What seamen style a "whole gale" seemed to be brewing when the "Nancy"
tripped her anchor and shook out her sails.
Sailors have a quiet, matter-of-fact, and professional way of talking
about the weather. Landsmen would be surprised (perhaps something
more!) if exposed to what Jack calls a stiff breeze, or a capful of
wind. A "whole gale" may sound peculiar to some ears, but if the said
gale were to sound _in_ the same ears, the hearers would be apt to style
it, in consternation, "a most tremendous hurricane!"
On board the "Nancy," Bax and Bluenose had some suspicion that
_something_ was brewing, but whether a "whole gale," or "half a gale,"
or a "stiff breeze," they could not be expected to divine, not being
possessed of supernatural gifts.
Had they been possessed of a good barometer they would have been able to
foretell what was coming without supernatural gifts; but Messrs. Denham,
Crumps, and Company were economical in their tendencies, and deemed
barometers superfluous. Being, to some extent, ignorant of nautical
affairs (as well as of scientific), and being to a large extent
indifferent to the warning voices of those who knew better, they thought
fit to intrust the "Nancy" to the unaided wisdom of the intelligent
young seaman who commanded her.
Of course, being acute men of business, they took every "needful"
precaution, and being men of experience, they were not blind to the fact
that many vessels were annually lost; they therefore insured schooner
and cargo to their full value. Having done so, Messrs. Denham, Crumps,
and Company felt at ease. If the "Nancy" should happen to go down--no
matter; it would perhaps be a more rapid and satisfactory way of
terminating a doubtful venture! It was just possible that in the event
of the "Nancy" going down _lives_ might be lost, and other lives
rendered desolate. What then? The "Firm" had nothing to do with that!
The lives embarked in the "Nancy" did not belong to Denham, Crumps, and
Company. If they should go to the bottom, there would be nothing to
lose, and nothing to pay; perhaps a trifle to the widows and children,
that was all! In regard to this also they felt quite at ease.
On the strength of such views and opinions the tackling of the "Nancy"
was allowed to become rotten; the cables and the anchors of the "Nancy"
were economically weak and insufficient; the charts of the "Nancy" were
old and inaccurate, and the "Nancy" herself was in all respects utterly
unseaworthy.
It could scarcely be expected, however, that the operations of Nature
were to be suspended because of the unprepared condition of this vessel;
not to mention hundreds of others in similar condition. The gale
continued to "brew." A stiff breeze carried the "Nancy" down the Thames
towards the open sea; then a sudden calm left her to float without
progressive motion on the water. As evening approached the breeze
sprang up again and freshened. Then it chopped round to the east, and
when night fell it began to blow hard right in the teeth of the little
vessel.
Bax was a good and a bold seaman. He knew the coast well, and hoped, in
due course, to double the North Foreland, and find shelter in the Downs.
He knew the channels and buoys thoroughly, and had often run the same
course in stormy weather. But the gale which now began to buffet the
little schooner was of more than ordinary violence. It was one of those
fierce hurricanes which, once in a year, or, it may be, once in three or
four years, bursts upon our island, strews the coast with wrecks, fills
many homes and hearts with desolation, and awakens the inhabitants of
the inland counties to a slight sense of the terrible scenes that are of
constant occurrence on the shores which form the bulwark of their
peaceful homes.
"We shall have rough weather to-night, I fear," observed Mr Burton,
coming on deck some time after sunset, and addressing Bax; "doubtless
you know the channels well, young sir?"
"I do," replied the sailor, with a peculiar smile. "Twelve years'
experience has not been altogether thrown away on me. I have sailed
these waters in old Jeph's lugger since I was a little boy."
"Is that old Jeph the smuggler, sometimes called the mad philosopher,
from the circumstance of his mind being much taken up with odd notions
about lifeboats?" inquired the missionary.
"The same," replied Bax, "though I'll go bound for it there's not an
honester man in Deal than old Jeph is now, whatever he may have done in
the smuggling way when he was young. I have known him only as a good
old man; and in regard to these same notions he has about lifeboats,
it's my firm belief that we'll see his plans, or something like them,
carried out before long. He's not so mad as folk think, and certainly
not half so mad as the people who give no thought whatever to these
subjects."
Bax said this warmly, for there was a strong bond of sympathy between
him and his old friend, whom he could not bear to hear mentioned in a
slighting manner.
"I meant not to say a word against old Jeph," replied Mr Burton,
quickly. "I merely spoke of him in the way in which seamen in these
parts commonly refer to him. It pleases me much to hear so good a
character of him from one who, I have no doubt, has had good opportunity
of judging."
Here Guy Foster, who was standing near the binnacle, turned round and
said earnestly:--
"I can testify to the fact that old Jeph is a good Christian man; at
least if love to our Saviour, and anxiety for the salvation of souls, is
to be accepted as evidence."
The missionary said that there was no better evidence than that, and was
about to question Bax further in regard to the old man who bore such a
peculiar character, when a loud peal of thunder drew the attention of
all to the threatening aspect of the weather.
"Heave the lead, Bill!" cried Bax to one of the men.
"Ha! that's wot I've been lookin' for," observed Bluenose, spitting his
quid over the lee bulwarks, and replacing it with a fresh one. "I've
never got no confidence in a skipper as don't keep his lead a-goin' in
shoal water. Specially in sich waters as them 'ere, wot shifts more or
less with every gale."
The command to heave the lead was followed by an order to reduce sail,
and as the gale freshened and the night closed in, this order was
repeated more than once, until the schooner was beating to windward
under the smallest possible amount of canvas.
An anxious expression rested on Bax's face as he stood by the steersman,
glancing alternately at the sails and at the horizon where clouds of the
blackest kind were gathering.
"Does your barometer indicate very bad weather?" inquired Mr Burton.
"I have no barometer," replied Bax, bitterly.
The missionary looked surprised, and Guy Foster bit his lip, for he felt
that this piece of false economy was a blot on the firm to which he
belonged. In order to change the subject, he inquired for Lucy, who,
since the time of her rescue, had remained in bed.
"My daughter does well, thanks be to God!" said Burton. "I think that
no evil will flow from her accident, for she was but a short time in the
water; thanks to _you_, friend Bax."
"And to my 'prentice, Tommy Bogey," said Bax, with an arch smile which
was peculiar to him when he felt humorously disposed.
The smile fled, however, and was replaced by an anxious look, as Tommy
himself came aft and reported that the schooner had sprung a leak.
Bax instantly went below, and returned with the assurance that the leak
was trifling.
"The `Nancy' is a sorry old hulk," said he, "but half an hour more on
this tack, and I'll 'bout ship and run for the Downs, where we will be
comparatively safe."
The gale had by this time increased so much that the little craft lay
over with her lee bulwarks almost under water at times.
Little fear would her gallant commander have felt had she been tight,
and trim and sound; but he knew that her rigging was old, and one of her
masts unsound, and he felt that the best seamanship could be of no avail
whatever against her numerous defects. His experienced eye told him
that a storm of no ordinary severity was coming, and he trembled for the
life of the young girl who had been so unexpectedly placed under his
care.
Had the dangers attendant upon an unseaworthy vessel and the difficulty
of navigating the channels of these celebrated Sands, been all that Bax
had to fear, he would have felt comparatively at ease; but the
economical spirit of Denham, Crumps, and Company had supplied him with
anchors and chains which he feared were neither new enough nor
sufficiently powerful to hold his vessel after she had gained her
anchorage-ground. In these circumstances, he resolved to run for the
shelter of Ramsgate Harbour.
Before he could carry out his intentions the wind chopped round to the
north, and for some time blew so hard as to threaten the capsizing of
the schooner. The cross sea also rendered her almost unmanageable, so
that, ere long, she was driven to leeward of the outer lightship that
marks the north end of the Goodwins.
Again the wind shifted a few points to the eastward, and soon the
"Nancy" was flying like a racehorse towards the shore.
Pilots and seamen alone can properly comprehend the peculiar dangers
that attend the navigation of this part of our coast. It would only
perplex a landsman to be told in detail the proceedings of the "Nancy"
and her crew after this point. Suffice it to say that Bax handled her
with consummate skill, and did all that man could do for the safety of
his vessel, and the human lives that were dependent on his knowledge and
care.
"Is your daughter dressed?" inquired Bax of Mr Burton, as a fiercer
gust than usual nearly laid the schooner on her beam-ends, and deluged
the decks with water.
"No, she sleeps soundly, and I am loth to disturb her. Do you think we
are in much danger?"
"In none, if the schooner were seaworthy, but in much, seeing that she
has not got a sound plank or spar. Go down, sir, and get her dressed at
once; and, harkee, let her put on every wrap she happens to have with
her."
The missionary needed no second bidding. He went below to rouse and
assist Lucy, while Bluenose, Guy, and the rest of those on board, held
on to ropes, and belaying pins, and awaited the result in silence. The
noise of the wind, and the peals of thunder that seemed to tear the
heavens asunder, rendered conversation impossible. They all felt that a
few minutes would decide whether this terrible rush landward would
terminate in safety or disaster, and they knew that everything, as far
as human skill had to do with it, depended on Bax.
With a look of calm, sober gravity the young seaman stood grasping the
weather-shrouds of the mainmast, and looking intently towards the
light-ship called the Gull Light, which is anchored off the
North-sand-head.
During this period of suspense the lead was kept constantly going, and
reported almost every half-minute. Precious, significant, half-minutes
those, as much so as are the last few grains of sand in the hour-glass!
"Keep her away two points," cried Bax.
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the steersman. At that moment a violent gust
snapped the topsail-yard, and the sail was instantly blown to ribbons.
The dashing of this spar about carried away the foretop-mast, and almost
as a necessary consequence, the jib with the jib-boom went along with
it.
The schooner instantly became unmanageable, and was driven bodily to
leeward.
Seizing an axe, Bax, with the prompt assistance of the crew and his
friends, soon cleared away the wreck, and once more got the head of his
vessel round towards the Gull Light, the lanterns of which were seen
faintly gleaming through the murky atmosphere. But it was too late.
The breakers of the North-sand-head were already roaring under their
lee, and also right ahead of them.
"Port! port! hard a-port!" shouted Bax.
"Port it is," replied the steersman, with that calm professional
sing-song tone peculiar to seamen.
At that instant, the schooner struck the sand, passed over the first
line of breakers, and rushed onwards to certain destruction.
"Bring Lucy on deck," cried Bax.
Mr Burton ran below to obey, but the words had scarce been spoken when
Guy Foster entered the cabin, and seizing the trembling girl in his
arms, bore her gently but swiftly to the deck.
Here the scene that met her gaze was truly awful. It seemed as if above
and below there were but one wild chaos of waters over which brooded a
sky of ebony. The schooner had by this time got into the hideous
turmoil of shallow water, the lurid whiteness of which gleamed in the
dark like unearthly light. As yet the vessel was rushing fiercely
through it, the rudder had been carried away by the first shock, and she
could not be steered. Just as Lucy was placed by Bax in a position of
comparative shelter under the lee of the quarter-rails, the "Nancy"
struck a second time with fearful violence; she remained hard and fast
on the sands, and the shock sent her foremast overboard.
If the condition of the little vessel was terrible before, its position
now was beyond description awful. The mad seas, unable to hurl her
onward, broke against her sides with indescribable fury, and poured tons
of water on the deck; so that no one could remain on it. Having
foreseen this, Bax had prepared for it. He had warned all on board to
keep close by the main shrouds, and take to the mast when the schooner
should strike. He himself bore Lucy aloft in his strong arms as if she
had been a little child, and placed her on the main cross-trees. Here
she clung with a convulsive grasp to the main-topmast, while Guy secured
her in her position with a rope.
Sitting down on the cross-trees and holding on to them by his legs--a
matter of no little difficulty, as the vessel was rolling violently from
side to side, Bax began to strip off his thick pilot-coat, intending to
cover the girl with it. But he was arrested by the boy Tommy Bogey.
"Hold on," he shouted into his commander's ear, "I fetched up this un; I
know'd ye'd want it for 'er."
Tommy had thoughtfully carried up one of Bax's spare coats, and now
handed it to his master, who, assisted by Mr Burton, wrapped it
carefully round Lucy, and then descended the rigging to examine the
state of the vessel.
She heeled very much over to leeward, but the form of the bank on which
she lay fortunately prevented her being thrown altogether on her
beam-ends. Had this happened, the cross-trees would have been buried in
water, and all must have perished.
When Bax re-ascended the mast, Bluenose put his mouth close to his ear
and shouted:
"Couldn't ye send up a rocket?"
"Han't got any," replied Bax.
There had been a signal-gun aboard, but at the first shock it tore its
fastenings out of the old planks, and went crashing through the lee
bulwarks into the sea.
"Couldn't we get up a glim no-how?" pursued Bluenose. "Ay, couldn't
that be done?" cried Guy, who clambered towards them in order to take
part in the consultation, for the shrieking of the storm rendered every
voice inaudible at the distance of anything more than an inch or two
from the ear.
"The matches were in the cabin, and that's flooded now," said Bax.
Guy replied by taking a tin box from his pocket, in which were a few
matches.
"Ha! that'll do," cried Bax eagerly, "there's a can of turpentine just
under the fore-hatch, which can't have been damaged by water. I'll go
and fetch it."
"Stay, _I_ will go. Do you look after Lucy and her father," said Guy;
and, without waiting for a reply, he slid down one of the back-stays and
gained the deck.
To traverse this was an act involving great danger and difficulty. The
waves broke over it with such force that Guy's arms were nearly torn out
of their sockets while he held to the bulwarks. He attained his object,
however, and in a short time returned to the cross-trees with the can.
Bax had in the meantime cut off some of the drier portions of his
clothing. These, with a piece of untwisted rope, were soaked in
turpentine, and converted hastily into a rude torch; but it was long
before a light could be got in such a storm. The matches were nearly
exhausted before this was accomplished. Only those who have been in
similar circumstances can adequately appreciate the intense earnestness
with which each match was struck, the care with which it was guarded
from the wind, and the eager anxiety with which the result was watched;
also the sinking of heart that followed each effort, as, one by one,
they flared for an instant and went out!
At last the saturated mass caught fire, and instantly a rich flame of
light flashed over the wild scene, and clearly revealed to them the
appalling circumstances in which they were placed. Poor Lucy shuddered,
and covering her eyes cast herself in prayer on Him who is "mighty to
save." Bax raised the burning mass high over his head, and waved it in
the black air. He even clambered to the top of the broken mast, in
order to let it be seen far and wide over the watery waste. The
inflammable turpentine refused to be quenched by the raging storm, and
in a few seconds they had the comfort of seeing the bright flame of a
rocket shoot up into the sky. At the same moment a flash in the
distance showed that their signal had been observed by the light-ship.
The sound of the gun was not heard by those on the wreck, but both it
and the rocket were observed from the shore, where many a hardy seaman
and pilot, knowing full well the dangers of such a night, kept watch and
ward in order to render prompt assistance to their fellow-men in
distress.
It would be a matter of some interest to ascertain how many of the
inhabitants of this busy, thickly-populated isle are aware of the fact
that during every storm that blows, while they are slumbering,
perchance, in security and comfort in their substantial dwellings, there
are hundreds, ay, thousands, of hardy seamen all round our coasts,
standing patiently in such sheltered spots as they can find, encased in
oilskin, and gazing anxiously out into the dark sea, regardless of the
pelting storm, indifferent to the bitter cold, intent only on rendering
aid to their fellow-men, and ready at a moment's notice to place life
and limb in the most imminent jeopardy,--for what? Can any one suppose
that they do this for the sake of the silver medal, or the ten or twenty
shillings awarded to those who thus act by the Lifeboat Institution? Do
men in other circumstances hold their lives so cheap? Assuredly there
is a higher, a nobler motive that prompts the heroes of our coast to
their deeds of self-sacrifice and daring.
To those who clung to the main-top of the "Nancy" these signals were a
bright gleam of hope, with the exception of Lucy, whose spirit sank when
she endeavoured in vain to penetrate the thick darkness that followed.
Suspecting this, Bluenose, who clung to the cross-trees beside the
missionary, and assisted him to shelter his daughter from the storm,
shouted in her ear to keep her mind easy, "for the people on shore would
be sure to send off the lifeboat, and there would be no danger if the
mast held on!"
"If the mast held on!" Ha! little did Lucy know how much anxiety filled
the heart of Bax in regard to the mast holding on! With much difficulty
he had persuaded Denham, Crumps, and Company, about a year before the
events we are now relating, that the mainmast of the "Nancy" was utterly
useless, and obtained their unwilling consent to have it renewed. But
for this it would have shared the fate of the foremast, and those who
now clung to it would have been in eternity. But although the mast was
strong, its step and holdfasts, Bax knew, were the reverse of sound; and
while he stood there cheering his companions with hopeful remarks, he
alone knew how frail was the foundation on which his hopes were founded.
Fortunately for Lucy and her father, they looked to a higher source of
comfort than the young skipper of the "Nancy." They knew that it was no
uncommon thing for men, women, and children to be saved, on the coasts
of Britain, "_as if_ by miracle," and they felt themselves to be in the
hands of Him "whom the winds and the sea obey."
Guy held on to the weather-shrouds close to Bax. Speaking so as not to
be heard by the others, he said:
"Is there much chance of a boat putting off to us?"
"Not much," replied Bax. "A lugger could scarcely live in such a sea.
Certainly it could not come near us in this shoal water. I doubt even
if the lifeboat could come here."
For two hours after this they remained silently in their exposed
position, their limbs stiffening with cold, drenched continually with
spray, and occasionally overwhelmed by the crest of a monstrous wave.
Sometimes a rocket from the lightship shot athwart the dark sky, and at
all times her lights gleamed like faint stars far away to windward.
When the sea broke around them in whiter sheets than usual, they could
see the head of the broken foremast drawn against it like a black line
to leeward. Everything else above and below, was thick darkness.
One of the seamen, who had been for some time in bad health, was the
first to give way. Without uttering a word he loosened his hold of the
shrouds and fell backwards. Guy saw him falling, and, making a
desperate grasp at him, caught him by the breast of his shirt, but the
garment gave way, and next moment he was down in the boiling flood.
Guy, with an impulse that was natural to him, was about to leap off to
his rescue, but Bluenose caught him by the collar and held him forcibly
back. In another moment the man was gone for ever.
So silently did all this pass, and so furious was the tumult of the
storm, that Lucy and her father were not aware of what had occurred.
Our brave little friend Tommy Bogey was the next who failed. Whether it
was that witnessing the seaman's death had too powerful an effect on his
spirit, or that the cold acted more severely on his young muscles than
on those of his companions, it is impossible to say, but, soon after the
loss of the man, the boy felt his strength giving way. Turning with
instinctive trust to his friend in this extremity, he shouted:--
"Bax, give us a hand!"
Before his friend could do so, his grasp relaxed and he fell back with a
piercing shriek that rose above even the howling wind.
Almost an instant after he struck the water, Bax dived head-foremost
into it, and came up with him in his arms. Both man and boy went to
leeward instantly. The former had counted on this. The fate of the
seaman who had just perished had led him to reflect that a vigorous
effort might have enabled him to gain the stump of the fore-mast, which
still stood, as we have said, to leeward of the main-mast. Acting on
this thought, he had plunged without hesitation when the moment for
action came, although it did come unexpectedly.
A faint shout soon told his horror-stricken companions that he had
gained the point of safety.
"It won't do to leave 'em there," cried Bluenose, starting up, and
clambering as far out on the cross-trees as he dared venture; "even if
the mast holds on, them seas would soon wash away the stoutest man
living."
"Oh! save my preserver!" cried Lucy, who, regardless of the storm, had
sprung wildly up, and now stood clinging to a single rope, while her
garments were almost torn from her limbs by the fury of the hurricane.
"Can nothing be done to save them?" cried the missionary as he kindly
but firmly dragged his daughter back to her former position.
"Nothin', sir," said one of the sailors. "There ain't a cask, nor
nothin' to tie a rope to an' heave to wind'ard--an' it's as like as not
it wouldn't fetch 'em if there wos. They'd never see a rope if it wos
veered to 'em--moreover, it wouldn't float. Hallo! Master Guy, wot are
ye up to?"
Guy had hauled in the slack of one of the numerous ropes attached to the
main-mast that were floating away to leeward, and was fastening the end
of it round his waist. Bluenose and the missionary turned quickly on
hearing the seaman's shout, but they were too late to prevent the bold
youth from carrying out his design, even if they had wished to do so.
Taking a vigorous spring to windward, Guy was in the sea in a moment.
In another instant he was lost to view in darkness. Bluenose seized the
end of the rope, and awaited the result in breathless suspense.
Presently a shout so faint that it seemed miles away, was heard to
leeward, and the rope was jerked violently.
"Now lads, all hands a-hoy!" cried Bluenose in wild excitement. "Just
give 'em time to haul in the slack, and tie it round 'em, and then pull
with a will."
The incident and the energy of the Captain seemed to act like a spell on
the men who had up to this time clung to the shrouds in a state of
half-stupor. They clustered round Bluenose, and each gaining the best
footing possible in the circumstances, seized hold of the rope.
Again the rope was shaken violently, and a heavy strain was felt on it.
The men pulled it in with difficulty, hand over hand, and in a short
time Bax, Guy, and Tommy were once more safe in their former position on
the cross-trees.
Terrible indeed their danger, when such a position could be spoken of as
one of safety!
Another hour passed away. To those who were out on that fatal night the
minutes seemed hours--the hours days.
Still no succour came to them. The storm instead of abating seemed to
be on the increase. Had it not been for the peculiar form of the shoal
on which they lay, the old vessel must have been dashed to pieces in the
first hour of that terrible gale.
Gradually Bax ceased to raise his encouraging voice--indeed the
whistling wind would have rendered it inaudible--and the party on the
cross-trees clung to their frail spar almost in despair. As the gale
increased so did the danger of their position. No chance of deliverance
seemed left to them; no prospect of escape from their dreadful fate; the
only ray of hope that came to them fitfully through the driving storm,
was the faint gleaming of the lightship that guards the Goodwin Sands.