The Spice Islands Voyage by Tim Severin

Author:Tim Severin [Severin, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2015-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

RED BIRDS OF PARADISE

Wallace could be a Jonah in boats, whether large or small.

Eight years earlier, coming back from South America, he had taken passage aboard a small and unlucky brig, the Helen. His luggage consisted of hundreds of new species of insects and bird-skins gathered at great effort in his jungle travels, and a 20-strong menagerie of parrots and parakeets, several rare monkeys and a forest wild dog. These he planned to sell in London, with the help of his agent Samuel Stevens, and make a profit on his four years’ explorations in the Amazon basin. Unfortunately the Helen also shipped 40 casks of a volatile natural oil, known as ‘balsam-capivi’, used in the making of varnish. This oil was a fire hazard, as it could ignite by spontaneous combustion. Twenty casks of the oil were properly stowed, packed in wet sand; but the remainder were packed, with almost criminal negligence, in rice chaff and placed deep in the main hold. Three weeks into the voyage the captain approached Wallace after breakfast one morning, and calmly said to him, ‘I’m afraid the ship’s on fire. Come and see what you think of it.’ Going on deck, Wallace saw thick smoke oozing up from the forward deck. The crew began opening hatches, and throwing cargo overboard to try to get at the source of the fire. But the blaze came from the buried balsam-capivi and it was impossible to reach the source before the worsening smoke drove them back. By now the main cabin, where Wallace had his own accommodation, was also filling with smoke, and it was becoming dangerous to go below.

The captain of the Helen decided it would be prudent to prepare an evacuation. The sailors were ordered to get the two small boats — the long-boat and the captain’s gig — over the side and ready. When they touched the water, the boats were found to be leaky, and the leaks had to be plugged with corks. Then the sailors dropped in so many of their personal belongings that the boats began to sink and had to be bailed out. Meanwhile poor Wallace, unable to get to his precious collections due to the suffocating smoke, could only gather up a small shirt box in which he put his drawings of Brazilian plants and fishes, his watch and a purse with a few sovereigns. This was his entire luggage as he stood on deck, awaiting captain’s orders. With the boats towing astern the crew again tried fighting the fire. The balsam capivi could be heard bubbling and hissing below the cabin floor, and soon the flames broke through and came belching up through the cabin skylight.

The captain ordered everyone to abandon ship, and Wallace slid down the rope to the boat. ‘Being rather weak it slipped through my hands, and took the skin off all my fingers, and finding the boat still half full of water I set to bailing, which made my hands smart very painfully.’

It had

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