The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Page 5

  CHAPTER III.DR. CLAWBONNY.

  Richard Shandon was a good sailor; for a long time he had commandedwhalers in the Arctic seas, with a well-deserved reputation throughoutall Lancaster. Such a letter was well calculated to astonish him; hewas astonished, it is true, but with the calmness of a man who isaccustomed to surprises.

  He suited all the required conditions; no wife, child, nor relatives.He was as independent as man could be. There being no one whoseopinion he needed to consult, he betook himself to Messrs. Marcuart &Co.

  "If the money is there," he said to himself, "the rest is all right."

  At the banking-house he was received with the respect due to a man whohas sixteen thousand pounds deposited to his credit; having made thatpoint sure, Shandon asked for a sheet of white paper, and in his largesailor's handwriting he sent his acceptance of the plan to the addressgiven above.

  That very day he made the necessary arrangements with the builders atBirkenhead, and within twenty-four hours the keel of the _Forward_ waslaid on the stocks.

  Richard Shandon was a man about forty years old, strong, energetic,and fearless, three qualities most necessary for a sailor, for theygive him confidence, vigor, and coolness. He was known to be severeand very hard to please; hence he was more feared than loved by hismen. But this reputation was not calculated to interfere with hisselection of a crew, for he was known to be skilful in avoidingtrouble.

  Shandon feared that the mysterious nature of the expedition mightstand in his way.

  "In that case," he said, "it's best not to say anything about it;there will always be plenty of men who will want to know the why andthe wherefore of the whole matter, and, since I don't know anythingabout it myself, I should find it hard to answer them. This K. Z. iscertainly an odd stick; but, after all, he knows me, he depends on me,and that is enough. As for his ship, it will be a good one, and ifit's not going to the Arctic Ocean, my name is not Richard Shandon.But I shall keep that fact for myself and my officers."

  Thereupon Shandon began to choose his crew, bearing in mind thecaptain's wishes about the independence and health of the men.

  He knew a very capital fellow, and a good sailor, James Wall by name.Wall might have been about thirty years old, and had already made somevoyages in the northern seas. Shandon offered him the place of secondmate, and Wall accepted it at once; all he cared for was to be at sea.Shandon confided all the details of the affair to him and to a certainJohnson, whom he took as boatswain.

  "All right," answered James Wall, "that's as good as anything. Even ifit's to seek the Northwest Passage, some have come back from that."

  "Not all," said Johnson, "but that's no reason that we should not tryit."

  "Besides, if our guesses are right," said Shandon, "it must be saidthat we start with a fair chance of success. The _Forward_ will be astanch ship and she will carry good engines. She can go a greatdistance. We want a crew of only eighteen men."

  "Eighteen men," answered Johnson; "that's the number the American,Kane, took with him on his famous voyage towards the North Pole."

  "It's strange," said Wall, "that a private person should try to makehis way from Davis Strait to Behring Strait. The expeditions in searchof Sir John Franklin have already cost England more than seven hundredand sixty thousand pounds, without producing any practical good. Whoin the world wants to throw away his money for such a purpose?"

  "In the first place, James," answered Shandon, "we are in the darkabout it all. I don't know whether we are going to the northern or thesouthern seas. Perhaps there's some new discovery to be tried. At anyrate, some day or other a Dr. Clawbonny is to come aboard who willprobably know more about it and will be able to tell us. We shallsee."

  "Let us wait, then," said Johnson; "as for me, I'm going to look aftersome good men, and I'll answer now for their animal heat, as thecaptain calls it. You can depend on me."

  Johnson was an invaluable man; he was familiar with high latitudes. Hehad been quartermaster aboard of the _Phoenix_, which belonged to oneof the expeditions sent out in 1853 in search of Franklin; he had beenan eye-witness of the death of the French lieutenant Bellot, whom hehad accompanied in his expedition across the ice. Johnson knew all thesailors in Liverpool, and immediately set about engaging a crew.

  "Johnson knew all the sailors in Liverpool, andimmediately set about engaging a crew."]

  Shandon, Wall, and he succeeded in filling the number by the middle ofDecember, but they met with considerable difficulty; many who wereattracted by the high pay were alarmed by the danger, and more thanone who had boldly enlisted came later to say that he had changed hismind on account of the dissuasion of his friends. They all tried topierce the mystery, and pursued Shandon with their questions. He usedto refer them to Johnson.

  "What can I say, my man?" the boatswain used to answer; "I don't knowany more about it than you do. At any rate you will be in goodcompany, with men who won't shirk their work; that's something! Sodon't be thinking about it all day: take it or leave it!" And thegreater number took it.

  "You understand," added Johnson, sometimes, "my only trouble is inmaking my choice. High pay, such as no sailor ever had before, withthe certainty of finding a round sum when we get back. That's verytempting."

  "The fact is," answered the sailors, "that it is hard to refuse. Itwill support a man all the rest of his life."

  "I won't hide from you," continued Johnson, "that the voyage will belong, difficult, and dangerous; that's all stated in our instructions;it's well to know beforehand what one undertakes to do; probably it'sto try all that men can possibly do, and perhaps even more. So, if youhaven't got a bold heart and a strong body, if you can't say you havemore than twenty chances to one of staying there, if, in short, youare particular about leaving your body in one place more than another,here rather than there, get away from here and let some bolder manhave your place!"

  "But, at least," said the confused sailor,--"at least, you know thecaptain?"

  "The captain is Richard Shandon, my friend, until we receive another."

  Now it must be said that was what the commander thought; he allowedhimself to think that at the last moment he would receive definiteinstructions as to the object of the voyage, and that he would remainin command of the _Forward_. He was fond of spreading this opinionabout, either in conversation with his officers or in superintendingthe building of the brig, of which the timbers were now rising in theBirkenhead ship-yard like the sides of a huge whale.

  Shandon and Johnson conformed strictly with the recommendation aboutthe health of the crew; they all looked hardy and possessed enoughanimal heat to run the engines of the _Forward_; their elastic limbs,their clear and ruddy skin, showed that they were fit to encounterintense cold. They were bold, determined men, energetic and stoutlybuilt; they were not all equally vigorous. Shandon had even hesitatedabout accepting some of them; for instance, the sailors Gripper andGarry, and the harpooner Simpson, who seemed to him too thin; but, onthe other hand, they were well built, they were earnest about it, andthey were shipped.

  All the crew were members of the same church; in their long voyagetheir prayers and the reading of the Bible would call them togetherand console them in the hours of depression; so that it was advisablethat there should be no diversity on this score. Shandon knew fromexperience the usefulness of this practice and its good influence onthe men, so valuable that it is never neglected on board of shipswhich winter in the polar seas.

  When all the crew had been engaged, Shandon and his two officersbusied themselves with the provisions; they followed closely thecaptain's instructions, which were definite, precise, and detailed, inwhich the quality and quantity of the smallest articles were clearlyset down. Thanks to the drafts placed at the commander's order, everyarticle was paid for, cash down, with a discount of eight per cent,which Richard carefully placed to the credit of K. Z.

  Crew, provisions, and outfit were all ready in January, 1860; the_Forward_ was approaching completion. Shandon never let a day passwitho
ut visiting Birkenhead.

  On the morning of the 23d of January he was, as usual, on one of thedouble-ended ferry-boats which ply between the two shores of theMersey; everything was enveloped in one of the ordinary fogs of thatregion, which compel the pilot to steer by compass, although the tripis one of but ten minutes.

  "Everything was enveloped in one of the ordinary fogsof that region."]

  However, the thickness of the fog could not prevent Shandon fromnoticing a short, rather stout man, with a refined, agreeable face andpleasant expression, who came towards him, seized both his hands, andpressed them with a warmth and familiarity which a Frenchman wouldhave said was "very southern."

  But if this stranger was not from the South, he had escaped itnarrowly; he spoke and gesticulated freely; his thoughts seemeddetermined to find expression, even if they had to burst out. Hiseyes, small like the eyes of witty men, his large and mobile mouth,were safety-valves which enabled him to rid himself of too strong apressure on his feelings; he talked; and he talked so much andjoyously, that, it must be said, Shandon could not make out what hewas saying.

  Still the mate of the _Forward_ was not slow in recognizing this shortman whom he had never seen; it flashed into his mind, and the momentthat the other stopped to take breath, Shandon uttered these words,--

  "Dr. Clawbonny?"

  "The same, in person, Commander! For nearly a quarter of an hour Ihave been looking after you, asking for you of every one andeverywhere. Imagine my impatience. Five minutes more and I should havelost my head! So this is you, officer Shandon? You really exist? Youare not a myth? Your hand, your hand! Let me press it again in mine!Yes, that is indeed the hand of Richard Shandon. Now, if there is acommander Richard, there is a brig _Forward_ which he commands; and ifhe commands it, it will sail; and if it sails, it will take Dr.Clawbonny on board."

  "Well, yes, Doctor, I am Richard Shandon, there is a brig _Forward_,and it will sail."

  "There's logic," answered the doctor, taking a long breath,--"there'slogic. So I am delighted, enchanted! For a long time I've been waitingfor something of this sort to turn up, and I've been wanting to try avoyage of this sort. Now, with you--"

  "Excuse me--" said Shandon.

  "With you," continued Clawbonny, paying him no attention, "we are sureof going far without turning round."

  "But--" began Shandon.

  "For you have shown what stuff you are made of, and I know all you'vedone. Ah, you are a good sailor!"

  "If you please--"

  "No, I sha'n't let your courage and skill be doubted for a moment,even by yourself. The captain who chose you for mate is a man who knewwhat he was about; I can tell you that."

  "But that is not the question," said Shandon, impatiently.

  "What is it, then? Don't keep me anxious any longer."

  "But you won't let me say a word. Tell me, Doctor, if you please, howyou came to join this expedition of the _Forward_?"

  "By a letter, a capital letter; here it is,--the letter of a bravecaptain, very short, but very full."

  With these words he handed Shandon a letter running as follows:--

  INVERNESS, January 22, 1860.

  _To_ DR. CLAWBONNY, _Liverpool_.

  If Dr. Clawbonny wishes to sail on the _Forward_ for a long voyage, hecan present himself to the mate, Richard Shandon, who has been advisedconcerning him.

  K. Z.,_Captain of the Forward_.

  "The letter reached me this morning, and I'm now ready to go on boardof the _Forward_."

  "But," continued Shandon, "I suppose you know whither we are bound."

  "Not the least idea in the world; but what difference does it make,provided I go somewhere? They say I'm a learned man; they are wrong; Idon't know anything, and if I have published some books which have hada good sale, I was wrong; it was very kind of the public to buy them!I don't know anything, I tell you, except that I am very ignorant. NowI have a chance offered me to complete, or, rather, to make over myknowledge of medicine, surgery, history, geography, botany,mineralogy, conchology, geodesy, chemistry, physics, mechanics,hydrography; well, I accept it, and I assure you, I didn't have to beasked twice."

  "Then," said Shandon in a tone of disappointment, "you don't knowwhere the _Forward_ is going."

  "O, but I do, commander; it's going where there is something to belearned, discovered; where one can instruct himself, make comparisons,see other customs, other countries, study the ways of other people; ina word, it's going where I have never been."

  "But more precisely?" cried Shandon.

  "More precisely," answered the doctor, "I have understood that it wasbound for the Northern Ocean. Well, good for the North!"

  "At any rate," said Shandon, "you know the captain?"

  "Not at all! But he's a good fellow, you may depend on it."

  The mate and the doctor stepped ashore at Birkenhead; Shandon gave hiscompanion all the information he had, and the mystery which lay aboutit all excited highly the doctor's imagination. The sight of the_Forward_ enchanted him. From that time he was always with Shandon,and he came every morning to inspect the hull of the _Forward_.

  In addition he was specially intrusted with the providing of theship's medicine-chest.

  For Clawbonny was a physician, and a good one, although he had neverpractised much. At twenty-five he was an ordinary young doctor, atforty he was a learned man; being known throughout the whole city, hebecame a leading member of the Literary and Philosophical Society ofLiverpool. His moderate fortune allowed him to give some advice whichwas no less valuable for being without charge; loved as a thoroughlykind-hearted man must be, he did no harm to any one else nor tohimself; quick and garrulous, if you please, but with his heart in hishand, and his hand in that of all the world.

  When the news of his intended journey on board the _Forward_ becameknown in the city, all his friends endeavored to dissuade him, butthey only made him cling more obstinately to his intention; and whenthe doctor had absolutely determined on anything, he was a skilful manwho could make him change.

  From that day the rumors, conjectures, and apprehensions steadilyincreased; but that did not interfere with the launching of the_Forward_ on the 5th of February, 1860. Two months later she was readyfor sea.

  On the 15th of March, as the captain's letter had said, a Danish dogwas sent by rail from Edinburgh to Liverpool, to the address ofRichard Shandon. He seemed morose, timid, and almost wicked; hisexpression was very strange. The name of the _Forward_ was engraved onhis collar.

  The commander gave him quarters on board, and sent a letter, with thenews of his arrival, to Leghorn.

  Hence, with the exception of the captain, the crew of the _Forward_was complete. It was composed as follows:--

  1. K. Z., captain; 2. Richard Shandon, first mate, in command; 3.James Wall, second mate; 4. Dr. Clawbonny; 5. Johnson, boatswain; 6.Simpson, harpooner; 7. Bell, carpenter; 8. Brunton, first engineer; 9.Plover, second engineer; 10. Strong (negro), cook; 11. Foker,ice-master; 12. Wolston, gunner; 13. Bolton, sailor; 14. Garry,sailor; 15. Clifton, sailor; 16. Gripper, sailor; 17. Pen, sailor; 18.Warren, stoker.