A main-topgallant-sail was got up out of the sail-room and dropped
overboard, made fast by a line to one of the clews. Then, as soon as it
was thoroughly saturated, it was dragged inboard, stretched athwart the
deck, and dragged over the flaming hatchway, several men holding it in
position while the carpenter rapidly spiked the head and foot of it to
the deck. Meanwhile, the hose was played incessantly upon it, while
bucket after bucket of water was emptied into it with frantic energy
until the hollow of it over the hatchway was full of water. By keeping
a continuous stream of water pouring into this hollow we seemed to check
the fire for a time, although it was difficult work, on account of the
great clouds of scalding steam that soon began to rise from the water.
But in less than a quarter of an hour the scorched canvas gave way. The
water that it had contained plumped down through the rent on to the
blazing cargo, and was immediately converted into a vast volume of steam
that momentarily checked the fire, and then the flames leaped up again
far more fiercely than ever.
"It is no good," murmured the skipper, turning to me; "the ship is
doomed! The fire is rapidly spreading in spite of all that we can do.
There is nothing for it, therefore, but to take to the boats, and the
sooner that they are in the water the better."
This was quite my own opinion, and I said so. The chief mate was
accordingly called aside and given his instructions, and while the
second mate, with his gang, continued to fight the fire, Mr Priest,
with a few picked men, went to work to provision and water the several
boats preparatory to getting them into the water. The long-boat was an
exception to this arrangement. She stood on chocks upon the top of the
main hatch, and, under ordinary circumstances, was hoisted out by means
of yard tackles on the fore and main-yard-arms. Now, however, that the
foremast was destroyed, it was no longer possible to handle her in this
way, and the only plan that suggested itself was to launch her bodily
off the deck, afterwards bailing out such water as she would probably
ship during the operation. This was accordingly done very successfully,
and in about two hours' time all the boats were alongside, with oars,
rowlocks, a baler each, masts, sails, and other gear complete, and as
much provisions and water as there was room for after allowing space for
the necessary complement of passengers and crew. The Indiaman was well
provided with boats, so there was room for everybody without
overcrowding.
While these preparations had been going on, Captain Chesney had been in
the cuddy, stating the condition of affairs to the passengers, and
directing them to prepare for their forthcoming boat-voyage by dressing
in their warmest clothing and providing themselves with such extra wraps
as would be useful at night or during severe weather. He also permitted
them to each take a small package of valuables with them, explaining at
the same time that they must be prepared to throw these overboard should
the boats prove to be dangerously deep in the water, or should bad
weather come on.
At length, all being ready, the process of embarkation in the boats
began, both gangways being used for this purpose. First of all, the
crew of the long-boat and the first cutter descended into their
respective boats, and stood by to receive the other occupants. The
long-boat was a particularly fine and roomy craft, with accommodation
enough to take all the women and children in her, and these were now
accordingly ushered down the accommodation ladder, each being called by
name by the skipper, who stood at the gangway with a list in his hand,
which he ticked off by the light of the flames as each person left the
ship. This was at the starboard gangway. Meanwhile Simcoe, the second
mate, at the port gangway, was receiving the men who had been injured by
the lightning that had set the ship on fire. All these were taken into
the second cutter, and her full complement was made up with bachelor
passengers. As soon as these two boats had received their full number
they were ordered to pull away from the ship far enough to allow two
other boats to come to the gangway, which in like manner quickly
received their human freight, and hauled off. And so the work went on
until everybody but the skipper and myself had left the ship, the gig,
with eight hands, being at the gangway to receive us. The whole of the
fore part of the ship, to within a few feet of the main hatchway, was by
this time a roaring and blazing fiery furnace, the flames of which
reached as high as the main-topmast-head. Part of the fore deck had
fallen in; the heel of the bowsprit had been consumed, causing the spar,
with all attached, to plunge into the water under the bows, and the deck
planking, as far aft as the gangway, was almost unendurably hot to stand
upon, while small tongues of flame were constantly springing into
existence here and there about us in the most extraordinary way as the
timber ignited with the intense heat. There was consequently not a
moment to lose, and, as Captain Chesney very rightly insisted upon being
the last to leave the ship, I wasted no time in making my way down into
the gig, which I was to command, and into which I had already passed my
few traps and my sextant. The skipper, meanwhile, had gone into the
cuddy to take a final look round. He was absent nearly five minutes,
and I was growing so anxious about him that I was at the point of
leaving the boat again to hunt him up, when he appeared at the head of
the gangway. The poor fellow seemed to be dreadfully cut up as he
allowed his glances to wander fore and aft the noble ship, now ablaze
almost to the spot upon which he stood, and with thick jets of black
smoke and little tongues of flame forcing their way through the seams at
a hundred different points. He had commanded the vessel ever since she
left the stocks; he had conducted her safely to-and-fro over thousands
of miles of ocean, through fair weather and foul; he had studied her
until he had come to know every quality that she possessed, good or bad;
had taken pride in the first, and found ample excuses for the last; he
had grown to love her, almost as a man loves his wife or child, and now
the moment had come when he must abandon her to the devouring flames
that had already seared and destroyed her beauty, and were fast reducing
her to a charred, shapeless shell of blazing timber. Involuntarily, as
it seemed to me, he doffed his cap, as a man might do in the presence of
the dying, standing there in the gangway, with his figure in bold relief
against the glowing furnace of flame and the dense volumes of heavy,
wreathing, fire-illumined smoke, while his eyes seemed to wander hither
and thither about the burning ship as though unable to drag himself
away; but at length the fire burst through the deck close to where he
stood. Fiery flakes were falling thickly about him; the mainmast was
tottering ominously; it was obviously full time to be gone. Such hints
were not to be ignored, and replacing his cap upon his head with one
hand as he dashed the other across his eyes, he slowly descended the
ladder and gave the word to shove off. The men, who had latterly been
growing very anxious and fidgety, lost no time in obeying the order.
But we were none too soon, for the gig had barely left the gangway when
the mainmast fell over the side with a loud crash and a fierce up-
darting of millions of fiery sparks, followed by a great spout of flame
that seemed to indicate that the mast, in falling, had torn up a
considerable portion of the deck. The poor skipper, who had sunk down
beside me in the stern-sheets of the boat, shuddered violently and
heaved a heavy, gasping sigh as the mainmast struck the water close
under the boat's stern, raising a splash that nearly drenched us to the
skin.
"Another half-minute and I should have been too late," he murmured, with
a ghastly smile. "Well," he continued, "so far as the poor old ship is
concerned, my duty is done. But there is still a heavy responsibility
resting upon me, inasmuch as that the lives of all these people depend
almost exclusively upon my judgment and foresight. Put me aboard the
long-boat, please."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE GIG IS CAUGHT IN A GALE.
Did as the skipper had requested, receiving young Dumaresq into the gig
in his place, and then the several boats lay upon their oars, awaiting
further orders.
Captain Chesney seemed to be very reluctant, even now, to quit the
neighbourhood of the burning ship; and therein I considered that he was
displaying sound judgment, for the weather was still stark calm, and
whatever movement we might make would have to be executed with the oars,
which would soon result in greatly fatiguing the men without any
commensurate advantage. Moreover the Indiaman was now a blazing beacon,
the light from which would be distinctly visible at a distance of at
least thirty or forty miles in every direction, and would be sure to
attract attention should any craft be in the neighbourhood, probably
leading to her steering in our direction as soon as a breeze should
spring up; in which case we might all hope to be picked up.
That this was in his mind was evident, for he presently summoned all the
boats about him, and pointed out to their occupants the possibilities of
rescue by remaining in the neighbourhood of the burning ship, and he
then went on to say:
"Our reckoning at noon showed that we were then--as we have since
remained--seven hundred and twenty miles south-west by south from the
island of Corvo, one of the Azores, which is the nearest land. There is
a small town called Rosario upon this island, where, if we can but reach
it, I have no doubt we can obtain succour; and I therefore intend to
steer for Corvo, not only for the reason that I have mentioned, but also
because most homeward-bound ships endeavour to make the Azores, and we
therefore stand a very good chance of being picked up at any moment.
Now, gentlemen, those of you who are in charge of boats will be pleased
to remember that the course is north-east by north, and the distance
seven hundred and twenty miles. You will also be pleased to remember
that the boats are to keep company as long as the weather will permit,
unless otherwise ordered by me. And now, as I do not intend to make a
start until to-morrow morning, you had better arrange the watches in
each boat, and secure all the rest that you can."
This very sensible recommendation was at once adopted all round; but, as
far as the gig was concerned, sleep appeared to be out of the question,
the strong glare of light from the burning ship--although the boats had
hauled off to a distance of fully half a mile from her--and, still more,
the novelty and excitement of our situation, seeming to have completely
banished slumber from our eyelids.
At length, toward two o'clock in the morning--by which time the Indiaman
had become the mere shell of a ship, a blazing furnace from stem to
stern,--a light breeze sprang up from the north-north-east, almost dead
in our teeth for the voyage to the Azores; and the order was passed
along for the boats to set their sails and make short reaches, for the
purpose of maintaining their position near the ship. This was done, and
then the only bad quality that the boats appeared to possess rapidly
declared itself. They were, one and all, staunch, well-built, and
finely-modelled boats, excellently adapted for their work in all
respects save one, which, in the present case, was of very great
importance: their keels were so shallow that they had no grip of the
water; and the result of this was that, as we quickly discovered, they
would not turn to windward. The gig, which had been built with an
especial eye to speed, was the least serious offender in this respect;
indeed, so long as the water remained smooth, we managed to hold our own
with her, and a trifle to spare; the long-boat, probably from her size
and superior depth of body, came next; but the others sagged away to
leeward from the first, despite the utmost efforts of those in charge;
and, consequently, in order to remain in company, we were obliged to
bear up and run down to them. Within an hour from the moment of making
sail we were a mile to leeward of the ship; and with the steady
freshening of the breeze we continued to increase our distance from her.
The day at length broke, disclosing a sea ruffled to a hue of purest
sapphire, flecked with little ridges of snowy foam by the whipping of
the now fresh breeze, under a sky of blue, dappled with small, wool-like
white clouds that came sailing up, squadron after squadron, out of the
north-east, at a speed that told of a fiery breeze in the higher reaches
of the atmosphere; and a sharp look-out for the gleaming canvas of a
passing ship was at once instituted, but without result. About half an
hour later the skipper, who was but a short distance to leeward of us,
waved us to close; and when we had done so the long-boat and the gig ran
down in company to the other boats in succession, Captain Chesney
ordering each, as we passed, to follow him, until we finally all found
ourselves near the jolly-boat, which was the most leewardly boat of all.
The little flotilla then closed round the long-boat, which had been
hove-to, and the skipper, standing up in the stern-sheets, addressed us:
"Gentlemen," said he, "it is, as you may well imagine, a great
disappointment to me to discover that the boats exhibit such very poor
weatherly qualities, since it renders it plain that, unless something
can be done to improve them in that respect, it will be useless for us
to think of carrying out my original plan of making for the Azores in
the teeth of the present foul wind. A plan has occurred to me that may
possibly have the effect of helping the boats to go to windward, and I
should like you all to try it. If it answers, well and good; if it does
not, I am afraid there will be nothing for it but for us to try for the
Canaries, which are considerably further away from us than the Azores,
but which also lie much further to the southward, and consequently
afford us a better chance, with the wind as it now is.
"And now as to my plan for helping the boats to turn to windward. They
are all fitted with bottom-boards; and I am of opinion that, if the
triangular bottom-board in the stern-sheets is suspended over the lee
side amidships by means of short lengths of line bent on to two of the
corners, the arrangement will serve as a lee-board, and the boats will
go to windward, although their speed may be slightly decreased. At all
events I should like to give the plan a trial; so get your bottom-boards
rigged at once, gentlemen, if you please, somewhat after the fashion of
this affair that I have arranged."
So saying, the skipper exhibited the long-boat's board, fitted to serve
as a lee-board, and forthwith dropped it over the side, secured by a
couple of stout lanyards, the other ends of which were made fast to the
boat's thwarts. It appeared to require but little arranging, the leeway
of the boat pressing it close to her side, and retaining it there in its
proper position. The other boats were not long in following the
skipper's example. Five minutes sufficed to get the lee-boards into
action, and then the squadron hauled its wind, with the object of
beating back to the neighbourhood of the ship. The value of Captain
Chesney's idea soon became apparent, for in less than an hour we had
reached far enough to windward to enable us to fetch the ship on the
next tack. But we did not go about; for just at that time the wreck,
burnt to the water's edge, suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of her
late presence but a dense cloud of mingled steam and smoke, that
gradually swept away to leeward astern of us.
The boats were on the starboard tack, and were kept so throughout the
day, that being the leg upon which we could do best with the wind as it
then was; and at noon an observation of the sun was secured which, the
skipper having his chronometer and charts with him, showed that we were
eleven miles nearer to our destination than we had been when we left the
ship. This was no great slice out of a distance of more than seven
hundred miles, but neither was it by any means discouraging, taking into
consideration the distance that we had lost during the night. As for
the passengers, particularly the women and children, they were in
wonderfully good spirits, seeming to regard the boat-voyage rather as a
pleasure-trip than the serious matter that it really was. The breeze
continuing to freshen, it at length became necessary for the long-boat
and ourselves to haul down a reef, in order that we might not outsail
and run away from the remainder of the flotilla. But, despite
everybody's most strenuous efforts, the boats manifested a decided
disposition to become widely scattered, and it was only by the faster
sailers heaving-to occasionally that the sluggards were enabled to keep
in company. This proved so serious an obstacle to progress that just
before sunset the long-boat again displayed the signal to close, and
when we had done so the skipper informed us that, in view of the great
difference in the sailing powers of the several boats, he withdrew his
prohibition as to parting company, and that from that moment each boat
would be at liberty to do the best that she could for herself. And it
appeared to me that this was a most sensible decision to arrive at,
since, taking into account the long distance to be traversed, the
determination to regulate the progress of the entire squadron by that of
the slowest boat must necessarily entail a very serious lengthening of
the period of exposure and privation for those in the faster boats.
Sail was accordingly made by the long-boat and ourselves; and when
darkness closed down upon the scene, the gig was leading by about half a
mile, the long-boat coming next, and the remainder stringing out astern,
at distances varying from three-quarters of a mile to twice as far.
It must not be supposed that, on this first day in the boats, the
novelty of our situation caused us to feel indifferent to the
possibility of a sail heaving in sight; on the contrary, one man in each
boat was told off for the especial purpose of keeping a look-out; and I,
for one, felt it to be a serious misfortune that up to nightfall nothing
had been sighted; for, to tell the whole truth, I regarded the
possibility of our reaching either Corvo or the Canaries as mighty
problematical, trusting for our eventual rescue very much more to the
chance of our falling in with a ship and being picked up.
About eight bells of the second dog-watch the wind, which had been
gradually freshening all day, freshened still more, piping up
occasionally in so squally a fashion that I deemed it prudent to again
haul down a reef; and by midnight it had become necessary to take in a
second reef, the sky having clouded over, with a thick and rather dirty
look to windward, while the wind came along in such heavy puffs that,
staunch boat as was the gig, we had our work cut out at times to keep
her lee gunwale above water. Moreover, a short, steep, choppy sea had
been raised that proved very trying to us, the boat driving her sharp
stem viciously into it, and throwing frequent heavy showers of spray
over herself, that not only drenched us all to the skin, but also
necessitated the continuous use of the baler. Fortunately, we were not
very greatly crowded; so that, despite the weight of our party and that
of our provisions and water, the boat was fairly buoyant, and we shipped
nothing heavier than spray; but my heart ached as I thought of the poor
women and children cooped up in the long-boat, and pictured to myself
their too probable piteous condition of cold and wet and misery.
As the night wore on, the weather grew steadily worse; and morning at
length dawned upon us, hove-to under close-reefed canvas, with a strong
gale blowing, and a high, steep, and dangerous sea running. And there
was every prospect that there was worse to come, for the sun rose as a
pale, wan, shapeless blot of sickly light, faintly showing through a
veil of dim, grey, watery vapour, streaked with light-coloured patches
of tattered scud, that swept athwart the louring sky at a furious rate,
while the sea had that greenish, turbid appearance that is often
noticeable as a precursor of bad weather.
None of the other boats were anywhere near us, so far as could be made
out; but one of the men was still standing on a thwart, steadying
himself by the mast, looking for them, when he suddenly made our hearts
leap and our pulses quicken by flinging out his right arm and pointing
vehemently, as he yelled:
"Sail ho! a couple of points on the lee bowl. A ship, sir, steerin'
large, under to'gallant-sails!"
"Let me get a look at her," answered I, as I clawed my way forward,
noticing with consternation as I did so, that, despite the continuous
baling that had been kept up, the water was fully three inches deep in
the bottom of the boat, and that the lower tier of our provisions was,
in consequence, most probably spoiled.
The man, having first carefully pointed out to me the exact direction in
which I was to look for the stranger, climbed down off the thwart and so
made room for me to take his place, which I immediately did. Yes; there
she was, precisely as the man had said, a full-rigged ship, scudding
under topgallant-sails. She was fully seven--maybe nearer eight--miles
away, and although rather on our lee bow at the moment when first
sighted--in consequence of the gig having just then come to--was in
reality still a trifle to windward of us. Of course it was utterly
useless to hope that we could, by any means at our disposal, attract her
attention at that distance; but as I looked almost despairingly at her,
and noticed that she did not appear to be travelling very fast, it
occurred to me that there was just a ghost of a chance that, by bearing
up and running away to leeward, upon a course converging obliquely upon
her own, we might be able to intercept her; or, if not that, we might at
least be able to approach her nearly enough to make ourselves seen. It
was worth attempting, I thought, for even though, in the event of
failure, we should find ourselves in the end many miles more distant
from Corvo than we then were, I attached but little importance to that;
my conviction now being stronger than ever that our only hope of
deliverance lay in being picked up, rather than in our being able to
reach the Azores, or any other land. Noting carefully, therefore, the
bearings of the stranger, and especially the fact that she appeared to
be running dead to leeward, with squared yards, I made my way aft again,
took the tiller, watched for a favourable opportunity, and succeeded in
getting the gig before the wind without shipping very much water. Once
fairly before the wind, the boat was able to bear a considerably greater
spread of canvas than while hove-to; indeed an increase of sail
immediately became an imperative necessity in order to avoid being
caught and overrun, or pooped, by the sea; moreover we had to catch that
ship, if we could. We therefore shook out a couple of reefs, and then
went to breakfast; treating ourselves to as good a meal as the
circumstances would permit.