Chapter 2 Chapter 1 in the lifeboat of the Lady Wein

I do not intend to add to what has already been reported about the wreck of the Lady Wein.Everyone knows that the "Madame Vein" crashed into an abandoned ship drifting at sea on the tenth day after leaving Calao.Eighteen days later, the largest spare boat of the "Lady Wein", carrying seven dead sailors, was rescued by the Royal Navy gunboat "Hill Peach".Their ordeal is almost as familiar as the dreadful anecdote of the Medusa, yet I must now add another equally dreadful, and certainly more grievous For a much stranger experience.Until now, it was believed that all four sailors in the lifeboat were dead.Actually, not so.I have the best evidence for this assertion—one of these four is me.

【① Medusa: The Gorgon in Xizhi Mythology.Anyone who looked directly into her eyes was turned into a stone, and then Perseus cut off her head with the image he saw in the mirror, and became the hero who killed the female monster. 】 But first I must say that there were never four persons in the lifeboat, in fact there were only three.According to the Daily News of March 17, 1887, Constons, who was "seen by the captain to jump into the boat," did not overtake us.Fortunately for us; unlucky for him.Under the staystays of the shattered firstsprit, he slid down the tangle of ropes, and just as he let go, a few small ropes caught his heels, and for a moment he Hanging upside down, then fell, hitting the floating wreck or spar.We rowed hard towards him, but he never came up again.

I say it was lucky to us that he didn't catch up with us, in fact I could almost say it was lucky to himself.Because the alarm was so sudden, the ship was hardly prepared for disaster—in the lifeboat we had only a small glass of water and some soaked biscuits.We thought there would be more food and water on the ship's spare boat (it did not appear to be the case).We tried to call out to them, but they must have failed to hear us, and when the drizzling rain stopped next morning—it did not clear until after noon—we lost sight of them.We couldn't get up and look around because the boat pitched back and forth.The sea was choppy, and we tried our best to get the bow right and row in their direction.At this time, the other two people who escaped the disaster with me in the same boat, one named Helmo, was a ship passenger like me, and the other was an unknown sailor, short, strong, and stuttering when he spoke. .

We drifted with the waves, hungry and depleted of fresh water, and during the next eight days an unbearable thirst tormented us.After the second day, the sea gradually calmed down and became like a mirror. It is impossible for ordinary readers to imagine the whole eight days of suffering.There is no such memory in the mind of the reader--and this is very fortunate for him--to which the imagination can rely.After the first day, we were silent to each other, lying on the boat, gazing at the distance where the water and the sky connected, or staring at our companions who were being eaten away by pain and weakness with increasingly haggard and bigger eyes.The sun has also become cruel and unforgiving.On the fourth day, we drank all the fresh water, and we were already fantasizing, and we all expressed incredible thoughts with our eyes.But according to my recollection, it wasn't until the sixth day that Helmer spoke out the only way we could think of here and now.I remember that our voices were dry and weak, and we had to huddle together and talk as little as possible.I vehemently object to this suggestion, preferring to scuttle the boat and all die in the belly of the shark that follows us.But Helmer said that if his advice was taken, we'd have something to drink, and the sailor agreed with him.

But I refuse to draw lots.During the night, the sailor and Helmer murmured for a long time, and I sat in the bow with my pocket-knife clutched in my hand—though I really doubted I had the strength to fight.Early the next morning, I agreed with Helmer's suggestion.We all gave out our little coppers to decide who was the unlucky one. The sailor was drawn, but he was the strongest among us, and he would not submit to the decision of the lot, and struck Helmer with his fists.They wrestled together and almost stood up.I crawled towards them along the side of the boat, trying to grab the sailor's leg to help Helmer.But the sailor staggered and stumbled amidst the rocking of the boat, and both fell over the side of the gunwale, and together they rolled into the sea.They sank like stones.I remember laughing a lot at that, but not knowing why Fu.The laughter caught me like something foreign.

How long I lay on one of the benches in the boat, thinking that if I had the strength, I would drink the sea water, and drive myself mad, so that I could die sooner.Although I lay there, I saw a sailboat coming towards me from the horizon, which seemed to be a picture in the dimness, but this did not interest me in the slightest.My mind must have been in disarray, but I still remember everything that happened.I remember bobbing my head to and fro with the waves.The sailboat floating on the edge of the sky and water floated up to the crest of the waves for a while, and sank into the trough of the waves for a while.But I remember just as well that I was convinced I was dead, and I thought, what a joke, they came so late, and if they had come a little earlier they would have caught me alive.

I felt what an eternity had passed as I lay there, with my head resting on the plinth of the boat, watching the heaving schooner come by from the sea.It was a two-masted boat with rigging bow and stern.She had been tacking back and forth over the open sea, while the boat was tacking.It never occurred to me at the time to call the boat, and after seeing the side of the boat I was so dazed that I could not remember anything, until I found myself in a little cabin at the stern.I vaguely remember being lifted up to the bulwark, and a big round freckled face surrounded by red hair staring at me over the bulwarks.Besides that, there were fragmented impressions, like a black face, with his strange eyes close to mine, but I thought it must be a nightmare, until I met him again .I seem to remember something pouring through my teeth.That's about all I can think of.