FALL IN WITH A WRECK--DREADFUL SCENE ON BOARD--MR. MARLOW AND HIS
DAUGHTER--ALICE MARLOW'S ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE--BRING THE SHIP INTO
HARBOUR.
"Hillo! where does that come from?" I exclaimed, as the low deep boom
of a gun came rolling over the calm water.
Another and another report followed, and then, as if affected by the
concussion, the mist on a sudden lifted a few feet from the surface, and
revealed, about three miles off, the hull of a large ship on which the
rays of the now setting sun glittered brightly for an instant, ere she
sank beneath the wave. It was sufficient to show us our position, and
we might easily have found our way towards the shore; but, as I was
about putting the boat's head in that direction, Jack observed--
"There's something wrong with that ship yonder, sir, or she wouldn't be
firing in the way she does."
I listened attentively. There could be no doubt--those were
minute-guns, the well-known signal of distress at sea. We could do but
little good, probably; but what good we could do I determined to
attempt. My men needed no encouragement. The fact that
fellow-creatures wanted help was sufficient to nerve their arms. Had an
enemy been in sight, and had there been heads to be cracked, it would
have been much the same. Round spun the boat, and away they pulled as
hard as they could lay their backs to the oars. The breeze which had
cleared off the mist, had likewise got up the sea a little, and the
spray flew over our bows as we dashed through the dancing waves. Away
we went; the big sea-serpent could not have beaten us. Every minute the
low, dull sound of the gun reached our ears, growing louder and louder
as we drew nearer the ship. Her distress was evidently great. From the
somewhat irregular way the gun was fired, and from its tone, Jack
pronounced the ship to be a merchantman, as he remarked that minute-guns
from a man-of-war would have been far louder and more regular. The
mist, fortunately, did not again settle down thickly over the ship, so
that, although twilight was coming on, we could still distinguish her
whereabouts. As we drew near, we saw that she was of considerable size,
and that all her masts had gone by the board. We were evidently not
perceived, even though we had got close up to her, for she continued
firing as before.
"Now, my lads, we'll let the poor fellows know that we are at hand to
help them," I exclaimed; and on this my men joined me in raising a right
hearty cheer, which must have given the people on board no unpleasing
notice of our approach. There was a pause, as if they were recovering
from their surprise; and then it was answered by a shout so feeble, that
it sounded more like the sighing of the wind among the crumbling walls
of some old building, than a cheer of welcome. It was now too dark to
distinguish any one, but I fancied that I saw the heads of several
people over the taffrail, as if eagerly watching us. We were soon
alongside, when some one attempted to heave us a rope, but it fell short
of the boat. We, however, hooked on to the main-chains, and, followed
by Jack, I was not long in scrambling on board. A seaman stood there,
holding a ship's lantern, which shed a feeble light around, where all
was wreck and confusion; and it besides exhibited more strongly his own
countenance, which looked haggard and emaciated in the extreme. The
greater part of the bulwarks, the spare spars, the caboose, and the
boats had been carried away,--indeed, the sea must have made a clean
sweep over her; and it seemed not a little surprising, from the
appearance of the deck, that any human beings should have remained, and
that the ship herself should have escaped foundering. Besides the man
who held the lantern, three equally wretched-looking beings came to meet
us. I observed that some others were lying on the deck, round one of
the chain-pumps, as if they had sunk down with fatigue; while two more
were stretched out alongside the only remaining gun, the report of which
we had heard. I thought to myself, Can those poor fellows be dead? but
I dared not ask the question.
"You seem in a bad plight," I observed, as I looked round.
"Bad enough," answered one of the seaman; "and if you don't bear a hand,
we shall have the ship sinking under us."
"We'll do our best for you; but how can our boat carry all your ship's
company?" I asked, for I thought I saw other people moving aft, and
fancied that some must be below.
"Oh, she'll carry all of us that's alive," returned the same
rough-spoken seaman. "But, sir," he continued, "we have two aboard here
whom we must get out of harm's way before we look after ourselves."
"Where are they?" I asked.
"Right aft, sir," he answered, leading the way along the deck.
As I followed him, I passed two bodies stretched out at full length.
"They'll never break biscuit again," observed one of the men. "We were
near thirty souls in all, and this night there only remain six of us
alive."
There was no time just then to ask questions. The companion-hatch had
not been washed away, and as the seaman held up the lantern, its light
fell on the figure of a man kneeling on the deck, bending over the fair
face of a young girl, who reclined on a seat by the side of it.
"Rouse up a bit, sir; there's help come when we didn't expect it," said
the seaman.
The gentleman, for such I saw that he was, had not his voice proved it,
rose from his knees. "Heaven be praised, my child may yet be saved!" he
exclaimed, clasping his daughter in his arms, and scarcely appearing to
notice my presence. "Alice, dearest, bear up but a little longer; we
may once more hope to reach the shore."
The young girl endeavoured, to raise herself, and feebly returned his
embrace.
Then turning to me, he said, "You have arrived most opportunely. We had
well nigh abandoned all hope of escaping death. What do you propose we
should do?"
"As the people on board seem to say that the ship may go down any moment
with slight warning," I replied, "I think, sir, the sooner you and the
young lady get into the boat, the better. We will follow you when it
becomes absolutely necessary. Meantime we must see what can be done on
board."
I then told him that I belonged to a cutter, which could not be far off,
and that I hoped by daylight we should see her, and that she would come
to our assistance.
The gentleman, on this, took his daughter in his arms and carried her to
the gangway.
"How are the poor men who were so ill?" I heard her ask.
"They are free from all pain," was the evasive answer; but it seemed to
satisfy her.
We soon got them safely placed in the boat, in which I left two
boat-keepers, with orders to be ready to shove off at a moment's notice.
The rest of the boat's crew came on board to lend a hand to what might
be required.
I then set to work to see what was best to be done. There was no time
to ask questions as to how the ship had got into her present condition.
My first care was to attend to the wants of the sick. The seaman who
had received us and my own people went round with me. Unhappily, we
found that most of the other poor fellows were beyond human aid. Three
only were still alive, verging on the portals of death. We fortunately
had a flask of spirits, a keg of water, and some biscuits in the boat;
of these I served out sparingly among the crew. The food had the effect
of speedily reviving them. I next took a lantern, and, accompanied by
Jack, went below to discover, if I could, how much water the ship had in
her. I was not quite comfortable during the time, for I thought she
might take it into her head to go down before we could regain the deck.
The water we found was over the cabin floors; but, as far as we could
judge, it was not gaining on her. Half of it might have got in while
the sea broke over the ship. The contents of the cabin, bedding, and
tables, and chairs, and crockery, and books, and clothing, were washing
about together. Returning on deck, we went forward. The forepeak was
much in the same condition.
"She'll not sink yet awhile, sir," said Jack. "Hark, now! don't you
hear a bubbling sound right forward, there? Now, to my mind, if we were
to get a sail thrummed and brought across her bows, we might carry her
into harbour yet."
"If you think so, we'll try it, by all means," I answered, feeling no
little pride at the prospect of saving the ship.
No time was to be lost in setting about the work, if it was to be done.
I had only three men; and the four we found able to move about on board
were still too weak to be of much use. Officers there were none. I
shall have to tell a sad tale on that subject, by-and-by. We had no
little difficulty in getting at the sail-room; but, after much rummaging
about, we discovered a spare topsail, with which we set to work as we
proposed. What with searching for the ropes and getting the sail ready,
it took us an hour before it was brought under the ship's bows.
Meantime the water gained very slowly on us. It was nervous work, for
we could not tell at what moment the last bucketful might come in which
would send her to the bottom.
"That will do, sir, I think," said Jack Stretcher, who, I must own, was
the prime mover. "The leak seems to suck in the sail, and we may now
try to clear her of the water."
With a will we manned the chain-pumps, and after an hour's hard work it
became evident that we had materially lessened its depth. In the
meantime the little girl and her father, with the weakest of those we
found on board, had remained in the boat.
"You may come on board again, sir; I don't think the ship is going to
sink this time," I sung out, as I looked down on them.
At first the gentleman would not venture to quit the boat, for he could
not believe that the ship was not on the point of sinking. After some
persuasion, however, I got him and his daughter on deck, and we wrapped
her up comfortably, and placed her on the seat by the companion-hatch,
for the cabin was too damp for her to occupy. The sick men we placed on
the poop, with a sail stretched over them, to shelter them somewhat from
the night air. The dead were carried forward. We had no time, however,
to spare from the pumps; but, with the aid of the fresh hands, we again
set to for a spell, the gentleman helping, as far as his strength would
allow him. As may be supposed, I was curious to know who he was; and
while we were pumping away, I bethought me I would ask him his name.
"You may call me Marlow," he answered. "I ought to have mentioned that
before."
The reply made me fancy that there was some mystery or other, and my
imagination conjured up all sorts of romantic stories. "And that young
lady," thought I, "is Miss Alice Marlow." "Alice Marlow--Alice Marlow;
what a very pretty name," I kept repeating to myself, while my arms were
aching with the exertion of pumping. Fortunately it remained very calm,
or I suspect we should not have gained on the leak. Mr Marlow was
anxious to get on shore for the sake of his daughter, and would
willingly have abandoned the ship; but at the same time he was glad to
save some valuable property he had on board. All hands worked with a
will, spelling each other, till we were almost knocked up. I thought
the night the longest I had ever spent. We had no time for
conversation, so I was still ignorant of how the ship had been brought
into her present condition. At last the cold grey light of the coming
day appeared. I looked out in the hope of discovering the blue line of
the land on the northern board; but the dull, leaden sea surrounded us
on every side, fortunately, unruffled as a looking-glass. Neither the
cutter nor any other sail was in sight. We had given our own provisions
to the half-famished crew, and were becoming very sharp-set ourselves.
Some nutritious food had, I found--much to the credit of those on
board,--been reserved for the exclusive use of the little girl, and this
had been the means of preserving her life, notwithstanding all the
hardships she had undergone. Mr Marlow, overcome with fatigue, had
wrapped himself in a cloak, and lay asleep at his daughter's feet. Two
of the ship's crew had fairly given in, and dropped off also; but my own
fellows, urged on by Jack, worked away like Trojans at the pump.
"Do ye see, lads, if we get this here craft into harbour, we shall make
a better job of it than of any prize we are ever likely to pick up in
the whole course of our lives; but if she sinks, why, do ye see, we
shall get nothing," he remarked, whenever he saw them inclined to flag
in their exertions; and each time he spoke, the water always seemed to
flow faster than before out of the scuppers.
Our prospect was not a very pleasant one. We had a boat certainly; but
with any sea running she would scarcely carry the remnant of the crew
and passengers; and while the ship floated I would on no account desert
her.
The beams of the sun, as he rose out of the ocean, fell on the little
girl's face. I had fancied her rather pretty at night, but I now
thought her very lovely. While my arms were resting I stood watching
her, when the dazzling light of the sun aroused her from her sleep, and
opening a very bright pair of blue eyes, she fixed them on me with a
look of extreme surprise. It may be laid down as a general rule that a
midshipman, especially an Irish one, does not take a long time to fall
in love, nor, it must be confessed, to fall out again--which latter,
taking all things into consideration, will be considered a very
fortunate circumstance. I, accordingly, instantly conceived a very
ardent affection for Miss Alice Marlow, and felt ready to go right round
the world, and to perform all sorts of prodigies for her sake. She
looked at me, and then around her, as if trying to collect her scattered
senses.
"Where are we--where are we going?" she asked, in a very sweet and
musical voice.
"We are in the Chops of the Channel; and we are going nowhere at
present, but we hope soon to be," I answered. "We must try to rig a
sort of a jury-mast, and if we get a little breeze from the southward,
we may hope to fetch Plymouth."
The idea of getting up a jury-mast had only just occurred to me.
Her voice aroused Mr Marlow. It was pleasant to see the way in which
the father and daughter greeted each other. I left them together,
offering up their thanks to Heaven for having preserved them to see
another day, while I went forward to propound my idea to Jack. He was
about to propose the same to me, the only want being the spars with
which to make the mast. A few remained, certainly, on deck, but they
were short and broken. On putting them, however, together, we found
that we might splice them so as to form a mast and a yard of sufficient
length to answer our purpose. All hands set to with a will, in the
hopes that a breeze might spring up from the southward or westward, and
blow us on to the English coast. The ebb, I found, had drifted us down
Channel, and the flood, now again making strong, sent us the way we
wished to go. As the sun also rose, and the mist which had so long hung
over the sea cleared off somewhat, we at length made out the land to the
northward, which we had no doubt was the coast of Cornwall.
Things now began to wear a much more cheering aspect. We had to knock
off mast building, however, every now and then, to take a spell at the
pumps. Mr Marlow assisted us at either work to the best of his power;
and even little Miss Alice seemed very anxious to lend a hand, and,
though I own she could have been but of slight use, her presence
encouraged us to perseverance. It did me at all events. I have all my
life felt doubly energetic in the presence of a lady, and fancy, at all
events, that there is not a deed which I would not dare for the sake of
winning the smile of an amiable girl.
At last we got something like a mast built, and lashed to the stump of
the foremast. We stayed it up, got a yard across it, and bent a topsail
to it, which we fortunately found below. This was but very little sail:
but it was all we could hope to be able to set, and without a wind even
that was of no use to us.
The pumps, in the meantime, kept us fully occupied; clang--clang--clang
they went, till I thought I never should get the sound out of my ears.
Jack every now and then turned his eye over the smooth, glassy sea to
the northward, as if he observed some sign which I did not. Before long
he gladdened our ears by exclaiming, "Here it comes! We'll stand by,
sir, if you please, to hoist the sail." I went aft to the helm. A nice
fresh, laughing breeze came rippling and curling up briskly the hitherto
sullen waters. It struck us abeam on the larboard side. The sail was
hoisted, the ship answered her helm, and I steered her in the direction
in which I believed that Plymouth was to be found.
As the binnacle had been swept off the deck, and the only compass I
could find in the cabin had been so damaged by water as to be of no use,
I had only the distant blue land to steer by.
Our sail, fortunately, required but little attention, so that my whole
ship's company were at liberty to work at the pumps, which was very
necessary, as, whenever they relaxed in their efforts, the water again
rapidly gained on us.
Miss Alice, being of no assistance to them, came and stood by me to help
me to steer the ship, which, I assured her, was very kind of her.
As all danger appeared past, and the sun shone forth bright and warm,
her spirits revived. Her voice was very sweet and low, and I thought
that I had never heard anything more musical.
"What is your name, little officer?" she asked, putting her hands on the
spokes of the wheel, and imitating my attitude as I stood on the other
side of it.
"Neil D'Arcy, little lady," I answered, not quite liking the epithet she
bestowed on me.
"Oh, I so much wished to know it; for papa and I are so very, very
grateful to you for coming to save our lives, and we can never thank you
enough," said she.
"Oh, I have done nothing at all to be thanked for; I wish that I had," I
replied. "I wouldn't mind any trouble or danger to serve you; and I
would go right round the world for your sake, that I would."
"It's very kind of you to say so," said Miss Alice. "And I know that I
shall like you some day very much--indeed I do so now--for the service
you have been to us; but tell me, Mr Neil D'Arcy, are you a captain of
a ship?"
"No, I am a midshipman," I replied, modestly.
"Is a midshipman higher than a captain?" she inquired, innocently.
"Sometimes; when he's mast-headed," I answered. This seemed to satisfy
her; and I, not wishing to be lowered in her estimation, was anxious to
change the subject. I therefore said, "It seems very odd that though
I've been on board so many hours, and seem to be so well acquainted with
you, I do not know where you have come from, or how you got into this
terrible plight."
"Oh, I will tell you all about it, then," she replied. "You must know
that papa has been a great merchant in the Brazils, where we have lived
almost since I can remember. Dear mamma died there; and if it had not
been for my sake, I believe papa would have died too. You cannot tell
how fond he is of me, for I have no brothers or sisters, and there was
no one else in that country for him to love. At last the doctor told
him he must come to England, so he took a passage in this ship, which is
called the _Poictiers_. There were some other passengers, and I had an
old black nurse to take care of me. At first we had fine weather, and
things seemed to go pretty well; but, sad to say, the captain was a very
tipsy man, and we, I believe, lost our way, and the wind blew against us
and kept us back a long time."
"Oh, I see! the master got out of his reckoning, and met with a
succession of foul winds," I remarked.
"I don't know, but I know we were very uncomfortable, and had very
little to eat, and what we had was very bad," she continued. "It was
very horrid, was it not? A fever also, which one of the passengers had
brought from Rio, spread among the people on board. Several of the
other passengers and many of the crew died of it, and among others, my
poor nurse Josefa. God was very kind, and saved dear papa and me. I do
not think the captain caught it; but he was always very tipsy, and now
was worse than ever. One night he fell into the sea and was drowned."
"Drinking brought on _delirium tremens_, and in his madness he jumped
overboard probably," I remarked. "No wonder his ship was in so bad a
condition; but go on."
"Both the mates died, and we were left without any officers.
Fortunately the crew were very steady, and behaved well; and at last the
fever went away, and those who were sick recovered. The carpenter was
the only person on board who had any idea how we should steer, so the
rest made him act as captain."
"It was a mercy, under such circumstances, that you found your way into
the Chops of the Channel."
"Where is that?" asked Miss Alice, naively.
"Where we now are," said I; and I should probably have gone on to
explain the reason of the name, but that I was very anxious to hear more
of her account. As far as I could make out, three very anxious weeks
passed by while the ship remained in this condition, when, as they were
getting near soundings, a gale sprang up and drove her furiously before
it. "One evening," continued the little girl, "papa and I were in our
cabins, when suddenly the ship rolled over dreadfully on her side, and--
most horrible!--the water came rushing down into them. At the same time
there was a frightful crash, and we heard sad shrieks and cries. Poor
papa flew into my cabin, and seized me in his arms, for he thought the
ship was sinking, so did I, and we wished to die together."
"The ship had broached to, and had been thrown on her beam-ends, and the
masts had gone by the board," I remarked. "It was fortunate they did
so, or she would have been sent to the bottom to a certainty. When the
masts went the ship righted, and you saw there was a chance of escape."
"I was too frightened to think anything just then," said she. "All I
know is, that papa, carrying me in his arms, found his way in the
darkness to the companion-ladder, and then up on deck. When we got
there, I wished that we were in our cabin again. We were in the midst
of high, black, foaming waves and bright flashes of lightning; and when
I looked up, there were no masts and no sails, but the deck was covered
with their broken remains. It was so very dreadful, I cannot talk more
about it now. I did not cry or faint, but I felt my heart beat very
quick as I clung to papa, while he held tight to the companion-hatches,
which, as you see, still remain firm."
"But where have you lived all the time you have been on the wreck?" I
asked.
"Oh, I remained where you first found me," she answered. "At night they
covered me up with cloaks and a sail, and in the daytime I was able to
walk about, for the sea, fortunately, was tolerably smooth. The kind
sailors also, though suffering much from hunger, I heard papa say,
brought me all I required to eat, which was not much, you may suppose."
This was all about the shipwreck I heard from Miss Alice at the time.
It appeared that when the masts had been carried away, the mizen-mast
had hung on by some of the rigging, and by dragging astern had assisted
in making the head of the ship pay off. This caused her to drive before
the gale, and saved the decks from being swept by the seas, which would
otherwise have cleared them of every human being. As soon as all the
damage had been committed, the wind and sea began to go down, and by the
morning there was only a moderate breeze. The carpenter, however,
discovered that the ship had sprung a leak, and all hands were now
summoned to work the pumps; but weakened by disease and famine, and
overcome with fatigue, they were soon obliged to give up the almost
hopeless task. Three days of horror passed away without any ship coming
near them, while several of them died from sheer starvation.
Fortunately, at last they discovered some gunpowder which, being in tin
cases, was not spoilt, and with it they managed to fire the guns which
had attracted our attention.
Miss Alice told me many more incidents, which I now forget. Our
conversation was interrupted by Jack Stretcher, who came aft.
"Sir," said he, touching his hat, "I'm afraid we shall have to take to
the boat, for the people are almost all knocked up; and, do all we can,
the ship won't float much longer."
"I'm sorry to hear that, for I should have liked to have got her safe
into harbour," I answered. "But I suppose there is no help for it."
"We'll take another spell at the pumps before we give in," he replied.
"But I wanted to tell you, sir, that to my mind that poor gentleman will
be killing himself if he works away as he does; and as he is of no great
use to us, it would be better if he sat down and rested himself."
On hearing this, Miss Marlow darted forward to her father, and seizing
him by the arm, tried to force him away from the pumps. He soon yielded
to her entreaties, and almost fainting with fatigue, came and sat down
aft.
"Now, my lads," cried Jack to the men, who, one after the other, had
thrown themselves down on the deck, "we'll see if we can't keep the old
craft afloat till we get her into harbour."
But no one responded to his summons. Just then my eye fell on the white
sail of a vessel appearing above the dark horizon right ahead of us. I
pointed it out to Jack.
"It's the cutter, sir, to a certainty," he exclaimed, after scrutinising
it attentively. "Huzza! my lads, there's help at hand, if you will but
hold out an hour longer."
The men, encouraged by his words and example, resumed their labours, and
again sent the water gushing through the scuppers. It was an anxious
time; for after all I felt that the sail in sight might not prove to be
the cutter, or she might be crossing our course and not see us. Our
last remnant of food and water had been served out, with the exception
of a biscuit, which I had kept for the little girl and her father; so
that all hands were very hungry as well as fatigued. I had tightened my
belt round my waist to serve me for my breakfast. I watched the vessel
as she rose higher and higher above the horizon; and, to my great joy, I
at length saw that she was, at all events, a large cutter, beating up
towards us. I called Jack to look at her again.
"She's the _Serpent_, and no mistake," he exclaimed. "She'll be down to
us in another hour, if the wind holds. My doubt is if the ship will
swim as long," he added in a whisper to me; "but we'll do our best,
sir."
"Let me know in time if the water gains much on us, that we may get the
young lady and the gentleman into the boat," said I.
"Ay, ay, sir," he answered, as he went forward, and with a loud cheer,
resumed his labours.
The minutes dragged slowly on; for, though I had no fear for our lives,
I was anxious to get fresh hands to keep the ship afloat.
"Is that little vessel yours?" asked Miss Marlow, pointing to the cutter
as she approached.
"Yes," said I. "I hope before long to take you on board her."
"That will be very nice; for dear papa and I want to leave this dreadful
ship. You will carry us home to Old England, will you!" she said.
"If the cutter makes us out, I hope to get you on shore this evening or
to-morrow," I replied. "But I am not quite certain that she sees us."
She had just then tacked, and was apparently standing away from us. I
watched her eagerly. Again she tacked, and I was certain she saw us. I
steered towards her, and now, the breeze freshening, we rapidly neared
each other. She stood on, and passing under our stern, kept alongside
of us.
"Hillo, D'Arcy, my boy, how did you get there?" hailed my uncle, as he
recognised me at the helm.
"Fell in with her, sir. Pray send some fresh hands, for we are sinking;
and some prog, for we are starving," I shouted, in return.
The cutter flew by us, and hove-to a short distance ahead. A boat was
lowered, and as we came up, she hooked on to our main-chains, and my
uncle stepped on board. I was thus speedily shorn of the honour of
command. As soon as I had introduced Mr Marlow and his daughter to
him, and given him a brief account of what had occurred, he invited them
on board the cutter, ordering me to take charge of them, and to send
Hanks with another boat's crew to assist in working the ship. He had
brought some provisions, which very soon restored my hungry people, and
enabled them to pull me and my charges on board the cutter, while the
fresh hands took their places at the pumps. Even when Miss Alice
discovered my unexalted position, she did not seem to esteem me the
less, for I had already, I rather fancy, established myself in her good
graces. I did my best to make her and her father comfortable in my
uncle's cabin; and Flitch, his steward, soon placed before them such a
breakfast as they had not seen for many a long day, to which I, at all
events, did not fail to do ample justice. The young lady appeared to
think that naval officers were very hungry mortals, as she saw
numberless slices of bacon and eggs disappear down my throat.
"We have no lady's maid on board to attend on you, Miss Marlow," said I,
as I got up to leave the cabin; "but Flitch will put your berth to
rights; and if you'll follow my advice, you'll turn in and take a good
snooze, for you want it, I think."
The poor little girl was almost falling asleep at table. Mr Marlow
thanked me for my good advice, which he said he and his daughter would
follow.
When I went on deck I found that the cutter had taken the ship in tow,
and that we were running up Channel. My uncle soon came on board, and
praising me for my behaviour, said he should try and carry our prize
into Portsmouth. He was in high spirits, for he expected to get a good
round sum for salvage. The breeze held favourable, and in two days we
were steering safely through the Needles passage.