Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/16

 Of course the passengers immediately took alarm, but Captain Anderson soon reassured them. Indeed, the danger could not be imminent, as the Scotia is divided into seven water-tight compartments, and can put up with a little leakage.

Captain Anderson descended at once into the hold. He perceived that the fifth compartment had sprung a leak, and the rate at which the water was pouring in proved that the injury was of considerable extent. Very fortunately the furnaces were not situated in this portion of the ship, else they would have been quickly extinguished.

Captain Anderson stopped the Scotia, and sent one of the sailors to examine the injury. He soon discovered a large hole in the hull. Such damage could not be trifled with, and the Scotia was put at half-speed for the rest of the voyage. She was then 300 miles from Cape Clear, and, after a delay of three days, which caused great anxiety in Liverpool, she arrived in port.

The surveyors then set about their examination of the Scotia, which was dry-docked for the purpose. They could scarcely believe their eyes. About six feet below the water-line there was a regular rent, in the shape of an isosceles triangle. The fissure in the iron plating was perfectly even, and could not have been more neatly done with a punch. It must have been caused by an instrument of no common hardness, and after it had been launched against the ship with such prodigious force as to pierce an enormous hole in the iron, it had been withdrawn by a retrograde movement almost inconceivable.

This was the last occurrence which had so excited