42 CONSTRUCT HOUSES ON SHORE. [1843 



inclined to forty-five degrees. Natives were now hired 

 to construct houses on shore for the accommodation of 

 the crew, and parties were appointed to receive, and stow 

 away, the various stores landed to lighten the ship, which 

 was soon cleared of her top hamper. Orders had also 

 been given to the native chiefs to employ their people in 

 cutting and bringing down the river the largest and 

 lightest timber which they could procure, and we con- 

 tinued daily to receive rafts varying from twenty to thirty 

 spars each. I hoped to have been able to right the ship 

 on the evening of the 23rd, without their aid, but the 

 flow of water was found to be overpowering, and our 

 chain-pumps, in their present condition, inadequate to 

 reduce the level of the water in the hold. In this dilemma 

 I resolved to husband the powers of the crew until the 

 next spring tide, when, with the means at command, I 

 calculated upon every chance of success. Upon receiving 

 intelligence of our situation, as well as the loss of provi- 

 sion, Mr. Brooke, in the most handsome manner, placed 

 the * Royalist' at my disposal, also his store of nails, iron, 

 and other important articles, without which, as our car- 

 penter's stores were under water, we should have been 

 greatly distressed. 



Mr. Hooper, our zealous and indefatigable purser, 

 having immediately volunteered his services, was directed 

 to proceed in the ' Royalist ' to Singapore, communicate 

 our disaster to any vessels of war that he might meet 

 there, and return with all possible despatch with bread, 

 and as much salt provisions as he could find room for. 

 The ' Royalist' took her departure on the night of the 

 22nd, the day prior to our first attempt to recover the 



