412 The Story of the New England Whalers 



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one of the boat steerers had occasion to go into the 

 hold for some kind of gear for his boat. Opening 

 the hatch he went backing down the ladder for 

 a few rounds, and then, turning quickly, he climbed 

 up again, shouting: 



"Captain Hayes, yer ship's full of water clean 

 up to the deck beams." 



This was almost true, but by manning the pumps 

 and rigging barrels in slings to bail her the crew 

 managed to lower the water until they could 

 get at the leak. The ice had made "basket 

 work" of a large space on the bluff of the bow, 

 but they covered the wound with oakum, canvas, 

 etc., in a way that stopped the inflow of water 

 for the time being, and then they sailed her to 

 Plover Bay, where they laid her alongside a steep 

 beach, discharged the cargo of all kinds, sent 

 all upper spars on shore, and hove her down. 

 The leak on the port side of the bow, where she 

 had struck the ice, was soon repaired. At the 

 same time, however, it was seen that some dam- 

 age had been done on the starboard side. They 

 therefore righted the ship, turned her around, 

 and hove her down again. But just when she 



