Part 27 (1/2)
The s.p.a.ce between the boat and vessel was crossed by such a continuous rush of broken water that for a time it was impossible to attempt anything, but as the tide fell the c.o.xswain consulted with his bowman, and both agreed to venture to wade to the wreck, those on board having become so exhausted as to be unable or unwilling to make further effort to save themselves.
Acting on this resolve they with one of their men sprang into the raging surf and staggered to the wreck, where they induced two of the crew to leap overboard and brought them safely to the boat. Others of the lifeboat crew then joined them and four more were rescued. [See note 1.]
The tide had been at its lowest when this desperate work was begun,-- before it was finished it had turned. This, coupled with the fact that they had all been nearly swept away during the last effort; and that there was a fresh burst of violence in the gale, induced them to wait until the tide should rise. When it did so sufficiently, they hauled and shoved the boat alongside, and the captain, who was one of the three remaining men, made a desperate spring, but missed the boat and was whirled away. Pike made a grasp at him but missed. The c.o.xswain seized a life-buoy and hurled it towards him. It fell within his reach, and it was supposed that he had caught it, but they could not be certain. The boat was now afloat and b.u.mping violently. If they had cut the cable in order to rescue the captain, which they could by no means make sure of doing, the improbability of being able to return in time to save the two remaining men would have been very great. It seemed to be life or death in either case, so they stuck by the wreck.
It was grey dawn now, and the wreckage was knocking against and around them to such an extent that the c.o.xswain began to fear for the safety of his boat. Yet he was loath to leave the men to perish.
”Jump now, lads!” he cried, sheering up alongside, ”it's your last chance. It's death to all of us if we stop longer here!”
The men sprang together. One gained the side of the boat and was saved, the other was swept away. He made frantic efforts to gain the boat, but before his companion had been got inboard he was out of sight, and although the cable was promptly cut and the sail set he could not be found. The boat was then run down along the sands in search of the captain. The c.o.xswain knew well from experience that he must certainly have been swept by the current in the same direction as the wreckage.
He therefore followed this, and in a short time had the inexpressible satisfaction and good fortune to find the captain. He had caught the life-buoy, and having managed to get it under his arms had floated about for the greater part of an hour. Though nearly dead he was still sensible, and, after being well chafed and refreshed with a little rum from the c.o.xswain's case-bottle--provided for occasions of this sort--he recovered.
The great work of the lifeboat had now been accomplished, but they could not feel that it had been thoroughly completed without one more effort being made to save the lost man. They therefore ran still farther down the sand in the direction where he had been last seen. They followed the drift of wreckage as before. Presently the bowman uttered a thrilling shout, for, through the turmoil of das.h.i.+ng spray, he saw the man clinging to a spar!
So unexpected was this happy event that the whole crew involuntarily gave vent to a ringing cheer, although, in the circ.u.mstances, and considering the nature of their exhausting work and the time they had been exposed to it, one might have supposed them incapable of such a burst of enthusiasm.
In a few moments he was rescued, and now, with light hearts, they ran for the tug, which was clearly visible in the rapidly increasing daylight. They did not put off time in transferring the saved men to the steamer. The big hawser,--their familiar bond of attachment,--was made fast to them, and away went that n.o.ble big brother and splendid little sister straight for Ramsgate harbour. [See note 2.]
But the work of that wild night was not yet finished. On their way home they fell in with a schooner, the foretopmast and bowsprit of which were gone. As she was drifting towards the sands they hailed her. No reply being made, the lifeboat was towed alongside, and, on being boarded, it was found that she was a derelict. Probably she had got upon the sands during the night, been forsaken by her crew in their own boat--in which event there was small chance of any being saved--and had drifted off again at the change of the tide.
Be that as it might, six lifeboat men were put on board. Finding no water in her, they slipt her two cables, which were hanging from the bow, a rope was made fast to the steamer, and she was taken in tow.
It was drawing towards noon when they neared the harbour. Very different indeed was the aspect of things there then from what it had been when they went out on their errand of mercy thirteen hours before.
Although the gale was still blowing fresh it had moderated greatly. The black clouds no longer held possession of the sky, but were pierced, scattered, and gilded, as they were rolled away, by the victorious sun.
The sea still raged and showed its white ”teeth” fiercely, as if its spirit had been too much roused to be easily appeased; but blue sky appeared in patches everywhere; the rain had ceased, and the people of the town and visitors swarmed out to enjoy the returning suns.h.i.+ne, inhale the fresh sea-breeze, and await, anxiously, the return of the lifeboat--for, of course, every one in the town was aware by that time that she had been out all night.
When, at length, the smoke of the ”big brother” was observed drawing near, the people flocked in hundreds to the piers and cliffs.--Wherever a point of vantage was to be had, dozens of spectators crowned it.
Wherever a point of danger was to be gained, daring spirits--chiefly in the shape of small boys--took it by storm, in absolute contempt of the police. ”Jacob's Ladder”--the cliff staircase--was crowded from top to bottom. The west pier was rendered invisible to its outer extremity by human beings. The east pier, as far as it was dry, was covered by the fas.h.i.+on and beauty--as well as by the fishy and tarry--of the town.
Beyond the point of dryness it was more or less besieged by those who were reckless, riotous, and ridiculously fond of salt-water spray. The yards and shrouds of the crowded and much damaged s.h.i.+pping in the harbour were manned, and the windows of the town that commanded the sea were filled with human faces. An absolute battery of telescopes, like small artillery, was levelled at the approaching tug. Everywhere were to be seen and heard evidences of excitement, anxiety, and expectation.
It was not long before it was announced that flags were seen flying at the mast-heads of the tug and lifeboat--a sure evidence that a rescue had been successfully accomplished. This caused many a burst of cheering from the crowds, as the fact and its import became gradually known. But these were as nothing compared with the cheers that arose when the steamer, with the lifeboat and the schooner in tow, drew near, and it could be seen that there were many people on board--among them women and children. When they finally surged past the pier-head on the crest of a tremendous billow, and swept into the harbour under a vast shower of spray that burst over the pier and rose above the mast-heads of the s.h.i.+pping within--as if to pour a libation on the gallant crews-- then a succession of cheers, that cannot be described, welcomed the victors and re-echoed from the chalk-cliffs, to be caught up and sent out again and again in thrilling cadence on the mad sea, which had thus been plundered of its booty and disappointed of its prey!
Scarfs and hats and kerchiefs and hands were waved in wild enthusiasm, strangely mingled with tender pity, when the exhausted women and children and the worn-out and battered lifeboat-men were landed. Many cheered, no doubt, to think of the strong hearts and invincible courage that dwelt in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of Britain's sons; while others,--tracing things at once to their true source,--cheered in broken tones, or were incompetent to cheer at all, when they thought with thankfulness of Britain's faith in the Word of G.o.d, which, directly or indirectly, had given that courage its inspiration, and filled those hearts with fire.
Note 1. The c.o.xswain--Mr Isaac Jarman--who has rendered heroic service in the Ramsgate Lifeboat during the last ten years, has been personally instrumental in saving between four and five hundred lives.
Note 2. If the reader should desire to know something more of the history of the celebrated Ramsgate lifeboat, which, owing to its position, opportunities, and advantages, has had the most stirring career of all the lifeboat fleet, we advise the perusal of a work (at present in the press, if it be not already published) named _Storm Warriors, or the Ramsgate Lifeboat and the Goodwin Sands_, by the Reverend John Gilmore, whose able and thrilling articles on the lifeboat-service in _Macmillan's Magazine_ are well known.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
SHOWS THAT THERE ARE NO EFFECTS WITHOUT ADEQUATE CAUSES.
There were not a few surprising and unexpected meetings that day on Ramsgate pier. Foremost among the hundreds who pressed forward to shake the lifeboat-men by the hand, and to sympathise with and congratulate the wrecked and rescued people, was Mr George Durant. It mattered nothing to that stout enthusiast that his hat had been swept away into hopeless destruction during his frantic efforts to get to the front, leaving his polished head exposed to the still considerable fury of the blast and the intermittent violence of the sun; and it mattered, if possible, still less that the wreck turned out to be one of his own vessels; but it was a matter of the greatest interest and amazement to him to find that the first man he should meet in the crowd and seize in a hearty embrace, was his young friend, Stanley Hall.
”What, Stanney!” he exclaimed in unmitigated surprise; ”is it--can it be? Prodigious sight!”