 Chapter 3 Part 1 of the C. Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, and Heroism. Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Rita Butros. The C. Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, and Heroism. Volume 1. By Frederick Wimper. Chapter 3. Part 1. The Men of the Sea. Dr. Johnson, whose personal weight seems to have had something to do with that carried by his opinion, considered going to see a species of insanity. No man, said he, will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail, for being in a ship is being in a jail with the chance of being drowned. The great lexicographer knew Fleet Street better than he did the fleet, and his opinion, as expressed above, was hardly even decently patriotic or sensible. Had all men thought, as he professed to do, probably for the pleasure of saying something ponderously brilliant for the moment, we should have had no naval or commercial superiority today. In short, no England. The dangers of the sea are serious enough, but need not be exaggerated. One writer, indeed, in serial comic vein, makes his sailors sing in a gale. When you and I, Bill, on the deck, are comfortably lying, my eyes what tiles and chimney pots about their heads are flying, leading us to infer that the dangers of town life are greater than those of the sea in a moderate gale. We might remind the reader that Mark Twain has conclusively shown from statistics that more people die in bed comfortably at home, than are killed by all the railroad, steamship, or other accidents in the world, the inference being that going to bed is a dangerous habit. But the fact is that wherever there is danger, there will be brave men found to face it, even when it takes the desperate form just indicated. So that there is nothing surprising in the fact that in all times there have been men ready to go to sea. Of those who have succeeded, the larger proportion have been carried thither by the spirit of adventure. It would be difficult to say whether it has been more strongly developed through actual surroundings, as believed by one of England's most intelligent and friendly critics who says, the ocean draws them just as a pond attracts young ducks, or through the influence of literature bringing the knowledge of wonderful voyages and discoveries within the reach of all. The former are immensely strong influences. The boy who lives by and loves the sea, and notes daily the ships of all nations passing to and fro, or who maybe dwells in some naval or commercial port, and sees constantly great vessels arriving and departing, and hears the tales of soldiers bold concerning new lands and curious things, is very apt to become imbued with the spirit of adventure. How charmingly has Charles Kingsley written on the latter point. How young, amious Lee, gentle-born, and a mere stripling schoolboy, edged his way under the elbows of the sailor man on Bideford Quay to listen to Captain John Oxenham tell his stories of heaps, 70 feet long, 10 foot broad, and 12 foot high, of silver bars and Spanish treasure, and far off lands and peoples, and easy victories over the coward dons. How Oxenham on a recruiting bent sang out with good broad Devon accent, who lists, who lists, who will make his fortune. Oh, who will join Jolly Mariners all, and who will join, says he, oh, to fill his pockets with the good red gold by sailing on the sea, oh. And how young Lee, fired with enthusiasm, made answer boldly, I want to go to sea, I want to see the Indies, I want to fight the Spaniards. Though I'm a gentleman's son, I'd ideal Lever be a cabin boy on board your ship. And how, although he did not go with swaggering John, he lived to first round the world with great Sir Francis Drake, and after fight against the Invincible Armada. The story had long before, and has many a time since, been enacted in various forms among all conditions of men. To some, however, the sea has been a last refuge, and many such have been converted into brave and hardy men, perforce themselves, while many others in the good old days of press gangs appeared, as Marriott tells us, to fight as hard not to be forced into the service as they did for the honor of the country, after they were fairly embarked in it. It may not generally be known that the law which concerns impressing has never been abolished, although there is no fear that it will ever again be resorted to in these days of naval reserves, training ships, and naval volunteers. The altered circumstances of the age arising from the introduction of steam and the greatly increased intercommercial relations of the whole world have made the Jack-Tarr pure and simple, comparatively rare in these days. Not, we believe, so much from his disappearance off the scene, as by the numbers of differently employed men on board by whom he is surrounded, and in a sense, hidden. A few able-bodieds and ordinary seamen are required on any steamship, but the whole tribe of mecanicians, from the important rank of chief engineer downwards, from assistants to stokers and coal passers, need not know one rope from another. On the other hand, the rapid increase of commerce has apparently outrun the natural increase of qualified seamen, and many a good ship nowadays, we are sorry to say, goes to sea with a very motley crew of green hands, landlubbers, and foreigners of all nationalities, including Lascars, Malaise, and Canacas from the Sandwich Islands. A confusion of tongues not very desirable on board a vessel reigns supreme and renders the position of the officers by no means enviable. To obviate these difficulties and furnish a supply of good material, both to the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine, training ships have been organized which have been so far highly successful. Let these embryo defenders of their country's interests have the first place. Of course, at all periods, the boys and others who entered to serve before the mast received some training and picked up the rest if they were reasonably clever. The brochure of an old salt which has recently appeared gives a fair account of his own treatment and reception. Running away from London, as many another boy has done with a few coppers in his pocket, he tramped to sureness taking by the way a hearty supper of turnips with a family of sheep in a field. Arrived at his destination, he found a handsome flagship surrounded by a number of large and small vessels. Selecting the very smallest as best adapted to his own size, he went on board and asked the first officer he met, one who wore but a single epaulet, whether his ship was manned with boys. He was answered, No, I want men and pray what may you want. I want to go to sea, sir, please. You had better go home to your mother, was the answer. With the next officer, a real captain, wearing grey hair and as straight as a line, he fared better and was eventually entered as a third class boy and sent on board a guard ship. Here he was rather fortunate in being taken in charge by a petty officer who had, as was often the case then, his wife living on board. The lady ruled supreme in the mess, she served out the grog too and, to prevent intoxication among the men, used to keep one finger inside the measure. This enabled her to the better take care of her husband. She is described as the best man in the mess and irresistibly reminds us of Mrs. Trotter in Peter's Simple, who had such a horror of rum that she could not be induced to take it except when the water was bad. The water, however, always was bad. But the former lady took good care of the newcomer while, as we know, Mrs. Trotter fleeced poor Peter out of three-pound sterling and twelve pairs of stockings before he had been an hour on board. Mr. Mindry tells the usual stories of the practical jokes he had to endure about being sent to the doctor's mate for mustard for which he received a peppering. Of the constant thrashings he received, in one case with a number of others receiving two dozen for losing his dinner. He was cook of the mess for the time and, having mixed his dough, had taken it to the galley oven from the door of which a sudden lurch of the ship had ejected it on the main deck. The contents making a very good representation of the white sea. The crime for which he and his companion suffered was for endeavoring to scrape it up again. But the gradual steps by which he was educated upwards till he became a gunner of the first class proved that, all in all, he had cheerily taken the bull by the horns determined to rise as far and fast as he might in an honorable profession. He was, after a year or so, transferred to a vessel fitting for the West Indies and soon got a taste of active life. This was in 1837. Forty or fifty years before the guard ships were generally little better than floating pandemoniums. They were used partly for breaking in raw hands and were also the intermediate stopping places for men waiting to join other ships. In a guard ship of the period described a most heterogeneous mass of humanity was assembled. Human invention could not scheme work for the whole while skulking, impracticable in other vessels of the Royal Navy was deemed highly meritorious there. A great body of men were thus very often assembled together who resolved themselves into hostile classes separated as any two castes of the Hindus. A clever writer in Blackwood's magazine more than fifty years ago describes them first as sea-goers i.e. sailors separated from their vessels by illness or temporary causes or ordered to other vessels who looked on the guard ship as a floating hotel and having what they were pleased to call ships of their own were the aristocrats of the occasion who would do no more work than they were obliged. The second and by far the most numerous class were termed wasters and were the simple, the unfortunate or the utterly abandoned a body held on board in the utmost contempt and most of whom in regard to clothing were wretched in the extreme. The waster had to do everything on board that was menial swabbing, sweeping and drudging generally. At night in defiance of his hard and unceasing labor he too often became a bandit prowling about seeking what he might devour or appropriate. What a contrast to the clean orderly training ships of today. Some little information on this subject but imperfectly understood by the public may perhaps be permitted here. It is not generally known that our supply of semen for the Royal Navy is nowadays almost entirely derived from the training ships. First established about fourteen years ago. In a late blue book it was stated that during a period of five years only a hundred and seven men had been entered from other sources who had not previously served. Training ships accommodating about three thousand are stationed at Devonport, Falmouth, Portsmouth and Portland where the lads remain for about a year previous to being sent on sea-going ships. The age of entry has varied at different periods. It is now fifteen to sixteen and a half years. The recruiting statistics show whence a large proportion come from the men of Devon who contribute as they did in the days of Drake and Hawkins, Gilbert and Raleigh, the largest quota of men willing to make their heritage the sea. Dr. Peter Comrie, R.N., a gentleman who has made this matter a study, informs the writer that on board these ships as regards cleanliness few gentleman's sons are better attended to while their education is not neglected as they have a good school master on all ships of any size. He says that boys brought up in the service not merely make the best semen but generally like the navy and stick to it. The order, cleanliness and tidy ways obligatory on board a man of war make in many cases the ill-regulated forecastle of most merchant ships very distasteful to them. Their drilling is just sufficient to keep them in healthy condition. No one can well imagine the difference wrought in the appearance of the street Arab or the Irish peasant boy by a short residence on board one of these ships. He fills out, becomes plump, loses his gaunt haggard, hunted look, is natty in his appearance and assumes that jaunty rolling gate that a person gifted with what is called sea legs is supposed to exhibit. Still we, writes the doctor, have known Irish boys who have very rarely even perhaps seen animal food. When first put upon the liberal dietary of the service complain that they were being starved their stomachs having been so used to be distended with large quantities of vegetables that it took some time before the organ accommodated itself to a more nutritious but less filling dietary. You have only got to watch the boy from the training ship on leave to judge that the navy has yet some popularity neatly dressed, clean and natty surrounded by his quantum playmates he is the observed of all observers and is gazed at with admiring respect by the street Arab from a respectful distance. He has perhaps learned to spin a few yarns and give the approved hitch to his trousers and while giving a favorable account of his life on board ship with his forecastal jollity and for bitter is the best recruiting officer the service can have. The great point to be attended to in order to make him a sailor is that you must catch him young that a good number have been so caught is proved by the navy estimates which now provide for over 7,000 boys 4,000 of the number in sea going ships. Governments as governments may be paternal but are rarely very benevolent and the above excellent institutions are only organized for the safety and strength of the navy. There is another class of training ships which owe their existence to benevolence and deserve every encouragement. Those for rescuing are street waves from the treadmill and prison. The larger part of these do not enter the navy but are passed into the merchant marine their training being very similar. The government simply lends the ship. Thus the chichester at Greenheath a vessel which had been in 1868 a quarter of a century lying useless never having seen service was turned over to a society a mere shell or carcass her mass rigging and other fittings having to be provided by private subscriptions. Her case irresistibly reminds the writer of a vessel imaginary only in name described by James Hane HMS Patagonian was built as a three-decker at a cost of 120,000 pounds when it was discovered that she could not sail. She was then cut down into a frigate at a cost of 50,000 pounds when it was found out that she could not tack. She was next built up into a two-decker at a cost of another 50,000 pounds and then it was discovered she could be made useful. So the Admiralty kept her unemployed for ten years. A good use was, however, found at last for the chichester thanks to benevolent people the quality of whose mercy is twice blessed for they both helped the wretched youngsters and turned them into good boys for our ships. Some of these street Arabs previously have hardly been under a roof at night for years together. Here, Mr. Eskiros. To these little ones, London is a desert and though lost in the drifting sands of the crowd they never fail to find their way. The greater part of them contract a singular taste for this hard and almost savage kind of life. They love the open sky and at night all they dread is the eye of the policeman. Their young minds become fertile in resources and glory in their independence in the battle of life. But if no helping hand is stretched out to arrest them in this fatal and downhill path they surely gravitate to the treadmill and the prison. How could it be otherwise? The question is, what are these lads good for? That problem, Mr. Eskiros, as you with others predicted has been solved satisfactorily. The poor lads form excellent raw material for our ever-increasing sea service. The training of a naval cadet, i.e. an embryo midshipman or midship might, as poor Peter Simple was irreverently called before however the days of naval cadets is very similar in many respects to that of an embryo seaman but includes many other requirements. After obtaining his nomination from the Admiralty and undergoing a simple preliminary examination at the Royal Navy College in ordinary branches of knowledge he is passed to a training ship which today is the Britannia at Dartmouth. Here he is taught all the ordinary requirements in rigging, seamanship and gunnery and to fit him to be an officer he is instructed in taking observations for latitude and longitude in geometry, trigonometry and algebra. He also goes through a course of drawing lessons and modern languages. He is occasionally sent off on a brig for a short cruise and after a year on the training ship during which he undergoes a quarterly examination he is passed to a sea-going ship. His position on leaving depends entirely on his certificate. If he obtains one of the first class he is immediately rated midshipman while if he only obtains a third class certificate he will have to serve twelve months more on the sea-going ship and pass another examination before he can claim that rank. Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Rita Boutros. The Sea Its Starring Story of Adventure Paral and Heroism Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper Chapter 3 Part 2 The actual experiences of intelligent sailors or voyagers written by themselves have of course a greater practical value than the sea stories of clever novelists while the latter as a class can find themselves very much to the quarter-deck. Diana's two years before the mast is so well known that few of our readers need to be told that it is the story of an American student who had undermined his health by over-application and who took a voyage via Cape Horn to California in order to recover it but the old brig pilgrim bound to the northern Pacific coast for a cargo of heights was hardly a fair example in some respects of an ordinary merchant vessel to say nothing of a fine clipper or modern steamship. Diana's experiences were of the roughest type and may be read by boys anxious to go to sea with advantage if taken in conjunction with those of others. Many of them are common to all grades of sea service. A little work by a sailor boy published some years ago gives a very fair idea of a seaman's lot in the Royal Navy and the two stories in conjunction present a fair average view of sea life and its duties. Passing over the young sailor boy's admission to the training ship, the guard hoe, as he terms it, we find his first days on board devoted to the mysteries of knots and hitch-making in learning to lash hammocks and in rowing acquiring the arts of feathering and tossing an oar. Incidentally, he gives us some information on the etiquette observed in boats passing with an officer on board. For a lieutenant, the coxswain only gets up and takes his cap off. For a captain, the boat's crew lay on their oars and the coxswain takes his cap off. And for an admiral, the oars are tossed, i.e. raised perpendicularly, not thrown in the air, and all caps go off. Who would not be an admiral? While in this instruction he received his sailor's clothes, a pair of blue cloth trousers, two pairs of white duck ditto, two blue surge and two white frocks, two pairs of white jumpers, two caps, two pairs of stockings, a knife and a marking type. As soon as he is made a sailor he means he was ordered to the mast head and tells with glee how he was able to go up outside by the futoc shrouds and not through Lubbers Hole. The reader doubtless knows that the Lubbers Hole is an open space between the head of the lower mast and the edge of the top. It is so named from the supposition that a land lubber would prefer that route. The French call it the Trouduchin, the hole through which the cat would climb. Next he commenced cutlass drill followed by rifle drill, big gun practice, instruction in splicing and all useful knots and in using the compass and lead line. He was afterwards sent on a brig for a short sea cruise having says he to run aloft without shoes was a heavy trial to me and my feet often were so sore and blistered that I have sat down in the tops and cried with the pain. Yet up I had to go and furl and loose my sails and up I did go blisters and all. Sometimes the pain was so bad I could not move smartly and then the unmerited rebuke from a thoughtless officer was as gall and warm would to me. Dana in speaking of the incessant work on board any vessel says a ship is like a lady's watch always out of repair. When for example in a calm the sails hanging loosely the hot sun pouring down on deck and no way on the vessel which lies as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean there is always sufficient work for the men in setting up the rigging which constantly requires lightning and repairing in picking oakum for caulking in brightening up the metalwork and in holy stoning the deck. The holy stone is a large piece of porous stone which is dragged in alternate ways by two sailors over the deck sand being used to increase its effect. It obtains its name from the fact that Sunday morning is a very common time on many merchant vessels for cleaning up generally. The daily routine of our young sailor on the experimental cruises gave him plenty of employment. In his own words it was as follows commencing at 5 a.m. turn hands up holy stone or scrub upper deck coil down ropes half past six breakfast half an hour call the watch watch below clean the upper deck watch on deck clean wood and brasswork put the upper decks to rights 8 a.m. hands to quarters clean guns and arms division for inspection prayers make sail reef top sails furl top sails top gallant sails royals reef courses down top gallant and royal yards. This continued till eight bells 12 o'clock dinner one hour all hands again cutlass rifle and big gun drill till four o'clock clear up decks coil up ropes and then our day's work is done. Then they would make little trips to sea many of them to experience the woes of sea sickness for the first time. But the boys on the clean and well-kept training brig were better off in all respects than poor Dana. When first ordered aloft I had not got my sea legs on was dreadfully seasick with hardly strength to hold on to anything and it was pitch dark. How I got along I cannot now remember I laid out on the yards and held on with all my strength. I could not have been of much service for I remember having been sick several times before I left the top sail yard. Soon all was snuggle off and we were again allowed to go below. This I did not consider much of a favour for the confusion of everything below and that inexpressibly sickening smell caused by the shaking up of bilge water in the hold made the steerage but an indifferent refuge to the cold wet decks. I had often read of the nautical experiences of others but I felt as though there could be none worse than mine for in addition to every other evil I could not but remember that this was only the first night of a two years voyage. When we were all on deck we were not much better off for we were continually ordered about by the officer who said that it was good for us to be in motion. Yet anything was better than the horrible state of things below. I remember very well going to the hatchway and putting my head down when I was oppressed by nausea and felt like being relieved immediately. We can fully recommend the example of Dana who acting on the advice of the black cook on board munched away at a good half pound of salt beef and hard biscuit which washed down with cold water soon he says made a man of him. Some little explanation of the mode of dividing time on board ship may be here found useful. A watch is a term both for a division of the crew and of their time. A full watch is four hours at the expiration of each four hours commencing from 12 o'clock noon the men below are called in these or similar terms all the starboard or port watch ahoy. Eight bells. The watch from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is divided on a well regulated ship into two dog watches. The object of this is to make an uneven number of periods, seven instead of six, so that the men change the order of their watches daily. Otherwise it will be seen that a man who on leaving port stood in a particular watch from 12 noon to 4 p.m. would stand in the same watch throughout the voyage and he who had two night watches at first would always have them. The periods of the dog watches are usually devoted to smoking and recreation for those off duty. As the terms involved must occur frequently in this work, it is necessary also to explain for some readers the division of time itself by bells. The limit is eight bells which are struck at 12 4 and 8 o'clock a.m. or p.m. The ship's bell is sounded each half hour. Half past any of the above hours is one bell struck sharply by itself. At the hour two strokes are made sharply following each other. Expressing the strokes by signs half past 12 would be stroke 1, representing one stroke. One o'clock would be stroke 2, stroke 1. Strokes sharply struck one after the other. Half past 1, stroke 2, stroke 1. 2 o'clock, stroke 2, stroke 2. Half past 2, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 1. 3 o'clock, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 2. Half past 3, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 1. And 4 o'clock, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 2, stroke 2, or 8 bells. The process is then repeated in the next watch and the only disturbing element comes from the elements which occasionally, when the vessel rolls or pitches greatly, cause the bell to strike without leave. Seamen before the mast are divided into three classes able, ordinary and boys. In the merchant's service, a green hand of 40 may be rated as a boy. A landsman must ship for boys' wages on the first voyage. Merchant seamen rate themselves, in other words, they cause themselves to be entered on the ship's books according to their qualifications and experience. There are few instances of abuse in this matter for good reason, apart from the disgrace and reduction of wages and raiding which would follow woe to the man who sets himself up for an able-bodied when he should enter as a boy, for the rest of the crew considerate of fraud on themselves. The vessel would be shorthanded of a man of the class required and their work would be proportionately increased. No mercy would be shown to the master, and his life on board would be that of a dog, but anything rather than that of a jolly sea dog. There are lights in the sailor's checkered life. Seamen are, Shakespeare tells us, but men, and if we are to believe dipton, grog is a decided element in their happier hours. Grog is now a generic term, but it was not always. One admiral who persisted in wearing a grogrem tunic so much that he was known among his subordinates as old grog, earned immortality of a disagreeable nature by watering the rum ration of the navy to its present standard. At 11.30 a.m. on all ships of the Royal Navy nowadays, half a gill of watered rum, two parts of water, to one of the stronger drink is served out to each of the crew, unless they have forfeited it by some act of insubordination. The officers, including the petty officers, draw half a gill of pure rum. The former put it into the general mess and many never taste it. Six water grog is a mild form of punishment. Splicing the main brace infers extra grog served out for extraordinary service. Formerly and indeed as late as 40 odd years ago, the daily ration was a full gill. But as sailors traded and bartered their drinks among themselves it would happen once in a while that one would get too much on board. It has happened occasionally in consequence that a seaman has tumbled overboard or fallen from the yards or rigging and has met an inglorious death. Boys are not allowed grog in the Royal Navy and there is no absolute rule among merchant vessels. In the American Navy there is a coin allowance in lieu of rum and every nation has its own peculiarities in this matter. In the French Navy wine, very ordinaire and a little brandy is issued. There are shadows too in the sailors life as a rule he brings them on himself but by no means always. If sailors are but men officers rank in the same category and occasionally act like brutes. So much has been written on the subject of the naval cat a punishment once dealt out for most trifling offenses and not abolished yet that the writer has some evidence in approaching the subject. A volume might be written on the theme let the testimony of Dr. Stables a surgeon of the Royal Navy suffice it shall be told in his own words one item of duty there is which occasionally devolves on the medical officer and for the most part goes greatly against the feeling of the young surgeon. I refer to his compulsory attendance at Floggings. It is only fair to state that the majority of captains and commanders use the cat as seldom as possible and that too only sparingly. In some ships however, Flogging is nearly as frequent as prayers of a morning. Again it is more common on foreign stations than at home and boys of the first or second class Marines and ordinary seamen are for the most part the victims. We were at anchor in Simons Bay all the minutiae of the scene I remember as though it were but yesterday. The morning was cool and clear the hills clad in lilac and green, seabirds floating high in air and the waters of the bay reflecting the blue of the sky and the lofty mountain sides forming a picture almost seem like in its quietude and serenity. The men were standing about in groups dressed in their whitest of pantaloons, bluest of smocks and neatest of black silk neckerchiefs. By and by the culprit was led in by a file of Marines and I went below with him to make the preliminary examination in order to report whether or not he might be fit for the punishment. He was as good a specimen of the British Mariner as one could wish to look upon, hardy, bold and wiry. His crime had been smuggling spirits on board. Needn't examine me doctor said he, I ain't a feared of their four dozen, they can't hurt me sir, least wise my back you know, my breast though hum, hmm and he shook his head rather sadly I thought as he bent down his eyes. What, said I, have you anything the matter with your chest? Nay doctor, nay, it's my feelings they'll hurt. I have a little girl at home that loves me, and bless you sir, I won't look her in the face again, know how. I felt his pulse, no lack of strength there, no nervousness. The artery had the firm beat of health, the tendons felt like rods of iron beneath the finger and his biceps out hard and round as the main stay of an old seventy-four. All hands had already assembled the men and boys on one side and the officers in cocked hats and swords on the other. A grating had been lashed against the bulwark and another placed on deck beside it. The culprits' shoulders and back were bared and a strong belt fastened around the lower part of the loins for protection. It was then firmly tied by the hands to the upper and by the feet to the lower grating. A little basin of cold water was placed at his feet and all was now prepared. The sentence was read and orders given to proceed with the punishment. The cat is a terrible instrument of torture. I would not use it on a bull unless in self-defense. The shaft is about a foot and a half long and covered with green or red bays. According to taste the thongs are nine about twenty-eight inches in length of the thickness of a goose quill and with two knots tied on each. Men describe the first blow as like a shower of molten lead. Combing out the thongs with his five fingers before each blow, firmly and determinedly was the first dozen delivered by both Swayne's mate and as unflinchingly received. Then one dozen sir please he reported saluting the commander. Continue the punishment was the calm reply. A new man and a new cat another dozen reported again the same reply. Three dozen. The flesh like burning steel had changed from red to purple and blue and white and between the third and fourth dozen the suffering wretch pale enough now and in all probability sick begged a comrade to give him a mouthful of water. There was a tear in the eye of the hardy sailor who obeyed him whispering as he did so keep up Bill it'll soon be over now. Five, six the corporals slowly counted seven, eight it is the last dozen and how acute must be the torture. Nine, ten the blood comes now fast enough and yes gentle reader I will spare your feelings. The man was cast loose at last and put on the sick list. He had born his punishment without a groan and without moving a muscle. A large pet monkey set crunching nuts in the rigging and grinning all the time. I have no doubt he enjoyed the spectacle immensely for he was only an ape. Doctor Stables gives his opinion on the use of the cat in honest and outspoken terms. He considers corporal punishment as applied to men cowardly cruel and debasing to human nature and as applied to boys brutal and sometimes even fiendish. The writer has statistics before him which prove that 456 cases of flogging boys took place in 1875 and that only seven men were punished during that year. There is every probability that the use of the naval cat will air long be abolished and important as is good discipline on board ship there are many leading authorities who believe that it can be cleaned without it. The captain of a vessel is its king reigning in a little world of his own and separated for weeks or months from the possibility of reprimand. If he is a tyrannical man he can make his ship a floating hell for all on board. A system of fines for small offenses has been proposed and the idea has this advantage that in case they prove on to have been unjustly imposed the money can be returned. The disgrace of a flogging sticks to a boy or man and besides as a punishment is infinitely too severe for most of the offenses for which it is inflicted. It would be a cruel punishment where the judge infallible but with an erring human being for an irresponsible judge the matter is far worse and that good seamen are deterred from entering the Royal Navy knowing that the commission of a peccadillo or two may bring down the cat on their unlucky shoulders is a matter of fact. We shall meet the sailor on the sea many a time and again during the progress of this work and see how hardly he earns his scanty reward in the midst of the awful dangers peculiar to the elements he dares. Shakespeare says that he is a man whom both the waters and the wind in that vast tennis court hath made the ball for them to play on. That the men of all others who have made England what she is have not altogether a bed of roses even on a well conducted vessel whilst they may lose their lives at any moment by shipwreck and sudden death. George Herbert says praise the sea but keep on land and while the present writer would be sorry to prevent any healthy capable adventurous boy from entering a noble profession he recommends him to first study the literature of the sea to the best and fullest of his ability. Our succeeding chapter will exhibit some of the special perils which surround the sailor's life whilst it will exemplify to some extent the qualities specially required and expected from him. End of Chapter 3, Part 2 Chapter 4 of The Sea its stirring story of adventure peril and heroism Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Sea Its stirring story of adventure peril and heroism Volume 1 by Frederick Wimper Chapter 4 Perils of the Sailor's Life England and indeed all Europe long prior to 1870 had been busily constructing iron clads and the daily journals teamed with descriptions of new forms and varieties of ships, armor and armament as well as of new and enormous guns which rightly directed might sink them to the bottom Among the more curious of the iron clads of that period and the construction of which had led to any quantity of discussion sometimes of a very angry kind was the turret ship practically the sea-going monitor Captain which Captain Cooper Fipps Kohl's had at length been permitted to construct Kohl's who was an enthusiast of great scientific attainments as well as a practical seaman which too many of our experimentalists in this direction have not been had distinguished himself in the Crimea and had later made many improvements in rendering vessels shot-proof His revolving turrets are however the inventions which his name are more intimately connected although he had much to do with the general construction of the Captain and other iron clads of the period The Captain was a large double screw armor-plated vessel of 4,272 tons Her armor in the most exposed parts was 8 inches in thickness ranging elsewhere downwards from 7 to as low as 3 inches She had two revolving turrets the strongest and heaviest yet built and carried six powerful guns Among the peculiarities of her construction were that she had only 9 feet of free-board that is, that was the height of her sides out of water The foxel and after part of the vessel were raised above this and they were connected with a light hurricane deck This as we shall see is an important part in the sad disaster we have to relate On the morning of the 8th of September 1870 English readers at their breakfast tables in railway carriages and everywhere were startled with the news that the Captain had foundered with all hands in the Bay of Biscay 600 men had been swept into eternity without a moment's warning She had been in company with the squadron and indeed had been visited by the Admiral for purposes of inspection the previous afternoon The early part of the evening had been fine Later it had become what sailors called dirty weather at midnight the wind rose fast and soon culminated in a furious gale At 2.15 in the morning of the 7th a heavy bank of clouds passed off and the stars came out clear and bright the moon then setting but no vessel could be discerned where the Captain had been last observed At daybreak the squadron was all in sight but scattered only ten ships instead of eleven could be discerned the Captain being the missing one Later it appeared that seventeen of the men and the gunner had escaped and landed at Corbusion north of Cape Finisterre on the afternoon of the 7th all the men who were saved belonged to the starboard watch or in other words none escaped except those on deck duty every man below whether soundly sleeping after his day's work or tossing sleeplessly in his birth thinking of home and friends and present peril or watching the engines or feeding the furnaces went down without the faintest possibility of escaping his doom think of this catastrophe and what it involved the families and friends of six hundred men plunged into mourning and the scores on scores of wives and children into poverty in one street of Portsea thirty wives were made widows by the occurrence the shock of the news killed one poor woman then in weak health nor were the sad effects confined to the cottages of the poor the noble-hearted captain of the vessel was a son of Field Marshall Burgoyne Captain Coles, her inventor a son of Mr. Childers the then First Lord of the Admiralty the younger son of Lord Northbrook the third son of Lord Herbert of Lee and Lord Louis Gordon brother of the Marquis of Huntley were among the victims of that terrible mourning the intelligence arrived during the excitement caused by the defeat and capitulation of Sedan which involving as it did the deposition of the Emperor and the fate of France was naturally the great topic of discussion but for the time it overshadowed even those great events for it was a national calamity 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 writing herself on that occasion Robert Hearst a seaman who afterwards gave some valuable testimony was on the foxel there was a very strong wind and the ship was then only carrying her three topsoil double reefs in each and the four top mast stasile the yards were braced sharp up and the ship had little way upon her as the watch was mustered he heard Captain Burgoyne give the order let go the four topsoil halyards followed by let go four and main topsoil sheets by the time the men got to the topsoil sheets the ship was healing 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 the roar of the steam from her boilers was terrific out screaming 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 first with two other men rushed to the weather foxel netting and jumped overboard it was hardly more than a few moments before they found themselves washed onto 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 Hearst 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 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 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 endeavored to get the boat's head up to the sea to row her to windward to where the capsized boat was floating their boat was swamped almost level to her thwarts two of the men were washed clean out of her the pump was set going and the boat bailed out with their caps etc as far as possible they then made a second attempt to row the boat against the sea which was as unsuccessful as before meantime poor Burgoyne was still clinging to the pinnace in a storm of broken waters when the launch was swept towards him once the captain board offered to throw him an oar which he declined saying nobly for God's sake men keep your oars you will want them this piece of self-abnegation probably caused him his life for he went down shortly after following the six hundred of his devoted crew into the valley of death the launch was beaten hither and thither and a quarter of an hour after the captain the vessel capsized sighted the lights of one of their own ships which was driven by in the gale its officers knowing nothing of the fate of these unfortunates were there still more hapless companions Mr. May the Gunner took charge of the launch and at daybreak they sighted Kate Finnister inside which they landed after twelve hours hard work at the oars one man when he found the vessel capsizing on the port side and performed at almost incredible feet it is well told in his own laconic style felt ship heal over and felt she would not right made for weather hammock netting she was then on her beam ends got along her bottom by degrees as she kept turning over until I was where her keel would have been if she had one seas then washed me off I saw a piece of wood about twenty yards off and swam to it in other words he got over her side and walked up to the bottom while in the water two poor drowning wretches caught hold of him and literally tore off the legs of his trousers he could not help them and they sank for the last time many varied were the explanations given of the causes of this disaster there had evidently been some uneasiness in regard to her stability in the water at one time but she had sailed so well on previous trips in the same stormy waters that confidence had been restored in her the belief afterwards among many authorities was that she ought not to have carried sail at all this was the primary cause of her doubt and then in all probability when the force of the wind had healed her over a heavy sea struck her and completely capsized her the water on and over her depressed side assisting by waiting her downwards the side of the hurricane deck acted when the vessel was healed over as one vast sail and no doubt had much to do with putting her on her beam ends the impression of the survivors appeared to be that with the ship healing over the pressure of a strong wind upon the other part of the hurricane deck had a greater effect or leverage upon the hull than the pressure of the wind on her topsills they were also nearly unanimous in their opinion that when the captain's starboard side was well down in the water with the weight of water on the turret deck and the pressure of the wind blowing from the port hand of the hurricane deck and thus pushing the ship right over she had no chance of writing herself again it is to be remarked that long after the captain had sunk the admiral of the squadron thought that he saw her although it was very evident afterwards that it must have been some other vessel in his dispatch to the admiralty which very plainly indicated that he had some anxiety about the weather he described her appearance and behavior up till 1.30 a.m. more than an hour after her final exit to the depths below in the days of superstitious belief so common among sailors a thrilling story of her image haunting the spot would surely have been built on this foundation in the old fighting days of the Royal Navy after prize rewarded the daring and enterprise of its commanders they did not think very much of the loss of a vessel more or less but took the lesser evils with the greater goods the seamanship was wonderful but it was very often utterly reckless a captain trained in the school of Nelson and Cochrane would stop at nothing the country accustomed to great naval battles enriched by the spoils of the enemy who furnished some of the finest vessels in our fleet was not much affected by the loss of a ship and the admiralty was inclined to be leniently with a spirited commander who had met with an accident but then an accident in those days did not mean the loss of half a million pounds or so the cost of a large iron clad of today would have built a small wooden fleet of those days the loss of the captain irresistibly brings to memory another great loss to the Royal Navy which occurred nearly 90 years before and by which 900 lives were in a moment swept into eternity it proved too plainly that wooden walls might capsize as readily as the crankiest iron clad the reader will immediately guess that we refer to the loss of the Royal George which took place at spithead on the 28th of August 1782 in calm weather but still under circumstances which to a very great extent explained how the captain at the best a vessel of doubtful stability capsized in the stormy waters of Biscay the Royal George was at the time the oldest first rate in the service having been put into commission in 1755 she carried 108 guns and was considered a staunch ship and a good sailor Anson, Bascowan Rodney, Howe and Hawke had all repeatedly commanded in her from what small causes may great and lamentable disasters arise during the washing of her decks on the 28th the carpenter discovered that the pipe which admitted the water to cleanse and sweeten the ship and which was about three feet under the water of repair, that it was necessary to replace it with a new one and to heal her on one side for that purpose the guns on the port side of the ship were run out of the port holes as far as they would go and those from the starboard side were drawn in and secured amid ships this brought her port hole sills on the lower side nearly even with the water at about nine o'clock a.m. or rather before we had just stated one of the survivors we had just finished our breakfast and the last lighter with rum on board had come along side this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons and belonged to three brothers who used her to carry things on board the men of war she was lashed to the larbored side of the Royal George and we were piped to clear the lighter and get the rum out of her and stow it in the hold danger was apprehended from the ship being on one side although the water kept dashing in at the port holes at every wave and there being mice in the lower part of the ship which were disturbed by the water which dashed in they were hunted in the water by the men and there had been a rare game going on their play was soon to be rudely stopped the carpenter perceiving that the ship was in great danger went twice on the deck to ask the lieutenant of the watch to order the ship to be righted the first time the latter barely answered him and the second replied savagely if you can manage the ship better than I can you had better take the command in a very short time he began himself to see the danger and ordered the drummer to beat to right ship it was too late to sink a sudden breeze springing up healed her still more the guns shot and heavy articles generally and a large part of the men on board fell irresistibly to the lower side and the water forcing itself in at every port weighed the vessel down still more she fell on her broadside with her masts nearly flat on the water and sank to the bottom immediately the officers in their confusion made no signal of distress nor indeed could any assistance have availed if they had after her lower deck ports were in the water which forced itself in at every port with fearful velocity in going down the main yard of the royal George caught the boom of the rum lighter and sank her drowning some of those on board at this terrible moment there were nearly 1,200 persons on board deducting the larger proportion of the watch on deck about 230 who were mostly saved by running up the rigging and afterwards taken off by the boats sent for their rescue and perhaps 70 others who managed to scramble out of the ports etc the whole of the remainder perished Admiral Kempenfeldt whose flagship it was riding in his cabin and had just before been shaved by the barber went down with her the first captain tried to acquaint him that the ship was sinking but the healing over of the ship had so jammed the doors of the cabin that they could not be opened one young man was saved as the vessel filled by the force of the water rushing upwards and sweeping him bodily before it through a hatchway in a few seconds he found himself floating on the surface of the sea where he was later picked up by a boat a little child was almost miraculously preserved by a sheep which swam some time and with which he had doubtless been playing on deck he held by the fleece till rescued by a gentleman in a weary his father and mother were both drowned and the poor little fellow did not even know their names all that he knew was that his own Jack his preserver provided for him one of the survivors who got through a porthole looked back and saw the opening as full of heads as it could cram all trying to get out I caught, said he hold of the best bower anchor which was just above me to prevent falling back again into the porthole and seizing hold of a woman who was trying to get out of the same porthole I dragged her out the same writer says that he saw all the heads drop back again in at the porthole for the ship had got so much on her larbored side that the starboard portholes were as upright as if the men had tried to get out of the top of a chimney with nothing for their legs and feet to act upon the sinking of the vessel drew him down to the bottom but he was enabled afterwards to rise to the surface and swim to one of the great blocks of the ship which had floated off at the time the ship was sinking an open barrel of tar stood on deck when he rose it was floating on the water like fat and he got into the middle of it coming out as black as a negro minstrel when this man had got on the block he observed the admirals baker in the shrouds of the Mizzentop mast of water not far off and directly after the poor woman whom he had pulled out of the porthole came rolling by he called out to the baker to reach out his arm and catch her which was done she hung quite insensible for some time by her chin over one of the rat lines of the shrouds but a surf soon washed her off again she was again rescued shortly after she was not extinct she recovered her senses when taken on board our old friend the victory then lying with other large ships near the Royal George the captain of the latter was saved but the poor carpenter who did his best to save the ship was drowned in a few days after the Royal George sank bodies would come up 30 or 40 at a time the corpse would rise only as to frighten anyone the water men there is no doubt made a good thing of it they took from the bodies of the men their buckles, money, and watches and then made fast a rope to their heels and towed them to land the writer of the narrative from which this account is mainly derived says that he saw them towed into Portsmouth Harbour in their mutilated condition in the same manner as rafts promiscuously for particularity was scarcely possible put into carts which conveyed them to their final sleeping-place in an excavation prepared for them in Kingstown Churchyard the burial-place belonging to the parish of Portsea many bodies were washed ashore on the Isle of Wight futile attempts were made the following year to raise the wreck but it was not till 1839 and 40 that Colonel Passley proposed and successfully carried out the operations for its removal wrought iron cylinders some of the larger of which contained over a ton each of gunpowder were lowered and fired by electricity and the vessel was by degrees blown up many of the guns the capstones and other valuable parts of the wreck were recovered by the divers September's formed then and since a perfect godsend to some of the inhabitants of Portsmouth who manufactured them into various forms of relics of the royal George it is said that the sale of these has been so enormous that if they could be collected and stuck together they would form several vessels of the size of the fine old first-rate large as she was but something similar has been said of the wood of the true cross is more than equally libelous it is said by those who descended to the wreck that its appearance was most beautiful when seen from about a fathom above the deck it was covered with seaweeds shells starfish and anemones while from and around its ports and openings the fish large and small swam and played darting flashing and sparkling in the clear green water there is probably no reasonable being in or out of the navy who does not believe that the iron clad is the war vessel of the immediate future but that a woeful amount of uncertainty as thick as the fog in which the vanguard went down envelops the subject in many ways is most certain the circumstances connected with that great disaster are still in the memory of the public and were simple and distinct enough during the last week of August 1875 the reserve squadron of the channel fleet comprising the warrior achilles hector iron duke and vanguard with vice admiral Sir W. Tarleton's yacht hawk had been stationed at Kingstown at half past ten on the morning of the first of September they got into line for the purpose of proceeding to Queenstown cork the Irish light ship which floats at sea six miles off Kingstown the achilles hoisted her end sign to say farewell her destination being Liverpool the sea was moderate but a fog came on and increased in density every moment half an hour after noon the lookout could not distinguish fifty yards ahead and the officers on the bridge could not see the bowsprit the ships had been proceeding at the rate of twelve or fourteen knots but their speed had been reduced when the fog came on and they were running at not more than half the former speed the vanguard watch reported a sail ahead and the helm was put hard a port to prevent running it down the iron duke was then following close in the wake of the vanguard and the action of the latter simply brought them closer the former, which unaware of any change had continued her course the commander of the iron duke captain Hickley who was on the bridge at the time saw the specter form of the vanguard through the fog and ordered his engines to be reversed but it was too late the ram of the iron duke struck the vanguard below the armor plates on the port side abreast of the engine room the vent made was very large amounting as the divers afterwards found to four feet in width and the water poured into the hold in torrents it might only be a matter of minutes before she should go down the vessel was doomed a very brief examination proved that nothing remained but to save the lives of those on board captain Dawkins gave the necessary orders with a coolness which did not represent doubtless the conflicting feelings within his breast the officers ably seconded him and the crew behaved magnificently one of the mechanics went below in the engine room to let off the steam and so prevent an explosion at the imminent risk of his life the water rose quickly in the after part and rushed into the engine and boiler rooms eventually finding its way into the provision room flat we imperfectly fastened so called watertight doors and gradually over the whole ship there was no time to be lost captain Dawkins called out to his men that if they preserved order all would be saved the men stood as at an inspection not one moved until ordered to do so the boats of both ships were lowered while the launching was going on the swell of the tide caused a life boat a surge against the hull and one of the crew had his finger crushed this was absolutely the only casualty in twenty minutes the whole of the men were transferred to the iron duke no single breach of discipline occurring beyond the understandable request of a sailor once in a while to be allowed to make one effort to secure some keepsake or article of special value to himself but the order was stern boys come instantly as four bells two p.m. was striking the last man having been received on the iron duke the doomed vessel whirled round two or three times and then sank in deep water it is obvious then that the discipline and courage of the service had not deteriorated from that always expected in the good old days captain Dawkins was the last man to leave his sinking ship and his officers one and all behaved in the same spirit they endeavored to quiet and reassure the men pointing out to them the fatal consequences of confusion captain Dawkins may or may not have been rightly censured for his seamanship there can be no doubt that he performed his duty nobly in these systematic efforts to save his crew however much was lost to the nation his mother had to mourn the loss of her sailor boy no wife had been made a widow no child an orphan five hundred men had been saved to their country one of the officers of the vanguard in a letter to a friend graphically described the scene at and after the collision after having lunched he entered the ward room where he encountered the surgeon Dr. Fisher who was reading a newspaper after remarking on the thickness of the fog Fisher went to look out of one of the ports and immediately cried out God help us here is a ship right into us we rushed on deck and at that moment the iron duke struck us with fearful force spars and blocks falling about and causing great danger to us on deck the iron duke then dropped a stern and was lost sight of in the fog the water came into the engine room in tons stopping the engines putting the fires out and nearly drowning the engineers and stokers the ship was now reported sinking fast although all the watertight compartments had been closed but in consequence of the shock some of the watertight doors leaked fearfully letting water into the other parts of the ship minute guns were being fired and the boats were got out at this moment the iron duke appeared lowering her boats and sending them as fast as possible the sight of her cheered us up as we had been frightened that she would not find us in the fog in spite of the guns the scene on deck can only be realized by those who have witnessed a similar calamity the booming of the minute guns the noise of the immense volume of steam rushing out of the escape funnel and the orders of the captain were strangely mingled while a voice from a boat reported how fast she was sinking when the vessel went down the deck of the iron duke was crowded with men watching the finale of the catastrophe when she was about to sink she healed gradually over until the hole of her enormous size to the keel was above water then she gradually sank writing herself as she went down stern first the water being blown from haws holes in huge spouts by the force of the air rushing out of the ship she then disappeared from view the men were much saddened to see their home go down carrying everything they possessed they had been paid that morning and a large number of them lost their little accumulated earnings these were of course afterwards allowed them by the admiralty the vanguard and the iron duke were two of a mass of broadside iron clads built with a view to general and not special utility in warfare their thickest armor was eight inches, a mere strip one hundred feet long by three high and much of the visible part of them was unarmored altogether while below it varied from six inches to as low as three eighths of an inch it was only the latter thickness where the point of the iron duke's ram entered their advocates boasted that they could pass through the Suez canal and go anywhere every reader will remember the stormy discussion which ensued in which not merely the iron clad question but the court marshal which followed and the admiralty decision which followed that were severely handled nor could there be much wonder at all this for a vessel which had cost the nation over a quarter of a million pounds with equipment and property on board which had cost as much more was lost forever it was in vain that the then first lord of the admiralty told us in somewhat flippant tones that we ought to be rather satisfied than otherwise with the occurrence it was not altogether satisfactory to learn from Mr. Read the principal designer of both ships that iron clads were in more danger in times of peace than in times of war in the former they were residences for several hundred sailors and many of the watertight doors could not be kept closed without inconvenience in the latter they were fortresses when the doors would be closed for safety the court marshal constituted of leading naval authorities and officers imputed blame for the high rate of speed sustained in a fog the public naturally inquired why a high rate of speed was necessary at all at the time but their lordships declined to consider this as in any way contributing to the disaster the court expressed its opinion pretty strongly upon the conduct of the officers of the iron duke which did the mischief and also indirectly blamed the admiral in command of the squadron but the admiralty could find nothing wrong in either case simply visiting their wrath on the unfortunate lieutenant on deck at the time so to make a long and very unpleasant story short the loss of the vanguard brought about a considerable loss of faith in some of our legally constituted naval authorities end of chapter 4 chapter 5 part 1 of the sea its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism, volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the sea its stirring story of adventure, peril and heroism, volume 1 by Frederick Wimper chapter 5 perils of the sailors life continued it is impossible to read the account of any great disaster at sea without being strongly impressed with the enormous value of maintaining in the hour of peril the same strict discipline which under ordinary circumstances is the rule of a vessel few more striking examples of this are to be found then in the story of the loss of the Kent which we are now about to relate the disaster of the Medusa which we shall record later in which complete anarchy and disregard of discipline aggravated a hundred fold the horrors of the situation only teaches the same lesson from the opposite point of view though the most independent people on the earth all Englishmen worthy of the name appreciate the value of proper subordination and obedience to those who have rightful authority to command this was almost the only gratifying feature connected with the loss of the ship and the safe and rapid transference of the crew to the iron duke was due to it but the circumstances of the case were as not to some that have preceded it where the difficulties and risks were infinitely greater and the reward much less certain the Kent was a fine troop ship of 1,530 tons bound from England for Bengal and China we had on board 344 soldiers 43 women and 66 children the officers, private passengers and crew brought the total number on board to 640 after leaving the downs on the 19th of February 1825 she encountered terrible weather culminating in a gale on the 1st of March which obliged them almost to sail under bare poles the narrative by Sir Duncan McGregor one of the passengers created an immense sensation at its first appearance and was translated into almost every language of the civilized world he states that the rolling of the ship which was vastly increased by a dead weight of some 100 tons of shot and shells that formed a part of its lading became so great about half past 11 or 12 o'clock at night that the main chains were thrown by every lurch considerably underwater and the best cleated articles of furniture in the cabin and the cutty were dashed about in all directions it was a little before this period that one of the officers of the ship with the well meant intention of ascertaining that all was fast below descended with a lantern he discovered one of the spirit casks adrift and sent two or three sailors for some billets of wood to secure it while they were absent he unfortunately dropped the lamp and letting go his hold of the cask and his eagerness to recover it the former suddenly stove and the spirits communicating with the light the whole deck at that part was speedily in a blaze the fire spread rapidly and all their efforts at extinguishing it were vain although bucket after bucket of water wet sails and hammocks were immediately applied the smoke began to ascend the hatch way and although every effort was made to keep the passengers in ignorance the terrible news soon spread that the ship was on fire as long as the devouring element appeared to be confined to the spot where the fire originated and which they were assured was surrounded on all sides with water casks of wood but soon the light blue vapor that at first arose was succeeded by volumes of thick dingy smoke which ascended through all the hatchways and rolled over the ship a thorough panic took possession of most on board the deck was covered with 600 men women and children many almost frantic with excitement wives seeking their husbands children their mothers suffering as though their reason was overthrown weak men, maudlin and weeping many good people on their knees in earnest prayer some of the older and more stout-hearted soldiers and sailors sullenly took their seats directly over the powder magazine expecting momentarily that it would explode and put them out of their misery a strong, pitchy smell suddenly wafted over the ship the flames have reached the cable-tier exclaimed one and it was found to be too true the fire had now extended so far that there was but one course to pursue the lower decks must be swamped Captain Cobb the commander of the Kent was a man of action and with an ability and decision that seemed only to increase with the imminence of the danger ordered the lower decks to be scuttled the coverings of the hatches removed and the lower ports opened to the free admission of the waves his instructions were speedily obeyed the soldiers aiding the crew the fury of the flames was of course checked but several sick soldiers and children and one woman unable to gain the upper deck were drowned and others suffocated as the risk of explosion somewhat diminished the new horror arose the ship became waterlogged and presented indications of settling down death in two forms stared them in the face no sail had been seen for many days the vessel being somewhat out of the regular course but although it seemed hopeless a man was sent up to the foretop to scan the horizon how many anxious eyes were turned up to him how many anxious hearts beat at that moment can well be understood the sailor threw his eyes rapidly over the waist of howling waters and instantly waved his hat exclaiming in a voice hoarse with emotion a sail on the lee bow flags of distress were soon hoisted minute guns fired and an attempt made to bear down on the welcome stranger which for some time did not notice them but at last it seemed probable by her slackening sail and altering her course that the Kent had been seen hope revived on board but there were still three painful problems to be solved the vessel in the distance was but a small brig could she take over six hundred persons on board could they be transferred during a terrible gale and heavy sea likely enough to swamp all the boats might not the Kent could either blow up or speedily found her before even one soul were saved the vessel proved to be the Cambria a brig bound to Vera Cruz with a number of miners on board for fifteen minutes it had been very doubtful to all on the Kent whether their signals of distress and the smoke issuing from the hatchways formed no small item among them were seen or the minute guns heard but at length it became obvious that the brig was making for them and preparations were made to clear and lower the boats of the East Indiaman although says Sir Duncan McGregor it was impossible and would have been improper to repress the rising hopes that were pretty generally diffused amongst us by the unexpected sight of the Cambria yet I confess that when I reflected on the long period our ship had been already burning on the tremendous sea that was running on the extreme smallness of the brig and the immense number of human beings to be saved I could only venture to hope that a few might be spared when the military officers were consulting together as the brig was approaching on the requisite preparations for getting out the boats and other necessary courses of action one of the officers asked Major McGregor in what order it was intended the officers should move off which he replied, of course in funeral order which in junction was instantly confirmed by Colonel Fearon who said most undoubtedly the juniors first but see that any man is cut down who presumes to enter the boats before the means of escape are presented to the women and children to prevent any rush of troops or sailors to the boats the officers were stationed near them with drawn swords but to do the soldiers and seem injustice it was little needed the former particularly keeping perfect order and assisting to save the ladies and children and private passengers generally some of the women and children were placed in the first boat which was immediately lowered into a sea so tempestuous that there was great danger that it would be swamped while the lowering tackle not being properly disengaged at the stern there was a great prospect for a few moments that it's living freight would be upset in the water a sailor however succeeded in cutting the ropes with an axe and the first boat got off safely the Cambria had been intentionally lain at some distance from the Kent lest she should be involved in her explosion or exposed to the fire from the guns which being all shotted went off as the flames reached them the men had a considerable distance to row and the success of the first experiment was naturally looked upon as the measure of their future hopes the movements of this boat were watched with intense anxiety by all on board the better to balance the boat in the raging sea through which it had to pass and to enable the seamen to ply their oars the women and children were stowed promiscuously under the seats and consequently exposed to the risk of being drowned by the continual dashing of the spray over their heads which so filled the boat during the passage that before their arrival at the brig the poor females were sitting up to their wastes in water and their children kept with the greatest difficulty above it happily at the expiration of twenty minutes the cutter was seen alongside their arc of refuge the next difficulty was to get the ladies and children on board the cambria for the sea was running high and there was danger of the boat being swamped or stove against the side of the brig the children were almost thrown on board while the women had to spring towards the many friendly arms extended from the vessel when the waves lifted the boat momentarily in the right position however all were safely transferred to the brig without serious mishap it became impossible for the boats after the first trip to come alongside the Kent and a plan was adopted for lowering the women and children from the stern by tying them two and two together the heaving of the vessel and the heavy sea raising the boat one instant and dropping at the next rendered this somewhat perilous many of the poor women were plunged several times in the water before they succeeded in landing safely in the boat and many young children died from the effects the same violent means which only reduced the parents to a state of exhaustion or insensibility having entirely quenched the vital spark in their feeble frames one fine fellow, a soldier who had neither wife nor child of his own but who showed great solicitude for the safety of others insisted on having three children lashed to him with whom he plunged into the water to reach the boat more quickly he swam well but could not get near the boat and when he was eventually drawn on board again two of the children were dead one man fell down the hatchway into the flames another had his back broken and was observed quite doubled falling overboard a third fell between the boat and brig and his head was literally crushed to pieces others were lost in their attempts to ascend the sides of the Cambria and others again were drowned in their hurry to get on board the boats one of the sailors who had with many others taken his post over the magazine at last cried out almost in ill humor well, if she won't blow up I'll see if I can't get away from her he was saved and must have felt quite disappointed one of the three boats swamped or stove during the day had on board a number of men who had been robbing the cabins during the confusion on board it is suspected that one or two of those who went down must have sunk beneath the weight of their spoils as there was so much doubt as to how soon the vessel would explode or go down while the process of transference between the vessels occupied three-quarters of an hour each trip and other delays were caused by timid passengers and ladies who were naturally loath to be separated from their husbands they determined on a quicker mode of placing them in the boat a rope was suspended from the end of the spanker boom along the slippery top of which the passengers had either to walk, crawl, or be carried the reader need not be told that this great boom or spar stretches out from the mizzen mast far over the stern in a vessel the size of the kent on ordinary occasions in quiet weather it would be fifteen or twenty feet above the water but with the vessel pitching and tossing during the continuous storm it was raised often as much as forty feet in the air it will be seen that under these circumstances with the boat at the stern now swept to some distance in the hollow of a wave and now raised high on its crest the lowering of oneself by the rope to drop at the right moment was a perilous operation it was a common thing for strong men to reach the boat in a state of utter exhaustion having been several times immersed in the waves and half-trowned but there were many strong and willing hands among the soldiers and sailors ready to help the weak and fearful ones and the transference went on with fair rapidity though with every now and again some sad casualty to record the coolness and determination of the officers, military, and marine the good order and subordination of most of the troops and the bravery of many in risking their lives for others seems at this time to have restored some little confidence among the timid and shrinking on board a little later and the declining rays and fiery glow on the waves indicated that the sun was setting one can well understand the feeling of many on board as they witnessed its disappearance and the approach of darkness were their lives also to set in outer gloom was the option to be that night their grave late at night Major McGregor went down to his cabin in search of a blanket to shelter him from the increasing cold the scene of desolation that there presented itself was melancholy in the extreme the place which only a few short hours before had been the scene of kindly intercourse and of social gaiety was now entirely deserted saved by a few miserable wretches who were either stretched in irrecoverable intoxication on the floor or prowling about like beasts of prey in search of plunder the sofas, drawers, and other articles of furniture the due arrangement of which had cost so much thought and pains were now broken into a thousand pieces and scattered in confusion around some of the geese and other poultry escaped from their confinement were cackling in the cutty while a solitary pig wandering from its stye in the foxhole was ranging at large in undisturbed possession of the Brussels carpet it is highly to the credit of the officers more especially to those who had deck cabins from which it would be easy to remove many portable articles and even trunks and boxes that they entirely devoted their time and energies to saving life they left the ship simply with the clothes they stood in and were the last to leave it except of course where subordinate officers were detailed to look after portions of the troops Captain Cobb in his resolution to be the last to leave the ship tried all he could to urge the few remaining persons on board to drop on the ropes and save themselves but finding all his entreaties fruitless and hearing the guns successively explode in the hold into which they had fallen he at length after doing all in his power to save them got himself into the boat by laying hold of the topping lift or rope that connects the driver boom with the mizzen top thereby getting over the heads of the infatuated men who occupied the boom unable to go either backward or forward and ultimately dropping himself into the water one of the boats persevered in keeping its station under the Kent's stern until the flames were bursting out of the cabin windows the larger part of the poor wretches left on board were saved when the vessel exploded they sought shelter in the chains where they stood till the masts fell overboard to which they then clung for some hours ultimately they were rescued by Captain Bibby of the Caroline a vessel bound from Egypt to Liverpool who happened to see the explosion at a great distance and instantly made all sail in the direction whence it proceeded afterwards cruising about for some time to pick up any survivors after the arrival of the last boat at the Cambria the flames which had spread along the upper deck and poop ascended with the rapidity of lightning to the masts and rigging forming one general conflagration that illumined the heavens to an immense distance and was strongly reflected on several objects on board the brig the flags of distress hoisted in the morning were seen for a considerable time waving amid the flames until the masts to which they were suspended successively fell like stately steeples over the ship's side at last about half past one o'clock in the morning the devouring element having communicated to the magazine the explosion was seen and the blazing fragments of the once magnificent kent were instantly hurled like so many rockets high into the air leaving in the comparative darkness that succeeded the deathful scene of that disastrous day floating before the mind like some feverish dream the scene on board the brig beggared description captain who bore the honored name of cook and his crew of eight did all that was in their power to alleviate the miseries of the six hundred persons added to their number while they carried sail even to the extent of danger in order to make nine or ten knots to the nearest port the Cornish miners and Yorkshire smelters on board gave up their beds and clothes and stores to the passengers it was extremely fortunate that the brig was on her outward voyage for had she been returning she would not in all probability have had provisions enough to feed six hundred persons for a single day but at the best their condition was miserable in the cabin intended for eight or ten eighty were packed many nearly in a nude condition and many of the poor women not having space to lie down the gale increased but still they crowded all sail even at the risk of carrying away the masts and at length the welcome cry of land ahead was reported from mouth to mouth they were off the silly lights and speedily afterwards reached Falmouth where the inhabitants vied with each other in providing clothing and food and money for all who needed them the total loss from the Kent was eighty one souls namely fifty four soldiers one woman twenty children one semen and five boys of the crew how much greater might it not have been but for the imperturbable coolness the commanding abilities and the persevering and prompt action of Captain Cobb and the admirable discipline and subordination of the troops of the same thing is to be found in the case of the Birkenhead where there were desperate odds against anyone surviving the ship was a war steamer conveying troops from St. Simon's Bay to Algoa Bay Cape Colony and had with crew a total complement of six hundred thirty eight souls on board she struck on a reef when steaming at the rate of eight and a half knots and almost immediately became a total wreck the rock penetrated her bottom just aft of the formast and the rush of water was so great that most of the men on the lower troop deck were drowned in their hammocks the commanding officer Major Seton called his subordinate officers about him and impressed upon them the necessity of preserving order and perfect discipline among the men and of assisting the commander of the ship in everything possible sixty soldiers were immediately detailed for the pumps in three reliefs sixty more to hold on the tackles of the paddle-box boats and the remainder were brought on the poop so as to ease the four part of the ship which was rolling heavily the commander of the ship ordered the horses to be pitched out of the first gangway and the cutter to be got ready for the women and children who were safely put on board just after they were out of the ship the entire bow broke off at the formast and the funnel went over the side carrying away the starboard paddle-box and boat the other paddle-box boat capsized when being lowered and their largest boat in the center of the ship could not be got at so encumbered was it five minutes later the vessel actually broken too literally realizing Falconer's lines she rolled her crashing ribs divide she loosens parts and spreads in ruin or the tide she parted just about the engine room and the stern part immediately filled and went down a few men jumped off just before she did so but the greater number remained to the last and so did every officer belonging to the troops a number of the soldiers were crushed to death when the funnel fell and few of those at the pumps could reach the deck before the vessel broke up the survivors clung some to the rigging of the main mast part of which was out of water and others to floating pieces of wood when the Birkenhead divided into two pieces the commander of the ship called out all those who can swim jump overboard and make for the boats two of the military officers earnestly besought their men not to do so as in that case the boats with the women must be swamped and to the honor of the soldiers only three made the attempt the struggles of a part of them to reach the shore the weary tramp through a country covered with thick thorny bushes before they could reach any farm or settlement the sufferings of thirty or more poor fellows who were clinging in a state of utter exhaustion cold and wretchedness to the main top mast and topsoil yard of the submerged vessel before they were rescued by a passing schooner have often been told the conduct of the troops was perfect and it is questionable whether there is any other instance of such thorough discipline at a time of almost utter hopelessness the loss of life was enormous only one hundred ninety two out of six hundred thirty eight being saved had there been any panic or mutiny not even that small remnant would have escaped turn we now to another and a sadder case where the opposite qualities were most unhappily displayed and the consequences of which were proportionately terrible on the seventeenth of june eighteen sixteen the medusa a fine french frigate sailed from aches with troops and colonists on board destined for the west coast of africa several settlements which had previously belonged to france but which fell into the hands of the english during the war were on the piece of eighteen fifteen restored to their original owners and it was to take repossession that the french government dispatched the expedition which consisted of two vessels one of which was the medusa besides infantry and artillery officers and men there was a governor with priests school masters motories surgeons apothecaries mining and other engineers naturalists practical agriculturalists bakers workmen and thirty eight women the whole expedition numbering three hundred sixty five persons exclusive of the ships officers and company of these the medusa took two hundred forty making with her crew and passengers a total of four hundred on board after making Cape Blanco the expedition had been ordered to steer westward to sea for some sixty miles in order to clear a well known sand bank that of our again the captain however seems to have been an ill advised foolhardy man and he took a southward course the vessel shortened sail every two hours to sound and every half hour the lead was cast without slackening sail for some little time the soundings indicated deep water but shortly after the course had been altered to south southeast the color of the water changed seaweeds floated round the ship and fish were caught from its sides all indications of shallowing but the captain heated not these obvious signs and the vessel suddenly grounded on a bank the weather being moderate there was no reason for alarm and she would have been got off safely had the captain been even an average sailor for the time the medusa stuck fast on the sand bank and as a large part of those on board were landsmen consternation and disorder reigned supreme and reproaches and curses were liberally bestowed on the captain the crew was set to work with anchors and cables to endeavor to work the vessel off during the day masts yards and booms were unshipped and thrown overboard which lightened her but were not sufficient to make her float meantime the council was called and the governor of the colonies exhibited the plan of a raft which was considered large enough to carry two hundred persons with all the necessary stores and provisions it was to be towed by the boats while their crews were to come to it at regular mealtimes for their rations the whole party was to land in a body on the sandy shore of the coast known to be at no great distance and proceed to the nearest settlements all this was theoretically speaking most admirable and had there been any leading spirit in command the plan would have been as was afterwards proved quite practicable the raft was immediately constructed principally from the spars removed from the vessel as before mentioned it was made to get the Medusa off the sand bank and at one time she swung entirely and turned her head to sea she was in fact almost afloat and a tow line applied in the usual way would have taken her into deep water but this familiar expedient was never even proposed or even had she been lightened by throwing overboard a part of her stores temporarily which could have been done without serious harm to many articles she might have been saved half measures were tried and even these were not acted on with perseverance during the next night there was a strong gale and heavy swell and the Medusa healed over with much violence the keel broke in two the rudder was unshipped and still holding to the stern post by the chains dashed against the vessel and beat a hole into the captain's cabin through which the waves entered it was at this time that the first indications of that unruly spirit which afterwards produced so many horrors appeared among the soldiers who assembled tumultuously on deck and could hardly be quieted next morning there were seven feet of water in the hold and the pumps could not be worked so that it was resolved to quit the vessel without delay some bags of biscuit were taken from the bread room and some casks of wine got ready to put on the boats and raft but there was an utter want of management and several of the boats only received 25 pounds of biscuit and no wine while the raft had a quantity of wine and no biscuit to avoid confusion a list had been made the evening before assigning to each his place no one paid the slightest attention to it and no one of those in authority tried to enforce obedience to it it was a case of solve kipu with a vengeance a disorderly and disgraceful scramble for the best places and an utter and total disregard for the wants of others end of chapter 5 part 1