Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent (Memoirs of Lady Trent) by Marie Brennan

Author:Marie Brennan [Brennan, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan Books
Published: 2015-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

On the Beach

The receding flood of the storm had left the Basilisk stranded atop the reef, in a kind of saddle between two higher bits of rock. This was a dangerous position to be in, for every wave that came in shifted her on her perch, and coral is not forgiving. Given sufficient time, the sea would have pounded our ship to pieces.

Unfortunately, she could not be retrieved at once. Discussion with the Keongans established that the next high tide would not be at all sufficient to float the Basilisk free. Aekinitos would have to wait for the “spring tide,” a higher surge which comes on the new and full moons; and the new moon was not for more than a week.

For the men still on board the ship, this was dreadful news. By working the pumps they could keep the hold from filling with water—but to man them for a week and more could not be borne. Fortunately, they were able to devise a “fother,” a patch of sail filled with oakum and tar, which is sucked into the breaches by the inrushing water and thus seals them, at least partially, against their doom. Inspired by this, Aekinitos had more such patches made, buying barkcloth and fiber in great quantities from the islanders, which his men then lashed in place where the coral ground worst against the hull. These had to be replaced on a frequent basis, but they preserved the ship against some of the damage she might otherwise have taken.

Dragging her free of the reef required tremendous effort from not only the sailors but also the Keongans, who tied cables to their canoes and paddled mightily to haul the Basilisk clear. At that point we faced new problems, for deprived of that support, however destructive it may have been, the Basilisk promptly began to sink in earnest. It was a race between the sea on one side and the rowers on the other (not to mention the fellows manning the pumps belowdecks) as to whether they could get the ship to safety before she foundered irretrievably. This meant bringing her along the fore reef until there was a gap through which she could enter the lagoon, and then drawing her as far onto shore as Aekinitos dared, without beaching her so thoroughly she could never be removed again. This is called careening, and in the absence of a dry-dock, it was the best we could do.

His carpenter and other skilled men dove into the water to investigate the damage; the rest of us had to wait until the tide went out to see it. When the ship’s hull was exposed, I shuddered at the sight. I had not known before that the Basilisk, like many ships, bears a “false keel” and a sheathing of thin boards over the keel and hull proper; these protect the structural fabric of the vessel from shipworms and other troubles, collisions with the seafloor included. The reef had torn away much of the false keel and a good deal of the sheathing, cracking the planks beneath.

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