"Tompion," said I, "we must get some canvas of some sort upon the ship
or we shall be overrun by the sea. Do you think we might venture to set
the foresail, close reefed?"
"Lord bless you, Mr Lascelles," was the reply, "the canvas ain't wove
that'd stand a single minute before such a howlin' gale as this here;
it'd be blown clean out of the gaskets if we was to cast a single one of
'em loose; indeed, I shouldn't be a bit surprised to find half the sails
blown away from the spars as it is, when we get light enough to see how
the little barkie has come out of the scrimmage. Still, if so be as you
thinks fit to give the order, we--"
"Look out! hold on everybody fore and aft! here it comes!" I shouted,
interrupting Tompion; for at that moment I caught sight of an enormous
wave rushing after us with its gleaming white phosphorescent crest
towering a dozen feet above our taffrail, and curling over in such a
manner that I saw it must inevitably break on board. I had just time to
spring to the foot of the mainmast and grasp a rope's-end when down it
thundered upon the deck, completely burying and overwhelming the
schooner fore and aft, filling her decks to the rail, and sweeping
forward with such irresistible power that my arms were almost torn from
my sockets as I held on for dear life to the rope I had grasped. I had
heard a crash even above the howling of the gale and the rush of water
as I was swept off my feet, and I made up my mind that the schooner was
doomed; nothing, I thought, could withstand the rush and power of so
tremendous a body of water as that which had swept over the ship; and if
she ever rose again I was quite prepared to find that everything above
the level of the decks had been carried away, and that the hull was full
of water and ready to founder beneath the next sea which might strike
us.
At length, half drowned, I once more found my feet and got my head above
water. Either there was a little more light in the sky or my eyes had
become accustomed in a measure to the gloom, or perhaps it was the
phosphorescence of the sea which helped us, at all events there was
light enough from some source to enable me to see that the schooner had
relieved herself from the mountain of water which had overwhelmed her,
and was still afloat. My first glance was aft, and I must confess that
I was as surprised as I was pleased to see that Tompion and the helmsman
were still on board, and that the wheel was intact. The bulwarks,
however, excepting some ten feet or so on each quarter, were gone
throughout the whole length of the ship, so far as I could see. The
sky-light was smashed to atoms, leaving a great yawning hole in the
deck; the boats had disappeared from the booms, and I could see no sign
of anyone moving about on the forecastle.
As I stood, bewildered and trying to recover my scattered senses,
Tompion made his way along the deck to _me_.
"Are you all right, sir?" he asked.
"Yes--that is, I believe so, Tompion. Are you?"
"All right and tight, sir, thank God!" answered the gunner. "But I'm
afraid it's a bad job with the hands for'ard, sir. I don't see anybody
moving about--yes, there is--there's one man--or two. I'll see if I
can't reach the fo'c's'le and find out the extent of the damage. And,
if there's hands enough left to do it, we _must_ get some canvas on the
ship at once, as you said, sir. Another such job as that last'd finish
us. As it is the ship must be nearly half full of water. We must get
some planks and a tarpaulin over that hole in the deck first thing,
however. I'll go for'ard and see what can be done."
Watching his chance my companion made a sudden rush along the deck
toward the forecastle, which he gained in safety, and from which he
returned in about five minutes, followed by the carpenter and several
men, with the gratifying intelligence that, so far as he could
ascertain, only two of the crew were missing. The forecastle, however,
was reported to be nearly three feet deep in water; and the heavy sickly
heave of the ship told me but too plainly that, whilst we had already
experienced a very narrow escape, there was undoubtedly a great deal of
water in the hold, and that we were in a most critical situation.
Without waiting to sound the well, I ordered the pumps to be rigged and
manned forthwith, the carpenter, with half a dozen hands, at the same
time setting out to get the lumber and tarpaulin necessary for closing
up the yawning aperture in the deck left by the demolished sky-light.
Meanwhile another gang of men, under Woodford the master, were busy
forward trying to loose, reef, and set the foresail.
The carpenter and his gang had found what they wanted, and were busy
with their work when the helmsman gave a warning cry, and at the same
moment another sea came tumbling inboard, not so heavy as the first,
certainly, but sufficient to flood the decks to a depth of a couple of
feet; and I heard the water pouring down into the cabin like a cataract.
This happened five or six times in succession, the men being each time
driven from their work and their labour rendered of no avail. At length
another unusually heavy sea broke on board, and when the decks were once
more clear the water could be plainly heard rushing about in the hold
with the heave and roll of the ship.
"We're foundering! we're foundering! every man for himself!" was now the
cry, and the men made a rush to the two boats still hanging to the
davits. A groan of despair burst from the poor fellows as, on one of
them jumping into each to clear her away for lowering, it was found that
neither boat would swim, some of the bottom planking being driven out in
each case.
I saw now that the _Dolphin_ was a doomed ship; that awful chasm in the
deck could never be covered in and made secure in time to prevent her
foundering; I therefore rapidly cast over in my mind what would be best
to do. In a minute I had the necessary idea, which it seemed had at the
same moment presented itself to the carpenter, for he staggered toward
me and hoarsely shouted into my ear:
"The ship can't live ten minutes longer, sir. Better cut away the masts
so as to leave us something to cling to when she goes from under us."
"Yes," said I, "do it at once. Steady, men!" I continued, "out knives
every one of you and cut away every rope attached to the hull; as many
of you as can get at the lanyards of the rigging cut them; the masts are
our only chance."
The men understood me and at once set to work, most of them going
forward and attacking the foremast first, so as to get it down and out
of the way before commencing upon the mainmast. The back-stays were
first severed, then the lanyards of the shrouds, commencing at the
aftermost and working forward; and when the hands had cut through about
half of them the remainder suddenly parted and the foremast went over
the bows with a crash, being only prevented from going adrift altogether
and lost by the circumstance that the topsail sheets and other running
gear had not been let go or cut away. The foremast in falling brought
down the main-topmast with it; and I fancied that, as it crashed down on
the deck, I heard, above the hoarse shriek of the gale, a human cry
which led me to fear that some of the workers had been hurt. Leaving
Fidd with half a dozen hands to the somewhat delicate task of securing
the wreck of the mast sufficiently to prevent its prematurely breaking
adrift, whilst at the same time taking precautions against the danger of
its being dragged down by the ship when she should founder, the rest of
the crew came aft and at once commenced an attack upon the mainmast,
which it had now become necessary to get rid of with the utmost
expedition, as, owing to the fall of the foremast, the ship was in
momentary peril of broaching to and capsizing. The men had reached the
main rigging and were in the very act of commencing operations when a
huge sea swept unbroken under the schooner; and as the crest passed her
and she settled slopingly down on the back of it, I heard the water in
the hold come rushing aft, accompanied by a crashing sound below which
told me that the cabin bulkhead had given way, and the next instant the
water surged _up_ through the sky-light-hole in the deck, showing that
she was at that moment full to the beams abaft. Her stern settled
bodily down with the weight of water in that part of her, whilst her
bows, relieved of the burden, rose high in the air. She was now in the
trough between two seas, and as the one following her came sweeping up
astern with towering foam-capped crest reared high in air, it became
evident that, being pinned down as it were with so much water in the
after part of her, she would not recover herself in time, and that the
approaching sea would run right over her. I knew well enough what would
then happen, and so did the men, for at my warning cry they at once
dropped whatever they happened to have in their hands and sprang
forward. I waved to the helmsman, who up to that moment had stuck most
nobly to his perilous post, and he, understanding me, let go the wheel
and rushed past me after his shipmates. On swept the wave, the water
gathering up round the quarters of the devoted schooner until it began
to pour in over the taffrail. Nothing now could save the _Dolphin_--her
hour had come. I glanced wildly round the deck and saw, indistinctly
through the gloom, the dark blot-like crowd of men all clustered
together in the gangway, waiting to spring for the wreck of the
foremast; and as the body of the wave came roaring and foaming in over
the stern, and I felt the deck canting upward under its weight, I too
staggered up the steep incline and shouted, "Jump for your lives!" as
one of the men seized me round the waist whilst he thrust a rope into my
hand.
Another moment and the great mountain of foaming water had reached to
where we stood. I was swept irresistibly off my feet and hurled in
among the crowding men; I was jostled and dragged to and fro; and as the
sea closed over my head, ends and bights of rope wreathed and twisted
themselves about my limbs and body; I received several violent blows
from what I supposed were floating pieces of wreckage; I found myself,
all in a moment, inextricably entangled in a raffle of cordage which
tightened itself about my body until I could move neither hand nor foot;
and then there came a great singing in my ears, and I felt that I was
being dragged irresistibly downward.