Ismailia - Sir Samuel White Baker (best mystery novels of all time .txt) 📗

for having recovered from the sunken vessel the cooking pots and muskets.

"Wind very strong from north. The north wind always commences at about 7 A.M. and increases in power as the sun rises. It sinks together with the setting sun. Although the country is all that we could wish, there is no game. The water-marks upon the trees show that the maximum of the river has been a foot above its present level.

"December 16.--Suleiman Effendi's diahbeeah with six horses passed this morning; he left in company with us, as did also the new noggur that passed us yesterday morning; thus there must be gross negligence on the part of the twenty-one vessels still remaining in the rear. Thermometer, 6 A.M., 69 degrees; noon, 88 degrees. We shot seven guinea-fowl.

"December 17.--I see four vessels about six miles ahead that are only now making sail! thus they have been stopping for two days. In the afternoon the two diahbeeahs of the Englishmen came up, and gave us the terrible news that one of the vessels had sunk near the mouth of the river Sobat on the day of our departure from Tewfikeeyah; this vessel was laden with portions of the 38-ton steamer.

"I immediately ordered steam to be got up, and at 4.20 P.M. we started to return 120 miles to the wreck. It appears that Raouf Bey, with many other vessels, was in company with the lost noggur. To work in this country is simply heart-breaking; the material is utterly worthless, boats, officers, and men are all alike. The loss of invaluable time is ruinous, and the ignorance of the people is such that they can do nothing by themselves; thus I must be everywhere and superintend everything personally.

"The boatmen say the rats drag out the rags with which the vessels are caulked from within, thus occasioning sudden and dangerous leaks; but in such a case, why does not the captain run his vessel ashore to prevent sinking?

"Before starting, I despatched a letter by a vessel to Suleiman Effendi at the sudd, with orders to commence clearing the channel without loss of time.

"At 7.40 P.M. made out a light ahead, and shortly afterwards we met Raouf Bey's diahbeeah tied to the bank alongside of Achmet Effendi, the bimbashi's vessel. Raouf Bey came on board and confirmed the bad news. They describe the sunken vessel as lying with her stem about a foot below the surface, but her stern is in very deep water. I gave orders for steam to be up at daylight, and we halted for the night, as it is dangerous to travel down stream with a steamer in this narrow winding river.

"December 18.--Started at 6.25 A.M. Then, 68 degrees; noon, 81 degrees. At noon we met Colonel Tayib Agha and twelve vessels. I ordered three of these vessels to turn back immediately to the wreck, as I am determined to raise her, if possible.

"At 12.37 P.M. we reached the spot where we had passed the first wreck in the Bahr Giraffe. At exactly 2 P.M. we reached the Nile junction. At 6.50 P.M. we distinguished the mast of the wreck above water, almost opposite the Sobat junction, on the west side of the river. Having passed the wreck we reached our old station Tewfikeeyah at 7.30 P.M. Here we found a number of Shillooks, with Quat Kare's counsellor, Abdullah, who were guarding a quantity of corn that I had left in the king's charge, as our vessels were too heavily laden to carry it.

"December 19.--Thermometer, 6 A.M., 64 degrees; noon, 79 degrees. I sent Abdullah with orders to the king, Quat Kare, to collect all his people with their ambatch canoes to assist us in raising the wreck.

"The Shillooks have already taken possession of our old station, and have divided it into lots for planting.

"December 20.--Thermometer at 6 A.M. 66 degrees; noon, 78 degrees; the water in the goolah (cooler), 59 degrees. The wind blows a gale from the north daily.

"I have just heard that Raouf Bey and the two colonels, Tayib Agha and Achmet Effendi, together with about 400 men, actually abandoned, not only the wrecked vessel and her invaluable cargo, but they also left a section of one of the lifeboats upon the mud bank of the river and forsook it. Such conduct is incredible, and could only be found in this country.

"At 3.15 P.M., the steamer having replenished her wood, we started and arrived at the wreck at 4.35 P.M. After a careful examination we passed the night at the high ground near the Sobat junction.

"The section of the lifeboat is no longer on the mud, but I have no doubt it has been secured by the governor of Fashoda, together with the yard and sail. This entails the necessity of my sending him a letter seventy miles distant to order the return of the boat section immediately.

"December 21.--Thermometer at 6 A.M., 63 degrees; water in goolah, 52 degrees. I sent Abdullah Uz Bashi to Tewfikeeyah with a letter to the governor of Fashoda, which the Shillooks were to forward immediately. The letter demands eight oxen, ten sheep, the section of lifeboat saved from the wreck, together with the yard and sail.

"I shot two small antelopes, also some guinea-fowl, francolin partridge, and five pelicans.

"December 22.--Waiting for the arrival of Quat Kare and his Shillooks. Shot two geese and knocked over a large antelope, but lost him in the high grass. The country is all flooded, except for a space of about a mile from our little camp on the Sobat dubba, which is the highest ground for a great distance, being about fourteen feet above the maximum level of the river. A few Shillooks started off after my wounded antelope, and quickly brought me the head: it was a fine specimen of the new species of Hippotragus.

"December 23.--I sent the steamer up the White Nile to bring down the wind-bound kyassas (vessels). When she returned with them, all hands were immediately employed in discharging cargo and taking down masts and yards in readiness for operations on the sunken vessel.

"December 21.--Thermometer, 6 A.M., 67 degrees; noon, 82 degrees. Abdullah, the Shillook, arrived. The natives have not forwarded my letter to the governor of Fashoda, as they fear to pass certain villages with which they have been lately quarrelling. To-day is the close of the Ramadan fast, and the first of the Bairam, therefore it is kept as a holiday. All my people have turned out in new clothes.

"December 25.--Christmas Day. Thermometer, 6 A.M., 65 degrees. We began work at the sunken vessel. By filling the barges with water and sinking them within a foot of the surface, and then securing them by chains to the wreck, we obtained a firm hold. The water having been baled out of the barges, they gradually rose and lifted the vessel several feet. Having thus raised her, we hauled her a few feet nearer the bank, and the day's work concluded by proving that with care and additional force we shall be able to manage her.

"December 26.--We continued the same operations as those of yesterday. Having lashed the masts of the barges transversely across the gun-wales, to these we attached chains secured by divers beneath the bottom of the wreck. This was not possible yesterday until we had lifted her from the ground. At the same time that we were thus engaged, the men, by diving; secured ropes to the heavier pieces of iron sections, and we saved several tons of her cargo, which we placed upon the steamer and upon my diahbeeah. This lightened the wreck, and we then prepared a bed for her by cutting away the abrupt bank, and forming a shelf on the flooded shore in a depth of three feet of water, upon which we might be able to haul her when floated to the surface. We laid out the steamer's purchase with an anchor secured upon the shore, and the day ended successfully by hauling the wreck exactly parallel to the bank, with her stem and stern-post above the surface. As the current was very powerful, the bow of the wreck had throughout the operation been firmly secured by two anchors laid out up stream. It is very hard work, as we are in the sun from early morning till night. Julian (Lieutenant Baker), being a sailor, is just the fellow for this sort of work, and no other person knows how to make fast the ropes and chains so that they shall not slip. Higginbotham, as usual, is very energetic. Colonel Abd-el-Kader, who is my only reliable Egyptian officer, has been diving all day like a wild duck, and bringing up heavy boxes of rivets which few men but himself can lift. Altogether the men have worked famously, especially the black soldiers.

"December 27.--Julian is laid up with fever to-day; this is the effect of daily exposure to the sun. I laid out the steamer's second purchase at right angles fastened to the bow of the wreck; we thus had her bow and stern secured in the same manner. Having manned both purchases, we could manage her as she became lighter. About 250 Shillooks came to assist us under the command of old Quat Kare, who sat in his canoe and directed his people. Having lightened the vessel by taking out more cargo, I divided the labour; Higginbotham sinking two kyassas and making them fast as lifters, while other men cut away the flooded bank with spades and improved the shelf.

"After breakfast, the sunken kyassas being well-secured to the wreck with chains, we baled them out for the last time, and the vessel thus supported came bodily to the surface. All hands now hauled on the purchases, while the Shillooks, with screams and yells, tugged at four ropes fastened amidships, and we succeeded in dragging the vessel from the river's bed, and placing her upon the new shelf that we had prepared for her in little more than three feet of water. During this time many men had been baling out with large buckets, and now that she was safe, a general rush was made on board to empty the water with every conceivable utensil--gourd-shells, basins, cooking pots, &c.

"When baled out, we discovered and stopped the leaks, and floated her. She was one of the largest and finest vessels of the fleet, perfectly new, and was laden with steamer sections and machinery, the loss of which would have been fatal to the object of the expedition.

"I ran a flag up the mast as a signal to those at the station that she was safe. I then ordered the steamer to light her fires, and the wreck, together with the two kyassas and my diahbeeah, were taken in tow, and delivered at the bank that we had made our head-quarters. Thus we have happily saved the vessel and cargo that had been so disgracefully abandoned, when a large force was at hand to have assisted her.

"During the morning, a vessel arrived from Khartoum, laden with goods on speculation, from a French trader of my acquaintance, Monsieur Jules Poncet. She also brought the section of the lifeboat which my officers had neglected on the wreck, and which the governor had taken to Fashoda.

"December 28.--I sent the steamer to Fashoda for the sail and yard of the wrecked vessel. All hands are engaged in caulking ship, re-hoisting yards, rigging, &c., and refitting. Thermometer, 6 A.M., 66 degrees; noon, 81 degrees.

"December 29.-Thermometer, 6 A.M., 66 degrees; noon, 81 degrees. Julian and Higginbotham both ill with fever. Vessels progressing.

"December 30.--I shot a water-buck at daybreak (Redunca Ellipsyprimna). Yesterday evening,