How long I remained unconscious I don't know, but it must have been at
least half an hour, I should say; for when at length I came round I
found myself lying, bound hand and foot, on the deck, along with such of
my crew as had not been killed in the defence of the ship, while the
_Wyvern_ was hove-to under topsails, with her hatches off, and a regular
mob of the dirty, greasy Spaniards swarming round the main hatchway and
hoisting out the cargo that another gang was breaking out down below.
They had hoisted out all our boats, too, I soon found, and were using
them to transfer such goods as they required to the brigantine--all,
that is to say, except the long-boat, which, for some reason that I did
not then understand, was lying unused in the starboard gangway. They
took their time over the job of picking and choosing from among the
stuff that we carried, but I noticed that all the while they had a hand
aloft on the main-royal yard keeping a lookout. They kept at it until
it was too dark to see what they were about, and then they left us, one
boat remaining alongside for fully twenty minutes after the rest had
gone, while some of her people were busy down below. At length,
however, they shoved off as well, leaving me and my people lying on the
deck trussed up like so many chickens. Two or three minutes later I
heard some orders given, immediately followed by the cheeping of blocks
and the creaking of yard parralls, by which I knew that they were
filling upon the brigantine and leaving us.
"I could not understand why they had left us all there, alive, but bound
hand and foot as we were. I suspected some villainy, however, and my
first idea was that they had set the barque on fire. But I could not
detect any smell of burning, and then the thought came to me that
perhaps they had scuttled her, intending us to go down with the ship.
The idea of either fairly made my blood run cold, I can tell you; but it
stirred me up too, and I went to work to see if I could work my hands
free. I might just as well have tried to fly; the scoundrels had made
sure work of me, and no mistake. Then I sang out to the others to try
if they could work themselves adrift; and after a bit first one and then
another answered that it was no use, they were lashed altogether too
securely.
"`Well, lads,' says I, `if none of us can work ourselves free, I'm
afraid it's all up with us; for my notion is that those Spanish devils
have scuttled the ship, and if so it won't be so very long before she'll
founder, taking us with her.'
"That set the men muttering among themselves, and presently the man that
was lying nearest me said--
"`If you can manage to work your way near enough to me, sir, for me to
get a feel of your lashings with my fingers, I'll see what I can do
towards loosenin' of 'em for yer.'
"`All right, my lad,' says I, `I will!' No sooner said than done. I
worked and wriggled myself up alongside of him somehow, and presently I
felt his fingers fumbling about with my lashings. This particular chap,
I ought to tell you, was uncommonly clever with his fingers, especially
in the matter of handling rope; and sure enough, in about twenty
minutes, I'm blessed if he hadn't worked those lashings so loose that I
presently managed to slip my hands clear of 'em altogether. The moment
that I was free I set to work to chafe my fingers and get the life back
into them,--for they had lashed me so tight that I had lost all feeling
in my hands,--and as soon as I was able to tell once more that I'd got a
complete set of fingers, I whipped a knife out of my pocket and cut the
lashings off my feet, after which I went the round of the party, cutting
them adrift as quick as I could. Then, while they were getting the
benumbed feeling out of their limbs, I swung myself down through the
open hatchway to investigate. It was as I had feared; they had scuttled
the ship, for already there was something like three feet of water in
the hold. You may be sure I didn't waste much time down below after
making that discovery; I just scrambled up on deck again as quick as
ever I could, and told the men what had happened. The barque was bound
to go, of course,--we could do nothing to keep her afloat,--so I jumped
to the side to see after the boats. They were gone, all but the long-
boat, which, as I told you just now, was lying in the starboard gangway.
I crossed the deck to take a look at her, and then saw why the pirates
had left her there unused; she was stove in on the starboard side, her
planks being crushed and her timbers broken over a space measuring some
six feet by two. As she was then she would not float two minutes; she
would have filled the moment we dropped her into the water. But when
Chips came to overhaul her he had a notion that he could patch her up
enough to make her carry us. As a matter of fact, it rested between
that and the whole lot of us drowning; for the barque was filling so
fast that there was no time for us to put a raft together. So the
carpenter fetched his tools and went to work there and then, the rest of
us lending a hand and fetching things as Chips sung out for them. First
of all, he gently coaxed the broken timbers and planking back into their
places, as nearly as he could get them; then he got a couple of strips
of canvas big enough to cover the hole, one of which he dressed with
tallow on both sides, working the grease well into the fabric. Then,
with small, flat-headed tacks, spaced close together, he nailed this
first piece of canvas over the hole, allowing it plenty of overlap.
Then he took the other piece of canvas,--which was cut an inch larger
each way than the first piece,--tarred it well, and strained it tightly
over the first piece. Then he cut a third piece of canvas, which he
fixed over the hole on the _inside_ of the boat, nailing the bottom and
two ends of the canvas so that it formed a sort of pocket. Then he got
a lot of oakum, which he first soaked in tar and then stuffed into this
pocket arrangement until it was packed as tightly as it was possible to
pack it. This was to keep the broken planks and timbers in place. And
finally he nailed up the top of the pocket, declaring, as he flung down
his tools, that the boat was now ready for hoisting out. And it was
high time, too, for by the time that the job was finished the barque had
settled to her chain-plates, and was liable to go down under our feet at
any moment. Accordingly, we hooked on the tackles, and, watching the
roll of the ship, managed to hoist out the boat and get her into the
water without accident. Then we hurriedly pitched into her a couple of
breakers of water and such provisions as we could lay our hands upon,--
and that wasn't much, for by this time the cabin was all afloat and the
lazarette under water,--and tumbled over the side into her, I only
waiting long enough behind the others to secure the ship's papers and
the chronometer. We shoved off in a hurry, I can tell you, for while I
was securing those few matters that I've just mentioned the poor old
hooker gave an ugly lurch or two that told me her time was up; and, sure
enough, we hadn't pulled above fifty fathoms away from her when down she
went, stern-first.
"Our first anxiety was, of course, as to the carpenter's repairing job;
but we soon found that we needn't greatly trouble ourselves about that.
There was just a draining of water that somehow worked its way through,
but a few minutes' spell with the baler about once an hour was
sufficient to keep the boat fairly dry and comfortable. All the same, I
wasn't very keenly anxious for a long boat voyage in such a craft as
that, so we shaped a course to the west'ard, hoping to fall in with and
be picked up by an outward-bounder of some sort. But not a blessed sail
did we see for seven mortal days, until we sighted your upper canvas
last night, and pulled so as to cut you off. And if you hadn't picked
us up, I believe we should all have been dead by this time, for our
provisions soon ran out; and when it was too late, we discovered that
both our breakers were full of _salt_ instead of fresh water!"
Such was the tragic story related by the skipper of the ill-fated
_Wyvern_, a story that was replete with every element necessary for the
weaving of a thrilling romance; yet it was told baldly and concisely,
without the slightest attempt at embellishment; told precisely as though
to be attacked by pirates, to have one's ship rifled and scuttled, one's
boats stolen, and then to be left, bound hand and foot on deck, to
helplessly perish, were one of the most ordinary and commonplace
incidents imaginable. Truly, they who go down to the sea in ships, and
do business on the great waters, meet with so many extraordinary
experiences, and see so many strange and unaccountable sights, that the
capacity for wonder is soon lost, and the most astonishing and--to
shore-abiding folk--incredible occurrences are accepted as a matter of
course.
During the whole of that day we continued to make short tacks to
windward as before, with half the watch aloft on the look out; but
nothing was sighted, and at nightfall we again hove-to, maintaining our
position as nearly as possible in the same spot until the next morning.
With the first sign of daylight I sent aloft the keenest-sighted man we
had on board, that he might take a good look round ere we filled upon
the schooner to resume our disheartening search. So eager was I, that
when the man reached the royal yard, the stars were still blinking
overhead and down in the western sky, and it was too dark to see to any
great distance. But the dawn was paling the sky to windward, and as the
cold, weird, mysterious pallor of the coming day spread upward, and
warmed into pinkish grey, and from that into orange, and from orange to
clearest primrose, dyeing the weltering undulations of the low-running
sea with all the delicate, shifting tints of the opal, I saw the fellow
aloft suddenly rise to his feet and stand upon the yard, with one arm
round the masthead to steady himself against the quick, jerky plunges of
the schooner, while he shielded his eyes with the other hand, as he
steadfastly gazed into the distance to windward.
"Royal yard, there, do you see anything?" I hailed eagerly; and the
sudden ecstasy of renewed hope which sprang up within my breast now
fully revealed to me how nearly I had been driven to the confines of
despair by the long-protracted non-success of the search upon which I
had so confidently entered.
"I ain't quite sure, sir," was the unsatisfactory reply that came down
to me; "it's still a trifle dusky away out there, but I thought just now
that--ay, there it is again! There's _something_ out there, sir, about
six or seven mile away, but I can't yet tell for certain whether it's a
boat or no; it's somewheres about the size of a boat, sir."
"Keep your eye on it," I answered. "I will get the glass and have a
look for myself."
So saying, I went hastily to the companion, removed the ship's telescope
from the beckets in which it hung there, and quickly made my way aloft.
"Now," said I, as I settled myself upon the yard, "where is the object?"
"D'ye see that long streak of light shootin' up into the sky from behind
that bank of cloud, sir?" responded the man. "Well, it's about half a
p'int, or maybe nearer a p'int, to the south'ard of that."
"Ah, I see it!" ejaculated I, as I caught sight for a moment of a small,
scarcely distinguishable speck that appeared for an instant and then
vanished again, apparently in the hollow between two waves. A few
seconds later I caught it again, and presently I had it dancing
unsteadily athwart the field of the instrument. But even then I was
unable to definitely settle whether it was or was not a boat; as the man
at my side had remarked, it looked like a boat, it was about the size of
a boat, as seen nearly end-on, but there was no indication of life or
movement about it; it seemed to be floating idly to the run of the seas.
Just at this moment the sun's upper limb flashed into view over the
edge of the cloud-bank, darting a long gleam of golden radiance athwart
the heaving welter to the schooner, and I looked again, half expecting
to catch the answering flash of wet oar-blades; but there was nothing of
the kind to be seen. Undoubtedly, however, there was _something_ out
there,--something that might prove to be a boat,--and I determined to
give it an overhaul without loss of time. So, carefully noting its
bearing and distance, and cautioning the lookout not to lose sight of it
for an instant, I descended to the deck and straightway gave the
necessary orders for making sail and beating up to it.
The object being nearly dead to windward, it was a full hour before we
reached it, but little more than half that time sufficed to satisfy us
that it really was a boat, and a further quarter of an hour established
the fact that it was none other than the _Althea's_ launch; but my heart
was full of foreboding as I observed that, although we fired gun after
gun to attract attention, there was no answering sign of life to be
discovered on board her, although from the moment when she became
visible from the deck, either Lindsay or I kept the telescope constantly
bearing upon her. Yet the depth at which she floated in the water
showed that she was not empty. Lindsay suggested that her crew might
have been taken out of her by some craft that had fallen in with her,
and that the reason why she floated so deep was that she was half-full
of water. But I could not agree with this view; there was a buoyancy of
movement about her as she rose and fell upon the surges, which was
convincing proof to my mind that she was loaded down with something much
more stable than water.
At length, when we had drawn up to within a cable's length of her, the
man on the royal yard sang out that there were people in her, but that
they were all lying down in the bottom of the boat, and appeared to be
dead.
"We shall have to pick her up ourselves," said I to Lindsay. "Let one
hand stand by to drop into her from the fore chains with a rope's-end as
we bring her alongside. Lay your topsail aback, Mr Lindsay, and let
your jib-sheet flow, if you please."
And as I sprang up on the rail to con the schooner alongside, Lindsay
gave the necessary orders.
With the topsail aback, and the mainsheet eased well off, the schooner
went drifting slowly down toward the launch, that, as we now approached
her, looked old, battered, and weather-stained almost out of
recognition. We steered so as to shave past her close to windward, and
as she came drifting in under our fore chains, the man who was waiting
there with a rope's-end dropped neatly into her, and, springing lightly
along the thwarts into the eyes of her, deftly made fast the rope to the
iron ring bolt in her stem. Then he turned himself, and looked at the
ghastly cargo that the boat carried, and as he gazed he whitened to the
lips, and a look of unspeakable horror crept into his eyes as he
involuntarily thrust out his hands as though to ward off the sight of
some dreadful object. And well he might, for as I gazed down into that
floating charnel-house I turned deadly sick and faint, as much at what
met my sight as at the horrible odour that rose up out of her and filled
my nostrils. The boat seemed to be full of dead, lying piled upon one
another, as though they had been flung there; yet the first glance
assured me that some of those who were on board her, on the night when I
parted company in the gig, were now missing. The captain and the doctor
were lying side by side in the stern-sheets; the rest of the ill-fated
party were lying heaped one upon the other, or doubled up over the
thwarts in the other part of the boat. The two masts were standing, but
the sails were lowered and lay, unfurled, along the thwarts, on top of
the oars and boathook. There was no trace of food of any kind to be
seen, and the water-breakers were without bungs, and to all appearance
empty.
So ghastly and repulsive was the sight which the boat presented, that
our people hung in the wind for a moment or two when I ordered them to
jump down into her and pass the bodies up over the side; but they
rallied at once and followed me when I led the way. The skipper and the
doctor were both lying upon their faces, and as I raised the former and
turned him over, it is difficult to say which shocked me most, whether
the startling ease with which I lifted his wasted body, or the sight of
his withered, drawn, and shrunken features--which were so dreadfully
altered that for a moment I was doubtful whether it really was or was
not the body of Captain Harrison that I held in my arms. I passed him
up out of the boat without difficulty, and then did the same with the
doctor. It struck me that the latter was not quite dead, and I sang out
to Lindsay to get some _very_ weak brandy and water and moisten the lips
of each man as he was passed up on deck; for if life still lingered in
any of them, it might be possible to save them even now by judicious and
careful treatment. Ten of our inanimate shipmates we singled out as
possibly alive, but with the rest the indications of dissolution were so
unmistakable that I deemed it best not to interfere with them, but to
cover the bodies with a sail, weight it well down with ballast pigs, and
then pull the plug out of the boat and cast her adrift, after reading
the burial service over the poor relics of humanity that she contained.
That, however, was a duty that might be deferred until _we_ had attended
to those who had been passed up out of her as possibly alive; we
therefore dropped her under the stern, and allowed her to tow at the
full scope of a complete coil of line, while we devoted ourselves to the
task of attempting to resuscitate the other ten. As I had suspected,
the doctor proved to be alive, for after diligently painting his blue
and shrivelled lips for about a quarter of an hour with a feather dipped
in weak brandy and water, his eyelids quivered, a fluttering sigh passed
his lips, followed by a feeble groan, and his eyes opened, fixing
themselves upon Lindsay and myself in a glassy, unrecognising stare.
"Water! water, for the love of God!" he murmured in a thick, dry, husky
whisper.
I raised his head gently and rested it against my shoulder, while
Lindsay held the pannikin of weak grog to his lips. For a few seconds
he seemed to be incapable of swallowing, then, like a corpse galvanised
into the semblance of life, he suddenly seized the edge of the pannikin
between his clenched teeth as in a vice, and held it until he had
drained it to the dregs. Luckily, there were but two or three spoonfuls
left in it, or--as he afterwards assured me--that draught would probably
have been his last.
"Ah!" he ejaculated, with a sigh of unspeakable relief, "nectar! nectar!
Give me more." Adding quickly, "No, no; not yet, not yet! A single
teaspoonful every five minutes! Oh, my God, what anguish! Why did I
not die? Is that Courtenay, or am I dreaming? Where is the captain?"
I whipped off my jacket and placed it under his head, as I allowed him
to sink gently back on the deck, for at this moment Lindsay whispered to
me that the captain was coming round, and I turned to render what
assistance I could. Captain Harrison's eyes were now open, but it was
perfectly plain to us both that his wandering glances were as yet devoid
of recognition; and it was not until some ten minutes later that he
began to evince some understanding of who we were and what had happened.
His first inquiry was after the well-being of those who had been with
him in the boat, and to this I felt constrained to give an evasive but
encouraging reply, as he was so terribly weak that I feared the effect
upon him of a straightforward answer giving the actual state of the
matter. We got him and the doctor down below and put them to bed as
quickly as possible, and by the time that this was done the other eight
poor souls had also been successfully brought round, when they too were
conveyed below and made as comfortable as circumstances would permit.
This done, we disposed of the dead with all due reverence, and then
resumed our search to windward with renewed hope arising out of the
happy discovery of the launch.
It was drawing well on toward eight bells in the afternoon watch that
day when the man whom. I had stationed in the cabin to keep an eye upon
the captain and the doctor came up on deck with the news that both were
now awake, and that the captain wished to see me. I at once obeyed the
summons, and was greatly rejoiced to find that both of my patients were
much stronger, and wonderfully the better in every way for their long
sleep. They lost no time in explaining that they were ravenously
hungry; whereupon I sent word forward to the galley, and in less than
five minutes both were busily engaged in disposing of a bowl of strong
broth, prepared from two of the small remaining stock of chickens that
we had found on board the schooner when we took her.
The moment that the soup had disappeared the captain began to ask me
questions, in reply to which I gave him a succinct account of our
adventures from the moment when we parted company from the rest of the
boats; and when I had finished he paid me a high compliment upon what he
was pleased to term the skill and judgment that I had displayed
throughout. He then recounted what had befallen the launch, from which
I learned that the entire flotilla of boats had remained together--the
faster boats accommodating their pace to the slower craft--until caught
in the tail-end of the hurricane,--which with them only reached the
strength of a moderate gale,--when they were perforce compelled to
separate, from which time the launch had seen none of the others again.
It appeared that the launch, deeply loaded as she was, suffered very
nearly as much as we in the gig did; the few in her who were capable of
doing any work having their hands full in keeping her above water. The
sea had broken over them heavily, all but swamping them upon several
occasions, and destroying the greater part of their provisions, so that
within three days after the cessation of the gale they found themselves
without food and face to face with starvation. Then followed a terrible
story of protracted suffering, ending in many cases in madness and
death, of fruitless effort to work the heavy boat, and finally of utter
helplessness, despair, and--oblivion. The captain informed me that he
had little hope that any of the other boats had outlived the gale, but
believed that if they were still afloat they would be found some forty
miles or so to the northward and eastward of where we had fallen in with
the launch.
In that direction therefore we continued our search, scouring the whole
ocean thereabout over an area of fully one hundred miles square, but we
found none of the other boats; and at length, when we had been cruising
for a full week, the captain, who by this time was rapidly regaining
strength, reluctantly gave the order for us to desist and bear up for
Jamaica. And I may as well here mention that none of the other boats
were ever again heard of, there being little doubt that they all
foundered during the gale.