142 
A CLOSE SHAVE. 
the bottom, and yet if we bad kept out from the land we 
would not have been able to steam against the sea: our 
only hope was to keep in smooth water, carry as much 
steam as jiossible, and try to get to Shanghae before our 
coal cave out. All the wood which we had taken in at 
Fou-chow was soon expended, and, before commencing 
on the remnant of coal, wc burnt up all the spare timber 
about the decks, — chicken-coops, old chairs, pieces of 
masts, &e. &c., and, finally, the few tons of coal. We 
reached our port on the 7th of October, with a few bags 
of coal, — the sweepings of the bunkers. Had we been 
two hours later, we would have drifted helplessly about 
until the arrival of a fair wind. 
