The Survivors of the Chancellor: Chapter 31

Chapter 31

CHAPTER XXXI.

DECEMBER 7th CONTINUED.--Our first day on the raft has passed
without any special incident.  At eight o'clock this morning
Curtis asked our attention for a moment.

"My friends," he said, "listen to me.  Here on this raft, just as
when we were on board the 'Chancellor,' I consider myself your
captain; and as your captain, I expect that all of you will
strictly obey my orders.  Let me beg of you, one and all, to
think solely of our common welfare; let us work with one heart
and with one soul, and may Heaven protect us!"

After delivering these few words with an emotion that evidenced
their earnestness, the captain consulted his compass, and found
that the freshening breeze was blowing from the north.  This was
fortunate for us, and no time was to be lost in taking advantage
of it to speed us on our dubious way.  Dowlas was occupied in
fixing the mast into the socket that had already been prepared
for its reception, and in order to support it more firmly he
placed spurs of wood, forming arched buttresses, on either side.
While he was thus employed the boatswain and the other seamen
were stretching the large royal sail on the yard that had been
reserved for that purpose.

By half-past nine the mast was hoisted, and held firmly in its
place by some shrouds attached securely to the sides of the raft;
then the sail was run up and trimmed to the wind, and the raft
began to make a perceptible progress under the brisk breeze.

As soon as we had once started, the carpenter set to work to
contrive some sort of a rudder, that would enable us to maintain
our desired direction.  Curtis and Falsten assisted him with some
serviceable suggestions, and in a couple of hours' time he had
made and fixed to the back of the raft a kind of paddle, very
similar to those used by the Malays.

At noon, after the necessary preliminary observations, Curtis
took the altitude of the sun.  The result gave lat. 15deg. 7min.
N. by long. 49deg. 35min. W. as our position, which, on
consulting the chart, proved to be about 650 miles north-east of
the coast of Paramaribo in Dutch Guiana.

Now even under the most favourable circumstances, with trade-
winds and weather always in our favour, we cannot by any chance
hope to make more than ten or twelve miles a day, so that the
voyage cannot possibly be performed under a period of two months.
To be sure there is the hope to be indulged that we may fall in
with a passing vessel, but as the part of the Atlantic into which
we have been driven is intermediate between the tracks of the
French and English Transatlantic steamers either from the
Antilles or the Brazils, we cannot reckon at all upon such a
contingency happening in our favour; whilst if a calm should set
in, or worse still, if the wind were to blow from the east, not
only two months, but twice, nay, three times that length of time
will be required to accomplish the passage.

At best, however, our provisions, even though used with the
greatest care, will barely last three months.  Curtis has called
us into consultation, and as the working of the raft does not
require such labour as to exhaust our physical strength, all have
agreed to submit to a regimen which, although it will suffice to
keep us alive, will certainly not fully satisfy the cravings of
hunger and thirst.

As far as we can estimate, we have somewhere about 500 lbs.  of
meat and about the same quantity of biscuit.  To make this last
for three months we ought not to consume very much more than 5
lbs. a day of each, which, when divided among eighteen people,
will make the daily ration 5 oz. of meat and 5 oz. of biscuit for
each person.  Of water we have certainly not more than 200
gallons, but by reducing each person's allowance to a pint a day,
we hope to eke out that, too, over the space of three months.

It is arranged that the food shall be distributed under the
boatswain's superintendence every morning at ten o'clock.  Each
person will then receive his allowance of meat and biscuit, which
may be eaten when and how he pleases.  The water will be given
out twice a day--at ten in the morning and six in the evening;
but as the only drinking-vessels in our possession are the tea-
kettle and the old Irishman's tin pot, the water has to be
consumed immediately on distribution.  As for the brandy, of
which there are only five gallons, it will be doled out with the
strictest limitation, and no one will be allowed to touch it
except with the captain's express permission.

I should not forget that there are two sources from which we may
hope to increase our store.  First, any rain that may fall will
add to our supply of water, and two empty barrels have been
placed ready to receive it; secondly, we hope to do something in
the way of fishing, and the sailors have already begun to prepare
some lines.

All have mutually agreed to abide by the rules that have been
laid down, for all are fully aware that by nothing but the most
precise regimen can we hope to avert the horrors of famine, and
forewarned by the fate, of many who in similar circumstances have
miserably perished, we are determined to do all that prudence can
suggest for husbanding our stores.

Back to chapter list of: The Survivors of the Chancellor