Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.Anonymous
History
Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.
Anonymous
Mutiny; Pirates; Seafaring life; Shipwrecks
The admiral, therefore, gave orders for all the buckets to be manned,
and every officer to help towards freeing the ship; the mizen-top-sail
was set upon the fore-mast, the main-top-gallant-sail on the stump of
the mizen-mast, and the tiller shipped. In this condition, by bearing
away, she scudded on at so good a rate that she held pace with some of
the merchantmen.
The day having been spent in bailing and pumping, without materially
gaining on the water, the captain in the name of the officers,
represented to the admiral the necessity of parting with the guns for
the relief of the ship, but he objected, that there would then be left
no protection for the convoy.--At length, however, after great
difficulty, he consented to their disposing of the fore-castle and
aftermost quarter-deck guns, together with some of the shot, and other
articles of very great weight. The ensuing night was employed in
bailing and endeavoring to make the pumps useful, for the ballast by
getting into the well, had choked and rendered them useless, and the
chains had broken every time they were repaired. The water had risen
to seven feet in the hold. The wind from the westward drove a vast sea
before it, and the ship being old, strained most violently.
On the morning of the 18th nothing could be seen of the Canada, she
having pushed on at her greatest speed for England. The frame of the
Ramillies having opened during the night, the admiral was prevailed
upon, by the renewed and pressing remonstrances of the officers,
although with great reluctance, to let six of the forwardmost and four
of the aftermost guns of the main-deck to be thrown overboard,
together with the remainder of those on the quarter-deck; and the ship
still continuing to open very much, he ordered tarred canvas and hides
to be nailed fore and aft from under the sills of the ports on the
main-deck under the fifth plank above, or within the water-ways, and
the crew, without orders did the same on the lower deck. Her
increasing complaints requiring still more to be done, the admiral
directed all the guns on the upper deck, the shot, both on that and
the lower deck, and various heavy stores to be thrown overboard; a
leakage in the light room of the grand magazine having almost filled
the ship forward, and there being eight feet water in the magazine,
every gentleman was compelled to take his turn at the whips, or in
handing the buckets. The ship was besides frapped from the fore-mast
to the main-mast.
Notwithstanding their utmost efforts the water still gained on them
the succeeding night, the wind blowing very hard, with extremely heavy
squalls, a part of the orlop deck fell into the hold; the ship herself
seemed to work excessively, and to settle forward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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