Chapter 5 Chapter 5 The two-masted ship "Moore"

Conga couldn't have been more shrewd with sailor stuff. What ship did he command?On what seas have you sailed?Only Cargant could tell these things; he was a sailor like Conga, and had been Conga's second-in-command throughout his vagabond life, and was still his second-in-command on Staten Isle.But Cargante didn't say it. We can say with utmost certainty that both men were pirates.They must have done it in the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides, where ships were frequently attacked by pirates in those days.Later, the cruisers equipped and dispatched by Britain, France, and the United States went to the Pacific Ocean in this area to search for pirates. They apparently slipped through the net, so they fled to the Magellan Islands to escape. Only here did they give up their career as a pirate and instead lured ships into wrecks. .

Five or six of Conga's and Cargante's accomplices had also been on fishing boats or merchant ships, and were therefore well trained in the seamanship.There were still a few Fuegoians left, and if these bandits could occupy the two-masted ship, these would be the entire crew. Judging from the length of the hull and mast, the two-masted ship that was coming could only carry a load of about 150 or 60 tons.A gust of wind rose from the west during the night, and blew it onto a rocky beach, which might well break it.The hull, however, appeared undamaged; it slanted on the port side, with the stern facing the land and the starboard side facing the sea.The whole deck can be seen from the upper deck to the aft cabin.The foremast, mainmast, and bow jib were all undamaged, the rigging and sails were all half-stretched, and only the foremast's uppermost wallsail and topsail were furled.

When the two-masted ship was seen off Cape San Bartholomew in the evening of the preceding day, she was battling a fair northeasterly wind; into the Ramer Strait.When Conga and his followers saw it disappear in the darkness, the wind began to die down, and soon it was too weak to propel the boat. Suddenly the whole thing changed—this is common in this part of the sea—the ship was too close to the reef to go out to sea in time. The sails were all tightly tied: from this it could be seen that the sailors had tried everything possible to get out of the wind; but it was too late, for the two-masted ship was at last washed up on the beach in its entirety.

The whereabouts of the captain and sailors on board we can only guess at now.Probably, when they found the boat washed up on the dangerous rocky coast, they all got out of the boat, thinking that their boat was destined to crash on the rocks, and then no one on board would die. .Unfortunately, they were completely wrong.They would have all been safe if they had stayed in the boat, and now they must all be drowned, for their little boat was upturned, on the north-east corner, but about two miles from here, and was evidently blown by the wind. To Franklin Bay. It is not difficult to get on the boat when the tide is low. From Cape San Basuloma, you can jump from rock to rock to get to the place where the accident happened. It is only half a mile away. Conga and Cargante are accompanied by two bandits , Just ran over like this, and the rest of the people stayed at the foot of the cliff to patrol the wind, just in case they saw someone who escaped from the boat.

Kanga and his partner went to the beach and saw that the hull of the two-masted ship had completely left the water and was stranded there high.But the next tide always rose seven or eight feet, and as long as the bottom of the boat didn't break, it was sure to be caught in the water. As Conga expected, the ship was indeed a hundred and fifty tons. He walked around the ship for a circle, and saw the words "Moore, Farbareso" on the copper plate at the stern. It turned out to be a Chilean ship; ran aground on Staten Island during the night of December 22nd. "This boat is exactly what we want," Cargant said.

"The hull has to be watertight," objected a bandit. "Any crack or other damage can be repaired," Conga replied. Kanga went to look at the side of the bottom of the boat facing the sea.The bow keel was a little bit in the sand, and it looked as if the well was not damaged, nor was the stern keel, and the rudder was good, the part of the bottom resting on the sand could not be inspected from the outside.In two hours, when the tide came up, Conga would see. "Aboard!" he said. Since the ship was leaning, it was not difficult to get on the ship from the port side, but it was impossible to walk on the deck.Those people can only be used to crawl on it with a rope.Conga put his hands on the planks of the mainmast shrouds and scrambled across, and the rest did likewise.

Nothing in the ship was damaged except a little shaking of the yards, proving that the shock was not violent when the two-masted ship hit the sand.Since the hull is not very narrow, and the planks at the bottom are quite flat, the sinking in the sand is not very deep. When the tide comes, it will definitely float; of course, this depends on whether its main part is damaged or not. Is there any irrigation in it? Conga's first task was to climb to the poop, which was not easy.He found the captain's cabin, entered with his body pressed against the wall, took the ship's papers from a drawer of a cupboard, and returned to the deck where Cargante was waiting for him.

The two looked through the crew list, and knew that the two-masted ship Moore from Farbareso, Chile, had a load of 157 tons. The captain's name was Barra. The cargo was then bound for the Falkland Islands on 23 November with some ballast iron. After successfully rounding Cape Horn, the Moore was about to sail into the Ramell Strait, when it ran aground on a rock outside Starn Island and wrecked. Captain Barra and the rest of the crew did not escape with their lives.If one of them survived, that person would flee to Cape San Basiloma.But it had been two hours since dawn, and no one had been seen.

The two-masted ship was evidently unladen, as she was bound for the Falklands with only ballast iron.But Conga's purpose was only to have a boat to leave the island with his loot, so as long as there was a way to float the Moore, he was content. To see the inside of the ship, the weight irons had to be removed. These were big pieces of scrap iron, and it would take a lot of time to move them all out. At that time, if there was a strong wind at sea again, the two-masted ship would have no cover at all.The most important thing at present is to pull the hull off the sand as soon as it floats.The tide will be coming in soon, and it will be high in a few hours.

Conga said to Cargante: "As soon as there's enough water under the keel, we pull the boat away. Maybe the boat hasn't wrecked anything to leak." "We'll find out in a little while," Cargante replied. "The tide's coming in now. How's that for then, Conga?" "We pulled the boat off these rocks, and down the Cape into the Penguin River, and stopped right in front of the caves. Even at low tide, she would never run aground in the bay, because her draft was only six feet deep. " "After that?" Cargant asked. "In the future we'll put all the things from Elgow Bay on board."

"What about later?" "See you later," Conga replied simply. They all set to work to get the boat out at once when the next tide came, or else it would have to wait another twelve hours before the two-masted ship could be floated.Therefore, it must be pulled to the small river of Penguin Bay for anchorage before noon. In the small river, the boat will always be afloat, and as long as the weather does not change, it will be quite safe. Conga and his gang first took the anchor from the starboard bow, set it far out of the sand, and drew the chain as far as it could go.In this way, as soon as the bottom keel is no longer resting on the sand, the boat can be pulled into deep water again.The whole interior of the boat could be inspected at leisure in a morning, before the tide began to go down, as long as it was possible to pull out to the creek. These steps were carried out very quickly, and when they were all done, the first tide just came in.In a blink of an eye, the beach will be submerged by the tide. Conga, Cargante, and six bandits climbed into the boat; the rest returned to the cliff. There is nothing else to do now but wait.Often, when the tide comes in, the sea breeze always gets stronger.This is the most fearful thing at this time, because the sea wind may blow the boat deeper into the sand.It was near the time of the lowest tide in the second half of the month, and if the tide had only driven in three hundred feet, the sea would not have risen high enough to keep the boat afloat. The circumstances seemed to favor Conga's plans.The wind picked up a little.Turning to the southerly wind, this helped the two-masted ship to float. Conga and the rest stood forward near the bow, for the bow must float before the stern.If, however, the ship can turn its head--and it is not unreasonable to hope--it only needs to send some men to turn the capstan, so that the keel can be lifted off the ground, and after that, the two hundred yards long anchor Once the chain is hoisted, the hull will move as usual. The sea water rose little by little.The hull shook for a moment, proving that the tide was strong.Waves of the sea rushed in, but none of them showed white spray, and there was nothing better than this situation. Conga was now quite sure of getting the boat out, and towing it safely into the creek at Franklin Inlet: but even so, he had one thing to worry about. The one on the beach, I tried to check just now, will this side be broken?If there is a gap under these many ballast irons.Then it's too late to check it out and plug it up.That way, the ship would not be raised, but let the water keep pouring in; then there was nothing to do but to be left where it was, and the first storm would have completely ruined the ship. . Conga and his gang watched the tide come in anxiously.As long as a plank is smashed, or any joint is cracked, the sea water will fill the bilge in a short period of time, and even the hull will not return to normal. But they were gradually relieved.The tide continued to rise, soaking the hull a little bit every minute, and the sea water on both sides of the hull rose, but there was no tick-tick sound inside the boat. There were a few slight vibrations, and it could be seen that the hull was In good condition and not damaged, the deck slowly returned to its normal level position from the slope. "No leak! No leak!" Cargante exclaimed. "Turn the capstan," Conga ordered. The winches were ready; the men only waited for an order to turn them. Conga stretched out over the side of the bow, watching the tide below the anchorage; it had been two and a half hours since the tide had risen.The bow keel began to tremble, and the front bottom of the boat had lifted off the ground, but the stern keel was still sunk in the sand, and the rudder could not turn freely. It would take more than half an hour for the stern to rise. Kanga decided to hurry up and make the hull float quickly.He himself was still standing in the bow, and cried aloud. "Pull it up!" But in spite of all the efforts of the men to turn the capstan, they could do no more than make the hawser taut, and the stern keel remained sunk in the sand and did not move an inch. "Don't relax!" Kanga shouted. Everyone was worried about pulling the anchor off, and it would not be easy to bury the anchor in the ground at that time. The two-masted ship had now completely corrected its position, and Cargante went into the hold to see that there was no water entering, and he was very satisfied.Even if the hull suffered a little damage, at least those planks were not damaged.It is reasonable to assume that the Mole was not injured when it hit the shore, or during the twelve hours it ran aground on the beach.If it is, it won't be too long in the Penguin River for repairs. The cargo can be loaded onto the ship in the afternoon, and it can be driven out to sea the next day.The good weather in front of you must not be let go.The wind was favorable whether the ship was heading for the La Mer Strait or sailing along the south coast of Staten Island to the Atlantic. The tide will start to recede at nine o'clock, and the tide will rise during the low flood period.Always small.In addition, the draft of the two-masted ship is not deep, it seems that the ship will definitely float. Not long after eight-thirty, the stern began to rise, and the bottom of the boat rubbed against the ground, but the water was calm, and there was a sandy beach below, so it looked absolutely fine. Kang Jia took a look at the current situation and decided to try to pull the boat when the situation was in his favor.The bandits turned the winch again under his order.Seventy or eighty feet after they had hoisted, the Moore's bow was at last turned out to sea.That anchor held up well.They packed the flukes tightly into the crevices of the stone, and the winch might have snapped the flukes, but they didn't. "Pull up, boys!" Conga yelled. All the hands went up to pull, including Cargante.Conga leaned against the rear rail, looking down at the stern. For a few minutes, things looked iffy, with the back half of the keel still rubbing against the sand. The masses were all extremely anxious.In twenty minutes more the tide would begin to recede; the Mole must rise before the ebb, or else she would remain where she was; there would be no movement until the next tide, but in the future In the two days since, the tide has only gotten smaller and smaller, and it will take forty-eight hours before it rises again. Now a last effort must be made.Seeing their incompetence, those people were all filled with anger.Under their feet was a ship they had longed for, a ship that would guarantee their liberty and impunity, but they could not wrest it from the miles of the sand. Those people were holding the winch panting, cursing and cursing, the voices were noisy, and they were always worried that the anchor claw would break or slip off.Then they would have to wait until late tide to fix the anchor, and the other anchor at the same time.After twenty-four hours like this, who can guarantee that there will be no accidents, and who can guarantee that the weather will still be the same? As things stand now, a few fairly thick clouds have gathered in the northeast.Of course, the two-masted ship would not be so badly off if these clouds stayed only on the northeast corner, for the beach was sheltered by the cliffs along the coast, but the sea might get rougher and the waves might be like Just like last night, the ship was completely smashed on the shore and destroyed. Besides, these northeasterly winds, though not very strong, made navigation in the channel rather difficult, and the Moore was then forced to sail against the wind for several days, instead of sailing at full speed: and as far as sailing is concerned, any Delays are often unpredictable. The tide is running low now, and in a few minutes it will start to recede.The beach was completely submerged at this time, only one or two reef tips were still exposed in the waves.The end of Cape Sangisulama was out of sight, and the highest water level along the coast was hit by the torrent for a moment, and then it dried up. Evidently, the tide had slowly receded, and the reefs along the beach would soon appear again. At this moment, Kanga rushed to those people, furious, with fire in his eyes.He snatched an ax in his hand, and threatened that whoever refused to do it, he would kill him with an axe. Everyone knew that he would do what he said, without ambiguity. So those men pulled up the capstan again, and under the joint efforts of all, the chain was so tense in the anchor hole lined with copper that it was almost broken. Finally everyone heard a sound.The winch's handle was sunk in the groove.The two-masted ship moved a little towards the sea.The rudder moved again, which meant that the rudder had gradually been pulled out of the sand. "Brilliant! Brilliant!" cried everyone, feeling that the two-masted ship had loosened.The hull was speeding along the beach.The winch turned even faster, and within a few minutes the two-masted ship was pulled out of the beach by its own anchor. Conga rushed to the winch.The anchor chain was let loose, the anchor was hoisted out, and the anchor frame was hoisted.Now it was all that was left to drive it through the channel between the rocks and out into the creek of Franklin Inlet. Conga hoisted the jib in the bow, and that alone was enough. Half an hour later the two-masted ship had rounded the last rock along the coast and was anchored in the Penguin River; the creek was only two miles from the end of Cape San Basiloma's cape.