Evening star., 1923-12-23

In the very heart of 1t. covered II
over with red-hot grechuck and
baked It for eight hours.
Life or death depended on the sue
cess of the experiment. ] shall never
forget my feelings as I raked away
the glowing embers and uncovered
the cement. 1t was certainly hot
Almost cooked brown. From the ap-
pearance Of the powdered stone l fel,
/ had developed a good grade Of hy-
draulic cement and exclaimed with
great Joy, "Oh! thank God! We shall
be saved!'
The men stood around, bewildered
I suppose they thought me demented
AS soon as the cement cooled, q
test was made as to its setting quail
ties. To my great delight, 1t set as
hard as iron.
Now I was ready to unfold my
scheme. / called the boys around
me and told them we were going to
build a concrete boat You should
have seen the looks on their faces.
Some laughed outright and ridiculed
the idea, a very unusual thing, in the
presence of their captain.
Jackson and Nelson declared: ~The
skipper is going daft"
Fleming shook his head. TT will
not float" said he.
What. say you. Burgess?' said I.
"You Yankees are keen on inven-
tion"
'Tt looks good to me-. captain. 1t
| Q tp1 ootA he
"All right, them" said, 1--WE shall
begin tomorrow. We shall select the
site for the shipyard, decide on the
dimensions Of the boat and. in a few
days we shall lay the keel with ap-
proprfate ceremonies"
= \ = +
BEFORE building on an extensive
scale, I decided to make a test,
not to convince me whether or not
a cement boat would float. but to
determine whether or not 1t would be
watsrtight Accordingly. we made q
mold representing = large tub, then
We selected some good sand. some
gravel, some broken stone OF appro-
priate size. and then a certain
amount OF cement. These ingredients
were thoroughly mixed and poured
into the mold. which was left stand
Ing for four days.
At the end Of that time we removed
the mold and had a splendid frkin
made Of concrete. The firkin was
filled with. water and left standing
for twenty-four hours. Not a drop
had seeped through. It was as tight
as a bottle!
Henceforth was q changed man.
Perfect confidence In the success Of
the concrete boat took possession Of
me.
II we could reach Possession Is
land. where stores are placed for
shipwrecked sailors and ships call
At intervals, we would be safe.
A site was selected on perfectly
level ground for the location Of our
miniature shipyard. Calling all the
men around me. I spoke to them
somewhat in the following words:
'Shipmates. after mature deIibera-
tion, I am absolutely confident that
we can construct . concrete boat that
will not alone take US to Possession
Island. but on to Australia, II neces-
sary. In accordance with this con-
ndence have decided to- continue
tho voyage to Fremantle or Mel
bourne, II necessary. because I have
no desire to stay q year. or more, on
Possession Island"
We set about our project without
loss Of time Men were selected ac-
cordinE to their adaptability to per-
form certain duties. Three men were
detailed 70 pick out and carry cement
stone to three orthers who were to
break it up into flne particles. Two
men attended to tho cement mill;
that is, they made the fire, laid tho
cement In, as already described. and
properly baked 1t.
Finding suitable ground. we meas
ured of thirty-two feet-the length
we had decided the boat should be
on her keel-and set our frames so
the stern OF the boat would face the
sea- Less than half day was con-
sumed In pouring the concrete for
the keel Of the boat, though It re-
auired six or seven days TO harden.
In three weeks we had succeeded
In finishing the hull Of the boat up
to and around the turning Of the
bilge. The completion OF the boat
from that point to tho sheer stroke
was much simpler problem.
We were soon ready to set the
gunwale, which was made from q
strip Of ono Of the spars, and to deck
over the forward. ana = little OF the
sftAr part OF the boat
The forward deck was laid more to