The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
From the statements of survivors we now know that the watch had been
called a few minutes past midnight; and as the men were going on deck to
muster, the ship gave a terrible lurch to starboard, soon, however,
righting herself on that occasion. Robert Hirst, a seaman, who afterwards
gave some valuable testimony, was on the forecastle. There was a very
strong wind, and the ship was then only carrying her three top-sails,
double reefs in each, and the foretop-mast stay-sail. The yards were
braced sharp up, and the ship had little way upon her.(44) As the watch
was mustered, he heard Captain Burgoyne give the order, “Let go the
foretop-sail halyards!” followed by, “Let go fore and maintop-sail
sheets!” By the time the men got to the top-sail sheets the ship was
heeling over to starboard so much that others were being washed off the
deck, the ship lying down on her side, as she was gradually turning over
and trembling through her whole frame with every blow which the short,
jumping, vicious seas, now white with the squall, gave her.(45) The roar
of the steam from her boilers was terrific, “outscreaming the noise of the
storm,” but not drowning the shrieks of the poor engineers and stokers
which were heard by some of the survivors. The horrors of their situation
can be imagined. The sea, breaking down the funnel, would soon, no doubt,
extinguish the furnaces, but not until some of their contents had been
dashed into the engine-room, with oceans of scalding water; the boilers
themselves may, likely enough, have given way and burst also. Mercifully,
it was not for long. Hirst, with two other men, rushed to the
weather-forecastle netting and jumped overboard. It was hardly more than a
few moments before they found themselves washed on to the bilge of the
ship’s bottom, for in that brief space of time the ship had turned
completely over, and almost immediately went down. Hirst and his
companions went down with the ship, but the next feeling of consciousness
by the former was coming into contact with a floating spar, to which he
tied himself with his black silk handkerchief. He was soon, however,
washed from the spar, but got hold of the stern of the second launch,
which was covered with canvas, and floating as it was stowed on board the
ship. Other men were there, on the top of the canvas covering. Immediately
after, they fell in with the steam-lifeboat pinnace, bottom-up, with
Captain Burgoyne and several men clinging to it. Four men, of whom Mr.
May,(46) the gunner, was one, jumped from off the bottom of the
steam-pinnace to the launch. One account says that Captain Burgoyne
incited them, by calling out, “Jump, men, jump!” but did not do it
himself. The canvas was immediately cut away, and with the oars free, they
attempted to pull up to the steam-pinnace to rescue the captain and others
remaining there. This they found impossible to accomplish. As soon as they
endeavoured to get the boat’s head up to the sea to row her to windward to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 — John Shaqi
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