Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/84

64 under the eaves of the grand saloon; with the shower the violence of the wind and sea assuaged; the western sky grew clear, and the last black clouds vanished on the opposite horizon; at ten o'clock the hurricane sent us a farewell gust.

At noon an observation was able to be made and was as follows; latitude, 49° 50', north; longitude, 61° 57', west; course, 193 miles.

This considerable diminution in the ship's speed could only be attributed to the tempest, which during the night and morning had incessantly beaten against the ship, and a tempest so terrible that one of the passengers, almost an inhabitant of the Atlantic, which he had crossed forty-four times, declared he had never seen the like. The engineer even said that during the storm, when the Great Eastern was three days in the trough of the sea, the ship had never been attacked with such violence, and it must be repeated that even if this admirable steamship did go at an inferior speed, and rolled decidedly too much, she nevertheless presented a sure security against the fury of the sea, which she resisted like a block, owing to the perfect homogeneity of her construction.

But let me also say, however powerful she might be, it was not right to expose her, without any reason whatever, to a baffling sea; for however strong, however imposing a ship may appear, it is not "disgraced" because it flies before the tempest. A commander ought always to remember that a man's life is worth more than the mere satisfaction of his own pride. In any case, to be obstinate is blameable, and to be willful is dangerous. A recent incident in which a dreadful catastrophe happened to a Transatlantic steamer shows us that a captain ought not to struggle blindly against the sea, even when he sees the boat of a rival company creeping ahead.

the meantime the pumps were exhausting the lake which had been formed in the hold of the Great Eastern, like a lagoon in the middle of an island; powerfully and