THE RESCUE.
JACK was a good swimmer, but he had never swum in a sea like this.
"If I raise my arms, uncle, pull in at once. If I see I cannot reach the
spar I sha'n't exhaust myself by going on, but shall come back and take
a fresh start. Let me have plenty of rope."
"All right, Jack! we won't check you."
Jack took a header, and swimming hard under water came up some distance
from the boat.
"He will do it," Tom shouted in Ben's ear. "He is nigh half-way between
this and the rope already."
It was, however, a more difficult task than it looked. Had the water
been smooth it would have been easy for Jack to swim across the tide to
the spar before he was swept below it, but he found at once that it was
impossible to swim fast, so buffeted and tossed was he by the sea, while
he was almost smothered by the spray carried by the wind to the top of
the waves. He trod water for a moment with his back to the wind, took a
deep breath, and then dived again. When he came up he was delighted to
see that he was as near as possible in the line of the spar, which was
towing but a few yards from him. He ceased swimming, and a moment later
the tide swept him down upon it.
He had before starting fastened a piece of lashing three feet long to
the loop round his chest, and the moment he reached the spar he lashed
this firmly round the rope, and passing one arm round the spar lifted
the other above his head. In a moment he felt the strain of the rope
round his chest, and this soon tightened above the water. But Jack felt
that the strain of pulling not only him but the spar through the water
might be too much for it, and rather than run the risk he again waved
his hand, and as soon as the line slacked he fastened it to the rope
from the wreck, loosened the hitches round the spar and allowed the
latter to float away. He was half drowned by the time he reached the
side of the bawley, for he had been dragged in the teeth of the wind and
tide, and each wave had swept clean over his head.
[Illustration: THE RESCUE OF THE PASSENGERS FROM THE WRECK]
At first those on board pulled but slowly, in order to enable him to
swim over the top of the waves. But the force of the spray in his face
was so great that he could not breathe, and he waved to them that they
must draw him in at once. As soon as they understood him they pulled in
the rope with a will, and more under than above the water he was brought
to the side of the smack and lifted on board, the wind bringing down the
sound of a cheer from those on board the wreck as he was got out of the
water. Ben undid the line round his body, carried him downstairs,
wrapped a couple of blankets round him and laid him down on the lockers,
and then ran upstairs to assist Tom, who had carried the line forward
and was already hauling it in.
"That is right, Tom. They have got a good strong hawser on it, I see,
and there is a light line coming with it to carry the slings."
As soon as the end of the hawser came on board it was fastened to the
mast. The line by which it had been hauled in was unfastened and tied to
that looped round the hawser, and payed out as those on the deck hauled
on it. A minute later two sailors got over the bulwarks, and a woman was
lifted over to them and placed in the strong sling beneath the
hawser. A lashing was put round her, and then they waved their hands and
the fishermen hauled on the line. In two minutes the woman was on the
deck of the smack; the lashing was unfastened and knotted on to the
sling ready for the next passenger, then at Ben's signal that all was
ready those on board the wreck hauled the sling back again.
Jack remained between the blankets for a minute or two. He had not lost
consciousness; and as soon as his breath came he jumped up, gave himself
a rub with the blanket, slipped into some dry clothes, and was on deck
just as the woman arrived. She was all but insensible, and directly the
sling had started on its return journey Ben carried her on into the
fo'castle.
"Jack! set to work and make a lot of cocoa. There are no spirits on
board; but cocoa is better, after all. Put the other kettle on and chuck
plenty of wood upon the fire, and as soon as the one that is boiling now
is empty, fill that up again. I should say there are twenty or thirty of
them, and a pint apiece will not be too much. Take a drink yourself,
lad, as soon as you have made it. You want it as much as they do."
Fast the shipwrecked people came along the line. There was not a moment
to lose, for the wreck was breaking up fast, and every sea brought
floating timbers past the bawley.
"It is a good job now, Tom, that we anchored where we did, instead of in
the direct line of the tide, for one of those timbers would stave a hole
in her bow as if she were a bandbox."
"Aye, that it would, Ben. I thought we had made rather a mess of it at
first; but it is well that, as you say, we ain't in the line of the
drift."
Nineteen persons were brought on board--the captain being the last to
come along the line. The first four were women, or rather, the first two
were women; the third a girl of ten years old, and the fourth a woman.
Then came a middle-aged man, evidently a passenger. Then came ten
sailors, a steward, two mates, and the captain.
"Is that all?" Ben asked as the captain stepped from the slings.
"I am the last," the captain said. "Thank God all are saved who were
left on board when you came in sight. We all owe our lives to you and
your men. I had little hope that one of us would live to see the night
when we made you out coming towards us. But there is no time to talk.
The ship cannot hold together many minutes longer, and when she breaks
up in earnest some of the timbers will be sure to come this way."
"I have got the buoy with a length of rope on the chain ready to slip,"
Ben said, "and a spar lashed to the hawser. Now, Tom, let the chain out;
I will jump below and knock out the shackle. Now, captain, if one or two
of your men will lend us a hand to get up some canvas, we shall be out
of it all the sooner. And please get them all except the women out of
the cabin, and put them aft. We want her head well up for running before
this sea."
"Now, lads, tumble out and lend a hand," the captain said. "I see you
have got some cocoa here. Well, all who have had a mug come out at once,
and let the others get aft as soon as they have had their share. The
ladies are all right, I hope?"
"Quite right, captain," one of the men answered, "and begin to feel warm
already; which is natural enough, for this cabin is like an oven after
the deck of the _Petrel_."
"Now, skipper, do you give the orders," the captain said as Ben took the
tiller.
"Run up the foresail and haul in the starboard-sheet. That will bring
her head round."
"Now let go the cable and hawser." There was a sharp rattle of chains,
and the cry "All free!"
"Slack off that weather-sheet and haul down on the lee-sheet," was
Tripper's next order. "Not too much. Have you got the jib hooked on to
the traveller? Out with it, then. Now, up with her. Now man the throat
and peak halliards. Up with her. Slack out the main-sheet well, and boom
the sail out with an oar. Trice the main-tack up as far as it will go."
The _Bessy_ was now running almost before the wind. Every moment the
great waves loomed up high behind her stern, and looked as if they would
dash down upon her deck, but she slipped easily away. The clouds had
broken up much now, but the wind had in no way abated. A gleam or two of
sunlight made its way through the rifts of the clouds, and threw light
green patches upon the gray and angry sea.
"She is a splendid sea-boat this of yours," the captain said. "I would
hardly have believed such a small craft would have made such good
weather in such a sea."
"There are few boats will beat a bawley," Ben said. "Well handled, they
will live through pretty near anything."
"I can quite believe that. Which of you was it who sprang overboard to
get our line?"
"It was not either of us," Ben said. "Neither Tom nor I can swim a
stroke. It was my nephew Jack--that lad who has just come out of the
fo'castle."
"It was a gallant action," the captain said. "I should have thought it
well-nigh impossible to swim in such broken water. I was astonished when
I saw him leap overboard."
"He saw that the spar had drifted with the tide to windward of you and
there was no other way of getting at it."
"I was in hopes of seeing you throw the lead-line over our line. You
might have hauled it in that way."
"So we might," Ben agreed, "if we had thought of it, though I doubt
whether we could have cast it so far. Still we ought to have tried. That
was a stupid trick, to be sure. I allow I should have thought of it any
other time; but we had had such a dusting in getting up to you that our
brains must have gone wool-gathering."
"One cannot think of everything," the captain said. "You had your hands
full as it was. Is there anything else I can do at present? If not, I
will just go below for a minute and see how my wife and the passengers
are getting on, and have a cup of that cocoa, if there is any left."
They were now in the Knob Channel, and the sea, although still heavy,
was more regular. As they passed the Mouse Light-ship there were
several large steamers at anchor there, but it was now a straight run
down to the Nore and they held on.
Ben Tripper had already asked the captain where he would like to be
landed. "I can put you either into Sheerness, Southend, or Leigh," he
said. "Tide is high now, and you can land at any of them without
difficulty. But you would get more quickly up to town from Southend or
Leigh; and I should recommend our side, because tide will be running out
from the Medway pretty strong before we get there, and when that is the
case there is a nasty sea at the mouth."
"I think we cannot do better than Leigh," the captain said. "Of course I
am anxious to get on shore as soon as I can to get the women into dry
clothes."
"It will not make more than twenty minutes' difference whether you land
at Leigh or Southend; and it is much handier for landing at Leigh, and
no distance to the inn, where they can get between blankets while their
things are being dried."
"Then Leigh let it be. A few minutes will make no difference one way or
the other, and if they have not caught cold already they will not do so
in that warm cabin."
The wind was blowing far too strongly to admit of conversation, except
in shouted sentences. Fortunately there was a good supply of tobacco on
board, and the rescued sailors, who had almost all a pipe in their
pockets, had, after the smack was once clear of the broken water,
enjoyed the consolation of a smoke.
Accustomed to look down on the water from the high deck of a large
ship, they had at first felt some doubt as to the ability of the low
bawley to struggle safely through the towering waves; but as soon as
they saw how well she behaved, and how little water she took over the
sides, they felt that all danger was over, and became disposed to look
at things more cheerfully.
The steward had, as soon as he came on board, relieved Jack of his
duties at the galley, and had kept the kettles going; he now served out
a second supply of cocoa all round, and hung up as many of the ladies'
things as they could dispense with round the fire to dry.
The passenger had remained below with the ladies. He was suffering from
a broken leg, having been knocked down and swept along by the sea soon
after the vessel struck. Six of the sailors and two of the mates had
either been washed overboard or crushed to death when the masts went
over the side.
As they passed the Nore a perfect fleet of steamers and sailing-vessels
were at anchor there. Tide had turned strongly now, and there was a
nasty heavy choppy sea until the _Bessy_ passed the end of Southend
Pier, when she entered comparatively smooth water. In less than half an
hour the sails were lowered, and she anchored some fifty yards from the
coast-guard station.
The look-out there had already observed the number of people on her
deck, and had guessed at once that she had taken the crew off a wreck of
some kind, and as soon as the anchor was dropped their boat came
alongside.
The captain had as they neared the shore asked Tripper about inns, and
at once sent the crew ashore in charge of the mate, with orders to go to
the "Bell," and to see that they had everything they required, saying
that he would himself, as soon as the ladies were on shore, go to one of
the shops and order a supply of clothes to be sent up for them.
The ladies were next taken ashore, and then the injured man carried up
and placed in a boat, a stretcher being sent off for him to be laid on.
A messenger had been already sent up to the doctor on the top of the
hill to come down to the Ship Inn, where the party now went. The ladies
had become so thoroughly warmed by the heat in the little cabin that
they declined to go to bed, and having been supplied with dry garments
by the landlady, they were soon comfortable.
The surgeon on his arrival pronounced the fracture of the passenger's
leg, which was a few inches above the ankle, to be a simple one, and not
likely to be attended with any serious consequences whatever. After
setting it he bandaged it in splints, and said that although he should
recommend a few days' perfect quiet, there was no actual reason why the
patient should not be taken up to London if he particularly wished it.
Ben Tripper had gone with the captain, and a pile of flannel shirts,
stockings, guernseys, trousers, and shoes had at once been sent up to
the "Bell." Furious as was the gale, it was possible to speak so as to
be heard in the street of Leigh, and Ben now learned for the first time
some particulars about the wreck.
"The _Petrel_ was a seven hundred ton ship," the captain said, "and on
her way home from Australia. She belongs to James Godstone & Son. There
is no James Godstone now. The son is the passenger you saved; he is the
owner of a dozen vessels all about the same size as the _Petrel_. His
wife and daughter are two of the ladies saved. They went out with us to
Australia. The girl was not strong, and had been recommended a sea
voyage.
"I had been married when I was at home last time, and was taking my wife
out with me; so Mr. Godstone arranged that his wife and daughter should
go with me. We carried no other passengers; the other woman saved is the
stewardess. Mr. Godstone himself did not go out with us, but went across
by Suez and joined us there for the homeward voyage. We made a fine run
home; and took our pilot on board off Deal. The gale was blowing up
then; but as it looked as if it was coming from the north-east we did
not care about riding it out in the Downs, or going back so as to be
under shelter of the South Foreland.
"It did not come on really heavy till we were nearly off Margate, and
then we got it with a vengeance. Still, as the wind was free, we kept
on. Then, as you know, it came on almost pitch dark, and I think the
pilot lost his head. Anyhow, as he was one of those who were drowned, we
need not say whether he was to blame or not. I thought we were getting
too close to the broken water, and told him so, but he said we were all
right. He didn't make allowance enough, I think, for the leeway she was
making, and a minute later she struck, and you can guess the rest. Her
back broke in a few minutes, and her mizzen went over the side,
carrying with it the pilot, my first mate, and six sailors.
"She soon after began to break up at the stern. I cut away the other two
masts to relieve her, but the sea made a clear breach over her. I got
the ladies and Mr. Godstone, who had been on deck when she struck and
got his leg broken by the first sea which pooped her, forward as soon as
I could, and managed to fire one of her guns three times. I had no hope
of rescue coming from shore, but there was a chance of some ship coming
up helping us; though how she was to do it I could not see. However,
nothing came near until I saw your sail. I expect that any steamers
coming up from the south brought up under the Foreland, while those from
the north would of course take the Swin. Anyhow, it would have been all
over with us had you not come to our rescue. Even when I saw you making
over towards us I had not much hope, for I did not see how you could get
close enough to us to aid us, and I was quite sure that no open boat
could have lived in that broken water."