rumors which had been prevailing for three months were enough to keep
all the tongues of Liverpool busy.

The brig had been built at Birkenhead, a suburb of the city on the
left bank of the Mersey, and connected with it by numerous
ferry-boats.

The builders, Scott & Co., as skilful as any in England, had received
from Richard Shandon careful plans and drawings, in which the tonnage,
dimensions, and model of the brig were given with the utmost
exactness. They bore proof of the work of an experienced sailor. Since
Shandon had ample means at his command, the work began, and, in
accordance with the orders of the unknown owner, proceeded rapidly.

Every care was taken to have the brig made exceedingly strong; it was
evidently intended to withstand enormous pressure, for its ribs of
teak, an East Indian wood remarkable for its solidity, were further
strengthened by thick iron braces. The sailors used to ask why the
hull of a ship, which was intended to be so strong, was not made of
iron like other steamers. But they were told that the mysterious
designer had his own reasons for having it built in that way.

Gradually the shape of the brig on the stocks could be clearly made
out, and the strength and beauty of her model were clear to the eye of
all competent judges. As the sailors of the _Nautilus_ had said, her
stem formed a right angle with the keel, and she carried, not a ram,
but a steel cutter from the foundry of R. Hawthorn, of Newcastle. This
metallic prow, glistening in the sun, gave a singular appearance to
the brig, although there was nothing warlike about it. However, a
sixteen-pound gun was placed on her forecastle; its carriage was so
arranged that it could be pointed in any direction. The same thing can
be said of the cannon as of her bows, neither were positively warlike.

On the 5th of February, 1860, this strange vessel was successfully
launched in the sight of an immense number of spectators.

[Illustration]

But if the brig was not a man-of-war, nor a merchant-vessel, nor a
pleasure-yacht, for no one takes a pleasure trip with provisions for
six years in the hold, what could she be?

A ship intended for the search of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, and
of Sir John Franklin? No; for in 1859, the previous year, Captain
MacClintock had returned from the Arctic Ocean, with convincing proof
of the loss of that ill-fated expedition.

Did the _Forward_ want to try again the famous Northwest Passage? What