海底兩萬里 第247期 第19章 萬尼科羅群島(9)

Two months later, testimony from a certain Commander Bowen, aboard the Albemarle, alleged that rubble from shipwrecked vessels had been seen on the coast of New Georgia. But d'Entrecasteaux was unaware of this news--which seemed a bit dubious anyhow--and headed toward the Admiralty Islands, which had been named in a report by one Captain Hunter as the site of the Count de La Perouse's shipwreck.

“但兩個月后，從指揮阿伯馬爾號船的船長，名叫波溫的這個人送來的報告知道，失事的兩艘戰(zhàn)艦的殘骸在新佐治島沿岸看到了。當，土爾加斯朵并不知道這個報告—而且這報告也不很可靠—他向海軍部群島出發(fā)，前去找尋，固他根據(jù)韓德船長的一個報告，說這群島是拉?白魯斯失事遇難的地點。

They looked in vain. The Hope and the Search passed right by Vanikoro without stopping there; and overall, this voyage was plagued by misfortune, ultimately costing the lives of Rear Admiral d'Entrecasteaux, two of his subordinate officers, and several seamen from his crew.

他的搜尋完全沒有結果，完全落空了。希望號和搜索號甚至于經(jīng)過萬尼科羅群島面前沒有停留，總起來說，這次、航行很不幸，因為當土爾加斯朵，他的兩名副手和他船員中的好幾名水手都丟了性命。

It was an old hand at the Pacific, the English adventurer Captain Peter Dillon, who was the first to pick up the trail left by castaways from the wrecked vessels. On May 15, 1824, his ship, the St. Patrick, passed by Tikopia Island, one of the New Hebrides. There a native boatman pulled alongside in a dugout canoe and sold Dillon a silver sword hilt bearing the imprint of characters engraved with a cutting tool known as a burin.

第一個把這次遇難人的無可爭辯的可靠遺物找出來的，是一位經(jīng)常航行在太平洋上的老航海家狄勇船長。1824年5月15日，他的船圣巴土利克號，經(jīng)過新赫布里底群島之一的第克貝亞島附近。在那里，一個印第安人乘著獨木舟，靠近他的船邊，賣給他-把銀質的刀柄，柄上有鏤別的文字痕跡。