A CHANGE OF DESTINATION.
Mr. Frisbone had gone down into the fire-room as soon as the order was
given to slow down, in order to see that the firemen did not do any
mischief to the boilers or engine by too much firing while the steam
was not used. But the men seemed to be very well disposed, and had
opened the furnace-doors when the engineer on duty gave the order. The
spare steam was blowing off at the same time. As the Prince was thus
engaged in preventing a catastrophe in the engine- or fire-room, he did
not learn the condition of things on board of the Castle William till
the captain sent for him and for all the adult officers on board of the
Ville d’Angers. It was a desperate case which the young officers were
called upon to settle; and O’Hara was disposed to take the advice of
all that were older and wiser than himself.
“Do you need assistance?” asked O’Hara, after he had sent for the adult
portion of the ship’s company. But it seemed like a foolish question to
ask; for here was a dismasted hulk, on board of which were thirty-two
human beings, all but three of whom were disabled. There were not well
ones enough to take care of the sick, to say nothing of handling the
vessel. If left to themselves, they must all miserably perish in a few
days, for the storms of the Bay of Biscay would soon make an end of the
unmanageable hulk. Of course she needed assistance; and it would be
inhuman in the last degree to refuse it.
“We need assistance very badly,” replied the mate of the Castle
William. “We must all die of disease or go to the bottom, without it.”
“Do you need provisions and stores?” inquired O’Hara.
“We have provisions enough, but we want fresh vegetables and stores for
the sick.”
“We will send you what we have,” replied the young captain. “What else
do you want?”
“We can never get into port on this wreck. She has a very valuable
cargo in the hold.”
“Do you wish for more seamen?”
“If we had a hundred men, they could hardly save the ship if it came on
heavy weather. Will you tow the wreck into port?” asked the mate; and
this last request was evidently what he had desired to reach from the
beginning.
“We will consider it,” replied Capt. O’Hara, not a little startled at
the request.
“Our sick people are well provided for; and this is the best thing you
can do for us. You will make a good thing by it.”
By this time the Prince, Capt. Fairfield, and the adult forward
officers, had gathered in the pilot-house for consultation. O’Hara
stated the situation of the wreck and the people on board of it. He
laid before the council all the information he had obtained from the
mate of the Castle William; but he expressed no opinion or desire on
his own part. He wished to hear the opinion of his elders before he
gave his own.
Mr. Frisbone listened very attentively to the statement of the captain;
and he did not speak a word till O’Hara had said all he had to say.
“I want your advice,” continued the captain. “Of course it was not
supposed, when I was placed in command of the Ville d’Angers, that I
should be called upon to settle such big questions as this one.”
“But I have faith to believe that you would settle it right,” added the
Prince. “There is only one thing to be done in a case like this; and
all the lawyers and doctors of divinity in the world couldn’t make our
duty any plainer to us; and that is, to relieve the distressed, and at
any cost of labor and trouble.”
“That’s the talk!” shouted the impulsive and warm-hearted Shakings,
bringing his fist down upon the wheel with force enough to break his
bones or split the wood. “Your honor is a sailor at heart, if you never
did come in at the hawse-hole, and feel your way to the quarter-deck!”
So said Rimmer in his slower and more heavy tones.
“But there will be great risk in exposing the young gentlemen to
small-pox and ship-fever,” suggested Capt. Fairfield: not that he
intended to object to the performance of a humane duty, but because he
desired to have both sides of the question considered; and there were
thirty-one young lives to be cared for, as well as thirty-two older
ones.
“I think we ought to save a fellow-creetur from death when the risk
of losing our own lives is no greater than the chance of saving
them that’s in danger,” replied the Prince emphatically. “That’s my
doctrine!”
“Your honor was cut out for a sailor; and you missed your calling,
that you are not now in command of the finest ship afloat!” exclaimed
Shakings, with enthusiasm.
“That’s all gammon, Mr. What’s-your-name,” said the Prince.
“My name is Shakings.”
“I should think it might be; but do you suppose all the good feeling
and humanity in the world belong to sailors?” demanded the Prince.
“That’s only the shakings of a bad logic.”
“Your honor proves that the sailors haven’t all the good feeling in the
world.”
“If you are an American citizen, don’t call any man ‘your honor,’
unless it is the judge on the bench. You are getting things mixed up
with them lords and dooks on this side of the ocean,” continued the
Prince reproachfully. “I call myself an American Prince; and I don’t
eat dirt before any man, and I don’t like to see other princes do it.”
“It is the first duty of an American sailor to be respectful to his
betters; and I use the lingo I learned, because I am in the habit of
doing so when I see a man do a handsome thing, as your honor always
does,” said Shakings with a laugh.
“This is neither here nor there; only I don’t like to see any flunkying
at any time. We are called upon to give some advice to the captain;
though, in my opinion, he don’t need any.”
“I believe we are giving it; and I suppose he understands what we all
think about it by this time,” continued Shakings.
“If I comprehend the views of Capt. Fairfield, he objects to rendering
assistance in the present instance, as it would expose our ship’s
company to these contagious diseases,” added the captain, turning to
the instructor of the Ville d’Angers.
“By no means!” protested Capt. Fairfield warmly. “I should feel guilty
to the end of my life if we should leave these poor people to perish
without giving them all the aid in our power.”
Shakings thought the instructor had spoken like a “sodger” before; and
his present speech was more like that of a sailor.
“Then there appears to be no disagreement among you, gentlemen,” added
Capt. O’Hara. “I agree with you that the people on the wreck ought to
be relieved.”
“Spoken like a true sailor!” ejaculated Shakings.
“Or like a true soldier!” exclaimed the Prince.
“Thank you, Mr. Frisbone; and I won’t stop to tell you what soldiers
have done a thousand times for those in distress,” added Capt.
Fairfield.
“We are to assist the people on the wreck,” interposed the captain.
“How, and to what extent, is the next question.--Mr. Raymond, keep the
whistle going every five minutes.”
“We are doing so, sir,” replied the officer of the deck, who was
planking the forecastle.
O’Hara stated that the sufferers on the wreck needed no provisions,
only fresh vegetables and comforts for the sick. As the steamer was
abundantly provided with the former, it was promptly decided to send
all that could be spared of them. As to comforts for the sick, which
they understood to include medicines, the Prince declared that he would
consult his wife, who was one of the best nurses in the world, and had
saved his life when the doctors gave him up, by her intelligent care.
The benevolent gentleman was on the point of starting for the cabin,
when the captain interposed.
“We have not settled the worst and hardest question of the whole, Mr.
Frisbone,” said O’Hara. “I have an opinion on the subject; but I wish
for your advice.”
“What on airth comes now?” demanded the Prince, closing the door he had
opened.
Since his wife had become Mrs. Frisbone, and they had crossed the
ocean, she had been doing her best to improve the grammar and
pronunciation of the Prince; and she had succeeded wonderfully well,
considering the hard subject she had to deal with. He talked tolerably
well under ordinary circumstances; but when he was dealing with a
great question, or became very much excited, it was observable that he
relapsed into nearly all his old barbarisms of speech.
“The mate of the Castle William wishes the steamer to tow the wreck
into port,” added O’Hara.
“Into port!” exclaimed the Prince.
“He does not say what port; but the ship was bound to Portsmouth,
England.”
“Where is that?” asked the Prince, whose geography was sometimes at
fault.
“It is close by Southampton.”
“That’s not the nearest port?”
“By no means. We are not more than three hundred nautical miles from
Lisbon; and about the same from Cadiz.”
“I expect, with those diseases on board, that the Spaniards, the
Portuguese, or even the English at Gibraltar, would keep the people on
the wreck in quarantine for about forty days; and the chances are that
most of them would never see England again,” said Mr. Rimmer.
“How far is it to Southampton?” asked the Prince.
O’Hara went to the chart-room, measured off the distance, and returned
to the pilot-house.
“I make it about twelve hundred miles,” he said, as he joined the
circle.
“I don’t believe in taking this steamer into a French or Spanish port,”
added the Prince. “I think that as much as one-half of her belongs to
the academy squadron, as salvage; and a port in England is the best
place to have the business properly fixed up.”
“The mate of the Castle William says she has a valuable cargo in her
hold; and I suppose we shall be entitled to salvage in her,” suggested
the captain.
“Of course you will; and I don’t think Mr. Lowington will lose any
thing if we should take the wreck to--that place you mentioned.”
“Portsmouth.”
No one objected to this business view of the situation; and it was
in council agreed, that it would be expedient to tow the wreck to
Portsmouth in preference to any port on the Spanish peninsula.
“I am confident that if Mr. Lowington or Mr. Fluxion were here, he
would send the steamer to England with the wreck,” said Mr. Shakings.
“But I desire to do all I can to find the consorts before we do any
thing,” interposed O’Hara. “When that is done, I am willing to act on
my own responsibility, with your advice.”
“There is no let-up in the fog,” added Mr. Rimmer, as he took a long
look on all sides of the steamer.
It was decided to wait till it could be ascertained whether or not the
Josephine and the Tritonia were anywhere in the vicinity. The boatswain
and the carpenter were instructed to fire the gun, which the Prince
had used so effectually on the night of the collision, every thirty
minutes during the rest of the day, or until the fog cleared off. The
first gun was discharged immediately. At the moment of the report,
the quartermaster struck eight bells in the pilot-house; and it was
repeated on the great bell forward.
“All the port-watch on deck!” shouted the acting boatswain’s mate, as
he piped the call through the ship.
It was the first dog-watch; and the first part of the port-watch had
the deck for one hour. It was in charge of Gregory; and Raymond gave
him the orders he had received, and handed him the trumpet as the
indication of his authority. But there was nothing to do on board,
except to keep a sharp lookout, and to give the fog-signals.
The stewards had been directed to get out the vegetables to be sent
to the wreck; and they were attending to this duty. About a dozen
boxes of onions, turnips, and potatoes, and a smaller variety of other
vegetables, were now in readiness at the gangway to be conveyed to the
Castle William. In the mean time the American Prince had gone into the
cabin to consult his wife in regard to the needs of the sick on board
of the vessel.
Mrs. Frisbone had been seasick for several days; but she had now
completely recovered. The motion of the steamer, even while she was
hove to, was quite easy; and the lady was sitting at the table in the
after-cabin, as the part in the stern which was separated from the rest
by the curtain was called. Miss Rodwood was at her side; and both of
them listened with the deepest interest to the story of the Prince.
“I want you to see about getting together some things to send to these
poor people,” said the Prince, when he had finished his narrative.
“Perhaps you can tell what medicines they need, and get them out of the
chist.”
“I will get them out of the chest”--
“Out of the chest, and not out of the chist,” added Mr. Frisbone, with
a laugh. “I suppose we ought to let ’em all die while we make the chist
into a chest.”
“Not so bad as that; but chist is particularly bad pronunciation. I
cannot tell what the sick sailors and soldiers need in the way of
medicines without seeing them,” protested the lady.
“But they are all sick with contagious diseases!” exclaimed the Prince.
“I have had the small-pox, and I am not afraid of that. I have taken
care of many people who were sick with the typhoid-fever, of which
ship-fever is only another form. I will go on board of the ship, and do
all I can for the poor creatures,” replied Mrs. Frisbone earnestly.
“You, my dear?”
“I never yet shrunk from doing my duty, and I shall not now,” added the
lady.
“I will go with you, sister!” exclaimed Miss Rodwood.
“You will not expose her to these diseases?” demanded Mr. Frisbone, not
a little alarmed at the proposition.
“I cannot prevent her from doing a duty which is as binding upon her as
it is upon me,” replied Mrs. Frisbone, with a sort of solemnity that
greatly impressed her husband.
“Very well; and I shall go with you,” continued the benevolent American
noble. “If it is your duty,--and I don’t dispute that it is,--it is as
much mine, and I shall share it with you. But we must not expose any
of these boys to the contagion. I wouldn’t have one of them catch the
small-pox or the ship-fever for a million dollars. I haven’t any thing
in particular to do on board of this vessel; and I can just as well be
on board of the other, doing what I can to make the sick comfortable.”
The adults and the officers were astonished when the decision of the
Frisbone party was announced. Capt. Fairfield and O’Hara did their best
to reason them out of the purpose; but that was useless. Mrs. Frisbone
declared that God had given her this duty to perform, and she should be
recreant to her trust if she failed to do it. This was her opportunity
to do the will of Heaven; and she could no more neglect it than she
could refuse her daily bread.
“If I take any disease, and die, I shall die at the post of duty; and
I should be afraid to die anywhere else,” said the heroic woman; “and
I shall not have lived in vain. Louise can do as she pleases. I do not
ask her or my husband to go with me.”
“But Miss Rodwood has been an invalid, and it will be a pretty severe
experience for her to act as a nurse on board of a mere hulk, taking
care of soldiers and sailors,” said Capt. Fairfield.
“Perhaps it is just the experience my sister needs; and it may prove to
be a blessing to her,” replied Mrs. Frisbone. “If she can put her whole
mind to this humane task, I am sure it will be a benefit to her.”
The lady evidently had views of her own on this subject; and, as it
appeared that her sister’s mind was somewhat affected, it was possible
that she understood the case better than any other person.
The next thing was to get the devoted party on board of the wreck
without exposing any of the students to the danger of infection. O’Hara
studied the case, and talked it over with the carpenter and boatswain.
It was not prudent to board the Castle William on the weather side, for
the sea would be likely to stave the boat against her sides. If it went
to leeward, the crew of the boat would be exposed to the peril of the
pestilential air from the ship. At last it was decided that none of the
students should go in the boat that conveyed the passengers and stores.
The Prince, the adult forward officers, and one of the stewards, were
to act as oarsmen. The stores were sent first; and they were hoisted
by the three well men on board of the ship. The ladies who had been so
unwilling to be lowered in a boat when the object was to save their own
lives were let down into the cutter in a sling; and they were safely
hoisted on board of the Castle William. The boat returned with all its
crew except the Prince.
The Ville d’Angers then ran off a considerable distance from the wreck,
as far as she could and not lose sight of it. It was very quiet on
deck and in the cabin. The vessel was rolling in the sea, and there
was nothing to be done but to wait for the fog to lift. Gregory, the
officer of the deck, was like a monarch without a kingdom; and when
Clinch came in his way, he insisted that it was dull music.
The steamer had been turned head to the sea, and the screw was revolved
just enough to keep the vessel from drifting upon the Castle William.
When she was in danger of losing sight of the wreck, the engine
was stopped for a time. But the quartermaster attended to all this
business, and to the sounding of the whistle.
“I wish I was back in the Josephine again,” said Gregory when he met
Clinch.
“Why so? This isn’t a bad craft to be on board of,” replied the third
officer.
“This steamer is officered by about all the Tritonia’s fellows,”
growled Gregory. “Those that came from the Josephine are mere ciphers.
O’Hara hasn’t spoken a word to me since we made out that wreck; and I
am the first officer of the steamer.”
Clinch did not say any thing; but he thought the captain had not much
encouragement to consult his first officer, who had done nothing but
object and protest when he did any thing.
“I suppose he had made up his plan; but he hasn’t said any thing to me
about it,” continued Gregory. “He has put the Frisbones on board of
the wreck, and sent off all the vegetables we had on board. We may get
the scurvy for the want of them. Now we are as fast here as though we
were aground.”
“What are we waiting for?” asked Clinch.
“I don’t know. Don’t I keep saying the captain don’t tell me what
is going on?” snarled Gregory, as though he were anxious to find a
sufficient cause for getting up a mutiny.
And so the day wore away. In the evening the fog lifted; but nothing
could be seen of the two schooners, for they were far on their way
to Madeira. But O’Hara was not quite satisfied to undertake such an
enterprise as had been agreed upon, until it was no longer possible
to confer with the vice-principals of the squadron. As the night
was clear, he decided to run for three hours to the south-west, and
return if he found nothing of the rest of the fleet. At midnight, when
the steamer was over forty miles from the Castle William, nothing
could be seen of the lights of the Josephine and Tritonia; and,
very unwillingly, he ordered the Ville d’Angers to be headed to the
north-east. After a run of less than three hours, the wreck was readily
found, for lights were exhibited on board as before she lost her masts.
Raymond, who was in charge of the deck of the Ville d’Angers, hailed
the wreck, and was answered by Mr. Frisbone. The wind was freshening,
but the sea was tolerably smooth.
O’Hara was still up, though he had taken a little nap, and directed the
steamer to be run as close as possible to the hulk; and a small line
was heaved to her deck by Shakings. With this the heavy hawser of the
ship was drawn over the stern of the steamer, where it was made fast.
While the boatswain was attending to the securing of the hawser, O’Hara
and the Prince had some talk about the condition of the sick. They were
all comfortable; and Mrs. Frisbone had worked out a revolution in the
state of things between decks. The captain laughed when the Prince said
he had been at work whitewashing since he came on board.
When the hawser was ready, O’Hara gave the order to go ahead; and the
steamer started on her voyage to England.