“They hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats
Instinctively had girt us--”
_Tempest._
The hour that succeeded in the calm of expectation, was one of the most
disquieting of my life. As soon as the ship was secured, and there no
longer remained anything to do, the stillness of death reigned among
us; the faculties of every man and boy appearing to be absorbed in the
single sense of hearing--the best, and indeed the only, means we then
possessed of judging of our situation. It was now apparent that we were
near some place or places where the surf was breaking on land; and
the hollow, not-to-be-mistaken bellowings of the element, too plainly
indicated that cavities in rocks frequently received, and as often
rejected, the washing waters. Nor did these portentous sounds come from
one quarter only, but they seemed to surround us; now reaching our
ears from the known direction of the land, now from the south, the
north-east, and, in fact, from every direction. There were instances
when these moanings of the ocean sounded as if close under our stern,
and then again they came from some point within a fearful proximity to
the bows.
Happily the wind was light, and the ship rode with a moderate strain
on the cable, so as to relieve us from the apprehension of immediate
destruction. There was a long, heavy ground-swell rolling in from, the
south-west, but, the lead giving us, eight fathoms, the sea did not
break exactly where we lay; though the sullen washing that came to our
ears, from time to time, gave unerring notice that it was doing so quite
near us, independently of the places where it broke upon rocks. At one
time the captain's impatience was so goading, that he had determined to
pull round the anchorage in a boat, in order to anticipate the approach
of light; but a suggestion from Mr. Marble that he might unconsciously
pull into a roller, and capsize, induced him to wait for day.
The dawn appeared at last, after two or three of the longest hours
I remember ever to have passed. Never shall I forget the species of
furious eagerness with which we gazed about us. In the first place, we
got an outline of the adjacent land; then, as light diffused itself more
and more into the atmosphere, we caught glimpses of its details. It was
soon certain we were within a cable's length of perpendicular cliffs
of several hundred feet in height, into whose caverns the sea poured at
times, producing those frightful, hollow moanings, that an experienced
ear can never mistake. This cliff extended for leagues in both
directions, rendering drowning nearly inevitable to the shipwrecked
mariner on that inhospitable coast. Ahead, astern, outside of us, and
I might almost say all around us, became visible, one after another,
detached ledges, breakers and ripples; so many proofs of the manner in
which Providence had guided us through the hours of darkness.
By the time the sun appeared, for, happily, the day proved bright
and clear, we had obtained pretty tolerable notions of the critical
situation in which we were placed by means of the captain's theory of
currents. The very cape that we were to drift past, lay some ten leagues
nearly dead to windward, as the breeze then was; while to leeward, far
as the eye could reach, stretched the same inhospitable, barrier of rock
as that which lay on our starboard quarter and beam. Such was my first
introduction to the island of Madagascar; a portion of the world, of
which, considering its position, magnitude and productions, the mariners
of Christendom probably know less than of any other. At the time of
which I am writing, far less had been learned of this vast country
than is known to-day, though the knowledge of even our own immediate
contemporaries is of an exceedingly limited character.
Now that the day had returned, the sun was shining on us cheerfully, and
the sea looked tranquil and assuring, the captain became more pacified.
He had discretion enough to understand that time and examination were
indispensable to moving the ship with safety; and he took the wise
course of ordering the people to get their breakfasts, before he set
us at work. The hour that was thus employed forward, was passed aft in
examining the appearance of the water, and the positions of the reefs
around the ship. By the time we were through, the captain had swallowed
his cup of coffee and eaten his biscuit; and, calling away four of the
most athletic oarsmen, he got into the jolly-boat, and set out on the
all-important duty of discovering a channel sea-ward. The lead was kept
moving, and I shall leave the party thus employed for an hour or more,
while we turn our attention in-board.
Marble beckoned me aft, as soon as Captain Robbins was in the boat,
apparently with a desire to say something in private. I understood the
meaning of his eye, and followed him down into the steerage, where all
that was left of the ship's water was now stowed, that on deck having
been already used. The mate had a certain consciousness about him that
induced great caution, and he would not open his lips until he had
rummaged about below some time, affecting to look for a set of blocks
that might be wanted for some purpose or other, on deck. When this
had lasted a little time, he turned short round to me, and let out the
secret of the whole manoeuvre.
“I'll tell you what, Master Miles,” he said, making a sign with a finger
to be cautious, “I look upon this ship's berth as worse than that of a
city scavenger. We've plenty of water all round us, and plenty of rocks,
too. If we knew the way back, there is no wind to carry us through it,
among these bloody currents, and there's no harm in getting ready for
the worst. So do you get Neb and the gentleman”--Rupert was generally
thus styled in the ship--“and clear away the launch first. Get
everything out of it that don't belong there; after which, do you put
these breakers in, and wait for further orders. Make no fuss, putting
all upon orders, and leave the rest to me.”
I complied, of course, and in a few minutes the launch was clear. While
busy, however, Mr. Kite came past, and desired to know “what are you at
there?” I told him 'twas Mr. Marble's orders, and the latter gave his
own explanation of the matter.
“The launch may be wanted,” he said, “for I've no notion that jolly-boat
will do to go out as far as we shall find it necessary to sound. So I am
about to ballast the launch, and get her sails ready; there's no use in
mincing matters in such a berth as this.”
Kite approved of the idea, and even went so far as to suggest that it
might be well enough to get the launch into the water at once, by way of
saving time. The proposition was too agreeable to be rejected, and, to
own the truth, all hands went to work to get up the tackles with a will,
as it is called. In half an hour the boat was floating alongside
the ship. Some said she would certainly be wanted to carry out the
stream-anchor, if for nothing else; others observed that half a dozen
boats would not be enough to find all the channel we wanted; while
Marble kept his eye, though always in an underhand way, on his main
object. The breakers we got in and stowed, filled with _fresh_ water, by
way of ballast. The masts were stepped, the oars were put on board,
and a spare compass was passed dawn, lest the ship might be lost in the
thick weather, of which there was so much, just in that quarter of the
world. All this wars said and done so quietly, that nobody took the
alarm; and when the mate called out, in a loud voice, “Miles, pass a
bread-bag filled and some cold grub into that launch--the men may be
hungry before they get back,” no one seemed to think more was meant than
was thus openly expressed. I had my private orders, however, and managed
to get quite a hundred-weight of good cabin biscuit into the launch,
while the cook was directed to fill his coppers with pork. I got some of
the latter _raw_ into the boat, too; _raw_ pork being food that sailors
in no manner disdain. They say it eats like chestnuts.
In the mean time, the captain was busy in his exploring expedition, on
the return from which he appeared to think he was better rewarded than
has certainly fallen to the lot of others employed on another expedition
which bears the same name. He was absent near two hours, and, when
he got back, it was to renew his theory of what Mr. Marble called his
“bloody currents.”
“I've got behind the curtain, Mr. Marble,” commenced Captain Robbins,
before he was fairly alongside of the ship again, whereupon Marble
muttered “ay! ay! you've got behind the rocks, too!” “It's all owing to
an eddy that is made in-shore by the main current, and we have stretched
a _leetle_ too far in.”
Even I thought to myself, what would have become of us had we stretched
a _leetle_ further in! The captain, however, seemed satisfied that he
could carry the ship out, and, as this was all we wanted, no one was
disposed to be very critical. A word was said about the launch, which
the mate had ordered to be dropped astern, out of the way, and the
explanation seemed to mystify the captain. In the meanwhile, the pork
was boiling furiously in the coppers.
All hands were now called to get the anchor up. Rupert and I went aloft
to loosen sails, and we staid there until the royals were mast-headed.
In a very few minutes the cable was up and down, and then came the
critical part of the whole affair. The wind was still very light, and
it was a question whether the ship could be carried past a reef of rocks
that now began to show itself above water, and on which the long, heavy
rollers, that came undulating from the south-western Atlantic, broke
with a sullen violence that betrayed how powerful was the ocean, even
in its moments of slumbering peacefulness. The rising and falling of its
surface was like that of some monster's chest, as he respired heavily in
sleep.
Even the captain hesitated about letting go his hold of the bottom, with
so strong a set of the water to leeward, and in so light a breeze.
There was a sort of bight on our starboard bow, however, and Mr. Marble
suggested it might be well to sound in that direction, as the water
appeared smooth and deep. To him it looked as if there were really an
eddy in-shore, which might hawse the ship up to windward six or eight
times her length, and thus more than meet the loss that must infallibly
occur in first casting her head to seaward. The captain admitted the
justice of this suggestion, and I was one of those who were told to go
in the jolly-boat on this occasion. We pulled in towards the cliffs, and
had not gone fifty yards before we struck an eddy, sure enough, which
was quite as strong as the current in which the ship lay. This was
a great advantage, and so much the more, because the water was of
sufficient depth, quite up to the edge of the reef which formed the
bight, and thus produced the change in the direction of the set.
There was plenty of room, too, to handle the ship in, and, all things
considered, the discovery was extremely fortunate. In the bottom of the
bight we should have gone ashore the previous night, had not our ears
been so much better than our noses.
As soon as certain of the facts, the captain pulled back to the ship,
and gladdened the hearts of all on board with the tidings. We now manned
the handspikes cheerily, and began to heave. I shall never forget the
impression made on me by the rapid drift of the ship, as soon as the
anchor was off the bottom, and her bows were cast in-shore, in order
to fill the sails. The land was so near that I noted this drift by the
rocks, and my heart was fairly in my mouth for a few seconds. But the
John worked beautifully, and soon gathered way. Her bows did not not
strike the eddy, however, until we got fearful evidence of the strength
of the true current, which had set us down nearly as low as the reef
outside, to windward of which it was indispensable for us to pass.
Marble saw all this, and he whispered me to tell the cook to pass the
pork into the launch at once--hot to mind whether it were particularly
well done, or not. I obeyed, and had to tend the fore-sheet myself, for
my pains, when the order was given to “ready about.”
The eddy proved a true friend, but it did not carry us up much higher
than the place where we had anchored, when it became necessary to
tack. This was done in season, on account of our ignorance of all the
soundings, and we had soon got the John's head off-shore again. Drawing
a short distance ahead, the main-top-sail was thrown aback, and the ship
allowed to drift. In proper time, it was filled, and we got round once
more, looking into the bight. The manoeuvre was repeated, and this
brought us up fairly under the lee of the reef, and just in the position
we desired to be. It was a nervous instant, I make no doubt, when
Captain Robbins determined to trust the ship in the true current, and
run the gauntlet of the rocks. The passage across which we had to steer,
before we could possibly weather the nearest reef was about a cable's
length in width, and the wind would barely let us lay high enough
to take it at right-angles. Then the air was so light, that I almost
despaired of our doing anything.
Captain Robbins put the ship into the current with great judgment. She
was kept a rap-full until near the edge of the eddy, and then her helm
was put nearly down, all at once. But for the current's acting, in one
direction, on her starboard bow, and the eddy's pressing, in the other,
on the larboard quarter, the vessel would have been taken aback; but
these counteracting forces brought her handsomely on her course again,
and that in a way to prevent her falling an inch to leeward.
Now came the trial. The ship was kept a rap-full, and she went steadily
across the passage, favoured, perhaps, by a little more breeze than had
blown most of the morning. Still, our leeward set was fearful, and, as
we approached the reef, I gave all up. Marble screwed his lips together,
and his eyes never turned from the weather-leeches of the sails.
Everybody appeared to me to be holding his breath, as the ship rose on
the long ground-swells, sending slowly ahead the whole time. We passed
the nearest point of the rocks on one of the rounded risings of the
water, just touching lightly as we glided by the visible danger. The
blow was light, and gave little cause for alarm. Captain Robbins now
caught Mr. Marble by the hand, and was in the very act of heartily
shaking it, when the ship came down very much in the manner that a man
unexpectedly lights on a stone, when he has no idea of having anything
within two or three yards of his feet. The blow was tremendous, throwing
half the crew down; at the same instant, all three of the topmasts went
to leeward.
One has some difficulty in giving a reader accurate notions of the
confusion of so awful a scene. The motion of the vessel was arrested
suddenly, as it might be by a wall, and the whole fabric seemed to be
shaken to dissolution. The very next roller that came in, which would
have undulated in towards the land but for us, meeting with so large a
body in its way, piled up and broke upon our decks, covering everything
with water. At the same time, the hull lifted, and, aided by wind, sea
and current, it set still further on the reef, thumping in a way
to break strong iron bolts, like so many sticks of sealing-wax, and
cracking the solid live-oak of the floor-timbers as if they were made of
willow. The captain stood aghast! For one moment despair was painfully
depicted in his countenance; then he recovered his self-possession and
seamanship. He gave the order to stand by to carry out to windward the
stream-anchor in the launch, and to send a kedge to haul out by, in the
jolly-boat. Marble answered with the usual “ay, ay, sir!” but before he
sent us into the boats, he ventured to suggest that the ship had bilged
already. He had heard timbers crack, about which he thought there could
be no mistake. The pumps were sounded, and the ship had seven feet water
in her hold. This had made in about ten minutes. Still the captain would
not give up. He ordered us to commence throwing the teas overboard, in
order to ascertain, if possible, the extent of the injury. A place was
broken out in the wake of the main-hatch, and a passage was opened
down into the lower-hold, where we met the water. In the mean time, a
South-Sea man we had picked up at Canton, dove down under the lee of the
bilge of the ship. He soon came back and reported that a piece of
sharp rock had gone quite through the planks. Everything tending to
corroborate this, the captain called a council of all hands on the
quarter-deck, to consult as to further measures.
A merchantman has no claim on the services of her crew after she is
hopelessly wrecked. The last have a lien in law, on the ship and cargo,
for their wages; and it is justly determined that when this security
fails, the claim for services ends. It followed, of course, that as soon
as the John was given over, we were all our own masters; and hence the
necessity for bringing even Neb into the consultation. With a vessel of
war it would have been different. In such a case, the United States
pays for the service, ship or no ship, wreck or no wreck; and the seaman
serves out his term of enlistment, be this longer or shorter. Military
discipline continues under all circumstances.
Captain Robbins could hardly speak when we gathered round him on the
forecastle, the seas breaking over the quarter-deck in a way to render
that sanctuary a very uncomfortable berth. As soon as he could command
himself, he told us that the ship was hopelessly lost. How it had
happened, he could not very well explain himself, though he ascribed
it to the fact that the currents did not run in the direction in which,
according to all sound reasoning, they ought to run. This part of the
speech was not perfectly lucid, though, as I understood our unfortunate
captain, the laws of nature, owing to some inexplicable influence, had
departed, in some way or other, from their ordinary workings, expressly
to wreck the John. If this were not the meaning of what he said, I did
not understand this part of the address.
The captain was much more explicit after he got out of the current. He
told us that the island of Bourbon was only about four hundred miles
from where we then were, and he thought it possible to go that distance,
find some small craft, and come back, and still save part of the cargo,
the sails, anchors, &c. &c. We might make such a trip of it as would
give us all a lift, in the way of salvage, that might prove some
compensation for our other losses. This sounded well, and it had at
least the effect to give us some present object for our exertions; it
also made the danger we all ran of losing our lives, less apparent. To
land on the island of Madagascar, in that day, was out of the question.
The people were then believed to be far less civilized than in truth
they were, and had a particularly bad character among mariners.
Nothing remained, therefore, but to rig the boats, and make immediate
dispositions for our departure.
Now it was that we found the advantage of the preparations already made.
Little remained to be done, and that which was done, was much better
done than if we had waited until the wreck was half full of water,
and the seas were combing in upon her. The captain took charge of the
launch, putting Mr. Marble, Rupert, Neb, myself and the cook, into the
jolly-boat, with orders to keep as close as possible to himself. Both
boats had sails, and both were so arranged as to row in calms, or
head-winds. We took in rather more than our share of provisions and
water, having two skillful caterers in the chief-mate and cook; and,
having obtained a compass, quadrant, and a chart, for our portion of
the indispensables, all hands were ready for a start, in about two hours
after the ship had struck.
It was just noon when we cast off from the wreck, and stood directly
off the land. According to our calculations, the wind enabled us to run,
with a clean full, on our true course. As the boats drew out into the
ocean, we had abundant opportunities of discovering how many dangers we
had escaped; and, for my own part, I felt deeply grateful, even then, as
I was going out upon the wide Atlantic in a mere shell of a boat, at the
mercy we had experienced. No sooner were we fairly in deep water, than
the captain and mate had a dialogue on the subject of the currents
again. Notwithstanding all the difficulties his old theory had brought
him into, the former remained of opinion that the true current set to
windward, and that we should so find it as soon as we got a little
into the offing; while the mate was frank enough to say he had been of
opinion, all along, that it ran the other way. The latter added that
Bourbon was rather a small spot to steer for, and it might be better to
get into its longitude, and then find it by meridian observations, than
to make any more speculations about matters of which we knew nothing.
The captain and Mr. Marble saw things differently, and we kept away
accordingly, when we ought to have luffed all we could. Fortunately the
weather continued moderate, or our little boat would have had a bad time
of it. We outsailed the launch with ease, and were forced to reef in
order not to part company. When the sun set, we were more than twenty
miles from the land, seeing no more of the coast, though the mountains
inland were still looming up grandly in the distance. I confess, when
night shut in upon us, and I found myself on the wide ocean, in a boat
much smaller than that with which I used to navigate the Hudson, running
every minute farther and farther into the watery waste, I began to think
of Clawbonny, and its security, and quiet nights, and well-spread board,
and comfortable beds in a way I had never thought of either before. As
for food, however, we were not stinted; Mr. Marble setting us an example
of using our teeth on the half boiled pork, that did credit to his
philosophy. To do this man justice, he seemed to think a run of four
hundred miles in a jolly-boat no great matter, but took everything as
regularly as if still on the deck of the John. Each of us got as good a
nap as our cramped situations would allow.
The wind freshened in the morning, and the sea began to break. This made
it necessary to keep still more away, to prevent filling at times, or
to haul close up, which might have done equally well. But the captain
preferred the latter course, on account of the current. We had ticklish
work of it, in the jolly-boat, more than once that day, and were
compelled to carry a whole sail in order to keep up with the launch,
which beat us, now the wind had increased. Marble was a terrible fellow
to carry on everything, ship or boat, and we kept our station admirably,
the two boats never getting a cable's length asunder, and running most
of the time within hail of each other. As night approached, however, a
consultation was held on the subject of keeping in company. We had now
been out thirty hours, and had made near a hundred and fifty miles, by
our calculation. Luckily the wind had got to be nearly west, and we were
running ahead famously, though it was as much as we could do to keep the
jolly-boat from filling. One hand was kept bailing most of the time, and
sometimes all four of us were busy. These matters were talked over, and
the captain proposed abandoning the jolly-boat altogether, and to take
us into the launch, though there was not much vacant space to receive
us. But the mate resisted this, answering that he thought he could
take care of our boat a while longer, at least. Accordingly, the old
arrangement was maintained, the party endeavouring to keep as near
together as possible.
About midnight it began to blow in squalls, and two or three times we
found it necessary to take in our sails, our oars, and pull the boat
head to sea, in order to prevent her swamping. The consequence was,
that we lost sight of the launch, and, though we always kept away to
our course as soon as the puffs would allow, when the sun rose we saw
nothing of our late companions. I have sometimes thought Mr. Marble
parted company on purpose, though he seemed much concerned next morning
when he had ascertained the launch was nowhere to be seen. After looking
about for an hour, and the wind moderating, we made sail close on the
wind; a direction that would soon have taken us away from the launch,
had the latter been close alongside when we first took it. We made good
progress all this day, and at evening, having now been out fifty-four
hours, we supposed ourselves to be rather more than half-way on the road
to our haven. It fell calm in the night, and the next morning we got the
wind right aft. This gave us a famous shove, for we sometimes made six
and seven knots in the hour. The fair wind lasted thirty hours, during
which time we must have made more than a hundred and fifty miles, it
falling nearly calm about an hour before dawn, on the morning of the
fourth day out. Everybody was anxious to see the horizon that morning,
and every eye was turned to the east, with intense expectation, as the
sun rose. It was in vain; there was not the least sign of land visible.
Marble looked sadly disappointed, but he endeavoured to cheer us up with
the hope of seeing the island shortly. We were then heading due east,
with a very light breeze from the north-west. I happened to stand up in
the boat, on a thwart, and, turning my face to the southward, I caught a
glimpse of something that seemed like a hummock of land in that quarter.
I saw it but for an instant; but, whatever it was, I saw it plain
enough. Mr. Marble now got on the thwart, and looked in vain to catch
the same object. He said there was no land in that quarter--could be
none--and resumed his seat to steer to the eastward, a little north. I
could not be easy, however, but remained on the thwart until the
boat lifted on a swell higher than common, and then I saw the brown,
hazy-looking spot on the margin of the ocean again. My protestations
now became so earnest, that Marble consented to stand for an hour in
the direction I pointed out to him. “One hour, boy, I will grant you,
to shut your mouth,” the mate said, taking out his watch, “and that you
need lay nothing to my door hereafter.” To make the most of this hour, I
got my companions at the oars, and we all pulled with hearty good-will.
So much importance did I attach to every fathom of distance made, that
we did not rise from our seats until the mate told us to stop rowing,
for the hour was up. As for himself, he had not risen either, but kept
looking behind him to the eastward, still hoping to see land somewhere
in that quarter.
My heart beat violently as I got upon the thwart, but there lay my hazy
object, now never dipping at all. I shouted “land ho!” Marble jumped
up on a thwart, too and no longer disputed my word. It was land, he
admitted, and it must be the island of Bourbon, which we had passed to
the northward, and must soon have given a hopelessly wide berth. We went
to the oars again with renewed life, and soon made the boat spin. All
that day we kept rowing, until about five in the afternoon, when we
found ourselves within a few leagues of the island of Bourbon, where
we were met by a fresh breeze from the southward, and were compelled to
make sail. The wind was dead on end, and we made stretches under the lee
of the island, going about as we found the sea getting to be too heavy
for us, as was invariably the case whenever we got too far east or west.
In a word, a lee was fast becoming necessary. By ten, we were within a
mile of the shore, but saw no place where we thought it safe to attempt
a landing in the dark; a long, heavy sea setting in round both sides of
the island, though the water did not break much where we remained. At
length the wind got to be so heavy, that we could not carry even our
sail double-reefed, and we kept two oars pulling lightly in, relieving
each other every hour. By daylight it blew tremendously, and glad enough
were we to find a little cove where it was possible to get ashore. I had
then never felt so grateful to Providence as I did when I got my feet on
_terra-firma_.
We remained on the island a week, hoping to see the launch and her crew;
but neither appeared. Then we got a passage to the Isle of France, on
arriving at which place we found the late gale was considered to have
been very serious. There was no American consul in the island, at
that time; and Mr. Marble, totally without credit or means, found it
impossible to obtain a craft of any sort to go to the wreck in. We were
without money, too, and, a homeward-bound Calcutta vessel coming in, we
joined her to work our passages home, Mr. Marble as dickey, and the rest
of us in the forecastle. This vessel was called the Tigris, and belonged
to Philadelphia. She was considered one of the best ships out of
America, and her master had a high reputation for seamanship and
activity. He was a little man of the name of Digges, and was under
thirty at the time I first knew him. He took us on board purely out of
a national feeling, for his ship was strong-handed without us, having
thirty-two souls, all told, when he received us five. We afterwards
learned that letters sent after the ship had induced Captain Digges to
get five additional hands in Calcutta, in order to be able to meet the
picaroons that were then beginning to plunder American vessels, even
on their own coast, under the pretence of their having violated certain
regulations made by the two great belligerents of the day, in Europe.
This was just the commencement of the _quasi_ war which broke out a few
weeks later with France.
Of all these hostile symptoms, however, I then knew little and cared
less. Even Mr. Marble had never heard of them and we five joined the
Tigris merely to get passages home, without entertaining second thoughts
of running any risk, further than the ordinary dangers of the seas.
The Tigris sailed the day we joined her, which was the third after we
reached Mauritius, and just fifteen days after we had left the wreck. We
went to sea with the wind at the southward, and had a good run off
the island, making more than a hundred miles that afternoon and in the
course of the night. Next morning, early, I had the watch, and an order
was given to set top-gallant studding-sails. Rupert and I had got into
the same watch on board this vessel, and we both went aloft to reeve the
gear. I had taken up the end of the halyards, and had reeved them, and
had overhauled the end down, when, in raising my head, I saw two small
lug-sails on the ocean, broad on our weather-bow, which I recognised in
an instant for those of the John's launch. I cannot express the feeling
that came over me at that sight. I yelled, rather than shouted, “Sail
ho!” and then, pushing in, I caught hold of a royal-backstay, and was on
deck in an instant. I believe I made frantic gestures to windward, for
Mr. Marble, who had the watch, had to shake me sharply before I could
let the fact be known.
As soon as Marble comprehended me, and got the bearings of the boat, he
hauled down all the studding-sails, braced sharp up on a wind, set the
mainsail, and then sent down a report to Captain Digges for orders. Our
new commander was a humane man, and having been told our whole story, he
did not hesitate about confirming all that had been done. As the people
in the launch had made out the ship some time before I saw the boat, the
latter was running down upon us, and, in about an hour, the tiny sails
were descried from the deck. In less than an hour after this, our
mainyard swung round, throwing the topsail aback, and the well-known
launch of the John rounded-to close under our lee; a rope was thrown,
and the boat was hauled alongside.
Everybody in the Tigris was shocked when we came to get a look at the
condition of the strangers. One man, a powerful negro, lay dead in
the bottom of the boat; the body having been kept for a dreadful
alternative, in the event of his companions falling in with no other
relief. Three more of the men were nearly gone, and had to be whipped on
board as so many lifeless bales of goods. Captain Robbins and Kite, both
athletic, active men, resembled spectres, their eyes standing out of
their heads as if thrust from their sockets by some internal foe; and
when we spoke to them, they all seemed unable to answer. It was not
fasting, or want of food, that had reduced them to this state, so much
as want of water. It is true, they had no more bread left than would
keep body and soul together for a few hours longer; but of water they
had tasted not a drop for seventy odd hours! It appeared that, during
the gale, they had been compelled to empty the breakers to lighten the
boat, reserving only one for their immediate wants. By some mistake,
the one reserved was nearly half-empty at the time; and Captain Robbins
believed himself then so near Bourbon, as not to go on an allowance
until it was too late. In this condition had they been searching for the
island quite ten days, passing it, but never hitting it. The winds had
not favoured them, and, the last few days, the weather had been such as
to admit of no observation. Consequently, they had been as much out of
their reckoning in their latitude, as in their longitude.
A gleam of intelligence, and I thought of pleasure, shot athwart the
countenance of Captain Robbins, as I helped him over the Tigris's side.
He saw I was safe. He tottered as he walked, and leaned heavily on me
for support. I was about to lead him aft, but his eye caught sight of a
scuttlebutt, and the tin-pot on its head. Thither he went, and stretched
out a trembling hand to the vessel. I gave him the pot as it was, with
about a wine-glass of water in it This he swallowed at a gulp, and then
tottered forward for more. By this time Captain Digges joined us, and
gave the proper directions how to proceed. All the sufferers had
water in small quantities given them, and it is wonderful with what
expressions of delight they received the grateful beverage. As soon as
they understood the necessity of keeping it as long as possible in their
mouths, and on their tongues, before swallowing it, a little did them a
great deal of good. After this, we gave them some coffee, the breakfast
being ready, and then a little ship's biscuit soaked in wine. By such
means every man was saved, though it was near a month before all were
themselves again. As for Captain Robbins and Kite, they were enabled to
attend to duty by the end of a week, though nothing more was exacted of
them than they chose to perform.