19 万尼科罗群岛(10)
Furthermore, this native boatman claimed that during a stay in Vanikoro six years earlier, he had seen two Europeans belonging to ships that had run aground on the island's reefs many years before.
这个印第安人又说,六年前,他在万尼科罗岛住下来的时候,曾看见过两个欧洲人,他们是一只遇难船砌船员,这船多年前撞在岛附近的暗礁上了。
Dillon guessed that the ships at issue were those under the Count de La Perouse, ships whose disappearance had shaken the entire world. He tried to reach Vanikoro, where, according to the native boatman, a good deal of rubble from the shipwreck could still be found, but winds and currents prevented his doing so.
狄勇立即猜想到,这一定是拉白鲁斯船上的遇难人员,周为这些船只的失踪是众所周知的,曾经震动世界。他打算到万尼科罗一群一岛去,据印第安人说,那里还有遇难船只的、许多遗物,可是大风和海一浪一阻挡了他,无法前往。
Dillon returned to Calcutta. There he was able to interest the Asiatic Society and the East India Company in his discovery. A ship named after the Search was placed at his disposal, and he departed on January 23, 1827, accompanied by a French deputy.
狄勇回到加尔备答。在加尔各答;他想法使亚洲学会和印度公司注意他的发现。他于是得到一只船, 这只船命名为搜索号,由他指挥,1827年1月23月,他由一个法国人陪着,乘船出发,前往搜寻。
This new Search, after putting in at several stops over the Pacific, dropped anchor before Vanikoro on July 7, 1827, in the same harbor of Vana where the Nautilus was currently floating.
搜索号在太平洋好几处停锚找寻, 于1827年7月了日:到万尼科罗一群一岛前面停泊了,地点就是此刻诺第留斯号所在的这个万奴岛的天然小港中。
There Dillon collected many relics of the shipwreck: iron utensils, anchors, eyelets from pulleys, swivel guns, an eighteen-pound shell, the remains of some astronomical instruments, a piece of sternrail, and a bronze bell bearing the inscription "Made by Bazin," the foundry mark at Brest Arsenal around 1785. There could no longer be any doubt.
在这个地方,狄勇收集了遇难船只的许多遗物:铁制的用具,锚,滑车的铁链环,小炮,一颗十一八号炮弹,残破的天文仪器,船后部断片:另外还有一口铜钟,上面有款识,写着“巴赞给我造的”,这是1785年左右,布勒斯特军械局铸造厂的标记。这事是十分明确,不可以怀疑的了。