Their Escape Was
Extraordinary, For Of The Score Who Were Flung Into The Water Only One
Egyptian Was Drowned.
Two other men were, however, missing, and their fate
seemed certain.
The capsized steamer, swirled along by the current,
was jammed about a mile below the cataract between two rocks, where she
became a total wreck. Anxious to see if there was any chance of raising
her, the officers proceeded in the Tamai to the scene. The bottom of the
vessel was just visible above the surface. It was evident to all that her
salvage would be a work of months. The officers were about to leave the
wreck, when suddenly a knocking was heard within the hull. Tools were
brought, a plate was removed, and there emerged, safe and sound from the
hold in which they had been thus terribly imprisoned, the second engineer
and a stoker. When the rapidity with which the steamer turned upside down,
with the engines working, the fires burning, and the boilers full -
the darkness, with all the floors become ceilings - the violent inrush
of water - the wild career down the stream - are remembered, it will be
conceded that the experience of these men was sufficiently remarkable.
Search was now made for another passage. This was found on the 6th,
nearer the right bank of the river. On the 8th the Metemma arrived with 300
more men of the 7th Egyptians. Three days were spent in preparations and to
allow the Nile to rise a little more.
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