The next thing I remember there was a thick mist round the ship; and
then all the noise was shut off, as if it were all the other side of a
door. But we could still see her masts and spars and sails above the
misty stuff; and both the Captain and the Mate said they could see men
aloft; and I thought I could; but the Second Mate wasn't sure. All the
same though, the sails were all loosed in about a minute, it seemed, and
the yards mastheaded. We couldn't see the courses above the mist; but
Jessop says they were loosed too and sheeted home along with the upper
sails. Then we saw the yards squared and I saw the sails fill bang up
with wind; and yet, you know, ours were slatting.
The next thing was the one that hit me more than anything. Her masts
took a cant forrard, and then I saw her stem come up out of the mist
that was round her. Then, all in an instant, we could hear sounds from
the vessel again. And I tell you, the men didn't seem to be shouting,
but screaming. Her stern went higher. It was most extraordinary to look
at; and then she went plunk down, head foremost, right bang into the
mist-stuff.
It's all right what Jessop says, and when we saw him swimming (I was the
one who spotted him) we got out a boat quicker than a wind-jammer ever
got out a boat before, I should think.
The Captain and the Mate and the Second and I are
all going to sign this.
(Signed)
WILLIAM NAWSTON _Master_.
J.E.G. ADAMS _First Mate_.
ED. BROWN _Second Mate_.
JACK T. EVAN _Third Mate_.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Ghost Pirates, by William Hope Hodgson
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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