CHAPTER XVIII.
A CYCLONE.
"WHAT on earth is it all about?" Arthur Hill asked his comrades as thethree boys gathered together after the work was done. "Why, there is nota breath of wind. Is it all done for practice, do you think?"
Jim shook his head. "I expect we are going to have one of those cyclonesMr. Timmins was speaking about the other day, though I don't see anysigns of it, except the queer colour of the sky. I expect the glass musthave been going down very fast. There is the captain popping into hiscabin again. Well, he is not long about it," he added, as CaptainMurchison hurried out again and spoke to Mr. Timmins, who immediatelygave the order, "Furl mizzen and main topsails! Lower down thefore-staysail!"
"Well, there can't be more to do now," Jack said, when the order wascarried out, "unless we set to work to set them all again."
"Look, Jack!" Arthur Hill said, grasping his arm and pointing away onthe starboard beam.
A wall of black mist seemed to hang upon the horizon, rising momentarilyhigher and higher.
"The squall is coming, lads!" the captain shouted. "When it strikes herhold on for your lives. Carpenter, put a man with an axe at each of theweather-shrouds. We may have to cut away before we have done with it."
All eyes were now turned towards the bank of cloud, which was risingwith extraordinary rapidity. Small portions of the upper line seemed attimes to be torn off and to rush ahead of the main body, and then todisappear, suddenly blown into fragments. A low moaning sound was heard,and a line of white could be made out at the foot of the cloud-bank. Thewater around the ship was still as smooth as glass, though there was aslight swell, which swayed her to and fro, and caused the shrouds andblocks to rattle.
Louder and louder grew the murmur. Again the captain's voice was heard:"Hold on for your lives, lads!" and then with a scream and roar, as of athousand railway whistles, the gale struck the ship. So tremendous wasthe force, that although the closely-reefed fore-topsail was the onlysail that the _Wild Wave_ was showing aloft--for the jib blew from thebolt-ropes the instant the squall struck her--the vessel heeled over andover until her lee-rail was under water. Further and further she went,until the ends of the yards were under water, and the sea seemed toJack, who was holding on by the weather bulwark, as if it were directlyunder his feet.
CAUGHT IN THE CYCLONE]
He thought that the ship was going to capsize, and had not her cargobeen well stowed she must have done so. She was now almost on her beamends, pressed down by the action of the wind upon her hull rather thanher masts, and had it not been that the boys had each at the last momenttwisted a rope round his body, they must have dropped into the water,for the deck afforded no hold whatever to their feet. Jack feltcompletely bewildered at the noise and fury of the wind. He had thoughtthat after the gale they had passed through south of the Cape, he knewwhat bad weather was; but this was beyond anything of which he had theslightest conception.
Looking round he saw Mr. Timmins clinging to the bulwarks, and makinghis way along with the greatest difficulty until he reached the sailorstationed with the axe at the mizzen-shrouds, he saw the man rise fromhis crouching position, and, holding on to the bulwarks, strike threeblows on the lanyards. Then there was a crash, and the mizzen-mast brokesuddenly off four feet above the deck and fell into the sea.
Jack thought that the vessel lifted a little, for he could see one morestreak of the deck planking. Mr. Timmins looked round towards thecaptain, who was clinging to the wheel. The latter waved his hand, andthe mate again began to make his way forward. He passed the boys withouta word, for the loudest shout would have been inaudible in the howlingof the wind. He stopped at the main-shrouds again, the axe descended andthe mainmast went over the side. The relief from the weight of the mastand the pressure of the wind upon it was immediate; the _Wild Wave_rose with a surge and her lee-rail appeared above the surface, then sherose no further.
Mr. Timmins looked back again at the captain, but the latter made nosign. He could see that the pressure of the wind upon the foremast wasbeginning to pay the vessel's head off before it; as it did so sheslowly righted until, when fairly before the wind, she was upon a levelkeel. Then there was a dull explosion heard even above the gale, and thefore-topsail split into ribbons. But the ship was now before the gale,and was scudding, from the effect of the wind on the bare pole and hullalone, at great speed through the water. As soon as she had righted thelads threw off their lashings, but still clung tight to the rail, andstruggled aft till they stood under shelter of the poop.
"This is something like!" Jim roared at the top of his voice into Jack'sear. Even then his words could scarcely be heard.
Jack nodded. At present, even had conversation been possible, he wouldhave had no inclination for it, for he felt stunned and bewildered. Ithad all taken place in ten minutes. It was but that time since the shiphad been lying motionless on a still ocean. Now she was rushing, withone mast only standing, before a furious gale, and had had the narrowestpossible escape from destruction. As yet the sea had scarce begun torise, but seemed flattened under the terrific pressure of the wind,which scooped hollows in it and drove the water before it in fine spray.
Jack had read in the papers about tornadoes in America, and how houseswere sometimes bodily lifted with their contents and carried longdistances, and how everything above the surface was swept away as if ascythe had passed over it. He had heard these accounts discussed by thefishermen, and the general opinion in Leigh was that there was mightylittle truth in them. The Leigh men thought they knew what a gale was,and what it could do. They knew that chimney-pots and tiles could becarried some distance with the wind, that arms of trees could be twistedoff, and that an empty boat could be carried a considerable distance;but that a house could be bodily whirled away, was going so far beyondanything that came within their experiences as to be wholly disbelieved.
But Jack knew now as he looked round that this and more was possible. Hefelt the whole vessel leap and quiver as the gust struck her, and thiswith only one bare pole standing, and he would have been scarcesurprised now had the ship herself been lifted bodily from the water. Asto walking along the deck, it would have been impossible. No man couldhave forced his way against the wind, and Jack felt that were he toattempt to move from the sheltered spot where he was standing he wouldbe taken up and carried away as if he were but a figure of straw.Presently Mr. Hoare came down from the poop and dived into the cabin,making a sign to the lads to follow him. He stood there for a minutepanting with his exertions.
"The captain has sent me down for a spell," he said. "He and the firstand Jack Moore are all lashed to the wheel. Sometimes I thought thatall four of us, wheel and all, would have been blown right away. Well,lads, this is a cyclone, and you may live a hundred years and never seesuch another. You had better stop in here, for you might get blown rightaway, and can be of no good on deck. There is nothing to do. The windhas got her and will take her where it likes; we can do nothing but keepher straight. There will be a tremendous sea up before long. The waterat the upper part of the bay is shallow, and we shall have a sea likeyours at the mouth of the Thames, Jack,--only on a big scale.
"Our lives are in God's hands, boys; don't forget to ask for help wherealone it can be obtained. Now I must be going up again. Steward, give mea glass of weak grog and a biscuit. Do you know, lads, my sides fairlyache. Once or twice I was pressed against the wheel with such force thatI could scarcely breathe, and if I had been pinned there by an elephantbutting me I could not have been more powerless. That is right, steward,get me my oil-skin and sou'-wester from the cabin. You had better get akettle on over the spirit-stove, so that we can have a cup of hot cocoawhen we like. Now then, I am ready for the fray again!" and buttoninghimself closely up Mr. Hoare went on deck again.
Jack Moore was the next to come down. "Captain's orders, steward. I amto have a glass of grog. Well, young gentlemen, this is a gale and nomistake. I have been at sea over thirty years, and have never seenanything to be compar
ed with it. If you get through this you need neverbe afraid of another; not if you live to be white-headed!"
After Jack Moore had gone up Mr. Timmins and the captain came down byturns. Each took a cup of cocoa. They said but few words to the boys,and were indeed almost too much exhausted by the struggle through whichthey had gone to be able to speak. The boys gathered again under the leeof the poop and watched the scene. It had changed considerably; the windseemed as violent as ever, but the sea was no longer kept in subjectionto it, and was now tossing itself in a wild and confused manner.
Another half hour and it had settled in some sort of regularity, and wassweeping before the wind in deep trough-like waves with steep sides,resembling those to which Jack had been accustomed in Sea Reach, on agigantic scale. Soon again these were broken up, and were succeeded by awild tumultuous sea like a boiling cauldron. The vessel was thrownviolently from side to side, taking water over, now on one beam now onthe other, and at times shaking from blows as if she had struck upon arock. So sharp and sudden were her movements that the lads could notkeep their feet, and again made their way into the cabin. Even here itwas necessary to shout in order to be heard.
"What an extraordinary sea, Jim! I never saw anything like it before."
"That is what it's from," Jim replied, pointing to the tell-tale compasshanging from the beams overhead.
Jack glanced at it. "Why, we are running due south!"
"Aye; and I expect we have been two or three times round the compassalready. That is what makes this frightful broken sea."
"Well, as long as we keep on running round and round," Jack said, "thereis no fear of our running against the land anywhere."
Jim was further advanced in the study of navigation. "You forget," hesaid, "the centre of the cyclone is moving along all the time, andthough we may go round and round the centre we are moving in the samedirection as the cyclone is going, whatever that may be."
For hours the storm raged without the slightest signs of abatement. Thesea was now terrific; the waist of the ship was full of water. Greenseas swept over the vessel's bows, carrying everything before them, andpouring aft burst open the cabin door and deluged the cabin. By turnsthe boys made their way to the door and looked out.
"Come out, you fellows!" Jim Tucker shouted after one of these trips ofinvestigation. "The men are coming out from the fo'castle. There issomething to be done."
The boys came out and crawled a few steps up the poop-ladder, holding onfor life as they did so. They did not attempt to get on to the poop, forthey felt they would be blown away if they exposed themselves there tothe full force of the wind. Looking round, the scene was terrible. Thesurface of the sea was almost hidden by the clouds of spray blown fromthe heads of the waves; a sky that was inky black hung overhead. Thesea, save for the white heads, was of similar hue, but ahead thereseemed a gleam of light. Jim Tucker, holding on by the rail, raisedhimself two or three feet higher to have a better view. A moment wassufficient.
He sprang down again and shouted in his comrades' ears, "Breakersahead!" It needed no further words. The light ahead was the gleam of asea of white foam towards which the vessel was hurrying. Nothing couldbe done to check or change her course. Had the mizzen been standing aneffort might have been made to show a little sail upon it, and bring herhead up into the wind to anchor; but even could this have been done thecables would have snapped like pack-threads. There was nothing for itbut destruction. Jack followed Jim's example--crawled to the top of thegangway, and holding on by the poop-rail raised himself to his feet andlooked forward.
Right across their bows stretched a band of white breakers, and beyondthrough the mist he could make out the line of a low shore. The ladsdescended again into the waist, and with great difficulty made their wayforward to where the men were huddled together round the entrance to thefo'castle. They too had kept a look-out, and knew of the danger intowhich they were running and the impossibility of avoiding it.
"Is there anything to be done?" Jim Tucker shouted.
A silent shake of the head was a sufficient answer. The vessel and allin her were doomed. The officers were now seen leaving the helm andcoming forward. It was a proof in itself of the hopelessness of theprospect. The vessel was indeed steering herself straight before thegale, and as there were no regular following waves there was no fear ofher broaching to. The boats, that had at the commencement of the stormbeen hanging from the davits, were all gone or useless. One or two hadbeen smashed to pieces by heavy seas striking them; others had been tornfrom their fastenings and blown clean away.
The long-boat alone remained lashed amidships on the deck. Jack pointedto her, but an old sailor shook his head and pointed to the sea. No boatcould hope to live in it a minute. Once in the breakers it would beswamped instantly. The officers made their way forward.
"It is all over, lads!" the captain shouted; "but some of us may reachthe shore on pieces of the wreck as she breaks up. We will get thelong-boat ready for launching: some of you may cling to her. Now, lads,let us shake hands all round, and meet our fate as British sailorsshould do--calmly and bravely. At any rate some of us may be saved yet."
The crew of the _Wild Wave_ had been a happy one. Discipline had beengood, although every indulgence had been allowed the men, and all werefond of her officers. There was a silent hand-clasp all round, and thensome of the sailors followed the officers to the boat. As they did sothey knew well that the order was given merely to keep them employed,for the chance of anyone being washed ashore and reaching it alivethrough the tremendous surf was small indeed. As they cut away theboat's cover they looked round, and a low cry broke from several ofthem. The ship was close to the broken water.
Every man clung to something and awaited the shock. In a few seconds itcame. As she descended a wave there was a tremendous shock, followedinstantaneously by a crash as the foremast went over the bow. Anotherand another, accompanied each time with the sound of rending timbers.
"Cut away the lashings of the boat!" the captain shouted, drawing hisknife and setting the example. As he did so he touched Jack and pointedinto the bottom of the boat. The lad understood him. He was to put inthe plugs, which at ordinary times were left out to allow any rain-waterto escape as it fell. Jack in turn touched Arthur, and the two climbedinto the boat to replace the plugs.
As they did so a fiercer gust than usual struck the vessel. The lashingsof the long-boat had just been cut, and the gale seized it and raised itin the air as if it had been made of paper. Jack and Arthur uttered acry, and involuntarily clung for life to the thwarts. Over and over theywere whirled. Confused, giddy, scarce knowing what had happened, theyclung on. It was a sort of nightmare, and how long it lasted they knewnot. Presently there was a terrific crash, and they knew no more.