"The yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up."
_Macbeth._
Poor Captain Robbins! No sooner did he regain his bodily strength,
than he began to endure the pain of mind that was inseparable from the
loss of his ship. Marble, who, now that he had fallen to the humbler
condition of a second-mate, was more than usually disposed to be
communicative with me, gave me to understand that our old superior had
at first sounded Captain Digges on the subject of proceeding to the
wreck, in order to ascertain what could be saved; but the latter had
soon convinced him that a first-rate Philadelphia Indiaman had
something else to do besides turning wrecker. After a pretty broad
hint to this effect, the John, and all that was in her, were abandoned
to their fate. Marble, however, was of opinion that the gale in which
the launch came so near being lost, must have broken the ship entirely
to pieces, giving her fragments to the ocean. We never heard of her
fate, or recovered a single article that belonged to her.
Many were the discussions between Captain Robbins and his two mates,
touching the error in reckoning that had led them so far from their
course. In that day, navigation was by no means as simple a thing as
it has since become. It is true, lunars were usually attempted in
India and China ships; but this was not an every-day affair, like the
present morning and afternoon observations to obtain the time, and, by
means of the chronometer, the longitude. Then we had so recently got
clear of the islands, as to have no great need of any extraordinary
head-work; and the "bloody currents" had acted their pleasure with us
for eight or ten days before the loss of the ship. Marble was a very
good navigator, one of the best I ever sailed with, in spite of the
plainness of his exterior, and his rough deportment; and, all things
considered, he treated his old commander with great delicacy,
promising to do all he could, when he got home, to clear the matter
up. As for Kite, he knew but little, and had the discretion to say but
little. This moderation rendered our passage all the more agreeable.
The Tigris was a very fast ship, besides being well-found. She was a
little larger than the John, and mounted twelve guns, nine-pounders.
In consequence of the additions made to her crew, one way and another,
she now mustered nearer fifty than forty souls on board. Captain
Digges had certain martial tastes, and, long before we were up with
the Cape, he had us all quartered and exercised at the guns. He, too,
had had an affair with some proas, and he loved to converse of the
threshing he had given the rascals. I thought he envied us our
exploit, though this might have been mere imagination on my part, for
he was liberal enough in his commendations. The private intelligence
he had received of the relations between France and America, quickened
his natural impulses; and, by the time we reached St. Helena, the ship
might have been said to be in good fighting order for a merchantman.
We touched at this last-mentioned island for supplies, but obtained no
news of any interest. Those who supplied the ship could tell us
nothing but the names of the Indiamen who had gone out and home for
the last twelvemonth, and the prices of fresh meat and vegetables.
Napoleon civilized them, seventeen years later.
We had a good run from St. Helena to the calm latitudes, but these
last proved calmer than common. We worried through them after a while,
however, and then did very well until we got in the latitude of the
Windward Islands. Marble one day remarked to me that Captain Digges
was standing closer to the French island of Guadaloupe than was at all
necessary or prudent, if he believed in his own reports of the danger
there existed to American commerce, in this quarter of the ocean.
I have lived long enough, and have seen too much of men and things, to
fancy my country and countrymen right in all their transactions,
merely because newspapers, members of congress, and fourth of July
orators, are pleased to affirm the doctrine. No one can go much to sea
without reading with great distrust many of the accounts, in the
journals of the day, of the grievous wrongs done the commerce of
America by the authorities of this or that port, the seizure of such a
ship, or the imprisonment of some particular set of officers and
men. As a rule, it is safer to assume that the afflicted parties
deserve all that has happened to them, than to believe them
immaculate; and, quite likely, much more, too. The habit of receiving
such appeals to their sympathies, renders the good people of the
republic peculiarly liable to impositions of this nature; and the
mother who encourages those of her children who fetch and carry, will
be certain to have her ears filled with complaints and tattle.
Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond all dispute, that the commerce of
the country was terribly depredated on by nearly all the European
belligerents, between the commencement of the war of the French
revolution and its close. So enormous were the robberies thus
committed on the widely extended trade of this nation, under one
pretence or another, as to give a colouring of retributive justice, if
not of moral right, to the recent failures of certain States among us
to pay their debts. Providence singularly avenges all wrongs by its
unerring course; and I doubt not, if the facts could be sifted to the
bottom, it would be found the devil was not permitted to do his work,
in either case, without using materials supplied by the sufferers, in
some direct or indirect manner, themselves. Of all the depredations on
American trade just mentioned, those of the great sister republic, at
the close of the last century, were among the most grievous, and were
of a character so atrocious and bold, that I confess it militates
somewhat against my theory to admit that France owns very little of
the "suspended debt;" but I account for this last circumstance by the
reparation she in part made, by the treaty of 1831. With England it is
different. She drove us into a war by the effects of her orders in
council and paper blockades, and compelled us to expend a hundred
millions to set matters right. I should like to see the books
balanced, not by the devil, who equally instigated the robberies on
the high seas, and the "suspension" or "repudiation" of the State
debts; but by the great Accountant who keeps a record of all our deeds
of this nature, whether it be to make money by means of cruising
ships, or cruising scrip. It is true, these rovers encountered very
differently-looking victims, in the first place; but it is a somewhat
trite remark, that the aggregate of human beings is pretty much the
same in all situations. There were widows and orphans as much
connected with the condemnation of prizes, as with the prices of
condemned stock; and I do not see that fraud is any worse when carried
on by scriveners and clerks with quills behind their ears, than when
carried on by gentlemen wearing cocked hats, and carrying swords by
their sides. On the whole, I am far from certain that the
account-current of honesty is not slightly--honesty very _slightly_
leavens either transaction--in favour of the non-paying States, as men
do sometimes borrow with good intentions, and fail, from inability, to
pay; whereas, in the whole course of my experience, I never knew a
captor of a ship who intended to give back any of the prize-money, if
he could help it. But, to return to my adventures.
We were exactly in the latitude of Guadaloupe, with the usual breeze,
when, at daylight, a rakish-looking brig was seen in chase. Captain
Digges took a long survey of the stranger with his best glass, one
that was never exhibited but on state occasions, and then he
pronounced him to be a French cruiser; most probably a privateer. That
he was a Frenchman, Marble affirmed, was apparent by the height of his
top-masts, and the shortness of his yards; the upper spars, in
particular, being mere apologies for yards. Everybody who had any
right to an opinion, was satisfied the brig was a French cruiser,
either public or private.
The Tigris was a fast ship, and she was under top-mast and top-gallant
studding-sails at the time, going about seven knots. The brig was on
an easy bowline, evidently looking up for our wake, edging off
gradually as we drew ahead. She went about nine knots, and bade fair
to close with us by noon. There was a good deal of doubt, aft, as to
the course we ought to pursue. It was decided in the end, however, to
shorten sail and let the brig come up, as being less subject to
cavils, than to seem to avoid her. Captain Digges got out his last
letters from home, and I saw him showing them to Captain Robbins, the
two conning them over with great earnestness. I was sent to do some
duty near the hencoops, where they were sitting, and overheard a part
of their conversation. From the discourse, I gathered that the
proceedings of these picaroons were often equivocal, and that
Americans were generally left in doubt, until a favourable moment
occurred for the semi-pirates to effect their purposes. The party
assailed did not know when or how to defend himself, until it was too
late.
"These chaps come aboard you, sometimes, before you're aware of what
they are about," observed Captain Robbins.
"I'll not be taken by surprise in that fashion," returned Digges,
after a moment of reflection. "Here, you Miles, go forward and tell
the cook to fill his coppers with water, and to set it boiling as fast
as he can; and tell Mr. Marble I want him aft. Bear a hand, now,
youngster, and give them a lift yourself."
Of course I obeyed, wondering what the captain wanted with so much hot
water as to let the people eat their dinners off cold grub, rather
than dispense with it; for this was a consequence of his decree. But
we had not got the coppers half-filled, before I saw Mr. Marble and
Neb lowering a small ship's engine from the launch, and placing it
near the galley, in readiness to be filled. The mate told Neb to screw
on the pipe, and then half a dozen of the men, as soon as we got
through with the coppers, were told to fill the engine with
sea-water. Captain Digges now came forward to superintend the
exercise, and Neb jumped on the engine, flourishing the pipe about
with the delight of a "nigger." The captain was diverted with the
black's zeal, and he appointed him captain of the firemen on the spot.
"Now, let us see what you can do at that forward dead eye, darky,"
said Captain Digges, laughing. "Take it directly on the strap. Play
away, boys, and let Neb try his hand."
It happened that Neb hit the dead-eye at the first jet, and he showed
great readiness in turning the stream from point to point, as
ordered. Neb's conduct on the night of the affair with the proas had
been told to Captain Digges, who was so well pleased with the fellow's
present dexterity, as to confirm him in office. He was told to stick
by the engine at every hazard. Soon after, an order was given to clear
for action. This had an ominous sound to my young ears, and, though I
have no reason to suppose myself deficient in firmness, I confess I
began to think again of Clawbonny, and Grace, and Lucy; ay, and even
of the mill. This lasted but for a moment, however, and, as soon as I
got at work, the feeling gave me no trouble. We were an hour getting
the ship ready, and, by that time, the brig was within half a mile,
luffing fairly up on our lee-quarter. As we had shortened sail, the
privateer manifested no intention of throwing a shot to make us
heave-to. She seemed disposed to extend courtesy for courtesy.
The next order was for all hands to go to quarters. I was stationed in
the main-top, and Rupert in the fore. Our duties were to do light
work, in the way of repairing damages; and the captain, understanding
that we were both accustomed to fire-arms, gave us a musket a-piece,
with orders to blaze away as soon as they began the work below. As we
had both stood fire once, we thought ourselves veterans, and proceeded
to our stations, smiling and nodding to each other as we went up the
rigging. Of the two, my station was the best, since I could see the
approach of the brig, the mizen-top-sail offering but little
obstruction to vision after she got near; whereas the main-top-sail
was a perfect curtain, so far as poor Rupert was concerned. In the way
of danger, there was not much difference as to any of the stations on
board, the bulwarks of the ship being little more than plank that
would hardly stop a musket-ball; and then the French had a reputation
for firing into the rigging.
As soon as all was ready, the captain sternly ordered silence. By this
time the brig was near enough to hail. I could see her decks quite
plainly, and they were filled with men. I counted her guns, too, and
ascertained she had but ten, all of which seemed to be lighter than
our own. One circumstance that I observed, however, was suspicious.
Her forecastle was crowded with men, who appeared to be crouching
behind the bulwarks, as if anxious to conceal their presence from the
eyes of those in the Tigris. I had a mind to jump on a back-stay and
slip down on deck, to let this threatening appearance be known; but I
had heard some sayings touching the imperative duty of remaining at
quarters in face of the enemy, and I did not like to desert my
station. Tyroes have always exaggerated notions both of their rights
and their duties, and I had not escaped the weakness. Still, I think
some credit is due for the alternative adopted. During the whole
voyage, I had kept a reckoning, and paper and pencil were always in my
pocket, in readiness to catch a moment to finish a day's work. I wrote
as follows on a piece of paper, therefore, as fast as possible, and
dropped the billet on the quarter-deck, by enclosing a copper in the
scrawl, _cents_ then being in their infancy. I had merely
written--"The brig's forecastle is filled with armed men, hid behind
the bulwarks!" Captain Digges heard the fall of the copper, and
looking up--nothing takes an officer's eyes aloft quicker than to find
anything coming out of a top!--he saw me pointing to the paper. I was
rewarded for this liberty by an approving nod. Captain Digges read
what I had written, and I soon observed Neb and the cook filling the
engine with boiling water. This job was no sooner done than a good
place was selected on the quarter-deck for this singular implement of
war, and then a hail came from the brig.
"Vat zat sheep is?" demanded some one from the brig.
"The Tigris of Philadelphia, from Calcutta _home_. What brig is
_that_?"
"_La Folie--corsair Français_. From vair you come?"
"From Calcutta. And where are _you_ from?"
"Guadaloupe. Vair you go, eh?"
"Philadelphia. Do not luff so near me; some accident may happen."
"Vat you call '_accident_?' Can nevair hear, eh? I will come
_tout près_."
"Give us a wider berth, I tell you! Here is your jib boom nearly foul
of my mizen-rigging."
"Vat mean zat, bert' vidair? eh! _Allons, mes enfants, c'est le
moment_!"
"Luff a little, and keep his spar clear," cried our captain. "Squirt
away, Neb, and let us see what you can do!"
The engine made a movement, just as the French began to run out on
their bowsprit, and, by the time six or eight were on the heel of the
jib-boom, they were met by the hissing hot stream, which took them
_en echelon_, as it might be, fairly raking the whole line. The
effect was instantaneous. Physical nature cannot stand excessive heat,
unless particularly well supplied with skin; and the three leading
Frenchmen, finding retreat impossible, dropped incontinently into the
sea, preferring cold water to hot--the chances of drowning, to the
certainty of being scalded. I believe all three were saved by their
companions in-board, but I will not vouch for the fact. The remainder
of the intended boarders, having the bowsprit before them, scrambled
back upon the brig's forecastle as well as they could, betraying, by
the random way in which their hands flew about, that they had a
perfect consciousness how much they left their rear exposed on the
retreat. A hearty laugh was heard in all parts of the Tigris, and the
brig, putting her helm hard up, wore round like a top, as if she were
scalded herself.[*]
[Footnote *: This incident actually occurred in the war of 1798]
We all expected a broadside now; but of that there was little
apprehension, as it was pretty certain we carried the heaviest
battery, and had men enough to work it. But the brig did not fire, I
suppose because we fell off a little ourselves, and she perceived it
might prove a losing game. On the contrary, she went quite round on
her heel, hauling up on the other tack far enough to bring the two
vessels exactly _dos à dos_. Captain Digges ordered two of the
quarter-deck nines to be run out of the stern-ports; and it was well
he did, for it was not in nature for men to be treated as our friends
in the brig had been served, without manifesting certain signs of
ill-humour. The vessels might have been three cables' lengths asunder
when we got a gun. The first I knew of the shot was to hear it plunge
through the mizen-top-sail, then it came whistling through my top,
between the weather-rigging and the mast-head, cutting a hole through
the main-top-sail, and, proceeding onward, I heard it strike something
more solid than canvass. I thought of Rupert and the fore-top in an
instant, and looked anxiously down on deck to ascertain if he were
injured.
"Fore-top, there!" called out Captain Digges. "Where did that shot
strike?"
"In the mast-head," answered Rupert, in a clear, firm voice. "It has
done no damage, sir."
"Now's your time, Captain Robbing--give 'em a reminder."
Both our nines were fired, and, a few seconds after, three cheers
arose from the decks of our ship. I could not see the brig, now, for
the mizen-top-sail; but I afterwards learned that we had shot away her
gaff. This terminated the combat, in which the glory was acquired
principally by Neb. They told me, when I got down among the people
again, that the black's face had been dilated with delight the whole
time, though he stood fairly exposed to musketry, his mouth grinning
from ear to ear. Neb was justly elated with the success that attended
this exhibition of his skill, and described the retreat of our enemies
with a humour and relish that raised many a laugh at the discomfited
privateersman. It is certain that some of the fellows must have been
nearly parboiled.
I have always supposed this affair between la Folie and the Tigris to
have been the actual commencement of hostilities in the _quasi_
war of 1798-9 and 1800. Other occurrences soon supplanted it in the
public mind; but we of the ship never ceased to regard the adventure
as one of great national interest. It did prove to be a nine days'
wonder in the newspapers.
From this time, nothing worthy of being noted occurred, until we
reached the coast. We had got as high as the capes of Virginia, and
were running in for the land, with a fair wind, when we made a ship
in-shore of us. The stranger hauled up to speak us, as soon as we were
seen. There was a good deal of discussion about this vessel, as she
drew near, between Captain Digges and his chief-mate. The latter said
he knew the vessel, and that it was an Indiaman out of Philadelphia,
called the Ganges, a sort of sister craft to our own ship; while the
former maintained, if it were the Ganges at all, she was so altered as
scarcely to be recognised. As we got near, the stranger threw a shot
under our fore-foot, and showed an American pennant and ensign.
Getting a better look at her, we got so many signs of a vessel-of-war
in our neighbour, as to think it wisest to heave-to, when the other
vessel passed under our stern, tacked, and lay with her head-yards
aback, a little on our weather-quarter. As she drew to windward, we
saw her stern, which had certain national emblems, but no name on it.
This settled the matter. She was a man-of-war, and she carried the
American flag! Such a thing did not exist a few months before, when we
left home, and Captain Digges was burning with impatience to know
more. He was soon gratified.
"Is not that the Tigris?" demanded a voice, through a trumpet, from
the stranger.
"Ay, ay! What ship is that?"
"The United States' Ship Ganges, Captain Dale; from the capes of the
Delaware, bound on a cruise. You're welcome home, Captain Digges; we
may want some of your assistance under a cockade."
Digges gave a long whistle, and then the mystery was out. This proved
to be the Ganges, as stated, an Indiaman bought into a new navy, and
the first ship-of-war ever sent to sea under the government of the
country, as it had existed since the adoption of the constitution,
nine years before. The privateers of France had driven the republic
into an armament, and ships were fitting out in considerable numbers;
some being purchased, like the Ganges, and others built expressly for
the new marine. Captain Digges went on board the Ganges, and, pulling
an oar in his boat, I had a chance of seeing that vessel also. Captain
Dale, a compact, strongly-built, seaman-like looking man, in a blue
and white uniform, received our skipper with a cordial shake of the
hand, for they had once sailed together, and he laughed heartily when
he heard the story of the boarding-party and the hot water. This
respectable officer had no braggadocia about him, but he intimated
that it would not be long, as he thought, before the rovers among the
islands would have their hands full. Congress was in earnest, and the
whole country was fairly aroused. Whenever that happens in America, it
is usually to take a new and better direction than to follow the
ordinary blind impulses of popular feelings. In countries where the
masses count for nothing, in the every-day working of their systems,
excitement has a tendency to democracy; but, among ourselves, I think
the effect of such a condition of things is to bring into action men
and qualities that are commonly of little account, and to elevate,
instead of depressing, public sentiment.
I was extremely pleased with the manly, benevolent countenance of
Captain Dale, and had half a desire to ask leave to join his ship on
the spot. If that impulse had been followed, it is probable my future
life would have been very different from what it subsequently
proved. I should have been rated a midshipman, of course; and, serving
so early, with a good deal of experience already in ships, a year or
two would have made me a lieutenant, and, could I have survived the
pruning of 1801, I should now have been one of the oldest officers in
the service. Providence directed otherwise; and how much was lost, or
how much gained, by my continuance in the Tigris, the reader will
learn as we proceed.
As soon as Captain Digges had taken a glass or two of wine with his
old acquaintance, we returned to our own ship, and the two vessels
made sail; the Ganges standing off to the northward and eastward,
while we ran in for the capes of the Delaware. We got in under Cape
May, or within five miles of it, the same evening, when it fell nearly
calm. A pilot came off from the cape in a row-boat, and he reached us
just at dark. Captain Robbins now became all impatience to land, as it
was of importance to him to be the bearer of his own bad
news. Accordingly, an arrangement having been made with the two men
who belonged to the shore-boat, our old commander, Rupert and myself,
prepared to leave the ship, late as it was. We two lads were taken for
the purpose of manning two additional oars, but were to rejoin the
ship in the bay, if possible; if not, up at town. One of the
inducements of Captain Robbins to be off, was the signs of northerly
weather. It had begun to blow a little in puffs from the north-west;
and everybody knew, if it came on to blow seriously from that quarter,
the ship might be a week in getting up the river, her news being
certain to precede her. We hurried off accordingly, taking nothing
with us but a change of linen, and a few necessary papers.
We got the first real blast from the north-west in less than five
minutes after we had quitted the Tigris's side, and while the ship was
still visible, or, rather, while we could yet see the lights in her
cabin-windows, as she fell off before the wind. Presently the lights
disappeared, owing, no doubt, to the ship's luffing again. The
symptoms now looked so threatening, that the pilot's men proposed
making an effort, before it was too late, to find the ship; but this
was far easier said than done. The vessel might be spinning away
towards Cape Henlopen, at the rate of six or seven knots; and, without
the means of making any signal in the dark, it was impossible to
overtake her. I do believe that Captain Robbins would have acceded to
the request of the men, had he seen any probability of succeeding; as
it was, there remained no alternative but to pull in, and endeavour to
reach the land. We had the light on the cape as our beacon, and the
boat's head was kept directly for it, as the wisest course for us to
pursue.
Changes of wind from south-east to north-west are very common on the
American coast. They are almost always sudden; sometimes so much so,
as to take ships aback; and the force of the breeze usually comes so
early, as to have produced the saying that a "nor'-wester comes
butt-end foremost." Such proved to be the fact in our case. In less
than half an hour after it began to blow, the wind would have brought
the most gallant ship that floated to double-reefed topsails, steering
by, and to reasonably short-canvass, running large. We may have pulled
a mile in this half hour, though it was by means of a quick stroke and
great labour. The Cape May men were vigorous and experienced, and they
did wonders; nor were Rupert and I idle; but, as soon as the sea got
up, it was as much as all four of us could do to keep steerage-way on
the boat. There were ten minutes, during which I really think the boat
was kept head to sea by means of the wash of the waves that drove
past, as we barely held her stationary.
Of course, it was out of the question to continue exertions that were
as useless as they were exhausting. We tried the expedient, however,
of edging to the northward, with the hope of getting more under the
lee of the land, and, consequently, into smoother water; but it did no
good. The nearest we ever got to the light must have considerably
exceeded a league. At length Rupert, totally exhausted, dropped his
oar, and fell panting on the thwart. He was directed to steer, Captain
Robbins taking his place. I can only liken our situation at that
fearful moment to the danger of a man who is clinging to a cliff its
summit and safety almost in reach of his hand, with the consciousness
that his powers are fast failing him, and that he must shortly go
down. It is true, death was not so certain by our abandoning the
effort to reach the land, but the hope of being saved was faint
indeed. Behind us lay the vast and angry Atlantic, without an inch of
visible land between us and the Rock of Lisbon. We were totally
without food of any sort, though, luckily, there was a small breaker
of fresh water in the boat. The Cape May men had brought off their
suppers with them, but they had made the meal; whereas the rest of us
had left the Tigris fasting, intending to make comfortable suppers at
the light.
At length Captain Robbins consulted the boatmen, and asked them what
they thought of our situation. I sat between these men, who had been
remarkably silent the whole time, pulling like giants. Both were
young, though, as I afterwards learned, both were married; each having
a wife, at that anxious moment, waiting on the beach of the cape for
the return of the boat. As Captain Robbins put the question, I turned
my head, and saw that the man behind me, the oldest of the two, was in
tears. I cannot describe the shock I experienced at this sight. Here
was a man accustomed to hardships and dangers, who was making the
stoutest and most manly efforts to save himself and all with him, at
the very moment, so strongly impressed with the danger of our
situation, that his feelings broke forth in a way it is always
startling to witness, when the grief of man is thus exhibited in
tears. The imagination of this husband was doubtless picturing to his
mind the anguish of his wife at that moment, and perhaps the long days
of sorrow that were to succeed. I have no idea he thought of himself,
apart from his wife: for a finer, more manly resolute fellow, never
existed, as he subsequently proved, to the fullest extent.
It seemed to me that the two Cape May men had a sort of desperate
reluctance to give up the hope of reaching the land. We were a strong
boat's crew, and we had a capital, though a light boat; yet all would
not do. About midnight, after pulling desperately for three hours, my
strength was quite gone, and I had to give up the oar. Captain Robbins
confessed himself in a very little better state, and, it being
impossible for the boatmen to do more than keep the boat stationary,
and that only for a little time longer, there remained no expedient
but to keep off before the wind, in the hope of still falling in with
the ship. We knew that the Tigris was on the starboard tack when we
left her, and, as she would certainly endeavour to keep as close in
with the land as possible, there was a remaining chance that she had
wore ship to keep off Henlopen, and might be heading up about
north-north-east, and laying athwart the mouth of the bay. This left
us just a chance--a ray of hope; and it had now become absolutely
necessary to endeavour to profit by it.
The two Cape May men pulled the boat round, and kept her just ahead of
the seas, as far as it was in their power; very light touches of the
oars sufficing for this, where it could be done at all. Occasionally,
however, one of those chasing waves would come after us, at a racer's
speed, invariably breaking at such instants, and frequently
half-filling the boat. This gave us new employment, Rupert and myself
being kept quite half the time bailing. No occupation, notwithstanding
the danger, could prevent me from looking about the cauldron of angry
waters, in quest of the ship. Fifty times did I fancy I saw her, and
as often did the delusive idea end in disappointment. The waste of
dark waters, relieved by the gleaming of the combing seas, alone met
the senses. The wind blew directly down the estuary, and, in crossing
its mouth, we found too much swell to receive it on our beam, and were
soon compelled, most reluctantly though it was, to keep dead away to
prevent swamping. This painful state of expectation may have lasted
half an hour, the boat sometimes seeming ready to fly out of the
water, as it drifted before the gale, when Rupert unexpectedly called
out that he saw the ship!
There she was, sure enough, with her head to the northward and
eastward, struggling along through the raging waters, under her fore
and main-top-sails, close-reefed, and reefed courses, evidently
clinging to the land as close as she could, both to hold her own and
to make good weather. It was barely light enough to ascertain these
facts, though the ship was not a cable's length from us when first
discovered. Unfortunately, she was dead to leeward of us, and was
drawing ahead so fast as to leave the probability she would forereach
upon us, unless we took to all our oars. This was done as soon as
possible, and away we went, at a rapid rate, aiming to shoot directly
beneath the Tigris's lee-quarter, so as to round-to under shelter of
her hull, there to receive a rope.
We pulled like giants. Three several times the water slapped into us,
rendering the boat more and more heavy; but Captain Bobbins told us to
pull on, every moment being precious. As I did not look
round--_could_ not well, indeed--I saw no more of the ship until
I got a sudden glimpse of her dark hull, within a hundred feet of us,
surging ahead in the manner in which vessels at sea seem to take
sudden starts that carry them forward at twice their former apparent
speed. Captain Robbins had begun to hail, the instant he thought
himself near enough, or at the distance of a hundred yards; but what
was the human voice amid the music of the winds striking the various
cords, and I may add _chords_, in the mazes of a square-rigged
vessel's hamper, accompanied by the base of the roaring ocean!
Heavens! what a feeling of despair was that, when the novel thought
suggested itself almost simultaneously to our minds, that we should
not make ourselves heard! I say simultaneously, for at the same
instant the whole five of us set up a common, desperate shout to alarm
those who were so near us, and who might easily save us from the most
dreadful of all deaths--starvation at sea. I presume the fearful
manner in which we struggled at the oars diminished the effect of our
voices, while the effort to raise a noise lessened our power with the
oars. We were already to leeward of the ship, though nearly in her
wake, and our only chance now was to over take her. The captain called
out to us to pull for life or death, and pull we did. So frantic were
our efforts, that I really think we should have succeeded, had not a
sea come on board us, and filled us to the thwarts. There remained no
alternative but to keep dead away, and to bail for our lives.
I confess I felt scalding tears gush down my cheeks, as I gazed at the
dark mass of the ship just before it was swallowed up in the gloom.
This soon occurred, and then, I make no doubt, every man in the boat
considered himself as hopelessly lost. We continued to bail,
notwithstanding; and, using hats, gourds, pots and pails, soon cleared
the boat, though it was done with no other seeming object than to
avert immediate death. I heard one of the Cape May men pray. The name
of his wife mingled with his petitions to God. As for poor Captain
Robbins, who had so recently been in another scene of equal danger in
a boat, he remained silent, seemingly submissive to the decrees of
Providence.
In this state we must have drifted a league dead before the wind, the
Cape May men keeping their eyes on the light, which was just sinking
below the horizon, while the rest of us were gazing seaward in ominous
expectation of what awaited us in that direction, when the hail of
"Boat ahoy!" sounded like the last trumpet in our ears. A schooner
was passing our track, keeping a little off, and got so near as to
allow us to be seen, though, owing to a remark about the light which
drew all eyes to windward, not a soul of us saw her. It was too late
to avert the blow, for the hail had hardly reached us, when the
schooner's cut-water came down upon our little craft, and buried it in
the sea as if it had been lead. At such moments men do not think, but
act. I caught at a bob-stay, and missed it. As I went down into the
water, my hand fell upon some object to which I clung, and, the
schooner rising at the next instant, I was grasped by the hair by one
of the vessel's men. I had hold of one of the Cape May men's legs.
Released from my weight, this man was soon in the vessel's head, and
he helped to save me. When we got in-board, and mustered our party it
was found that all had been saved but Captain Robbins. The schooner
wore round, and actually passed over the wreck of the boat a second
time; but our old commander was never heard of more!