In fact, as the boats were quietly lowered, preparatory for beginning
the operations, the mirror like calmness of sea, sky, and ship so
impressed the Doctor, who was of a poetical turn of mind, that he could
not help exclaiming to the little Midshipman, who was standing nearest:
"Coleridge realized, with variations:
The breeze drops down, the sail drops down,
All's still as still can be;
If we speak, it is only to break
The silence of the sea.
Still are the clouds, still are the shrouds,
No life, no breath, no motion;
Idle are all as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean!"
Chief Engineer Murphy now took command. Before letting down the buoys,
the first thing evidently to be done was to find out, if possible, the
precise point where the Projectile lay. For this purpose, the Nautilus
was clearly the only part of the machinery that could be employed with
advantage. Its chambers were accordingly soon filled with water, its air
reservoirs were also soon completely charged, and the Nautilus itself,
suspended by chains from the end of a yard, lay quietly on the ocean
surface, its manhole on the top remaining open for the reception of
those who were willing to encounter the dangers that awaited it in the
fearful depths of the Pacific.
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