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CHAPTER XV
1st Lord. – “Throca movonsas, cargo, cargo, cargo.”
All. – “Cargo, cargo, villianda par corbo, cargo.”
Par. – “O! ransome, ransome: – Do not hide mine eyes”
st
Sold. – “Boskos Thromuldo boskos.”
1
Par. – “I know you are the Muskos’ regiment,
And I shall lose my life for want of language. – ”
All’s Well That Ends Well.
The Crisis was tacked, as soon as the body of Smudge was
cut down, and she moved slowly, her crew maintaining a
melancholy silence, out of the little haven. I never witnessed
stronger evidence of sadness in the evolutions of a vessel; the
slow and stately departure resembling that of mourners leaving the grave on which they had just heard the fall of the clod.
Marble told me afterwards, he had been disposed to anchor,
and remain until the body of poor Captain Williams should
rise, as it probably would within the next forty-eight hours;
but the dread of a necessity of sacrificing more of the natives,
induced him to quit the fatal spot, without paying the last duties to our worthy old commander. I always regretted we did
not remain, for I think no Indian would have come near us,
had we continued in the harbour a month.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
It was high-noon when the ship once more issued into the
broad bosom of the Pacific. The wind was at south-east, and
as we drew off from the land, it came fresh and steady. About
two, having an offing of ten or twelve miles, orders were issued to set all the larboard studding-sails, and we stood to the
southward and westward under a press of canvass. Every one
saw in this change, a determination to quit the coast; nor did
we regret the measure, for our trade had been quite successful, down to the moment of the seizure, but could hardly be
prosperous after what had passed. I had not been consulted in
the affair at all, but the second-mate having the watch, I was
now summoned to the cabin, and let into the secret of our future movements. I found Marble seated at the cabin table, with
Captain Williams’s writing-desk open before him, and sundry
papers under examination.
“Take a seat, Mr. Wallingford,” said the new master, with
a dignity and manner suited to the occasion. “I have just been
overhauling the old man’s instructions from the owners, and
find I have done right in leaving these hang-gallows rascals to
themselves, and shaping our course to the next point of destination. As it is, the ship has done surprisingly well. There are
$67,370 good Spaniards down in the run, and that for goods
which I see are invoiced at just $26,240; and when you consider that no duties, port-charges, or commissions are to be
deducted, but that the dollars under our feet are all our own,
without any drawbacks, I call the operation a good one. Then
that blundering through the Straits, though it must never be
talked of in any other light than a bold push for a quick passage, did us a wonderful deal of good, shoving us ahead near a
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
month in time. It has put us so much ahead of our calculations,
indeed, that I would cruise for Frenchmen for five or six weeks,
were there the least probability that one of the chaps was to
the westward of the Horn. Such not being the fact, however,
and there still being a very long road before us, I have thought
it best to push for the next point of destination. Read that page
of the owner’s idees, Mr. Wallingford, and you will get their
advice for just such a situation as that in which we find ourselves.”
The passage pointed out by Captain Marble was somewhat
parenthetical, and was simply intended to aid Captain Williams, in the event of his not being able to accomplish the
other objects of his voyage. It had a place in the instructions,
indeed, solely on account of a suggestion of Marble’s himself,
the project being one of those favourite schemes of the mate,
that men sometimes maintain through thick or thin, until
they get to be ruling thoughts. On Captain Williams it had
not weighed a feather; his intention having been to proceed
to the Sandwich Islands for sandalwood, which was the course
then usually pursued by North-West traders, after quitting
the coast. The parenthetical project, however, was to touch at
the last island, procure a few divers, and proceed in quest of
certain islands where it was supposed the pearl fishery would
succeed. Our ship was altogether too large, and every way too
expensive, to be risked in such an adventure, and so I told the
ex-mate without any scruple. But this fishery was a “fixed idea,”
a quick road to wealth, in the new captain’s mind, and finding
it in the instructions, though simply as a contingent course, he
was inclined to regard it as the great object of the voyage. Such
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
it was in his eyes, and such it ought to be, as he imagined, in
those of the owners.
Marble had excellent qualities in his way, but he was not
fit to command a ship. No man could stow her better, fit her
better, sail her better, take better care of her in heavy weather,
or navigate her better; and yet he wanted the judgment necessary to manage the property that must be committed to his
care, and he had no more ideas of commercial thrift, than if he
had never been employed in any of the concerns of commerce.
This was, in truth, the reason he had never risen any higher
in his profession, the mercantile instinct – one of the liveliest
and most acute to be found in natural history – forewarning
his different owners that he was already in the berth nature
and art had best qualified him to fill. It is wonderful how acute
even dull men get to be, on the subject of money!
I own my judgment, such as it was at nineteen, was opposed
to the opinion of the captain. I could see that the contingency
contemplated by the instructions had not arisen, and that we
should be acting more in conformity with the wishes of the
owners, by proceeding to the Sandwich Islands in quest of sandal-wood, and thence to China, after a cargo of teas. Marble
was not to be convinced, however, though I think my arguments shook him a little. What might have been the result, it
is difficult to say, had not chance befriended the views of each
of us, respectively. It is proper to add, that Marble availed himself of this opportunity to promote Talcott, who was brought
into the cabin as third-mate. I rejoiced greatly in this addition
to our little circle on the quarter-deck, Talcott being a man of
education, much nearer my own age than the two others, and
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
united to me by unusual ties since our common adventure in
the prize. I was not only rejoiced to be able to associate with
him, but to hear him called Mr. Talcott.
We had a long, but mild, passage to the Sandwich Islands.
This group occupied a very different place, in the opinions of
the world, in the year 1800, from that it fills to-day. Still it
had made some small advances in civilization since the time
of Cook. I am told there are churches, taverns, billiard-tables,
and stone dwellings in these islands now, which are fast turning to the Christian religion, and obtaining the medley of
convenience, security, vice, roguery, law and comfort, that is
known as civilization. It was far different then, our reception
being by men who were but a small degree removed from savages. Among those who first came on board us, however, was
the master of an American brig, belonging to Boston, whose
vessel had got on a reef, and bilged. He intended to remain by
the wreck, but wished to dispose of a considerable amount of
sandal-wood that was still in his vessel, and for the safety of
which he was under great concern, as the first gale of wind
might scatter it to the winds of the ocean. If he could obtain
a fresh stock of goods to trade on, he proposed remaining on
the islands until another vessel belonging to the same owners,
which was expected in a few months, should arrive, on board
which vessel he intended to embark with everything he could
save from the wreck, and such wood as he could purchase in
the interim. Captain Marble rubbed his hands with delight,
when he returned from a visit to the wreck, his arrangements
all completed.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Luck is with us, Master Miles,” he said, “and we’ll be off
for them pearl fisheries next week. I have bought all the sandal-wood in the wreck, paying in trumpery, and at prices only
about double Indian trade, and we will heave up, and carry the
ship round to the wreck, and begin to take in this afternoon.
There is capital holding-ground inside the reef, and the ship
can be safely carried within a hundred fathoms of her cargo!”
All turned out as Marble had hoped and predicted, and the
Crisis was back at her anchorage in front of the village, which
is now the city of Honolulu, within the week named. We got
our supply of hogs, and having procured four of the best divers going, we sailed in quest of Captain Marble’s Eldorado of
pearls. I was less opposed to the scheme than I had been, for
we were now so much in advance of our time, that we could
afford to pass a few weeks among the islands, previously to
sailing for China. Our course was to the south-west, crossing
the line in about 170° west longitude. There was a clear sea,
for more than a fortnight, while we were near the equator, the
ship making but little progress. Glad enough was I to hear the
order given to turn more to the northward again; for the heat
was oppressive, and this was inclining towards our route to
China. We had been out from Owyhee, as it was then usual to
call the island where Cook was killed – Hawaii, as it is called
to-day – we had been out from this island, about a month,
when Marble came up to me one fine, moon-light evening, in
my watch, rubbing his hands, as was his custom when in good
humour, and broke out as follows: –
“I’ll tell you what, Miles,” he said, “you and I have been
salted down by Providence for something more than common!
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
Just look back at all our adventures in the last three years,
and see what they come to. Firstly, there was shipwreck over
here on the coast of Madagascar,” jerking his thumb over a
shoulder in a manner that was intended to indicate about two
hundred degrees of longitude, that being somewhat near our
present distance from the place he mentioned, in an air line;
“then followed the boat business under the Isle of Bourbon,
and the affair with the privateer off Guadaloupe. Well, as if
that wern’t enough, we ship together again in this vessel, and a
time we had of it with the French letter-of-marque. After that,
a devil of a passage we made of it through the Straits of Magellan. Then came the melancholy loss of Captain Williams, and
all that business; after which we got the sandal-wood out of
the wreck, which I consider the luckiest transaction of all.”
“I hope you don’t set down the loss of Captain Williams
among our luck, sir!”
“Not I, but the stuff is all logged together, you know; and,
in overhauling for one idee, in such a mess, a fellow is apt to
get hold of another. As I was saying, we have been amazingly
lucky, and I expect nothing else but we shall discover an island
yet!”
“Can that be of any great service to us? There are so many
owners ready to start up and claim such discoveries, that I
question if it would do us any great benefit.”
“Let them start up – who cares for them; we’ll have the
christening, and that’s half the battle. Marble Land, Wallingford Bay, Talcott Hills, and Cape Crisis, would look well on a
chart – ha! Miles?”
“I have no objection to see it, sir.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Land ho!” cried the look-out on the forecastle.
“There it is now, by George!” cried Marble, springing forward – “I overhauled the chart half an hour since, and there
ought to be nothing within six hundred miles of us.”
There it was, sure enough, and much nearer to us than was
at all desirable. So near, indeed, that the wash of the breakers
on the reef that so generally lies off from the low coral islands
of the Pacific, was distinctly audible from the ship. The moon
gave a strong light, it is true, and the night was soft and balmy;
but the air, which was very light, blew directly towards this
reef, and then there were always currents to apprehend. We
sounded, but got no bottom.
“Ay, this is one of your coral reefs, where a man goes on the
rocks from off soundings, at a single jump,” muttered Marble,
ordering the ship brought by the wind on the best tack to haul
off shore. “No notice, and a wreck. As for anchoring in such
a place, a fellow might as well run a line out to Japan; and,
could an anchor find the bottom, the cable would have some
such berth as a man who slept in a hammock filled with open
razors.”
All this was true enough; and we watched the effect of our
change of course with the greatest anxiety. All hands were
called, and the men were stationed, in readiness to work the
ship. But, a few minutes satisfied us, the hope of clawing off, in
so light an air, was to the last degree vain. The vessel set in fast
towards the reef, the breakers on which now became apparent, even by the light of the moon; the certain sign they were
fearfully near.
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
This was one of those moments in which Marble could
show himself to be a true man. He was perfectly calm and selfpossessed; and stood on the taffrail, giving his orders, with a
distinctness and precision I had never seen surpassed. I was
kept in the chains, myself, to watch the casts of the lead. No
bottom, however, was the never-failing report; nor was any
bottom expected; it being known that these reefs were quite
perpendicular on their seaward side. The captain called out to
me, from time to time, to be active and vigilant, as our set inshore was uncontrollable, and the boats, if in the water, as the
launch could not be for twenty minutes, would be altogether
useless. I proposed to lower the yawl, and to pull to leeward, to
try the soundings, in order to ascertain if it were not possible
to find bottom at some point short of the reef, on which we
should hopelessly be set, unless checked by some such means,
in the course of the next fifteen or twenty minutes.
“Do it at once, sir,” cried Marble. “The thought is a good
one, and does you credit, Mr. Wallingford.”
I left the ship in less than five minutes, and pulled off, under the ship’s lee-bow, knowing that tacking or waring would
be out of the question, under the circumstances. I stood up in
the stern-sheets, and made constant casts with the hand-lead,
with a short line, however, as the boat went foaming through
the water. The reef was now plainly in sight, and I could see,
as well as hear, the long, formidable ground-swells of the Pacific, while fetching up against these solid barriers, they rolled
over, broke, and went beyond the rocks in angry froth. At this
perilous instant, when I would not have given the poorest acre
of Clawbonny to have been the owner of the Crisis, I saw a
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
spot to leeward that was comparatively still, or in which the
water did not break. It was not fifty fathoms from me when
first discovered; and towards it I steered, animating the men
to redoubled exertions. We were in this narrow belt of smooth
water, as it might be in an instant, and the current sucked the
boat through it so fast, as to allow time to make but a single
cast of the lead. I got bottom; but it was in six fathoms!
The boat was turned, and headed out again, as if life and
death depended on the result. The ship was fortunately within
sound of the voice, steering still by the wind, though setting
three feet towards the reef, for one made in the desired direction; and I hailed.
“What now, Mr. Wallingford?” demanded Marble, as calmly as if anchored near a wharf at home.
“Do you see the boat, sir?”
“Quite plainly; – God knows you are near enough to be
seen.”
“Has the ship steerage-way on her, Captain Marble?”
“Just that, and nothing more to boast of.”
“Then ask no questions; but try to follow the boat. It is the
only hope; and it may succeed.”
I got no answer; but I heard the deep, authoritative voice
of Marble, ordering the “helm up,” and the men “to man the
weather-braces.” I could scarcely breathe, while I stood looking
at the ship’s bows, as they fell off, and noted her slow progress
ahead. Her speed increased sensibly, however, and I kept the
boat far enough to windward to give the vessel room fairly to
enter the pass. At the proper moment, we moved towards the
inlet, the Crisis keeping more and more away, in order to fol-
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