Dan Simmons - The Terror

Exactly, he said . Whaleboats have a Shallow Keel and no fixed Rudder. An oarsman at the stern steers her.

Is that good? I asked .

It is if you want a light, tough boat with a shallow Keel and no tender Rudder to be broken off when you’re dragging her, said Captain Fitzjames . Perfect for man-hauling across the ice, even though she’s 30 Feet long and can carry up to a Dozen Men with room for Supplies.

I nodded as if I understood. I almost did – but I was very tired.

Do you see her mast, Doctor?

Again I looked. Again I failed to find that which had been requested of me to find. I admitted as much.

That’s because the whaleboats have a single collapsible mast, said the Captain . It’s there folded under the Canvas the men have Rigged over her gunwales.

I have noticed that canvas and wood covering all the boats, I said, to show that I was not totally unobservant . Is that to keep the snow out?

Fitzjames was lighting his pipe. He had run out of Tobacco long ago. I did not want to Know what he was burning in it . The Boat Covers were put on to shield the Crews of all 18 Boats, even though we may only take 10 boats with us, he said softly. Most of the men in camp were sleeping. Guards paced coldly just at the edge of the lantern light .

We’ll be under that canvas when we cross Open Water to the mouth of the Back’s Great Fish River? I asked. I had never pictured us hunkered down under Canvas and wood. I had always imagined us rowing happily in Sunlight .

We may not use the Boats on the River, he said, puffing out aromatic clouds of what smelled like dried human excrement . If the Waters along the Coast open up this Summer, Captain Crozier would prefer to Sail us to Safety.

All the way to Alaska and St. Petersburg? I asked .

To Alaska at least, said the Captain . Or perhaps Baffin Bay if the Coastal Leads open to the North. He took several steps and swung the lantern closer to the Boats on Sledges . Do you know these Boats, Doctor?

Are they different, Captain? I found that such terrible Fatigue was a great Inducement to Honesty without Embarrassment .

Aye, said Fitzjames . These next two lashed to Mr. Honey’s special Sledges here are our Cutters. Surely you noticed them when they were Lashed on Deck or on the ice next to the Ships these past Three Winters?

Yes, of course, I said . But are you saying these are different from the first, the whaleboats?

Quite different, said Captain Fitzjames, taking the time to relight his pipe . Do you notice any masts on these boats, Doctor?

Even in the dim light from the lantern I could see two masts rising from each of these craft. The Canvas had been Artfully shaped and cut and Stitched around them. I told the Captain my observation.

Aye, very good, he said. He did not sound Condescending .

Are these collapsible masts not collapsed for a purpose? I asked, as much to show that I had been listening earlier as for any better reason .

They’re not collapsible, Dr. Goodsir. These masts are Lug Rigged… or you may know them as Gaff Rigged. Quite permanent. And do you see fixed rudders on these? And the deeper keels?

I could. I did . The Rudders and Keels are the reason they could not be Dragged like the whaleboats? I ventured .

Exactly. You have Diagnosed the Problem, Doctor.

Could not the Rudders be removed, Captain?

Possibly, Dr. Goodsir, but the deep Keels… they would have been Stuck or Ripped out by the first Pressure Ridge, now wouldn’t they?

I nodded again and laid my mittened hand on the gunwale . Is it my imagination, or are these four boats slightly shorter than the whaleboats?

You have a very good Eye indeed, Doctor. 28 feet long as opposed to 30 feet for the whaleboats. And heavier… the Cutters are Heavier. And square-sterned.

For the first time I noticed that these 2 Boats, unlike the whalers, definitely had a Bow and a squared-off stern. No Canoes here . How many men will the Cutters carry? I asked .

Ten. And they pull 8 Oars. They have Room for quite a few Stores, and there will be Room for us all to Huddle down out of the Storm, even on the Open Sea, and with the two masts the Cutters will offer twice the Canvas to the wind that the whaleboats do, but the Cutters will not be as good as the Whalers if we have to go up Back’s Great Fish River.

Why is that? I asked, feeling that I should already know, that he had already told me.

The deeper draft, sir. Let us look at the next two… the jolly boats.

I found nothing jolly-looking about either of the next two boats . They seem longer than the Cutters, I said .

They are, Doctor. 30 feet Long apiece… the same Length as our whaleboats. But Heavier, Doctor, Heavier even than the Cutters. A great Trial, with their 900-lb. Sledges to haul across the Ice… even this far… I assure you. Captain Crozier may choose to leave them here.

I asked , Then should we not have left them behind at the ships?

He shook his head . No. We need to choose which boats will best serve to allow 100 men to survive for several weeks or months at sea, or even on the river. Did you know that Boats… all of these Boats… have to be Rigged differently for sailing on the sea or catching the Wind going upriver, Doctor?

It was my turn to shake my head.

No matter, said Captain Fitzjames . We’ll get into the niceties of river rigging versus sea rigging some other time, preferably on a Sunny, Warm day far South of here. These last 8 Boats… the first Two are Pinnaces, the next Four are Ship’s Boats, and the final Two are Dinghies.

The Dinghies seem much shorter, I said .

Captain Fitzjames puffed on his literally execrable pipe and nodded as if I had revealed Some Pearl of Wisdom from Holy Scripture . Aye, he said sadly . The Dinghies are only 12 feet Long, as opposed to the Pinnaces’ 28-foot Length and the Ship’s Boats 22 feet. But none of them can be rigged for masts and sailing and they’re all lightly Oared. The men in these Boats would be in for some Hard Times if we went to the Open Sea, I am afraid. I would not be surprised if Captain Crozier chooses to Leave them Behind.

I thought , Open Sea? The idea of actually sailing any of these craft on anything more expansive than Back’s Great Fish River, which I imagined rather like the Thames, had never occurred to me before tonight, even though I had been present at various war councils discussing such possibilities. It seemed to me, looking at the smaller and rather delicate-looking Dinghies and Ship’s Boats lashed on their Sledges, that the men going to sea in these would be doomed to watch the Pinnaces with their Two Masts and the Whaleboats with their single Tall Masts simply sail away over the horizon .

The men in these Smaller Boats would be Doomed. How would the crews be chosen? Had they been chosen already, in secret, by the Two Captains?

And which boat – and which Fate – had I been assigned?

If we take the Smaller Boats, we’ll draw lots for them, said the Captain . The places in the pinnaces, jolly boats, and whaleboats would be assigned according to man-hauling teams.

I must have looked at him in alarm.

Captain Fitzjames laughed – a laugh that turned into a racking cough – and knocked out the ashes from his pipe against his Boot. The wind was coming up, and it was very cold. I had no idea of the time – sometime after Midnight. It had been dark for at least seven hours.