fleet accompanied by some smaller vessels of war and a few tugboats. Meanwhile the shapeless iron mass came moving o'er the wave as gloomy as a passing hearse as silent as the grave. The morning was still and calm as that of a Sabbath day that the Merrimack was not expected was evidenced by the boats and the booms and the sailors' clothes still hanging in the rigging of the enemy's vessels. Did they see the long dark hull? Had they made it out? Was it ignorance, apathy, or composure that made them so indifferent? Or were they provided with torpedoes which could sink even the Merrimack in a minute? Were questions mooted on the southern side by those watching on board the boats and from the shore? As soon however as she was plainly discerned the crews of the Cumberland, Congress and other vessels were beat to quarters and preparations made for the fight. The engagement, wrote the Confederate Secretary of the Navy commenced at half past 3 p.m. and at 4 p.m. Captain Buchanan had sunk the Cumberland, captured and burned the Congress, disabled and driven the Minnesota ashore and defeated the St. Lawrence and Roanoke which sought shelter under the guns of Fortress Monroe. Two of the enemy's small steamers were blown up and two transport steamers were captured. This, as will be seen, must as regards time be taken, cum grano salis, but in its main points is correct. The Merrimack commenced the action by discharging a broadside at the Congress, one shell from which killed or disabled a number of men at the guns, and then kept on towards the Cumberland, which she approached with full steam on, striking her on the port side near the bow, her stem knocking two of the ports into one, and her ram striking the vessel under the water line. Almost instantaneously, a large shell was discharged from her forward gun, which raked the gun deck of the doomed ship and killed ten men. Five minutes later, the ship began to sink by the head, a large hole having been made by the point of the ram through which the water rushed in. As the Merrimack rounded and rapidly came up again, she once more raked the Cumberland, killing or wounding sixteen more men. Meantime, the latter was endeavoring to defend herself and poured broadside after broadside into the Merrimack, but the balls, as one of the survivors tells us, bounced upon her mailed sides like India rubber, apparently making not the least impression, except to cut off her flagstaff and thus bring down the Confederate colors. None of her crew ventured at that time on her outside to replace them, and she fought thence forward with only her penant flying. Shortly after this, the Merrimack again attacked the unfortunate ship, advancing with her greatest speed, her ram making another hole below the waterline. The Cumberland began to fill rapidly. The scene on board is hardly to be described in words. It was one of horrible desperation and fruitless heroism. The decks were slippery with human gore, shreds of human flesh, and portions of the body, arms, legs, and headless trunks were scattered everywhere. Below, the cockpit was filled with wounded, whom it would be impossible to sucker, for the ship was sinking fast. Meantime, the men stuck to their posts. Powder was still served out, and the firing kept up steadily. Several of the crew lingering so long in the aftershell room, in their eagerness to pass up shell, that they were drowned there. The water had now reached the main gun deck, and it became evident that the contest was nearly over. Still, the men lingered, anxious for one last shot, when their guns were nearly under water. Shall we give them a broad side, my boys, as she goes? Shall we send yet another to tell in iron-tongued words to Columbia's foes, how bravely her sons say, Farewell? The word was passed for each man to save himself. Even then, one man, an active little fellow named Matthew Tenney, whose courage had been conspicuous during the action, determined to fire once more, the next gun to his own being then under water, the vessel going down by the head. He succeeded, but at the cost of his life, for immediately afterwards attempting to scramble out of the porthole, the water suddenly rushed in with such force that he was washed back and drowned. Scores of poor fellows were unable to reach the upper deck, and were carried down with the vessel. The Cumberland sank in water up to the cross-trees, and went down with her flag still flying from the peak. The whole number lost was not less than 120 souls. Her top mass, with the pennant flying far above the water, long marked the locality of one of the bravest and most desperate defenses ever made. By men who knew that all else was wrong, but to die when a sailor ought. The Cumberland being utterly helpless, the Merrimack turned her attention to the Congress. The Southerners showed their chivalric instincts at this juncture by not firing on the boats, or on a small steamer which were engaged in picking up the survivors of the Cumberland's crew. The officers of the Congress, seeing the fate of the Cumberland, determined that the Merrimack should not at least sink their vessel. They therefore got all sail on the ship and attempted to run ashore. The Merrimack was soon all-killing at one of the guns every man engaged except one. Backing and then returning several times, she delivered broadside after broadside at less than 100 yards distance. The Congress replied manfully and obstinately, but with little effect. One shot is supposed to have entered one of the ironclad's portholes and dismounted a gun, as there was no further firing from that port. And a few splinters of iron were struck off her sloping mailed roof, but this was all. The guns of the Merrimack appeared to have specially trained on the after magazine of the Congress and shot after shot entered that part of the ship. Thus, slowly drifting down with the current and again steaming up, the Merrimack continued for an hour to fire into her opponent. Several times the Congress was on fire, but the flames were kept under. At length the ship was on fire in so many places, and the flames gathering with such force that it was hopeless and suicidal to keep up the defense any longer. The national flag was sadly and sorrowfully hauled down, and a white flag hoisted at the peak. The Merrimack did not for a few minutes see this token of surrender and continued to fire. At last, however, it was discerned through the clouds of smoke and the broad sides ceased. A tug that had followed the Merrimack out of Norfolk then came alongside the Congress and ordered the officers on board. This they refused, hoping that from the nearness of the shore they would be able to escape. Some of the men to the number it is believed about forty, thought that the tug is one of the northern federal vessels and rushed on board and were of course soon carried off as prisoners. By the time that all the able men were off a shore and elsewhere it was seven o'clock in the evening and the Congress was a bright sheet of flame for and aft. Her guns which were loaded and trained going off as the fire reached them. A shell from one struck a sloop at some distance and blew her up. At midnight the fire reached her magazines containing five tons of gunpowder and with a terrific explosion her charred remains blew up. Thus had the Merrimack sunk one and burned a second of the largest of the vessels of the enemy. Having settled the fate of these two ships the Merrimack had about five o'clock in the afternoon started to tackle the Minnesota. Here as was afterwards proved the commander of the former had the intention of capturing the latter as a prize and had no wish to destroy her. He therefore stood off about a mile distant and with the York Town and Jamestown threw shot and shell at the frigate doing it considerable damage and killing six men. One shell entered near her waist, passed through the chief engineers room knocking two rooms into one and wounded several men. A shot passed through the main mast. At nightfall Merrimack satisfied with her afternoon's work of death and destruction steamed in under Sewell's point. The day said the Baltimore American thus closed most dismally for our side and with the most gloomy apprehensions of what would occur the next day. The Minnesota was at the mercy of the Merrimack and there appeared no reason why the iron monster might not clear the roads of our fleet destroy all the stores and warehouses on the beach, drive our troops into the fortress and command Hampton Roads against any number of wooden vessels the government might send there. Saturday was a terribly dismal night at Fortress Monroe. But about nine o'clock that evening Erickson's battery the monitor arrived in Hampton Roads and hope revived in the breast of the despondent northerners. She was not a very formidable looking craft for lying low in the water with a plain structure amid ships, a small pilot house forward and a diminutive funnel aft she might have been taken for a raft. It was only on board that her real strength might be discovered. She carried armor about five inches thick over a large part of her and had practically two holes, the lower of which had sides inclining at an angle of 51 degrees from the vertical line. It was considered that no shot could hurt this lower hole on a cat of the angle at which it must strike it. The revolving turret, an iron cylinder nine feet high and twenty feet in diameter eight or nine inches thick everywhere and about the portholes eleven inches was moved round by steam power. When the two heavy dolgren guns were run in for loading, a kind of pendulum port fell over the holes in the turret. The propeller, rudder and even anchor were all hidden. This was a war of surprises and sudden changes. It is doubtful if the southerners knew what to make of the strange-looking battery which steamed towards them next morning or whether they despised it. The Merrimack and the monitor kept on approaching each other, the former waiting until she would choose her distance and the latter apparently not knowing what to make of her queer-looking antagonist. The first shot from the monitor was fired when about 100 yards distant from the Merrimack and this distance was subsequently reduced to fifty yards and at no time during the furious hand and aiding that ensued were the vessels more than 200 yards apart. The scene was in plain view from Fortress Monroe and in the main facts all the spectators agree. At first the fight was very furious and the guns of the monitor were fired rapidly. The latter carried only two guns to its opponents eight and received two or three shots for everyone she gave. Finding that she was much more formidable than she looked, the Merrimack attempted to run her down but her superior speed and quicker handling enabled her to dodge and turn rapidly. Once the Merrimack struck her near midships but only to prove that the battery cannot be run down nor shot down, she spun round like a top and as she got her bearing again sent one of her formidable missiles into her huge opponent. The officers of the monitor at this time had gained such confidence in the impregnability of their battery that they no longer fired at random nor hastily. The fight then assumed its most interesting aspect. The monitor went round the Merrimack repeatedly probing her sides seeking for weak points and reserving her fire with coolness until she had the right spot and the right range and made her experiments accordingly. In this way the Merrimack received three shots. Neither of these three shots rebounded at all but appeared to cut their way clear through iron and wood into the ship. Soon after receiving the third shot the Merrimack made off at full speed and the contest was not renewed. Thus ended this particular episode of the American War. Lieutenant Warden was in the pilot house of the monitor when the Merrimack directed a whole broadside and was besides being thrown down and stunned by the concussion temporarily blinded by the minute fragments of shells and powder driven through the eye holes only an inch in diameter made through the iron to enable them to keep a look out. He was carried away but on covering consciousness his first thoughts reverted to the action. Have I saved the Minnesota? said he eagerly. Yes and whipped the Merrimack was the answer. Then replied he I don't care what becomes of me. The concussion in the turret is described as something terrible and several of the men though not otherwise hurt were rendered insensible for the time. Each side claimed that they had seriously damaged the other but there seems to have been no foundation and facts. But although this the original monitor was efficient if not omnipotent in the calm waters at the mouth of the James River she was as might be expected with her flat barge like bottom a bad sea boat and was afterwards lost. Her ports had to be closed and caulk being only five feet above water and she was therefore unable to work her guns at sea. Her constructor had neglected Sir Walter Raleigh's advice to Prince Henry touching the model ship that her ports be so laid that she may carry out her guns all weathers. She plunged heavily completely submerging her pilot house at times. The sea washing over and into her turret. The heavy shocks and jars of the armor as it came down upon the waves made her leaky and she went to the bottom in spite of pumps capable of throwing 2000 gallons a minute which were in good order and working incessantly. Since the conclusion of the American war the iron clad question has assumed serious aspects and many facts could be cited to show that they have not by any means confirmed the first impressions of their strength and invulnerability. Two recent cases will be fresh in the memories of our readers. The first is the recent engagement off Peru between the Peruvian iron clad turret ship Huascar and the British unarmored men of war, Shaw and Amethyst. With the political aspect of the affair we have nothing of course to do in our present work. It was really a question between the guns quite as much as between the vessels. The Huascar is only a moderately strong armored vessel, her plates being the same thickness as those of the earliest English iron clad the warrior, and her armament is two 300 pounders in her turret and three shell guns. On the other hand the Shaw the principal one of the two British vessels is only a large iron vessel sheathed in wood and not armored at all, but she carries besides smaller guns a formidable armament in the shape of two 12 ton and 16 6.5 ton guns. An eyewitness of the engagement states that after three hours firing at a distance of from 400 to 3000 yards the only damage inflicted by the opposing vessels was a hole in the Huascar's side made by a shell the bursting of which killed one man. One nine inch shot from a 12 ton gun also penetrated three inches into the turret without effecting any material damage. There were nearly 100 dents of various depths in the plates but none of sufficient depth to materially injure them. The upper works boats and everything destructible by shell were of course destroyed her colors were also shot down. According to theory the Shaw's two larger guns should have penetrated the Huascar's sides when fired it upwards of 3000 yards distance. The facts are very different doubtless because the shot struck the armor obliquely at any angles but right ones. The Huascar was admirably handled and maneuvered but her gunnery was so indifferent that none of the shots even struck the Shaw except to cut away a couple of ropes and the latter kept up so hot a fire of shells that the crew of the former were completely demoralized and the officers had to train and fire the guns. She eventually escaped to Iquique under cover of a pitchy dark night. The same correspondent admits however that the Shaw although a magnificent vessel is not fitted for the South American Station since Peru has three iron clads Chile 2 and Brazil and the River Plate Republics several against which no ordinary English man of war could cope were the former properly handled. The recent story of the saucy Russian merchantman which not merely dared the Turkish iron clad but fought her for five hours and inflicted quite as much damage as she received will also be remembered although it may be taken just for what it is worth. One Captain Baranov of the Imperial Russian Navy had in an article published in the Golo's of St. Petersburg recommended his government to abandon iron clads, avoid naval battles and confine operations at sea to letting loose of a number of cruisers against the enemy's merchantman. Where a naval engagement was inevitable he preferred fighting with small craft making up by agility and speed what they lacked in queras and if the worst came to worst easily replaced by other specimens of the same type. The article created much notice and at the beginning of the present war the author was given to understand by the Russian Admiralty that he should have an opportunity of proving his theories by deeds. The Vesta an ordinary iron steamer of light build was selected. She had been employed previously in no more war-like functions than the conveyance of corn and tallow from Russia to foreign ports. She was equipped immediately with a few six inch mortars, her decks being strengthened to receive them but no other changes were made. On the morning of the 23rd of July in the Black Sea Captain Baranov encountered the Turkish ironclad Asari Tevfik, a formidable vessel armored with 12 inches of iron and carrying 12 ton guns and nothing daunted by the disproportion in size and strength immediately engaged her. Both vessels were skillfully maneuvered, the ironclad moving about with extraordinary alertness and speed. She was only hit three times with large balls. The second went through her deck killing a fire which was quickly extinguished. The third was believed to have injured the turret. Meantime the Vesta was herself badly injured, a grenade hitting her close to the powder magazine, which would have soon blown up but for the rapid measures taken by her commander. Her rudder was struck and partially disabled but still she was not sunk as she would have been according to all theoretical considerations. She eventually steamed back to Sebastopol after two other vessels had ironclad's assistance covered with glory, having for five hours worried and somewhat injured a giant vessel to which in proportion she was but a weak and miserable dwarf. It will be obvious that from neither of the above cases can any positive inferences be safely drawn. In the former case the weaker vessel had the stronger guns and so matters were partially balanced. In the second example the ironclad ought to have easily sunk the merchant men by means of her heavy guns even from a great distance but she didn't. The ironclad question will engage our attention again as it will we fear that of the nation for a very long time to come. End of Men of War Part 3 Recording by Pete McElven All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Sea Its stirring story of adventure, peril, and heroism Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper Chapter 2 Part 1 Men of Peace No form of life presents greater contrast than that of the sailor. Today in the thick of the fight battling man or the elements tomorrow we find him tranquilly pursuing some peaceful scheme of discovery or exploration or calmly cruising from one station to another protecting by moral influence alone the interests of his country. His deeds may be none the less heroic because his conquests are peaceful and because Neptune rather than Mars is challenged to seat his treasures. Anson, Cook, and Vancouver, Perry, Franklin, McClintock, and McClure, among a host of others stand worthily by the side of our fighting sailors because made of the same stuff. Let us also then, for a time, leave behind the smoke and din, the glories and horrors of war, and cool our fevered imaginations by descending, in spirit at least to the depths of the Great Sea. The records of the famous voyage of the Challenger will afford a capital opportunity of contrasting the deeds of the men of peace and those of men of war. We may commence by saying that no such voyage has in truth ever been undertaken before. Nearly seventy thousand miles of the Earth's watery surface were transversed and the Atlantic in Pacific crossed and recrossed several times. It was a veritable voyage in zigzag. Apart from the ordinary surroundings innumerable, 374 deep seas soundings when the progress of the vessel had to be stopped, and which occupied an hour or two apiece were made, and at least two-thirds as many successful dredgings and trawlings. The greatest depth of ocean reached was 4,575 fathoms, 27,450 feet, or over five miles. This was in the Pacific, about 1,400 miles southeast of Japan. We all know that this ocean derives its name from its generally calmer weather and less temptuous seas. And the researchers of the officers of the Challenger and of the United States vessel Tuscarora show that the bottom slopes reach its greatest depths very evenly and gradually, little broken by submarine mountain ranges, except off volcanic islands in coasts like those of the Hawaiian sandwich islands. Off the ladder there are mountains in the sea ranging as high as 12,000 feet. The general evenness of the bottom helps to account for the long, sweeping waves of the Pacific, so distinguishable waves of the Atlantic. In the Atlantic, on the voyage of the Challenger from Tenerife to St. Thomas, a pretty level bottom off the African coast gradually deepened till it reached 3,125 fathoms, over three and a half miles, at about one third of the way across to the West Indies. If the Alps, Mont Blanc and all, were submerged at this spot, there would still be more than half a mile of water above them. 500 miles further west there is a comparatively shallow part, two miles or so deep, which afterwards deepens to three miles, and continues at the same depth nearly as far as the West Indies. A few words as to the work laid out for the Challenger and how she did it. She is a 2,000 ton corvette of moderate steam power and was put into commission with a reduced complement of officers and men. Captain now served George S. Naries, later the commander of the Arctic Expedition, having complete charge and control. Her work was to include soundings, thermometric and magnetic observations, dredging and chemical examinations of seawater, the surveying of unsurveyed harbors and coasts, and resurveying, were practicable, of mostly surveyed coasts. The Civil Scientific Corps, under the charge of professor Wyville Thompson, comprised three naturalists, a chemist and physicist, and a photographer. The naturalists had their special rooms, the chemist is laboratory, the photographer is dark room and the surveyors their chart room to make room for which all the guns were removed except two. On the upper deck was another analyzing room, devoted to mud, fish, birds and vertebrates generally. A donkey engine for hauling in the sounding, dredging and other lines, and a broad bridge amid ships from which the officer for the day gave the necessary orders for the performance of the many duties connected with their scientific labors. Thousands of fathoms of rope of all sizes, for dredging and sounding, of sounding weights, from half to a whole hundred weight a piece. Dozens of thermometers for deep sea temperatures and gallons of methylated spirits for preserving the specimens obtained were carried on board. Steam power is always very essential to deep sea sounding. No trustworthy results can be obtained from a ship under sail. A perpendicular sounding is the one thing required, and of course steam the vessel can be kept head to the wind, regulating her speed so that she remains nearly stationary. The sounding apparatus used needs little description. A block was fixed to the main yard, from which depended the accumulator, consisting of strong India rubber bands, each three fourths of an inch in diameter and three feet long, which ran through circular discs of wood at either end. These are capable of stretching 17 feet, and their object is to prevent sudden strain on the lead line from the inevitable jerks and motion of the vessel. The sounding rod used for great depths is, with its weights, so arranged that on touching the bottom a spring releases a wire sling, and the weights slip off and are lift there. These rods were only employed when the depths were considered to be over 1,500 fathoms. For less depths along conical lead weight was used, with a butterfly valve or trap, at its basis for securing specimens from the ocean bed. There are several kinds of slip water bottles for securing samples of sea water, and marine objects of small size floating in it had great depths. One of the most ingenious is a brass tube, two and a half feet in length, fitted with easily working stop cocks at each end, connected by means of a rod, on which is a movable float. As the bottle descends the stop cocks must remain open, but as it is hauled up again the flat float receives the opposing pressure of the water above it, and acting by means of the connecting rod, shuts both cocks simultaneously, thus enclosing a specimen of water at that particular depth. For registering thermometers were employed, sometimes attached at intervals of 100 fathoms to the sounding line, so as to test the temperatures at various depths. For dredging bags or nets from 3 to 5 feet in depth and 9 to 15 inches in width attached to iron frames were employed, whilst at the bottom of the bags a number of swabs similar to those used in cleaning decks were attached, so as to sweep along the bottom and bring up small specimens of animal life, coral, sponges, etc. These swabs were, however, always termed hempen tangles. So much does science dignify every object it touches. The dredges were afterwards set aside for the ordinary beam-trolls used in shallow water around our own coasts. Their open meshes allowed the mud and sand to filter through easily, and their adoption was a source of satisfaction to some of the officers who looked with horror on the state of their usually immaculate decks, when the dredges were emptied of their contents. Not so very long ago our knowledge of anything beneath the ocean's surface was extremely indefinite. For even of the coasts and shallows we knew little, not the earliest, branches of natural history investigated by men of science. It was asserted that the specific gravity of water at great depths would cause the heaviest weights to remain suspended in mid-sea, and that animal existence was impossible at the bottom. When, some sixteen years ago, a few starfish were brought up by a line from a depth of 1,200 fathoms, it was seriously considered that they had attached themselves at some mid-way point, and not at the bottom. In 1868-970 the Royal Society borrowed from the Admiralty two of Her Majesty's vessels, the Lightning and the Porcupine, and in one of the latter's trips, considerably to the south and west of Ireland, she sounded to a depth of 2,400 fathoms, and was very successful in many dredging formations. As a result, it was then suggested that a vessel should be specifically fitted out for a more important ocean voyage around the world to occupy three or more years, and the cruise of the Challenger was then determined upon. The story of that cruise is utterly unsensational. It is one simply of calm and unremitting scientific work, almost unaccompanied by peril. To some, the treasures acquired will seem valueless. Among the earliest gains obtained near Cape St. Vincent, with a common trawl, was a beautiful specimen of the euclictella, glass-rope sponge, or Venus flower basket alive. This object of beauty and interest, sometime seen in working naturalists and conchologists windows in London, had always previously been obtained from the seas of the Philippine Islands in Japan, to which it was thought to be confined, and its discovery so much near home was hailed with delight. It has a most graceful form, consisting of a slightly curved conical tube, eight or ten inches in height, contracted beneath to a blunt point. The walls are of light tracery, resembling opaque spun glass, covered with a stern. The lower end is surrounded by an upturned fringe of lustrous fibers, and the wider end is closed by a lid of open network. These beautiful objects of nature are most charming ornaments for a drying room, but have to be kept under a glass case, as they are somewhat frail. In their native element they lie buried in the mud. They were afterwards found to be the most characteristic depths all over the world. Early in the voyage no lack of living things were brought up. Strange-looking fish, with their eyes blown nearly out of their heads by the expansion of the air in their air bladders, wilts entangled among the meshes were many starfish and delicate zoofights, shining with a vivid phosphorescent light. A rare specimen of the clustered sea polyp, twelve each with eight long-fringed arms, terminating in a close cluster on a stalk or stem three feet high, was obtained. Two specimens of this fine species were brought from the coast of Greenland early in the last century. Somehow these were lost, and for a century the animal was never seen. Two were brought home by one of the Swedish Arctic expeditions, and these are the only specimens obtained. One of the lions of the expedition was not a rare seafowl, but a transparent lobster, while a new crustacean, perfectly blind, which feels its way with the most beautiful delicate claws, was one of the greatest curiosities obtained. Of these wonders, and some of the geological points determined more and on. But they did not even sight the sea and attempt to catch it. Jules Verne's twenty miles of inexhaustible pearl metals were evidently missed, nor did they even catch a glimpse of his gigantic oyster, with the pearl as big as a coconut, and worth ten million francs. They could not, with Captain Nemo, dive to the bottom and land amid submarine forests, where tigers and cobras have their counterparts in enormous sharks and birds. Victor Hugo's devilfish did not attack a single sailor, nor did, indeed, any formidable cuttlefish take even a passing peep at the Challenger, much less attempt to stop its progress. Does the reader remember the story cited both by Fouché and Mokin Tandon concerning one of these gigantic sea monsters, which should have a strong basis of truth in it, as it was before the French Academy de Sciences by a lieutenant of their navy and a French council? The steam corvette Electon, when between Tenerife and Madeira, fell in with a gigantic cuttlefish, fifty feet long in the body, without counting its eight formidable arms covered with suckers. The head was of enormous size, all out of proportion to the body, and had eyes of great heights. The other extremity terminated in two fleshy lobes or fins of great size. The estimated weight of the whole creature was four thousand pounds, and the flesh was soft, glutinous, and of a reddish brick color. The commandant, wishing in the interests of science to secure the monster, actually engaged it in battle. Numerous shots were aimed at it and glutinous mass without causing any vital injury. But after one of these attacks the waves were observed to be covered with foam and blood, and singular thing, a strong order of musk was inhaled by the spectators. The musket shots not having produced the desired results. Harpoons were employed, but they took no hold on the soft impalpable flesh of the marine monster. When it came to the harpoon, it dived under the ship and came up again at the other side. They succeeded at last in getting the harpoon to bite and in passing a bowling hitch around the posterior part of the animal. But when they attempted to hoist it out of the water, the rope penetrated deeply into the flesh and separated into two parts, the head, with the arms and tentacles, dropping into the arms and posterior parts were brought on board. They weighed about forty pounds. The crew were eager to pursue and would have launched a boat, but the commander refused, fearing that the animal might capsize it. The object was not, in his opinion, one in which he could risk the lives of his crew. Mr. Mokin Tandon, commenting on Mr. Birthloth's recital, considers this colossal mollusk was sick and exhausted at the time by some recent struggle with some other monster of the deep, which would account for its having quitted its native rocks in the depths of the ocean. Otherwise it would have been more active in its movements, or it would have obscured the waves with the inky liquid which all the cephalopods have at command. Judging from its size, it would carry at least a barrel of this black liquid. The challenger afterwards visited Juan Fernandez, the real Robinson Caruso island where Alexander Selkert passed his enforced residence for four years. Thanks to Defoe, he lived to find himself so famous that he could hardly have grudged the time spent in his solitary sojourn with his dumb companions and man Friday. Alas, the romance which enveloped Juan Fernandez has somewhat dimmed. For a brief time it was a Chilean penal colony, and after sundry vicitudes was a few years ago leased to emergent, who kept cattle to sail to whalers and passing ships, and also went seal-hunting on a neighboring island. He was monarch of all he surveyed, lord of an island over a dozen miles long and five or six broad, with cattle and herds of wild golds, and capital fishing all round, all for two hundred a year. Fancy this, ye sportsmen, who pay as much or more for the privilege of a barren moor. Yet the merchant was not satisfied with his venture, and at that time of the challenger's visit was on the point of abandoning it. By this time it is probably too late. Accepting the cattle dotted about the foothills and the bow, the appearance of the island must be precisely the same now as when the piratical buccaneers of olden time made it their rendezvous and haunt wherefrom to dash out and harry the Spaniards. The same today as when Alexander Selkirk lived in it as an involuntary monarch. The same today as when Commodore Anson arrived with this curvy, stricken, crazy ship, a great scarcity of water, and a crew so diseased that there were not above ten foremost men in a watch capable of doing duty, and recruited them with fresh meat, vegetables, and wild fruits. The scenery, writes Lord George Campbell, is grand, gloomy and wild enough on the dull, stormy day on which we arrived, clouds driving past and enveloping the highest ridge of the mountain, a dark colored sea pelting against the steep cliffs and shores, and clouds of seabirds swaying in great flocks to and fro over the water, but cheerful and beautiful on the bright sunny morning which followed. So beautiful, I thought. This beats Tahiti. The anchorage of the Challenger was in Cumberland Bay, a deep water inlet from which rises a semi-circle of high land with two bold headlands sweeping brokenly up fence to the highest ridge, square shaped, craggy, precipitous, mass of rock with trees clinging to its sides to near the summit. The spurs of these hills are covered with coarse grass or moss. Down the beds of the small ravines run burns, overgrown by dock leaves of enormous size, and the banks are closed with a rich vegetation of dark-leaved myrtle, begonia and winter bark, tree shrubs, with tall grass, ferns, and flowering plants. And as you lie there, hummingbirds come darting and thrumming within reach of your stick, flitting from flower to flower, which dot blue and white the foliage of begonias and myrtles. And on the steep grassy slopes above the sea cliffs herds of wild goats are seen quietly browsing, quietly that is, till they sent you, when they are off as wild as chamois. This is indeed a description of a rugged paradise. Near the ship they found splendid but laborious cod-fishing, laborous on account of sharks playing with the bait, and treating the stoutest lines as though made of single-gut. Also on account of the 40-fathom depth these codfish lived in, crayfish and conger eels were hauled up in lobster pots by dozens, while round the ship's sides flash shoals away, fish that are caught by a hook with a piece of worsted tide roughly on, switched over the surface, giving splendid play with a rod. And on shore, too, there was something to be seen and done. There was Selkirk's lookout to clamber up the hillside, too, the spot where tradition says he watched day after day for a passing sail, and from whence he could look down both sides of his island home, over the hopes, down to the cliff-fringed shore, on to the deserted ocean's expanse. And of Chapter 2, Part 1 Chapter 2, Part 2 of the sea, its stirring story of adventure, peril, and heroism. Volume 1 This is a libydox recording. All libydox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit libydox.org The sea, its stirring story of adventure, peril, and heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper Chapter 2 Men of Peace Part 2 The challenger in its cruise of over three years naturally visited many oft-described port settlements with which we shall have naught to do. After a visit to Cerculean's land, the land of desolation, as Captain Cook called it, in the southern Indian ocean, for the purpose of selecting a spot for the erection of an observatory, from whence the transit of Venus should be later observed. They proceeded to Herd Island, the position of which required determining with more accuracy. They anchored in the evening in a bay of this most gloomy and utterly desolate place where they found half a dozen wretched sealers living in two miserable huts near the beach, which were sunk into the ground for warmth and protection against the fierce winds. Their work is to kill and boil down sea elephants. One of the men had been there for two years and was going to stay another. They are left on the island every year by the schooners, which goes sealing or wailing elsewhere. Some forty men were on the island, unable to communicate with each other by land, as the interior is entirely covered with glacier, like Greenland. They have barrels of salt pork, beef, and a small store of coals and little else, and are wretchedly paid. Books, says Lord Campbell, tell us that these sea elephants grow to the length of 24 feet, but the sealers did not cathern this at all. One of us tried hard to make the scotch mates say he had seen one 18 feet long, but well he couldn't say 16 feet, well he couldn't say 14 feet, well yes yes, something more like that. The 13 feet would seem a fair average size. One of our fellows bought a clever little clay model of two men killing a sea elephant, giving for it he being an extravagant man one pound and a bottle of rum. This pound was instantly offered to the servants outside in exchange for another bottle. Crossed the Antarctic circle they were soon among the icebergs, keeping a sharp lookout for termination land, which has been marked on charts of coast, seen by Wilkes of the American expedition 30 years before. To make a long story short Captain Nairs, after a careful search, undiscovered this discovery, finding no traces of the land. It was probably a long stretch of ice, or possibly a mirage which phenomenon has deceived many a sailor before. John Ross once thought that he had discovered some grand mountains in the Antarctic regions, which he named after the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Croker. Next year, Parry sailed over the site of the supposed range, and the Croker Mountains became a standing joke against Ross. Icebergs of enormous size were encountered, several of three miles in length, and 200 feet or more in height were seen one day, all close together. They were exceptional. They were, however, very often over half a mile in length. Though a few people now alive says the author we have recently quoted, who have seen such superb Antarctic iceberg scenery as we have. We are steaming towards the supposed position of land, only some 30 miles distance over a glass-like sea unruffled by a breath of wind. Past great masses of ice went so close together in some cases, as to form an unbroken wall of cliff several miles in length. Then as we passed within a few hundred yards, the chain breaks up into two off-ree separate bergs, and one sees, and beautifully from the mast head, the blue sea and distant horizon between perpendicular walls of glistening alabaster white, against which the long-swell dashes rewing up in great blue-green landscapes, falling back in the torrent of rainbow-flashing spray, or goes roaring into the azure caverns, followed immediately by a thundering thud, as the compressed air then buffets it back again in a torrent-assieving white foam. Neither words adequately describe the beauty of many of the icebergs seen. One had free, high-arched caverns penetrating far to its interior. Another had a large tunnel through which they could see the horizon. The delicate colouring of these bergs is most lovely. Sweeps of azure blue and pale sea-green with dazzling white, glittering sparkling crystal merging into depths of indigo blue, stalatite icicles hanging from the walls and roofs of cavernous openings. The reader will imagine the beauty of the scene at sunrise and sunset, when as many as eighty or ninety bergs are sometimes in sight. The sea was intensely green from the presence of my newed owl-guy through bouts of which the vessel passed, while the sun sinking in a golden blaze tipped and lighted up the ice and snow, making them sparkle as we bright as gems. A large number of tabular icebergs with quantities of snow on their level tops were met. They amused themselves by firing a nine-pounder Armstrong at one, which brought the ice down for rattling crash. The face of the berg cracking, splitting and splashing down from raw, making the water below white with foam and powdered ice. These icebergs were all stratified at more or less regular distances with blue lines, which before they capsized or canted from displacement of their centres of gravity were always horizontal. During a gale, the Ranger came into collision with the berg and lost her gibbon, dolphin-strike and other headgear. An iceberg in a fog or gale of wind is not a desirable obstruction to meet at sea. The observations made for deep-sea temperatures gave some remarkable results. Here, among the icebergs, a band of stratum of water was found at a depth of 80 to 200 fathoms colder than the water either above or below it. Take one day as an example. On the 19th of February, the surface temperature of the seawater was 32 degrees. At 100 fathoms, it was 29.2 degrees. While at 300 fathoms, it had risen to 33 degrees. In the Atlantic and the eastern side about the tropics, the bottom temperature was found to be very uniform at 35.2 degrees. While it might be boiling hot on the surface, further south on the west side of the Atlantic below the equator, the bottom was found to be very nearly 3 degrees cooler. It is believed that the cold current enters the Atlantic from the Antarctic and does not rise to within 1,700 fathoms of the surface. These and many kindred points belong more properly to another section of this work to be hereafter discussed. The Challenger had crossed and sounded and dredged the broad Atlantic from Madeira to the West Indies, finding their deepest water of the Virgin Islands. Thence to Halifax, Nova Scotia, we crossed it to the Azores, Canary and Cape de Verde islands. We crossed it once more in a great zigzag from the African coast, through the equatorial regions to Bahia, Brazil and thence if the expression may be used by a great angular sweep through the southern ocean to Tristan de Acuna en route to the Cape when they made an interesting discovery one that unlike the other findings was most interesting to the discovered also. It was that of two modern Robinson Crusoe's who had been living by themselves a couple of years on a desolate rocky island the name of which, inaccessible rightly describes its character and position in mid-ocean Joanne Fernandez the locale of Defors immortal story is nothing to it nowadays and is constantly visited on a rival of the island of Tristan de Acuna itself a miserable settlement of about a dozen cottages the people mostly from the Cape and St. Helena some of them mulettos inform the officers of the Challenger the two Germans brothers had some time before settled for the purpose of catching seals on a small island about 30 miles off and the not having been over there or seen any signs of them for a long time they feared that they had perished it turned out afterwards that the Tristan de Acuna people had not taken any trouble in the matter looking on them as interlopers on their fishing grounds they had promised to send them some animals a bull cow and heifer but although they had stalked fowls of all kinds had left them to their fate but thirst as his little known Tristan de Acuna of which lord George Campbell finishes the following account it is a circular shaped island some nine miles in diameter a peak rising in the centre 8300 feet high a fine sight snow covered as it is two thirds of the way down in the time of Napoleon a guard of our marines was sent there from the Cape but the connection between naps being caged at Santa Elena and a guard of marines occupying this island is not very obvious is it anyway that was the commencement of a settlement which has continued to varying numbers to this day the marines having long been withdrawn and now 86 people men women and children live here a precipitous wall of cliff rising abruptly from the sea encircles the island accepting where the settlement is there the cliff recedes and leaves a long grass slope of considerable extent covered with grey boulders the cottages in number about a dozen look very scotch from the ship with their white walls straw roofs and stone dykes around them sheep, cattle, pigs geese, ducks and cows they have in plenty also potatoes and other vegetables all of which they sell to whalers who give them flower or money in exchange the appearance of the place makes one shudder they look so folious though it were always blowing there which indeed it is heavy storms continually sweeping over killing their cattle right and left before they have time to drive them under shelter they say that they have lost 100 head of cattle lately by these storms which kill the animals particularly the cows and sheer fatigue the men of the place often go whaling or sealing cruises with the ships that touch there the challenger steens slowly over to inaccessible island during the night and anchored next morning off its northern side where rows of magnificent wall of black cliff splashed green with moss and therns rising sheer 1,300 feet above the sea between two headlands a strip of stony beach with a small hut on it could be seen this was the residence of our two cruisers their story told when the first exuberance of joy at the prospect of being taken off the island had passed away was as follows one of the brothers had been cast away on Tristan the Akuna some years before in consequence of the burning of his ship there he and his companions of the crew had been kindly treated by the settlers and told that at one of the neighboring islands 1,700 seals had been captured in one season telling this to a brother when he had last reached home in the fatherland the two of them fired with the ambition of acquiring money quickly determined to exile themselves for a while to the islands by taking passage on an outward bound steamer from Southampton and later transferring themselves to a whaler they reached their destination in safety on the 27th of November 1871 they had purchased an old whale boat massed sails and oars complete and landed with a fair supply of flour biscuit coffee, tea, sugar salt and tobacco sufficient for present needs they had blankets and some covers which were easily filled with bird's feathers a German could hardly forget his national luxury his feather bed they had provided the sails with a wheelbarrow sundry tools pots and kettles a short end filled rifle and an old fouling piece and a very limited supply of powder bullets and shot they had also sensibly provided the sails with some seeds before they started life on the island under favourable circumstances the west side of the island on which they landed consisted of a beach with a bank of earth covered with a strong long tussock grass rising to the cliff which was just possible to scale the walls of rock by which the island is bounded afforded few opportunities to reach the comparatively level plateau at the top the grass it was impossible in one place which had to be climbed constantly it took them an hour and a half of hard labour holding on with hands and feet and even teeth to reach the summit meantime they had found on the north side a suitable place for building their hut near a waterfall that fell from the side of the mountain and close to a wood in which they could obtain all the firewood they required their humble dwelling was partly constructed as spas from the vessel that had brought them to the island was fetched with grass about this time December the sails were landing in the coast it being the pumping season and they killed 19 in hunting them their whale boat which was too heavy for two men to handle was seriously damaged in landing through the surf but yet a constant bailing could be kept afloat a little later they cut it in halves constructed from the best parts a smaller boat which was christened the sea cart during the summer rains their house became so leaky that they pulled it down and shifted their quarters turn of a spot at the beginning of April the tusk grass by which they had ascended the cliff caught fire and their means of reaching game in the shape of wild pigs and goats was cut off about our summer time as in Australia etc. was approaching and it became imperative to think of laying in provisions by means of the sea cart they went round to the west side and succeeded in killing two goats and a pig the latter of which furnished a bucket of fat for frying potatoes the wild boars there were found to be almost un-eatable but the sails were good eating the goat's flesh was said to be very delicate an English ship passed them fire out at sea and they lighted a fire to attract attention but in vain while the surfers were running too high and their cart too shaky to attempt to reach it hiver too they had experienced no greater hardships than they had expected and were prepared for but in June midwinter their boat was during a storm washed off the beach and broken up this was to them a terrible disaster their old supplies were exhausted and they were practically cut off and not merely the world in general but even the rest of the island they got weaker and weaker and by August were a little better than two skeletons the sea was too tempestuous and the distance too great for them to attempt to swim round as the afterwards did to another part of the island the sucker was at hand they were saved by the penguins a very clumsy form of relief the female birds came ashore in August to lay their eggs in the nests already prepared by their lords and masters the male birds who had landed some two or three weeks previously our good Germans had divided their last potato were in a very weak and despondent condition when the pleasant fact stared them in the face that they might now fatten on eggs ad lipitum their new diet soon put fresh heart encouraging them and when early in September a French bark sent a boat ashore they determined still to remain on the island they arranged with the captain for the sale of their sealskins and bartered a quantity of eggs for some biscuit and a couple of pounds of tobacco late in October a schooner from the Cape of Good Hope called at the island an unleaving promise to return for them as they had decided to quit the island not having had any success in obtaining peltries or anything else that is valuable but she did not reappear and in November their supplies were going at starvation point selecting a calm day two cruisers determined to swim round the headland to the eastward taking with them their rifles and blankets and towing after them an empty oil barrel containing their clothes powder matches and kettle this they repeated later on several occasions and climbing the cliffs by the tusset grass were able to kill or secure on the plateau a few of the wild pigs sometimes one of them only would mount and after killing a pig would cut it up and load the hams to his brother below they caught three little sucking pigs and towed them alive through the waves round the point of their landing place where they arrived half drowned they were put in an enclosure and fed on green stuff and penguins they were put in an enclosure and fed on green stuff and penguins eggs good feeding for a delicate little porker attempting on another occasion to tow a couple in the same way the unfortunate pigs met a watery grave in the endeavour to weather the point and one of the brothers barely escaped with some few injuries through a terrible surf which was beating on their part of the coast part of their time was passed in a cave during the cold weather when the challenger arrived their only rifle had burst in two places and was of little use while their musket was completely burst in all directions was being used as a blowpipe to freshen the fire when it got low their only knives had been made by themselves of an old saw their live consisted of eight books and an atlas and these afforded their only literary recreation for two years they knew almost literally by heart when they first landed they had a dog and two pups which they doubtless hoped would prove something like companions the dogs almost immediately left and made for the penguin rookeries where they killed and worried the birds by hundreds one of them became mad and the brothers thought it best to shoot the three of them Captain Nairs gave the two cruisers a passage to the cape where one of them obtained a good situation the other returned to Germany doubtless thinking that about a couple of dozen seal skins all they obtained was hardly enough to reward them for their two years dreary sojourn on inaccessible island end of chapter 2 part 2