CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE GIG IS CAUGHT IN A GALE.
Did as the skipper had requested, receiving young Dumaresq into the gigin his place, and then the several boats lay upon their oars, awaitingfurther orders.
Captain Chesney seemed to be very reluctant, even now, to quit theneighbourhood of the burning ship; and therein I considered that he wasdisplaying sound judgment, for the weather was still stark calm, andwhatever movement we might make would have to be executed with the oars,which would soon result in greatly fatiguing the men without anycommensurate advantage. Moreover the Indiaman was now a blazing beacon,the light from which would be distinctly visible at a distance of atleast thirty or forty miles in every direction, and would be sure toattract attention should any craft be in the neighbourhood, probablyleading to her steering in our direction as soon as a breeze shouldspring up; in which case we might all hope to be picked up.
That this was in his mind was evident, for he presently summoned all theboats about him, and pointed out to their occupants the possibilities ofrescue by remaining in the neighbourhood of the burning ship, and hethen went on to say:
"Our reckoning at noon showed that we were then--as we have sinceremained--seven hundred and twenty miles south-west by south from theisland of Corvo, one of the Azores, which is the nearest land. There isa small town called Rosario upon this island, where, if we can but reachit, I have no doubt we can obtain succour; and I therefore intend tosteer for Corvo, not only for the reason that I have mentioned, but alsobecause most homeward-bound ships endeavour to make the Azores, and wetherefore stand a very good chance of being picked up at any moment.Now, gentlemen, those of you who are in charge of boats will be pleasedto remember that the course is north-east by north, and the distanceseven hundred and twenty miles. You will also be pleased to rememberthat the boats are to keep company as long as the weather will permit,unless otherwise ordered by me. And now, as I do not intend to make astart until to-morrow morning, you had better arrange the watches ineach boat, and secure all the rest that you can."
This very sensible recommendation was at once adopted all round; but, asfar as the gig was concerned, sleep appeared to be out of the question,the strong glare of light from the burning ship--although the boats hadhauled off to a distance of fully half a mile from her--and, still more,the novelty and excitement of our situation, seeming to have completelybanished slumber from our eyelids.
At length, toward two o'clock in the morning--by which time the Indiamanhad become the mere shell of a ship, a blazing furnace from stem tostern,--a light breeze sprang up from the north-north-east, almost deadin our teeth for the voyage to the Azores; and the order was passedalong for the boats to set their sails and make short reaches, for thepurpose of maintaining their position near the ship. This was done, andthen the only bad quality that the boats appeared to possess rapidlydeclared itself. They were, one and all, staunch, well-built, andfinely-modelled boats, excellently adapted for their work in allrespects save one, which, in the present case, was of very greatimportance: their keels were so shallow that they had no grip of thewater; and the result of this was that, as we quickly discovered, theywould not turn to windward. The gig, which had been built with anespecial eye to speed, was the least serious offender in this respect;indeed, so long as the water remained smooth, we managed to hold our ownwith her, and a trifle to spare; the long-boat, probably from her sizeand superior depth of body, came next; but the others sagged away toleeward from the first, despite the utmost efforts of those in charge;and, consequently, in order to remain in company, we were obliged tobear up and run down to them. Within an hour from the moment of makingsail we were a mile to leeward of the ship; and with the steadyfreshening of the breeze we continued to increase our distance from her.
The day at length broke, disclosing a sea ruffled to a hue of purestsapphire, flecked with little ridges of snowy foam by the whipping ofthe now fresh breeze, under a sky of blue, dappled with small, wool-likewhite clouds that came sailing up, squadron after squadron, out of thenorth-east, at a speed that told of a fiery breeze in the higher reachesof the atmosphere; and a sharp look-out for the gleaming canvas of apassing ship was at once instituted, but without result. About half anhour later the skipper, who was but a short distance to leeward of us,waved us to close; and when we had done so the long-boat and the gig randown in company to the other boats in succession, Captain Chesneyordering each, as we passed, to follow him, until we finally all foundourselves near the jolly-boat, which was the most leewardly boat of all.The little flotilla then closed round the long-boat, which had beenhove-to, and the skipper, standing up in the stern-sheets, addressed us:
"Gentlemen," said he, "it is, as you may well imagine, a greatdisappointment to me to discover that the boats exhibit such very poorweatherly qualities, since it renders it plain that, unless somethingcan be done to improve them in that respect, it will be useless for usto think of carrying out my original plan of making for the Azores inthe teeth of the present foul wind. A plan has occurred to me that maypossibly have the effect of helping the boats to go to windward, and Ishould like you all to try it. If it answers, well and good; if it doesnot, I am afraid there will be nothing for it but for us to try for theCanaries, which are considerably further away from us than the Azores,but which also lie much further to the southward, and consequentlyafford us a better chance, with the wind as it now is.
"And now as to my plan for helping the boats to turn to windward. Theyare all fitted with bottom-boards; and I am of opinion that, if thetriangular bottom-board in the stern-sheets is suspended over the leeside amidships by means of short lengths of line bent on to two of thecorners, the arrangement will serve as a lee-board, and the boats willgo to windward, although their speed may be slightly decreased. At allevents I should like to give the plan a trial; so get your bottom-boardsrigged at once, gentlemen, if you please, somewhat after the fashion ofthis affair that I have arranged."
So saying, the skipper exhibited the long-boat's board, fitted to serveas a lee-board, and forthwith dropped it over the side, secured by acouple of stout lanyards, the other ends of which were made fast to theboat's thwarts. It appeared to require but little arranging, the leewayof the boat pressing it close to her side, and retaining it there in itsproper position. The other boats were not long in following theskipper's example. Five minutes sufficed to get the lee-boards intoaction, and then the squadron hauled its wind, with the object ofbeating back to the neighbourhood of the ship. The value of CaptainChesney's idea soon became apparent, for in less than an hour we hadreached far enough to windward to enable us to fetch the ship on thenext tack. But we did not go about; for just at that time the wreck,burnt to the water's edge, suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of herlate presence but a dense cloud of mingled steam and smoke, thatgradually swept away to leeward astern of us.
The boats were on the starboard tack, and were kept so throughout theday, that being the leg upon which we could do best with the wind as itthen was; and at noon an observation of the sun was secured which, theskipper having his chronometer and charts with him, showed that we wereeleven miles nearer to our destination than we had been when we left theship. This was no great slice out of a distance of more than sevenhundred miles, but neither was it by any means discouraging, taking intoconsideration the distance that we had lost during the night. As forthe passengers, particularly the women and children, they were inwonderfully good spirits, seeming to regard the boat-voyage rather as apleasure-trip than the serious matter that it really was. The breezecontinuing to freshen, it at length became necessary for the long-boatand ourselves to haul down a reef, in order that we might not outsailand run away from the remainder of the flotilla. But, despiteeverybody's most strenuous efforts, the boats manifested a decideddisposition to become widely scattered, and it was only by the fastersailers heaving-to occasionally that the sluggards were enabled to keepin company. This proved so serious an obstacle to progress that justbefore su
nset the long-boat again displayed the signal to close, andwhen we had done so the skipper informed us that, in view of the greatdifference in the sailing powers of the several boats, he withdrew hisprohibition as to parting company, and that from that moment each boatwould be at liberty to do the best that she could for herself. And itappeared to me that this was a most sensible decision to arrive at,since, taking into account the long distance to be traversed, thedetermination to regulate the progress of the entire squadron by that ofthe slowest boat must necessarily entail a very serious lengthening ofthe period of exposure and privation for those in the faster boats.Sail was accordingly made by the long-boat and ourselves; and whendarkness closed down upon the scene, the gig was leading by about half amile, the long-boat coming next, and the remainder stringing out astern,at distances varying from three-quarters of a mile to twice as far.
It must not be supposed that, on this first day in the boats, thenovelty of our situation caused us to feel indifferent to thepossibility of a sail heaving in sight; on the contrary, one man in eachboat was told off for the especial purpose of keeping a look-out; and I,for one, felt it to be a serious misfortune that up to nightfall nothinghad been sighted; for, to tell the whole truth, I regarded thepossibility of our reaching either Corvo or the Canaries as mightyproblematical, trusting for our eventual rescue very much more to thechance of our falling in with a ship and being picked up.
About eight bells of the second dog-watch the wind, which had beengradually freshening all day, freshened still more, piping upoccasionally in so squally a fashion that I deemed it prudent to againhaul down a reef; and by midnight it had become necessary to take in asecond reef, the sky having clouded over, with a thick and rather dirtylook to windward, while the wind came along in such heavy puffs that,staunch boat as was the gig, we had our work cut out at times to keepher lee gunwale above water. Moreover, a short, steep, choppy sea hadbeen raised that proved very trying to us, the boat driving her sharpstem viciously into it, and throwing frequent heavy showers of sprayover herself, that not only drenched us all to the skin, but alsonecessitated the continuous use of the baler. Fortunately, we were notvery greatly crowded; so that, despite the weight of our party and thatof our provisions and water, the boat was fairly buoyant, and we shippednothing heavier than spray; but my heart ached as I thought of the poorwomen and children cooped up in the long-boat, and pictured to myselftheir too probable piteous condition of cold and wet and misery.
As the night wore on, the weather grew steadily worse; and morning atlength dawned upon us, hove-to under close-reefed canvas, with a stronggale blowing, and a high, steep, and dangerous sea running. And therewas every prospect that there was worse to come, for the sun rose as apale, wan, shapeless blot of sickly light, faintly showing through aveil of dim, grey, watery vapour, streaked with light-coloured patchesof tattered scud, that swept athwart the louring sky at a furious rate,while the sea had that greenish, turbid appearance that is oftennoticeable as a precursor of bad weather.
None of the other boats were anywhere near us, so far as could be madeout; but one of the men was still standing on a thwart, steadyinghimself by the mast, looking for them, when he suddenly made our heartsleap and our pulses quicken by flinging out his right arm and pointingvehemently, as he yelled:
"Sail ho! a couple of points on the lee bowl. A ship, sir, steerin'large, under to'gallant-sails!"
"Let me get a look at her," answered I, as I clawed my way forward,noticing with consternation as I did so, that, despite the continuousbaling that had been kept up, the water was fully three inches deep inthe bottom of the boat, and that the lower tier of our provisions was,in consequence, most probably spoiled.
The man, having first carefully pointed out to me the exact direction inwhich I was to look for the stranger, climbed down off the thwart and somade room for me to take his place, which I immediately did. Yes; thereshe was, precisely as the man had said, a full-rigged ship, scuddingunder topgallant-sails. She was fully seven--maybe nearer eight--milesaway, and although rather on our lee bow at the moment when firstsighted--in consequence of the gig having just then come to--was inreality still a trifle to windward of us. Of course it was utterlyuseless to hope that we could, by any means at our disposal, attract herattention at that distance; but as I looked almost despairingly at her,and noticed that she did not appear to be travelling very fast, itoccurred to me that there was just a ghost of a chance that, by bearingup and running away to leeward, upon a course converging obliquely uponher own, we might be able to intercept her; or, if not that, we might atleast be able to approach her nearly enough to make ourselves seen. Itwas worth attempting, I thought, for even though, in the event offailure, we should find ourselves in the end many miles more distantfrom Corvo than we then were, I attached but little importance to that;my conviction now being stronger than ever that our only hope ofdeliverance lay in being picked up, rather than in our being able toreach the Azores, or any other land. Noting carefully, therefore, thebearings of the stranger, and especially the fact that she appeared tobe running dead to leeward, with squared yards, I made my way aft again,took the tiller, watched for a favourable opportunity, and succeeded ingetting the gig before the wind without shipping very much water. Oncefairly before the wind, the boat was able to bear a considerably greaterspread of canvas than while hove-to; indeed an increase of sailimmediately became an imperative necessity in order to avoid beingcaught and overrun, or pooped, by the sea; moreover we had to catch thatship, if we could. We therefore shook out a couple of reefs, and thenwent to breakfast; treating ourselves to as good a meal as thecircumstances would permit.
The gig being double-ended, and modelled somewhat after the fashion of awhale-boat, scudded well and no longer shipped any water; our condition,therefore, was greatly improved, and running before the gale, as we nowwere, the strength of the wind was not so severely felt, nor did thechill of the blast penetrate our saturated clothing so cruelly as whilewe were hove-to. Our clothes gradually dried upon us, we baled out theboat, and in the course of an hour or so began to experience somethingapproaching a return to comfort. Meanwhile, at frequent intervals, thebearing and distance of the strange sail was ascertained, and ourspirits rose as, with every observation, the chances of our ultimatelysucceeding in intercepting her grew more promising. Another result ofthese observations, however, was the unwelcome discovery that thestranger was travelling at a considerably faster pace than we had atfirst credited her with; and that only the nicest and most accuratejudgment with regard to our own course would enable us to close withher.
That in itself, however, was not sufficient to occasion us any verygrave anxiety, for we had the whole day before us; and what we had mostgreatly to fear was a further increase in the strength of the wind.Unhappily there was only too much reason to dread that this mighthappen, if, indeed, it was not in process of happening already; for thesky astern was rapidly assuming a blacker, wilder appearance, while itwas unquestionable that the sea was increasing in height and breakingmore heavily. This last was a serious misfortune for us in a doublesense; for, on the one hand, it increased the danger of the boat beingpooped, while on the other it materially reduced our progress, our lowsails becoming almost completely becalmed, and the boat's way slackeningevery time that we settled into the hollow of a sea. So greatly didthis retard us that at length, despite the undeniable fact that the galewas increasing, we shook out our last reef and attempted the hazardousexperiment of scudding under whole canvas. And for a short time we didfairly well, although my heart was in my mouth every time that, as theboat soared upward to the crest of a sea, the blast struck her with afurious sweep, filling the sail with a jerk that threatened to take themast out of her, and taxing my skill to the utmost to prevent her frombroaching-to and capsizing. But it would not do; it was altogether toodangerous an experiment to be continued. It was no longer a question ofskill in the handling of the boat, we were tempting Providence andcourting disaster, for the wind was freshening rap
idly, so we had tohaul down a reef again, and even after we had done this we seemed to bescarcely any better off than before.
Meanwhile, however, in the midst of our peril and anxiety we had thesatisfactory assurance that we were steadily nearing the ship; for wehad risen her until, when both she and the gig happened to besimultaneously hove up on the crest of an unusually heavy sea, we couldcatch a glimpse not only of the whole of her canvas, but also of thesweep of her rail throughout its length, and we might now hope that atany moment some keen-eyed sailor might notice our tiny sail and callattention to it. Nay, there was just a possibility that this hadhappened already, for we presently became aware that the ship had takenin her topgallant-sails. Of course this might mean nothing more thanmere ordinary precaution on the part of a commander anxious to avoidspringing any of his spars; but it might also point to the conclusionthat a momentary, doubtful glimpse of us had been caught by somebody,and that the officer of the watch, while sceptical of belief, hadshortened sail for a time to afford opportunity for furtherinvestigation. But whichever it might happen to be, it improved ourprospects of eventual rescue, and we were glad and thankful accordingly.
The question now uppermost in our minds was whether we had or had notbeen seen by anyone on board the ship. Some of us felt convinced thatwe had--the wish, doubtless, being father to the thought; but, for myown part, I was exceedingly doubtful. For, as a rule--to which,however, some most shameful and dastardly exceptions have come under myown notice--sailors are always most eager to help their distressedbrethren, even at the cost of very great personal inconvenience andperil; and, knowing this, I believed that, had only a momentary andexceedingly doubtful view of us been caught, steps would at once havebeen taken on board the ship to further test the matter. Some one, forinstance, would probably have been sent aloft to get a more extendedview of the ocean's surface; nay, it was by no means unlikely that anofficer might have taken the duty upon himself, and have searched theocean with the aid of a telescope, in either of which cases we shouldsoon have been discovered; when the sight of a small boat battling forlife against a rapidly increasing gale and an already extremelydangerous sea would doubtless have resulted in the ship hauling her windto our rescue. Nothing of the kind, however, happened, and we continuedour perilous run to leeward upon a course that was slowly convergingupon that of the ship, with a feeling of growing doubt and angry despairat the blindness of those whom we were pursuing rapidly displacing thehigh hopes that had been aroused in our hearts at the first sight ofthat thrice-welcome sail.
The ship held steadily on her way, and all that we could do was tofollow her, with the wind smiting down upon us more fiercely everyminute, while each succeeding wave, as it overtook us, curled its angry,hissing crest more menacingly above the stern of the deeply-laden boat.It was a wild, reckless, desperate bit of boat-sailing; and theconviction rapidly grew upon us all that it could not last much longer,we should soon be compelled to abandon the pursuit, or succumb to thecatastrophe that momentarily threatened us. If we could but hold outlong enough to attract the attention of those blind bats yonder, allmight yet be well; but when at length our desperate race had carried usto within about two and a half miles of the ship, and an occasionalglimpse of the whole of her hull could be caught when we were both atthe same instant hove up on the ridge of a sea, there was no perceptibleindication whatever that we had been seen by anybody aboard her. Therewas no truck, and no flag-halliard fitted to the mast of the gig, and weconsequently had no means of hoisting a signal; but even if we hadpossessed such means they would probably have been useless, because ifthe sleepy lubbers had not noticed our sail, the exhibition of acomparatively small flag would hardly be likely to attract theirattention.
We were still in the midst of an anxious discussion as to what we couldpossibly do to make ourselves seen, when an end came to our pursuit. Afurious squall of wind and rain swooped down upon us, there was a crash,and the mast thwart, unable to endure the additional strain thrown uponit, gave way, the mast lurched forward and went over the bow, sails andall, and at the same moment an unusually heavy sea overtook us, broke inover the boat's stern, and filled her half-way to the thwarts.
I thought now that it was all over with us; fully expecting that thenext sea would also break aboard, completely swamp the boat, and leaveus all to swim for a few brief, agonising moments, and then to vanishfor ever; yet with the never-slumbering instinct of self-preservation, Iput the tiller hard over as the crest of the wave swept forward, andthen frantically threw out an oar over the stern, with which to sweepthe boat round head to sea. How it was achieved I know not to this day,but so furious a strength did I throw into my work that I actuallysucceeded in almost accomplishing my object; that is to say, I got theboat so far round that, when the next wave met us, the bluff of herstarboard bow was presented to it, and although more water came aboard,it was not sufficient to very materially enhance the peril of oursituation. Meanwhile the rest of the occupants seized the baler, abucket that somebody had been thoughtful enough to throw into the boatwhen preparations were being made to leave the burning Indiaman, theircaps, or even their hoots--the first thing, in fact, that came handy--and began baling for their lives.