It was glutinous and too thick for the pump to lift, since the water that filled the vessel drained away through the broken plates as the tide sank.

Brown, kneeling on the hatch-coaming, knitted his brows.
"The stuff's water-borne, forced up by its buoyancy," he said.

"We may find it looser as we get down.

In the meantime, suction's no use; we have got to break it out by hand.

Start your winch and we'll fill the skip." Lister signaled a man on board the tug, the winch rattled, and a big iron bucket, hanging by a wire rope, dropped into the hold.