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Updated: May 17, 2025
I heard the men swarming up from the 'tween-decks abaft the forecastle; and presently my pock-marked friend of the repulsive countenance but kindly eye, descended into the forecastle to the relief of the surly dog who had handed me the soup.
"We'd better look sharp, sir," he called out to Uncle Jack, who was busily engaged superintending the stowage of the provisions in the two boats. "The water is arising rapidly, and is now nearly up to the 'tween-decks!" Uncle Jack passed on the word to the captain, who instantly came up the companion.
There was a talk in the midshipmen's berth amongst us that the captain was trying his hand at the great Circle course, but none of us knew much about it down in that gloomy, 'tween-decks, slush-flavoured cavern in which we youngsters lived.
The music ceased, the dancers deserted the 'tween-decks floor, and, as the rocking of the boat increased, there arose in the direction of the ladies' cabin audible suggestions of woe.
Indeed, if there had been nobody else near, it is not unlikely that she would have disdainfully fascinated the 'tween-decks, and made eyes at the most presentable of the convicts there. Vickers, with a bow to Frere, saw his wife up the ladder, and then turned for his daughter. She was a delicate-looking child of six years old, with blue eyes and bright hair.
Kate Meldrum was the first to break the melancholy silence that reigned as they rowed away from the old ship, all looking back sadly at her battered hull, whose crippled condition could now be better seen the bows all rent and torn by the violence of the waves, the gaping sides, the gutted hold washed out by the water, and the sea around covered with pieces of shattered planking from the 'tween-decks, besides the curved knees and other larger parts of the timber work, that had been wrenched off during the vessel's battle with the elements, and numbers of packing-cases and empty casks and barrels that were floating about, the flotsam and jetsam of the cargo.
She was essentially a fighting ship, her cargo-space being only about half the capacity of other ships of her size, the remainder of the hold being fitted to serve as a spacious 'tween-decks, affording accommodation for an even larger crew than George and her owner had decided was necessary.
The gunners and swabbers were putting their cannon in fettle below decks. Others were rolling out round-shot from the hold and storing powder in iron-cased lockers behind the guns. Great tubs of sea water were placed conveniently in the 'tween-decks and blankets were put to soak for use in case of fire. Buckets of vinegar water for swabbing the guns were laid handy.
And by this action was resolved for me a riddle with regard to the properties and uses of a prematurely stout man of fabulous girth, who had been dimly revealed to me, once or twice in the course of the voyage, through some long vista of the 'tween-decks, but seemed always to melt into air, or, more probably, oil, upon any advance being made to a closer inspection.
At the moment we arrived forward, five Chinese, like so many bees, came swarming out of the little 'tween-decks cabin, the sleep still in their eyes. Leading them came a big, muscular man, conspicuous for his pock-marked face and the yellow silk handkerchief swathed about his head.
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