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 weather still threatening a continuance, our principal employ was
at the pumps, which were kept continually going. The sea had now rose
to an alarming height, and frequently struck the vessel with great
violence. Towards the afternoon part of the starboard bulwark was
carried away by the shock of a heavy sea, which made the ship
broach-to, and before she could answer her helm again, a sea broke
through the fore-chains, and swept away the caboose and all its
utensils from the deck; fortunately for the cook he was assisting at
the pumps at the time, or he inevitably must have shared the same fate
as his galley.
Notwithstanding the exertions of the crew, the water gained fast, and
made its way into the hold, which washed a great quantity of the
ballast through the timber-holes into the hull, by which the suckers
of the pumps were much damaged, and thereby frequently choaked. By
such delays the leaks increased rapidly. We were under the necessity
of repeatedly hoisting the pumps on deck, to apply different means
which were devised to keep the sand from entering, but all our efforts
proved ineffectual, and the pumps were deemed of no further utility.
There was now no time to be lost; accordingly it was agreed that the
allowance of fresh water should be lessened to a pint a man; the casks
were immediately hoisted from the hold, and lashed between decks. As
the water was started from two of them, they were sawed in two, and
formed into buckets, there being no other casks on board fit for that
purpose; the whips were soon applied, and the hands began bailing at
the fore and after hatchways which continued without intermission the
whole of the night, each man being suffered to take one hour's rest,
in rotation.
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