A CYCLONE.
"WHAT on earth is it all about?" Arthur Hill asked his comrades as the
three boys gathered together after the work was done. "Why, there is not
a breath of wind. Is it all done for practice, do you think?"
Jim shook his head. "I expect we are going to have one of those cyclones
Mr. Timmins was speaking about the other day, though I don't see any
signs of it, except the queer colour of the sky. I expect the glass must
have been going down very fast. There is the captain popping into his
cabin again. Well, he is not long about it," he added, as Captain
Murchison hurried out again and spoke to Mr. Timmins, who immediately
gave the order, "Furl mizzen and main topsails! Lower down the
fore-staysail!"
"Well, there can't be more to do now," Jack said, when the order was
carried out, "unless we set to work to set them all again."
"Look, Jack!" Arthur Hill said, grasping his arm and pointing away on
the starboard beam.
A wall of black mist seemed to hang upon the horizon, rising momentarily
higher and higher.
"The squall is coming, lads!" the captain shouted. "When it strikes her
hold on for your lives. Carpenter, put a man with an axe at each of the
weather-shrouds. We may have to cut away before we have done with it."
All eyes were now turned towards the bank of cloud, which was rising
with extraordinary rapidity. Small portions of the upper line seemed at
times to be torn off and to rush ahead of the main body, and then to
disappear, suddenly blown into fragments. A low moaning sound was heard,
and a line of white could be made out at the foot of the cloud-bank. The
water around the ship was still as smooth as glass, though there was a
slight swell, which swayed her to and fro, and caused the shrouds and
blocks to rattle.
Louder and louder grew the murmur. Again the captain's voice was heard:
"Hold on for your lives, lads!" and then with a scream and roar, as of a
thousand railway whistles, the gale struck the ship. So tremendous was
the force, that although the closely-reefed fore-topsail was the only
sail that the _Wild Wave_ was showing aloft--for the jib blew from the
bolt-ropes the instant the squall struck her--the vessel heeled over and
over until her lee-rail was under water. Further and further she went,
until the ends of the yards were under water, and the sea seemed to
Jack, who was holding on by the weather bulwark, as if it were directly
under his feet.
[Illustration: CAUGHT IN THE CYCLONE]
He thought that the ship was going to capsize, and had not her cargo
been well stowed she must have done so. She was now almost on her beam
ends, pressed down by the action of the wind upon her hull rather than
her masts, and had it not been that the boys had each at the last moment
twisted a rope round his body, they must have dropped into the water,
for the deck afforded no hold whatever to their feet. Jack felt
completely bewildered at the noise and fury of the wind. He had thought
that after the gale they had passed through south of the Cape, he knew
what bad weather was; but this was beyond anything of which he had the
slightest conception.
Looking round he saw Mr. Timmins clinging to the bulwarks, and making
his way along with the greatest difficulty until he reached the sailor
stationed with the axe at the mizzen-shrouds, he saw the man rise from
his crouching position, and, holding on to the bulwarks, strike three
blows on the lanyards. Then there was a crash, and the mizzen-mast broke
suddenly off four feet above the deck and fell into the sea.
Jack thought that the vessel lifted a little, for he could see one more
streak of the deck planking. Mr. Timmins looked round towards the
captain, who was clinging to the wheel. The latter waved his hand, and
the mate again began to make his way forward. He passed the boys without
a word, for the loudest shout would have been inaudible in the howling
of the wind. He stopped at the main-shrouds again, the axe descended and
the mainmast went over the side. The relief from the weight of the mast
and the pressure of the wind upon it was immediate; the _Wild Wave_
rose with a surge and her lee-rail appeared above the surface, then she
rose no further.
Mr. Timmins looked back again at the captain, but the latter made no
sign. He could see that the pressure of the wind upon the foremast was
beginning to pay the vessel's head off before it; as it did so she
slowly righted until, when fairly before the wind, she was upon a level
keel. Then there was a dull explosion heard even above the gale, and the
fore-topsail split into ribbons. But the ship was now before the gale,
and was scudding, from the effect of the wind on the bare pole and hull
alone, at great speed through the water. As soon as she had righted the
lads threw off their lashings, but still clung tight to the rail, and
struggled aft till they stood under shelter of the poop.
"This is something like!" Jim roared at the top of his voice into Jack's
ear. Even then his words could scarcely be heard.
Jack nodded. At present, even had conversation been possible, he would
have had no inclination for it, for he felt stunned and bewildered. It
had all taken place in ten minutes. It was but that time since the ship
had been lying motionless on a still ocean. Now she was rushing, with
one mast only standing, before a furious gale, and had had the narrowest
possible escape from destruction. As yet the sea had scarce begun to
rise, but seemed flattened under the terrific pressure of the wind,
which scooped hollows in it and drove the water before it in fine spray.
Jack had read in the papers about tornadoes in America, and how houses
were sometimes bodily lifted with their contents and carried long
distances, and how everything above the surface was swept away as if a
scythe had passed over it. He had heard these accounts discussed by the
fishermen, and the general opinion in Leigh was that there was mighty
little truth in them. The Leigh men thought they knew what a gale was,
and what it could do. They knew that chimney-pots and tiles could be
carried some distance with the wind, that arms of trees could be twisted
off, and that an empty boat could be carried a considerable distance;
but that a house could be bodily whirled away, was going so far beyond
anything that came within their experiences as to be wholly disbelieved.
But Jack knew now as he looked round that this and more was possible. He
felt the whole vessel leap and quiver as the gust struck her, and this
with only one bare pole standing, and he would have been scarce
surprised now had the ship herself been lifted bodily from the water. As
to walking along the deck, it would have been impossible. No man could
have forced his way against the wind, and Jack felt that were he to
attempt to move from the sheltered spot where he was standing he would
be taken up and carried away as if he were but a figure of straw.
Presently Mr. Hoare came down from the poop and dived into the cabin,
making a sign to the lads to follow him. He stood there for a minute
panting with his exertions.
"The captain has sent me down for a spell," he said. "He and the first
and Jack Moore are all lashed to the wheel. Sometimes I thought that
all four of us, wheel and all, would have been blown right away. Well,
lads, this is a cyclone, and you may live a hundred years and never see
such another. You had better stop in here, for you might get blown right
away, and can be of no good on deck. There is nothing to do. The wind
has got her and will take her where it likes; we can do nothing but keep
her straight. There will be a tremendous sea up before long. The water
at the upper part of the bay is shallow, and we shall have a sea like
yours at the mouth of the Thames, Jack,--only on a big scale.
"Our lives are in God's hands, boys; don't forget to ask for help where
alone it can be obtained. Now I must be going up again. Steward, give me
a glass of weak grog and a biscuit. Do you know, lads, my sides fairly
ache. Once or twice I was pressed against the wheel with such force that
I could scarcely breathe, and if I had been pinned there by an elephant
butting me I could not have been more powerless. That is right, steward,
get me my oil-skin and sou'-wester from the cabin. You had better get a
kettle on over the spirit-stove, so that we can have a cup of hot cocoa
when we like. Now then, I am ready for the fray again!" and buttoning
himself closely up Mr. Hoare went on deck again.
Jack Moore was the next to come down. "Captain's orders, steward. I am
to have a glass of grog. Well, young gentlemen, this is a gale and no
mistake. I have been at sea over thirty years, and have never seen
anything to be compared with it. If you get through this you need never
be afraid of another; not if you live to be white-headed!"
After Jack Moore had gone up Mr. Timmins and the captain came down by
turns. Each took a cup of cocoa. They said but few words to the boys,
and were indeed almost too much exhausted by the struggle through which
they had gone to be able to speak. The boys gathered again under the lee
of the poop and watched the scene. It had changed considerably; the wind
seemed as violent as ever, but the sea was no longer kept in subjection
to it, and was now tossing itself in a wild and confused manner.
Another half hour and it had settled in some sort of regularity, and was
sweeping before the wind in deep trough-like waves with steep sides,
resembling those to which Jack had been accustomed in Sea Reach, on a
gigantic scale. Soon again these were broken up, and were succeeded by a
wild tumultuous sea like a boiling cauldron. The vessel was thrown
violently from side to side, taking water over, now on one beam now on
the other, and at times shaking from blows as if she had struck upon a
rock. So sharp and sudden were her movements that the lads could not
keep their feet, and again made their way into the cabin. Even here it
was necessary to shout in order to be heard.
"What an extraordinary sea, Jim! I never saw anything like it before."
"That is what it's from," Jim replied, pointing to the tell-tale compass
hanging from the beams overhead.
Jack glanced at it. "Why, we are running due south!"
"Aye; and I expect we have been two or three times round the compass
already. That is what makes this frightful broken sea."
"Well, as long as we keep on running round and round," Jack said, "there
is no fear of our running against the land anywhere."
Jim was further advanced in the study of navigation. "You forget," he
said, "the centre of the cyclone is moving along all the time, and
though we may go round and round the centre we are moving in the same
direction as the cyclone is going, whatever that may be."
For hours the storm raged without the slightest signs of abatement. The
sea was now terrific; the waist of the ship was full of water. Green
seas swept over the vessel's bows, carrying everything before them, and
pouring aft burst open the cabin door and deluged the cabin. By turns
the boys made their way to the door and looked out.
"Come out, you fellows!" Jim Tucker shouted after one of these trips of
investigation. "The men are coming out from the fo'castle. There is
something to be done."
The boys came out and crawled a few steps up the poop-ladder, holding on
for life as they did so. They did not attempt to get on to the poop, for
they felt they would be blown away if they exposed themselves there to
the full force of the wind. Looking round, the scene was terrible. The
surface of the sea was almost hidden by the clouds of spray blown from
the heads of the waves; a sky that was inky black hung overhead. The
sea, save for the white heads, was of similar hue, but ahead there
seemed a gleam of light. Jim Tucker, holding on by the rail, raised
himself two or three feet higher to have a better view. A moment was
sufficient.
He sprang down again and shouted in his comrades' ears, "Breakers
ahead!" It needed no further words. The light ahead was the gleam of a
sea of white foam towards which the vessel was hurrying. Nothing could
be done to check or change her course. Had the mizzen been standing an
effort might have been made to show a little sail upon it, and bring her
head up into the wind to anchor; but even could this have been done the
cables would have snapped like pack-threads. There was nothing for it
but destruction. Jack followed Jim's example--crawled to the top of the
gangway, and holding on by the poop-rail raised himself to his feet and
looked forward.
Right across their bows stretched a band of white breakers, and beyond
through the mist he could make out the line of a low shore. The lads
descended again into the waist, and with great difficulty made their way
forward to where the men were huddled together round the entrance to the
fo'castle. They too had kept a look-out, and knew of the danger into
which they were running and the impossibility of avoiding it.
"Is there anything to be done?" Jim Tucker shouted.
A silent shake of the head was a sufficient answer. The vessel and all
in her were doomed. The officers were now seen leaving the helm and
coming forward. It was a proof in itself of the hopelessness of the
prospect. The vessel was indeed steering herself straight before the
gale, and as there were no regular following waves there was no fear of
her broaching to. The boats, that had at the commencement of the storm
been hanging from the davits, were all gone or useless. One or two had
been smashed to pieces by heavy seas striking them; others had been torn
from their fastenings and blown clean away.
The long-boat alone remained lashed amidships on the deck. Jack pointed
to her, but an old sailor shook his head and pointed to the sea. No boat
could hope to live in it a minute. Once in the breakers it would be
swamped instantly. The officers made their way forward.
"It is all over, lads!" the captain shouted; "but some of us may reach
the shore on pieces of the wreck as she breaks up. We will get the
long-boat ready for launching: some of you may cling to her. Now, lads,
let us shake hands all round, and meet our fate as British sailors
should do--calmly and bravely. At any rate some of us may be saved yet."
The crew of the _Wild Wave_ had been a happy one. Discipline had been
good, although every indulgence had been allowed the men, and all were
fond of her officers. There was a silent hand-clasp all round, and then
some of the sailors followed the officers to the boat. As they did so
they knew well that the order was given merely to keep them employed,
for the chance of anyone being washed ashore and reaching it alive
through the tremendous surf was small indeed. As they cut away the
boat's cover they looked round, and a low cry broke from several of
them. The ship was close to the broken water.
Every man clung to something and awaited the shock. In a few seconds it
came. As she descended a wave there was a tremendous shock, followed
instantaneously by a crash as the foremast went over the bow. Another
and another, accompanied each time with the sound of rending timbers.
"Cut away the lashings of the boat!" the captain shouted, drawing his
knife and setting the example. As he did so he touched Jack and pointed
into the bottom of the boat. The lad understood him. He was to put in
the plugs, which at ordinary times were left out to allow any rain-water
to escape as it fell. Jack in turn touched Arthur, and the two climbed
into the boat to replace the plugs.
As they did so a fiercer gust than usual struck the vessel. The lashings
of the long-boat had just been cut, and the gale seized it and raised it
in the air as if it had been made of paper. Jack and Arthur uttered a
cry, and involuntarily clung for life to the thwarts. Over and over they
were whirled. Confused, giddy, scarce knowing what had happened, they
clung on. It was a sort of nightmare, and how long it lasted they knew
not. Presently there was a terrific crash, and they knew no more.