THE CATASTROPHE.

It happened on our seventh night out from Cape Town, when we had

accomplished about a third of the distance between that city and

Melbourne.

The ship was the _Saturn_, of the well-known Planet Line of combined

freight and passenger steamers trading between London, Cape Town, and

Melbourne; and I--Eric Blackburn, aged a trifle over twenty-three

years--was her fourth officer.

The _Saturn_ was a brand-new ship, this being her maiden voyage. She

was a twin-screw, of 9800 tons register, 100 A1 at Lloyd's, steaming 14

knots; and she had accommodation for 432 passengers, of whom 84 were

first class, 128 second class, and 220 steerage; and every berth was

occupied, the steerage crowd consisting mostly of miners attracted to

Australia by the rumour of a newly discovered goldfield of fabulous

richness. The crew of the ship numbered, all told, 103; therefore, when

the catastrophe occurred, the _Saturn_ was responsible for the lives of

535 people, of whom about 120 were women and children.

I was officer of the watch, and was therefore on the bridge when it

happened, the time being shortly after six bells in the middle watch, or

say about a quarter past three o'clock in the morning. The weather was

fine, with so moderate a westerly wind blowing that the speed of the

ship just balanced it, the smoke and sparks from the funnel rising

straight up into the air when the firemen shovelled coal into the

furnaces; and apart from the long westerly swell there was very little

sea running. The motion of the ship was therefore very easy, just a

slow roll of four or five degrees to port and starboard, and an equally

slow, gentle rise and fall of the ship over the swell that followed us.

The moon was only four days old, consequently she had set hours earlier,

but the sky was cloudless, the air was clear, and the stars, shining

brilliantly, afforded light enough to reveal a ship at a distance of

quite three miles; it would be difficult, therefore, to imagine

conditions of more apparently perfect safety than those at the moment

prevailing aboard the _Saturn_. Yet destruction came upon us in a

manner, and with a suddenness, that was absolutely appalling.

I was pacing the bridge from one extremity to the other, keeping a sharp

look-out ahead and all round the ship; and when, at the port end of my

promenade, I wheeled on my return march, there was no sign that but a

few minutes intervened between us and eternity. But as I approached the

wheel-house I became aware of a sudden access of light in the sky behind

me, illuminating the entire ship in a radiance that increased with

incredible rapidity, while at the same moment a low humming sound became

audible that also grew in volume as rapidly as the light. Wheeling

sharply round, to ascertain the meaning of this strange phenomenon, I

heard the helmsman ejaculate, through the open window of the wheel-

house:

"Gosh! that's a big 'un, and no mistake; the biggest I ever seen;

and,"--on a note of sudden alarm--"it ain't goin' to fall so very far

away from us, neither! D'ye see that big fireball, sir, headin' this

way?"

As the man spoke I caught sight of the object to which he referred--and

horror chilled me to the marrow; for never before, I verily believe, had

mortal eyes beheld so awful an apparition. Broad over the port bow, at

an elevation of some forty degrees above the horizon, I beheld a great

white-hot flaming mass, emitting a long trail of brilliant sparks,

_coming straight for the ship_. It was increasing in apparent size even

as I gazed at it, dumb and paralysed with terror indescribable, while

the sound of its passage through the air grew, in the course of a second

or two, from a murmur to a deafening roar, and the light which it

emitted became so dazzling that it nearly blinded me as I looked at it.

As it came hurtling toward us it seemed to expand until it looked almost

as big as the ship herself; but that was, of course, an optical

illusion, for when, a second or two later, it struck us, I saw that the

fiercely incandescent mass, of roughly spherical shape, was some twelve

feet in diameter.

It struck the ship aslant, on her port side, a few feet abaft the funnel

and close to the water-line, passing through the engine-room and out

through her bottom. There was no perceptible shock attending the blow,

but the crash was terrific, while the smell of burning was almost

suffocating--which is not to be wondered at, since the mass was blazing

so fiercely that it set the ship on fire merely by passing through her.

So intense was the heat of it that, as it passed through the ship's

bottom into the water, we instantly became enveloped in a dense cloud of

hot, steamy vapour. A moment later it exploded under us, throwing up a

cone of water that came near to swamping the ship.

For a space of perhaps two seconds after the passage of the meteor

through the ship's hull the silence of the night continued, and then, as

though in response to a signal, there arose such a dreadful outcry as I

hope never to hear again; while the cabin doors were dashed open, and

out from the cabins and the companion-ways streamed crowds of distracted

men, women, and children, clad in their night gear, just as they had

leapt from their berths, the men shouting to know what had happened,

while the poor women and children rushed frantically hither and thither,

jostling each other, wringing their hands, some weeping, some screaming

hysterically, and some calling to children who had become separated from

them in the seething crowd.

The first man to run up against me was the skipper, who sprang out of

his cabin straight on to the bridge, exclaiming, as he clutched me by

the arm:

"What is it? What has happened? For God's sake speak, man!"

"The ship," I answered, "has been struck by an enormous meteorite, sir,

which has set her on fire, I believe, and has passed out through her

bottom. She has taken a perceptible list to starboard already."

At this moment I was interrupted by the chief engineer, who dashed up on

the bridge, demanding breathlessly: "Where is the captain?"

"I am here, Mr Kennedy. What is the news? Out with it!" jerked the

skipper.

"My engines are wrecked, sir; utterly destroyed," answered Kennedy; "and

the ship is holed through her bottom, down in the engine-room. The hole

is big enough to drive a coach through, and the room is half-full of

water already. If either of the bulkheads goes we shall sink like a

stone!"

At this juncture we were joined by the chief, second, and third

officers, who came upon each other's heels.

"Ah! here you are, gentlemen," remarked the skipper. "I was about to

send for you. I learn from Mr Blackburn that the ship has been struck

by a falling meteor which, Mr Kennedy tells me, has passed through her

bottom. According to him the engine-room is flooded; and he is of

opinion that if either of the engine-room bulkheads yields the ship will

go down quickly--in which opinion I agree with him. Even as it is, you

may notice that the ship is taking a strong list, and is very

perceptibly deeper in the water; therefore I will ask you, Mr Hoskins,"

(to the chief officer) "and you, Mr Cooper," (to the second) "to muster

the hands, proceed to the boat-deck, and clear away the boats, ready for

lowering, in case of necessity. You, Mr Stroud," (to the third

officer) "will mount guard at the foot of the boat-deck ladder and

prevent passengers passing up until the boats are ready and I give the

word. Mr Blackburn, go down and find the purser; tell him what has

happened, what we are doing, and ask him to keep the people quiet until

we are ready for them, and you can lend him a hand. Thank God, the

boats are all provisioned, ready for any emergency, while the water in

them was renewed only yesterday, so there is nothing to do but cut them

adrift and swing them outboard. That is all at present, gentlemen, so

go and get to work at once--why, who are those men on the boat-deck now,

and what are they doing with the boats?"

"Looks like the miners," answered Hoskins. "They're a rough lot, and as

likely as not we may have trouble with 'em. Ay, I thought so! Our

chaps are up there too, trying to send the others away, and they don't

seem inclined to go. Come along, Cooper, we've got to clear those

miners off somehow, or we shall get nothing done."

Therewith the four of us departed upon our respective missions, leaving

the captain in charge on the bridge.

The decks were now full of people rushing aimlessly hither and thither,

stopping everybody they met, and asking each other what had happened.

Meanwhile all the electric lights had been switched on, so that it was

possible to see who was who, and, as I quite expected, no sooner did

those poor distracted creatures catch sight of my uniform than I was

surrounded, hemmed in by a crowd who piteously besought me to tell them

what had happened, and if there was any danger. I had by this time

quite recovered my self-possession, and was therefore able to answer

them calmly and with a steady voice. Naturally, I did not tell them the

whole truth, for that, I knew, would precipitate a panic in which

everybody would get out of hand. I therefore told them there had been a

breakdown in the engine-room, which was being attended to; that there

was no immediate danger, but that I strongly advised them, purely as a

measure of precaution, to return to their cabins, dress themselves

warmly, and put into their pockets, or into parcels, any money or

valuables they might have in their baggage, so that in the event of

anything untoward happening, whereby we might be compelled to take to

the boats, they would be prepared to do so at a moment's notice. Some

of them listened to me and allowed themselves to be persuaded, but

others seemed afraid to leave the deck for a moment lest they should be

overtaken by calamity.

After all, their apprehension was not to be wondered at; there was

excuse enough for it, and to spare. There was a very strong smell of

burning and occasional puffs of smoke coming up from below, where the

engine-room staff were fighting the flames. The ship had taken a heavy

and steadily-increasing list to starboard; she was visibly settling in

the water; and, to crown all, the crowd of miners who upon the first

alarm had taken possession of the boat-deck were refusing to leave it,

and a brisk struggle between them and the seamen was proceeding, though

as yet no firearms were being used. But I knew Hoskins's temper; he was

by no means a patient man, or one given to much verbal argument. It was

usually a word and a blow with him, and not infrequently the blow came

first; I knew also that he habitually carried a revolver in his pocket

when at sea. I should not, therefore, have been at all surprised to

hear the crack of the weapon at any moment.

I had just managed to extricate myself from the crowd, and was making my

way toward the purser's cabin, when from the interior of the ship, and

almost beneath my feet, there came a deep _boom_, and I knew that the

after bulkhead of the engine-room had given way, and that the moments of

the _Saturn_ were numbered.

"No use to hunt up the purser, now," I thought; and I made a dash for

the boat-deck, to see if I could render any assistance there. But I was

too late; the sound of the bursting bulkhead, coming on top of the

previous alarms, was all that was needed to produce the panic I had all

along been dreading, and in an instant the decks were alive with frantic

people, all desperately fighting their way upward to the boat-deck,

where pandemonium now raged supreme, and where pistols were popping

freely, showing that Hoskins was by no means the only man in the ship

who went armed.

Now, what was the best thing for me to do? Could I do _anything_

useful? I stood on the outskirts of that seething, maddened crowd, and

watched men and women striving desperately together, trampling each

other remorselessly down; shrieking, cursing, fighting; no longer human,

but reduced by the fear of death to the condition of rabid, ferocious

brutes. No, I could do nothing: as well go down below and attempt to

stay the inrush of water with my two hands, as strive by argument to

restore those people to reason; while, as for _force_, what could my

strength avail against that of hundreds? No, they had all gone mad,

and, in their madness, were destroying themselves, rendering it

impossible to launch the boats, and so dooming themselves and everybody

else to death. It was awful! That scene often revisits me in dreams,

even to this day, and I awake sweating and trembling with the

unspeakable horror of it.

Meanwhile the ship was rapidly sinking; she had taken so strong a list

to starboard that it was only with the utmost difficulty I could retain

my footing upon her steeply inclined deck, while she was so much down by

the stern that the sea was almost level with the deck right aft.

Scarcely knowing what I did, acting with the inconsequence of one in a

dream, I clawed my way across the bridge that led from the upper deck to

the poop, and reached the taffrail, where I stood gazing blankly down

into the black water, thinking, I am afraid, some rather rebellious

thoughts. I must have stood thus for at least five minutes before I

realised that my hands were gripping a life-buoy, one of six that were

stopped to the rail. Still acting mechanically, and with no very

definite purpose, I drew forth my pocket-knife, severed the lashing,

passed the buoy over my head and shoulders, thrust my arms through it,

climbed the rail--and dropped into the water.

The chill of the immersion instantly brought me to my senses. In a

moment I realised that if I would save my life I must, without an

instant's delay, put the greatest possible distance between the ship and

myself before she foundered, otherwise when she sank--which she might do

at any moment--she would drag me down with her, and drown me. The

desire to live, which seemed to have been paralysed within me by the

suddenness of the disaster and the dreadful scenes I had subsequently

witnessed, re-awoke, and I struck out vigorously.

I know not how long I had been swimming--it seemed to me, in my anxiety

to get well away from the ship, to have been but a very few minutes--

when the tumultuous sounds of contention aboard the doomed _Saturn_

suddenly changed to a long wailing scream, and, glancing back over my

shoulder, I saw, upreared against the star-lit sky, the fore end of the

ship standing almost vertically out of the water, while at the same

instant another loud _boom_ reached my ears, proclaiming either the

bursting of the ship's boilers, the yielding of another bulkhead, or,

possibly, the blowing up of her decks; then, as I paused for a moment to

watch the conclusion of the catastrophe, the hull sank lower and lower

still in the water until within the space of a minute it completely

vanished.

The dreadful sight stimulated me to superhuman exertion, for I believed

I was still perilously near that great sinking mass; and indeed I had

scarcely covered another dozen yards when I felt the strong suction of

the foundering ship. I fought against it with desperate energy, and in

about a minute's time it relaxed, and I ceased swimming.

"Now," I asked myself, "what is the next thing to be done? I suppose it

was instinct that prompted me to get into this life-buoy and swim away

from the sinking ship; but in doing so have I not merely exchanged a

quick for a lingering death? If I had stuck to the ship I should have

gone down with her, and died with very little suffering, if any; while,

so far as I can see, I am now fated to drift about in this buoy until I

perish slowly and miserably of cold, hunger, and thirst."

It was a most depressing reflection, and for a moment I felt strongly

tempted to slip out of the buoy, throw up my hands, sink, and have done

with it. But no; love of life, self-preservation, which we are told is

the first law of nature, would not permit me to act foolishly; reason

reasserted herself, reminding me that while there is life there is hope.

I remembered that I was floating in a stretch of water that is the

highway for ships bound round the Cape to and from Australia and New

Zealand. It is a highway that, if not quite so busy as London's Fleet

Street, is traversed almost daily by craft of one sort or another, bound

either east or west; and something might come along at any moment and,

if I could but attract attention to myself, pick me up. Besides, I did

not really believe in "giving up". It had been instilled into me from

my earliest childhood that the correct way to meet difficulties is to

_fight_ them, and to fight the harder the more formidable appear the

difficulties. And the doctrine is sound; I had and have proved it to be

so, over and over again, and I meant again to put it to the test, then,

in the most discouraging combination of adverse circumstances with which

I had ever been confronted.

But the water was bitterly cold; if I remained submerged to my armpits,

as I then was, I could not survive long enough to get a fair chance. I

needed a raft of some sort buoyant enough to support me practically dry;

and, remembering that there were numerous loose articles such as deck-

chairs, gratings, and what not that would probably float off the wreck

when she sank, I turned and swam back towards the spot where the

_Saturn_ had gone down, hoping that I might be fortunate enough to find

something that would afford me the support I required. And as I struck

out afresh I was cheered and encouraged by the assurance that day was

not far distant, for, looking ahead, I saw that the sky low down toward

the horizon wore the pallor that is the forerunner of dawn.

By imperceptible degrees the day crept up over the eastern horizon, cold

and white; and, as soon as there was light enough to enable me to see

from the crest of one swell to that of the next, I began to look about

me in the hope of finding flotsam of some sort that would be useful to

me; also it occurred to me that there might be some who had remembered

that cork jackets were to be found in every state-room, and might have

made use of them; in which case I might fall in with other survivors,

who might be useful to me, and I to them, if we joined forces.

For several minutes my search of the surface of the sea proved

fruitless, at which I was distinctly disconcerted, for I knew that there

were many articles of a buoyant nature which had been lying loose about

the decks, and which must have floated off when the ship sank; and I was

beginning to fear that somehow I had got out of my reckoning and had

missed the scene of the catastrophe. But a minute or two later, as I

topped the ridge of a swell, I caught a momentary glimpse of something

floating, some fifty or sixty fathoms away, and, striking out vigorously

in that direction, I presently arrived at the spot and found myself in

the midst of a small collection of brooms, scrubbing-brushes, squeegees,

buckets, deck-chairs, gratings, and--gigantic slice of luck!--one of the

ship's life-boats floating bottom up! But of human beings, living or

dead, not a sign; it was therefore evident that, of the five hundred and

thirty-five aboard the _Saturn_ at the moment of the disaster, I was the

sole survivor.

Naturally, I made straight for the upturned life-boat; but recognising

that a bucket might prove very useful I secured one and towed it along

with me. Reaching the boat I was greatly gratified to find that not

only was she quite undamaged but also that she was riding buoyantly,

with the whole of her keel and about a foot of her bottom above the

surface of the water. Of course the first thing to be done was to right

the boat, and then to bale her out; and, with the water as smooth as it

then was, I thought there ought not to be much difficulty in doing

either. The righting of the boat, however, proved to be very much more

difficult than I had imagined. She was a fairly big boat and, floating

wrong side up and full of water, she was very sluggish, and for a long

time scarcely responded to my efforts; but I eventually succeeded, and,

with a glad heart, seized the bucket I had secured, hove it into the

boat, and climbed in after it, finding to my joy that, even with my

weight in her, the boat floated with both gunwales nearly four inches

above the surface of the water. Thus there would be no difficulty in

baling her dry; and this I at once proceeded to do, working vigorously

at the task, not only with the object of freeing the boat as speedily as

possible, but, still more, to restore my circulation and get a little

warmth into my chilled and benumbed body.