"Between the _Vandalia_ and the reef" (writes Kane, in
his excellent report) "it was destruction." To repeat Fritze's manoeuvre
with the _Adler_ was impossible; the _Calliope_ was too heavy. The one
possibility of escape was to go out. If the engines should stand, if
they should have power to drive the ship against wind and sea, if she
should answer the helm, if the wheel, rudder, and gear should hold out,
and if they were favoured with a clear blink of weather in which to see
and avoid the outer reef--there, and there only, were safety. Upon this
catalogue of "ifs" Kane staked his all. He signalled to the engineer for
every pound of steam--and at that moment (I am told) much of the
machinery was already red-hot. The ship was sheered well to starboard of
the _Vandalia_, the last remaining cable slipped. For a time--and there
was no onlooker so cold-blooded as to offer a guess at its duration--the
_Calliope_ lay stationary; then gradually drew ahead. The highest speed
claimed for her that day is of one sea-mile an hour. The question of
times and seasons, throughout all this roaring business, is obscured by a
dozen contradictions; I have but chosen what appeared to be the most
consistent; but if I am to pay any attention to the time named by Admiral
Kimberley, the _Calliope_, in this first stage of her escape, must have
taken more than two hours to cover less than four cables.
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