22 CHALLENGER 



forward part of the ship and all the crew mustered aft, so that the 

 ship was considerably lightened forward. At about high water the 

 stern hawsers leading to the two bower anchors which had been 

 laid out astern were hove upon and the engines put to full speed 

 astern. It was a tense moment as ever so slowly the ship began 

 to move, and very gently came off the rock. The first part of 

 getting the ship back to port was achieved, but there were many 

 more difficulties to be overcome yet. A hum of eager conversation 

 on the quarterdeck was soon quelled by the Coxswain detailing 

 the men for the task of recovering the anchors. The hawsers 

 running to the bower anchors had now to be led to the forward 

 winch and these anchors hauled up into the hawsepipes once again 

 and connected to the cables. The kedge anchor had also to be 

 recovered before the ship returned to Ford Harbour so that divers 

 could determine the full extent of the damage ; meanwhile the 

 pumps were just holding their own with the water in the 

 damaged compartments. 



On the next day, Saturday, a strong easterly wind was blowing 

 into the anchorage and it was late in the afternoon before the 

 two ship's divers could be sent down. The whole of Sunday was 

 also spent in diving, while the ship's boats made long journeys to 

 recover the three camp parties who were soon alive with bustle 

 as they took down the tents and packed the bedding, provisions, 

 surveying equipment and a hundred other items that make up 

 the detached survey camp. 



The divers had an extremely cold job and they could work only 

 in short spells before warming up onboard and preparing to go 

 down again ; but encouraged by the Boatswain and the small party 

 of men who were working the air pump and attending on them, 

 they gradually built up a picture of the damage to the ship's hull 

 and in addition they were able to plug six holes from which 

 rivets were now missing. This allowed the pumps to reduce con- 

 siderably the amount of water in the damaged compartments. 



At daylight on Monday, 26th September, the ship was as ready 

 as she could be to sail for the south, and it was now necessary 

 to take the inshore route again, at least until it was certain that 

 the plugged rivets were holding satisfactorily. To encounter heavy 

 weather such as could be expected in the open sea might cause 

 further damage, particularly to the forward bulkhead of the boiler 



