"The wind blew hard, the sea ran high,
The dingy scud drove 'cross the sky,
Down topsails, boys, the gale comes on,
To strike top-gallant-yards they run."
_Dibdin._
At 9 o'clock, A. M., of Sunday, the 3d of November, 1844, the
Runnymede weighed from Penang-roads with a light southerly wind, and
made sail through the north channel. At noon the wind came in from
seaward. At midnight, on Monday the 4th, she was abreast of the Ladda
Islands, with a barque in company. On Friday, the 8th, the weather was
unsettled, with heavy rain. All the small sails were stored, and the
royal yards sent down. At noon the sun was obscured. Saturday, the
9th, the breeze increased, with every appearance of bad weather. Took
in the top-gallant sails, and reefed the topsails, and took in the jib
and spanker. At noon the sun was obscured. Sunday, 10th, the barometer
falling fast, with the gale increasing, close reefed the topsails. At
noon heavy gusts. The courses were taken in and furled. At 6 the
fore-topsail was taken in, and the ship hove-to under the main topsail
and the main trysail. All the sails were re-secured, the top-gallant
yards sent down, and everything prepared for the storm, which it was
evident was now approaching. At noon the sun was again obscured, the
latitude being, by log, 11° 6" north, and the longitude 96° 0" east.
The wind now blew a hurricane. The barometer was 29°, and falling. The
main-topsail was taken in, and the ship left under the main topsail
only. At half-past three the fore and main top-gallant masts were
blown away. The wind was south, and so very severe that the main
trysail was blown to atoms, and the ship was lying-to under bare
poles, and laying beautifully to the wind, with her helm amidship and
perfectly tight. The hurricane was accompanied with a deluge of rain.
At 4 P. M. the wind shifted to the south-east, and was blowing so
terrifically that all the hatches were obliged to be battened down,
the sea making a fair breach over the vessel. The starboard-quarter
boat was washed away. About half-past 6 P. M. there was a lull, and it
was nearly calm, the wind backing to the south-west, and the sea
became comparatively quiet. The barometer having fallen as low as
28° 45", the ship was kept away north by east, and the topsails
re-secured, portions of them having blown adrift. At 8 P. M. the wind
began to blow again, and within half an hour the hurricane was as
severe as before. The larboard-quarter boat was torn from the davits
and blown across the poop, carrying away the binnacle and crushing the
hencoops in its passage. At 9 P. M., the hurricane still increasing,
the foremast broke into three pieces, and carried away with it the
jib-boom, the main and mizen topmasts, the starboard cathead, and
mainyard, the main and mizen masts alone standing. At 10 P. M. the
wind and rain were so severe that the men could not hold on upon the
poop. The soldiers were engaged in baling the water out of their
quarters between decks, whither it had been forced down the hatches.
In other respects the ship was quite tight and free from leak, proving
herself to be a capital sea boat. The pumps being attended to drew
out the water which was forced down the hatches, mast-coats, and
topside forwards.
During the hurricane, numbers of land-birds were driven on board--a
case not uncommon during storms--and an owl and a hawk were observed
perched on the swinging table on the poop, without shewing any alarm
at the presence of the ship's company. It was not noticed what became
of them. This circumstance tended to shew the intensity of the tempest
on shore, which must have forced these birds out to sea, a distance
not much less than two hundred miles from any land.
_Monday, 11th._--The hurricane was equally severe, the wind
south-east, and the barometer as low as 28° 0". The gusts were so
terrific, mixed with drift and rain, that none of the people could
stand on the deck. Advantage was therefore taken of the lulls to draw
the ship out, and clear away the wreck of the masts. As the starboard
bower-anchor was hanging only by the shank-painter, and its stock,
which was of iron, was working into the ship's side, the chain-cable
was unshackled, and the anchor was cut away from the bows. At noon,
latitude, per log, 11° 6" north longitude 95° 20" east, the barometer
apparently rose a little. No observations had been able to be made
since the 7th. The hurricane was equally severe in gusts, and the ship
perfectly unmanageable from her crippled state, but rode all the time
like a sea-bird on the waves, notwithstanding the sea was apparently
running from every point of the compass. The crew observed a large
barque ahead of them which had lost its topmast and mainyard. They
feared at first that she would not go clear of them. Happily,
however, she drifted past ahead of them. This vessel afterwards proved
to have been the Briton, of which we shall presently have occasion to
speak. They also saw a brig to leeward, totally dismasted. From her
appearance it was judged that she must soon have foundered, and every
soul on board perished. At 4 in the afternoon the barometer fell to
27° 70", and Cummin's mineral sympiesometer left the index.
The hurricane was now most terrific; the part of the poop to leeward
and the cabin-doors and the skylights were literally torn away, and
every moment they expected the poop itself to be carried off. None but
those who have witnessed so awful a tempest at sea could form an idea
of the weight and destructive power of the wind, crushing and beating
every thing to pieces, as if it had been done with a heavy metallic
body. At 8 P. M. the soldiers and sailors could not stand at the
pumps, but were obliged to bale out the water from between decks.
_Tuesday, the 12th._--At the turn of the day the hurricane still
continued, and the rudder was gone. At 1 A. M. they felt the ship
strike, and gave themselves up for lost, expecting every moment to be
engulphed in the depths of the ocean.
But it pleased Him, whom the winds and the sea obey,
"Who plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm,"
to decree otherwise, and, at the moment of impending destruction, the
ship and all her inmates were saved.
After a short time, it was discovered that the ship was thrown on a
reef of rocks, and had bilged; and although the water entered her
through the holes which the rocks had made, and filled her up to the
lower beams, yet that it soon smothered, and, the bilge pieces keeping
her upright, she lay comparatively quiet. But being fearful that she
might beat over the reef into deep water, they let go the larboard
bower-anchor, and shortly afterwards found the water leaving her.
After this all hands fell asleep, being exhausted with fatigue and
hardship. Captain Doutty and the military gentlemen were in Captain
Stapleton's cabin, which was the only one habitable. Captain Doutty
felt too anxious to rest long, but lay watching whilst all was still,
except the beating of the waves and the rain on the poop. He then went
out in front of the poop. He could discern nothing but the surf
breaking heavily on and around his unfortunate vessel. He then lay
down again, wishing earnestly for the break of day.