The First Mate: The Story of a Strange Cruise

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER THREE.

  AN INDIAN OCEAN HURRICANE.

  I am not writing this story as a mere diary of travel, and willtherefore push on as rapidly as possible to the point where the realliving interest of the voyage began, contenting myself with a mere briefreference to the various spots at which we touched. We took eight daysto make the passage to Aden, where we arrived early on a certainmorning, leaving at five o'clock the same afternoon, after a visit tothe famous Tanks. Our next port of call was Zanzibar, whence weproceeded to Durban, in Natal. From Durban we proceeded to Mauritius,remaining in Port Louis harbour two days to permit of a visit to thatextraordinary natural curiosity, the Peter Botte Mountain.

  From Mauritius we sailed for Colombo. The weather was glorious when weleft Port Louis, and for two days afterward, with moderate breezes fromthe south-east; toward sunset, on our third day out, however, we beganto notice signs of a change. The barometer had started to declineshortly after noon; and as the afternoon advanced the breeze weakened,so that from a speed of fourteen knots we dropped down to a bare five,although we were under royals, had all our staysails set, and wereshowing our whole flight of starboard studding sails as well, the windbeing about a point and a half abaft the beam. At the same time theaspect of the sky underwent a subtle change. The clear, rich blue ofthe vault became gradually obscured by a veil, at first scarcelyperceptible, of dirty, whitish-grey haze, from which, by the time ofsunset, every trace of blue had completely vanished.

  Gradually, too, the sun became shorn of his rays, although there was noperceptible diminution of heat, until at length when the great luminarywas upon the point of sinking below the horizon, he had changed into thesemblance of a huge, shapeless mass of molten copper hanging suspendedin the midst of an almost equally shapeless conglomeration of flame andsmoke. Then he slowly vanished from view; the flaming, smoky westernsky seemed to blaze up for a few moments into a still fiercerconflagration, the hues deepened until they became a mingling of bloodand soot, when with startling suddenness they died out and an inkyblackness enveloped the ship. At the same time the small remains of thewind died away, leaving the yacht rolling and lurching heavily upon asea that seemed to have no run in it, but heaved itself up into greathummocks, only to subside again in the same purposeless manner.

  It was drawing on toward the end of the first dog-watch, and as a matterof fact I was off duty. But one never spends a dog-watch below in thetropics if it can be avoided, and Kennedy and I had gone up on the pooptogether to watch the sunset and discuss with Briscoe, the second mate,the meaning of the portents. Kennedy had never before been in that partof the world, but I had, and while he did not quite know what to make ofthe aspect of the sky, I had already made up my mind pretty wellregarding what was in store for us, and had expressed my opinion as towhat we might expect. The first mate did not altogether agree with me,and had proposed that we should refer the matter to Briscoe, who, likemyself, knew, or professed to know, the Indian Ocean pretty well. So upwe went; and presently, when the last gleam of light was vanishing fromthe sky, Kennedy beckoned Briscoe to him and said:

  "Well, Mr Briscoe, what d'ye think all that grand show away to thewest'ard means? Mr Leigh here, who has been in these parts before,says he belaives we're in for a hurricane."

  "Hurricane be hanged!" retorted Briscoe, who always seemed to find apeculiar pleasure in belittling any opinion that I might express. "Whatwe are in for is a thunderstorm that will make some of ye sit up andtake notice. I guess it will bring with it some pretty considerablesqualls, so it will be a good plan to stow a few of them flyin' kites ofours. They're doin' no good anyway, and will only thrash themselvesthreadbare if we leave 'em abroad."

  "That's so, and I guess you'd better see about it at once, Mr Briscoe,"remarked Mrs Vansittart, emerging from the companion at that moment.She had apparently heard Briscoe's last words as she came up thecompanion way. "I've just been looking up the weather remarks in the_Indian Ocean Directory_," she continued; "and from what it says I guessthere's a hurricane brewing, Mr Kennedy, so--"

  "Why," interrupted Kennedy, "that's what Mr Leigh here says. But MrBriscoe, who ought to know something about the Indian Ocean, says no,it's only going to be a thunderstorm, probably accompanied by heavysqualls."

  "And do you know the Indian Ocean, Mr Leigh? Have you ever been herebefore?" demanded the skipper.

  "Several times, madam," I answered. "And once I was caught in ahurricane which dismasted us. The appearance of the sky then was verymuch what it was this evening, while the barometer behaved prettysimilarly to what ours has been doing."

  "Then that settles it," exclaimed Mrs Vansittart. "There are two toone--the _Indian Ocean Directory_ and Mr Leigh against you, MrBriscoe; and I guess we'll prepare for the hurricane. Stow all thelight canvas; stow everything, in fact, except the fore and maintopsails and the fore-topmast staysail; then we shall be ready foranything that comes--eh, Mr Leigh?"

  "Assuredly much better prepared than we are at the present moment," Isaid. "But if I may be permitted to offer a suggestion--"

  "You may, Mr Leigh," replied the skipper. "Yes; go ahead. What do youadvise?"

  "Well, madam," I said, "since you are good enough to give me leave, Iwould advise that the staysail be stowed also, the topsail yards loweredto the caps,"--we carried patent reefing topsails--"the royal andtopgallant yards and topgallant masts sent down on deck, as well as thestudding sails out of the tops; and that extra lashings be put upon theboats and booms. Then I have no doubt we shall ride out whatever maycome with reasonable comfort and safety. And when it comes, I wouldheave the ship to with her close-reefed fore topsail aback; also I wouldhave a small tarpaulin ready to lash in the weather mizen rigging incase the topsails should blow away. Finally, I would direct Mackenzieto see that his engine is all ready for starting at a moment's notice,if need be."

  "Sakes alive!" exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, "do you really believe it'sgoing to be so bad as all that?"

  "I certainly think it not at all improbable, madam," I said.

  "Then I guess we'll do as you say," exclaimed the lady. "It's the rightthing to err on the safe side, and I won't take any chances. But itwill be bad for the men to have to work in this darkness. When does themoon rise?"

  "She is due to rise at about eight forty-five to-night," I said. "But Iam afraid it will be useless for us to look for any help from her; weshall get no light from her to-night."

  "You think not?" she said. "Then--ah! there is four bells," as Briscoe,having descended to the main-deck, came up on the poop and struck thebell. "Let the men get to work at once, Mr Kennedy, both watches, andsee that Mr Leigh's suggestions are carried out. And, say, I guess Iwon't risk having the topsails blown away; we'll furl everything whilewe're about it; and if the hurricane comes we'll heave to under barepoles. How will that do, Mr Leigh?"

  "Admirably, madam," I replied. "You will then have done everythingpossible to provide for the safety of the ship; and when the blow comes,as I feel sure it will, there will be no need to risk the lives of anyof the crew."

  The necessary orders were at once given, and we all repaired to ourseveral stations. My duty was to supervise operations on the mizenmast,Kennedy having charge of the men working upon the mainmast, and Briscoesupervising those upon the foremast, and when I went aft I found MissAnthea and her brother seated in a couple of basket chairs by thetaffrail. It was necessary for me to stand quite close to them for afew minutes; and I had no sooner taken up my position than I heard theboy say to his sister, in tones loud enough to reach my ears:

  "Say, 'Thea, why does Momma pay so much attention to what the Britishersays? I guess I don't like it--and I don't like him, either. I amgoing to speak to her about it. Who is he, that he is to be consultedbefore Kennedy and Briscoe? They're Amuricans, while he is only aBritisher, and they've been to sea longer than he has; and anyway, anAmurican is a darn sight better than a Britisher any day."

  "Yes, I guess you are right, Ju,
" replied the young lady; "only you neednot allow your dislike to betray you into vulgarity. I hate Englishmen,but I do not find it necessary to use the word `darn', and I wish youwouldn't; it is only common, vulgar people who use it. And I wouldn'tspeak to Momma either, if I were you; it is not worth while. Mommathinks the man is clever, but, of course, he isn't, and she will find itout sooner or later."

  So that was it! I had often wondered at the attitude of latenthostility of these two youngsters toward me; and now I understood. Theyhated Englishmen! Well, their hatred did not trouble me in the least;it was passive, or at all events was only so far active as to promptthem now and then to make offensive remarks in my hearing, and takinginto consideration who and what they were, I could put up with a gooddeal of that. But it had the effect of putting me upon my mettle. Iwas determined to prove to them that they were mistaken in theirestimate of Englishmen, not because I attached any value personally totheir good or bad opinion, but because eventually they would be man andwoman, if they lived, and, from the position which their wealth wouldgive them, would have the power of influencing the opinion of theirfellow countrymen to a certain limited extent. I felt that it was myduty to do what I could to lessen the unreasoning dislike of my fellowcountrymen which I had noticed in so many Americans.

  It was at this time a dead calm, with a very heavy, confused swellrunning, so that the only sounds heard, apart from our own voices, werethe wash and gurgle of the water alongside, as the ship walloweduneasily, the loud rustle and flap of the canvas aloft, and the creakingof the spars. Moreover, it was intensely dark--to such an extent indeedthat I found it impossible to superintend operations from the deck.Presently, therefore, I sprang into the mizen rigging and made my wayaloft to the mizen topmast crosstrees, from which I directed theoperation of sending down the royal and topgallant yards, and afterwardstook a hand in sending down the topgallant mast, having the satisfactionof finding, when I returned to the deck, that we on the mizenmast hadbeaten both Briscoe and Kennedy. I reckoned that, on board awell-disciplined, old-fashioned British man-o'-war, the task of sendingdown royal and topgallant yards and masts and stowing all canvas wouldhave been accomplished, under similar circumstances, in about twelveminutes, at the utmost; but it took us thirty-five minutes by the ship'sclock. This I thought not at all bad, however; for in the first placewe were nothing like so heavily manned as a man-o'-war of our size wouldhave been, nor had our hands the constant practice in such evolutionsthat a frigate's crew would have had. But the main thing was that ourlady skipper was satisfied, and was good enough to say so.

  It remained intensely dark until close upon ten o'clock that night, whenthe thinnest imaginable suggestion of moonlight came filtering weaklythrough the dense curtain of cloud that now overspread the heavens, justenough of it to enable us to see objects close at hand and avoid hurtingourselves by running foul of them, as we had been doing while movingabout the decks. The weather still remained stark calm, and the shipwas rolling so furiously that I should not have been at all surprised tosee the masts go over the side at any moment. The gear was all good andnew, however, and held bravely; but the motion was so intenselydisagreeable, and we shipped so much water over both rails, flooding themain-deck and necessitating the battening down of the hatches, that atlength Mrs Vansittart gave orders to start the engine, and the ship wasthen put stem-on to the swell, which had now become more regular,setting out from about North-North-East. This action brought usimmediate relief, as it enabled the helmsman to keep the ship out of thetrough, though the violent rolling was exchanged for almost as violent apitching. But the thunderstorm which Briscoe still persistentlymaintained was coming, failed to eventuate; and hour after hour draggedaway with no indication of any immediate change, save that the feebleglimmer of moonlight, instead of increasing, gradually died away again,leaving us in almost as bad a plight as before.

  At midnight, when I went on deck to keep the middle watch, MrsVansittart was still up; and I thought that her temper seemed to berather on edge, perhaps owing to the strain of the long-spun-outsuspense. At least she responded rather sharply to Kennedy's and mygreeting when we joined her on the poop.

  I thought that perhaps Briscoe had been talking to her during his watch,and doing his best to discredit my judgment, for no sooner had we joinedher than she turned upon me, and, in very incisive tones, informed methat she had come to the conclusion that I had been mistaken, and thatthere was going to be no hurricane after all, otherwise it would havecome before then. But I knew that the Indian Ocean hurricane sometimestakes a long time brewing; indeed, in the case of my previous experienceit had threatened for more than ten hours before it actually burst uponus. I explained this to her; and also said that there was nothing inthe aspect of the weather to make me alter my original opinion. We werestill engaged in debating the matter when a peculiar low, moaning soundbecame audible in the air, rapidly increasing to a weird, unearthlyhowl, and a wild, scuffling gust of hot wind swept over us from thenorth and went whining away astern of us until we lost sound of italtogether.

  "It is coming at last, madam," I said; "we shall probably have three orfour more such gusts as that, each lasting longer than the one precedingit, and--"

  "And, begorra, here comes number two, now!" exclaimed Kennedy, as asimilar sound once more became audible; and with a vicious swoop anothergust smote us so fiercely that the yacht stopped dead, unable to makeheadway against it. For a full minute or more it seemed as though halfa dozen separate and distinct winds were battling together for themastery, the yacht being the centre and focus round which the battleraged. We on the poop were buffeted helplessly this way and that, sothat it was only with the utmost difficulty we could keep our feet;indeed, Mrs Vansittart was literally lifted off her feet for a momentand blown across the deck with such violence that, had she not luckilybeen forced straight into my arms, so that I was able to catch and holdher, she would probably have been seriously injured by being dashedfuriously against the poop rail.

  She thanked me breathlessly as I dragged her by main force to themizenmast and passed a couple of turns of the topgallant halyard roundher waist, securing her to a belaying pin; and by the time that this wasdone the gust, like the first, had passed. I begged her to go below,before worse happened, assuring her that Kennedy, who was in charge,would know exactly what to do; but the little lady was grit to thebackbone, and positively refused to leave the deck. On the contrary,she ordered Kennedy to counter-brace the yards with the head yardsaback, and then heave the ship to on the port tack, after whicheverybody but ourselves and the look-outs was to go below, and while shewas giving these orders she deftly passed a few more turns of thehalyard about herself, so that she could not possibly be blown awayunless the mizenmast was blown out of the ship. Also she begged theloan of my black silk neck scarf, which she tied over her head and underher chin, so that her yachting cap might not be blown overboard, as minehad been.

  By this time the air all about us was in a state of continuousagitation, the wind sometimes swooping down upon us in savage gusts, andanon easing up for a moment until it was scarcely more than a zephyr;but these lulls momentarily became of briefer duration, until in thespace of about ten minutes it was blowing hard but very unsteadily, theheavy gusts following each other with ever-increasing rapidity. And nowwe felt the full benefit of our earlier preparations; for with thecounter-bracing of the yards--a task accomplished in less than aminute--everything that was possible had been done; and all thatremained was to ride out the gale as best we could.

  We were now afforded an opportunity--the first that had ever occurred,as Kennedy yelled for my information--to see what a really magnificentsea boat we had under our feet, for under the scourging of that terriblewind the sea rose with appalling rapidity, notwithstanding that the topof every sea, as it rose, was torn off and swept to leeward in blindingand drenching clouds of spindrift. And although our engine had beenstopped, the ship lay to in the most perfect manner, heading well upinto the wind and
taking the seas, as they came at her, as buoyantly asa gull, shipping very little water except what came aboard in the formof spindrift or scud water, with an occasional spattering over theweather cathead.

  But this was only the beginning of the hurricane--merely its awakening,so to speak. With the passage of the minutes the wind steadilyincreased in strength until the wailing and shrieking of it through thespars and rigging aloft resembled the tones of a mighty organ, drowningevery other sound; while the yacht lay down to it until her lee rail wascompletely buried and the water was right up to her main-hatch coamings.As the wind increased, however, we rode somewhat easier, for after atime it became impossible for the sea to rise; indeed, the strength ofthe wind was such that it actually flattened the sea down, every wave,as it reared its head, being swept away as a deluge of spray. The airwas full of it--as full as it is of water during a tropical shower; andthe only manner in which we could distinguish it from rain was by thesalt taste of it upon our lips.

  I think the worst feature of it all, however, was the hideous darknessin which we were enwrapped; for outside the small circle of lightemanating from the skylights it was impossible to see anything save afaint, ghostly white radiance representing the phosphorescent surface ofthe foaming sea, in the midst of which the hull of the yacht stood outblack, vague, and shapeless, it being impossible to see the whole lengthof her because of the dense clouds of spindrift which enveloped us.

  At length it occurred to me to wonder how our lady skipper was faring inthe midst of this awful turmoil of wind and sea; and, watching myopportunity, I made a dash for the spot where, dimly outlined in thesheen of light from the foremost skylight, I could just distinguish herform huddled up against the foot of the mizen mast. As I reached her Inoticed that she seemed to be hanging limply in her lashings, and,stooping closer, I presently discovered that the plucky little lady hadfainted. The buffeting of the wind and the pitiless incessant peltingof the spray had been too much for her; and unable to call forassistance, or to escape unaided, she had succumbed. This factestablished, I lost no time in summoning Kennedy to my assistance, when,having cast her adrift, we managed between us to convey her safely tothe companion and carry her below to her cabin. We then roused thedoctor and Lizette, the chief stewardess, and turned her over to theircare, after which we left her there and returned to the deck to completeour watch.

  I think that middle watch was the longest four hours hat I had everspent, chiefly because of its extreme discomfort and the fact that therewas nothing to do. First of all, I was drenched to the skin, theconversation in which I was engaged with Mrs Vansittart when thehurricane started having rendered it impossible for me to go below andget into my oilskins. Then there was the unceasing buffeting of thewind, which seemed at times as though it would drag me limb from limb.There was also the continuous scourging of the spray, which stung likethe lash of a million whips; and finally, there was the oppression of avery real anxiety, for, as I think I have mentioned, the yacht was asheavily rigged as a frigate, and notwithstanding the relief afforded bysending down her tophamper, she lay down so alarmingly that at length Ibegan seriously to question whether it would not eventually end in herturning turtle. Eight bells came at length, however; and when shortlyafterward I got below, shed my streaming garments, towelled myself dry,and tumbled into my bunk, my discomfort and anxiety promptly left me asI sank into a sound and dreamless sleep.