Summary of Gary Kinder's Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 At the mouth of the harbor, El Morro, a massive brown escarpment, rose up out of the sea. The Central America was the biggest ship in the harbor. She was sleek and black, her decks scrubbed smooth with holystones, and her deckhouses glistened with the yellowed patina of old varnish.

#2 The final five days of the journey were spent sailing to New York. The weather was warm, and the passengers spent the time talking about their families and wondering how things had changed since they left their homes in the East.

#3 Captain Herndon was the head of the captain’s table, and he was married with one daughter. He had been twenty-nine years at sea, in the Mexican War and the Second Seminole War, and had seen things no other American had ever seen.

#4 The first night out of Havana, the conversation turned to shipwrecks. Herndon told stories with punch lines that underscored the joke was on him. He had been on the river all day, beaching his craft on the shore, and preparing a typical meal of monkey meat and monkey soup. The monkey meat was tough, but the liver was tender and good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822519398

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Gary Kinder's Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

At the mouth of the harbor, El Morro, a massive brown escarpment, rose up out of the sea. The Central America was the biggest ship in the harbor. She was sleek and black, her decks scrubbed smooth with holystones, and her deckhouses glistened with the yellowed patina of old varnish.

#2

The final five days of the journey were spent sailing to New York. The weather was warm, and the passengers spent the time talking about their families and wondering how things had changed since they left their homes in the East.

#3

Captain Herndon was the head of the captain’s table, and he was married with one daughter. He had been twenty-nine years at sea, in the Mexican War and the Second Seminole War, and had seen things no other American had ever seen.

#4

The first night out of Havana, the conversation turned to shipwrecks. Herndon told stories with punch lines that underscored the joke was on him. He had been on the river all day, beaching his craft on the shore, and preparing a typical meal of monkey meat and monkey soup. The monkey meat was tough, but the liver was tender and good.

#5

The wind picked up while the ship was in the Gulf Stream, and by Wednesday morning, it was blowing hard. The sea became rough, and the ship was tossed by the waves. The ship’s doctor became sick, and the number of passengers who wanted food dwindled.

#6

The Central America was hit by a storm on the second day out of Havana, and the wind and seas continued to rise. Some passengers went up to the weather deck, where they could breathe fresh air and be away from the nauseating below decks.

#7

On Friday, the seas were much rougher, and the ship was constantly being tossed around by the storm. The wind was blowing out of the north northeast at over sixty knots, and the sea was extremely high. Yet the steamer still managed to maintain its course.

#8

A hurricane is a storm that is so strong, it blows wind and waves in the same direction. The air is filled with foam and the sea is completely white with driving spray. A steamship never runs dry, as water is converted to vapor and collected in the bilge.

#9

The water in the bilge was rising, and the coal heavers were unable to move the coal fast enough to keep up steam. The waiters and stewards were sent into the hold to help them pass the coal hand to hand down to the furnaces.

#10

The careening of the ship and the inrushing waters slowed the flow of coal to the furnaces and the steam began dropping in the boilers. The paddle wheels turned more slowly. If Herndon lost his engines, the only way he could hope to hold position was to use sail.

#11

The ship began to sink faster as the water rose in the bilge. The coal passers could hear the hot furnace hiss as the seawater splashed at its undersides.

#12

As the ship continued to list, passengers began to panic. The Eastons, who had been sick in their stateroom since Wednesday, heard loud pops and saw their porthole under water. They knew they were in imminent danger.

#13

The steamer was pummeled so thoroughly by the sea, raked so fiercely by the wind, and filled so full of rolling water that most of the passengers did not know that the engines had almost stopped. The sea soon flooded the starboard fires, and the ship began to sink.

#14

The captain’s boy rushed into the saloon and cried out, All hands down below to pass buckets! The passengers were told that the engines had stopped, but that they hoped to reduce the water and start them again.

#15

The women were seasick, but they still had to help bail the water out of the ship. The men told them that they were gaining on the water, and that the water could not gain on them.

#16

The women huddled in the main cabin all afternoon, waiting and watching the men, holding and comforting the children. The men continued to pass the buckets, but their singing had long since stopped.

#17

The ship was eventually brought around by setting a drag, or sea anchor, which was a heavy anchor lashed to a stout yard in the rigging. The anchor was thrown