海底兩萬里 第260期 第20章 托列斯海峽(8)

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Under my eyes I had the excellent charts of the Torres Strait that had been surveyed and drawn up by the hydrographic engineer Vincendon Dumoulin and Sublieutenant (now Admiral) Coupvent-Desbois, who were part of Dumont d'Urville's general staff during his final voyage to circumnavigate the globe. These, along with the efforts of Captain King, are the best charts for untangling the snarl of this narrow passageway, and I consulted them with scrupulous care.

我面前是很詳盡的托列斯海峽地圖，這圖由水力工程師，從前是古往·德波亞號的海軍少尉，現(xiàn)在是海軍上將的文生唐·杜日蘭所編制，他在杜蒙·居維爾的最后一次環(huán)球航行期間，曾是參謀人員之。這地圖跟金船長制的都是最完善的地圖，可以把它當作良好的向導來避免危險，通過這狹窄的水道，我很小心地查看這些地圖。

Around the Nautilus the sea was boiling furiously. A stream of waves, bearing from southeast to northwest at a speed of two and a half miles per hour, broke over heads of coral emerging here and there.

在諾第留斯號周圍，海水洶涌湃澎，翻滾沸騰。海浪從東南奔向西北, 以兩海里半的速度沖在處處露出尖峰的珊瑚礁上。

"That's one rough sea!" Ned Land told me.

“真是兇惡的海！”尼德·蘭對我說。

"Abominable indeed," I replied, "and hardly suitable for a craft like the Nautilus."

“對，是可憎恨的海，”我回答，“像諾第留斯號這樣的船都不好應付呢。”

"That damned captain," the Canadian went on, "must really be sure of his course, because if these clumps of coral so much as brush us, they'll rip our hull into a thousand pieces!"

“那位怪船長，”加拿大人又說，“一定是十分熟悉他走的航路, 因為我看見有一堆對珊瑚礁石,一不小心,觸上了可就幢的粉碎。"

The situation was indeed dangerous, but as if by magic, the Nautilus seemed to glide right down the middle of these rampaging reefs. It didn't follow the exact course of the Zealous and the new Astrolabe, which had proved so ill-fated for Captain Dumont d'Urville. It went more to the north, hugged the Murray Islands, and returned to the southwest near Cumberland Passage. I thought it was about to charge wholeheartedly into this opening, but it went up to the northwest, through a large number of little-known islands and islets, and steered toward Tound Island and the Bad Channel.

對，我們所處的情形十分危險，但諾第留斯號好像有了魔法、在這些兇險的暗礁中間安然滑過去。它并不沿著渾天儀號和熱心女號所走的航線駛去，那是使杜蒙·居維爾受到過厲害打擊的。它從北邊一點走，沿著莫利島，再回到西南方，向甘伯蘭海道駛去。我以為它分明是要走這海道了，但忽然它又回向西北方，穿過許多人不知道的小島和島嶼，駛往通提島和兇險的水道. 我心中正想，尼摩船長簡直粗心到發(fā)瘋了，要把他的船走人杜蒙·居維爾的船幾乎要沉沒的險道中去。忽然它又第二次改變方向，正指著西方，向格波羅爾島開行。