A Voyage in the Sunbeam | Page 5

read her name?' 'Does she look as if she had been
long abandoned?' Soon we were near enough to send a boat's crew on
board, whilst we watched their movements anxiously from the bridge.
We could now read her name--the 'Carolina'--surmounted by a
gorgeous yellow decoration on her stern. She was of between two and
three hundred tons burden, and was painted a light blue, with a red
streak. Beneath her white bowsprit the gaudy image of a woman served
as a figure-head. The two masts had been snapped short off about three
feet from the deck, and the bulwarks were gone, only the covering

board and stanchions remaining, so that each wave washed over and
through her. The roof and supports of the deck-house and the
companions were still left standing, but the sides had disappeared, and
the ship's deck was burst up in such a manner as to remind one of a
quail's back.
We saw the men on board poking about, apparently very pleased with
what they had found; and soon our boat returned to the yacht for some
breakers,[1] as the 'Carolina' had been laden with port wine and cork,
and the men wished to bring some of the former on board. I changed
my dress, and, putting on my sea boots, started for the wreck.
[Footnote 1: Small casks, used for carrying water in boats, frequently
spelt barricos, evidently from the time of the old Spanish navigators.]
[Illustration: The Derelict 'Carolina' laden with Port Wine]
We found the men rather excited over their discovery. The wine must
have been very new and very strong, for the smell from it, as it slopped
about all over the deck, was almost enough to intoxicate anybody. One
pipe had already been emptied into the breakers and barrels, and great
efforts were made to get some of the casks out whole; but this was
found to be impossible, without devoting more time to the operation
than we chose to spare. The men managed to remove three half-empty
casks with their heads stove in, which they threw overboard, but the
full ones would have required special appliances to raise them through
the hatches. It proved exceedingly difficult to get at the wine, which
was stowed underneath the cork, and there was also a quantity of cabin
bulkheads and fittings floating about, under the influence of the long
swell of the Atlantic. It was a curious sight, standing on the roof of the
deck-house, to look into the hold, full of floating bales of cork, barrels,
and pieces of wood, and to watch the sea surging up in every direction,
through and over the deck, which was level with the water's edge. I saw
an excellent modern iron cooking-stove washing about from side to
side; but almost every other moveable article, including spars and ropes,
had apparently been removed by previous boarders.
It would have delayed us too long to tow the vessel into the nearest port,

375 miles distant, or we might have claimed the salvage money,
estimated by the experts at 1,500l. She was too low in the water for it to
be possible for us, with our limited appliances, to blow her up; so we
were obliged to leave her floating about as a derelict, a fertile source of
danger to all ships crossing her track. With her buoyant cargo, and with
the trade winds slowly wafting her to smoother seas, it may probably
be some years before she breaks up. I only hope that no good ship may
run full speed on to her, some dark night, for the 'Carolina' would prove
almost as formidable an obstacle as a sunken rock.
Tom was now signalling for us to go on board again, and for a few
minutes I was rather afraid we should have had a little trouble in
getting the men off, as their excitement had not decreased; but after a
trifling delay and some rather rough play amongst themselves, they
became steady again, and we returned to the yacht with our various
prizes.
A 'Mother Carey's chicken' hovered round the wreck while we were on
board, and followed us to the 'Sunbeam;' and although a flat calm and a
heavy swell prevailed at the time, we all looked upon our visitor as the
harbinger of a breeze. In this instance, at least, the well-known sailor's
superstition was justified; for, before the evening, the wind sprang up,
and 'fires out and sails up' was the order of the day. We were soon
bowling merrily along at the rate of seven knots an hour, while a clear
starlight night and a heavy dew gave promise of a fine morrow.
Friday, July 14th.--We still have a light wind, right aft, accompanied
by a heavy roll from the westward, which makes