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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: fastenings of which were burst asunder as she rose. To avoid
cutting her down, it was necessary for the CALLIOPE to stop and
even to reverse her engines; and her rudder was at the moment - or
it seemed so to the eyes of those on board - within ten feet of the
reef. "Between the VANDALIA and the reef" (writes Kane, in his
excellent report) "it was destruction." To repeat Fritze's
manoeuvre with the ADLER was impossible; the CALLIOPE was too
heavy. The one possibility of escape was to go out. If the
engines should stand, if they should have power to drive the ship
against wind and sea, if she should answer the helm, if the wheel,
rudder, and gear should hold out, and if they were favoured with a
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