I was awakened at six o'clock the next morning by the men chorussing at
the windlass, and the quick clank of the pawls that showed how
thoroughly Jack was putting his heart into his work, and how quickly he
was walking the ship up to her anchor. I scrambled out of my bunk, and
took a peep through the port in the ship's side, to see what the weather
was like; it was scarcely daylight yet; the glass of the port was
blurred with the quick splashing of rain, and the sky was simply a blot
of scurrying, dirty grey vapour. I made a quick mental reference to the
condition of the tide, deducting therefrom the direction of the ship's
head, and thus arrived at the fact that the wind still hung in the same
quarter as yesterday, or about south-east; after which I turned in
again, the weather being altogether too dismal to tempt me out on deck
at so early an hour. As I did so there was a loud cry or command, the
chorussing at the windlass abruptly ceased, and in the silence that
temporarily ensued I caught the muffled sound of the steam blowing-off
from the tug's waste-pipe, mingled with the faint sound of hailing from
somewhere ahead, answered in the stentorian tones of Mr Murgatroyd's
voice. Then the windlass was manned once more, and the pawls clanked
slowly, sullenly, irregularly, for a time, growing slower and slower
still until there ensued a long pause, during which I heard the mate
encouraging the crew to a special effort by shouting: "Heave, boys!
heave and raise the dead! break him out! another pawl! heave!" and so
on; then there occurred a sudden wrenching jerk, followed by a shout of
triumph from the crew, the windlass pawls resumed their clanking at a
rapid rate for a few minutes longer when they finally ceased, and I knew
that our anchor was a-trip and that we had started on our long journey.
Everybody appeared at breakfast that morning, naturally; there was
nothing to prevent them, for we were still in the river, in smooth
water, and the ship glided along so steadily that some of us were
actually ignorant of the fact of our being under way until made aware of
it by certain remarks passed at the breakfast-table. After breakfast,
the weather being as "dirty" as ever, I donned my mackintosh and a pair
of sea boots with which I had provided myself in anticipation of such
occasions as this, and went on deck to look round and smoke a pipe. A
few other men followed my example, among others the general, who
presently joined me in my perambulation of the poop; and I soon found
that, despite a certain peremptoriness and dictatorial assertiveness of
manner, which I attributed to his profession, and his position in it, he
was a very fine fellow, and a most agreeable companion, with an
apparently inexhaustible fund of anecdote and reminiscence.
Incidentally I learned from him that Miss Onslow was the daughter of Sir
Philip Onslow, an Indian judge and a friend of Sir Patrick O'Brien, and
that she was proceeding to Calcutta under the chaperonage of Lady
Kathleen, the general's wife. While we were still chatting together,
the young lady herself came on deck, well wrapped up in a long tweed
cloak that reached to her ankles, and the general, with an apology to me
for his desertion, stepped forward and gallantly offered his arm, which
she accepted. And she remained on deck the whole of the morning, with
the wind blustering about her and the rain dashing in her face every
time that she faced it in her passage from the wheel grating to the
break of the poop, to the great benefit of her complexion. She was the
only lady who ventured on deck that day--for the weather was so thick
that there was nothing to see, beyond an occasional buoy marking out the
position of a sandbank, a grimy Geordie, loaded down to her
covering-board, driving along up the river under a brace of patched and
sooty topsails, or an inward-bound south-spainer in tow of a tug; but
this fact of her being the only representative of her sex on deck
appeared to disconcert Miss Onslow not at all; she was as absolutely
self-possessed as though she and the general had been in sole possession
of the deck, as indeed they were, so far as she was concerned, for she
calmly and utterly ignored the presence of the rest of us, excepting the
skipper, with whom and with the general she conversed with much
vivacity. By the arrival of tiffin-time we had drawn far enough down
the river to be just meeting the first of the sea knocked up by the
strong breeze, and I noticed that already a few of the seats at table
that had been occupied at breakfast-time were vacant--among them that of
Lady O'Brien--but my left-hand neighbour exhibited a thoroughly healthy
appetite--due in part, probably, to her long promenade on deck in the
wind and the rain. She was still as stately and distant in manner as
ever, however, when I attempted to enter into conversation with her, and
I met with such scant encouragement that ere the meal was half over I
desisted, leaving to the skipper the task of further entertaining her.
By six o'clock that night we were abreast of the buoy which marks
Longnose Ledge, when the pilot shifted his helm for the Elbow, and we
began to feel in earnest the influence of the short, choppy sea, into
which the _City of Cawnpore_ was soon plunging her sharp stem to the
height of the hawse pipes, to the rapidly-increasing discomfort of many
of the passengers. By seven o'clock--which was the dinner-hour--we were
well round the Elbow, and heading to pass inside the Goodwin and through
the Downs, with most of our fore-and-aft canvas set; and now we had not
only a pitching but also a rolling motion to contend with; and although
the latter was as yet comparatively slight, it was still sufficient to
induce a further number of our cuddy party to seek the seclusion of
their cabins, with the result that when we sat down to dinner we did not
muster quite a dozen, all told. But among those present was my
left-hand neighbour, Miss Onslow, faultlessly attired, and to all
appearance as completely at her ease as though she were dining ashore.
The general made a gallant effort to occupy his accustomed seat, but the
soup proved too much for him, and he was compelled to retreat, muttering
something apologetic and not very intelligible about his liver. We
remained in tow until the tug had dragged us down abreast the South
Foreland, where she left us, taking the pilot with her; and half an hour
later we were heading down Channel under all plain sail to our
topgallant-sails.
When I went on deck to get my after-dinner smoke the prospect was as
dreary and dismal as it could well be. It was dark as a wolf's mouth;
for the moon was well advanced in her last quarter--which is as good as
saying that there was no moon at all--and the thickness overhead not
only obliterated the stars but also rendered it impossible for any of
their light to reach us; one consequence of which was that when standing
at the break of the poop it taxed one's eyesight to the utmost to see as
far as the bows of the ship; the wind was freshening, with frequent rain
squalls that, combined with the intense darkness, circumscribed the
visible horizon to a radius of about half a cable's length on either
hand; and through this all but opaque blackness the ship was thrashing
along at a speed of fully ten knots, with a continuous crying and
storming of wind aloft through the rigging and in the hollows of the
straining canvas, and a deep hissing and sobbing sound of water along
the bends, to which was added the rhythmical thunderous roaring of the
bow wave, and a frequent grape-shot pattering of spray on the fore deck
as the fabric plunged with irresistible momentum into the hollows of the
short, snappy Channel seas. It was black and blusterous, and everything
was dripping wet; I was heartily thankful, therefore, that it was my
privilege to go below and turn in just when I pleased, instead of having
to stand a watch and strain my eyeballs to bursting point in the
endeavour to avoid running foul of some of the numerous craft that were
knocking about in the Channel on that blind and dismal night.
When my berth steward brought me my coffee next morning he informed me,
in reply to my inquiries, that the weather had improved somewhat during
the night, and that, in his opinion, the temperature on deck was mild
enough for me to take a salt-water bath in the ship's head, if I
pleased. I accordingly jumped out of my bunk and, hastily donning my
bathing togs, made my way on deck. I was no sooner on my feet, however,
than I became aware that the ship was particularly lively. She was on
the port tack, and was heeling over considerably, so much so indeed
that, when she rolled to leeward, to keep my footing without holding on
to something was pretty nearly as much as I could well manage. Then
there was a continuous vibrant thrill pervading the entire fabric,
suggestive of the idea that her blood was roused and that she was
quivering with eager excitement, which, to the initiated, is an
unfailing sign that the ship is travelling fast through the water. Upon
reaching the deck I found the watch engaged in the task of washing decks
and polishing the brasswork, while Mr Murgatroyd, as officer of the
watch, paced to and fro athwart the fore end of the poop, pausing every
time he reached the weather side of the deck to fling a quick, keen
glance to windward, and another aloft at the bending topmasts and
straining rigging.
For Mr Murgatroyd was "carrying on" and driving the ship quite as much
as was consistent with prudence; the wind, it is true, had moderated
slightly from its boisterous character of the previous day, and was now
steady; but it was still blowing strong, and had hauled round a point or
two until it was square abeam; yet, although the lower yards were braced
well forward, the ship was under all three royals, and fore and
main-topgallant and topmast studding-sails, with a lower studding-sail
upon the foremast! She was lying down to it like a racing yacht, with
the foam seething and hissing and brimming to her rail at every lee
roll, and the lee scuppers all afloat, while she swept along with the
eager, headlong, impetuous speed of a sentient creature flying for its
life. The wailing and crying of the wind aloft--especially when the
ship rolled to windward--was loud enough and weird enough to fill the
heart of a novice with dismay, but to the ear of the seaman it sang a
song of wild, hilarious sea music, fittingly accompanied by the deep,
intermittent thunder of the bow wave as it leapt and roared, glassy
smooth, in a curling snow-crowned breaker from the sharp, shearing stem
at every wild plunge of it into the heart of an on-rushing wave. I ran
up the poop ladder, and stood to windward, a fathom back from the break
of the poop, where I could obtain the best possible view of the ship;
and I thought I had never before beheld so magnificent and perfect a
picture as she presented of triumphant, domineering strength and power,
and of reckless, breathless, yet untiring speed.
"Morning, Mr Conyers," shouted Murgatroyd, halting alongside me as I
stood gazing at the pallid blue sky across which great masses of cloud
were rapidly sweeping--to be outpaced by the low-flying shreds and
tatters of steamy scud--the opaque, muddy green waste of foaming,
leaping waters, and the flying ship swaying her broad spaces of
damp-darkened canvas, her tapering and buckling spars, and her
tautly-strained rigging in long arcs athwart the scurrying clouds as she
leapt and plunged and sheared her irresistible way onward in the midst
of a wild chaos and dizzying swirl and hurry of foaming spume: "what
think you of this for a grand morning, eh, sir? Is this breeze good
enough for you? And what's your opinion of the _City of Cawnpore_, now,
sir?"
"It is a magnificent morning for sailing, Mr Murgatroyd," I replied; "a
magnificent morning--that would be none the worse for an occasional
glint of sunshine, which, however, may come by and by; and, as for the
ship, she is a wonder, a perfect flyer--why, she must be reeling off her
thirteen knots at the least."
"You've hit it, sir, pretty closely; she was going thirteen and a half
when we hove the log at four bells, and she hasn't eased up anything
since," was the reply.
"Ah," said I, "that is grand sailing--with the wind where it is. But
you are driving her rather hard, aren't you? stretching the kinks out of
your new rigging, eh?"
"Well, perhaps we are," admitted the mate, with a short laugh, as he
glanced at the slender upper spars, that were whipping about like
fishing-rods. "But you know, Mr Conyers, we're _obliged_ to do it;
there is so much opposition nowadays, and people are in such a deuce of
a hurry always to get to the place that they are bound to, that the line
owning the fastest ships gets the most patronage; and there's the whole
thing in a nutshell."
"Just so; and it is all well enough, in its way--if you don't happen to
get dismasted. But I find the morning air rather nipping, so I will get
my bath and go below again. Will you kindly allow one of your men to
play upon me with the head-pump, Mr Murgatroyd?"
"Certainly, Mr Conyers, with pleasure, sir," answered the mate.
"Bosun, just tell off a man to pump for Mr Conyers, will ye!"
The ship was by this time so lively that I was not at all surprised to
meet but a meagre muster at the breakfast-table. Yet, of the few
present, Miss Onslow was one, and the soaring and plunging and the wild
lee rolls of the ship appeared to affect her no more than if she were
sitting at home in her own breakfast-room. She was silent, as usual,
but her rich colour, and the evident relish with which she partook of
the food placed before her, bore witness to the fact that her silence
was due to inclination alone. About an hour after breakfast the young
lady made her appearance upon the poop, well wrapped up, and began to
pace to and fro with an assured footing and an easy, graceful poise of
her body to the movements of the deck beneath her that was, to my mind
at least, the very poetry of motion. The skipper and I happened to be
walking together, at the moment of her appearance, and of course we both
with one accord sprang forward and, cap in hand, proffered the support
of our arms. She accepted that of the skipper with a graciousness of
manner that was to be paralleled only by the frigid dignity with which
she declined mine.
The breeze held strong all that day, and for the five days following,
gradually hauling round, however, and heading us, until, with our yards
braced hard in against the lee rigging, and the three royals and mizzen
topgallant-sail stowed, we went thrashing away to the westward against a
heavy head-sea that kept our decks streaming as far aft as the mainmast,
instead of bowling away across the Bay under studding-sails, as we had
hoped. Then we fell in with light weather for nearly a week, that
enabled all hands in the cuddy to find their sea legs and a good hearty
appetite once more, the ship slowly traversing her way to the southward,
meanwhile; and finally we got a westerly wind that, beginning gently
enough to permit of our showing skysails to it, ended in a regular North
Atlantic gale that compelled us to heave-to for forty-two hours before
it blew itself out.
The gale was at its height, blowing with almost hurricane fury, with a
terrific sea running, about twenty hours after its development, and we
in the cuddy were, with about half a dozen exceptions, seated at
breakfast when, above the howling of the wind, I faintly caught the
notes of a hail that seemed to proceed from somewhere aloft.
"Where away?" sharply responded the voice of the chief mate from the
poop overhead.
I heard the reply given, but the noises of the ship, the shriek of the
gale through the rigging, and the resounding shock of a sea that smote
us upon the weather bow at the moment, prevented my catching the words;
I had no difficulty, however, in gathering, from Mr Murgatroyd's
inquiry, that something had drifted within our sphere of vision,
probably another vessel, hove-to like ourselves. A minute or two later,
however, Mr Fletcher, the third mate, presented himself at the cuddy
door and said, addressing himself to the skipper:
"Mr Murgatroyd's respects, sir; and there's a partially dismasted
barque, that appears to be in a sinking condition, and with a signal of
distress flying, about eight miles away, broad on the lee bow. And Mr
Murgatroyd would be glad to know, sir, if it's your wish that we should
edge down towards her?"
"Yes, certainly," answered Captain Dacre. "Request Mr Murgatroyd to do
what is necessary; and say that I will be on deck myself, shortly."
The intelligence that a real, genuine wreck was in sight, with the
probability that her crew were in a situation of extreme peril, sent
quite a thrill of excitement pulsating through the cuddy; with the
result that breakfast was more or less hurriedly despatched; and within
a few minutes the skipper, Miss Onslow, and myself were all that
remained seated at the table, the rest having hurried on deck to catch
the earliest possible glimpse of so novel a sight as Mr Murgatroyd's
message promised them.
As for Dacre and myself, we were far too thoroughly seasoned hands to
hurry--the ship was hastening to the assistance of the stranger, and
nothing more could be done for the present; and it was perfectly evident
that Miss Onslow had no intention of descending to so undignified an act
as that of joining in the general rush on deck. But that she was not
unsympathetic was evidenced by the earnestness with which she turned to
the skipper and inquired:
"Do you think, Captain, that there are any people on that wreck?"
"Any people?" reiterated the skipper. "Why, yes, my dear young lady,
I'm very much afraid that there are."
"You are _afraid_!" returned Miss Onslow. "Why do you use that word?
If there are any people there, you will rescue them, will you not?"
"Of course--_if we can_!" answered the skipper. "But that is just the
point: _can_ we rescue them? Mr Murgatroyd's message stated that the
wreck appears to be in a sinking condition. Now, if that surmise of the
mate's turns out to be correct, the question is: Will she remain afloat
until the gale moderates and the sea goes down sufficiently to admit of
boats being lowered? If not, it may turn out to be a very bad job for
the poor souls; eh, Mr Conyers?"
"It may indeed," I answered, "for it is certain that no boat of ours
could live for five minutes in the sea that is now running. And if that
barometer,"--pointing to a very fine instrument that hung, facing us, in
the skylight--"is to be believed, the gale is not going to break just
_yet_."
"Oh dear, but that is dreadful!" the girl exclaimed, clasping her hands
tightly together in her agitation--and one could see, by the whitening
of her lips and the horror expressed in her widely-opened eyes, that her
emotion was not simulated; it was thoroughly real and genuine. "I never
thought of that! Do I understand you to mean, then, Captain, that even
when we reach the wreck it may be impossible to help those on board?"
"Yes," answered Dacre; "you may understand that, Miss Onslow. Of course
we shall stand by them until the gale breaks; and if, when we get
alongside, we find that their condition is very critical, some special
effort to rescue them will have to be made. But, while doing all that
may be possible, I must take care not to unduly risk my own ship, and
the lives which have been intrusted to my charge; and, keeping that
point in view, it may prove impossible to do anything to help them."
"And you think there is no hope that the gale will soon abate?" she
demanded.
"I see no prospect of it, as yet," answered the skipper. "The barometer
is the surest guide a sailor has, in respect of the weather; and, as Mr
Conyers just now remarked, ours affords not a particle of hope."
"Oh, how cruel--how relentlessly cruel--the wind and the sea are!"
exclaimed this girl whose pride I had hitherto deemed superior to any
other emotion. "I _hope_--oh, Captain, I _most fervently hope_ that you
will be able to save those poor creatures, who must now be suffering all
the protracted horrors of a lingering death!"
"You may trust me, my dear young lady," answered the skipper heartily.
"Whatever it may prove possible to do, I will do for them. If they are
to be drowned it shall be through no lack of effort on my part to save
them. And now, if you will excuse me, I will leave Mr Conyers to
entertain you, while I go on deck and see how things look."
The girl instantly froze again. "I will not inflict myself upon Mr
Conyers--who is doubtless dying for his after-breakfast smoke," she
answered, with a complete return of all her former hauteur of manner.
"I have finished breakfast, and shall join Lady O'Brien on deck."
And therewith she rose from her seat and, despite the wild movements of
the ship, made her way with perfect steadiness and an assured footing
toward the ladder or stairs that led downward to the sleeping-rooms, on
her way to her cabin.
"A queer girl, by George!" exclaimed Dacre, as she disappeared. "She
seems quite determined to keep everybody at a properly respectful
distance--especially _you_. Have you offended her?"
"Certainly not--so far as I am aware," I answered. "It is pride,
skipper; nothing but pride. She simply deems herself of far too fine a
clay to associate with ordinary human pots and pans. Well, she may be
as distant as she pleases, so far as I am concerned; for, thank God, I
am not in love with her, despite her surpassing beauty!"
And forthwith I seized my cap, and followed the captain up the companion
ladder to the poop.
Upon my arrival on deck I found that we were under way once more, Mr
Murgatroyd having set the fore-topmast staysail and swung the head
yards; and now, with the mate in the weather mizen rigging to con the
ship through the terrific sea that was running, we were "jilling" along
down toward the wreck, which, from the height of the poop, now showed on
the horizon line whenever we both happened to top a surge at the same
moment. The entire cuddy party were by this time assembled on the poop,
and every eye was intently fixed upon the small, misty image that at
irregular intervals reared itself sharply upon the jagged and undulating
line of the horizon, and I believe that every telescope and opera-glass
in the ship was brought to bear upon it. After studying her carefully
through my own powerful instrument for about ten minutes I made her out
to be a small barque, of about five hundred tons register, with her
foremast gone at a height of about twenty feet from the deck, her
main-topmast gone just above the level of the lower-mast-head, and her
mizenmast intact. I noticed that she appeared to be floating very deep
in the water, and that most of the seas that met her seemed to be
sweeping her fore and aft; and I believed I could detect the presence of
a small group of people huddled up together abaft the skylight upon her
short poop. An ensign of some sort was stopped half-way up the mizen
rigging, as a signal of distress; and after a while I made it out to be
the tricolour.
"Johnny Crapaud--a Frenchman!" I exclaimed to the skipper, who was
standing near me, working away at her with the ship's telescope.
"A Frenchman, eh!" responded the skipper. "Can you make out the colours
of that ensign from here? If so, that must be an uncommonly good glass
of yours, Mr Conyers."
"Take it, and test it for yourself," I answered, handing him the
instrument.
He took it, and applied it to his eye, the other end of the tube swaying
wildly to the rolling and plunging of the ship.
"Ay," he said presently, handing the glass back to me, "French she is,
and no mistake! Now that is rather a nuisance, for I am ashamed to say
that I don't know French nearly well enough to communicate with her.
How the dickens are we to understand one another when it comes to making
arrangements?"
"Well, if you can find no better way, I shall be very pleased to act as
interpreter for you," I said. "My knowledge of the French language is
quite sufficient for that."
"Thank you, Mr Conyers; I am infinitely obliged to you. I will
thankfully avail myself of all the assistance you can give me," answered
the skipper.
The sea being rather in our favour than otherwise, we drove down toward
the wreck at a fairly rapid pace, despite the extremely short sail that
we were under; and as we approached her the first thing we made out with
any distinctness was that the barque was lying head to wind, evidently
held in that position by the wreck of the foremast, which, with all
attached, was under the bows, still connected with the hull by the
standing and running rigging. This was so far satisfactory, in that it
acted as a sort of floating anchor, to which the unfortunate craft rode,
and which prevented her falling off into the trough of the sea. It
would also, probably, to some extent facilitate any efforts that we
might be able to make to get alongside her to take her people off.
To get alongside! Ay; but how was it to be done in that wild sea? The
aspect of the ocean had been awe-inspiring enough before this forlorn
and dying barque had drifted within our ken; but now that she was there
to serve as a scale by which to measure the height of the surges, and to
bring home to us a realising sense of their tremendous and irresistible
power by showing how fearfully and savagely they flung and battered
about the poor maimed fabric, it became absolutely terrifying, as was to
be seen by the blanched faces and quailing, cowering figures of the
crowd on the poop who, stood watching the craft in her death throes.
Hitherto the violence of the sea had been productive in them of nothing
worse than a condition of more or less discomfort; but now that they had
before their eyes an exemplification of what old ocean could do with man
and man's handiwork, if it once succeeded in getting the upper hand,
they were badly frightened; frightened for themselves, and still more
frightened for the poor wretches yonder who had been conquered in their
battle with the elements, and were now being done to death by their
triumphant foe. And it was no reproach to them that they were so; for
the sight upon which they were gazing, and which was now momentarily
growing plainer to the view, was well calculated to excite a feeling of
awe and terror in the heart of the bravest there, having in mind the
fact that we were looking upon a drama that might at any moment become a
tragedy involving the destruction of nearly or quite a dozen fellow
beings. Even I, seasoned hand as I was, found myself moved to a feeling
of horrible anxiety as I watched the wreck through my telescope.
For the feeling was growing upon me that we were going to be too late,
and that we were doomed to see that little crouching, huddling knot of
humanity perish miserably, without the power to help them. We were by
this time about a mile distant from the wreck; and another seven or
eight minutes would carry us alongside. But what might not happen in
those few minutes? Why, the barque might founder at any moment, and
carry all hands down with her. For we could by this time see that the
hull was submerged to the channels; and so deadly languid and sluggish
were her movements that almost every sea made a clean sweep over her,
fore and aft, rendering her main deck untenable, and her poop but a
meagre and precarious place of refuge.
And even if she continued to float until we reached her, and for some
time afterward, how were her unfortunate people to be transferred from
her deck to our own? One had only to note the wild rush of the surges,
their height, and the fierceness with which they broke as they swept
down upon our own ship, and the headlong reeling and plunging of her as
she met their assault, to realise the absolute impossibility of lowering
a boat from her without involving the frail craft and her crew in
instant destruction; and how otherwise were those poor, half-drowned
wretches to be got at and saved. Something might perhaps be done by
means of a hawser, if its end could by any means be put on board the
sinking craft; but here again the difficulties were such as to render
the plan to all appearance impracticable. Yet it seemed to offer the
only imaginable solution of the problem; for presently, as we continued
to roll and stagger down toward the doomed barque, Captain Dacre turned
to me and said:
"There is only one way to do this job, Mr Conyers; and that is for the
Frenchmen to float the end of a heaving-line down to us, by which we may
be able to send them a hawser with a bosun's chair and hauling lines
attached. If it is not troubling you too much, perhaps you will kindly
hail them and explain my intentions, presently. I shall shave athwart
her stern, as closely as I dare, with my main-topsail aback, so that you
may have plenty of time to tell them what, our plans are, and what we
want them to do."
"Very well," said I; "I will undertake the hailing part of the business
with pleasure. Have you a speaking-trumpet?"
"Of course," answered the skipper. "Here, boy,"--to one of the
apprentices who happened to be standing near--"jump below and fetch the
speaking-trumpet for Mr Conyers. You will find it slung from one of
the deck beams in my cabin."
Dacre then took charge of the ship in person, conning her from the
weather mizen rigging, and sending Murgatroyd for'ard with instructions
to clear away the towing-hawser, and to fit it with a traveller, bosun's
chair, and hauling-lines, blocks, etcetera, all ready for sending the
end aboard the barque when communication should have been established
with her. And at the same time, the boy having brought the
speaking-trumpet on deck, and handed it to me, I stationed myself in the
mizen rigging, alongside the skipper, for convenience of communication
between him and myself.