The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume II Part 17

There he is! No; only his cap! there he lifts on that sea-he is coming straight for the boat!' From the change and eddy of the tide, the rush of the sea past the boat is not nearly so rapid as it was, and the poor boy comes floating slowly from the ship; once or twice he has been rolled under by the waves, now he is on the surface again, and near the boat.

'Here he comes! look! on that wave! Lost! No, he floats again! Slacken hawsers! Now he is within reach! Carefully, quick! Now you have got him!

He is making no effort, and floating with his head under water!' A boatman manages to hook his jacket with a long boat-hook, and pulls him towards the boat; gently the men lift him in, sorrowfully, and tears are in the eyes of more than one as they look upon the small face. 'Poor little chap!

Too late! too late! he's gone!'" Their efforts are now all needed to get clear of the wreck, cut the cable, and raise the sail, all which being done successfully, they go off smartly before the wind, and have time to look to the poor boy again. Kind hands chafe his hands and rub his back and limbs, and put a little rum to his lips, and after about half an hour they have the joy of seeing him show signs of life, and their efforts are redoubled. Some of the men take the dryest of their jackets and wrap him up tenderly, lying him under the mizen-sail. He eventually recovers.

But, strangest part of all this eventful story, the captain, who had been two hours in the seething waters, is picked up alive, although, it may well be believed, in a terrible state of exhaustion. At first he seems to be dying, but at length, after the men have done their best in chafing and rubbing, he gets a little better, and is able to tell them that his vessel, the _Providentia_, was a full-rigged ship from Finland, and that he himself is a Russian Fin, which accounts for his miraculous preservation in the water, as the Fins are the hardiest of sailors. Eleven of his men had left the ship in their best boat, and were, it was eventually found, blown over to Boulogne.

The waves are rolling along in all their fury, and beat down upon the sands with tremendous force, and among them, and settled down somewhat, is a large barque. The life-boat men look at the awful rage of sea, and say to each other, "We have indeed our work cut out for us." There are no signs of life on board the wreck, but the flag of distress is still flying, and the steamer tows the boat nearer to her. Then the crew is discovered crouching in the shelter of the deck-house, while the huge waves make a complete breach over the vessel, threatening to wash away both house and crew. The steamer takes the boat to windward and lets her go. The boat's sail is hoisted, and she makes for the wreck. A minute more and they are in the broken water, the seas falling in tangled volumes over the boat, and she is tossed in all directions by the wild broken waves.

She fills again and again, and the men have to cling with all their strength to the thwarts; but still the wind drives the boat on, and they get within about sixty yards of the wreck, when the anchor is thrown out and the cable paid out swiftly. The men shout out, to encourage the poor trembling wretches on board, and, just as they expect to make a first successful rescue of a part of them, are nearly swamped by a fearful wave, which carries them a hundred yards away. They prepare for another attempt, hoist the sail, and try to sheer her to the vessel, but all their efforts are in vain. Wave after wave breaks over them, and the boat is tossed in all directions by the broken seas. Sometimes the c.o.xswain feels as if he would be thrown bodily forward on the men, as the waves almost lift the boat end on end. They must give it up for this time; the very oars are blown from the row-locks and out of the men's hands. Again and again they are baulked in their efforts to reach the ill-starred vessel. Yet again and again they cheer, to keep up the spirits of its half-drowned and frozen crew.

The ship's hull has now been under water for some time, and is breaking up fast. On board the _Aid_ the mortar apparatus is got ready, in the hope of getting near enough to the vessel to fire a line into her rigging.

"Cautiously the steamer approaches; the tide has been for some time rising fast; the steamer does not draw much water; they are almost within firing distance; the waves come rushing along and nearly overrun the steamer; at last a breaker, larger than the rest, catches her, lifts her high upon its crest, and letting her fall down into its trough as down the side of a well, she strikes the sands heavily; the engines are instantly reversed; she lifts with the next wave, and being a very quick and handy boat, at once moves astern before she can thump again, and they are saved from shipwreck; and thus the fifth effort to save the shipwrecked crew fails."

No time is lost; at once the steamer heads for the life-boat, and makes ready to again tow her into position for a fresh attempt. The masts of the wreck are quivering, and it is evident that she is breaking up fast.

The life-boat men consult together as to the plan of their next effort. At last one of the men proposes a mode, most a.s.suredly novel, and which must, indeed, either prove rescue to the shipwrecked or death to all. "I'll tell you what, my men, if we are going to save those poor fellows, there is only one way of doing it: it must be a case of save all or lose all, that is just it! We must go in upon the vessel straight, hit her between the masts, and throw our anchor over right upon her decks." This is, almost naturally, derided by some as a hair-brained trick. Let us see the result.

"Once more the boat heads for the wreck-this time to do or to die; each man knows it, each man feels it. They are crossing the stern of the vessel. 'Look at that breaker! Look at that breaker! Hold on! hold on! It will be all over with us if it catches us; we shall be thrown high into the masts of the vessel, and shaken out into the sea in a moment! Hold on all, hold on! Now it comes! No, thank G.o.d! it breaks ahead of us, and we have escaped. Now, men, be ready, be ready!' Thus shouts the c.o.xswain.

Every man is at his station; some with the ropes in hand ready to lower the sails, others by the anchor, prepared to throw it overboard at the right moment; round, past the stern of the vessel, the boat flies, round in the blast of the gale and the swell of the sea; down helm; round she comes; down foresail; the ship's lee gunwale is under water; the boat shoots forward straight for the wreck, and hits the lee rail with a shock that almost throws all the men from their posts, and then, still forward, she literally leaps on board the wreck. Over! over with the anchor. It falls on the vessel's deck. All the crew of the vessel are in the mizen shrouds, but they cannot get to the boat: a fearful rush of sea is chasing over the vessel, and between them and it. Again and again the boat thumps on the wreck as on a rock, with a shock that almost shakes the men from their hold." The waves carry her off, but the anchor holds, and they manage to haul on board another line. Again and again the boat washes away, but comes up to the vessel again; and, one by one, ten poor Danes are got on board. One sailor jumps from the rigging; the boat sinks in the trough of the sea, and he falls between her and the wreck; a second, and he would be crushed; two boatmen seize him, and are themselves seized by their companions, or they would go overboard.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RESCUE OF THE DANISH VESSEL.]

The long battle was over; was it not one worth fighting? So thought the King of Denmark, who sent two hundred rix-dollars to be divided among the men, who were also rewarded by the Board of Trade. The boatmen are poor men, and such presents come in very acceptably; but their greatest satisfaction must ever come from the memory of their own brave deeds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SURVIVORS RESCUED FROM THE RIGGING OF A WRECK.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

"WRECKING" AS A PROFESSION.

Probable Fate of a rich Vessel in the Middle Ages-Maritime Laws of the Period-The King's Privileges-Cur de Lion and his Enactments-The Roles d'Oleron-False Pilots and Wicked Lords-Stringent Laws of George II.-The Homeward-bound Vessel-Plotting Wreckers-Lured Ash.o.r.e-"Dead Men Tell no Tales"-A Series of Facts-Brutality to a Captain and his Wife-Fate of a Plunderer-Defence of a Ship against Hundreds of Wreckers-Another Example-Ship Boarded by Peasantry-Police Attacked by Thousands-Cavalry Charge the Wreckers-Hundreds of Drunken Plunderers-A Curious Tract of the Last Century-A Professional Wrecker's Arguments-A Candid Bahama Pilot.

The great historian, Hallam, says: "In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a rich vessel was never secure from attack, and neither rest.i.tution nor punishment of the criminals was to be obtained from Government, who sometimes feared the plunderer, and sometimes connived at the offence." As we have seen before, some of the greatest names of the Elizabethan and later days were often not much better than legalised pirates. But the poor sailors and owners were not merely the prey of these sea wolves; there were then and for centuries afterwards, nearly to our own days, "land-rats" ash.o.r.e, who were to the pirates what sneak-thieves were to the highwaymen of romance. Those "good old days," when "wrecking"

was considered a legitimate pursuit!

In preceding chapters the maritime laws and customs of successive ages have been briefly traced. Piracy was almost openly recognised in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and a foreign ship with a rich cargo was too often regarded as rightful prey. There was a constant petty warfare between maritime nations, and frequently even between towns of the same nation. Thus, in the year 1254 some Winchelsea mariners attacked a Yarmouth vessel, and killed some of her crew.

Prior to the reign of Henry I. _all_ wrecked property belonged to the king. Whether it was found necessary to make the king the owner of wreckage, in order to lessen the temptation to wreck vessels and murder the crews-no unfrequent occurrence, even in the last century-or "however it was," says Gilmore, "the law existed, and the shipwrecked merchant might come struggling ash.o.r.e upon a broken spar, and find the coast strewn with scattered but still valuable goods so lately his, but now by law his no longer any more than they belonged to the half-dozen rude fishermen who stood watching the torn wreck and dispersed cargo being wave-lifted high upon the beach." Henry I. decreed that neither wreck nor cargo should become the property of the Crown if any man of the crew escaped with life to sh.o.r.e. It is to be feared that this well-meant law led to many a heartless murder. His successor expanded the law to the extent that if even a beast came ash.o.r.e alive, the wreck and goods should belong to the original owners. Even the proverbial cat with nine lives might thus save a vessel.

Richard Cur de Lion, always truly chivalrous, would have nought to do with plundering the plundered, and he decreed "that all persons escaping alive from a wreck should retain their goods; that wreck or wreckage should only be considered the property of the king when neither an owner nor the heir of a late owner could be found for it." Some authorities will not couple the name of Richard with the "Roles d'Oleron," but it is certain that they were first promulgated in or about his time. They afford us some idea of the terrible system of wrecking then prevalent; such laws would not have been promulgated without good reason. Note their stringency.

"An accursed custom prevailing in some parts; inasmuch as a third or fourth part of the wrecks that come ash.o.r.e belong to the lord of the manor where the wrecks take place, and that pilots, for profit from these lords and from the wrecks, like faithless and treacherous villains, do purposely run the ships under their care upon the rocks," the law declares "that all false pilots shall suffer a most rigorous and merciless death, and be hung on high gibbets;" while "the wicked lords are to be tied to a post in the middle of their own houses, which shall be set on fire at all four corners, and burnt, with all that shall be therein, the goods being first confiscated for the benefit of the persons injured, and the site of the houses shall be converted into places for the sale of hogs and swine." And again, "If people, more barbarous, cruel, and inhuman than mad dogs, murdered shipwrecked folk, they were to be plunged into the sea until half dead, and then drawn out and stoned to death." The pilot who negligently caused shipwreck was to make good the losses or lose his head; but the master and sailors were, as a saving clause (princ.i.p.ally for the owners!), to be persuaded that he had not the means to make good the loss _before they cut off his head_.

And so, without much change, the laws stood till the reign of George II.; and, alas! it does not seem that human nature, on our coasts at least, had greatly improved, for otherwise there would hardly have been necessity for a new Act, bristling with threats. The preamble states:-"That notwithstanding the good and salutary laws now in being against plundering and destroying vessels in distress, and against taking away shipwrecked, lost, and stranded goods, that still many wicked enormities had been committed, to the disgrace of the nation;" and it was therefore enacted that death should be the punishment for hanging out false lights to lure vessels to their destruction; death for those who killed shipwrecked persons; and death for stealing cargo or wreckage, whether any one on board remained alive or not.

Every now and again some fearful tragedy, reported in our ever-vigilant press, opens our eyes to the possibilities of human degradation and depravity; but, in spite of all, thank G.o.d! these examples are few and far between. Does this not tend, at least, to show that the world now-a-days _is_ better and kinder, and, in a word, more Christian-like, than in former days? Let the reader think-aye, and ponder, and think again-over the preceding paragraph. Could men-aye, and women too-a.s.sist not merely in robbery and plunder, but in first causing the wreck, and then, to cover up all, in murdering the few poor survivors? A writer from whom we have already quoted says:-

"Imagine a homeward-bound vessel, some two hundred and fifty years ago, clumsy in build, awkward in rig, little fitted for battling with the gales of our stormy coast, but yet manned with strong, stout-hearted men, who made their st.u.r.dy courage compensate for deficiency of other means; think of many perils overcome, a long weary voyage nearly ended, the crew rejoicing in thoughts of home, of home-love and home-rest, the headlands of dear Old England-loved by her sons no less then than now-lying a dark line upon the horizon, the night growing apace, the breeze freshening, ever freshening, adding each moment a hoa.r.s.er swell to the deep murmurs of its swift-following blasts, the ship scudding on, breasting the seas with her bluff bows, rising and pitching with the running waves, which cover her with foam!

"Look on land! Keen eyes have watched the signs of the coming storm; men, more greedy than the foulest vulture, 'more inhuman than mad dogs,' have cast most cruel and wistful glances seaward! Yes, their eyes light up with the very light of h.e.l.l as they see in the dim distance the white sail of a struggling ship making towards the land!

"And now try to imagine the scene as the night falls and the storm gathers. Two or three ill-looking fellows drop in, say, to a low tavern standing in a bye-lane that leads from the cliff to the beach in some village on our south-western coast. Soon muttered hints take form, and in low whispers the men talk over the chances of a wreck this wild night.

They remember former gains; they talk over disappointments, when, on similar nights of darkness, wildness, and storm, vessels discovered their danger too soon for them, and managed to weather the headlands of the bay.

"The plot takes form; with many a deep and muttered curse the murderous decision is taken that if a vessel can be trapped to destruction it shall be.

"There is an old man of the party whose brow is furrowed with dread lines; he does not say much, but every now and then his eyes glare, and his features work as if convulsed. His comrades look at him-twice-and, as a terrific squall shakes the house, a third time. Silently he rises, and leaves the inn.... Now in the pitch darkness of the night, with bowed head, and faltering steps battling against the storm, the old man leads a white horse along the edge of the cliff. To the top of the horse's tail a lantern is tied, and the light sways with the movement of the horse, and in its movements seems not unlike the masthead light of a vessel rocked by the motion of the sea. A whisper has gone through the village of a chance of something happening during the night, and most of the men and many of the women are on the alert, lurking in the caves beneath the cliff, or sheltered behind jutting pieces of rock.

"The vessel makes in steadily for the land; the captain grows uneasy, and fears running into danger; he will put the vessel round, and try and battle his way out to sea.

"The look-out man reports a dim light ahead. What kind? and Whither away?

He can make out that it is a ship's light, for it is in motion. Yes, she must be a vessel standing on in the same course as that which they are on.

It is all safe, then; the captain will stand in a little longer; when suddenly, in the lull of the storm, a hoa.r.s.e murmur is heard-surely the sound of the sea beating upon rocks! Yes! look! a white gleam upon the water! Breakers ahead! breakers ahead! Oh, a very knell of doom! The cry rings through the ship, 'Down, down with helm-round her to!' Too late, too late! A crash, a shudder from stem to stern of the stout ship, the shriek of many voices in their agony, green seas sweeping over the vessel, and soon broken timbers, bales of cargo, and lifeless bodies scattered along the beach, while the shattered remnant of the hull is torn still further to pieces with each insweep of the mighty seas as they roll it to and fro among the rocks. Fearful and crafty the smile that darkened the dark face of the willing murderer who was leading the horse with the false light as he heard the crash of the vessel and the shrieks of the drowning crew!

Fearful the smile that darkened the faces of the men and women waiting on the beach as they came out from their places, ready to struggle and fight among themselves for any spoil that might come ash.o.r.e! A homeward-bound ship from the Indies! Great good fortune-rich spoil! Bale after bale is seized upon by the wreckers, and dragged high upon the beach out of the way of the surf. But, see! a sailor clinging to a bit of broken mast! With his last conscious effort he gains a footing on the sh.o.r.e, staggers forward, and falls. Is he alive? Not now! Why did that fearful old woman kneel upon his chest and cover his mouth with her cloak? Dead men tell no tales-claim no property!"

Alas! the above is no imaginary or exaggerated statement of facts.

A few examples, which have occurred for the most part within the last hundred years or so, are appended. They have been culled from that most rigidly correct chronicler, the _Annual Register_:-

_Lent Circuit, 1774._-At Shrewsbury a.s.sizes, bills of indictment were preferred by Captain Chilcot, late of the _Charming Jenny_, against three opulent inhabitants of the Isle of Anglesea, one of whom is said to be possessed of a considerable estate, and to have offered five thousand pounds bail in order to their being tried at the next a.s.sizes on a charge of piracy, when the bills were found. It appeared that on the 11th September, 1773, in very bad weather, in consequence of false lights being discovered, the captain bore for sh.o.r.e, when his vessel, whose cargo was valued at 19,000, went to pieces, and all the crew, except the captain and his wife, perished, the latter being brought on sh.o.r.e on a portion of the wreck. Nearly exhausted, they lay for some time, till the savages of the adjacent places rushed down upon them. The lady was just able to lift a handkerchief up to her head when her husband was torn from her side.

They cut the buckles from his shoes, and deprived him of every covering.

Happy to escape with his life, he hasted to the beach in search of his wife, when, horrible to relate, her half-naked and plundered corpse presented itself to his view. What to do Captain Chilcot was at a loss.

Providence, however, conducted him to the roof of a venerable pair, who bestowed upon him every a.s.sistance. The captain's wife, it seems, at the time the ship went to pieces, had two bank bills of a considerable value and seventy guineas in her pocket. At the Summer a.s.sizes at Salop, Roberts and Parry, two of the above-named, were found guilty of plundering the _Charming Jenny_, but their counsel pleading an arrest of judgment, sentence was suspended. Eventually one was executed, and one had his sentence commuted.

On the 7th September, 1782, one John Webb was executed at Hereford for having plundered a Venetian vessel drawn on sh.o.r.e on the coast of Glamorganshire by stress of weather. No mention is made of hurting or molesting the crew, and it is evident that the laws were, about this time, stringently carried out. "This," said the _Annual Register_, "it is hoped, will put a final stop to that inhuman practice of plundering ships wrecked upon the coast."

Next follows an example in the present century:-"_Jany. 8, 1811._-Another daring attempt (says the _Register_) was made by a party of country-people at Clonderalaw Bay to take possession of the American ship _Romulus_ on this day. They a.s.sembled at about ten in the evening, to the amount of about two or three hundred, and commenced a firing of musketry, which they kept up at intervals for three hours; when, finding a steady resistance from the crew, and guard of yeomanry which had been put on the vessel on her first going on sh.o.r.e, they retired. The shot they fired appeared to be cut from square bars of lead, about half an inch in diameter. One of these miscreants dropped, and was carried away by his companions."

The following is an extract from a letter:-"On Friday, the 27th of October, 1811, the galliot _Anna Hulk Klas Boyr_, Meinerty master, from Christian Sound, laden with deals, for Killalu, was driven on sh.o.r.e at a place called Porturlin, between Killalu and Broadhaven. The captain and crew providentially saved their lives by jumping on sh.o.r.e on a small island or rock. At this time the stern and quarter were stove in. The crew remained two hours on the rock, when they were taken off by a boat and brought to the mainland. Shortly after, the captain's trunk, with all the sailors' clothes in general, came on sh.o.r.e, when the country-people immediately began to plunder, leaving the unfortunate sufferers nothing but what they had on their backs. The plunderers repaired to the wreck, and cut away everything they could come at of the sails, rigging, &c., while hundreds were taking away the deals to all parts of the country.

Though the captain spoke good English, and most pitifully inquired to whom he might apply for a.s.sistance, yet he could not hear of any for fourteen hours, when he was told that Major Denis Bingham was the nearest and only person he could apply to. With much difficulty he procured a guide, and proceeded to Mr. Bingham's, a distance of twenty miles through the mountains. In the meantime, after thirty-six hours' concealment of this very melancholy circ.u.mstance, Captain Morris, of the _Townshend_ cruiser, who lay at Broadhaven, a distance of about ten miles from the wreck, heard of it, and, approaching it, landed with twenty men, well armed. In coming near the wreck he first fired in the air, in order to disperse the peasantry, which had no effect; he therefore ordered his men to fire close, which had the desired effect, when he immediately pursued them into the interior, from three to five miles distance, dividing his party in different directions, when, by great exertion and fatigue, they saved about 1,800 deals and a remnant of the wreck. Captain Morris had some of the robbers taken, but his party being so scattered, they were rescued by a large mob of the country. The unfortunate captain and crew were taken by Captain Morris on board his cutter, where they got a change of clothing, and were taken every possible care of."

[Ill.u.s.tration: WRECKERS WAITING FOR A WRECK.]

The following particulars of the wreck and plunder of the _Inverness_, in the river Shannon, loaded at Limerick with a cargo of provisions, under contract for the Victualling Board, and bound to London, will be found interesting:-

"From Captain Miller to Mr. Spaight, Merchant, Limerick.

"Kilrush, Feb. 24, 1817.

"DEAR SPAIGHT,-As I am now in possession of most of the particulars of the wreck of the _Inverness_, I shall detail them to you as follows:-