In the Sargasso Sea
Page 34
XXXIV
I END A GOOD JOB WELL, AND GET A SET-BACK
When my meal was finished I set myself first of all to getting off thehatch beneath which my boat lay; and this proved to be a bigger jobthan I had counted upon--each of its sections being so heavy that Icould not manage it without tackle, and even with tackle the work tookme a good hour. My plan of operations had included removing the hatchevery morning and setting it back again every night, but when I foundhow much energy and time would be wasted in that way I changed myfront a little and got at the same result along another line. All thatI needed was a covering for the hatch that would keep the rain out;and what I did, therefore, was to knock together a light grating ofwood to fit over it--sloping the grating downward on each side from asort of a ridge pole--on which a tarpaulin could be stretched; and inthat way I got shortly to a water-tight covering for my hatch that Icould shift back and forth quickly and without any trouble at all. Butthe whole of what remained of the afternoon was spent in gettingthat piece of preliminary work finished to my mind.
The next morning I set myself to the examination of the stuff stowedin the boat--the several parts which I would have to put together inorder to make my craft ready for the sea--and for this job also agreat deal of preliminary arrangement was required. Many of thepieces--as the boiler, the cylinder, the shaft, the screw, and thesections of the cabin--were too heavy for me to lift without tackle;and as they all had to be got out and arranged in order ready for use,and then in due course put aboard the boat one at a time in theirproper places, I first of all had to set up some sort of liftingapparatus to take the place of a crane.
In this matter the open hatch directly over the boat again was a helpto me. Across it, running fore and aft, I stretched a heavy wire ropeon which I had placed a big block for a traveller, and carrying theend of the rope forward to the capstan I fell to work with thehand-bars and got it strained so taut that it was like a bar of iron.Then to the traveller block I made fast my hoisting tackle--and so wasable to swing up the heavy pieces from where they were stowed, and torun them along the taut rope until they were clear of the boat oneither side, and then to let them down upon the deck: where they wouldremain until a reversal of this process would lift them up again andset them in place as they were required. But even with my tackle--anddouble tackle in the case of the heavier pieces--this was aback-breaking job that took up the whole of three days.
However, I finished it at last, and had the boat clear and all thepieces so arranged that as I needed them they would be ready to myhand; and the examination that I was able to make of them, and of theboat too after I had her empty, gave very satisfactory results. Allthe parts were there, and all numbered so carefully that they couldhave been assembled by much less skilful hands than mine; while thehull of the boat was completely finished, and the sockets andrivet-holes for attaching her fittings were all as they should be inher frame. Farther, I could see by the little scratches here and thereon her iron-work that she had been set up and then taken apart again;and so was sure that all was smooth for her coming together in theright way. But, for all that I had such plain sailing before me in theactual work of refitting her, my courage went down a little as Iperceived what a big contract I had taken, and what a very long timemust pass before I could pull it through.
Moreover, I saw that while the boat was well built for pleasurecruising in smooth water--and, indeed, was so stout in her frame thatshe would stand a great deal of knocking about without being theworse for it--she by no means was prepared for the chances of an oceanvoyage. Except where her little cabin and engine-room would be--thetwo filling about half of her length amidships--she was entirely open;and while the frame of her cabin was stoutly built, that part of itintended to rise above the rail was arranged for sliding glasswindows--which would be smashed in a moment by a heavy dash of sea. Itwas clear, therefore, that in addition to setting her up on the linesplanned for her--a big job and a long job to start with--there was alot more for me to do. To fit her for my purposes it would benecessary to cover her cabin windows with planking; to deck her overforward in order to have my stores under cover as well as to guardagainst shipping enough water to swamp her in rough weather; andfinally to rig her with a mast and sail upon which to fall back formotive-power in the event of my running out of coal. This additionalwork would not, in one way, present any difficulties--it being initself simple and easy of accomplishment; but in another way it wasnot pleasant to contemplate, since the doing of it all single-handedwould increase very greatly the time which must pass before I couldstart upon my voyage. However, as consideration of that phase of thematter only tended to discourage me, I put it out of sight as well asI was able and set myself with a will to finishing my preliminarywork--of which there still was a good deal to do.
The steamer's machine-shop, as I have said, was unusually well fittedand supplied; but even in the short time that the vessel had beenlying abandoned in that reeking atmosphere rust had so coatedeverything not shut up in lockers that all the tools in the racks andthe fittings of the lathe--although the lathe had an oil-cloth hoodover it--had to be cleaned before they could be used: a job that keptme busy with the grind-stone, and emery-cloth, and oiled cotton-waste,for a good long while. And after that I had to get the forge in order,and to bring up fuel for it from the coal bunkers. And in attending toall these various matters the time slipped away so quickly that awhole week had passed before I had done.
But I must say that as the cat and I labored together--though hislabors were confined to cheering me by following me about on threelegs wherever I went, and pretty much all the while talking to me inhis way so that I should not fail to take notice of him--I got moreand more light-hearted; which was natural enough, seeing that what Iwas doing in itself interested me and so made the time pass quickly,and that I had also a great swelling undercurrent of hope as Ithought of what my slow-going work would bring me to in the end.
When at last I fairly got started at my building I was in a stillmore cheerful mood--there being such a sense of definiteaccomplishment as I set each piece in its place, and such a comfort inthe tangible advance that I was making, that half the time I wassinging as I made my bolts and rivets fast. But for all mycheerfulness I had a plenty of trouble over what I was doing; and Iwas sorry enough that I had not somebody beside my cat to help me, orthat I myself had not another pair or two of hands.
Almost at the start, when I began to swing the pieces of machineryinboard, I found that I had still another bit of preliminary work toattend to before I could go on. My travelling tackle crossing the boatamidships had worked well enough in getting the stuff out of her, butwhen I came to hoisting the parts aboard and setting them exactly intheir places, and holding them steady while I made fast the rivets, itwould not in any way serve my turn. What I had to do was to stretchanother wire rope across the hatch--at right angles with and a coupleof feet above the first one, and parallel with the boat's keel--and torig on this two travellers, to one or the other of which I couldtransfer each piece as I got it inboard and so run it along until Ihad it exactly over the place where it was to be made fast. But I wasa whole day in attending to this matter--and it was only one of themany makeshifts to which I had to resort to accomplish what was toomuch for my unaided strength; and in meeting such like sidedifficulties I lost in all a good many days.
But though my work went very slowly, and now and then was stoppedshort for a while by some obstacle that had to be overcome in anyrough and ready way that I could think of, I did get on; and at last Ihad my boat together on the lines that her builders had planned. Yetwhile, in a way, she was finished, there still was a weary lot to doto her to fit her for my purposes; and in decking her over, and inmaking her cabin solid, and in fitting a mast and sail to her, I spentalmost two months more.
All this work went slowly because I had to spend nearly as much timein making ready for what I wanted to do as in doing it. Before I beganmy planking I had to rip up from the steamer's deck the material
forit; and this was a hard job in itself and did not give me what Iwanted when it was done--for while the stuff served well enough for mybeams and braces it was clumsily heavy for the decking of my littlelaunch. But it had to answer, and in the end I got it well in placeand the joints so tightly caulked that I was sure of having a dryhold. And that my deck might the more easily turn the water in a seaway I made it flush with the rail; and I had no hatch init--arranging to get to the hold by a scuttle that I set in theforward end of the cabin--and that gave me a still better chance ofkeeping dry below.
For my mast I got down one of the top-gallant masts--and I had a closeshave to coming down with it and so ending my adventures right there.The best way that I could think of to manage this piece of work--and Ihave not since thought of any way better--was to make fast a line tothe lower end of the top-gallant mast just above the cap of thetopmast and to carry this line through the top-block and so down tothe deck, and there to pass it through another block to the capstanand haul it taut and stop it; and when all that was in order, and thestays cut, to get up into the cross-trees and saw through the sparjust below where I had whipped it with my line. My expectation wasthat as the spar parted and fell it would be held hanging by my tackleuntil I could get down to the deck again and lower it away; and thatreally was what did happen--only as it fell there was a bit of slackline to take up, and this gave such a tremendous jerk to thecross-trees that I was within an ace of being shaken out of them andof going down to the deck with a bang. But I didn't--which is the mainthing--and I did get my mast. It was a good deal heavier than my boatcould stand, and I had to spend a couple of days in taking it downwith a broad-axe and in finishing it with a plane until I got it as itshould be; and from the flag-staff at the steamer's stern I got outwith very little trouble a good boom and gaff.
After that I had only my sail to fit; and as I did not trouble myselfto make a very neat job of it this did not take me long. Indeed, Igrudged the time that I spent on my mast and sail--close upon afortnight, altogether--more than any like amount of time that I gaveto my task; for my hope was strong that I would not need a sail atall, but would be able to manage--by a way that I had thought of--tocarry enough coal with me to make my voyage under steam. But I was notleaving anything to chance--so far as chances could be foreseen--inthe adventure that I was about to make, and so I got my sail-power allready to fall back upon in case my steam-power failed. And when thatbit of work was finished I was full of a joyful light-heartedness; formy boat in every way was ready for the water, and I was come at lastto the good ending of my long job.
That night I made a feast in celebration of what I had accomplished,and in hope of my greater good fortune that I believed was soon tocome--with a place duly set on the opposite side of the table for myonly guest, and with a champagne-glass beside his plate to hold hisunsweetened condensed milk (for which, when I found it among theship's stores, he manifested a strong partiality) that he might lapproperly his responses to the toasts which I pledged him inchampagne. And I don't suppose that a man and a cat ever had a merriermeal anywhere than we had in that queer place for it that evening; northat any two friends ever were happier together than we were when, ourfeast being ended, he went through his various tricks--of which he hadlearned a great many, and with a wonderful quickness, after his pawgot well--and then settled himself for a snooze on my lap while I satsmoking my cigar and thinking that at last I had sawn throughmy prison bars.
And it was while I was sitting in that state of placid happiness thatsuddenly I was brought up all standing by the reflection--and why ithad not come sooner to me is a mystery--that a dozen turns of thescrew of my launch in that weed-covered ocean would be enough to foulit hopelessly, and so at the very start to cut short the voyage understeam that I had planned.