Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 173: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Eight Seconds minutes later he returned, and shouted to Mr. Tenny— — “‘There ain’t anything wrong below, mis- ter mate: there’s about a million fathom of dock line about your propeller!’’ “Holy sailor!” exclaimed Tenny. how—what ee But Captain Mac, with Scott at his heels, leaped down the ladder to the main deck and ran aft. The captain swung over the taffrail and looked under the counter. “He’s right,” he said grimly. ‘‘An eight- inch line. Some of it’s around the propel- ler and the rest is hanging in bights. It’s a wonder it didn’t twist the wheel off the shaft.” Scott, who had paused to look at the grating where the line had been, cried out in surprize. “Look here, Cap’n; the lashing’s been cut! It was new lashing, and it’s been cut with a knife!” They returned to the bridge, and the cap- tain’s face was grim as he went over the situation with his mates. ‘“‘We’re in a bad way,” he said. ‘The ship isn’t under control and we’re off a lee shore. There’s a stiff breeze blowing us straight for Hinchinbroke Rocks, and a knot and a half or two knot current setting us in the same direction. We’re making at least three knots leeway, and we’re about four miles to windward of the rocks. We have an hour and a quarter to do whatever we are going to do. “But who do you suppose—” began Scott. “Tt was that durn wireless operator, that’s who,” cut in Tenny. ‘“‘Never mind,” interrupted the captain. “We haven’t time to discuss that. Mr. Scott, tell the chief engineer to pump out his after tanks and fill the forepeak and number one tanks, port and starboard. We want to trim her by the head, so that the stern will lift and bring the propeller as far out of the water as possible. Tell him to let every- thing else go and start his pumps.” “Yes, sir,”’ and Scott went below. “You, Mr. Tenny, take all the deck force and stop off the starboard anchor in the hawse pipe; then unshackle the chain and bring the end on deck. Lower away on the port anchor till you have the bitter end, then shackle the starboard chain to it, lower away again and let it drag. One anchor with a double length of chain will hold fifty per cent, better than two anchors with ordi- “Now 171 nary lengths of chain. You’ve got plenty of time, as there is over two thousand fathoms of water under us now, and we won’t be over holding ground for some time. The anchor may fetch us up and it may not; if it don’t we'll probably pile neatly up on Hinchin- broke Rocks.” : “Why not try a sea anchor, Cap’n?” sug- gested Tommy Downs. ‘Because it wouldn’t do any good,” said the captain shortly. ‘Sea anchors only work on paper. You, Mr. Downs, get some men from the steward and have them bring on deck all the fish oil we have in the store- room. We'll pour it over both sides to give us a slick when we begin to clear the pro- peller. As soon as you have the oil on deck take your men aft and rig a stage under the counter.” Ka The whole thing rested upon whether the chief engineer could empty the after trim- ming tanks and fill the forward ones in time to allow the deck force to clear the propeller of rope before the ship grounded. The chief was doubtful. eee “Maybe,” he said. “And maybe not! I don’t know.” “And maybe we'll all be flounderin’ around in the surf in another hour,” growled Mr. Tenny. a They were standing by the taffrail, the chief engineer, Tenny, and Captain Mac. The ship was perceptibly down by the head, but the stern had not lifted enough for men to go under the counter and begin chopping away the hawser. The port anchor, at the end of a hundred and fifty fathoms of chain, hung from the port hawse pipe, but had not yet begun to drag, and the Hawk still lay with her quarter to the wind. Beneath the counter the heavy seas raged fiercely, making it impossible to clear the propeller even if the stern were high enough. The ship lay in the natural position of a ves- sel not under control; the anchor would first have to touch bottom and drag, if it did not hold, before the stern would swing to lee- ward. And each minute saw the ship closer to Hinchinbroke Rocks, gleaming wickedly beneath the morning sun. Breen, locked securely in the storeroom, could be heard whistling merrily. = wrecker!”’ grunted Tenny. “Been a good thing ’f we’d ’a’ run ’im down when we first seen ’im.” © — : He saw the wireless man coming from forward, and shouted to him: Comicbook © =