A RUN FROM HARWICH.
ONE of the sailors, dripping wet, knelt beside him. "That is all right,
lad; you will be yourself again directly."
Jack was already sufficiently recovered to sit up some time before
either Bill or Joe showed signs of life; for, unable to swim or to take
advantage of their momentary intervals of coming to the surface, they
had become insensible some time before he had done so himself. The
sailors rubbed their chests and hands, and at last both showed signs of
returning animation.
"That was a close shave, Jack," the coast-guardsman who was at the helm
said. "It was lucky I made you out with my glass when I did. It was
touch and go; I saw you trying to get them on their backs. If they had
kept quiet you would have managed it; but drowning people never will
keep quiet."
They were now running up the Ray in pursuit of the boat, which had
drifted into shallower water near the end of the island, and here the
grapnel had brought it up. When they got up to it, the grapnel was
raised and brought into the stern of the boat, and the coast-guard boat
laid her course close-hauled for Leigh, towing the other behind her.
Before they arrived at the slip the other two boys were both able to sit
up. They would have taken their boat up beyond the village, but one of
the fishermen said, "You go home and change; you have done quite enough
for to-day. Tom and I will take the boat up for you."
"That has been a lesson to me I shall not forget," Bill said as they
walked along. "You saved our lives, Jack, there is not much doubt about
that."
"Oh, I expect we should all have been fished out anyhow!" Jack replied.
"No, we should not, Jack. Anyhow, not alive. I thought just at first you
were going to keep us up pretty easy, and then young Joe twisted round
and got hold of you, and we all went down together. But I could feel
then that somehow you were keeping us up, and I tried not to catch hold
of your legs."
"You did not, Bill. I was able to use them just at first, and then,
somehow, Joe got hold of them. However, we all kept together, that was a
good thing. If we had separated, I don't suppose they would have got us
all."
Fortunately the news of the danger Jack had run had not reached his
mother, for she had been engaged in the back-room washing, and Lily had
gone up to school.
At the first alarm many people had run down to the shore; the officer of
the coast-guard with his glass had reported what was going on, and up to
the last moment it had been believed that the boat would get to them in
time, and there had been a gasp of dismay as he suddenly exclaimed,
"They are down! The boat is only a few lengths away," he went on; "I
expect they will get them. One of the men is standing up in the bow
ready to jump."
A half-minute later he exclaimed, "There he goes! There, they are
hoisting them into the boat!"
"Have they got them all, sir?"
"That I can't see; but I expect they have, for you see they have lowered
the sail. Yes! they must have got them all, for none of them are
standing up looking about, as they would be if one was missing."
Five minutes later the sail was hoisted again. The officer watched for a
minute or two, and then closed his glass.
"They are going up the Ray," he said, "I expect they are going to tow
the boat in here; she is under the island. They would not trouble about
that unless those they have picked up were all right, but would be
making straight back again to see what could be done for them."
The little crowd, now feeling that nothing worse than a ducking had
happened to those on the sand, broke up and scattered to their houses.
No one had known at first what boat it was whose occupants had got into
trouble, and it was not till it was half-way back that it was made out
to be Corbett's.
"Why, I thought he was ill in bed?" one said.
"So he is, but I expect his boys went out with it. It was not likely
there was a man on board. No one but boys would be fools enough to get
caught like that, and I should have thought Bill Corbett had too much
sense."
"Why, Jack, what has happened?" Mrs. Robson asked as her son entered the
house.
"Nothing much, mother; but we have had a ducking. There was a steamer
aground on the Middle Ground, and watching her we forgot all about the
tide, and the boat drifted away and we got caught. Of course I could
swim, so there was no danger for me; but it would have gone hard with
the two Corbetts if the sailor at the coast-guard station had not made
us out, and their boat put off and picked us up."
"Well, go and change your clothes at once, Jack; it has taken all the
colour out of your face. I will get a cup of hot tea ready for you by
the time you come down."
It was not until some of her neighbours came in, and talked to her about
the narrow escape her son had had, that Mrs. Robson realized that Jack's
life had been in considerable danger, and it was well that she had him
before her enjoying his tea before she learnt the truth.
"It is no use getting into a fuss about it, mother," Jack said
cheerfully; "it is not going to happen again, you know. It has been a
good lesson to me to keep my eyes open; and when I go cockling again I
won't lose sight of the boat, not if there were twenty vessels ashore."
A few days later Jack started with his uncle in the _Bessy_ for Harwich.
For himself he liked the life there better than at Leigh. At home men
could not be said to live on board their boats. They went only for short
trips, taking a meal before starting, and another on their return; but
doing no cooking on board. Here they were out for longer hours, and the
boat was always their home. They were more independent of the tide; and
unless it and the wind were both dead against them, could at all times
run out to their fishing ground, ten miles away, near the Cork
lightship.
The fishing was various. Soles, whiting, and haddock were the principal
fish brought up in the trawls; but there was occasionally a big skate or
two in the net, and these had to be handled with considerable
circumspection, as they could take off a finger or two with the greatest
ease with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth. These fish were always
hung up in the air for a day or two before eating, as the flesh improves
by keeping; the eatable portions were then cut out, and the rest was
thrown overboard. These fish were for the most part eaten by the crew;
the small soles, dabs, and flounders were hawked in the town, and the
rest of the take sent up to London.
There was an excitement, too, in the fishing itself, apart from that
connected with hauling up the trawl and examining its contents, for the
sands off this coast are dangerous, and the wrecks, that have at one
time or another taken place there, innumerable. Occasionally a net would
catch in one of the timbers that had perhaps been lying there a hundred
years or more, and then it either came up torn into fragments, or if it
obtained a really firm hold, there was nothing for it but to cut the
trawl-rope and lose it altogether. In fine weather, however, this step
would not be taken except as a last resource. After trying in vain to
get the net and trawl up the rope would be buoyed, and the next day
another attempt would be made to raise the net, the boat being assisted
by three or four others. The loss of a net was a serious one, as it
took ten pounds or more to replace it and the trawl-beam and its
belongings.
Sometimes a storm would blow up suddenly, and then the nets had to be
got on board with all speed, and the topsails lowered and mainsails
reefed, and the fleet of perhaps a hundred vessels would go racing back
into Harwich, there to anchor just above the Guard, or under shelter of
the Shotley Spit, or a short way up the Orwell, according to the
direction of the wind.
The hardest part of a Leigh fisherman's life Jack had not yet
encountered, for boys are seldom taken stow-boating. Stow-boating is
really sprat catching, and no one can exactly explain the meaning of the
term. It is carried on in winter at the edge of the sands, far down at
the mouth of the river. Boats are out for many days together, frequently
in terrible seas, when the boat is more under than above the water. The
work of getting up the net is heavy and exhausting, and for all this
hardship and labour the reward is often exceedingly slight. Sometimes
the sprats are abundant, and good pay is made; sometimes, when the
winter accounts are balanced up, the crew find that their share will
barely suffice to pay for their keep on board, and not a farthing is
left for the support of their wives and children.
Londoners who purchase sprats at an almost nominal price know but little
of the hard struggle those who have caught them have to make ends meet.
After fishing for a month, Ben Tripper said one Friday evening, "We will
run up to Leigh to-morrow and spend Sunday at home. I don't think we
shall lose much, for the weather looks bad, and I don't think there
will be any fishing to-morrow."
"I am pretty sure there won't, Ben," his mate said. "I think that it is
going to blow really hard, and that we shall get wet jackets as we go
up."
"We are accustomed to that," Tripper said carelessly. "Anyhow, if it
comes to blow too hard for us we can make for shelter into the Crouch or
Black Water."
"Oh, we are all right as to that, Ben! It is not a question of wet
jackets or sea that I am thinking of, only whether we are likely to drop
anchor in the Ray to-morrow night. If I were sure of that I should not
mind a dusting; but I would rather lie here quiet than have a regular
day's heavy knocking about, and then have to run in to Burnham after
all."
"So would I," Ben assented. "If the wind comes from anywhere to the west
of south it is no use thinking about it. It has been chopping and
changing about to-day, and there is no saying which way it will come
when it fairly makes up its mind about it; but I think from the look of
the sky this evening that it is as likely to come from the north-east as
not, and in that case I allow we shall make a good passage of it."
"Ay, that is right enough," Tom Hoskins assented. "They say the run from
Harwich Pier to Leigh has never been done yet by a Leigh bawley under
six hours, though it has been pretty close several times. We have got
the springs on now, and with the wind from the north-east we should run
the six hours very close, if we didn't beat it. There are two or three
of them can go faster than the _Bessy_ close-hauled, but running free I
doubt if there is one can touch her."
"We will make a start at seven," Ben said. "We shall take the last of
the ebb down to Walton, and then catch the flood and have it at its full
strength by the time we are opposite Clacton."
Jack was delighted at the thought of spending a Sunday at home with his
mother; but though it was not for him to give an opinion, he agreed with
Tom Hoskins that they were likely to have a dusting on the way up. The
sun had gone down angry and threatening; the stars could be only seen
occasionally through driving masses of cloud, and even at her snug
anchorage the _Bessy_ was rolling heavily.
Jack was out soon after dawn. There was a haze over sea and sky, and the
wind was blowing strongly; it was from the north-west now, but Jack
thought that it was likely to draw round to the quarter his uncle had
predicted. "There must be a heavy sea on now all the way from the Swin
Middle to the Nore with the wind meeting a lee tide," he said to
himself; "but of course when the ebb is done it will smooth down a bit,
and will be all right if the weather does not come on too thick. A fog
is bad enough and a gale is bad enough, but when you get the two
together I would rather be at home and in bed by a long way than on
board the _Bessy_."
"Well, Jack, what do you make out of the weather?" Ben Tripper asked, as
he came out from the fo'castle.
"It looks rather wild, uncle; but I think the wind is working round to
the north of east, just as you thought it would last night."
"Yes; I think it is," Ben said, surveying the sky. "Well, get the fire
alight at once, Jack, and get breakfast ready; we will have our meal
before we start. We shall have enough to do when we are once under way.
I will run down to the Naze anyhow, and then we shall see what it is
like outside. If we don't like its looks we can pop back anyhow; and
shall have lost nothing, for there is no shooting nets to-day, that is
quite certain."
The topmast was lowered, small jib and foresail got up, and two reefs
put in the mainsail; then they began to get up the anchor.
"What! are you going up home, Tripper?" shouted a man from the next
boat.
"Ay, ay, lad!"
"You will get your decks washed before you get to the Mouse!"
"Do them good and save us trouble!" Tripper shouted back.
"Tell the missis if you see her she may expect to see me next Saturday
if the wind is right." Tripper threw up his arm to show he understood,
and then lent his aid in getting up the anchor.
"Put up the helm, Jack; the anchor is free. That is enough. Keep her jib
just full and no more till we have stowed all away here." When the chain
was stowed below, and the anchor securely fastened, Tripper went aft and
hauled in the main-sheet. "Up with the foresail, Tom. That is it. You
keep the tiller, Jack." The two men now proceeded to coil down all the
ropes, and get everything ship-shape and tidy. By the time they had
finished, Harwich was fairly behind them, and they were laying their
course a point or two outside the Naze, throwing the spray high each
time the boat plunged into the short choppy sea.
"Nice place this, Jack," his uncle said. "There is always a sea on the
shallows if the wind is anywhere against tide. No wonder they call it
the Rolling Ground. There, I will take the helm now. You had best get
the compass up; I can't make out the point sometimes through the mist."
An hour and a quarter from the time of getting up the anchor the _Bessy_
was off the point. As soon as the ugly ledge of rocks running far out
under water was weathered, Tripper put down the helm.
"Haul in the sheet, Tom. That is right; now the sail is over. Slack
out--slack out all it will go; the wind is nearly dead aft. Ease off the
jib-sheet, Jack. That is it. Now she is walking along."
The motion was smooth and easy now. The waves were much higher than in
the shelter of the bay, but they were running easily and regularly, in
nearly the same line the boat was following. Coming up threateningly
behind her, they lifted the stern high into the air, passing gently
under her, hurrying her along as she was on the crest, and then passing
on ahead and dropping her gently down into the hollow.
"I think she would stand a reef shaken out, uncle," Jack said.
"She has got quite enough on her, Jack, and is walking along at a grand
pace. Always leave well alone, lad. The squalls come up very strong
sometimes, and I would not carry as much sail as we have got if she were
a cutter with a heavy boom. As it is, we can brail it up at any moment
if need be. We sha'n't be long getting down off Clacton. Then you must
keep a sharp look-out for the Spitway Buoy. It comes on very thick at
times, and it is difficult to judge how far we are out. However, I think
I know pretty well the direction it lies in, and can hit it to within a
cable's length or so. I have found it many a time on a dark night, and
am not likely to miss it now. It will take us an hour and a half or so
from the time we pass Walton till we are up to the buoy."