MS. Found in a Bottle
Qui n'a plus qu'un moment a vivre
N'a plus rien a dissimuler.
-- Quinault -- Atys.
OF my country and of my family I have little to say. Ill usage andlength of years have driven me from the one, and estranged me fromthe other. Hereditary wealth afforded me an education of no commonorder, and a contemplative turn of mind enabled me to methodize thestores which early study very diligently garnered up. -- Beyond allthings, the study of the German moralists gave me great delight; notfrom any ill-advised admiration of their eloquent madness, but fromthe ease with which my habits of rigid thought enabled me to detecttheir falsities. I have often been reproached with the aridity of mygenius; a deficiency of imagination has been imputed to me as acrime; and the Pyrrhonism of my opinions has at all times rendered menotorious. Indeed, a strong relish for physical philosophy has, Ifear, tinctured my mind with a very common error of this age -- Imean the habit of referring occurrences, even the least susceptibleof such reference, to the principles of that science. Upon the whole,no person could be less liable than myself to be led away from thesevere precincts of truth by the ignes fatui of superstition. I havethought proper to premise thus much, lest the incredible tale I haveto tell should be considered rather the raving of a crudeimagination, than the positive experience of a mind to which thereveries of fancy have been a dead letter and a nullity.
After many years spent in foreign travel, I sailed in the year 18 --, from the port of Batavia, in the rich and populous island of Java,on a voyage to the Archipelago of the Sunda islands. I went aspassenger -- having no other inducement than a kind of nervousrestlessness which haunted me as a fiend.
Our vessel was a beautiful ship of about four hundred tons,copper-fastened, and built at Bombay of Malabar teak. She wasfreighted with cotton-wool and oil, from the Lachadive islands. Wehad also on board coir, jaggeree, ghee, cocoa-nuts, and a few casesof opium. The stowage was clumsily done, and the vessel consequentlycrank.
We got under way with a mere breath of wind, and for many days stoodalong the eastern coast of Java, without any other incident tobeguile the monotony of our course than the occasional meeting withsome of the small grabs of the Archipelago to which we were bound.
One evening, leaning over the taffrail, I observed a very singular,isolated cloud, to the N.W. It was remarkable, as well for its color,as from its being the first we had seen since our departure fromBatavia. I watched it attentively until sunset, when it spread all atonce to the eastward and westward, girting in the horizon with anarrow strip of vapor, and looking like a long line of low beach. Mynotice was soon afterwards attracted by the dusky-red appearance ofthe moon, and the peculiar character of the sea. The latter wasundergoing a rapid change, and the water seemed more than usuallytransparent. Although I could distinctly see the bottom, yet, heavingthe lead, I found the ship in fifteen fathoms. The air now becameintolerably hot, and was loaded with spiral exhalations similar tothose arising from heat iron. As night came on, every breath of winddied away, an more entire calm it is impossible to conceive. Theflame of a candle burned upon the poop without the least perceptiblemotion, and a long hair, held between the finger and thumb, hungwithout the possibility of detecting a vibration. However, as thecaptain said he could perceive no indication of danger, and as wewere drifting in bodily to shore, he ordered the sails to be furled,and the anchor let go. No watch was set, and the crew, consistingprincipally of Malays, stretched themselves deliberately upon deck. Iwent below -- not without a full presentiment of evil. Indeed, everyappearance warranted me in apprehending a Simoom. I told the captainmy fears; but he paid no attention to what I said, and left mewithout deigning to give a reply. My uneasiness, however, preventedme from sleeping, and about midnight I went upon deck. -- As I placedmy foot upon the upper step of the companion-ladder, I was startledby a loud, humming noise, like that occasioned by the rapidrevolution of a mill-wheel, and before I could ascertain its meaning,I found the ship quivering to its centre. In the next instant, awilderness of foam hurled us upon our beam-ends, and, rushing over usfore and aft, swept the entire decks from stem to stern.
The extreme fury of the blast proved, in a great measure, thesalvation of the ship. Although completely water-logged, yet, as hermasts had gone by the board, she rose, after a minute, heavily fromthe sea, and, staggering awhile beneath the immense pressure of thetempest, finally righted.
By what miracle I escaped destruction, it is impossible to say.Stunned by the shock of the water, I found myself, upon recovery,jammed in between the stern-post and rudder. With great difficulty Igained my feet, and looking dizzily around, was, at first, struckwith the idea of our being among breakers; so terrific, beyond thewildest imagination, was the whirlpool of mountainous and foamingocean within which we were engulfed. After a while, I heard the voiceof an old Swede, who had shipped with us at the moment of our leavingport. I hallooed to him with all my strength, and presently he camereeling aft. We soon discovered that we were the sole survivors ofthe accident. All on deck, with the exception of ourselves, had beenswept overboard; -- the captain and mates must have perished as theyslept, for the cabins were deluged with water. Without assistance, wecould expect to do little for the security of the ship, and ourexertions were at first paralyzed by the momentary expectation ofgoing down. Our cable had, of course, parted like pack-thread, at thefirst breath of the hurricane, or we should have been instantaneouslyoverwhelmed. We scudded with frightful velocity before the sea, andthe water made clear breaches over us. The frame-work of our sternwas shattered excessively, and, in almost every respect, we hadreceived considerable injury; but to our extreme Joy we found thepumps unchoked, and that we had made no great shifting of ourballast. The main fury of the blast had already blown over, and weapprehended little danger from the violence of the wind; but welooked forward to its total cessation with dismay; well believing,that, in our shattered condition, we should inevitably perish in thetremendous swell which would ensue. But this very just apprehensionseemed by no means likely to be soon verified. For five entire daysand nights -- during which our only subsistence was a small quantityof jaggeree, procured with great difficulty from the forecastle --the hulk flew at a rate defying computation, before rapidlysucceeding flaws of wind, which, without equalling the first violenceof the Simoom, were still more terrific than any tempest I had beforeencountered. Our course for the first four days was, with triflingvariations, S.E. and by S.; and we must have run down the coast ofNew Holland. -- On the fifth day the cold became extreme, althoughthe wind had hauled round a point more to the northward. -- The sunarose with a sickly yellow lustre, and clambered a very few degreesabove the horizon -- emitting no decisive light. -- There were noclouds apparent, yet the wind was upon the increase, and blew with afitful and unsteady fury. About noon, as nearly as we could guess,our attention was again arrested by the appearance of the sun. Itgave out no light, properly so called, but a dull and sullen glow
without reflection, as if all its rays were polarized. Just beforesinking within the turgid sea, its central fires suddenly went out,as if hurriedly extinguished by some unaccountable power. It was adim, sliver-like rim, alone, as it rushed down the unfathomableocean.
We waited in vain for the arrival of the sixth day -- that day to mehas not arrived -- to the Swede, never did arrive. Thenceforward wewere enshrouded in patchy darkness, so that we could not have seen anobject at twenty paces from the ship. Eternal night continued toenvelop us, all unrelieved by the phosphoric sea-brilliancy to whichwe had been accustomed in the tropics. We observed too, that,although the tempest continued to rage with unabated violence, therewas no longer to be discovered the usual appearance of surf, or foam,which had hitherto attended us. All around were horror, and thickgloom, and a black sweltering desert of ebony. -- Superstitiousterror crept by degrees into the spirit of the old Swede, and my ownsoul was wrapped up in silent wonder. We neglected all care of theship, as worse than useless, and securing ourselves, as well aspossible, to the stump of the mizen-mast, looked out bitterly intothe world of ocean. We had no means of calculating time, nor could weform any guess of our situation. We were, however, well aware ofhaving made farther to the southward than any previous navigators,and felt great amazement at not meeting with the usual impediments ofice. In the meantime every moment threatened to be our last -- everymountainous billow hurried to overwhelm us. The swell surpassedanything I had imagined possible, and that we were not instantlyburied is a miracle. My companion spoke of the lightness of ourcargo, and reminded me of the excellent qualities of our ship; but Icould not help feeling the utter hopelessness of hope itself, andprepared myself gloomily for that death which I thought nothing coulddefer beyond an hour, as, with every knot of way the ship made, theswelling of the black stupendous seas became more dismally appalling.At times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond the albatross --at times became dizzy with the velocity of our descent into somewatery hell, where the air grew stagnant, and no sound disturbed theslumbers of the kraken.
We were at the bottom of one of these abysses, when a quick screamfrom my companion broke fearfully upon the night. "See! see!" criedhe, shrieking in my ears, "Almighty God! see! see!" As he spoke, Ibecame aware of a dull, sullen glare of red light which streamed downthe sides of the vast chasm where we lay, and threw a fitfulbrilliancy upon our deck. Casting my eyes upwards, I beheld aspectacle which froze the current of my blood. At a terrific heightdirectly above us, and upon the very verge of the precipitousdescent, hovered a gigantic ship of, perhaps, four thousand tons.Although upreared upon the summit of a wave more than a hundred timesher own altitude, her apparent size exceeded that of any ship of theline or East Indiaman in existence. Her huge hull was of a deep dingyblack, unrelieved by any of the customary carvings of a ship. Asingle row of brass cannon protruded from her open ports, and dashedfrom their polished surfaces the fires of innumerablebattle-lanterns, which swung to and fro about her rigging. But whatmainly inspired us with horror and astonishment, was that she bore upunder a press of sail in the very teeth of that supernatural sea, andof that ungovernable hurricane. When we first discovered her, herbows were alone to be seen, as she rose slowly from the dim andhorrible gulf beyond her. For a moment of intense terror she pausedupon the giddy pinnacle, as if in contemplation of her own sublimity,then trembled and tottered, and -- came down.
At this instant, I know not what sudden self-possession came over myspirit. Staggering as far aft as I could, I awaited fearlessly theruin that was to overwhelm. Our own vessel was at length ceasing fromher struggles, and sinking with her head to the sea. The shock of thedescending mass struck her, consequently, in that portion of herframe which was already under water, and the inevitable result was tohurl me, with irresistible violence, upon the rigging of thestranger.
As I fell, the ship hove in stays, and went about; and to theconfusion ensuing I attributed my escape from the notice of the crew.With little difficulty I made my way unperceived to the mainhatchway, which was partially open, and soon found an opportunity ofsecreting myself in the hold. Why I did so I can hardly tell. Anindefinite sense of awe, which at first sight of the navigators ofthe ship had taken hold of my mind, was perhaps the principle of myconcealment. I was unwilling to trust myself with a race of peoplewho had offered, to the cursory glance I had taken, so many points ofvague novelty, doubt, and apprehension. I therefore thought proper tocontrive a hiding-place in the hold. This I did by removing a smallportion of the shifting-boards, in such a manner as to afford me aconvenient retreat between the huge timbers of the ship.
I had scarcely completed my work, when a footstep in the hold forcedme to make use of it. A man passed by my place of concealment with afeeble and unsteady gait. I could not see his face, but had anopportunity of observing his general appearance. There was about itan evidence of great age and infirmity. His knees tottered beneath aload of years, and his entire frame quivered under the burthen. Hemuttered to himself, in a low broken tone, some words of a languagewhich I could not understand, and groped in a corner among a pile ofsingular-looking instruments, and decayed charts of navigation. Hismanner was a wild mixture of the peevishness of second childhood, andthe solemn dignity of a God. He at length went on deck, and I saw himno more.
* * * * * * * *
A feeling, for which I have no name, has taken possession of my soul-- a sensation which will admit of no analysis, to which the lessonsof bygone times are inadequate, and for which I fear futurity itselfwill offer me no key. To a mind constituted like my own, the latterconsideration is an evil. I shall never -- I know that I shall never-- be satisfied with regard to the nature of my conceptions. Yet itis not wonderful that these conceptions are indefinite, since theyhave their origin in sources so utterly novel. A new sense -- a newentity is added to my soul.
* * * * * * * *
It is long since I first trod the deck of this terrible ship, and therays of my destiny are, I think, gathering to a focus.Incomprehensible men! Wrapped up in meditations of a kind which Icannot divine, they pass me by unnoticed. Concealment is utter follyon my part, for the people will not see. It was but just now that Ipassed directly before the eyes of the mate -- it was no long whileago that I ventured into the captain's own private cabin, and tookthence the materials with which I write, and have written. I shallfrom time to time continue this Journal. It is true that I may notfind an opportunity of transmitting it to the world, but I will notfall to make the endeavour. At the last moment I will enclose the MS.in a bottle, and cast it within the sea.
* * * * * * * *
An incident has occurred which has given me new room for meditation.Are such things the operation of ungoverned Chance? I had venturedupon deck and thrown myself down, without attracting any notice,among a pile of ratlin-stuff and old sails in the bottom of the yawl.While musing upon the singularity of my fate, I unwittingly daubedwith a tar-brush the edges of a neatly-folded studding-sail which laynear me on a barrel. The studding-sail is now bent upon the ship, andthe thoughtless touches of the brush are spread out into the wordDISCOVERY.
I have made many observations lately upon the structure of thevessel. Although well armed, she is not, I think, a ship of war. Herrigging, build, and general equipment, all negative a supposition ofthis kind. What she is not, I can easily perceive -- what she is Ifear it is impossible to say. I know not how it is, but inscrutinizing her strange model and singular cast of spars, her hugesize and overgrown suits of canvas, her severely simple bow andantiquated stern, there will occasionally flash across my mind asensation of familiar things, and there is always mixed up with suchindistinct shadows of recollection, an unaccountable memory of oldforeign chronicles and ages long ago.
* * * * * * * *
I have been looking at the timbers of the ship. She is built of amaterial to which I am a stranger. There is a peculiar characterabout the wood which strikes me as rendering it unfit for the purposeto which it has been applied. I mean its extreme porousness,considered independently by the worm-eaten condition which is aconsequence of navigation in these seas, and apart from therottenness attendant upon age. It will appear perhaps an observationsomewhat over-curious, but this wood would have every characteristicof Spanish oak, if Spanish oak were distended by any unnatural means.
In reading the above sentence a curious apothegm of an oldweather-beaten Dutch navigator comes full upon my recollection. "Itis as sure," he was wont to say, when any doubt was entertained ofhis veracity, "as sure as there is a sea where the ship itself willgrow in bulk like the living body of the seaman."
* * * * * * * *
About an hour ago, I made bold to thrust myself among a group of thecrew. They paid me no manner of attention, and, although I stood inthe very midst of them all, seemed utterly unconscious of mypresence. Like the one I had at first seen in the hold, they all boreabout them the marks of a hoary old age. Their knees trembled withinfirmity; their shoulders were bent double with decrepitude; theirshrivelled skins rattled in the wind; their voices were low,tremulous and broken; their eyes glistened with the rheum of years;and their gray hairs streamed terribly in the tempest. Around them,on every part of the deck, lay scattered mathematical instruments ofthe most quaint and obsolete construction.
* * * * * * * *
I mentioned some time ago the bending of a studding-sail. From thatperiod the ship, being thrown dead off the wind, has continued herterrific course due south, with every rag of canvas packed upon her,from her trucks to her lower studding-sail booms, and rolling everymoment her top-gallant yard-arms into the most appalling hell ofwater which it can enter into the mind of a man to imagine. I havejust left the deck, where I find it impossible to maintain a footing,although the crew seem to experience little inconvenience. It appearsto me a miracle of miracles that our enormous bulk is not swallowedup at once and forever. We are surely doomed to hover continuallyupon the brink of Eternity, without taking a final plunge into theabyss. From billows a thousand times more stupendous than any I haveever seen, we glide away with the facility of the arrowy sea-gull;and the colossal waters rear their heads above us like demons of thedeep, but like demons confined to simple threats and forbidden todestroy. I am led to attribute these frequent escapes to the onlynatural cause which can account for such effect. -- I must supposethe ship to be within the influence of some strong current, orimpetuous under-tow.
* * * * * * * *
I have seen the captain face to face, and in his own cabin -- but, asI expected, he paid me no attention. Although in his appearance thereis, to a casual observer, nothing which might bespeak him more orless than man-still a feeling of irrepressible reverence and awemingled with the sensation of wonder with which I regarded him. Instature he is nearly my own height; that is, about five feet eightinches. He is of a well-knit and compact frame of body, neitherrobust nor remarkably otherwise. But it is the singularity of theexpression which reigns upon the face -- it is the intense, thewonderful, the thrilling evidence of old age, so utter, so extreme,which excites within my spirit a sense -- a sentiment ineffable. Hisforehead, although little wrinkled, seems to bear upon it the stampof a myriad of years. -- His gray hairs are records of the past, andhis grayer eyes are Sybils of the future. The cabin floor was thicklystrewn with strange, iron-clasped folios, and mouldering instrumentsof science, and obsolete long-forgotten charts. His head was boweddown upon his hands, and he pored, with a fiery unquiet eye, over apaper which I took to be a commission, and which, at all events, borethe signature of a monarch. He muttered to himself, as did the firstseaman whom I saw in the hold, some low peevish syllables of aforeign tongue, and although the speaker was close at my elbow, hisvoice seemed to reach my ears from the distance of a mile.
* * * * * * * *
The ship and all in it are imbued with the spirit of Eld. The crewglide to and fro like the ghosts of buried centuries; their eyes havean eager and uneasy meaning; and when their fingers fall athwart mypath in the wild glare of the battle-lanterns, I feel as I have neverfelt before, although I have been all my life a dealer inantiquities, and have imbibed the shadows of fallen columns atBalbec, and Tadmor, and Persepolis, until my very soul has become aruin.
* * * * * * * *
When I look around me I feel ashamed of my former apprehensions. If Itrembled at the blast which has hitherto attended us, shall I notstand aghast at a warring of wind and ocean, to convey any idea ofwhich the words tornado and simoom are trivial and ineffective? Allin the immediate vicinity of the ship is the blackness of eternalnight, and a chaos of foamless water; but, about a league on eitherside of us, may be seen, indistinctly and at intervals, stupendousramparts of ice, towering away into the desolate sky, and lookinglike the walls of the universe.
* * * * * * * *
As I imagined, the ship proves to be in a current; if thatappellation can properly be given to a tide which, howling andshrieking by the white ice, thunders on to the southward with avelocity like the headlong dashing of a cataract.
* * * * * * * *
To conceive the horror of my sensations is, I presume, utterlyimpossible; yet a curiosity to penetrate the mysteries of these awfulregions, predominates even over my despair, and will reconcile me tothe most hideous aspect of death. It is evident that we are hurryingonwards to some exciting knowledge -- some never-to-be-impartedsecret, whose attainment is destruction. Perhaps this current leadsus to the southern pole itself. It must be confessed that asupposition apparently so wild has every probability in its favor.
* * * * * * * *
The crew pace the deck with unquiet and tremulous step; but there isupon their countenances an expression more of the eagerness of hopethan of the apathy of despair.
In the meantime the wind is still in our poop, and, as we carry acrowd of canvas, the ship is at times lifted bodily from out the sea-- Oh, horror upon horror! the ice opens suddenly to the right, andto the left, and we are whirling dizzily, in immense concentriccircles, round and round the borders of a gigantic amphitheatre, thesummit of whose walls is lost in the darkness and the distance. Butlittle time will be left me to ponder upon my destiny -- the circlesrapidly grow small -- we are plunging madly within the grasp of thewhirlpool -- and amid a roaring, and bellowing, and thundering ofocean and of tempest, the ship is quivering, oh God! and -- goingdown.
NOTE. -- The "MS. Found in a Bottle," was originally published in1831, and it was not until many years afterwards that I becameacquainted with the maps of Mercator, in which the ocean isrepresented as rushing, by four mouths, into the (northern) PolarGulf, to be absorbed into the bowels of the earth; the Pole itselfbeing represented by a black rock, towering to a prodigious height.
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