STORY FOUR, CHAPTER ONE.
A FIGHT WITH A STORM.
I got first to be mate when quite a youngish fellow; the owners weretold somehow or other that I'd worked hard on the last voyage, and theymade me mate of the ship, and gave me a good silver watch and chain; awatch that went to the bottom of the sea five years after in a wreck offthe Irish coast, by Wexford, when I and six more swam ashore, saving ourlives, and thankful for them. For the sea swallows up a wonderful storeof wealth every season; and it meant to have our ship, too, that year Iwas made mate, only we escaped it.
It happened like this. We were bound for Cadiz in a large, handsome,new brig, having on board a rich cargo; for besides a heavy value ingold, we had a lot of valuable new machinery, that had been made for theSpanish government by one of our large manufacturers somewhere inland.But besides this, there was a vast quantity of iron, in long, heavy,cast pillars. A huge weight they were, and we all shook our heads atthem as they were lowered down into the hold, for we thought of what anice cargo they would turn out, if we should have a heavy passage. Wehad about a score of passengers, too, and amongst them was a finegentlemanly fellow, going out with his wife, and he was to superintendthe fitting up of the machinery, several of the other passengers beinghis men.
She was a new, well-found vessel, and fresh in her paint; and with herclean canvas, and all smart, we were rather proud of that boat. Butwe'd only just got beyond the Lizard when it came on to blow, just as itcan blow off there in February, with rain, and snow, and hail; and wewere at last glad to scud before the gale under bare poles.
Night and day, then, night and day following one another fast, with thehatches battened down, and the ship labouring so that it seemed as ifevery minute must be her last. She was far too heavily laden; andinstead of her being a ship to float out the fiercest storms, here wewere loaded down, so that she lay rolling and pitching in a way that herseams began to open, and soon every hand had to take his turn at thepumps.
The days broke heavy and cloudy, and the nights came on with thedarkness awful, and the gale seeming to get fiercer and fiercer, till atlast, worn out, sailors and passengers gave up, the pumps wereabandoned, and refusing one and all to stay below, men and women wereclustered together, getting the best shelter they could.
"I don't like to see a good new ship go to the bottom like this," Ishouted in one of my mates' ears, and he shouted back something aboutiron; and I nodded, for we all knew that those great pillars down belowwere enough to sink the finest vessel that ever floated.
Just then I saw the skipper go below, while the gentleman who was goingout to superintend was busy lashing one of the life-buoys to his wife.
"That ain't no good," I shouted to him, going up on hands and knees, forthe sea at times was enough to wash you overboard, as she dipped androlled as though she would send her masts over the side every moment.But I got to where they were holding on at last; and seeing that,landsman-like, he knew nothing of knotting and lashing, I made thelife-buoy fast, just as a great wave leaped over the bows, and swept theship from stern to stern.
As soon as I could get my breath, I looked round, to find that where themate and three passengers were standing a minute before, was now anempty space; while on running to the poop, and looking over, there wasnothing to be seen but the fierce rushing waters.
I got back to where those two were clinging together, and though feelingselfish, as most men would, I couldn't help thinking how sad it would befor a young handsome couple like them to be lost, for I knew well enoughthat though she was lashed to the life-buoy, the most that would dowould be to keep her afloat till she died of cold and exhaustion.
"Can nothing be done?" Mr Vallance--for that was his name--shouted inmy ear.
"Well," I said, shouting again, "if I was captain, I should run allrisks, and get some of that iron over the side."
"Why don't he do it, then?" he exclaimed; and of course, being nobody onboard that ship, I could only shake my head.
Just then Mrs Vallance turned upon me such a pitiful look, as she tooktighter hold of her husband--a look that seemed to say to me: "Oh, savehim, save him!" And I don't know how it was, but feeling that somethingought to be done, I crept along once more to the captain's cabin, andgoing down, there, in the dim light, I could see him sitting on alocker, with a bottle in his hand, and a horrible wild stupid look onhis face, which told me in a moment that he wasn't a fit man to havebeen trusted with the lives of forty people in a good new ship. Then Istood half-bewildered for a few moments, but directly after I was up ondeck, and alongside of Mr Vallance.
"Will you stand by me, sir," I says, "if I'm took to task for what Ido?"
"What are you going to do?" he says.
"Shy that iron over the side."
"To the death, my man!"
"Then lash her fast where she is," I said, nodding to Mrs Vallance;"and, in God's name, come on."
I saw the poor thing's arms go tight round his neck, and though Icouldn't hear a word she said, I knew it meant: "Don't leave me;" but hejust pointed upwards a moment, kissed her tenderly; and then, I helping,we made her fast, and the next minute were alongside the hatches, justover where I knew the great pillars to be.
I knew it was a desperate thing to do, but it was our only chance; andafter swinging round the fore-yard, and rigging up some tackle, the mensaw what was meant, and gave a bit of a cheer. Then they clusteredtogether, passengers and men, while I shouted to Mr Vallance, offeringhim his choice--to go below with another, to make fast the rope to thepillars, or to stay on deck.
He chose going below; and warning him that we should clap on the hatchesfrom time to time, to keep out the water, I got hold of a marlinespike,loosened the tarpaulin a little, had one hatch off, and then stationedtwo on each side, to try and keep the opening covered every time a wavecame on board.
It seemed little better than making a way in for the sea to send us tothe bottom at once; but I knew that it was our only hope, andpersevered. Mr Vallance and one of the men went below, the tackle waslowered, and in less time than I expected, they gave the signal to haulup. We hauled--the head of the pillar came above the coamings, wenthigh up, then lowered down till one end rested on the bulwarks; the ropewas cast off; and then, with a cheer, in spite of the rolling of theship, it was sent over the side to disappear in the boiling sea.
Another, and another, and another, weighing full six hundredweightapiece, we had over the side, the men working now fiercely, and withsomething like hope in their breasts; and then I roared to them to holdfast the tarpaulin was pulled over, and I for one threw myself upon it,just as a wave came rolling along, leaped the bows, and dashed us hereand there.
But we found to our great joy that hardly a drop had gone below, theweight of the water having flattened down the tarpaulin; so seizing thetackle once more, we soon had another pillar over the side, and another,and another--not easily, for it was a hard fight each time; and morethan once men were nearly crushed to death. It was terrible work, too,casting them loose amidst the hurry and strife of the tempest; but wekept on, till, utterly worn out and panting, we called on Mr Vallanceto come up, when we once more securely battened down the hatch andwaited for the morning.
We agreed amongst ourselves that the ship did not roll so much; andperhaps she was a little easier, for we had sent some tons overboard;but the difference was very little; and morning found us all numbed withthe cold, and helpless to a degree. I caught Mr Vallance's eye, andsignalled to him that we should go on again; but it required all wecould do to get the men to work, one and all saying that it was useless,and only fighting against our fate.
Seeing that fair words wouldn't do, I got the tackle ready myself, andthen with the marlinespike in one hand, I went up to the first poorshivering fellow I came to, and half-led, half-dragged him to his place;Mr Vallance followed suit with another; and one way and another we gotthem to work again; and though not so quickly as we did the day before,we sent over the side tons and tons of that soli
d iron--each pillar onbeing cut loose darting over the bulwark with a crash, and tearing noend of the planking away, but easing the vessel, so that now we couldfeel the difference; and towards night, though the weather was bad asever, I began to feel that we might have a chance; for the ship seemedto ride over the waves more, instead of dipping under them, andshuddering from stem to stern. We'd been fortunate, too, in keeping thewater from getting into the hold; and one way and another, what with thefeeling of duty done, and the excitement, things did not look so blackas before; when all at once a great wave like a green mountain of waterleaped aboard over the poop, flooded the deck, tore up the tarpaulin andanother hatch, and poured down into the hold, followed by another andanother; and as I clung to one of the masts, blinded and shaking withthe water, I could feel that in those two minutes all our two days' workhad been undone.
"God help us!" I groaned, for I felt that I had done wrong in openingthe hatches; but there was no time for repining. Directly the waves hadpassed on, rushing out at the sides, where they had torn away thebulwarks, I ran to the mouth of the hold, for I felt that Mr Vallanceand the poor fellow with him must have been drowned.
I shouted--once, twice, and then there was a groan; when, seizing holdof the tackle that we had used to hoist the pillars, I was lowered down,and began to swim in the rushing water that was surging from side toside, when I felt myself clutched by a drowning man, and holding on tohim, we were dragged up together.
But I did not want the despairing look Mrs Vallance gave me to make mego down again, and this time I was washed up against something, which Iseized; but there seemed no life in it when we were hauled up, for thepoor fellow did not move, and it was pitiful to see the way in which hispoor wife clung to him.
Another sea coming on board, it was all we could do to keep from beingswept off; and as the water seemed to leap and plunge down the hatchwith a hollow roar, a chill came over me again, colder than that broughton by the bitter weather. I was so worn out that I could hardly stir;but it seemed that if I did not move, no one else would; so shouting toone or two to help me, I crawled forward, and got the hatches on again,just as another wave washed over us; but before the next came, with mymarlinespike I had contrived to nail down the tarpaulin once more, inthe hope that, though waterlogged, we might float a little longer.
It seemed strange, but after a little provision had been served round, Ibegan to be hopeful once more, telling myself that, after all, water wasnot worse than iron, and that if we lived to the next day, we might getclear of our new enemy without taking off the hatches.
We had hard work, though, with Mr Vallance, who lay for hours withoutseeming to show a sign of life; but towards morning, from the lowsobbing murmur I heard close by me, and the gentle tones of a man'svoice, I knew that they must have brought him round. You see, I was atthe wheel then, for it had come round to my turn, and as soon as I couldget relieved, I went and spoke to them, and found him able to sit up.
As day began to break, the wind seemed to lull a little, and soon aftera little more, and again a little more, till, with joyful heart, I toldall about me that the worst was over; and it was so, for the windshifted round to the south and west, and the sea went down fast. Soon,too, the sun came out; and getting a little sail on the ship, I began tosteer, as near as I could tell, homewards, hoping before long to be ableto make out our bearings, which I did soon after, and then got thepassengers and crew once more in regular spells at the pumps.
We were terribly full of water; and as the ship rolled the night before,it was something awful to hear it rush from side to side of the hold,threatening every minute to force up the decks; but now keeping on aregular drain, the scuppers ran well, and hour by hour we rose higherand higher, and the ship, from sailing like a tub, began to answer herhelm easily, and to move through the water.
It was towards afternoon that, for the first time, I remembered thecaptain, just, too, as he made his appearance on deck, white-looking,and ill, but now very angry and important.
I had just sent some of the men aloft, and we were making more sail,when in a way that there was no need for, he ordered them down, at thesame time saying something very unpleasant to me. Just then I saw MrVallance step forward to where the other passengers were collected, manyof them being his own men; and then, after few words, they all came afttogether to where the captain stood, and Mr Vallance acted asspokesman.
"Captain Johnson," he said, "I am speaking the wishes of the passengersof this ship when I request you to go below to your cabin, and to staythere until we reach port."
"Are you mad, sir?" exclaimed the captain.
"Not more so than the rest of the passengers," said Mr Vallance, "who,one and all, agree with me that they have no confidence in you ascaptain; and that, moreover, they consider that by your conduct you havevirtually resigned the command of the ship into Mr Robinson's hands."
"Are you aware, Mr Passenger, that _Mister_ Robinson is one of theapprentices?"
"I am aware, sir, that he has carried this vessel through a fearfulstorm, when her appointed commander left those men and women in hischarge to their fate, while he, like a coward, went below to drown outall knowledge of the present with drink."
He raved and stormed, and then called upon the crew to help him; but MrVallance told them that he would be answerable to the owners for theirconduct, and not a man stirred. I spoke to him till he turned angry,and insisted upon my keeping to the command, and backed up at last byboth passengers and crew, who laughed, and seemed to enjoy it; but Imust say that, until we cast anchor in Yarmouth Roads, they obeyed me toa man.
So they made the captain keep for all the world like a prisoner to hiscabin till we entered the Tyne, after being detained a few days only inthe Roads, where it had been necessary to refit, both of the topmastsbeing snapped, and the jib-boom being sprung, besides our being leaky,though not so bad but that a couple of hours a day after the firstclearance kept the water under.
Before we had passed Harwich very far, we had the beach yawls out, oneafter another, full of men wanting to board us and take us into harbour,so as to claim salvage. One and all had the same tale to tell us--thatwe could never get into port ourselves; and more than once it almosttook force to keep them from taking possession, for, not content withrendering help when it is wanted, they are only too ready to make theirhelp necessary, and have frightened many a captain before now intogiving up his charge into other hands. But with Mr Vallance at myback, I stood firm; and somehow or another I did feel something verymuch like pride when I took the brig safely into port, and listened tothe owners remarks.
THE END.
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