A NARROW ESCAPE
This Dream Book of Blunt’s reminds me of a narrow escape we had, early
one morning.
It was the larboard watch’s turn to remain below from midnight till
four o’clock; and having turned in and slept, Blunt suddenly turned out
again about three o’clock, with a wonderful dream in his head; which he
was desirous of at once having interpreted.
So he goes to his chest, gets out his tools, and falls to ciphering on
the lid. When, all at once, a terrible cry was heard, that routed him
and all the rest of us up, and sent the whole ship’s company flying on
deck in the dark. We did not know what it was; but somehow, among
sailors at sea, they seem to know when real danger of any land is at
hand, even in their sleep.
When we got on deck, we saw the mate standing on the bowsprit, and
crying out _Luff! Luff!_ to some one in the dark water before the ship.
In that direction, we could just see a light, and then, the great black
hull of a strange vessel, that was coming down on us obliquely; and so
near, that we heard the flap of her topsails as they shook in the wind,
the trampling of feet on the deck, and the same cry of _Luff! Luff!_
that our own mate, was raising.
In a minute more, I caught my breath, as I heard a snap and a crash,
like the fall of a tree, and suddenly, one of our flying-jib guys
jerked out the bolt near the cat-head; and presently, we heard our
jib-boom thumping against our bows.
Meantime, the strange ship, scraping by us thus, shot off into the
darkness, and we saw her no more. But she, also, must have been
injured; for when it grew light, we found pieces of strange rigging
mixed with ours. We repaired the damage, and replaced the broken spar
with another jib-boom we had; for all ships carry spare spars against
emergencies.
The cause of this accident, which came near being the death of all on
board, was nothing but the drowsiness of the look-out men on the
forecastles of both ships. The sailor who had the look-out on our
vessel was terribly reprimanded by the mate.
No doubt, many ships that are never heard of after leaving port, meet
their fate in this way; and it may be, that sometimes two vessels
coming together, jib-boom-and-jib-boom, with a sudden shock in the
middle watch of the night, mutually destroy each other; and like
fighting elks, sink down into the ocean, with their antlers locked in
death.
While I was at Liverpool, a fine ship that lay near us in the docks,
having got her cargo on board, went to sea, bound for India, with a
good breeze; and all her crew felt sure of a prosperous voyage. But in
about seven days after, she came back, a most distressing object to
behold. All her starboard side was torn and splintered; her starboard
anchor was gone; and a great part of the starboard bulwarks; while
every one of the lower yard-arms had been broken, in the same
direction; so that she now carried small and unsightly _jury-yards._
When I looked at this vessel, with the whole of one side thus
shattered, but the other still in fine trim; and when I remembered her
gay and gallant appearance, when she left the same harbor into which
she now entered so forlorn; I could not help thinking of a young man I
had known at home, who had left his cottage one morning in high
spirits, and was brought back at noon with his right side paralyzed
from head to foot.
It seems that this vessel had been run against by a strange ship,
crowding all sail before a fresh breeze; and the stranger had rushed
past her starboard side, reducing her to the sad state in which she now
was.
Sailors can not be too wakeful and cautious, when keeping their night
look-outs; though, as I well know, they too often suffer themselves to
become negligent, and nod. And this is not so wonderful, after all; for
though every seaman has heard of those accidents at sea; and many of
them, perhaps, have been in ships that have suffered from them; yet,
when you find yourself sailing along on the ocean at night, without
having seen a sail for weeks and weeks, it is hard for you to realize
that any are near. Then, if they _are_ near, it seems almost incredible
that on the broad, boundless sea, which washes Greenland at one end of
the world, and the Falkland Islands at the other, that any one vessel
upon such a vast highway, should come into close contact with another.
But the likelihood of great calamities occurring, seldom obtrudes upon
the minds of ignorant men, such as sailors generally are; for the
things which wise people know, anticipate, and guard against, the
ignorant can only become acquainted with, by meeting them face to face.
And even when experience has taught them, the lesson only serves for
that day; inasmuch as the foolish in prosperity are infidels to the
possibility of adversity; they see the sun in heaven, and believe it to
be far too bright ever to set. And even, as suddenly as the bravest and
fleetest ships, while careering in pride of canvas over the sea, have
been struck, as by lightning, and quenched out of sight; even so, do
some lordly men, with all their plans and prospects gallantly trimmed
to the fair, rushing breeze of life, and with no thought of death and
disaster, suddenly encounter a shock unforeseen, and go down,
foundering, into death.