TWO SAILORS WASHED OVERBOARD
DECEMBER 21, night.--The boatswain rushed to the halliards that
supported the sail, and instantly lowered the yard; not a moment too
soon, for with the speed of an arrow the squall was upon us, and if it
had not been for the sailor's timely warning we must all have been
knocked down and probably precipitated into the sea; as it was, our
tent on the back of the raft was carried away.
The raft itself, however, being so nearly level with the water, had
little peril to encounter from the actual wind; but from the mighty
waves now raised by the hurricane we had everything to dread. At first
the waves had been crushed and flattened as it were by the pressure of
the air, but now, as though strengthened by the reaction, they rose
with the utmost fury. The raft followed the motions of the increasing
swell, and was tossed up and down, to and fro, and from side to side
with the most violent oscillations.
"Lash yourselves tight," cried the boatswain, as he threw us some
ropes; and in a few moments with Curtis's assistance, M. Letourneur,
and Andre, Falsten and myself were fastened so firmly to the raft, that
nothing but its total disruption could carry us away. Miss Herbey was
bound by a rope passed round her waist to one of the uprights that had
supported our tent, and by the glare of the lightning I could see that
her countenance was as serene and composed as ever.
Then the storm began to rage indeed. Flash followed flash, peal
followed peal in quick succession. Our eyes were blinded, our ears
deafened, with the roar and glare. The clouds above, the ocean beneath,
seemed verily to have taken fire, and several times I saw forked
lightnings dart upward from the crest of the waves, and mingle with
those that radiated from the fiery vault above. A strong odor of
sulphur pervaded the air, but though thunderbolts fell thick around us,
not one touched our raft.
By two o'clock the storm had reached its height. The hurricane had
increased, and the heavy waves, heated to a strange heat by the general
temperature, dashed over us until we were drenched to the skin. Curtis,
Dowlas, the boatswain, and the sailors did what they could to
strengthen the raft with additional ropes. M. Letourneur placed himself
in front of Andre, to shelter him from the waves. Miss Herbey stood
upright and motionless as a statue.
Soon dense masses of lurid clouds came rolling up, and a crackling,
like the rattle of musketry, resounded through the air. This was
produced by a series of electrical concussions, in which volleys of
hailstones were discharged from the cloud-batteries above. In fact, as
the storm-sheet came in contact with a current of cold air, hail was
formed with great rapidity, and hailstones, large as nuts, came pelting
down, making the platform of the raft re-echo with a metallic ring.
For about half an hour the meteoric shower continued to descend, and
during that time the wind slightly abated in violence; but after having
shifted from quarter to quarter, it once more blew with all its former
fury. The shrouds were broken, but happily the mast, already bending
almost double, was removed by the men from its socket before it should
be snapped short off.. One gust caught away the tiller, which went
adrift beyond all power of recovery, and the same blast blew down
several of the planks that formed the low parapet on the larboard side,
so that the waves dashed in without hindrance through the breach.
The carpenter and his mates tried to repair the damage, but, tossed
from wave to wave, the raft was inclined to an angle of more than
forty-five degrees, making it impossible for them to keep their
footing, and rolling one over another, they were thrown down by the
violent shocks. Why they were not altogether carried away, why we were
not all hurled into the sea, was to me a mystery. Even if the cords
that bound us should retain their hold, it seemed perfectly incredible
that the raft itself should not be overturned, so that we should be
carried down and stifled in the seething waters.
At last, toward three in the morning, when the hurricane seemed to be
raging more fiercely than ever, the raft, caught up on the crest of an
enormous wave, stood literally perpendicularly on its edge. For an
instant, by the illumination of the lightning, we beheld ourselves
raised to an incomprehensible height above the foaming breakers. Cries
of terror escaped our lips. All must be over now! But no; another
moment, and the raft had resumed its horizontal position. Safe, indeed,
we were, but the tremendous upheaval was not without its melancholy
consequences.
The cords that secured the cases of provisions had burst asunder. One
case rolled overboard, and the side of one of the water-barrels was
staved in, so that the water which it contained was rapidly escaping.
Two of the sailors rushed forward to rescue the case of preserved meat;
but one of them caught his foot between the planks of the platform,
and, unable to disengage it, the poor fellow stood uttering cries of
distress.
I tried to go to his assistance, and had already untied the cord that
was around me; but I was too late.
Another heavy sea dashed over us, and by the light of a dazzling flash
I saw the unhappy man, although he had managed without assistance to
disengage his foot, washed overboard before it was in my power to get
near him. His companion had also disappeared.
The same ponderous wave laid me prostrate on the platform, and as my
head came in collision with the corner of a spar, for a time I lost all
consciousness.