A fine, bright morning found us outside the harbour, with the Manacles
on our starboard bow, steering for the Lizard, which we hoped to round
before noon, so as to reach Penzance that evening. We passed
sufficiently near the Manacles to distinguish their black heads standing
with threatening aspect high out of the water.
"It was there, sir, a few years ago, a large ship--The John--was lost
during thick weather when making for Plymouth, and upwards of one
hundred of her passengers and crew perished," observed Truck, as he
pointed out the rocks to us. "She had no business to be so close in
shore, and that is all I can say. It is sad to think how many stout
ships have been cast away on the rocks about here. When we set to the
Lizard we shall see the Stags."
After passing the Lizard we kept the land close on board. As the wind
was south-west, we sailed straight for Penzance. We could distinguish
high and broken cliffs of a reddish hue extending the whole way to the
Lizard; when they disappeared we could perceive a low rocky point
running out towards the Stags. On the summit of the cliffs which form
the Lizard Head stand two lighthouses, two hundred and twenty-three feet
apart. A covered passage runs between them, in the centre of which are
the residence and offices attached to the towers, so that the keepers
can communicate without being exposed to the fierce gales of winter.
Each of the white towers is sixty-one feet high, and contains a
brilliant fixed catoptric or reflecting light.
The Lizard is the most southerly point of England, and although it is
exposed to heavy gales the climate is very healthy. Just as we were
about to round the Stags the wind shifted, and compelled us to stand
away to the southward, by doing which we hoped, aided by the next ebb,
to be able to steer direct for Penzance.
Had we gone about at that time, we should have run the risk of being
driven on the Stags, both wind and tide setting in that direction. The
wind became very light, and we made but slow progress.
Our hopes of reaching Penzance gradually decreased as the day wore on,
and yet, while the flood was making, it would have been folly to stand
towards the shore. At length papa calculated that the tide had turned.
We were on the point of putting the vessel's head to the northward when
a thick mist, driving up from the chops of the Channel, completely
enveloped us, while the wind rapidly increased, as of course did the
sea.
Dick, who had been walking about with his hands in his pockets, now
suddenly found himself jerked here and there, and was compelled to pull
them out to catch hold of anything which came in his way; sometimes a
stanchion, sometimes the side of the vessel, now and then Truck, or me,
or the man at the helm.
"Take care, my lad, you don't go overboard," sang out papa. "You'd
better turn in and keep out of harm's way."
Dick, however, was too proud to do this. "No, thank you; I'd rather
stay on deck," he answered. "I'll pull and haul, and help the sailors
in any way you like."
"I won't ask you to do that; only sit down on the skylight, and should a
sea strike us hold on with your eyelids."
Dick did as he was advised; at first he sat up, and looked very bold;
but gradually he became paler and paler, and yellower and yellower,
while his lip curled, and a groan every now and then escaped his breast.
"Hulloa! what's become of the Dolphin?" I exclaimed, looking round, and
not seeing her anywhere.
"She was away to leeward of us when I went down to tea," observed Truck,
who had just then returned on deck. "Where did you last see her?" he
asked of the man at the helm.
"Maybe a couple of hundred fathoms astern, sir; but I don't think more,"
was the answer.
We hailed the Dolphin, but there was no reply. "She was further off
than you supposed," said papa, who had himself gone below for a few
minutes.
We could not understand why they did not answer our hail, for they must,
we thought, have heard us. As it was important to keep as close to the
wind as possible, that we might be sure of weathering the Stags, we
could not run down to speak the Dolphin. Papa, however, felt sure that
Uncle Tom would also keep as close to the wind as he could, with the
same object in view.
We had by this time gone about, and were heading up towards the port we
wished to reach. Papa judged that we were already near Mount's Bay.
Dick had thrown himself down on deck, completely overcome. I was
standing by him, urging him to get up and go below, when what was my
dismay to see towering above us the dark hull and wide-spreading canvas
of a large ship.
"Steady! keep her as she goes!" papa shouted out. Had we attempted to
keep away, the stranger must have struck us on our quarter. Had we
luffed up, she would have run completely over us, and we should have
been carried to the bottom. I fully expected even then that such would
be the case.
"Run forward, my lads!" he shouted out to Dick and me and the crew,
while he himself seized the helm, making the helmsman throw himself flat
on his back. All was the work of a moment. In another instant I heard
a crashing and rending. Our boat was knocked to fragments, and the
davits carried away. I saw the bowsprit sweeping across our deck,
tearing the mainsail as it did so, and carrying away back-stays and
other rigging.