Verne Jules - The Voyages and Adventures of Captain.pdf

(1529 KB) Pobierz
The Voyages and Adventures of Captain
Hatteras
By
Jules Verne
1
PART I.
THE ENGLISH AT THE NORTH POLE.
CHAPTER I.
THE FORWARD.
"To-morrow, at the turn of the tide, the brig Forward, K. Z.,
captain, Richard Shandon, mate, will clear from New Prince's Docks;
destination unknown."
This announcement appeared in the Liverpool Herald of April 5, 1860.
The sailing of a brig is not a matter of great importance for the
chief commercial city of England. Who would take notice of it in so
great a throng of ships of all sizes and of every country, that
dry-docks covering two leagues scarcely contain them?
Nevertheless, from early morning on the 6th of April, a large crowd
collected on the quays of the New Prince's Docks; all the sailors of
the place seemed to have assembled there. The workingmen of the
neighboring wharves had abandoned their tasks, tradesmen had left
their gloomy shops, and the merchants their empty warehouses. The
many-colored omnibuses which pass outside of the docks were
discharging, every minute, their load of sight-seers; the whole city
2
seemed to care for nothing except watching the departure of the
Forward.
The Forward was a vessel of one hundred and seventy tons, rigged as
a brig, and carrying a screw and a steam-engine of one hundred and
twenty horse-power. One would have very easily confounded it with the
other brigs in the harbor. But if it presented no especial difference
to the eye of the public, yet those who were familiar with ships
noticed certain peculiarities which could not escape a sailor's keen
glance.
Thus, on the Nautilus, which was lying at anchor near her, a group
of sailors were trying to make out the probable destination of the
Forward.
"What do you say to her masts?" said one; "steamers don't usually
carry so much sail."
"It must be," answered a red-faced quartermaster, "that she relies
more on her sails than on her engine; and if her topsails are of that
size, it's probably because the lower sails are to be laid back. So
I'm sure the Forward is going either to the Arctic or Antarctic
Ocean, where the icebergs stop the wind more than suits a solid ship."
"You must be right, Mr. Cornhill," said a third sailor. "Do you notice
how straight her stem is?"
3
"Besides," said Mr. Cornhill, "she carries a steel ram forward, as
sharp as a razor; if the Forward, going at full speed, should run
into a three-decker, she would cut her in two."
"That's true," answered a Mersey pilot, "for that brig can easily run
fourteen knots under steam. She was a sight to see on her trial trip.
On my word, she's a swift boat."
"And she goes well, too, under sail," continued the quartermaster;
"close to the wind, and she's easily steered. Now that ship is going
to the polar seas, or my name is not Cornhill. And then, see there! Do
you notice that large helm-port over the head of her rudder?"
"That's so," said some of the sailors; "but what does that prove?"
"That proves, my men," replied the quartermaster with a scornful
smile, "that you can neither see nor think; it proves that they wanted
to leave the head of the rudder free, so that it might be unshipped
and shipped again easily. Don't you know that's what they have to do
very often in the ice?"
"You are right," answered the sailors of the Nautilus.
"And besides," said one, "the lading of the brig goes to prove what
Mr. Cornhill has said. I heard it from Clifton, who has shipped on
4
her. The Forward carries provisions for five or six years, and coal
in proportion. Coal and provisions are all she carries, and a quantity
of woollen and sealskin clothing."
"Well," said Mr. Cornhill, "there's no doubt about it. But, my friend,
since you know Clifton, hasn't he told you where she's bound?"
"He couldn't tell me, for he didn't know; the whole crew was shipped
in that way. Where is he going? He won't know till he gets there."
"Nor yet if they are going to Davy Jones's locker," said one scoffer,
"as it seems to me they are."
"But then, their pay," continued the friend of Clifton
enthusiastically,--"their pay! it's five times what a sailor usually
gets. If it had not been for that, Richard Shandon would not have got
a man. A strangely shaped boat, going no one knows where, and as if it
never intended coming back! As for me, I should not have cared to ship
in her."
"Whether you would or not," answered Mr. Cornhill, "you could never
have shipped in the Forward."
"Why not?"
"Because you would not have answered the conditions. I heard that
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin