The salvors determined now to try to move the ship to a more sheltered position where they would be able to work for longer periods and with fewer interruptions. Accordingly, pumps were set to work pumping out the water in the sound holds, and in time the _Westmoreland_ swung clear of the bottom. The tugs caught hold of her and towed her inshore for a couple of miles, when she bumped the bottom again and was allowed to settle. It was 2 miles to the good, the water was much shallower, but even more important was the additional shelter which made it possible for the men to work more continuously. So the divers toiled away with renewed vigour, hauling the cargo out of the ship to lighten her, hoisting out case after case of butter for which the people were clamouring. It was, fortunately, none the worse for its immersion, and I believe it duly reached the tables of the people, who had no idea that they were eating butter which had been at the bottom of the sea. If the true story be told, there is little doubt that a large quantity of food rescued from the clutches of Neptune was duly eaten by the British people without their being any the wiser. Necessity knows no law, and when famine is looming nigh, as it was then, butter that has been on the seabed is better than butterless bread. In any case the butter ration was so small--but two ounces a week--that no danger could possibly accrue through eating it. Tons and tons of timber props were built into the ship to strengthen her in all directions. The problem of patching the vessel was again considered, but the weather was such as to render patching impracticable. So the salvors allowed the waves to thunder in through the gaping hole in her side, whence they gushed out of the top of the ship in fountains of spray. There was nothing else to be done in the circumstance. Had the salvors succeeded in covering in that mighty hole in the shelter deck strongly enough to keep back the seas, the seas would have raged about inside the damaged hold and smashed everything to pieces; consequently it was much wiser to leave them an outlet. The trunkway was a safety valve by which the seas escaped after tearing through the gaping wound. [Illustration: ONCE THE FORWARD HOLDS OF A SHIP FILL AND DRAG HER DOWN BY THE BOW SHE IS RENDERED HELPLESS. SHE MAY STILL REMAIN AFLOAT, HER ENGINES MAY BE PERFECT, BUT HER CAPTAIN NO LONGER HAS ANY CONTROL OVER HER BECAUSE HER PROPELLER IS OUT OF WATER]