It happened thus. A pretty stiff breeze, amounting almost to half a gale1, was blowing on the night in question, and the emigrant2 ship was running before it under close-reefed topsails. For some days previously3 the weather had been “dirty,” and the captain had found it impossible to obtain an observation, so that he was in the dark as to the exact part of the ocean in which he was sailing.
In an open sea this is not of serious moment, but when one is nearing land, or in the neighbourhood of islands, it becomes cause for much anxiety. To make matters worse, the ship had been blown considerably4 out of her course, and worst of all the night was so intensely dark that it was not possible to see more than a few yards beyond the flying jibboom.
The captain and mate, with several of the men, stood on the forecastle peering anxiously out into the darkness.
“I don’t like the look o’ things at all,” muttered the captain to the chief mate.
“Perhaps it would be well, sir, to lay-to till daylight,” suggested the mate.
Whether the captain agreed with his chief officer or not was never known, for just then a dull sound was heard which sent a thrill to the bravest heart on board.
“Breakers ahead!” cried the look-out, as in duty bound, but he was instantly contradicted by the mate, who shouted that they were on the starboard beam, while another voice roared that they were on the port-bow.
The helm was instantly put hard a-port, and immediately after the order was given “hard a-starboard,” for it was discovered that the sound of breakers came from both sides of the vessel5. They were, obviously, either running in a narrow strait between two islands, or into a bay. In the first case the danger was imminent6, in the second case, destruction was almost inevitable7.
“Clear the anchor, and stand by to let go!” cried the captain, in loud sharp tones, for he felt that there was no room to turn and retreat. The order was also given to take in all sail.
But before either order could be obeyed, a cry of terror burst from many throats, for right in front of them there suddenly loomed8 out of the darkness an object like a great black cloud, which rose high above and seemed about to fall upon them. There was no mistaking its nature, however, for by that time the roar of the breakers right ahead told but too plainly that they were rushing straight upon a high perpendicular9 cliff. At this moment the vessel struck a rock. It was only a slight touch at the stern, nevertheless it tore the rudder away, so that the intention of the captain to put about and take his chance of striking on the rocks to starboard was frustrated10.
Quick as lightning the anchor went to the bottom but with such way on the ship, the sudden strain snapped the chain, and the Lapwing rushed upon her doom12, while cries of terror and despair arose from the passengers, who had by that time crowded on deck.
To the surprise of the captain, and those who were capable of intelligent observation, the ship did not immediately strike again, but sailed straight on as if right against the towering cliffs. Still onward13 it went, and as it did so there settled around them a darkness so profound that no one could see even an inch before his eyes. Then at last the ill-fated vessel struck, but not with her hull14, as might have been expected. High up above them a terrific crash was heard.
“God help us,” exclaimed the captain, “we’ve sailed straight into a cave!”
That he was right soon became evident, for immediately after the crashing of the topmasts against the roof of the cave, a shower of small stones and several large fragments fell on the deck with a rattle15 like that of musketry. Some of the people were struck and injured, though not seriously so, by the shower.
“Get down below, all of you!” cried the captain, himself taking shelter under the companion hatchway. But the order was needless, for the danger was so obvious that every one sought the shelter of the cabins without delay.
The situation was not only terrible but exceedingly singular, as well as trying, for as long as stones came thundering down on the deck it would have been sheer madness to have attempted to do anything aboveboard, and to sit idle in the cabins with almost certain death staring them in the face was a severe test of endurance.
From the motion of the vessel several facts could be deduced. Although the scraping and crashing of the masts overhead told eloquently16 of destruction going on in that direction, the heaving of the ship, and her striking occasionally on either side, proved that there was deep water below her. That they were not progressing into an interminable cavern17 was made evident by the frequent plunging18 of the shattered bowsprit against the inner end of the cave. This action sent the vessel reeling backwards19, as it were, every time she struck, besides shattering the bowsprit. That the cave, also, was open to the full force of the sea was only too severely20 proved by the rush of the billows into it, and the frequent and severe shocks to which they were in consequence subjected. These shocks had extinguished the lamps, and it was only by the aid of a few candles that they were delivered from sitting in absolute darkness.
In these awful circumstances the young Wesleyan proved that, besides the courage that he had already shown in facing danger on a sudden emergency, he also possessed21 that far higher courage which can face the slow and apparently22 sure approach of death with equanimity23 and self-possession. Moreover, he proved that the Word of God and prayer are the true resources of man in such extremities24.
Calling those who were willing around him, he led them in prayer, and then quieted the timid among them, as well as comforted all, not by reading, but by quoting appropriate passages from Scripture25, in which he was profoundly versed26.
“D’ee know when it’ll be low water, sir?” asked Joe Slag27 of the captain, when the ship gave one of her upward heaves and rasped her timbers again on the sides of the cave.
“Not for three hours yet, but it’s falling. I expect there will be less sea on in a short time. If the ship holds together we may yet be saved.”
There was a murmured “thank God” at these words. Then Bob Massey expressed some fear that there might be a danger of striking the rocks underneath28 before low water.
“I wish it was the risin’ tide,” he said, and the words took his mind back, like a flash of lightning, to the time when he used them in a very different sense. Then all was peace, hope, sunshine, and his bride was sitting like a good angel beside him, with a sweet smile on her fair face. Now, something like darkness visible, showed him his poor wife—still beside him, thank God—but clinging to his arm with looks of terror amounting almost to despair. “What a contrast!” he thought, and for the first time a feeling of rebellion arose in his mind.
“There’s no use o’ sittin’ here to be drowned like rats,” he cried, starting up. “I’ll go on deck an’ take a cast o’ the lead, an’ see what chances we have.”
“No, you won’t, Bob,” cried Nellie, throwing her arms firmly round him. “There’s big stones falling all about the deck yet. Don’t you hear them?”
As if to corroborate29 her words, a piece of rock nearly half a ton in weight fell on the sky-light at that moment, crashed completely through it, through the table below, and even sank into the cabin floor. Fortunately, no one was hurt, though Slag had a narrow escape, but that worthy30 was not easily intimidated31. He rose up, and, saying that, “it was as well to be killed on deck doin’ somethin’ as in the cabin doin’ nothin’,” was about to ascend32 the ladder when Dr Hayward suddenly entered, all wet and dishevelled, and with blood trickling33 down his face.
“No use going up just now, Joe,” he said, as he sat down beside his wife, and permitted her to tie a kerchief round his head. “Only a slight wound, Eva, got while taking soundings. I find that there are sixteen fathoms34 of water under us, and, although I couldn’t see my hand held up before my face, I managed to make out by the flash of a match, which burned for a moment before being blown out, that the sides of the cave are quite perpendicular, not the smallest ledge35 to stand on. The tide, however, is ebbing36 fast, and the water in the cave calming, so that if no bad leak has been made by all this thumping37 we may yet be saved. Our only chance is to stick to the ship.”
While he was speaking the vessel again surged violently against one side of the cave, and another of the huge masses of rock that were brought down by the swaying masts came crashing on the deck.
“There is no bad leak as yet,” said the captain, re-entering the cabin, which he had quitted for the purpose of sounding the well. “If we can keep afloat for an hour or two we may be able to use the boats. Just now it would be useless to attempt launching them.”
Although the captain’s words were not particularly reassuring38, his confident tone and manner infused hope, and comforted the people greatly. Some of the male passengers even volunteered to face the shower of stones, if need be, and lend a hand in launching the boats, when the time for doing so arrived.
These boats, three in number, were lying bottom up on deck, and to reach them involved the risk of death to whoever should attempt it. They were therefore compelled to wait.
It is difficult to form even a slight conception of the horrors of that night. For several hours they sat in the after-cabin, and the ship surged and plunged39 in the wildly-heaving water, striking the sides continually, while rocks fell at intervals40 on the deck, thus adding to the noise of wind and waves as they raged with echoing, deafening41 noise in the black cavern. Each moment it seemed as if the ship must have her planks42 stove in and be sunk, but she was a new vessel and strong. Of course she leaked considerably, but when the tide went down the sea calmed a little, the rocks ceased falling from the roof, and they were enabled to rig the pumps and work them vigorously. The boats, meanwhile, were cast loose and got ready to launch at the first glimmer43 of daylight! Fortunately, they had received no serious injury from the falling rocks.
Oh, how they longed and prayed for the day! It came at last, a gleam so faint that it showed nothing of their surroundings save the outline of the cavern’s great mouth.
“Shall we launch the boats now, sir?” asked the first mate, who was becoming anxious, because the carpenter had just reported that the water in the hold was increasing dangerously in spite of the pumps.
“Not yet—not yet,” returned the captain, hurriedly. “We must have more light first. The loss of a boat would be fatal. I’m afraid of the rising tide.”
“Afraid of the rising tide!” Again the words struck strangely on Bob Massey’s ears as he stood wiping the perspiration44 from his brow after a long spell at the pumps—and once more carried him back to the sunlit sands of Old England.
Soon the increase of water in the hold was so great that the getting out of the boats could no longer be delayed. The first launched was a small one. It was lowered over the stern by means of the studding-sail boom, with a block and whip, which kept it from dropping too quickly into the water. Massey and his friend Slag, being recognised as expert boatmen in trying circumstances, were sent in it, with two of the crew, to run out a line and drop an anchor in the sea outside, so that the heavier boats might be hauled out thereby45. Two hundred and fifty fathoms of rope were given them—more than sufficient for the purpose. On getting outside, Bob and his friend, according to custom as lifeboat men, kept a sharp look-out on everything around them, and the feeble daylight enabled them to see that the black cliff which had, as it were, swallowed up the Lapwing, was full six hundred feet high and a sheer precipice46, in some places overhanging at the top, and without the symptom of a break as far as the eye could reach in either direction.
“A black look-out, Joe,” muttered Massey, as he assisted his comrade to heave the anchor over the side.
“Ay, Bob, an’ the worst of it is that the tide’s risin’. A boat can live here as long as that ridge47 o’ rocks keeps off the seas, but in an hour or so it’ll be rollin’ in as bad as ever.”
“I knows it, Joe, an’ the more need to look sharp.”
Returning to the ship, our coxswain made his report, and recommended urgent haste. But the captain required no urging, for by that time the ship’s main deck was level with the water, and the seas were making a clean breach48 over the stern. The passengers and crew crowded towards the port gangway where the large boat was being brought round to receive the women and children first. This was such a familiar scene to the two lifeboat men that they kept cool and self-possessed from the mere49 force of habit. Seeing this, the captain ordered Mitford to get into the boat first, and help to stow the others, for it would be a tight pack, he said, to stow them all. Dr Hayward was ordered to assist. Ned Jarring volunteered to help to fend50 the boat off during the operation, and, without waiting for permission, jumped into her.
Mitford had consigned51 his wife to the care of his friend Massey, who at once undertook the duty by tying a kerchief round Peggy’s head to keep her hair out of her eyes, after which he did the same for Nellie. Both women were perfectly52 quiet and submissive—the first owing to fear and exhaustion53, the last from native courage, which enabled her to rise to the occasion. Massey then stripped off all his own clothes, except shirt and trousers, so as to be ready for swimming, and, catching54 up a rope, advanced towards his wife, intending to fasten it round her waist.
“Peggy first, Bob; I’ll wait for you,” said his wife.
“Look sharp!” cried the captain.
Bob turned at once to Peggy, and in a few seconds she was lowered into the boat. Mrs Hayward followed. Then Massey insisted on his wife going, and the obedient Nellie submitted, but, owing to a lurch55 of the ship at the moment, she missed the boat, and dropped into the water. One of the men attempted to pull her in, but could not, and, as all the others were engaged at the moment in trying to fend off the rocks, Massey at once jumped into the sea, and helped to get his wife into the boat.
At that moment there arose a cry that the ship was sinking, and a wild rush was made for the long-boat, which had also been successfully launched. Of course it was instantly overcrowded, for all discipline was now at an end. Before anything else could be done the Lapwing sank in sixteen fathoms of water, carrying the long-boat and all the people in her along with it, but those in the other boat had shoved off at the first wild cry, and hauling on the anchored cable, just escaped being sucked down by the sinking ship.
Bob Massey clung to the boat’s gunwale, and thus escaped. Rowing back instantly, however, to the spot where the ship had gone down, they sought eagerly for swimmers. Only three were discovered and rescued, but the others—seventy souls in all—found a watery56 grave in the dark cavern of that unknown land.
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1
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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2
emigrant
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| adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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4
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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5
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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6
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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7
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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8
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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9
perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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10
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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11
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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12
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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13
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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14
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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15
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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16
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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18
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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19
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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20
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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21
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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22
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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23
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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24
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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25
scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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26
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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27
slag
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| n.熔渣，铁屑，矿渣；v.使变成熔渣，变熔渣 | |
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28
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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29
corroborate
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| v.支持，证实，确定 | |
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30
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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31
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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32
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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33
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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34
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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35
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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36
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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37
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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38
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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39
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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40
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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41
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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42
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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43
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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44
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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45
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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46
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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47
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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48
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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49
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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50
fend
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| v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开 | |
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51
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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52
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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53
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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54
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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55
lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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56
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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