The Life of a Ship, R. M. Ballantyne [good e books to read .txt] 📗

clinging to the bulwarks, lest they should be washed overboard! Little Davy looked at the man next him, and saw that it was Ben Block. “Oh, Ben!” said he, “what an awful night it is! Do you think we shall be lost?”

Ben shook his head. “I don’t know, lad; but the Lord can save us, if it be His will. Pray to Him, boy.”

“My poor mother!” murmured Davy, as the tears rose to his eyes, while he prayed to God in his heart that he might be spared to see her again. At that moment there came a wave so big and black that Davy thought the sea was going to turn upside down. It came on like a great dark mountain, high above the ship. “Hold on for your lives!” cried some of the men, as the wave fell with a fearful crash and turned the ship over on her side—or on her “beam-ends,” as sailors call it. They were in awful danger now, as the sea began to pour down into the cabins, and the masts and sails being in the water the ship could not “right,” or become straight again. “Cut away the masts!” roared the captain. The deck was now standing up like a wall, so that the men could not walk on it, but they managed with great difficulty to reach the mizzenmast, which a few strokes of the axe sent overboard. Still the ship lay on her beam-ends. “Cut away the mainmast!” cried the captain. The order was obeyed, and with a loud report, like a cannon shot, it went overboard too. Immediately after the fall of the mainmast there came another wave, from which they never expected to rise again. It dashed down on the stern and drove in the cabin windows; but the worst of it was, that it swept away all the boats belonging to the ship. They had been securely fastened to the deck; but this wave carried them all away, so that now, if the ship sank, their only chance of escape was gone. The same wave snapped the foremast across near the deck. This was fortunate, because it enabled the ship to “right” herself, and once more the men were able to stand on the deck. The storm continued to rage still, however, and some of the men were sent to work the pumps, for there was a great deal of water in the ship now; so much, indeed, that she could hardly float. Another party were ordered to fit up a small mast, which they tied to the stump of the foremast. This new one was called a “jury-mast;” and as they could not sail without a mast of some kind or other, they were very glad when they saw it up and a sail hoisted on it. During the night, however, another heavy wave broke this mast away also; so they were again left to toss like a log on the stormy waters.

All this time the men were working hard at the pumps, but, although they worked for many hours without stopping, the water continued to increase in the hold, and they saw that the ship had sprung “a leak;” that is to say, some of the planks had started, or the seams had opened, and the water was pouring into it so fast that it was evident she would soon sink. This was very awful indeed. Some of the men began to cry to God for mercy, others tore their hair and ran about like madmen, while some sat down and silently prepared to die!

The morning light came at last. But what a sad sight it rose upon. The once noble ship now lay a wreck upon the water, with the masts and sails gone and her shattered hull ready to sink. The captain, who seemed to have lost all hope when the jury-mast broke, was standing on the poop, looking anxiously round the horizon in hopes of seeing a sail—but in vain. Davy stood beside him, and looking up in his face, said, “Please, sir, could we not make a raft?”

“Right, boy, right,” replied the captain; “you’re the best ‘man’ amongst us. We’re no better than girls to be giving way to despair in this way. Hallo! lads, rouse up there; get all the spare yards and spars you can, and make a raft. Look sharp now!”

The captain said this in such a quick, commanding tone that all the sailors jumped to obey him, and in five minutes they were busily at work on the raft. First, they collected all the broken yards and bits of masts that were still floating alongside, dragging by the ropes that fastened them to the sides of the ship. These they arranged side by side, and tied them firmly together with ropes. Then they collected all the spare timbers that were in the ship, and putting these above the others, fastened them with ropes too. After that they tore off some of the planks from the decks and bulwarks, with which they made a kind of floor to the raft. All this, although it takes a short time to tell, took a long, long time to do; for it was hard work moving such heavy timbers, and the poor men were very tired, having been up in the storm all night. Besides this, although the wind had ceased, the waves were still high and would not let them work quietly. However, they finished it at last, and after it was done, they put a number of barrels of biscuit and some casks of water and wine on board. Then they put a few blankets and a compass—that useful little machine that points always to the north, and shows the sailor which way to go, so that he sails in the dark night as surely as in the broad day.

“Now,” said the captain, “I think that there is a chance of escape yet. Get on board, lads, as fast as you can. I fear the ship won’t float long.” All the men now hastened on board. The captain’s wife, who was the only female in the ship, was the first to step on the raft, and it soon began to be crowded. When about half of the sailors had left the ship the captain suddenly cried out, “Ho! Ben Block, we’ve forgot a mast and sail. Run below with a couple of hands and fetch one as fast as you can.” Just at that moment the ship gave a heavy plunge, the ropes broke, and the raft floated slowly away, leaving the men who were yet in the ship in a state of despair. One or two of them jumped into the sea and tried to swim to the raft; but the first man who did so was nearly drowned, and the others got back to the ship with great difficulty. It was a terrible sight to witness the misery of the poor captain, as he beheld his wife, standing with her arms stretched out towards him, and the raft drifting slowly away, until at length it appeared like a small black spot far off upon the sea.

“Oh, my poor wife!” he cried, “I shall never see you more.”

The tears were rolling down Ben Block’s weatherbeaten face as he went up to the captain and took him by the hand.

“Never fear, sir,” said he; “the Almighty can save her.”

“Thank you, Ben, for saying that,” replied the captain; “but the ship won’t float long. My wife may indeed be saved, but we are sure to be lost.”

“I don’t know that,” cried Ben, trying to look cheerful. “When you sent me down below, sir, to look for a mast and sail, I observed that the water in the hold had ceased rising. If we can only keep her afloat a little longer, we may manage to make another raft.” The captain smiled sadly and shook his head, and Davy, who had been standing beside him all the time, felt his heart sink again.

To add to the horror of the scene, night came on, and the water was so high in the cabin that the captain and men who had been left in the wreck had to try to sleep on the wet decks the best way they could. Next morning the wind was still blowing pretty hard, and they now saw that they were drawing near to a wild shore, where there seemed to be many large rocks in the water near the beach. The crew of the Fair Nancy looked anxiously towards the land, hoping to see people there who might help them when the ship struck on the rocks; but they saw no one. In about an hour afterwards the ship struck, and the shock was so great that Davy’s heart seemed to leap into his throat. The shore was lined with great dark cliffs and precipices, at the foot of which the waves roared furiously. While the men stood looking helplessly at the land another wave lifted the ship, carried her forward a long way, and dashed her down on the rocks, where she stuck fast, with a sharp rock quite through her hull, and the water foaming round her. What made their situation more dreadful was, that a great deal of snow had fallen during the night. It covered the decks of the ship, and made the land look cold and dreary.

“We must swim for it now,” said the captain, as he looked sorrowfully at the boiling surf and immense waves which swept over the rocks, and bursting like thunder on the cliffs, were flung back upon the ship in spray.

“No one can swim in such a surf as that,” said one of the sailors gloomily.

“Surf” is the name given to the white foam which is formed by the waves when they dash upon the shore. It is very difficult, sometimes quite impossible, to swim in the surf of the sea, and many poor sailors have been hurled on the rocks by it and dashed in pieces while attempting to swim from their wrecked vessels to the land.

Every time a wave came it lifted the Fair Nancy, and, as it passed, let her fall heavily on the sharp rocks, so that she began to break up. Still the men were afraid to venture into the sea, and they clung to the bulwarks, quite uncertain what to do. At last Ben Block turned to the captain and said—

“I’m a good swimmer, captain, and I think I could swim to the shore well enough perhaps; but there are some o’ the men who can’t swim, and poor Davy, there, could never do it; so I’ll just throw a rope round my shoulders and make for the shore. If I land I’ll fix the rope to the cliffs, and you’ll all be able to get ashore easy enough. If I should be drowned,—it’ll only be a little sooner, that’s all, and it’s well worth risking my life to save my shipmates.”

“You’re a brave fellow, Ben,” said the captain. “Go and do it if you can.”

Ben Block went down below and soon returned with a stout rope. On the end of this he made a loop, which he passed round his shoulders, and then, raising his eyes to heaven with an imploring look, he leapt into the sea. At first he swam vigorously, and the sailors looked on in anxious hope. But a large wave came. It fell,—and Ben Block disappeared, while a cry of fear rose from the deck of the ship. In a few seconds, however, they saw him rise again and struggle manfully with the raging billows. The next wave that came lifted Ben up and threw him on the beach, to which he clung with all his power; but as the wave retired it swept him back into the sea, for he could not hold on to the loose sand. He now rolled over and over quite