The men had already removed their boots, and noiselessly made their way to the hatch of the forecastle.
"Ah, it is just as well I brought a file with me," Adolphe said in a low voice, as he knelt down and felt the hatch.

"It is fastened down with a staple and padlock.

They are old, but you might have some trouble in breaking them.

But let us see first.

No, it moves.
Now, a wrench all together." As he spoke the staple came up through the rotten wood of the deck.
The hatch was then lifted.
"Lower it down corner-ways into the fo'castle," Adolphe said.