for the moment fairly under the frigate's guns. But Winter soon very
cleverly got himself out of this awkward situation, and,--while the
Frenchmen were busily engaged in an endeavour to clear away the wreck
and get their ship once more before the wind,--laid himself athwart
their bows and, with his topsail aback, poured broadside after broadside
into the helpless craft; while the _Dolphin_, gliding hither and
thither, beyond the reach of the frigate's guns, sent home an eighteen-
pound shot every two or three minutes, every one of which appeared to
tell somewhere or other on the Frenchman's hull. We now ran away from
them, fast, however, and by noon had lost sight of them altogether.
But, when last seen, they were still hammering away at each other, the
brigantine and schooner appearing to be getting rather the best of it.
Once fairly out of sight of the combatants, we took in our studding-
sails, and hauled our wind to the northward, in obedience to Captain
Winter's orders; and although I had a sharp look-out for the _Dolphin_
and her consort maintained throughout the whole of the next day, I was
not greatly surprised at their not heaving in sight. I had not much
misgiving as to the ultimate result of the fight; but I believed that
the brigantine at least would not get off without a rather severe
mauling, in which case the schooner would naturally stand by her until
she could be again put into decent workable trim.
The fourth day after the fight dawned without bringing us a sight of our
consorts, and I then began to feel rather uneasy; fearing that they had
probably missed us, somehow, and that we should have to make our way
home as best we could, unprotected; and to enter the English Channel
just then, unprotected, meant almost certain capture. For although the
Indiaman was certainly armed, after a fashion, most of her guns were
"quakers", while the others--ten in all--were only six-pounders; and it
would need the whole of her crew to work her only, under her awkward
jury-rig, with no one to spare for fighting. However, it was useless to
meet trouble half-way; so I determined to plod steadily onward and
homeward, hoping for the best. Hitherto, ever since the day of our
meeting with the Frenchman, we had experienced moderate but steady
breezes from the northward and eastward, but on the day of which I am
now writing there were indications of an impending change. The wind
gradually died down to a light, fitful air that came in flaws, first
from one quarter of the compass and then from another, lasting but a few
minutes, with lengthening intervals of calm between them, while huge
piles of black, thunderous-looking cloud gradually heaped up along the
northern horizon until they had overspread the whole sky. The
barometer, too, exhibited a tendency to fall; but the decline was so
slight that I was of opinion it meant no more than perhaps a sharp
thunder-squall, particularly as there was no swell making; moreover
there was a close, thundery feeling in the stagnating air, which
increased as the day grew older. It was not, however, until about an
hour after sunset, and just as we were sitting down to dinner in the
cuddy, that the outbreak commenced; which it did with a sudden, blinding
flash of lightning that darted out of the welkin almost immediately
overhead, instantly followed by a deafening crash of thunder that caused
the Indiaman to tremble to her keel; the sensation being not unlike what
one would expect to feel if the craft were being swept rapidly along
over a sandy bottom which she just touched.
This first flash was soon followed by another, not quite so near at
hand, then by another, and another, and another, until the lightning was
playing all about us in such rapidly succeeding flashes that the whole
atmosphere was luminous with a continuous quivering of ghastly blue-
green light, while the heavens resounded and the ship trembled with the
unbroken crash and roll of the thunder. The spectacle was magnificent,
but it was also rather trying to the nerves; the lightning being so
dazzlingly vivid that it was positively blinding, while I had never
heard such awful thunder before, even in the West Indies. Several of
the lady passengers, indeed, were so unnerved by the storm that they
retreated from the table and shut themselves into their cabins. Even
young Dumaresq, who had hitherto appeared to be irrepressible, was
subdued by the awful violence of the turmoil that raged around us. He
was admitting something to this effect to me when he was cut short by a
blaze of lightning that seemed to envelop the whole ship in a sheet of
flame; there was a rending shock, violent enough to suggest that the
Indiaman had come into violent collision with another vessel--although
we were fully aware that such a thing could not be, the weather at the
moment being stark calm,--the hot air seemed to suddenly become
surcharged with a strong sulphurous smell; and then came a peal of
thunder of so terrific and soul-subduing a character that it might have
been the crash of a shattered world. For a brief space we were all so
thoroughly overpowered, so awed and overwhelmed by this tremendous
manifestation of the Creator's power that we remained speechless and
motionless on our seats; then, as the echo of the thunder rumbled away
into the distance, and our hearing gradually recovered from the shock of
that last dreadful detonation, we became aware of loud shrieks of pain
out on deck, a brilliant light, a confused rush and scurry of feet, and
shouts of:
"Fire! fire! The ship's been struck, and is all ablaze!"
At the cry, Captain Chesney, Dumaresq, and I sprang to our feet and
dashed out on deck. Merciful Heaven! what an appalling scene met our
gaze! The foremast had been struck, and was cloven in twain from the
jury topgallant-mast-head to the deck; it had also been set on fire, and
the blazing mass of timber, cordage, and canvas had fallen back upon the
mainmast, setting the sails and rigging of that mast also on fire; the
flames blazing fiercely as they writhed and coiled about the spars and
darted hither and thither, like fiery serpents, through the mazes of the
tarred and highly inflammable rigging. But that was by no means the
worst of it. The lightning, upon reaching the deck, appeared to have
darted hither and thither in the most extraordinary way, for we
presently discovered that a considerable quantity of metal-work, such as
iron bands, belaying-pins, bolts, the chain topsail-sheets, and other
such matters had been either wholly or partially fused by the terrific
heat of the electric discharge; while several silent, prostrate figures
on the deck, scorched black, and with their clothing burnt from their
bodies, told that death had been busy in that awful instant when the
bolt had struck the ship. But there was worse even than that; for there
were other figures crouched and huddled upon the deck, moaning piteously
with pain; and one man stood erect, with his hands clasped over his
eyes, and his head thrown back, shrieking to be taken below, for he had
been struck blind!
It was a dreadful moment; a moment of frightful peril, and of horror
indescribable; a moment when a man might well be excused if he found
himself temporarily overmastered by the accumulated terrors of his
surroundings; but Chesney, the captain of the Indiaman, proved equal to
the occasion. For a single instant he stood aghast at the awful
spectacle that met his horrified gaze; then he pulled himself together
and, instinctively assuming the command--as, under the circumstances, he
was perfectly justified in doing,--he made his voice ring from end to
end of the ship as he ordered all hands to be called. The order,
however, was scarcely necessary, for by this time the watch below--
startled by the shock of the lightning-stroke, the shrieks of the
injured, and that indefinable conviction of something being wrong that
occasionally seizes people upon the occurrence of some dire
catastrophe--were tumbling up through the fore-scuttle with much of the
hurry and confusion of panic, which was greatly increased when they
beheld the masts, sails, and rigging all ablaze. By voice and example,
however, we presently contrived to steady them and get them under
control; and then, while one gang was told off to convey the injured men
below--Dumaresq meanwhile hurrying away to summon the doctor, who was
busily engaged in the cabin, endeavouring to soothe some of the lady
passengers, who were in hysterics,--the rest of the crew were set to
work to rig the pumps, muster the buckets, and pass along the hose. In
a few minutes all was ready, the pumps were started, and the chief mate,
with a line to which the end of the hose was bent, climbed up into the
main-top, from which he began to play upon the fire. But by this time
the flames had acquired such a firm hold upon the spars, canvas, and
heavily tarred rigging that the jet of water from the hose proved quite
incapable of producing any visible effect whatever upon them; and the
mate himself soon became so hemmed in by the fire that he was in the
very act of retreating to the deck when the flood-gates of heaven were
opened, and the rain suddenly pelted down in such overwhelming torrents
that in less than five minutes the conflagration aloft was completely
extinguished; but not until the sails had been burnt to tinder, the
spars badly charred, and most of the standing and running rigging
destroyed.
With the outburst of rain that had rendered us such excellent service
the violence of the storm sensibly abated, perhaps because it had nearly
spent itself; at all events the lightning discharges now succeeded each
other at steadily lengthening intervals as the storm passed away to the
southward, the thunder died down to a distant booming and rumbling, and
finally ceased altogether in about an hour and a half from the
commencement of the outbreak, while the lightning became a harmless,
fitful quivering of vari-coloured light along the southern horizon.
But we were now in a most awkward predicament; a predicament that might
easily become disastrous should it come on to blow, as was by no means
impossible. For not only had three men been killed outright and eight
more or less seriously injured by that terrible lightning-stroke, but
our sails were gone, our foremast destroyed, and our rigging so badly
injured that our main and mizzen-masts stood practically unsupported;
while we had too much reason to fear that the masts and spars themselves
were so seriously weakened by the play of the flames upon them as to
have become of little or no use to us. And, to crown all, it was now so
pitch-dark that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain
the full extent of our disaster until daylight. Our situation, however,
was too critical to admit of our waiting until then; it was of vital
importance that immediate steps should be taken to secure what had been
left to us; and, with this object, the carpenter and boatswain procured
lanterns with which they proceeded aloft to make a critical examination
into the condition of the spars and rigging. They were thus engaged
when the doctor, who had been down in the forecastle, attending to the
hurts of the wounded men, appeared on deck, and, catching sight of
Captain Chesney and myself standing together under the break of the
poop, beckoned us to follow him into his cabin.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MANILLA.
"I will only detain you a moment, gentlemen," said the medico, as he
closed the cabin door behind us; "but I wanted to speak to you strictly
in private; since, if overheard, what I have to say might possibly
produce a panic. The fact is that I am afraid we are not yet aware of
the full extent of the disaster that has happened to us. I have been
down in the forecastle attending to the wounded men; and I had no sooner
entered the place than I noticed a faint smell as of burning; but I
attached no importance to it at the moment, believing that it arose from
the fire on deck. But, instead of passing away, as it ought to have
done, with the extinguishment of the fire, it has persistently
continued; and I am almost inclined to believe that it is now, if
anything, rather stronger than it was when I went below. Do you think
it possible that the ship's cargo is on fire?"
"By Jove!" exclaimed the skipper; "I never thought of that. It shall be
looked to at once. I am much obliged to you, Doctor, for mentioning the
matter; and should have been even more so if you had communicated with
me rather earlier. Come along, Bowen; we must investigate without
further delay."
The doctor hurriedly entered into an explanation to the effect that he
could not leave his patients until they had been properly attended to,
and that there was no one by whom he could send a message; but we could
just then ill spare the time to listen to him; so, with a hasty
acceptance of his excuses, the skipper led the way out on deck, I
following.
We made our way straight to the forecastle, into which we forthwith
descended; and, sure enough, we were no sooner fairly below the coamings
of the hatchway than we became aware of a distinct smell of fire, to
which also one of the less seriously injured of the wounded men
immediately directed our attention. We sniffed about, hither and
thither, and soon found that the smell was stronger as we stooped nearer
to the deck, or approached the bulkhead dividing the fore-hold from the
forecastle. It was now almost certain that there was a smouldering of
something somewhere below; and without more ado the skipper flung off
his coat, lifted the hatch of the forepeak, and descended. He remained
below about five minutes; and when he reappeared he composedly closed
the hatch, resumed his coat, and beckoned me to follow him on deck. The
crew were now busily engaged, under the direction of the chief and
second mates, in clearing away the wreck of the foremast; we therefore
walked aft until we were out of hearing of everybody; when the captain
paused, and, turning to me, said:
"I am very much afraid that the ship is on fire, but I cannot be sure.
The smell is distinctly stronger in the forepeak than it is in the
forecastle, yet not strong enough to lead to the belief that it is
anything serious. Still, it must be attended to at once. So I shall
knock off the men, call them aft, and speak to them before doing
anything, or we shall have a panic among them. Then I shall have the
fore-hatch opened, and proceed to make a proper examination of the
cargo. Mr Priest," he continued, calling to the chief mate, "knock the
men off for a minute or two, and send them aft, if you please."
The mate, marvelling, no doubt, at this untimely interruption of an
operation of great importance, did as he was bid, and in a few minutes
all hands, except the injured men, were mustered in the waist, waiting
to hear what the skipper had to say to them. As soon as silence had
been secured, Captain Chesney advanced and said:
"My lads, I have sent for you to come aft in order that I may
communicate to you a matter that may prove of very considerable
consequence to us all, and to invite your best assistance and co-
operation in an investigation that I am about to cause to be made. The
matter in question may or may not prove to be of an alarming character;
but, in case of its turning out to be the latter, I want to impress upon
you all the paramount importance of order, method, and the most implicit
obedience, without which nothing of real importance can ever be
achieved. There is at critical moments an impulse in every man to think
and act independently, under the conviction that no one is so capable as
himself of dealing efficiently and effectually with the matter in hand,
and when this impulse prevails confusion and disorder follow, and all
useful effort is frustrated. Where a number of men are working jointly
together there must be a leader--one who will think for and direct the
efforts of the rest, and it is essential to success that the orders of
that leader should be obeyed. Now, in the present case, my lads, I will
do all the thinking and planning and arranging, and if you will do the
work quietly, methodically, and steadily there is no reason why all
should not be well.
"I have said all this with a double purpose: first, to prepare you for
rather serious news; and, second, to quiet and steady you for the work
which lies before us. And, first, as to the news. I fear that the
lightning has done us rather more damage than we have hitherto had
reason to suppose. In a word, men, I fear that it has set the cargo on
fire--steady, lads, steady; I only say I fear that such is the case; I
am by no means certain of it. But it is necessary that the matter
should be investigated forthwith; I am, therefore, about to have the
fore-hatch lifted and the cargo examined. Mr Priest, you, with your
watch, will take off the hatches and rouse the cargo up on deck; and
you, Mr Simcoe, with the starboard watch, will muster the buckets
again, rig the pumps, and lead along the hose ready to play upon the
fire, should such be discovered. Away, all of you, to your duty."
It may possibly be thought by the reader that the above was rather a
long speech for a man to make at a time when he believed the ship to be
on fire under his feet, and when moments were consequently precious;
but, after all, the delay amounted to only some three minutes, and those
three minutes were well spent, for the skipper's speech had the effect
of steadying the men, subduing any tendency to panic among them, and
rendering them amenable to that strict discipline which is of such
inestimable value and importance in the presence of great emergencies.
They went away to their work in as quiet and orderly a manner as though
they had been dismissed below.
The wedges were quickly knocked out, the battens removed, the tarpaulin
stripped off, the hatches lifted, and the upper tier of cargo disclosed,
with the result that almost immediately a thin wreath of pale-brown
smoke began to stream up from between the bales and cases.
"No mistake about that, sir," observed the chief mate to the skipper,
pointing to the curling smoke wreaths; "there's fire somewhere down
there. Now, lads, let's get down to it, and make short work of it.
You, Jim, and Simpson, get to work, and break out that bale and as much
else as you can get at, and rouse it out on deck. Chips! ... Where's
the carpenter?"
"Here I are, Mr Priest," answered the carpenter, emerging from the
forecastle hatchway after having stowed away his mawl again in the most
methodical manner.
"That's right," observed the mate. "Now, Chips, our foremast having
gone, we want a derrick or a pair of sheers over this hatchway to help
us in breaking out the cargo. Find a spar, or something that will serve
our purpose, and let the bo'sun rig up what we want. Well done, men;
now, out with that crate; jump down into that hole, one or two of you,
and lend the others a hand."
The work went forward rapidly and steadily, and in a very short time
there was a goodly display of cargo on the deck about the fore-hatch.
The smoke, however, which at first had streamed up in a mere thread-like
wreath, was now pouring out of the hatch in a cloud so dense that the
men working at the cargo were obliged to be relieved every three or four
minutes to avoid suffocation. The business was beginning to assume a
very serious aspect. And now, too, the storm having passed off, the
passengers had ventured out on deck once more, and, observing the lights
and the bustle forward, had gradually approached the fore end of the
ship to see what was going on. The skipper, however, at once ordered
them aft again, and, following them into the cuddy, explained just how
matters stood, remaining with them until their excitement had subsided
and he had got them pretty well in hand.
Hitherto no water had been used, Captain Chesney being anxious to get as
much of the cargo as possible--which was mostly of a valuable
character--out on deck uninjured; but the rapidly increasing density and
volume of the smoke showed that the question of damaging the cargo had
now become a secondary one. The safety of the ship herself was
imperilled, and the head pump was accordingly manned, the hose coupled
up, and the second mate pointed it down the hatchway, while the third
mate superintended the operations of a party of men who had been set to
draw water and pass along a chain of buckets by hand. But when water
had been pouring continuously down the hatchway for fully a quarter of
an hour, and the smoke continued to stream up from below in ever-
increasing volume, unmingled with any indication of steam, it became
apparent that the seat of the fire was at some distance, for the water
had evidently not yet reached the flames. Nevertheless, the men worked
steadily on; but whereas at the commencement of their labours they had
sung out their "Yo-ho's" and "Heave-ho's", and other encouraging
exclamations, after the manner of sailors engaged in arduous labour,
they now toiled on in grim silence.
At length a feathery jet of white vapour began to mingle with the thick
column of smoke surging up the hatchway, and was immediately greeted
with a shout of triumph by the mate, followed by a few crisp
ejaculations of encouragement to the men, who apparently accepted the
same in good faith. Nevertheless, I could see by Priest's face that,
although he might have deceived the men, he had not deceived himself,
and that he knew, as well as I did, that the appearance of steam was an
indication, not that the water had reached the fire, but that the fire
had spread sufficiently to reach the water, a very different and much
more serious matter.
Suddenly the smoke thickened into a dense black cloud of a pungent, waxy
odour, and immediately afterwards bright tongues of flame came darting
up between the bales and packages upon which the men in the hold were
working. There was a loud, hissing sound, as the water that was being
poured down the hatchway became converted into steam, and then, with a
quick, unexpected roar of fire, the flames shot up in such fierce volume
that the men were driven precipitately up on deck.
"Ah!" ejaculated the mate in an aside to me; "I know what that is; and
it's what I've been fearing. There's a lot of shellac and gums of
different sorts down there, and the fire's got at 'em. They'll burn
like oil, or worse, and I'm afraid we shall have our work cut out now to
get the fire under."
I fully agreed with him, or rather I began to entertain a suspicion that
the ship was doomed, for the heat, even while the mate had been
speaking, had grown intense. The whole contents of the hatchway had
burst into flame, and the ruddy tongues of fire were now darting through
the hatchway, as through a chimney, to a height of fully twenty feet
above the deck. The coamings were on fire, the pitch was beginning to
bubble and boil out of the seams of the deck planking, and the planks
themselves were already uncomfortably hot to stand upon. Unless the
fire could somehow be checked it seemed to me that it would soon be time
to think about getting out the boats.
The skipper meanwhile had come forward again, and, although looking very
anxious, was, I was glad to see, perfectly self-possessed.
"We shall have to clap the hatches on again, Mr Priest, and endeavour
to smother the fire," said he. "Let it be done at once."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Priest. "Now then, lads, on with the hatches
some of you. Shall the carpenter cut holes in the deck, sir, for the
water to pass through?"
"Yes," answered the skipper. "We must keep the hose going, certainly."
But when the men came to attempt the replacing of the hatches, it was
found that the fire was already too much for them. The heat was so
fierce, and the flames poured forth so continuously, that they could not
get near enough to the hatchway to achieve their object. Then the
skipper and I made the attempt, with no better success, getting severely
scorched for our pains.
"Perhaps," said I, "it might be possible to do something with a wetted
sail--"
"An excellent suggestion, for which I am much obliged to you, Mr
Bowen!" exclaimed the skipper, interrupting me. "It shall be tried at
once."