The Nepalese royal massacre occurred on 1 June 2001 at the Narayanhiti Palace, the then-residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Nine members of the royal family, including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, were killed in a mass shooting during a gathering of the royal family at the palace.[2] A government-appointed inquiry team named Crown Prince Dipendra as perpetrator of the massacre.[3] Dipendra slipped into a coma after shooting himself.[4]
free download Zero Hour - A Royal Massacre
The sails were, however, kept set; and, as the body of ice wassetting to the southward withal, we went with it some littledistance in that direction. The Hecla, after thus driving, andnow and then forcing her way through the ice, in all about threequarters of a mile, quite close to the shore, at length struckthe ground forcibly several times in the space of a hundredyards, and being then brought up by it, remained immoveable, thedepth of water under her keel abaft being sixteen feet, or abouta foot less than she drew. The Fury, continuing to drive, was nowirresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet,the damage invariably occasioned by ships coming in contact undersuch circumstances. She had, however, scarcely passed us ahundred yards, when it was evident, by the ice pressing her in,as well as along the shore, that she must soon be stopped likethe Hecla; and having gone about two hundred yards farther, shewas observed to receive a severe pressure from a large floe-pieceforcing her directly against a grounded mass of ice upon thebeach. After setting to the southward for an hour or two longer,the ice became stationary, no open water being anywhere visiblefrom the masthead, and the pressure on the ships remainingundiminished during the day. Just as I had ascertained the utterimpossibility of moving the Hecla a single foot, and that shemust lie aground fore and aft as soon as the tide fell, Ireceived a note from Captain Hoppner, informing me that the Furyhad been so severely "nipped" and strained as to leak a gooddeal, apparently about four inches an hour; that she was stillheavily pressed both upon the ground and against the large massof ice within her; that the rudder was at present very awkwardlysituated; and that one boat had been much damaged. However, abouthigh water, the ice very opportunely slacking, the Hecla was hoveoff with great ease, and warped to a floe in the offing, to whichwe made fast at midnight. The Fury was not long after us incoming off the ground, when I was in hopes of finding that anytwist or strain by which her leaks might have been occasioned,would, in some measure, close when she was relieved from pressureand once more fairly afloat. My disappointment and mortification,therefore, may in some measure be imagined, at being informed bytelegraph, about two A.M. on the 2d, that the water was gainingon two pumps, and that a part of the doubling had floated up.Presently after, perceiving from the masthead something like asmall harbour nearly abreast of us, every effort was made to getonce more towards the shore. In this the ice happily favoured us;and, after making sail, and one or two tacks, we got in with theland, when I left the ship in a boat to sound the place andsearch for shelter. The whole shore was more or less lined withgrounded masses of ice; but, after examining the soundings withinmore than twenty of them, in the space of about a mile, I couldonly find two that would allow the ships to float at low water,and that by some care in placing and keeping them there. Havingfixed a flag on each berg, the usual signal for the ships takingtheir stations, I rowed on board the Fury, and found four pumpsconstantly going to keep the ship free, and Captain Hoppner, hisofficers and men, almost exhausted with the incessant labour ofthe last eight-and-forty hours. The instant the ships were madefast, Captain Hoppner and myself set out in a boat to survey theshore still farther south, there being a narrow lane of waterabout a mile in that direction; for it had now become too evidentthat the Fury could proceed no farther without repairs, and thatthe nature of those repairs would in all probability involve thedisagreeable, I may say the ruinous, necessity of heaving theship down. After rowing about three quarters of a mile, weconsidered ourselves fortunate in arriving at a bolder part ofthe beach, where three grounded masses of ice, having from threeto four fathoms water at low tide within them, were so disposedas to afford, with the assistance of art, something like shelter.Returning to the ships, we were setting the sails in order to runto the appointed place, when the ice closed in and prevented ourmoving, and in a short time there was once more no open water tobe seen. We were therefore under the necessity of remaining inour present berths, where the smallest external pressure mustinevitably force us ashore, neither ship having more than twofeet of water to spare. One watch of the Hecla's crew were sentround to assist at the Fury's pumps, which required one third ofher ship's company to be constantly employed at them.
On the 20th, therefore, the reloading of the Fury commencedwith recruited strength and spirits, such articles being in thefirst place selected for putting on board as were essentiallyrequisite for her reequipment; for it was my full determination,could we succeed in completing this, not to wait even for rigginga topmast, or getting a lower yard up, in the event of the icecoming in, but to tow her out among the ice, and there puteverything sufficiently to rights for carrying her to some placeof security. A few hands were also spared, consisting chiefly oftwo or three convalescents, and some of the officers, to thrum asail for putting under the Fury's keel; for we were very anxiousto relieve the men at the pumps, which constantly required thelabour of eight to twelve hands to keep her free. By a long andhard day's labour, the people not going to rest till two o'clockon the morning of the 21st, we got about fifty tons' weight ofcoals and provisions on board the Fury, which, in case ofnecessity, we considered sufficient to give her stability. Havinghauled the ships out a little from the shore, and prepared theHecla for casting by a spring at a moment's notice, all thepeople except those at the pumps were sent to rest, which,however, they had not enjoyed for two hours, when, at four A.M.on the 21st, another heavy mass coming violently in contact withthe bergs and cables, threatened to sweep away every remainingsecurity. More hawsers were run out, however, and enabled usstill to hold on; and, after six hours of disturbed rest, allhands were again set to work to get the Fury's anchors, cables,rudder, and spars on board, these being absolutely necessary forher equipment, should we be able to get her out. At two P.M. thecrews were called on board to dinner, which they had not finishedwhen several not very large masses of ice drove along the shorenear us at a quick rate, and two or three successively coming inviolent contact either with the Hecla or the bergs to which shewas attached, convinced me that very little additional pressurewould tear everything away, and drive both ships on shore. I sawthat the moment had arrived when the Hecla could no longer bekept in her present situation with the smallest chance of safety,and therefore immediately got under sail, despatching CaptainHoppner with every individual, except a few for working the ship,to continue getting the things on board the Fury, while the Heclastood off and on. Captain Hoppner had scarcely been an hour onboard the Fury, and was busily engaged in getting the anchors andcables on board, when we observed some large pieces of not veryheavy ice closing in with the land near her; and at twentyminutes past four P.M., being an hour and five minutes after theHecla had cast off, I was informed by signal that the Fury was onshore. As the navigating of the Hecla, with only ten men onboard, required constant attention and care, I could not at thistime, with propriety, leave the ship to go on board the Fury. Itherefore directed Captain Hoppner by telegraph, "if he thoughtnothing could be done at present, to return on board with allhands until the wind changed;" for this alone, as far as I couldsee the state of the Fury, seemed to offer the smallest chance ofclearing the shore, so as to enable us to proceed with our work,or to attempt hauling the ship off the ground. About seven P.M.Captain Hoppner returned to the Hecla, accompanied by all hands,except an officer with a party at the pumps, reporting to me,that the Fury had been forced aground by the ice pressing on themasses lying near her, and bringing home, if not breaking, theseaward anchor, so that the ship was soon found to have sewedfrom two to three feet fore and aft.
Finding, soon after Captain Hoppner's return, that the currentswept the Hecla a long way to the southward while hoisting up theboats, and that more ice was drifting in towards the shore, I wasunder the painful necessity of recalling the party at the pumps,rather than incur the risk, now an inevitable one, of partingcompany with them altogether. Accordingly, Mr. Bird, with thelast of the people, came on board at eight o'clock in theevening, having left eighteen inches water in the well, and fourpumps being requisite to keep her free. In three hours after Mr.Bird's return, more than half a mile of closely packed iceintervened between the Fury and the open water in which we werebeating, and before the morning this barrier had increased tofour or five miles in breadth.
In order to try what our chances were, at the present lowtemperature, of procuring water upon the ice without expense offuel, we laid a black painted canvass cloth, and also a piece ofblack felt, upon the surface of the snow; the temperature of theatmosphere being from 18 to 23. These substances had,in a couple of hours, sunk half an inch into the snow, but nowater could be collected. I was desirous, also, of ascertainingwhether any part of the real sea-ice was so entirely fresh whenmelted as to be drunk without injury or inconvenience. For thispurpose we cut a block of ice from a large hummock, about tenfeet high above the sea; and having broken, pounded, and meltedit, without any previous washing, we found it, both by thehydrometer and by the chemical test (nitrate of silver),more free from salt than any which we had in our tanks,and which was procured from Hammerfest. I considered thissatisfactory, because, in the autumn, the pools of water met withupon the ice generally become very brackish, in consequence ofthe sea-water being drawn up into them by capillary action as theice becomes more "rotten" and porous; and we might, therefore,have to depend chiefly on melted ice for our daily supply. 2ff7e9595c
Komentarze