I
immediately gave orders for a channel to be opened through the mud and
large obstruction into the lake. After some days' hard work, a passage
was completed that was sufficiently deep to admit the diahbeeah. It
required a whole day to force her through this narrow channel, and in
the evening we entered the lake, and hoisted the flag at the end of the
tall yard, as a signal to the fleet that we had accomplished the
passage.
It was now only necessary to work hard and improve the channel
sufficiently to admit the passage of the steamer and heavier vessels.
Unfortunately my fears had proved correct; the fleet was hard and fast
aground! The steamer was so helplessly deserted by the water, that she
would have served for a Nilometer upon which to mark the level, like the
rock at Assouan. It was simply impossible to move her, as she was as
solidly fixed as a church. Every other vessel of the fleet stood high
out of the water, which had run out by the clear channel we had opened
in the rear.
The officers and men were in consternation. With the prize within our
grasp, it would be physically impossible to proceed Those sort of people
are soon disheartened, and I made great allowance for them, as the work
of the last two months had been sufficient to destroy all energy.
