Explore "Isles of the Sea" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
As no one could see the Ville d'Angers and the two schooners in the dense fog that settled down upon them after the crew of the steamer had been re-organized, it would be difficult to determine precisely in what manner they were separated. Capt. O'Hara did not start the screw of the steamer until he had stationed his ship's company in accordance with his instructions given by the senior vice-principal. If there was any fault anywhere, it was in the instructions.
Observations had been taken on board of all the vessels at noon, and the course for the Madeira Islands was ascertained to be south-west, half-west; and the two schooners went off in this direction, with the wind from the southward, but veering to the west. O'Hara used up about two hours in stationing his crew, arranging the quarters of the officers and seamen, and in giving his instructions. By this time the Tritonia and the Josephine were a dozen miles on their way, and they looked like white specks on the ocean to the naked eye. The young captain believed that the Ville d'Angers, from what she had done, would sail twelve knots an hour; and at this rate he could overhaul the rest of the fleet in a couple of hours. But the Ville d'Angers was hardly under way before the fog settled down upon her, and shut out the schooners from view.