Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat: A Story of Travel and Adventure, Optic [best non fiction books of all time txt] 📗

the bowman did the same with the forward tackle. At the moment the order to lower was given, as the wave sank down, the ship rolled to windward, and the boat struck the water some eight feet from the vessel's side.

"Up oars!" said the coxswain, with energy.

"Lively, Ward," added the first lieutenant.

"Let fall!" continued the coxswain, as a billow lifted the boat, so that those on board could see the ship's deck. "Give way together!"

The barge, tossed like a feather on the high seas, gathered headway, and moved off towards the wreck.

The lowering of the barge had been so successful that the same method was adopted with the gig; but as she was under the lee of the ship, there was less difficulty in getting her off. She pulled round the ship's bow, and having made less stern way in starting both boats came up under the counter of the wreck at about the same time. When the barge and gig reached the ship, a line was thrown to each of them over the quarter, which the bowman caught, and made fast to the ring. {254}

"Where is the captain of the ship?" demanded Mr. Haven.

"Here," shouted that officer.

"How many have you aboard?"

"Eighteen!"

"You must slide down on a rope over the stern; we can't go alongside," continued the first lieutenant.

"Ay, ay, sir!" responded the captain of the ship. "I have two women and two children on board."

"You must lower them in slings," added Haven, prompted by Mr. Fluxion.

The people on board the wreck went to work, and one of the women was lowered into each boat at the same time. A long loop was made in the end of the rope, and the woman sat down in the bight of it, holding on to the line with her hands. At a moment when the sea favored the movement, the boats were hauled up close to the ship's stern, the passenger caught by two of the crew, and hauled on board. A boy and a girl were let down in the same manner. The captain, mates, and seamen came down the rope hand over hand.

Each boat now had nine passengers, who were stowed in the stern sheets and on the bottom. The ropes from the ship were cast off, and the oarsmen were ordered to give way. The barge and the gig rose and fell, now leaping up on the huge billows, and then plunging down deep into the trough of the sea; but they had been well trimmed, and though the comb of the sea occasionally broke into them, drenching the boys with spray, the return to the Young America was safely effected. {255}

"How happens it that you are all boys?" asked the captain of the wrecked ship, who was in Paul Kendall's boat.

"That's the Academy Ship," replied the second lieutenant.

"The what?" exclaimed the captain.

"It is the Young America. She is a school ship."

"O, ay!"

There was no disposition to talk much in the boats. The officers and crews were fully employed in keeping the barge and gig right side up in the tremendous sea, and though all hands were filled with curiosity to know the particulars of the wreck, all questions were wisely deferred until they were on the deck of the ship.

When the gig came up under the counter of the Young America, a line was thrown down to the bowman who made it fast to the ring. The passengers were then taken aboard in slings rigged on the spanker-boom, which was swung over the lee quarter for the purpose. Part of the boat's crew were taken on board in the same way, and then the gig was hoisted up to the davits with the rest in her.

Before the barge was allowed to come up under the counter, the officer of the deck wore ship, so as to bring the port quarter, on which the boat was to be suspended, on the lee side. Her passengers were taken on deck as those from the gig had been, and she was hoisted up.

"Mr. Kendall, I congratulate you upon the success of your labors," said Mr. Lowington, when the second lieutenant reached the deck. "You have handled {256} your boat exceedingly well, and you deserve a great deal of credit."

"That's a fact, sir," added Boatswain Peaks, touching his cap. "I hardly spoke a word to him, and I've seen many a boat worse handled in a sea."

Paul blushed at the praise bestowed upon him, but he was proud and happy to have done his duty faithfully on this important occasion. The same commendation was given to the first lieutenant, after the barge had been hauled up to the davits, and the order given for the ship to fill away again.

The women and children were conducted to the professors' cabin as soon as they came on board, and the seamen were taken into the steerage. All of them were exhausted by the anxiety and the hardships they had endured, and as soon as their safety was insured, they sank almost helpless under the pressure of their physical weakness.

"This is a school ship, I'm told," said Captain Greely, the master of the shipwrecked vessel, who had also been invited to the main cabin.

"Yes, sir; we call it the Academy Ship, and we have eighty-seven young gentlemen on board," replied Mr. Lowington.

"They are smart boys, sir. I never saw boats better handled than those which brought us off from the ship," added Captain Greely, warmly.

"Your voyage has come to an unfortunate conclusion," said Mr. Lowington.

"Yes, sir; I have lost my ship, but I thank God my wife and children are safe," answered the weather-beaten seaman, as he glanced at one of the women {257} while the great tears flowed down his sun-browned cheeks.

"Poor children!" sighed Mr. Agneau, as he patted the little girl on the head; and his own eyes were dim with the tears he shed for others' woes.

Captain Greely told his story very briefly. His ship was the Sylvia, thirty days out of Liverpool, bound to New York. She had encountered a heavy gale a week before, in which she had badly sprung her mainmast. Finding it impossible to lay her to under the foresail, they had been compelled to set the main-topsail, reefed; but even this was too much for the weak mast, and it had gone by the board, carrying the second mate and five men with it. The Sylvia was old, and the captain acknowledged that she was hardly sea-worthy. She became unmanageable, and the foremast had been cut away to ease off the strain upon her. Her seams opened, and she was making more water than could be controlled with the pumps. For eighteen hours, all hands, even including the two women, had labored incessantly at the pumps and the buckets, to keep the ship afloat. They were utterly worn out when they discovered the Young America, were on the point of abandoning their efforts in despair, and taking to the boats, in which most of them would probably have perished.

After the boats started from the Young America, Mr. Lowington had ordered the cooks to prepare a meal for the people from the wreck; and as soon as they came on board, coffee and tea, beefsteaks, fried potatoes, and hot biscuit were in readiness for them. Tables were spread in the main cabin and in the {258} steerage, and the exhausted guests, providentially sent to this bountiful board, were cordially invited to partake. They had eaten nothing but hard bread since the gale came on, and they were in condition to appreciate the substantial fare set before them.

By the forethought of Captain Greely, the clothing of the women and children had been thrown into one of the boats. The bundle was opened, and its contents dried at the galley fire. The doctor and the chaplain gave up their state room to the captain, his wife and children, while Mr. Lowington extended a similar courtesy to the other woman, who was Mrs. Greely's sister. Mr. Fluxion was the first to offer his berth to the mate of the Sylvia, which was reluctantly accepted; and all the professors were zealous to sacrifice their own comfort to the wants of the wrecked visitors.

In the steerage, every boy, without an exception, wanted to give up his berth to one of the seamen from the Sylvia; but the privilege was claimed by the adult forward officers, the cooks, and stewards. The principal was finally obliged to decide between them: and for obvious reasons, he directed that the guests should occupy the quarters of the men, rather than of the boys. The people from the Sylvia needed rest and nourishment more than anything else. They were warmed, and fed, and dried, and then permitted to sleep off the fatigues of their severe exertion.

At three o'clock, though they had slept but an hour or two, most of the shipwrecked people appeared at divine service, for this was a privilege which they had long been denied, and it would be strange, at such a {259} time, if the hearts of those who had been saved from the angry flood were not overflowing with gratitude to God for his mercy to them. Mr. Agneau, whose sensitive nature had been keenly touched by the events of the day, made a proper use of the occasion, delivering a very effective address to the students and to the shipwrecked voyagers, who formed his little congregation.

The next morning the wind came up fresh and warm from the southward, knocking down the heavy sea, and giving a delightful day to those on board the ship. The passengers appeared on deck, and were greatly interested in the Young America and her juvenile crew. Captain Greely's son and daughter were little lions, of the first class, among the boys. All hands vied with each other in their efforts to do something for the guests of the ship, and it really seemed as though the era of good feeling had dawned upon them. Even Shuffles and Pelham forgot, for a time, the interests of the Chain League, and joined with others in petting the children of the wreck, and in laboring for the happiness of the involuntary guests.

On this day, observations for latitude and longitude were obtained, and at noon the ship was found to be in latitude 42°, 37', 5" N.; longitude 64°, 39', 52" W. The position of the ship was marked on the chart by the masters, in council assembled, and the calculations made for the course. Bowditch's Navigator, an indispensable work to the seaman, was consulted frequently both for the rules and the nautical tables it contains. The course, after allowing for the variation {260} of the compass, was found to be north-east by east, which, agreeing with the calculations of Mr. Fluxion, was given out to the quartermaster conning the wheel.

The wind continued to blow fresh from the south and south-west during the rest of the day and the succeeding night; and the log-slate showed ten and eleven knots until midnight, when the wind hauled round to the westward, and soon came strong from that quarter. At noon on Tuesday, April 5, the Young America had made two hundred and forty-four miles during the preceding twenty-four hours, which was the best run she had had during the voyage.

On the afternoon of this day, a ship, bound to the westward, was seen, and Captain Greely expressed a desire to be put on board of her, with his family, as he did not wish to return to the point from which he had just come. The Young America bore down upon the sail, and spoke her at sundown. Her captain was willing to take the shipwrecked voyagers on board his ship, which was bound to New York, and they were transferred in the barge and gig. Captain Greely and his party were very grateful for the attentions they had received; and the little boy and girl almost rebelled at the idea of leaving their new and partial friends.

As the two ships were filling away, after the transfer of the passengers, the seamen of the New York ship, having learned what the Young America was, gave three cheers, and dipped her ensign in compliment to her. All the young tars were immediately ordered into the rigging by Captain Gordon, and "three times three" were most lustily given. The {261} American flag at her peak was lowered three times, in reply to the salute of the stranger. As the Academy Ship stood off on her course, the two children of Captain Greely were seen, on the poop-deck of the other vessel, waving their handkerchiefs; and they continued to do so as long as they could be seen.

The departure of the guests had a saddening effect upon the crew of the Young America, as they missed the children and the ladies very much; for, during their presence on board, the ship had assumed quite a domestic aspect, and all the idlers on deck found pleasing companions in the little boy and girl.

The limits of this volume do not permit a full detail of the entire voyage across the ocean. Enough has been given to show