And I Say It
Failed Because I Saw It Fail, And Not Because I Believe It Failed.
I Don't Believe It Did Fail.
It is unbelievable, and I am not
telling you what I believe; I am telling you what I saw.
Now, gentle reader, what would you do if you were on a small boat,
rolling in the trough of the sea, a trysail on that small boat's
stern that was unable to swing the bow up into the wind? Get out
the sea-anchor. It's just what we did. We had a patent one, made
to order and warranted not to dive. Imagine a hoop of steel that
serves to keep open the mouth of a large, conical, canvas bag, and
you have a sea-anchor. Well, we made a line fast to the sea-anchor
and to the bow of the Snark, and then dropped the sea-anchor
overboard. It promptly dived. We had a tripping line on it, so we
tripped the sea-anchor and hauled it in. We attached a big timber
as a float, and dropped the sea-anchor over again. This time it
floated. The line to the bow grew taut. The trysail on the mizzen
tended to swing the bow into the wind, but, in spite of this
tendency, the Snark calmly took that sea-anchor in her teeth, and
went on ahead, dragging it after her, still in the trough of the
sea. And there you are. We even took in the trysail, hoisted the
full mizzen in its place, and hauled the full mizzen down flat, and
the Snark wallowed in the trough and dragged the sea-anchor behind
her.
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