Page 3 (1/2)

Before they turned frolances First Officer Raht pensively He wondered ould be left standing at the end of their ordeal

Fortunately, the sea had turned calm, since the raft was to be built in the water The construction began with thethrown overboard The main fraether with a strong rope Casks of wine along with barrels of flour rocery stores of Sydney were emptied and tied within the masts for added buoyancy

Heavy planking was nailed across the top for a deck and then surrounded by a waist-high railing Two spare topmasts were e

rected fore and aft and fitted with sails, shrouds and stays When coth by forty feet wide, and though it looked quite large, by the tiht squeeze to pack in 192 convicts, 11 soldiers and the ship's crehich nus, for a total of 231 At what passed for the stern, a rudimentary rudder was attached to a makeshift tiller behind the aft mast

Wooden kegs containing water, lime juice, brined beef and pork, as well as cheese, and several pots of rice and peas cooked in the ship's galley, were lowered on board between the e sheet of canvas that was spread over two thirds of the raft as an awning to ward off the burning rays of the sun

The departure was blessed by clear skies and a sea as smooth as atheir muskets and sabers Then ca with the ship, now dangerously down by the bow The ship's ladder was inadequate to support the from ropes Several jumped or fell into the water and were recovered by the solders The badly injured were lowered by slings Surprisingly, the exodus was carried off without incident In two hours, all 203 were safely stationed on the raft in positions assigned by Scaggs

The crew cas the lastdeck He dropped a box containing two pistols, the ship's log, a chronometer, compass and a sextant into the ars had taken a position fix before dropping over the side and had told no one, not even Ramsey, that the stor routes They were drifting in a dead area of the Tasman Sea, three hundred miles from the nearest Australian shore, and orse, the current was carrying theness where no ships sailed He consulted his charts and detere of the adverse current and winds and sail east toward New Zealand

Soon after settling in, everyone in their place on the crowded deck, the raft's passengers found to their dish space for forty bodies to tie down at any one time It was obvious to the seareat jeopardy; the planked deck of the raft was only four inches above the water If confronted with a rough sea, the raft and its unfortunate passengers would be immersed

Scaggs hung the compass on the mast forward of the tiller "Set sail, Mr Rarees east-southeast"

"Aye, Captain We'll not try for Australia, then?"

"Our best hope is the west coast of New Zealand"

"How far do you make it?"

"Six hundred s answered as if a sandy beach lay just over the horizon

Ramsey frowned and stared around the crowded raft His eyes fell on a group of convicts ere in hushed conversation Finally, he spoke in a tone heavy with gloom "I don't believe any of us God-fearin'

men will see deliverance while we're surrounded by this lot of scum"