THE STORM.
Varied by occasional torrents of rain, black, cloudy, and squally
skies, the regular "Cape weather" continued after this, and the
_Princess_ was soon running under close-reefed topsails. So
frequently were the reefs taken in and shaken out, that Bill Morrison
said they reminded him of an old Scottish seaman's rhyme:
"Gif the rain pouirs ere the wind swurl,
Your topsails lowse and gar them furl;
But gif the wind blaws ere pouirs the rain,
Your topsails lowse, and hoist again."
Even the gay spirit of Tom Bartelot became depressed by the gloomy
and threatening state of the weather, and he spent nearly his whole
time on deck, or in observing the compasses, the barometer, and state
of the pumps.
Two days after the strange sail had been seen no the weather-bow, the
glass was still falling, while the sea and wind were rising.
At seven bells, after taking a hurried breakfast Tom found the wind
increasing to a gale, so he took in the maintopgallantsail, the
second reef of his topsails, and set the mainstaysail.
By midday he had to summon all hands on deck.
"Close-reef the topsails, furl mainsail and fore and mizzen-topsail."
These orders followed each other rapidly.
Soon after, the _Princess_ was flying through the gloomy sea under a
close-reefed maintopsail and reefed foresail, shipping a great deal
of water the while, and labouring hard, as her pumps worked ill.
After this, the wind began to die away, the sea went somewhat down,
and then more canvas was spread on the ship; but there were many
indications in the sky and atmosphere which filled Tom and Morrison,
and Gawthrop, too, for he had his nameless nautical instincts, with
anxieties which the younger men of the crew could not fail to
perceive.
"How's the barometer, Morrison?" was the frequent question.
"Still falling slowly, sir."
"What do you think the night will be?" asked Morley.
"There's a gloom, and a closeness too, indicating thunder."
"Aye," said Noah Gawthrop, who had the wheel, "the wind and the sea
will make a fine bobbery together in these parts afore the morning
watch, is called."
"Steward--Ben Plank, get the dead lights shipped," cried Bartelot,
"here comes the squall again! In with all the light sails, Morrison;
hurry forward--'way aloft lads, and lay out on the yards!"
Thus, by six o'clock, she was again running under close-reefed
topsails and foresail.
The clouds were banking up in strange, wild, and fantastic forms to
windward; black and sombre, they were altering every moment,
revealing weird-like patches of white and livid sky beyond. At some
parts of the horizon the blended sea and sky had the darkness of
night, while in the zenith there was at times the brightness almost
of noon.
"I don't like the aspect of all this, Morley," said Bartelot, in a
low voice to his friend; "we are in for a rough, wild night, and I
wish it were well past."
The wind veered rapidly round half of the compass; sometimes it
seemed to blow from all quarters at once. It came in strong and hot
gusts, while, through the bosom of the black clouds at the horizon,
the red lightning seemed to plunge its seething bolts in the sea, and
to add to the sublime terror of such a scene; the atmosphere was so
sulphurous that, at times, luminous lights like fireballs or meteors
were seen on every masthead, yardarm, and beam-end.
"Furl the topsails, lower the yards upon the cap, leave nothing set
but the close-reefed foresail," were now Bartelot's orders.
Morley had never before seen so wild a tempest; but he was now seaman
enough to scramble aloft with the rest, and soon found himself on the
foot-rope, and "laying out" on the arm of the main-yard, and, as he
was first up at the weather-earring, there holding on with all his
strength, for so weird was the scene below, the napping of the
canvas, the snapping of ropes, that cracked like coach-whips in the
bellowing wind, the swaying of the rigging, and the pitching of the
ship, that a terrible nausea came over him, together with a
giddiness, and had not a seaman, named Erwin, who was by his side,
caught him, he might have toppled into the sea, that roared and
seethed below.
Ben Plank, being a strong fellow, had his post in the slings of the
mainyard, to pack the sail, and make up the bunt, or stow the heavy
middle portion. Soon all was snug aloft; but again the wind changed
so rapidly, that it flew round from the south-east to the north-west,
and then with a mighty sound of rending and tearing, the foresail was
split to ribbons, that flapped and cracked like rifle shots in the
tempest, while the ship, which seemed almost enveloped in lightning
for an instant, was almost thrown on her beam-ends.
"Stand from under, men--there go the masts!" shouted Bartelot through
his trumpet, and a stunning peal of thunder bellowed over the ocean
at the same moment.
Then followed a mighty crash, as if the heavens were falling on the
deck, and all shrunk instinctively aside, or stooped downward, as the
three topmasts and jib-boom broke off at the caps, and the _Princess_
was a wreck in a moment.
"Hatchets--cut away the hamper to ease the ship!" was now the order,
and, in a short time, the tangled wilderness of yards, masts,
cross-trees and blocks, stays and rigging, on being cut adrift,
whirled out of sight to leeward, carrying with it the unfortunate
seaman Erwin, who had been caught by the body in the bight of a rope.
By the fall of the mizzen-topniast the starboard quarter-boat was
dashed to pieces, and the other, which was a life-boat, was torn from
its davits and vanished in the darkness like a child's toy, as a
tremendous sea pooped the ship.
"Tom," gasped Morley, as he clung, half-drowned, or stunned, to a
belaying-pin, "are we indeed lost--do you think all is over?"
"Nearly so--if this continues long," was the composed reply. "Hold
on, lads, here comes another sea!"
Now the black waves continued to burst over the vessel with a series
of thundering explosions, as if determined to overwhelm it, till all
around was foam, as white as snow; but though labouring at times with
her gunwale almost under water, her whole deck strewed with fragments
and splinters of timber, bulwarks, buckets, pieces of rope, blocks,
sails, and spars, that were washed to and fro, and while the crew,
knee-deep in this debris, clung to shrouds and belaying-pins, she
rose up buoyantly ever and anon, on the crest of a wave, with all the
water streaming from her, and all the while the wild wind blew in
gusts, and bellowed like an unchained fiend. Amid the terrible scene
another seaman was swept overboard and drowned; the long-boal was
uprooted from its lashings and chocks over the main-hatch, and
carried over the side, by a sea that came right amidships, and tore
away half the starboard-bulwarks, so, fearing that the ship would
founder, Bartelot, with a heavy heart, gave orders to cut away the
lower masts.
The men were soon at work with sharp axes, and, while keeping afoot
with difficulty under the drenching seas, shipped every moment by the
labouring hull, after cutting through the shrouds and stays, a few
blows at the foot of each mast, readily sent them, in succession,
crashing to leeward, where they vanished amid foam and obscurity.
Noah Gawthrop had just relinquislied the now useless wheel, when a
wave broke over the quarter, tearing the rudder from its bands, and
dashing the wheel to pieces.
"All's over with the poor _Princess_, Morley," said Tom, with a
groan; "she won't outlive the night, I fear."
Morrison now came aft to report that the chain-pump had given way,
the other had become choked, and that water was rising fast in the
well.
"She's sprung a leak, sir, somewhere about her fore-foot, so it is a
bad look-out for us all," said Plank, the carpenter.
By this time the bulwarks were all torn away from the stanchions and
timber-heads amidships by the sea, which now made clean breaches over
the entire hull.
Nothing could be done now by the crew, but to leave the ship to her
fate, and to hold on by whatever offered itself, and wait the event
of the storm abating, or, what seemed much more likely, of the ship
foundering, by settling bodily down into the trough of the sea, and
rising never more. Her cargo, too, sugar and tobacco, were the
reverse of buoyant under the circumstances; so now, Morley, Bartelot,
Morrison, the chief mate, Plank, the carpenter, and old Noah, were
all grouped about the quarter-deck, some holding on by the
timber-heads, others by the stump of the mizzenmast, while the rest
of the crew were grouped forward, where they lashed themselves to the
stump of the foremast, the barrel of the windlass, and gallows-bitts;
but so dark was the night, so terrible the sea, and so loud the wind,
that neither party could see or hear anything of the other.
Suddenly there was a rending crash!
An invocation of heaven rose to the lips of all, and a wild,
despairing cry from those in the forecastle reached the ears of our
friends on the quarter-deck. Morley felt the whole ship tremble
beneath his feet, as the entire quarter was burst up, or torn away
from the rest of the hull, and with his companions he found himself
floating on it, as on a species of raft, and up to his neck in water
every moment, while whirled away from the ship, of which they saw no
more, and which, no doubt, went speedily down with all on board.
Just as this happened, Plank, the carpenter, was swept away,
clutching with despair a fragment of wreck.
On this frail remnant of the shattered ship, the other four
unfortunates found themselves adrift on that wild, dark midnight sea,
which whirled it to and fro like a cork on the black, tempestuous
waves.