The following morning the fresh water and provisions were received on
board, and once more the _Pacific_ stretched her broad canvas to the
winds, and there was every prospect of a rapid voyage, as for many days
she continued her passage with a fair wind and flowing sheet. But this
did not continue: it fell calm, and remained so for nearly three days,
during which not a breath of wind was to be seen on the wide expanse of
water; all nature appeared as if in repose, except that now and then an
albatross would drop down at some distance from the stern of the vessel,
and, as he swam lazily along with his wings half-furled, pick up the
fragments of food which had been thrown over the side.
"What great bird is that, Ready?" inquired William.
"It is an albatross, the largest sea-bird we have. Their wings are very
long. I have seen them shot, and they have measured eleven feet from
the tip of one wing to the tip of the other when the wings have been
spread out."
"It is the first one that I have seen," said William.
"Because you seldom meet them north of the Cape, sir: people do say that
they go to sleep on the wing, balancing themselves high up in the air."
"Papa," said William, turning to Mr Seagrave, who stood by, "why is it
that one bird can swim and another cannot? You recollect when Tommy
drove the hens into the large pond, they flounced about, and their
feathers became wet, and would support them no longer, and then they
were drowned. Now, how does a sea-bird contrive to remain so long on
the water?"
"Because a sea-bird, William, is provided with a sort of oil on purpose
to anoint the outside of its feathers, and this oil prevents the water
from penetrating them. Have you not observed the ducks on shore
dressing their feathers with their bills? They were then using this oil
to make their feathers waterproof."
"How odd!"
"Don't say how odd, William; that is not an expression to use when we
talk of the wonderful provisions made by the Almighty hand, who neglects
not the meanest of his creatures--say rather, how wonderful!"
"That's very true, sir," observed Ready; "but still you must not be too
hard upon Master William, for I have heard many a grownup man make use
of the same expression."
On the third day of the calm, the barometer fell so low as to induce
Captain Osborn to believe that they should have a severe gale, and every
preparation was made to meet it, should it come on. Nor was he
mistaken: towards midnight the clouds gathered up fast, and as they
gathered up in thick piles, heaped one over the other, the lightning
darted through them in every direction; and as the clouds rose up, so
did the wind, but at first only in heavy gusts, and then lulling again
to a calm.
"Ready," said Captain Osborn, "how do you think we shall have the wind?"
"Why, Captain Osborn, to tell you the truth, I don't think it will be
steady to one point long. It may at first blow hard from the north, but
it's my idea it will shift soon to some other quarter, and blow still
harder."
"What think you, Mackintosh?"
"We'll have plenty of it, and a long steady gale, that's my notion; and
the sooner we ship the dead lights the better."
Mr Seagrave, with William, happened to be standing by at the time of
this conversation, and at the term _dead_ lights Willy's face expressed
some anxiety. Ready perceived it, and said--
"That's a foolish name they give to the shutters which go over the cabin
windows to prevent the water from breaking into the cabin when a vessel
sails before the wind; you know we had them on the last time that we had
a gale."
"But, Ready," said Captain Osborn, "why do you think that we shall have
a shift of wind?"
"Well, I don't know; perhaps I was wrong," replied the old man, "and Mr
Mackintosh is right: the wind does seem to come steady from the
north-east, that's certain;" and Ready walked away to the binnacle, and
looked at the compass. Mr Seagrave and William then went below, and
Mr Mackintosh went forward to give his orders. As soon as they were
all gone, Ready went up again to Captain Osborn and said:
"Captain Osborn, it's not for me to contradict Mr Mackintosh, but
that's of little consequence in a time like this: I should have held to
my opinion, had it not been that the gentleman passenger and his son
were standing by, but now, as the coast is clear, I tell you that we
shall have something worse than a gale of wind. I have been in these
latitudes before, and I am an old seaman, as you know. There's
something in the air, and there has been something during the last three
days of calm, which reminds me too well of what I have seen here before;
and I am sure that we shall have little better than a hurricane, as far
as wind goes--and worse in one point, that it will last much longer than
hurricanes generally do. I have been watching, and even the birds tell
me so, and they are told by their nature, which is never mistaken. That
calm has been nothing more than a repose of the winds previous to their
being roused up to do their worst; and that is my real opinion?"
"Well, and I'm inclined to agree with you, Ready; so we must send
topgallant yards down on deck, and all the small sails and lumber out of
the tops. Get the trysail aft and bent, and lower down the gaff. I
will go forward."
Their preparations were hardly complete before the wind had settled to a
fierce gale from the north-east. The sea rose rapidly; topsail after
topsail was furled; and by dusk the _Pacific_ was flying through the
water with the wind on her quarter, under reefed foresail and storm
staysail. It was with difficulty that three men at the wheel could keep
the helm, such were the blows which the vessel received from the heavy
seas on the quarter. Not one seaman in the ship took advantage of his
watch below to go to sleep that night, careless as they generally are;
the storm was too dreadful. About three o'clock in the morning the wind
suddenly subsided; it was but for a minute or two, and then it again
burst on the vessel from another quarter of the compass, as Ready had
foretold, splitting the foresail into fragments, which lashed and
flogged the wind till they were torn away by it, and carried far to
leeward. The heavens above were of a pitchy darkness, and the only
light was from the creaming foam of the sea on every side. The shift of
wind, which had been to the west-north-west, compelled them to alter the
course of the vessel, for they had no chance but to scud, as they now
did, under bare poles; but in consequence of the sea having taken its
run from the former wind, which had been north-east, it was, as sailors
call it, cross, and every minute the waves poured over the ship,
sweeping all before their weight of waters. One poor man was washed
overboard, and any attempt made to save him would have been unavailing.
Captain Osborn was standing by the weather gunnel, holding on by one of
the belaying-pins, when he said to Mackintosh:
"How long will this last, think you?"
"Longer than the ship will," replied the mate gravely.
"I should hope not," replied the captain; "still it cannot look worse.
What do you think, Ready?"
"Far more fear from above than from below just now," replied Ready,
pointing to the yard-arms of the ship, to each of which were little
balls of electric matter attached, flaring out to a point. "Look at
those two clouds, sir, rushing at each other; if I--"
Ready had not time to finish what he would have said, before a blaze of
light, so dazzling that it left them all in utter darkness for some
seconds afterwards, burst upon their vision, accompanied with a peal of
thunder, at which the whole vessel trembled fore and aft. A crash--a
rushing forward--and a shriek were heard, and when they had recovered
their eyesight, the foremast had been rent by the lightning as if it had
been a lath, and the ship was in flames: the men at the wheel, blinded
by the lightning, as well as appalled, could not steer; the ship
broached to--away went the mainmast over the side--and all was wreck,
confusion, and dismay.
Fortunately the heavy seas which poured over the forecastle soon
extinguished the flames, or they all must have perished; but the ship
lay now helpless, and at the mercy of the waves beating violently
against the wrecks of the masts which floated to leeward, but were still
held fast to the vessel by their rigging. As soon as they could recover
from the shock, Ready and the first mate hastened to the wheel to try to
get the ship before the wind; but this they could not do, as, the
foremast and mainmast being gone, the mizenmast prevented her paying off
and answering to the helm. Ready, having persuaded two of the men to
take the helm, made a sign to Mackintosh (for now the wind was so loud
that they could not hear each other speak), and, going aft, they
obtained axes, and cut away the mizen-rigging; the mizen-topmast and
head of the mizenmast went over the side, and then the stump of the
foremast was sufficient to get the ship before the wind again. Still
there was much delay and confusion, before they could clear away the
wreck of the masts; and, as soon as they could make inquiry, they found
that four of the men had been killed by the lightning and the fall of
the foremast, and there were now but eight remaining, besides Captain
Osborn and his two mates.