CHAPTER FIVE.
A SUBMARINE EXCURSION.
At the appointed hour the imperturbable George, who never could bebetrayed into the slightest exhibition of astonishment at findinghimself in any extraordinary situation which he might happen to besharing with his somewhat eccentric master, duly aroused the foursleepers, and when they were ready, laid luncheon before them with thesame indomitable _sangfroid_ which he would have exhibited had thetransaction been conducted on _terra firma_.
The meal over, the professor led the way below to the diving chamber,where the adventurous four carefully donned their diving dresses,inclusive of the armour which Sir Reginald felt so strongly disposed toridicule. As this was the first occasion of inducting themselves intotheir novel costume, they were rather a long time about it; but whenonce they were fairly encased, they were fain to admit that, strange asmight be their appearance, they felt exceedingly comfortable. Theprofessor was the last to assume the dress, having busied himself in thefirst instance in assisting the others; but at length all was ready, andthey filed into the exit chamber, carefully closing the door behindthem. This chamber was illuminated by an electric lamp, the light ofwhich clearly revealed the whereabouts of the sea-cock, and of thefastenings to the trap-door, all of which the professor pointed out tohis companions, at the same time explaining the method of working them.The sea-cock was then opened, and the chamber began to slowly fill withwater.
"Now," explained the professor, "please listen to me. If now, or at anyfuture time, either of you should experience the slightest sensation ofdiscomfort as the water rises round you, all you have to do is simply toopen this air-cock, which communicates with the air-chambers, and thecondensed air will at once rush in and expel the water again; then closethe sea and air cocks; open this relief valve, which will allow thecondensed air to disperse itself in the habitable portions of the hull,and you can at once open the door of communication to the divingchamber, and disencumber yourself of your dress, remembering always toclose the door behind you. Now, do either of you feel at alluncomfortable?"
The exit chamber was by this time full of water, and its occupants were,therefore, completely submerged, and subject to the same pressure ofwater as they would be outside, but the armour proved fully equal to itswork in every respect, and its wearers were able to move with just asmuch freedom and ease as if they had been on dry land. They accordinglyreplied to the professor's inquiry with a brisk negative.
"And can you hear distinctly what I say?" continued the professor.
They replied that they could hear every word perfectly, only realisingwhen the question was asked that they were completely sheathed in metalfrom head to foot, and that, consequently, the fact of their being ableto hear at all was somewhat singular.
"That is all right," exclaimed the professor. "I thought it would beconvenient if we could communicate freely with each other under water,so I introduced a couple of small microphones into each helmet, hopingthey would answer the purpose. Mine are simply perfect, but I wasanxious to know if yours were also. Now, if you are quite ready I willopen the door."
The next moment the trap-door fell open, and a great black apertureyawned before them.
"Light both your lamps," exclaimed the professor, "and pick yourfootsteps. Remember, you are about to tread on strange ground."
The professor led the way, his armour-clad figure looming up black andgigantic against the two overlapping discs of illuminated water beforehim, and the other three followed closely in his footsteps. On emergingfrom the trap-door they turned sharp to the left, and made their waytoward the bow along the tunnel-like passage between the ship's bottomand the starboard bilge keel. This was soon traversed, and they thenfound themselves on a tolerably firm, level, gravelly bottom. Emergingfrom underneath the ship's bottom, they now extinguished their lamps fora moment by way of experiment, and found that so clear was the waterthat even at the great depth of ninety fathoms it was not absolutelydark, a sombre greenish blue twilight prevailing in which the hull ofthe ship towered above them vast and shadowy, yet with tolerabledistinctness. This twilight, however, was strongly illuminated at bothends of the ship by the powerful electric lamps at the bow and stern,all of which the professor had taken the precaution to light beforedescending to the diving chamber.
"Those are our beacons," said the professor, pointing to these lamps,"and we must be exceedingly careful not to stray beyond the reach oftheir rays, otherwise we might experience great difficulty in findingour way back to the ship. Are you all pretty comfortable in this greatdepth of water? We are now five hundred and forty feet beneath thesurface of the sea, or three hundred and thirty-six feet deeper than manhas ever reached before. Why, if we were to accomplish nothing morethan this, we have already achieved a great triumph! Now, let us makeour way toward the deepest spot in this submarine valley; I have an ideathat we shall see something curious when we reach it. This way,gentlemen; our course is about due west, and we cannot well lose our wayif we descend the slope which seems to commence yonder."
The little party pressed forward, experiencing no inconvenience ordifficulty whatever, save that of making their way through water of sucha density as that which enveloped them, and soon reached the edge of arather steep declivity, evidently leading down to the lowest part of thedepression. Before venturing down this declivity they paused to glancebackward, and saw that, though the ship herself had become invisible inthe sombre twilight, all the electric lights were distinctly visible,the very powerful one on the top of the pilot-house especially gleaminglike the illuminated lantern of a lighthouse. So far, therefore, allwas well; they were still within range of the lights, and they at onceturned and plunged fearlessly into the depression. They had not far togo, the sides of the depression being steep, and in about two minutesthey found themselves at the bottom, and standing before an immenseconfused heap of wreckage of almost every imaginable description.Shattered stumps of spars, waterlogged and weighed down with a thickincrustation of barnacles, the accumulated growth of years of immersion;part of the hull of a ship, so overgrown with "sea grass" as to bedistinguishable as such only from the fact that the channels and channelirons with their dead-eyes, and even the frayed ends of the shroudlanyards still remained attached; a twisted and tangled-up mass of ironrods which looked as though it might at some distant period have beenthe paddle-wheel of a steamer, and near it the evident remains of aboiler and some machinery; the beam of a trawl-net, and bales, boxes,packing-cases, barrels, and, in short, every conceivable description ofcovering in which ships' cargoes are usually stowed were mixed up ininextricable confusion with heaps of coal, large stones, and otheranomalous substances.
"Just as I anticipated," exclaimed the professor, pointing to the heapand addressing his companions. "And this, I expect, is the sort ofthing which we shall see in every depression of the ocean's bed which wemay visit. All these matters have been swept hither and thither overthe ground by the action of the tidal and other currents, until theyhave happened to drift over this spot, and here they have finallysettled owing to the inability of the currents to move them up the steepsides of the depression. Let us walk round the heap; we may seesomething of interest before we have completed the circuit."
And so they did, though the interest was hardly the kind of which theprofessor had been thinking when he spoke. For, whilst standing on theopposite side of the heap, contemplating the remains of an ancient andgrass-grown wreck, they were startled by the appearance of a sharpsnake-like head with a pair of fierce gleaming eyes which was suddenlyprotruded from a gap in the ship's side, and in another moment thecreature--a conger-eel of truly gigantic proportions--emerged from itshiding-place, and, possibly attracted by the brilliancy of the electriclights which the party carried, swam boldly toward them.
"What a horrible monster!" ejaculated the colonel, at the same momentthat Lieutenant Mildmay, struck with the savage look of the creature,exclaimed:
"Why, I believe the brute means to attack u
s!"
"And, by Jove, here come some more of them!" exclaimed the baronet,pointing to the hole from which the creature had emerged.
"Draw your daggers, gentlemen!" shouted the professor. "And be notdismayed; they and our armour are quite sufficient for our protection."
It was perhaps just as well that the professor had sufficient presenceof mind at that moment to say what he did; for his companions, thoughtheir courage had been proved a thousand times before, were now in a newand strange element to which they had scarcely had time to accustomthemselves; and, moreover, the aspect of the fierce fish as they rushedforward with open jaws, disclosing their formidable teeth, wassufficiently weird and uncanny to at least momentarily dismay thestoutest heart.
Lieutenant Mildmay's anticipation as to the intentions of the fishproved quite correct. On they came, some thirty or forty in number; andbefore the attacked could quite recover from their confusion they foundthemselves fairly in the clutches of the snake-like creatures. Theattack was made with the utmost determination and ferocity, the eelstwining themselves so powerfully about the bodies of their foes that itwas almost impossible for the latter to move hand or foot; whilst thesharp teeth rasped strongly but ineffectually against the scales of theaethereum armour. The fight, however, though fiercely waged on the partof the assailants, was soon over, a single stroke of the keen double-edged dagger--as soon as the assailed could get their hands free--proving sufficient to instantly destroy the individual fish upon whichit happened to fall. But so fierce were the eels that the conflictended only with the slaughter of the last of them. The fish were oftruly enormous size, two or three specimens measuring, as nearly ascould be estimated, fully eighteen feet in length, whilst none were lessthan ten feet long. The tour of exploration was then completed withoutfurther adventure; the powerful electric lights of the ship enabled themto find her without difficulty the moment that they climbed up out ofthe depression; and they made good their return with no worse resultthan that of excessive fatigue due to their unwonted efforts in forcingtheir way through so dense a medium as water of ninety fathoms depth.
So novel an experience as theirs had that day been naturally furnishedthe chief topic of conversation at the dinner-table; the professorespecially entertaining his companions with many interesting anecdotesof strange adventures which had happened to, and curious sightswitnessed by divers at various times and places. At length, during alull in the conversation, he said:
"There still remain two trials to which the _Flying Fish_ must besubjected before we can say that we are fully acquainted with herpowers, namely, a trial of her speed through the water when fullysubmerged; and a trial of her behaviour as an ordinary ocean-going ship.And these trials, I think, should--if you approve, Sir Reginald--becarried out before we do anything else."
The baronet gave his willing assent to the professor's proposal; and itwas finally arranged that the trials, or, at all events, one of them,should take place on the morrow.
It having been arranged that early rising should be the order of the daythroughout the voyage, they were aroused at seven o'clock on thefollowing morning, and sat down to breakfast at eight prompt. By nineo'clock the meal was over, and the party, pipe or cigar in mouth,mustered in the pilot-house. Here the first thing the professor did wasto produce a chart, to which, on spreading it open on the table, hecalled Lieutenant Mildmay's attention, saying:
"Being a seaman by profession, you are undoubtedly the most skilfulnavigator of the party; and I therefore propose--with Sir Reginald'sfull approval, which I have already obtained--to confide the navigationof the _Flying Fish_ to you. Now this,"--making a pencil mark on thechart--"is our present position; and this,"--pointing to another pencilmark off Cape Finisterre, which presented the appearance of having beenvery carefully laid down--"is the point to which I wish you to navigateus in the first instance."
"Very good," said Mildmay. "I undertake the charge with pleasure. OnlyI must stipulate, that when making long passages you will rise to thesurface occasionally, in order that I may be enabled to take theobservations necessary to verify our position."
"Of course, of course," answered the professor. "Now, are we all readyto start?"
An answer in the affirmative was given; and von Schalckenberg thereuponmoved the lever which actuated the simple machinery controlling the fouranchors in the bilge keels. The ship being thus released from theground, he next opened the cocks connecting the air and water chambers;a stream of compressed air at once rushed into the latter, forcing out acertain quantity of water, and the ship began to rise.
"We will so adjust our position that the top of the lantern surmountingthe pilot-house shall be submerged to a depth of six fathoms; at whichdepth we shall not only be enabled to pass clear of all ships, but shallalso, if the water be clear, be enabled to see pretty well what isbefore and above us," said the professor, fixing his eyes upon a gaugebefore him. "There," he continued, closing the air-cocks as the indexpointed to six fathoms, "now we shall do very well. Are you ready toset the course, Mildmay?"
"A run of six hundred and fifty miles, upon a west-south-west course,will take us to about the spot you have indicated," answered Mildmay.
"Which is a trifle less than five and a half hours' run, if our speedunder water is equal to what it was through the air. But I anticipatethat we shall do better than that; the resistance of water isconsiderably greater than that of air to the vessel's passage throughit, I admit; but I anticipate that this will be more thancounterbalanced by the greater power of the propeller in the denserfluid. We shall soon see."
So saying, the professor set the engines in motion, and the _FlyingFish_ began to glide smoothly yet soon with marvellous rapidity throughthe water.
"My surmise was correct, you see," said the professor some ten minutesafterwards, as he pointed to another gauge on the wall of the pilot-house. "We are now running steadily at a speed of one hundred and fiftymiles per hour; and we have already travelled twelve miles from ourstarting-point. The gauge is, as you see, self-registering, and showson that piece of paper the exact distance run through or along thesurface of the water (but not through the _air_) between any two givenpoints. When the ship's course is altered, or you desire for any otherreason to commence the register afresh, all you have to do is, pressthat ivory knob, and the instrument will draw a line across the paperand, at the same moment, spring back to zero."
The water, at the depth at which they were travelling, proved to bealmost as transparent as crystal, of a dark olive-green tint beneaththem, merging by imperceptible gradations to a faint greenish-blueabove; the surface being discernible by the shifting lace work of goldincessantly playing over it where the sun's beams caught the ridges ofthe faint rippling wavelets raised by the languid summer breeze. Evensmall objects, such as medusae, and fragments of weed floating in mid-sea, were distinguishable at a considerable distance; and fishing-boatscould be clearly made out at the distance of a mile. A very novel andcurious effect was witnessed when objects floating on the surface (suchas ships, fishing-boats, or aquatic birds) came into view, the submergedportions of them being as clearly defined as though they were floatingin air, whilst the parts _above_ the surface were wavering andindistinct. A flock of diving gulls, for instance, which they passed atno great distance, presented the curious spectacle of little more thandark dots furnished with pairs of quickly-moving webbed feet whilst theyfloated on the placid surface; but directly a bird dived its whole bodybecame distinctly visible, with a long stream of air-bubbles trailingbehind it.
At length it became apparent that they were approaching a large fleet ofships making their way up channel.
A smile passed over the professor's features as he gazed out at them,and turning to his companions he remarked:
"I feel mischievously inclined this morning. I think we will give thecrews of those ships a little surprise, and furnish them with a newtopic for conversation."
"Ah, indeed!" said the baronet. "How do you propose to
do it?"
"By rising to the surface in the midst of the fleet. Our engine poweris quite sufficient, I believe, to send us to the surface or to plungeus several fathoms deeper than we now are without our interfering withthe water chambers or altering in any way the weight of the ship. Thereis a nice clear space just ahead, with ample room in which to showourselves and to make a downward plunge again beneath that large ship,the barnacle-covered bottom of which seems to tell of a long voyagethrough tropic seas. Now take up your stations of observation,gentlemen, and note the consternation which our unexpected appearancewill produce."
The professor's companions placed themselves at the windows of thepilot-house, and Herr von Schalckenberg at the same moment suddenlypressed the end of the tiller vertically downward. Obedient to thehelm, the _Flying Fish's_ sharp snout immediately swerved upward, andwith a tremendous swirl and commotion of the water the great ship rushedto the surface, throwing half her length out of the sea, only todisappear again the next moment with a graceful plunging motion and astill greater disturbance of the water by her immense rapidly revolvingpropeller.
A single swift glance around them was all that the travellers were ableto obtain of the state of affairs above water; but that sufficed to showthem that their appearance, sudden though it was, had attracted aconsiderable amount of notice. They saw that the _Flying Fish_ hadbroken water in the very centre of a large fleet of ships, most of whichwere making their way up channel under every stitch of canvas they couldspread before a very light westerly air. Many of these ships wereevidently, from their weather-beaten appearance, traders from far-distant foreign ports; and their crews, taking advantage of thebeautifully fine weather and smooth water, were either occupied onstages slung over the sides in giving the hulls a touch of fresh paintto brighten up their appearance previous to going into port, or aloft,scraping, painting, and varnishing the spars, or tarring down therigging, with a similar object. All eyes seemed to be directed towardthe apparition which had made its sudden appearance in their midst; andthe shouts of astonishment and dismay evoked by that sudden appearancewere distinctly audible to the occupants of the _Flying Fish's_ pilot-house. The hurried way in which the crew of the large ship immediatelyahead of them sprang to their feet and scrambled in over the bulwarksfrom the stages on which they were working, or slid down the freshly-tarred backstays to the deck as they saw the immense object rushingdirectly toward them, was particularly amusing, and drew a hearty laughfrom the beholders on board the _Flying Fish_. Another moment, and thecause of all this commotion was plunging fathoms deep beneath the keelof the last-mentioned ship, to reappear on the surface a minute later,beyond the farthest outskirts of the fleet. A judicious manipulation ofthe helm kept the _Flying Fish_ this time on the surface for perhaps aquarter of a minute, just long enough, in fact, to satisfy the wonderingbeholders that their eyes had not deceived them, when she once moredisappeared, this time finally, from the view of the fleet.
"That escapade of ours will produce a tremendously sensational paragraphfor the newspapers, and we must keep a look-out for it," said thecolonel. "I wonder what they will make of it!"
Sure enough, the paragraph appeared in due course, to the followingeffect, as copied from a cutting which is still preserved in theprofessor's scrap-book:--
Appearance Of A Gigantic Sea Monster In The English Channel.
Extraordinary Story.
"On Wednesday morning last, the 27th instant, a fleet of some hundredand fifty sail of vessels was off the Start and about in mid-channel,making its way to the eastward before a light westerly air, the weatherat the time being fine, the water smooth, and the atmosphere perfectlyclear. A portion of the crews belonging to several of the craft inquestion were at work in the rigging when their attention was attractedby a curious commotion which suddenly appeared on the surface of thewater at a considerable distance to the eastward. The disturbance wasin the form of a long wedge-like ripple, the appearance being verypronounced and distinct at its forward or pointed extremity, but less soat its rear end, where it spread widely out and became gradually mergedand lost in the gentle ripple caused by the wind. It was travellingdirectly towards the fleet at a speed far exceeding that of the fastestexpress train, and it bore all the appearance of being the `wake' ofsome enormous body moving at no great distance beneath the surface.While the seamen were still watching it in wonder and perplexity,mingled with no little alarm, it had reached the fleet, the ripplingswell spreading out on each side and curling over into a breaker whichdashed against the sides of the several vessels, causing the smallercraft to rock and toss perceptibly. It clove its irresistible way tothe very centre of the fleet, where there happened to be a large openspace of water, and here there suddenly shot into view above the surfacea gigantic fish, the length of which is variously estimated by those whosaw it as from four hundred to eight hundred feet, with a girth ofbetween one and two hundred feet. The creature, apparently startled atfinding itself in the midst of so many vessels, immediately dived belowthe surface again, passing directly beneath the keel of the barque_Olivia_, of London, from Bangkok, William Rogers master. The crew ofthis ship had a most distinct view of the monster, as it broke water atnot more than half a cable's length (or some three hundred feet) fromthem, and immediately afterwards shaved the keel of the ship so closelyas almost to touch it. Captain Rogers, who was on deck at the time,describes the creature, and his description tallies perfectly with thatof the other witnesses, as being somewhat like a saw-fish, without thesaw, in general shape, but with a proportionately longer and moresharply pointed head, in which _four_ eyes, two in the upper and two inthe lower part of the head, were distinctly seen. The body was abeautiful silvery white, glistening in the sun like polished metal. Onthe back of the immense fish was a curious flat protuberance, abovewhich rose another in the form of a dome-shaped hump, with, if we mayventure to repeat so incredible a story, eyes all round it, andsurmounted by an object having a very marked resemblance to a silvercrown. This extraordinary creature had no fins so far as could be seen,but propelled itself solely by its tail, which it moved with suchwonderful rapidity as rendered it utterly impossible to detect the shapeof it. The creature was evidently an air-breather, for it had no soonercompletely cleared the fleet, which it did in about one minute, thedistance travelled in that time being fully three miles, than it roseonce more to the surface, remaining there for perhaps half a minute,evidently for the purpose of getting a fresh supply of air, when itagain dived and was seen no more."