But now we were come in the ship to work and not to take our ease, for
breaming is, as sailors know, no lightsome task. Yet, too, there was a
pleasant relaxation even in this, for, since the frigate was not
liveable when careened over, all of us were bestowed ashore. So, too,
were the remaining stores, of which in most things we still had a
plenty, and so, too, were the great guns, they being placed around our
encampment as though a fort. The ship herself was hove down by the
side of a rock which stretched out from the land a little way; and, so
that we could come at her and go to and fro with greater ease, we had
constructed a bridge made of a plank leading from the summit of the
rock to the shore, just above high water. 'Twas not long to the
beginning of the rock from the land, being some thirty feet, but once
on the rock itself one had to walk some hundred feet to reach where
the frigate was.
Now Phips, as ever, setting a good example, had with his own great
strong hands helped at hauling the ship over, and ashore he had
assisted in cutting down trees to make our encampment palisadoes, our
cabin roofs and wooden walls, and so forth. Never did he spare
himself, and thus endeavoured to keep harmony and good will among all,
officers and men alike.
As to the mutiny, 'twas now forgot, or at least we thought so. Brooks,
who had been the ringleader in it, seemed quite broken since the
episode with the sharks, and, perhaps, also a little with the
treatment since accorded him. Never had the Captain relaxed on
him--and but little on the others, tho' somewhat--and never had he
been permitted so much as an hour's leave or a sup of the beer while
the casks lasted, or to take more than one watch and one dog watch
below in the twenty-four hours. I say it broke him, yet I liked not
the look to be seen sometimes on his face; and 'twas more than once
that I bid the Captain observe him well, as also I did the subaltern
officers. But Phips only laughed, saying:
"Tush, Nick! We have scotched the villain; have no fear; what can he
do? Moreover, is not old Hanway a watch dog that never looses his eye
from him? And, as he knows, his friends the sharks are ever near."
So the memory of the mutiny slumbered or awakened but little, and time
went on and the breaming of the ship was a'most finished. We got her
clean at last, by a plentiful kindling of furze and oil and faggots,
so as to melt the old pitch about her, and were rapidly getting her
re-pitched and caulked, coated and stuffed, so that when we went back
to fish for another year she would be so clean and neat that, when we
upped anchor, we should be ready for home at once. Also we had righted
the ship again so that some few could live in her, and soon we meant
to bring back the stores, great guns and other things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account