chapter 52 from the Substitute

From the Tales of Abu Hazza al-Talsamani

من حكايا أبو هزاع الطلسماني

52-

“After five hours of steaming, the wood supply was almost exhausted, and a pile of wooden poles was noticed outside a village. The operations went ‘smooth’ till a ‘large cloud of black mud’ approached. At this moment, both ships were in the water. The expedition had survived sandstorms before, but this one happened when the steamers were at Is-Geria a spot with many rocks and deep water. Soon, they discovered that the steamers were in the direct path of the ‘storm.’ Soon also, they discovered it was not a usual storm: it was a hurricane. Ainsworth recalled later that ‘the hurricane came as a warm dry wind laden with the fragrance of the aromatic plants of the wilderness followed in few instants by a tremendous blasts of wind, with some rain in large drops.’ The first gust blew the stern of the Tigris, and some of its men were able to jump ashore to try to tie the steamer to some rocks. But, the afternoon became as dark as midnight, and the wind and water started toying with the helpless Tigris, that was to be caught in the eye of that hurricane that came to them in one gigantic black cloud of mud. Chesney speaks very little about the drowning of the Tigris. He said it very briefly where ‘she [the Tigris] soon disappeared in a cloud of sand,’ and last seen with its keel upward. In reality, the make of the Tigris left very little space for windows. Dr. Helfer speaks of a window shutter that ‘had been driven in.’ The river water came up angry in high wavers to fill the iron monster that brought the machine for the first time to spit oil in its stream, with men on board shooting the lions and the other animals that lived in that thriving habitat. The ‘dispenser of modernity and modern knowledge, the artillery officer Chesney, soon made a decision not to go down with the drowning ship or men. He jumped onto the shore running from that massive natural display of power that belittled his engines, guns, and Congreve Rockets he had on board. So when the ship was slammed to the rocks, the Captain made his escape and ran ashore. Cleavland who was able to bring the ship ‘up her head’ and set the engine at full speed to the bank saved the other steamer, the Euphrates. Twenty of the thirty-seven persons on board were drowned, among them R. Lynch, Yusuf Sader, all gunners, five seamen, an engineer, and five ‘natives.’ Chesney mentioned them as 5 Arabs, but from their names one could tell that they were something else.”