The Survivors of the Chancellor | Page 4

is a side of life there which is
too often ignored by writers who dwell only on the darker view.
The Czar, in our author's hands, becomes the hero figure to the erection
of which French "hero worship" is ever prone. The sarcasms thrown
occasionally at the British newspaper correspondent of the story, show
the changing attitude of Verne toward England, and reflect the French
spirit of his day.

The Survivors of the Chancellor
by Jules Verne

CHAPTER I
THE CHANCELLOR
CHARLESTON, September 27, 1898. -- It is high tide, and three
o'clock in the afternoon when we leave the Battery quay; the ebb
carries us off shore, and as Captain Huntly has hoisted both main and
top sails, the north- erly breeze drives the Chancellor briskly across the
bay. Fort Sumter ere long is doubled, the sweeping batteries of the
mainland on our left are soon passed, and by four o'clock the rapid
current of the ebbing tide has carried us through the harbor mouth.
But as yet we have not reached the open sea we have still to thread our
way through the narrow channels which the surge has hollowed out
amongst the sand-banks. The captain takes a southwest course,
rounding the lighthouse at the corner of the fort; the sails are closely
trimmed; the last sandy point is safely coasted, and at length, at seven
o'clock in the evening, we are out free upon the wide At- lantic.

The Chancellor is a fine square-rigged three-master, of 900 tons burden,
and belongs to the wealthy Liverpool firm of Laird Brothers. She is two
years old, is sheathed and secured with copper, her decks being of teak,
and the base of all her masts, except the mizzen, with all their fittings,
being of iron. She is registered first class, A 1, and is now on her third
voyage between Charleston and Liverpool. As she wended her way
through the channels of Charleston harbor, it was the British flag that
was lowered from her mast-head; but without colors at all, no sailor
could have hesitated for a moment in telling her nationality, -- for Eng-
lish she was, and nothing but English from her water-line upward to the
truck of her masts.
I must now relate how it happens that I have taken my passage on
board the Chancellor on her return voyage to England.
At present there is no direct steamship service between South Carolina
and Great Britain, and all who wish to cross must go either northward
to New York or southward to New Orleans. It is quite true that if I had
chosen a start from New York I might have found plenty of vessels be-
longing to English, French, or Hamburg lines, any of which would have
conveyed me by a rapid voyage to my destina- tion; and it is equally
true that if I had selected New Or- leans for my embarkation I could
readily have reached Europe by one of the vessels of the National
Steam Naviga- tion Company, which join the French transatlantic line
of Colon and Aspinwall. But it was fated to be otherwise.
One day, as I was loitering about the Charleston quays, my eye lighted
on this vessel. There was something about the Chancellor that pleased
me, and a kind of involuntary impulse took me on board, where I found
the internal ar- rangements perfectly comfortable. Yielding to the idea
that a voyage in a sailing vessel had certain charms beyond the transit
in a steamer, and reckoning that with wind and wave in my favor there
would be little material difference in time; considering, moreover, that
in these low latitudes the weather in early autumn is fine and unbroken,
I came to my decision, and proceeded forthwith to secure my pas- sage
by this route to Europe.
Have I done right or wrong? Whether I shall have rea- son to regret my
determination is a problem to be solved in the future. However, I will
begin to record the incidents of our daily experience, dubious as I feel
whether the lines of my chronicle will ever find a reader.

CHAPTER II
CREW AND PASSENGERS
SEPTEMBER 28. -- John Silas Huntly, the captain of the Chancellor,
has the reputation of being a most experienced navigator of the Atlantic.
He is a Scotchman by birth, a native of Dundee, and is about fifty years
of age. He is of the middle height and slight build, and has a small head,
which he has a habit of holding a little over his left shoulder. I do not
pretend to be much of a physiognomist, but I am inclined to believe
that my few hours' acquaintance with our captain has given me
considerable insight into his charac- ter. That he is a good