134 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT." 



Buccumb, " never again heard of." As it was, we found 

 two of the boats stove in, whether by breaking sea or 

 crushing wind nobody knows. Most of the planking 

 of the bulwarks was also gone, burst outward by the 

 weight of the water on deck. Only the normal quantity 

 of water was found in the well on sounding, and not 

 even a rope-yarn was gone from aloft. Altogether, we 

 came out of the ordeal triumphantly, where many a 

 gallant vessel met her fate, and the behaviour of the 

 grand old tub gave me a positive affection for her, such 

 as I have never felt for a ship before or since. 



There was now a big heap of work for the carpenter, 

 80 the skipper decided to run in for the Cocos or Keeling 

 Islands, in order to lay quietly and refit. We had now 

 only three boats sound, the one smashed when poor 

 Bamberger died being still unfinished — of course, the 

 repairs had practically amounted to rebuilding. There- 

 fore we kept away for this strange assemblage of reefs 

 and islets, arriving off them early the next day. 



They consist of a true " atoll," or basin, whose rim 

 is of coral reefs, culminating occasionally in sandy 

 islands or cays formed by the accumulated debris washed 

 up from the reef below, and then clothed upon with all 

 sorts of plants by the agency of birds and waves. 



These islands have lately been so fully described in 

 many different journals, that I shall not burden the 

 reader with any twice-told tales about them, but merely 

 chronicle the fact that for a week we lay at anchor off 

 one of the outlying cays, toiling continuously to get the 

 vessel again in fighting trim. 



At last the overworked carpenter and his crew got 

 through their heavy task, and the order was given to 

 " man the windlass." Up came the anchor, and away 



