DEAL MEN TO THE RESCUE.
About ten o'clock on the night of the 11th of February 1894, signals of
distress were observed from the Gull lighthouse by the look-out on
Ramsgate pier. In response the lifeboat _Bradford_ was manned; but on
this occasion she was found to be hard and fast on a sandbank in the
harbour. The boatmen and those on the pier exerted themselves to the
utmost to get her off, but it was not till eleven o'clock that she was
able to proceed to sea, in tow of the tug _Aid_. She was then too late
to render any assistance.
In the meantime the signals from the lightship had been seen at Deal, a
few miles farther south. The boathouse bell was rung, there was a
fierce rush of men for the cork lifebelts hanging round the walls, and
ten minutes later the lifeboat _Mary Somerville_ was manned and
launched. Away she flew before the heavy south-westerly gale, with
Roberts, the coxswain, at the helm, and was soon lost to sight in the
darkness. The vessel in peril was the _Franz von Matheis_, a German
schooner, bound from Sunderland to Portsmouth with a cargo of coal. She
kept burning flares till the lifeboat got alongside. Then the men found
that she was dragging her anchors and heading rapidly towards the
Goodwins.
With great difficulty the _Mary Somerville_ shot under the lea of the
vessel, and several of her crew jumped on board the ship, which had
become unmanageable, owing to the stress of weather. The presence of
the lifeboatmen put fresh strength into the exhausted muscles of the
crew, and all worked together with a will in the hope of saving the
vessel; but it was found impossible for lifeboatmen or crew to move
about on the schooner without sustaining injury. One of the men was
thrown to the deck by a terrific lurch, and had his head cut open, and
every moment increased the peril. The captain therefore decided to
abandon the vessel, and he, with the crew of six, were taken into the
lifeboat.
Even then the danger was not over. The terrific sea and wind caused the
vessel to roll tremendously. One of her yards caught the mizzenmast of
the boat, and broke the fastening which kept it in its place. Down fell
the mast, striking the second coxswain on the head, and knocking him
insensible to the bottom of the boat. For close upon an hour the
gallant fellows battled with the tempest, straining every nerve to get
clear. It indeed seemed as if they and the men they had with them would
never again return to shore. Each wave drove the boat against the side
of the vessel with a horrible, grinding crash. The steering-yoke was
broken, and the boat-hook was snapped in two, "as you would the stem of
a clay-pipe between your fingers." In trying to ward off the vessel
four oars were smashed, and then the men found that their boat was being
held down under the ship's broadside. While in this position, the
tiller, which had taken the place of the steering-yoke, was sprung, a
dozen or more of her stout mahogany planks were started, and her cork
fender was torn to pieces.
At last they cleared the vessel, and as it was impossible, owing to the
fury of the gale, to return to Deal, they made all sail for Ramsgate
harbour. Here they landed the rescued men at a quarter-past one in the
morning. During the day the _Mary Somerville_ was taken back to Deal.
No more vivid picture of the perils through which the lifeboatmen passed
could be desired than that of the bruised and battered lifeboat, as she
lay high and dry in the boathouse that afternoon. The _Franz von
Matheis_ seems afterwards to have got a firm hold, for she remained
riding at anchor very close to the sands. At daybreak next morning a
tug was seen endeavouring to take the abandoned ship in tow, and about
four o'clock in the afternoon she was brought into Ramsgate harbour.