In the course of half an hour the hull of the vessel, which lay on its bilge, began to turn on its keel, and the heads of the spars to rise above the water.  This was the easiest part of the process, all that was required of the purchases being to turn over a mass which rested on the sands of the bay.  Aided by the long levers afforded by the spars, the work advanced so rapidly, that, in just one hour’s time after his people had begun to heave, Spike had the pleasure to see the schooner standing upright, alongside of his own brig, though still sunk to the bottom.  The wreck was secured in this position, by means of guys and preventers, in order that it might not again cant, when the order was issued to hook on the slings that were to raise it to the surface.  These slings were the chains of the schooner, one of which went under her keel, while for the other the captain trusted to the strength of the two hawse-holes, having passed the cable out of one and in at the other, in a way to serve his purposes, as has just been stated.

When all was ready, Spike mustered his crew, and made a speech.  He told the men that he was about a job that was out of the usual line of their duty, and that he knew they had a right to expect extra pay for such extra work.  The schooner contained money, and his object was to get at it.  If he succeeded, their reward would be a doubloon a man, which would be earning more than a month’s wages by twenty-four hours’ work.  This was enough.  The men wanted to hear no more; but they cheered their commander, and set about their task in the happiest disposition possible.

The reader will understand that the object to be first achieved, was to raise a vessel, with a hold filled with flour and gunpowder, from off the bottom of the bay to its surface.  As she stood, the deck of this vessel was about six feet under water, and every one will understand that her weight, so long as it was submerged in a fluid as dense as that of the sea, would be much more manageable than if suspended in air.  The barrels, for instance, were not much heavier than the water they displaced, and the wood work of the vessel itself, was, on the whole, positively lighter than the element in which it had sunk.  As for the water in the hold, that was of the same weight as the water on the outside of tne craft, and there had not been much to carry the schooner down, beside her iron, the spars that were out of water, and her ballast.  This last, some ten or twelve tons in weight, was in fact the principal difficulty, and alone induced Spike to have any doubts about his eventual success.  There was no foreseeing the result until he had made a trial, however; and the order was again given to “heave away.”