the mine in the sea.
true to their appointment, young tregarthen and oliver trembath met at the western end of the town of penzance, close to the sea-beach, where a mass of buildings and a chimney indicated the position of the wherry mine.
oliver’s countenance betrayed anxiety as he came forward.
“nothing wrong, i hope?” said tregarthen.
“well, i can’t say exactly that things are wrong; but, at the same time, i don’t know that they are altogether right.”
“much the same thing,” said tregarthen, smiling; “come, oliver, unbosom yourself, as novelists say. it will do you good, and two heads, you know, are better than one.”
“it’s not easy to unbosom myself, old fellow,” returned oliver, with a troubled look; “for my poor uncle’s affairs are in a perplexed condition, and i hate explanations, especially when i don’t understand the nature of what i attempt to explain, so we’ll not talk about it, please, till after our visit to the mine. let it suffice to say that that notorious smuggler jim cuttance is concerned in it, and that we must go to newlyn this afternoon on a piece of business which i shall afterwards disclose. meanwhile, where is this mine?”
“lift up your eyes and behold,” said tregarthen, pointing to an object which was surrounded by the sea, and stood above two hundred yards from the beach.
“what! that martello-tower-like object?” exclaimed oliver in much surprise.
“even so,” replied tregarthen, who thereupon proceeded to give his friend a history and description of the mine—of which the following is the substance:—
at the western extremity of the sea-beach at penzance there is a reef of sunken rocks which shows its black crest above water at low tide. it was discovered that this reef contained tin, and the people of the town attacked it with hammers and chisels, when each receding tide left it exposed, as long as the seasons would permit, until the depth became unmanageable. after having been excavated a few fathoms the work was abandoned.
fortunately for the progress of this world there exist a few enterprising men whom nothing can discourage, who seem to be spurred on by opposition, and to gather additional vigour and resolution from increasing difficulties. these men are not numerous, but the world is seldom without a few of them; and one made his appearance in penzance about the end of last century, in the person of a poor miner named thomas curtis. this man conceived the bold design of sinking a shaft through this water-covered rock, and thus creating a mine not only under, but in the sea.
with the energy peculiar to his class he set to work. the distance of the rock from the beach was about two hundred and forty yards; the depth of water above it at spring tides about nineteen feet. being exposed to the open sea, a considerable surf is raised on it at times by the prevailing winds, even in summer; while in winter the sea bursts over with such force as to render all operations on it impossible.
that curtis was a man of no common force of character is obvious from the fact that, apart from the difficulties of the undertaking, he could not expect to derive any profit whatever from his labour for several years. as the work could only be carried on during the short period of time in which the rock was above water, and part of this brief period must necessarily be consumed each tide in pumping out the water in the excavation, it of course progressed slowly. three summers were consumed in sinking the pump-shaft. after this a framework, or caisson, of stout timber and boards, was built round the mouth of the shaft, and rendered watertight with pitch and oakum. it rose to a height of about twelve feet above the surface of the sea, and was strengthened and supported by stout bars, or buttresses of timber. a platform was placed on the top, and a windlass, at which four men could work, was fixed thereon. this erection was connected with the shore by a stage or “wherry” erected on piles. the water was cleared out; the men went “underground,” and, with the sea rolling over their heads, and lashing wildly round the turret which was their only safeguard from terrible and instant destruction, they hewed daily from the submarine rock a considerable portion of tin.
these first workers, however, had committed an error in carrying on their operations too near the surface, so that water permeated freely through the rock, and the risk of the pressure above being too great, for it rendered the introduction of immense supporting timbers necessary. the water, too, forced its way through the shaft during the winter months, so that the regular working of the mine could not be carried on except in summer; nevertheless, this short interval was sufficient to enable the projector to raise so much ore that his mine got the reputation of being a profitable adventure, and it was wrought successfully for many years.
about the end of the century the depth of the pump-shaft was about four fathoms, and the roof had been cut away to the thinness of three feet in some places. twelve men were employed for two hours at the windlass in hauling the water, while six others were “teaming” from the bottom into the pump. when sufficient water had been cleared away the men laboured at the rock for six hours—in all, eight hours at a time. the prolific nature of the mine may be gathered from the fact that in the space of six months ten men, working about one tenth of that time—less than three weeks—broke about 600 pounds worth of ore. during one summer 3,000 pounds worth of tin was raised!
a steam-engine was ultimately attached to the works, and the mine was sunk to a depth of sixteen fathoms, but the expense of working it at length became so great that it was abandoned—not, however, before ore to the amount of 70,000 pounds had been raised from under the sea!
at the time of our tale another effort had been made to work the wherry mine, and great expectations had been raised, but these expectations were being disappointed. our unfortunate friend mr donnithorne was among the number of those who had cause to regret having ventured to invest in the undertaking, and it was to make inquiries in regard to certain unfavourable rumours touching the mine that oliver trembath had been sent to penzance.
after inspecting wherry mine the two friends walked along the shore together, and oliver explained the nature of the difficulties in which his uncle was involved.
“the fact is, charlie,” he said, “an old fish-purchaser of newlyn named hitchin is one of the principal shareholders in this concern. he is as rich, they say, as croesus, and if we could only prevail on him to be amiable the thing might be carried on for some time longer with every hope of a favourable result, for there can be no doubt whatever that there is plenty of tin in the mine yet, and the getting of it out is only a question of time and capital.”
“a pretty serious question—as most speculators find,” said tregarthen, laughing; “you appear to think lightly of it.”
“well, i don’t pretend to know much about such matters,” replied oliver, “but whatever may be the truth of the case, old hitchin refuses to come forward. he says that he is low in funds just now, which nobody seems to believe, and that he owes an immense sum of money to jim cuttance, the smuggler, for what, of course, he will not tell, but we can have no difficulty in guessing. he says that cuttance is pressing him just now, and that, therefore, he cannot afford to advance anything on the mine. this being the case it must go down, and, if it does, one of the last few gleams of prosperity that remain to my poor uncle will have fluttered away. this must be prevented, if possible, and it is with that end in view that i purpose going to newlyn this afternoon to see hitchin and bring my persuasive powers to bear on him.”
“h’m, not of much use, i fear,” said tregarthen. “hitchin is a tough old rascal, with a hard heart and a miserly disposition. however, it may be worth while to make the attempt, for you have a very oily tongue, oliver.”
“and you have an extremely impudent one, charlie. but can you tell me at what time the mackerel boats may be expected this evening, for it seems the old fellow is not often to be found at home during the day, and we shall be pretty sure to find him on the beach when the boats arrive?”
thus appealed to, tregarthen cast a long look at the sea and sky.
“well, i should say, considering the state of the tide and the threatening appearance of the sky, we may expect to see them at six o’clock, or thereabouts.”
“that leaves us nearly a couple of hours to spare; how shall we spend it?” said oliver.
“go and have a look at this fine old town,” suggested tregarthen. “it is worth going over, i assure you. besides the town hall, market, museum, etcetera, there are, from many points of the surrounding eminences, most superb views of the town and bay with our noble st. michael’s mount. the view from some of the heights has been said by some visitors to equal that of the far-famed bay of naples itself.”
“part of this i have already seen,” said oliver, “the rest i hope to live to see, but in the meantime tin is uppermost in my mind; so if you have no objection i should like to have a look at the tin-smelting works. what say you?”
“agreed, by all means,” cried tregarthen; “poor indeed would be the spirit of the cornishman who did not feel an interest in tin!”
