She was too low in the water for
it to be possible for us, with our limited appliances, to blow her up;
so we were obliged to leave her floating about as a derelict, a
fertile source of danger to all ships crossing her track. With her
buoyant cargo, and with the trade winds slowly wafting her to smoother
seas, it may probably be some years before she breaks up. I only hope
that no good ship may run full speed on to her, some dark night, for
the 'Carolina' would prove almost as formidable an obstacle as a
sunken rock.
Tom was now signalling for us to go on board again, and for a few
minutes I was rather afraid we should have had a little trouble in
getting the men off, as their excitement had not decreased; but after
a trifling delay and some rather rough play amongst themselves, they
became steady again, and we returned to the yacht with our various
prizes.
A 'Mother Carey's chicken' hovered round the wreck while we were on
board, and followed us to the 'Sunbeam;' and although a flat calm and
a heavy swell prevailed at the time, we all looked upon our visitor as
the harbinger of a breeze. In this instance, at least, the well-known
sailor's superstition was justified; for, before the evening, the wind
sprang up, and 'fires out and sails up' was the order of the day.
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