On running alongside the "Fortuna" the breakers were slung on board, and, in company with the whaler, in which were the divers and their apparatus, we made for the buoy marking the spot where the piece of timber had been brought up by the grapnel.
Here the whaler was anchored fore and aft, and the two divers, Lewis and Burbidge, who were already clad in their dresses, were taken in hand by their attendants, who proceeded to affix the lead weights to their shoes, back, and chest. Then the copper helmets were firmly secured, the life-line and air-tube connections made, and the glass front was screwed in position.
The air-pumps began to work, and, assisted by willing hands, both divers crawled over the side of the whaler, and amidst a turmoil of bubbles caused by the escaping air, they sank beneath the surface. For a considerable distance they were plainly visible, but gradually their grotesque outlines grew fainter and fainter, till a slight bubbling on the surface alone betrayed their whereabouts.
Over half an hour passed, but no signal came from either man, though we observed that the water became discoloured with dirt, and the train of bubbles, after leading some distance from the boats, finally became stationary. The divers had ceased their submarine walk, and had evidently found something worthy of their attention.
At length came a series of tugs on the life-lines, and slowly ropes and air-tubes came home over the gunwale, till both copper helmets appeared simultaneously on opposite sides of the whaler, where ready hands helped the wearers on board.
"Found anything?" asked my father, the moment the glass discs were unscrewed.
"Yes, sir," replied Lewis, who held in his hand a weed-grown object that had once been a dead-eye. "Yes, sir. She's there, right enough, but she's sunk in the mud and sand, and her decks are covered with long weeds ."
"Aye," assented Burbidge. "She's on an even keel, but nearly flush with the bottom; and, worse luck, her decks seem as sound as ever they were."
"Not worse luck," replied my father "for had the decks been rotten, the timbers would have been rotten also, and the wreck would have been strewn all over the bed of the lagoon. All we have to do, my lads, is to put a charge under her upper deck and blow it up."