Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849Gilly, William O. S.
History
Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849
Gilly, William O. S.
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 18th century; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 19th century; Shipwrecks
'The people at the light-house had no means of communicating to the
frigate, that if she would only stand on a little further, she would
disentangle herself from the cloud, in which, like Jupiter Olympus of
old, she was wasting her thunder. At last, the captain, hopeless of
its clearing up, gave orders to pipe to dinner; but as the weather, in
all respects except this abominable haze, was quite fine, and the ship
was still in deep water, he directed her to be steered towards the
shore, and the lead kept constantly going. As one o'clock approached,
he began to feel uneasy, from the water shoaling, and the light-house
guns sounding closer and closer; but being unwilling to disturb the
men at their dinner, he resolved to stand on for the remaining ten
minutes of the hour. Lo and behold! however, they had not sailed half
a mile further before the flying gib-boom end emerged from the wall of
mist, then the bowsprit shot into daylight, and lastly, the ship
herself glided out of the cloud into the full blaze of a bright and
'sunshine holiday.' All hands were instantly turned up to make sail:
and the men, as they flew on deck, could scarcely believe their senses
when they saw behind them the fog-bank--right ahead the harbour's
mouth, with the bold cliffs of Cape Sambro on the left--and further
still, the ships at their moorings, with their ensigns and pendants
blowing out light and dry in the breeze.'
But to return to our sad tale. Towards noon, the weather cleared up
for about a quarter of an hour, allowing just sufficient time to get a
good observation of the latitude, which, according to Captain Baker's
reckoning, made their position to be about ninety-one miles from Cape
Race, and fifty-one from Cape St. Mary's.
They continued to steer east till about six o'clock in the evening,
when the breeze rather freshening, and the ship having run sixty miles
since noon, she was hauled off to south-east.
The fog was then so dense that the men could not see more than twenty
yards beyond the ship, but as Captain Baker's orders were to use the
utmost dispatch, he determined to make the best of his way. Every
precaution was taken, by using the lead, and by keeping a vigilant
look-out from every part of the ship. In this manner they proceeded,
carefully feeling the way, until about half-past seven o'clock, when
the look-out man shouted, 'Breakers ahead! Hard a-starboard!' The ship
was instantly hauled to the wind, but not being able to clear the
danger on that tack, every effort was made to stay the vessel, but
from the heavy sea, and whilst in stays, her stern took the breakers,
and she immediately fell broadside on, the sea breaking completely
over her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account