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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24685-8.txt b/24685-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f50dba --- /dev/null +++ b/24685-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Heroes of the Goodwin Sands, by Thomas +Stanley Treanor + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Heroes of the Goodwin Sands + + +Author: Thomas Stanley Treanor + + + +Release Date: February 25, 2008 [eBook #24685] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 24685-h.htm or 24685-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685/24685-h/24685-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685/24685-h.zip) + + + + + +HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS + +by + +THE REV. THOMAS STANLEY TREANOR, M.A. + +Chaplain, Missions to Seamen, Deal and the Downs + +Author of "The Log of a Sky Pilot," "The Cry from the Sea and the +Answer from the Shore." + +With Coloured and Other Illustrations + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: A Perilous Escape] + + +[Illustration: Title page] + + + +London +The Religious Tract Society +4 Bouverie Street & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard +1904 + + + + +PREFACE + +For twenty-six years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, the +writer of the following chapters has seen much of the Deal boatmen, +both ashore and in their daily perilous life afloat. For twenty-three +years he has also been the Honorary Secretary of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution for the Goodwin Sands and Downs Branch; he has +sometimes been afloat in the lifeboats at night and in storm, and he +has come into official contact with the boatmen in their lifeboat work, +in the three lifeboats stationed right opposite the Goodwin Sands, at +Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown. With these opportunities of observation, +he has written accurate accounts of a few of the splendid rescues +effected on those out-lying and dangerous sands by the boatmen he knows +so well. + +Each case is authenticated by names and dates; the position of the +wrecked vessel is given with exactness, and the handling and +manoeuvring of the lifeboat described, from a sailor's point of view, +with accuracy, even in details. + +The descriptions of the sea--of Nature in some of her most tremendous +aspects, of the breakers on the Goodwins--and of the stubborn courage +of the men who man our lifeboats are far below the reality. Each +incident occurred as it is related, and is absolutely true. + +The Deal boatmen are almost as mute as the fishes of the sea respecting +their own deeds of daring and of mercy on the Goodwin Sands. It is but +justice to those humble heroes of the Kentish coast that an attempt +should be made to tell some parts of their wondrous story. + +T. S. T. + +DEAL, 1904. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GOODWIN SANDS + II. THE DEAL BOATMEN + III. THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE + IV. THE GANGES + V. THE EDINA + VI. THE FREDRIK CARL + VII. THE GOLDEN ISLAND + VIII. THE SORRENTO, S.S. + IX. THE ROYAL ARCH + X. THE MANDALAY + XI. THE LEDA + XII. THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA + XIII. THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A PERILOUS RESCUE . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +THE LAUNCH OF THE LIFEBOAT + +THE GOODWIN SANDS + +A WRECK ON THE GOODWINS + +THE BOOM OF A DISTANT GUN + +SHOWING A FLARE + +HOOKING THE STEAMER + +A FORLORN HOPE + +POSITION OF THE GANGES ON THE SANDS + +DANGEROUS WORK + +THE ANCHOR OF DEATH (_from a photograph_) + +DEAL BOATMEN ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A HOTEL + +THE WRECK OF THE GOLDEN ISLAND + +CLOVE-HITCH KNOTS + +JARVIST ARNOLD + +THE KINGSDOWN LIFEBOAT + +SCENE ON DEAL BEACH, FEBRUARY 13, 1870 + +POSITION OF THE SORRENTO + +THE SORRENTO ON THE GOODWIN SANDS + +ALL HANDS IN THE LIFEBOAT + +THE LIFEBOAT BRADFORD AT THE WRECK OF THE INDIAN CHIEF + +LEAVING RAMSGATE HARBOUR IN TOW + + + + +[Illustration: The Launch of the Lifeboat. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GOODWIN SANDS + + + 'Would'st thou,' so the helmsman answered, + 'Learn the secrets of the sea? + Only those who brave its dangers + Comprehend its mystery.' + + +The Goodwin Sands are a great sandbank, eight miles long and about four +miles wide, rising out of deep water four miles off Deal at their +nearest point to the mainland. They run lengthwise from north to +south, and their breadth is measured from east to west. Counting from +the farthest points of shallow water around the Goodwins, their +dimensions might be reckoned a little more, but the above is +sufficiently accurate. + +Between them and Deal lies thus a stretch of four miles of deep water, +in which there is a great anchorage for shipping. This anchorage, of +historic interest, is called the Downs--possibly from the French _les +Dunes_, or 'the Sands,' a derivation which, so far as I know, was first +suggested by myself--and is sheltered from the easterly gales to some +extent by the Goodwins. + +The Downs are open to the north and south, and through this anchorage +of the Downs runs the outward and homeward bound stream of shipping of +all nations, to and from London and the northern ports of England, +Holland, Germany, and the Baltic. + +A very large proportion of the stream of shipping bound to London +passes inside the Goodwins or through the Downs, especially when the +wind is south-west, inasmuch as if they went in west winds outside the +Goodwins, they would find themselves a long way to leeward of the Gull +buoy. + +The passage here, between the Gull buoy and the Goodwin Sands, is not +more than two miles wide; and again I venture to suggest that the Gull +stream is derived from the French _la Gueule_. + +Though there are four miles of deep water between the Goodwin Sands and +the mainland, this deep water has rocky shallows and dangerous patches +in it, but I shall not attempt to describe them, merely endeavouring to +concentrate the reader's attention on the Goodwin Sands. Inside the +Goodwins and in this comparatively sheltered anchorage of deep water, +the outward bound shipping bring up, waiting sometimes for weeks for +fair wind; hence Gay's lines are strictly accurate, + + All in the Downs the fleet was moored. + + +The anchorage of the Downs is sheltered from west winds by the mainland +and from east winds by the dreaded Goodwins. They thus form a natural +and useful breakwater towards the east, creating the anchorage of the +Downs. + +In an easterly gale, notwithstanding the protection of the Goodwins, +there is a very heavy and even tremendous sea in the Downs, for the +Goodwin Sands lie low in the water, and when they are covered by the +tide--as they always are at high water--the protection they afford is +much diminished. + +The 'sheltered' anchorage of the Downs is thus a relative term. Even +in this shelter vessels are sometimes blown away from their anchors +both by easterly and westerly winds. + +In 1703 thirteen men-of-war were lost in the Downs in the same gale in +which Winstanley perished in the Eddystone Lighthouse of his own +construction, and I have seen vessels in winds both from east and west +driven to destruction from the Downs. Even of late years I have seen +450 vessels at anchor in the Downs, reaching away to the north and +south for nearly eight miles. + +Their appearance is most imposing, as may be judged from the engraving +on page 95, in which, however, only twenty-five ships are visible in +the moonlight. Almost all the ships in the engraving are outward +bound, and some, it may be, are on their last voyage. + +Outside, and to the cast of this great fleet of vessels, lies the great +'shippe-swallower,' the Goodwin Sands. The sands are very irregular in +shape, and are not unlike a great lobster, with his back to the cast, +and with his claws, legs, and feelers extended westwards towards Deal +and the shipping in the Downs. Far from the main body of the sands run +all manner of spits and promontories and jaws of sand, and through and +across the Goodwins in several directions are numbers of 'swatches,' or +passages of water varying in depth from feet to fathoms. + +No one knows, or can know, all the swatches, which vary very much month +by month according to the prevalence of gales or fair weather. I shall +never forget the sensation of striking bottom in one of those swatches +where I expected to find, and had found recently before in the same +state of the tide, a depth of six feet. The noise of broken water on +each side of us, and the ominous grating thump of our boat's keel +against the Goodwins, while the stumps of lost vessels grinned close +by, gave us a keen sense of the nearness of real peril. We were bound +to the East Goodwin lightship, and in the path of duty, but we were +glad to feel the roll of deep water under our boat's keel outside the +Goodwins. + +No one therefore knows, or can know, by reason of the perpetual +shifting of the sands, all the passages or swatches, either as to +direction or depth, of the Goodwins; but two or three main swatches are +tolerably well known to the Deal and Ramsgate lifeboatmen. + +There is a broad bay called Trinity Bay in the heart of the Goodwins, +out of which leads due north-east the chief swatch or passage through +the Sands. It is four or five fathoms deep at low water, and from +about three-quarters to a quarter of a mile wide, and it is called the +Ramsgate Man's Bight. Close to the outer entrance of this great +passage rides, about twelve feet out of water, the huge north-east +Whistle buoy of the Goodwins, which ever moans forth in calmest weather +its most mournful note. + +Sometimes when outside the Goodwins on my way from the North Goodwin to +the East Goodwin lightship, we have passed so close to this great buoy +that we could touch it with a boat-hook, and have heard its giant +breathing like that of some leviathan asleep on the surface of the sea, +which was dead calm at the time. I have also heard its boom at a +distance of eight miles. + +I have said this great swatch leads north-east through the +Goodwins--but north-east from what, and how is the point of departure +to be found on a dark night? If you ask the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat, who probably knows more, or at least as much about the Sands +and their secrets as any other living man, he will tell you to 'stand +on till you bring such a lightship to bear so and so, and then run due +north-east; only look out for the breakers on either side of you.' It +is one thing to go through this swatch in fair weather and broad +daylight, and another thing in the dark or even by moonlight, 'the sea +and waves roaring' their mighty accompaniment to the storm. + +There are other swatches, one more to the southward than the preceding, +and also running north-east, through which the Deal men once brought a +ship named the Mandalay into safety after protracted efforts. + +Another swatch too exists, opposite the East Goodwin buoy, being that +in which we struck the dangerous bottom. And yet another, just north +of the south-east buoy, leads right across the tail of the monster, and +so into the deep water of the Downs. + +Looking at a chart or reading of these passages, they seem easy enough, +but to find and get through them safely when you are as low down as you +are in a boat, near the sea level, is very difficult, and as exciting +as the escape of the entangled victims from the labyrinths of +old--unmistakable danger being all around you, and impressed on both +eyes and ears. + +The whole of the Goodwin Sands are covered by the sea at high water; +even the highest or north part of the Sands is then eight or ten feet +under water. At low water this north part of the Goodwins is six feet +at least above the sea level, and you can walk for miles on a rippled +surface cut into curious gulleys, the miniatures of the larger +swatches. Wild and lonely beyond words is the scene. The sands are +hard when dry--in some places as hard as the hardest beach of sand that +can be named. Near the Fork Spit the sand is marvellously hard. On +the north-west part of the Goodwins, which is that given in the +engraving, it is hard, but not so hard as elsewhere. In all cases it +is soft and pliable under water, and sometimes in wading you sink with +alarming rapidity. + +Recently attempting in company with a friend to wade a very +peculiar-looking but shallow swatch--to right and left of us being blue +swirls of deeper water, the 'fox-falls' on a smaller scale of another +part of the Sands, and exceedingly beautiful--I suddenly sank pretty +deep, and struggled back with all my energies into firmer footing from +the Goodwins' cold and tenacious embrace. + +The Sands reach round you for miles, and the greater swatches cut you +off from still more distant and still more extensive reaches of sand. +In such solitudes, and with such vastness around you, of which the +great lonely level stretch makes you conscious as nothing ashore can +do, you realise what an atom you are in creation. + +[Illustration: The Goodwin Sands.] + +Here you see a ship's ribs. This was the schooner laden with +pipe-clay, out of which in a dangerous sea the captain and crew escaped +in their own boat, as the lifeboat advanced to save them. Far away on +the Sands you see the fluke of a ship's anchor, which from the shape +when close to it we recognise to be a French pattern. + +With me stood the coxswain of the celebrated Deal lifeboat, Richard +Roberts. Intently he gazed at the projecting anchor fluke--shaft and +chain had long been sucked down into the Goodwins--and then, after a +good long look all round, taking the bearings of the deadly thing, at +last he said, 'What a dangerous thing on a dark night for the lifeboat!' + +Just think, good reader! The lifeboat, close reefed, flies to the +rescue on the wings of the storm into the furious seas which revel and +rage on the Goodwins. Her fifteen men dauntlessly face the wild +smother. She sinks ponderously in the trough of a great roller, and +the anchor fluke is driven right through her bottom and holds her to +the place--for hold her it would, long enough to let the breakers tear +every living soul out of her! + +Under our feet and deep in the sand lie vessels one over another, and +in them all that vessels carry. Countless treasures must be buried +there--the treasures of centuries. Witness the Osta Junis, a Dutch +East Indiaman, which, treasure-laden with money and other valuables to +a great amount, ran on the Goodwin Sands, July 12, 1783. The Deal +boatmen were quickly on board, and brought the treasures ashore, which, +as it was war time, were prize to the Crown, and were conveyed to the +Bank of England[1]. That merchandise, curiosities, and treasures lie +engulfed in the capacious maw of the Goodwin Sands is very probable, +although we may not quite endorse Mr. Pritchard's statement that 'if +the multitude of vessels lost there during the past centuries could be +recovered, they would go a good way towards liquidating the National +Debt.' + +From its mystery and 'shippe-swallowing' propensities, the word +'monster' is peculiarly appropriate to this great quicksand, which +still craves more victims, and still with claws and feelers +outstretched--Scylla and Charybdis combining their terrors in the +Goodwins--lies in ambush for the goodly ships that so bravely wing +their flight to and fro beyond its reach. But it is only in the storm +blast and the midnight that its most dreadful features are unveiled, +and even then the lifeboatmen face its perils and conquer them. + +Independently of the breakers and cross-seas of stormy weather, the +dangers of the Goodwin Sands arise from the facts that they lie right +in the highway of shipping, that at high water they are concealed from +view, being then covered by the sea to the depth of from ten to +twenty-five feet, varying in different places, and that furious +currents run over and around them. + +Add to this that they are very lonely and distant from the mainland, +and, being surrounded by deep water, are far from help; whilst, as an +additional and terrible danger, here and there on the sands, wrecks, +anchors, stumps, and notably the great sternpost of the Terpsichore, +from which a few months ago Roberts and the Deal lifeboatmen had +rescued all the crew, stick up over the surface. And woe be to the +boat or vessel which strikes on these! + +On September 12, 1891, on my way to the North Sandhead lightship, +which, however, we failed to reach by reason of the strong ebb tide +against us and the wind dropping to a calm, we revisited this sternpost +of the Terpsichore. We got down mast and sails and took to our oars. +The light air from the north-east blew golden feathery cloud-films +across the great blue arch above our heads, and for once in the arctic +summer of 1891 the air was warm and balmy. Starting from the +North-west Goodwin buoy, we soon rowed into shallow water, crossing a +long spit of sand on which, not far from us, a feathery breaker raced. +Again we get into deep water, having just hit the passage into an +amphitheatre in the Goodwins of deep water bordered by a circle or +ridge of sand about three feet under water, over which the in-tide was +fiercely running and rippling, and upon which here and there a breaker +raised its warning crest. + +We reached the great sternpost of the lost Terpsichore at 9.22 a.m., +just two hours before low water at the neap tides, and found it +projected five feet nine inches above the water, which was ten feet six +inches deep in the swilly close to it, but nowhere shallower than eight +feet within a distance of fifty yards from the stump. Underneath in +the green sea-water there lay quite visible the keel and framework of +the vessel; and again I heard the story from Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat, who was with me, of the rescue of the crew of this +very vessel at 2.15 a.m. on the stormy night of the preceding November +14. + +As we held by the green sea-washed stump, it was hard to realise the +sublime story of that awful night: the mighty sea warring with the +furious wind, and the dismantled, beaten ship--masts gone overboard and +tossing in mad confusion of spars and cordage along her side--into +which most black and furious hell the lifeboatmen dared to venture the +Deal lifeboat, and out of which she and her gallant crew came, by God's +mercy, triumphant and unscathed, having saved every soul on board, and +also, with a fine touch of humanity often to be found in a brave +sailor's heart, the 'harmless, necessary cat' belonging to the vessel. +I can assure my readers that poor pussy's head and green eyes peering +out of the arms of one of the storm-battered sailors as they struggled +up Deal beach was a beautiful and most touching sight. + +Having lingered and examined this wreck as long as we dared, we now +tried to get out of the great circle in which we were enclosed. With +one man in the bows and another steering, we tried to cross the +submerged ridge of sand which encircled us and over which the tide +raced; but we struck the sand, and then were turned broadside on by the +furious current and swept back into the circle. Cautiously we rowed +along, when, not twenty yards off, I saw an object triangular and not +unlike a shark's fin just above the water. 'Hard-a-starboard!' at the +same moment cried the man in the bows, and then in the same breath, +'Port, sir, quick! Hard-a-port!' For to right of us stuck up out of +eight feet of water, beautifully clear and green, the iron pump-work of +a submerged wreck, the iron projection being not more than six inches +out of water; and then, a few yards further on to the left of the boat, +out of deep water, a rib, it may be, of the same forgotten and it may +be long-buried vessel. + +Had not the water been calm and clear, the place would have been a +regular death-trap. With increased caution we felt our way all round +the great circle into which we had entered. South of us rose a smooth +yellow-brown bank of sand, and upon this sunny shore tripped hundreds +of great white seagulls. So warm, so silent, so lonely was the place +that it might have been an island in the Pacific; and upon the same +yellow sandbank there basked, quite within view, a great, large-eyed +seal. + +At last we found our way out of the heart of the Goodwins, and got into +the deep, wide swatchway called the Ramsgate Man's Bight. Away to the +north-east we saw the Whistle buoy, and toward the east the East buoy, +both of which mark the outer edge of the Goodwins. + +In the deep centre of this swatch rolled the mast of another wreck, +somehow fast to the bottom, and having gazed at this weird sight, we +landed, amidst the wild screams of protesting sea-birds, and explored +all round for a mile the edges of this sandbank, which was of singular +firmness and yellowness, and upon which, in rhythmic cadence, plashed a +most pellucid sea. + +With change of tide and rising water we got up sail and at last reached +the Gull lightship, on whose deck we met old friends, and where we had +Divine Service as the evening fell in. Need it be said that that which +we had just seen on the Goodwins, the memories of the lost ships, and +of the gallant seamen who lie buried there, served to point a moral and +to raise all our hearts to that good land where 'there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more +pain, for the former things are passed away.' One of the hymns in that +service was suggested by the scene we had left, and began thus, + + Jesus! Saviour! Pilot me. + + +But not every boat that visits the mysterious quicksand escapes as +readily. Skilled and hardy boatmen are sometimes lost even in fine +weather. + +About twenty years ago a Deal galley punt, and four men, Bowbyas, +Buttress, Erridge, and Obree, skilled Deal boatmen, landed on the +Goodwins to get some coal from a wrecked collier. All that is +certainly known is that they never returned, and that they had been +noticed by a passing barge running to and fro and waving, which the +bargemen thought, alas! was only the play of some holiday-keepers on an +excursion to the Goodwins. They went to the Goodwins in a light +south-west breeze and smooth sea. While there the wind shifted to +north-east and a tumble of a sea got up, and it is supposed that it +then beat into and filled their laden boat, despite the efforts which +they are believed to have made to float her or get her ride to her +anchor and come head to wind. If this be so, how long and desperate +must their struggle have been to save their boat from wreckage, and to +pump out the water and heave out the coal. Their anchor and cable, +found on the sands and let go to full scope, favours this idea. + +On the other hand, the fact that they were seen wildly running to and +fro looks as if some sudden catastrophe had occurred, as if they had +struck on some stump in the water close to the very edge of the +Goodwins. + +The very day on which the photographs were taken which have been used +to illustrate this chapter, we were shoving off the steep northern face +of the Goodwin Sands, when we saw, not ten yards from the precipitous +edge of the dull red sands, in about twenty-five feet of water, and +just awash or level with the surface, the bristling spars and masts of +a three-masted schooner, the Crocodile, which had been lost there +January 6, 1891, in a fearful snowstorm, from the north-east, of that +long winter. Had we even touched those deadly points, we too should +have probably lost our boat and been entrapped on the Goodwin Sands. +The coxswain of the Deal lifeboat was with us, and told how that at +three o'clock on that terrible January morning, or rather night, +wearied with previous efforts, he had launched the lifeboat and beat in +the face of the storm and intense cold ten miles to windward, toward +the burning flares which told of a vessel on the Sands. + +Just when within reach of the vessel, this very wreck, they saw the +Ramsgate tug and lifeboat were just before them, and taking the crew +out of the rigging of the wreck. In sight of the whole company, for +their lanterns and lights were burning, the poor exhausted captain of +the schooner, in trying to get down from the rigging, in which he was +almost frozen to death, fell into the stormy sea and was lost in the +darkness, while the remainder were gallantly rescued by the Ramsgate +lifeboat. + +[Illustration: A wreck on the Goodwins.] + +It was on the dangerous stumps and masts of this vessel, to save the +crew of which the Deal and Ramsgate men made such a splendid effort, +that we so nearly ran; and an accident of this kind perhaps sealed the +fate of the four boatmen above mentioned. + +On this north-west part of the Goodwins, on which hours of the deepest +interest could be spent, you can walk a distance of at least two miles, +but you are separated by the great north-east swatch of deep water from +getting to the extensive north-east jaw on the other side of the +swatch, which is also full of wrecks, and round and along the edges of +which, on the calmest day, somehow the surf and breakers for ever roar. +The southern part of the Goodwins is also full of memories, and of +countless wrecks. The ribs of the Ganges, the Leda, the Paul Boyton, +the Sorrento, all lie there deep down beneath the Sands, excepting when +some mighty storm shifts the sand and reveals their skeletons. Deep, +too, in the bosom of the Goodwins, masts alone projecting, is settling +down the Hazelbank, wrecked there in October, 1890; but this southern +part at lowest tide is barely uncovered by the sea, and only just awash. + +At high water the depth is about three fathoms, varying of course in +patches, over this southern part or tail of the sea-monster. It is +clear that, being thus, even at low tide, nearly always covered with +water, and as the sand when thus covered is much more 'quick' and +movable, the southern part of the Goodwins is an exceedingly awkward +place to explore. If you made a stumble, as the sands slide under your +feet, it might, shall I say, land you into a pit or 'fox-fall,' +circular in shape, and very deep. The stumps of forgotten wrecks are +also a real danger to the boat which accompanies the investigator. + +As to the depth of the great sandbank, borings have been made down to +the chalk to a depth of seventy-eight feet--a fact which might have +been fairly conjectured from the depth of water inside the Goodwins, +down to the chalky bottom being nine or ten fathoms, while the depth +close outside the Goodwins, where the outer edge of the sands is sheer +and steep, is fifteen fathoms, deepening a mile and a half further off +the Goodwins to twenty-eight fathoms. + +The ships wrecked on the Goodwins go down into it very slowly, but they +sometimes literally fall off the steep outer edge into the deep water +above described. + +One still bright autumn morning I witnessed a tragedy of that +description. On the forenoon of November 30, 1888, I was on the deck +of a barque, the Maritzburg, bound to Port Natal. I had visited the +men in the forecastle, and indeed all hands fore and aft, as Missions +to Seamen chaplain; and to them all I spoke, and was, in fact, speaking +of that only 'Name under heaven whereby we must be saved,' when my eyes +were riveted, as I gazed right under the sun, by the drama being +enacted away to the southward. + +There I saw, three miles off, our two lifeboats of Kingsdown and +Walmer, each in tow of a steamer which came to their aid, making for +the Goodwins, and on the outer edge of the Goodwins I beheld a hapless +brig, with sails set, aground. I saw her at that distance lifted by +the heavy sea, and at that distance I saw the great tumble of the +billows. That she had heavily struck the bottom I also saw, for +crash!--and even at that distance I verily seemed to hear the +crash--away went her mainmast over her side, and the next instant she +was gone, and had absolutely and entirely disappeared. I could not +believe my eyes, and rubbed them and gazed again and yet again. + +She had perished with all hands. The lifeboats, fast as they went, +were just too late, and found nothing but a nameless boat, bottom +upwards, and a lifebelt, and no one ever knew her nationality or name. +She had struck the Goodwins, and had been probably burst open by the +shock, and then, dragged by the great offtide to the east, had rolled +into the deep water outside the Goodwins and close to its dreadful edge. + +What a sermon! What a summons! There they lie till the sea give up +its dead, and we all 'appear before the judgment seat of Christ.' + +The origin of the Goodwin Sands is a very interesting question, and is +discussed at length in Mr. Gattie's attractive _Memorials of the +Goodwin Sands_. There is the romantic tradition that they once, as the +'fertile island of Lomea,' formed part of the estates of the great Earl +Godwin, and that as a punishment for his crimes they 'sonke sodainly +into the sea.' Another tradition, given by W. Lambard, tells us that +in the end of the reign of William Rufus, 1099 A.D., there was 'a +sodaine and mighty inundation of the sea, by the which a great part of +Flaunders and of the lowe countries thereabouts was drenched and lost;' +and Lambard goes on to quote Hector Boethius to the effect that 'this +place, being sometyme in the possession of the Earl Godwin, was then +first violently overwhelmed with a light sande, wherewith it not only +remayneth covered ever since, but is become withal (_Navium gurges et +vorago_) a most dreadful gulfe and shippe-swallower.' + +The latter phrase of 'shippe-swallower' being only too true, has stuck, +and there does seem historic ground to warrant us in believing that in +the year named there was a great storm and incursion of the sea; but +whether the Goodwin Sands were ever the fertile island of Lomea and the +estate of the great earl seems to be more than uncertain. + +But there is no doubt whatever that the theory that the inundation of +the sea in A.D. 1099, which 'drenched' the Low Countries, withdrew the +sea from the Goodwins and left it bare at low water, while before this +inundation it had been more deeply covered by the ocean, is quite +untenable, for the sea never permanently shifts, but always returns to +its original level. When we speak of the sea 'gaining' or 'losing,' +what is really meant is that the land gains or loses, and therefore the +idea of the Goodwins being laid bare and uncovered by the sea water +running away from it and over to Flanders is absurd. + +In all probability the origin of the Goodwin Sands is not to be +ascribed to their once having been a fertile island, or to their having +been uncovered by the sea falling away from them, but to their having +been actually formed by the action of the sea itself, ever since the +incursion of the sea up the Channel and from the north made England an +island. + +There are great natural causes in operation which account for the +formation of the mighty sandbank by gradual accumulation, without +having recourse to the hypothesis that it is the ruined remains of the +fabulous island of Lomea, fascinating as the idea is that it was once +Earl Godwin's island home. + +The two great tidal waves of different speed which sweep round the +north of England and up the English Channel, meet twice every day a +little to the north of the North Foreland, where the writer has often +waited anxiously to catch the ebb going south. + +Eddies and currents of all kinds hang on the skirts of this great +'meeting of the waters,' and hence in the narrows of the Channel, where +the Goodwins lie, the tide runs every day twice from all points of the +compass, and there is literally every day in the year a great whirlpool +all round and over the Goodwin Sands, deflected slightly perhaps, but +not caused by those sands, but by the meeting of the two tidal waves +twice every twenty-four hours. + +This daily Maelstrom is sufficient to account for the formation of the +mighty sandbank, for the water is laden with the detritus of cliff and +beach which it has taken up in its course round England, and, just as +if you give a circular motion to a basin of muddy water, you will soon +find the earthy deposit centralised at the bottom of the basin, so the +great Goodwins are the result of the daily deposit of revolving tides. + +That the tides literally 'revolve' round the Goodwins is well known to +the Deal men and to sailors in general, and this revolution is +described in most of the tide tables and nautical almanacks used by +mariners, _e.g._ 'The Gull Stream about one hour and ten minutes before +high water runs N.E. 3/4 N., but the last hour changes to E.N.E. and +even to E.S.E., and the last hour of the southern stream changes from +S.W. 1/2 S. to W.S.W. and even to W.N.W[2].' Here the reader will +distinctly see recorded the great causes in operation which are +sufficient in the lapse of centuries to produce and maintain the +Goodwin Sands. But how they came to be called the Goodwin Sands we +know not, and can only conjecture. Those were the days of Siward and +Duncan and Macbeth, and, like them, the imposing form of the great Earl +of Kent is shrouded in the mists and the myths of eight centuries. + +He was evidently placed, in the first instance by royal authority or +that of the Saxon Witan, in some such position as Captain of the Naval +forces of all Southern England, and it is certain that he gathered +round himself the affections of the sailors of Sandwich, Hythe, Romney, +Hastings, and Dover. + +When he sailed from Bruges against Edward, 'the fort of Hastings opened +to his coming with a shout from its armed men. All the boatmen, all +the mariners far and near, thronged to him, with sail and shield, with +sword and with oar.' And on his way to Pevensey and Hastings from +Flanders he would seem to have run outside, and at the back of the +Goodwins, while the admirals of Edward the Confessor, Rodolph and Odda, +lay fast in the Downs. + +He appears, by virtue of his semi-regal position--for Kent with Wessex +and Sussex were under his government--to have been the Commander of a +Naval agglomeration of those southern ports which was the germ, very +probably, of the subsequent 'Cinque Ports' confederation, with their +'Warden' at their head; but at any rate he swept with him in this +expedition against Edward all the 'Buscarles' (boat-carles or seamen) +of those southern ports, Hythe, Hastings, Dover, and Sandwich. His +progress towards London was a triumphant one with his sons. 'All +Kent--the foster-mother of the Saxons,' we are told, on this occasion +'sent forth the cry, "Life or death with Earl Godwin!"' + +Crimes may rest on the name of Earl Godwin, despite his oath to the +contrary and his formal acquittal by the Witan-gemot, and dark deeds +are still affixed to his memory, but 'there was an instinctive and +prophetic feeling throughout the English nation that with the house of +Godwin was identified the cause of the English people.' With all his +faults he was a great Englishman, and was the popular embodiment of +English or Saxon feeling against the Normanising sympathies of Edward. + +In legend the Godwin family, even in death, seem to have been connected +with the sea. There is the legend of Godwin's destruction with his +fleet in the Goodwin Sands, and there is the much better authenticated +legend of Harold's burial in the sea-sand at Hastings. The Norman +William's chaplain records that the Conqueror said, 'Let his corpse +guard the coasts which his life madly defended.' + + Wrap them together[3] in a purple cloak, + And lay them both upon the waste sea-shore + At Hastings, there to guard the land for which + He did forswear himself. + + +Tenterden Steeple is certainly not the cause of the Goodwin Sands, and +the connection supposed to exist between them seems to have first +occurred to some 'aged peasant' of Kent examined before Sir Thomas More +as to the origin of the Goodwin Sands. But, as Captain Montagu +Burrows, R.N., mentions in his most interesting book on the Cinque +Ports, Tenterden Steeple was not built till 1462, and 'was not in the +popular adage connected with the Goodwin Sands, but with Sandwich +Haven. It ran thus-- + + Of many people it hath been sayed + That Tenterden steeple Sandwich haven hath decayed.' + + +Godwin's connection with Tenterden Steeple seems, therefore, to be as +mythical as his destruction in the Goodwin Sands with his whole fleet, +and we are driven to suppose that the connection of his family name +with the Goodwin Sands arose either from Norman and monkish detestation +of Harold and Godwin's race, and the desire to associate his name as +infamous with those terrible quicksands; or that these Sands had some +connection with the great earl and his family which we know not of, +whether as having been, according to doubtful legend, his estate, or +because he must often have victoriously sailed round them, and hard by +them often hoisted his rallying flag; or that these outlying, but +guarding Sands received from the patriotic affection of the valiant +Kentish men the title of 'the Goodwin Sands' in memory of the great +Earl Godwin and of Godwin's race[4]. + + + +[1] See Pritchard's interesting _History of Deal_, p. 196. + +[2] Jefferson's _Almanack_, 1892. + +[3] Edith and Harold. + +[4] I am reminded by the Rev. C. A. Molony that Goodnestone next +Wingham or Godwynstone, and Godwynstone next Faversham, both referred +to in _Archaeologia Cantiana_, are localities which probably +commemorate the name of the great Earl of Kent. Hasted mentions that +the two villages were part of Earl Godwin's estates, and on his death +passed to his son Harold, and that when Harold was slain they were +seized by William and given to some of his adherents. Mr. Molony +mentions a tradition at Goodnestone near Wingham, that both that +village and Godwynstone near Faversham were the lands given by the +crown to Earl Godwin to enable him to keep in repair Godwin's Tower and +other fortifications at Dover Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DEAL BOATMEN + + Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands, + They claim the danger. + + +Ever since fleets anchored in the Downs, the requirements of the great +number of men on board, as well as the needs of the vessels, would have +a tendency to maintain the supply of skilled and hardy boatmen to meet +those needs. Pritchard, in his _History of Deal_, which is a mine of +interesting information, gives a sketch of events and battles in the +Downs since 1063. Tostig, Godwin, and Harold are noticed; sea fights +between the French and English in the Downs from 1215 are described; +the battles of Van Tromp and Blake in the Downs, and many other +interesting historical events, are given in his book, as well as +incidents connected with the Deal boatmen. + +With the decay and silting up of Sandwich Haven the Downs became still +more a place of ships, and thus naturally was still more developed the +race of Deal boatmen, who were, and are to the present time, daily +accustomed to launch and land through the surf which runs in rough +weather on their open beach; and whose avocation was to pilot the +vessels anchoring in or leaving the Downs, and to help those in +distress on the Goodwin Sands. + +[Illustration: The boom of a distant gun. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin. James Laming, _Coxswain, Kingsdown Lifeboat_, R. Roberts, +_Coxswain, North Deal Lifeboat_, John Mackins, _Coxswain, Walmer +Lifeboat_.] + +Like their descendants now, who are seen daily in crowds lounging round +the capstans, the night was most frequently their time of effort. In +the day they were resting 'longshore' fashion, unless, of course, their +keen sailor sight saw anywhere--even on the distant horizon--a chance +of a 'hovel.' Ever on the look-out in case of need, galleys, sharp as +a shark, and luggers full of men, would rush down the beach into the +sea in less time than it has taken to write this sentence. + +But until the necessity for action arose a stranger, looking at the +apparently idling men, with their far-away gazings seaward, would +naturally say, 'What a lazy set of fellows!' as has actually been said +to me of the very men who I knew had been all night in the lifeboat, +and whose faces were tanned and salted with the ocean brine. + +Justly or unjustly, in olden times the Deal boatmen were accused of +rapacity. But the poor fellows knew no better--Christian love and +Christian charity seem to have slept in those days, and no man cared +for the moral elevation of the wild daring fellows. True indeed, they +were accused of lending to vessels in distress a 'predatory succour' +more ruinous to them than the angry elements which assailed them. In +1705 a charge of this kind was made by Daniel Defoe, the author of +_Robinson Crusoe_, and was sternly repelled by the Mayor and +Corporation of Deal; and Mr. Pritchard mentions that only one charge of +plundering wrecks was made in the present century, in the year 1807; +and the verdict of 'Guilty' was eventually and deservedly followed by +the pardon of the Crown. + +With the increase of the shipping of this country, and the naval wars +of the early part of the nineteenth century, the numbers and fame of +the Deal boatmen increased, until their skill, bravery, and humanity +were celebrated all over the world. In those times, and even recently, +the Deal boatmen, including in that title the men of Walmer and +Kingsdown, were said to number over 1000 men; and as there were no +lightships around the Goodwin Sands till the end of the eighteenth +century, there were vessels lost on them almost daily, and there were +daily salvage jobs or 'hovels' and rescues of despairing crews; and +what with the trade with the men-of-war, and the piloting and berthing +of ships, there were abundant employment and much salvage for all the +boatmen. + +The dress of the boatmen in those days, _i.e._ their 'longshore +toggery'--and there are still among the older men a few, a very few +survivals--was finished off by tall hats and pumps; and in answer to my +query 'why they formerly always wore those pumps?' I was told, ''Cos +they was always a dancin' in them days'--doubtless with Jane and Bess +and black-eyed Susan. + +There was smuggling, too, of spirits and tobacco, and all kinds of +devices for concealing the contraband articles. Not very many years +ago boats lay on Deal beach with hollow masts to hold tea--then an +expensive luxury, and fitted with boxes and lockers having false +bottoms, and all manner of smuggling contrivances. + +It was hard to persuade those wild, daring men that there was anything +wrong in smuggling the articles they had honestly purchased with their +own money. + +'There's nothing in the Bible against smuggling!' said one of them to a +clerical friend of mine, who aptly replied: 'Render therefore unto +Caesar the things that be Caesar's, and unto God the things that be +God's.' + +'Is it so? you're right,' the simple-minded boatman replied; 'no more +smuggling after this day for me!' And there never was. + +But that which has given the Deal boatmen a niche in the temple of fame +and made them a part and parcel of our 'rough island story,' is their +heroic rescues and their triumphs over all the terrors of the Goodwin +Sands. + +There was no lightship on or near the Goodwin Sands till 1795, when one +was placed on the North Sand Head. In 1809 the Gull lightship, and in +1832 the South Sand Head lightships, were added, and the placing of the +East Goodwin lightship in 1874 was one of the greatest boons conferred +on the mariners of England in our times. + +It is hard even now sometimes to avoid the deadly Goodwins, but what it +must have been in the awful darkness of winter midnights which brooded +over them in the early part of this century is beyond description. + +Nor was there a lifeboat stationed at Deal until the year 1865. Before +that time the Deal luggers attempted the work of rescue on the Goodwin +Sands. In those days all Deal and Walmer beach was full of those +wonderful sea-boats hauled up on the shingle, while their mizzen booms +almost ran into the houses on the opposite side of the roadway. The +skill and daring of those brave boatmen were beyond praise. Let me +give in more detail the incident alluded to in the account of the +Ganges. + +Fifty-two years ago, one stormy morning, a young Deal boatman was going +to be married, and the church bells were ringing for the ceremony, when +suddenly there was seen away to the southward and eastward a little +schooner struggling to live in the breakers, or rather on the edge of +the breakers, on the Goodwins. The Mariner lugger was lying on the +beach of Deal, and there being no lifeboat in those days a rush of +eager men was made to get a place in the lugger, and amongst them, +carried away by the desire to do and to save, was the intended +bridegroom. + +By the time they plunged into the awful sea on the sands the schooner +had struck, and was thumping farther into the sands, sails flying +wildly about and the foremast gone. The crew, over whom the sea was +flying, were clustered in the main rigging. It was a service of the +most awful danger, and the lugger men, well aware that it was a matter +of life and death, put the question to each other, 'What do you say, my +lads; shall we try it?' 'Yes! Yes!' and then one and all shouted, +'Yes! We'll have those people out of her!' and they ran for the +drifting, drowning little Irish schooner. They did not dare to +anchor--a lifeboat could have done so, but for them it would have been +certain death--and as they approached the vessel and swept past her +they shouted to the crew in distress, 'Jump for your lives.' + +They jumped for life, as the lugger rose on the snowy crest of a +breaker, and not a man missed his mark. All being rescued, they again +fought back through the broken water, and when they reached Deal beach +they were met by hundreds of their enthusiastic fellow townsmen, who by +main force dragged the great twenty-ton lugger out of the water and far +up the steep beach. The interrupted marriage was very soon afterwards +carried out, and the deserving pair are alive and well, by God's mercy, +to this day. + +The luggers are about forty feet long and thirteen feet beam, more or +less. The smaller luggers are called 'cats.' There is a forecastle or +'forepeak' in the luggers where you can comfortably sleep--that is, if +you are able to sleep in such surroundings, and if the anguish of +sea-sickness is absent. I once visited in one of these luggers, lost +at sea with two of her crew on November 11, 1891, the distant Royal +Sovereign and Varne lightships, and had a most happy three days' cruise. + +There is a movable 'caboose' in the 'cats' right amidships, in which +three or four men packed close side by side can lie; but if you want to +turn you must wake up the rest of the company and turn all together--so +visitors to Deal are informed. These large boats are lugger-rigged, +carrying the foremast well forward, and sometimes, but very rarely, +like the French _chasse-marées_, a mainmast also, with a maintopsail, +as well, of course, as the mizzen behind. The mainmast is now hardly +ever used, being inconvenient for getting alongside the shipping, and +therefore there only survive the foremast and mizzen, the mainmast +being developed out of existence. + +The luggers are splendid sea-boats, and it is a fine sight to see one +of them crowded with men and close-reefed cruising about the Downs +'hovelling' or 'on the look out' for a job in a great gale. While +ships are parting their anchors and flying signals of distress, the +luggers, supplying their wants or putting pilots on board, wheel and +sweep round them like sea-birds on the wing. + +[Illustration: Showing a flare.] + +As I write these lines, a great gale of wind from the S.S.W. is +blowing, and it was a thrilling sight this morning at 11 a.m. to watch +the Albert Victor lugger launched with twenty-three men on board, in +the tremendous sea breaking over the Downs. Coming ashore later, on a +giant roller, the wave burst into awful masses of towering foam, so +high above and around the lugger that for an instant she was out of +sight, overwhelmed, and the crowds cried, 'She's lost!' but upwards she +rose again on the crest of the following billow, and with the speed of +an arrow flew to the land on this mighty shooting sea. + +Just at the same moment as the lugger came ashore the bold coxswain of +the North Deal lifeboat launched with a gallant crew to the rescue of a +despairing vessel, the details of which service are found below. + +There is no harbour at Deal, and all boats are heaved up the steep +shingly beach, fifty or sixty yards from the water's edge, by a capstan +and capstan bars, which, when a lugger is hove up, are manned by twenty +or thirty men. When hauled up thus to their position the boats are +held fast on the inclined plane on which they rest by a stern chain +rove through a hole in the keel called the 'ruffles.' This chain is +fastened by a 'trigger,' and when next the lugger is to be launched +great flat blocks of wood called 'skids,' which are always well +greased, are laid down in front of her stem, her crew climb on board, +the mizzen is set, and the trigger is let go. By her own impetus the +lugger rushes down the steep slope on the slippery skids into the sea. +Even when a heavy sea is beating right on shore, the force acquired by +the rush is sufficient to drive her safely into deep water. Lest too +heavy a surf or any unforeseen accident should prevent this, a cable +called a 'haul-off warp' is made fast to an anchor moored out far, by +which the lugger men, if need arise, haul their boat out beyond the +shallow water. The arrangements above described are exactly those +adopted by the lifeboats, which are also lugger-rigged, and being +almost identical in their rig are singularly familiar to Deal men. The +introduction of steam has diminished greatly the number of the luggers, +as fewer vessels than formerly wait in the Downs, and there is less +demand for the services of the boatmen. + +There was formerly another class of Deal boats, the forty-feet +smuggling boats of sixty or seventy years ago. The length, flat floor, +and sharpness of those open boats, together with the enormous press of +sail they carried, enabled them often to escape the revenue vessels by +sheer speed, and to land their casks of brandy or to float them up +Sandwich River in the darkness, and then run back empty to France for +more. In the 'good old times' those piratical-looking craft would pick +up a long thirty-feet baulk of timber at sea--timber vessels from the +Baltic or coming across the Atlantic often lose some of their +deck-load--and when engaged in towing it ashore would be pounced upon +by the revenue officers, who would only find, to their own +discomfiture, amidst the hearty 'guffaws' of the boatmen, that the +latter were merely trying to earn 'salvage' by towing the timber ashore. + +A little closer search would have revealed that the innocent-looking +baulk of timber was hollow from end to end, and was full of lace, +tobacco, cases of schnapps, 'square face,' brandy, and silks. There is +little or no smuggling now, and the little that there is, is almost +forced on the men by foreign vessels. + +Perhaps four boatmen have been out all night looking for a job in their +galley punt. At morning dawn they find a captain who employs them to +get his ship a good berth, or to take him to the Ness. Perhaps the +captain says--and this is an actual case--in imperfect English, 'I have +no money to pay you, but I have forty pounds of tobacco, vill you take +dat? Or vill you have it in ze part payment?' The boatmen consult; +hungry children and sometimes reproachful wives wait at home for money +to purchase the morning meal. 'Shall we chance it?' say they. _They_ +take the tobacco, and the first coastguardsman ashore takes _them_, +tobacco and all, before the magistrates, and I sometimes have been sent +for to the 'lock-up,' to find three or four misguided fellows in the +grasp of the law of their country, which poverty and opportunity and +temptation have led them to violate. + +At present a large number of galley punts lie on Deal beach. These +boats carry one lugsail on a mast shipped well amidships. These boats +vary in size from twenty-one feet to thirty feet in length, and seven +feet beam, and as the Mission boat which I have steered for thirteen +years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, is a small galley +punt, I take a peculiar interest in their rig and behaviour. + +The galley punts are powerful seaboats; when close reefed can stand a +great deal of heavy weather, and are the marvel of the vessels in +distress which they succour. + +All the Deal boats, the lifeboats of course excepted, are clinker built +and of yellow colour, the natural elm being only varnished. And it is +fine to see on a stormy day the splendid way in which they are handled, +visible one moment on the crest and the next hidden in the trough of a +wave, or launched or beached on the open shingle in some towering sea. + +I have been breathless with anxiety as I have watched the launch of +these boats into a heavy sea with a long dreadful recoil, but the +landing is still more dangerous. + +If you wait long enough when launching, you can get a smooth, or a +comparatively smooth, sea. I have sometimes waited ten minutes--and +then the command is given 'Let her go,' and the boat is hurled into the +racing curl of some green sea. + +Sometimes the sea is too heavy for landing, and the galley punts lie +off skimming about for hours. Sometimes if the weather looks +threatening it is best to come at once, and then, supposing a heavy +easterly sea, you must clap on a press of sail to drive the boat. You +get ready a bow painter and a stern rope, and the boat, like a bolt set +free, flies to the land. Very probably she takes a 'shooter,' that is, +gets her nose down and her stern and rudder high into the air, and, all +hands sitting aft, she is carried along amidst the hiss and burst of +the very crest of the galloping billow. Fortunate are they if this +wave holds the boat till she is thrown high up the beach, broadside on, +for at the last minute the helm must be put up or down, to get the boat +to lie along the shore, but only at the very last minute--otherwise +danger for the crew! I have known a boat landing, to capsize and catch +the men underneath, and I have been myself tolerably near the same +danger. + +Three or four men man these galley punts, and the hardships and perils +they encounter in the earning of their livelihood are great. The men +are sometimes, even in winter time, three days away in these open +boats, sleeping on the bare boards or ballast bags and wrapped in a +sail. + +They cruise to the west to put one of their number on board some +homeward-bound vessel as 'North Sea pilot,' or they cruise to the north +and up the Thames as far as Gravesend, a distance of eighty miles, to +get hold of some outward-bound vessel with a pilot on board, which +pilot is willing to pay the boatmen a sovereign for putting him ashore +from the Downs, and they are towed behind the vessel, probably a fast +steamer, for eighty miles to Deal and the Downs. I have done this--and +it is a curious experience--in summer, but to be towed in the teeth of +a north-easterly snowstorm from Gravesend to the Downs is quite another +thing; but it is the common experience of the Deal boatmen. And every +day in winter they hover off Deal in their splendid galley punts, +rightly called 'knock-toes,' for the poor fellows' hands and feet are +often semi-frozen, to take a pilot out of some outward-bound steamer +going at the rate of ten or fifteen knots an hour. It means at the +outside about 5_s_. per man; perhaps they have earned nothing for a +week, and hungry but dauntless they are determined to get hold of that +steamer, if men can do it. On the steamer comes full speed right end +on at them. The Deal men shoot at her under press of canvas, haul down +sail, and lay their boat in the same direction as the flying steamship, +which often never slackens her speed the least bit. As all this _must_ +be done in an instant, or pale death stares them in the face, it is +done with wonderful speed and skill. While a man with a boat-hook, to +which a long 'towing-line' is attached, stands in the bow of the galley +punt and hooks it into anything he can catch, perhaps the bight of a +rope hung over the steamer's side, the steersman has for his own and +his comrades' lives to steer his best and to keep his boat clear of the +steamer's sides, and of her deadly propeller revolving astern, while +the bowman pays out his towing-line, and others see it is all clear, +and another takes a turn of it round a thwart. + +[Illustration: Hooking the steamer.] + +The steamer is 'hooked,' and, fast as she flies ahead, the galley punt +falls astern, this time, thank God, clear of the 'fan,' into the +boiling wake of the steamer, and at last she feels the tremendous +jerk--such a jerk as would tear an oak tree from its roots--of the +tightening tow-rope. + +Then the boat, with her stem high in the air, for so boats tow best, +and all hands aft, and smothered in flying spray, is swept away with +the steamer as far perhaps as Dover, where the pilot wants to land. +Then the steam is eased off and the vessel stopped, but hardly ever for +the Deal men. + +This 'hooking' of steamers going at full speed is most dangerous, and +often causes loss of life and poor men's property--their boats and +boats' gear--their all. Sometimes a kindly disposed captain eases his +speed down. I have heard the boatmen talking together, as their keen +eyes discerned a steamer far off, and could even then pronounce as to +the 'line' and individuality of the steamer: 'That's a blue-funnelled +China boat--she's bound through the Canal: he's a gentleman, he is; he +always eases down to ten knots for us Deal men.' + +Even at ten-knot speed the danger is very great, and it is marvellous +more accidents do not occur, in spite of the coolness and skill of the +boatmen. Accidents do occur too frequently. The last fatal accident +happened to a daring young fellow who had run his boat about six feet +too close to a fast steamer; six feet short of where he put her would +have meant safety, but as it was, the steamer cut her in two and he was +drowned with his comrade, one man out of three alone being saved. Just +half an hour before he had waved 'good-bye!' to his young wife as he +ran to the beach. + +Another boat has her side torn out by a blow from one of the +propeller's fans, and goes down carrying the men deep with her; one is +saved after having almost crossed the border, and I shall long remember +my interview with that man just after he was brought ashore, appalled +with the sense of the nearness of the spirit land, and just as if he +had had a revelation--his gratitude, his convulsive sobs, his +penitence. Another man has his leg or his arm caught by the tow-rope +as it is paid out to the flying steamer; in one man's case the keen axe +is just used in time to cut the line as it smokes over the gunwale +before the coil tears his leg off; in another's case the awful pull of +the rope fractured the arm lengthways and not by a cross fracture, and +the bone never united after the most painful operations. + +Owners and captains and officers of steamships, for God's sake, ease +down your speed when your poor sailor brethren, the gallant Deal +boatmen who man the lifeboats, are struggling to hook your mighty +steamships! Ease down a bit, gentlemen, and let the men earn something +for the wives and children at home without having to pay for their +efforts with their precious lives! + +The very same men who work the galley punts I have just described are +the 'hovellers' in the great luggers when the tempest drives the +smaller boats ashore, and they also are the same men who, in times of +greater and extremer need, answer so nobly to the summons of the +lifeboat bell. + +Pritchard's most interesting chapter, in which the best authorities are +quoted at length, is convincing that the word 'hoveller' is derived +from _hobelier_ (_hobbe_, [Greek] _hippos_, Gaelic _coppal_) and +signifies 'a coast watchman,' or 'look-out man,' who, by horse +(_hobbe_) or afoot, ran from beacon to beacon with the alarm of the +enemies' approach, when, 'with a loose rein and bloody spur rode inland +many a post.' Certainly nothing better describes the Deal boatmen's +occupation for long hours of day and night than the expression so well +known in Deal, 'on the look-out,' and which thus appears to be +equivalent to 'hovelling.' + +In 1864 the first lifeboat of the locality was placed in Walmer by the +Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 1865 another lifeboat was +placed in North Deal, a cotton ship with all hands having been lost on +the southern part of the Goodwins in a gale from the N.N.E., which +unfortunately the Walmer lifeboat, being too far to leeward, was unable +to fetch in that wind with a lee tide. + +This splendid lifeboat was called the Van Cook, after its donor, and +was very soon afterwards summoned to the rescue for the first time. + +It was blowing 'great guns and marline-spikes' from the S.S.W. with +tremendous sea on Feb. 7, 1865, when there was seen in the rifts of the +storm a full-rigged ship on the Goodwin Sands. The lifeboat bell was +rung, a crew was obtained, and the men in their new and untried +lifeboat made her first, but not their first, daring attempt at rescue. +A few moments before the Deal lifeboat, there launched from the south +part of Deal one of the powerful luggers which lay there, owned by Mr. +Spears, who himself was aboard; and the lugger was on this occasion +steered by John Bailey. The Walmer lifeboat also bravely launched, and +the three made for the wrecked vessel. + +The lugger, being first, began the attempt, and in spite of the risk +(for one really heavy sea breaking into her would have sent her to the +bottom) went into the breakers. But the lugger, rightly named +England's Glory--and the names of the luggers are admirably chosen, for +example, The Guiding Star, Friend of All Nations, Briton's Pride, and +Seaman's Hope--seeing a powerful friend behind her in the shape of the +lifeboat, stood on into the surf of the Goodwins to aid in saving life, +and also for a 'hovel,' in the hope of saving the vessel. + +It was dangerous in the extreme for the lugger, but, as the men said, +'They was that daring in them days, and they seed so much money +a-staring them in the face, in a manner o' speaking, on board that +there wessel, that they was set on it.' + +And when Deal boatmen are 'set on it,' they can do much. + +When the lugger fetched to windward of the vessel she wore down on her +before the wind. She did not dare to anchor; had she done so, she +would have been filled and gone down in five minutes, so hauling down +her foresail to slacken her speed, she shot past the vessel as close as +she dared, and as she flew by, six of the crew jumped at the rigging of +the wreck, and actually caught it and got on board. The Walmer +lifeboat sailed at the vessel and tried to luff up to her, hauling down +her foresail, but the lifeboat had not 'way' enough, and missed the +vessel altogether, being driven helplessly to leeward, whence it was +impossible to return. + +In increasing storm and sea, more furious as the tide rose, on came the +Deal lifeboat, the Van Cook, Wilds and Roberts (the latter now coxswain +in place of Wilds) steering. They anchored, and veering out their +cable drifted down to the wreck; then six of the lifeboatmen also +sprang to the rigging of the heeling wreck, and the lifeboat sheered +off for safety. + +The wreck was lying head to the north and with a list to starboard. +Heavy rollers struck her and broke, flying in blinding clouds of spray +high as her foreyard, coming down in thunder on her deck, so that it +seemed impossible that men could work on that wave-beaten plane. She +was also lifted by each wave and hammered over the sand into shallower +water, so that the drenched and buffeted lifeboatmen had to lift anchor +and follow the drifting vessel in the lifeboat, and again drop anchor +and veer down as before. All this time three powerful steam-tugs were +waiting in deep water to help the vessel, but they dared not come into +the surf where the lifeboat lay. + +To stop the drift of the wrecked Iron Crown was her only chance of +safety, and it would have probably ruined all had they dropped anchors +from the vessel's bows, as she would have drifted over them and forced +them into her bottom. The Deal men, therefore, with seamanlike skill +and resource, swung a kedge anchor clear of the vessel high up _from +her foreyard_, and as the vessel drifted the kedge bit, and the bows of +the vessel little by little came up to the sea, when her other anchors +were let go, and in a few minutes held fast; then with a mighty cheer +from the Deal men--lifeboatmen and lugger's crew all together--the Iron +Crown half an hour afterwards was floated by the rising tide on the +very top of the fateful sands; her hawser was brought to the waiting +tug-boats, and she was towed--ship, cargo, and crew all saved--into the +shelter of the Downs. + +The names of this the first crew of the Deal lifeboat are given +below[1], and their gallant deed was the forerunner of a long and +splendid series of rescues, no less than 358 lives having been saved, +including such cases as the Iron Crown, by the North Deal lifeboat and +her gallant crew, and counting 93 lives saved by the Walmer lifeboat +Centurion, and 101 lives saved by the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabina, a +total of 552 lives have been saved on the Goodwin Sands. + +The next venture of the Deal lifeboat was not so fortunate. It was +made to the schooner Peerless, wrecked in Trinity Bay, in the very +heart of the Goodwins. The men were lashed in the rigging, and the sea +was flying over them, or rather at them; but all managed to get into +the lifeboat except one poor lad who was on his first voyage. He died +while lashed on the foreyard, and was brought down thence by Ashenden, +who bravely mounted the rigging and carried down the dead lad with the +sea-foam on his lips. Among the rescuers of the Peerless crew were +Ashenden, named above, Stephen Wilds (for many years my own comrade in +the Mission Boat), brave old Robert Wilds, Horrick, Richard Roberts, +and ten others. + +I have told of the first rescue effected by the Deal lifeboat--let me +describe one of the last noble deeds of mercy done on November 11, +1891, during an awful gale then blowing. In the morning of the day two +luggers launched to help vessels in distress, but such was the fury of +the gale, and so mountainous was the sea, that the luggers were +themselves overpowered, and had to anchor in such shelter as they could +get. + +At 2 p.m., tiles flying in the streets, and houses being unroofed, it +was most difficult to keep one's feet; crowds of Deal boatmen in +sou'-westers and oilskins were ready round the lifeboat, and in the +gaps of the driving rain and in the smoking drifts of the howling +squalls which tore over the sea, they saw that a small vessel which had +anchored inside the Brake Sand about two miles off the mainland had +parted her anchors, and, being helpless and without sails, was drifting +towards and outwards to the Brake. + +[Illustration: A forlorn hope] + +Then the Deal lifeboat was off to the rescue, and with eighteen men in +her, three being extra and special hands on this dangerous occasion, +launched into a terrible sea, grand but furious beyond description. +Hurled down Deal beach by her weight, the lifeboat was buried in a wild +smother, and the next minute was left dry on the beach by the ghastly +recoil. The coming breaker floated her, and she swung to her haul-off +warp. + +Then they set her close-reefed storm foresail and took her mizzen off. +Soon after an ominous crack, loud and clear, was heard in her foremast, +and such was the force of the gale that Roberts--the same brave man +who, having been second coxswain and in the lifeboat in the rescue of +the Iron Crown above described in 1865, on this perilous day in 1891 +again headed his brave comrades as coxswain, with his old friend and +brother in arms, so to speak, E. Hanger, as second coxswain--hauled +down the foresail and set the small mizzen close-reefed on the +foremast, and even then the great lifeboat was nearly blown out of the +water. + +With unbounded confidence in their splendid lifeboat, under this sail, +and indeed they can only work their weighty lifeboat under sail, they +literally flew before the blast into the terrific surf on the Brake +Sand, six men being required to steer her! + +By this time the little vessel named The Thistle had struck the Sand, +but not heavily enough to break her in pieces, and hurled forwards by a +great roller, she grated and struck, and then was hurled forwards +again, seas breaking over her and her hapless crew. So thick was the +air with the sea spray carried along in smoking spindrifts that the +Deal men lost sight of the wreck while they raced into the surf of the +Brake. + +In that surf--which I beheld from the end of Ramsgate Pier, being +called there by imperative business, and thus deprived of the privilege +of being with the men--the lifeboat was apparently swallowed up. She +was filled over and over again, and sometimes there was not a man of +the crew visible to the coxswain, who stood aft steering in wind which +amounted to a hurricane, and, according to Greenwich Observatory, +representing a velocity of eighty miles an hour. + +At this moment I was witness of the fine sight of the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat steaming out of Ramsgate Harbour, brave coxswain Fish steering +the lifeboat, which plunged into the mad seas behind the tug, while +blinding clouds of spray flew over the crew. Those splendid 'storm +warriors' also rescued the crew of the Touch Not, wrecked that day on +the Ramsgate Sands; but just while they were steaming out of Ramsgate, +away on the horizon as far as I could bear to look against the fury of +the wind and rain, struggling alone and unaided in the surf of the +Brake Sand, I beheld the Deal lifeboat engaged in the rescue of The +Thistle. + +There indeed before my eyes was a veritable wrestle with death for +their own lives and those of the wrecked vessel's crew. The latter had +beaten over the Brake Sand, and was anchored close outside it, the +British ensign hoisted 'Union down,' and sinking. Sinking lower and +lower, and only kept afloat by her cargo of nuts, her decks level with +the sea which poured over them. In the agony of despair her crew of +five had taken to their own small boat, being afraid, from signs known +to seamen and from the peculiar wallowing of their vessel, that she was +about to make her final plunge to the bottom. + +But now the great blue lifeboat rode like a messenger from heaven +alongside them, and their brave preservers dragged them over her sides +into safety from the very mouth of destruction. + +Amidst words of gratitude and with praise on their lips to a merciful +God, the utterly exhausted crew saw the Deal men set sail and fight +their way again through the storm landwards. + +Looking back for an instant, all hands saw the appalling sight of the +vessel they had left turn on her side and sink to the bottom of the sea. + +With colours flying, with proud and thankful hearts they reach +Broadstairs, whence I received the coxswain's telegram--'Crew all +saved; sprung foremast. R. Roberts.' + +This gallant rescue was effected under the leadership of R. Roberts and +E. Hanger, the very same men who were foremost in the saving of the +Iron Crown. Their names should not be passed over in silence, nor +those of the brave fellows who back up with their skill, their +strength, and their lives the efforts of their coxswains. + +In very truth the Deal boatmen (Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown all +included) as a class of men are unique. As pilots, boatmen, and +fishermen they, with the Ramsgate men, stand alone, in their perils +around and on the great quicksand which guards their coast, and they +must always be of deep interest to the rest of their fellow-countrymen +by reason of their hardships, their skill, and their daring, and above +all by reason of their generous courage, consistent with their ancient +fame. Faults they have--let others tell of them--but it seems to me +that these brave Kentish boatmen are worthy descendants of their Saxon +forefathers who rallied to the banners of Earl Godwin and died at +Senlac in stubborn ring round Godwin's kingly son. + +To them, the lifeboatmen and coxswains of Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown, +friends and comrades, I dedicate these true histories of splendid +rescues wrought by them, the 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands.' + + + +[1] Crew of the Deal lifeboat on her first launch to the rescue of the +Iron Crown:--R. Wilds, R. Roberts, E. Hanger, G. Pain, J. Beney, G. +Porter, E. Foster, C. Larkins, G. Browne, J. May, A. Redsull, R. +Sneller, T. Goymer, R. Erridge. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE + + A brave vessel, + Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her + Dashed all to pieces! Oh, the cry did knock + Against my very heart! Pool souls! they perished. + + +All day long April 20, 1886, it had been blowing a gale from the +north-east, and a heavy sea was tumbling on the beach at Deal. On the +evening of that stormy day I was making my way to the Boatmen's Rooms, +at North Deal, where the boatmen were to assemble for the usual evening +service held by the Missions to Seamen chaplain. + +On my way I met a boatman, a valued comrade on many a rough day in the +mission-boat. Breathless with haste, he could at first only say, 'Come +on, sir, quick! Come on; there's a man been seen running to and fro on +the Goodwins!' + +Seeing that immediate help was needed, it appeared that the coxswain of +the lifeboat proposed signalling a passing tug-boat, and wanted my +sanction for the measure. Had she responded to the signal, she would +have towed the lifeboat to the rescue of the mysterious man on the +Goodwins in an hour or so. As Hon. Secretary of the Lifeboat Branch, I +at once authorised the step, and a flag was dipped from Deal pierhead, +and blue lights were burned; but all in vain. The tug-boat went on her +way, taking no notice of the signals, which it is supposed she did not +understand. + +It was plain some disaster had taken place, but what had happened on +those gruesome sands I could only conjecture until I reached the +Boatmen's Rooms. Outside the building I found in groups and knots a +crowd of boatmen and pilots, and also Richard Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat. + +Roberts had that evening, about five p.m., been taking a look at the +Goodwins with his glass, a good old-fashioned 'spy-glass.' After a +long steady search--'Why,' said he to the men round him, 'there's a new +wreck on the sands since yesterday!' The gale of the morning part of +the day had been accompanied by low sweeping clouds of mist and driving +fog, and as soon as the curtain of thick vapour lifted, Roberts noticed +the new wreck. + +The other boatmen then took a look, and they all went up to the high +window of the lifeboat-house to gain a better view of the distant +Goodwins. + +The point where the wreck, or the object they saw lay, was the outer +part of the Goodwin Sands towards the north, and was quite eight miles +distant from the keen-eyed watchers at Deal. + +'That's a wreck since yesterday,' said one and all. + +Roberts, gazing through his glass, now cried out, 'There's something, +man or monkey, getting off the vessel and moving about on the sand!' + +'Let's have a look, Dick,' said another and another, and then all cried +out, + +'Yes; it's a man! He's waving something--it's a flag!' + +'No, 'tis n't a flag,' said Roberts, 'it's more like a piece of canvas +lashed to a pole; it blows out too heavy for a flag.' + +Just about the same time, watchers at Lloyd's office had seen through a +powerful glass the same object on the Goodwins, and they sent word to +the coxswain of the lifeboat that there was a man in distress on the +Goodwin Sands, and wildly running to and fro. + +The wind, however, being north-east, and the tide having just commenced +to run in the same direction as the wind, thus producing what is called +a lee tide, it would have been worse than useless for the Deal lifeboat +to have launched. No boat of shallow draft of water, such as a +lifeboat is, can beat to windward over a lee tide, and had she been +launched, the Deal lifeboat would have drifted farther at each tack +from the point she aimed at. + +As before explained, the Deal lifeboat was unable to attract the +attention of the passing tugboat, and it was therefore decided to wire +to Ramsgate to explain that Deal was helpless, and ask the Ramsgate +lifeboat to go to the rescue. + +By an extraordinary combination of misfortunes the Ramsgate lifeboat +and tugs were also helpless, and having been suddenly disabled were +laid up for repairs. We then anxiously discussed every alternative, +and it was sorrowfully decided that nothing more could be done until +the lee tide was over, which would be about 10.30 p.m. + +It was now dark, and the hour had come for the boatmen's service which +I was to hold. The men as usual trooped in, and the room was crowded; +the scene was a striking one. Fine stalwart men to the number of sixty +were present--free rovers of the sea, men who never call any one +master, with all the characteristic independence and even dignity of +those who follow the sea. There was present the coxswain of the +lifeboat, and there were present also most of the men who manned the +lifeboat a few hours afterwards. In every man's face was written the +story of dangers conquered, and a lifelong experience of the sea, on +which they pass so much of their lives, and on whose bosom a large +proportion of them would probably meet death. + +On all occasions and at all times those meetings are of overwhelming +interest, by reason of the character and histories of each man among +that unique audience, and also it may be added on account of their rapt +attention to the 'old, old story,' which, 'majestic in its own +simplicity,' is invariably set before them. But, on this occasion, add +to the picture the distant and apparently deserted figure just seen +through the rifts in the mist, 'wildly running to and fro on the +Goodwins,' the eager and sympathetic faces of the boatmen in their +absolute helplessness for a few long hours--hours that seemed centuries +to all of us. Observe their restrained but impatient glances at the +clock, and listen to their deep-throated responses to the impassioned +petitions of the Litany of the Church of England. + +I am only recording the barest facts when I say that the response of +'Good Lord, deliver us,' following that most solemn of all the +petitions of the Litany, was touching beyond the power of words to +describe. In the midst of the service I stopped and said, 'Has any man +another suggestion to offer? Shall we telegraph for the Dover tug?' +It was seen after a short discussion that this would be unavailing, and +the service went on. + +The hymns sung at that service were three in number, and perhaps are +familiar to those who read this story:-- + + Light in the darkness, sailor! + Day is at hand, + +being the well-known 'Life-boat' hymn; + + Rescue the perishing; + +and then + + Jesu, lover of my soul. + + +No man present could fail to think at each part of the service, and as +each hymn was sung, of the poor forlorn figure seen on the Goodwins, +and now in the most dire need of help. Nor do I think that service +will ever fade from the memories of those present on that Tuesday +evening. + +Service over, we all went to the front of the lifeboat-house, and the +coxswain and myself once more consulted. We stood just down at the +water's edge, where the white surf showed up against the black night, +and fell heavily on the shingle, resounding. + +We asked, 'Had Ramsgate gone to the rescue?' + +'Why was there no flare burning if there were any one or any vessel on +the Goodwins?' + +'Why the dull oppressive silence and absence of all signs of signals of +distress?' + +Looking up the beach we saw the black mass of boatmen all gathered +round the door of the lifeboat-house, and we heard their shouts, 'Throw +open the doors!' 'Let us have the key!' 'Why not give us the +life-belts now?' + +Finally we decided to launch at exactly nine o'clock. I went home to +dress for the night, having arranged to go in the lifeboat. Meantime +the bell was rung, and the usual rush was made to get the life-belts. +So keen were the men that the launch was made before the time agreed +upon, and the lifeboat rushed down the beach just as I got in sight of +her--to my great and sore disappointment--and soon disappeared in the +night. + +They stood on till they reached the inner edge of the Goodwins, along +which they tacked, being helped to windward, and swept towards the +north by the weather-tide, which they met about eleven o'clock. As +they worked their way into Trinity Bay, a sort of basin in the very +heart of the Goodwins, the coxswain felt sure they were drawing near +the spot where the wreck had been seen, but it was absolutely dark. +They could see nothing, no flare, no light, and they could hear nothing +but the hollow thunder of breaking surf. + +Roberts now decided to run the lifeboat right through the breakers +which beat on the outer part of the sands, and thoroughly to search +that part of the Goodwins. + +Some said, 'The Ramsgate lifeboat has been here and taken the man off.' + +Others, 'If there are people alive on the wreck, why is there no light +or flare?' + +And then they ran her, in that pitchy blackness, into the surf; she +went through it close hauled, and beyond it into the deep sea the other +side, and searched the outside edge of the sands, but to no purpose. +Then, having shouted all together and listened, they stood back again +through the surf, running now before the wind. + +The broken and formidable sea raged round the lifeboat like a pack of +wolves. It broke on both sides of the lifeboat right into her, and +literally boiled over her as she flew before the gale and the impulse +of the swell astern. Nothing could be seen in this stormy flight +except the white burst of the tumultuous waves, and all around was +midnight blackness. + +Some were of opinion, after the prolonged search, that the wreck had +disappeared; but Roberts carried all hearts with him when he said, +'We're not going home till we see and search that wreck from stem to +stern!' + +Then they anchored in Trinity Bay in four fathoms of water. They each +had a piece of bread, a bit of cheese, and a smoke; and with every +faculty of sight and hearing strained to the utmost, they longed for +the coming of the day. + +We may now return to the wrecked vessel, and describe the fate of her +captain and crew. She was a Norwegian brig, the Auguste Hermann +Francke, bound from Krageroe to sunny San Sebastian with a cargo of +ice. She had a crew of seven all told, and the captain's name was +Jargersen. + +He had been running his vessel that morning before the gale, and at +eight o'clock in the forenoon struck on the Goodwins, having either +failed in the thick weather to pick up the lightships or the Foreland +as points from which to take a safe departure, or being carried out of +his course altogether by the strong tides which run around and over the +Goodwins, and which, if not allowed for, are a frequent cause of +disaster. It was on the shallower northern part of the Goodwins that +the Norwegian brig struck in a north-easterly gale. + +The brig struck the Goodwins about high water with a terrific crash, +and was lifted up by successive billows and thumped down and hammered +on the hard sand. Contrary to the popular idea, ships sink but slowly +in the sand, which is practically very hard and close. When she took +the ground the crew rushed to the main rigging and the captain to the +fore rigging. The sea beat in clouds high over the vessel, and the +seven men lashed themselves in the rigging to prevent themselves being +shaken into the sea by the shocks. Again and again the heavy vessel +was lifted up and thumped down; while the weather was so thick that +neither could she be seen from the nearest lightship or the land, nor +could they on the vessel see the land, or form the least idea as to +where they were; conjecturing merely that they were aground on the +Goodwins. + +At last the mainmast went by the board, carrying with its ruin and +tangle of sails, spars and cordage, six of the crew into the terrible +billows. As each man unlashed himself he was carried away by the sea +before the eyes of the captain. The last of the crew was the ship's +boy, who, just as he cast off the fastenings by which he was lashed to +the rigging, managed to seize the jib sheet, which was hanging over the +side, and called piteously to the captain to save him. A great wave +dashed him against the ship's side, and his head was literally beaten +in. He too was carried away, and the captain was left alone. + +The foremast shortly afterwards gave way, but the captain saw the crash +coming, and lashed himself to the windlass, where, drenched and half +drowned, he was torn at by the waves which were hurled over the ship +for hours. + +At last the tide fell, and still, owing to the thick driving mist, no +one knew of the tragedy that was being enacted on the Goodwins. + +Alas! many similar disasters take place on the Goodwins, the details of +which are covered by the black and stormy nights on which they occur, +and nothing is ever found to reveal the awful secret but, perhaps, a +few fishermen's nets and buoys, or a mast, or a ship's boat. + +With the falling tide the sands round the wrecked vessel became dry for +miles, and the captain, half-crazed with grief and terror, climbed down +from the wreck and ran wildly about the sands. His first thought was +not to seek for a way of escape or help, but to find the bodies of his +crew, and to protect them from the mutilations of the sea. + +But he found none of them, and then he walked and wildly ran and ran +for miles, and waved his hands to the nearest but too-distant +lightship. Sick at heart, he then fastened on the wreck a pole with a +piece of canvas lashed to it, and, as we know, he was seen by God's +mercy about that time at Deal. + +As the tide again rose, evening came on, and again the captain had to +return to his lonely perch, and to lash himself again as before on the +little platform, barely three feet square, over which the sea had +beaten so fiercely a few hours before. What visions--what fancies, +what terrors may have possessed his soul as the cruel, crawling sea +again lapped against the vessel's sides in the darkness of that awful +night! + +Even now a gleam of mercy shone on him, for though the cold waves again +tumbled over and around him, they did not break up the little square +platform upon which he stood, and upon the holding together of which +his chance of living through the night depended. None may tell of the +workings of that man's mind during that long night. It is said that in +moments of great peril sometimes the whole course of the past life, +past but not obliterated, is summoned up in the most vivid minuteness. +Thrice blessed is the man who in that dread moment can trust himself +wholly to Him who is 'a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from +the tempest.' + +And yet, though he knew it not--though hope and faith itself may have +burned low, nay, been all but quenched in that poor wearied Norwegian +seaman's breast, though grim despair may have shouted in his ears, +'Curse God and die,' all that long night the lifeboat was close to him. +The dauntless coxswain and crew, though wearied, drenched and buffeted, +were 'determined to see the wreck before they went home.' To use their +own simple words, 'They hollered and shouted both outside and inside +them breakers, but you won't hear anything--not out there--the way the +sea was a roarin'.' + +At last morning broke. When the wind is easterly you can always see +the coming morning much sooner; and about 3.30, when the birds in the +sweet hedgerows were just beginning to twitter, the first soft, grey +dawn stole over the horizon in the east. + +The weather was clearing fast and 'fining down' when the coxswain +roused all hands to 'get up the anchor.' The foresail was set, and +then a man in the bows cried out, 'I can see something there--there's +the wreck!'--and, indeed, there it was, not more than four hundred +yards distant. + +Now the sky was lighted up a rosy red, so fast came on the 'jocund morn +a tiptoe' over the waves. + +'There's a man running away from the wreck!' said the coxswain. + +He had descried the bright blue lifeboat with the red wale round her +gunwale, and was running to meet her in the direction she was heading. +But the lifeboat was making short tacks to windward, and the coxswain +taking off his sou'-wester waved it to the running figure to come back +and follow the lifeboat on the other tack. + +Back again came the solitary man, and then at last was given the final +order from the coxswain, 'Run straight into the surf to meet him!' and +the lifeboat, carried on by a huge roller, grounded on the sands. + +Running, staggering, pressing on, the rescued man came close to the +lifeboat, and then fell forwards on his knees with face uplifted to the +heavens, and his back to the lifeboat. + +'They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the +deep. . . . Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He +bringeth them out of their distresses. . . . Oh that men would praise +the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children +of men!' + +Now rose the glorious sun, darting his golden javelins high up into the +blue majestical canopy; and cheerily into the water, now burnished by +the sunbeams, sprang Alfred Redsull, danger and hardship all forgotten, +with a line round his waist, to guide and help the exhausted man away +from the deadly 'fox-falls,' which were full of swirling water, and at +last into the lifeboat. Then with bated breath they learned the +story,--that all the rest were gone, and that the captain himself was +the solitary survivor. His hands were in gloves; they cut those off, +and also his boots, so swelled were hands and feet. They gave him a +dry pair of long stockings and woollen mittens, and they let down the +mizzen and made a lee for him under its shelter, for he was half +perished with the cold of that bitter night. After a few minutes he +insisted on again searching the sands for his lost crew, and the +coxswain and others of the lifeboatmen went with him. + +The lifeboat was by this time high and dry, for the water was falling +with great rapidity, and there was a mile of dry sand on each side of +her. The company of men now searched the sands, and a long way off the +coxswain saw a dark object. + +'What's that?' he said. + +That's my ship's rudder,' replied the captain, 'and I walked round it +yesterday evening when death was staring in my face.' + +Then they came to the wreck; her decks were gone, every atom of what +had once been on board her was swept clean out of her: she was split +open at her keel, and lay in halves, gaping. + +Inside this wrecked skeleton ship lay her foremast, and so crushed and +flattened out was the vessel that the men stepped from the sand at once +into the hollow shell--and there they saw, still holding together, the +little spot of planking, ten feet above them, on which the rescued man +had stood, and where he had been lashed: and they took down and brought +away as a memento the piece of canvas which he had fastened to the +pole, and which had caught the eyes of the boatmen at Deal; but the +bodies of the drowned crew were never seen again. + +When the tide rose the lifeboat got up anchor and made for home. +Crowds were assembled at the beach, expecting, as the British ensign +was hoisted at the peak, to find a rescued crew 'all saved' on board; +but, alas! only one wearied, overwrought man struggled up the beach. + +I led him to get some hot coffee and to give him a few minutes' repose; +but he could eat nothing, and he laid his head on his arms and sobbed +as if his heart would break for the friends that were gone, and +overwhelmed by the mercy of his own preservation. + +All honour to the brave coxswain and his lifeboat crew who sought and +searched for him through and through that dreadful midnight surf, and +stuck to their task with determined resolution, and who found and +rescued this poor Norwegian stranger from the very grasp of death! + +All honour to the brave![1] + + + +[1] The crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were--Richard Roberts +(coxswain), Alf. Redsull, W. Staunton, H. Roberts, W. Adams, E. Hall, +P. Sneller, W. Foster, W. Marsh, Thomas May, J. Marsh, T. Baker, R. +Williams, G. Foster. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GANGES + + I've lived since then in calm and strife, + Full fifty summers, a sailor's life; + And Death whenever he come to me + Shall come on the wide unbounded sea. + + +The rule that gales of wind prevail at the equinoxes is certainly +proved by the exceptions, but October 14, 1881, was an instance of a +gale so close to the autumnal equinox that it belonged rather to the +rule than to the exception. It had been blowing from the west all that +day, and the Downs was full of ships. Others were running back from +down Channel under lower fore top-sails, all ready to let go their +anchors. + +Sometimes in stress of weather a ship bringing up will lose her anchors +by not shortening sail sufficiently before she lets them go. She +preserves too much 'way' through the water, and she snaps the great +chain cable by the force of her momentum as if it had been a +pack-thread. + +The wind reached the force of a 'great gale,'--the entry I find in my +diary of that date. The boatmen say to the present day that it was +blowing a 'harricane,' and, according to the report of the coxswain of +the lifeboat, 'it was blowing a very heavy gale of wind.' There was, +therefore, no mere capful of wind, but a real, whole, tremendous gale. +Old salts are always ready to pity landsmen, and to overwhelm them with +'Bless you's!' when they venture to talk of a 'storm'; but the harsh, +steady roar of the wind on this day made it plainly and beyond doubt a +storm. + +Long lines of heavy dangerous rollers broke on Deal beach, and only the +first-class luggers could launch or live in the Downs, so great was the +sea. These splendid luggers being of five feet draught, and having +therefore a deeper hold of the water, could do better than a lifeboat +in the deep water of the Downs. They could fight to windward better, +and would not be so liable to upset under sail as a lifeboat; but this +only applies to the deep water. + +Put the best Deal lugger that ever floated alongside the present Deal +lifeboat, the Mary Somerville, in a furious sea of breakers on the +Goodwin Sands, and the whole state of affairs is altered. The lugger +would be swamped and overwhelmed in five minutes, while the lifeboat +would empty herself and live through it successfully. + +The fortunes of the vessels in the Downs on that day were varied. Some +were manfully riding out the gale; others were holding on to their one +remaining anchor, signalling for help, and as sorely in need of fresh +anchors and chains as ever was King Richard of a horse. Some had lost +both anchors and were drifting out to destruction; destruction meaning +the Goodwin Sands, on which a fearful surf was raging about two miles +under their lee. + +One of those driving vessels was the Ganges. She had run back from the +Channel to the Downs for shelter, and dropped her anchors running +before a strong tide and a heavy gale; having thus too much 'way' on +her, both the long chain cables parted, snapping close to the anchors, +and trailed from her bows. Her head was thus kept up to the wind, +while there was no sufficient check to her drift astern and outwards +towards the Goodwins. + +Efforts, but ineffectual efforts, were made to get rid of the trailing +cables, and therefore the vessel's head could not be got before the +wind, and she could not be steered, but drifted out faster and faster. +It is supposed that there was another anchor on the forecastle head, +which had somehow fouled, or, at any rate, could not be got loose from +some cause or other. + +In the confusion, the sails of the great vessel--for she was a +full-rigged ship--having been either neglected or imperfectly furled, +were torn adrift and blew to ribbons. These great strips of heavy +canvas cracked like monstrous whips with deafening noise, thrashing the +masts and rigging, and rendering any attempt to furl them or cut them +away, perilous in the extreme. + +The crew consisted of thirty-five hands 'all told,' of whom the +captain, mates, petty officers, and apprentices were English, while the +men before the mast were Lascars. Now I think my readers will agree +with me in believing that 'Jack,' with all his faults, is a more +reliable man to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with in time of danger +than Ali Mahmood Seng, the Lascar. In cold and storm and peril most of +us would prefer 'our ain folk' alongside of us. + +Some years ago a Board of Trade report contained a quotation from the +remarks of a firm of shipowners, to the effect that they largely +employed foreign sailors on board their vessels, because they were +(_a_) more sober, (_b_) more amenable to discipline, and (_c_) cheaper +than British sailors; but they added, 'we always keep a few Englishmen +among the crew to lead the way aloft on dark and stormy nights.' + +What a heart-stirring comment on the character of the British sailor is +there in the passage above quoted! Is there no remedy, and no +physician for the frailties and degradations of poor Jack, who, +whatever be his faults, 'leads the way aloft on dark and stormy +nights?' 'If the constituents of London mud can be resolved, if the +sand can be transformed into an opal,' to use the noble simile of a +great living writer, 'and the water into a drop of dew or a star of +snow, or a translucent crystal, and the soot into a diamond such as + + On the forehead of a queen + Trembles with dewy light,-- + +if such glorious transformations can be wrought by the laws of Nature +on the commixture of common elements, shall we despair that +transformations yet more glorious may be wrought in human souls now +thwarted and blackened by the malice of the devil, when they are +subjected to the far diviner and far more stupendous alchemy of the +Holy Spirit of God?' + +The moral to be drawn from these pages surely must be this--that there +is splendid material to work upon, the most undaunted heroism and the +noblest self-sacrifice, among the seafaring classes of our island. + +On this dark, tempestuous night, be the cause what it may, preventible +or otherwise, the Ganges drifted helplessly to her fate. A powerful +tug-boat got hold of her, but the ship dragged the tug-boat astern with +her, towards the Goodwins, until at last the tug-boat snapped her great +15-inch hawser, and then gave up the attempt and returned to land. + +The Ganges now burned flares and blue lights for help. Noting her +rapid approach to the Goodwins, on which an awful sea was running, and +the helpless and dishevelled condition of the vessel, the Gull +lightship fired guns and rockets at intervals of five minutes. + +This is the proper and recognised summons to the lifeboats, but long +before the lightship fired her signal, the Deal boatmen saw the peril +of the vessel; and one of their number, Tom Adams, ran to the coxswain +of the Deal lifeboat with the news: 'Tug's parted her, and she'll be on +the Goodwins in five minutes!' 'Then we'll go,' said the coxswain, and +he rang the bell and summoned a crew. + +As it was one of the wildest nights on which the Deal lifeboat was ever +launched, the very best men on Deal beach came forward to the struggle +for a place in the lifeboat, and out of their number a crew of fifteen +was got. + +R. Roberts, at this time the second coxswain, was afloat in his lugger, +putting an anchor and chain on board the Eurydice, and in his absence +Tom Adams helped the coxswain to steer the lifeboat, which literally +flew before the blast, to the rescue. + +The squalls of this tempest were regular 'smokers,' a word which +signifies that the crests of the waves were blown into the astonished +air in smoking clouds of spray; and the lifeboat was stripped for the +fight, reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail. I should say +that running out before the wind the mizzen was not set, and they +frequently had to haul down the reefed foresail, and let her run under +bare poles right away from the land into the hurricane. + +No one can appraise the nature of this dangerous task who has not run +before a gale off shore for five or six miles to leeward, and then +tried to get back home dead to windwards. No one who has ever tried +it, and got back, will ever forget it, if his voyage, or rather his +escape from death, has been effected in an open boat. + +Nor can any one realize how furious and terrible is the aspect of the +sea in a gale off shore, and especially in the surf of the Goodwins, +who has not been personally through such an experience. + +The Royal National Lifeboat Institution pay the men who form the +lifeboat crew on each occasion generously and to the utmost limit their +funds will admit. No one who knows the facts of the case and the +management of this splendid Institution can have any doubt on this +subject. Each man is paid L1 for a night service, and 10_s_. for +service in the daytime. If he be engaged night and day, he is paid +30_s_. This single launch cost L18--that is, L15 to the fifteen men +who formed the crew, and L3 to the forty helpers who were engaged in +launching and heaving up the lifeboat on her return. + +But no money payment could compensate the men for the risk to their +lives--lives precious to women and children at home; and no money +payment could supply the impulse which fired these men and supported +them in their work of rescue. + +One of the men in the lifeboat on this occasion, Henry Marsh, and his +name will end this chapter, was the man referred to in Chapter II, who +had on the day he was going to be married, many years before, rushed +into a lugger bound to the rescue of a ship's crew on the Goodwins. + +Notwithstanding the splendid services of the Deal lifeboatmen in many a +heart-stirring rescue, they seem utterly unconscious of having done +anything heroic. This is a remarkable and most interesting feature in +their character. There is no boasting, no self-consciousness, and not +the faintest word of self-praise ever crosses their lips. The noblest, +the purest motives and impulses that can actuate man glow within their +breasts, as they risk their lives for others, and they nevertheless are +dumb respecting their deeds. They die, they dare, and they suffer in +silence. + +A lifeboat rescue killed poor Robert Wilds, the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat. The present second coxswain of the same lifeboat, E. Hanger, +was struck down after a rescue by pneumonia. J. Mackins, the coxswain +of the Walmer lifeboat, was also seized by pneumonia after a splendid +service across the Goodwins, when his lifeboat was buried thirty times +in raging seas; S. Pearson, once coxswain of the Walmer lifeboat, died +of Bright's disease, the result of exposure; and on the occasion of the +rescue of the Ganges, one of the crew, R. Betts, had his little finger +torn off. The Lifeboat Institution gave him a generous donation. But +the rescues by the Deal lifeboatmen are done at the risk, and sometimes +at the cost, of their health, their limbs and their lives. + +There is a Kentish proverb that 'there are more fools in Kent than in +any other county of England,' because more men go to sea from Kent than +from any other county in England, Devon coming next; but Kent on this +wild night need not have blushed for the folly of her sailor sons, +until it be proved folly to succour and to save. + +The Ganges had by this time struck on the middle part of the Goodwins, +and the sea was breaking mast-high over her. Her lights and flares had +gone out, and the lifeboat had the greatest difficulty in finding her. +Just when the lifeboatmen were in perplexity, she again burned blue +lights, and these guided the advancing boat. When they came close to +the wreck they found her head was lying about north, so that the great +wind and sea were beating right on her broadside, and a strong tide was +also running in the same direction right across the ship. + +Just before the arrival of the lifeboat, in the bewilderment of terror, +one of the boats of the wrecked vessel was lowered, and one English +apprentice and four Lascars sprang into it. In the boiling surf which +raged alongside, the boat was upset in an instant, and with the +exception of one Lascar, who grasped a chain-plate, all were lost, +their drowning shrieks being only faintly heard as they were swept into +the caldron of the Goodwins to leeward. There can be no doubt that a +merciful insensibility came soon to their relief. To swim was +impossible in raging surf, and there would be little suffering in the +speedy death of those poor fellows. I once heard a sailor say to +another one moonlight night in the Mediterranean, 'Death is nothing, if +you are ready for it;' and if there be a good clear view of the country +beyond the river, and of the King of that land, as Shepherd, Saviour, +Friend, the writer firmly holds with his sailor friend, long since lost +at sea, and now with God, that 'Death is nothing, if you are ready for +it.' + +The position of the lifeboat had to be now chosen with reference to +tide, wind and sea. Had the lifeboat anchored close outside the +vessel, there would have been the fearful danger of falling masts; and, +besides this, the tide would have swept her completely away from the +wreck, and would have prevented her getting back, had she once been +driven to leeward; hence, as shown in the diagram, they were driven to +anchor to windward of the vessel, or right between her and the land. + +[Illustration: Position of the Ganges on the Sands.] + +They first tried to get to the stern of the vessel, but they found this +position unsuitable, and being baffled, they hauled up to their anchor +with great trouble, and approached the bows of the wreck, having veered +out their cable again. + +There was, be it remembered, an enormous sea, which during all the +struggles of the men broke with fury over the lifeboat, and kept her +full to her thwarts all the night, bursting in clouds of spray, and of +course drenching the lifeboatmen. + +They now got to the bows of the wreck, where the strong off-tide +drifted them right under the jib-boom and bowsprit. Looking up, they +could just dimly see the jib-boom and bowsprit covered with men, who +had, in their terror, swarmed out there to drop into the lifeboat. + +As they were hoisted up on the crest of a great breaker, which also +filled them, the great iron martingale or dolphin striker of the +vessel, pointed like an arrow, came so near the lifeboat that the men +saw that a little heavier sea would have driven the spear head of the +martingale through the lifeboat. One of the crew had a very narrow +escape of being impaled. This novel danger drove them back again +therefore to their anchor, to which they had with great difficulty +again to haul the lifeboat; and in reply to the imploring cries and +shouts of those on the jib-boom, they shouted back, 'We're not going to +leave you!' + +The lifeboat now lay to windward of the vessel, in the full blast of +the tempest, and exposed to the full sweep of the breakers. The +official report of the coxswain was: 'We succeeded in getting alongside +after a long time and with great difficulty, through a very heavy sea +and at great risk of life, as the sea was breaking over the ship.' + +As the lifeboat rode to windward of the wreck, the shouts of those on +board were inaudible, and their gestures and signs in the dim lantern +light could not be understood by the lifeboatmen. Having thrown their +line to the vessel, a weightier line was now passed and made fast on +board the Ganges, and in order to remedy the confusion and give the +necessary directions to save the lives of the distressed sailors, one +of the lifeboatmen, Henry Marsh, volunteered to jump into the sea with +a line round his waist, to be dragged through the breakers on board the +wreck. Heavy seas were bursting on the broadside and breaking over the +vessel, so that it was a marvel he escaped with his life. + +He fastened a jamming hitch round his waist and then with a shout of +'Haul away!' sprang into the midnight surf. Some said, 'He's mad!' +others said, 'He's gone!' and then, 'Haul away, hard!' He fought +through the sea, he struggled, he worked up the ship's side, against +which he was once heavily dashed, and he gained the deck, giving +confidence to all on board: the brave fellow being sixty-five years of +age at the time. + +The vessel was during this event thumping and beating out over the +Goodwins, and was at last, when finally wrecked and stuck fast, not +more than one hundred yards from safety and deep water, having thumped +for miles across the Sands. The lifeboat had to follow her on her +awful journey and almost to the outer edge of the Goodwins. + +Her masts had stood up to this time, and she had been listing over to +the east, or away from the wind and the sea, but now all over and +within the ship were heard loud noises of cracking beams and the sharp +harsh snap of timbers breaking. The crew of the wreck, in dread of +instant death, now again burned blue lights. Just before the lifeboat +approached, as if in a death-throe, the ship reeled inwards, and her +tottering masts leaned to port, or towards the lifeboat and against the +wind--thus adding great peril to the work of rescue. + +By the directions of the coxswain and the lifeboatmen the exhausted +crew were at last got down life-lines into the lifeboat, seventeen in +number, including the captain, mates and apprentices; while twelve +Lascars got into the Ramsgate lifeboat, which had about this time +arrived to help in the work of rescue. + +One of the features of this terrible night which perhaps impressed the +memories of the lifeboat crew most of all, was the noise of the torn +sails above their heads as they fought the sea below. Just before +shoving off with the rescued crew, the words of the lifeboatmen were, +'We'll all go mad with that awful noise.' + +At last all were on board, thirty-two souls in all, and at two o'clock +a.m. the lifeboat got up sail for home, which lay seven miles off dead +to windward. + +The canvas they set will give some idea of the nature of the +struggle--a reefed mizzen and two reefs in the storm foresail. Thus +reefed down, they struggled to get hold of the land, which they finally +did at four o'clock on that dark wintry morning, landing the rescued +men on Deal beach, when boatmen generously took them to their houses[1]. + +Not the faintest publicity has ever before been given to the details of +this gallant achievement, which I now rescue from obscurity and +oblivion. + +I cannot refrain from recording a previous gallant deed of Henry Marsh, +before mentioned. On February 13, 1870, there was a furious tempest +blowing, with the wind from E.N.E. All the vessels at anchor in the +Downs had been, with one exception, blown ashore and shattered into +fragments. + +A Dutch brig, sugar-laden, went ashore in the afternoon opposite Deal +Castle, and was broken up and vanished in ten minutes; others went +ashore at Kingsdown, and late in the evening, opposite Walmer Castle, +another brig came ashore, also sugar-laden--a French vessel with an +English pilot on board. + +The gale was accompanied with snow squalls, and Marsh, hearing of the +wrecks along Deal and Walmer beach, determined to go and see for +himself. His wife, as is the manner of wives, repressed his rash and +impulsive intentions, and said, 'Don't you go up near them!' But Marsh +said, 'I'll just take a bit of bread and cheese in my pocket, and I'll +take my short pipe with me, and I'll be back soon.' He laid great +stress and emphasis on having 'his short pipe' with him, probably +reserving a regular long-shanked 'churchwarden' for home use. + +He found the beach crowded with spectators, and the sea breaking blue +water over the French brig. Her rigging was thick with ice, and the +snow froze as it fell. She was rocking wildly in and out, exposing her +deck as she swung outwards to the full sweep of the tremendous easterly +sea. Between her and the beach there were about ten feet deep of +water, which with each giant recoil swept round her in fury. + +Marsh asked, 'Are all the people out of that there brig?' 'All but +two,' said the bystanders, 'and we can't get no answer from them. +They're gone, they are!' + +Said Marsh, 'Won't nobody go to save them?' + +'Which way are you going to save them?' said one; and all said the +same. 'I'm a-going,' said Marsh. 'Harry, don't go!' cried many an old +sailor on the beach. 'Here, hold my jacket!' said Marsh. And I verily +believe he was thinking chiefly of the preservation of his short pipe. +'Don't you hold me back! I'm a-going to try! Let go of me!' and +seizing the line which led from the rocking brig to the shore, Marsh +rushed neck deep in a moment into the surf. Swept the next instant off +his feet, on, hand over hand, he went; swayed out under her counter, +back towards the shore, still he lives! Dashed against the ship's +side, while some shout 'He's killed,' up he clambers still, hand over +hand; and as the vessel reels inwards, down, down the rope Marsh slips +into the water and the awful recoil. 'He is gone!' they cry. No! up +again! with true bull-dog tenacity, Marsh struggles. And at last, +nearly exhausted, he wins the deck amid such shouting as seldom rings +on Deal beach. + +Taking breath, he first fastens a line round his waist and to a +belaying pin; and then he discovers a senseless form, Holbrooke, the +pilot, a friend of his own, who, fast dying with the cold and drenching +freezing spray, was muttering, 'The poor boy! the poor boy!' + +'William!' said Marsh. 'Who are you?' was the reply. 'I'm Henry +Marsh, and I'm come to save you.' 'No, I'll be lost; I'll be lost!' +'No you won't,' said Marsh, 'I'll send you ashore on the rope.' 'No, +you'll drown me! you'll drown me!' + +And then finding the poor French boy was indeed lost and swept +overboard, alone he passed the rope round the nearly insensible man, +protecting and holding him as the seas came; and finally watching when +the vessel listed in, alone he got him on the toprail of the bulwarks, +with an exertion of superhuman strength, and then, with shouts to the +people ashore, 'Are you ready?' and 'I'm a-coming!' threw Holbrooke, in +spite of himself, into the sea; and both were safely drawn ashore. + +The people nearly smothered Marsh when he got ashore, but he ran home, +his clothes frozen stiff when he got in; and I have no doubt that the +'short pipe' played no insignificant part in his recovery. + +Eleven years afterwards, this same Henry Marsh was dragged by a rope +from the lifeboat to the Ganges, as described in the beginning of this +chapter, through the breakers on the Goodwin Sands at midnight; and he +is now (1892), my readers will be glad to hear, alive and hearty, at +the age of seventy-five, and I rejoice to say 'looking for and hasting +unto that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God, +and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' + +There can be few, I think, of my readers who will not find their hearts +beat faster as they read this story, and few will hesitate to say, +'Bravely done!' + + + +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were--R. +Wilds (coxswain), Thomas Adams, Henry Marsh, T. Holbourn, Henry +Roberts, James Snoswell, T. Cribben, J. May, T. May, George Marsh, H. +Marsh, R. Betts, and Frank Roberts. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE EDINA + + The oak strikes deeper as its boughs + By furious blasts are driven. + + +The Edina was one of a great fleet of ships at anchor in the Downs on +January 16, 1884. Hundreds of vessels were there straining at their +anchors--vessels of many nations, and of various rigs. There were +picturesque red-sailed barges anchored close in shore, while even there +the sea flew over them. Farther out were Italians, Norwegians and +Yankees, all unmistakable to the practised eye; French _chasse-marées_, +Germans, Russians and Greeks were there; and each vessel was +characterised by some nautical peculiarity. Of course the greater +number were our own English vessels, as plainly to be pronounced +British as ever was John Bull in the midst of Frenchmen or Spaniards. + +It was blowing a heavy gale from the W.S.W., and towards night, +accompanied by furious rain-squalls and thunder, the gale increased to +a storm. The most powerful luggers along the beach tried to launch, +but as the tide was high they had not run enough to get sufficient +impetus, and were therefore beaten back on the beach by the surf. + +[Illustration: Dangerous work.] + +Some vessels were blown clean out of the Downs, and away from their +anchors. Indeed, when the weather cleared between the squalls, a +pitiable number of blue light signals of distress were seen in the +distance beyond the North Foreland. And it is probable that vessels +were lost that night on the Goodwins of which no one has ever heard. + +When the tide fell, about 8.45, flares and rockets were seen coming +from the Brake, a very dangerous and partially rocky 'Sand' lying close +to the Goodwin Sands. Then the Gull lightship also fired guns and +rockets. There being obviously a vessel in danger on or near either +the Goodwins or the Brake Sand, the Deal lifeboat bell was rung; and a +crew was obtained out of the hundred men who rushed to get a place. +The beach was smoothed to give the lifeboat a run, she was let go, and, +in contrast with the failure of other boats, launched successfully. + +In receiving the report of the coxswain next day, I asked him what time +precisely he launched. Now that evening, about 9 p.m., I was sitting +in my own house listening to the long-protracted roar of the wind, and +just when I thought the strong walls could bear no more, there came a +blinding flash of lightning which paled the lamps, almost +simultaneously with a peal of thunder that made the foundations of the +house tremble. When I asked the coxswain next day what time exactly he +launched, his reply was, 'Just in that clap of thunder.' + +This may help my readers to depict the scene in its appalling grandeur, +and to realise the meaning of the words, 'A vessel in distress,' and +the launch of the lifeboat on its sacred errand. + +The flares which had been burning now suddenly stopped. This, however, +was owing to the distressed vessel having exhausted her stock of +rockets and torches. + +Passing under the stern of a schooner which they hailed, the gallant +lifeboat crew were pointed out the vessel that had been burning them, +riding with a red light in her rigging to attract notice. Making for +her, they anchored as usual ahead, and veered down eighty fathoms. In +the gale and heavy sea they found the anchor would not hold, and they +had to bend on another cable, and pay out a hundred fathoms, and at +last they got alongside. + +The captain cried out, 'Come on board and save the vessel! My crew are +all gone!' And indeed she was in a sore plight. + +That evening after dark, about 6 p.m., this brig, the Edina, had been +riding out the gale in the Downs. In a furious blast a heavy sea broke +her adrift from her anchor, and she came into helpless collision with a +ship right astern of her. Grinding fiercely into this other very large +vessel, the Edina tore herself free with loss of bowsprit and jib-boom, +all her fore-rigging being in dire ruin and confusion. + +In the collision, six of the crew of the Edina jumped from her rigging +to the other ship with which they were in collision, leaving only three +men, the captain, mate, and boy, on board the Edina. By great efforts +they, however, were able to let go another anchor, but that did not +bite, and the Edina kept dragging with the wreckage and wild tangle of +bowsprit and jib-boom hanging over her bows and beating against her +side. + +One of the six men who had jumped from the Edina in the panic of the +collision had, alas! jumped too short, and had fallen between the two +vessels. The next day his body was found by the lifeboatmen entangled +in the wreckage, and under the bows of the Edina. + +The Edina in her wrecked and crippled condition had dragged till she +got to the very edge of the Brake Sand. She had dragged for two miles, +and at last her anchor held fast when within twenty fathoms or forty +yards of the Brake Sand. She was stopped just short of destruction as +the sea was breaking heavily under her stern, and had she drifted a few +more yards she would have struck the deadly Brake, and have perished +with those on board before the lifeboat could have reached her. + +In setting off his rockets, the unfortunate captain had blown away a +piece of his hand, and was in much suffering, when the advent of the +lifeboat proclaimed that he was not to be abandoned to destruction. +The vessel was riding in only three fathoms of water, and as a furious +sea was running, she was plunging bows under. Six of the lifeboatmen +sprang on board and turned to clearing the wreck--the remainder of the +men remaining in the lifeboat, as they feared every moment the ship +would break adrift and strike. + +They worked with the energy of men working for life, but they took +three hours to clear away the wreck; this being absolutely necessary in +order to get at the windlass and raise the anchor. + +At morning dawn they found the body of the poor sailor who had failed +to spring to the other vessel; they got up anchor, they set the sails, +and they brought the vessel out of her dangerous position into Ramsgate +Harbour. + +That day four weeks the Edina came out of Ramsgate refitted and ready +for sea. I went on board the vessel on my daily task as Missions to +Seamen Chaplain in the Downs, and talked with the captain over the +events of the night as here described, and the merciful Providence +which prevented him striking on the Brake Sand. 'What brought you up,' +I asked him, 'when you had already dragged for miles?' + +The captain pointed me to a roll of large-printed Scripture texts, a +leaf for each day, for four weeks. 'Why,' said he, 'that's the very +leaf that was turned the night of the 26th of last month'--and going +close to the 'Seaman's Roll,' as this Eastbourne publication is +called--'There,' said he, 'is the very text.' + +It ran thus: 'Wherefore, also, He is able to save them to the uttermost +that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession +for them.' + +'And that,' said the captain, 'was the anchor that held my ship that +awful night.' + +It is hard to doubt that He who once stilled the tempest, and granted +to this humble sailor the mighty gift of Faith, on that stormy night +'delivered His servant that trusted in Him.' + +The Edina went on her way to Pernambuco. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FREDRIK CARL + + There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. + + +On October 30, 1885, the small Danish schooner, the Fredrik Carl, ran +aground on the Goodwin Sands. She struck on the outer part of the +North Sand Head, about eight miles from the nearest land, and two miles +from the well-known Whistle Buoy, which ever and always sends forth its +mournful note of warning--too often unavailing. + +Summoned by the lightship's guns and rockets to the rescue--for the red +three-masted North Sand Head lightship was only two miles from the +wreck--the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed by the steam-tug Aid, came to the +spot, and, after a long trial, failed to get the schooner afloat, and, +having taken her crew out of her, returned to the shore. + +At low water the next day, October 31, the vessel lay high and dry on +the Goodwin Sands. She was tolerably upright, having bedded herself +slightly in the sand, and all her sails were swinging loose as the wind +chose to sway them. There was no rent in her side that could be seen, +and to all appearance she was safe and sound--only she was stranded on +the Goodwins, from which _vestigia nulla retrorsum_. As in the Cave of +Cacus, once there, you are there for ever, and few are the cases in +which vessels fast aground on the Goodwins ever again get away from the +great ship-swallower. + +[Illustration: The anchor of death. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + +The schooner had a cargo of oats, and if she could be got off would be +a very valuable prize to her salvors. But 'if'--and we all know that +'there's much virtue in your "if".' + +However, when morning broke on October 31, many of the Deal boatmen, +whose keen eyes saw a possibility of a 'hovel,' came in their powerful +'galley punts' to see about this 'if,' and try if they could not +convert it into a reality. Accordingly, two of the Deal boats, taking +different directions, the Wanderer and the Gipsy King, approached the +Goodwin Sands near the north-west buoy. + +On this day there was just enough sea curling and tumbling on the edge +of the sands to make landing on them difficult even for the skilled +Deal boatmen. For the inexperienced it would have been dangerous in +the extreme. + +There were four Deal men in each boat, and they only got ashore with +difficulty, one of the boats' cables having parted; and they had all to +jump out and wade waist-deep in the surf, as they dared not let their +weighty boats touch the bottom. + +Two boatmen remained in each boat, for neglect of this precaution has +caused accidents frightful to think of, on the Goodwins; and the +remaining four boatmen, daring fellows of the sea-dog and amphibious +type, walked across the sands, dripping with the brine. As a matter of +fact, two of them were not only Deal boatmen, but were sailors who had +been round and round the world, and one was an old and first-rate +man-o'-war's man. + +Sometimes they met a deep gully with six feet of water in it, which +they had to make a circuit round, or to swim; and farther on a shallow +pond, in the midst of which would be a deep-blue 'fox-fall,' perhaps +twenty feet deep of sea-water. Then, having avoided this, more dry, +hard sand, rippled by the ebbing tide, and then a dry, deep cleft--for +the Goodwins are full of surprises--and then came more wading. + +Wading on the Goodwins conveys a very peculiar sensation to the naked +feet. The sand, so dense when dry, at once becomes friable and +quick--indeed, it is hard to believe there is not a living creature +under the feet--and if you stand still you slowly sink, feet and +ankles, and gradually downwards. As long as you keep moving, it is +hard enough, but less so when under water. + +The surroundings are deeply impressive. The waves plash at your feet, +and the seagull, strangely tame, screams close overhead; but glorious +as is the unbroken view of sky and ocean, the loneliness of the place, +and the unutterable mystery of the sea, and the deep sullen roar, and +the memories of the long sad history of the sands, oppress your soul. +Tragedies of the most fearful description have been enacted on the very +spot whereon you stand. Terror, frozen into despair, blighted hope, +faith victorious even in death, have thrilled the hearts of thousands +hard by the place where you stand, and which in a few hours will be ten +feet under water. Here you can see the long line of a ship's ribs +swaddling down into the sands, and there is the stump of the mast to +which the seamen clung last year till the lifeboat snatched them from a +watery grave. + +Buried deep in the sands are the cargoes of richly-laden ships, and +their 'merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, +and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet.' 'To dig there' (if +that could be done, say the Deal boatmen), 'would be all as one as +going to Californy;' and who should know the Goodwins or the secret of +the sea better than they do? 'Only those who brave its dangers +comprehend its mystery.' + +Keenly intent on getting to the wreck, the four men hastened on, and +they perceived that other boatmen had landed at similar risk, at other +points of the sands, and were also making for the wreck. + +The four boatmen reached the vessel, found ropes hanging over her side, +all sails set, and a part of the Ramsgate lifeboat's cable chopped off +short, telling the tale of her unsuccessful efforts the night before to +get the vessel off. They clambered up, and found others there before +them, and soon more came, and eventually there were twelve boatmen on +board. + +All eagerly discussed the chances of getting her off. To the +unpractised eye she seemed sound enough; but, after a thorough +overhaul, some saying she could be kept afloat, and others the reverse, +it was found that the water had got into her up to the level of her +cabin-seats, and that a bag of flour in one of her cabin-lockers was +sodden with salt-water. Judging by these signs that the water would +again come into her when the tide rose, and that she was broken up, the +four men whose journey across the sands has been described, decided +with sound judgment to leave her to her fate, and with them sided four +other men, who also came to the conclusion that it was beyond the power +of their resources to save her. + +George Marsh and George Philpot with six others took this view. +Looking overboard, they found the rising tide just beginning to lap +round her. + +'Best for us to bolt,' said Marsh; and seeing there was no time to +lose, the eight men came down the ropes and made for their boats, more +than a mile off; leaving the four others, who took a different view, on +board. The eight men ran, and ran the harder when they found the wind +and sea had increased, and having run and waded as before half the +distance, they made a halt and called a council of war. There were now +serious doubts whether they would be able to reach their boats, which +they could see a long way off heaving on the swell, which was becoming +heavier every minute. + +Some said, 'Best go back to the ship--we'll never reach the boats.' +And indeed it was very doubtful if they could do either; for the +flood-tide was now coming like a racehorse over the sands, and hiding +its fox-falls and gullies. Others said, 'You'll never get back to the +ship now; there's deep water round her bows by this time! Come on!' + +But some of the men had left brothers on the vessel, and this attracted +three of the company back to the wreck, and Marsh was persuaded to join +the returning band. And so they parted, there being danger either way: +Marsh with three others back to the ship, and Philpot with three others +to the boats; and both parties now ran for their lives. + +Looking back, they saw Marsh standing in uncertainty, and they waved to +him. But he finally decided--little knowing at the time how momentous +was his decision--for the ship. He and his party reached it with great +difficulty, finding deep water around it, and they were at the last +minute pulled on board through the water by lines slung to them from +their friends. + +Of the others, each man for himself, as best he could, 'pursues his +way,'-- + + And swims or sinks or wades or creeps, + +till they all come as close as the rough sea permits them to their +boats, and stand breathless on a narrow and rapidly contracting patch +of sand. + +'Upon this bank and shoal' clustered the four men. The sea was so +heavy that the weighty Deal boats did not dare to back into it. The +men at first thought of trying to swim to them; but a strong tide +running right across their course rendered that out of the question. + +Fortunately a tug-boat hove in sight, bound to the wrecked schooner, +and seeing the men waving and their dangerous plight, eased her +engines. Deal boats were towing astern, and Deal boatmen were on +board, and out of their number Finnis and Watts bravely volunteered to +go to the rescue in the tug-boat's punt. + +This boat being light and without ballast, they at considerable risk +brought off the four men to their own boats, when they forthwith, +forgetting past hardship and perils, got up sail for the wrecked +schooner, to see how their comrades who had returned, and those who +remained on board, were faring. + +They found the tug-boat close to the wreck--say half a mile off--and +also many other Deal boats; but none ventured nearer than that +distance, and none could get nearer. + +The wind, which had been blowing from south-west freshly, was dropping +into a calm, while great rollers from an entirely opposite quarter were +tumbling in on the Goodwins. In fact, a great north-easterly sea was +breaking in thunder on the sands, and around and over the vessel. The +eight men on board her were therefore beset as if in a beleaguered +city, and as nothing but a lifeboat could live for a moment in that +tremendous surf, the crews of the Deal boats, astounded at the sight, +were simply helpless spectators of their comrades' danger, and torn +with distress and sympathy, as they saw them take to the rigging of the +vessel. + +An hour before this pitch of distress had been reached, a galley punt +had gone to Deal for the lifeboat, and in the afternoon, about 3 p. m., +the boat reached Deal beach with one hand on board. He jumped out, and +staggered up the beach to tell the coxswain of the lifeboat that eight +boatmen were on board the wreck, and that nothing but a lifeboat could +reach the vessel, as there was a dreadful sea all round her, and that +his own brother was among the number on board. + +The Deal boatmen are not slow to render help when help is needed, and +indifference to the cry of distress is not one of their failings; but +when they heard of their own friends and neighbours, their comrades in +storm and in rescue and lifeboat work, thus beset and in imminent +peril, their eagerness was beyond the power of words to describe. From +the time the bell rang to 'man the lifeboat' to the moment she struck +the water only seven minutes passed! + +A fresh south-west breeze brought her to the North Sand Head, and round +and outside it to the melancholy spot where, in the waning autumnal +light, they could just discern the wreck. They passed through the +crowd of Deal boats, and close to the tug-boat; but no one spoke or +hailed the other, as all knew what had to be done, and the nature of +the coming struggle. + +The south-west breeze had now dropped completely, and they encountered, +as explained before, the strange phenomenon of a great windless swell +from the north-east, rolling in before the wind, which was evidently +behind it, and which indeed blew a gale next day, though it was now an +absolute calm. Great tumbling billows came in from different quarters, +and met and crossed each other in the most furious collision. There +was tossing about in the sea at the time an empty cask, which was +caught in the clash together of two such waves, and was shot clean out +of the water as high as the wrecked schooner's mast, or thirty feet +into the air, by the force of the blow. The water-logged wreck was now +nearly submerged, or just awash, her bulwark-top-rail being now and +then exposed and covered again with the advance and recoil of each wave. + +Aft there were a raised quarter-deck and a wheel-house, behind the +remains of which three of the boatmen took refuge, while the five +others climbed into the rigging, but over them even there the sea broke +in clouds. + +As there was no tide and no wind, it was impossible to sheer the +lifeboat, and, whatever position was taken by anchoring, in that only +the lifeboat would ride after veering down before the sea. The +coxswains, therefore, had to try again and again before they got the +proper position to veer down from. + +At last, however, they succeeded, and anchoring the lifeboat by the +stern, they veered down bows first towards the wreck into the midst of +this breezeless but awful sea--bows first, lest the rudder should be +injured. + +The cable was passed round the bollard or powerful samson-post, and +then a turn was taken round a thwart; and the end was held by Roberts, +the second coxswain, with his face towards the stern, and his back to +the wreck, watching the billows as they charged in line, and easing his +cable or getting it in when the strain had passed. + +The heavy rollers drove the lifeboat before them like a feather, and +end on towards the wreck, till her cable brought her up with a jerk. +The strain of these jerks was so great, that, even though Roberts eased +his cable, each wave seemed to all hands as if it would tear the after +air-box out of the lifeboat, or drag the lifeboat itself in two pieces. + +They veered down to about five fathoms of the wreck; closer they dared +not go, lest a sea should by an extra strain dash their bows into the +wreck, when not one of all the company would have been saved, and the +lifeboat herself would have perhaps been broken up. + +Then they saw their friends and comrades and heard them cry, 'Try to +save us if you can!' And the men said afterwards, 'We got in such a +flurry to save them, that what we did in a minute we thought took us an +hour.' + +At last the cane and lead were thrown from the lifeboat by a stalwart +boatman standing in the bows. A heavier line was then drawn on board +by the light cane line, and the boatmen came down from the rigging, +and, having made themselves fast to pins and staunchions, sheltered +behind the bulwark and the wheel-house, seeing the approach of rescue. + +Enough of the slack of the weightier line was kept on board the +wreck--the end being there made fast--to permit the middle of the rope +being fastened round a man and of his being dragged away from the wreck +through the sea into the lifeboat. A clove-hitch was put by George +Marsh over the shoulders of the first man, who watched his chance for +'a smooth,' jumped into the waves, and, after a long struggle--for the +line fouled--was hauled safe into the lifeboat. Marsh on the wreck saw +after this that the line was clear, and that no kink or knot stopped +its running freely. + +Reading these lines in our quiet homes, and in a comfortable arm-chair +by the fireside, it is hard to realise the position of those eight +boatmen. They were drenched and buried in each wallowing sea, which +strove to tear them from the pin to which each man was belayed by the +line round his waist; and their ears were stunned with the bellow of +each bursting wave. But, on the other hand, their eyes beheld the +grand and cheering spectacle of their brethren in the lifeboat +struggling manfully with death for their sakes, and they heard their +undaunted shouts. + +If for a moment they cast off or lengthened their lifelines, they were +washed all over the slippery deck; and brave George Marsh, who was +specially active, was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, having been +dashed against a corner of the wheel-house. + +The wheel-house up to this time had afforded some shelter to the men +who ventured on the deck of the wreck, lashed as just explained, of +course, to some pin or bollard; and even they had now and then to rush +up the rigging when a weighter [Transcriber's note: weightier?] wave +was seen coming. But just at this time a great mass of water advanced +and wallowed clean over the wreck, carrying the wheelhouse away with +it, and bursting, where it struck the masts and booms, into a cloud: it +was too solid to burst much, but it just 'wallowed' over the wreck. + +Successive seas are, of course, unlike in height, volume, and +demeanour. One comes on board and falls with a solid, heavy lop--there +may be twenty tons of blue water in it--the next rushes along with wild +speed and fury. + +Roberts in the lifeboat now saw a great roller of the latter +description advancing; ready to ease his cable, he cried, 'Look out! +Look out! Hold on, my lads!' + +But before Wilds, the coxswain, who was not a young man, could turn +round and grasp a thwart, the sea was on him, and drove him with great +force against the samson-post, breaking over and covering the lifeboat +fore and aft in fury. This sea would have washed every man off the +wreck if they had not had ropes round their waists, and fastened +themselves to something; and it most certainly stupefied them and +half-drowned them, fastened as they were. + +The blow which Wilds in the lifeboat received would have killed him but +that he was wearing his thick cork life-belt. His health was so much +affected that he never came afloat again, and he never recovered the +strain, the shock, and the exposure of this day. He was a brave man, +and a stout, honest Englishman. + + Faithful below he did his duty, + And now he's gone aloft. + +And the writer has good reason for sure and certain hope that this is +so. His post as coxswain has since been filled, and nobly filled, by +R. Roberts, for many years second coxswain. + +In meeting this sea, which struck down poor Wilds with such force, the +lifeboat stood straight up on her stern and reared, as the men +expressed it, 'like a vicious horse'; and so much did the cable spring, +that the lifeboat was driven to within a fathom, or six feet, of the +wreck, and was withdrawn the next instant to fifteen fathoms distance +by the recoil of the cable. + +One by one the men were dragged through the breakers into the lifeboat, +until at last only two remained on the wreck, George Marsh and another +man. It was Marsh, it will be remembered, who in the earlier part of +the day had been persuaded to return to the wreck across the sand, and +it was Marsh now who in each case had passed the clove-hitch round his +comrades, sending them before himself. He was a very smart sailor and +a brave man, and with wise forethought he had also passed the end of +the veering line, on which the men were dragged through the surf, over +the main boom of the wreck, to let it run out clear of anything which +might have caught it, and, in fact, was the leader of the men in peril +on the wreck. + +The last two men intended to come together, when another great billow, +notice of its advance being given by Tom Adams, came towering and +seething, filled the lifeboat, as usual, and covered the ship--indeed, +breaking right into her fore-top-sail! That is, thirty feet above her +deck! + +When the sea passed, the two remaining men, who had been tied together, +were not to be seen. + +The men in the lifeboat pulled at the line, but it was somehow and +somewhere fast to something. And then they shouted, and minutes went +by, hours as it seemed to them. At last one of the men--but not +Marsh--slowly raised his head and seemed to move about in a dazed +condition. + +'Where's Marsh?' cried the lifeboatmen. + +'Can't find him!' he replied. + +'Is he drowned?' + +'Is he washed away?' + +And the reply was, 'I can't find him.' + +And then this man was pulled into the water, and was the last man +saved--and that with great difficulty, for the line fouled and +jammed--from the wreck of the Fredrik Carl, which had proved a +death-trap to poor Marsh, and so nearly to the seven others who were +saved. + +Still the lifeboat waited in the gathering darkness, and hailed the +wreck, hoping against hope to see Marsh appear; but he was never seen +again alive. Short as was the distance between the lifeboat and the +wreck, it was impossible to swim to her, lying broadside as she was to +the swell. Anyone attempting it would either have been dashed to +pieces against her, or lifted bodily over her, brained very possibly, +and certainly washed away to leeward, return from which would have +been, even for an uninjured man, impossible. + +And still the lifeboatmen waited and called; but there was no answer. +Poor Marsh had been suddenly summoned to meet his God. The oldest man +of the number, and for some years a staunch total abstainer, he had +manfully stuck to his post, he had sent the others before himself, and +had shown throughout a fine spirit of self-sacrifice worthy of the best +traditions of the Deal boatmen. + +Slowly and sadly the lifeboat got her anchor up, and never perhaps did +the celebrated Deal lifeboat return with a more mournful crew; for they +had seen, in spite of their best efforts, one of their comrades perish +before their eyes. + +The next day it blew a gale of wind from the north-east, and it was not +till several days afterwards that Marsh's body was recovered, entangled +in the wreckage, to leeward of the vessel, and sorely mangled. Wrapped +in a sail, and with the rope still round him which ought to have drawn +him into safety, lay the poor 'body of humiliation' in which had once +dwelt a gallant spirit; but a good hope burned within me as the +triumphant lines rang in my ears-- + + Deathless principle, arise! + Soar, thou native of the skies. + Pearl of price, by Jesus bought, + To His glorious likeness wrought! + + +In telling the story of this gallant struggle to save their comrades, +made by the Deal lifeboatmen, I lay this tribute of hope and regard on +the grave of brave George Marsh. + +[Illustration: Deal boatmen on the lookout for a hovel.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GOLDEN ISLAND + + Nor toil nor hazard nor distress appear + To sink the seamen with unmanly fear; + Though their firm hearts no pageant-honour boast, + They scorn the wretch that trembles in his post. + + +The smart and trim three-masted schooner, the Golden Island, was bound +from Antwerp to Liverpool, with a cargo of glass-sand, and was running +before a favouring gale to the southward. At midnight, on May 14, +1887, or the early morning of May 15, with a heavy sea rolling from the +N.E., suddenly, no notice being given and no alarm felt, she struck +with tremendous force the outer edge of the Goodwin Sands. + +The timbers of the Golden Island opened with the crash, and she filled, +and never lifted or thumped, but lay swept by each billow, like a rock +at half-tide, immovable by reason of her heavy cargo. Her crew +consisted of seven all told, including a lad, the captain's son, and +they managed to light a large flare, which was seen a long way, and was +visible even in Deal, eight miles distant. + +With what sinking of heart, as the waters raged round and over them, +they watched the flame of their torch burning lower and lower. How +intense the darkness when it was extinguished! How terrible the +thunderous roar of the breakers! + +The nearest lightship was about four miles from them, and her look-out +man noticed the flare and fired the signal guns of distress, and sent +up the usual rockets. + +At 2 a.m. the coastguard on Deal beach called the coxswain of the +lifeboat, R. Roberts. Hastily dressing himself he went up the beach, +and seeing the flash of the distant guns, he rang the lifeboat bell. +Men sprang out of their warm beds, and, half-dressed, rushed to the +lifeboat. Their wives or mothers or daughters followed with the +remainder of their clothes, their sea boots, or jackets or mufflers. +Then came the struggle to gain a place in the lifeboat, and then the +bustle and hurry of preparation to get her ready for the launch. + +Deal beach at such a time is full of boatmen, some in the lifeboat +loosing sails and setting the mizzen, some easing her down to the top +of the slope, some seeing to the haul-off warp, a matter of life or +death in such a heavy sea dead on shore; others laying down the +well-greased 'skids' for the lifeboat to run on, and others clearing +away the shingle which successive tides had gathered in front of her +bows. + +Mingling among the workers are the wives and mothers, putting a piece +of bread and cheese in Tom's pocket or helping on 'father' with his +oilskin jacket or his sou'wester. And now 'All hands in the lifeboat!' +and twenty minutes after the bell is rung she rushes down the steep and +plunges into the surf. The loving, lingering watchers on the beach +just see her foresail hoisted, and she vanishes into the night, as the +green rocket shoots one hundred yards into the sky to tell the +distressed sailors 'The lifeboat is launched and on her way.' + +The vessel's flare had now burned out, and the guns and rockets from +the lightships had ceased, and in front of the lifeboat was only the +chill night, 'black as a wolf's throat.' As they worked away from the +shore there came in, borne landwards and towards them by the gale, the +dull deep roar of the surf on the Goodwins. + +It is marvellous how far the sound of the sea on the Goodwins travels. +Previously, on a fine calm day, with light breeze, I was standing +across the Goodwins, bound to the East Goodwin lightship, and we could +hear the roar of the ripple on the Goodwins--not breakers, but +ripple--at a distance of two miles. We were sucked into that +ugly-looking ripple by an irresistible current, and after an anxious +half-hour we got through safely. + +In front of the lifeboat on this night was no mere ripple, but +breakers; and the deep hollow roar foretold a tremendous sea. + +As the dawn came faintly, the breakers were seen by the oncoming +lifeboat; she was already stripped for the fight, and her canvas was +shortened to reefed mizzen and reefed storm-foresail. Even then she +was pressed down by the blast and leaned over as the spray flew +mast-high over her. There was a mile of this surf to go through, and +with her red sails flat as a board the lifeboat plunged into it. + +She thrashed her way nobly through, now up and down on short +wicked-looking chopping seas, now on some giant wave hoisted up to the +sky; and still up as if she was about to take flight into the air--as +we once before experienced in a gale on the Brake Sand--then buried and +smothered; and then over the next wave like a seabird. On to the +rescue flew the lifeboat, steered by the coxswain himself, beating to +windward splendidly, as if conscious of and proud of the sacred task +before her. On triumphantly through and over the breakers, onwards to +the Golden Island the lifeboat beat out against the sea and the storm. +She stood on till quite across the Goodwins, and fetched the East Buoy, +which lies in deep water well outside the breakers. In that deep water +of fifteen fathoms there were of course no breakers, only a long roll +and heavy sea; but the moment this heavy sea touched the Goodwin Sands +it broke with the utmost fury, and was sweeping over the Golden Island, +now not more than half-a-mile from the lifeboat. At the East Buoy the +lifeboat put about on the other tack, and stood in towards the Goodwins +and again right into the breakers, from which she had just emerged. + +The wreck was lying with her head to the N.W., and was leaning to port, +so that her starboard quarter was exposed to the full fetch of the +easterly sea that was breaking 'solid' in tons on her decks. 'Why, she +was just smothered in it sometimes, and every big sea was just a-flying +all over her.' Her masts they saw were still standing, and her crew of +seven were cowering for refuge between the main and mizzen masts under +the weak shelter of the weather bulwarks, and also under the lee of the +long boat, which still held its place, being firmly fastened to the +deck. The fierce breakers burst rather over her quarter; had they +swept quite broadside over her, the boat would have been torn from its +fastenings long before. + +As the Deal lifeboat stood in towards the Goodwins, they saw that their +noble rivals the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat in tow had arrived on the +scene a few minutes before them, and were close to the wreck. + +The Ramsgate tug Aid now cast off the lifeboat, which got up sail and +made in through the breakers with the wind right aft impelling her +forwards at speed. The tug of course waited outside the surf, in deep +water. The Deal men, separated from the Ramsgate lifeboat by about +four hundred yards, were breathless spectators of the event. They +watched her plunging and lifting into and over each sea and on towards +the wreck. + +The Ramsgate men could not lie or ride alongside the vessel to +windward; there was too terrible a sea on that side, and therefore, in +spite of the danger of the masts falling, they were obliged to go to +leeward, or to the sheltered side of the vessel. + +Just as the Ramsgate lifeboat was coming under the stern of the wreck +and about to haul down foresail and shoot up alongside her, she was +struck by a terrific sea. The Deal men saw this and shouted 'She's +capsized!' The Ramsgate lifeboat was indeed almost, but not quite +capsized, and she was also shot forwards and caught under the cat-head +and anchor of the wreck. The captain of the wrecked vessel told me +afterwards that he thought she was lost, but it was happily not so, and +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen anchored, after recovering themselves, ahead +of the vessel and veered down to her. + +But the tidal current which runs over the Goodwins varies in a very +irregular manner according to the wind that is blowing, and, contrary +to their calculations, swept the Ramsgate lifeboat to the full length +of her cable away from the vessel. + +They naturally expected to find the usual off-tide from the land before +and at high-water, which would have carried them towards the vessel +when they anchored under her lee; but instead of that there was running +a strong 'in-tide,' which swept them helplessly away from the vessel, +and rendered them absolutely unable to reach her, though anchored only +two hundred yards off. + +The seamen on the wreck, in order to reach by some means the lifeboat +which had thus been borne away from them so mysteriously, threw a +fender, with line attached, overboard, hoping that it too would follow +the current which carried away the lifeboat, and that thus +communications would be established between them; but the currents +round the ship held the fender close to the wreck, and kept it eddying +under her lee. + +All eyes were now turned to the advancing Deal lifeboat battling in the +thickest of the surf. Both the Ramsgate men with warm sympathy and the +shipwrecked crew with keen anxiety watched the Deal men's attempt, as +they raced into the wild breakers. + +The poor fellows clinging to the masts feared lest the Deal lifeboat +too might miss them, and that they might all be lost before either +lifeboat could reach them again, and they beckoned the Deal men on. + +The very crisis of their fate was at hand, but there were no applauding +multitudes or shouts of encouragement, only the cold wastes and +solitudes of wild tumbling breakers around the lifeboatmen on that grey +dawn, and only the appealing helpless crew in a little cluster on the +wreck. + +It was now 4 a.m., and the Deal coxswain, cool and sturdy as his native +Kentish oak, knowing that the combination of an easterly gale with neap +tides sometimes produces an 'in-tide' at high-water, and seeing the +Ramsgate lifeboat carried to leeward, gave the order to 'down +foresail!' when well outside the wreck, and anchored E. by S. of her. +Thus the same 'in-tide' which swept the Ramsgate lifeboat away from the +wreck, carried the Deal lifeboat right down to her. + +[Illustration: Location of the wreck] + +It will be remembered that the head of the Golden Island lay N.W., and +the accompanying diagram will enable the reader to understand that as +the lifeboat anchored in nearly the opposite quarter, viz. about S.E., +her head, as she ranged alongside the wreck, lay in precisely the +opposite direction to the head of the shipwrecked schooner. + +The Deal lifeboat coxswain now hoisted a bit of his foresail to sheer +her in towards the wreck, but from the position of his anchor he could +not get closer than ten fathoms, or twenty yards. + +To bridge this gulf of boiling surf, the cane loaded with lead, to +which a light line was attached, had to be hurled by a stalwart arm, +and John May succeeded in throwing the 'lead line' on board the wreck. + +As the half-drowned and perishing crew of the wreck saw the Deal +lifeboat winning her way towards them, and inch by inch conquering the +opposing elements, their hearts revived. + +They saw within hailing distance of them--for their cries could be +heard plainly enough coming down the wind by the Deal men--the brave, +determined faces of their rescuers, and they felt that God had not +forsaken them, but had wrought for them a great deliverance. + +Having gone through all that surf, and having got within reach as it +were of the wreck, the crew of the Deal lifeboat were now eager for the +final rescue. They never speak of, or even allude to the feeling on +such occasions within them, yet we know their hearts were on fire for +the rescue, and men in that mood are not easily to be baulked or to be +beaten. + +As the wearied seamen grasped the meaning of the Deal coxswain's +shouts, or rather signs, for shouts against the wind were almost +inaudible, they aided in rigging up veering and hauling lines, by which +they would have to be dragged through the belt of surf which lay +between them and the lifeboat. + +A clove-hitch, which my readers can practise for themselves, was passed +round the waist of the captain's son, a boy of thirteen, who was first +to leave the wreck. + +[Illustration: Clove-hitch] + +The lad naturally enough shrank from facing the boiling caldron which +raged between him and the lifeboat, and with loud cries clung to his +father. Waiting was impossible, and he had to be separated partly by +persuasion and partly by main force from his father's arms and dragged +through the sea. When once he was in the water the boatmen pulled at +him with all their might, and when alongside, two strong men reached +over the side and hoisted him like a feather into the lifeboat. + +The men said 'he cried dreadful,' and the coxswain found a moment to +tell him, 'Don't cry, my little fellow! we'll soon have your father +into the lifeboat.' But with the words came a sea 'that smothered us +all up, and it wanted good holding to keep ourselves from being carried +overboard.' Some kind-hearted fellows, till the sea passed, held the +boy, but still he kept crying, 'Come, father! Come, father!' + +Three more of the crew then got the 'clove-hitch' over their shoulders +and jumped into the sea; some of them helped themselves by swimming and +kept their heads up; others merely gripped the rope and fared much +worse, being pulled head under, but all three were quickly dragged +through the water into the lifeboat. + +I have said dragged through the 'water'; but surf is not the same as +water--it is water lashed into froth or seething bubbles in mountainous +masses. You can swim in water; but the best swimmer sinks in 'froth,' +and can only manage and spare himself till the genuine water gives him +a heave up and enables him to continue the struggle on the surface. + +Now water that breaks into surf is not merely motionless 'froth,' that +is half air and half water, but it runs at speed, and being partly +composed of solid water strikes any obstacle with enormous force and +smashes like a hammer. These then were the characteristics of the sea +which beat all round the wreck, and through which the half-dazed and +storm-beaten sailors had to be dragged. + +Besides the veering and hauling line by which the sailors in distress +came, there was another line passed round the mast of the tossing +lifeboat, to hold her in spite of her plunging as close as possible to +the ship; and this line had to be eased with each sea and then the +slack hauled in again. Some better idea will be given of the nature of +this deadly wrestle, when I mention that this line cut so deeply into +the mast as to render it unsafe, and it was never again used after that +day. + +The sails of the wrecked vessel were clattering and blowing about, +'like kites'--indeed, they were in ribbons; and the wind in the rigging +was like the harsh roar of an approaching train, so that in the midst +of this wild hurly-burly even the men in the lifeboat could hardly hear +each other's shouts. + +Roberts now saw that it was necessary to shift the cable as it lay on +the bow of the lifeboat, and he shouted to his comrades forward to have +this done; but 'the wind was a blowin' and the sea a 'owling that +dreadful' that not a man could hear what he said, and he sprang forward +to shift the cable himself. That very moment round the stern of the +wreck there swept the huge green curl of a gigantic sea, which, just as +it reached the lifeboat, broke with a roar a ton of water into her. + +It took Roberts off his feet, so that he must have gone overboard, but +for the foremast against which it dashed him, and to which he clung +desperately, as the great wave melted away hissing, to leeward. +Shaking off the spray, the drenched lifeboatmen again turned to the +work of rescue; the coxswain having been preserved by his thick cork +lifebelt from what might otherwise have been a fatal crush. + +This weighty sea tore away the lines and all means of communication +between the wreck and the lifeboat, and drove the three remaining +sailors on the vessel away from the shelter of the long boat to the +bows of the wreck. Indeed, as they grasped for dear life the belaying +pins on the foremast, the sea covered them up to their shoulders, and +they were all but carried away. + +Again the loaded cane had to be thrown; again the task was entrusted to +John May, who sent it flying through the air, and again the veering and +hauling line was rigged, and the remaining seamen were got into the +lifeboat. + +The last man has to see to it for his life that the veering line is +clear, and that it is absolutely free from anything that could catch or +jam it or prevent it running out freely. + +Just as coming down a steep ice slope where steps have to be cut by men +roped together, the best man should come last, so the last man rescued +from a wreck should have a good clear head and the stoutest heart of +all; and last man came bravely the captain, to the great joy of his +little son. + +Then the lifeboatmen turned to preparations for home. They dared not +get in their cable and heave their anchor on board, lest they should be +carried back and dashed against the wreck, the danger of which, a +glance at the sketch will show. So they got a spring on the cable, to +cant the lifeboat's head to starboard or landsward, and with a parting +'Hurrah!' they slipped their cable, of course thus sacrificing it and +their anchor. They hoisted their foresail, and with a gale of wind +behind them raced into and through the surf on the Goodwins, which lay +between them and home. + +The Goodwins are four miles wide, and the land was eight miles distant, +but a splendid success had crowned the brave and steadfast Deal +coxswain's efforts. Not a man was lost, and they had with them in the +lifeboat the shipwrecked vessel's crew--all saved. + +It was a noble sight to see the lifeboat nearing the land that morning +at 7 a.m. The British red ensign was flying proudly from her peak, in +token of 'rescued crew on board'; and as the men jumped out, I grasped +the brave coxswain's hand and said, 'Well done, Roberts!' And as I saw +the rescued crew and their gallant deliverers, 'God bless you, my lads, +well done!' The words will be echoed in many a heart, but could my +readers have seen the faces of the lifeboatmen, weather-beaten and +incrusted with salt, or watched them, as they staggered wearied but +rejoicing up the beach--could they have knelt in the thanksgiving +service which I held that morning with the rescued crew, and have heard +their graphic version of the grim reality--and how that the living God +had in His mercy stretched out His arm and saved them from death on the +Goodwins, they would better understand,--better, far, than words of +mine can bring it home--how splendid a deed of mercy and of daring was +that day done by the coxswain and the crew of the North Deal +lifeboat[1]. + + + +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion (being one +man short, which was not observed in the darkness of the launch) +were--Richd. Roberts (coxswain), G. Marlowe, John May, Henry May, Wm. +Hanger, Ed. Pain, R. Betts, G. Brown, David Foster, Wm. Nicholas, Henry +Roberts, R. Ashington, John Adams, John Marsh. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SORRENTO, S.S. + + And the clamorous bell spake out right well + To the hamlet under the hill, + And it roused the slumb'ring fishers, nor its warning task gave o'er, + Till a hundred fleet and eager feet were hurrying to the shore. + + +That Norse and Viking blood is to be found in the E. and S.E. coasts of +England is tolerably certain. Tradition, as well as the physical +characteristics of the people, go to support the belief that the +inhabitants of the little picturesque village of Kingsdown, midway on +the coast line between Deal and the South Foreland, are genuine 'Sons +of the Vikings.' + +Kingsdown looks seaward, just facing the southern end of the Goodwin +Sands, and at the back of the pretty village, which is built on the +shingle of the beach, rise the chalk cliffs which culminate in the +South Foreland, a few miles farther on. Here in days gone by the +samphire gatherer plied his 'dreadful trade,' and, still from the +wooded cliff 'the fishermen that walk upon the beach appear like mice.' + +Like their Deal brethren, the hardy boatmen of Kingsdown live by +piloting and fishing, and, like the Deal men, have much to do with the +Goodwin Sands. The same may be said of the more numerous Walmer +boatmen; and all three are usually summed up in the general and +honourable appellation of Deal boatmen. + +[Illustration: Jarvist Arnold] + +The Kingsdown villagers are believed to be Jutes, and the names +prevalent amongst them add probability to the idea. Certainly there is +a Norse flavour about the name of Jarvist Arnold, for many years +coxswain of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina. This brave, fine old +seaman still survives, and still his eye kindles, and his voice still +rings, as with outstretched hand and fire unquenched by age he tells of +grapples with death on the Goodwin Sands. He is no longer, alas! equal +to the arduous post which he nobly held for twenty years, a post now +well filled by James Laming, Jarvist's comrade in many a risky job; but +still he is regarded with reverence and affection, and the rescue of +the crew of the Sorrento and the story of the 'old cork fender' will +always be honourably associated with his name. Round him the incidents +of this chapter will group themselves, for, though brave men were his +crew on each occasion, he was the guiding spirit. + +[Illustration: The Kingsdown lifeboat] + +The mode of manning the Kingsdown lifeboat is somewhat different from +the practice of Deal and Walmer, as will be seen, but in all three +cases the same rush of eager men is made to gain the honourable post of +a place in the lifeboat. + +Sometimes the launch is utterly unavailing, as was the case on a +December night in 1867, when with Jarvist Arnold at the helm, the +lifeboat sped into and through the tossing surf and 'fearful sea' (the +coxswain's words), across the south end of the Goodwins, and found a +barque from Sunderland on fire and drifting on to the sands. So hot it +was from the flames that they could not if they would go to leeward of +her, and they kept to windward, witnessing the spectacle of a ship on +fire in a midnight 'hurricane from the west.' There was no one on +board of the burning ship, and no one knows the fate of her crew. +Sadly the lifeboatmen returned to the land. + +Again Jarvist Arnold is summoned to the rescue, and this time with a +different result. On February 12, 1870, all the vessels in the Downs +were driven ashore, with the exception of one, which the skill and +pluck of E. Hanger, second coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, safely +piloted away to safety, through the tremendous sea. + +There was a great gale from E.S.E. with bitter cold and snow. Vessel +after vessel came ashore, and some were torn into matchwood along the +beach. One large vessel, the ship Glendura, having parted her anchors +in the great sea that was running, was driving landwards. The captain, +foreseeing the inevitable, and determined, if he could not save his +vessel, to save precious lives--his wife and child being on +board--boldly set his lower foretopsail, to force his vessel stem on as +far ashore on the mainland as possible; and about 9 p.m., in this dark +freezing snowstorm, the stem of his large vessel, drawing about +twenty-three feet of water, struck the land. + +[Illustration: Scene on Deal Beach February 13, 1870. From a painting +by W. H. Franklin.] + +The engraving shows this ship in the act of striking. Facing the +picture, the Glendura lies farthest from the spectator. Between her +and the land would be about 100 fathoms, or 200 yards of water; but +that water was one furious mass of advancing billows hurled landwards +by this great tempest. + +Fortunately, as I have said, the Glendura struck the beach unlike the +other vessels in the engraving, not broadside on, but stem on. They +were broken up very soon; but the Glendura held together, burning +flares and sending up appealing rockets. Still more fortunately--but +in truth providentially is the word to use--she struck right opposite +Kingsdown lifeboat house, where lay head to storm-blast, the Kingsdown +lifeboat Sabrina, and where, grouped round her, Jarvist Arnold and the +lifeboat crew stood ready. + +Had the wrecked ship come ashore at any distance from the spot where +the lifeboat lay, either to the right or left, that is, either west or +east of where she did strike, the probability is that all on board +would have perished. With a heavy gale dead on shore, if the lifeboat +had succeeded in launching, she would not have fetched the wreck, had +she lain any distance either side, but would have been helplessly +beaten back again. + +The Kingsdown men were keenly watching the approaching catastrophe as +the Glendura came landwards. Long before she struck, the little +fishing village echoed to the cry of 'Man the lifeboat,' and clad in +their sou'-westers and lifebelts the brave crew waited for the crash of +the doomed vessel, which, by God's mercy, took place right in front of +them. The sea they had to face was terrific, and so bitter was the +night that the sea spray froze as it was borne landwards by the blast, +and each rope in the ship's rigging was thick with ice. + +Just as the men were all in the lifeboat, and were about to man their +haul-off warp to pull the lifeboat out into deep water thereby, a +service of the greatest danger on such a night, some one on the +beach--it was James Laming, the present able Kingsdown coxswain, but +then a very young man--even in that black night discovered a great +fender floating in the recoil. It was pulled ashore, and it was then +found that a line was attached to it, and to that line a weightier one; +and to that a four and a half-inch hawser, or strong cable, leading +from the wrecked ship to the land. + +Perceiving the object of those on board, Jarvist Arnold gave the order +to 'Let the lifeboat go,' and she plunged down the steep beach into the +black billows of that easterly snowstorm and right into the very teeth +of it. No sooner had they touched the water than they hauled upon the +cable which had been sent ashore from the vessel; and so, bit by bit, +one moment submerged and the next swung on the crest of some stormy +wave, they gradually hauled themselves out to the vessel, and found the +crew with the captain and his wife and child gathered in a forlorn +little cluster out on the jib-boom. + +Right under the martingale with its sharp spear-like head the lifeboat +had to lie. When a monstrous sea came roaring round the stern of the +vessel, the lifeboat had to let go and come astern, lest she should be +impaled on the sharp point, as she was hoisted up with great force. + +Back again the crew hauled her, and when the furious sea had passed, in +answer to shouts of 'Come on!' 'Now's your time!' down a rope into the +lifeboat came the second mate with the captain's child in his arms. Up +the stiff half-frozen rope again he climbed and brought down the +captain's wife; and some more of the crew rapidly came the same way. +Then the lifeboat having their full complement of people on board, some +of whom were perishing with the cold of that awful night, made for the +land; still holding the cable from the ship they drifted, or rather +were hurled ashore, in the darkness, pelted by hail and snow and +drenched by the seas, which broke with force clean over them. + +The task of landing the enfeebled crew and the poor lady and child in +such a great sea was dangerous, but it was accomplished safely. +Indeed, such was the sympathy and enthusiasm of the Kingsdown villagers +and fisherfolk that, if need were, they could and would have carried +the lifeboat with its human freight right up the beach. + +An attempt was now made to use the rocket apparatus, and a rocket was +fired, which went clean through the fore-topsail and to the poop of the +vessel behind. Another whizzing rocket, carrying its line with it, +went hurtling through or close to the crowd clustered on the +top-gallant forecastle, where they cowered before creeping out on to +the bowsprit. No harm was done by the erratic flight of the rockets, +but the wrecked sailors naturally preferred to go ashore in the +lifeboat to being dragged through the breakers in the cradle of the +rocket-apparatus, and declining to use it, they again summoned the +lifeboat. + +The first crew of the lifeboat were worn out with their exertions, and +the blows and buffetings of the freezing sea-spray. A fresh crew was +therefore obtained, all but the coxswain, Jarvist Arnold, who stuck to +his post. Back again to the ship the lifeboatmen hauled themselves, +through such a sea that words which would truly describe it must seem +exaggerated. Remember the bows of the ship lay nearly two hundred +yards from the land in a veritable cauldron of waters. + +Again the lifeboat returned with her living freight of rescued seamen, +and again worn out as before with the struggle, a fresh crew was +obtained; but again Jarvist Arnold for the third time went back to the +wreck. And yet again with a fourth fresh crew the brave man returned +for the fourth and last time to the vessel; and finally came safe to +the shore with the remainder of the crew, twenty-nine of whom were thus +rescued, but only rescued by the most determined and repeated efforts, +through what the coxswain's report describes as 'a fearful sea with +snowstorm and freezing hard all the time.' + +When, long after midnight, the lifeboatmen staggered home, Jarvist +found that his oilskin coat was frozen so hard that it stood upright +and rigid on his cottage floor when he took it off his own half-frozen +self. But he had a soft pillow that night; he had bravely done his +duty, and had saved twenty-nine of his fellow human beings from death +in the sea. + +Many a stormy struggle after this rescue was gone through by Jarvist +Arnold and his Kingsdown lifeboat crew on the Goodwin Sands during the +years 1870-1873. Holding the honourable but arduous post of coxswain +of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina, he also manfully earned his living +as Channel pilot, being a most trustworthy and skilful seaman. He did +well that which came to his hand; he did his best and his duty. I +speak after the manner of men, and as between man and man. More than +that no man can do. + +On the night of December 17, 1872, about 2.30 a.m., it was blowing a +gale from the south-west. Out of the gale was borne landwards the boom +of guns; far away on the horizon, or where the horizon ought to be, was +seen the flash of their fire; and upwards into the winter midnight shot +the distant rockets, appealing not in vain for help. + +Almost simultaneously the coxswains at Walmer and Kingsdown were +roused, William Bushell and Jarvist Arnold. At Walmer the +lifeboat-bell rang out its summons, but at Kingsdown a fast runner was +sent round the village, crying as he ran, 'Man the lifeboat!' 'Ship on +the Goodwins!' Up sprang the men--that is, all the grown-up men in the +village; and while the tempest shook their lowly cottage roofs, out +they poured into the night, followed by lads, boys, wives, mothers, +sweethearts and sisters. + +Jarvist Arnold's wife said, 'Ladies can sometimes keep their husbands, +but poor women like us must let them go;' and once more Jarvist Arnold +steered his lifeboat--shall I not say to victory? for 'Peace hath her +victories no less renowned than War;' and this sentence might well be +emblazoned on every lifeboat in the kingdom. + +At 3 a.m. on this midwinter night they launched at their respective +stations, distant about two miles from each other, the lifeboats of +Walmer and Kingsdown, and faced the sea and the storm. Think of the +deed, and its hardships, and its heroism; of the brave hearts who +'darkling faced the billows,' and the anxious women left behind, ye who +live to kill time in graceless self-indulgence, and ere it be too late, +learn to sacrifice and to dare. + +The two lifeboats got together before they reached the edge of the +Goodwins, and held such consultation as was possible in the pitchy +darkness and in the roar of the sea. It was agreed between them that +there would be much difficulty in finding the vessel in distress, as +her signals and blue lights had ceased and the night was very dark. +They decided that the Kingsdown lifeboat should go first, and if they +hit the vessel they were to burn a red light in token of success, and a +white light if they could not find her; but that, in any case, Walmer +was to come shortly after them and search through the breakers, whether +Kingsdown succeeded or not. + +In the dark the Kingsdown coxswain put his lifeboat into the surf on +the Goodwins; it was heavy, but they got through it safely, and found +on the off-part of the Goodwins, towards its southern end--known as the +South Calliper--a large steamship aground. She proved to be the +Sorrento, bound from the Mediterranean to Lynn. + +Close outside where she lay on the treacherous sands were thirteen and +fourteen fathoms of deep water, that is, from seventy to eighty feet, +while she lay in about six feet of white surf, which flew in clouds +over her as each sea struck her quarters and stern. + +The Sorrento had struck the Goodwins at midnight, or a little after, in +about twenty-one feet of water, but when the lifeboat got alongside the +tide had fallen, and there was only six feet of broken water around +her. As the sands were nearly dry to the southward of her, the sea was +by no means so formidable as it afterwards became with the rising tide +and increasing gale and greater depth of water. + +The Kingsdown lifeboat sent up her red light, and then came through the +surf the Walmer lifeboat, guided by the red signal of success from +Jarvist Arnold. Both lifeboats got alongside the great steamer, and +the greater part of the crews of both lifeboats clambered on board her, +leaving eight men in each lifeboat. + +The head of the wrecked steamer lay about E.N.E., and the seas were +hammering at and breaking against her starboard quarter, which rose +high in the air quite twenty feet out of the water at the time the +lifeboats got alongside. All the lifeboatmen now turned to pumping the +vessel, which was very full of water, with a view to saving the ship +and her valuable cargo of barley. + +The Walmer lifeboat lay alongside the Sorrento, under her port bow, and +the head of the Walmer lifeboat pointed towards the stern of the +wrecked steamer, and was firmly fastened to her by a stout hawser. + +About this time--say, five o'clock in the morning--while it was dark, +the Ramsgate lifeboat also arrived, and seeing the other two lifeboats +alongside they anchored outside the sands. And the Kingsdown lifeboat, +manned only by her coxswain and seven of her crew, was sheered off +about two hundred fathoms, to lay out a kedge anchor, with a view to +preventing the vessel drifting farther, as the tide rose, into the +shallower parts of the sands, and in the hope of warping her into +deeper water. + +Naturally the presence of the lifeboats and a company of seventeen or +eighteen stalwart lifeboatmen, all thoroughly up to their work, infused +fresh courage into the captain and crew of the Sorrento. They felt +that all was not lost, and dividing themselves into different gangs of +men, all hands worked with a will, throwing the cargo overboard to +lighten the vessel, and pumping with all their energies--their shouts +ringing out bravely as they worked to get out the water. The donkey +engine too was set at work, and steam fought storm and sea, but this +time in vain. After several hours' hard work, the engineer came to the +captain and lifeboatmen and said, 'It's all up; the water's coming in +as fast as we pump it out. Come down and see for yourselves!' + +It was too true, the good steamship's back was broken, and the clear +sea-water bubbled into her faster than it could be got out. As the day +began to break, the sea rose and beat more heavily over the vessel; it +burst no longer merely in clouds or showers on the deck, but in heavy +volumes, and on all sides, especially to the south; long lines of +rollers careered on towards the doomed vessel with tossing, tumbling +crests, and then burst over her. + +At 11 a.m. in this state of affairs the hope of saving the ship was +abandoned, and all only thought now of saving life. Thinking the two +lifeboats--the Centurion and the Sabrina--were insufficient to rescue +the whole of the steamer's crew, the ensign was hoisted 'union down' +for more assistance. None came; probably the signal was not seen, or +possibly, it was thought that the presence of the lifeboats had +answered the appeal. + +As the tide rose the water deepened and more wind came. Heavy masses +of water struck the hapless vessel, and though her starboard quarter +was still ten feet out of the water, each sea swept her decks, carrying +spars, hen coops, and everything movable clean before it. + +All hands now fled to the bridge of the steamer, watching for a +favourable moment to get into the Walmer lifeboat, still riding +alongside, while each mad billow lifted her up almost to the level of +the bridge and then smothered the lifeboat in its foaming bosom as she +descended into the depths. + +Any one who carefully observes a succession of waves either breaking in +charging lines on a beach, or in the wilder turmoil of the Goodwins, +must notice how frequently they differ in shape and in size. I am by +no means convinced that either the third wave--the [Greek] _trikumia_ +of the Greeks--or the tenth wave, as the Latin _fluctus decimanus_ +seems to suggest--is always larger than its tempestuous comrades, but +ashore or afloat you do now and then see a giant, formed mysteriously +in accordance with the laws of fluids, that does out-top its fellows, +[Greek] _kephalen te kai eureas ômous_. + +Such a great sea was seen advancing by the occupants of the bridge of +the Sorrento. Combing, curling, high over the stern of the wreck it +broke, carrying everything before it in one common ruin. It carried +away the boats of the wrecked steamer, tearing them and the davits +which supported them out of the vessel. + +Snap went the strong five-inch cable which fastened the Walmer lifeboat +to the port or sheltered quarter of the Sorrento, as the end of the +great green sea swept round her stern; and as the lifeboat was torn +away from the wreck she was forced up against the crashing jangle of +the steamer's boats and davits; and yet again with tremendous force +jammed right up against the anchor of the Sorrento, which was driven +into the fore thwart of the ascending lifeboat. The lifeboatmen +crouched down to avoid destruction, and--for all this was done in a +moment--away she sped, spun round as a boy would spin his top, to +leeward of the wreck and among the breakers of the Goodwins. + +'Never saw anything spin round like her in my life!' said one of the +crew afterwards; and so far was she carried by this great sea that she +could not drop anchor till she was half a mile from the wrecked +steamship. Tide and wind were both against her, and she was utterly +unable to get back to the wreck. She simply rode helplessly to her +anchor with less than half of her own men in her, the remainder being +clustered on the bridge, as already described, or clinging to the +rigging of the Sorrento. The aspect of affairs had now become one of +extreme gravity. + +The Walmer lifeboat was swept away, and as helpless as if she were +fifty miles off, leaving seven of her crew in great peril on the +bridge. Seven of the crew of the Kingsdown lifeboat were also gathered +on the steamer's bridge, together with thirty-two of the crew of the +wrecked vessel herself. In all, there stood or clung there, drenched +by the clouds of spray, drowned almost as they fought for breath, +forty-six persons; and their only hope or chance for life was the +Kingsdown lifeboat, which still bravely lived, heavily plunging into +and covered now and then by the seas. + +At the helm, in dire anxiety, was Jarvist Arnold, and with him were in +the lifeboat only seven of his crew, the remainder of them being +entrapped on board the Sorrento, together with the Walmer lifeboatmen. +It was thought, as my readers will remember, that two lifeboats were +insufficient to rescue all hands, but now the rescue--if rescue there +were to be--depended upon one small lifeboat half manned. + +Besides this, Jarvist Arnold saw with his own eyes the defeat of the +Walmer lifeboat, and was so close to the wreck that he was well aware +of the dangerous sea sweeping over her and racing up under her stern; +but the brave fellow never faltered in his determination to attempt the +rescue; and he was strung to his formidable task by the knowledge that +three of his own sons were holding on for dear life on the bridge of +the wreck. He could see the gestures and hear the shouts from the +bridge as the sounds came across the wind, now a heavy gale. + +There was no lack of resolution, but the problem was to get at the +Sorrento at all, as the diagram will help the reader to understand. + +[Illustration: Position of the Sorrento.] + +It will be plain that the tide current was forcing the Kingsdown +lifeboat, even when at anchor, away from the distressed vessel, and +that if she weighed anchor, she would be carried away to leeward, as +the Walmer men had been. + +Thinking of all expedients, they bent on their second cable and rode to +the long scope of one hundred and sixty fathoms. Still the cruel +lee-tide and wind forced them away. They sheered the head of the +lifeboat in towards the wreck--and then--the six men in her sprang to +the oars, and tugged and strained at them, all rowing on the same side, +to direct the lifeboat towards the vessel. While they struggled, the +great breakers overwhelmed and blinded them, filling many times the +gallant little lifeboat--she was only thirty-six feet in length--which +as obstinately emptied herself free and lived through it all, by God's +good providence. + +'Must I see my sons die in my sight, and my friends and neighbours +too?' thought Jarvist Arnold, as he was beaten away from the vessel; +and then, 'Lord, help me!' Again and again, in vain they struggled, +when some one on the wreck sprang from the bridge at the most imminent +peril of his life, on to the slippery, sloping wave-swept deck. + +He had seen coiled on a belaying pin on the bridge a long lead line, +and on the deck still unwashed away an old cork fender. Some say it +was the mate of the vessel; others that it was one of the Kingsdown men +who fastened the lead line to the fender and who slung it overboard, +and then, stumbling and slipping, ran for his life back to the bridge, +barely escaping an overwhelming wave. + +Swirling and eddying in the strange currents on the Goodwins, and +beaten of the winds and waves, on came the old cork fender towards the +lifeboat. They had not another bit of cable to spare on board the +lifeboat; every inch of their one hundred and sixty fathoms was paid +out. Breathless the coxswain, and the man in the bows, rigid as his +own boat-hook with the anxiety of the moment, lashed to his position, a +life line round his waist, watched the approach of the fender. It was +sucked by the current towards the lifeboat, and then tossed by a wave +away from her again. + +Feeling assured that a great loss of life must soon occur, either by +the people on the frail refuge of the steamer's bridge being swept off +it, or by the bridge itself being carried away by the seas, which were +becoming more solid every moment, Jarvist and his comrades thought the +cork fender was a long time in reaching them. Lives of men hung in the +balance, and minutes seem hours then. + +At last it drifted hopelessly out of reach, but into a curious +backwater, which eddied it right under the boat hook of the bowman. In +an instant it was seized, and the line made fast to a thwart. 'I've a +great mind to trust to it,' said Jarvist Arnold, but caution prevailed, +and they made fast a stout rope to the lead line. + +Again the people on the bridge watched their chance. One man managed +to wade along the now submerged deck to reach the lead line, and he +hauled it with the stronger rope on board, making the latter securely +fast. Again had this man to fly for life up the bridge from an +advancing billow, which, leaping over the stern of the wreck, nearly +overtook him, and at the same time by its great weight and impulse, +beat the stern of the steamship a little way round to the west. + +Hauling on this cable without letting go their own anchor, Jarvist +Arnold and his small crew hauled their lifeboat as close under the +leaning bridge as they dared. + +The first man who tried to escape from the bridge in his leap missed +the lifeboat and fell into the sea, and not a moment too soon was +grasped by friendly hands and dragged into the lifeboat. + +The direction of the tidal current on the Goodwins shifts every hour to +a different point of the compass; and now this strong eddy, being +altered still more by the position of the wreck, would suck the +lifeboat towards the stern of the wreck. There she would meet another +current of the truer tide, and get hurried back again half buried in +breakers, which were ever and anon bursting over and round the stern of +the wreck. + +[Illustration: The Sorrento on the Goodwin Sands.] + +Then she would come back under the bridge, where every effort was made +to hold her by stern ropes; and as she rose, 'by the dreadful tempest +borne, high on the broken wave,' man after man they jumped, or were +dragged, or came quick as lightning down a rope, into the Sabrina, the +whole forty-six of the imperilled men, the captain being last man, and +almost too late. + +Bringing with them the old cork fender as a memento, Jarvist and his +unbeaten crew sheered out their lifeboat to ride by their own cable, as +before the timely arrival of the fender. Now they saw signs of the +approaching break up of the Sorrento, for before they had left her very +long her funnel and masts went overboard, and reeling to the blows of +the sea, she split in halves and disappeared under the breakers of the +Goodwins. + +But before this dramatic conclusion, the Kingsdown lifeboat slipped her +anchor, to which she never could have got back, and setting her mast +and double-reefed storm-foresail, ran away before the wind through the +'heavy boiling surf' on the Goodwins. These are the coxswain's own +written words, and I can only repeat they are below the grim reality. + +With the forty-six rescued seafarers on board she was terribly low in +the water, and was filled in and out from both sides at once by the +seas as they broke. Only a lifeboat could have lived, but even she +resembled a floating baulk of timber, which is covered and swept by the +seas on the same level as itself. Holding on for life to thwarts and +life-lines, they kept the lifeboat dead before the sea. They did not +dare to luff her to the west or bear her away to the east. They dared +not keep away to get to the Walmer lifeboat, nor in the other direction +toward the mainland, about six miles off. + +The slightest exposure of the broadside of the lifeboat would either +have capsized her, or washed every soul out of her; onwards, therefore, +dead before the wind and right on the top of and in the breakers of the +Goodwins she flew her stormy flight for nearly four miles. + +The Walmer lifeboat had got up anchor at the same time as the Kingsdown +men; for as the Kingsdown overcrowded lifeboat ran past the Walmer +lifeboat, which was waiting at anchor for them, they shouted to the +Walmer men, 'Slip your cable, and come after us!' + +This the Walmer lifeboat did, and now ventured to approach the +Kingsdown lifeboat. Though handled with skill and caution, being +light, she took a sea; and she came right on top of the gunwale of the +Kingsdown lifeboat, smashing her oars, which were run out to steady +her, like so many pipe-shanks, and crunching into her gunwale. + +But at last, with difficulty, half of the living freight of the Sabrina +was transferred to the Walmer lifeboat; and then both lifeboats luffing +in through Trinity Swatch, by God's mercy, escaped the deadly Goodwins, +and landed the rescued crew at Broadstairs. + +And the gallant deed is still sung by the Kingsdown children in simple +village rhymes, + + God bless the Lifeboat and its crew, + Its coxswain stout and bold, + And Jarvist Arnold is his name, + Sprung from the Vikings old, + Who made the waves and winds their slaves, + As likewise we do so, + While still Britannia rules the waves, + And the stormy winds do blow; + And the old Cork Float that safety brought, + We'll hold in honour leal, + And it shall grace the chiefest place + In Kingsdown, hard by Deal! + + +One of Jarvist Arnold's sons never recovered the strain of those awful +hours on the bridge of the Sorrento in her death-throes, and, to use +his father's words: 'He never was a man no more.' But Jarvist himself +did many a subsequent good deed of rescue, and stuck to his arduous +post as long as, and even beyond, what health and strength and age +permitted. + +Would that I could say that the noble old fellow was in independent +circumstances! Despite the continued generosity of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution to him, alas! this is not the case. Would that +some practicable scheme for providing a pension for deserving working +men in their old age were before the country! + +Jarvist Arnold is, however, not forsaken; he has good and honourable +children, and I know that with that inner gaze which sees more clearly +as eternity approaches, he too in simple faith beholds the advancing +lifeboat, and hears the glad words, 'When thou passest through the +waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee,' from the mouth of the Great Commander. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ROYAL ARCH + + Cease, rude Boreas, blust'ring railer! + List, ye landsmen ill, to me! + Messmates! hear a brother sailor + Sing the dangers of the sea. + + +This and the following chapter contains the story of cases of rescue in +which the ships in distress were saved, together with all on board, by +the skill and courage of the Deal lifeboatmen, and brought finally with +their respective cargoes safe into port. + +A century ago, certain of our English coasts are described by the same +writer whose lines head this chapter, as-- + + Where the grim hell-hounds, prowling round the shore, + With foul intent the stranded bark explore. + Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board, + While tardy Justice slumbers o'er her sword. + + +But these pages recount, in happy contrast, the generous and gallant +efforts of the Deal boatmen, in the first instance to save life, and +then, when besought to stand by the vessel, or employed to do so, of +their further success in saving valuable property, often worth many +thousand pounds, from utter destruction in the sea. + +I stood some years ago on the deck of a lightship stationed near the +wreck of the British Navy, a vessel sunk by collision in the Downs one +dreadful night, when twenty sailors went to the bottom with her, and I +saw her masts blown up and out of her by an explosion of dynamite to +remove the wreck from the Downs, while the water was strewn with the +debris of her valuable cargo. This cargo, amongst countless other +commodities, was said to have contained one hundred pianos; hence some +idea may be gathered of the pecuniary importance, apart from the +story's thrilling interest, of salvage of valuable vessels and precious +merchandize. + +On March 29, 1878, the wind blew strong from the E.N.E., and only one +vessel, the Royal Arch, lay in the Downs. The great roadstead, +protected from the full fetch of an easterly sea by the natural +breakwater of the Goodwins--for without those dreaded sands neither the +Downs as a sheltered anchorage would exist, nor in all probability the +towns of Deal and Walmer--was nevertheless on that day a very stormy +place, and as the wind freshened towards evening, as the east wind +nearly always does in this locality, it eventually came on to blow a +whole gale dead on shore. + +The sea raised by an easterly gale on Deal beach is tremendous, and not +even the first-class luggers, or their smaller sisters, the 'cats,' +could be launched. Had there been a harbour from which the Deal +luggers could at once make the open sea, they would have been able to +live and skim like the stormy petrel over the crest of the billows; but +it is quite a different thing when a lugger has to be launched from a +beach right in the teeth of a mountainous sea, and incurs the certainty +of being driven back broadside on to the steep shingle, and of her crew +being washed out of her, and drowned by some giant sea. Hence that +evening no ordinary Deal boat or even lugger could launch. On the +morning of the same day the captain of the Royal Arch had been +compelled by some necessary business to come ashore. To have come +ashore in his own ship's boat in such a wind and sea would have +involved certain disaster and even loss of life, and therefore he came +ashore in a Deal galley punt, which successfully performed the feat of +beaching in a heavy surf. + +In the evening, against an increasing gale, and much heavier sea, the +galley punt dared not launch to bring the captain back. None even of +the luggers would encounter the risk of launching in so heavy a sea +dead on the beach. He therefore tried the lifeboats, upon the plea and +grounds that his ship was dragging her anchors and in peril. She was +lying abreast of Walmer Castle, and was indeed gradually dragging in +towards the surf-beaten shore, which, if she struck, not a soul on +board probably would have been saved. + +The anxious captain first tried the Walmer lifeboat, but she was too +far to leeward, and would not have been able to fetch the vessel. But +eventually, as his vessel was now burning signals of distress, he ran +to the North Deal lifeboat, and the coxswain, Robert Wilds, seeing all +other boats were helpless, decided to ring the lifeboat bell and pit +the celebrated Van Cook against the stormy sea in deadly fight. + +The Deal boatmen had long foreseen the launch of the lifeboat, and they +were massed in crowds round the lifeboat-house, competitors for the +honour of forming the crew. The danger of the distressed vessel was +known in the town, and crowds had assembled on the beach, amongst them +the Mayor of Deal, to watch the lifeboat launch. + +The long run of the great waves came right up to where the lifeboat +lay, so that when she was let go she had no steep slope to rush down so +as to hurl her by her own impetus into the sea. She depended, +therefore, for her launching against this great sea, on her haul-off +warp, which was moored one hundred fathoms out to sea, and by which her +fifteen men hoped to pull her out to deep water. But this dark night +she simply stuck fast after running down a little way, and got into the +'draw back' under the seas bursting in fury. + +Her situation was most perilous, and the danger of the men being swept +out of her was great. But through it all the lifeboatmen, with +stubborn pluck, held on to the haul-off warp and strained for their +lives, and at last a great sea came and washed them afloat within its +recoil, and covered the lifeboat and her crew. The spectators groaned +with horror as the lifeboat disappeared, but the men were straining +gallantly at the haul-off warp, and the lifeboat emerged. When she was +seen above the surges just only for an instant, 'All Deal sent forth a +rapturous cry,' and the brave men, though they could not see the people +on the land, yet heard their mighty cheer, and, strung in their hearts +to dare and to conquer, sped on their glorious task. + +When just out to deep water, the coxswain sang out, 'Hang on, every +man!' and a great sea came out of the night right at the lifeboat. Tom +Adams was out on the fore air-box, lifting the haul-off warp out of the +cheek, a perilous spot, when the sea was seen; he had just time to get +back and clasp both arms round the foremast as the sea broke, +overwhelming lifeboat and the crew and the captain of the Royal Arch, +who was aft, in a white smother of foam. But the lifeboat freed +herself of the sea, and like a living creature stood up to face the +gale. + +Close-reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail was her canvas; watchful +men stood by halyards and sheets, hitched, not belayed, and watched +each gust and sea as only Deal men who watch for their lives can watch, +and even they are sometimes caught. + +At last the vessel in distress loomed through the night, and from many +an anxious heart on board went up, 'Thank God! here comes the +lifeboat!' Not too soon was she! For the hungry breakers were roaring +under their lee. Blue lights and other signals of distress had already +been made on board the vessel for some time; a rocket too had been +fired, with a rather unsatisfactory result. + +One of the mates, who I was informed hailed from County Cork, decided +to fire a rocket, a thing he had never, it seems, done before in his +life, and failing the usual rocket-stand, he bethought him of the novel +and ingenious expedient of letting it off through the iron tube which +formed the chimney of the galley or cooking-house on deck, thus hoping +to make sure of successfully directing its flight upwards. In the +confusion and darkness he did in his execution not perhaps do justice +to himself, or to the fertility of resource which had devised so +excellent a plan. The sea was rolling to the depth of two feet over +the deck, and washing right through the galley house, and it was only +by great efforts he succeeded in the darkness in fastening the rocket +in the tube which formed the chimney. + +To do this he had unwisely removed the rocket from its stick, and, +unfortunately, he fastened it in the chimney upside down. Having done +so, he fumbled in his pocket, the darkness being intense, for his +matches, and applied the light underneath in the usual place. But the +rocket being upside down he of course failed to set it off, and then he +unluckily tried the other end, which was uppermost, with the disastrous +result, as my English informant described it, that 'the hexplosion +blowed him clean out of the galley.' + +'Blowed him!' said I, unconsciously adopting my friend's expression, +'where?' + +'Why,' said he, 'hout of the galley into the lee scuppers.' + +'Was the poor fellow much hurt?' + +'Hurt! Bless you! not he. But he kept shouting like forty blue +murders!' + +'What did he say?' + +'Well,' he replied, 'he was that scared and that choked with soot, as +ever was, that all he could say was--I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead!' + +The position of the vessel was now very serious; she was going so fast +astern towards the breakers and the land that after the lifeboat +anchored ahead of and close to her she could hardly keep abreast of the +dragging vessel by paying out her cable as fast as possible. Roberts +and Adams, and in all five of the lifeboatmen, sprang on board of her +as she rolled in the pitchy night. + +They sprang, as the lifeboat went up and the ship came down, over the +yawning chasm, on the chance of gripping the shrouds, and some of them +rolled over and actually and literally, as they were carried off their +feet, had to swim on the decks of the labouring vessel. + +The captain of the vessel could not get on board in the same way, and +though they passed a line round his waist it was a good half-hour +before they could get him up the steep side. + +The lifeboatmen say that when he did reach the deck he declared 'that +if that was what they called coming hoff in a lifeboat from Deal beach, +he wouldn't do it again--no, not for hall the money in the Bank of +England!' + +The captain now hesitated to slip his ship, lest she might pay off on +the wrong tack and come ashore; but as the vessel was steadily drifting +and the sea terrific, the lifeboat being now and then hoisted up to her +foreyard, while mountainous seas wallowed over both the lifeboat and +the vessel, the Deal lifeboatmen said, 'If you don't slip her, we will. +There's death right astern for all of us if you delay.' + +Then the captain himself took the helm, the rudder-head being twisted, +and the spirit and energy of the Deal men infused new life into the +wearied crew, and all hands worked together with a will. + +They loosed the fore-topsail and they set the foretopmast staysail. +Tom Adams went or waded forwards, holding on carefully, with a lantern, +and he watched by the dim light till the fore-topmast staysail bellied +out with a flap like thunder on the right side, and then he shouted +down the wind, 'Hard up, captain! Hard a-port!' At the same instant +Roberts shouted, 'Slip the cable! Let go all!' And just within the +very jaws of the breakers, the ship's head payed away to the southward, +and she escaped--saved at the last minute, and safe to the open sea. + +When safe away and running before the gale, the Deal men strapped the +rudder-head with ropes, straining them tight with a tackle, and then +wedged the ropes tighter and tighter still, making the rudder head +thoroughly safe. + +And then, though only very poorly and miserably supplied with food--for +they only had dry biscuits till they reached port--they manned the +pumps with the worn-out crew, and brought the ship safe to Cowes. + +But for the existence of a lifeboat at North Deal the ship would have +been wrecked that night on the stormy beach of Deal, and, in all +probability, her crew would also have perished. + +It is pleasant to record the unselfish heroism of the Deal lifeboatmen, +who on this occasion were the means of saving both valuable property +and precious human lives. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MANDALAY + + The leak we've found, it cannot pour fast; + We've lightened her a foot or more-- + Up and rig a jury foremast, + She rights! She rights, boys! Wear off shore! + + +The case of the Mandalay here recorded so far resembles that of the +Royal Arch and of the Edina, that in all three cases the vessels, the +cargoes, and the lives of all on board, were saved by the Deal +lifeboatmen, and by their courage and seamanlike skill, and intimate +local knowledge of the Goodwins and other places and sands in their +dangerous vicinity, brought safe to port. The Royal Arch was drifting +at night from her anchorage in the Downs, in an easterly gale towards +the surf-beaten shore. The Edina was in the most imminent peril on the +edge of the Brake Sand. The Mandalay was on the Goodwins itself, and +to save a vessel and her cargo from the Goodwins is no easy task. + +On December 13, 1889, the Mandalay was passing the North Sand Head +lightship a little after midnight. She was outward bound from +Middlesbrough to the River Plate with a cargo of railway iron sleepers. +They hailed the lightship as its great lantern rapidly flashed close to +them, but the reply was lost in the plash of the sea and the flap of +the sails and the different noises of a ship in motion. At any rate +the Mandalay mistook her bearings, and managed to get into the very +heart of the Goodwin Sands. + +In the darkness she probably sailed into what is called the Ramsgate +Man's Bight, though this is only a conjecture. This bight is a +swatchway of deep water, and the Mandalay then struck the Sands on the +eastern jaw of another channel into the Goodwins. This swatchway runs +N.E. and S.W., and leads from the deep water outside the Goodwins into +the inmost recesses of the Sands; that is, into a shallowish bay called +Trinity Bay; and it is much harder to get out of this bay than to get +in, like many a scrape of another kind. The swatchway leading into +Trinity Bay was about seven fathoms deep, but only fifty fathoms or one +hundred yards wide. On the eastern bank or jaw of this channel the +Mandalay ran aground. She ran aground at nearly high water, when all +was covered with the sea, on a fine, calm night, there being no surf or +ripple or noise to indicate the shallow water or the deadly proximity +of the Goodwin Sands. + +Some of the crew were on deck--the man at the wheel aft would take a +sight of the compass gleaming in the light of the binnacle lamp, and +then cast his eye aloft, where the main truck was circling among the +stars, as the ship gently swung along with a light N.W. breeze. Others +of the crew were below and had turned in, 'their midnight fancies +wrapped in golden dreams,' when the grating sound of contact with the +Sands was heard. Then came, 'Turn out, men! All hands on deck! We're +aground on the Goodwins!' + +Efforts were made to box the ship off by backing and swinging the yards +and trimming the sails, but all to no purpose, and then flares and +torches to summon help were lighted. These at once caught the notice +of the look-out men on the lightships, and drew from those vessels the +guns and rockets, the usual signals of distress. As the sea was smooth +there was no present danger for the Mandalay, but wind and sea rise +suddenly on the Goodwins, and no one could foresee what might happen. + +The Deal coxswain was roused by the coastguard; he saw the flash of the +distant guns and rockets, and having obtained a crew launched at 1.30 +a.m., the weather being hazy with frost. They reached the Gull +lightship, and heard there that the vessel ashore lay E.N.E. from them. +They steered in that direction, gazing into the darkness and listening +for sounds or shouts or guns, and at last, about 3 a.m., found the +vessel, her flares having gone out. In spite of the efforts of those +on board, she was sidling more and more on to the Sands, and settling +further into them. + +The lifeboat anchored and veered down as usual to the stranded vessel, +and the coxswain got on board: then morning came, and with it low +water, when there would be not more than two feet of water round the +Mandalay and the lifeboat, which latter was at that depth of water just +aground. The lifeboat remained by the vessel, to insure the safety of +the crew in case of possible change of weather. About midday, as the +tide began to rise over the Goodwins, the lifeboat and her crew were +employed by the captain to do their best to save the vessel. + +The lifeboat was now on the port bow of the Mandalay, which lay fast on +the Sands with her head to the S.W., and the coxswains laid out a kedge +or small anchor, with warp attached, to the N.E., five of the +lifeboatmen remaining in the lifeboat with Roberts, the coxswain, to +direct the course of action on the Sands, while Hanger, the second +coxswain, went on board with seven lifeboatmen to direct operations +there, and to heave on the warp, in order to move the vessel. Just +then a tug-boat hove in sight, and as the sea was calm, she backed in +and made fast her hawser to the Mandalay, at the captain's desire. +Though all on board heaved their best on the warp, and the tug-boat +Bantam Cock made every effort, they were unable to move the Mandalay +from her perilous position, and the tug-boat then gave the matter up as +a bad job and later in the evening went away. + +It was now about 3 p.m., and the tide was again falling when the lugger +Champion, of Ramsgate, appeared and anchored in the swatchway spoken of +above. Some of her crew also went on board the Mandalay, and under the +directions and advice of Roberts and Hanger, the two Deal coxswains, +who were determined to win, all hands turned to throwing overboard the +cargo to lighten the vessel. They thus jettisoned about two hundred +tons of iron sleepers--working at this job till midnight--and threw it +over the right or starboard side of the ship, where it lay in a great +mass. It was never recovered, though every effort was afterwards made +to save it. It had been engulfed and disappeared in the Goodwins' +capacious maw. + +The men of the lifeboat, now cold, wearied, and hungry, managed to get +an exceedingly frugal meal of tea and some bread and meat, and about 4 +or 5 p.m. the light N.W. breeze fell away to a calm. Towards 7 p.m. +the Champion lugger at anchor hoisted her light, to indicate the +channel or swatchway by which the Mandalay would have to come out if +ever she moved at all. The wind now came strong from the S.W. and then +backed to S. and by W., and there was heard the far-off moan of +breaking surf, making it plain that there was a heavy sea rolling in +from the S.W. on a distant point of the Sands. The sea was evidently +coming before the wind, 'the moon looked,' the men said, 'as if she was +getting up contrary,' and Roberts said, 'We'll have trouble before +morning.' At 10 p.m. the wind came. The calm was 'but the grim repose +of the winter whirlwind,' and it soon blew a gale from the S.W. Before +this some Deal galley punts had also wisely made their way for the +shore, and the lifeboat and the Champion lugger were left alone on the +scene--than which nothing could now be wilder. Fortunately another +tug-boat, the Cambria, had anchored about 7 p.m. in deep water outside +the Goodwins, as close as was prudent to the swatchway before +described; but the inevitable struggle was regarded with the greatest +anxiety by all hands, notwithstanding the proffered help of the +tug-boat and the lightening of the ship. + +About midnight the rising tide had again covered the Goodwins, but the +surface, no longer fair and calm, was now lashed into fury by the gale. +The seas were breaking everywhere, and as the moon emerged from behind +a flying cloud, far as the eye could see was one sheet of tumbling, +raging breakers, except the narrow channel in which the brave Champion +rode with her guiding light, plunging heavily even in the deep channel. +But the most furious sea raged on the western jaw of the deep +swatchway; there currents and cross seas met, and the breakers rose up +and clashed and struck together in weightier masses and with especial +fury. Now a black cloud covered the moon, and again as it swept away +came the clear moonlight, but in the darkness and in the moonlight the +scene was equally tremendous. + +As the water deepened round the ship, sea after sea broke over her with +such increasing fury that the work of jettisoning the cargo, which had +been carried on under great difficulties, had to be given up, and the +hatches had to be put on and battened down tight, to keep the ship from +filling. The same seas that broke over the Mandalay also struck and +buried the lifeboat as she rode alongside to the full scope of her +cable, and as each breaker went roaring past she as regularly freed +herself from the water which had been hurled into her the moment before. + +At one o'clock this wild winter morning the time came for a final +effort to float the ship; and the steam-tug Cambria that had been +waiting outside the Sands now moved in, and, guided by the riding light +of the Champion lugger, anchored for this purpose in the swatchway, was +cautiously manoeuvred in through the narrow channel, and feeling her +way with the lead at great risk came even into the broken water in +which the Mandalay was lying. This broken water was only fourteen or +fifteen feet deep, and though barely enough to float the tug-boat in a +sort of raging smother of froth, was not deep enough to float the +Mandalay, which required three feet more and still lay firm as a rock, +and, like a tide-washed rock, was swept by the seas which were flying +over her. + +Directed by the second coxswain, attempts were now made to get the +Cambria's steel hawser on board the vessel, and in the boiling turmoil +the Cambria came dangerously near the heap of jettisoned iron on the +starboard side of the Mandalay. It will be plain that without the +presence of the lifeboat and her crew in case of disaster, all other +efforts to save the ship would have been paralysed, and indeed would +never have been attempted. Without the lifeboat, no tug-boat, or any +other boat, would have dared to venture into that fearful labyrinth of +sand and surf. + +The hawser was got on board after an hour's struggle, and made fast to +the Mandalay's starboard bow; but though the Mandalay rolled and bumped +she was not moved from her sandy bed. It was almost impossible for +those on board to keep their feet as she struck the sand and as the +seas swept her decks. The position of the tug on the starboard side of +the Mandalay was so perilous that it was decided to bring her across +the bows of the vessel to her port side; and this was done with great +difficulty against the gale and sea continually becoming heavier. +Creeping round the bows of the Mandalay the tug-boat came, and in doing +so crossed the cable of the lifeboat with her hawser, and therefore the +lifeboat's cable had to be slipped at once, and she had to be made fast +to and ride alongside the Mandalay. + +Still round came the tug, and getting into deeper water of about three +or three and a half fathoms, after a most hazardous and gallant passage +through the breakers round the vessel, set her engines going full speed +ahead. The seas now struck and bumped the Mandalay so heavily that, in +spite of all efforts to save her, she was in a most critical position, +and at the same time a great disaster nearly occurred. The great steel +hawser of the tug, as she strained all her powers, was now tautening +and slackening, and then, as steam strove for the mastery against the +storm, again tightening with enormous force till it became like a rigid +iron bar. It vibrated and swung alongside the lifeboat, which could +not get out of the way, and dared not leave the vessel--return to +which, had the lifeboat once slipped her anchor, against wind and tide +would have been impossible; and their comrades' lives, and those of +all, depended on their standing by the vessel. Though the gallant +coxswain did all that man could do to combat this new danger, still +with a terrific jerk the steel hawser got right under the lifeboat, +hoisting her, in spite of her great weight, clean out of the water. + +Aided by an awful breaker, whose tumultuous and raging advance was seen +afar in the moonlight, this powerful jerk of the tightening hawser, +which had got under the very keel of the lifeboat, lifted her up so +high that she struck in her descent, with her ponderous iron keel or +very undermost part of the lifeboat, the top rail of the Mandalay's +bulwarks. The marvel is how she escaped being turned right over by the +shock. The next day I saw with astonishment the crushed woodwork where +this mighty blow had been struck. + +The lifeboat's rudder was smashed and her great stern post sprung, and +one of the crew that remained in her was also injured, but still +Roberts held on to the ship. At this critical moment Hanger, seeing +the lifeboat's safety was endangered, and regarding it as a question of +saving not only his comrades' lives but the lives of all, most +reluctantly gave orders to cut the steel hawser of the tug, which was +made fast on board the vessel. This would have of course sacrificed +all the trouble and risk that had been incurred; another tug-boat had +also crept up on the starboard bow to help the first, and efforts were +being made to get her hawser too on board; in fact, success and safety +seemed almost within their grasp, but it was a matter of life or death, +and one of the Deal men, obeying orders, seized an axe and hewed and +struck with all his might at the steel hawser, which was still +endangering the lifeboat. + +Strand after wire strand was divided, when a great sea came and the +vessel trembled from her keel to her truck, and all hands had to hold +on for life. Down again came the axe, as the sea went by. But its +edge was blunted and it cut slowly, as the wielder doubled his efforts +in reply to the shouts, 'Cut the hawser, or the lifeboat's lost!' + +A confused struggle was now going on; some were passing the second +tug-boat's hawser on board, and some were trying, under pressure of +dire necessity, to cut the hawser by which the Cambria tug was +straining at the vessel, and still the terrible hawser got under the +lifeboat, and still the axeman strove vainly with a blunted axe to +divide the hawser. + +Another sea came racing at the vessel. It lifted her off the Sands, +and thumped her down with such fury that Hanger said, 'The bottom is +coming out of her!' + +Just then, holding on to prevent himself falling, he looked at the +compass, 'Great heavens! She's moving! She's slewing, lads!' he said; +the axeman threw down his useless axe, and again came a sea, lifting up +the vessel and her iron cargo as if she had been a feather. Had she +struck the bottom as violently as before, her masts must have gone over +with a crash into the lifeboat, but the lift of this overwhelming sea +was at the very instant aided by the strain of the tug-boat's hawser, +exerting enormous force, though divided almost in twain, and the +vessel's head was torn round to the east and, 'Hurrah! my lads! she's +off!' was heard from the undaunted but wearied battlers with the storm. + +The hawser of the second tug-boat had been passed shortly before this +with extreme danger both to that tug-boat, the Iona, and to the +lifeboatmen working forwards to make it fast, on the slippery footing +of the deck. The strain of the second tug-boat was now felt by the +moving vessel, and then came the scrapes and the crunches and the +thumps as she was pulled over the sand towards the deep swatchway. Her +head sails were set, to pay her head off still more, and at last the +victorious tug-boats pulled her safe into the swatchway, accompanied by +the lifeboat. + +On the left or western jaw, it will be remembered, the most terrific +sea was running, and the tug-boat approached this awful turmoil too +closely. Fortunately, Roberts saw the danger, and shouted from the +lifeboat, 'Port your helm! Hard a-port! or you're into the breakers!' +Hanger on board, with answering readiness, set the great spanker of the +vessel, and forced her head up to the north-east, barely clearing the +Champion and her invaluable riding light; and at last the Mandalay was +towed through the narrow swatch, on either side of which roared the +hungry breakers, baulked of their prey by human skill and perseverance +and dauntless British pluck. + +Some time before emerging from the death-trap, as the spot where the +Mandalay grounded might well be called, and when in the very most +anxious and critical part of the struggle, the moon broke out from +behind a great dark cloud, and there was seen struggling and labouring +in the gale a ship whose sails caught the moonlight. She shone out +vividly against the black background, but the lifeboatmen were +horrified to see that, attracted by the lights of the Champion, she was +heading straight for the terrible sea on the western jaw of the swatch, +where she apparently thought she would find safe anchorage in company +with other vessels. + +The North Deal coxswain expected to see her strike, and had decided, in +his mind, to get his crew from the Mandalay on board, and then rush +through the breakers to the doomed vessel, and having rescued her crew, +to return with the help of one of the tug-boats to the Mandalay; but, +fortunately, this catastrophe was averted by the humane and generous +action of the captain of the tug-boat Bantam Cock, who went at full +speed within hail, and warned the unsuspecting vessel of the terrible +danger so near her. + +We can almost fancy we hear the hoarse shouts from the tug-boat of +'Breakers ahead!' 'Goodwins under your lee!' and then the rattling and +the thunderous noise of the sails, and the creaking of the yards and +braces, as the vessel swings round on the other tack into safety. + +The Mandalay was then towed out of the swatchway by the Cambria into +deep water, and round the Goodwin Sands, with the lifeboat alongside +her, into the anchorage of the Downs by the half-divided hawser. Had +the axe's edge been keener, or had a few more blows been struck, or a +few more strands severed, or had the masts of the vessel crashed into +the lifeboat, or the lifeboat been capsized by the hawser's mighty +jerks, how different a tale would have been told! + +But it is our happy privilege to record the successful issue of +thirty-five hours' struggle against the terrors of a winter's gale on +the Goodwin Sands, and of doing some small justice to the seamanlike +skill and daring of the Deal coxswains and lifeboatmen, and of all +engaged in the task. + +It will be seen from the case recorded in this chapter that the motives +which were apparent in the minds of the brave fellows who manned the +lifeboat on each occasion were those of humanity and generous ardour to +succour the distressed; the salvage of property was an afterthought. +They started from the beach to put their intimate local knowledge of +the Goodwins, their skill, their strength, nay, their lives, at the +service of seamen in distress; but when they saw that their energies, +and theirs alone, could save a valuable vessel and her cargo, and that +they could earn such fair recompense as the law allowed, this salvage +of property became a duty, in the discharge of which, had any man lost +his life he would have lost it nobly, having entered upon his perilous +task in the unselfish and sublimer spirit of rescuing 'some forlorn and +shipwrecked brother' from death on the Goodwin Sands. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LEDA + + Swift on the shore, a hardy few + The Lifeboat man, with a gallant, gallant crew. + + +Some years ago I remember reading a tale, the hero of which was a youth +of nineteen. The scene was laid around the lifeboat of either Deal or +Walmer. There was supposed to be a ship in distress on the Goodwins, +and the night was dark and stormy. All the boatmen hung back, so the +story ran, from the work of rescue, and shrank from the black fury of +the gale, when the hero appeared on the scene, and roundly rating the +coxswain and crew, sprang into the lifeboat, pointed out exactly what +should be done, gave courage to all the quailing boatmen, and seizing +an oar--those heroic youths always 'seize' or 'grasp' an oar--pulled to +the Goodwin Sands 'in the teeth of a gale.' I notice these heroes +always prefer the 'teeth of a gale,' especially when pulling in a +lifeboat; nothing would apparently induce them to touch an oar if the +wind were fair or moderate. + +Having rescued the crew of the distressed vessel, _solus fecit_--some +slight assistance having also been rendered by the lifeboatmen--the +lifeboat is of course overturned, and he swims ashore. Still, by some +extraordinary manoeuvre on the part of the wind 'in the teeth of the +gale,' bearing the beauteous heroine in his arms, with the usual result +and the inevitable opposition from the cruel uncle, who is actuated of +course by deadly hatred to all heroic youths of nineteen. + +I only refer to this fiction to point out how absurd it is to represent +the brave men who man our lifeboats of the Goodwin Sands and Downs as +ever needing to be roused to action by passing and incompetent +strangers, who must be as ignorant of the perils to be faced as of the +work to be done. When the boatmen of Deal hang back in the +storm-blast, who else dare go? + +Again, the three lifeboats of this locality always _sail_ to the +distant Goodwin Sands. To reach those sands, four to eight miles +distant, according as the wreck lies on the inner or the outer edge, in +one of our heavy lifeboats, if they were only propelled by oars, would +be impossible. As a matter of fact, the lifeboat services to the +Goodwins are invariably effected under sail. In other places, where +the wreck lies close to the land, and the lifeboats are comparatively +light, services are performed with oars, but not to the Goodwin Sands, +which have to be reached under sail, and from which the lifeboats have +to get home by sail, often against a gale off shore, eight miles to +windward--with no steam-tug to help them, but by their own unaided +skill, 'heart within and God o'erhead.' + +[Illustration: 'All hands in the lifeboat!' From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + +The following simple statement--far below the sublime reality--will +prove, if proof be needed, that the men who live between the North and +South Forelands are not inferior to their fathers who sailed with Blake +and Nelson. + +About one o'clock on Sunday, December 28, 1879, a gun from the South +Sand Head lightship, anchored about a mile south of the Goodwins, and +six miles from Deal, gave warning that a ship was on the dreadful +Sands. It was blowing a gale from the south-west, and the ships in the +Downs were riding and straining at both anchors. It was a gale to stop +your breath, or, as the sailors say, 'to blow your teeth down your +throat,' and the sea was white with 'spin drift.' As the various +congregations were streaming out of church, umbrellas were turned +inside out, hats were blown hopelessly, wildly seawards, and children +clung to their parents for shelter from the blinding spray along Deal +beach. + +Just then, in answer to the boom of the distant gun, the bell rang to +'man the lifeboat,' and the Deal boatmen answered gallantly to the +summons. A rush was made for the lifebelts. The first and second +coxwains, Wilds and Roberts, were all ready, and prepared with the key +of the lifeboat house, as the rush of men was made. + +The first thirteen men who succeeded in getting the belts with the two +coxwains formed the crew, and down the steep beach plunged the great +lifeboat to the rescue. There were three vessels on the Goodwins: the +fate of one is uncertain; another was a small vessel painted white, +supposed to be a Dane, and she suddenly disappeared before my eyes, +being probably lost with all hands; the third was a German barque, the +Leda, homeward bound to Hamburg, with a crew of seventeen 'all told.' +This ill-fated vessel while flying on the wings of the favouring +sou'-westerly gale, supposed by the too partial poet to be + + A ladies' breeze, + Bringing home their true loves, + Out of all the seas, + +struck, while thus impelled at full speed before the wind, the inner +part of the S.E. spit of the Goodwin Sands. This is a most dangerous +spot, noted for the furious surf which breaks on it, and where the +writer has had a hard fight for his life with the sea. + +The Germans, therefore, found this 'ladies' breeze' of Charles +Kingsley's splendid imagination more unfriendly to them than even 'the +black north-easter,' and their first contact with the Goodwin Sands was +a terrific crash while they were all at dinner, toasting absent friends +and each other with the kindly German _prosit_, and harmless clinking +of glasses, innocent of alcohol. + +The shock against the Goodwins as the vessel slid from the crest of a +snowy roller upon the Sands, threw the cabin dinner table and +everything on it up to the cabin ceiling, and no words can describe the +wild hurry and helpless confusion on the sea-pelted motionless vessel, +as the foam and the spray beat clean over her. + +Under her reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail the lifeboat came +ramping over the four miles of tempestuous sea between the mainland and +the Goodwins, the sea getting bigger and breaking more at the top of +each wave, or 'peeling more,' as the Deal phrase goes, the farther they +went into the full fetch of the sea rolling up Channel. At last the +shallower water was reached about twenty feet in depth, where the +Goodwins commence. + +Up to this point any ordinary good sea-boat of sufficient size and +power would have made as good weather of it as the lifeboat, but when +at this depth of twenty feet the great rollers from the southward began +to curl and topple and break into huge foam masses, and coming from +different directions to race with such enormous speed and power that +the pillars of foam thrown up by the collision were seen at the +distance of five miles, then no boat but a lifeboat, it should be +clearly understood, could live for five minutes, and even in a lifeboat +only the 'sons of the Vikings' dare to face it. + +The wreck lay a long mile right into the very thick of this awful surf, +into which the Deal men boldly drove the lifeboat. As her great +forefoot was forced through the crest of each sea she sent showers of +spray over her mast and sails, and gleamed and glistened in the evening +sun as she struggled with the sea. + +To the wrecked crew she was visible from afar, and her bright colours +and red sails told them unmistakeably she was a lifeboat. Now buried, +then borne sky-high, she appeared to them as almost an angelic being +expressly sent for their deliverance, and with joy and gratitude they +watched her conquering advance, and they knew that brave English hearts +were guiding the noble boat to their rescue. + +When within about half a mile, the lifeboatmen saw the mainmast of the +vessel go over, and then down crash came the mizzenmast over the port +side, carrying with them in the ruin spars and rigging in confusion, +and all this wild mass still hung by the shrouds and other rigging +round the quarter and stem of the doomed ship, and were ever and anon +drawn against her by the sea, beating her planking with thunderous +noise and tremendous force. + +The Leda's head was now lying S.W., or facing the sea, as after she +struck stem on, her nose remained fast, and the sea gradually beat her +stem round. There was running a very strong lee-tide, i.e. a tide +running in the same direction as the wind and sea, setting fiercely +across the Sands and outwards across the bows of the wreck. Owing, +therefore, to this strong cross tide and the great sea, every minute +breaking more furiously as the water was falling with the ebb-tide, the +greatest judgment was required by the coxswains to anchor in the right +spot, so as not to be swung hopelessly out of reach of the vessel by +the tide. All the bravery in the world would have failed to accomplish +the rescue, had the requisite experience been wanting. Nothing but +experience and the faculty of coming to a right decision in a moment, +amidst the appalling grandeur and real danger which surrounded them, +enabled the coxswains to anchor just in the right spot, having made the +proper allowance for the set of the tide, the sea, and the wind. + +This decision had to be made in less time than I have taken to write +this sentence, and the lives of men hung thereon. All hands knew it, +so 'Now! Down foresail!' and the men rushed at the sail, and some to +the 'down-haul,' and got it in; the helm being put hard down, up, head +to sea, came the lifeboat, and overboard went the anchor, taking with +it coil after coil of the great white five-inch cable of Manilla hemp; +and to this they also bent a second cable, in order to ride by a long +scope, thus running out about 160 fathoms or 320 yards of cable. They +dropped anchor therefore nearly a fifth of a mile ahead of the wreck +and well on her starboard bow. Now bite, good anchor! and hold fast, +stout cable! for the lives of all depend on you. + +If the cable parted, and the lifeboat struck the ship with full force, +coming astern or broadside on, not a man would have survived to tell +the tale, or if she once got astern of the wreck she could not have +worked to windward--against the wind and tide--to drop down as before. +No friendly steam-tug was at hand to help them to windward, in case of +the failure of this their first attempt, and both the lifeboatmen and +the crew of the wrecked vessel knew the stake at issue, and that this +was the last chance. But the crew of the lifeboat said one to another, +'We're bound to save them,' and with all the coolness of the race, +though strung to the highest pitch of excitement, veered down towards +the wreck till abreast of where her mainmast had been. + +Clinging to the bulwarks and forerigging in a forlorn little cluster +were the Germans, waving to the lifeboat as she was gradually veered +down alongside, but still at a considerable distance from the wreck and +the dangerous tossing tangle of wreckage still hanging to her. + +To effect communication with a wreck, the lifeboat is provided with a +piece of cane as thick as a man's little finger and about a foot long, +to which a lump of lead is firmly fastened. To the end of the cane a +long light line is attached, and the line is kept neatly coiled in a +bucket. + +With this loaded cane in his right hand, a man stood on the gunwale of +the lifeboat; round his waist his comrades had passed a line, to +prevent him from being washed overboard his left hand grasped the +halyards, for the masts of the lifeboat are always left standing +alongside a wreck, and at the right moment with all his might he threw +the cane. Hissing through the air, it carried with it right on board +the wreck its own light line, which at great risk a German sailor +seized. Hauling it in, he found the lifeboat had bent on to it a +weightier rope, and thus communication was effected between the +lifeboat and the wreck. + +But though the lifeboat rode plunging alongside, she rode alongside at +a distance of twenty yards from the wreck, and had to be steered and +sheered, though at anchor, just as if she was in motion. At the helm, +therefore, stood the two coxswains, while round the foremast and close +to the fore air-box grouped the lifeboatmen. Wave after wave advanced, +breaking over them in clouds, taking their breath away and drenching +them. + +The coxswains were watching for a smooth to sheer the lifeboat's head +closer to the wreck, and the wearied sailors on the wreck were +anxiously watching their efforts, when, as will happen at irregular +intervals, which are beyond calculation, a great sea advanced, and was +seen towering afar. 'Hold on, men, for your lives!' sang out the +coxswains, and on came the hollow green sea, so far above their heads +that it seemed as they gazed into its terrible transparency that the +very sky had become green, and it broke into the lifeboat, hoisting her +up to the vessel's foreyard, and then plunging her bodily down and down. + +In this mighty hoist the port bilge-piece of the lifeboat as she +descended struck the top rail of the vessel's bulwarks, and the +collision stove in her fore air-box. That she was not turned clean +over by the shock, throwing out of her, and then falling on, her crew, +was only by God's mercy. All attempts to help the seamen on the wreck +in distress were suspended and buried in the wave. The lifeboatmen +held on with both arms round the thwarts in deadly wrestle and +breathless for dear life. Looking forwards as the boat emerged, the +coxswains, standing aft on their raised platform, could only see +boiling foam. Looking aft as the noble lifeboat emptied herself, the +crew saw the two coxswains waist deep in froth, and the head of the +Norman post aft was invisible and under water. We were all 'knocked +silly by that sea,' said the men, and they found that two of their +number had been swept aft and forced under the thwarts or seats of the +lifeboat. + +And now they turned to again--no one being missing--alone in that wild +cauldron of waters, with undaunted courage, to the work of rescue. Two +lines leading from the ship to the lifeboat were rigged up, the ends of +those lines being held by one of the lifeboatmen, George Philpot, who +had to tighten and slack them as the lifeboat rose, or when a sea came. +Spread-eagled on this rough ladder or cat's cradle, holding on for +their lives, the German crew had to come, and Philpot, who held the +lines in the lifeboat--no easy task--was lashed to the lifeboat's mast, +to leave his hands free and prevent his being swept overboard himself. +A space of about thirty feet separated the wreck and the lifeboat, as +the latter's head had to get a hard sheer off from the ship, to +counterbalance the tide and sea sucking and driving her towards the +wreck, and over this dangerous chasm the German sailors came. + +Still the giant seas swept into the lifeboat, and again and again the +lifeboat freed herself from the water, and floated buoyant, in spite of +the damage done to her airbox, so great was her reserve of floating +power. This her crew knew, and preserved unbounded confidence in the +noble structure under their feet, especially as they heard the clicks +of her valves at work and freeing her of water. + +In the intervals between the raging seas, twelve of the crew had now +been got into the lifeboat, when one man seeing her sheer closer than +usual towards the vessel, jumped from the top rail towards the +lifeboat. Instead of catching her at the propitious moment when she +was balanced on the summit of a wave, he sprang when she was rapidly +descending; this added ten feet to the height of his jump, and he fell +groaning into the lifeboat. + +Having put the rescued men on the starboard side of the lifeboat, to +make room for the descent of the others, great seas again came fiercely +and furiously. As the tide was falling fast, the water became +shallower, and all around was heard only the hoarse roar of the storm, +and there was seen only the advancing lines of billows, tossing their +snowy manes as they came on with speed. + +Again and again the lifeboat was submerged, and the man lashed to the +mast had to ease off the lines he held till the seas had passed. + +'It was as if the heavens was falling atop of us; but we had no fear +then, we were all a-takin' of it as easy as if we was ashore, but it +was afterwards we thought of it.' + +But not so the rescued crew who were in the lifeboat; some of them +wanted to get back to the ship, which was fast breaking up, but one of +their number had, strange to say, been rescued before--twice before, +some say--by the same lifeboat on the very same Goodwin Sands, and he +encouraged his comrades and said, 'She's all right! she's done it +before! Good boat! good boat!' And then the rest of the crew came +down, or rather along the two lines, held fast and eased off as before, +till, last man down, or rather along the lines, came the captain. +'Come along, captain! Come along. There's a booser coming!' and +Roberts aft, second coxswain, strained at the helm to sheer the +lifeboat off, before the sea came. + +It came towering. 'Quick! Captain! Come!' Had the captain rapidly +come along the lines, he would have been safe in the lifeboat, but he +hesitated just for an instant, and then the sea came--a moving mountain +of broken water, one of the most appalling objects in Nature--breaking +over the foreyard of the wreck, sweeping everything before it on the +deck, and covering lifeboat and men. Everything was blotted out by the +green water, as they once again wrestled in their strong grasp of the +thwarts, while the roar and smother of drowning rang in their ears. +But there is One who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the +hollow of His hand, and once again by His mercy not a man was missing, +and again rose the lifeboat, and gasping and half-blinded, they saw +that the ropes along which the captain was coming were twisted one +across the other, and that, though he had escaped the full force of the +great wave, the captain of the Leda was hanging by one hand, and on the +point of dropping into the wild turmoil beneath, exhausted. Another +second would have been too late, when, quick as lightning, the +lifeboatman, G. Philpot, still being lashed to the mast, by a dexterous +jerk, chucked one of the ropes under the leg of the clinging and +exhausted man, and then, once again, they cried, 'Come along! Now's +your time!' And on he came; but as the ropes again slacked as the +lifeboat rose, fell into the sea, though still grasping the lines, +while strong and generous hands dragged him safe into the lifeboat--the +last man. All saved! And now for home! + +They did not dare to haul up to their anchor, had that been possible, +lest before they got sail on the lifeboat to drag her away from the +wreck she should be carried back against the wreck, or under her bows, +when all would have perished. So the coxswains wisely decided to set +the foresail, and then when all was ready, the men all working +splendidly together, 'Out axe, lads! and cut the cable!' Away to the +right or starboard faintly loomed the land, five long miles distant. +Between them and it raged a mile of breakers throwing up their spiky +foaming crests, while their regular lines of advance were every now and +then crossed by a galloping breaking billow coming mysteriously and yet +furiously from another direction altogether, the result being a +collision of waters and pillars and spouts of foam shot up into the +air. Through this broken water they had to go--there was no other way +home, and 'there are no back doors at sea.' So down came the keen axe, +and the last strand of the cable was cut. + +Then they hoisted just a corner of the foresail, to cast her head +towards the land and away from the wreck--more they dared not hoist, +lest they should capsize in such broken water, the wind still blowing +very hard. As her head paid off, a big sea was seen coming high above +the others. 'Haul down the foresail, quick!' was the cry; but it was +too late, and the monstrous sea struck the bows and burst into the +sail, filling and overpowering the lifeboat and the helm and the +steersmen--for both Wilds and Roberts were straining at the yoke +lines--and hurled the lifeboat like a feather right round before the +wind, and she shot onwards with and amidst this sea, almost into the +deadly jangle of broken masts and great yards and tops, which with all +their rigging and shrouds and hamper were tossing wildly in the boiling +surf astern of the wreck. + +But the noble deed was not to end in disaster. Beaten and hustled as +the Deal lifeboatmen were with this great sea, there was time enough +for those skilled and daring men to set the foresail again, to drag her +clear before they got into the wreckage. 'Sheet home the foresail, and +sit steady, my lads,' said Roberts, 'and we'll soon be through!' and +they made for the dangerous broken water, which was now not more than +twelve feet deep. The coxswains kept encouraging the men, 'Cheer up, +my lads!' And then, 'Look out, all hands! A sea coming!' And then, +'Five minutes more and we'll be through.' And so with her goodly +freight of thirty-two souls, battered but not beaten, reeling to and +fro, and staggering and plunging on through the surf, each moment +approaching safety and deep water--on pressed the lifeboat. + +Now gleams of hope broke out as the lifeboat lived and prospered in the +battle, and at last the rescued Germans saved 'from the jaws of death,' +and yet hardly believing they were saved, sang out, though feeble and +exhausted, 'Hurrah! Cheer, O.' And inside the breakers the Kingsdown +lifeboat, on their way to help, responded with an answering cheer. + +Then we may be well sure that from our own silent, stubborn Deal men, +many a deep-felt prayer of gratitude, unuttered it may be by the lips, +was sent up from the heart to Him, the 'Eternal Father strong to save,' +while the Germans now broke openly out into 'Danke Gott! Danke Gott!' +and soon afterwards were landed--grateful beyond expression for their +marvellous deliverance--on Deal beach[1]. + +With conspicuous exceptions, few notice and fewer still remember those +gallant deeds done by those heroes of our coast. + +Few realize that those poor men have at home an aged mother perhaps +dependent on them, or children, or 'a nearer one yet and a dearer,' and +that when they 'darkling face the billow' the possibility of disaster +to themselves assumes a more harrowing shape, when they think of loved +ones left helpless and destitute behind them. Riches cannot remove the +pang of bereavement, but alas! for 'the _comfortless_ troubles of the +needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor.' And yet the brave +fellows never hang back and never falter. There ought to be, there is +amongst them, a trust in the living God. + +They apparently think little of their own splendid deeds, and seldom +speak of them, especially to strangers; yet they are part, and not the +least glorious part, of our 'rough island story.' The recital of them +makes our hearts thrill, and revives in us the memories of our youth +and our early worship of heroic daring in a righteous cause. God speed +the lifeboat and her crew! + + + +[1] The names of the crew who on this occasion manned the lifeboat were +Robert Wilds (coxswain 1st), R. Roberts (coxswain 2nd), Thos. Cribben, +Thos. Parsons, G. Pain, Chas. Hall, Thomas Roberts, Will Baker, John +Holbourn, Ed. Pain, George Philpot, R. Williams, W. Adams, H. Foster, +Robt. Redsull. Of these men, poor Tom Cribben never recovered +[Transcriber's note: from] the exposure and the strain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA + + Loud roared the dreadful thunder, + The rain a deluge poured. + + +There was a gale from the S.W. blowing over the southern part of +England, on November 11, 1877. The barometer had been low, but the +'centre of depression' was still advancing, and was probably over the +Straits of Dover about the middle of the day. Perhaps more is known +now than formerly of the path of the storm and the date of its arrival +on these coasts, and more is also known of the pleasanter but rarer +anti-cyclonic systems. Nevertheless, we are still in the dark as to +the cause which originates those two different phenomena, and brings +them from the east and the west. The secrets of Nature belong to Him +who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the hollow of His hand. +In the seaboard towns of the S.E. coast the houses shook before the +blast, and now and then the tiles crashed to the pavement, and the +fierce rain squalls swept through the deserted streets, as the gale +'whistled aloft his tempest tune.' To read of this makes every +fireside seem more comfortable, but somehow it also brings the thought +to many a heart 'God help those at sea to-night!' + +In the great roadstead of the Downs, among the pilots and the captains, +there were anxious hearts that day. There were hundreds of ships at +anchor, of many nations, all outward bound, and taking refuge in the +comparative shelter of the Downs. Those vessels had everything made as +snug as possible to meet the gale, and were mostly riding to two +anchors and plunging bows under. Here and there a vessel was dragging +and going into collision with some other vessel right astern of her; or +perhaps slipping both her anchors just in time to avoid the crash; or +away to the southward could be seen in the rifts of the driving rain +squalls, a large ship drifting, with anchors gone and sails blown into +ribbons. + +Deal beach was alive with the busy crowds of boatmen either launching +or beaching their luggers. The smaller boats, the galley punts, which +are seven feet beam and about twenty-eight feet in length, found the +wind and sea that day too much for them, especially in the afternoon. +They had been struggling in the Downs all day with two or three reefs, +and in the 'smokers' with 'yardarm taken,' but in the afternoon the +mercury in the barometers began to jump up and + + First rise after low + Foretells a stronger blow. + +Then the galley punts had to come ashore, and only the luggers and the +'cats' were equal to cruising among the storm-tossed shipping, +'hovelling' or on the look-out for a job. + +Some of the vessels might need a pilot to take them to Margate Roads or +northwards, or some might require a spare yard, or men to man the +pumps, or an anchor and chain, the vessels in some cases riding to +their last remaining anchor--or perhaps their windlass had given way or +the hawse pipe had split, and in that case their own chain cable would +cut them down to the water's edge in a few hours. To meet these +various needs of the vessels, the great luggers were all day being +continuously beached and launched, and it was hard to say which of the +two operations was most perilous to themselves or most fascinating to +the spectator. Once afloat they hovered about, on the wing as it were, +among the vessels, and from the beach it could be seen how crowded with +men they were, and how admirably they were handled. + +The skill of the Deal boatmen is generally supposed to be referred to +in the lines: + + Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands, + They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands; + Fearless they combat every hostile wind, + Wheeling in mazy tracks with course inclined. + + +The passage has certainly a flavour of the Goodwins but at any rate the +sea-bird does not sweep to the raging summit of a wave, or glide more +easily from its seething crest down the dark deep blue slope to its +windless trough, or more safely than the Deal boatmen in their luggers. + +Richard Roberts had been all that day afloat in the Downs in his +powerful 'cat,' the Early Morn. It was this boat, some of my readers +may remember, which picked up, struggling in the water, twenty-four of +the passengers of the Strathclyde, when she was run down off Dover by +the Franconia, some years ago. But the gale increasing towards +evening, Roberts, who had got to leeward too much, could not beat home, +and he had to run away before the wind and round the North Foreland to +Margate. Thence he took train, and leaving his lugger in safety, +reached Deal about nine p.m., just as the flash from the Gull +lightship, and then the distant boom of a gun and again another flash, +proclaimed there was a ship ashore on the sands. And through the wild +rain gusts he saw the flare of a vessel in distress on the Brake +Sand--God have mercy on them! for well he knew the hard and rocky +nature of that deadly spot. + +Then rang out wildly above the storm-shriek the summons from the iron +throat of the lifeboat bell, 'Man the lifeboat! Man the lifeboat!' +The night was dark, the ponderous surf thundered on the shingle, and +there could be seen the long advancing lines of billows breaking into +white masses of foam; and outside that there was only the blackness of +sea and sky, and the tossing lights and flares and signals calling for +help. 'No lanterns could be kept lit that night, sir! Blowed out they +was, and we had to feel our way in the lifeboat.' + +And you might hear in the bustle and din of quick preparation the +boatmen's shouts, 'Ease her down, Bill! just to land her bow over the +full!' 'Man that haul-off warp! she'll never get off against them seas +unless you man that haul-off warp! Slack it off!' And the coxswain +shouts, 'All hands aboard the lifeboat! Cut the lanyard!' + +Then the trigger flies loose and the stern chain which holds the +lifeboat in her position on the beach smokes through the 'ruffles,' or +hole in the iron keel through which it runs, as the mighty lifeboat +gains speed in her rush down the steep declivity of the beach. As she +nears the sea, faster still she slides and shoots over the well-greased +skids, urged forwards by her own weight and pulled forwards by the +crew, who grasp the haul-off warp moored off shore a long way, and at +last, as a warrior to battle, with a final bound she meets the shock of +the first great sea. And then she vanishes into the darkness. God +speed her on her glorious errand! + +Close-reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail was the canvas +under which the lifeboat that night struggled with the storm, to reach +the vessel on the Brake Sand. 'She did fly along, sir, that night, but +we were too late! The flare went out when we were half-way!' Alas! +alas! while the gallant crew were flying on the wings of mercy and of +hope to the rescue, the vessel broke up and vanished with all hands in +the deep. + +The lifeboat cruised round and round in the breakers, but all in vain. +The crew gazed and peered into the gloom and listened, and then they +shouted all together, but they could hardly hear each other's voices, +and there was no answer; all had perished, and rescue close at hand! + +Suddenly there was a lift in the rain, and between them and the land +they saw another flare, 'Down with the foresheet! All hands to the +foresheet! Now down with the mizzen sheet!' cried the coxswain, and +ten men flew to the sheets. As the lifeboat luffed she lay over to her +very bearings, beating famously to windward on her second errand of +mercy. + +It was about midnight, and there was 'a terrible nasty sea,' and a +great run under the lifeboat as she neared the land; and the coxswains +made out the dim form of a large vessel burning her flare, with masts +gone and the sea beating over her. + +Once again the lifeboat was put about, and came up into the wind's eye, +the foresail was got down and the other foresail hoisted on the other +side and sheeted home, sails, sheets and blocks rattling furiously in +the gale, and forwards on the other tack into the spume and sea-drift +the lifeboat 'ratched.' Between them and the vessel that was burning +her signal of distress, the keen eyes of the lifeboatmen discerned an +object in the sea, 'not more than fifty fathoms off, as much as ever it +was, it was that bitter dark!' Another wreck! 'Let us save them at +any rate!' said the storm-beaten lifeboatmen, as a feeble cry was heard. + +The anchor was dropped. The lifeboat was then veered down on her cable +a distance of eighty fathoms, and the object in the sea was found to be +a forlorn wreck. Her lee deck bulwarks were deep under water, and even +her weather rail was low down to the sea. + +The wreck was a French brig, the D'Artagnan, as was afterwards +ascertained, and on coming close it was seen her masts were still +standing, but leaning over so that her yardarms touched the water. +Nothing could live long on her deck, which was half under water and +swept by breakers. + +In the main rigging were seen small objects, which were found to be the +crew, and in answer to the shouts of the lifeboatmen they came down and +crawled or clung along the sea-beaten weather rail. Half benumbed with +terror and despair and lashed by ceaseless waves, they slowly came +along towards the lifeboat, and the state of affairs at that moment was +described by one of the lifeboatmen as, 'Yes, bitter dark it were, and +rainin' heavens hard, with hurricane of wind all the time.' + +The wreck lay with her head facing the mainland, from which she was +about a mile distant, and which bore by compass about W.N.W. The wind +and the strong tide were both in the same direction, and if the +lifeboat had anchored ahead of the vessel she would have swung +helplessly to leeward and been unable to reach the vessel at all. So, +also, had she gone under the wreck's stern to leeward, the same tide +would have swept her out of reach, to say nothing of the danger of +falling masts. It was impossible to have approached her to windward, +as one crash against the vessel's broadside in such a storm and sea +would have perhaps cost the lives of all the crew. + +They therefore steered the lifeboat's head right at the stern of the +vessel, as well for the reasons given as also because the cowering +figures in the rigging could be got off no other way. They could not +be taken to windward nor to leeward, and therefore by the stern was the +only alternative. + +By managing the cable of the lifeboat and by steering her, or by +setting a corner of her foresail, she would sheer up to the stern of +the wreck just as the fishing machine called an otter rides abreast of +the boat to which it is fast. The lifeboat's head was, therefore, +pointed at the stern of the wreck, which was leaning over hard to +starboard, and the lifeboatmen shouted to the crew, some in the rigging +and some clutching the weather toprail, to 'come on and take our line.' +But there was no response; only in the darkness they could see the men +in distress slowly working their way towards the stern of the wreck. + +The position of the lifeboat was very dangerous. The sea was raging +right across her, and it was only the sacred flame of duty and of pity +in the hearts of the daring crew of the lifeboat that kept them to +their task. The swell of the sea was running landwards, and the 'send' +of each great rolling wave, just on the point of breaking, would shoot +the lifeboat forwards till her stem and iron forefoot would strike the +transom and stern of the wreck with tremendous force. The strain and +spring of the cable would then draw back the lifeboat two or three +boats' lengths, and then another breaker, its white wrath visible in +the pitchy darkness, would again drive the lifeboat forwards and +upwards as with a giant's hand, and then crash! down and right on to +the stern and even right up on the deck of the half-submerged vessel. +Sometimes even half the length of the lifeboat was driven over the +transom and on the sloping deck of the wreck, off which she grated back +into the sea to leewards. + +What pen can describe the turmoil, the danger, and the appalling +grandeur of the scene, now black as Erebus, and again illumined by a +blaze of lightning? And what pen can do justice to the stubborn +courage that persevered in the work of rescue in spite of the +difficulties which at each step sprang up? + +It was now found that the crew in distress were French. In their +paralysed and perished condition they could not make out what our men +wanted them to do, and they did not make fast the lines thrown them. +Nor had they any lines to throw, as their tackle and running gear were +washed away, nor could they understand the hails of the lifeboatmen. +Hence the task of saving them rested with the Deal men alone. + +The Frenchmen, when they saw the lifeboat rising up and plunging +literally upon their decks with terrific force, held back and +hesitated, clinging to the weather rail, where their position was most +perilous. A really solid sea would have swept all away, and every two +or three minutes a furious breaker flew over them. Something had to be +done to get them, and to get them the men in the lifeboat were +determined. + +Now the fore air-box of the lifeboat has a round roof like a tortoise's +back, and there is a very imperfect hand-hold on it. + +Indeed, to venture out on this air-box in ordinary weather is by no +means prudent, but on this night, when it was literally raked by +weighty seas sufficient in strength to tear a limpet from its grip, the +peril of doing so was extreme, but still, out on that fore air-box, +determined to do or die, crept Richard Roberts, at that time the second +coxswain of the lifeboat, leading the forlorn hope of rescue, and not +counting his life dear to him. Up as the lifeboat rose, and down with +her into the depths, still Roberts held on with the tenacity of a +sailor's grasp. + +As the lifeboat surged forwards on the next sea, held behind by his +comrades' strong arms, out on the very stem he groped his way, and then +he shouted, and behind him all hands shouted, 'Come, Johnny! Now's +your time!' There's a widespread belief among our sailor friends that +the expression 'Johnny' is a passport to a Frenchman's heart. At any +rate, seeing Roberts on the very stem and hearing the shouts, the +nearly exhausted Frenchmen came picking their dangerous way and +clinging to the weather rail one by one till they grasped or rather +madly clutched at Roberts' outstretched arms. 'Hold on, mates!' he +cried, 'there's a sea coming! Don't let them drag me overboard!' And +then the Frenchmen grasped Roberts' arms and chest so fiercely that his +clothes were torn and he himself marked black and blue. Then rang out +as each poor sailor was grasped by Roberts, 'Hurrah! I've got him! +Pass him along, lads!'--and the poor fellows were rescued and welcomed +by English hearts and English hands. 'We never knowed if there was any +more, but at any rate we saved five,' said the lifeboatmen. + +Having rescued this crew, all eyes were now turned to the vessel that +had for some hours been burning her signals of distress. + +It was by this time four o'clock on this winter morning, and the crew +of the lifeboat were, to use their own words, 'nearly done.' They also +noticed that the lifeboat was much lower than usual in the water, but +neither danger, nor hardships, nor fatigue can daunt the spirits of the +brave, and their courage rose above the terror of the storm, and they +forgot the crippled condition of the lifeboat--both of her bows being +completely stove in by the force of her blows against the deck and the +transom of the French brig--and they responded gallantly to the +coxswain's orders of 'Up anchor and set the foresail!' and they made +for the flare of the fresh wreck for which they had been originally +heading. + +The signals of distress were from a Swedish barque, the Hedvig Sophia. +She had parted her anchors in the Downs, and had come ashore in three +fathoms of water, which was now angry surf; her masts were gone, but as +the rigging was not cut adrift, they were still lying to leeward in +wild confusion. She had heeled over to starboard, and her weather rail +being well out of the water, afforded some shelter to the crew; but her +sloping decks were washed and beaten by the waves that broke over her +and it was all but impossible to walk on them. + +The lifeboat's anchor was dropped, and again they veered down, but this +time it was possible to get to windward, and by reason of the wreckage +it was impossible to get to leeward. There was an English pilot on +board, who helped to carry out the directions given from the lifeboat, +and lines were quickly passed from the wreck. + +It was seen the captain's wife was on board, for the grey morning was +breaking, and as the lifeboat rose on the crest of a wave, after the +crew and just before the captain, who came last, the poor lady was +passed into the lifeboat. + +She only came with great reluctance and after much persuasion, as the +deck of the lifeboat was covered with three inches of water and she +seemed to be sinking. When the Swedish captain came on board, while +the spray was flying sky-high over them, could he truly be said to be +taken 'on board'? + +'Here's a pretty thing to come in--full of water!' said the captain. + +'Well,' replied Roberts, 'we've been in it all night, and you won't +have to wait long.' + +The lifeboatmen then got up anchor, and with twelve Swedes, five +Frenchmen, and their own crew of fifteen made for home. Deep plunged +the lifeboat, and wearily she rose at each sea, but still she struggled +towards Deal, as the wounded stag comes home to die. Her fore and +after air-boxes were full of water, for a man could creep into the rent +in her bows, and she had lost much of her buoyancy. Still she had a +splendid reserve in hand, from the air-boxes ranged along and under her +deck, and thus fighting her way with her freight of thirty-two souls, +at last she grounded on the sands off Deal, and the lifeboatmen leaped +out and carried the rescued foreigners literally into England from the +sea, where they were received as formerly another ship-wrecked stranger +in another island 'with no little kindness.' + +The next day the storm was over; sea and sky were bathed in sunshine, +and the swift-winged breezes just rippled the surface of the deep into +the countless dimples of blue and gold. + + [Greek] _Pontiôn te kumatôn_ + _Anerithmon gelasma_ + +was the exact description, more easily felt than translated; but close +to the North Bar buoy, in deep water, and just outside the Brake Sand, +there projected from out of the smiling sea the grim stern spectacle of +the masts of a barque whose hull lay deep down on its sandy bed. She +it was which had been burning flares for help the night before in vain, +and she had been beaten off the Brake Sand and sank before the lifeboat +came. She was a West India barque, with a Gravesend pilot on board, +and his pilot flag was found hoisted in the unusual position of the +mizzen topmast head, a fact which was interpreted by the Deal boatmen +as a message--a last message to his friends, and as much as to say, +'It's me that's gone.' + +But the brave men in the lifeboat did their best, and by their +extraordinary exertions, although they did not reach this poor lost +barque in time, yet by God's blessing on their skill and daring they +did save, Swedes and Frenchmen, seventeen souls that night from a +watery grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT + + Not once or twice in our rough island story + The path of duty was the way to glory. + + +A book bearing the title of _Heroes of the Goodwin Sands_, would hardly +be complete without a chapter devoted to the celebrated Ramsgate +lifeboat and her brave coxswain and crew. To them, by virtue of Mr. +Gilmore's well-known book, the title of _Storm Warriors_ almost of +right belongs, but I am well aware they will not deny their daring and +generous rivals of Deal a share in that stirring appellation, and I +know that their friends, the Deal boatmen, on their part gladly admit +that the Ramsgate lifeboatmen are also among the 'Heroes of the Goodwin +Sands.' + +The first lifeboat placed in Ramsgate was called the Northumberland. +The next was called the Bradford, in memory of the interesting fact +that the money required to build and equip her, about L600, was +subscribed in an hour on the Bradford Exchange, and within the hour the +news was flashed to London. Since then the rescues effected by the +Ramsgate lifeboat have become household words wherever the English +tongue is spoken. + +Nor less celebrated than the lifeboat is her mighty and invaluable ally +the steam-tug Aid, so often captained in the storm-blast by Alfred +Page, her brave and experienced master. This powerful tug boat has +steam up night and day, ready to rush the lifeboat out into the teeth +of any gale, when it would be otherwise impossible for the lifeboat to +get out of the harbour. The names of Coxswain Jarman, and more +recently of Coxswain Charles Fish, the hero of the Indian Chief rescue, +will long thrill the hearts of Englishmen and Englishwomen who read +that wondrous story of the sea. It may be fairly said that no storms +that blow in these latitudes can keep the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat +back, when summoned to the rescue. + +I had the privilege of standing on Ramsgate pier-head on November 11, +1891, when amidst the cheers of the crowd, who indeed could hardly keep +their feet, the tug and lifeboat slowly struggled out against the great +gale which blew that day. The lifeboat is towed a long way astern of +the tug-boat, to the full scope of a sixty fathom, five inch, white +Manilla hawser, and on the day I speak of, as the lifeboat felt the +giant strain of the tug-boat and was driven into the seas outside the +harbour, every wave broke into wild spray mast high over the lifeboat +and into the faces of her crew. + +The crew are obtained from a body of 150 enrolled volunteers. The +first ten of these who get into the lifeboat when the rocket signal +goes up from the pier-head form on that occasion the crew of the +lifeboat. In addition to these the two coxswains, by virtue of their +office, raise the total number to twelve. The celebrated coxswain, +Charles Fish, was also harbour boatman at Ramsgate, and slept in a +watch-house at the end of the pier in a hammock. He was always first +aroused by the watch to learn that rockets were going up from some +distant lightship signifying 'a ship on the Goodwins.' With him rested +the decision to send up the answering rocket from the pier-head, upon +seeing which the police and coastguard called the lifeboat crew. Then +would come the rush for a place. + +The coxswain had to decide what signals were to be regarded as false +alarms, and there are many such; sometimes, it is said in Ramsgate, the +flash of the Calais lighthouse is taken for a ship burning flares and +in distress on the Goodwins, and draws the signal guns from the +lightships. Sometimes a hayrick on fire is mistaken for a vessel's +appealing signal; sometimes the signals, of enormous and unnecessary +size, which the French trawlers burn to each other at night around the +Goodwins, set both the lightships and lifeboats all astray; and the +coxswains of the lifeboats, both at Ramsgate and Deal, have to be on +their guard against these delusive agencies. As the coxswains in both +of these places are men of exceptional shrewdness and ability, mistakes +are few and far between. The coxswain of a lifeboat ought to have the +eye of a hawk and the heart of a lion, and, I will add, the tenderness +and pity of a woman. + +Never was the possession of these qualities more finely exhibited than +by coxswain Charles Fish and the crew of the Ramsgate lifeboat in the +rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief from the Long Sand on +January 5 and 6, 1881. The following account has been taken by +permission from the _Lifeboat Journal_ for February, 1881, including +the extracts from the _Daily Telegraph_ and the admirable engraving. + +The accompanying graphic accounts of the wreck of the Indian Chief, and +of the noble rescue of a portion of her crew by the Bradford +self-righting lifeboat, stationed at Ramsgate, appeared in the _Daily +Telegraph_ on January 11 and 18, as related by the mate of the vessel +and the coxswain of the lifeboat. The lifeboats of the National +Lifeboat Institution stationed at Aldborough (Suffolk), Clacton and +Harwich (Essex), also proceeded to the scene of danger, but +unfortunately were unable to reach the wreck. Happily the Bradford +lifeboat persevered, amidst difficulties, hardships, and dangers hardly +ever surpassed in the lifeboat service; but her reward was indeed great +in saving eleven of our fellow-creatures, who must have succumbed, as +their mates had a few hours previously, to their terrible exposure in +bitterly cold weather for nearly thirty hours. + +[Illustration: The lifeboat Bradford at the wreck of the Indian Chief.] + +Indeed, Captain Braine, the zealous Ramsgate harbour-master, states in +an official letter of January 8, in reference to this noble service, +that-- + +'Of all the meritorious services performed by the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat, I consider this one of the best. The decision the coxswain +and crew arrived at to remain till daylight, which was in effect to +continue for fourteen hours cruising about with the sea continually +breaking over them in a heavy gale and tremendous sea, proves, I +consider, their gallantry and determination to do their duty. The +coxswain and crew of the lifeboat speak in the highest terms of her +good qualities; they state that when sailing across the Long Sand, +after leaving the wreck, the seas were tremendous, and the boat behaved +most admirably. Some of the shipwrecked crew have since stated that +they were fearful, on seeing the frightful-looking seas they were +passing through, that they were in more danger in the lifeboat than +when lashed to the mast of their sunken ship, as they thought it +impossible for any boat to live through such a sea.' + +The following are the newspaper accounts of a lifeboat service that +will always be memorable in the annals of the services of the lifeboats +of the National Lifeboat Institution; and many and many such services +reflect honour alike on the humanity of the age in which we live, and +on the organisation and liberality which have prompted and called them +into existence. + +'On the afternoon of Thursday, January 6, I made one of a great crowd +assembled on the Ramsgate east pier to witness the arrival of the +survivors of the crew of a large ship which had gone ashore on the Long +Sand early on the preceding Wednesday morning. A heavy gale had been +blowing for two days from the north and east; it had moderated somewhat +at noon, but still stormed fiercely over the surging waters, though a +brilliant blue sky arched overhead and a sun shone that made the sea a +dazzling surface of broken silver all away in the south and west. +Plunging bows under as she came along, the steamer towed the lifeboat +through a haze of spray; but amid this veil of foam, the flags of the +two vessels denoting that shipwrecked men were in the boat streamed +like well-understood words from the mastheads. The people crowded +thickly about the landing-steps when the lifeboat entered the harbour. +Whispers flew from mouth to mouth. Some said the rescued men were +Frenchmen, others that they were Danes, but all were agreed that there +was a dead body among them. One by one the survivors came along the +pier, the most dismal procession it was ever my lot to behold--eleven +live but scarcely living men, most of them clad in oilskins, and +walking with bowed backs, drooping heads and nerveless arms. There was +blood on the faces of some, circled with a white encrustation of salt, +and this same salt filled the hollows of their eyes and streaked their +hair with lines which looked like snow. The first man, who was the +chief mate, walked leaning heavily on the arm of the kindly-hearted +harbour-master, Captain Braine. The second man, whose collar-bone was +broken, moved as one might suppose a galvanised corpse would. A third +man's wan face wore a forced smile, which only seemed to light up the +piteous, underlying expression of the features. They were all +saturated with brine; they were soaked with sea-water to the very +marrow of the bones. Shivering, and with a stupefied rolling of the +eyes, their teeth clenched, their chilled fingers pressed into the +palms of their hands, they passed out of sight. As the last man came I +held my breath; he was alive when taken from the wreck, but had died in +the boat. Four men bore him on their shoulders, and a flag flung over +the face mercifully concealed what was most shocking of the dreadful +sight; but they had removed his boots and socks to chafe his feet +before he died, and had slipped a pair of mittens over the toes, which +left the ankles naked. This was the body of Howard Primrose Fraser, +the second mate of the lost ship, and her drowned captain's brother. I +had often met men newly-rescued from shipwreck, but never remember +having beheld more mental anguish and physical suffering than was +expressed in the countenances and movements of these eleven sailors. +Their story as told to me is a striking and memorable illustration of +endurance and hardship on the one hand, and of the finest heroical +humanity on the other, in every sense worthy to be known to the British +public. I got the whole narrative direct from the chief mate, Mr. +William Meldrum Lloyd, and it shall be related here as nearly as +possible in his own words. + + + +No. 1.--_The Mate's Account_. + +'Our ship was the Indian Chief, of 1238 tons register; our skipper's +name was Fraser, and we were bound with a general cargo to Yokohama. +There were twenty-nine souls on board, counting the North-country +pilot. We were four days out from Middlesbrough, but it had been thick +weather ever since the afternoon of the Sunday on which we sailed. All +had gone well with us, however, so far, and on Wednesday morning, at +half-past two, we made the Knock Light. You must know, sir, that +hereabouts the water is just a network of shoals; for to the southward +lies the Knock, and close over against it stretches the Long Sand, and +beyond, down to the westward, is the Sunk Sand. Shortly after the +Knock Light had hove in sight, the wind shifted to the eastward and +brought a squall of rain. We were under all plain sail at the time, +with the exception of the royals, which were furled, and the main sail +that hung in the buntlines. The Long Sand was to leeward, and finding +that we were drifting that way the order was given to put the ship +about. It was very dark, the wind breezing up sharper and sharper, and +cold as death. The helm was put down, but the main braces fouled, and +before they could be cleared the vessel had missed stays and was in +irons. We then went to work to wear the ship, but there was much +confusion, the vessel heeling over, and all of us knew that the Sands +were close aboard. The ship paid off, but at a critical moment the +spanker-boom sheet fouled the wheel; still, we managed to get the +vessel round, but scarcely were the braces belayed and the ship on the +starboard tack, when she struck the ground broadside on. She was a +soft-wood built ship, and she trembled, sir, as though she would go to +pieces at once like a pack of cards. Sheets and halliards were let go, +but no man durst venture aloft. Every moment threatened to bring the +spars crushing about us, and the thundering and beating of the canvas +made the masts buckle and jump like fishing-rods. We then kindled a +great flare and sent up rockets, and our signals were answered by the +Sunk Lightship and the Knock. We could see one another's faces in the +light of the big blaze, and sung out cheerily to keep our hearts up; +and, indeed, sir, although we all knew that our ship was hard and fast +and likely to leave her bones on that sand, we none of us reckoned upon +dying. The sky had cleared, the easterly wind made the stars sharp and +bright, and it was comforting to watch the lightships' rockets rushing +up and bursting into smoke and sparks over our heads, for they made us +see that our position was known, and they were as good as an assurance +that help would come along soon and that we need not lose heart. But +all this while the wind was gradually sweeping up into a gale--and oh, +the cold, good Lord! the bitter cold of that wind! + +'It seemed as long as a month before the morning broke, and just before +the grey grew broad in the sky, one of the men yelled out something, +and then came sprawling and splashing aft to tell us that he had caught +sight of the sail of a lifeboat[1] dodging among the heavy seas. We +rushed to the side to look, half-blinded by the flying spray and the +wind, and clutching at whatever offered to our hands, and when at last +we caught sight of the lifeboat we cheered, and the leaping of my heart +made me feel sick and deathlike. As the dawn brightened we could see +more plainly, and it was frightful to notice how the men looked at her, +meeting the stinging spray borne upon the wind without a wink of the +eye, that they might not lose sight of the boat for an instant; the +salt whitening their faces all the while like a layer of flour as they +watched. She was a good distance away, and she stood on and off, on +and off, never coming closer, and evidently shirking the huge seas +which were now boiling around us. At last she hauled her sheet aft, +put her helm over, and went away. One of our crew groaned, but no +other man uttered a sound, and we returned to the shelter of the +deckhouses. + +'Though the gale was not at its height when the sun rose, it was not +far from it. We plucked up spirits again when the sun shot out of the +raging sea, but as we lay broadside on to the waves, the sheets of +flying water soon made the sloping decks a dangerous place for a man to +stand on, and the crew and officers kept the shelter of the +deck-cabins, though the captain and his brother and I were constantly +going out to see if any help was coming. But now the flood was making, +and this was a fresh and fearful danger, as we all knew, for at sunrise +the water had been too low to knock the ship out of her sandy bed, but +as the tide rose it lifted the vessel, bumping and straining her +frightfully. The pilot advised the skipper to let go the starboard +anchor, hoping that the set of the tide would slue the ship's stern +round, and make her lie head on to the seas; so the anchor was dropped, +but it did not alter the position of the ship. To know, sir, what the +cracking and straining of that vessel was like, as bit by bit she +slowly went to pieces, you must have been aboard of her. When she +broke her back a sort of panic seized many of us, and the captain +roared out to the men to get the boats over, and see if any use could +be made of them. Three boats were launched, but the second boat, with +two hands in her, went adrift, and was instantly engulphed, and the +poor fellows in her vanished just as you might blow out a light. The +other boats filled as soon as they touched the water. There was no +help for us in that way, and again we withdrew to the cabins. + +A little before five o'clock in the afternoon a huge sea swept over the +vessel, clearing the decks fore and aft, and leaving little but the +uprights of the deck-houses standing. It was a dreadful sea, but we +knew worse was behind it, and that we must climb the rigging if we +wanted to prolong our lives. The hold was already full of water, and +portions of the deck had been blown out, so that everywhere great +yawning gulfs met the eye, with the black water washing almost flush. +Some of the men made for the fore-rigging, but the captain shouted to +all hands to take to the mizzenmast, as that one, in his opinion, was +the securest. A number of the men who were scrambling forward returned +on hearing the captain sing out, but the rest held on and gained the +foretop. Seventeen of us got over the mizzentop, and with our knives +fell to hacking away at such running gear as we could come at to serve +as lashings. None of us touched the mainmast, for we all knew, now the +ship had broken her back, that that spar was doomed, and the reason why +the captain had called to the men to come aft was because he was afraid +that when the mainmast went it would drag the foremast, that rocked in +its step with every move, with it. I was next the captain in the +mizzentop, and near him was his brother, a stout-built, handsome young +fellow, twenty-two years old, as fine a specimen of the English sailor +as ever I was shipmate with. He was calling about him cheerfully, +bidding us not be down-hearted, and telling us to look sharply around +for the lifeboats. He helped several of the benumbed men to lash +themselves, saying encouraging things to them as he made them fast. As +the sun sank the wind grew more freezing, and I saw the strength of +some of the men lashed over me leaving them fast. The captain shook +hands with me, and, on the chance of my being saved, gave me some +messages to take home, too sacred to be written down, sir. He likewise +handed me his watch and chain, and I put them in my pocket. The canvas +streamed in ribbons from the yards, and the noise was like a continuous +roll of thunder overhead. It was dreadful to look down and watch the +decks ripping up, and notice how every sea that rolled over the wreck +left less of her than it found. + +'The moon went quickly away--it was a young moon with little power--but +the white water and the starlight kept the night from being black, and +the frame of the vessel stood out like a sketch done in ink every time +the dark seas ran clear of her and left her visible upon the foam. +There was no talking, no calling to one another, the men hung in the +topmast rigging like corpses, and I noticed the second mate to windward +of his brother in the top, sheltering him, as best he could, poor +fellow, with his body from the wind that went through our skins like +showers of arrows. On a sudden I took it into my head to fancy that +the mizzenmast wasn't so secure as the foremast. It came into my mind +like a fright, and I called to the captain that I meant to make for the +foretop. I don't know whether he heard me or whether he made any +answer. Maybe it was a sort of craze of mine for the moment, but I was +wild with eagerness to leave that mast as soon as ever I began to fear +for it. I cast my lashings adrift and gave a look at the deck, and saw +that I must not go that way if I did not want to be drowned. So I +swung myself into the crosstrees, and swung myself on to the stay, so +reaching the maintop, and then I scrambled on to the main topmast +crosstrees, and went hand over hand down the topmast stay into the +foretop. Had I reflected before I left the mizzentop, I should not +have believed that I had the strength to work my way for'rards like +that; my hands felt as if they were skinned and my finger-joints +appeared to have no use in them. There were nine or ten men in the +foretop, all lashed and huddled together. The mast rocked sharply, and +the throbbing of it to the blowing of the great tatters of canvas was a +horrible sensation. From time to time they sent up rockets from the +Sunk lightship--once every hour, I think--but we had long since ceased +to notice those signals. There was not a man but thought his time was +come, and, though death seemed terrible when I looked down upon the +boiling waters below, yet the anguish of the cold almost killed the +craving for life. + +'It was now about three o'clock on Thursday morning; the air was full +of the strange, dim light of the foam and the stars, and I could very +plainly see the black swarm of men in the top and rigging of the +mizzenmast. I was looking that way, when a great sea fell upon the +hull of the ship with a fearful crash; a moment after, the mainmast +went. It fell quickly, and as it fell it bore down the mizzenmast. +There was a horrible noise of splintering wood and some piercing cries, +and then another great sea swept over the after-deck, and we who were +in the foretop looked and saw the stumps of the two masts sticking up +from the bottom of the hold, the mizzenmast slanting over the bulwarks +into the water, and the men lashed to it drowning. There never was a +more shocking sight, and the wonder is that some of us who saw it did +not go raving mad. The foremast still stood, complete to the royal +mast and all the yards across, but every instant I expected to find +myself hurling through the air. By this time the ship was completely +gutted, the upper part of her a mere frame of ribs, and the gale still +blew furiously; indeed, I gave up hope when the mizzenmast fell and I +saw my shipmates drowning on it. + +'It was half an hour after this that a man, who was jammed close +against me, pointed out into the darkness and cried in a wild hoarse +voice, "Isn't that a steamer's light?" I looked, but what with grief +and suffering and cold, I was nearly blinded, and could see nothing. +But presently another man called out that he could see a light, and +this was echoed by yet another; so I told them to keep their eyes upon +it and watch if it moved. They said by and by that it was stationary; +and though we could not guess that it meant anything good for us, yet +this light heaving in sight and our talking of it gave us some comfort. +When the dawn broke we saw the smoke of a steamer, and agreed that it +was her light we had seen; but I made nothing of that smoke, and was +looking heartbrokenly at the mizzenmast and the cluster of drowned men +washing about it, when a loud cry made me turn my head, and then I saw +a lifeboat under a reefed foresail heading direct for us. It was a +sight, sir, to make one crazy with joy, and it put the strength of ten +men into every one of us. A man named Gillmore--I think it was +Gillmore--stood up and waved a long strip of canvas. But I believe +they had seen there were living men aboard us before that signal was +made. + +'The boat had to cross the broken water to fetch us, and in my agony of +mind I cried out, "She'll never face it! She'll leave us when she sees +that water!" for the sea was frightful all to windward of the Sand and +over it, a tremendous play of broken waters, raging one with another, +and making the whole surface resemble a boiling cauldron. Yet they +never swerved a hair's-breadth. Oh, sir, she was a noble boat! We +could see her crew--twelve of them--sitting at the thwarts, all looking +our way, motionless as carved figures, and there was not a stir among +them as, in an instant, the boat leapt from the crest of a towering sea +right into the monstrous broken tumble. + +'The peril of these men, who were risking their lives for ours, made us +forget our own situation. Over and over again the boat was buried, but +as regularly did she emerge with her crew fixedly looking our way, and +their oilskins and the light-coloured side of the boat sparkling in the +sunshine, while the coxswain, leaning forward from the helm, watched +our ship with a face of iron. + +'By this time we knew that this boat was here to save us, and that she +_would_ save us, and, with wildly beating hearts, we unlashed +ourselves, and dropped over the top into the rigging. We were all +sailors, you see, sir, and knew what the lifeboatmen wanted, and what +was to be done. Swift as thought we had bent a number of ropes' ends +together, and securing a piece of wood to this line, threw it +overboard, and let it drift to the boat. It was seized, a hawser made +fast, and we dragged the great rope on board. By means of this hawser +the lifeboatmen hauled their craft under our quarter, clear of the +raffle. But there was no such rush made for her as might be thought. +No! I owe it to my shipmates to say this. Two of them shinned out +upon the mizzenmast to the body of the second mate, that was lashed +eight or nine feet away over the side, and got him into the boat before +they entered it themselves. I heard the coxswain of the boat--Charles +Fish by name, the fittest man in the world for that berth and this +work--cry out, "Take that poor fellow in there!" and he pointed to the +body of the captain, who was lashed in the top with his arms over the +mast, and his head erect and his eyes wide open. But one of our crew +called out, "He's been dead four hours, sir," and then the rest of us +scrambled into the boat, looking away from the dreadful group of +drowned men that lay in a cluster round the prostrate mast. + +'The second mate was still alive, but a maniac; it was heartbreaking to +hear his broken, feeble cries for his brother, but he lay quiet after a +bit, and died in half an hour, though we chafed his feet and poured rum +into his mouth, and did what men in our miserable plight could for a +fellow-sufferer. Nor were we out of danger yet, for the broken water +was enough to turn a man's hair grey to look at. It was a fearful sea +for us men to find ourselves in the midst of, after having looked at it +from a great height, and I felt at the beginning almost as though I +should have been safer on the wreck than in that boat. Never could I +have believed that so small a vessel could meet such a sea and live. +Yet she rose like a duck to the great roaring waves which followed her, +draining every drop of water from her bottom as she was hove up, and +falling with terrible suddenness into a hollow, only to bound like a +living thing to the summit of the next gigantic crest. + +'When I looked at the lifeboat's crew and thought of our situation a +short while since, and our safety now, and how to rescue us these +great-hearted men had imperilled their own lives, I was unmanned; I +could not thank them, I could not trust myself to speak. They told us +they had left Ramsgate Harbour early on the preceding afternoon, and +had fetched the Knock at dusk, and not seeing our wreck had lain to in +that raging sea, suffering almost as severely as ourselves, all through +the piercing tempestuous night. What do you think of such a service, +sir? How can such devoted heroism be written of, so that every man who +can read shall know how great and beautiful it is? Our own sufferings +came to us as a part of our calling as seamen. But theirs was bravely +courted and endured for the sake of their fellow-creatures. Believe +me, sir, it was a splendid piece of service; nothing grander in its way +was ever done before, even by Englishmen. I am a plain seaman, and can +say no more about it all than this. But when I think of what must have +come to us eleven men before another hour had passed, if the lifeboat +crew had not run down to us, I feel like a little child, sir, and my +heart grows too full for my eyes.' + +Two days had elapsed (continues the writer in the _Daily Telegraph_) +since the rescue of the survivors of the crew of the Indian Chief, and +I was gazing with much interest at the victorious lifeboat as she lay +motionless upon the water of the harbour. It was a very calm day, the +sea stretching from the pier-sides as smooth as a piece of green silk, +and growing vague in the wintry haze of the horizon, while the white +cliffs were brilliant with the silver sunshine. It filled the mind +with strange and moving thoughts to look at that sleeping lifeboat, +with her image as sharp as a coloured photograph shining in the clear +water under her, and then reflect upon the furious conflict she had +been concerned in only two nights before, the freight of half-drowned +men that had loaded her, the dead body on her thwart, the bitter cold +of the howling gale, the deadly peril that had attended every heave of +the huge black seas. Within a few hundred yards of her lay the tug, +the sturdy steamer that had towed her to the Long Sand, that had held +her astern all night, and brought her back safe on the following +afternoon. The tug had suffered much from the frightful tossing she +had received, and her injuries had not yet been dealt with; she had +lost her sponsons, her starboard side-house was gone, the port side of +her bridge had been started and the iron railing warped, her decks +still seemed dank from the remorseless washing, her funnel was brown +with rust, and the tough craft looked a hundred years old. Remembering +what these vessels had gone through, how they had but two days since +topped a long series of merciful and dangerous errands by as brilliant +an act of heroism and humanity as any on record, it was difficult to +behold them without a quickened pulse. I recalled the coming ashore of +their crews, the lifeboatmen with their great cork-jackets around them, +the steamer's men in streaming oilskins, the faces of many of them +livid with the cold, their eyes dim with the bitter vigil they had kept +and the furious blowing of the spray; and I remembered the bright smile +that here and there lighted up the weary faces, as first one and then +another caught sight of a wife or a sister in the crowd waiting to +greet and accompany the brave hearts to the warmth of their humble +homes. I felt that while these crews' sufferings and the courage and +resolution they had shown remained unwritten, only half of the very +stirring and manful story had been recorded. The narrative, as related +to me by the coxswain of the lifeboat, is a necessary pendant to the +tale told by the mate of the wrecked ship; and as he and his +colleagues, both of the lifeboat and the steam-tug, want no better +introduction than their own deeds to the sympathy and attention of the +public, let Charles Edward Fish begin his yarn without further preface. + + + +No. 2.--_The Coxswain's Account_. + +'News had been brought to Ramsgate, as you know, sir, that a large ship +was ashore on the Long Sand, and Captain Braine, the harbour-master, +immediately ordered the tug and lifeboat to proceed to her assistance. +It was blowing a heavy gale of wind, though it came much harder some +hours afterwards; and the moment we were clear of the piers we felt the +sea. Our boat is considered a very fine one. I know there is no +better on the coasts, and there are only two in Great Britain bigger. +She was presented to the Lifeboat Institution by Bradford, and is +called after that town. But it is ridiculous to talk of bigness when +it means only forty-two feet long, and when a sea is raging round you +heavy enough to swamp a line-of-battle ship. I had my eye on the +tug--named the Vulcan, sir--when she met the first of the seas, and she +was thrown up like a ball, and you could see her starboard paddle +revolving in the air high enough out for a coach to pass under; and +when she struck the hollow she dished a sea over her bows that left +only the stern of her showing. We were towing head to wind, and the +water was flying over the boat in clouds. Every man of us was soaked +to the skin, in spite of our overalls, by the time we had brought the +Ramsgate Sands abeam; but there were a good many miles to be gone over +before we should fetch the Knock lightship, and so you see, sir, it was +much too early for us to take notice that things were not over and +above comfortable. + +'We got out the sail-cover--a piece of tarpaulin--to make a shelter of, +and rigged it up against the mast, seizing it to the burtons; but it +hadn't been up two minutes when a heavy sea hit and washed it right aft +in rags; so there was nothing to do but to hold on to the thwarts and +shake ourselves when the water came over. I never remember a colder +wind. I don't say this because I happened to be out in it. Old Tom +Cooper, one of the best boatmen in all England, sir, who made one of +our crew, agreed with me that it was more like a flaying machine than a +natural gale of wind. The feel of it in the face was like being gnawed +by a dog. I only wonder it didn't freeze the tears it fetched out of +our eyes. We were heading N.E., and the wind was blowing from N.E. +The North Foreland had been a bit of shelter, like; but when we had +gone clear of that, and the ocean lay ahead of us, the seas were +furious--they seemed miles long, sir, like an Atlantic sea, and it was +enough to make a man hold his breath to watch how the tug wallowed and +tumbled into them. I sung out to Dick Goldsmith, "Dick," I says, +"she's slowed, do you see, she'll never be able to meet it," for she +had slackened her engines down into a mere crawl, and I really did +think they meant to give up. I could see Alf Page--the master of her, +sir--on the bridge, coming and going like the moon when the clouds +sweep over it, as the seas smothered him up one moment, and left him +shining in the sun the next. But there was to be no giving up with the +tug's crew any more than with the lifeboat's; she held on, and we +followed. + +'Somewhere abreast of the Elbow buoy a smack that was running ported +her helm to speak us. Her skipper had just time to yell out, "A vessel +on the Long Sand!" and we to wave our hands, when she was astern and +out of sight in a haze of spray. Presently a collier named the Fanny, +with her foretopgallant-yard gone, passed us. She was cracking on to +bring the news of the wreck to Ramsgate, and was making a heavy sputter +under her topsails and foresail. They raised a cheer, for they knew +our errand, and then, like the smack, in a minute she was astern and +gone. By this time the cold and the wet and the fearful plunging were +beginning to tell, and one of the men called for a nip of rum. The +quantity we generally take is half a gallon, and it is always my rule +to be sparing with that drink for the sake of the shipwrecked men we +may have to bring home, and who are pretty sure to be in greater need +of the stuff than us. I never drink myself, sir, and that's one +reason, I think, why I manage to meet the cold and wet middling well, +and rather better than some men who look stronger than me. However, I +told Charlie Verrion to measure the rum out and serve it round, and it +would have made you laugh, I do believe, sir, to have seen the care the +men took of the big bottle--Charlie cocking his finger into the +cork-hole, and Davy Berry clapping his hand over the pewter measure, +whenever a sea came, to prevent the salt water from spoiling the +liquor. Bad as our plight was, the tug's crew were no better off; +their wheel is forrard, and so you may suppose the fellow that steered +had his share of the seas; the others stood by to relieve him; and for +the matter of water, she was just like a rock, the waves striking her +bows and flying pretty nigh as high as the top of her funnel, and +blowing the whole length of her aft with a fall like the tumble of +half-a-dozen cartloads of bricks. I like to speak of what they went +through, for the way they were knocked about was something fearful, to +be sure. + +[Illustration: Leaving Ramsgate Harbour in tow.] + +'By half-past four o'clock in the afternoon it was drawing on dusk, and +about that hour we sighted the revolving light of the Kentish Knock +lightship, and a little after five we were pretty close to her. She is +a big red-hulled boat, with the words 'Kentish Knock' written in long +white letters on her sides, and, dark as it was, we could see her flung +up, and rushing down fit to roll her over and over; and the way she +pitched and went out of sight, and then ran up on the black heights of +water, gave me a better notion of the fearfulness of that sea than I +had got by watching the tug or noticing our own lively dancing. The +tug hailed her first, and two men looking over her side answered; but +what they said didn't reach us in the lifeboat. Then the steamer towed +us abreast, but the tide caught our warp and gave us a sheer that +brought us much too close alongside of her. When the sea took her she +seemed to hang right over us, and the sight of that great dark hull, +looking as if, when it fell, it must come right atop of us, made us +want to sheer off, I can tell you. I sung out, "Have you seen the +ship?" And one of the men bawled back, "Yes." "How does she bear?" +"Nor'-west by north." "Have you seen anything go to her?" The answer +I caught was, "A boat." Some of our men said the answer was, "A +lifeboat," but most of us only heard, "A boat." + +'The tug was now towing ahead, and we went past the lightship, but ten +minutes after Tom Friend sings out, "They're burning a light aboard +her!" and looking astern I saw they had fired a red signal light that +was blazing over the bulwark in a long shower of sparks. The tug put +her helm down to return, and we were brought broadside to the sea. +Then we felt the power of those waves, sir. It looked a wonder that we +were not rolled over and drowned, every man of us. We held on with our +teeth clenched, and twice the boat was filled, and the water up to our +throats. "Look out for it, men!" was always the cry. But every upward +send emptied the noble little craft, like pulling out a plug in a +wash-basin, and in a few minutes we were again alongside the +light-vessel. This time there were six or seven men looking over the +side. "What do you want?" we shouted. "Did you see the Sunk +lightship's rocket?" they all yelled out together. "Yes. Did you say +you saw a boat?" "No," they answered, showing we had mistaken their +first reply. On which I shouted to the tug, "Pull us round to the Long +Sand Head buoy!" and then we were under weigh again, meeting the +tremendous seas. There was only a little bit of moon, westering fast, +and what there was of it showed but now and again, as the heavy clouds +opened and let the light of it down. Indeed, it was very dark, though +there was some kind of glimmer in the foam which enabled us to mark the +tug ahead. "Bitter cold work, Charlie," says old Tom Cooper to me: +"but," says he, "it's colder for the poor wretches aboard the wreck, if +they're alive to feel it." The thought of them made our own sufferings +small, and we kept looking and looking into the darkness around, but +there was nothing to be spied, only now and again and long whiles apart +the flash of a rocket in the sky from the Sunk lightship. Meanwhile, +from time to time, we burnt a hand-signal--a light, sir, that's fired +something after the manner of a gun. You fit it into a wooden tube, +and give a sort of hammer at the end a smart blow, and the flame rushes +out, and a bright light it makes, sir. Ours were green lights, and +whenever I set one flaring I couldn't help taking notice of the +appearance of the men. It was a queer sight, I assure you, to see them +all as green as leaves, with their cork jackets swelling out their +bodies so as scarcely to seem like human beings, and the black water as +high as our mast-head, or howling a long way below us, on either side. +They burned hand-signals on the tug, too, but nothing came of them. +There was no sign of the wreck, and staring over the edge of the boat, +with the spray and the darkness, was like trying to see through the +bottom of a well. + +'So we began to talk the matter over, and Tom Cooper says, "We had +better stop here and wait for daylight." "I'm for stopping," says +Steve Goldsmith; and Bob Penny says, "We're here to fetch the wreck, +and fetch it we will, if we wait a week." "Right," says I; and all +hands being agreed--without any fuss, sir, though I dare say most of +our hearts were at home, and our wishes alongside our hearths, and the +warm fires in them--we all of us put our hands to our mouths and made +one great cry of "Vulcan ahoy!" The tug dropped astern. "What do you +want?" sings out the skipper, when he gets within speaking distance. +"There's nothing to be seen of the vessel, so we had better lie-to for +the night," I answered. "Very good," he says, and then the steamer, +without another word from her crew, and the water tumbling over her +bows like cliffs, resumed her station ahead, her paddles revolving just +fast enough to keep her from dropping astern. + +'As coxswain of the lifeboat, sir, I take no credit for resolving to +lie-to all night. But I am bound to say a word for the two crews, who +made up their minds without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, to +face the bitter cold and fierce seas of that long winter darkness, that +they might be on the spot to help their fellow-creatures when the dawn +broke and showed them where they were. I know there are scores of +sailors round our coasts who would have done likewise. Only read, sir, +what was done in the North, Newcastle way, during the gales last +October. But surely, sir, no matter who may be the men who do what +they think their duty, whether they belong to the North or the South, +they deserve the encouragement of praise. A man likes to feel, when he +has done his best, that his fellow-men think well of his work. If I +had not been one of that crew I should wish to say more; but no false +pride shall make me say less, sir, and I thank God for the resolution +He put into us, and for the strength He gave us to keep that resolution. + +'All that we had to do now was to make ourselves as comfortable as we +could. Our tow-rope veered us out a long way, too far astern of the +tug for her to help us as a breakwater, and the manner in which we were +flung towards the sky with half our keel out of water and then dropped +into a hollow--like falling from the top of a house, sir,--while the +heads of the seas blew into and tumbled over us all the time, made us +all reckon that, so far from getting any rest, most of our time would +be spent in preventing ourselves from being washed overboard. We +turned to and got the foresail aft, and made a kind of roof of it. +This was no easy job, for the wind was so furious that wrestling even +with that bit of a sail was like fighting with a steam-engine. When it +was up ten of us snugged ourselves away under it, and two men stood on +the after-grating thwart keeping a look-out, with the life-lines around +them. As you know, sir, we carry a binnacle, and the lamp in it was +alight and gave out just enough haze for us to see each other in. We +all lay in a lump together for warmth, and a fine show we made, I dare +say; for a cork jacket, even when a man stands upright, isn't +calculated to improve his figure, and as we all of us had cork jackets +on and oil-skins, and many of us sea boots, you may guess what a raffle +of legs and arms we showed, and what a rum heap of odds and ends we +looked, as we sprawled in the bottom of the boat upon one another. +Sometimes it would be Johnny Goldsmith--for we had three +Goldsmiths--Steve and Dick and Johnny--growling underneath that +somebody was lying on his leg; and then maybe Harry Meader would bawl +out that there was a man sitting on his head; and once Tom Friend swore +his arm was broke: but my opinion is, sir, that it was too cold to feel +inconveniences of this kind, and I believe that some among us would not +have known if their arms and legs really had been broke, until they +tried to use 'em, for the cold seemed to take away all feeling out of +the blood. + +'As the seas flew over the boat the water filled the sail that was +stretched overhead and bellied it down upon us, and that gave us less +room, so that some had to lie flat on their faces; but when this +bellying got too bad we'd all get up and make one heave with our backs +under the sail, and chuck the water out of it in that way. "Charlie +Fish," says Tom Cooper to me, in a grave voice, "what would some of +them young gen'lmen as comes to Ramsgate in the summer, and says they'd +like to go out in the lifeboat, think of this?" This made me laugh, +and then young Tom Cooper votes for another nipper of rum all round; +and as it was drawing on for one o'clock in the morning, and some of +the men were groaning with cold, and pressing themselves against the +thwarts with the pain of it, I made no objection, and the liquor went +round. I always take a cake of Fry's chocolate with me when I go out +in the lifeboat, as I find it very supporting, and I had a mind to have +a mouthful now; but when I opened the locker I found it full of water, +my chocolate nothing but paste, and the biscuit a mass of pulp. This +was rather hard, as there was nothing else to eat, and there was no +getting near the tug in that sea unless we wanted to be smashed into +staves. However, we hadn't come out to enjoy ourselves; nothing was +said, and so we lay in a heap, hugging one another for warmth, until +the morning broke. + +'The first man to look to leeward was old Tom's son--young Tom +Cooper--and in a moment he bawled out, "There she is!" pointing like a +madman. The morning had only just broke, and the light was grey and +dim, and down in the west it still seemed to be night; the air was full +of spray, and scarcely were we a-top of a sea than we were rushing like +an arrow into the hollow again, so that young Tom must have had eyes +like a hawk to have seen her. Yet the moment he sung out and pointed, +all hands cried out, "There she is!" But what was it, sir? Only a +mast about three miles off--just one single mast sticking up out of the +white water, as thin and faint as a spider's line. Yet that was the +ship we had been waiting all night to see. There she was, and my heart +thumped in my ears the moment my eye fell on that mast. But Lord, sir, +the fearful sea that was raging between her and us! for where we were +was deepish water, and the waves regular; but all about the wreck was +the Sand, and the water on it was running in fury all sorts of ways, +rushing up in tall columns of foam as high as a ship's mainyard, and +thundering so loudly that, though we were to windward, we could hear it +above the gale and the boiling of the seas around us. It might have +shook even a man who wanted to die to look at it, if he didn't know +what the Bradford can go through. + +'I ran my eye over the men's faces. "Let slip the tow rope," bawled +Dick Goldsmith. "Up foresail," I shouted, and two minutes after we had +sighted that mast we were dead before the wind, our storm foresail taut +as a drum-skin, our boat's stem heading full for the broken seas and +the lonely stranded vessel in the midst of them. It was well that +there was something in front of us to keep our eyes that way, and that +none of us thought of looking astern, or the sight of the high and +frightful seas which raged after us might have played old Harry with +weak nerves. Some of them came with such force that they leapt right +over the boat, and the air was dark with water flying a dozen yards +high over us in broad solid sheets, which fell with a roar like the +explosion of a gun ten or a dozen fathoms ahead. But we took no notice +of these seas, even when we were in the thick of the broken waters, and +all the hands holding on to the thwarts for dear life. Every thought +was upon the mast that was growing bigger and clearer, and sometimes +when a sea hove us high we could just see the hull, with the water as +white as milk flying over it. The mast was what they call 'bright,' +that is, scraped and varnished, and we knew that if there was anything +living aboard that doomed ship we should find it on that mast; and we +strained our eyes with all our might, but could see nothing that looked +like a man. But on a sudden I caught sight of a length of canvas +streaming out of the top, and all of us seeing it we raised a shout, +and a few minutes after we saw the men. They were all dressed in +yellow oilskins, and the mast being of that colour was the reason why +we did not see them sooner. They looked a whole mob of people, and one +of us roared out, "All hands are there, men!" and I answered, "Aye, the +whole ship's company, and we'll have them all!" for though, as we +afterwards knew, there were only eleven of them, yet, as I have said, +they looked a great number huddled together in that top, and I made +sure the whole ship's company were there. + +'By this time we were pretty close to the ship, and a fearful wreck she +looked, with her mainmast and mizzenmast gone, and her bulwarks washed +away, and great lumps of timber and planking ripping out of her and +going overboard with every pour of the seas. We let go our anchor +fifteen fathoms to windward of her, and as we did so we saw the poor +fellows unlashing themselves and dropping one by one over the top into +the lee rigging. As we veered out cable and drove down under her +stern, I shouted to the men on the wreck to bend a piece of wood on to +a line and throw it overboard for us to lay hold of. They did this, +but they had to get aft first, and I feared for the poor half-perished +creatures again and again as I saw them scrambling along the lee rail, +stopping and holding on as the mountainous seas swept over the hull, +and then creeping a bit further aft in the pause. There was a horrible +muddle of spars and torn canvas and rigging under her lee, but we could +not guess what a fearful sight was there until our hawser having been +made fast to the wreck, we had hauled the lifeboat close under her +quarter. There looked to be a whole score of dead bodies knocking +about among the spars. It stunned me for a moment, for I had thought +all hands were in the foretop, and never dreamt of so many lives having +been lost. Seventeen were drowned, and there they were, most of them, +and the body of the captain lashed to the head of the mizzenmast, so as +to look as if he were leaning over it, his head stiff upright and his +eyes watching us, and the stir of the seas made him appear to be +struggling to get to us. I thought he was alive, and cried to the men +to hand him in, but someone said he was killed when the mizzenmast +fell, and had been dead four or five hours. This was a dreadful shock; +I never remember the like of it. I can't hardly get those fixed eyes +out of my sight, sir, and I lie awake for hours of a night, and so does +Tom Cooper, and others of us, seeing those bodies torn by the spars and +bleeding, floating in the water alongside the miserable ship. + +'Well, sir, the rest of this lamentable story has been told by the mate +of the vessel, and I don't know that I could add anything to it. We +saved the eleven men, and I have since heard that all of them are doing +well. If I may speak, as coxswain of the lifeboat, I would like to say +that all hands concerned in this rescue, them in the tug as well as the +crew of the boat, did what might be expected of English sailors--for +such they are, whether you call some of them boatmen or not; and I know +in my heart, and say it without fear, that from the hour of leaving +Ramsgate Harbour to the moment when we sighted the wreck's mast, there +was only one thought in all of us, and that was that the Almighty would +give us the strength and direct us how to save the lives of the poor +fellows to whose assistance we had been sent.' + + +Ten years more fly by, in which there is a splendid record of services +and rescues to the credit of Coxswain Fish, the Ramsgate lifeboatmen, +and the brave steam-tugs, Vulcan and Aid, and we come to the night of +Jan. 5 and 6, 1891, which is exactly, my readers will see, ten years to +the day after the rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief, a rescue +certainly unsurpassed for its dramatic intensity and its heroism even +by the Deal lifeboat. + +At 3 a.m. on the night of Jan. 5, 1891, Coxswain Fish was asleep in his +hammock in the watch-house at the end of Ramsgate pier. There was a +gale blowing from the E.N.E., and in the long frost of that awful +winter there was no more terrible night than this. The thermometer +stood at 15° below freezing-point; there was a great sea and strong +wind. + +At 3 a.m. Fish was called by the watch on Ramsgate pier, and he saw a +flare on the Goodwins through the rifts in the snow squall. At 2.15 +Richard Roberts, the coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, was also roused +from sleep and launched his lifeboat, manned by the gallant Deal men. +But though the Deal men launched at 3.15 a.m., they had not the same +favourable chance of reaching the wreck, beating eight miles dead to +windward, as compared with the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed into the eye of +the wind by its powerful steam-tug Aid. + +We may on this occasion, therefore, leave out the consideration of the +Deal lifeboat, splendid as its effort was, inasmuch as it only arrived +at the scene of the wreck just as the Ramsgate lifeboat had saved the +crew. Some of the hardy Deal lifeboatmen were almost benumbed and +rendered helpless by the cold, and they only saw the tragedy of the +captain's death and the rescue of the remainder of the crew from the +wreck by the Ramsgate men. + +At 3 a.m. then the Ramsgate rocket went up in answer to the signals +from the Gull lightship; on that bitter night the lifeboat was manned +in eight minutes. The lifebelts and oilskins were handed into the +lifeboat; shivering, the brave hearts got their clothes on, and in less +time than this page has been written, the tow rope had been passed into +the lifeboat from the Aid, and that tug was out of the harbour, +dragging the lifeboat, head to sea, 110 yards astern of her. + +It was black midnight, and no man in the boat could see his neighbour; +the pier was like a great iceberg and sheeted with ice; the sea was +flying over the oilclad figures in the lifeboat and freezing almost as +it fell, rattling against the sails or on the deck, or fiercely hurled +into the faces of the men; indeed, every oilskin jacket was frozen +stiff before they had been towed a quarter of a mile against the +furious sea, which drenched them 'like spray,' as the coxswain +expressed it, 'from the parish fire engines.' The brave fellows were +more than drenched--they were all but frozen, but no one dreamed of +turning back, for though the lightship's rockets had stopped they could +see the piteous flares from the distant wreck now and then, as the snow +squalls broke, beckoning them on. + +The vessel on the Goodwins was the three-masted schooner or barquentine +The Crocodile, laden with stone from Guernsey to London, and when about +a mile or so north of the Goodwins 'reaching' on the port tack, 'missed +stays' in the heavy sea, and before they had time to 'wear' ship, she +struck the northern face of the Goodwins, against which a tremendous +sea was driven by the black north-easter that was blowing from the +Pole. She struck the Goodwins bows on with her head to the south-east, +and she heeled over to starboard, the sea which rolled from the E.N.E. +beating nearly on her port broadside. + +The wrecked crew knew their position, and that their only chance was +the advent of some lifeboat, and they burned flares, which consisted on +this occasion of their own clothes, which they tore off and soaked in +oil. They were soon beaten off the deck as the tide rose, and in the +darkness had to take to the rigging, the captain, who was an elderly +man, and his crew all together climbing in the mizzen weather rigging. +The weather rigging was of course more upright than the lee rigging, +which leaned over to the right or starboard hand as the vessel lay. + +As the tug bored to windward and rapidly neared the vessel they could +see the flares being carried up the rigging by the sorely beset crew, +and knew the extremity of the case; then the next snow squall wrapped +them in like a winding-sheet, and all was shut out. But still, on +plunged the Aid at great speed, for the new tug-boat Aid is a much +faster and more powerful boat than either of the old tugs, the Aid and +the Vulcan. Towing the lifeboat well to windward of the wreck, at last +the moment arrived, and though not a word was spoken and not a signal +made, the end of the tow-rope was let go by the lifeboat and sail was +made on her for the wrecked vessel, or rather for the flares. + +But even then down came an extra furious snow squall, and the lifeboat +had to anchor, lest she should miss the vessel altogether. + +This took time. Again in the fury of the storm the word was given 'Up +anchor!' and 'Run down closer to the wreck!' and again the anchor was +dropped to the best of the judgment of the coxswain. Fish and Cooper +were first and second coxswains ten years before, and exactly ten years +before to the day and hour the same brave men were in a similar +desperate struggle at the wreck of the Indian Chief. In the tremendous +sea the anchor was for the second time dropped well to windward of the +wreck. The hull was under water, and over it the hungry sea broke in +pyramids or solid sheets of flying, freezing spray. As they veered out +their cable and came towards the wreck bows foremost, for they anchored +the lifeboat this time by the stern, they could dimly see the cowering, +clinging figures in the rigging. They had to pay out their powerful +cable most cautiously, for great rollers bursting at the top, and the +size of a house, every now and then came racing at them, open-mouthed. + +I don't believe a man on board remembered it was exactly to the hour +ten years since they rescued the crew of the Indian Chief; but their +hearts, beating as warmly as ever in the cause of suffering humanity, +were concentrated on the present need. They veered down under the +stern of the wreck, and passing the cable a little aft in the lifeboat, +steered her up under the starboard-quarter of the wreck. They had just +got out their grapnel, and were about to throw it into the lee rigging +of the wreck, in hopes it would grip and hold--for unless it held of +itself no one of the frozen crew could come down to make it fast. Left +foot in front, well out on the gunwale, left hand grasping the fore +halyards to steady him--strong brave right hand swung back to hurl the +grapnel on the next chance, stood a gallant Ramsgate man, when with a +roar like the growl of a wild beast, a monstrous sea broke over vessel +and lifeboat, not merely filling her up, and over her thwarts, but +snapping her strong new Manilla hawser. + +Those who know the quality of the splendid cables supplied by the Royal +National Lifeboat Institution will understand the great force that must +have been exerted to snap this mighty hawser. But so it happened, and +away to leeward into the darkness, smothered, baffled, and almost +drowned, but by no means beaten, were swept on to and into the +shallower and more furious surf of the north-west jaw of the Goodwins, +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen. + +Contrast the freezing midnight scene of storm and surf, eight miles +from the nearest land, with the quiet sleep of millions. + +Here was a January midnight, black as a wolf's throat--thermometer 15° +below freezing, a mountainous surf on the Goodwins, and only twelve +brave men to face it all; but those twelve men were the heroes of a +hundred fights, and were determined to save the men on the wreck or die +for it. + +Therefore, though swept to leeward, they got sail on the lifeboat and +got her on the starboard tack, ten men sheeting home the fore sheet. +'Bad job this!' they said, for words were few that night, and they made +through the surf for the tug, which was on the look-out for them, and +steered for the blue light they burned. Nothing can be more ghastly +than the effect of this blue light on the faces of the men or on the +wild hurly-burly of boiling snow white foam one moment seen raging +round the lifeboat, and the next obliterated in darkness, the more +pitchy by reason of the extinguished flare. + +The blue light was seen by the Aid, and she moved to leeward to pick up +the lifeboat after she emerged from the breakers. Again the tug-boat +passed her hawser on board the lifeboat, and once more towed her to +windward to the same position as before; and once again, burning to +save the despairing sailors, the lifeboatmen dropped anchor and veered +out their last remaining cable, well-knowing this was the last chance, +as they had only the one remaining cable. Tight as a fiddle string was +the good hawser, and the howling north-easter hummed its weird tune +along its vibrating length, as coil after coil was paid out in the +lulls, and the lifeboat came closer and closer, and at last slued right +under the starboard quarter of the wreck. + +By hand-lights, blue and green, they saw, high up in the air, the +unfortunate crew lashed in the weather-rigging, i. e. on the port or +left side of the wreck, the side opposite to that under shelter of +which they lay. The shelter was a poor one, for great seas broke over +the wreck and into the lifeboat on the other side. + +The men were lashed half-way up the weather rigging of the mizzenmast, +and the lifeboatmen shouted to them to come over and drop into the +lifeboat. To do this, they, half-frozen as they were, had to unlash +themselves from the weather-rigging and, in the awful cold and +darkness, climb up to the mast-head, where the lee-rigging or shrouds +met more closely the weather-rigging. Every giant sea shook the wreck; +every billow swayed her masts backwards and forwards so that they +'buckled' like fishing-rods, and the marvel is any man of the benumbed +crew succeeded in getting across from the weather side to the +lee-rigging aloft. + +It must be borne in mind that the deck was under water and 'raked' by +every sea, and that the only possible way of reaching the lifeboat was +by going up the rigging from the place where the wrecked crew were +lashed, and coming down--if only they could reach across--the other +side, which was next the lifeboat, and thence jumping or being hauled +into her. + +The topsails were in ribbons, and as the wrecked sailors clambered +aloft the great whips of torn canvas lashed and terrified and wounded +them. By great effort they got across the black gulf between the two +riggings--all but the captain. + +There high in air--visible as the blue lights flared up from the +lifeboat, struggling hard for life, hung the captain. + +One leg straddled across the chasm--one hand clutched the +weather-rigging he wanted to leave, and one hand reached out +blindly--hopefully to catch the lee shrouds--'You'll do it, captain! +Come on, captain! For God's sake, captain, come on!' And every face +in the blue glare was riveted on the struggling man but,--oh! what +anguish to the staring lifeboatmen eager to save him!--he fell, his +life-belt being torn off in his fall, full forty feet on to the +wave-washed mizzen boom. + +'Out boat-hooks, brave hearts, and catch him.' But a great billow +broke over the wreck and lifeboatmen, and never was he seen again. + +This time death won. + +Let us trust he was ready to meet his God. 'If it be not now, yet it +will come--the readiness is all.' + +Some jumping, and some dragged by the lines, the rest of the +shipwrecked men got into the lifeboat, so dazed, so benumbed that they +neither realised the loss of the captain nor their own miraculous +preservation. + +Just at this moment, under press of canvas, the foam flying from her +blue bows, at full speed came the Deal lifeboat, too late to avert the +disaster they had witnessed. + +They had left Deal at 3.15, but not having the aid of steam, were +half-frozen and much later on the scene of action than the Ramsgate tug +and lifeboat, to whom the honour of this grand rescue belongs. + +They reached Ramsgate Harbour at 7.30 a.m. and at 9 o'clock, without +having gone ashore to breakfast, almost worn out, but borne up by +dauntless spirit within, in response to a telegram from Broadstairs, +the same steam-tug, lifeboat, coxswain and crew, again steamed out of +Ramsgate Harbour. A collier, the Glide, had gone to the bottom after +collision with another vessel, named the Glance--such strange +coincidences there are in real life--and the crew of the Glide had +taken to their own small ship's boat, while the crew of the Glance had +been saved by the Broadstairs lifeboat. + +The crew of the Glide in their little boat were in great peril in the +mountainous seas which run off the North Foreland in easterly gales, +and it was feared they were lost. + +Once more into the teeth of the icy gale, without rest and with only +snatches of food taken in the lifeboat, after the long exposure of the +preceding night and its terrible scenes, the Ramsgate men were towed +behind their tug-boat to the rescue. They found the boat of the Glide +riding in a furious sea to a sea-anchor, the very best thing they could +have done. A sea-anchor may be rigged up by tying sails and oars +together, with, if possible, a weight attached just to keep them under +water, and then pitching the lot overboard. + +To this half-floating, half-submerged mass, the boat's painter was made +fast, and as it dragged through the water much more slowly than the +boat, the latter checked in its drift came head to sea, and yielding to +the send of each wave rode over crests and combers which would +otherwise have swamped her. + +Hardly hoping for deliverance, they saw the steam-tug and lifeboat +making for them and ranging to windward of them to give them a lee, and +they were all dragged at last safely into the Bradford. Soon they were +towed in between Ramsgate piers, and this time the flying of the +British red ensign denoted, 'All saved.' Shouts of rejoicing hailed +the double exploit of the hardy lifeboatmen, and their fellow townsmen +of Ramsgate proudly felt they had done 'by no means a bad piece of work +before breakfast that morning.' + +'Storm Warriors' of unconquered Kent, rivals in a hundred deeds of +mercy with your brethren the Deal boatmen, and with them sharing the +title of 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands,' God guard you in your perils +and bring you safe home at last! + +At many other points around the British Isles the same noble spirit is +displayed of splendid daring in a sacred cause. Would that all the +stalwart fishermen and boatmen of this dear England, as their +prototypes of the Sea of Galilee, would serve and follow Him who +Himself 'came to seek and to save that which was lost,' that so passing +through the waves of this troublesome world, finally they may come +through Him to the land of everlasting life! + + + +[1] This clearly is an error, for no lifeboat could possibly have been +near the wreck at this early hour. The ship struck at half-past two +o'clock on the morning of January 5, and at daybreak the rescue +mentioned was attempted, clearly, by a smack, for no lifeboat heard of +the wreck until eleven o'clock of the same day. Probably it was that +smack which afterwards conveyed the news of the wreck to Harwich at 11 +a.m. Another fishing smack proceeded at once to Ramsgate, and arrived +there at noon, having received the information of the wreck from the +Kentish Knock lightship. + + + + * * * * * * + + + +THE BOY'S LIBRARY OF ADVENTURE & HEROISM + + +[Transcriber's note: This list contains only the titles and authors of +the books in this catalog. No attempt was made to transcribe the +assorted newspaper reviews.] + +Allan Adair; or Here and There in Many Lands, by Dr. Gordon Staples, +R.N. + +A Hero in Wolf-skin. A Story of Pagan and Christian, by Tom Bevan. + +The Adventures of Val Daintry in the Graeco-Turkish War, by V. L. Going. + + + +Stories for Boys. + +by Talbot Baines Reed. + + +The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch. + +The Cock House and Fellsgarth. A Public School Story. + +The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. A Public School Story. + +A Dog with a Bad Name. + +The Master of the Shell. + +My Friend Smith. A Story of School and City Life. + +Reginald Cruden. A Tale of City Life. + +Tom, Dick, and Harry. + +Roger Ingleton, Minor. + +Sir Ludar: A story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess. + +Parkhurst Boys, and other Stories of School Life. + + + +New Illustrated Stories. + +_By Various Authors._ + + +The Reign of Love, by H. M. Ward. + +Life's Little Stage, by Agnes Giberne. + +In Quest of Hatasu, by Irene Strickland. + +Those Dreadful Girls, by Esther E. Enock. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Hesba Stretton. + + +Half Brothers. + +Carola. + +Cobwebs and Cables. + +Through a Needle's Eye. + +David Lloyd's Last Will. + +The Soul of Honour. + + + +Stories by + +Evelyn Everett-Green. + + +The Conscience of Roger Trehern. + +Joint Guardians. + +Marcus Stratford's Charge; or, Roy's Temptation. + +Alwyn Ravendale. + +Lenore Annandale's Story. + +The Head of the House. + +The Mistress of Lydgate Priory; or, The Story of a Long Life. + +The Percivals. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Mrs. O. F. Walton. + + +The Lost Clue. + +A Peep behind the Scenes. + +Was I Right? + +Doctor Forester. + +Scenes in the Life of an Old Arm-chair. + +Olive's Story; or, Life at Ravenscliffe. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Amy Le Feuvre. + + +The Mender; A Story of Modern Domestic Life. + +Odd Made Even. + +Heather's Mistress. + +On the Edge of a Moor. + +The Carved Cupboard. + +Dwell Deep; or Hilda Thorn's Life Story. + +Odd. + +A Little Maid. + +A Puzzling Pair. + + + +The Bouverie Florin Library. + + +The Awakening of Anthony Weir. By Silas K. Hocking. + +In the Days of the Gironde. A Story for Girls. By Thekla. + +Money and the Man. By H. M. Ward. + +The Chariots of the Lord: A Romance of the Time of James H. and the +coming of William of Orange. By Adolf Thiede. + +The Rose of York. By Florence Bone. + +The Wonder Child: An Australian Story. By Ethel Turner. + +From Prison to Paradise: A Story of English Peasant Life in 1557. By +Alice Lang. + +A Hero in the Strife. By Louisa C. Silke. + +Adnah: A Tale of the Time of Christ. By J. Breckenridge Ellis. + +Living It Out. By H. M. Ward. + +The Trouble Man: or, the Wards of St. James. By Emily P. Weaver. + +The Men of the Mountain. A Stirring Tale of the Franco-German War of +1870-1871. By S. R. Crockett. + +The Lost Clue. By Mrs. O. F. Walton. + +Love, The Intruder. A Modern Romance. By Helen H. Watson. + +The Fighting Line. By David Lyall. + +The Highway of Sorrow: A Story of Modern Russia. By Hesba Stretton. + +Veiled Hearts: A Romance of Modern Egypt. By Rachel Willard. + +Sunday School Romances. By Alfred B. Cooper. + +The Cossart Cousins. By Evelyn Everett-Green. + +The Family Next Door. By Evelyn Everett-Green. + +Greyfriars. By E. Everett-Green. + +Peggy Spry. By H. M. Ward. + + + +The 'Queen' Library. + + +Margaret, or, The Hidden Treasure. By N. F. P. K. + +Against the World. By Evelyn R. Garratt. + +Little Miss. By M. B. Manwell. + +Belle and Dolly. By Anne Beale. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS*** + + +******* This file should be named 24685-8.txt or 24685-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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} + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Heroes of the Goodwin Sands, by Thomas +Stanley Treanor</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Heroes of the Goodwin Sands</p> +<p>Author: Thomas Stanley Treanor</p> +<p>Release Date: February 25, 2008 [eBook #24685]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="A Perilous Escape" BORDER="2" WIDTH="408" HEIGHT="653"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 408px"> +A Perilous Escape +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-title"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-title.jpg" ALT="Title page" BORDER="2" WIDTH="448" HEIGHT="671"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Heroes +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +of the +</H3> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Goodwin Sands +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By the Rev. +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Thomas Stanley Treanor, M.A. +</H2> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Chaplain, Missions to Seamen, Deal and the Downs +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Author of "The Log of a Sky Pilot," "The Cry from the Sea and the +Answer from the Shore."</I> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<B> +With Coloured and other Illustrations +</B> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON +<BR> +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY +<BR> +4 Bouverie Street & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard +<BR> +1904 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +For twenty-six years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, the +writer of the following chapters has seen much of the Deal boatmen, +both ashore and in their daily perilous life afloat. For twenty-three +years he has also been the Honorary Secretary of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution for the Goodwin Sands and Downs Branch; he has +sometimes been afloat in the lifeboats at night and in storm, and he +has come into official contact with the boatmen in their lifeboat work, +in the three lifeboats stationed right opposite the Goodwin Sands, at +Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown. With these opportunities of observation, +he has written accurate accounts of a few of the splendid rescues +effected on those out-lying and dangerous sands by the boatmen he knows +so well. +</P> + +<P> +Each case is authenticated by names and dates; the position of the +wrecked vessel is given with exactness, and the handling and +manoeuvring of the lifeboat described, from a sailor's point of view, +with accuracy, even in details. +</P> + +<P> +The descriptions of the sea—of Nature in some of her most tremendous +aspects, of the breakers on the Goodwins—and of the stubborn courage +of the men who man our lifeboats are far below the reality. Each +incident occurred as it is related, and is absolutely true. +</P> + +<P> +The Deal boatmen are almost as mute as the fishes of the sea respecting +their own deeds of daring and of mercy on the Goodwin Sands. It is but +justice to those humble heroes of the Kentish coast that an attempt +should be made to tell some parts of their wondrous story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +T. S. T. +<BR> +DEAL, 1904. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE GOODWIN SANDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE DEAL BOATMEN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE GANGES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE EDINA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE FREDRIK CARL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE GOLDEN ISLAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE SORRENTO, S.S.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE ROYAL ARCH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE MANDALAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE LEDA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +A PERILOUS RESCUE . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-012"> +THE LAUNCH OF THE LIFEBOAT +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-019"> +THE GOODWIN SANDS +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-028"> +A WRECK ON THE GOODWINS +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-040"> +THE BOOM OF A DISTANT GUN +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-047"> +SHOWING A FLARE +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-053"> +HOOKING THE STEAMER +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-061"> +A FORLORN HOPE +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-087"> +POSITION OF THE GANGES ON THE SANDS +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-096"> +DANGEROUS WORK +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-103"> +THE ANCHOR OF DEATH (<I>from a photograph</I>) +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-117"> +DEAL BOATMEN ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A HOTEL +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-125"> +THE WRECK OF THE GOLDEN ISLAND +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-127"> +CLOVE-HITCH KNOTS +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-134"> +JARVIST ARNOLD +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-135"> +THE KINGSDOWN LIFEBOAT +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-137"> +SCENE ON DEAL BEACH, FEBRUARY 13, 1870 +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-148"> +POSITION OF THE SORRENTO +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-152"> +THE SORRENTO ON THE GOODWIN SANDS +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-180"> +ALL HANDS IN THE LIFEBOAT +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-211"> +THE LIFEBOAT BRADFORD AT THE WRECK OF THE INDIAN CHIEF +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-231"> +LEAVING RAMSGATE HARBOUR IN TOW +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-012"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-012.jpg" ALT="The Launch of the Lifeboat. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin." BORDER="2" WIDTH="666" HEIGHT="424"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 666px"> +The Launch of the Lifeboat. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOODWIN SANDS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'Would'st thou,' so the helmsman answered,<BR> +'Learn the secrets of the sea?<BR> +Only those who brave its dangers<BR> +Comprehend its mystery.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Goodwin Sands are a great sandbank, eight miles long and about four +miles wide, rising out of deep water four miles off Deal at their +nearest point to the mainland. They run lengthwise from north to +south, and their breadth is measured from east to west. Counting from +the farthest points of shallow water around the Goodwins, their +dimensions might be reckoned a little more, but the above is +sufficiently accurate. +</P> + +<P> +Between them and Deal lies thus a stretch of four miles of deep water, +in which there is a great anchorage for shipping. This anchorage, of +historic interest, is called the Downs—possibly from the French <I>les +Dunes</I>, or 'the Sands,' a derivation which, so far as I know, was first +suggested by myself—and is sheltered from the easterly gales to some +extent by the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +The Downs are open to the north and south, and through this anchorage +of the Downs runs the outward and homeward bound stream of shipping of +all nations, to and from London and the northern ports of England, +Holland, Germany, and the Baltic. +</P> + +<P> +A very large proportion of the stream of shipping bound to London +passes inside the Goodwins or through the Downs, especially when the +wind is south-west, inasmuch as if they went in west winds outside the +Goodwins, they would find themselves a long way to leeward of the Gull +buoy. +</P> + +<P> +The passage here, between the Gull buoy and the Goodwin Sands, is not +more than two miles wide; and again I venture to suggest that the Gull +stream is derived from the French <I>la Gueule</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Though there are four miles of deep water between the Goodwin Sands and +the mainland, this deep water has rocky shallows and dangerous patches +in it, but I shall not attempt to describe them, merely endeavouring to +concentrate the reader's attention on the Goodwin Sands. Inside the +Goodwins and in this comparatively sheltered anchorage of deep water, +the outward bound shipping bring up, waiting sometimes for weeks for +fair wind; hence Gay's lines are strictly accurate, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +All in the Downs the fleet was moored.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The anchorage of the Downs is sheltered from west winds by the mainland +and from east winds by the dreaded Goodwins. They thus form a natural +and useful breakwater towards the east, creating the anchorage of the +Downs. +</P> + +<P> +In an easterly gale, notwithstanding the protection of the Goodwins, +there is a very heavy and even tremendous sea in the Downs, for the +Goodwin Sands lie low in the water, and when they are covered by the +tide—as they always are at high water—the protection they afford is +much diminished. +</P> + +<P> +The 'sheltered' anchorage of the Downs is thus a relative term. Even +in this shelter vessels are sometimes blown away from their anchors +both by easterly and westerly winds. +</P> + +<P> +In 1703 thirteen men-of-war were lost in the Downs in the same gale in +which Winstanley perished in the Eddystone Lighthouse of his own +construction, and I have seen vessels in winds both from east and west +driven to destruction from the Downs. Even of late years I have seen +450 vessels at anchor in the Downs, reaching away to the north and +south for nearly eight miles. +</P> + +<P> +Their appearance is most imposing, as may be judged from the engraving +on page 95, in which, however, only twenty-five ships are visible in +the moonlight. Almost all the ships in the engraving are outward +bound, and some, it may be, are on their last voyage. +</P> + +<P> +Outside, and to the cast of this great fleet of vessels, lies the great +'shippe-swallower,' the Goodwin Sands. The sands are very irregular in +shape, and are not unlike a great lobster, with his back to the cast, +and with his claws, legs, and feelers extended westwards towards Deal +and the shipping in the Downs. Far from the main body of the sands run +all manner of spits and promontories and jaws of sand, and through and +across the Goodwins in several directions are numbers of 'swatches,' or +passages of water varying in depth from feet to fathoms. +</P> + +<P> +No one knows, or can know, all the swatches, which vary very much month +by month according to the prevalence of gales or fair weather. I shall +never forget the sensation of striking bottom in one of those swatches +where I expected to find, and had found recently before in the same +state of the tide, a depth of six feet. The noise of broken water on +each side of us, and the ominous grating thump of our boat's keel +against the Goodwins, while the stumps of lost vessels grinned close +by, gave us a keen sense of the nearness of real peril. We were bound +to the East Goodwin lightship, and in the path of duty, but we were +glad to feel the roll of deep water under our boat's keel outside the +Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +No one therefore knows, or can know, by reason of the perpetual +shifting of the sands, all the passages or swatches, either as to +direction or depth, of the Goodwins; but two or three main swatches are +tolerably well known to the Deal and Ramsgate lifeboatmen. +</P> + +<P> +There is a broad bay called Trinity Bay in the heart of the Goodwins, +out of which leads due north-east the chief swatch or passage through +the Sands. It is four or five fathoms deep at low water, and from +about three-quarters to a quarter of a mile wide, and it is called the +Ramsgate Man's Bight. Close to the outer entrance of this great +passage rides, about twelve feet out of water, the huge north-east +Whistle buoy of the Goodwins, which ever moans forth in calmest weather +its most mournful note. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes when outside the Goodwins on my way from the North Goodwin to +the East Goodwin lightship, we have passed so close to this great buoy +that we could touch it with a boat-hook, and have heard its giant +breathing like that of some leviathan asleep on the surface of the sea, +which was dead calm at the time. I have also heard its boom at a +distance of eight miles. +</P> + +<P> +I have said this great swatch leads north-east through the +Goodwins—but north-east from what, and how is the point of departure +to be found on a dark night? If you ask the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat, who probably knows more, or at least as much about the Sands +and their secrets as any other living man, he will tell you to 'stand +on till you bring such a lightship to bear so and so, and then run due +north-east; only look out for the breakers on either side of you.' It +is one thing to go through this swatch in fair weather and broad +daylight, and another thing in the dark or even by moonlight, 'the sea +and waves roaring' their mighty accompaniment to the storm. +</P> + +<P> +There are other swatches, one more to the southward than the preceding, +and also running north-east, through which the Deal men once brought a +ship named the Mandalay into safety after protracted efforts. +</P> + +<P> +Another swatch too exists, opposite the East Goodwin buoy, being that +in which we struck the dangerous bottom. And yet another, just north +of the south-east buoy, leads right across the tail of the monster, and +so into the deep water of the Downs. +</P> + +<P> +Looking at a chart or reading of these passages, they seem easy enough, +but to find and get through them safely when you are as low down as you +are in a boat, near the sea level, is very difficult, and as exciting +as the escape of the entangled victims from the labyrinths of +old—unmistakable danger being all around you, and impressed on both +eyes and ears. +</P> + +<P> +The whole of the Goodwin Sands are covered by the sea at high water; +even the highest or north part of the Sands is then eight or ten feet +under water. At low water this north part of the Goodwins is six feet +at least above the sea level, and you can walk for miles on a rippled +surface cut into curious gulleys, the miniatures of the larger +swatches. Wild and lonely beyond words is the scene. The sands are +hard when dry—in some places as hard as the hardest beach of sand that +can be named. Near the Fork Spit the sand is marvellously hard. On +the north-west part of the Goodwins, which is that given in the +engraving, it is hard, but not so hard as elsewhere. In all cases it +is soft and pliable under water, and sometimes in wading you sink with +alarming rapidity. +</P> + +<P> +Recently attempting in company with a friend to wade a very +peculiar-looking but shallow swatch—to right and left of us being blue +swirls of deeper water, the 'fox-falls' on a smaller scale of another +part of the Sands, and exceedingly beautiful—I suddenly sank pretty +deep, and struggled back with all my energies into firmer footing from +the Goodwins' cold and tenacious embrace. +</P> + +<P> +The Sands reach round you for miles, and the greater swatches cut you +off from still more distant and still more extensive reaches of sand. +In such solitudes, and with such vastness around you, of which the +great lonely level stretch makes you conscious as nothing ashore can +do, you realise what an atom you are in creation. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-019"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-019.jpg" ALT="The Goodwin Sands." BORDER="2" WIDTH="632" HEIGHT="446"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 632px"> +The Goodwin Sands. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Here you see a ship's ribs. This was the schooner laden with +pipe-clay, out of which in a dangerous sea the captain and crew escaped +in their own boat, as the lifeboat advanced to save them. Far away on +the Sands you see the fluke of a ship's anchor, which from the shape +when close to it we recognise to be a French pattern. +</P> + +<P> +With me stood the coxswain of the celebrated Deal lifeboat, Richard +Roberts. Intently he gazed at the projecting anchor fluke—shaft and +chain had long been sucked down into the Goodwins—and then, after a +good long look all round, taking the bearings of the deadly thing, at +last he said, 'What a dangerous thing on a dark night for the lifeboat!' +</P> + +<P> +Just think, good reader! The lifeboat, close reefed, flies to the +rescue on the wings of the storm into the furious seas which revel and +rage on the Goodwins. Her fifteen men dauntlessly face the wild +smother. She sinks ponderously in the trough of a great roller, and +the anchor fluke is driven right through her bottom and holds her to +the place—for hold her it would, long enough to let the breakers tear +every living soul out of her! +</P> + +<P> +Under our feet and deep in the sand lie vessels one over another, and +in them all that vessels carry. Countless treasures must be buried +there—the treasures of centuries. Witness the Osta Junis, a Dutch +East Indiaman, which, treasure-laden with money and other valuables to +a great amount, ran on the Goodwin Sands, July 12, 1783. The Deal +boatmen were quickly on board, and brought the treasures ashore, which, +as it was war time, were prize to the Crown, and were conveyed to the +Bank of England[1]. That merchandise, curiosities, and treasures lie +engulfed in the capacious maw of the Goodwin Sands is very probable, +although we may not quite endorse Mr. Pritchard's statement that 'if +the multitude of vessels lost there during the past centuries could be +recovered, they would go a good way towards liquidating the National +Debt.' +</P> + +<P> +From its mystery and 'shippe-swallowing' propensities, the word +'monster' is peculiarly appropriate to this great quicksand, which +still craves more victims, and still with claws and feelers +outstretched—Scylla and Charybdis combining their terrors in the +Goodwins—lies in ambush for the goodly ships that so bravely wing +their flight to and fro beyond its reach. But it is only in the storm +blast and the midnight that its most dreadful features are unveiled, +and even then the lifeboatmen face its perils and conquer them. +</P> + +<P> +Independently of the breakers and cross-seas of stormy weather, the +dangers of the Goodwin Sands arise from the facts that they lie right +in the highway of shipping, that at high water they are concealed from +view, being then covered by the sea to the depth of from ten to +twenty-five feet, varying in different places, and that furious +currents run over and around them. +</P> + +<P> +Add to this that they are very lonely and distant from the mainland, +and, being surrounded by deep water, are far from help; whilst, as an +additional and terrible danger, here and there on the sands, wrecks, +anchors, stumps, and notably the great sternpost of the Terpsichore, +from which a few months ago Roberts and the Deal lifeboatmen had +rescued all the crew, stick up over the surface. And woe be to the +boat or vessel which strikes on these! +</P> + +<P> +On September 12, 1891, on my way to the North Sandhead lightship, +which, however, we failed to reach by reason of the strong ebb tide +against us and the wind dropping to a calm, we revisited this sternpost +of the Terpsichore. We got down mast and sails and took to our oars. +The light air from the north-east blew golden feathery cloud-films +across the great blue arch above our heads, and for once in the arctic +summer of 1891 the air was warm and balmy. Starting from the +North-west Goodwin buoy, we soon rowed into shallow water, crossing a +long spit of sand on which, not far from us, a feathery breaker raced. +Again we get into deep water, having just hit the passage into an +amphitheatre in the Goodwins of deep water bordered by a circle or +ridge of sand about three feet under water, over which the in-tide was +fiercely running and rippling, and upon which here and there a breaker +raised its warning crest. +</P> + +<P> +We reached the great sternpost of the lost Terpsichore at 9.22 a.m., +just two hours before low water at the neap tides, and found it +projected five feet nine inches above the water, which was ten feet six +inches deep in the swilly close to it, but nowhere shallower than eight +feet within a distance of fifty yards from the stump. Underneath in +the green sea-water there lay quite visible the keel and framework of +the vessel; and again I heard the story from Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat, who was with me, of the rescue of the crew of this +very vessel at 2.15 a.m. on the stormy night of the preceding November +14. +</P> + +<P> +As we held by the green sea-washed stump, it was hard to realise the +sublime story of that awful night: the mighty sea warring with the +furious wind, and the dismantled, beaten ship—masts gone overboard and +tossing in mad confusion of spars and cordage along her side—into +which most black and furious hell the lifeboatmen dared to venture the +Deal lifeboat, and out of which she and her gallant crew came, by God's +mercy, triumphant and unscathed, having saved every soul on board, and +also, with a fine touch of humanity often to be found in a brave +sailor's heart, the 'harmless, necessary cat' belonging to the vessel. +I can assure my readers that poor pussy's head and green eyes peering +out of the arms of one of the storm-battered sailors as they struggled +up Deal beach was a beautiful and most touching sight. +</P> + +<P> +Having lingered and examined this wreck as long as we dared, we now +tried to get out of the great circle in which we were enclosed. With +one man in the bows and another steering, we tried to cross the +submerged ridge of sand which encircled us and over which the tide +raced; but we struck the sand, and then were turned broadside on by the +furious current and swept back into the circle. Cautiously we rowed +along, when, not twenty yards off, I saw an object triangular and not +unlike a shark's fin just above the water. 'Hard-a-starboard!' at the +same moment cried the man in the bows, and then in the same breath, +'Port, sir, quick! Hard-a-port!' For to right of us stuck up out of +eight feet of water, beautifully clear and green, the iron pump-work of +a submerged wreck, the iron projection being not more than six inches +out of water; and then, a few yards further on to the left of the boat, +out of deep water, a rib, it may be, of the same forgotten and it may +be long-buried vessel. +</P> + +<P> +Had not the water been calm and clear, the place would have been a +regular death-trap. With increased caution we felt our way all round +the great circle into which we had entered. South of us rose a smooth +yellow-brown bank of sand, and upon this sunny shore tripped hundreds +of great white seagulls. So warm, so silent, so lonely was the place +that it might have been an island in the Pacific; and upon the same +yellow sandbank there basked, quite within view, a great, large-eyed +seal. +</P> + +<P> +At last we found our way out of the heart of the Goodwins, and got into +the deep, wide swatchway called the Ramsgate Man's Bight. Away to the +north-east we saw the Whistle buoy, and toward the east the East buoy, +both of which mark the outer edge of the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +In the deep centre of this swatch rolled the mast of another wreck, +somehow fast to the bottom, and having gazed at this weird sight, we +landed, amidst the wild screams of protesting sea-birds, and explored +all round for a mile the edges of this sandbank, which was of singular +firmness and yellowness, and upon which, in rhythmic cadence, plashed a +most pellucid sea. +</P> + +<P> +With change of tide and rising water we got up sail and at last reached +the Gull lightship, on whose deck we met old friends, and where we had +Divine Service as the evening fell in. Need it be said that that which +we had just seen on the Goodwins, the memories of the lost ships, and +of the gallant seamen who lie buried there, served to point a moral and +to raise all our hearts to that good land where 'there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more +pain, for the former things are passed away.' One of the hymns in that +service was suggested by the scene we had left, and began thus, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Jesus! Saviour! Pilot me.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +But not every boat that visits the mysterious quicksand escapes as +readily. Skilled and hardy boatmen are sometimes lost even in fine +weather. +</P> + +<P> +About twenty years ago a Deal galley punt, and four men, Bowbyas, +Buttress, Erridge, and Obree, skilled Deal boatmen, landed on the +Goodwins to get some coal from a wrecked collier. All that is +certainly known is that they never returned, and that they had been +noticed by a passing barge running to and fro and waving, which the +bargemen thought, alas! was only the play of some holiday-keepers on an +excursion to the Goodwins. They went to the Goodwins in a light +south-west breeze and smooth sea. While there the wind shifted to +north-east and a tumble of a sea got up, and it is supposed that it +then beat into and filled their laden boat, despite the efforts which +they are believed to have made to float her or get her ride to her +anchor and come head to wind. If this be so, how long and desperate +must their struggle have been to save their boat from wreckage, and to +pump out the water and heave out the coal. Their anchor and cable, +found on the sands and let go to full scope, favours this idea. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, the fact that they were seen wildly running to and +fro looks as if some sudden catastrophe had occurred, as if they had +struck on some stump in the water close to the very edge of the +Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +The very day on which the photographs were taken which have been used +to illustrate this chapter, we were shoving off the steep northern face +of the Goodwin Sands, when we saw, not ten yards from the precipitous +edge of the dull red sands, in about twenty-five feet of water, and +just awash or level with the surface, the bristling spars and masts of +a three-masted schooner, the Crocodile, which had been lost there +January 6, 1891, in a fearful snowstorm, from the north-east, of that +long winter. Had we even touched those deadly points, we too should +have probably lost our boat and been entrapped on the Goodwin Sands. +The coxswain of the Deal lifeboat was with us, and told how that at +three o'clock on that terrible January morning, or rather night, +wearied with previous efforts, he had launched the lifeboat and beat in +the face of the storm and intense cold ten miles to windward, toward +the burning flares which told of a vessel on the Sands. +</P> + +<P> +Just when within reach of the vessel, this very wreck, they saw the +Ramsgate tug and lifeboat were just before them, and taking the crew +out of the rigging of the wreck. In sight of the whole company, for +their lanterns and lights were burning, the poor exhausted captain of +the schooner, in trying to get down from the rigging, in which he was +almost frozen to death, fell into the stormy sea and was lost in the +darkness, while the remainder were gallantly rescued by the Ramsgate +lifeboat. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-028"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-028.jpg" ALT="A wreck on the Goodwins." BORDER="2" WIDTH="658" HEIGHT="406"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 658px"> +A wreck on the Goodwins. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It was on the dangerous stumps and masts of this vessel, to save the +crew of which the Deal and Ramsgate men made such a splendid effort, +that we so nearly ran; and an accident of this kind perhaps sealed the +fate of the four boatmen above mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +On this north-west part of the Goodwins, on which hours of the deepest +interest could be spent, you can walk a distance of at least two miles, +but you are separated by the great north-east swatch of deep water from +getting to the extensive north-east jaw on the other side of the +swatch, which is also full of wrecks, and round and along the edges of +which, on the calmest day, somehow the surf and breakers for ever roar. +The southern part of the Goodwins is also full of memories, and of +countless wrecks. The ribs of the Ganges, the Leda, the Paul Boyton, +the Sorrento, all lie there deep down beneath the Sands, excepting when +some mighty storm shifts the sand and reveals their skeletons. Deep, +too, in the bosom of the Goodwins, masts alone projecting, is settling +down the Hazelbank, wrecked there in October, 1890; but this southern +part at lowest tide is barely uncovered by the sea, and only just awash. +</P> + +<P> +At high water the depth is about three fathoms, varying of course in +patches, over this southern part or tail of the sea-monster. It is +clear that, being thus, even at low tide, nearly always covered with +water, and as the sand when thus covered is much more 'quick' and +movable, the southern part of the Goodwins is an exceedingly awkward +place to explore. If you made a stumble, as the sands slide under your +feet, it might, shall I say, land you into a pit or 'fox-fall,' +circular in shape, and very deep. The stumps of forgotten wrecks are +also a real danger to the boat which accompanies the investigator. +</P> + +<P> +As to the depth of the great sandbank, borings have been made down to +the chalk to a depth of seventy-eight feet—a fact which might have +been fairly conjectured from the depth of water inside the Goodwins, +down to the chalky bottom being nine or ten fathoms, while the depth +close outside the Goodwins, where the outer edge of the sands is sheer +and steep, is fifteen fathoms, deepening a mile and a half further off +the Goodwins to twenty-eight fathoms. +</P> + +<P> +The ships wrecked on the Goodwins go down into it very slowly, but they +sometimes literally fall off the steep outer edge into the deep water +above described. +</P> + +<P> +One still bright autumn morning I witnessed a tragedy of that +description. On the forenoon of November 30, 1888, I was on the deck +of a barque, the Maritzburg, bound to Port Natal. I had visited the +men in the forecastle, and indeed all hands fore and aft, as Missions +to Seamen chaplain; and to them all I spoke, and was, in fact, speaking +of that only 'Name under heaven whereby we must be saved,' when my eyes +were riveted, as I gazed right under the sun, by the drama being +enacted away to the southward. +</P> + +<P> +There I saw, three miles off, our two lifeboats of Kingsdown and +Walmer, each in tow of a steamer which came to their aid, making for +the Goodwins, and on the outer edge of the Goodwins I beheld a hapless +brig, with sails set, aground. I saw her at that distance lifted by +the heavy sea, and at that distance I saw the great tumble of the +billows. That she had heavily struck the bottom I also saw, for +crash!—and even at that distance I verily seemed to hear the +crash—away went her mainmast over her side, and the next instant she +was gone, and had absolutely and entirely disappeared. I could not +believe my eyes, and rubbed them and gazed again and yet again. +</P> + +<P> +She had perished with all hands. The lifeboats, fast as they went, +were just too late, and found nothing but a nameless boat, bottom +upwards, and a lifebelt, and no one ever knew her nationality or name. +She had struck the Goodwins, and had been probably burst open by the +shock, and then, dragged by the great offtide to the east, had rolled +into the deep water outside the Goodwins and close to its dreadful edge. +</P> + +<P> +What a sermon! What a summons! There they lie till the sea give up +its dead, and we all 'appear before the judgment seat of Christ.' +</P> + +<P> +The origin of the Goodwin Sands is a very interesting question, and is +discussed at length in Mr. Gattie's attractive <I>Memorials of the +Goodwin Sands</I>. There is the romantic tradition that they once, as the +'fertile island of Lomea,' formed part of the estates of the great Earl +Godwin, and that as a punishment for his crimes they 'sonke sodainly +into the sea.' Another tradition, given by W. Lambard, tells us that +in the end of the reign of William Rufus, 1099 A.D., there was 'a +sodaine and mighty inundation of the sea, by the which a great part of +Flaunders and of the lowe countries thereabouts was drenched and lost;' +and Lambard goes on to quote Hector Boethius to the effect that 'this +place, being sometyme in the possession of the Earl Godwin, was then +first violently overwhelmed with a light sande, wherewith it not only +remayneth covered ever since, but is become withal (<I>Navium gurges et +vorago</I>) a most dreadful gulfe and shippe-swallower.' +</P> + +<P> +The latter phrase of 'shippe-swallower' being only too true, has stuck, +and there does seem historic ground to warrant us in believing that in +the year named there was a great storm and incursion of the sea; but +whether the Goodwin Sands were ever the fertile island of Lomea and the +estate of the great earl seems to be more than uncertain. +</P> + +<P> +But there is no doubt whatever that the theory that the inundation of +the sea in A.D. 1099, which 'drenched' the Low Countries, withdrew the +sea from the Goodwins and left it bare at low water, while before this +inundation it had been more deeply covered by the ocean, is quite +untenable, for the sea never permanently shifts, but always returns to +its original level. When we speak of the sea 'gaining' or 'losing,' +what is really meant is that the land gains or loses, and therefore the +idea of the Goodwins being laid bare and uncovered by the sea water +running away from it and over to Flanders is absurd. +</P> + +<P> +In all probability the origin of the Goodwin Sands is not to be +ascribed to their once having been a fertile island, or to their having +been uncovered by the sea falling away from them, but to their having +been actually formed by the action of the sea itself, ever since the +incursion of the sea up the Channel and from the north made England an +island. +</P> + +<P> +There are great natural causes in operation which account for the +formation of the mighty sandbank by gradual accumulation, without +having recourse to the hypothesis that it is the ruined remains of the +fabulous island of Lomea, fascinating as the idea is that it was once +Earl Godwin's island home. +</P> + +<P> +The two great tidal waves of different speed which sweep round the +north of England and up the English Channel, meet twice every day a +little to the north of the North Foreland, where the writer has often +waited anxiously to catch the ebb going south. +</P> + +<P> +Eddies and currents of all kinds hang on the skirts of this great +'meeting of the waters,' and hence in the narrows of the Channel, where +the Goodwins lie, the tide runs every day twice from all points of the +compass, and there is literally every day in the year a great whirlpool +all round and over the Goodwin Sands, deflected slightly perhaps, but +not caused by those sands, but by the meeting of the two tidal waves +twice every twenty-four hours. +</P> + +<P> +This daily Maelstrom is sufficient to account for the formation of the +mighty sandbank, for the water is laden with the detritus of cliff and +beach which it has taken up in its course round England, and, just as +if you give a circular motion to a basin of muddy water, you will soon +find the earthy deposit centralised at the bottom of the basin, so the +great Goodwins are the result of the daily deposit of revolving tides. +</P> + +<P> +That the tides literally 'revolve' round the Goodwins is well known to +the Deal men and to sailors in general, and this revolution is +described in most of the tide tables and nautical almanacks used by +mariners, <I>e.g.</I> 'The Gull Stream about one hour and ten minutes before +high water runs N.E. 3/4 N., but the last hour changes to E.N.E. and +even to E.S.E., and the last hour of the southern stream changes from +S.W. 1/2 S. to W.S.W. and even to W.N.W[2].' Here the reader will +distinctly see recorded the great causes in operation which are +sufficient in the lapse of centuries to produce and maintain the +Goodwin Sands. But how they came to be called the Goodwin Sands we +know not, and can only conjecture. Those were the days of Siward and +Duncan and Macbeth, and, like them, the imposing form of the great Earl +of Kent is shrouded in the mists and the myths of eight centuries. +</P> + +<P> +He was evidently placed, in the first instance by royal authority or +that of the Saxon Witan, in some such position as Captain of the Naval +forces of all Southern England, and it is certain that he gathered +round himself the affections of the sailors of Sandwich, Hythe, Romney, +Hastings, and Dover. +</P> + +<P> +When he sailed from Bruges against Edward, 'the fort of Hastings opened +to his coming with a shout from its armed men. All the boatmen, all +the mariners far and near, thronged to him, with sail and shield, with +sword and with oar.' And on his way to Pevensey and Hastings from +Flanders he would seem to have run outside, and at the back of the +Goodwins, while the admirals of Edward the Confessor, Rodolph and Odda, +lay fast in the Downs. +</P> + +<P> +He appears, by virtue of his semi-regal position—for Kent with Wessex +and Sussex were under his government—to have been the Commander of a +Naval agglomeration of those southern ports which was the germ, very +probably, of the subsequent 'Cinque Ports' confederation, with their +'Warden' at their head; but at any rate he swept with him in this +expedition against Edward all the 'Buscarles' (boat-carles or seamen) +of those southern ports, Hythe, Hastings, Dover, and Sandwich. His +progress towards London was a triumphant one with his sons. 'All +Kent—the foster-mother of the Saxons,' we are told, on this occasion +'sent forth the cry, "Life or death with Earl Godwin!"' +</P> + +<P> +Crimes may rest on the name of Earl Godwin, despite his oath to the +contrary and his formal acquittal by the Witan-gemot, and dark deeds +are still affixed to his memory, but 'there was an instinctive and +prophetic feeling throughout the English nation that with the house of +Godwin was identified the cause of the English people.' With all his +faults he was a great Englishman, and was the popular embodiment of +English or Saxon feeling against the Normanising sympathies of Edward. +</P> + +<P> +In legend the Godwin family, even in death, seem to have been connected +with the sea. There is the legend of Godwin's destruction with his +fleet in the Goodwin Sands, and there is the much better authenticated +legend of Harold's burial in the sea-sand at Hastings. The Norman +William's chaplain records that the Conqueror said, 'Let his corpse +guard the coasts which his life madly defended.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Wrap them together[3] in a purple cloak,<BR> +And lay them both upon the waste sea-shore<BR> +At Hastings, there to guard the land for which<BR> +He did forswear himself.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Tenterden Steeple is certainly not the cause of the Goodwin Sands, and +the connection supposed to exist between them seems to have first +occurred to some 'aged peasant' of Kent examined before Sir Thomas More +as to the origin of the Goodwin Sands. But, as Captain Montagu +Burrows, R.N., mentions in his most interesting book on the Cinque +Ports, Tenterden Steeple was not built till 1462, and 'was not in the +popular adage connected with the Goodwin Sands, but with Sandwich +Haven. It ran thus— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Of many people it hath been sayed<BR> +That Tenterden steeple Sandwich haven hath decayed.'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Godwin's connection with Tenterden Steeple seems, therefore, to be as +mythical as his destruction in the Goodwin Sands with his whole fleet, +and we are driven to suppose that the connection of his family name +with the Goodwin Sands arose either from Norman and monkish detestation +of Harold and Godwin's race, and the desire to associate his name as +infamous with those terrible quicksands; or that these Sands had some +connection with the great earl and his family which we know not of, +whether as having been, according to doubtful legend, his estate, or +because he must often have victoriously sailed round them, and hard by +them often hoisted his rallying flag; or that these outlying, but +guarding Sands received from the patriotic affection of the valiant +Kentish men the title of 'the Goodwin Sands' in memory of the great +Earl Godwin and of Godwin's race[4]. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] See Pritchard's interesting <I>History of Deal</I>, p. 196. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[2] Jefferson's <I>Almanack</I>, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[3] Edith and Harold. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[4] I am reminded by the Rev. C. A. Molony that Goodnestone next +Wingham or Godwynstone, and Godwynstone next Faversham, both referred +to in <I>Archaeologia Cantiana</I>, are localities which probably +commemorate the name of the great Earl of Kent. Hasted mentions that +the two villages were part of Earl Godwin's estates, and on his death +passed to his son Harold, and that when Harold was slain they were +seized by William and given to some of his adherents. Mr. Molony +mentions a tradition at Goodnestone near Wingham, that both that +village and Godwynstone near Faversham were the lands given by the +crown to Earl Godwin to enable him to keep in repair Godwin's Tower and +other fortifications at Dover Castle. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DEAL BOATMEN +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands,<BR> +They claim the danger.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Ever since fleets anchored in the Downs, the requirements of the great +number of men on board, as well as the needs of the vessels, would have +a tendency to maintain the supply of skilled and hardy boatmen to meet +those needs. Pritchard, in his <I>History of Deal</I>, which is a mine of +interesting information, gives a sketch of events and battles in the +Downs since 1063. Tostig, Godwin, and Harold are noticed; sea fights +between the French and English in the Downs from 1215 are described; +the battles of Van Tromp and Blake in the Downs, and many other +interesting historical events, are given in his book, as well as +incidents connected with the Deal boatmen. +</P> + +<P> +With the decay and silting up of Sandwich Haven the Downs became still +more a place of ships, and thus naturally was still more developed the +race of Deal boatmen, who were, and are to the present time, daily +accustomed to launch and land through the surf which runs in rough +weather on their open beach; and whose avocation was to pilot the +vessels anchoring in or leaving the Downs, and to help those in +distress on the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-040"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-040.jpg" ALT="The boom of a distant gun. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin. James Laming, _Coxswain, Kingsdown Lifeboat_, R. Roberts, _Coxswain, North Deal Lifeboat_, John Mackins, _Coxswain, Walmer Lifeboat_." BORDER="2" WIDTH="651" HEIGHT="451"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 651px"> +The boom of a distant gun. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin. James Laming, <I>Coxswain, Kingsdown Lifeboat</I>, R. Roberts, <I>Coxswain, North Deal Lifeboat</I>, John Mackins, <I>Coxswain, Walmer Lifeboat</I>. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Like their descendants now, who are seen daily in crowds lounging round +the capstans, the night was most frequently their time of effort. In +the day they were resting 'longshore' fashion, unless, of course, their +keen sailor sight saw anywhere—even on the distant horizon—a chance +of a 'hovel.' Ever on the look-out in case of need, galleys, sharp as +a shark, and luggers full of men, would rush down the beach into the +sea in less time than it has taken to write this sentence. +</P> + +<P> +But until the necessity for action arose a stranger, looking at the +apparently idling men, with their far-away gazings seaward, would +naturally say, 'What a lazy set of fellows!' as has actually been said +to me of the very men who I knew had been all night in the lifeboat, +and whose faces were tanned and salted with the ocean brine. +</P> + +<P> +Justly or unjustly, in olden times the Deal boatmen were accused of +rapacity. But the poor fellows knew no better—Christian love and +Christian charity seem to have slept in those days, and no man cared +for the moral elevation of the wild daring fellows. True indeed, they +were accused of lending to vessels in distress a 'predatory succour' +more ruinous to them than the angry elements which assailed them. In +1705 a charge of this kind was made by Daniel Defoe, the author of +<I>Robinson Crusoe</I>, and was sternly repelled by the Mayor and +Corporation of Deal; and Mr. Pritchard mentions that only one charge of +plundering wrecks was made in the present century, in the year 1807; +and the verdict of 'Guilty' was eventually and deservedly followed by +the pardon of the Crown. +</P> + +<P> +With the increase of the shipping of this country, and the naval wars +of the early part of the nineteenth century, the numbers and fame of +the Deal boatmen increased, until their skill, bravery, and humanity +were celebrated all over the world. In those times, and even recently, +the Deal boatmen, including in that title the men of Walmer and +Kingsdown, were said to number over 1000 men; and as there were no +lightships around the Goodwin Sands till the end of the eighteenth +century, there were vessels lost on them almost daily, and there were +daily salvage jobs or 'hovels' and rescues of despairing crews; and +what with the trade with the men-of-war, and the piloting and berthing +of ships, there were abundant employment and much salvage for all the +boatmen. +</P> + +<P> +The dress of the boatmen in those days, <I>i.e.</I> their 'longshore +toggery'—and there are still among the older men a few, a very few +survivals—was finished off by tall hats and pumps; and in answer to my +query 'why they formerly always wore those pumps?' I was told, ''Cos +they was always a dancin' in them days'—doubtless with Jane and Bess +and black-eyed Susan. +</P> + +<P> +There was smuggling, too, of spirits and tobacco, and all kinds of +devices for concealing the contraband articles. Not very many years +ago boats lay on Deal beach with hollow masts to hold tea—then an +expensive luxury, and fitted with boxes and lockers having false +bottoms, and all manner of smuggling contrivances. +</P> + +<P> +It was hard to persuade those wild, daring men that there was anything +wrong in smuggling the articles they had honestly purchased with their +own money. +</P> + +<P> +'There's nothing in the Bible against smuggling!' said one of them to a +clerical friend of mine, who aptly replied: 'Render therefore unto +Caesar the things that be Caesar's, and unto God the things that be +God's.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is it so? you're right,' the simple-minded boatman replied; 'no more +smuggling after this day for me!' And there never was. +</P> + +<P> +But that which has given the Deal boatmen a niche in the temple of fame +and made them a part and parcel of our 'rough island story,' is their +heroic rescues and their triumphs over all the terrors of the Goodwin +Sands. +</P> + +<P> +There was no lightship on or near the Goodwin Sands till 1795, when one +was placed on the North Sand Head. In 1809 the Gull lightship, and in +1832 the South Sand Head lightships, were added, and the placing of the +East Goodwin lightship in 1874 was one of the greatest boons conferred +on the mariners of England in our times. +</P> + +<P> +It is hard even now sometimes to avoid the deadly Goodwins, but what it +must have been in the awful darkness of winter midnights which brooded +over them in the early part of this century is beyond description. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was there a lifeboat stationed at Deal until the year 1865. Before +that time the Deal luggers attempted the work of rescue on the Goodwin +Sands. In those days all Deal and Walmer beach was full of those +wonderful sea-boats hauled up on the shingle, while their mizzen booms +almost ran into the houses on the opposite side of the roadway. The +skill and daring of those brave boatmen were beyond praise. Let me +give in more detail the incident alluded to in the account of the +Ganges. +</P> + +<P> +Fifty-two years ago, one stormy morning, a young Deal boatman was going +to be married, and the church bells were ringing for the ceremony, when +suddenly there was seen away to the southward and eastward a little +schooner struggling to live in the breakers, or rather on the edge of +the breakers, on the Goodwins. The Mariner lugger was lying on the +beach of Deal, and there being no lifeboat in those days a rush of +eager men was made to get a place in the lugger, and amongst them, +carried away by the desire to do and to save, was the intended +bridegroom. +</P> + +<P> +By the time they plunged into the awful sea on the sands the schooner +had struck, and was thumping farther into the sands, sails flying +wildly about and the foremast gone. The crew, over whom the sea was +flying, were clustered in the main rigging. It was a service of the +most awful danger, and the lugger men, well aware that it was a matter +of life and death, put the question to each other, 'What do you say, my +lads; shall we try it?' 'Yes! Yes!' and then one and all shouted, +'Yes! We'll have those people out of her!' and they ran for the +drifting, drowning little Irish schooner. They did not dare to +anchor—a lifeboat could have done so, but for them it would have been +certain death—and as they approached the vessel and swept past her +they shouted to the crew in distress, 'Jump for your lives.' +</P> + +<P> +They jumped for life, as the lugger rose on the snowy crest of a +breaker, and not a man missed his mark. All being rescued, they again +fought back through the broken water, and when they reached Deal beach +they were met by hundreds of their enthusiastic fellow townsmen, who by +main force dragged the great twenty-ton lugger out of the water and far +up the steep beach. The interrupted marriage was very soon afterwards +carried out, and the deserving pair are alive and well, by God's mercy, +to this day. +</P> + +<P> +The luggers are about forty feet long and thirteen feet beam, more or +less. The smaller luggers are called 'cats.' There is a forecastle or +'forepeak' in the luggers where you can comfortably sleep—that is, if +you are able to sleep in such surroundings, and if the anguish of +sea-sickness is absent. I once visited in one of these luggers, lost +at sea with two of her crew on November 11, 1891, the distant Royal +Sovereign and Varne lightships, and had a most happy three days' cruise. +</P> + +<P> +There is a movable 'caboose' in the 'cats' right amidships, in which +three or four men packed close side by side can lie; but if you want to +turn you must wake up the rest of the company and turn all together—so +visitors to Deal are informed. These large boats are lugger-rigged, +carrying the foremast well forward, and sometimes, but very rarely, +like the French <I>chasse-marées</I>, a mainmast also, with a maintopsail, +as well, of course, as the mizzen behind. The mainmast is now hardly +ever used, being inconvenient for getting alongside the shipping, and +therefore there only survive the foremast and mizzen, the mainmast +being developed out of existence. +</P> + +<P> +The luggers are splendid sea-boats, and it is a fine sight to see one +of them crowded with men and close-reefed cruising about the Downs +'hovelling' or 'on the look out' for a job in a great gale. While +ships are parting their anchors and flying signals of distress, the +luggers, supplying their wants or putting pilots on board, wheel and +sweep round them like sea-birds on the wing. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-047"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-047.jpg" ALT="Showing a flare." BORDER="2" WIDTH="418" HEIGHT="629"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 418px"> +Showing a flare. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +As I write these lines, a great gale of wind from the S.S.W. is +blowing, and it was a thrilling sight this morning at 11 a.m. to watch +the Albert Victor lugger launched with twenty-three men on board, in +the tremendous sea breaking over the Downs. Coming ashore later, on a +giant roller, the wave burst into awful masses of towering foam, so +high above and around the lugger that for an instant she was out of +sight, overwhelmed, and the crowds cried, 'She's lost!' but upwards she +rose again on the crest of the following billow, and with the speed of +an arrow flew to the land on this mighty shooting sea. +</P> + +<P> +Just at the same moment as the lugger came ashore the bold coxswain of +the North Deal lifeboat launched with a gallant crew to the rescue of a +despairing vessel, the details of which service are found below. +</P> + +<P> +There is no harbour at Deal, and all boats are heaved up the steep +shingly beach, fifty or sixty yards from the water's edge, by a capstan +and capstan bars, which, when a lugger is hove up, are manned by twenty +or thirty men. When hauled up thus to their position the boats are +held fast on the inclined plane on which they rest by a stern chain +rove through a hole in the keel called the 'ruffles.' This chain is +fastened by a 'trigger,' and when next the lugger is to be launched +great flat blocks of wood called 'skids,' which are always well +greased, are laid down in front of her stem, her crew climb on board, +the mizzen is set, and the trigger is let go. By her own impetus the +lugger rushes down the steep slope on the slippery skids into the sea. +Even when a heavy sea is beating right on shore, the force acquired by +the rush is sufficient to drive her safely into deep water. Lest too +heavy a surf or any unforeseen accident should prevent this, a cable +called a 'haul-off warp' is made fast to an anchor moored out far, by +which the lugger men, if need arise, haul their boat out beyond the +shallow water. The arrangements above described are exactly those +adopted by the lifeboats, which are also lugger-rigged, and being +almost identical in their rig are singularly familiar to Deal men. The +introduction of steam has diminished greatly the number of the luggers, +as fewer vessels than formerly wait in the Downs, and there is less +demand for the services of the boatmen. +</P> + +<P> +There was formerly another class of Deal boats, the forty-feet +smuggling boats of sixty or seventy years ago. The length, flat floor, +and sharpness of those open boats, together with the enormous press of +sail they carried, enabled them often to escape the revenue vessels by +sheer speed, and to land their casks of brandy or to float them up +Sandwich River in the darkness, and then run back empty to France for +more. In the 'good old times' those piratical-looking craft would pick +up a long thirty-feet baulk of timber at sea—timber vessels from the +Baltic or coming across the Atlantic often lose some of their +deck-load—and when engaged in towing it ashore would be pounced upon +by the revenue officers, who would only find, to their own +discomfiture, amidst the hearty 'guffaws' of the boatmen, that the +latter were merely trying to earn 'salvage' by towing the timber ashore. +</P> + +<P> +A little closer search would have revealed that the innocent-looking +baulk of timber was hollow from end to end, and was full of lace, +tobacco, cases of schnapps, 'square face,' brandy, and silks. There is +little or no smuggling now, and the little that there is, is almost +forced on the men by foreign vessels. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps four boatmen have been out all night looking for a job in their +galley punt. At morning dawn they find a captain who employs them to +get his ship a good berth, or to take him to the Ness. Perhaps the +captain says—and this is an actual case—in imperfect English, 'I have +no money to pay you, but I have forty pounds of tobacco, vill you take +dat? Or vill you have it in ze part payment?' The boatmen consult; +hungry children and sometimes reproachful wives wait at home for money +to purchase the morning meal. 'Shall we chance it?' say they. <I>They</I> +take the tobacco, and the first coastguardsman ashore takes <I>them</I>, +tobacco and all, before the magistrates, and I sometimes have been sent +for to the 'lock-up,' to find three or four misguided fellows in the +grasp of the law of their country, which poverty and opportunity and +temptation have led them to violate. +</P> + +<P> +At present a large number of galley punts lie on Deal beach. These +boats carry one lugsail on a mast shipped well amidships. These boats +vary in size from twenty-one feet to thirty feet in length, and seven +feet beam, and as the Mission boat which I have steered for thirteen +years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, is a small galley +punt, I take a peculiar interest in their rig and behaviour. +</P> + +<P> +The galley punts are powerful seaboats; when close reefed can stand a +great deal of heavy weather, and are the marvel of the vessels in +distress which they succour. +</P> + +<P> +All the Deal boats, the lifeboats of course excepted, are clinker built +and of yellow colour, the natural elm being only varnished. And it is +fine to see on a stormy day the splendid way in which they are handled, +visible one moment on the crest and the next hidden in the trough of a +wave, or launched or beached on the open shingle in some towering sea. +</P> + +<P> +I have been breathless with anxiety as I have watched the launch of +these boats into a heavy sea with a long dreadful recoil, but the +landing is still more dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +If you wait long enough when launching, you can get a smooth, or a +comparatively smooth, sea. I have sometimes waited ten minutes—and +then the command is given 'Let her go,' and the boat is hurled into the +racing curl of some green sea. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes the sea is too heavy for landing, and the galley punts lie +off skimming about for hours. Sometimes if the weather looks +threatening it is best to come at once, and then, supposing a heavy +easterly sea, you must clap on a press of sail to drive the boat. You +get ready a bow painter and a stern rope, and the boat, like a bolt set +free, flies to the land. Very probably she takes a 'shooter,' that is, +gets her nose down and her stern and rudder high into the air, and, all +hands sitting aft, she is carried along amidst the hiss and burst of +the very crest of the galloping billow. Fortunate are they if this +wave holds the boat till she is thrown high up the beach, broadside on, +for at the last minute the helm must be put up or down, to get the boat +to lie along the shore, but only at the very last minute—otherwise +danger for the crew! I have known a boat landing, to capsize and catch +the men underneath, and I have been myself tolerably near the same +danger. +</P> + +<P> +Three or four men man these galley punts, and the hardships and perils +they encounter in the earning of their livelihood are great. The men +are sometimes, even in winter time, three days away in these open +boats, sleeping on the bare boards or ballast bags and wrapped in a +sail. +</P> + +<P> +They cruise to the west to put one of their number on board some +homeward-bound vessel as 'North Sea pilot,' or they cruise to the north +and up the Thames as far as Gravesend, a distance of eighty miles, to +get hold of some outward-bound vessel with a pilot on board, which +pilot is willing to pay the boatmen a sovereign for putting him ashore +from the Downs, and they are towed behind the vessel, probably a fast +steamer, for eighty miles to Deal and the Downs. I have done this—and +it is a curious experience—in summer, but to be towed in the teeth of +a north-easterly snowstorm from Gravesend to the Downs is quite another +thing; but it is the common experience of the Deal boatmen. And every +day in winter they hover off Deal in their splendid galley punts, +rightly called 'knock-toes,' for the poor fellows' hands and feet are +often semi-frozen, to take a pilot out of some outward-bound steamer +going at the rate of ten or fifteen knots an hour. It means at the +outside about 5<I>s</I>. per man; perhaps they have earned nothing for a +week, and hungry but dauntless they are determined to get hold of that +steamer, if men can do it. On the steamer comes full speed right end +on at them. The Deal men shoot at her under press of canvas, haul down +sail, and lay their boat in the same direction as the flying steamship, +which often never slackens her speed the least bit. As all this <I>must</I> +be done in an instant, or pale death stares them in the face, it is +done with wonderful speed and skill. While a man with a boat-hook, to +which a long 'towing-line' is attached, stands in the bow of the galley +punt and hooks it into anything he can catch, perhaps the bight of a +rope hung over the steamer's side, the steersman has for his own and +his comrades' lives to steer his best and to keep his boat clear of the +steamer's sides, and of her deadly propeller revolving astern, while +the bowman pays out his towing-line, and others see it is all clear, +and another takes a turn of it round a thwart. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-053"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-053.jpg" ALT="Hooking the steamer." BORDER="2" WIDTH="391" HEIGHT="361"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 391px"> +Hooking the steamer. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The steamer is 'hooked,' and, fast as she flies ahead, the galley punt +falls astern, this time, thank God, clear of the 'fan,' into the +boiling wake of the steamer, and at last she feels the tremendous +jerk—such a jerk as would tear an oak tree from its roots—of the +tightening tow-rope. +</P> + +<P> +Then the boat, with her stem high in the air, for so boats tow best, +and all hands aft, and smothered in flying spray, is swept away with +the steamer as far perhaps as Dover, where the pilot wants to land. +Then the steam is eased off and the vessel stopped, but hardly ever for +the Deal men. +</P> + +<P> +This 'hooking' of steamers going at full speed is most dangerous, and +often causes loss of life and poor men's property—their boats and +boats' gear—their all. Sometimes a kindly disposed captain eases his +speed down. I have heard the boatmen talking together, as their keen +eyes discerned a steamer far off, and could even then pronounce as to +the 'line' and individuality of the steamer: 'That's a blue-funnelled +China boat—she's bound through the Canal: he's a gentleman, he is; he +always eases down to ten knots for us Deal men.' +</P> + +<P> +Even at ten-knot speed the danger is very great, and it is marvellous +more accidents do not occur, in spite of the coolness and skill of the +boatmen. Accidents do occur too frequently. The last fatal accident +happened to a daring young fellow who had run his boat about six feet +too close to a fast steamer; six feet short of where he put her would +have meant safety, but as it was, the steamer cut her in two and he was +drowned with his comrade, one man out of three alone being saved. Just +half an hour before he had waved 'good-bye!' to his young wife as he +ran to the beach. +</P> + +<P> +Another boat has her side torn out by a blow from one of the +propeller's fans, and goes down carrying the men deep with her; one is +saved after having almost crossed the border, and I shall long remember +my interview with that man just after he was brought ashore, appalled +with the sense of the nearness of the spirit land, and just as if he +had had a revelation—his gratitude, his convulsive sobs, his +penitence. Another man has his leg or his arm caught by the tow-rope +as it is paid out to the flying steamer; in one man's case the keen axe +is just used in time to cut the line as it smokes over the gunwale +before the coil tears his leg off; in another's case the awful pull of +the rope fractured the arm lengthways and not by a cross fracture, and +the bone never united after the most painful operations. +</P> + +<P> +Owners and captains and officers of steamships, for God's sake, ease +down your speed when your poor sailor brethren, the gallant Deal +boatmen who man the lifeboats, are struggling to hook your mighty +steamships! Ease down a bit, gentlemen, and let the men earn something +for the wives and children at home without having to pay for their +efforts with their precious lives! +</P> + +<P> +The very same men who work the galley punts I have just described are +the 'hovellers' in the great luggers when the tempest drives the +smaller boats ashore, and they also are the same men who, in times of +greater and extremer need, answer so nobly to the summons of the +lifeboat bell. +</P> + +<P> +Pritchard's most interesting chapter, in which the best authorities are +quoted at length, is convincing that the word 'hoveller' is derived +from <I>hobelier</I> (<I>hobbe</I>, [Greek] <I>hippos</I>, Gaelic <I>coppal</I>) and +signifies 'a coast watchman,' or 'look-out man,' who, by horse +(<I>hobbe</I>) or afoot, ran from beacon to beacon with the alarm of the +enemies' approach, when, 'with a loose rein and bloody spur rode inland +many a post.' Certainly nothing better describes the Deal boatmen's +occupation for long hours of day and night than the expression so well +known in Deal, 'on the look-out,' and which thus appears to be +equivalent to 'hovelling.' +</P> + +<P> +In 1864 the first lifeboat of the locality was placed in Walmer by the +Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 1865 another lifeboat was +placed in North Deal, a cotton ship with all hands having been lost on +the southern part of the Goodwins in a gale from the N.N.E., which +unfortunately the Walmer lifeboat, being too far to leeward, was unable +to fetch in that wind with a lee tide. +</P> + +<P> +This splendid lifeboat was called the Van Cook, after its donor, and +was very soon afterwards summoned to the rescue for the first time. +</P> + +<P> +It was blowing 'great guns and marline-spikes' from the S.S.W. with +tremendous sea on Feb. 7, 1865, when there was seen in the rifts of the +storm a full-rigged ship on the Goodwin Sands. The lifeboat bell was +rung, a crew was obtained, and the men in their new and untried +lifeboat made her first, but not their first, daring attempt at rescue. +A few moments before the Deal lifeboat, there launched from the south +part of Deal one of the powerful luggers which lay there, owned by Mr. +Spears, who himself was aboard; and the lugger was on this occasion +steered by John Bailey. The Walmer lifeboat also bravely launched, and +the three made for the wrecked vessel. +</P> + +<P> +The lugger, being first, began the attempt, and in spite of the risk +(for one really heavy sea breaking into her would have sent her to the +bottom) went into the breakers. But the lugger, rightly named +England's Glory—and the names of the luggers are admirably chosen, for +example, The Guiding Star, Friend of All Nations, Briton's Pride, and +Seaman's Hope—seeing a powerful friend behind her in the shape of the +lifeboat, stood on into the surf of the Goodwins to aid in saving life, +and also for a 'hovel,' in the hope of saving the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +It was dangerous in the extreme for the lugger, but, as the men said, +'They was that daring in them days, and they seed so much money +a-staring them in the face, in a manner o' speaking, on board that +there wessel, that they was set on it.' +</P> + +<P> +And when Deal boatmen are 'set on it,' they can do much. +</P> + +<P> +When the lugger fetched to windward of the vessel she wore down on her +before the wind. She did not dare to anchor; had she done so, she +would have been filled and gone down in five minutes, so hauling down +her foresail to slacken her speed, she shot past the vessel as close as +she dared, and as she flew by, six of the crew jumped at the rigging of +the wreck, and actually caught it and got on board. The Walmer +lifeboat sailed at the vessel and tried to luff up to her, hauling down +her foresail, but the lifeboat had not 'way' enough, and missed the +vessel altogether, being driven helplessly to leeward, whence it was +impossible to return. +</P> + +<P> +In increasing storm and sea, more furious as the tide rose, on came the +Deal lifeboat, the Van Cook, Wilds and Roberts (the latter now coxswain +in place of Wilds) steering. They anchored, and veering out their +cable drifted down to the wreck; then six of the lifeboatmen also +sprang to the rigging of the heeling wreck, and the lifeboat sheered +off for safety. +</P> + +<P> +The wreck was lying head to the north and with a list to starboard. +Heavy rollers struck her and broke, flying in blinding clouds of spray +high as her foreyard, coming down in thunder on her deck, so that it +seemed impossible that men could work on that wave-beaten plane. She +was also lifted by each wave and hammered over the sand into shallower +water, so that the drenched and buffeted lifeboatmen had to lift anchor +and follow the drifting vessel in the lifeboat, and again drop anchor +and veer down as before. All this time three powerful steam-tugs were +waiting in deep water to help the vessel, but they dared not come into +the surf where the lifeboat lay. +</P> + +<P> +To stop the drift of the wrecked Iron Crown was her only chance of +safety, and it would have probably ruined all had they dropped anchors +from the vessel's bows, as she would have drifted over them and forced +them into her bottom. The Deal men, therefore, with seamanlike skill +and resource, swung a kedge anchor clear of the vessel high up <I>from +her foreyard</I>, and as the vessel drifted the kedge bit, and the bows of +the vessel little by little came up to the sea, when her other anchors +were let go, and in a few minutes held fast; then with a mighty cheer +from the Deal men—lifeboatmen and lugger's crew all together—the Iron +Crown half an hour afterwards was floated by the rising tide on the +very top of the fateful sands; her hawser was brought to the waiting +tug-boats, and she was towed—ship, cargo, and crew all saved—into the +shelter of the Downs. +</P> + +<P> +The names of this the first crew of the Deal lifeboat are given +below[1], and their gallant deed was the forerunner of a long and +splendid series of rescues, no less than 358 lives having been saved, +including such cases as the Iron Crown, by the North Deal lifeboat and +her gallant crew, and counting 93 lives saved by the Walmer lifeboat +Centurion, and 101 lives saved by the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabina, a +total of 552 lives have been saved on the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<P> +The next venture of the Deal lifeboat was not so fortunate. It was +made to the schooner Peerless, wrecked in Trinity Bay, in the very +heart of the Goodwins. The men were lashed in the rigging, and the sea +was flying over them, or rather at them; but all managed to get into +the lifeboat except one poor lad who was on his first voyage. He died +while lashed on the foreyard, and was brought down thence by Ashenden, +who bravely mounted the rigging and carried down the dead lad with the +sea-foam on his lips. Among the rescuers of the Peerless crew were +Ashenden, named above, Stephen Wilds (for many years my own comrade in +the Mission Boat), brave old Robert Wilds, Horrick, Richard Roberts, +and ten others. +</P> + +<P> +I have told of the first rescue effected by the Deal lifeboat—let me +describe one of the last noble deeds of mercy done on November 11, +1891, during an awful gale then blowing. In the morning of the day two +luggers launched to help vessels in distress, but such was the fury of +the gale, and so mountainous was the sea, that the luggers were +themselves overpowered, and had to anchor in such shelter as they could +get. +</P> + +<P> +At 2 p.m., tiles flying in the streets, and houses being unroofed, it +was most difficult to keep one's feet; crowds of Deal boatmen in +sou'-westers and oilskins were ready round the lifeboat, and in the +gaps of the driving rain and in the smoking drifts of the howling +squalls which tore over the sea, they saw that a small vessel which had +anchored inside the Brake Sand about two miles off the mainland had +parted her anchors, and, being helpless and without sails, was drifting +towards and outwards to the Brake. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-061"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-061.jpg" ALT="A forlorn hope" BORDER="2" WIDTH="408" HEIGHT="629"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 408px"> +A forlorn hope +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Then the Deal lifeboat was off to the rescue, and with eighteen men in +her, three being extra and special hands on this dangerous occasion, +launched into a terrible sea, grand but furious beyond description. +Hurled down Deal beach by her weight, the lifeboat was buried in a wild +smother, and the next minute was left dry on the beach by the ghastly +recoil. The coming breaker floated her, and she swung to her haul-off +warp. +</P> + +<P> +Then they set her close-reefed storm foresail and took her mizzen off. +Soon after an ominous crack, loud and clear, was heard in her foremast, +and such was the force of the gale that Roberts—the same brave man +who, having been second coxswain and in the lifeboat in the rescue of +the Iron Crown above described in 1865, on this perilous day in 1891 +again headed his brave comrades as coxswain, with his old friend and +brother in arms, so to speak, E. Hanger, as second coxswain—hauled +down the foresail and set the small mizzen close-reefed on the +foremast, and even then the great lifeboat was nearly blown out of the +water. +</P> + +<P> +With unbounded confidence in their splendid lifeboat, under this sail, +and indeed they can only work their weighty lifeboat under sail, they +literally flew before the blast into the terrific surf on the Brake +Sand, six men being required to steer her! +</P> + +<P> +By this time the little vessel named The Thistle had struck the Sand, +but not heavily enough to break her in pieces, and hurled forwards by a +great roller, she grated and struck, and then was hurled forwards +again, seas breaking over her and her hapless crew. So thick was the +air with the sea spray carried along in smoking spindrifts that the +Deal men lost sight of the wreck while they raced into the surf of the +Brake. +</P> + +<P> +In that surf—which I beheld from the end of Ramsgate Pier, being +called there by imperative business, and thus deprived of the privilege +of being with the men—the lifeboat was apparently swallowed up. She +was filled over and over again, and sometimes there was not a man of +the crew visible to the coxswain, who stood aft steering in wind which +amounted to a hurricane, and, according to Greenwich Observatory, +representing a velocity of eighty miles an hour. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment I was witness of the fine sight of the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat steaming out of Ramsgate Harbour, brave coxswain Fish steering +the lifeboat, which plunged into the mad seas behind the tug, while +blinding clouds of spray flew over the crew. Those splendid 'storm +warriors' also rescued the crew of the Touch Not, wrecked that day on +the Ramsgate Sands; but just while they were steaming out of Ramsgate, +away on the horizon as far as I could bear to look against the fury of +the wind and rain, struggling alone and unaided in the surf of the +Brake Sand, I beheld the Deal lifeboat engaged in the rescue of The +Thistle. +</P> + +<P> +There indeed before my eyes was a veritable wrestle with death for +their own lives and those of the wrecked vessel's crew. The latter had +beaten over the Brake Sand, and was anchored close outside it, the +British ensign hoisted 'Union down,' and sinking. Sinking lower and +lower, and only kept afloat by her cargo of nuts, her decks level with +the sea which poured over them. In the agony of despair her crew of +five had taken to their own small boat, being afraid, from signs known +to seamen and from the peculiar wallowing of their vessel, that she was +about to make her final plunge to the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +But now the great blue lifeboat rode like a messenger from heaven +alongside them, and their brave preservers dragged them over her sides +into safety from the very mouth of destruction. +</P> + +<P> +Amidst words of gratitude and with praise on their lips to a merciful +God, the utterly exhausted crew saw the Deal men set sail and fight +their way again through the storm landwards. +</P> + +<P> +Looking back for an instant, all hands saw the appalling sight of the +vessel they had left turn on her side and sink to the bottom of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +With colours flying, with proud and thankful hearts they reach +Broadstairs, whence I received the coxswain's telegram—'Crew all +saved; sprung foremast. R. Roberts.' +</P> + +<P> +This gallant rescue was effected under the leadership of R. Roberts and +E. Hanger, the very same men who were foremost in the saving of the +Iron Crown. Their names should not be passed over in silence, nor +those of the brave fellows who back up with their skill, their +strength, and their lives the efforts of their coxswains. +</P> + +<P> +In very truth the Deal boatmen (Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown all +included) as a class of men are unique. As pilots, boatmen, and +fishermen they, with the Ramsgate men, stand alone, in their perils +around and on the great quicksand which guards their coast, and they +must always be of deep interest to the rest of their fellow-countrymen +by reason of their hardships, their skill, and their daring, and above +all by reason of their generous courage, consistent with their ancient +fame. Faults they have—let others tell of them—but it seems to me +that these brave Kentish boatmen are worthy descendants of their Saxon +forefathers who rallied to the banners of Earl Godwin and died at +Senlac in stubborn ring round Godwin's kingly son. +</P> + +<P> +To them, the lifeboatmen and coxswains of Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown, +friends and comrades, I dedicate these true histories of splendid +rescues wrought by them, the 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] Crew of the Deal lifeboat on her first launch to the rescue of the +Iron Crown:—R. Wilds, R. Roberts, E. Hanger, G. Pain, J. Beney, G. +Porter, E. Foster, C. Larkins, G. Browne, J. May, A. Redsull, R. +Sneller, T. Goymer, R. Erridge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">A brave vessel,</SPAN><BR> +Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her<BR> +Dashed all to pieces! Oh, the cry did knock<BR> +Against my very heart! Pool souls! they perished.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +All day long April 20, 1886, it had been blowing a gale from the +north-east, and a heavy sea was tumbling on the beach at Deal. On the +evening of that stormy day I was making my way to the Boatmen's Rooms, +at North Deal, where the boatmen were to assemble for the usual evening +service held by the Missions to Seamen chaplain. +</P> + +<P> +On my way I met a boatman, a valued comrade on many a rough day in the +mission-boat. Breathless with haste, he could at first only say, 'Come +on, sir, quick! Come on; there's a man been seen running to and fro on +the Goodwins!' +</P> + +<P> +Seeing that immediate help was needed, it appeared that the coxswain of +the lifeboat proposed signalling a passing tug-boat, and wanted my +sanction for the measure. Had she responded to the signal, she would +have towed the lifeboat to the rescue of the mysterious man on the +Goodwins in an hour or so. As Hon. Secretary of the Lifeboat Branch, I +at once authorised the step, and a flag was dipped from Deal pierhead, +and blue lights were burned; but all in vain. The tug-boat went on her +way, taking no notice of the signals, which it is supposed she did not +understand. +</P> + +<P> +It was plain some disaster had taken place, but what had happened on +those gruesome sands I could only conjecture until I reached the +Boatmen's Rooms. Outside the building I found in groups and knots a +crowd of boatmen and pilots, and also Richard Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts had that evening, about five p.m., been taking a look at the +Goodwins with his glass, a good old-fashioned 'spy-glass.' After a +long steady search—'Why,' said he to the men round him, 'there's a new +wreck on the sands since yesterday!' The gale of the morning part of +the day had been accompanied by low sweeping clouds of mist and driving +fog, and as soon as the curtain of thick vapour lifted, Roberts noticed +the new wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The other boatmen then took a look, and they all went up to the high +window of the lifeboat-house to gain a better view of the distant +Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +The point where the wreck, or the object they saw lay, was the outer +part of the Goodwin Sands towards the north, and was quite eight miles +distant from the keen-eyed watchers at Deal. +</P> + +<P> +'That's a wreck since yesterday,' said one and all. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts, gazing through his glass, now cried out, 'There's something, +man or monkey, getting off the vessel and moving about on the sand!' +</P> + +<P> +'Let's have a look, Dick,' said another and another, and then all cried +out, +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; it's a man! He's waving something—it's a flag!' +</P> + +<P> +'No, 'tis n't a flag,' said Roberts, 'it's more like a piece of canvas +lashed to a pole; it blows out too heavy for a flag.' +</P> + +<P> +Just about the same time, watchers at Lloyd's office had seen through a +powerful glass the same object on the Goodwins, and they sent word to +the coxswain of the lifeboat that there was a man in distress on the +Goodwin Sands, and wildly running to and fro. +</P> + +<P> +The wind, however, being north-east, and the tide having just commenced +to run in the same direction as the wind, thus producing what is called +a lee tide, it would have been worse than useless for the Deal lifeboat +to have launched. No boat of shallow draft of water, such as a +lifeboat is, can beat to windward over a lee tide, and had she been +launched, the Deal lifeboat would have drifted farther at each tack +from the point she aimed at. +</P> + +<P> +As before explained, the Deal lifeboat was unable to attract the +attention of the passing tugboat, and it was therefore decided to wire +to Ramsgate to explain that Deal was helpless, and ask the Ramsgate +lifeboat to go to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +By an extraordinary combination of misfortunes the Ramsgate lifeboat +and tugs were also helpless, and having been suddenly disabled were +laid up for repairs. We then anxiously discussed every alternative, +and it was sorrowfully decided that nothing more could be done until +the lee tide was over, which would be about 10.30 p.m. +</P> + +<P> +It was now dark, and the hour had come for the boatmen's service which +I was to hold. The men as usual trooped in, and the room was crowded; +the scene was a striking one. Fine stalwart men to the number of sixty +were present—free rovers of the sea, men who never call any one +master, with all the characteristic independence and even dignity of +those who follow the sea. There was present the coxswain of the +lifeboat, and there were present also most of the men who manned the +lifeboat a few hours afterwards. In every man's face was written the +story of dangers conquered, and a lifelong experience of the sea, on +which they pass so much of their lives, and on whose bosom a large +proportion of them would probably meet death. +</P> + +<P> +On all occasions and at all times those meetings are of overwhelming +interest, by reason of the character and histories of each man among +that unique audience, and also it may be added on account of their rapt +attention to the 'old, old story,' which, 'majestic in its own +simplicity,' is invariably set before them. But, on this occasion, add +to the picture the distant and apparently deserted figure just seen +through the rifts in the mist, 'wildly running to and fro on the +Goodwins,' the eager and sympathetic faces of the boatmen in their +absolute helplessness for a few long hours—hours that seemed centuries +to all of us. Observe their restrained but impatient glances at the +clock, and listen to their deep-throated responses to the impassioned +petitions of the Litany of the Church of England. +</P> + +<P> +I am only recording the barest facts when I say that the response of +'Good Lord, deliver us,' following that most solemn of all the +petitions of the Litany, was touching beyond the power of words to +describe. In the midst of the service I stopped and said, 'Has any man +another suggestion to offer? Shall we telegraph for the Dover tug?' +It was seen after a short discussion that this would be unavailing, and +the service went on. +</P> + +<P> +The hymns sung at that service were three in number, and perhaps are +familiar to those who read this story:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Light in the darkness, sailor!<BR> +Day is at hand,<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +being the well-known 'Life-boat' hymn; +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Rescue the perishing;<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and then +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Jesu, lover of my soul.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +No man present could fail to think at each part of the service, and as +each hymn was sung, of the poor forlorn figure seen on the Goodwins, +and now in the most dire need of help. Nor do I think that service +will ever fade from the memories of those present on that Tuesday +evening. +</P> + +<P> +Service over, we all went to the front of the lifeboat-house, and the +coxswain and myself once more consulted. We stood just down at the +water's edge, where the white surf showed up against the black night, +and fell heavily on the shingle, resounding. +</P> + +<P> +We asked, 'Had Ramsgate gone to the rescue?' +</P> + +<P> +'Why was there no flare burning if there were any one or any vessel on +the Goodwins?' +</P> + +<P> +'Why the dull oppressive silence and absence of all signs of signals of +distress?' +</P> + +<P> +Looking up the beach we saw the black mass of boatmen all gathered +round the door of the lifeboat-house, and we heard their shouts, 'Throw +open the doors!' 'Let us have the key!' 'Why not give us the +life-belts now?' +</P> + +<P> +Finally we decided to launch at exactly nine o'clock. I went home to +dress for the night, having arranged to go in the lifeboat. Meantime +the bell was rung, and the usual rush was made to get the life-belts. +So keen were the men that the launch was made before the time agreed +upon, and the lifeboat rushed down the beach just as I got in sight of +her—to my great and sore disappointment—and soon disappeared in the +night. +</P> + +<P> +They stood on till they reached the inner edge of the Goodwins, along +which they tacked, being helped to windward, and swept towards the +north by the weather-tide, which they met about eleven o'clock. As +they worked their way into Trinity Bay, a sort of basin in the very +heart of the Goodwins, the coxswain felt sure they were drawing near +the spot where the wreck had been seen, but it was absolutely dark. +They could see nothing, no flare, no light, and they could hear nothing +but the hollow thunder of breaking surf. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts now decided to run the lifeboat right through the breakers +which beat on the outer part of the sands, and thoroughly to search +that part of the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +Some said, 'The Ramsgate lifeboat has been here and taken the man off.' +</P> + +<P> +Others, 'If there are people alive on the wreck, why is there no light +or flare?' +</P> + +<P> +And then they ran her, in that pitchy blackness, into the surf; she +went through it close hauled, and beyond it into the deep sea the other +side, and searched the outside edge of the sands, but to no purpose. +Then, having shouted all together and listened, they stood back again +through the surf, running now before the wind. +</P> + +<P> +The broken and formidable sea raged round the lifeboat like a pack of +wolves. It broke on both sides of the lifeboat right into her, and +literally boiled over her as she flew before the gale and the impulse +of the swell astern. Nothing could be seen in this stormy flight +except the white burst of the tumultuous waves, and all around was +midnight blackness. +</P> + +<P> +Some were of opinion, after the prolonged search, that the wreck had +disappeared; but Roberts carried all hearts with him when he said, +'We're not going home till we see and search that wreck from stem to +stern!' +</P> + +<P> +Then they anchored in Trinity Bay in four fathoms of water. They each +had a piece of bread, a bit of cheese, and a smoke; and with every +faculty of sight and hearing strained to the utmost, they longed for +the coming of the day. +</P> + +<P> +We may now return to the wrecked vessel, and describe the fate of her +captain and crew. She was a Norwegian brig, the Auguste Hermann +Francke, bound from Krageroe to sunny San Sebastian with a cargo of +ice. She had a crew of seven all told, and the captain's name was +Jargersen. +</P> + +<P> +He had been running his vessel that morning before the gale, and at +eight o'clock in the forenoon struck on the Goodwins, having either +failed in the thick weather to pick up the lightships or the Foreland +as points from which to take a safe departure, or being carried out of +his course altogether by the strong tides which run around and over the +Goodwins, and which, if not allowed for, are a frequent cause of +disaster. It was on the shallower northern part of the Goodwins that +the Norwegian brig struck in a north-easterly gale. +</P> + +<P> +The brig struck the Goodwins about high water with a terrific crash, +and was lifted up by successive billows and thumped down and hammered +on the hard sand. Contrary to the popular idea, ships sink but slowly +in the sand, which is practically very hard and close. When she took +the ground the crew rushed to the main rigging and the captain to the +fore rigging. The sea beat in clouds high over the vessel, and the +seven men lashed themselves in the rigging to prevent themselves being +shaken into the sea by the shocks. Again and again the heavy vessel +was lifted up and thumped down; while the weather was so thick that +neither could she be seen from the nearest lightship or the land, nor +could they on the vessel see the land, or form the least idea as to +where they were; conjecturing merely that they were aground on the +Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +At last the mainmast went by the board, carrying with its ruin and +tangle of sails, spars and cordage, six of the crew into the terrible +billows. As each man unlashed himself he was carried away by the sea +before the eyes of the captain. The last of the crew was the ship's +boy, who, just as he cast off the fastenings by which he was lashed to +the rigging, managed to seize the jib sheet, which was hanging over the +side, and called piteously to the captain to save him. A great wave +dashed him against the ship's side, and his head was literally beaten +in. He too was carried away, and the captain was left alone. +</P> + +<P> +The foremast shortly afterwards gave way, but the captain saw the crash +coming, and lashed himself to the windlass, where, drenched and half +drowned, he was torn at by the waves which were hurled over the ship +for hours. +</P> + +<P> +At last the tide fell, and still, owing to the thick driving mist, no +one knew of the tragedy that was being enacted on the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! many similar disasters take place on the Goodwins, the details of +which are covered by the black and stormy nights on which they occur, +and nothing is ever found to reveal the awful secret but, perhaps, a +few fishermen's nets and buoys, or a mast, or a ship's boat. +</P> + +<P> +With the falling tide the sands round the wrecked vessel became dry for +miles, and the captain, half-crazed with grief and terror, climbed down +from the wreck and ran wildly about the sands. His first thought was +not to seek for a way of escape or help, but to find the bodies of his +crew, and to protect them from the mutilations of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +But he found none of them, and then he walked and wildly ran and ran +for miles, and waved his hands to the nearest but too-distant +lightship. Sick at heart, he then fastened on the wreck a pole with a +piece of canvas lashed to it, and, as we know, he was seen by God's +mercy about that time at Deal. +</P> + +<P> +As the tide again rose, evening came on, and again the captain had to +return to his lonely perch, and to lash himself again as before on the +little platform, barely three feet square, over which the sea had +beaten so fiercely a few hours before. What visions—what fancies, +what terrors may have possessed his soul as the cruel, crawling sea +again lapped against the vessel's sides in the darkness of that awful +night! +</P> + +<P> +Even now a gleam of mercy shone on him, for though the cold waves again +tumbled over and around him, they did not break up the little square +platform upon which he stood, and upon the holding together of which +his chance of living through the night depended. None may tell of the +workings of that man's mind during that long night. It is said that in +moments of great peril sometimes the whole course of the past life, +past but not obliterated, is summoned up in the most vivid minuteness. +Thrice blessed is the man who in that dread moment can trust himself +wholly to Him who is 'a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from +the tempest.' +</P> + +<P> +And yet, though he knew it not—though hope and faith itself may have +burned low, nay, been all but quenched in that poor wearied Norwegian +seaman's breast, though grim despair may have shouted in his ears, +'Curse God and die,' all that long night the lifeboat was close to him. +The dauntless coxswain and crew, though wearied, drenched and buffeted, +were 'determined to see the wreck before they went home.' To use their +own simple words, 'They hollered and shouted both outside and inside +them breakers, but you won't hear anything—not out there—the way the +sea was a roarin'.' +</P> + +<P> +At last morning broke. When the wind is easterly you can always see +the coming morning much sooner; and about 3.30, when the birds in the +sweet hedgerows were just beginning to twitter, the first soft, grey +dawn stole over the horizon in the east. +</P> + +<P> +The weather was clearing fast and 'fining down' when the coxswain +roused all hands to 'get up the anchor.' The foresail was set, and +then a man in the bows cried out, 'I can see something there—there's +the wreck!'—and, indeed, there it was, not more than four hundred +yards distant. +</P> + +<P> +Now the sky was lighted up a rosy red, so fast came on the 'jocund morn +a tiptoe' over the waves. +</P> + +<P> +'There's a man running away from the wreck!' said the coxswain. +</P> + +<P> +He had descried the bright blue lifeboat with the red wale round her +gunwale, and was running to meet her in the direction she was heading. +But the lifeboat was making short tacks to windward, and the coxswain +taking off his sou'-wester waved it to the running figure to come back +and follow the lifeboat on the other tack. +</P> + +<P> +Back again came the solitary man, and then at last was given the final +order from the coxswain, 'Run straight into the surf to meet him!' and +the lifeboat, carried on by a huge roller, grounded on the sands. +</P> + +<P> +Running, staggering, pressing on, the rescued man came close to the +lifeboat, and then fell forwards on his knees with face uplifted to the +heavens, and his back to the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +'They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the +deep.… Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He +bringeth them out of their distresses.… Oh that men would praise +the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children +of men!' +</P> + +<P> +Now rose the glorious sun, darting his golden javelins high up into the +blue majestical canopy; and cheerily into the water, now burnished by +the sunbeams, sprang Alfred Redsull, danger and hardship all forgotten, +with a line round his waist, to guide and help the exhausted man away +from the deadly 'fox-falls,' which were full of swirling water, and at +last into the lifeboat. Then with bated breath they learned the +story,—that all the rest were gone, and that the captain himself was +the solitary survivor. His hands were in gloves; they cut those off, +and also his boots, so swelled were hands and feet. They gave him a +dry pair of long stockings and woollen mittens, and they let down the +mizzen and made a lee for him under its shelter, for he was half +perished with the cold of that bitter night. After a few minutes he +insisted on again searching the sands for his lost crew, and the +coxswain and others of the lifeboatmen went with him. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat was by this time high and dry, for the water was falling +with great rapidity, and there was a mile of dry sand on each side of +her. The company of men now searched the sands, and a long way off the +coxswain saw a dark object. +</P> + +<P> +'What's that?' he said. +</P> + +<P> +That's my ship's rudder,' replied the captain, 'and I walked round it +yesterday evening when death was staring in my face.' +</P> + +<P> +Then they came to the wreck; her decks were gone, every atom of what +had once been on board her was swept clean out of her: she was split +open at her keel, and lay in halves, gaping. +</P> + +<P> +Inside this wrecked skeleton ship lay her foremast, and so crushed and +flattened out was the vessel that the men stepped from the sand at once +into the hollow shell—and there they saw, still holding together, the +little spot of planking, ten feet above them, on which the rescued man +had stood, and where he had been lashed: and they took down and brought +away as a memento the piece of canvas which he had fastened to the +pole, and which had caught the eyes of the boatmen at Deal; but the +bodies of the drowned crew were never seen again. +</P> + +<P> +When the tide rose the lifeboat got up anchor and made for home. +Crowds were assembled at the beach, expecting, as the British ensign +was hoisted at the peak, to find a rescued crew 'all saved' on board; +but, alas! only one wearied, overwrought man struggled up the beach. +</P> + +<P> +I led him to get some hot coffee and to give him a few minutes' repose; +but he could eat nothing, and he laid his head on his arms and sobbed +as if his heart would break for the friends that were gone, and +overwhelmed by the mercy of his own preservation. +</P> + +<P> +All honour to the brave coxswain and his lifeboat crew who sought and +searched for him through and through that dreadful midnight surf, and +stuck to their task with determined resolution, and who found and +rescued this poor Norwegian stranger from the very grasp of death! +</P> + +<P> +All honour to the brave![1] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] The crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were—Richard Roberts +(coxswain), Alf. Redsull, W. Staunton, H. Roberts, W. Adams, E. Hall, +P. Sneller, W. Foster, W. Marsh, Thomas May, J. Marsh, T. Baker, R. +Williams, G. Foster. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GANGES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I've lived since then in calm and strife,<BR> +Full fifty summers, a sailor's life;<BR> +And Death whenever he come to me<BR> +Shall come on the wide unbounded sea.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The rule that gales of wind prevail at the equinoxes is certainly +proved by the exceptions, but October 14, 1881, was an instance of a +gale so close to the autumnal equinox that it belonged rather to the +rule than to the exception. It had been blowing from the west all that +day, and the Downs was full of ships. Others were running back from +down Channel under lower fore top-sails, all ready to let go their +anchors. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes in stress of weather a ship bringing up will lose her anchors +by not shortening sail sufficiently before she lets them go. She +preserves too much 'way' through the water, and she snaps the great +chain cable by the force of her momentum as if it had been a +pack-thread. +</P> + +<P> +The wind reached the force of a 'great gale,'—the entry I find in my +diary of that date. The boatmen say to the present day that it was +blowing a 'harricane,' and, according to the report of the coxswain of +the lifeboat, 'it was blowing a very heavy gale of wind.' There was, +therefore, no mere capful of wind, but a real, whole, tremendous gale. +Old salts are always ready to pity landsmen, and to overwhelm them with +'Bless you's!' when they venture to talk of a 'storm'; but the harsh, +steady roar of the wind on this day made it plainly and beyond doubt a +storm. +</P> + +<P> +Long lines of heavy dangerous rollers broke on Deal beach, and only the +first-class luggers could launch or live in the Downs, so great was the +sea. These splendid luggers being of five feet draught, and having +therefore a deeper hold of the water, could do better than a lifeboat +in the deep water of the Downs. They could fight to windward better, +and would not be so liable to upset under sail as a lifeboat; but this +only applies to the deep water. +</P> + +<P> +Put the best Deal lugger that ever floated alongside the present Deal +lifeboat, the Mary Somerville, in a furious sea of breakers on the +Goodwin Sands, and the whole state of affairs is altered. The lugger +would be swamped and overwhelmed in five minutes, while the lifeboat +would empty herself and live through it successfully. +</P> + +<P> +The fortunes of the vessels in the Downs on that day were varied. Some +were manfully riding out the gale; others were holding on to their one +remaining anchor, signalling for help, and as sorely in need of fresh +anchors and chains as ever was King Richard of a horse. Some had lost +both anchors and were drifting out to destruction; destruction meaning +the Goodwin Sands, on which a fearful surf was raging about two miles +under their lee. +</P> + +<P> +One of those driving vessels was the Ganges. She had run back from the +Channel to the Downs for shelter, and dropped her anchors running +before a strong tide and a heavy gale; having thus too much 'way' on +her, both the long chain cables parted, snapping close to the anchors, +and trailed from her bows. Her head was thus kept up to the wind, +while there was no sufficient check to her drift astern and outwards +towards the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +Efforts, but ineffectual efforts, were made to get rid of the trailing +cables, and therefore the vessel's head could not be got before the +wind, and she could not be steered, but drifted out faster and faster. +It is supposed that there was another anchor on the forecastle head, +which had somehow fouled, or, at any rate, could not be got loose from +some cause or other. +</P> + +<P> +In the confusion, the sails of the great vessel—for she was a +full-rigged ship—having been either neglected or imperfectly furled, +were torn adrift and blew to ribbons. These great strips of heavy +canvas cracked like monstrous whips with deafening noise, thrashing the +masts and rigging, and rendering any attempt to furl them or cut them +away, perilous in the extreme. +</P> + +<P> +The crew consisted of thirty-five hands 'all told,' of whom the +captain, mates, petty officers, and apprentices were English, while the +men before the mast were Lascars. Now I think my readers will agree +with me in believing that 'Jack,' with all his faults, is a more +reliable man to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with in time of danger +than Ali Mahmood Seng, the Lascar. In cold and storm and peril most of +us would prefer 'our ain folk' alongside of us. +</P> + +<P> +Some years ago a Board of Trade report contained a quotation from the +remarks of a firm of shipowners, to the effect that they largely +employed foreign sailors on board their vessels, because they were +(<I>a</I>) more sober, (<I>b</I>) more amenable to discipline, and (<I>c</I>) cheaper +than British sailors; but they added, 'we always keep a few Englishmen +among the crew to lead the way aloft on dark and stormy nights.' +</P> + +<P> +What a heart-stirring comment on the character of the British sailor is +there in the passage above quoted! Is there no remedy, and no +physician for the frailties and degradations of poor Jack, who, +whatever be his faults, 'leads the way aloft on dark and stormy +nights?' 'If the constituents of London mud can be resolved, if the +sand can be transformed into an opal,' to use the noble simile of a +great living writer, 'and the water into a drop of dew or a star of +snow, or a translucent crystal, and the soot into a diamond such as +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +On the forehead of a queen<BR> +Trembles with dewy light,—<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +if such glorious transformations can be wrought by the laws of Nature +on the commixture of common elements, shall we despair that +transformations yet more glorious may be wrought in human souls now +thwarted and blackened by the malice of the devil, when they are +subjected to the far diviner and far more stupendous alchemy of the +Holy Spirit of God?' +</P> + +<P> +The moral to be drawn from these pages surely must be this—that there +is splendid material to work upon, the most undaunted heroism and the +noblest self-sacrifice, among the seafaring classes of our island. +</P> + +<P> +On this dark, tempestuous night, be the cause what it may, preventible +or otherwise, the Ganges drifted helplessly to her fate. A powerful +tug-boat got hold of her, but the ship dragged the tug-boat astern with +her, towards the Goodwins, until at last the tug-boat snapped her great +15-inch hawser, and then gave up the attempt and returned to land. +</P> + +<P> +The Ganges now burned flares and blue lights for help. Noting her +rapid approach to the Goodwins, on which an awful sea was running, and +the helpless and dishevelled condition of the vessel, the Gull +lightship fired guns and rockets at intervals of five minutes. +</P> + +<P> +This is the proper and recognised summons to the lifeboats, but long +before the lightship fired her signal, the Deal boatmen saw the peril +of the vessel; and one of their number, Tom Adams, ran to the coxswain +of the Deal lifeboat with the news: 'Tug's parted her, and she'll be on +the Goodwins in five minutes!' 'Then we'll go,' said the coxswain, and +he rang the bell and summoned a crew. +</P> + +<P> +As it was one of the wildest nights on which the Deal lifeboat was ever +launched, the very best men on Deal beach came forward to the struggle +for a place in the lifeboat, and out of their number a crew of fifteen +was got. +</P> + +<P> +R. Roberts, at this time the second coxswain, was afloat in his lugger, +putting an anchor and chain on board the Eurydice, and in his absence +Tom Adams helped the coxswain to steer the lifeboat, which literally +flew before the blast, to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +The squalls of this tempest were regular 'smokers,' a word which +signifies that the crests of the waves were blown into the astonished +air in smoking clouds of spray; and the lifeboat was stripped for the +fight, reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail. I should say +that running out before the wind the mizzen was not set, and they +frequently had to haul down the reefed foresail, and let her run under +bare poles right away from the land into the hurricane. +</P> + +<P> +No one can appraise the nature of this dangerous task who has not run +before a gale off shore for five or six miles to leeward, and then +tried to get back home dead to windwards. No one who has ever tried +it, and got back, will ever forget it, if his voyage, or rather his +escape from death, has been effected in an open boat. +</P> + +<P> +Nor can any one realize how furious and terrible is the aspect of the +sea in a gale off shore, and especially in the surf of the Goodwins, +who has not been personally through such an experience. +</P> + +<P> +The Royal National Lifeboat Institution pay the men who form the +lifeboat crew on each occasion generously and to the utmost limit their +funds will admit. No one who knows the facts of the case and the +management of this splendid Institution can have any doubt on this +subject. Each man is paid L1 for a night service, and 10<I>s</I>. for +service in the daytime. If he be engaged night and day, he is paid +30<I>s</I>. This single launch cost L18—that is, L15 to the fifteen men +who formed the crew, and L3 to the forty helpers who were engaged in +launching and heaving up the lifeboat on her return. +</P> + +<P> +But no money payment could compensate the men for the risk to their +lives—lives precious to women and children at home; and no money +payment could supply the impulse which fired these men and supported +them in their work of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +One of the men in the lifeboat on this occasion, Henry Marsh, and his +name will end this chapter, was the man referred to in Chapter II, who +had on the day he was going to be married, many years before, rushed +into a lugger bound to the rescue of a ship's crew on the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the splendid services of the Deal lifeboatmen in many a +heart-stirring rescue, they seem utterly unconscious of having done +anything heroic. This is a remarkable and most interesting feature in +their character. There is no boasting, no self-consciousness, and not +the faintest word of self-praise ever crosses their lips. The noblest, +the purest motives and impulses that can actuate man glow within their +breasts, as they risk their lives for others, and they nevertheless are +dumb respecting their deeds. They die, they dare, and they suffer in +silence. +</P> + +<P> +A lifeboat rescue killed poor Robert Wilds, the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat. The present second coxswain of the same lifeboat, E. Hanger, +was struck down after a rescue by pneumonia. J. Mackins, the coxswain +of the Walmer lifeboat, was also seized by pneumonia after a splendid +service across the Goodwins, when his lifeboat was buried thirty times +in raging seas; S. Pearson, once coxswain of the Walmer lifeboat, died +of Bright's disease, the result of exposure; and on the occasion of the +rescue of the Ganges, one of the crew, R. Betts, had his little finger +torn off. The Lifeboat Institution gave him a generous donation. But +the rescues by the Deal lifeboatmen are done at the risk, and sometimes +at the cost, of their health, their limbs and their lives. +</P> + +<P> +There is a Kentish proverb that 'there are more fools in Kent than in +any other county of England,' because more men go to sea from Kent than +from any other county in England, Devon coming next; but Kent on this +wild night need not have blushed for the folly of her sailor sons, +until it be proved folly to succour and to save. +</P> + +<P> +The Ganges had by this time struck on the middle part of the Goodwins, +and the sea was breaking mast-high over her. Her lights and flares had +gone out, and the lifeboat had the greatest difficulty in finding her. +Just when the lifeboatmen were in perplexity, she again burned blue +lights, and these guided the advancing boat. When they came close to +the wreck they found her head was lying about north, so that the great +wind and sea were beating right on her broadside, and a strong tide was +also running in the same direction right across the ship. +</P> + +<P> +Just before the arrival of the lifeboat, in the bewilderment of terror, +one of the boats of the wrecked vessel was lowered, and one English +apprentice and four Lascars sprang into it. In the boiling surf which +raged alongside, the boat was upset in an instant, and with the +exception of one Lascar, who grasped a chain-plate, all were lost, +their drowning shrieks being only faintly heard as they were swept into +the caldron of the Goodwins to leeward. There can be no doubt that a +merciful insensibility came soon to their relief. To swim was +impossible in raging surf, and there would be little suffering in the +speedy death of those poor fellows. I once heard a sailor say to +another one moonlight night in the Mediterranean, 'Death is nothing, if +you are ready for it;' and if there be a good clear view of the country +beyond the river, and of the King of that land, as Shepherd, Saviour, +Friend, the writer firmly holds with his sailor friend, long since lost +at sea, and now with God, that 'Death is nothing, if you are ready for +it.' +</P> + +<P> +The position of the lifeboat had to be now chosen with reference to +tide, wind and sea. Had the lifeboat anchored close outside the +vessel, there would have been the fearful danger of falling masts; and, +besides this, the tide would have swept her completely away from the +wreck, and would have prevented her getting back, had she once been +driven to leeward; hence, as shown in the diagram, they were driven to +anchor to windward of the vessel, or right between her and the land. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-087"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-087.jpg" ALT="Position of the Ganges on the Sands." BORDER="2" WIDTH="416" HEIGHT="279"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 416px"> +Position of the Ganges on the Sands. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +They first tried to get to the stern of the vessel, but they found this +position unsuitable, and being baffled, they hauled up to their anchor +with great trouble, and approached the bows of the wreck, having veered +out their cable again. +</P> + +<P> +There was, be it remembered, an enormous sea, which during all the +struggles of the men broke with fury over the lifeboat, and kept her +full to her thwarts all the night, bursting in clouds of spray, and of +course drenching the lifeboatmen. +</P> + +<P> +They now got to the bows of the wreck, where the strong off-tide +drifted them right under the jib-boom and bowsprit. Looking up, they +could just dimly see the jib-boom and bowsprit covered with men, who +had, in their terror, swarmed out there to drop into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +As they were hoisted up on the crest of a great breaker, which also +filled them, the great iron martingale or dolphin striker of the +vessel, pointed like an arrow, came so near the lifeboat that the men +saw that a little heavier sea would have driven the spear head of the +martingale through the lifeboat. One of the crew had a very narrow +escape of being impaled. This novel danger drove them back again +therefore to their anchor, to which they had with great difficulty +again to haul the lifeboat; and in reply to the imploring cries and +shouts of those on the jib-boom, they shouted back, 'We're not going to +leave you!' +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat now lay to windward of the vessel, in the full blast of +the tempest, and exposed to the full sweep of the breakers. The +official report of the coxswain was: 'We succeeded in getting alongside +after a long time and with great difficulty, through a very heavy sea +and at great risk of life, as the sea was breaking over the ship.' +</P> + +<P> +As the lifeboat rode to windward of the wreck, the shouts of those on +board were inaudible, and their gestures and signs in the dim lantern +light could not be understood by the lifeboatmen. Having thrown their +line to the vessel, a weightier line was now passed and made fast on +board the Ganges, and in order to remedy the confusion and give the +necessary directions to save the lives of the distressed sailors, one +of the lifeboatmen, Henry Marsh, volunteered to jump into the sea with +a line round his waist, to be dragged through the breakers on board the +wreck. Heavy seas were bursting on the broadside and breaking over the +vessel, so that it was a marvel he escaped with his life. +</P> + +<P> +He fastened a jamming hitch round his waist and then with a shout of +'Haul away!' sprang into the midnight surf. Some said, 'He's mad!' +others said, 'He's gone!' and then, 'Haul away, hard!' He fought +through the sea, he struggled, he worked up the ship's side, against +which he was once heavily dashed, and he gained the deck, giving +confidence to all on board: the brave fellow being sixty-five years of +age at the time. +</P> + +<P> +The vessel was during this event thumping and beating out over the +Goodwins, and was at last, when finally wrecked and stuck fast, not +more than one hundred yards from safety and deep water, having thumped +for miles across the Sands. The lifeboat had to follow her on her +awful journey and almost to the outer edge of the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +Her masts had stood up to this time, and she had been listing over to +the east, or away from the wind and the sea, but now all over and +within the ship were heard loud noises of cracking beams and the sharp +harsh snap of timbers breaking. The crew of the wreck, in dread of +instant death, now again burned blue lights. Just before the lifeboat +approached, as if in a death-throe, the ship reeled inwards, and her +tottering masts leaned to port, or towards the lifeboat and against the +wind—thus adding great peril to the work of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +By the directions of the coxswain and the lifeboatmen the exhausted +crew were at last got down life-lines into the lifeboat, seventeen in +number, including the captain, mates and apprentices; while twelve +Lascars got into the Ramsgate lifeboat, which had about this time +arrived to help in the work of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +One of the features of this terrible night which perhaps impressed the +memories of the lifeboat crew most of all, was the noise of the torn +sails above their heads as they fought the sea below. Just before +shoving off with the rescued crew, the words of the lifeboatmen were, +'We'll all go mad with that awful noise.' +</P> + +<P> +At last all were on board, thirty-two souls in all, and at two o'clock +a.m. the lifeboat got up sail for home, which lay seven miles off dead +to windward. +</P> + +<P> +The canvas they set will give some idea of the nature of the +struggle—a reefed mizzen and two reefs in the storm foresail. Thus +reefed down, they struggled to get hold of the land, which they finally +did at four o'clock on that dark wintry morning, landing the rescued +men on Deal beach, when boatmen generously took them to their houses[1]. +</P> + +<P> +Not the faintest publicity has ever before been given to the details of +this gallant achievement, which I now rescue from obscurity and +oblivion. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot refrain from recording a previous gallant deed of Henry Marsh, +before mentioned. On February 13, 1870, there was a furious tempest +blowing, with the wind from E.N.E. All the vessels at anchor in the +Downs had been, with one exception, blown ashore and shattered into +fragments. +</P> + +<P> +A Dutch brig, sugar-laden, went ashore in the afternoon opposite Deal +Castle, and was broken up and vanished in ten minutes; others went +ashore at Kingsdown, and late in the evening, opposite Walmer Castle, +another brig came ashore, also sugar-laden—a French vessel with an +English pilot on board. +</P> + +<P> +The gale was accompanied with snow squalls, and Marsh, hearing of the +wrecks along Deal and Walmer beach, determined to go and see for +himself. His wife, as is the manner of wives, repressed his rash and +impulsive intentions, and said, 'Don't you go up near them!' But Marsh +said, 'I'll just take a bit of bread and cheese in my pocket, and I'll +take my short pipe with me, and I'll be back soon.' He laid great +stress and emphasis on having 'his short pipe' with him, probably +reserving a regular long-shanked 'churchwarden' for home use. +</P> + +<P> +He found the beach crowded with spectators, and the sea breaking blue +water over the French brig. Her rigging was thick with ice, and the +snow froze as it fell. She was rocking wildly in and out, exposing her +deck as she swung outwards to the full sweep of the tremendous easterly +sea. Between her and the beach there were about ten feet deep of +water, which with each giant recoil swept round her in fury. +</P> + +<P> +Marsh asked, 'Are all the people out of that there brig?' 'All but +two,' said the bystanders, 'and we can't get no answer from them. +They're gone, they are!' +</P> + +<P> +Said Marsh, 'Won't nobody go to save them?' +</P> + +<P> +'Which way are you going to save them?' said one; and all said the +same. 'I'm a-going,' said Marsh. 'Harry, don't go!' cried many an old +sailor on the beach. 'Here, hold my jacket!' said Marsh. And I verily +believe he was thinking chiefly of the preservation of his short pipe. +'Don't you hold me back! I'm a-going to try! Let go of me!' and +seizing the line which led from the rocking brig to the shore, Marsh +rushed neck deep in a moment into the surf. Swept the next instant off +his feet, on, hand over hand, he went; swayed out under her counter, +back towards the shore, still he lives! Dashed against the ship's +side, while some shout 'He's killed,' up he clambers still, hand over +hand; and as the vessel reels inwards, down, down the rope Marsh slips +into the water and the awful recoil. 'He is gone!' they cry. No! up +again! with true bull-dog tenacity, Marsh struggles. And at last, +nearly exhausted, he wins the deck amid such shouting as seldom rings +on Deal beach. +</P> + +<P> +Taking breath, he first fastens a line round his waist and to a +belaying pin; and then he discovers a senseless form, Holbrooke, the +pilot, a friend of his own, who, fast dying with the cold and drenching +freezing spray, was muttering, 'The poor boy! the poor boy!' +</P> + +<P> +'William!' said Marsh. 'Who are you?' was the reply. 'I'm Henry +Marsh, and I'm come to save you.' 'No, I'll be lost; I'll be lost!' +'No you won't,' said Marsh, 'I'll send you ashore on the rope.' 'No, +you'll drown me! you'll drown me!' +</P> + +<P> +And then finding the poor French boy was indeed lost and swept +overboard, alone he passed the rope round the nearly insensible man, +protecting and holding him as the seas came; and finally watching when +the vessel listed in, alone he got him on the toprail of the bulwarks, +with an exertion of superhuman strength, and then, with shouts to the +people ashore, 'Are you ready?' and 'I'm a-coming!' threw Holbrooke, in +spite of himself, into the sea; and both were safely drawn ashore. +</P> + +<P> +The people nearly smothered Marsh when he got ashore, but he ran home, +his clothes frozen stiff when he got in; and I have no doubt that the +'short pipe' played no insignificant part in his recovery. +</P> + +<P> +Eleven years afterwards, this same Henry Marsh was dragged by a rope +from the lifeboat to the Ganges, as described in the beginning of this +chapter, through the breakers on the Goodwin Sands at midnight; and he +is now (1892), my readers will be glad to hear, alive and hearty, at +the age of seventy-five, and I rejoice to say 'looking for and hasting +unto that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God, +and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' +</P> + +<P> +There can be few, I think, of my readers who will not find their hearts +beat faster as they read this story, and few will hesitate to say, +'Bravely done!' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were—R. +Wilds (coxswain), Thomas Adams, Henry Marsh, T. Holbourn, Henry +Roberts, James Snoswell, T. Cribben, J. May, T. May, George Marsh, H. +Marsh, R. Betts, and Frank Roberts. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EDINA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The oak strikes deeper as its boughs<BR> +By furious blasts are driven.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Edina was one of a great fleet of ships at anchor in the Downs on +January 16, 1884. Hundreds of vessels were there straining at their +anchors—vessels of many nations, and of various rigs. There were +picturesque red-sailed barges anchored close in shore, while even there +the sea flew over them. Farther out were Italians, Norwegians and +Yankees, all unmistakable to the practised eye; French <I>chasse-marées</I>, +Germans, Russians and Greeks were there; and each vessel was +characterised by some nautical peculiarity. Of course the greater +number were our own English vessels, as plainly to be pronounced +British as ever was John Bull in the midst of Frenchmen or Spaniards. +</P> + +<P> +It was blowing a heavy gale from the W.S.W., and towards night, +accompanied by furious rain-squalls and thunder, the gale increased to +a storm. The most powerful luggers along the beach tried to launch, +but as the tide was high they had not run enough to get sufficient +impetus, and were therefore beaten back on the beach by the surf. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-096"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-096.jpg" ALT="Dangerous work." BORDER="2" WIDTH="407" HEIGHT="634"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 407px"> +Dangerous work. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Some vessels were blown clean out of the Downs, and away from their +anchors. Indeed, when the weather cleared between the squalls, a +pitiable number of blue light signals of distress were seen in the +distance beyond the North Foreland. And it is probable that vessels +were lost that night on the Goodwins of which no one has ever heard. +</P> + +<P> +When the tide fell, about 8.45, flares and rockets were seen coming +from the Brake, a very dangerous and partially rocky 'Sand' lying close +to the Goodwin Sands. Then the Gull lightship also fired guns and +rockets. There being obviously a vessel in danger on or near either +the Goodwins or the Brake Sand, the Deal lifeboat bell was rung; and a +crew was obtained out of the hundred men who rushed to get a place. +The beach was smoothed to give the lifeboat a run, she was let go, and, +in contrast with the failure of other boats, launched successfully. +</P> + +<P> +In receiving the report of the coxswain next day, I asked him what time +precisely he launched. Now that evening, about 9 p.m., I was sitting +in my own house listening to the long-protracted roar of the wind, and +just when I thought the strong walls could bear no more, there came a +blinding flash of lightning which paled the lamps, almost +simultaneously with a peal of thunder that made the foundations of the +house tremble. When I asked the coxswain next day what time exactly he +launched, his reply was, 'Just in that clap of thunder.' +</P> + +<P> +This may help my readers to depict the scene in its appalling grandeur, +and to realise the meaning of the words, 'A vessel in distress,' and +the launch of the lifeboat on its sacred errand. +</P> + +<P> +The flares which had been burning now suddenly stopped. This, however, +was owing to the distressed vessel having exhausted her stock of +rockets and torches. +</P> + +<P> +Passing under the stern of a schooner which they hailed, the gallant +lifeboat crew were pointed out the vessel that had been burning them, +riding with a red light in her rigging to attract notice. Making for +her, they anchored as usual ahead, and veered down eighty fathoms. In +the gale and heavy sea they found the anchor would not hold, and they +had to bend on another cable, and pay out a hundred fathoms, and at +last they got alongside. +</P> + +<P> +The captain cried out, 'Come on board and save the vessel! My crew are +all gone!' And indeed she was in a sore plight. +</P> + +<P> +That evening after dark, about 6 p.m., this brig, the Edina, had been +riding out the gale in the Downs. In a furious blast a heavy sea broke +her adrift from her anchor, and she came into helpless collision with a +ship right astern of her. Grinding fiercely into this other very large +vessel, the Edina tore herself free with loss of bowsprit and jib-boom, +all her fore-rigging being in dire ruin and confusion. +</P> + +<P> +In the collision, six of the crew of the Edina jumped from her rigging +to the other ship with which they were in collision, leaving only three +men, the captain, mate, and boy, on board the Edina. By great efforts +they, however, were able to let go another anchor, but that did not +bite, and the Edina kept dragging with the wreckage and wild tangle of +bowsprit and jib-boom hanging over her bows and beating against her +side. +</P> + +<P> +One of the six men who had jumped from the Edina in the panic of the +collision had, alas! jumped too short, and had fallen between the two +vessels. The next day his body was found by the lifeboatmen entangled +in the wreckage, and under the bows of the Edina. +</P> + +<P> +The Edina in her wrecked and crippled condition had dragged till she +got to the very edge of the Brake Sand. She had dragged for two miles, +and at last her anchor held fast when within twenty fathoms or forty +yards of the Brake Sand. She was stopped just short of destruction as +the sea was breaking heavily under her stern, and had she drifted a few +more yards she would have struck the deadly Brake, and have perished +with those on board before the lifeboat could have reached her. +</P> + +<P> +In setting off his rockets, the unfortunate captain had blown away a +piece of his hand, and was in much suffering, when the advent of the +lifeboat proclaimed that he was not to be abandoned to destruction. +The vessel was riding in only three fathoms of water, and as a furious +sea was running, she was plunging bows under. Six of the lifeboatmen +sprang on board and turned to clearing the wreck—the remainder of the +men remaining in the lifeboat, as they feared every moment the ship +would break adrift and strike. +</P> + +<P> +They worked with the energy of men working for life, but they took +three hours to clear away the wreck; this being absolutely necessary in +order to get at the windlass and raise the anchor. +</P> + +<P> +At morning dawn they found the body of the poor sailor who had failed +to spring to the other vessel; they got up anchor, they set the sails, +and they brought the vessel out of her dangerous position into Ramsgate +Harbour. +</P> + +<P> +That day four weeks the Edina came out of Ramsgate refitted and ready +for sea. I went on board the vessel on my daily task as Missions to +Seamen Chaplain in the Downs, and talked with the captain over the +events of the night as here described, and the merciful Providence +which prevented him striking on the Brake Sand. 'What brought you up,' +I asked him, 'when you had already dragged for miles?' +</P> + +<P> +The captain pointed me to a roll of large-printed Scripture texts, a +leaf for each day, for four weeks. 'Why,' said he, 'that's the very +leaf that was turned the night of the 26th of last month'—and going +close to the 'Seaman's Roll,' as this Eastbourne publication is +called—'There,' said he, 'is the very text.' +</P> + +<P> +It ran thus: 'Wherefore, also, He is able to save them to the uttermost +that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession +for them.' +</P> + +<P> +'And that,' said the captain, 'was the anchor that held my ship that +awful night.' +</P> + +<P> +It is hard to doubt that He who once stilled the tempest, and granted +to this humble sailor the mighty gift of Faith, on that stormy night +'delivered His servant that trusted in Him.' +</P> + +<P> +The Edina went on her way to Pernambuco. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FREDRIK CARL +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On October 30, 1885, the small Danish schooner, the Fredrik Carl, ran +aground on the Goodwin Sands. She struck on the outer part of the +North Sand Head, about eight miles from the nearest land, and two miles +from the well-known Whistle Buoy, which ever and always sends forth its +mournful note of warning—too often unavailing. +</P> + +<P> +Summoned by the lightship's guns and rockets to the rescue—for the red +three-masted North Sand Head lightship was only two miles from the +wreck—the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed by the steam-tug Aid, came to the +spot, and, after a long trial, failed to get the schooner afloat, and, +having taken her crew out of her, returned to the shore. +</P> + +<P> +At low water the next day, October 31, the vessel lay high and dry on +the Goodwin Sands. She was tolerably upright, having bedded herself +slightly in the sand, and all her sails were swinging loose as the wind +chose to sway them. There was no rent in her side that could be seen, +and to all appearance she was safe and sound—only she was stranded on +the Goodwins, from which <I>vestigia nulla retrorsum</I>. As in the Cave of +Cacus, once there, you are there for ever, and few are the cases in +which vessels fast aground on the Goodwins ever again get away from the +great ship-swallower. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-103"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-103.jpg" ALT="The anchor of death. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin." BORDER="2" WIDTH="627" HEIGHT="372"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 627px"> +The anchor of death. From a photograph by W. H. Franklin. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The schooner had a cargo of oats, and if she could be got off would be +a very valuable prize to her salvors. But 'if'—and we all know that +'there's much virtue in your "if".' +</P> + +<P> +However, when morning broke on October 31, many of the Deal boatmen, +whose keen eyes saw a possibility of a 'hovel,' came in their powerful +'galley punts' to see about this 'if,' and try if they could not +convert it into a reality. Accordingly, two of the Deal boats, taking +different directions, the Wanderer and the Gipsy King, approached the +Goodwin Sands near the north-west buoy. +</P> + +<P> +On this day there was just enough sea curling and tumbling on the edge +of the sands to make landing on them difficult even for the skilled +Deal boatmen. For the inexperienced it would have been dangerous in +the extreme. +</P> + +<P> +There were four Deal men in each boat, and they only got ashore with +difficulty, one of the boats' cables having parted; and they had all to +jump out and wade waist-deep in the surf, as they dared not let their +weighty boats touch the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +Two boatmen remained in each boat, for neglect of this precaution has +caused accidents frightful to think of, on the Goodwins; and the +remaining four boatmen, daring fellows of the sea-dog and amphibious +type, walked across the sands, dripping with the brine. As a matter of +fact, two of them were not only Deal boatmen, but were sailors who had +been round and round the world, and one was an old and first-rate +man-o'-war's man. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes they met a deep gully with six feet of water in it, which +they had to make a circuit round, or to swim; and farther on a shallow +pond, in the midst of which would be a deep-blue 'fox-fall,' perhaps +twenty feet deep of sea-water. Then, having avoided this, more dry, +hard sand, rippled by the ebbing tide, and then a dry, deep cleft—for +the Goodwins are full of surprises—and then came more wading. +</P> + +<P> +Wading on the Goodwins conveys a very peculiar sensation to the naked +feet. The sand, so dense when dry, at once becomes friable and +quick—indeed, it is hard to believe there is not a living creature +under the feet—and if you stand still you slowly sink, feet and +ankles, and gradually downwards. As long as you keep moving, it is +hard enough, but less so when under water. +</P> + +<P> +The surroundings are deeply impressive. The waves plash at your feet, +and the seagull, strangely tame, screams close overhead; but glorious +as is the unbroken view of sky and ocean, the loneliness of the place, +and the unutterable mystery of the sea, and the deep sullen roar, and +the memories of the long sad history of the sands, oppress your soul. +Tragedies of the most fearful description have been enacted on the very +spot whereon you stand. Terror, frozen into despair, blighted hope, +faith victorious even in death, have thrilled the hearts of thousands +hard by the place where you stand, and which in a few hours will be ten +feet under water. Here you can see the long line of a ship's ribs +swaddling down into the sands, and there is the stump of the mast to +which the seamen clung last year till the lifeboat snatched them from a +watery grave. +</P> + +<P> +Buried deep in the sands are the cargoes of richly-laden ships, and +their 'merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, +and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet.' 'To dig there' (if +that could be done, say the Deal boatmen), 'would be all as one as +going to Californy;' and who should know the Goodwins or the secret of +the sea better than they do? 'Only those who brave its dangers +comprehend its mystery.' +</P> + +<P> +Keenly intent on getting to the wreck, the four men hastened on, and +they perceived that other boatmen had landed at similar risk, at other +points of the sands, and were also making for the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The four boatmen reached the vessel, found ropes hanging over her side, +all sails set, and a part of the Ramsgate lifeboat's cable chopped off +short, telling the tale of her unsuccessful efforts the night before to +get the vessel off. They clambered up, and found others there before +them, and soon more came, and eventually there were twelve boatmen on +board. +</P> + +<P> +All eagerly discussed the chances of getting her off. To the +unpractised eye she seemed sound enough; but, after a thorough +overhaul, some saying she could be kept afloat, and others the reverse, +it was found that the water had got into her up to the level of her +cabin-seats, and that a bag of flour in one of her cabin-lockers was +sodden with salt-water. Judging by these signs that the water would +again come into her when the tide rose, and that she was broken up, the +four men whose journey across the sands has been described, decided +with sound judgment to leave her to her fate, and with them sided four +other men, who also came to the conclusion that it was beyond the power +of their resources to save her. +</P> + +<P> +George Marsh and George Philpot with six others took this view. +Looking overboard, they found the rising tide just beginning to lap +round her. +</P> + +<P> +'Best for us to bolt,' said Marsh; and seeing there was no time to +lose, the eight men came down the ropes and made for their boats, more +than a mile off; leaving the four others, who took a different view, on +board. The eight men ran, and ran the harder when they found the wind +and sea had increased, and having run and waded as before half the +distance, they made a halt and called a council of war. There were now +serious doubts whether they would be able to reach their boats, which +they could see a long way off heaving on the swell, which was becoming +heavier every minute. +</P> + +<P> +Some said, 'Best go back to the ship—we'll never reach the boats.' +And indeed it was very doubtful if they could do either; for the +flood-tide was now coming like a racehorse over the sands, and hiding +its fox-falls and gullies. Others said, 'You'll never get back to the +ship now; there's deep water round her bows by this time! Come on!' +</P> + +<P> +But some of the men had left brothers on the vessel, and this attracted +three of the company back to the wreck, and Marsh was persuaded to join +the returning band. And so they parted, there being danger either way: +Marsh with three others back to the ship, and Philpot with three others +to the boats; and both parties now ran for their lives. +</P> + +<P> +Looking back, they saw Marsh standing in uncertainty, and they waved to +him. But he finally decided—little knowing at the time how momentous +was his decision—for the ship. He and his party reached it with great +difficulty, finding deep water around it, and they were at the last +minute pulled on board through the water by lines slung to them from +their friends. +</P> + +<P> +Of the others, each man for himself, as best he could, 'pursues his +way,'— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And swims or sinks or wades or creeps,<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +till they all come as close as the rough sea permits them to their +boats, and stand breathless on a narrow and rapidly contracting patch +of sand. +</P> + +<P> +'Upon this bank and shoal' clustered the four men. The sea was so +heavy that the weighty Deal boats did not dare to back into it. The +men at first thought of trying to swim to them; but a strong tide +running right across their course rendered that out of the question. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately a tug-boat hove in sight, bound to the wrecked schooner, +and seeing the men waving and their dangerous plight, eased her +engines. Deal boats were towing astern, and Deal boatmen were on +board, and out of their number Finnis and Watts bravely volunteered to +go to the rescue in the tug-boat's punt. +</P> + +<P> +This boat being light and without ballast, they at considerable risk +brought off the four men to their own boats, when they forthwith, +forgetting past hardship and perils, got up sail for the wrecked +schooner, to see how their comrades who had returned, and those who +remained on board, were faring. +</P> + +<P> +They found the tug-boat close to the wreck—say half a mile off—and +also many other Deal boats; but none ventured nearer than that +distance, and none could get nearer. +</P> + +<P> +The wind, which had been blowing from south-west freshly, was dropping +into a calm, while great rollers from an entirely opposite quarter were +tumbling in on the Goodwins. In fact, a great north-easterly sea was +breaking in thunder on the sands, and around and over the vessel. The +eight men on board her were therefore beset as if in a beleaguered +city, and as nothing but a lifeboat could live for a moment in that +tremendous surf, the crews of the Deal boats, astounded at the sight, +were simply helpless spectators of their comrades' danger, and torn +with distress and sympathy, as they saw them take to the rigging of the +vessel. +</P> + +<P> +An hour before this pitch of distress had been reached, a galley punt +had gone to Deal for the lifeboat, and in the afternoon, about 3 p. m., +the boat reached Deal beach with one hand on board. He jumped out, and +staggered up the beach to tell the coxswain of the lifeboat that eight +boatmen were on board the wreck, and that nothing but a lifeboat could +reach the vessel, as there was a dreadful sea all round her, and that +his own brother was among the number on board. +</P> + +<P> +The Deal boatmen are not slow to render help when help is needed, and +indifference to the cry of distress is not one of their failings; but +when they heard of their own friends and neighbours, their comrades in +storm and in rescue and lifeboat work, thus beset and in imminent +peril, their eagerness was beyond the power of words to describe. From +the time the bell rang to 'man the lifeboat' to the moment she struck +the water only seven minutes passed! +</P> + +<P> +A fresh south-west breeze brought her to the North Sand Head, and round +and outside it to the melancholy spot where, in the waning autumnal +light, they could just discern the wreck. They passed through the +crowd of Deal boats, and close to the tug-boat; but no one spoke or +hailed the other, as all knew what had to be done, and the nature of +the coming struggle. +</P> + +<P> +The south-west breeze had now dropped completely, and they encountered, +as explained before, the strange phenomenon of a great windless swell +from the north-east, rolling in before the wind, which was evidently +behind it, and which indeed blew a gale next day, though it was now an +absolute calm. Great tumbling billows came in from different quarters, +and met and crossed each other in the most furious collision. There +was tossing about in the sea at the time an empty cask, which was +caught in the clash together of two such waves, and was shot clean out +of the water as high as the wrecked schooner's mast, or thirty feet +into the air, by the force of the blow. The water-logged wreck was now +nearly submerged, or just awash, her bulwark-top-rail being now and +then exposed and covered again with the advance and recoil of each wave. +</P> + +<P> +Aft there were a raised quarter-deck and a wheel-house, behind the +remains of which three of the boatmen took refuge, while the five +others climbed into the rigging, but over them even there the sea broke +in clouds. +</P> + +<P> +As there was no tide and no wind, it was impossible to sheer the +lifeboat, and, whatever position was taken by anchoring, in that only +the lifeboat would ride after veering down before the sea. The +coxswains, therefore, had to try again and again before they got the +proper position to veer down from. +</P> + +<P> +At last, however, they succeeded, and anchoring the lifeboat by the +stern, they veered down bows first towards the wreck into the midst of +this breezeless but awful sea—bows first, lest the rudder should be +injured. +</P> + +<P> +The cable was passed round the bollard or powerful samson-post, and +then a turn was taken round a thwart; and the end was held by Roberts, +the second coxswain, with his face towards the stern, and his back to +the wreck, watching the billows as they charged in line, and easing his +cable or getting it in when the strain had passed. +</P> + +<P> +The heavy rollers drove the lifeboat before them like a feather, and +end on towards the wreck, till her cable brought her up with a jerk. +The strain of these jerks was so great, that, even though Roberts eased +his cable, each wave seemed to all hands as if it would tear the after +air-box out of the lifeboat, or drag the lifeboat itself in two pieces. +</P> + +<P> +They veered down to about five fathoms of the wreck; closer they dared +not go, lest a sea should by an extra strain dash their bows into the +wreck, when not one of all the company would have been saved, and the +lifeboat herself would have perhaps been broken up. +</P> + +<P> +Then they saw their friends and comrades and heard them cry, 'Try to +save us if you can!' And the men said afterwards, 'We got in such a +flurry to save them, that what we did in a minute we thought took us an +hour.' +</P> + +<P> +At last the cane and lead were thrown from the lifeboat by a stalwart +boatman standing in the bows. A heavier line was then drawn on board +by the light cane line, and the boatmen came down from the rigging, +and, having made themselves fast to pins and staunchions, sheltered +behind the bulwark and the wheel-house, seeing the approach of rescue. +</P> + +<P> +Enough of the slack of the weightier line was kept on board the +wreck—the end being there made fast—to permit the middle of the rope +being fastened round a man and of his being dragged away from the wreck +through the sea into the lifeboat. A clove-hitch was put by George +Marsh over the shoulders of the first man, who watched his chance for +'a smooth,' jumped into the waves, and, after a long struggle—for the +line fouled—was hauled safe into the lifeboat. Marsh on the wreck saw +after this that the line was clear, and that no kink or knot stopped +its running freely. +</P> + +<P> +Reading these lines in our quiet homes, and in a comfortable arm-chair +by the fireside, it is hard to realise the position of those eight +boatmen. They were drenched and buried in each wallowing sea, which +strove to tear them from the pin to which each man was belayed by the +line round his waist; and their ears were stunned with the bellow of +each bursting wave. But, on the other hand, their eyes beheld the +grand and cheering spectacle of their brethren in the lifeboat +struggling manfully with death for their sakes, and they heard their +undaunted shouts. +</P> + +<P> +If for a moment they cast off or lengthened their lifelines, they were +washed all over the slippery deck; and brave George Marsh, who was +specially active, was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, having been +dashed against a corner of the wheel-house. +</P> + +<P> +The wheel-house up to this time had afforded some shelter to the men +who ventured on the deck of the wreck, lashed as just explained, of +course, to some pin or bollard; and even they had now and then to rush +up the rigging when a weighter [Transcriber's note: weightier?] wave +was seen coming. But just at this time a great mass of water advanced +and wallowed clean over the wreck, carrying the wheelhouse away with +it, and bursting, where it struck the masts and booms, into a cloud: it +was too solid to burst much, but it just 'wallowed' over the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +Successive seas are, of course, unlike in height, volume, and +demeanour. One comes on board and falls with a solid, heavy lop—there +may be twenty tons of blue water in it—the next rushes along with wild +speed and fury. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts in the lifeboat now saw a great roller of the latter +description advancing; ready to ease his cable, he cried, 'Look out! +Look out! Hold on, my lads!' +</P> + +<P> +But before Wilds, the coxswain, who was not a young man, could turn +round and grasp a thwart, the sea was on him, and drove him with great +force against the samson-post, breaking over and covering the lifeboat +fore and aft in fury. This sea would have washed every man off the +wreck if they had not had ropes round their waists, and fastened +themselves to something; and it most certainly stupefied them and +half-drowned them, fastened as they were. +</P> + +<P> +The blow which Wilds in the lifeboat received would have killed him but +that he was wearing his thick cork life-belt. His health was so much +affected that he never came afloat again, and he never recovered the +strain, the shock, and the exposure of this day. He was a brave man, +and a stout, honest Englishman. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Faithful below he did his duty,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And now he's gone aloft.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And the writer has good reason for sure and certain hope that this is +so. His post as coxswain has since been filled, and nobly filled, by +R. Roberts, for many years second coxswain. +</P> + +<P> +In meeting this sea, which struck down poor Wilds with such force, the +lifeboat stood straight up on her stern and reared, as the men +expressed it, 'like a vicious horse'; and so much did the cable spring, +that the lifeboat was driven to within a fathom, or six feet, of the +wreck, and was withdrawn the next instant to fifteen fathoms distance +by the recoil of the cable. +</P> + +<P> +One by one the men were dragged through the breakers into the lifeboat, +until at last only two remained on the wreck, George Marsh and another +man. It was Marsh, it will be remembered, who in the earlier part of +the day had been persuaded to return to the wreck across the sand, and +it was Marsh now who in each case had passed the clove-hitch round his +comrades, sending them before himself. He was a very smart sailor and +a brave man, and with wise forethought he had also passed the end of +the veering line, on which the men were dragged through the surf, over +the main boom of the wreck, to let it run out clear of anything which +might have caught it, and, in fact, was the leader of the men in peril +on the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The last two men intended to come together, when another great billow, +notice of its advance being given by Tom Adams, came towering and +seething, filled the lifeboat, as usual, and covered the ship—indeed, +breaking right into her fore-top-sail! That is, thirty feet above her +deck! +</P> + +<P> +When the sea passed, the two remaining men, who had been tied together, +were not to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +The men in the lifeboat pulled at the line, but it was somehow and +somewhere fast to something. And then they shouted, and minutes went +by, hours as it seemed to them. At last one of the men—but not +Marsh—slowly raised his head and seemed to move about in a dazed +condition. +</P> + +<P> +'Where's Marsh?' cried the lifeboatmen. +</P> + +<P> +'Can't find him!' he replied. +</P> + +<P> +'Is he drowned?' +</P> + +<P> +'Is he washed away?' +</P> + +<P> +And the reply was, 'I can't find him.' +</P> + +<P> +And then this man was pulled into the water, and was the last man +saved—and that with great difficulty, for the line fouled and +jammed—from the wreck of the Fredrik Carl, which had proved a +death-trap to poor Marsh, and so nearly to the seven others who were +saved. +</P> + +<P> +Still the lifeboat waited in the gathering darkness, and hailed the +wreck, hoping against hope to see Marsh appear; but he was never seen +again alive. Short as was the distance between the lifeboat and the +wreck, it was impossible to swim to her, lying broadside as she was to +the swell. Anyone attempting it would either have been dashed to +pieces against her, or lifted bodily over her, brained very possibly, +and certainly washed away to leeward, return from which would have +been, even for an uninjured man, impossible. +</P> + +<P> +And still the lifeboatmen waited and called; but there was no answer. +Poor Marsh had been suddenly summoned to meet his God. The oldest man +of the number, and for some years a staunch total abstainer, he had +manfully stuck to his post, he had sent the others before himself, and +had shown throughout a fine spirit of self-sacrifice worthy of the best +traditions of the Deal boatmen. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly and sadly the lifeboat got her anchor up, and never perhaps did +the celebrated Deal lifeboat return with a more mournful crew; for they +had seen, in spite of their best efforts, one of their comrades perish +before their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The next day it blew a gale of wind from the north-east, and it was not +till several days afterwards that Marsh's body was recovered, entangled +in the wreckage, to leeward of the vessel, and sorely mangled. Wrapped +in a sail, and with the rope still round him which ought to have drawn +him into safety, lay the poor 'body of humiliation' in which had once +dwelt a gallant spirit; but a good hope burned within me as the +triumphant lines rang in my ears— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Deathless principle, arise!<BR> +Soar, thou native of the skies.<BR> +Pearl of price, by Jesus bought,<BR> +To His glorious likeness wrought!<BR> +</P> + +<P> +In telling the story of this gallant struggle to save their comrades, +made by the Deal lifeboatmen, I lay this tribute of hope and regard on +the grave of brave George Marsh. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-117"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-117.jpg" ALT="Deal boatmen on the lookout for a hovel." BORDER="2" WIDTH="632" HEIGHT="446"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 632px"> +Deal boatmen on the lookout for a hovel. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOLDEN ISLAND +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Nor toil nor hazard nor distress appear<BR> +To sink the seamen with unmanly fear;<BR> +Though their firm hearts no pageant-honour boast,<BR> +They scorn the wretch that trembles in his post.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The smart and trim three-masted schooner, the Golden Island, was bound +from Antwerp to Liverpool, with a cargo of glass-sand, and was running +before a favouring gale to the southward. At midnight, on May 14, +1887, or the early morning of May 15, with a heavy sea rolling from the +N.E., suddenly, no notice being given and no alarm felt, she struck +with tremendous force the outer edge of the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<P> +The timbers of the Golden Island opened with the crash, and she filled, +and never lifted or thumped, but lay swept by each billow, like a rock +at half-tide, immovable by reason of her heavy cargo. Her crew +consisted of seven all told, including a lad, the captain's son, and +they managed to light a large flare, which was seen a long way, and was +visible even in Deal, eight miles distant. +</P> + +<P> +With what sinking of heart, as the waters raged round and over them, +they watched the flame of their torch burning lower and lower. How +intense the darkness when it was extinguished! How terrible the +thunderous roar of the breakers! +</P> + +<P> +The nearest lightship was about four miles from them, and her look-out +man noticed the flare and fired the signal guns of distress, and sent +up the usual rockets. +</P> + +<P> +At 2 a.m. the coastguard on Deal beach called the coxswain of the +lifeboat, R. Roberts. Hastily dressing himself he went up the beach, +and seeing the flash of the distant guns, he rang the lifeboat bell. +Men sprang out of their warm beds, and, half-dressed, rushed to the +lifeboat. Their wives or mothers or daughters followed with the +remainder of their clothes, their sea boots, or jackets or mufflers. +Then came the struggle to gain a place in the lifeboat, and then the +bustle and hurry of preparation to get her ready for the launch. +</P> + +<P> +Deal beach at such a time is full of boatmen, some in the lifeboat +loosing sails and setting the mizzen, some easing her down to the top +of the slope, some seeing to the haul-off warp, a matter of life or +death in such a heavy sea dead on shore; others laying down the +well-greased 'skids' for the lifeboat to run on, and others clearing +away the shingle which successive tides had gathered in front of her +bows. +</P> + +<P> +Mingling among the workers are the wives and mothers, putting a piece +of bread and cheese in Tom's pocket or helping on 'father' with his +oilskin jacket or his sou'wester. And now 'All hands in the lifeboat!' +and twenty minutes after the bell is rung she rushes down the steep and +plunges into the surf. The loving, lingering watchers on the beach +just see her foresail hoisted, and she vanishes into the night, as the +green rocket shoots one hundred yards into the sky to tell the +distressed sailors 'The lifeboat is launched and on her way.' +</P> + +<P> +The vessel's flare had now burned out, and the guns and rockets from +the lightships had ceased, and in front of the lifeboat was only the +chill night, 'black as a wolf's throat.' As they worked away from the +shore there came in, borne landwards and towards them by the gale, the +dull deep roar of the surf on the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +It is marvellous how far the sound of the sea on the Goodwins travels. +Previously, on a fine calm day, with light breeze, I was standing +across the Goodwins, bound to the East Goodwin lightship, and we could +hear the roar of the ripple on the Goodwins—not breakers, but +ripple—at a distance of two miles. We were sucked into that +ugly-looking ripple by an irresistible current, and after an anxious +half-hour we got through safely. +</P> + +<P> +In front of the lifeboat on this night was no mere ripple, but +breakers; and the deep hollow roar foretold a tremendous sea. +</P> + +<P> +As the dawn came faintly, the breakers were seen by the oncoming +lifeboat; she was already stripped for the fight, and her canvas was +shortened to reefed mizzen and reefed storm-foresail. Even then she +was pressed down by the blast and leaned over as the spray flew +mast-high over her. There was a mile of this surf to go through, and +with her red sails flat as a board the lifeboat plunged into it. +</P> + +<P> +She thrashed her way nobly through, now up and down on short +wicked-looking chopping seas, now on some giant wave hoisted up to the +sky; and still up as if she was about to take flight into the air—as +we once before experienced in a gale on the Brake Sand—then buried and +smothered; and then over the next wave like a seabird. On to the +rescue flew the lifeboat, steered by the coxswain himself, beating to +windward splendidly, as if conscious of and proud of the sacred task +before her. On triumphantly through and over the breakers, onwards to +the Golden Island the lifeboat beat out against the sea and the storm. +She stood on till quite across the Goodwins, and fetched the East Buoy, +which lies in deep water well outside the breakers. In that deep water +of fifteen fathoms there were of course no breakers, only a long roll +and heavy sea; but the moment this heavy sea touched the Goodwin Sands +it broke with the utmost fury, and was sweeping over the Golden Island, +now not more than half-a-mile from the lifeboat. At the East Buoy the +lifeboat put about on the other tack, and stood in towards the Goodwins +and again right into the breakers, from which she had just emerged. +</P> + +<P> +The wreck was lying with her head to the N.W., and was leaning to port, +so that her starboard quarter was exposed to the full fetch of the +easterly sea that was breaking 'solid' in tons on her decks. 'Why, she +was just smothered in it sometimes, and every big sea was just a-flying +all over her.' Her masts they saw were still standing, and her crew of +seven were cowering for refuge between the main and mizzen masts under +the weak shelter of the weather bulwarks, and also under the lee of the +long boat, which still held its place, being firmly fastened to the +deck. The fierce breakers burst rather over her quarter; had they +swept quite broadside over her, the boat would have been torn from its +fastenings long before. +</P> + +<P> +As the Deal lifeboat stood in towards the Goodwins, they saw that their +noble rivals the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat in tow had arrived on the +scene a few minutes before them, and were close to the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The Ramsgate tug Aid now cast off the lifeboat, which got up sail and +made in through the breakers with the wind right aft impelling her +forwards at speed. The tug of course waited outside the surf, in deep +water. The Deal men, separated from the Ramsgate lifeboat by about +four hundred yards, were breathless spectators of the event. They +watched her plunging and lifting into and over each sea and on towards +the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The Ramsgate men could not lie or ride alongside the vessel to +windward; there was too terrible a sea on that side, and therefore, in +spite of the danger of the masts falling, they were obliged to go to +leeward, or to the sheltered side of the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +Just as the Ramsgate lifeboat was coming under the stern of the wreck +and about to haul down foresail and shoot up alongside her, she was +struck by a terrific sea. The Deal men saw this and shouted 'She's +capsized!' The Ramsgate lifeboat was indeed almost, but not quite +capsized, and she was also shot forwards and caught under the cat-head +and anchor of the wreck. The captain of the wrecked vessel told me +afterwards that he thought she was lost, but it was happily not so, and +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen anchored, after recovering themselves, ahead +of the vessel and veered down to her. +</P> + +<P> +But the tidal current which runs over the Goodwins varies in a very +irregular manner according to the wind that is blowing, and, contrary +to their calculations, swept the Ramsgate lifeboat to the full length +of her cable away from the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +They naturally expected to find the usual off-tide from the land before +and at high-water, which would have carried them towards the vessel +when they anchored under her lee; but instead of that there was running +a strong 'in-tide,' which swept them helplessly away from the vessel, +and rendered them absolutely unable to reach her, though anchored only +two hundred yards off. +</P> + +<P> +The seamen on the wreck, in order to reach by some means the lifeboat +which had thus been borne away from them so mysteriously, threw a +fender, with line attached, overboard, hoping that it too would follow +the current which carried away the lifeboat, and that thus +communications would be established between them; but the currents +round the ship held the fender close to the wreck, and kept it eddying +under her lee. +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were now turned to the advancing Deal lifeboat battling in the +thickest of the surf. Both the Ramsgate men with warm sympathy and the +shipwrecked crew with keen anxiety watched the Deal men's attempt, as +they raced into the wild breakers. +</P> + +<P> +The poor fellows clinging to the masts feared lest the Deal lifeboat +too might miss them, and that they might all be lost before either +lifeboat could reach them again, and they beckoned the Deal men on. +</P> + +<P> +The very crisis of their fate was at hand, but there were no applauding +multitudes or shouts of encouragement, only the cold wastes and +solitudes of wild tumbling breakers around the lifeboatmen on that grey +dawn, and only the appealing helpless crew in a little cluster on the +wreck. +</P> + +<P> +It was now 4 a.m., and the Deal coxswain, cool and sturdy as his native +Kentish oak, knowing that the combination of an easterly gale with neap +tides sometimes produces an 'in-tide' at high-water, and seeing the +Ramsgate lifeboat carried to leeward, gave the order to 'down +foresail!' when well outside the wreck, and anchored E. by S. of her. +Thus the same 'in-tide' which swept the Ramsgate lifeboat away from the +wreck, carried the Deal lifeboat right down to her. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-125"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-125.jpg" ALT="Location of the wreck" BORDER="2" WIDTH="397" HEIGHT="249"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 397px"> +Location of the wreck +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It will be remembered that the head of the Golden Island lay N.W., and +the accompanying diagram will enable the reader to understand that as +the lifeboat anchored in nearly the opposite quarter, viz. about S.E., +her head, as she ranged alongside the wreck, lay in precisely the +opposite direction to the head of the shipwrecked schooner. +</P> + +<P> +The Deal lifeboat coxswain now hoisted a bit of his foresail to sheer +her in towards the wreck, but from the position of his anchor he could +not get closer than ten fathoms, or twenty yards. +</P> + +<P> +To bridge this gulf of boiling surf, the cane loaded with lead, to +which a light line was attached, had to be hurled by a stalwart arm, +and John May succeeded in throwing the 'lead line' on board the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +As the half-drowned and perishing crew of the wreck saw the Deal +lifeboat winning her way towards them, and inch by inch conquering the +opposing elements, their hearts revived. +</P> + +<P> +They saw within hailing distance of them—for their cries could be +heard plainly enough coming down the wind by the Deal men—the brave, +determined faces of their rescuers, and they felt that God had not +forsaken them, but had wrought for them a great deliverance. +</P> + +<P> +Having gone through all that surf, and having got within reach as it +were of the wreck, the crew of the Deal lifeboat were now eager for the +final rescue. They never speak of, or even allude to the feeling on +such occasions within them, yet we know their hearts were on fire for +the rescue, and men in that mood are not easily to be baulked or to be +beaten. +</P> + +<P> +As the wearied seamen grasped the meaning of the Deal coxswain's +shouts, or rather signs, for shouts against the wind were almost +inaudible, they aided in rigging up veering and hauling lines, by which +they would have to be dragged through the belt of surf which lay +between them and the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +A clove-hitch, which my readers can practise for themselves, was passed +round the waist of the captain's son, a boy of thirteen, who was first +to leave the wreck. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-127"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-127.jpg" ALT="Clove-hitch" BORDER="2" WIDTH="262" HEIGHT="179"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 262px"> +Clove-hitch +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The lad naturally enough shrank from facing the boiling caldron which +raged between him and the lifeboat, and with loud cries clung to his +father. Waiting was impossible, and he had to be separated partly by +persuasion and partly by main force from his father's arms and dragged +through the sea. When once he was in the water the boatmen pulled at +him with all their might, and when alongside, two strong men reached +over the side and hoisted him like a feather into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The men said 'he cried dreadful,' and the coxswain found a moment to +tell him, 'Don't cry, my little fellow! we'll soon have your father +into the lifeboat.' But with the words came a sea 'that smothered us +all up, and it wanted good holding to keep ourselves from being carried +overboard.' Some kind-hearted fellows, till the sea passed, held the +boy, but still he kept crying, 'Come, father! Come, father!' +</P> + +<P> +Three more of the crew then got the 'clove-hitch' over their shoulders +and jumped into the sea; some of them helped themselves by swimming and +kept their heads up; others merely gripped the rope and fared much +worse, being pulled head under, but all three were quickly dragged +through the water into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +I have said dragged through the 'water'; but surf is not the same as +water—it is water lashed into froth or seething bubbles in mountainous +masses. You can swim in water; but the best swimmer sinks in 'froth,' +and can only manage and spare himself till the genuine water gives him +a heave up and enables him to continue the struggle on the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Now water that breaks into surf is not merely motionless 'froth,' that +is half air and half water, but it runs at speed, and being partly +composed of solid water strikes any obstacle with enormous force and +smashes like a hammer. These then were the characteristics of the sea +which beat all round the wreck, and through which the half-dazed and +storm-beaten sailors had to be dragged. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the veering and hauling line by which the sailors in distress +came, there was another line passed round the mast of the tossing +lifeboat, to hold her in spite of her plunging as close as possible to +the ship; and this line had to be eased with each sea and then the +slack hauled in again. Some better idea will be given of the nature of +this deadly wrestle, when I mention that this line cut so deeply into +the mast as to render it unsafe, and it was never again used after that +day. +</P> + +<P> +The sails of the wrecked vessel were clattering and blowing about, +'like kites'—indeed, they were in ribbons; and the wind in the rigging +was like the harsh roar of an approaching train, so that in the midst +of this wild hurly-burly even the men in the lifeboat could hardly hear +each other's shouts. +</P> + +<P> +Roberts now saw that it was necessary to shift the cable as it lay on +the bow of the lifeboat, and he shouted to his comrades forward to have +this done; but 'the wind was a blowin' and the sea a 'owling that +dreadful' that not a man could hear what he said, and he sprang forward +to shift the cable himself. That very moment round the stern of the +wreck there swept the huge green curl of a gigantic sea, which, just as +it reached the lifeboat, broke with a roar a ton of water into her. +</P> + +<P> +It took Roberts off his feet, so that he must have gone overboard, but +for the foremast against which it dashed him, and to which he clung +desperately, as the great wave melted away hissing, to leeward. +Shaking off the spray, the drenched lifeboatmen again turned to the +work of rescue; the coxswain having been preserved by his thick cork +lifebelt from what might otherwise have been a fatal crush. +</P> + +<P> +This weighty sea tore away the lines and all means of communication +between the wreck and the lifeboat, and drove the three remaining +sailors on the vessel away from the shelter of the long boat to the +bows of the wreck. Indeed, as they grasped for dear life the belaying +pins on the foremast, the sea covered them up to their shoulders, and +they were all but carried away. +</P> + +<P> +Again the loaded cane had to be thrown; again the task was entrusted to +John May, who sent it flying through the air, and again the veering and +hauling line was rigged, and the remaining seamen were got into the +lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The last man has to see to it for his life that the veering line is +clear, and that it is absolutely free from anything that could catch or +jam it or prevent it running out freely. +</P> + +<P> +Just as coming down a steep ice slope where steps have to be cut by men +roped together, the best man should come last, so the last man rescued +from a wreck should have a good clear head and the stoutest heart of +all; and last man came bravely the captain, to the great joy of his +little son. +</P> + +<P> +Then the lifeboatmen turned to preparations for home. They dared not +get in their cable and heave their anchor on board, lest they should be +carried back and dashed against the wreck, the danger of which, a +glance at the sketch will show. So they got a spring on the cable, to +cant the lifeboat's head to starboard or landsward, and with a parting +'Hurrah!' they slipped their cable, of course thus sacrificing it and +their anchor. They hoisted their foresail, and with a gale of wind +behind them raced into and through the surf on the Goodwins, which lay +between them and home. +</P> + +<P> +The Goodwins are four miles wide, and the land was eight miles distant, +but a splendid success had crowned the brave and steadfast Deal +coxswain's efforts. Not a man was lost, and they had with them in the +lifeboat the shipwrecked vessel's crew—all saved. +</P> + +<P> +It was a noble sight to see the lifeboat nearing the land that morning +at 7 a.m. The British red ensign was flying proudly from her peak, in +token of 'rescued crew on board'; and as the men jumped out, I grasped +the brave coxswain's hand and said, 'Well done, Roberts!' And as I saw +the rescued crew and their gallant deliverers, 'God bless you, my lads, +well done!' The words will be echoed in many a heart, but could my +readers have seen the faces of the lifeboatmen, weather-beaten and +incrusted with salt, or watched them, as they staggered wearied but +rejoicing up the beach—could they have knelt in the thanksgiving +service which I held that morning with the rescued crew, and have heard +their graphic version of the grim reality—and how that the living God +had in His mercy stretched out His arm and saved them from death on the +Goodwins, they would better understand,—better, far, than words of +mine can bring it home—how splendid a deed of mercy and of daring was +that day done by the coxswain and the crew of the North Deal +lifeboat[1]. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion (being one +man short, which was not observed in the darkness of the launch) +were—Richd. Roberts (coxswain), G. Marlowe, John May, Henry May, Wm. +Hanger, Ed. Pain, R. Betts, G. Brown, David Foster, Wm. Nicholas, Henry +Roberts, R. Ashington, John Adams, John Marsh. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SORRENTO, S.S. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And the clamorous bell spake out right well<BR> +To the hamlet under the hill,<BR> +And it roused the slumb'ring fishers, nor its warning task gave o'er,<BR> +Till a hundred fleet and eager feet were hurrying to the shore.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That Norse and Viking blood is to be found in the E. and S.E. coasts of +England is tolerably certain. Tradition, as well as the physical +characteristics of the people, go to support the belief that the +inhabitants of the little picturesque village of Kingsdown, midway on +the coast line between Deal and the South Foreland, are genuine 'Sons +of the Vikings.' +</P> + +<P> +Kingsdown looks seaward, just facing the southern end of the Goodwin +Sands, and at the back of the pretty village, which is built on the +shingle of the beach, rise the chalk cliffs which culminate in the +South Foreland, a few miles farther on. Here in days gone by the +samphire gatherer plied his 'dreadful trade,' and, still from the +wooded cliff 'the fishermen that walk upon the beach appear like mice.' +</P> + +<P> +Like their Deal brethren, the hardy boatmen of Kingsdown live by +piloting and fishing, and, like the Deal men, have much to do with the +Goodwin Sands. The same may be said of the more numerous Walmer +boatmen; and all three are usually summed up in the general and +honourable appellation of Deal boatmen. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-134"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-134.jpg" ALT="Jarvist Arnold" BORDER="2" WIDTH="409" HEIGHT="577"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 409px"> +Jarvist Arnold +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The Kingsdown villagers are believed to be Jutes, and the names +prevalent amongst them add probability to the idea. Certainly there is +a Norse flavour about the name of Jarvist Arnold, for many years +coxswain of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina. This brave, fine old +seaman still survives, and still his eye kindles, and his voice still +rings, as with outstretched hand and fire unquenched by age he tells of +grapples with death on the Goodwin Sands. He is no longer, alas! equal +to the arduous post which he nobly held for twenty years, a post now +well filled by James Laming, Jarvist's comrade in many a risky job; but +still he is regarded with reverence and affection, and the rescue of +the crew of the Sorrento and the story of the 'old cork fender' will +always be honourably associated with his name. Round him the incidents +of this chapter will group themselves, for, though brave men were his +crew on each occasion, he was the guiding spirit. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-135"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-135.jpg" ALT="The Kingsdown lifeboat" BORDER="2" WIDTH="346" HEIGHT="378"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 346px"> +The Kingsdown lifeboat +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The mode of manning the Kingsdown lifeboat is somewhat different from +the practice of Deal and Walmer, as will be seen, but in all three +cases the same rush of eager men is made to gain the honourable post of +a place in the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes the launch is utterly unavailing, as was the case on a +December night in 1867, when with Jarvist Arnold at the helm, the +lifeboat sped into and through the tossing surf and 'fearful sea' (the +coxswain's words), across the south end of the Goodwins, and found a +barque from Sunderland on fire and drifting on to the sands. So hot it +was from the flames that they could not if they would go to leeward of +her, and they kept to windward, witnessing the spectacle of a ship on +fire in a midnight 'hurricane from the west.' There was no one on +board of the burning ship, and no one knows the fate of her crew. +Sadly the lifeboatmen returned to the land. +</P> + +<P> +Again Jarvist Arnold is summoned to the rescue, and this time with a +different result. On February 12, 1870, all the vessels in the Downs +were driven ashore, with the exception of one, which the skill and +pluck of E. Hanger, second coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, safely +piloted away to safety, through the tremendous sea. +</P> + +<P> +There was a great gale from E.S.E. with bitter cold and snow. Vessel +after vessel came ashore, and some were torn into matchwood along the +beach. One large vessel, the ship Glendura, having parted her anchors +in the great sea that was running, was driving landwards. The captain, +foreseeing the inevitable, and determined, if he could not save his +vessel, to save precious lives—his wife and child being on +board—boldly set his lower foretopsail, to force his vessel stem on as +far ashore on the mainland as possible; and about 9 p.m., in this dark +freezing snowstorm, the stem of his large vessel, drawing about +twenty-three feet of water, struck the land. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-137"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-137.jpg" ALT="Scene on Deal Beach February 13, 1870. From a painting by W. H. Franklin." BORDER="2" WIDTH="646" HEIGHT="417"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 646px"> +Scene on Deal Beach February 13, 1870. From a painting by W. H. Franklin. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The engraving shows this ship in the act of striking. Facing the +picture, the Glendura lies farthest from the spectator. Between her +and the land would be about 100 fathoms, or 200 yards of water; but +that water was one furious mass of advancing billows hurled landwards +by this great tempest. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately, as I have said, the Glendura struck the beach unlike the +other vessels in the engraving, not broadside on, but stem on. They +were broken up very soon; but the Glendura held together, burning +flares and sending up appealing rockets. Still more fortunately—but +in truth providentially is the word to use—she struck right opposite +Kingsdown lifeboat house, where lay head to storm-blast, the Kingsdown +lifeboat Sabrina, and where, grouped round her, Jarvist Arnold and the +lifeboat crew stood ready. +</P> + +<P> +Had the wrecked ship come ashore at any distance from the spot where +the lifeboat lay, either to the right or left, that is, either west or +east of where she did strike, the probability is that all on board +would have perished. With a heavy gale dead on shore, if the lifeboat +had succeeded in launching, she would not have fetched the wreck, had +she lain any distance either side, but would have been helplessly +beaten back again. +</P> + +<P> +The Kingsdown men were keenly watching the approaching catastrophe as +the Glendura came landwards. Long before she struck, the little +fishing village echoed to the cry of 'Man the lifeboat,' and clad in +their sou'-westers and lifebelts the brave crew waited for the crash of +the doomed vessel, which, by God's mercy, took place right in front of +them. The sea they had to face was terrific, and so bitter was the +night that the sea spray froze as it was borne landwards by the blast, +and each rope in the ship's rigging was thick with ice. +</P> + +<P> +Just as the men were all in the lifeboat, and were about to man their +haul-off warp to pull the lifeboat out into deep water thereby, a +service of the greatest danger on such a night, some one on the +beach—it was James Laming, the present able Kingsdown coxswain, but +then a very young man—even in that black night discovered a great +fender floating in the recoil. It was pulled ashore, and it was then +found that a line was attached to it, and to that line a weightier one; +and to that a four and a half-inch hawser, or strong cable, leading +from the wrecked ship to the land. +</P> + +<P> +Perceiving the object of those on board, Jarvist Arnold gave the order +to 'Let the lifeboat go,' and she plunged down the steep beach into the +black billows of that easterly snowstorm and right into the very teeth +of it. No sooner had they touched the water than they hauled upon the +cable which had been sent ashore from the vessel; and so, bit by bit, +one moment submerged and the next swung on the crest of some stormy +wave, they gradually hauled themselves out to the vessel, and found the +crew with the captain and his wife and child gathered in a forlorn +little cluster out on the jib-boom. +</P> + +<P> +Right under the martingale with its sharp spear-like head the lifeboat +had to lie. When a monstrous sea came roaring round the stern of the +vessel, the lifeboat had to let go and come astern, lest she should be +impaled on the sharp point, as she was hoisted up with great force. +</P> + +<P> +Back again the crew hauled her, and when the furious sea had passed, in +answer to shouts of 'Come on!' 'Now's your time!' down a rope into the +lifeboat came the second mate with the captain's child in his arms. Up +the stiff half-frozen rope again he climbed and brought down the +captain's wife; and some more of the crew rapidly came the same way. +Then the lifeboat having their full complement of people on board, some +of whom were perishing with the cold of that awful night, made for the +land; still holding the cable from the ship they drifted, or rather +were hurled ashore, in the darkness, pelted by hail and snow and +drenched by the seas, which broke with force clean over them. +</P> + +<P> +The task of landing the enfeebled crew and the poor lady and child in +such a great sea was dangerous, but it was accomplished safely. +Indeed, such was the sympathy and enthusiasm of the Kingsdown villagers +and fisherfolk that, if need were, they could and would have carried +the lifeboat with its human freight right up the beach. +</P> + +<P> +An attempt was now made to use the rocket apparatus, and a rocket was +fired, which went clean through the fore-topsail and to the poop of the +vessel behind. Another whizzing rocket, carrying its line with it, +went hurtling through or close to the crowd clustered on the +top-gallant forecastle, where they cowered before creeping out on to +the bowsprit. No harm was done by the erratic flight of the rockets, +but the wrecked sailors naturally preferred to go ashore in the +lifeboat to being dragged through the breakers in the cradle of the +rocket-apparatus, and declining to use it, they again summoned the +lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The first crew of the lifeboat were worn out with their exertions, and +the blows and buffetings of the freezing sea-spray. A fresh crew was +therefore obtained, all but the coxswain, Jarvist Arnold, who stuck to +his post. Back again to the ship the lifeboatmen hauled themselves, +through such a sea that words which would truly describe it must seem +exaggerated. Remember the bows of the ship lay nearly two hundred +yards from the land in a veritable cauldron of waters. +</P> + +<P> +Again the lifeboat returned with her living freight of rescued seamen, +and again worn out as before with the struggle, a fresh crew was +obtained; but again Jarvist Arnold for the third time went back to the +wreck. And yet again with a fourth fresh crew the brave man returned +for the fourth and last time to the vessel; and finally came safe to +the shore with the remainder of the crew, twenty-nine of whom were thus +rescued, but only rescued by the most determined and repeated efforts, +through what the coxswain's report describes as 'a fearful sea with +snowstorm and freezing hard all the time.' +</P> + +<P> +When, long after midnight, the lifeboatmen staggered home, Jarvist +found that his oilskin coat was frozen so hard that it stood upright +and rigid on his cottage floor when he took it off his own half-frozen +self. But he had a soft pillow that night; he had bravely done his +duty, and had saved twenty-nine of his fellow human beings from death +in the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Many a stormy struggle after this rescue was gone through by Jarvist +Arnold and his Kingsdown lifeboat crew on the Goodwin Sands during the +years 1870-1873. Holding the honourable but arduous post of coxswain +of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina, he also manfully earned his living +as Channel pilot, being a most trustworthy and skilful seaman. He did +well that which came to his hand; he did his best and his duty. I +speak after the manner of men, and as between man and man. More than +that no man can do. +</P> + +<P> +On the night of December 17, 1872, about 2.30 a.m., it was blowing a +gale from the south-west. Out of the gale was borne landwards the boom +of guns; far away on the horizon, or where the horizon ought to be, was +seen the flash of their fire; and upwards into the winter midnight shot +the distant rockets, appealing not in vain for help. +</P> + +<P> +Almost simultaneously the coxswains at Walmer and Kingsdown were +roused, William Bushell and Jarvist Arnold. At Walmer the +lifeboat-bell rang out its summons, but at Kingsdown a fast runner was +sent round the village, crying as he ran, 'Man the lifeboat!' 'Ship on +the Goodwins!' Up sprang the men—that is, all the grown-up men in the +village; and while the tempest shook their lowly cottage roofs, out +they poured into the night, followed by lads, boys, wives, mothers, +sweethearts and sisters. +</P> + +<P> +Jarvist Arnold's wife said, 'Ladies can sometimes keep their husbands, +but poor women like us must let them go;' and once more Jarvist Arnold +steered his lifeboat—shall I not say to victory? for 'Peace hath her +victories no less renowned than War;' and this sentence might well be +emblazoned on every lifeboat in the kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +At 3 a.m. on this midwinter night they launched at their respective +stations, distant about two miles from each other, the lifeboats of +Walmer and Kingsdown, and faced the sea and the storm. Think of the +deed, and its hardships, and its heroism; of the brave hearts who +'darkling faced the billows,' and the anxious women left behind, ye who +live to kill time in graceless self-indulgence, and ere it be too late, +learn to sacrifice and to dare. +</P> + +<P> +The two lifeboats got together before they reached the edge of the +Goodwins, and held such consultation as was possible in the pitchy +darkness and in the roar of the sea. It was agreed between them that +there would be much difficulty in finding the vessel in distress, as +her signals and blue lights had ceased and the night was very dark. +They decided that the Kingsdown lifeboat should go first, and if they +hit the vessel they were to burn a red light in token of success, and a +white light if they could not find her; but that, in any case, Walmer +was to come shortly after them and search through the breakers, whether +Kingsdown succeeded or not. +</P> + +<P> +In the dark the Kingsdown coxswain put his lifeboat into the surf on +the Goodwins; it was heavy, but they got through it safely, and found +on the off-part of the Goodwins, towards its southern end—known as the +South Calliper—a large steamship aground. She proved to be the +Sorrento, bound from the Mediterranean to Lynn. +</P> + +<P> +Close outside where she lay on the treacherous sands were thirteen and +fourteen fathoms of deep water, that is, from seventy to eighty feet, +while she lay in about six feet of white surf, which flew in clouds +over her as each sea struck her quarters and stern. +</P> + +<P> +The Sorrento had struck the Goodwins at midnight, or a little after, in +about twenty-one feet of water, but when the lifeboat got alongside the +tide had fallen, and there was only six feet of broken water around +her. As the sands were nearly dry to the southward of her, the sea was +by no means so formidable as it afterwards became with the rising tide +and increasing gale and greater depth of water. +</P> + +<P> +The Kingsdown lifeboat sent up her red light, and then came through the +surf the Walmer lifeboat, guided by the red signal of success from +Jarvist Arnold. Both lifeboats got alongside the great steamer, and +the greater part of the crews of both lifeboats clambered on board her, +leaving eight men in each lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The head of the wrecked steamer lay about E.N.E., and the seas were +hammering at and breaking against her starboard quarter, which rose +high in the air quite twenty feet out of the water at the time the +lifeboats got alongside. All the lifeboatmen now turned to pumping the +vessel, which was very full of water, with a view to saving the ship +and her valuable cargo of barley. +</P> + +<P> +The Walmer lifeboat lay alongside the Sorrento, under her port bow, and +the head of the Walmer lifeboat pointed towards the stern of the +wrecked steamer, and was firmly fastened to her by a stout hawser. +</P> + +<P> +About this time—say, five o'clock in the morning—while it was dark, +the Ramsgate lifeboat also arrived, and seeing the other two lifeboats +alongside they anchored outside the sands. And the Kingsdown lifeboat, +manned only by her coxswain and seven of her crew, was sheered off +about two hundred fathoms, to lay out a kedge anchor, with a view to +preventing the vessel drifting farther, as the tide rose, into the +shallower parts of the sands, and in the hope of warping her into +deeper water. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally the presence of the lifeboats and a company of seventeen or +eighteen stalwart lifeboatmen, all thoroughly up to their work, infused +fresh courage into the captain and crew of the Sorrento. They felt +that all was not lost, and dividing themselves into different gangs of +men, all hands worked with a will, throwing the cargo overboard to +lighten the vessel, and pumping with all their energies—their shouts +ringing out bravely as they worked to get out the water. The donkey +engine too was set at work, and steam fought storm and sea, but this +time in vain. After several hours' hard work, the engineer came to the +captain and lifeboatmen and said, 'It's all up; the water's coming in +as fast as we pump it out. Come down and see for yourselves!' +</P> + +<P> +It was too true, the good steamship's back was broken, and the clear +sea-water bubbled into her faster than it could be got out. As the day +began to break, the sea rose and beat more heavily over the vessel; it +burst no longer merely in clouds or showers on the deck, but in heavy +volumes, and on all sides, especially to the south; long lines of +rollers careered on towards the doomed vessel with tossing, tumbling +crests, and then burst over her. +</P> + +<P> +At 11 a.m. in this state of affairs the hope of saving the ship was +abandoned, and all only thought now of saving life. Thinking the two +lifeboats—the Centurion and the Sabrina—were insufficient to rescue +the whole of the steamer's crew, the ensign was hoisted 'union down' +for more assistance. None came; probably the signal was not seen, or +possibly, it was thought that the presence of the lifeboats had +answered the appeal. +</P> + +<P> +As the tide rose the water deepened and more wind came. Heavy masses +of water struck the hapless vessel, and though her starboard quarter +was still ten feet out of the water, each sea swept her decks, carrying +spars, hen coops, and everything movable clean before it. +</P> + +<P> +All hands now fled to the bridge of the steamer, watching for a +favourable moment to get into the Walmer lifeboat, still riding +alongside, while each mad billow lifted her up almost to the level of +the bridge and then smothered the lifeboat in its foaming bosom as she +descended into the depths. +</P> + +<P> +Any one who carefully observes a succession of waves either breaking in +charging lines on a beach, or in the wilder turmoil of the Goodwins, +must notice how frequently they differ in shape and in size. I am by +no means convinced that either the third wave—the [Greek] <I>trikumia</I> +of the Greeks—or the tenth wave, as the Latin <I>fluctus decimanus</I> +seems to suggest—is always larger than its tempestuous comrades, but +ashore or afloat you do now and then see a giant, formed mysteriously +in accordance with the laws of fluids, that does out-top its fellows, +[Greek] <I>kephalen te kai eureas ômous</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Such a great sea was seen advancing by the occupants of the bridge of +the Sorrento. Combing, curling, high over the stern of the wreck it +broke, carrying everything before it in one common ruin. It carried +away the boats of the wrecked steamer, tearing them and the davits +which supported them out of the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +Snap went the strong five-inch cable which fastened the Walmer lifeboat +to the port or sheltered quarter of the Sorrento, as the end of the +great green sea swept round her stern; and as the lifeboat was torn +away from the wreck she was forced up against the crashing jangle of +the steamer's boats and davits; and yet again with tremendous force +jammed right up against the anchor of the Sorrento, which was driven +into the fore thwart of the ascending lifeboat. The lifeboatmen +crouched down to avoid destruction, and—for all this was done in a +moment—away she sped, spun round as a boy would spin his top, to +leeward of the wreck and among the breakers of the Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +'Never saw anything spin round like her in my life!' said one of the +crew afterwards; and so far was she carried by this great sea that she +could not drop anchor till she was half a mile from the wrecked +steamship. Tide and wind were both against her, and she was utterly +unable to get back to the wreck. She simply rode helplessly to her +anchor with less than half of her own men in her, the remainder being +clustered on the bridge, as already described, or clinging to the +rigging of the Sorrento. The aspect of affairs had now become one of +extreme gravity. +</P> + +<P> +The Walmer lifeboat was swept away, and as helpless as if she were +fifty miles off, leaving seven of her crew in great peril on the +bridge. Seven of the crew of the Kingsdown lifeboat were also gathered +on the steamer's bridge, together with thirty-two of the crew of the +wrecked vessel herself. In all, there stood or clung there, drenched +by the clouds of spray, drowned almost as they fought for breath, +forty-six persons; and their only hope or chance for life was the +Kingsdown lifeboat, which still bravely lived, heavily plunging into +and covered now and then by the seas. +</P> + +<P> +At the helm, in dire anxiety, was Jarvist Arnold, and with him were in +the lifeboat only seven of his crew, the remainder of them being +entrapped on board the Sorrento, together with the Walmer lifeboatmen. +It was thought, as my readers will remember, that two lifeboats were +insufficient to rescue all hands, but now the rescue—if rescue there +were to be—depended upon one small lifeboat half manned. +</P> + +<P> +Besides this, Jarvist Arnold saw with his own eyes the defeat of the +Walmer lifeboat, and was so close to the wreck that he was well aware +of the dangerous sea sweeping over her and racing up under her stern; +but the brave fellow never faltered in his determination to attempt the +rescue; and he was strung to his formidable task by the knowledge that +three of his own sons were holding on for dear life on the bridge of +the wreck. He could see the gestures and hear the shouts from the +bridge as the sounds came across the wind, now a heavy gale. +</P> + +<P> +There was no lack of resolution, but the problem was to get at the +Sorrento at all, as the diagram will help the reader to understand. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-148"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-148.jpg" ALT="Position of the Sorrento." BORDER="2" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="249"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 398px"> +Position of the Sorrento. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It will be plain that the tide current was forcing the Kingsdown +lifeboat, even when at anchor, away from the distressed vessel, and +that if she weighed anchor, she would be carried away to leeward, as +the Walmer men had been. +</P> + +<P> +Thinking of all expedients, they bent on their second cable and rode to +the long scope of one hundred and sixty fathoms. Still the cruel +lee-tide and wind forced them away. They sheered the head of the +lifeboat in towards the wreck—and then—the six men in her sprang to +the oars, and tugged and strained at them, all rowing on the same side, +to direct the lifeboat towards the vessel. While they struggled, the +great breakers overwhelmed and blinded them, filling many times the +gallant little lifeboat—she was only thirty-six feet in length—which +as obstinately emptied herself free and lived through it all, by God's +good providence. +</P> + +<P> +'Must I see my sons die in my sight, and my friends and neighbours +too?' thought Jarvist Arnold, as he was beaten away from the vessel; +and then, 'Lord, help me!' Again and again, in vain they struggled, +when some one on the wreck sprang from the bridge at the most imminent +peril of his life, on to the slippery, sloping wave-swept deck. +</P> + +<P> +He had seen coiled on a belaying pin on the bridge a long lead line, +and on the deck still unwashed away an old cork fender. Some say it +was the mate of the vessel; others that it was one of the Kingsdown men +who fastened the lead line to the fender and who slung it overboard, +and then, stumbling and slipping, ran for his life back to the bridge, +barely escaping an overwhelming wave. +</P> + +<P> +Swirling and eddying in the strange currents on the Goodwins, and +beaten of the winds and waves, on came the old cork fender towards the +lifeboat. They had not another bit of cable to spare on board the +lifeboat; every inch of their one hundred and sixty fathoms was paid +out. Breathless the coxswain, and the man in the bows, rigid as his +own boat-hook with the anxiety of the moment, lashed to his position, a +life line round his waist, watched the approach of the fender. It was +sucked by the current towards the lifeboat, and then tossed by a wave +away from her again. +</P> + +<P> +Feeling assured that a great loss of life must soon occur, either by +the people on the frail refuge of the steamer's bridge being swept off +it, or by the bridge itself being carried away by the seas, which were +becoming more solid every moment, Jarvist and his comrades thought the +cork fender was a long time in reaching them. Lives of men hung in the +balance, and minutes seem hours then. +</P> + +<P> +At last it drifted hopelessly out of reach, but into a curious +backwater, which eddied it right under the boat hook of the bowman. In +an instant it was seized, and the line made fast to a thwart. 'I've a +great mind to trust to it,' said Jarvist Arnold, but caution prevailed, +and they made fast a stout rope to the lead line. +</P> + +<P> +Again the people on the bridge watched their chance. One man managed +to wade along the now submerged deck to reach the lead line, and he +hauled it with the stronger rope on board, making the latter securely +fast. Again had this man to fly for life up the bridge from an +advancing billow, which, leaping over the stern of the wreck, nearly +overtook him, and at the same time by its great weight and impulse, +beat the stern of the steamship a little way round to the west. +</P> + +<P> +Hauling on this cable without letting go their own anchor, Jarvist +Arnold and his small crew hauled their lifeboat as close under the +leaning bridge as they dared. +</P> + +<P> +The first man who tried to escape from the bridge in his leap missed +the lifeboat and fell into the sea, and not a moment too soon was +grasped by friendly hands and dragged into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The direction of the tidal current on the Goodwins shifts every hour to +a different point of the compass; and now this strong eddy, being +altered still more by the position of the wreck, would suck the +lifeboat towards the stern of the wreck. There she would meet another +current of the truer tide, and get hurried back again half buried in +breakers, which were ever and anon bursting over and round the stern of +the wreck. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-152"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-152.jpg" ALT="The Sorrento on the Goodwin Sands." BORDER="2" WIDTH="694" HEIGHT="425"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 694px"> +The Sorrento on the Goodwin Sands. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Then she would come back under the bridge, where every effort was made +to hold her by stern ropes; and as she rose, 'by the dreadful tempest +borne, high on the broken wave,' man after man they jumped, or were +dragged, or came quick as lightning down a rope, into the Sabrina, the +whole forty-six of the imperilled men, the captain being last man, and +almost too late. +</P> + +<P> +Bringing with them the old cork fender as a memento, Jarvist and his +unbeaten crew sheered out their lifeboat to ride by their own cable, as +before the timely arrival of the fender. Now they saw signs of the +approaching break up of the Sorrento, for before they had left her very +long her funnel and masts went overboard, and reeling to the blows of +the sea, she split in halves and disappeared under the breakers of the +Goodwins. +</P> + +<P> +But before this dramatic conclusion, the Kingsdown lifeboat slipped her +anchor, to which she never could have got back, and setting her mast +and double-reefed storm-foresail, ran away before the wind through the +'heavy boiling surf' on the Goodwins. These are the coxswain's own +written words, and I can only repeat they are below the grim reality. +</P> + +<P> +With the forty-six rescued seafarers on board she was terribly low in +the water, and was filled in and out from both sides at once by the +seas as they broke. Only a lifeboat could have lived, but even she +resembled a floating baulk of timber, which is covered and swept by the +seas on the same level as itself. Holding on for life to thwarts and +life-lines, they kept the lifeboat dead before the sea. They did not +dare to luff her to the west or bear her away to the east. They dared +not keep away to get to the Walmer lifeboat, nor in the other direction +toward the mainland, about six miles off. +</P> + +<P> +The slightest exposure of the broadside of the lifeboat would either +have capsized her, or washed every soul out of her; onwards, therefore, +dead before the wind and right on the top of and in the breakers of the +Goodwins she flew her stormy flight for nearly four miles. +</P> + +<P> +The Walmer lifeboat had got up anchor at the same time as the Kingsdown +men; for as the Kingsdown overcrowded lifeboat ran past the Walmer +lifeboat, which was waiting at anchor for them, they shouted to the +Walmer men, 'Slip your cable, and come after us!' +</P> + +<P> +This the Walmer lifeboat did, and now ventured to approach the +Kingsdown lifeboat. Though handled with skill and caution, being +light, she took a sea; and she came right on top of the gunwale of the +Kingsdown lifeboat, smashing her oars, which were run out to steady +her, like so many pipe-shanks, and crunching into her gunwale. +</P> + +<P> +But at last, with difficulty, half of the living freight of the Sabrina +was transferred to the Walmer lifeboat; and then both lifeboats luffing +in through Trinity Swatch, by God's mercy, escaped the deadly Goodwins, +and landed the rescued crew at Broadstairs. +</P> + +<P> +And the gallant deed is still sung by the Kingsdown children in simple +village rhymes, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +God bless the Lifeboat and its crew,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Its coxswain stout and bold,</SPAN><BR> +And Jarvist Arnold is his name,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Sprung from the Vikings old,</SPAN><BR> +Who made the waves and winds their slaves,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">As likewise we do so,</SPAN><BR> +While still Britannia rules the waves,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the stormy winds do blow;</SPAN><BR> +And the old Cork Float that safety brought,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">We'll hold in honour leal,</SPAN><BR> +And it shall grace the chiefest place<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">In Kingsdown, hard by Deal!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +One of Jarvist Arnold's sons never recovered the strain of those awful +hours on the bridge of the Sorrento in her death-throes, and, to use +his father's words: 'He never was a man no more.' But Jarvist himself +did many a subsequent good deed of rescue, and stuck to his arduous +post as long as, and even beyond, what health and strength and age +permitted. +</P> + +<P> +Would that I could say that the noble old fellow was in independent +circumstances! Despite the continued generosity of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution to him, alas! this is not the case. Would that +some practicable scheme for providing a pension for deserving working +men in their old age were before the country! +</P> + +<P> +Jarvist Arnold is, however, not forsaken; he has good and honourable +children, and I know that with that inner gaze which sees more clearly +as eternity approaches, he too in simple faith beholds the advancing +lifeboat, and hears the glad words, 'When thou passest through the +waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee,' from the mouth of the Great Commander. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ROYAL ARCH +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Cease, rude Boreas, blust'ring railer!<BR> +List, ye landsmen ill, to me!<BR> +Messmates! hear a brother sailor<BR> +Sing the dangers of the sea.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This and the following chapter contains the story of cases of rescue in +which the ships in distress were saved, together with all on board, by +the skill and courage of the Deal lifeboatmen, and brought finally with +their respective cargoes safe into port. +</P> + +<P> +A century ago, certain of our English coasts are described by the same +writer whose lines head this chapter, as— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Where the grim hell-hounds, prowling round the shore,<BR> +With foul intent the stranded bark explore.<BR> +Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board,<BR> +While tardy Justice slumbers o'er her sword.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +But these pages recount, in happy contrast, the generous and gallant +efforts of the Deal boatmen, in the first instance to save life, and +then, when besought to stand by the vessel, or employed to do so, of +their further success in saving valuable property, often worth many +thousand pounds, from utter destruction in the sea. +</P> + +<P> +I stood some years ago on the deck of a lightship stationed near the +wreck of the British Navy, a vessel sunk by collision in the Downs one +dreadful night, when twenty sailors went to the bottom with her, and I +saw her masts blown up and out of her by an explosion of dynamite to +remove the wreck from the Downs, while the water was strewn with the +debris of her valuable cargo. This cargo, amongst countless other +commodities, was said to have contained one hundred pianos; hence some +idea may be gathered of the pecuniary importance, apart from the +story's thrilling interest, of salvage of valuable vessels and precious +merchandize. +</P> + +<P> +On March 29, 1878, the wind blew strong from the E.N.E., and only one +vessel, the Royal Arch, lay in the Downs. The great roadstead, +protected from the full fetch of an easterly sea by the natural +breakwater of the Goodwins—for without those dreaded sands neither the +Downs as a sheltered anchorage would exist, nor in all probability the +towns of Deal and Walmer—was nevertheless on that day a very stormy +place, and as the wind freshened towards evening, as the east wind +nearly always does in this locality, it eventually came on to blow a +whole gale dead on shore. +</P> + +<P> +The sea raised by an easterly gale on Deal beach is tremendous, and not +even the first-class luggers, or their smaller sisters, the 'cats,' +could be launched. Had there been a harbour from which the Deal +luggers could at once make the open sea, they would have been able to +live and skim like the stormy petrel over the crest of the billows; but +it is quite a different thing when a lugger has to be launched from a +beach right in the teeth of a mountainous sea, and incurs the certainty +of being driven back broadside on to the steep shingle, and of her crew +being washed out of her, and drowned by some giant sea. Hence that +evening no ordinary Deal boat or even lugger could launch. On the +morning of the same day the captain of the Royal Arch had been +compelled by some necessary business to come ashore. To have come +ashore in his own ship's boat in such a wind and sea would have +involved certain disaster and even loss of life, and therefore he came +ashore in a Deal galley punt, which successfully performed the feat of +beaching in a heavy surf. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening, against an increasing gale, and much heavier sea, the +galley punt dared not launch to bring the captain back. None even of +the luggers would encounter the risk of launching in so heavy a sea +dead on the beach. He therefore tried the lifeboats, upon the plea and +grounds that his ship was dragging her anchors and in peril. She was +lying abreast of Walmer Castle, and was indeed gradually dragging in +towards the surf-beaten shore, which, if she struck, not a soul on +board probably would have been saved. +</P> + +<P> +The anxious captain first tried the Walmer lifeboat, but she was too +far to leeward, and would not have been able to fetch the vessel. But +eventually, as his vessel was now burning signals of distress, he ran +to the North Deal lifeboat, and the coxswain, Robert Wilds, seeing all +other boats were helpless, decided to ring the lifeboat bell and pit +the celebrated Van Cook against the stormy sea in deadly fight. +</P> + +<P> +The Deal boatmen had long foreseen the launch of the lifeboat, and they +were massed in crowds round the lifeboat-house, competitors for the +honour of forming the crew. The danger of the distressed vessel was +known in the town, and crowds had assembled on the beach, amongst them +the Mayor of Deal, to watch the lifeboat launch. +</P> + +<P> +The long run of the great waves came right up to where the lifeboat +lay, so that when she was let go she had no steep slope to rush down so +as to hurl her by her own impetus into the sea. She depended, +therefore, for her launching against this great sea, on her haul-off +warp, which was moored one hundred fathoms out to sea, and by which her +fifteen men hoped to pull her out to deep water. But this dark night +she simply stuck fast after running down a little way, and got into the +'draw back' under the seas bursting in fury. +</P> + +<P> +Her situation was most perilous, and the danger of the men being swept +out of her was great. But through it all the lifeboatmen, with +stubborn pluck, held on to the haul-off warp and strained for their +lives, and at last a great sea came and washed them afloat within its +recoil, and covered the lifeboat and her crew. The spectators groaned +with horror as the lifeboat disappeared, but the men were straining +gallantly at the haul-off warp, and the lifeboat emerged. When she was +seen above the surges just only for an instant, 'All Deal sent forth a +rapturous cry,' and the brave men, though they could not see the people +on the land, yet heard their mighty cheer, and, strung in their hearts +to dare and to conquer, sped on their glorious task. +</P> + +<P> +When just out to deep water, the coxswain sang out, 'Hang on, every +man!' and a great sea came out of the night right at the lifeboat. Tom +Adams was out on the fore air-box, lifting the haul-off warp out of the +cheek, a perilous spot, when the sea was seen; he had just time to get +back and clasp both arms round the foremast as the sea broke, +overwhelming lifeboat and the crew and the captain of the Royal Arch, +who was aft, in a white smother of foam. But the lifeboat freed +herself of the sea, and like a living creature stood up to face the +gale. +</P> + +<P> +Close-reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail was her canvas; watchful +men stood by halyards and sheets, hitched, not belayed, and watched +each gust and sea as only Deal men who watch for their lives can watch, +and even they are sometimes caught. +</P> + +<P> +At last the vessel in distress loomed through the night, and from many +an anxious heart on board went up, 'Thank God! here comes the +lifeboat!' Not too soon was she! For the hungry breakers were roaring +under their lee. Blue lights and other signals of distress had already +been made on board the vessel for some time; a rocket too had been +fired, with a rather unsatisfactory result. +</P> + +<P> +One of the mates, who I was informed hailed from County Cork, decided +to fire a rocket, a thing he had never, it seems, done before in his +life, and failing the usual rocket-stand, he bethought him of the novel +and ingenious expedient of letting it off through the iron tube which +formed the chimney of the galley or cooking-house on deck, thus hoping +to make sure of successfully directing its flight upwards. In the +confusion and darkness he did in his execution not perhaps do justice +to himself, or to the fertility of resource which had devised so +excellent a plan. The sea was rolling to the depth of two feet over +the deck, and washing right through the galley house, and it was only +by great efforts he succeeded in the darkness in fastening the rocket +in the tube which formed the chimney. +</P> + +<P> +To do this he had unwisely removed the rocket from its stick, and, +unfortunately, he fastened it in the chimney upside down. Having done +so, he fumbled in his pocket, the darkness being intense, for his +matches, and applied the light underneath in the usual place. But the +rocket being upside down he of course failed to set it off, and then he +unluckily tried the other end, which was uppermost, with the disastrous +result, as my English informant described it, that 'the hexplosion +blowed him clean out of the galley.' +</P> + +<P> +'Blowed him!' said I, unconsciously adopting my friend's expression, +'where?' +</P> + +<P> +'Why,' said he, 'hout of the galley into the lee scuppers.' +</P> + +<P> +'Was the poor fellow much hurt?' +</P> + +<P> +'Hurt! Bless you! not he. But he kept shouting like forty blue +murders!' +</P> + +<P> +'What did he say?' +</P> + +<P> +'Well,' he replied, 'he was that scared and that choked with soot, as +ever was, that all he could say was—I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead!' +</P> + +<P> +The position of the vessel was now very serious; she was going so fast +astern towards the breakers and the land that after the lifeboat +anchored ahead of and close to her she could hardly keep abreast of the +dragging vessel by paying out her cable as fast as possible. Roberts +and Adams, and in all five of the lifeboatmen, sprang on board of her +as she rolled in the pitchy night. +</P> + +<P> +They sprang, as the lifeboat went up and the ship came down, over the +yawning chasm, on the chance of gripping the shrouds, and some of them +rolled over and actually and literally, as they were carried off their +feet, had to swim on the decks of the labouring vessel. +</P> + +<P> +The captain of the vessel could not get on board in the same way, and +though they passed a line round his waist it was a good half-hour +before they could get him up the steep side. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboatmen say that when he did reach the deck he declared 'that +if that was what they called coming hoff in a lifeboat from Deal beach, +he wouldn't do it again—no, not for hall the money in the Bank of +England!' +</P> + +<P> +The captain now hesitated to slip his ship, lest she might pay off on +the wrong tack and come ashore; but as the vessel was steadily drifting +and the sea terrific, the lifeboat being now and then hoisted up to her +foreyard, while mountainous seas wallowed over both the lifeboat and +the vessel, the Deal lifeboatmen said, 'If you don't slip her, we will. +There's death right astern for all of us if you delay.' +</P> + +<P> +Then the captain himself took the helm, the rudder-head being twisted, +and the spirit and energy of the Deal men infused new life into the +wearied crew, and all hands worked together with a will. +</P> + +<P> +They loosed the fore-topsail and they set the foretopmast staysail. +Tom Adams went or waded forwards, holding on carefully, with a lantern, +and he watched by the dim light till the fore-topmast staysail bellied +out with a flap like thunder on the right side, and then he shouted +down the wind, 'Hard up, captain! Hard a-port!' At the same instant +Roberts shouted, 'Slip the cable! Let go all!' And just within the +very jaws of the breakers, the ship's head payed away to the southward, +and she escaped—saved at the last minute, and safe to the open sea. +</P> + +<P> +When safe away and running before the gale, the Deal men strapped the +rudder-head with ropes, straining them tight with a tackle, and then +wedged the ropes tighter and tighter still, making the rudder head +thoroughly safe. +</P> + +<P> +And then, though only very poorly and miserably supplied with food—for +they only had dry biscuits till they reached port—they manned the +pumps with the worn-out crew, and brought the ship safe to Cowes. +</P> + +<P> +But for the existence of a lifeboat at North Deal the ship would have +been wrecked that night on the stormy beach of Deal, and, in all +probability, her crew would also have perished. +</P> + +<P> +It is pleasant to record the unselfish heroism of the Deal lifeboatmen, +who on this occasion were the means of saving both valuable property +and precious human lives. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MANDALAY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The leak we've found, it cannot pour fast;<BR> +We've lightened her a foot or more—<BR> +Up and rig a jury foremast,<BR> +She rights! She rights, boys! Wear off shore!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The case of the Mandalay here recorded so far resembles that of the +Royal Arch and of the Edina, that in all three cases the vessels, the +cargoes, and the lives of all on board, were saved by the Deal +lifeboatmen, and by their courage and seamanlike skill, and intimate +local knowledge of the Goodwins and other places and sands in their +dangerous vicinity, brought safe to port. The Royal Arch was drifting +at night from her anchorage in the Downs, in an easterly gale towards +the surf-beaten shore. The Edina was in the most imminent peril on the +edge of the Brake Sand. The Mandalay was on the Goodwins itself, and +to save a vessel and her cargo from the Goodwins is no easy task. +</P> + +<P> +On December 13, 1889, the Mandalay was passing the North Sand Head +lightship a little after midnight. She was outward bound from +Middlesbrough to the River Plate with a cargo of railway iron sleepers. +They hailed the lightship as its great lantern rapidly flashed close to +them, but the reply was lost in the plash of the sea and the flap of +the sails and the different noises of a ship in motion. At any rate +the Mandalay mistook her bearings, and managed to get into the very +heart of the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<P> +In the darkness she probably sailed into what is called the Ramsgate +Man's Bight, though this is only a conjecture. This bight is a +swatchway of deep water, and the Mandalay then struck the Sands on the +eastern jaw of another channel into the Goodwins. This swatchway runs +N.E. and S.W., and leads from the deep water outside the Goodwins into +the inmost recesses of the Sands; that is, into a shallowish bay called +Trinity Bay; and it is much harder to get out of this bay than to get +in, like many a scrape of another kind. The swatchway leading into +Trinity Bay was about seven fathoms deep, but only fifty fathoms or one +hundred yards wide. On the eastern bank or jaw of this channel the +Mandalay ran aground. She ran aground at nearly high water, when all +was covered with the sea, on a fine, calm night, there being no surf or +ripple or noise to indicate the shallow water or the deadly proximity +of the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the crew were on deck—the man at the wheel aft would take a +sight of the compass gleaming in the light of the binnacle lamp, and +then cast his eye aloft, where the main truck was circling among the +stars, as the ship gently swung along with a light N.W. breeze. Others +of the crew were below and had turned in, 'their midnight fancies +wrapped in golden dreams,' when the grating sound of contact with the +Sands was heard. Then came, 'Turn out, men! All hands on deck! We're +aground on the Goodwins!' +</P> + +<P> +Efforts were made to box the ship off by backing and swinging the yards +and trimming the sails, but all to no purpose, and then flares and +torches to summon help were lighted. These at once caught the notice +of the look-out men on the lightships, and drew from those vessels the +guns and rockets, the usual signals of distress. As the sea was smooth +there was no present danger for the Mandalay, but wind and sea rise +suddenly on the Goodwins, and no one could foresee what might happen. +</P> + +<P> +The Deal coxswain was roused by the coastguard; he saw the flash of the +distant guns and rockets, and having obtained a crew launched at 1.30 +a.m., the weather being hazy with frost. They reached the Gull +lightship, and heard there that the vessel ashore lay E.N.E. from them. +They steered in that direction, gazing into the darkness and listening +for sounds or shouts or guns, and at last, about 3 a.m., found the +vessel, her flares having gone out. In spite of the efforts of those +on board, she was sidling more and more on to the Sands, and settling +further into them. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat anchored and veered down as usual to the stranded vessel, +and the coxswain got on board: then morning came, and with it low +water, when there would be not more than two feet of water round the +Mandalay and the lifeboat, which latter was at that depth of water just +aground. The lifeboat remained by the vessel, to insure the safety of +the crew in case of possible change of weather. About midday, as the +tide began to rise over the Goodwins, the lifeboat and her crew were +employed by the captain to do their best to save the vessel. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat was now on the port bow of the Mandalay, which lay fast on +the Sands with her head to the S.W., and the coxswains laid out a kedge +or small anchor, with warp attached, to the N.E., five of the +lifeboatmen remaining in the lifeboat with Roberts, the coxswain, to +direct the course of action on the Sands, while Hanger, the second +coxswain, went on board with seven lifeboatmen to direct operations +there, and to heave on the warp, in order to move the vessel. Just +then a tug-boat hove in sight, and as the sea was calm, she backed in +and made fast her hawser to the Mandalay, at the captain's desire. +Though all on board heaved their best on the warp, and the tug-boat +Bantam Cock made every effort, they were unable to move the Mandalay +from her perilous position, and the tug-boat then gave the matter up as +a bad job and later in the evening went away. +</P> + +<P> +It was now about 3 p.m., and the tide was again falling when the lugger +Champion, of Ramsgate, appeared and anchored in the swatchway spoken of +above. Some of her crew also went on board the Mandalay, and under the +directions and advice of Roberts and Hanger, the two Deal coxswains, +who were determined to win, all hands turned to throwing overboard the +cargo to lighten the vessel. They thus jettisoned about two hundred +tons of iron sleepers—working at this job till midnight—and threw it +over the right or starboard side of the ship, where it lay in a great +mass. It was never recovered, though every effort was afterwards made +to save it. It had been engulfed and disappeared in the Goodwins' +capacious maw. +</P> + +<P> +The men of the lifeboat, now cold, wearied, and hungry, managed to get +an exceedingly frugal meal of tea and some bread and meat, and about 4 +or 5 p.m. the light N.W. breeze fell away to a calm. Towards 7 p.m. +the Champion lugger at anchor hoisted her light, to indicate the +channel or swatchway by which the Mandalay would have to come out if +ever she moved at all. The wind now came strong from the S.W. and then +backed to S. and by W., and there was heard the far-off moan of +breaking surf, making it plain that there was a heavy sea rolling in +from the S.W. on a distant point of the Sands. The sea was evidently +coming before the wind, 'the moon looked,' the men said, 'as if she was +getting up contrary,' and Roberts said, 'We'll have trouble before +morning.' At 10 p.m. the wind came. The calm was 'but the grim repose +of the winter whirlwind,' and it soon blew a gale from the S.W. Before +this some Deal galley punts had also wisely made their way for the +shore, and the lifeboat and the Champion lugger were left alone on the +scene—than which nothing could now be wilder. Fortunately another +tug-boat, the Cambria, had anchored about 7 p.m. in deep water outside +the Goodwins, as close as was prudent to the swatchway before +described; but the inevitable struggle was regarded with the greatest +anxiety by all hands, notwithstanding the proffered help of the +tug-boat and the lightening of the ship. +</P> + +<P> +About midnight the rising tide had again covered the Goodwins, but the +surface, no longer fair and calm, was now lashed into fury by the gale. +The seas were breaking everywhere, and as the moon emerged from behind +a flying cloud, far as the eye could see was one sheet of tumbling, +raging breakers, except the narrow channel in which the brave Champion +rode with her guiding light, plunging heavily even in the deep channel. +But the most furious sea raged on the western jaw of the deep +swatchway; there currents and cross seas met, and the breakers rose up +and clashed and struck together in weightier masses and with especial +fury. Now a black cloud covered the moon, and again as it swept away +came the clear moonlight, but in the darkness and in the moonlight the +scene was equally tremendous. +</P> + +<P> +As the water deepened round the ship, sea after sea broke over her with +such increasing fury that the work of jettisoning the cargo, which had +been carried on under great difficulties, had to be given up, and the +hatches had to be put on and battened down tight, to keep the ship from +filling. The same seas that broke over the Mandalay also struck and +buried the lifeboat as she rode alongside to the full scope of her +cable, and as each breaker went roaring past she as regularly freed +herself from the water which had been hurled into her the moment before. +</P> + +<P> +At one o'clock this wild winter morning the time came for a final +effort to float the ship; and the steam-tug Cambria that had been +waiting outside the Sands now moved in, and, guided by the riding light +of the Champion lugger, anchored for this purpose in the swatchway, was +cautiously manoeuvred in through the narrow channel, and feeling her +way with the lead at great risk came even into the broken water in +which the Mandalay was lying. This broken water was only fourteen or +fifteen feet deep, and though barely enough to float the tug-boat in a +sort of raging smother of froth, was not deep enough to float the +Mandalay, which required three feet more and still lay firm as a rock, +and, like a tide-washed rock, was swept by the seas which were flying +over her. +</P> + +<P> +Directed by the second coxswain, attempts were now made to get the +Cambria's steel hawser on board the vessel, and in the boiling turmoil +the Cambria came dangerously near the heap of jettisoned iron on the +starboard side of the Mandalay. It will be plain that without the +presence of the lifeboat and her crew in case of disaster, all other +efforts to save the ship would have been paralysed, and indeed would +never have been attempted. Without the lifeboat, no tug-boat, or any +other boat, would have dared to venture into that fearful labyrinth of +sand and surf. +</P> + +<P> +The hawser was got on board after an hour's struggle, and made fast to +the Mandalay's starboard bow; but though the Mandalay rolled and bumped +she was not moved from her sandy bed. It was almost impossible for +those on board to keep their feet as she struck the sand and as the +seas swept her decks. The position of the tug on the starboard side of +the Mandalay was so perilous that it was decided to bring her across +the bows of the vessel to her port side; and this was done with great +difficulty against the gale and sea continually becoming heavier. +Creeping round the bows of the Mandalay the tug-boat came, and in doing +so crossed the cable of the lifeboat with her hawser, and therefore the +lifeboat's cable had to be slipped at once, and she had to be made fast +to and ride alongside the Mandalay. +</P> + +<P> +Still round came the tug, and getting into deeper water of about three +or three and a half fathoms, after a most hazardous and gallant passage +through the breakers round the vessel, set her engines going full speed +ahead. The seas now struck and bumped the Mandalay so heavily that, in +spite of all efforts to save her, she was in a most critical position, +and at the same time a great disaster nearly occurred. The great steel +hawser of the tug, as she strained all her powers, was now tautening +and slackening, and then, as steam strove for the mastery against the +storm, again tightening with enormous force till it became like a rigid +iron bar. It vibrated and swung alongside the lifeboat, which could +not get out of the way, and dared not leave the vessel—return to +which, had the lifeboat once slipped her anchor, against wind and tide +would have been impossible; and their comrades' lives, and those of +all, depended on their standing by the vessel. Though the gallant +coxswain did all that man could do to combat this new danger, still +with a terrific jerk the steel hawser got right under the lifeboat, +hoisting her, in spite of her great weight, clean out of the water. +</P> + +<P> +Aided by an awful breaker, whose tumultuous and raging advance was seen +afar in the moonlight, this powerful jerk of the tightening hawser, +which had got under the very keel of the lifeboat, lifted her up so +high that she struck in her descent, with her ponderous iron keel or +very undermost part of the lifeboat, the top rail of the Mandalay's +bulwarks. The marvel is how she escaped being turned right over by the +shock. The next day I saw with astonishment the crushed woodwork where +this mighty blow had been struck. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat's rudder was smashed and her great stern post sprung, and +one of the crew that remained in her was also injured, but still +Roberts held on to the ship. At this critical moment Hanger, seeing +the lifeboat's safety was endangered, and regarding it as a question of +saving not only his comrades' lives but the lives of all, most +reluctantly gave orders to cut the steel hawser of the tug, which was +made fast on board the vessel. This would have of course sacrificed +all the trouble and risk that had been incurred; another tug-boat had +also crept up on the starboard bow to help the first, and efforts were +being made to get her hawser too on board; in fact, success and safety +seemed almost within their grasp, but it was a matter of life or death, +and one of the Deal men, obeying orders, seized an axe and hewed and +struck with all his might at the steel hawser, which was still +endangering the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +Strand after wire strand was divided, when a great sea came and the +vessel trembled from her keel to her truck, and all hands had to hold +on for life. Down again came the axe, as the sea went by. But its +edge was blunted and it cut slowly, as the wielder doubled his efforts +in reply to the shouts, 'Cut the hawser, or the lifeboat's lost!' +</P> + +<P> +A confused struggle was now going on; some were passing the second +tug-boat's hawser on board, and some were trying, under pressure of +dire necessity, to cut the hawser by which the Cambria tug was +straining at the vessel, and still the terrible hawser got under the +lifeboat, and still the axeman strove vainly with a blunted axe to +divide the hawser. +</P> + +<P> +Another sea came racing at the vessel. It lifted her off the Sands, +and thumped her down with such fury that Hanger said, 'The bottom is +coming out of her!' +</P> + +<P> +Just then, holding on to prevent himself falling, he looked at the +compass, 'Great heavens! She's moving! She's slewing, lads!' he said; +the axeman threw down his useless axe, and again came a sea, lifting up +the vessel and her iron cargo as if she had been a feather. Had she +struck the bottom as violently as before, her masts must have gone over +with a crash into the lifeboat, but the lift of this overwhelming sea +was at the very instant aided by the strain of the tug-boat's hawser, +exerting enormous force, though divided almost in twain, and the +vessel's head was torn round to the east and, 'Hurrah! my lads! she's +off!' was heard from the undaunted but wearied battlers with the storm. +</P> + +<P> +The hawser of the second tug-boat had been passed shortly before this +with extreme danger both to that tug-boat, the Iona, and to the +lifeboatmen working forwards to make it fast, on the slippery footing +of the deck. The strain of the second tug-boat was now felt by the +moving vessel, and then came the scrapes and the crunches and the +thumps as she was pulled over the sand towards the deep swatchway. Her +head sails were set, to pay her head off still more, and at last the +victorious tug-boats pulled her safe into the swatchway, accompanied by +the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +On the left or western jaw, it will be remembered, the most terrific +sea was running, and the tug-boat approached this awful turmoil too +closely. Fortunately, Roberts saw the danger, and shouted from the +lifeboat, 'Port your helm! Hard a-port! or you're into the breakers!' +Hanger on board, with answering readiness, set the great spanker of the +vessel, and forced her head up to the north-east, barely clearing the +Champion and her invaluable riding light; and at last the Mandalay was +towed through the narrow swatch, on either side of which roared the +hungry breakers, baulked of their prey by human skill and perseverance +and dauntless British pluck. +</P> + +<P> +Some time before emerging from the death-trap, as the spot where the +Mandalay grounded might well be called, and when in the very most +anxious and critical part of the struggle, the moon broke out from +behind a great dark cloud, and there was seen struggling and labouring +in the gale a ship whose sails caught the moonlight. She shone out +vividly against the black background, but the lifeboatmen were +horrified to see that, attracted by the lights of the Champion, she was +heading straight for the terrible sea on the western jaw of the swatch, +where she apparently thought she would find safe anchorage in company +with other vessels. +</P> + +<P> +The North Deal coxswain expected to see her strike, and had decided, in +his mind, to get his crew from the Mandalay on board, and then rush +through the breakers to the doomed vessel, and having rescued her crew, +to return with the help of one of the tug-boats to the Mandalay; but, +fortunately, this catastrophe was averted by the humane and generous +action of the captain of the tug-boat Bantam Cock, who went at full +speed within hail, and warned the unsuspecting vessel of the terrible +danger so near her. +</P> + +<P> +We can almost fancy we hear the hoarse shouts from the tug-boat of +'Breakers ahead!' 'Goodwins under your lee!' and then the rattling and +the thunderous noise of the sails, and the creaking of the yards and +braces, as the vessel swings round on the other tack into safety. +</P> + +<P> +The Mandalay was then towed out of the swatchway by the Cambria into +deep water, and round the Goodwin Sands, with the lifeboat alongside +her, into the anchorage of the Downs by the half-divided hawser. Had +the axe's edge been keener, or had a few more blows been struck, or a +few more strands severed, or had the masts of the vessel crashed into +the lifeboat, or the lifeboat been capsized by the hawser's mighty +jerks, how different a tale would have been told! +</P> + +<P> +But it is our happy privilege to record the successful issue of +thirty-five hours' struggle against the terrors of a winter's gale on +the Goodwin Sands, and of doing some small justice to the seamanlike +skill and daring of the Deal coxswains and lifeboatmen, and of all +engaged in the task. +</P> + +<P> +It will be seen from the case recorded in this chapter that the motives +which were apparent in the minds of the brave fellows who manned the +lifeboat on each occasion were those of humanity and generous ardour to +succour the distressed; the salvage of property was an afterthought. +They started from the beach to put their intimate local knowledge of +the Goodwins, their skill, their strength, nay, their lives, at the +service of seamen in distress; but when they saw that their energies, +and theirs alone, could save a valuable vessel and her cargo, and that +they could earn such fair recompense as the law allowed, this salvage +of property became a duty, in the discharge of which, had any man lost +his life he would have lost it nobly, having entered upon his perilous +task in the unselfish and sublimer spirit of rescuing 'some forlorn and +shipwrecked brother' from death on the Goodwin Sands. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LEDA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Swift on the shore, a hardy few<BR> +The Lifeboat man, with a gallant, gallant crew.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Some years ago I remember reading a tale, the hero of which was a youth +of nineteen. The scene was laid around the lifeboat of either Deal or +Walmer. There was supposed to be a ship in distress on the Goodwins, +and the night was dark and stormy. All the boatmen hung back, so the +story ran, from the work of rescue, and shrank from the black fury of +the gale, when the hero appeared on the scene, and roundly rating the +coxswain and crew, sprang into the lifeboat, pointed out exactly what +should be done, gave courage to all the quailing boatmen, and seizing +an oar—those heroic youths always 'seize' or 'grasp' an oar—pulled to +the Goodwin Sands 'in the teeth of a gale.' I notice these heroes +always prefer the 'teeth of a gale,' especially when pulling in a +lifeboat; nothing would apparently induce them to touch an oar if the +wind were fair or moderate. +</P> + +<P> +Having rescued the crew of the distressed vessel, <I>solus fecit</I>—some +slight assistance having also been rendered by the lifeboatmen—the +lifeboat is of course overturned, and he swims ashore. Still, by some +extraordinary manoeuvre on the part of the wind 'in the teeth of the +gale,' bearing the beauteous heroine in his arms, with the usual result +and the inevitable opposition from the cruel uncle, who is actuated of +course by deadly hatred to all heroic youths of nineteen. +</P> + +<P> +I only refer to this fiction to point out how absurd it is to represent +the brave men who man our lifeboats of the Goodwin Sands and Downs as +ever needing to be roused to action by passing and incompetent +strangers, who must be as ignorant of the perils to be faced as of the +work to be done. When the boatmen of Deal hang back in the +storm-blast, who else dare go? +</P> + +<P> +Again, the three lifeboats of this locality always <I>sail</I> to the +distant Goodwin Sands. To reach those sands, four to eight miles +distant, according as the wreck lies on the inner or the outer edge, in +one of our heavy lifeboats, if they were only propelled by oars, would +be impossible. As a matter of fact, the lifeboat services to the +Goodwins are invariably effected under sail. In other places, where +the wreck lies close to the land, and the lifeboats are comparatively +light, services are performed with oars, but not to the Goodwin Sands, +which have to be reached under sail, and from which the lifeboats have +to get home by sail, often against a gale off shore, eight miles to +windward—with no steam-tug to help them, but by their own unaided +skill, 'heart within and God o'erhead.' +</P> + +<A NAME="img-180"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-180.jpg" ALT="'All hands in the lifeboat!' From a photograph by W. H. Franklin." BORDER="2" WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="447"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 640px"> +'All hands in the lifeboat!' From a photograph by W. H. Franklin. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The following simple statement—far below the sublime reality—will +prove, if proof be needed, that the men who live between the North and +South Forelands are not inferior to their fathers who sailed with Blake +and Nelson. +</P> + +<P> +About one o'clock on Sunday, December 28, 1879, a gun from the South +Sand Head lightship, anchored about a mile south of the Goodwins, and +six miles from Deal, gave warning that a ship was on the dreadful +Sands. It was blowing a gale from the south-west, and the ships in the +Downs were riding and straining at both anchors. It was a gale to stop +your breath, or, as the sailors say, 'to blow your teeth down your +throat,' and the sea was white with 'spin drift.' As the various +congregations were streaming out of church, umbrellas were turned +inside out, hats were blown hopelessly, wildly seawards, and children +clung to their parents for shelter from the blinding spray along Deal +beach. +</P> + +<P> +Just then, in answer to the boom of the distant gun, the bell rang to +'man the lifeboat,' and the Deal boatmen answered gallantly to the +summons. A rush was made for the lifebelts. The first and second +coxwains, Wilds and Roberts, were all ready, and prepared with the key +of the lifeboat house, as the rush of men was made. +</P> + +<P> +The first thirteen men who succeeded in getting the belts with the two +coxwains formed the crew, and down the steep beach plunged the great +lifeboat to the rescue. There were three vessels on the Goodwins: the +fate of one is uncertain; another was a small vessel painted white, +supposed to be a Dane, and she suddenly disappeared before my eyes, +being probably lost with all hands; the third was a German barque, the +Leda, homeward bound to Hamburg, with a crew of seventeen 'all told.' +This ill-fated vessel while flying on the wings of the favouring +sou'-westerly gale, supposed by the too partial poet to be +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">A ladies' breeze,</SPAN><BR> +Bringing home their true loves,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Out of all the seas,</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +struck, while thus impelled at full speed before the wind, the inner +part of the S.E. spit of the Goodwin Sands. This is a most dangerous +spot, noted for the furious surf which breaks on it, and where the +writer has had a hard fight for his life with the sea. +</P> + +<P> +The Germans, therefore, found this 'ladies' breeze' of Charles +Kingsley's splendid imagination more unfriendly to them than even 'the +black north-easter,' and their first contact with the Goodwin Sands was +a terrific crash while they were all at dinner, toasting absent friends +and each other with the kindly German <I>prosit</I>, and harmless clinking +of glasses, innocent of alcohol. +</P> + +<P> +The shock against the Goodwins as the vessel slid from the crest of a +snowy roller upon the Sands, threw the cabin dinner table and +everything on it up to the cabin ceiling, and no words can describe the +wild hurry and helpless confusion on the sea-pelted motionless vessel, +as the foam and the spray beat clean over her. +</P> + +<P> +Under her reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail the lifeboat came +ramping over the four miles of tempestuous sea between the mainland and +the Goodwins, the sea getting bigger and breaking more at the top of +each wave, or 'peeling more,' as the Deal phrase goes, the farther they +went into the full fetch of the sea rolling up Channel. At last the +shallower water was reached about twenty feet in depth, where the +Goodwins commence. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this point any ordinary good sea-boat of sufficient size and +power would have made as good weather of it as the lifeboat, but when +at this depth of twenty feet the great rollers from the southward began +to curl and topple and break into huge foam masses, and coming from +different directions to race with such enormous speed and power that +the pillars of foam thrown up by the collision were seen at the +distance of five miles, then no boat but a lifeboat, it should be +clearly understood, could live for five minutes, and even in a lifeboat +only the 'sons of the Vikings' dare to face it. +</P> + +<P> +The wreck lay a long mile right into the very thick of this awful surf, +into which the Deal men boldly drove the lifeboat. As her great +forefoot was forced through the crest of each sea she sent showers of +spray over her mast and sails, and gleamed and glistened in the evening +sun as she struggled with the sea. +</P> + +<P> +To the wrecked crew she was visible from afar, and her bright colours +and red sails told them unmistakeably she was a lifeboat. Now buried, +then borne sky-high, she appeared to them as almost an angelic being +expressly sent for their deliverance, and with joy and gratitude they +watched her conquering advance, and they knew that brave English hearts +were guiding the noble boat to their rescue. +</P> + +<P> +When within about half a mile, the lifeboatmen saw the mainmast of the +vessel go over, and then down crash came the mizzenmast over the port +side, carrying with them in the ruin spars and rigging in confusion, +and all this wild mass still hung by the shrouds and other rigging +round the quarter and stem of the doomed ship, and were ever and anon +drawn against her by the sea, beating her planking with thunderous +noise and tremendous force. +</P> + +<P> +The Leda's head was now lying S.W., or facing the sea, as after she +struck stem on, her nose remained fast, and the sea gradually beat her +stem round. There was running a very strong lee-tide, i.e. a tide +running in the same direction as the wind and sea, setting fiercely +across the Sands and outwards across the bows of the wreck. Owing, +therefore, to this strong cross tide and the great sea, every minute +breaking more furiously as the water was falling with the ebb-tide, the +greatest judgment was required by the coxswains to anchor in the right +spot, so as not to be swung hopelessly out of reach of the vessel by +the tide. All the bravery in the world would have failed to accomplish +the rescue, had the requisite experience been wanting. Nothing but +experience and the faculty of coming to a right decision in a moment, +amidst the appalling grandeur and real danger which surrounded them, +enabled the coxswains to anchor just in the right spot, having made the +proper allowance for the set of the tide, the sea, and the wind. +</P> + +<P> +This decision had to be made in less time than I have taken to write +this sentence, and the lives of men hung thereon. All hands knew it, +so 'Now! Down foresail!' and the men rushed at the sail, and some to +the 'down-haul,' and got it in; the helm being put hard down, up, head +to sea, came the lifeboat, and overboard went the anchor, taking with +it coil after coil of the great white five-inch cable of Manilla hemp; +and to this they also bent a second cable, in order to ride by a long +scope, thus running out about 160 fathoms or 320 yards of cable. They +dropped anchor therefore nearly a fifth of a mile ahead of the wreck +and well on her starboard bow. Now bite, good anchor! and hold fast, +stout cable! for the lives of all depend on you. +</P> + +<P> +If the cable parted, and the lifeboat struck the ship with full force, +coming astern or broadside on, not a man would have survived to tell +the tale, or if she once got astern of the wreck she could not have +worked to windward—against the wind and tide—to drop down as before. +No friendly steam-tug was at hand to help them to windward, in case of +the failure of this their first attempt, and both the lifeboatmen and +the crew of the wrecked vessel knew the stake at issue, and that this +was the last chance. But the crew of the lifeboat said one to another, +'We're bound to save them,' and with all the coolness of the race, +though strung to the highest pitch of excitement, veered down towards +the wreck till abreast of where her mainmast had been. +</P> + +<P> +Clinging to the bulwarks and forerigging in a forlorn little cluster +were the Germans, waving to the lifeboat as she was gradually veered +down alongside, but still at a considerable distance from the wreck and +the dangerous tossing tangle of wreckage still hanging to her. +</P> + +<P> +To effect communication with a wreck, the lifeboat is provided with a +piece of cane as thick as a man's little finger and about a foot long, +to which a lump of lead is firmly fastened. To the end of the cane a +long light line is attached, and the line is kept neatly coiled in a +bucket. +</P> + +<P> +With this loaded cane in his right hand, a man stood on the gunwale of +the lifeboat; round his waist his comrades had passed a line, to +prevent him from being washed overboard his left hand grasped the +halyards, for the masts of the lifeboat are always left standing +alongside a wreck, and at the right moment with all his might he threw +the cane. Hissing through the air, it carried with it right on board +the wreck its own light line, which at great risk a German sailor +seized. Hauling it in, he found the lifeboat had bent on to it a +weightier rope, and thus communication was effected between the +lifeboat and the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +But though the lifeboat rode plunging alongside, she rode alongside at +a distance of twenty yards from the wreck, and had to be steered and +sheered, though at anchor, just as if she was in motion. At the helm, +therefore, stood the two coxswains, while round the foremast and close +to the fore air-box grouped the lifeboatmen. Wave after wave advanced, +breaking over them in clouds, taking their breath away and drenching +them. +</P> + +<P> +The coxswains were watching for a smooth to sheer the lifeboat's head +closer to the wreck, and the wearied sailors on the wreck were +anxiously watching their efforts, when, as will happen at irregular +intervals, which are beyond calculation, a great sea advanced, and was +seen towering afar. 'Hold on, men, for your lives!' sang out the +coxswains, and on came the hollow green sea, so far above their heads +that it seemed as they gazed into its terrible transparency that the +very sky had become green, and it broke into the lifeboat, hoisting her +up to the vessel's foreyard, and then plunging her bodily down and down. +</P> + +<P> +In this mighty hoist the port bilge-piece of the lifeboat as she +descended struck the top rail of the vessel's bulwarks, and the +collision stove in her fore air-box. That she was not turned clean +over by the shock, throwing out of her, and then falling on, her crew, +was only by God's mercy. All attempts to help the seamen on the wreck +in distress were suspended and buried in the wave. The lifeboatmen +held on with both arms round the thwarts in deadly wrestle and +breathless for dear life. Looking forwards as the boat emerged, the +coxswains, standing aft on their raised platform, could only see +boiling foam. Looking aft as the noble lifeboat emptied herself, the +crew saw the two coxswains waist deep in froth, and the head of the +Norman post aft was invisible and under water. We were all 'knocked +silly by that sea,' said the men, and they found that two of their +number had been swept aft and forced under the thwarts or seats of the +lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +And now they turned to again—no one being missing—alone in that wild +cauldron of waters, with undaunted courage, to the work of rescue. Two +lines leading from the ship to the lifeboat were rigged up, the ends of +those lines being held by one of the lifeboatmen, George Philpot, who +had to tighten and slack them as the lifeboat rose, or when a sea came. +Spread-eagled on this rough ladder or cat's cradle, holding on for +their lives, the German crew had to come, and Philpot, who held the +lines in the lifeboat—no easy task—was lashed to the lifeboat's mast, +to leave his hands free and prevent his being swept overboard himself. +A space of about thirty feet separated the wreck and the lifeboat, as +the latter's head had to get a hard sheer off from the ship, to +counterbalance the tide and sea sucking and driving her towards the +wreck, and over this dangerous chasm the German sailors came. +</P> + +<P> +Still the giant seas swept into the lifeboat, and again and again the +lifeboat freed herself from the water, and floated buoyant, in spite of +the damage done to her airbox, so great was her reserve of floating +power. This her crew knew, and preserved unbounded confidence in the +noble structure under their feet, especially as they heard the clicks +of her valves at work and freeing her of water. +</P> + +<P> +In the intervals between the raging seas, twelve of the crew had now +been got into the lifeboat, when one man seeing her sheer closer than +usual towards the vessel, jumped from the top rail towards the +lifeboat. Instead of catching her at the propitious moment when she +was balanced on the summit of a wave, he sprang when she was rapidly +descending; this added ten feet to the height of his jump, and he fell +groaning into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +Having put the rescued men on the starboard side of the lifeboat, to +make room for the descent of the others, great seas again came fiercely +and furiously. As the tide was falling fast, the water became +shallower, and all around was heard only the hoarse roar of the storm, +and there was seen only the advancing lines of billows, tossing their +snowy manes as they came on with speed. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again the lifeboat was submerged, and the man lashed to the +mast had to ease off the lines he held till the seas had passed. +</P> + +<P> +'It was as if the heavens was falling atop of us; but we had no fear +then, we were all a-takin' of it as easy as if we was ashore, but it +was afterwards we thought of it.' +</P> + +<P> +But not so the rescued crew who were in the lifeboat; some of them +wanted to get back to the ship, which was fast breaking up, but one of +their number had, strange to say, been rescued before—twice before, +some say—by the same lifeboat on the very same Goodwin Sands, and he +encouraged his comrades and said, 'She's all right! she's done it +before! Good boat! good boat!' And then the rest of the crew came +down, or rather along the two lines, held fast and eased off as before, +till, last man down, or rather along the lines, came the captain. +'Come along, captain! Come along. There's a booser coming!' and +Roberts aft, second coxswain, strained at the helm to sheer the +lifeboat off, before the sea came. +</P> + +<P> +It came towering. 'Quick! Captain! Come!' Had the captain rapidly +come along the lines, he would have been safe in the lifeboat, but he +hesitated just for an instant, and then the sea came—a moving mountain +of broken water, one of the most appalling objects in Nature—breaking +over the foreyard of the wreck, sweeping everything before it on the +deck, and covering lifeboat and men. Everything was blotted out by the +green water, as they once again wrestled in their strong grasp of the +thwarts, while the roar and smother of drowning rang in their ears. +But there is One who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the +hollow of His hand, and once again by His mercy not a man was missing, +and again rose the lifeboat, and gasping and half-blinded, they saw +that the ropes along which the captain was coming were twisted one +across the other, and that, though he had escaped the full force of the +great wave, the captain of the Leda was hanging by one hand, and on the +point of dropping into the wild turmoil beneath, exhausted. Another +second would have been too late, when, quick as lightning, the +lifeboatman, G. Philpot, still being lashed to the mast, by a dexterous +jerk, chucked one of the ropes under the leg of the clinging and +exhausted man, and then, once again, they cried, 'Come along! Now's +your time!' And on he came; but as the ropes again slacked as the +lifeboat rose, fell into the sea, though still grasping the lines, +while strong and generous hands dragged him safe into the lifeboat—the +last man. All saved! And now for home! +</P> + +<P> +They did not dare to haul up to their anchor, had that been possible, +lest before they got sail on the lifeboat to drag her away from the +wreck she should be carried back against the wreck, or under her bows, +when all would have perished. So the coxswains wisely decided to set +the foresail, and then when all was ready, the men all working +splendidly together, 'Out axe, lads! and cut the cable!' Away to the +right or starboard faintly loomed the land, five long miles distant. +Between them and it raged a mile of breakers throwing up their spiky +foaming crests, while their regular lines of advance were every now and +then crossed by a galloping breaking billow coming mysteriously and yet +furiously from another direction altogether, the result being a +collision of waters and pillars and spouts of foam shot up into the +air. Through this broken water they had to go—there was no other way +home, and 'there are no back doors at sea.' So down came the keen axe, +and the last strand of the cable was cut. +</P> + +<P> +Then they hoisted just a corner of the foresail, to cast her head +towards the land and away from the wreck—more they dared not hoist, +lest they should capsize in such broken water, the wind still blowing +very hard. As her head paid off, a big sea was seen coming high above +the others. 'Haul down the foresail, quick!' was the cry; but it was +too late, and the monstrous sea struck the bows and burst into the +sail, filling and overpowering the lifeboat and the helm and the +steersmen—for both Wilds and Roberts were straining at the yoke +lines—and hurled the lifeboat like a feather right round before the +wind, and she shot onwards with and amidst this sea, almost into the +deadly jangle of broken masts and great yards and tops, which with all +their rigging and shrouds and hamper were tossing wildly in the boiling +surf astern of the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +But the noble deed was not to end in disaster. Beaten and hustled as +the Deal lifeboatmen were with this great sea, there was time enough +for those skilled and daring men to set the foresail again, to drag her +clear before they got into the wreckage. 'Sheet home the foresail, and +sit steady, my lads,' said Roberts, 'and we'll soon be through!' and +they made for the dangerous broken water, which was now not more than +twelve feet deep. The coxswains kept encouraging the men, 'Cheer up, +my lads!' And then, 'Look out, all hands! A sea coming!' And then, +'Five minutes more and we'll be through.' And so with her goodly +freight of thirty-two souls, battered but not beaten, reeling to and +fro, and staggering and plunging on through the surf, each moment +approaching safety and deep water—on pressed the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +Now gleams of hope broke out as the lifeboat lived and prospered in the +battle, and at last the rescued Germans saved 'from the jaws of death,' +and yet hardly believing they were saved, sang out, though feeble and +exhausted, 'Hurrah! Cheer, O.' And inside the breakers the Kingsdown +lifeboat, on their way to help, responded with an answering cheer. +</P> + +<P> +Then we may be well sure that from our own silent, stubborn Deal men, +many a deep-felt prayer of gratitude, unuttered it may be by the lips, +was sent up from the heart to Him, the 'Eternal Father strong to save,' +while the Germans now broke openly out into 'Danke Gott! Danke Gott!' +and soon afterwards were landed—grateful beyond expression for their +marvellous deliverance—on Deal beach[1]. +</P> + +<P> +With conspicuous exceptions, few notice and fewer still remember those +gallant deeds done by those heroes of our coast. +</P> + +<P> +Few realize that those poor men have at home an aged mother perhaps +dependent on them, or children, or 'a nearer one yet and a dearer,' and +that when they 'darkling face the billow' the possibility of disaster +to themselves assumes a more harrowing shape, when they think of loved +ones left helpless and destitute behind them. Riches cannot remove the +pang of bereavement, but alas! for 'the <I>comfortless</I> troubles of the +needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor.' And yet the brave +fellows never hang back and never falter. There ought to be, there is +amongst them, a trust in the living God. +</P> + +<P> +They apparently think little of their own splendid deeds, and seldom +speak of them, especially to strangers; yet they are part, and not the +least glorious part, of our 'rough island story.' The recital of them +makes our hearts thrill, and revives in us the memories of our youth +and our early worship of heroic daring in a righteous cause. God speed +the lifeboat and her crew! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] The names of the crew who on this occasion manned the lifeboat were +Robert Wilds (coxswain 1st), R. Roberts (coxswain 2nd), Thos. Cribben, +Thos. Parsons, G. Pain, Chas. Hall, Thomas Roberts, Will Baker, John +Holbourn, Ed. Pain, George Philpot, R. Williams, W. Adams, H. Foster, +Robt. Redsull. Of these men, poor Tom Cribben never recovered +[Transcriber's note: from] the exposure and the strain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Loud roared the dreadful thunder,<BR> +The rain a deluge poured.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was a gale from the S.W. blowing over the southern part of +England, on November 11, 1877. The barometer had been low, but the +'centre of depression' was still advancing, and was probably over the +Straits of Dover about the middle of the day. Perhaps more is known +now than formerly of the path of the storm and the date of its arrival +on these coasts, and more is also known of the pleasanter but rarer +anti-cyclonic systems. Nevertheless, we are still in the dark as to +the cause which originates those two different phenomena, and brings +them from the east and the west. The secrets of Nature belong to Him +who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the hollow of His hand. +In the seaboard towns of the S.E. coast the houses shook before the +blast, and now and then the tiles crashed to the pavement, and the +fierce rain squalls swept through the deserted streets, as the gale +'whistled aloft his tempest tune.' To read of this makes every +fireside seem more comfortable, but somehow it also brings the thought +to many a heart 'God help those at sea to-night!' +</P> + +<P> +In the great roadstead of the Downs, among the pilots and the captains, +there were anxious hearts that day. There were hundreds of ships at +anchor, of many nations, all outward bound, and taking refuge in the +comparative shelter of the Downs. Those vessels had everything made as +snug as possible to meet the gale, and were mostly riding to two +anchors and plunging bows under. Here and there a vessel was dragging +and going into collision with some other vessel right astern of her; or +perhaps slipping both her anchors just in time to avoid the crash; or +away to the southward could be seen in the rifts of the driving rain +squalls, a large ship drifting, with anchors gone and sails blown into +ribbons. +</P> + +<P> +Deal beach was alive with the busy crowds of boatmen either launching +or beaching their luggers. The smaller boats, the galley punts, which +are seven feet beam and about twenty-eight feet in length, found the +wind and sea that day too much for them, especially in the afternoon. +They had been struggling in the Downs all day with two or three reefs, +and in the 'smokers' with 'yardarm taken,' but in the afternoon the +mercury in the barometers began to jump up and +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +First rise after low<BR> +Foretells a stronger blow.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Then the galley punts had to come ashore, and only the luggers and the +'cats' were equal to cruising among the storm-tossed shipping, +'hovelling' or on the look-out for a job. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the vessels might need a pilot to take them to Margate Roads or +northwards, or some might require a spare yard, or men to man the +pumps, or an anchor and chain, the vessels in some cases riding to +their last remaining anchor—or perhaps their windlass had given way or +the hawse pipe had split, and in that case their own chain cable would +cut them down to the water's edge in a few hours. To meet these +various needs of the vessels, the great luggers were all day being +continuously beached and launched, and it was hard to say which of the +two operations was most perilous to themselves or most fascinating to +the spectator. Once afloat they hovered about, on the wing as it were, +among the vessels, and from the beach it could be seen how crowded with +men they were, and how admirably they were handled. +</P> + +<P> +The skill of the Deal boatmen is generally supposed to be referred to +in the lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands,<BR> +They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands;<BR> +Fearless they combat every hostile wind,<BR> +Wheeling in mazy tracks with course inclined.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The passage has certainly a flavour of the Goodwins but at any rate the +sea-bird does not sweep to the raging summit of a wave, or glide more +easily from its seething crest down the dark deep blue slope to its +windless trough, or more safely than the Deal boatmen in their luggers. +</P> + +<P> +Richard Roberts had been all that day afloat in the Downs in his +powerful 'cat,' the Early Morn. It was this boat, some of my readers +may remember, which picked up, struggling in the water, twenty-four of +the passengers of the Strathclyde, when she was run down off Dover by +the Franconia, some years ago. But the gale increasing towards +evening, Roberts, who had got to leeward too much, could not beat home, +and he had to run away before the wind and round the North Foreland to +Margate. Thence he took train, and leaving his lugger in safety, +reached Deal about nine p.m., just as the flash from the Gull +lightship, and then the distant boom of a gun and again another flash, +proclaimed there was a ship ashore on the sands. And through the wild +rain gusts he saw the flare of a vessel in distress on the Brake +Sand—God have mercy on them! for well he knew the hard and rocky +nature of that deadly spot. +</P> + +<P> +Then rang out wildly above the storm-shriek the summons from the iron +throat of the lifeboat bell, 'Man the lifeboat! Man the lifeboat!' +The night was dark, the ponderous surf thundered on the shingle, and +there could be seen the long advancing lines of billows breaking into +white masses of foam; and outside that there was only the blackness of +sea and sky, and the tossing lights and flares and signals calling for +help. 'No lanterns could be kept lit that night, sir! Blowed out they +was, and we had to feel our way in the lifeboat.' +</P> + +<P> +And you might hear in the bustle and din of quick preparation the +boatmen's shouts, 'Ease her down, Bill! just to land her bow over the +full!' 'Man that haul-off warp! she'll never get off against them seas +unless you man that haul-off warp! Slack it off!' And the coxswain +shouts, 'All hands aboard the lifeboat! Cut the lanyard!' +</P> + +<P> +Then the trigger flies loose and the stern chain which holds the +lifeboat in her position on the beach smokes through the 'ruffles,' or +hole in the iron keel through which it runs, as the mighty lifeboat +gains speed in her rush down the steep declivity of the beach. As she +nears the sea, faster still she slides and shoots over the well-greased +skids, urged forwards by her own weight and pulled forwards by the +crew, who grasp the haul-off warp moored off shore a long way, and at +last, as a warrior to battle, with a final bound she meets the shock of +the first great sea. And then she vanishes into the darkness. God +speed her on her glorious errand! +</P> + +<P> +Close-reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail was the canvas +under which the lifeboat that night struggled with the storm, to reach +the vessel on the Brake Sand. 'She did fly along, sir, that night, but +we were too late! The flare went out when we were half-way!' Alas! +alas! while the gallant crew were flying on the wings of mercy and of +hope to the rescue, the vessel broke up and vanished with all hands in +the deep. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat cruised round and round in the breakers, but all in vain. +The crew gazed and peered into the gloom and listened, and then they +shouted all together, but they could hardly hear each other's voices, +and there was no answer; all had perished, and rescue close at hand! +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there was a lift in the rain, and between them and the land +they saw another flare, 'Down with the foresheet! All hands to the +foresheet! Now down with the mizzen sheet!' cried the coxswain, and +ten men flew to the sheets. As the lifeboat luffed she lay over to her +very bearings, beating famously to windward on her second errand of +mercy. +</P> + +<P> +It was about midnight, and there was 'a terrible nasty sea,' and a +great run under the lifeboat as she neared the land; and the coxswains +made out the dim form of a large vessel burning her flare, with masts +gone and the sea beating over her. +</P> + +<P> +Once again the lifeboat was put about, and came up into the wind's eye, +the foresail was got down and the other foresail hoisted on the other +side and sheeted home, sails, sheets and blocks rattling furiously in +the gale, and forwards on the other tack into the spume and sea-drift +the lifeboat 'ratched.' Between them and the vessel that was burning +her signal of distress, the keen eyes of the lifeboatmen discerned an +object in the sea, 'not more than fifty fathoms off, as much as ever it +was, it was that bitter dark!' Another wreck! 'Let us save them at +any rate!' said the storm-beaten lifeboatmen, as a feeble cry was heard. +</P> + +<P> +The anchor was dropped. The lifeboat was then veered down on her cable +a distance of eighty fathoms, and the object in the sea was found to be +a forlorn wreck. Her lee deck bulwarks were deep under water, and even +her weather rail was low down to the sea. +</P> + +<P> +The wreck was a French brig, the D'Artagnan, as was afterwards +ascertained, and on coming close it was seen her masts were still +standing, but leaning over so that her yardarms touched the water. +Nothing could live long on her deck, which was half under water and +swept by breakers. +</P> + +<P> +In the main rigging were seen small objects, which were found to be the +crew, and in answer to the shouts of the lifeboatmen they came down and +crawled or clung along the sea-beaten weather rail. Half benumbed with +terror and despair and lashed by ceaseless waves, they slowly came +along towards the lifeboat, and the state of affairs at that moment was +described by one of the lifeboatmen as, 'Yes, bitter dark it were, and +rainin' heavens hard, with hurricane of wind all the time.' +</P> + +<P> +The wreck lay with her head facing the mainland, from which she was +about a mile distant, and which bore by compass about W.N.W. The wind +and the strong tide were both in the same direction, and if the +lifeboat had anchored ahead of the vessel she would have swung +helplessly to leeward and been unable to reach the vessel at all. So, +also, had she gone under the wreck's stern to leeward, the same tide +would have swept her out of reach, to say nothing of the danger of +falling masts. It was impossible to have approached her to windward, +as one crash against the vessel's broadside in such a storm and sea +would have perhaps cost the lives of all the crew. +</P> + +<P> +They therefore steered the lifeboat's head right at the stern of the +vessel, as well for the reasons given as also because the cowering +figures in the rigging could be got off no other way. They could not +be taken to windward nor to leeward, and therefore by the stern was the +only alternative. +</P> + +<P> +By managing the cable of the lifeboat and by steering her, or by +setting a corner of her foresail, she would sheer up to the stern of +the wreck just as the fishing machine called an otter rides abreast of +the boat to which it is fast. The lifeboat's head was, therefore, +pointed at the stern of the wreck, which was leaning over hard to +starboard, and the lifeboatmen shouted to the crew, some in the rigging +and some clutching the weather toprail, to 'come on and take our line.' +But there was no response; only in the darkness they could see the men +in distress slowly working their way towards the stern of the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +The position of the lifeboat was very dangerous. The sea was raging +right across her, and it was only the sacred flame of duty and of pity +in the hearts of the daring crew of the lifeboat that kept them to +their task. The swell of the sea was running landwards, and the 'send' +of each great rolling wave, just on the point of breaking, would shoot +the lifeboat forwards till her stem and iron forefoot would strike the +transom and stern of the wreck with tremendous force. The strain and +spring of the cable would then draw back the lifeboat two or three +boats' lengths, and then another breaker, its white wrath visible in +the pitchy darkness, would again drive the lifeboat forwards and +upwards as with a giant's hand, and then crash! down and right on to +the stern and even right up on the deck of the half-submerged vessel. +Sometimes even half the length of the lifeboat was driven over the +transom and on the sloping deck of the wreck, off which she grated back +into the sea to leewards. +</P> + +<P> +What pen can describe the turmoil, the danger, and the appalling +grandeur of the scene, now black as Erebus, and again illumined by a +blaze of lightning? And what pen can do justice to the stubborn +courage that persevered in the work of rescue in spite of the +difficulties which at each step sprang up? +</P> + +<P> +It was now found that the crew in distress were French. In their +paralysed and perished condition they could not make out what our men +wanted them to do, and they did not make fast the lines thrown them. +Nor had they any lines to throw, as their tackle and running gear were +washed away, nor could they understand the hails of the lifeboatmen. +Hence the task of saving them rested with the Deal men alone. +</P> + +<P> +The Frenchmen, when they saw the lifeboat rising up and plunging +literally upon their decks with terrific force, held back and +hesitated, clinging to the weather rail, where their position was most +perilous. A really solid sea would have swept all away, and every two +or three minutes a furious breaker flew over them. Something had to be +done to get them, and to get them the men in the lifeboat were +determined. +</P> + +<P> +Now the fore air-box of the lifeboat has a round roof like a tortoise's +back, and there is a very imperfect hand-hold on it. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, to venture out on this air-box in ordinary weather is by no +means prudent, but on this night, when it was literally raked by +weighty seas sufficient in strength to tear a limpet from its grip, the +peril of doing so was extreme, but still, out on that fore air-box, +determined to do or die, crept Richard Roberts, at that time the second +coxswain of the lifeboat, leading the forlorn hope of rescue, and not +counting his life dear to him. Up as the lifeboat rose, and down with +her into the depths, still Roberts held on with the tenacity of a +sailor's grasp. +</P> + +<P> +As the lifeboat surged forwards on the next sea, held behind by his +comrades' strong arms, out on the very stem he groped his way, and then +he shouted, and behind him all hands shouted, 'Come, Johnny! Now's +your time!' There's a widespread belief among our sailor friends that +the expression 'Johnny' is a passport to a Frenchman's heart. At any +rate, seeing Roberts on the very stem and hearing the shouts, the +nearly exhausted Frenchmen came picking their dangerous way and +clinging to the weather rail one by one till they grasped or rather +madly clutched at Roberts' outstretched arms. 'Hold on, mates!' he +cried, 'there's a sea coming! Don't let them drag me overboard!' And +then the Frenchmen grasped Roberts' arms and chest so fiercely that his +clothes were torn and he himself marked black and blue. Then rang out +as each poor sailor was grasped by Roberts, 'Hurrah! I've got him! +Pass him along, lads!'—and the poor fellows were rescued and welcomed +by English hearts and English hands. 'We never knowed if there was any +more, but at any rate we saved five,' said the lifeboatmen. +</P> + +<P> +Having rescued this crew, all eyes were now turned to the vessel that +had for some hours been burning her signals of distress. +</P> + +<P> +It was by this time four o'clock on this winter morning, and the crew +of the lifeboat were, to use their own words, 'nearly done.' They also +noticed that the lifeboat was much lower than usual in the water, but +neither danger, nor hardships, nor fatigue can daunt the spirits of the +brave, and their courage rose above the terror of the storm, and they +forgot the crippled condition of the lifeboat—both of her bows being +completely stove in by the force of her blows against the deck and the +transom of the French brig—and they responded gallantly to the +coxswain's orders of 'Up anchor and set the foresail!' and they made +for the flare of the fresh wreck for which they had been originally +heading. +</P> + +<P> +The signals of distress were from a Swedish barque, the Hedvig Sophia. +She had parted her anchors in the Downs, and had come ashore in three +fathoms of water, which was now angry surf; her masts were gone, but as +the rigging was not cut adrift, they were still lying to leeward in +wild confusion. She had heeled over to starboard, and her weather rail +being well out of the water, afforded some shelter to the crew; but her +sloping decks were washed and beaten by the waves that broke over her +and it was all but impossible to walk on them. +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboat's anchor was dropped, and again they veered down, but this +time it was possible to get to windward, and by reason of the wreckage +it was impossible to get to leeward. There was an English pilot on +board, who helped to carry out the directions given from the lifeboat, +and lines were quickly passed from the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +It was seen the captain's wife was on board, for the grey morning was +breaking, and as the lifeboat rose on the crest of a wave, after the +crew and just before the captain, who came last, the poor lady was +passed into the lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +She only came with great reluctance and after much persuasion, as the +deck of the lifeboat was covered with three inches of water and she +seemed to be sinking. When the Swedish captain came on board, while +the spray was flying sky-high over them, could he truly be said to be +taken 'on board'? +</P> + +<P> +'Here's a pretty thing to come in—full of water!' said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +'Well,' replied Roberts, 'we've been in it all night, and you won't +have to wait long.' +</P> + +<P> +The lifeboatmen then got up anchor, and with twelve Swedes, five +Frenchmen, and their own crew of fifteen made for home. Deep plunged +the lifeboat, and wearily she rose at each sea, but still she struggled +towards Deal, as the wounded stag comes home to die. Her fore and +after air-boxes were full of water, for a man could creep into the rent +in her bows, and she had lost much of her buoyancy. Still she had a +splendid reserve in hand, from the air-boxes ranged along and under her +deck, and thus fighting her way with her freight of thirty-two souls, +at last she grounded on the sands off Deal, and the lifeboatmen leaped +out and carried the rescued foreigners literally into England from the +sea, where they were received as formerly another ship-wrecked stranger +in another island 'with no little kindness.' +</P> + +<P> +The next day the storm was over; sea and sky were bathed in sunshine, +and the swift-winged breezes just rippled the surface of the deep into +the countless dimples of blue and gold. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">[Greek] <I>Pontiôn te kumatôn</I></SPAN><BR> +<I>Anerithmon gelasma</I><BR> +</P> + +<P> +was the exact description, more easily felt than translated; but close +to the North Bar buoy, in deep water, and just outside the Brake Sand, +there projected from out of the smiling sea the grim stern spectacle of +the masts of a barque whose hull lay deep down on its sandy bed. She +it was which had been burning flares for help the night before in vain, +and she had been beaten off the Brake Sand and sank before the lifeboat +came. She was a West India barque, with a Gravesend pilot on board, +and his pilot flag was found hoisted in the unusual position of the +mizzen topmast head, a fact which was interpreted by the Deal boatmen +as a message—a last message to his friends, and as much as to say, +'It's me that's gone.' +</P> + +<P> +But the brave men in the lifeboat did their best, and by their +extraordinary exertions, although they did not reach this poor lost +barque in time, yet by God's blessing on their skill and daring they +did save, Swedes and Frenchmen, seventeen souls that night from a +watery grave. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Not once or twice in our rough island story<BR> +The path of duty was the way to glory.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A book bearing the title of <I>Heroes of the Goodwin Sands</I>, would hardly +be complete without a chapter devoted to the celebrated Ramsgate +lifeboat and her brave coxswain and crew. To them, by virtue of Mr. +Gilmore's well-known book, the title of <I>Storm Warriors</I> almost of +right belongs, but I am well aware they will not deny their daring and +generous rivals of Deal a share in that stirring appellation, and I +know that their friends, the Deal boatmen, on their part gladly admit +that the Ramsgate lifeboatmen are also among the 'Heroes of the Goodwin +Sands.' +</P> + +<P> +The first lifeboat placed in Ramsgate was called the Northumberland. +The next was called the Bradford, in memory of the interesting fact +that the money required to build and equip her, about L600, was +subscribed in an hour on the Bradford Exchange, and within the hour the +news was flashed to London. Since then the rescues effected by the +Ramsgate lifeboat have become household words wherever the English +tongue is spoken. +</P> + +<P> +Nor less celebrated than the lifeboat is her mighty and invaluable ally +the steam-tug Aid, so often captained in the storm-blast by Alfred +Page, her brave and experienced master. This powerful tug boat has +steam up night and day, ready to rush the lifeboat out into the teeth +of any gale, when it would be otherwise impossible for the lifeboat to +get out of the harbour. The names of Coxswain Jarman, and more +recently of Coxswain Charles Fish, the hero of the Indian Chief rescue, +will long thrill the hearts of Englishmen and Englishwomen who read +that wondrous story of the sea. It may be fairly said that no storms +that blow in these latitudes can keep the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat +back, when summoned to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +I had the privilege of standing on Ramsgate pier-head on November 11, +1891, when amidst the cheers of the crowd, who indeed could hardly keep +their feet, the tug and lifeboat slowly struggled out against the great +gale which blew that day. The lifeboat is towed a long way astern of +the tug-boat, to the full scope of a sixty fathom, five inch, white +Manilla hawser, and on the day I speak of, as the lifeboat felt the +giant strain of the tug-boat and was driven into the seas outside the +harbour, every wave broke into wild spray mast high over the lifeboat +and into the faces of her crew. +</P> + +<P> +The crew are obtained from a body of 150 enrolled volunteers. The +first ten of these who get into the lifeboat when the rocket signal +goes up from the pier-head form on that occasion the crew of the +lifeboat. In addition to these the two coxswains, by virtue of their +office, raise the total number to twelve. The celebrated coxswain, +Charles Fish, was also harbour boatman at Ramsgate, and slept in a +watch-house at the end of the pier in a hammock. He was always first +aroused by the watch to learn that rockets were going up from some +distant lightship signifying 'a ship on the Goodwins.' With him rested +the decision to send up the answering rocket from the pier-head, upon +seeing which the police and coastguard called the lifeboat crew. Then +would come the rush for a place. +</P> + +<P> +The coxswain had to decide what signals were to be regarded as false +alarms, and there are many such; sometimes, it is said in Ramsgate, the +flash of the Calais lighthouse is taken for a ship burning flares and +in distress on the Goodwins, and draws the signal guns from the +lightships. Sometimes a hayrick on fire is mistaken for a vessel's +appealing signal; sometimes the signals, of enormous and unnecessary +size, which the French trawlers burn to each other at night around the +Goodwins, set both the lightships and lifeboats all astray; and the +coxswains of the lifeboats, both at Ramsgate and Deal, have to be on +their guard against these delusive agencies. As the coxswains in both +of these places are men of exceptional shrewdness and ability, mistakes +are few and far between. The coxswain of a lifeboat ought to have the +eye of a hawk and the heart of a lion, and, I will add, the tenderness +and pity of a woman. +</P> + +<P> +Never was the possession of these qualities more finely exhibited than +by coxswain Charles Fish and the crew of the Ramsgate lifeboat in the +rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief from the Long Sand on +January 5 and 6, 1881. The following account has been taken by +permission from the <I>Lifeboat Journal</I> for February, 1881, including +the extracts from the <I>Daily Telegraph</I> and the admirable engraving. +</P> + +<P> +The accompanying graphic accounts of the wreck of the Indian Chief, and +of the noble rescue of a portion of her crew by the Bradford +self-righting lifeboat, stationed at Ramsgate, appeared in the <I>Daily +Telegraph</I> on January 11 and 18, as related by the mate of the vessel +and the coxswain of the lifeboat. The lifeboats of the National +Lifeboat Institution stationed at Aldborough (Suffolk), Clacton and +Harwich (Essex), also proceeded to the scene of danger, but +unfortunately were unable to reach the wreck. Happily the Bradford +lifeboat persevered, amidst difficulties, hardships, and dangers hardly +ever surpassed in the lifeboat service; but her reward was indeed great +in saving eleven of our fellow-creatures, who must have succumbed, as +their mates had a few hours previously, to their terrible exposure in +bitterly cold weather for nearly thirty hours. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-211"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-211.jpg" ALT="The lifeboat Bradford at the wreck of the Indian Chief." BORDER="2" WIDTH="648" HEIGHT="426"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 648px"> +The lifeboat Bradford at the wreck of the Indian Chief. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Indeed, Captain Braine, the zealous Ramsgate harbour-master, states in +an official letter of January 8, in reference to this noble service, +that— +</P> + +<P> +'Of all the meritorious services performed by the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat, I consider this one of the best. The decision the coxswain +and crew arrived at to remain till daylight, which was in effect to +continue for fourteen hours cruising about with the sea continually +breaking over them in a heavy gale and tremendous sea, proves, I +consider, their gallantry and determination to do their duty. The +coxswain and crew of the lifeboat speak in the highest terms of her +good qualities; they state that when sailing across the Long Sand, +after leaving the wreck, the seas were tremendous, and the boat behaved +most admirably. Some of the shipwrecked crew have since stated that +they were fearful, on seeing the frightful-looking seas they were +passing through, that they were in more danger in the lifeboat than +when lashed to the mast of their sunken ship, as they thought it +impossible for any boat to live through such a sea.' +</P> + +<P> +The following are the newspaper accounts of a lifeboat service that +will always be memorable in the annals of the services of the lifeboats +of the National Lifeboat Institution; and many and many such services +reflect honour alike on the humanity of the age in which we live, and +on the organisation and liberality which have prompted and called them +into existence. +</P> + +<P> +'On the afternoon of Thursday, January 6, I made one of a great crowd +assembled on the Ramsgate east pier to witness the arrival of the +survivors of the crew of a large ship which had gone ashore on the Long +Sand early on the preceding Wednesday morning. A heavy gale had been +blowing for two days from the north and east; it had moderated somewhat +at noon, but still stormed fiercely over the surging waters, though a +brilliant blue sky arched overhead and a sun shone that made the sea a +dazzling surface of broken silver all away in the south and west. +Plunging bows under as she came along, the steamer towed the lifeboat +through a haze of spray; but amid this veil of foam, the flags of the +two vessels denoting that shipwrecked men were in the boat streamed +like well-understood words from the mastheads. The people crowded +thickly about the landing-steps when the lifeboat entered the harbour. +Whispers flew from mouth to mouth. Some said the rescued men were +Frenchmen, others that they were Danes, but all were agreed that there +was a dead body among them. One by one the survivors came along the +pier, the most dismal procession it was ever my lot to behold—eleven +live but scarcely living men, most of them clad in oilskins, and +walking with bowed backs, drooping heads and nerveless arms. There was +blood on the faces of some, circled with a white encrustation of salt, +and this same salt filled the hollows of their eyes and streaked their +hair with lines which looked like snow. The first man, who was the +chief mate, walked leaning heavily on the arm of the kindly-hearted +harbour-master, Captain Braine. The second man, whose collar-bone was +broken, moved as one might suppose a galvanised corpse would. A third +man's wan face wore a forced smile, which only seemed to light up the +piteous, underlying expression of the features. They were all +saturated with brine; they were soaked with sea-water to the very +marrow of the bones. Shivering, and with a stupefied rolling of the +eyes, their teeth clenched, their chilled fingers pressed into the +palms of their hands, they passed out of sight. As the last man came I +held my breath; he was alive when taken from the wreck, but had died in +the boat. Four men bore him on their shoulders, and a flag flung over +the face mercifully concealed what was most shocking of the dreadful +sight; but they had removed his boots and socks to chafe his feet +before he died, and had slipped a pair of mittens over the toes, which +left the ankles naked. This was the body of Howard Primrose Fraser, +the second mate of the lost ship, and her drowned captain's brother. I +had often met men newly-rescued from shipwreck, but never remember +having beheld more mental anguish and physical suffering than was +expressed in the countenances and movements of these eleven sailors. +Their story as told to me is a striking and memorable illustration of +endurance and hardship on the one hand, and of the finest heroical +humanity on the other, in every sense worthy to be known to the British +public. I got the whole narrative direct from the chief mate, Mr. +William Meldrum Lloyd, and it shall be related here as nearly as +possible in his own words. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +No. 1.—<I>The Mate's Account</I>. +</H3> + +<P> +'Our ship was the Indian Chief, of 1238 tons register; our skipper's +name was Fraser, and we were bound with a general cargo to Yokohama. +There were twenty-nine souls on board, counting the North-country +pilot. We were four days out from Middlesbrough, but it had been thick +weather ever since the afternoon of the Sunday on which we sailed. All +had gone well with us, however, so far, and on Wednesday morning, at +half-past two, we made the Knock Light. You must know, sir, that +hereabouts the water is just a network of shoals; for to the southward +lies the Knock, and close over against it stretches the Long Sand, and +beyond, down to the westward, is the Sunk Sand. Shortly after the +Knock Light had hove in sight, the wind shifted to the eastward and +brought a squall of rain. We were under all plain sail at the time, +with the exception of the royals, which were furled, and the main sail +that hung in the buntlines. The Long Sand was to leeward, and finding +that we were drifting that way the order was given to put the ship +about. It was very dark, the wind breezing up sharper and sharper, and +cold as death. The helm was put down, but the main braces fouled, and +before they could be cleared the vessel had missed stays and was in +irons. We then went to work to wear the ship, but there was much +confusion, the vessel heeling over, and all of us knew that the Sands +were close aboard. The ship paid off, but at a critical moment the +spanker-boom sheet fouled the wheel; still, we managed to get the +vessel round, but scarcely were the braces belayed and the ship on the +starboard tack, when she struck the ground broadside on. She was a +soft-wood built ship, and she trembled, sir, as though she would go to +pieces at once like a pack of cards. Sheets and halliards were let go, +but no man durst venture aloft. Every moment threatened to bring the +spars crushing about us, and the thundering and beating of the canvas +made the masts buckle and jump like fishing-rods. We then kindled a +great flare and sent up rockets, and our signals were answered by the +Sunk Lightship and the Knock. We could see one another's faces in the +light of the big blaze, and sung out cheerily to keep our hearts up; +and, indeed, sir, although we all knew that our ship was hard and fast +and likely to leave her bones on that sand, we none of us reckoned upon +dying. The sky had cleared, the easterly wind made the stars sharp and +bright, and it was comforting to watch the lightships' rockets rushing +up and bursting into smoke and sparks over our heads, for they made us +see that our position was known, and they were as good as an assurance +that help would come along soon and that we need not lose heart. But +all this while the wind was gradually sweeping up into a gale—and oh, +the cold, good Lord! the bitter cold of that wind! +</P> + +<P> +'It seemed as long as a month before the morning broke, and just before +the grey grew broad in the sky, one of the men yelled out something, +and then came sprawling and splashing aft to tell us that he had caught +sight of the sail of a lifeboat[1] dodging among the heavy seas. We +rushed to the side to look, half-blinded by the flying spray and the +wind, and clutching at whatever offered to our hands, and when at last +we caught sight of the lifeboat we cheered, and the leaping of my heart +made me feel sick and deathlike. As the dawn brightened we could see +more plainly, and it was frightful to notice how the men looked at her, +meeting the stinging spray borne upon the wind without a wink of the +eye, that they might not lose sight of the boat for an instant; the +salt whitening their faces all the while like a layer of flour as they +watched. She was a good distance away, and she stood on and off, on +and off, never coming closer, and evidently shirking the huge seas +which were now boiling around us. At last she hauled her sheet aft, +put her helm over, and went away. One of our crew groaned, but no +other man uttered a sound, and we returned to the shelter of the +deckhouses. +</P> + +<P> +'Though the gale was not at its height when the sun rose, it was not +far from it. We plucked up spirits again when the sun shot out of the +raging sea, but as we lay broadside on to the waves, the sheets of +flying water soon made the sloping decks a dangerous place for a man to +stand on, and the crew and officers kept the shelter of the +deck-cabins, though the captain and his brother and I were constantly +going out to see if any help was coming. But now the flood was making, +and this was a fresh and fearful danger, as we all knew, for at sunrise +the water had been too low to knock the ship out of her sandy bed, but +as the tide rose it lifted the vessel, bumping and straining her +frightfully. The pilot advised the skipper to let go the starboard +anchor, hoping that the set of the tide would slue the ship's stern +round, and make her lie head on to the seas; so the anchor was dropped, +but it did not alter the position of the ship. To know, sir, what the +cracking and straining of that vessel was like, as bit by bit she +slowly went to pieces, you must have been aboard of her. When she +broke her back a sort of panic seized many of us, and the captain +roared out to the men to get the boats over, and see if any use could +be made of them. Three boats were launched, but the second boat, with +two hands in her, went adrift, and was instantly engulphed, and the +poor fellows in her vanished just as you might blow out a light. The +other boats filled as soon as they touched the water. There was no +help for us in that way, and again we withdrew to the cabins. +</P> + +<P> +A little before five o'clock in the afternoon a huge sea swept over the +vessel, clearing the decks fore and aft, and leaving little but the +uprights of the deck-houses standing. It was a dreadful sea, but we +knew worse was behind it, and that we must climb the rigging if we +wanted to prolong our lives. The hold was already full of water, and +portions of the deck had been blown out, so that everywhere great +yawning gulfs met the eye, with the black water washing almost flush. +Some of the men made for the fore-rigging, but the captain shouted to +all hands to take to the mizzenmast, as that one, in his opinion, was +the securest. A number of the men who were scrambling forward returned +on hearing the captain sing out, but the rest held on and gained the +foretop. Seventeen of us got over the mizzentop, and with our knives +fell to hacking away at such running gear as we could come at to serve +as lashings. None of us touched the mainmast, for we all knew, now the +ship had broken her back, that that spar was doomed, and the reason why +the captain had called to the men to come aft was because he was afraid +that when the mainmast went it would drag the foremast, that rocked in +its step with every move, with it. I was next the captain in the +mizzentop, and near him was his brother, a stout-built, handsome young +fellow, twenty-two years old, as fine a specimen of the English sailor +as ever I was shipmate with. He was calling about him cheerfully, +bidding us not be down-hearted, and telling us to look sharply around +for the lifeboats. He helped several of the benumbed men to lash +themselves, saying encouraging things to them as he made them fast. As +the sun sank the wind grew more freezing, and I saw the strength of +some of the men lashed over me leaving them fast. The captain shook +hands with me, and, on the chance of my being saved, gave me some +messages to take home, too sacred to be written down, sir. He likewise +handed me his watch and chain, and I put them in my pocket. The canvas +streamed in ribbons from the yards, and the noise was like a continuous +roll of thunder overhead. It was dreadful to look down and watch the +decks ripping up, and notice how every sea that rolled over the wreck +left less of her than it found. +</P> + +<P> +'The moon went quickly away—it was a young moon with little power—but +the white water and the starlight kept the night from being black, and +the frame of the vessel stood out like a sketch done in ink every time +the dark seas ran clear of her and left her visible upon the foam. +There was no talking, no calling to one another, the men hung in the +topmast rigging like corpses, and I noticed the second mate to windward +of his brother in the top, sheltering him, as best he could, poor +fellow, with his body from the wind that went through our skins like +showers of arrows. On a sudden I took it into my head to fancy that +the mizzenmast wasn't so secure as the foremast. It came into my mind +like a fright, and I called to the captain that I meant to make for the +foretop. I don't know whether he heard me or whether he made any +answer. Maybe it was a sort of craze of mine for the moment, but I was +wild with eagerness to leave that mast as soon as ever I began to fear +for it. I cast my lashings adrift and gave a look at the deck, and saw +that I must not go that way if I did not want to be drowned. So I +swung myself into the crosstrees, and swung myself on to the stay, so +reaching the maintop, and then I scrambled on to the main topmast +crosstrees, and went hand over hand down the topmast stay into the +foretop. Had I reflected before I left the mizzentop, I should not +have believed that I had the strength to work my way for'rards like +that; my hands felt as if they were skinned and my finger-joints +appeared to have no use in them. There were nine or ten men in the +foretop, all lashed and huddled together. The mast rocked sharply, and +the throbbing of it to the blowing of the great tatters of canvas was a +horrible sensation. From time to time they sent up rockets from the +Sunk lightship—once every hour, I think—but we had long since ceased +to notice those signals. There was not a man but thought his time was +come, and, though death seemed terrible when I looked down upon the +boiling waters below, yet the anguish of the cold almost killed the +craving for life. +</P> + +<P> +'It was now about three o'clock on Thursday morning; the air was full +of the strange, dim light of the foam and the stars, and I could very +plainly see the black swarm of men in the top and rigging of the +mizzenmast. I was looking that way, when a great sea fell upon the +hull of the ship with a fearful crash; a moment after, the mainmast +went. It fell quickly, and as it fell it bore down the mizzenmast. +There was a horrible noise of splintering wood and some piercing cries, +and then another great sea swept over the after-deck, and we who were +in the foretop looked and saw the stumps of the two masts sticking up +from the bottom of the hold, the mizzenmast slanting over the bulwarks +into the water, and the men lashed to it drowning. There never was a +more shocking sight, and the wonder is that some of us who saw it did +not go raving mad. The foremast still stood, complete to the royal +mast and all the yards across, but every instant I expected to find +myself hurling through the air. By this time the ship was completely +gutted, the upper part of her a mere frame of ribs, and the gale still +blew furiously; indeed, I gave up hope when the mizzenmast fell and I +saw my shipmates drowning on it. +</P> + +<P> +'It was half an hour after this that a man, who was jammed close +against me, pointed out into the darkness and cried in a wild hoarse +voice, "Isn't that a steamer's light?" I looked, but what with grief +and suffering and cold, I was nearly blinded, and could see nothing. +But presently another man called out that he could see a light, and +this was echoed by yet another; so I told them to keep their eyes upon +it and watch if it moved. They said by and by that it was stationary; +and though we could not guess that it meant anything good for us, yet +this light heaving in sight and our talking of it gave us some comfort. +When the dawn broke we saw the smoke of a steamer, and agreed that it +was her light we had seen; but I made nothing of that smoke, and was +looking heartbrokenly at the mizzenmast and the cluster of drowned men +washing about it, when a loud cry made me turn my head, and then I saw +a lifeboat under a reefed foresail heading direct for us. It was a +sight, sir, to make one crazy with joy, and it put the strength of ten +men into every one of us. A man named Gillmore—I think it was +Gillmore—stood up and waved a long strip of canvas. But I believe +they had seen there were living men aboard us before that signal was +made. +</P> + +<P> +'The boat had to cross the broken water to fetch us, and in my agony of +mind I cried out, "She'll never face it! She'll leave us when she sees +that water!" for the sea was frightful all to windward of the Sand and +over it, a tremendous play of broken waters, raging one with another, +and making the whole surface resemble a boiling cauldron. Yet they +never swerved a hair's-breadth. Oh, sir, she was a noble boat! We +could see her crew—twelve of them—sitting at the thwarts, all looking +our way, motionless as carved figures, and there was not a stir among +them as, in an instant, the boat leapt from the crest of a towering sea +right into the monstrous broken tumble. +</P> + +<P> +'The peril of these men, who were risking their lives for ours, made us +forget our own situation. Over and over again the boat was buried, but +as regularly did she emerge with her crew fixedly looking our way, and +their oilskins and the light-coloured side of the boat sparkling in the +sunshine, while the coxswain, leaning forward from the helm, watched +our ship with a face of iron. +</P> + +<P> +'By this time we knew that this boat was here to save us, and that she +<I>would</I> save us, and, with wildly beating hearts, we unlashed +ourselves, and dropped over the top into the rigging. We were all +sailors, you see, sir, and knew what the lifeboatmen wanted, and what +was to be done. Swift as thought we had bent a number of ropes' ends +together, and securing a piece of wood to this line, threw it +overboard, and let it drift to the boat. It was seized, a hawser made +fast, and we dragged the great rope on board. By means of this hawser +the lifeboatmen hauled their craft under our quarter, clear of the +raffle. But there was no such rush made for her as might be thought. +No! I owe it to my shipmates to say this. Two of them shinned out +upon the mizzenmast to the body of the second mate, that was lashed +eight or nine feet away over the side, and got him into the boat before +they entered it themselves. I heard the coxswain of the boat—Charles +Fish by name, the fittest man in the world for that berth and this +work—cry out, "Take that poor fellow in there!" and he pointed to the +body of the captain, who was lashed in the top with his arms over the +mast, and his head erect and his eyes wide open. But one of our crew +called out, "He's been dead four hours, sir," and then the rest of us +scrambled into the boat, looking away from the dreadful group of +drowned men that lay in a cluster round the prostrate mast. +</P> + +<P> +'The second mate was still alive, but a maniac; it was heartbreaking to +hear his broken, feeble cries for his brother, but he lay quiet after a +bit, and died in half an hour, though we chafed his feet and poured rum +into his mouth, and did what men in our miserable plight could for a +fellow-sufferer. Nor were we out of danger yet, for the broken water +was enough to turn a man's hair grey to look at. It was a fearful sea +for us men to find ourselves in the midst of, after having looked at it +from a great height, and I felt at the beginning almost as though I +should have been safer on the wreck than in that boat. Never could I +have believed that so small a vessel could meet such a sea and live. +Yet she rose like a duck to the great roaring waves which followed her, +draining every drop of water from her bottom as she was hove up, and +falling with terrible suddenness into a hollow, only to bound like a +living thing to the summit of the next gigantic crest. +</P> + +<P> +'When I looked at the lifeboat's crew and thought of our situation a +short while since, and our safety now, and how to rescue us these +great-hearted men had imperilled their own lives, I was unmanned; I +could not thank them, I could not trust myself to speak. They told us +they had left Ramsgate Harbour early on the preceding afternoon, and +had fetched the Knock at dusk, and not seeing our wreck had lain to in +that raging sea, suffering almost as severely as ourselves, all through +the piercing tempestuous night. What do you think of such a service, +sir? How can such devoted heroism be written of, so that every man who +can read shall know how great and beautiful it is? Our own sufferings +came to us as a part of our calling as seamen. But theirs was bravely +courted and endured for the sake of their fellow-creatures. Believe +me, sir, it was a splendid piece of service; nothing grander in its way +was ever done before, even by Englishmen. I am a plain seaman, and can +say no more about it all than this. But when I think of what must have +come to us eleven men before another hour had passed, if the lifeboat +crew had not run down to us, I feel like a little child, sir, and my +heart grows too full for my eyes.' +</P> + +<P> +Two days had elapsed (continues the writer in the <I>Daily Telegraph</I>) +since the rescue of the survivors of the crew of the Indian Chief, and +I was gazing with much interest at the victorious lifeboat as she lay +motionless upon the water of the harbour. It was a very calm day, the +sea stretching from the pier-sides as smooth as a piece of green silk, +and growing vague in the wintry haze of the horizon, while the white +cliffs were brilliant with the silver sunshine. It filled the mind +with strange and moving thoughts to look at that sleeping lifeboat, +with her image as sharp as a coloured photograph shining in the clear +water under her, and then reflect upon the furious conflict she had +been concerned in only two nights before, the freight of half-drowned +men that had loaded her, the dead body on her thwart, the bitter cold +of the howling gale, the deadly peril that had attended every heave of +the huge black seas. Within a few hundred yards of her lay the tug, +the sturdy steamer that had towed her to the Long Sand, that had held +her astern all night, and brought her back safe on the following +afternoon. The tug had suffered much from the frightful tossing she +had received, and her injuries had not yet been dealt with; she had +lost her sponsons, her starboard side-house was gone, the port side of +her bridge had been started and the iron railing warped, her decks +still seemed dank from the remorseless washing, her funnel was brown +with rust, and the tough craft looked a hundred years old. Remembering +what these vessels had gone through, how they had but two days since +topped a long series of merciful and dangerous errands by as brilliant +an act of heroism and humanity as any on record, it was difficult to +behold them without a quickened pulse. I recalled the coming ashore of +their crews, the lifeboatmen with their great cork-jackets around them, +the steamer's men in streaming oilskins, the faces of many of them +livid with the cold, their eyes dim with the bitter vigil they had kept +and the furious blowing of the spray; and I remembered the bright smile +that here and there lighted up the weary faces, as first one and then +another caught sight of a wife or a sister in the crowd waiting to +greet and accompany the brave hearts to the warmth of their humble +homes. I felt that while these crews' sufferings and the courage and +resolution they had shown remained unwritten, only half of the very +stirring and manful story had been recorded. The narrative, as related +to me by the coxswain of the lifeboat, is a necessary pendant to the +tale told by the mate of the wrecked ship; and as he and his +colleagues, both of the lifeboat and the steam-tug, want no better +introduction than their own deeds to the sympathy and attention of the +public, let Charles Edward Fish begin his yarn without further preface. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +No. 2.—<I>The Coxswain's Account</I>. +</H3> + +<P> +'News had been brought to Ramsgate, as you know, sir, that a large ship +was ashore on the Long Sand, and Captain Braine, the harbour-master, +immediately ordered the tug and lifeboat to proceed to her assistance. +It was blowing a heavy gale of wind, though it came much harder some +hours afterwards; and the moment we were clear of the piers we felt the +sea. Our boat is considered a very fine one. I know there is no +better on the coasts, and there are only two in Great Britain bigger. +She was presented to the Lifeboat Institution by Bradford, and is +called after that town. But it is ridiculous to talk of bigness when +it means only forty-two feet long, and when a sea is raging round you +heavy enough to swamp a line-of-battle ship. I had my eye on the +tug—named the Vulcan, sir—when she met the first of the seas, and she +was thrown up like a ball, and you could see her starboard paddle +revolving in the air high enough out for a coach to pass under; and +when she struck the hollow she dished a sea over her bows that left +only the stern of her showing. We were towing head to wind, and the +water was flying over the boat in clouds. Every man of us was soaked +to the skin, in spite of our overalls, by the time we had brought the +Ramsgate Sands abeam; but there were a good many miles to be gone over +before we should fetch the Knock lightship, and so you see, sir, it was +much too early for us to take notice that things were not over and +above comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +'We got out the sail-cover—a piece of tarpaulin—to make a shelter of, +and rigged it up against the mast, seizing it to the burtons; but it +hadn't been up two minutes when a heavy sea hit and washed it right aft +in rags; so there was nothing to do but to hold on to the thwarts and +shake ourselves when the water came over. I never remember a colder +wind. I don't say this because I happened to be out in it. Old Tom +Cooper, one of the best boatmen in all England, sir, who made one of +our crew, agreed with me that it was more like a flaying machine than a +natural gale of wind. The feel of it in the face was like being gnawed +by a dog. I only wonder it didn't freeze the tears it fetched out of +our eyes. We were heading N.E., and the wind was blowing from N.E. +The North Foreland had been a bit of shelter, like; but when we had +gone clear of that, and the ocean lay ahead of us, the seas were +furious—they seemed miles long, sir, like an Atlantic sea, and it was +enough to make a man hold his breath to watch how the tug wallowed and +tumbled into them. I sung out to Dick Goldsmith, "Dick," I says, +"she's slowed, do you see, she'll never be able to meet it," for she +had slackened her engines down into a mere crawl, and I really did +think they meant to give up. I could see Alf Page—the master of her, +sir—on the bridge, coming and going like the moon when the clouds +sweep over it, as the seas smothered him up one moment, and left him +shining in the sun the next. But there was to be no giving up with the +tug's crew any more than with the lifeboat's; she held on, and we +followed. +</P> + +<P> +'Somewhere abreast of the Elbow buoy a smack that was running ported +her helm to speak us. Her skipper had just time to yell out, "A vessel +on the Long Sand!" and we to wave our hands, when she was astern and +out of sight in a haze of spray. Presently a collier named the Fanny, +with her foretopgallant-yard gone, passed us. She was cracking on to +bring the news of the wreck to Ramsgate, and was making a heavy sputter +under her topsails and foresail. They raised a cheer, for they knew +our errand, and then, like the smack, in a minute she was astern and +gone. By this time the cold and the wet and the fearful plunging were +beginning to tell, and one of the men called for a nip of rum. The +quantity we generally take is half a gallon, and it is always my rule +to be sparing with that drink for the sake of the shipwrecked men we +may have to bring home, and who are pretty sure to be in greater need +of the stuff than us. I never drink myself, sir, and that's one +reason, I think, why I manage to meet the cold and wet middling well, +and rather better than some men who look stronger than me. However, I +told Charlie Verrion to measure the rum out and serve it round, and it +would have made you laugh, I do believe, sir, to have seen the care the +men took of the big bottle—Charlie cocking his finger into the +cork-hole, and Davy Berry clapping his hand over the pewter measure, +whenever a sea came, to prevent the salt water from spoiling the +liquor. Bad as our plight was, the tug's crew were no better off; +their wheel is forrard, and so you may suppose the fellow that steered +had his share of the seas; the others stood by to relieve him; and for +the matter of water, she was just like a rock, the waves striking her +bows and flying pretty nigh as high as the top of her funnel, and +blowing the whole length of her aft with a fall like the tumble of +half-a-dozen cartloads of bricks. I like to speak of what they went +through, for the way they were knocked about was something fearful, to +be sure. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-231"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-231.jpg" ALT="Leaving Ramsgate Harbour in tow." BORDER="2" WIDTH="413" HEIGHT="635"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 413px"> +Leaving Ramsgate Harbour in tow. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'By half-past four o'clock in the afternoon it was drawing on dusk, and +about that hour we sighted the revolving light of the Kentish Knock +lightship, and a little after five we were pretty close to her. She is +a big red-hulled boat, with the words 'Kentish Knock' written in long +white letters on her sides, and, dark as it was, we could see her flung +up, and rushing down fit to roll her over and over; and the way she +pitched and went out of sight, and then ran up on the black heights of +water, gave me a better notion of the fearfulness of that sea than I +had got by watching the tug or noticing our own lively dancing. The +tug hailed her first, and two men looking over her side answered; but +what they said didn't reach us in the lifeboat. Then the steamer towed +us abreast, but the tide caught our warp and gave us a sheer that +brought us much too close alongside of her. When the sea took her she +seemed to hang right over us, and the sight of that great dark hull, +looking as if, when it fell, it must come right atop of us, made us +want to sheer off, I can tell you. I sung out, "Have you seen the +ship?" And one of the men bawled back, "Yes." "How does she bear?" +"Nor'-west by north." "Have you seen anything go to her?" The answer +I caught was, "A boat." Some of our men said the answer was, "A +lifeboat," but most of us only heard, "A boat." +</P> + +<P> +'The tug was now towing ahead, and we went past the lightship, but ten +minutes after Tom Friend sings out, "They're burning a light aboard +her!" and looking astern I saw they had fired a red signal light that +was blazing over the bulwark in a long shower of sparks. The tug put +her helm down to return, and we were brought broadside to the sea. +Then we felt the power of those waves, sir. It looked a wonder that we +were not rolled over and drowned, every man of us. We held on with our +teeth clenched, and twice the boat was filled, and the water up to our +throats. "Look out for it, men!" was always the cry. But every upward +send emptied the noble little craft, like pulling out a plug in a +wash-basin, and in a few minutes we were again alongside the +light-vessel. This time there were six or seven men looking over the +side. "What do you want?" we shouted. "Did you see the Sunk +lightship's rocket?" they all yelled out together. "Yes. Did you say +you saw a boat?" "No," they answered, showing we had mistaken their +first reply. On which I shouted to the tug, "Pull us round to the Long +Sand Head buoy!" and then we were under weigh again, meeting the +tremendous seas. There was only a little bit of moon, westering fast, +and what there was of it showed but now and again, as the heavy clouds +opened and let the light of it down. Indeed, it was very dark, though +there was some kind of glimmer in the foam which enabled us to mark the +tug ahead. "Bitter cold work, Charlie," says old Tom Cooper to me: +"but," says he, "it's colder for the poor wretches aboard the wreck, if +they're alive to feel it." The thought of them made our own sufferings +small, and we kept looking and looking into the darkness around, but +there was nothing to be spied, only now and again and long whiles apart +the flash of a rocket in the sky from the Sunk lightship. Meanwhile, +from time to time, we burnt a hand-signal—a light, sir, that's fired +something after the manner of a gun. You fit it into a wooden tube, +and give a sort of hammer at the end a smart blow, and the flame rushes +out, and a bright light it makes, sir. Ours were green lights, and +whenever I set one flaring I couldn't help taking notice of the +appearance of the men. It was a queer sight, I assure you, to see them +all as green as leaves, with their cork jackets swelling out their +bodies so as scarcely to seem like human beings, and the black water as +high as our mast-head, or howling a long way below us, on either side. +They burned hand-signals on the tug, too, but nothing came of them. +There was no sign of the wreck, and staring over the edge of the boat, +with the spray and the darkness, was like trying to see through the +bottom of a well. +</P> + +<P> +'So we began to talk the matter over, and Tom Cooper says, "We had +better stop here and wait for daylight." "I'm for stopping," says +Steve Goldsmith; and Bob Penny says, "We're here to fetch the wreck, +and fetch it we will, if we wait a week." "Right," says I; and all +hands being agreed—without any fuss, sir, though I dare say most of +our hearts were at home, and our wishes alongside our hearths, and the +warm fires in them—we all of us put our hands to our mouths and made +one great cry of "Vulcan ahoy!" The tug dropped astern. "What do you +want?" sings out the skipper, when he gets within speaking distance. +"There's nothing to be seen of the vessel, so we had better lie-to for +the night," I answered. "Very good," he says, and then the steamer, +without another word from her crew, and the water tumbling over her +bows like cliffs, resumed her station ahead, her paddles revolving just +fast enough to keep her from dropping astern. +</P> + +<P> +'As coxswain of the lifeboat, sir, I take no credit for resolving to +lie-to all night. But I am bound to say a word for the two crews, who +made up their minds without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, to +face the bitter cold and fierce seas of that long winter darkness, that +they might be on the spot to help their fellow-creatures when the dawn +broke and showed them where they were. I know there are scores of +sailors round our coasts who would have done likewise. Only read, sir, +what was done in the North, Newcastle way, during the gales last +October. But surely, sir, no matter who may be the men who do what +they think their duty, whether they belong to the North or the South, +they deserve the encouragement of praise. A man likes to feel, when he +has done his best, that his fellow-men think well of his work. If I +had not been one of that crew I should wish to say more; but no false +pride shall make me say less, sir, and I thank God for the resolution +He put into us, and for the strength He gave us to keep that resolution. +</P> + +<P> +'All that we had to do now was to make ourselves as comfortable as we +could. Our tow-rope veered us out a long way, too far astern of the +tug for her to help us as a breakwater, and the manner in which we were +flung towards the sky with half our keel out of water and then dropped +into a hollow—like falling from the top of a house, sir,—while the +heads of the seas blew into and tumbled over us all the time, made us +all reckon that, so far from getting any rest, most of our time would +be spent in preventing ourselves from being washed overboard. We +turned to and got the foresail aft, and made a kind of roof of it. +This was no easy job, for the wind was so furious that wrestling even +with that bit of a sail was like fighting with a steam-engine. When it +was up ten of us snugged ourselves away under it, and two men stood on +the after-grating thwart keeping a look-out, with the life-lines around +them. As you know, sir, we carry a binnacle, and the lamp in it was +alight and gave out just enough haze for us to see each other in. We +all lay in a lump together for warmth, and a fine show we made, I dare +say; for a cork jacket, even when a man stands upright, isn't +calculated to improve his figure, and as we all of us had cork jackets +on and oil-skins, and many of us sea boots, you may guess what a raffle +of legs and arms we showed, and what a rum heap of odds and ends we +looked, as we sprawled in the bottom of the boat upon one another. +Sometimes it would be Johnny Goldsmith—for we had three +Goldsmiths—Steve and Dick and Johnny—growling underneath that +somebody was lying on his leg; and then maybe Harry Meader would bawl +out that there was a man sitting on his head; and once Tom Friend swore +his arm was broke: but my opinion is, sir, that it was too cold to feel +inconveniences of this kind, and I believe that some among us would not +have known if their arms and legs really had been broke, until they +tried to use 'em, for the cold seemed to take away all feeling out of +the blood. +</P> + +<P> +'As the seas flew over the boat the water filled the sail that was +stretched overhead and bellied it down upon us, and that gave us less +room, so that some had to lie flat on their faces; but when this +bellying got too bad we'd all get up and make one heave with our backs +under the sail, and chuck the water out of it in that way. "Charlie +Fish," says Tom Cooper to me, in a grave voice, "what would some of +them young gen'lmen as comes to Ramsgate in the summer, and says they'd +like to go out in the lifeboat, think of this?" This made me laugh, +and then young Tom Cooper votes for another nipper of rum all round; +and as it was drawing on for one o'clock in the morning, and some of +the men were groaning with cold, and pressing themselves against the +thwarts with the pain of it, I made no objection, and the liquor went +round. I always take a cake of Fry's chocolate with me when I go out +in the lifeboat, as I find it very supporting, and I had a mind to have +a mouthful now; but when I opened the locker I found it full of water, +my chocolate nothing but paste, and the biscuit a mass of pulp. This +was rather hard, as there was nothing else to eat, and there was no +getting near the tug in that sea unless we wanted to be smashed into +staves. However, we hadn't come out to enjoy ourselves; nothing was +said, and so we lay in a heap, hugging one another for warmth, until +the morning broke. +</P> + +<P> +'The first man to look to leeward was old Tom's son—young Tom +Cooper—and in a moment he bawled out, "There she is!" pointing like a +madman. The morning had only just broke, and the light was grey and +dim, and down in the west it still seemed to be night; the air was full +of spray, and scarcely were we a-top of a sea than we were rushing like +an arrow into the hollow again, so that young Tom must have had eyes +like a hawk to have seen her. Yet the moment he sung out and pointed, +all hands cried out, "There she is!" But what was it, sir? Only a +mast about three miles off—just one single mast sticking up out of the +white water, as thin and faint as a spider's line. Yet that was the +ship we had been waiting all night to see. There she was, and my heart +thumped in my ears the moment my eye fell on that mast. But Lord, sir, +the fearful sea that was raging between her and us! for where we were +was deepish water, and the waves regular; but all about the wreck was +the Sand, and the water on it was running in fury all sorts of ways, +rushing up in tall columns of foam as high as a ship's mainyard, and +thundering so loudly that, though we were to windward, we could hear it +above the gale and the boiling of the seas around us. It might have +shook even a man who wanted to die to look at it, if he didn't know +what the Bradford can go through. +</P> + +<P> +'I ran my eye over the men's faces. "Let slip the tow rope," bawled +Dick Goldsmith. "Up foresail," I shouted, and two minutes after we had +sighted that mast we were dead before the wind, our storm foresail taut +as a drum-skin, our boat's stem heading full for the broken seas and +the lonely stranded vessel in the midst of them. It was well that +there was something in front of us to keep our eyes that way, and that +none of us thought of looking astern, or the sight of the high and +frightful seas which raged after us might have played old Harry with +weak nerves. Some of them came with such force that they leapt right +over the boat, and the air was dark with water flying a dozen yards +high over us in broad solid sheets, which fell with a roar like the +explosion of a gun ten or a dozen fathoms ahead. But we took no notice +of these seas, even when we were in the thick of the broken waters, and +all the hands holding on to the thwarts for dear life. Every thought +was upon the mast that was growing bigger and clearer, and sometimes +when a sea hove us high we could just see the hull, with the water as +white as milk flying over it. The mast was what they call 'bright,' +that is, scraped and varnished, and we knew that if there was anything +living aboard that doomed ship we should find it on that mast; and we +strained our eyes with all our might, but could see nothing that looked +like a man. But on a sudden I caught sight of a length of canvas +streaming out of the top, and all of us seeing it we raised a shout, +and a few minutes after we saw the men. They were all dressed in +yellow oilskins, and the mast being of that colour was the reason why +we did not see them sooner. They looked a whole mob of people, and one +of us roared out, "All hands are there, men!" and I answered, "Aye, the +whole ship's company, and we'll have them all!" for though, as we +afterwards knew, there were only eleven of them, yet, as I have said, +they looked a great number huddled together in that top, and I made +sure the whole ship's company were there. +</P> + +<P> +'By this time we were pretty close to the ship, and a fearful wreck she +looked, with her mainmast and mizzenmast gone, and her bulwarks washed +away, and great lumps of timber and planking ripping out of her and +going overboard with every pour of the seas. We let go our anchor +fifteen fathoms to windward of her, and as we did so we saw the poor +fellows unlashing themselves and dropping one by one over the top into +the lee rigging. As we veered out cable and drove down under her +stern, I shouted to the men on the wreck to bend a piece of wood on to +a line and throw it overboard for us to lay hold of. They did this, +but they had to get aft first, and I feared for the poor half-perished +creatures again and again as I saw them scrambling along the lee rail, +stopping and holding on as the mountainous seas swept over the hull, +and then creeping a bit further aft in the pause. There was a horrible +muddle of spars and torn canvas and rigging under her lee, but we could +not guess what a fearful sight was there until our hawser having been +made fast to the wreck, we had hauled the lifeboat close under her +quarter. There looked to be a whole score of dead bodies knocking +about among the spars. It stunned me for a moment, for I had thought +all hands were in the foretop, and never dreamt of so many lives having +been lost. Seventeen were drowned, and there they were, most of them, +and the body of the captain lashed to the head of the mizzenmast, so as +to look as if he were leaning over it, his head stiff upright and his +eyes watching us, and the stir of the seas made him appear to be +struggling to get to us. I thought he was alive, and cried to the men +to hand him in, but someone said he was killed when the mizzenmast +fell, and had been dead four or five hours. This was a dreadful shock; +I never remember the like of it. I can't hardly get those fixed eyes +out of my sight, sir, and I lie awake for hours of a night, and so does +Tom Cooper, and others of us, seeing those bodies torn by the spars and +bleeding, floating in the water alongside the miserable ship. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, sir, the rest of this lamentable story has been told by the mate +of the vessel, and I don't know that I could add anything to it. We +saved the eleven men, and I have since heard that all of them are doing +well. If I may speak, as coxswain of the lifeboat, I would like to say +that all hands concerned in this rescue, them in the tug as well as the +crew of the boat, did what might be expected of English sailors—for +such they are, whether you call some of them boatmen or not; and I know +in my heart, and say it without fear, that from the hour of leaving +Ramsgate Harbour to the moment when we sighted the wreck's mast, there +was only one thought in all of us, and that was that the Almighty would +give us the strength and direct us how to save the lives of the poor +fellows to whose assistance we had been sent.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Ten years more fly by, in which there is a splendid record of services +and rescues to the credit of Coxswain Fish, the Ramsgate lifeboatmen, +and the brave steam-tugs, Vulcan and Aid, and we come to the night of +Jan. 5 and 6, 1891, which is exactly, my readers will see, ten years to +the day after the rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief, a rescue +certainly unsurpassed for its dramatic intensity and its heroism even +by the Deal lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +At 3 a.m. on the night of Jan. 5, 1891, Coxswain Fish was asleep in his +hammock in the watch-house at the end of Ramsgate pier. There was a +gale blowing from the E.N.E., and in the long frost of that awful +winter there was no more terrible night than this. The thermometer +stood at 15° below freezing-point; there was a great sea and strong +wind. +</P> + +<P> +At 3 a.m. Fish was called by the watch on Ramsgate pier, and he saw a +flare on the Goodwins through the rifts in the snow squall. At 2.15 +Richard Roberts, the coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, was also roused +from sleep and launched his lifeboat, manned by the gallant Deal men. +But though the Deal men launched at 3.15 a.m., they had not the same +favourable chance of reaching the wreck, beating eight miles dead to +windward, as compared with the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed into the eye of +the wind by its powerful steam-tug Aid. +</P> + +<P> +We may on this occasion, therefore, leave out the consideration of the +Deal lifeboat, splendid as its effort was, inasmuch as it only arrived +at the scene of the wreck just as the Ramsgate lifeboat had saved the +crew. Some of the hardy Deal lifeboatmen were almost benumbed and +rendered helpless by the cold, and they only saw the tragedy of the +captain's death and the rescue of the remainder of the crew from the +wreck by the Ramsgate men. +</P> + +<P> +At 3 a.m. then the Ramsgate rocket went up in answer to the signals +from the Gull lightship; on that bitter night the lifeboat was manned +in eight minutes. The lifebelts and oilskins were handed into the +lifeboat; shivering, the brave hearts got their clothes on, and in less +time than this page has been written, the tow rope had been passed into +the lifeboat from the Aid, and that tug was out of the harbour, +dragging the lifeboat, head to sea, 110 yards astern of her. +</P> + +<P> +It was black midnight, and no man in the boat could see his neighbour; +the pier was like a great iceberg and sheeted with ice; the sea was +flying over the oilclad figures in the lifeboat and freezing almost as +it fell, rattling against the sails or on the deck, or fiercely hurled +into the faces of the men; indeed, every oilskin jacket was frozen +stiff before they had been towed a quarter of a mile against the +furious sea, which drenched them 'like spray,' as the coxswain +expressed it, 'from the parish fire engines.' The brave fellows were +more than drenched—they were all but frozen, but no one dreamed of +turning back, for though the lightship's rockets had stopped they could +see the piteous flares from the distant wreck now and then, as the snow +squalls broke, beckoning them on. +</P> + +<P> +The vessel on the Goodwins was the three-masted schooner or barquentine +The Crocodile, laden with stone from Guernsey to London, and when about +a mile or so north of the Goodwins 'reaching' on the port tack, 'missed +stays' in the heavy sea, and before they had time to 'wear' ship, she +struck the northern face of the Goodwins, against which a tremendous +sea was driven by the black north-easter that was blowing from the +Pole. She struck the Goodwins bows on with her head to the south-east, +and she heeled over to starboard, the sea which rolled from the E.N.E. +beating nearly on her port broadside. +</P> + +<P> +The wrecked crew knew their position, and that their only chance was +the advent of some lifeboat, and they burned flares, which consisted on +this occasion of their own clothes, which they tore off and soaked in +oil. They were soon beaten off the deck as the tide rose, and in the +darkness had to take to the rigging, the captain, who was an elderly +man, and his crew all together climbing in the mizzen weather rigging. +The weather rigging was of course more upright than the lee rigging, +which leaned over to the right or starboard hand as the vessel lay. +</P> + +<P> +As the tug bored to windward and rapidly neared the vessel they could +see the flares being carried up the rigging by the sorely beset crew, +and knew the extremity of the case; then the next snow squall wrapped +them in like a winding-sheet, and all was shut out. But still, on +plunged the Aid at great speed, for the new tug-boat Aid is a much +faster and more powerful boat than either of the old tugs, the Aid and +the Vulcan. Towing the lifeboat well to windward of the wreck, at last +the moment arrived, and though not a word was spoken and not a signal +made, the end of the tow-rope was let go by the lifeboat and sail was +made on her for the wrecked vessel, or rather for the flares. +</P> + +<P> +But even then down came an extra furious snow squall, and the lifeboat +had to anchor, lest she should miss the vessel altogether. +</P> + +<P> +This took time. Again in the fury of the storm the word was given 'Up +anchor!' and 'Run down closer to the wreck!' and again the anchor was +dropped to the best of the judgment of the coxswain. Fish and Cooper +were first and second coxswains ten years before, and exactly ten years +before to the day and hour the same brave men were in a similar +desperate struggle at the wreck of the Indian Chief. In the tremendous +sea the anchor was for the second time dropped well to windward of the +wreck. The hull was under water, and over it the hungry sea broke in +pyramids or solid sheets of flying, freezing spray. As they veered out +their cable and came towards the wreck bows foremost, for they anchored +the lifeboat this time by the stern, they could dimly see the cowering, +clinging figures in the rigging. They had to pay out their powerful +cable most cautiously, for great rollers bursting at the top, and the +size of a house, every now and then came racing at them, open-mouthed. +</P> + +<P> +I don't believe a man on board remembered it was exactly to the hour +ten years since they rescued the crew of the Indian Chief; but their +hearts, beating as warmly as ever in the cause of suffering humanity, +were concentrated on the present need. They veered down under the +stern of the wreck, and passing the cable a little aft in the lifeboat, +steered her up under the starboard-quarter of the wreck. They had just +got out their grapnel, and were about to throw it into the lee rigging +of the wreck, in hopes it would grip and hold—for unless it held of +itself no one of the frozen crew could come down to make it fast. Left +foot in front, well out on the gunwale, left hand grasping the fore +halyards to steady him—strong brave right hand swung back to hurl the +grapnel on the next chance, stood a gallant Ramsgate man, when with a +roar like the growl of a wild beast, a monstrous sea broke over vessel +and lifeboat, not merely filling her up, and over her thwarts, but +snapping her strong new Manilla hawser. +</P> + +<P> +Those who know the quality of the splendid cables supplied by the Royal +National Lifeboat Institution will understand the great force that must +have been exerted to snap this mighty hawser. But so it happened, and +away to leeward into the darkness, smothered, baffled, and almost +drowned, but by no means beaten, were swept on to and into the +shallower and more furious surf of the north-west jaw of the Goodwins, +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen. +</P> + +<P> +Contrast the freezing midnight scene of storm and surf, eight miles +from the nearest land, with the quiet sleep of millions. +</P> + +<P> +Here was a January midnight, black as a wolf's throat—thermometer 15° +below freezing, a mountainous surf on the Goodwins, and only twelve +brave men to face it all; but those twelve men were the heroes of a +hundred fights, and were determined to save the men on the wreck or die +for it. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, though swept to leeward, they got sail on the lifeboat and +got her on the starboard tack, ten men sheeting home the fore sheet. +'Bad job this!' they said, for words were few that night, and they made +through the surf for the tug, which was on the look-out for them, and +steered for the blue light they burned. Nothing can be more ghastly +than the effect of this blue light on the faces of the men or on the +wild hurly-burly of boiling snow white foam one moment seen raging +round the lifeboat, and the next obliterated in darkness, the more +pitchy by reason of the extinguished flare. +</P> + +<P> +The blue light was seen by the Aid, and she moved to leeward to pick up +the lifeboat after she emerged from the breakers. Again the tug-boat +passed her hawser on board the lifeboat, and once more towed her to +windward to the same position as before; and once again, burning to +save the despairing sailors, the lifeboatmen dropped anchor and veered +out their last remaining cable, well-knowing this was the last chance, +as they had only the one remaining cable. Tight as a fiddle string was +the good hawser, and the howling north-easter hummed its weird tune +along its vibrating length, as coil after coil was paid out in the +lulls, and the lifeboat came closer and closer, and at last slued right +under the starboard quarter of the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +By hand-lights, blue and green, they saw, high up in the air, the +unfortunate crew lashed in the weather-rigging, i. e. on the port or +left side of the wreck, the side opposite to that under shelter of +which they lay. The shelter was a poor one, for great seas broke over +the wreck and into the lifeboat on the other side. +</P> + +<P> +The men were lashed half-way up the weather rigging of the mizzenmast, +and the lifeboatmen shouted to them to come over and drop into the +lifeboat. To do this, they, half-frozen as they were, had to unlash +themselves from the weather-rigging and, in the awful cold and +darkness, climb up to the mast-head, where the lee-rigging or shrouds +met more closely the weather-rigging. Every giant sea shook the wreck; +every billow swayed her masts backwards and forwards so that they +'buckled' like fishing-rods, and the marvel is any man of the benumbed +crew succeeded in getting across from the weather side to the +lee-rigging aloft. +</P> + +<P> +It must be borne in mind that the deck was under water and 'raked' by +every sea, and that the only possible way of reaching the lifeboat was +by going up the rigging from the place where the wrecked crew were +lashed, and coming down—if only they could reach across—the other +side, which was next the lifeboat, and thence jumping or being hauled +into her. +</P> + +<P> +The topsails were in ribbons, and as the wrecked sailors clambered +aloft the great whips of torn canvas lashed and terrified and wounded +them. By great effort they got across the black gulf between the two +riggings—all but the captain. +</P> + +<P> +There high in air—visible as the blue lights flared up from the +lifeboat, struggling hard for life, hung the captain. +</P> + +<P> +One leg straddled across the chasm—one hand clutched the +weather-rigging he wanted to leave, and one hand reached out +blindly—hopefully to catch the lee shrouds—'You'll do it, captain! +Come on, captain! For God's sake, captain, come on!' And every face +in the blue glare was riveted on the struggling man but,—oh! what +anguish to the staring lifeboatmen eager to save him!—he fell, his +life-belt being torn off in his fall, full forty feet on to the +wave-washed mizzen boom. +</P> + +<P> +'Out boat-hooks, brave hearts, and catch him.' But a great billow +broke over the wreck and lifeboatmen, and never was he seen again. +</P> + +<P> +This time death won. +</P> + +<P> +Let us trust he was ready to meet his God. 'If it be not now, yet it +will come—the readiness is all.' +</P> + +<P> +Some jumping, and some dragged by the lines, the rest of the +shipwrecked men got into the lifeboat, so dazed, so benumbed that they +neither realised the loss of the captain nor their own miraculous +preservation. +</P> + +<P> +Just at this moment, under press of canvas, the foam flying from her +blue bows, at full speed came the Deal lifeboat, too late to avert the +disaster they had witnessed. +</P> + +<P> +They had left Deal at 3.15, but not having the aid of steam, were +half-frozen and much later on the scene of action than the Ramsgate tug +and lifeboat, to whom the honour of this grand rescue belongs. +</P> + +<P> +They reached Ramsgate Harbour at 7.30 a.m. and at 9 o'clock, without +having gone ashore to breakfast, almost worn out, but borne up by +dauntless spirit within, in response to a telegram from Broadstairs, +the same steam-tug, lifeboat, coxswain and crew, again steamed out of +Ramsgate Harbour. A collier, the Glide, had gone to the bottom after +collision with another vessel, named the Glance—such strange +coincidences there are in real life—and the crew of the Glide had +taken to their own small ship's boat, while the crew of the Glance had +been saved by the Broadstairs lifeboat. +</P> + +<P> +The crew of the Glide in their little boat were in great peril in the +mountainous seas which run off the North Foreland in easterly gales, +and it was feared they were lost. +</P> + +<P> +Once more into the teeth of the icy gale, without rest and with only +snatches of food taken in the lifeboat, after the long exposure of the +preceding night and its terrible scenes, the Ramsgate men were towed +behind their tug-boat to the rescue. They found the boat of the Glide +riding in a furious sea to a sea-anchor, the very best thing they could +have done. A sea-anchor may be rigged up by tying sails and oars +together, with, if possible, a weight attached just to keep them under +water, and then pitching the lot overboard. +</P> + +<P> +To this half-floating, half-submerged mass, the boat's painter was made +fast, and as it dragged through the water much more slowly than the +boat, the latter checked in its drift came head to sea, and yielding to +the send of each wave rode over crests and combers which would +otherwise have swamped her. +</P> + +<P> +Hardly hoping for deliverance, they saw the steam-tug and lifeboat +making for them and ranging to windward of them to give them a lee, and +they were all dragged at last safely into the Bradford. Soon they were +towed in between Ramsgate piers, and this time the flying of the +British red ensign denoted, 'All saved.' Shouts of rejoicing hailed +the double exploit of the hardy lifeboatmen, and their fellow townsmen +of Ramsgate proudly felt they had done 'by no means a bad piece of work +before breakfast that morning.' +</P> + +<P> +'Storm Warriors' of unconquered Kent, rivals in a hundred deeds of +mercy with your brethren the Deal boatmen, and with them sharing the +title of 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands,' God guard you in your perils +and bring you safe home at last! +</P> + +<P> +At many other points around the British Isles the same noble spirit is +displayed of splendid daring in a sacred cause. Would that all the +stalwart fishermen and boatmen of this dear England, as their +prototypes of the Sea of Galilee, would serve and follow Him who +Himself 'came to seek and to save that which was lost,' that so passing +through the waves of this troublesome world, finally they may come +through Him to the land of everlasting life! +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] This clearly is an error, for no lifeboat could possibly have been +near the wreck at this early hour. The ship struck at half-past two +o'clock on the morning of January 5, and at daybreak the rescue +mentioned was attempted, clearly, by a smack, for no lifeboat heard of +the wreck until eleven o'clock of the same day. Probably it was that +smack which afterwards conveyed the news of the wreck to Harwich at 11 +a.m. Another fishing smack proceeded at once to Ramsgate, and arrived +there at noon, having received the information of the wreck from the +Kentish Knock lightship. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOY'S LIBRARY OF ADVENTURE & HEROISM +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[Transcriber's note: This list contains only the titles and authors of +the books in this catalog. No attempt was made to transcribe the +assorted newspaper reviews.] +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Allan Adair; or Here and There in Many Lands, by Dr. Gordon Staples, +R.N. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Hero in Wolf-skin. A Story of Pagan and Christian, by Tom Bevan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Adventures of Val Daintry in the Graeco-Turkish War, by V. L. Going. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Stories for Boys. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +by Talbot Baines Reed. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Cock House and Fellsgarth. A Public School Story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. A Public School Story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Dog with a Bad Name. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Master of the Shell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +My Friend Smith. A Story of School and City Life. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Reginald Cruden. A Tale of City Life. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Tom, Dick, and Harry. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Roger Ingleton, Minor. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sir Ludar: A story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Parkhurst Boys, and other Stories of School Life. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +New Illustrated Stories. +<BR> +<I>By Various Authors.</I> +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Reign of Love, by H. M. Ward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Life's Little Stage, by Agnes Giberne. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In Quest of Hatasu, by Irene Strickland. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Those Dreadful Girls, by Esther E. Enock. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Popular Stories by +<BR> +Hesba Stretton. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Half Brothers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Carola. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Cobwebs and Cables. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Through a Needle's Eye. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +David Lloyd's Last Will. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Soul of Honour. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Stories by +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Evelyn Everett-Green. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Conscience of Roger Trehern. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Joint Guardians. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Marcus Stratford's Charge; or, Roy's Temptation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Alwyn Ravendale. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lenore Annandale's Story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Head of the House. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Mistress of Lydgate Priory; or, The Story of a Long Life. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Percivals. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Popular Stories by +<BR> +Mrs. O. F. Walton. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Lost Clue. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Peep behind the Scenes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Was I Right? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Doctor Forester. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Scenes in the Life of an Old Arm-chair. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Olive's Story; or, Life at Ravenscliffe. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Popular Stories by +<BR> +Amy Le Feuvre. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Mender; A Story of Modern Domestic Life. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Odd Made Even. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Heather's Mistress. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On the Edge of a Moor. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Carved Cupboard. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Dwell Deep; or Hilda Thorn's Life Story. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Odd. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Little Maid. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Puzzling Pair. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Bouverie Florin Library. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Awakening of Anthony Weir. By Silas K. Hocking. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the Days of the Gironde. A Story for Girls. By Thekla. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Money and the Man. By H. M. Ward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Chariots of the Lord: A Romance of the Time of James H. and the +coming of William of Orange. By Adolf Thiede. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Rose of York. By Florence Bone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Wonder Child: An Australian Story. By Ethel Turner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From Prison to Paradise: A Story of English Peasant Life in 1557. By +Alice Lang. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A Hero in the Strife. By Louisa C. Silke. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Adnah: A Tale of the Time of Christ. By J. Breckenridge Ellis. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Living It Out. By H. M. Ward. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Trouble Man: or, the Wards of St. James. By Emily P. Weaver. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Men of the Mountain. A Stirring Tale of the Franco-German War of +1870-1871. By S. R. Crockett. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Lost Clue. By Mrs. O. F. Walton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Love, The Intruder. A Modern Romance. By Helen H. Watson. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Fighting Line. By David Lyall. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Highway of Sorrow: A Story of Modern Russia. By Hesba Stretton. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Veiled Hearts: A Romance of Modern Egypt. By Rachel Willard. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sunday School Romances. By Alfred B. Cooper. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Cossart Cousins. By Evelyn Everett-Green. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Family Next Door. By Evelyn Everett-Green. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Greyfriars. By E. Everett-Green. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Peggy Spry. By H. M. Ward. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The 'Queen' Library. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Margaret, or, The Hidden Treasure. By N. F. P. K. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Against the World. By Evelyn R. Garratt. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Little Miss. By M. B. Manwell. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Belle and Dolly. By Anne Beale. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 24685-h.txt or 24685-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24685</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Heroes of the Goodwin Sands + + +Author: Thomas Stanley Treanor + + + +Release Date: February 25, 2008 [eBook #24685] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 24685-h.htm or 24685-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685/24685-h/24685-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685/24685-h.zip) + + + + + +HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS + +by + +THE REV. THOMAS STANLEY TREANOR, M.A. + +Chaplain, Missions to Seamen, Deal and the Downs + +Author of "The Log of a Sky Pilot," "The Cry from the Sea and the +Answer from the Shore." + +With Coloured and Other Illustrations + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: A Perilous Escape] + + +[Illustration: Title page] + + + +London +The Religious Tract Society +4 Bouverie Street & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard +1904 + + + + +PREFACE + +For twenty-six years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, the +writer of the following chapters has seen much of the Deal boatmen, +both ashore and in their daily perilous life afloat. For twenty-three +years he has also been the Honorary Secretary of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution for the Goodwin Sands and Downs Branch; he has +sometimes been afloat in the lifeboats at night and in storm, and he +has come into official contact with the boatmen in their lifeboat work, +in the three lifeboats stationed right opposite the Goodwin Sands, at +Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown. With these opportunities of observation, +he has written accurate accounts of a few of the splendid rescues +effected on those out-lying and dangerous sands by the boatmen he knows +so well. + +Each case is authenticated by names and dates; the position of the +wrecked vessel is given with exactness, and the handling and +manoeuvring of the lifeboat described, from a sailor's point of view, +with accuracy, even in details. + +The descriptions of the sea--of Nature in some of her most tremendous +aspects, of the breakers on the Goodwins--and of the stubborn courage +of the men who man our lifeboats are far below the reality. Each +incident occurred as it is related, and is absolutely true. + +The Deal boatmen are almost as mute as the fishes of the sea respecting +their own deeds of daring and of mercy on the Goodwin Sands. It is but +justice to those humble heroes of the Kentish coast that an attempt +should be made to tell some parts of their wondrous story. + +T. S. T. + +DEAL, 1904. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GOODWIN SANDS + II. THE DEAL BOATMEN + III. THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE + IV. THE GANGES + V. THE EDINA + VI. THE FREDRIK CARL + VII. THE GOLDEN ISLAND + VIII. THE SORRENTO, S.S. + IX. THE ROYAL ARCH + X. THE MANDALAY + XI. THE LEDA + XII. THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA + XIII. THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A PERILOUS RESCUE . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +THE LAUNCH OF THE LIFEBOAT + +THE GOODWIN SANDS + +A WRECK ON THE GOODWINS + +THE BOOM OF A DISTANT GUN + +SHOWING A FLARE + +HOOKING THE STEAMER + +A FORLORN HOPE + +POSITION OF THE GANGES ON THE SANDS + +DANGEROUS WORK + +THE ANCHOR OF DEATH (_from a photograph_) + +DEAL BOATMEN ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A HOTEL + +THE WRECK OF THE GOLDEN ISLAND + +CLOVE-HITCH KNOTS + +JARVIST ARNOLD + +THE KINGSDOWN LIFEBOAT + +SCENE ON DEAL BEACH, FEBRUARY 13, 1870 + +POSITION OF THE SORRENTO + +THE SORRENTO ON THE GOODWIN SANDS + +ALL HANDS IN THE LIFEBOAT + +THE LIFEBOAT BRADFORD AT THE WRECK OF THE INDIAN CHIEF + +LEAVING RAMSGATE HARBOUR IN TOW + + + + +[Illustration: The Launch of the Lifeboat. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GOODWIN SANDS + + + 'Would'st thou,' so the helmsman answered, + 'Learn the secrets of the sea? + Only those who brave its dangers + Comprehend its mystery.' + + +The Goodwin Sands are a great sandbank, eight miles long and about four +miles wide, rising out of deep water four miles off Deal at their +nearest point to the mainland. They run lengthwise from north to +south, and their breadth is measured from east to west. Counting from +the farthest points of shallow water around the Goodwins, their +dimensions might be reckoned a little more, but the above is +sufficiently accurate. + +Between them and Deal lies thus a stretch of four miles of deep water, +in which there is a great anchorage for shipping. This anchorage, of +historic interest, is called the Downs--possibly from the French _les +Dunes_, or 'the Sands,' a derivation which, so far as I know, was first +suggested by myself--and is sheltered from the easterly gales to some +extent by the Goodwins. + +The Downs are open to the north and south, and through this anchorage +of the Downs runs the outward and homeward bound stream of shipping of +all nations, to and from London and the northern ports of England, +Holland, Germany, and the Baltic. + +A very large proportion of the stream of shipping bound to London +passes inside the Goodwins or through the Downs, especially when the +wind is south-west, inasmuch as if they went in west winds outside the +Goodwins, they would find themselves a long way to leeward of the Gull +buoy. + +The passage here, between the Gull buoy and the Goodwin Sands, is not +more than two miles wide; and again I venture to suggest that the Gull +stream is derived from the French _la Gueule_. + +Though there are four miles of deep water between the Goodwin Sands and +the mainland, this deep water has rocky shallows and dangerous patches +in it, but I shall not attempt to describe them, merely endeavouring to +concentrate the reader's attention on the Goodwin Sands. Inside the +Goodwins and in this comparatively sheltered anchorage of deep water, +the outward bound shipping bring up, waiting sometimes for weeks for +fair wind; hence Gay's lines are strictly accurate, + + All in the Downs the fleet was moored. + + +The anchorage of the Downs is sheltered from west winds by the mainland +and from east winds by the dreaded Goodwins. They thus form a natural +and useful breakwater towards the east, creating the anchorage of the +Downs. + +In an easterly gale, notwithstanding the protection of the Goodwins, +there is a very heavy and even tremendous sea in the Downs, for the +Goodwin Sands lie low in the water, and when they are covered by the +tide--as they always are at high water--the protection they afford is +much diminished. + +The 'sheltered' anchorage of the Downs is thus a relative term. Even +in this shelter vessels are sometimes blown away from their anchors +both by easterly and westerly winds. + +In 1703 thirteen men-of-war were lost in the Downs in the same gale in +which Winstanley perished in the Eddystone Lighthouse of his own +construction, and I have seen vessels in winds both from east and west +driven to destruction from the Downs. Even of late years I have seen +450 vessels at anchor in the Downs, reaching away to the north and +south for nearly eight miles. + +Their appearance is most imposing, as may be judged from the engraving +on page 95, in which, however, only twenty-five ships are visible in +the moonlight. Almost all the ships in the engraving are outward +bound, and some, it may be, are on their last voyage. + +Outside, and to the cast of this great fleet of vessels, lies the great +'shippe-swallower,' the Goodwin Sands. The sands are very irregular in +shape, and are not unlike a great lobster, with his back to the cast, +and with his claws, legs, and feelers extended westwards towards Deal +and the shipping in the Downs. Far from the main body of the sands run +all manner of spits and promontories and jaws of sand, and through and +across the Goodwins in several directions are numbers of 'swatches,' or +passages of water varying in depth from feet to fathoms. + +No one knows, or can know, all the swatches, which vary very much month +by month according to the prevalence of gales or fair weather. I shall +never forget the sensation of striking bottom in one of those swatches +where I expected to find, and had found recently before in the same +state of the tide, a depth of six feet. The noise of broken water on +each side of us, and the ominous grating thump of our boat's keel +against the Goodwins, while the stumps of lost vessels grinned close +by, gave us a keen sense of the nearness of real peril. We were bound +to the East Goodwin lightship, and in the path of duty, but we were +glad to feel the roll of deep water under our boat's keel outside the +Goodwins. + +No one therefore knows, or can know, by reason of the perpetual +shifting of the sands, all the passages or swatches, either as to +direction or depth, of the Goodwins; but two or three main swatches are +tolerably well known to the Deal and Ramsgate lifeboatmen. + +There is a broad bay called Trinity Bay in the heart of the Goodwins, +out of which leads due north-east the chief swatch or passage through +the Sands. It is four or five fathoms deep at low water, and from +about three-quarters to a quarter of a mile wide, and it is called the +Ramsgate Man's Bight. Close to the outer entrance of this great +passage rides, about twelve feet out of water, the huge north-east +Whistle buoy of the Goodwins, which ever moans forth in calmest weather +its most mournful note. + +Sometimes when outside the Goodwins on my way from the North Goodwin to +the East Goodwin lightship, we have passed so close to this great buoy +that we could touch it with a boat-hook, and have heard its giant +breathing like that of some leviathan asleep on the surface of the sea, +which was dead calm at the time. I have also heard its boom at a +distance of eight miles. + +I have said this great swatch leads north-east through the +Goodwins--but north-east from what, and how is the point of departure +to be found on a dark night? If you ask the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat, who probably knows more, or at least as much about the Sands +and their secrets as any other living man, he will tell you to 'stand +on till you bring such a lightship to bear so and so, and then run due +north-east; only look out for the breakers on either side of you.' It +is one thing to go through this swatch in fair weather and broad +daylight, and another thing in the dark or even by moonlight, 'the sea +and waves roaring' their mighty accompaniment to the storm. + +There are other swatches, one more to the southward than the preceding, +and also running north-east, through which the Deal men once brought a +ship named the Mandalay into safety after protracted efforts. + +Another swatch too exists, opposite the East Goodwin buoy, being that +in which we struck the dangerous bottom. And yet another, just north +of the south-east buoy, leads right across the tail of the monster, and +so into the deep water of the Downs. + +Looking at a chart or reading of these passages, they seem easy enough, +but to find and get through them safely when you are as low down as you +are in a boat, near the sea level, is very difficult, and as exciting +as the escape of the entangled victims from the labyrinths of +old--unmistakable danger being all around you, and impressed on both +eyes and ears. + +The whole of the Goodwin Sands are covered by the sea at high water; +even the highest or north part of the Sands is then eight or ten feet +under water. At low water this north part of the Goodwins is six feet +at least above the sea level, and you can walk for miles on a rippled +surface cut into curious gulleys, the miniatures of the larger +swatches. Wild and lonely beyond words is the scene. The sands are +hard when dry--in some places as hard as the hardest beach of sand that +can be named. Near the Fork Spit the sand is marvellously hard. On +the north-west part of the Goodwins, which is that given in the +engraving, it is hard, but not so hard as elsewhere. In all cases it +is soft and pliable under water, and sometimes in wading you sink with +alarming rapidity. + +Recently attempting in company with a friend to wade a very +peculiar-looking but shallow swatch--to right and left of us being blue +swirls of deeper water, the 'fox-falls' on a smaller scale of another +part of the Sands, and exceedingly beautiful--I suddenly sank pretty +deep, and struggled back with all my energies into firmer footing from +the Goodwins' cold and tenacious embrace. + +The Sands reach round you for miles, and the greater swatches cut you +off from still more distant and still more extensive reaches of sand. +In such solitudes, and with such vastness around you, of which the +great lonely level stretch makes you conscious as nothing ashore can +do, you realise what an atom you are in creation. + +[Illustration: The Goodwin Sands.] + +Here you see a ship's ribs. This was the schooner laden with +pipe-clay, out of which in a dangerous sea the captain and crew escaped +in their own boat, as the lifeboat advanced to save them. Far away on +the Sands you see the fluke of a ship's anchor, which from the shape +when close to it we recognise to be a French pattern. + +With me stood the coxswain of the celebrated Deal lifeboat, Richard +Roberts. Intently he gazed at the projecting anchor fluke--shaft and +chain had long been sucked down into the Goodwins--and then, after a +good long look all round, taking the bearings of the deadly thing, at +last he said, 'What a dangerous thing on a dark night for the lifeboat!' + +Just think, good reader! The lifeboat, close reefed, flies to the +rescue on the wings of the storm into the furious seas which revel and +rage on the Goodwins. Her fifteen men dauntlessly face the wild +smother. She sinks ponderously in the trough of a great roller, and +the anchor fluke is driven right through her bottom and holds her to +the place--for hold her it would, long enough to let the breakers tear +every living soul out of her! + +Under our feet and deep in the sand lie vessels one over another, and +in them all that vessels carry. Countless treasures must be buried +there--the treasures of centuries. Witness the Osta Junis, a Dutch +East Indiaman, which, treasure-laden with money and other valuables to +a great amount, ran on the Goodwin Sands, July 12, 1783. The Deal +boatmen were quickly on board, and brought the treasures ashore, which, +as it was war time, were prize to the Crown, and were conveyed to the +Bank of England[1]. That merchandise, curiosities, and treasures lie +engulfed in the capacious maw of the Goodwin Sands is very probable, +although we may not quite endorse Mr. Pritchard's statement that 'if +the multitude of vessels lost there during the past centuries could be +recovered, they would go a good way towards liquidating the National +Debt.' + +From its mystery and 'shippe-swallowing' propensities, the word +'monster' is peculiarly appropriate to this great quicksand, which +still craves more victims, and still with claws and feelers +outstretched--Scylla and Charybdis combining their terrors in the +Goodwins--lies in ambush for the goodly ships that so bravely wing +their flight to and fro beyond its reach. But it is only in the storm +blast and the midnight that its most dreadful features are unveiled, +and even then the lifeboatmen face its perils and conquer them. + +Independently of the breakers and cross-seas of stormy weather, the +dangers of the Goodwin Sands arise from the facts that they lie right +in the highway of shipping, that at high water they are concealed from +view, being then covered by the sea to the depth of from ten to +twenty-five feet, varying in different places, and that furious +currents run over and around them. + +Add to this that they are very lonely and distant from the mainland, +and, being surrounded by deep water, are far from help; whilst, as an +additional and terrible danger, here and there on the sands, wrecks, +anchors, stumps, and notably the great sternpost of the Terpsichore, +from which a few months ago Roberts and the Deal lifeboatmen had +rescued all the crew, stick up over the surface. And woe be to the +boat or vessel which strikes on these! + +On September 12, 1891, on my way to the North Sandhead lightship, +which, however, we failed to reach by reason of the strong ebb tide +against us and the wind dropping to a calm, we revisited this sternpost +of the Terpsichore. We got down mast and sails and took to our oars. +The light air from the north-east blew golden feathery cloud-films +across the great blue arch above our heads, and for once in the arctic +summer of 1891 the air was warm and balmy. Starting from the +North-west Goodwin buoy, we soon rowed into shallow water, crossing a +long spit of sand on which, not far from us, a feathery breaker raced. +Again we get into deep water, having just hit the passage into an +amphitheatre in the Goodwins of deep water bordered by a circle or +ridge of sand about three feet under water, over which the in-tide was +fiercely running and rippling, and upon which here and there a breaker +raised its warning crest. + +We reached the great sternpost of the lost Terpsichore at 9.22 a.m., +just two hours before low water at the neap tides, and found it +projected five feet nine inches above the water, which was ten feet six +inches deep in the swilly close to it, but nowhere shallower than eight +feet within a distance of fifty yards from the stump. Underneath in +the green sea-water there lay quite visible the keel and framework of +the vessel; and again I heard the story from Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat, who was with me, of the rescue of the crew of this +very vessel at 2.15 a.m. on the stormy night of the preceding November +14. + +As we held by the green sea-washed stump, it was hard to realise the +sublime story of that awful night: the mighty sea warring with the +furious wind, and the dismantled, beaten ship--masts gone overboard and +tossing in mad confusion of spars and cordage along her side--into +which most black and furious hell the lifeboatmen dared to venture the +Deal lifeboat, and out of which she and her gallant crew came, by God's +mercy, triumphant and unscathed, having saved every soul on board, and +also, with a fine touch of humanity often to be found in a brave +sailor's heart, the 'harmless, necessary cat' belonging to the vessel. +I can assure my readers that poor pussy's head and green eyes peering +out of the arms of one of the storm-battered sailors as they struggled +up Deal beach was a beautiful and most touching sight. + +Having lingered and examined this wreck as long as we dared, we now +tried to get out of the great circle in which we were enclosed. With +one man in the bows and another steering, we tried to cross the +submerged ridge of sand which encircled us and over which the tide +raced; but we struck the sand, and then were turned broadside on by the +furious current and swept back into the circle. Cautiously we rowed +along, when, not twenty yards off, I saw an object triangular and not +unlike a shark's fin just above the water. 'Hard-a-starboard!' at the +same moment cried the man in the bows, and then in the same breath, +'Port, sir, quick! Hard-a-port!' For to right of us stuck up out of +eight feet of water, beautifully clear and green, the iron pump-work of +a submerged wreck, the iron projection being not more than six inches +out of water; and then, a few yards further on to the left of the boat, +out of deep water, a rib, it may be, of the same forgotten and it may +be long-buried vessel. + +Had not the water been calm and clear, the place would have been a +regular death-trap. With increased caution we felt our way all round +the great circle into which we had entered. South of us rose a smooth +yellow-brown bank of sand, and upon this sunny shore tripped hundreds +of great white seagulls. So warm, so silent, so lonely was the place +that it might have been an island in the Pacific; and upon the same +yellow sandbank there basked, quite within view, a great, large-eyed +seal. + +At last we found our way out of the heart of the Goodwins, and got into +the deep, wide swatchway called the Ramsgate Man's Bight. Away to the +north-east we saw the Whistle buoy, and toward the east the East buoy, +both of which mark the outer edge of the Goodwins. + +In the deep centre of this swatch rolled the mast of another wreck, +somehow fast to the bottom, and having gazed at this weird sight, we +landed, amidst the wild screams of protesting sea-birds, and explored +all round for a mile the edges of this sandbank, which was of singular +firmness and yellowness, and upon which, in rhythmic cadence, plashed a +most pellucid sea. + +With change of tide and rising water we got up sail and at last reached +the Gull lightship, on whose deck we met old friends, and where we had +Divine Service as the evening fell in. Need it be said that that which +we had just seen on the Goodwins, the memories of the lost ships, and +of the gallant seamen who lie buried there, served to point a moral and +to raise all our hearts to that good land where 'there shall be no more +death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more +pain, for the former things are passed away.' One of the hymns in that +service was suggested by the scene we had left, and began thus, + + Jesus! Saviour! Pilot me. + + +But not every boat that visits the mysterious quicksand escapes as +readily. Skilled and hardy boatmen are sometimes lost even in fine +weather. + +About twenty years ago a Deal galley punt, and four men, Bowbyas, +Buttress, Erridge, and Obree, skilled Deal boatmen, landed on the +Goodwins to get some coal from a wrecked collier. All that is +certainly known is that they never returned, and that they had been +noticed by a passing barge running to and fro and waving, which the +bargemen thought, alas! was only the play of some holiday-keepers on an +excursion to the Goodwins. They went to the Goodwins in a light +south-west breeze and smooth sea. While there the wind shifted to +north-east and a tumble of a sea got up, and it is supposed that it +then beat into and filled their laden boat, despite the efforts which +they are believed to have made to float her or get her ride to her +anchor and come head to wind. If this be so, how long and desperate +must their struggle have been to save their boat from wreckage, and to +pump out the water and heave out the coal. Their anchor and cable, +found on the sands and let go to full scope, favours this idea. + +On the other hand, the fact that they were seen wildly running to and +fro looks as if some sudden catastrophe had occurred, as if they had +struck on some stump in the water close to the very edge of the +Goodwins. + +The very day on which the photographs were taken which have been used +to illustrate this chapter, we were shoving off the steep northern face +of the Goodwin Sands, when we saw, not ten yards from the precipitous +edge of the dull red sands, in about twenty-five feet of water, and +just awash or level with the surface, the bristling spars and masts of +a three-masted schooner, the Crocodile, which had been lost there +January 6, 1891, in a fearful snowstorm, from the north-east, of that +long winter. Had we even touched those deadly points, we too should +have probably lost our boat and been entrapped on the Goodwin Sands. +The coxswain of the Deal lifeboat was with us, and told how that at +three o'clock on that terrible January morning, or rather night, +wearied with previous efforts, he had launched the lifeboat and beat in +the face of the storm and intense cold ten miles to windward, toward +the burning flares which told of a vessel on the Sands. + +Just when within reach of the vessel, this very wreck, they saw the +Ramsgate tug and lifeboat were just before them, and taking the crew +out of the rigging of the wreck. In sight of the whole company, for +their lanterns and lights were burning, the poor exhausted captain of +the schooner, in trying to get down from the rigging, in which he was +almost frozen to death, fell into the stormy sea and was lost in the +darkness, while the remainder were gallantly rescued by the Ramsgate +lifeboat. + +[Illustration: A wreck on the Goodwins.] + +It was on the dangerous stumps and masts of this vessel, to save the +crew of which the Deal and Ramsgate men made such a splendid effort, +that we so nearly ran; and an accident of this kind perhaps sealed the +fate of the four boatmen above mentioned. + +On this north-west part of the Goodwins, on which hours of the deepest +interest could be spent, you can walk a distance of at least two miles, +but you are separated by the great north-east swatch of deep water from +getting to the extensive north-east jaw on the other side of the +swatch, which is also full of wrecks, and round and along the edges of +which, on the calmest day, somehow the surf and breakers for ever roar. +The southern part of the Goodwins is also full of memories, and of +countless wrecks. The ribs of the Ganges, the Leda, the Paul Boyton, +the Sorrento, all lie there deep down beneath the Sands, excepting when +some mighty storm shifts the sand and reveals their skeletons. Deep, +too, in the bosom of the Goodwins, masts alone projecting, is settling +down the Hazelbank, wrecked there in October, 1890; but this southern +part at lowest tide is barely uncovered by the sea, and only just awash. + +At high water the depth is about three fathoms, varying of course in +patches, over this southern part or tail of the sea-monster. It is +clear that, being thus, even at low tide, nearly always covered with +water, and as the sand when thus covered is much more 'quick' and +movable, the southern part of the Goodwins is an exceedingly awkward +place to explore. If you made a stumble, as the sands slide under your +feet, it might, shall I say, land you into a pit or 'fox-fall,' +circular in shape, and very deep. The stumps of forgotten wrecks are +also a real danger to the boat which accompanies the investigator. + +As to the depth of the great sandbank, borings have been made down to +the chalk to a depth of seventy-eight feet--a fact which might have +been fairly conjectured from the depth of water inside the Goodwins, +down to the chalky bottom being nine or ten fathoms, while the depth +close outside the Goodwins, where the outer edge of the sands is sheer +and steep, is fifteen fathoms, deepening a mile and a half further off +the Goodwins to twenty-eight fathoms. + +The ships wrecked on the Goodwins go down into it very slowly, but they +sometimes literally fall off the steep outer edge into the deep water +above described. + +One still bright autumn morning I witnessed a tragedy of that +description. On the forenoon of November 30, 1888, I was on the deck +of a barque, the Maritzburg, bound to Port Natal. I had visited the +men in the forecastle, and indeed all hands fore and aft, as Missions +to Seamen chaplain; and to them all I spoke, and was, in fact, speaking +of that only 'Name under heaven whereby we must be saved,' when my eyes +were riveted, as I gazed right under the sun, by the drama being +enacted away to the southward. + +There I saw, three miles off, our two lifeboats of Kingsdown and +Walmer, each in tow of a steamer which came to their aid, making for +the Goodwins, and on the outer edge of the Goodwins I beheld a hapless +brig, with sails set, aground. I saw her at that distance lifted by +the heavy sea, and at that distance I saw the great tumble of the +billows. That she had heavily struck the bottom I also saw, for +crash!--and even at that distance I verily seemed to hear the +crash--away went her mainmast over her side, and the next instant she +was gone, and had absolutely and entirely disappeared. I could not +believe my eyes, and rubbed them and gazed again and yet again. + +She had perished with all hands. The lifeboats, fast as they went, +were just too late, and found nothing but a nameless boat, bottom +upwards, and a lifebelt, and no one ever knew her nationality or name. +She had struck the Goodwins, and had been probably burst open by the +shock, and then, dragged by the great offtide to the east, had rolled +into the deep water outside the Goodwins and close to its dreadful edge. + +What a sermon! What a summons! There they lie till the sea give up +its dead, and we all 'appear before the judgment seat of Christ.' + +The origin of the Goodwin Sands is a very interesting question, and is +discussed at length in Mr. Gattie's attractive _Memorials of the +Goodwin Sands_. There is the romantic tradition that they once, as the +'fertile island of Lomea,' formed part of the estates of the great Earl +Godwin, and that as a punishment for his crimes they 'sonke sodainly +into the sea.' Another tradition, given by W. Lambard, tells us that +in the end of the reign of William Rufus, 1099 A.D., there was 'a +sodaine and mighty inundation of the sea, by the which a great part of +Flaunders and of the lowe countries thereabouts was drenched and lost;' +and Lambard goes on to quote Hector Boethius to the effect that 'this +place, being sometyme in the possession of the Earl Godwin, was then +first violently overwhelmed with a light sande, wherewith it not only +remayneth covered ever since, but is become withal (_Navium gurges et +vorago_) a most dreadful gulfe and shippe-swallower.' + +The latter phrase of 'shippe-swallower' being only too true, has stuck, +and there does seem historic ground to warrant us in believing that in +the year named there was a great storm and incursion of the sea; but +whether the Goodwin Sands were ever the fertile island of Lomea and the +estate of the great earl seems to be more than uncertain. + +But there is no doubt whatever that the theory that the inundation of +the sea in A.D. 1099, which 'drenched' the Low Countries, withdrew the +sea from the Goodwins and left it bare at low water, while before this +inundation it had been more deeply covered by the ocean, is quite +untenable, for the sea never permanently shifts, but always returns to +its original level. When we speak of the sea 'gaining' or 'losing,' +what is really meant is that the land gains or loses, and therefore the +idea of the Goodwins being laid bare and uncovered by the sea water +running away from it and over to Flanders is absurd. + +In all probability the origin of the Goodwin Sands is not to be +ascribed to their once having been a fertile island, or to their having +been uncovered by the sea falling away from them, but to their having +been actually formed by the action of the sea itself, ever since the +incursion of the sea up the Channel and from the north made England an +island. + +There are great natural causes in operation which account for the +formation of the mighty sandbank by gradual accumulation, without +having recourse to the hypothesis that it is the ruined remains of the +fabulous island of Lomea, fascinating as the idea is that it was once +Earl Godwin's island home. + +The two great tidal waves of different speed which sweep round the +north of England and up the English Channel, meet twice every day a +little to the north of the North Foreland, where the writer has often +waited anxiously to catch the ebb going south. + +Eddies and currents of all kinds hang on the skirts of this great +'meeting of the waters,' and hence in the narrows of the Channel, where +the Goodwins lie, the tide runs every day twice from all points of the +compass, and there is literally every day in the year a great whirlpool +all round and over the Goodwin Sands, deflected slightly perhaps, but +not caused by those sands, but by the meeting of the two tidal waves +twice every twenty-four hours. + +This daily Maelstrom is sufficient to account for the formation of the +mighty sandbank, for the water is laden with the detritus of cliff and +beach which it has taken up in its course round England, and, just as +if you give a circular motion to a basin of muddy water, you will soon +find the earthy deposit centralised at the bottom of the basin, so the +great Goodwins are the result of the daily deposit of revolving tides. + +That the tides literally 'revolve' round the Goodwins is well known to +the Deal men and to sailors in general, and this revolution is +described in most of the tide tables and nautical almanacks used by +mariners, _e.g._ 'The Gull Stream about one hour and ten minutes before +high water runs N.E. 3/4 N., but the last hour changes to E.N.E. and +even to E.S.E., and the last hour of the southern stream changes from +S.W. 1/2 S. to W.S.W. and even to W.N.W[2].' Here the reader will +distinctly see recorded the great causes in operation which are +sufficient in the lapse of centuries to produce and maintain the +Goodwin Sands. But how they came to be called the Goodwin Sands we +know not, and can only conjecture. Those were the days of Siward and +Duncan and Macbeth, and, like them, the imposing form of the great Earl +of Kent is shrouded in the mists and the myths of eight centuries. + +He was evidently placed, in the first instance by royal authority or +that of the Saxon Witan, in some such position as Captain of the Naval +forces of all Southern England, and it is certain that he gathered +round himself the affections of the sailors of Sandwich, Hythe, Romney, +Hastings, and Dover. + +When he sailed from Bruges against Edward, 'the fort of Hastings opened +to his coming with a shout from its armed men. All the boatmen, all +the mariners far and near, thronged to him, with sail and shield, with +sword and with oar.' And on his way to Pevensey and Hastings from +Flanders he would seem to have run outside, and at the back of the +Goodwins, while the admirals of Edward the Confessor, Rodolph and Odda, +lay fast in the Downs. + +He appears, by virtue of his semi-regal position--for Kent with Wessex +and Sussex were under his government--to have been the Commander of a +Naval agglomeration of those southern ports which was the germ, very +probably, of the subsequent 'Cinque Ports' confederation, with their +'Warden' at their head; but at any rate he swept with him in this +expedition against Edward all the 'Buscarles' (boat-carles or seamen) +of those southern ports, Hythe, Hastings, Dover, and Sandwich. His +progress towards London was a triumphant one with his sons. 'All +Kent--the foster-mother of the Saxons,' we are told, on this occasion +'sent forth the cry, "Life or death with Earl Godwin!"' + +Crimes may rest on the name of Earl Godwin, despite his oath to the +contrary and his formal acquittal by the Witan-gemot, and dark deeds +are still affixed to his memory, but 'there was an instinctive and +prophetic feeling throughout the English nation that with the house of +Godwin was identified the cause of the English people.' With all his +faults he was a great Englishman, and was the popular embodiment of +English or Saxon feeling against the Normanising sympathies of Edward. + +In legend the Godwin family, even in death, seem to have been connected +with the sea. There is the legend of Godwin's destruction with his +fleet in the Goodwin Sands, and there is the much better authenticated +legend of Harold's burial in the sea-sand at Hastings. The Norman +William's chaplain records that the Conqueror said, 'Let his corpse +guard the coasts which his life madly defended.' + + Wrap them together[3] in a purple cloak, + And lay them both upon the waste sea-shore + At Hastings, there to guard the land for which + He did forswear himself. + + +Tenterden Steeple is certainly not the cause of the Goodwin Sands, and +the connection supposed to exist between them seems to have first +occurred to some 'aged peasant' of Kent examined before Sir Thomas More +as to the origin of the Goodwin Sands. But, as Captain Montagu +Burrows, R.N., mentions in his most interesting book on the Cinque +Ports, Tenterden Steeple was not built till 1462, and 'was not in the +popular adage connected with the Goodwin Sands, but with Sandwich +Haven. It ran thus-- + + Of many people it hath been sayed + That Tenterden steeple Sandwich haven hath decayed.' + + +Godwin's connection with Tenterden Steeple seems, therefore, to be as +mythical as his destruction in the Goodwin Sands with his whole fleet, +and we are driven to suppose that the connection of his family name +with the Goodwin Sands arose either from Norman and monkish detestation +of Harold and Godwin's race, and the desire to associate his name as +infamous with those terrible quicksands; or that these Sands had some +connection with the great earl and his family which we know not of, +whether as having been, according to doubtful legend, his estate, or +because he must often have victoriously sailed round them, and hard by +them often hoisted his rallying flag; or that these outlying, but +guarding Sands received from the patriotic affection of the valiant +Kentish men the title of 'the Goodwin Sands' in memory of the great +Earl Godwin and of Godwin's race[4]. + + + +[1] See Pritchard's interesting _History of Deal_, p. 196. + +[2] Jefferson's _Almanack_, 1892. + +[3] Edith and Harold. + +[4] I am reminded by the Rev. C. A. Molony that Goodnestone next +Wingham or Godwynstone, and Godwynstone next Faversham, both referred +to in _Archaeologia Cantiana_, are localities which probably +commemorate the name of the great Earl of Kent. Hasted mentions that +the two villages were part of Earl Godwin's estates, and on his death +passed to his son Harold, and that when Harold was slain they were +seized by William and given to some of his adherents. Mr. Molony +mentions a tradition at Goodnestone near Wingham, that both that +village and Godwynstone near Faversham were the lands given by the +crown to Earl Godwin to enable him to keep in repair Godwin's Tower and +other fortifications at Dover Castle. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DEAL BOATMEN + + Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands, + They claim the danger. + + +Ever since fleets anchored in the Downs, the requirements of the great +number of men on board, as well as the needs of the vessels, would have +a tendency to maintain the supply of skilled and hardy boatmen to meet +those needs. Pritchard, in his _History of Deal_, which is a mine of +interesting information, gives a sketch of events and battles in the +Downs since 1063. Tostig, Godwin, and Harold are noticed; sea fights +between the French and English in the Downs from 1215 are described; +the battles of Van Tromp and Blake in the Downs, and many other +interesting historical events, are given in his book, as well as +incidents connected with the Deal boatmen. + +With the decay and silting up of Sandwich Haven the Downs became still +more a place of ships, and thus naturally was still more developed the +race of Deal boatmen, who were, and are to the present time, daily +accustomed to launch and land through the surf which runs in rough +weather on their open beach; and whose avocation was to pilot the +vessels anchoring in or leaving the Downs, and to help those in +distress on the Goodwin Sands. + +[Illustration: The boom of a distant gun. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin. James Laming, _Coxswain, Kingsdown Lifeboat_, R. Roberts, +_Coxswain, North Deal Lifeboat_, John Mackins, _Coxswain, Walmer +Lifeboat_.] + +Like their descendants now, who are seen daily in crowds lounging round +the capstans, the night was most frequently their time of effort. In +the day they were resting 'longshore' fashion, unless, of course, their +keen sailor sight saw anywhere--even on the distant horizon--a chance +of a 'hovel.' Ever on the look-out in case of need, galleys, sharp as +a shark, and luggers full of men, would rush down the beach into the +sea in less time than it has taken to write this sentence. + +But until the necessity for action arose a stranger, looking at the +apparently idling men, with their far-away gazings seaward, would +naturally say, 'What a lazy set of fellows!' as has actually been said +to me of the very men who I knew had been all night in the lifeboat, +and whose faces were tanned and salted with the ocean brine. + +Justly or unjustly, in olden times the Deal boatmen were accused of +rapacity. But the poor fellows knew no better--Christian love and +Christian charity seem to have slept in those days, and no man cared +for the moral elevation of the wild daring fellows. True indeed, they +were accused of lending to vessels in distress a 'predatory succour' +more ruinous to them than the angry elements which assailed them. In +1705 a charge of this kind was made by Daniel Defoe, the author of +_Robinson Crusoe_, and was sternly repelled by the Mayor and +Corporation of Deal; and Mr. Pritchard mentions that only one charge of +plundering wrecks was made in the present century, in the year 1807; +and the verdict of 'Guilty' was eventually and deservedly followed by +the pardon of the Crown. + +With the increase of the shipping of this country, and the naval wars +of the early part of the nineteenth century, the numbers and fame of +the Deal boatmen increased, until their skill, bravery, and humanity +were celebrated all over the world. In those times, and even recently, +the Deal boatmen, including in that title the men of Walmer and +Kingsdown, were said to number over 1000 men; and as there were no +lightships around the Goodwin Sands till the end of the eighteenth +century, there were vessels lost on them almost daily, and there were +daily salvage jobs or 'hovels' and rescues of despairing crews; and +what with the trade with the men-of-war, and the piloting and berthing +of ships, there were abundant employment and much salvage for all the +boatmen. + +The dress of the boatmen in those days, _i.e._ their 'longshore +toggery'--and there are still among the older men a few, a very few +survivals--was finished off by tall hats and pumps; and in answer to my +query 'why they formerly always wore those pumps?' I was told, ''Cos +they was always a dancin' in them days'--doubtless with Jane and Bess +and black-eyed Susan. + +There was smuggling, too, of spirits and tobacco, and all kinds of +devices for concealing the contraband articles. Not very many years +ago boats lay on Deal beach with hollow masts to hold tea--then an +expensive luxury, and fitted with boxes and lockers having false +bottoms, and all manner of smuggling contrivances. + +It was hard to persuade those wild, daring men that there was anything +wrong in smuggling the articles they had honestly purchased with their +own money. + +'There's nothing in the Bible against smuggling!' said one of them to a +clerical friend of mine, who aptly replied: 'Render therefore unto +Caesar the things that be Caesar's, and unto God the things that be +God's.' + +'Is it so? you're right,' the simple-minded boatman replied; 'no more +smuggling after this day for me!' And there never was. + +But that which has given the Deal boatmen a niche in the temple of fame +and made them a part and parcel of our 'rough island story,' is their +heroic rescues and their triumphs over all the terrors of the Goodwin +Sands. + +There was no lightship on or near the Goodwin Sands till 1795, when one +was placed on the North Sand Head. In 1809 the Gull lightship, and in +1832 the South Sand Head lightships, were added, and the placing of the +East Goodwin lightship in 1874 was one of the greatest boons conferred +on the mariners of England in our times. + +It is hard even now sometimes to avoid the deadly Goodwins, but what it +must have been in the awful darkness of winter midnights which brooded +over them in the early part of this century is beyond description. + +Nor was there a lifeboat stationed at Deal until the year 1865. Before +that time the Deal luggers attempted the work of rescue on the Goodwin +Sands. In those days all Deal and Walmer beach was full of those +wonderful sea-boats hauled up on the shingle, while their mizzen booms +almost ran into the houses on the opposite side of the roadway. The +skill and daring of those brave boatmen were beyond praise. Let me +give in more detail the incident alluded to in the account of the +Ganges. + +Fifty-two years ago, one stormy morning, a young Deal boatman was going +to be married, and the church bells were ringing for the ceremony, when +suddenly there was seen away to the southward and eastward a little +schooner struggling to live in the breakers, or rather on the edge of +the breakers, on the Goodwins. The Mariner lugger was lying on the +beach of Deal, and there being no lifeboat in those days a rush of +eager men was made to get a place in the lugger, and amongst them, +carried away by the desire to do and to save, was the intended +bridegroom. + +By the time they plunged into the awful sea on the sands the schooner +had struck, and was thumping farther into the sands, sails flying +wildly about and the foremast gone. The crew, over whom the sea was +flying, were clustered in the main rigging. It was a service of the +most awful danger, and the lugger men, well aware that it was a matter +of life and death, put the question to each other, 'What do you say, my +lads; shall we try it?' 'Yes! Yes!' and then one and all shouted, +'Yes! We'll have those people out of her!' and they ran for the +drifting, drowning little Irish schooner. They did not dare to +anchor--a lifeboat could have done so, but for them it would have been +certain death--and as they approached the vessel and swept past her +they shouted to the crew in distress, 'Jump for your lives.' + +They jumped for life, as the lugger rose on the snowy crest of a +breaker, and not a man missed his mark. All being rescued, they again +fought back through the broken water, and when they reached Deal beach +they were met by hundreds of their enthusiastic fellow townsmen, who by +main force dragged the great twenty-ton lugger out of the water and far +up the steep beach. The interrupted marriage was very soon afterwards +carried out, and the deserving pair are alive and well, by God's mercy, +to this day. + +The luggers are about forty feet long and thirteen feet beam, more or +less. The smaller luggers are called 'cats.' There is a forecastle or +'forepeak' in the luggers where you can comfortably sleep--that is, if +you are able to sleep in such surroundings, and if the anguish of +sea-sickness is absent. I once visited in one of these luggers, lost +at sea with two of her crew on November 11, 1891, the distant Royal +Sovereign and Varne lightships, and had a most happy three days' cruise. + +There is a movable 'caboose' in the 'cats' right amidships, in which +three or four men packed close side by side can lie; but if you want to +turn you must wake up the rest of the company and turn all together--so +visitors to Deal are informed. These large boats are lugger-rigged, +carrying the foremast well forward, and sometimes, but very rarely, +like the French _chasse-marees_, a mainmast also, with a maintopsail, +as well, of course, as the mizzen behind. The mainmast is now hardly +ever used, being inconvenient for getting alongside the shipping, and +therefore there only survive the foremast and mizzen, the mainmast +being developed out of existence. + +The luggers are splendid sea-boats, and it is a fine sight to see one +of them crowded with men and close-reefed cruising about the Downs +'hovelling' or 'on the look out' for a job in a great gale. While +ships are parting their anchors and flying signals of distress, the +luggers, supplying their wants or putting pilots on board, wheel and +sweep round them like sea-birds on the wing. + +[Illustration: Showing a flare.] + +As I write these lines, a great gale of wind from the S.S.W. is +blowing, and it was a thrilling sight this morning at 11 a.m. to watch +the Albert Victor lugger launched with twenty-three men on board, in +the tremendous sea breaking over the Downs. Coming ashore later, on a +giant roller, the wave burst into awful masses of towering foam, so +high above and around the lugger that for an instant she was out of +sight, overwhelmed, and the crowds cried, 'She's lost!' but upwards she +rose again on the crest of the following billow, and with the speed of +an arrow flew to the land on this mighty shooting sea. + +Just at the same moment as the lugger came ashore the bold coxswain of +the North Deal lifeboat launched with a gallant crew to the rescue of a +despairing vessel, the details of which service are found below. + +There is no harbour at Deal, and all boats are heaved up the steep +shingly beach, fifty or sixty yards from the water's edge, by a capstan +and capstan bars, which, when a lugger is hove up, are manned by twenty +or thirty men. When hauled up thus to their position the boats are +held fast on the inclined plane on which they rest by a stern chain +rove through a hole in the keel called the 'ruffles.' This chain is +fastened by a 'trigger,' and when next the lugger is to be launched +great flat blocks of wood called 'skids,' which are always well +greased, are laid down in front of her stem, her crew climb on board, +the mizzen is set, and the trigger is let go. By her own impetus the +lugger rushes down the steep slope on the slippery skids into the sea. +Even when a heavy sea is beating right on shore, the force acquired by +the rush is sufficient to drive her safely into deep water. Lest too +heavy a surf or any unforeseen accident should prevent this, a cable +called a 'haul-off warp' is made fast to an anchor moored out far, by +which the lugger men, if need arise, haul their boat out beyond the +shallow water. The arrangements above described are exactly those +adopted by the lifeboats, which are also lugger-rigged, and being +almost identical in their rig are singularly familiar to Deal men. The +introduction of steam has diminished greatly the number of the luggers, +as fewer vessels than formerly wait in the Downs, and there is less +demand for the services of the boatmen. + +There was formerly another class of Deal boats, the forty-feet +smuggling boats of sixty or seventy years ago. The length, flat floor, +and sharpness of those open boats, together with the enormous press of +sail they carried, enabled them often to escape the revenue vessels by +sheer speed, and to land their casks of brandy or to float them up +Sandwich River in the darkness, and then run back empty to France for +more. In the 'good old times' those piratical-looking craft would pick +up a long thirty-feet baulk of timber at sea--timber vessels from the +Baltic or coming across the Atlantic often lose some of their +deck-load--and when engaged in towing it ashore would be pounced upon +by the revenue officers, who would only find, to their own +discomfiture, amidst the hearty 'guffaws' of the boatmen, that the +latter were merely trying to earn 'salvage' by towing the timber ashore. + +A little closer search would have revealed that the innocent-looking +baulk of timber was hollow from end to end, and was full of lace, +tobacco, cases of schnapps, 'square face,' brandy, and silks. There is +little or no smuggling now, and the little that there is, is almost +forced on the men by foreign vessels. + +Perhaps four boatmen have been out all night looking for a job in their +galley punt. At morning dawn they find a captain who employs them to +get his ship a good berth, or to take him to the Ness. Perhaps the +captain says--and this is an actual case--in imperfect English, 'I have +no money to pay you, but I have forty pounds of tobacco, vill you take +dat? Or vill you have it in ze part payment?' The boatmen consult; +hungry children and sometimes reproachful wives wait at home for money +to purchase the morning meal. 'Shall we chance it?' say they. _They_ +take the tobacco, and the first coastguardsman ashore takes _them_, +tobacco and all, before the magistrates, and I sometimes have been sent +for to the 'lock-up,' to find three or four misguided fellows in the +grasp of the law of their country, which poverty and opportunity and +temptation have led them to violate. + +At present a large number of galley punts lie on Deal beach. These +boats carry one lugsail on a mast shipped well amidships. These boats +vary in size from twenty-one feet to thirty feet in length, and seven +feet beam, and as the Mission boat which I have steered for thirteen +years, as Missions to Seamen Chaplain for the Downs, is a small galley +punt, I take a peculiar interest in their rig and behaviour. + +The galley punts are powerful seaboats; when close reefed can stand a +great deal of heavy weather, and are the marvel of the vessels in +distress which they succour. + +All the Deal boats, the lifeboats of course excepted, are clinker built +and of yellow colour, the natural elm being only varnished. And it is +fine to see on a stormy day the splendid way in which they are handled, +visible one moment on the crest and the next hidden in the trough of a +wave, or launched or beached on the open shingle in some towering sea. + +I have been breathless with anxiety as I have watched the launch of +these boats into a heavy sea with a long dreadful recoil, but the +landing is still more dangerous. + +If you wait long enough when launching, you can get a smooth, or a +comparatively smooth, sea. I have sometimes waited ten minutes--and +then the command is given 'Let her go,' and the boat is hurled into the +racing curl of some green sea. + +Sometimes the sea is too heavy for landing, and the galley punts lie +off skimming about for hours. Sometimes if the weather looks +threatening it is best to come at once, and then, supposing a heavy +easterly sea, you must clap on a press of sail to drive the boat. You +get ready a bow painter and a stern rope, and the boat, like a bolt set +free, flies to the land. Very probably she takes a 'shooter,' that is, +gets her nose down and her stern and rudder high into the air, and, all +hands sitting aft, she is carried along amidst the hiss and burst of +the very crest of the galloping billow. Fortunate are they if this +wave holds the boat till she is thrown high up the beach, broadside on, +for at the last minute the helm must be put up or down, to get the boat +to lie along the shore, but only at the very last minute--otherwise +danger for the crew! I have known a boat landing, to capsize and catch +the men underneath, and I have been myself tolerably near the same +danger. + +Three or four men man these galley punts, and the hardships and perils +they encounter in the earning of their livelihood are great. The men +are sometimes, even in winter time, three days away in these open +boats, sleeping on the bare boards or ballast bags and wrapped in a +sail. + +They cruise to the west to put one of their number on board some +homeward-bound vessel as 'North Sea pilot,' or they cruise to the north +and up the Thames as far as Gravesend, a distance of eighty miles, to +get hold of some outward-bound vessel with a pilot on board, which +pilot is willing to pay the boatmen a sovereign for putting him ashore +from the Downs, and they are towed behind the vessel, probably a fast +steamer, for eighty miles to Deal and the Downs. I have done this--and +it is a curious experience--in summer, but to be towed in the teeth of +a north-easterly snowstorm from Gravesend to the Downs is quite another +thing; but it is the common experience of the Deal boatmen. And every +day in winter they hover off Deal in their splendid galley punts, +rightly called 'knock-toes,' for the poor fellows' hands and feet are +often semi-frozen, to take a pilot out of some outward-bound steamer +going at the rate of ten or fifteen knots an hour. It means at the +outside about 5_s_. per man; perhaps they have earned nothing for a +week, and hungry but dauntless they are determined to get hold of that +steamer, if men can do it. On the steamer comes full speed right end +on at them. The Deal men shoot at her under press of canvas, haul down +sail, and lay their boat in the same direction as the flying steamship, +which often never slackens her speed the least bit. As all this _must_ +be done in an instant, or pale death stares them in the face, it is +done with wonderful speed and skill. While a man with a boat-hook, to +which a long 'towing-line' is attached, stands in the bow of the galley +punt and hooks it into anything he can catch, perhaps the bight of a +rope hung over the steamer's side, the steersman has for his own and +his comrades' lives to steer his best and to keep his boat clear of the +steamer's sides, and of her deadly propeller revolving astern, while +the bowman pays out his towing-line, and others see it is all clear, +and another takes a turn of it round a thwart. + +[Illustration: Hooking the steamer.] + +The steamer is 'hooked,' and, fast as she flies ahead, the galley punt +falls astern, this time, thank God, clear of the 'fan,' into the +boiling wake of the steamer, and at last she feels the tremendous +jerk--such a jerk as would tear an oak tree from its roots--of the +tightening tow-rope. + +Then the boat, with her stem high in the air, for so boats tow best, +and all hands aft, and smothered in flying spray, is swept away with +the steamer as far perhaps as Dover, where the pilot wants to land. +Then the steam is eased off and the vessel stopped, but hardly ever for +the Deal men. + +This 'hooking' of steamers going at full speed is most dangerous, and +often causes loss of life and poor men's property--their boats and +boats' gear--their all. Sometimes a kindly disposed captain eases his +speed down. I have heard the boatmen talking together, as their keen +eyes discerned a steamer far off, and could even then pronounce as to +the 'line' and individuality of the steamer: 'That's a blue-funnelled +China boat--she's bound through the Canal: he's a gentleman, he is; he +always eases down to ten knots for us Deal men.' + +Even at ten-knot speed the danger is very great, and it is marvellous +more accidents do not occur, in spite of the coolness and skill of the +boatmen. Accidents do occur too frequently. The last fatal accident +happened to a daring young fellow who had run his boat about six feet +too close to a fast steamer; six feet short of where he put her would +have meant safety, but as it was, the steamer cut her in two and he was +drowned with his comrade, one man out of three alone being saved. Just +half an hour before he had waved 'good-bye!' to his young wife as he +ran to the beach. + +Another boat has her side torn out by a blow from one of the +propeller's fans, and goes down carrying the men deep with her; one is +saved after having almost crossed the border, and I shall long remember +my interview with that man just after he was brought ashore, appalled +with the sense of the nearness of the spirit land, and just as if he +had had a revelation--his gratitude, his convulsive sobs, his +penitence. Another man has his leg or his arm caught by the tow-rope +as it is paid out to the flying steamer; in one man's case the keen axe +is just used in time to cut the line as it smokes over the gunwale +before the coil tears his leg off; in another's case the awful pull of +the rope fractured the arm lengthways and not by a cross fracture, and +the bone never united after the most painful operations. + +Owners and captains and officers of steamships, for God's sake, ease +down your speed when your poor sailor brethren, the gallant Deal +boatmen who man the lifeboats, are struggling to hook your mighty +steamships! Ease down a bit, gentlemen, and let the men earn something +for the wives and children at home without having to pay for their +efforts with their precious lives! + +The very same men who work the galley punts I have just described are +the 'hovellers' in the great luggers when the tempest drives the +smaller boats ashore, and they also are the same men who, in times of +greater and extremer need, answer so nobly to the summons of the +lifeboat bell. + +Pritchard's most interesting chapter, in which the best authorities are +quoted at length, is convincing that the word 'hoveller' is derived +from _hobelier_ (_hobbe_, [Greek] _hippos_, Gaelic _coppal_) and +signifies 'a coast watchman,' or 'look-out man,' who, by horse +(_hobbe_) or afoot, ran from beacon to beacon with the alarm of the +enemies' approach, when, 'with a loose rein and bloody spur rode inland +many a post.' Certainly nothing better describes the Deal boatmen's +occupation for long hours of day and night than the expression so well +known in Deal, 'on the look-out,' and which thus appears to be +equivalent to 'hovelling.' + +In 1864 the first lifeboat of the locality was placed in Walmer by the +Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 1865 another lifeboat was +placed in North Deal, a cotton ship with all hands having been lost on +the southern part of the Goodwins in a gale from the N.N.E., which +unfortunately the Walmer lifeboat, being too far to leeward, was unable +to fetch in that wind with a lee tide. + +This splendid lifeboat was called the Van Cook, after its donor, and +was very soon afterwards summoned to the rescue for the first time. + +It was blowing 'great guns and marline-spikes' from the S.S.W. with +tremendous sea on Feb. 7, 1865, when there was seen in the rifts of the +storm a full-rigged ship on the Goodwin Sands. The lifeboat bell was +rung, a crew was obtained, and the men in their new and untried +lifeboat made her first, but not their first, daring attempt at rescue. +A few moments before the Deal lifeboat, there launched from the south +part of Deal one of the powerful luggers which lay there, owned by Mr. +Spears, who himself was aboard; and the lugger was on this occasion +steered by John Bailey. The Walmer lifeboat also bravely launched, and +the three made for the wrecked vessel. + +The lugger, being first, began the attempt, and in spite of the risk +(for one really heavy sea breaking into her would have sent her to the +bottom) went into the breakers. But the lugger, rightly named +England's Glory--and the names of the luggers are admirably chosen, for +example, The Guiding Star, Friend of All Nations, Briton's Pride, and +Seaman's Hope--seeing a powerful friend behind her in the shape of the +lifeboat, stood on into the surf of the Goodwins to aid in saving life, +and also for a 'hovel,' in the hope of saving the vessel. + +It was dangerous in the extreme for the lugger, but, as the men said, +'They was that daring in them days, and they seed so much money +a-staring them in the face, in a manner o' speaking, on board that +there wessel, that they was set on it.' + +And when Deal boatmen are 'set on it,' they can do much. + +When the lugger fetched to windward of the vessel she wore down on her +before the wind. She did not dare to anchor; had she done so, she +would have been filled and gone down in five minutes, so hauling down +her foresail to slacken her speed, she shot past the vessel as close as +she dared, and as she flew by, six of the crew jumped at the rigging of +the wreck, and actually caught it and got on board. The Walmer +lifeboat sailed at the vessel and tried to luff up to her, hauling down +her foresail, but the lifeboat had not 'way' enough, and missed the +vessel altogether, being driven helplessly to leeward, whence it was +impossible to return. + +In increasing storm and sea, more furious as the tide rose, on came the +Deal lifeboat, the Van Cook, Wilds and Roberts (the latter now coxswain +in place of Wilds) steering. They anchored, and veering out their +cable drifted down to the wreck; then six of the lifeboatmen also +sprang to the rigging of the heeling wreck, and the lifeboat sheered +off for safety. + +The wreck was lying head to the north and with a list to starboard. +Heavy rollers struck her and broke, flying in blinding clouds of spray +high as her foreyard, coming down in thunder on her deck, so that it +seemed impossible that men could work on that wave-beaten plane. She +was also lifted by each wave and hammered over the sand into shallower +water, so that the drenched and buffeted lifeboatmen had to lift anchor +and follow the drifting vessel in the lifeboat, and again drop anchor +and veer down as before. All this time three powerful steam-tugs were +waiting in deep water to help the vessel, but they dared not come into +the surf where the lifeboat lay. + +To stop the drift of the wrecked Iron Crown was her only chance of +safety, and it would have probably ruined all had they dropped anchors +from the vessel's bows, as she would have drifted over them and forced +them into her bottom. The Deal men, therefore, with seamanlike skill +and resource, swung a kedge anchor clear of the vessel high up _from +her foreyard_, and as the vessel drifted the kedge bit, and the bows of +the vessel little by little came up to the sea, when her other anchors +were let go, and in a few minutes held fast; then with a mighty cheer +from the Deal men--lifeboatmen and lugger's crew all together--the Iron +Crown half an hour afterwards was floated by the rising tide on the +very top of the fateful sands; her hawser was brought to the waiting +tug-boats, and she was towed--ship, cargo, and crew all saved--into the +shelter of the Downs. + +The names of this the first crew of the Deal lifeboat are given +below[1], and their gallant deed was the forerunner of a long and +splendid series of rescues, no less than 358 lives having been saved, +including such cases as the Iron Crown, by the North Deal lifeboat and +her gallant crew, and counting 93 lives saved by the Walmer lifeboat +Centurion, and 101 lives saved by the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabina, a +total of 552 lives have been saved on the Goodwin Sands. + +The next venture of the Deal lifeboat was not so fortunate. It was +made to the schooner Peerless, wrecked in Trinity Bay, in the very +heart of the Goodwins. The men were lashed in the rigging, and the sea +was flying over them, or rather at them; but all managed to get into +the lifeboat except one poor lad who was on his first voyage. He died +while lashed on the foreyard, and was brought down thence by Ashenden, +who bravely mounted the rigging and carried down the dead lad with the +sea-foam on his lips. Among the rescuers of the Peerless crew were +Ashenden, named above, Stephen Wilds (for many years my own comrade in +the Mission Boat), brave old Robert Wilds, Horrick, Richard Roberts, +and ten others. + +I have told of the first rescue effected by the Deal lifeboat--let me +describe one of the last noble deeds of mercy done on November 11, +1891, during an awful gale then blowing. In the morning of the day two +luggers launched to help vessels in distress, but such was the fury of +the gale, and so mountainous was the sea, that the luggers were +themselves overpowered, and had to anchor in such shelter as they could +get. + +At 2 p.m., tiles flying in the streets, and houses being unroofed, it +was most difficult to keep one's feet; crowds of Deal boatmen in +sou'-westers and oilskins were ready round the lifeboat, and in the +gaps of the driving rain and in the smoking drifts of the howling +squalls which tore over the sea, they saw that a small vessel which had +anchored inside the Brake Sand about two miles off the mainland had +parted her anchors, and, being helpless and without sails, was drifting +towards and outwards to the Brake. + +[Illustration: A forlorn hope] + +Then the Deal lifeboat was off to the rescue, and with eighteen men in +her, three being extra and special hands on this dangerous occasion, +launched into a terrible sea, grand but furious beyond description. +Hurled down Deal beach by her weight, the lifeboat was buried in a wild +smother, and the next minute was left dry on the beach by the ghastly +recoil. The coming breaker floated her, and she swung to her haul-off +warp. + +Then they set her close-reefed storm foresail and took her mizzen off. +Soon after an ominous crack, loud and clear, was heard in her foremast, +and such was the force of the gale that Roberts--the same brave man +who, having been second coxswain and in the lifeboat in the rescue of +the Iron Crown above described in 1865, on this perilous day in 1891 +again headed his brave comrades as coxswain, with his old friend and +brother in arms, so to speak, E. Hanger, as second coxswain--hauled +down the foresail and set the small mizzen close-reefed on the +foremast, and even then the great lifeboat was nearly blown out of the +water. + +With unbounded confidence in their splendid lifeboat, under this sail, +and indeed they can only work their weighty lifeboat under sail, they +literally flew before the blast into the terrific surf on the Brake +Sand, six men being required to steer her! + +By this time the little vessel named The Thistle had struck the Sand, +but not heavily enough to break her in pieces, and hurled forwards by a +great roller, she grated and struck, and then was hurled forwards +again, seas breaking over her and her hapless crew. So thick was the +air with the sea spray carried along in smoking spindrifts that the +Deal men lost sight of the wreck while they raced into the surf of the +Brake. + +In that surf--which I beheld from the end of Ramsgate Pier, being +called there by imperative business, and thus deprived of the privilege +of being with the men--the lifeboat was apparently swallowed up. She +was filled over and over again, and sometimes there was not a man of +the crew visible to the coxswain, who stood aft steering in wind which +amounted to a hurricane, and, according to Greenwich Observatory, +representing a velocity of eighty miles an hour. + +At this moment I was witness of the fine sight of the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat steaming out of Ramsgate Harbour, brave coxswain Fish steering +the lifeboat, which plunged into the mad seas behind the tug, while +blinding clouds of spray flew over the crew. Those splendid 'storm +warriors' also rescued the crew of the Touch Not, wrecked that day on +the Ramsgate Sands; but just while they were steaming out of Ramsgate, +away on the horizon as far as I could bear to look against the fury of +the wind and rain, struggling alone and unaided in the surf of the +Brake Sand, I beheld the Deal lifeboat engaged in the rescue of The +Thistle. + +There indeed before my eyes was a veritable wrestle with death for +their own lives and those of the wrecked vessel's crew. The latter had +beaten over the Brake Sand, and was anchored close outside it, the +British ensign hoisted 'Union down,' and sinking. Sinking lower and +lower, and only kept afloat by her cargo of nuts, her decks level with +the sea which poured over them. In the agony of despair her crew of +five had taken to their own small boat, being afraid, from signs known +to seamen and from the peculiar wallowing of their vessel, that she was +about to make her final plunge to the bottom. + +But now the great blue lifeboat rode like a messenger from heaven +alongside them, and their brave preservers dragged them over her sides +into safety from the very mouth of destruction. + +Amidst words of gratitude and with praise on their lips to a merciful +God, the utterly exhausted crew saw the Deal men set sail and fight +their way again through the storm landwards. + +Looking back for an instant, all hands saw the appalling sight of the +vessel they had left turn on her side and sink to the bottom of the sea. + +With colours flying, with proud and thankful hearts they reach +Broadstairs, whence I received the coxswain's telegram--'Crew all +saved; sprung foremast. R. Roberts.' + +This gallant rescue was effected under the leadership of R. Roberts and +E. Hanger, the very same men who were foremost in the saving of the +Iron Crown. Their names should not be passed over in silence, nor +those of the brave fellows who back up with their skill, their +strength, and their lives the efforts of their coxswains. + +In very truth the Deal boatmen (Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown all +included) as a class of men are unique. As pilots, boatmen, and +fishermen they, with the Ramsgate men, stand alone, in their perils +around and on the great quicksand which guards their coast, and they +must always be of deep interest to the rest of their fellow-countrymen +by reason of their hardships, their skill, and their daring, and above +all by reason of their generous courage, consistent with their ancient +fame. Faults they have--let others tell of them--but it seems to me +that these brave Kentish boatmen are worthy descendants of their Saxon +forefathers who rallied to the banners of Earl Godwin and died at +Senlac in stubborn ring round Godwin's kingly son. + +To them, the lifeboatmen and coxswains of Deal, Walmer, and Kingsdown, +friends and comrades, I dedicate these true histories of splendid +rescues wrought by them, the 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands.' + + + +[1] Crew of the Deal lifeboat on her first launch to the rescue of the +Iron Crown:--R. Wilds, R. Roberts, E. Hanger, G. Pain, J. Beney, G. +Porter, E. Foster, C. Larkins, G. Browne, J. May, A. Redsull, R. +Sneller, T. Goymer, R. Erridge. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE AUGUSTE HERMANN FRANCKE + + A brave vessel, + Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her + Dashed all to pieces! Oh, the cry did knock + Against my very heart! Pool souls! they perished. + + +All day long April 20, 1886, it had been blowing a gale from the +north-east, and a heavy sea was tumbling on the beach at Deal. On the +evening of that stormy day I was making my way to the Boatmen's Rooms, +at North Deal, where the boatmen were to assemble for the usual evening +service held by the Missions to Seamen chaplain. + +On my way I met a boatman, a valued comrade on many a rough day in the +mission-boat. Breathless with haste, he could at first only say, 'Come +on, sir, quick! Come on; there's a man been seen running to and fro on +the Goodwins!' + +Seeing that immediate help was needed, it appeared that the coxswain of +the lifeboat proposed signalling a passing tug-boat, and wanted my +sanction for the measure. Had she responded to the signal, she would +have towed the lifeboat to the rescue of the mysterious man on the +Goodwins in an hour or so. As Hon. Secretary of the Lifeboat Branch, I +at once authorised the step, and a flag was dipped from Deal pierhead, +and blue lights were burned; but all in vain. The tug-boat went on her +way, taking no notice of the signals, which it is supposed she did not +understand. + +It was plain some disaster had taken place, but what had happened on +those gruesome sands I could only conjecture until I reached the +Boatmen's Rooms. Outside the building I found in groups and knots a +crowd of boatmen and pilots, and also Richard Roberts, the coxswain of +the Deal lifeboat. + +Roberts had that evening, about five p.m., been taking a look at the +Goodwins with his glass, a good old-fashioned 'spy-glass.' After a +long steady search--'Why,' said he to the men round him, 'there's a new +wreck on the sands since yesterday!' The gale of the morning part of +the day had been accompanied by low sweeping clouds of mist and driving +fog, and as soon as the curtain of thick vapour lifted, Roberts noticed +the new wreck. + +The other boatmen then took a look, and they all went up to the high +window of the lifeboat-house to gain a better view of the distant +Goodwins. + +The point where the wreck, or the object they saw lay, was the outer +part of the Goodwin Sands towards the north, and was quite eight miles +distant from the keen-eyed watchers at Deal. + +'That's a wreck since yesterday,' said one and all. + +Roberts, gazing through his glass, now cried out, 'There's something, +man or monkey, getting off the vessel and moving about on the sand!' + +'Let's have a look, Dick,' said another and another, and then all cried +out, + +'Yes; it's a man! He's waving something--it's a flag!' + +'No, 'tis n't a flag,' said Roberts, 'it's more like a piece of canvas +lashed to a pole; it blows out too heavy for a flag.' + +Just about the same time, watchers at Lloyd's office had seen through a +powerful glass the same object on the Goodwins, and they sent word to +the coxswain of the lifeboat that there was a man in distress on the +Goodwin Sands, and wildly running to and fro. + +The wind, however, being north-east, and the tide having just commenced +to run in the same direction as the wind, thus producing what is called +a lee tide, it would have been worse than useless for the Deal lifeboat +to have launched. No boat of shallow draft of water, such as a +lifeboat is, can beat to windward over a lee tide, and had she been +launched, the Deal lifeboat would have drifted farther at each tack +from the point she aimed at. + +As before explained, the Deal lifeboat was unable to attract the +attention of the passing tugboat, and it was therefore decided to wire +to Ramsgate to explain that Deal was helpless, and ask the Ramsgate +lifeboat to go to the rescue. + +By an extraordinary combination of misfortunes the Ramsgate lifeboat +and tugs were also helpless, and having been suddenly disabled were +laid up for repairs. We then anxiously discussed every alternative, +and it was sorrowfully decided that nothing more could be done until +the lee tide was over, which would be about 10.30 p.m. + +It was now dark, and the hour had come for the boatmen's service which +I was to hold. The men as usual trooped in, and the room was crowded; +the scene was a striking one. Fine stalwart men to the number of sixty +were present--free rovers of the sea, men who never call any one +master, with all the characteristic independence and even dignity of +those who follow the sea. There was present the coxswain of the +lifeboat, and there were present also most of the men who manned the +lifeboat a few hours afterwards. In every man's face was written the +story of dangers conquered, and a lifelong experience of the sea, on +which they pass so much of their lives, and on whose bosom a large +proportion of them would probably meet death. + +On all occasions and at all times those meetings are of overwhelming +interest, by reason of the character and histories of each man among +that unique audience, and also it may be added on account of their rapt +attention to the 'old, old story,' which, 'majestic in its own +simplicity,' is invariably set before them. But, on this occasion, add +to the picture the distant and apparently deserted figure just seen +through the rifts in the mist, 'wildly running to and fro on the +Goodwins,' the eager and sympathetic faces of the boatmen in their +absolute helplessness for a few long hours--hours that seemed centuries +to all of us. Observe their restrained but impatient glances at the +clock, and listen to their deep-throated responses to the impassioned +petitions of the Litany of the Church of England. + +I am only recording the barest facts when I say that the response of +'Good Lord, deliver us,' following that most solemn of all the +petitions of the Litany, was touching beyond the power of words to +describe. In the midst of the service I stopped and said, 'Has any man +another suggestion to offer? Shall we telegraph for the Dover tug?' +It was seen after a short discussion that this would be unavailing, and +the service went on. + +The hymns sung at that service were three in number, and perhaps are +familiar to those who read this story:-- + + Light in the darkness, sailor! + Day is at hand, + +being the well-known 'Life-boat' hymn; + + Rescue the perishing; + +and then + + Jesu, lover of my soul. + + +No man present could fail to think at each part of the service, and as +each hymn was sung, of the poor forlorn figure seen on the Goodwins, +and now in the most dire need of help. Nor do I think that service +will ever fade from the memories of those present on that Tuesday +evening. + +Service over, we all went to the front of the lifeboat-house, and the +coxswain and myself once more consulted. We stood just down at the +water's edge, where the white surf showed up against the black night, +and fell heavily on the shingle, resounding. + +We asked, 'Had Ramsgate gone to the rescue?' + +'Why was there no flare burning if there were any one or any vessel on +the Goodwins?' + +'Why the dull oppressive silence and absence of all signs of signals of +distress?' + +Looking up the beach we saw the black mass of boatmen all gathered +round the door of the lifeboat-house, and we heard their shouts, 'Throw +open the doors!' 'Let us have the key!' 'Why not give us the +life-belts now?' + +Finally we decided to launch at exactly nine o'clock. I went home to +dress for the night, having arranged to go in the lifeboat. Meantime +the bell was rung, and the usual rush was made to get the life-belts. +So keen were the men that the launch was made before the time agreed +upon, and the lifeboat rushed down the beach just as I got in sight of +her--to my great and sore disappointment--and soon disappeared in the +night. + +They stood on till they reached the inner edge of the Goodwins, along +which they tacked, being helped to windward, and swept towards the +north by the weather-tide, which they met about eleven o'clock. As +they worked their way into Trinity Bay, a sort of basin in the very +heart of the Goodwins, the coxswain felt sure they were drawing near +the spot where the wreck had been seen, but it was absolutely dark. +They could see nothing, no flare, no light, and they could hear nothing +but the hollow thunder of breaking surf. + +Roberts now decided to run the lifeboat right through the breakers +which beat on the outer part of the sands, and thoroughly to search +that part of the Goodwins. + +Some said, 'The Ramsgate lifeboat has been here and taken the man off.' + +Others, 'If there are people alive on the wreck, why is there no light +or flare?' + +And then they ran her, in that pitchy blackness, into the surf; she +went through it close hauled, and beyond it into the deep sea the other +side, and searched the outside edge of the sands, but to no purpose. +Then, having shouted all together and listened, they stood back again +through the surf, running now before the wind. + +The broken and formidable sea raged round the lifeboat like a pack of +wolves. It broke on both sides of the lifeboat right into her, and +literally boiled over her as she flew before the gale and the impulse +of the swell astern. Nothing could be seen in this stormy flight +except the white burst of the tumultuous waves, and all around was +midnight blackness. + +Some were of opinion, after the prolonged search, that the wreck had +disappeared; but Roberts carried all hearts with him when he said, +'We're not going home till we see and search that wreck from stem to +stern!' + +Then they anchored in Trinity Bay in four fathoms of water. They each +had a piece of bread, a bit of cheese, and a smoke; and with every +faculty of sight and hearing strained to the utmost, they longed for +the coming of the day. + +We may now return to the wrecked vessel, and describe the fate of her +captain and crew. She was a Norwegian brig, the Auguste Hermann +Francke, bound from Krageroe to sunny San Sebastian with a cargo of +ice. She had a crew of seven all told, and the captain's name was +Jargersen. + +He had been running his vessel that morning before the gale, and at +eight o'clock in the forenoon struck on the Goodwins, having either +failed in the thick weather to pick up the lightships or the Foreland +as points from which to take a safe departure, or being carried out of +his course altogether by the strong tides which run around and over the +Goodwins, and which, if not allowed for, are a frequent cause of +disaster. It was on the shallower northern part of the Goodwins that +the Norwegian brig struck in a north-easterly gale. + +The brig struck the Goodwins about high water with a terrific crash, +and was lifted up by successive billows and thumped down and hammered +on the hard sand. Contrary to the popular idea, ships sink but slowly +in the sand, which is practically very hard and close. When she took +the ground the crew rushed to the main rigging and the captain to the +fore rigging. The sea beat in clouds high over the vessel, and the +seven men lashed themselves in the rigging to prevent themselves being +shaken into the sea by the shocks. Again and again the heavy vessel +was lifted up and thumped down; while the weather was so thick that +neither could she be seen from the nearest lightship or the land, nor +could they on the vessel see the land, or form the least idea as to +where they were; conjecturing merely that they were aground on the +Goodwins. + +At last the mainmast went by the board, carrying with its ruin and +tangle of sails, spars and cordage, six of the crew into the terrible +billows. As each man unlashed himself he was carried away by the sea +before the eyes of the captain. The last of the crew was the ship's +boy, who, just as he cast off the fastenings by which he was lashed to +the rigging, managed to seize the jib sheet, which was hanging over the +side, and called piteously to the captain to save him. A great wave +dashed him against the ship's side, and his head was literally beaten +in. He too was carried away, and the captain was left alone. + +The foremast shortly afterwards gave way, but the captain saw the crash +coming, and lashed himself to the windlass, where, drenched and half +drowned, he was torn at by the waves which were hurled over the ship +for hours. + +At last the tide fell, and still, owing to the thick driving mist, no +one knew of the tragedy that was being enacted on the Goodwins. + +Alas! many similar disasters take place on the Goodwins, the details of +which are covered by the black and stormy nights on which they occur, +and nothing is ever found to reveal the awful secret but, perhaps, a +few fishermen's nets and buoys, or a mast, or a ship's boat. + +With the falling tide the sands round the wrecked vessel became dry for +miles, and the captain, half-crazed with grief and terror, climbed down +from the wreck and ran wildly about the sands. His first thought was +not to seek for a way of escape or help, but to find the bodies of his +crew, and to protect them from the mutilations of the sea. + +But he found none of them, and then he walked and wildly ran and ran +for miles, and waved his hands to the nearest but too-distant +lightship. Sick at heart, he then fastened on the wreck a pole with a +piece of canvas lashed to it, and, as we know, he was seen by God's +mercy about that time at Deal. + +As the tide again rose, evening came on, and again the captain had to +return to his lonely perch, and to lash himself again as before on the +little platform, barely three feet square, over which the sea had +beaten so fiercely a few hours before. What visions--what fancies, +what terrors may have possessed his soul as the cruel, crawling sea +again lapped against the vessel's sides in the darkness of that awful +night! + +Even now a gleam of mercy shone on him, for though the cold waves again +tumbled over and around him, they did not break up the little square +platform upon which he stood, and upon the holding together of which +his chance of living through the night depended. None may tell of the +workings of that man's mind during that long night. It is said that in +moments of great peril sometimes the whole course of the past life, +past but not obliterated, is summoned up in the most vivid minuteness. +Thrice blessed is the man who in that dread moment can trust himself +wholly to Him who is 'a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from +the tempest.' + +And yet, though he knew it not--though hope and faith itself may have +burned low, nay, been all but quenched in that poor wearied Norwegian +seaman's breast, though grim despair may have shouted in his ears, +'Curse God and die,' all that long night the lifeboat was close to him. +The dauntless coxswain and crew, though wearied, drenched and buffeted, +were 'determined to see the wreck before they went home.' To use their +own simple words, 'They hollered and shouted both outside and inside +them breakers, but you won't hear anything--not out there--the way the +sea was a roarin'.' + +At last morning broke. When the wind is easterly you can always see +the coming morning much sooner; and about 3.30, when the birds in the +sweet hedgerows were just beginning to twitter, the first soft, grey +dawn stole over the horizon in the east. + +The weather was clearing fast and 'fining down' when the coxswain +roused all hands to 'get up the anchor.' The foresail was set, and +then a man in the bows cried out, 'I can see something there--there's +the wreck!'--and, indeed, there it was, not more than four hundred +yards distant. + +Now the sky was lighted up a rosy red, so fast came on the 'jocund morn +a tiptoe' over the waves. + +'There's a man running away from the wreck!' said the coxswain. + +He had descried the bright blue lifeboat with the red wale round her +gunwale, and was running to meet her in the direction she was heading. +But the lifeboat was making short tacks to windward, and the coxswain +taking off his sou'-wester waved it to the running figure to come back +and follow the lifeboat on the other tack. + +Back again came the solitary man, and then at last was given the final +order from the coxswain, 'Run straight into the surf to meet him!' and +the lifeboat, carried on by a huge roller, grounded on the sands. + +Running, staggering, pressing on, the rescued man came close to the +lifeboat, and then fell forwards on his knees with face uplifted to the +heavens, and his back to the lifeboat. + +'They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the +deep. . . . Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He +bringeth them out of their distresses. . . . Oh that men would praise +the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children +of men!' + +Now rose the glorious sun, darting his golden javelins high up into the +blue majestical canopy; and cheerily into the water, now burnished by +the sunbeams, sprang Alfred Redsull, danger and hardship all forgotten, +with a line round his waist, to guide and help the exhausted man away +from the deadly 'fox-falls,' which were full of swirling water, and at +last into the lifeboat. Then with bated breath they learned the +story,--that all the rest were gone, and that the captain himself was +the solitary survivor. His hands were in gloves; they cut those off, +and also his boots, so swelled were hands and feet. They gave him a +dry pair of long stockings and woollen mittens, and they let down the +mizzen and made a lee for him under its shelter, for he was half +perished with the cold of that bitter night. After a few minutes he +insisted on again searching the sands for his lost crew, and the +coxswain and others of the lifeboatmen went with him. + +The lifeboat was by this time high and dry, for the water was falling +with great rapidity, and there was a mile of dry sand on each side of +her. The company of men now searched the sands, and a long way off the +coxswain saw a dark object. + +'What's that?' he said. + +That's my ship's rudder,' replied the captain, 'and I walked round it +yesterday evening when death was staring in my face.' + +Then they came to the wreck; her decks were gone, every atom of what +had once been on board her was swept clean out of her: she was split +open at her keel, and lay in halves, gaping. + +Inside this wrecked skeleton ship lay her foremast, and so crushed and +flattened out was the vessel that the men stepped from the sand at once +into the hollow shell--and there they saw, still holding together, the +little spot of planking, ten feet above them, on which the rescued man +had stood, and where he had been lashed: and they took down and brought +away as a memento the piece of canvas which he had fastened to the +pole, and which had caught the eyes of the boatmen at Deal; but the +bodies of the drowned crew were never seen again. + +When the tide rose the lifeboat got up anchor and made for home. +Crowds were assembled at the beach, expecting, as the British ensign +was hoisted at the peak, to find a rescued crew 'all saved' on board; +but, alas! only one wearied, overwrought man struggled up the beach. + +I led him to get some hot coffee and to give him a few minutes' repose; +but he could eat nothing, and he laid his head on his arms and sobbed +as if his heart would break for the friends that were gone, and +overwhelmed by the mercy of his own preservation. + +All honour to the brave coxswain and his lifeboat crew who sought and +searched for him through and through that dreadful midnight surf, and +stuck to their task with determined resolution, and who found and +rescued this poor Norwegian stranger from the very grasp of death! + +All honour to the brave![1] + + + +[1] The crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were--Richard Roberts +(coxswain), Alf. Redsull, W. Staunton, H. Roberts, W. Adams, E. Hall, +P. Sneller, W. Foster, W. Marsh, Thomas May, J. Marsh, T. Baker, R. +Williams, G. Foster. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GANGES + + I've lived since then in calm and strife, + Full fifty summers, a sailor's life; + And Death whenever he come to me + Shall come on the wide unbounded sea. + + +The rule that gales of wind prevail at the equinoxes is certainly +proved by the exceptions, but October 14, 1881, was an instance of a +gale so close to the autumnal equinox that it belonged rather to the +rule than to the exception. It had been blowing from the west all that +day, and the Downs was full of ships. Others were running back from +down Channel under lower fore top-sails, all ready to let go their +anchors. + +Sometimes in stress of weather a ship bringing up will lose her anchors +by not shortening sail sufficiently before she lets them go. She +preserves too much 'way' through the water, and she snaps the great +chain cable by the force of her momentum as if it had been a +pack-thread. + +The wind reached the force of a 'great gale,'--the entry I find in my +diary of that date. The boatmen say to the present day that it was +blowing a 'harricane,' and, according to the report of the coxswain of +the lifeboat, 'it was blowing a very heavy gale of wind.' There was, +therefore, no mere capful of wind, but a real, whole, tremendous gale. +Old salts are always ready to pity landsmen, and to overwhelm them with +'Bless you's!' when they venture to talk of a 'storm'; but the harsh, +steady roar of the wind on this day made it plainly and beyond doubt a +storm. + +Long lines of heavy dangerous rollers broke on Deal beach, and only the +first-class luggers could launch or live in the Downs, so great was the +sea. These splendid luggers being of five feet draught, and having +therefore a deeper hold of the water, could do better than a lifeboat +in the deep water of the Downs. They could fight to windward better, +and would not be so liable to upset under sail as a lifeboat; but this +only applies to the deep water. + +Put the best Deal lugger that ever floated alongside the present Deal +lifeboat, the Mary Somerville, in a furious sea of breakers on the +Goodwin Sands, and the whole state of affairs is altered. The lugger +would be swamped and overwhelmed in five minutes, while the lifeboat +would empty herself and live through it successfully. + +The fortunes of the vessels in the Downs on that day were varied. Some +were manfully riding out the gale; others were holding on to their one +remaining anchor, signalling for help, and as sorely in need of fresh +anchors and chains as ever was King Richard of a horse. Some had lost +both anchors and were drifting out to destruction; destruction meaning +the Goodwin Sands, on which a fearful surf was raging about two miles +under their lee. + +One of those driving vessels was the Ganges. She had run back from the +Channel to the Downs for shelter, and dropped her anchors running +before a strong tide and a heavy gale; having thus too much 'way' on +her, both the long chain cables parted, snapping close to the anchors, +and trailed from her bows. Her head was thus kept up to the wind, +while there was no sufficient check to her drift astern and outwards +towards the Goodwins. + +Efforts, but ineffectual efforts, were made to get rid of the trailing +cables, and therefore the vessel's head could not be got before the +wind, and she could not be steered, but drifted out faster and faster. +It is supposed that there was another anchor on the forecastle head, +which had somehow fouled, or, at any rate, could not be got loose from +some cause or other. + +In the confusion, the sails of the great vessel--for she was a +full-rigged ship--having been either neglected or imperfectly furled, +were torn adrift and blew to ribbons. These great strips of heavy +canvas cracked like monstrous whips with deafening noise, thrashing the +masts and rigging, and rendering any attempt to furl them or cut them +away, perilous in the extreme. + +The crew consisted of thirty-five hands 'all told,' of whom the +captain, mates, petty officers, and apprentices were English, while the +men before the mast were Lascars. Now I think my readers will agree +with me in believing that 'Jack,' with all his faults, is a more +reliable man to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with in time of danger +than Ali Mahmood Seng, the Lascar. In cold and storm and peril most of +us would prefer 'our ain folk' alongside of us. + +Some years ago a Board of Trade report contained a quotation from the +remarks of a firm of shipowners, to the effect that they largely +employed foreign sailors on board their vessels, because they were +(_a_) more sober, (_b_) more amenable to discipline, and (_c_) cheaper +than British sailors; but they added, 'we always keep a few Englishmen +among the crew to lead the way aloft on dark and stormy nights.' + +What a heart-stirring comment on the character of the British sailor is +there in the passage above quoted! Is there no remedy, and no +physician for the frailties and degradations of poor Jack, who, +whatever be his faults, 'leads the way aloft on dark and stormy +nights?' 'If the constituents of London mud can be resolved, if the +sand can be transformed into an opal,' to use the noble simile of a +great living writer, 'and the water into a drop of dew or a star of +snow, or a translucent crystal, and the soot into a diamond such as + + On the forehead of a queen + Trembles with dewy light,-- + +if such glorious transformations can be wrought by the laws of Nature +on the commixture of common elements, shall we despair that +transformations yet more glorious may be wrought in human souls now +thwarted and blackened by the malice of the devil, when they are +subjected to the far diviner and far more stupendous alchemy of the +Holy Spirit of God?' + +The moral to be drawn from these pages surely must be this--that there +is splendid material to work upon, the most undaunted heroism and the +noblest self-sacrifice, among the seafaring classes of our island. + +On this dark, tempestuous night, be the cause what it may, preventible +or otherwise, the Ganges drifted helplessly to her fate. A powerful +tug-boat got hold of her, but the ship dragged the tug-boat astern with +her, towards the Goodwins, until at last the tug-boat snapped her great +15-inch hawser, and then gave up the attempt and returned to land. + +The Ganges now burned flares and blue lights for help. Noting her +rapid approach to the Goodwins, on which an awful sea was running, and +the helpless and dishevelled condition of the vessel, the Gull +lightship fired guns and rockets at intervals of five minutes. + +This is the proper and recognised summons to the lifeboats, but long +before the lightship fired her signal, the Deal boatmen saw the peril +of the vessel; and one of their number, Tom Adams, ran to the coxswain +of the Deal lifeboat with the news: 'Tug's parted her, and she'll be on +the Goodwins in five minutes!' 'Then we'll go,' said the coxswain, and +he rang the bell and summoned a crew. + +As it was one of the wildest nights on which the Deal lifeboat was ever +launched, the very best men on Deal beach came forward to the struggle +for a place in the lifeboat, and out of their number a crew of fifteen +was got. + +R. Roberts, at this time the second coxswain, was afloat in his lugger, +putting an anchor and chain on board the Eurydice, and in his absence +Tom Adams helped the coxswain to steer the lifeboat, which literally +flew before the blast, to the rescue. + +The squalls of this tempest were regular 'smokers,' a word which +signifies that the crests of the waves were blown into the astonished +air in smoking clouds of spray; and the lifeboat was stripped for the +fight, reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail. I should say +that running out before the wind the mizzen was not set, and they +frequently had to haul down the reefed foresail, and let her run under +bare poles right away from the land into the hurricane. + +No one can appraise the nature of this dangerous task who has not run +before a gale off shore for five or six miles to leeward, and then +tried to get back home dead to windwards. No one who has ever tried +it, and got back, will ever forget it, if his voyage, or rather his +escape from death, has been effected in an open boat. + +Nor can any one realize how furious and terrible is the aspect of the +sea in a gale off shore, and especially in the surf of the Goodwins, +who has not been personally through such an experience. + +The Royal National Lifeboat Institution pay the men who form the +lifeboat crew on each occasion generously and to the utmost limit their +funds will admit. No one who knows the facts of the case and the +management of this splendid Institution can have any doubt on this +subject. Each man is paid L1 for a night service, and 10_s_. for +service in the daytime. If he be engaged night and day, he is paid +30_s_. This single launch cost L18--that is, L15 to the fifteen men +who formed the crew, and L3 to the forty helpers who were engaged in +launching and heaving up the lifeboat on her return. + +But no money payment could compensate the men for the risk to their +lives--lives precious to women and children at home; and no money +payment could supply the impulse which fired these men and supported +them in their work of rescue. + +One of the men in the lifeboat on this occasion, Henry Marsh, and his +name will end this chapter, was the man referred to in Chapter II, who +had on the day he was going to be married, many years before, rushed +into a lugger bound to the rescue of a ship's crew on the Goodwins. + +Notwithstanding the splendid services of the Deal lifeboatmen in many a +heart-stirring rescue, they seem utterly unconscious of having done +anything heroic. This is a remarkable and most interesting feature in +their character. There is no boasting, no self-consciousness, and not +the faintest word of self-praise ever crosses their lips. The noblest, +the purest motives and impulses that can actuate man glow within their +breasts, as they risk their lives for others, and they nevertheless are +dumb respecting their deeds. They die, they dare, and they suffer in +silence. + +A lifeboat rescue killed poor Robert Wilds, the coxswain of the Deal +lifeboat. The present second coxswain of the same lifeboat, E. Hanger, +was struck down after a rescue by pneumonia. J. Mackins, the coxswain +of the Walmer lifeboat, was also seized by pneumonia after a splendid +service across the Goodwins, when his lifeboat was buried thirty times +in raging seas; S. Pearson, once coxswain of the Walmer lifeboat, died +of Bright's disease, the result of exposure; and on the occasion of the +rescue of the Ganges, one of the crew, R. Betts, had his little finger +torn off. The Lifeboat Institution gave him a generous donation. But +the rescues by the Deal lifeboatmen are done at the risk, and sometimes +at the cost, of their health, their limbs and their lives. + +There is a Kentish proverb that 'there are more fools in Kent than in +any other county of England,' because more men go to sea from Kent than +from any other county in England, Devon coming next; but Kent on this +wild night need not have blushed for the folly of her sailor sons, +until it be proved folly to succour and to save. + +The Ganges had by this time struck on the middle part of the Goodwins, +and the sea was breaking mast-high over her. Her lights and flares had +gone out, and the lifeboat had the greatest difficulty in finding her. +Just when the lifeboatmen were in perplexity, she again burned blue +lights, and these guided the advancing boat. When they came close to +the wreck they found her head was lying about north, so that the great +wind and sea were beating right on her broadside, and a strong tide was +also running in the same direction right across the ship. + +Just before the arrival of the lifeboat, in the bewilderment of terror, +one of the boats of the wrecked vessel was lowered, and one English +apprentice and four Lascars sprang into it. In the boiling surf which +raged alongside, the boat was upset in an instant, and with the +exception of one Lascar, who grasped a chain-plate, all were lost, +their drowning shrieks being only faintly heard as they were swept into +the caldron of the Goodwins to leeward. There can be no doubt that a +merciful insensibility came soon to their relief. To swim was +impossible in raging surf, and there would be little suffering in the +speedy death of those poor fellows. I once heard a sailor say to +another one moonlight night in the Mediterranean, 'Death is nothing, if +you are ready for it;' and if there be a good clear view of the country +beyond the river, and of the King of that land, as Shepherd, Saviour, +Friend, the writer firmly holds with his sailor friend, long since lost +at sea, and now with God, that 'Death is nothing, if you are ready for +it.' + +The position of the lifeboat had to be now chosen with reference to +tide, wind and sea. Had the lifeboat anchored close outside the +vessel, there would have been the fearful danger of falling masts; and, +besides this, the tide would have swept her completely away from the +wreck, and would have prevented her getting back, had she once been +driven to leeward; hence, as shown in the diagram, they were driven to +anchor to windward of the vessel, or right between her and the land. + +[Illustration: Position of the Ganges on the Sands.] + +They first tried to get to the stern of the vessel, but they found this +position unsuitable, and being baffled, they hauled up to their anchor +with great trouble, and approached the bows of the wreck, having veered +out their cable again. + +There was, be it remembered, an enormous sea, which during all the +struggles of the men broke with fury over the lifeboat, and kept her +full to her thwarts all the night, bursting in clouds of spray, and of +course drenching the lifeboatmen. + +They now got to the bows of the wreck, where the strong off-tide +drifted them right under the jib-boom and bowsprit. Looking up, they +could just dimly see the jib-boom and bowsprit covered with men, who +had, in their terror, swarmed out there to drop into the lifeboat. + +As they were hoisted up on the crest of a great breaker, which also +filled them, the great iron martingale or dolphin striker of the +vessel, pointed like an arrow, came so near the lifeboat that the men +saw that a little heavier sea would have driven the spear head of the +martingale through the lifeboat. One of the crew had a very narrow +escape of being impaled. This novel danger drove them back again +therefore to their anchor, to which they had with great difficulty +again to haul the lifeboat; and in reply to the imploring cries and +shouts of those on the jib-boom, they shouted back, 'We're not going to +leave you!' + +The lifeboat now lay to windward of the vessel, in the full blast of +the tempest, and exposed to the full sweep of the breakers. The +official report of the coxswain was: 'We succeeded in getting alongside +after a long time and with great difficulty, through a very heavy sea +and at great risk of life, as the sea was breaking over the ship.' + +As the lifeboat rode to windward of the wreck, the shouts of those on +board were inaudible, and their gestures and signs in the dim lantern +light could not be understood by the lifeboatmen. Having thrown their +line to the vessel, a weightier line was now passed and made fast on +board the Ganges, and in order to remedy the confusion and give the +necessary directions to save the lives of the distressed sailors, one +of the lifeboatmen, Henry Marsh, volunteered to jump into the sea with +a line round his waist, to be dragged through the breakers on board the +wreck. Heavy seas were bursting on the broadside and breaking over the +vessel, so that it was a marvel he escaped with his life. + +He fastened a jamming hitch round his waist and then with a shout of +'Haul away!' sprang into the midnight surf. Some said, 'He's mad!' +others said, 'He's gone!' and then, 'Haul away, hard!' He fought +through the sea, he struggled, he worked up the ship's side, against +which he was once heavily dashed, and he gained the deck, giving +confidence to all on board: the brave fellow being sixty-five years of +age at the time. + +The vessel was during this event thumping and beating out over the +Goodwins, and was at last, when finally wrecked and stuck fast, not +more than one hundred yards from safety and deep water, having thumped +for miles across the Sands. The lifeboat had to follow her on her +awful journey and almost to the outer edge of the Goodwins. + +Her masts had stood up to this time, and she had been listing over to +the east, or away from the wind and the sea, but now all over and +within the ship were heard loud noises of cracking beams and the sharp +harsh snap of timbers breaking. The crew of the wreck, in dread of +instant death, now again burned blue lights. Just before the lifeboat +approached, as if in a death-throe, the ship reeled inwards, and her +tottering masts leaned to port, or towards the lifeboat and against the +wind--thus adding great peril to the work of rescue. + +By the directions of the coxswain and the lifeboatmen the exhausted +crew were at last got down life-lines into the lifeboat, seventeen in +number, including the captain, mates and apprentices; while twelve +Lascars got into the Ramsgate lifeboat, which had about this time +arrived to help in the work of rescue. + +One of the features of this terrible night which perhaps impressed the +memories of the lifeboat crew most of all, was the noise of the torn +sails above their heads as they fought the sea below. Just before +shoving off with the rescued crew, the words of the lifeboatmen were, +'We'll all go mad with that awful noise.' + +At last all were on board, thirty-two souls in all, and at two o'clock +a.m. the lifeboat got up sail for home, which lay seven miles off dead +to windward. + +The canvas they set will give some idea of the nature of the +struggle--a reefed mizzen and two reefs in the storm foresail. Thus +reefed down, they struggled to get hold of the land, which they finally +did at four o'clock on that dark wintry morning, landing the rescued +men on Deal beach, when boatmen generously took them to their houses[1]. + +Not the faintest publicity has ever before been given to the details of +this gallant achievement, which I now rescue from obscurity and +oblivion. + +I cannot refrain from recording a previous gallant deed of Henry Marsh, +before mentioned. On February 13, 1870, there was a furious tempest +blowing, with the wind from E.N.E. All the vessels at anchor in the +Downs had been, with one exception, blown ashore and shattered into +fragments. + +A Dutch brig, sugar-laden, went ashore in the afternoon opposite Deal +Castle, and was broken up and vanished in ten minutes; others went +ashore at Kingsdown, and late in the evening, opposite Walmer Castle, +another brig came ashore, also sugar-laden--a French vessel with an +English pilot on board. + +The gale was accompanied with snow squalls, and Marsh, hearing of the +wrecks along Deal and Walmer beach, determined to go and see for +himself. His wife, as is the manner of wives, repressed his rash and +impulsive intentions, and said, 'Don't you go up near them!' But Marsh +said, 'I'll just take a bit of bread and cheese in my pocket, and I'll +take my short pipe with me, and I'll be back soon.' He laid great +stress and emphasis on having 'his short pipe' with him, probably +reserving a regular long-shanked 'churchwarden' for home use. + +He found the beach crowded with spectators, and the sea breaking blue +water over the French brig. Her rigging was thick with ice, and the +snow froze as it fell. She was rocking wildly in and out, exposing her +deck as she swung outwards to the full sweep of the tremendous easterly +sea. Between her and the beach there were about ten feet deep of +water, which with each giant recoil swept round her in fury. + +Marsh asked, 'Are all the people out of that there brig?' 'All but +two,' said the bystanders, 'and we can't get no answer from them. +They're gone, they are!' + +Said Marsh, 'Won't nobody go to save them?' + +'Which way are you going to save them?' said one; and all said the +same. 'I'm a-going,' said Marsh. 'Harry, don't go!' cried many an old +sailor on the beach. 'Here, hold my jacket!' said Marsh. And I verily +believe he was thinking chiefly of the preservation of his short pipe. +'Don't you hold me back! I'm a-going to try! Let go of me!' and +seizing the line which led from the rocking brig to the shore, Marsh +rushed neck deep in a moment into the surf. Swept the next instant off +his feet, on, hand over hand, he went; swayed out under her counter, +back towards the shore, still he lives! Dashed against the ship's +side, while some shout 'He's killed,' up he clambers still, hand over +hand; and as the vessel reels inwards, down, down the rope Marsh slips +into the water and the awful recoil. 'He is gone!' they cry. No! up +again! with true bull-dog tenacity, Marsh struggles. And at last, +nearly exhausted, he wins the deck amid such shouting as seldom rings +on Deal beach. + +Taking breath, he first fastens a line round his waist and to a +belaying pin; and then he discovers a senseless form, Holbrooke, the +pilot, a friend of his own, who, fast dying with the cold and drenching +freezing spray, was muttering, 'The poor boy! the poor boy!' + +'William!' said Marsh. 'Who are you?' was the reply. 'I'm Henry +Marsh, and I'm come to save you.' 'No, I'll be lost; I'll be lost!' +'No you won't,' said Marsh, 'I'll send you ashore on the rope.' 'No, +you'll drown me! you'll drown me!' + +And then finding the poor French boy was indeed lost and swept +overboard, alone he passed the rope round the nearly insensible man, +protecting and holding him as the seas came; and finally watching when +the vessel listed in, alone he got him on the toprail of the bulwarks, +with an exertion of superhuman strength, and then, with shouts to the +people ashore, 'Are you ready?' and 'I'm a-coming!' threw Holbrooke, in +spite of himself, into the sea; and both were safely drawn ashore. + +The people nearly smothered Marsh when he got ashore, but he ran home, +his clothes frozen stiff when he got in; and I have no doubt that the +'short pipe' played no insignificant part in his recovery. + +Eleven years afterwards, this same Henry Marsh was dragged by a rope +from the lifeboat to the Ganges, as described in the beginning of this +chapter, through the breakers on the Goodwin Sands at midnight; and he +is now (1892), my readers will be glad to hear, alive and hearty, at +the age of seventy-five, and I rejoice to say 'looking for and hasting +unto that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God, +and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' + +There can be few, I think, of my readers who will not find their hearts +beat faster as they read this story, and few will hesitate to say, +'Bravely done!' + + + +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were--R. +Wilds (coxswain), Thomas Adams, Henry Marsh, T. Holbourn, Henry +Roberts, James Snoswell, T. Cribben, J. May, T. May, George Marsh, H. +Marsh, R. Betts, and Frank Roberts. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE EDINA + + The oak strikes deeper as its boughs + By furious blasts are driven. + + +The Edina was one of a great fleet of ships at anchor in the Downs on +January 16, 1884. Hundreds of vessels were there straining at their +anchors--vessels of many nations, and of various rigs. There were +picturesque red-sailed barges anchored close in shore, while even there +the sea flew over them. Farther out were Italians, Norwegians and +Yankees, all unmistakable to the practised eye; French _chasse-marees_, +Germans, Russians and Greeks were there; and each vessel was +characterised by some nautical peculiarity. Of course the greater +number were our own English vessels, as plainly to be pronounced +British as ever was John Bull in the midst of Frenchmen or Spaniards. + +It was blowing a heavy gale from the W.S.W., and towards night, +accompanied by furious rain-squalls and thunder, the gale increased to +a storm. The most powerful luggers along the beach tried to launch, +but as the tide was high they had not run enough to get sufficient +impetus, and were therefore beaten back on the beach by the surf. + +[Illustration: Dangerous work.] + +Some vessels were blown clean out of the Downs, and away from their +anchors. Indeed, when the weather cleared between the squalls, a +pitiable number of blue light signals of distress were seen in the +distance beyond the North Foreland. And it is probable that vessels +were lost that night on the Goodwins of which no one has ever heard. + +When the tide fell, about 8.45, flares and rockets were seen coming +from the Brake, a very dangerous and partially rocky 'Sand' lying close +to the Goodwin Sands. Then the Gull lightship also fired guns and +rockets. There being obviously a vessel in danger on or near either +the Goodwins or the Brake Sand, the Deal lifeboat bell was rung; and a +crew was obtained out of the hundred men who rushed to get a place. +The beach was smoothed to give the lifeboat a run, she was let go, and, +in contrast with the failure of other boats, launched successfully. + +In receiving the report of the coxswain next day, I asked him what time +precisely he launched. Now that evening, about 9 p.m., I was sitting +in my own house listening to the long-protracted roar of the wind, and +just when I thought the strong walls could bear no more, there came a +blinding flash of lightning which paled the lamps, almost +simultaneously with a peal of thunder that made the foundations of the +house tremble. When I asked the coxswain next day what time exactly he +launched, his reply was, 'Just in that clap of thunder.' + +This may help my readers to depict the scene in its appalling grandeur, +and to realise the meaning of the words, 'A vessel in distress,' and +the launch of the lifeboat on its sacred errand. + +The flares which had been burning now suddenly stopped. This, however, +was owing to the distressed vessel having exhausted her stock of +rockets and torches. + +Passing under the stern of a schooner which they hailed, the gallant +lifeboat crew were pointed out the vessel that had been burning them, +riding with a red light in her rigging to attract notice. Making for +her, they anchored as usual ahead, and veered down eighty fathoms. In +the gale and heavy sea they found the anchor would not hold, and they +had to bend on another cable, and pay out a hundred fathoms, and at +last they got alongside. + +The captain cried out, 'Come on board and save the vessel! My crew are +all gone!' And indeed she was in a sore plight. + +That evening after dark, about 6 p.m., this brig, the Edina, had been +riding out the gale in the Downs. In a furious blast a heavy sea broke +her adrift from her anchor, and she came into helpless collision with a +ship right astern of her. Grinding fiercely into this other very large +vessel, the Edina tore herself free with loss of bowsprit and jib-boom, +all her fore-rigging being in dire ruin and confusion. + +In the collision, six of the crew of the Edina jumped from her rigging +to the other ship with which they were in collision, leaving only three +men, the captain, mate, and boy, on board the Edina. By great efforts +they, however, were able to let go another anchor, but that did not +bite, and the Edina kept dragging with the wreckage and wild tangle of +bowsprit and jib-boom hanging over her bows and beating against her +side. + +One of the six men who had jumped from the Edina in the panic of the +collision had, alas! jumped too short, and had fallen between the two +vessels. The next day his body was found by the lifeboatmen entangled +in the wreckage, and under the bows of the Edina. + +The Edina in her wrecked and crippled condition had dragged till she +got to the very edge of the Brake Sand. She had dragged for two miles, +and at last her anchor held fast when within twenty fathoms or forty +yards of the Brake Sand. She was stopped just short of destruction as +the sea was breaking heavily under her stern, and had she drifted a few +more yards she would have struck the deadly Brake, and have perished +with those on board before the lifeboat could have reached her. + +In setting off his rockets, the unfortunate captain had blown away a +piece of his hand, and was in much suffering, when the advent of the +lifeboat proclaimed that he was not to be abandoned to destruction. +The vessel was riding in only three fathoms of water, and as a furious +sea was running, she was plunging bows under. Six of the lifeboatmen +sprang on board and turned to clearing the wreck--the remainder of the +men remaining in the lifeboat, as they feared every moment the ship +would break adrift and strike. + +They worked with the energy of men working for life, but they took +three hours to clear away the wreck; this being absolutely necessary in +order to get at the windlass and raise the anchor. + +At morning dawn they found the body of the poor sailor who had failed +to spring to the other vessel; they got up anchor, they set the sails, +and they brought the vessel out of her dangerous position into Ramsgate +Harbour. + +That day four weeks the Edina came out of Ramsgate refitted and ready +for sea. I went on board the vessel on my daily task as Missions to +Seamen Chaplain in the Downs, and talked with the captain over the +events of the night as here described, and the merciful Providence +which prevented him striking on the Brake Sand. 'What brought you up,' +I asked him, 'when you had already dragged for miles?' + +The captain pointed me to a roll of large-printed Scripture texts, a +leaf for each day, for four weeks. 'Why,' said he, 'that's the very +leaf that was turned the night of the 26th of last month'--and going +close to the 'Seaman's Roll,' as this Eastbourne publication is +called--'There,' said he, 'is the very text.' + +It ran thus: 'Wherefore, also, He is able to save them to the uttermost +that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession +for them.' + +'And that,' said the captain, 'was the anchor that held my ship that +awful night.' + +It is hard to doubt that He who once stilled the tempest, and granted +to this humble sailor the mighty gift of Faith, on that stormy night +'delivered His servant that trusted in Him.' + +The Edina went on her way to Pernambuco. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FREDRIK CARL + + There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. + + +On October 30, 1885, the small Danish schooner, the Fredrik Carl, ran +aground on the Goodwin Sands. She struck on the outer part of the +North Sand Head, about eight miles from the nearest land, and two miles +from the well-known Whistle Buoy, which ever and always sends forth its +mournful note of warning--too often unavailing. + +Summoned by the lightship's guns and rockets to the rescue--for the red +three-masted North Sand Head lightship was only two miles from the +wreck--the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed by the steam-tug Aid, came to the +spot, and, after a long trial, failed to get the schooner afloat, and, +having taken her crew out of her, returned to the shore. + +At low water the next day, October 31, the vessel lay high and dry on +the Goodwin Sands. She was tolerably upright, having bedded herself +slightly in the sand, and all her sails were swinging loose as the wind +chose to sway them. There was no rent in her side that could be seen, +and to all appearance she was safe and sound--only she was stranded on +the Goodwins, from which _vestigia nulla retrorsum_. As in the Cave of +Cacus, once there, you are there for ever, and few are the cases in +which vessels fast aground on the Goodwins ever again get away from the +great ship-swallower. + +[Illustration: The anchor of death. From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + +The schooner had a cargo of oats, and if she could be got off would be +a very valuable prize to her salvors. But 'if'--and we all know that +'there's much virtue in your "if".' + +However, when morning broke on October 31, many of the Deal boatmen, +whose keen eyes saw a possibility of a 'hovel,' came in their powerful +'galley punts' to see about this 'if,' and try if they could not +convert it into a reality. Accordingly, two of the Deal boats, taking +different directions, the Wanderer and the Gipsy King, approached the +Goodwin Sands near the north-west buoy. + +On this day there was just enough sea curling and tumbling on the edge +of the sands to make landing on them difficult even for the skilled +Deal boatmen. For the inexperienced it would have been dangerous in +the extreme. + +There were four Deal men in each boat, and they only got ashore with +difficulty, one of the boats' cables having parted; and they had all to +jump out and wade waist-deep in the surf, as they dared not let their +weighty boats touch the bottom. + +Two boatmen remained in each boat, for neglect of this precaution has +caused accidents frightful to think of, on the Goodwins; and the +remaining four boatmen, daring fellows of the sea-dog and amphibious +type, walked across the sands, dripping with the brine. As a matter of +fact, two of them were not only Deal boatmen, but were sailors who had +been round and round the world, and one was an old and first-rate +man-o'-war's man. + +Sometimes they met a deep gully with six feet of water in it, which +they had to make a circuit round, or to swim; and farther on a shallow +pond, in the midst of which would be a deep-blue 'fox-fall,' perhaps +twenty feet deep of sea-water. Then, having avoided this, more dry, +hard sand, rippled by the ebbing tide, and then a dry, deep cleft--for +the Goodwins are full of surprises--and then came more wading. + +Wading on the Goodwins conveys a very peculiar sensation to the naked +feet. The sand, so dense when dry, at once becomes friable and +quick--indeed, it is hard to believe there is not a living creature +under the feet--and if you stand still you slowly sink, feet and +ankles, and gradually downwards. As long as you keep moving, it is +hard enough, but less so when under water. + +The surroundings are deeply impressive. The waves plash at your feet, +and the seagull, strangely tame, screams close overhead; but glorious +as is the unbroken view of sky and ocean, the loneliness of the place, +and the unutterable mystery of the sea, and the deep sullen roar, and +the memories of the long sad history of the sands, oppress your soul. +Tragedies of the most fearful description have been enacted on the very +spot whereon you stand. Terror, frozen into despair, blighted hope, +faith victorious even in death, have thrilled the hearts of thousands +hard by the place where you stand, and which in a few hours will be ten +feet under water. Here you can see the long line of a ship's ribs +swaddling down into the sands, and there is the stump of the mast to +which the seamen clung last year till the lifeboat snatched them from a +watery grave. + +Buried deep in the sands are the cargoes of richly-laden ships, and +their 'merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, +and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet.' 'To dig there' (if +that could be done, say the Deal boatmen), 'would be all as one as +going to Californy;' and who should know the Goodwins or the secret of +the sea better than they do? 'Only those who brave its dangers +comprehend its mystery.' + +Keenly intent on getting to the wreck, the four men hastened on, and +they perceived that other boatmen had landed at similar risk, at other +points of the sands, and were also making for the wreck. + +The four boatmen reached the vessel, found ropes hanging over her side, +all sails set, and a part of the Ramsgate lifeboat's cable chopped off +short, telling the tale of her unsuccessful efforts the night before to +get the vessel off. They clambered up, and found others there before +them, and soon more came, and eventually there were twelve boatmen on +board. + +All eagerly discussed the chances of getting her off. To the +unpractised eye she seemed sound enough; but, after a thorough +overhaul, some saying she could be kept afloat, and others the reverse, +it was found that the water had got into her up to the level of her +cabin-seats, and that a bag of flour in one of her cabin-lockers was +sodden with salt-water. Judging by these signs that the water would +again come into her when the tide rose, and that she was broken up, the +four men whose journey across the sands has been described, decided +with sound judgment to leave her to her fate, and with them sided four +other men, who also came to the conclusion that it was beyond the power +of their resources to save her. + +George Marsh and George Philpot with six others took this view. +Looking overboard, they found the rising tide just beginning to lap +round her. + +'Best for us to bolt,' said Marsh; and seeing there was no time to +lose, the eight men came down the ropes and made for their boats, more +than a mile off; leaving the four others, who took a different view, on +board. The eight men ran, and ran the harder when they found the wind +and sea had increased, and having run and waded as before half the +distance, they made a halt and called a council of war. There were now +serious doubts whether they would be able to reach their boats, which +they could see a long way off heaving on the swell, which was becoming +heavier every minute. + +Some said, 'Best go back to the ship--we'll never reach the boats.' +And indeed it was very doubtful if they could do either; for the +flood-tide was now coming like a racehorse over the sands, and hiding +its fox-falls and gullies. Others said, 'You'll never get back to the +ship now; there's deep water round her bows by this time! Come on!' + +But some of the men had left brothers on the vessel, and this attracted +three of the company back to the wreck, and Marsh was persuaded to join +the returning band. And so they parted, there being danger either way: +Marsh with three others back to the ship, and Philpot with three others +to the boats; and both parties now ran for their lives. + +Looking back, they saw Marsh standing in uncertainty, and they waved to +him. But he finally decided--little knowing at the time how momentous +was his decision--for the ship. He and his party reached it with great +difficulty, finding deep water around it, and they were at the last +minute pulled on board through the water by lines slung to them from +their friends. + +Of the others, each man for himself, as best he could, 'pursues his +way,'-- + + And swims or sinks or wades or creeps, + +till they all come as close as the rough sea permits them to their +boats, and stand breathless on a narrow and rapidly contracting patch +of sand. + +'Upon this bank and shoal' clustered the four men. The sea was so +heavy that the weighty Deal boats did not dare to back into it. The +men at first thought of trying to swim to them; but a strong tide +running right across their course rendered that out of the question. + +Fortunately a tug-boat hove in sight, bound to the wrecked schooner, +and seeing the men waving and their dangerous plight, eased her +engines. Deal boats were towing astern, and Deal boatmen were on +board, and out of their number Finnis and Watts bravely volunteered to +go to the rescue in the tug-boat's punt. + +This boat being light and without ballast, they at considerable risk +brought off the four men to their own boats, when they forthwith, +forgetting past hardship and perils, got up sail for the wrecked +schooner, to see how their comrades who had returned, and those who +remained on board, were faring. + +They found the tug-boat close to the wreck--say half a mile off--and +also many other Deal boats; but none ventured nearer than that +distance, and none could get nearer. + +The wind, which had been blowing from south-west freshly, was dropping +into a calm, while great rollers from an entirely opposite quarter were +tumbling in on the Goodwins. In fact, a great north-easterly sea was +breaking in thunder on the sands, and around and over the vessel. The +eight men on board her were therefore beset as if in a beleaguered +city, and as nothing but a lifeboat could live for a moment in that +tremendous surf, the crews of the Deal boats, astounded at the sight, +were simply helpless spectators of their comrades' danger, and torn +with distress and sympathy, as they saw them take to the rigging of the +vessel. + +An hour before this pitch of distress had been reached, a galley punt +had gone to Deal for the lifeboat, and in the afternoon, about 3 p. m., +the boat reached Deal beach with one hand on board. He jumped out, and +staggered up the beach to tell the coxswain of the lifeboat that eight +boatmen were on board the wreck, and that nothing but a lifeboat could +reach the vessel, as there was a dreadful sea all round her, and that +his own brother was among the number on board. + +The Deal boatmen are not slow to render help when help is needed, and +indifference to the cry of distress is not one of their failings; but +when they heard of their own friends and neighbours, their comrades in +storm and in rescue and lifeboat work, thus beset and in imminent +peril, their eagerness was beyond the power of words to describe. From +the time the bell rang to 'man the lifeboat' to the moment she struck +the water only seven minutes passed! + +A fresh south-west breeze brought her to the North Sand Head, and round +and outside it to the melancholy spot where, in the waning autumnal +light, they could just discern the wreck. They passed through the +crowd of Deal boats, and close to the tug-boat; but no one spoke or +hailed the other, as all knew what had to be done, and the nature of +the coming struggle. + +The south-west breeze had now dropped completely, and they encountered, +as explained before, the strange phenomenon of a great windless swell +from the north-east, rolling in before the wind, which was evidently +behind it, and which indeed blew a gale next day, though it was now an +absolute calm. Great tumbling billows came in from different quarters, +and met and crossed each other in the most furious collision. There +was tossing about in the sea at the time an empty cask, which was +caught in the clash together of two such waves, and was shot clean out +of the water as high as the wrecked schooner's mast, or thirty feet +into the air, by the force of the blow. The water-logged wreck was now +nearly submerged, or just awash, her bulwark-top-rail being now and +then exposed and covered again with the advance and recoil of each wave. + +Aft there were a raised quarter-deck and a wheel-house, behind the +remains of which three of the boatmen took refuge, while the five +others climbed into the rigging, but over them even there the sea broke +in clouds. + +As there was no tide and no wind, it was impossible to sheer the +lifeboat, and, whatever position was taken by anchoring, in that only +the lifeboat would ride after veering down before the sea. The +coxswains, therefore, had to try again and again before they got the +proper position to veer down from. + +At last, however, they succeeded, and anchoring the lifeboat by the +stern, they veered down bows first towards the wreck into the midst of +this breezeless but awful sea--bows first, lest the rudder should be +injured. + +The cable was passed round the bollard or powerful samson-post, and +then a turn was taken round a thwart; and the end was held by Roberts, +the second coxswain, with his face towards the stern, and his back to +the wreck, watching the billows as they charged in line, and easing his +cable or getting it in when the strain had passed. + +The heavy rollers drove the lifeboat before them like a feather, and +end on towards the wreck, till her cable brought her up with a jerk. +The strain of these jerks was so great, that, even though Roberts eased +his cable, each wave seemed to all hands as if it would tear the after +air-box out of the lifeboat, or drag the lifeboat itself in two pieces. + +They veered down to about five fathoms of the wreck; closer they dared +not go, lest a sea should by an extra strain dash their bows into the +wreck, when not one of all the company would have been saved, and the +lifeboat herself would have perhaps been broken up. + +Then they saw their friends and comrades and heard them cry, 'Try to +save us if you can!' And the men said afterwards, 'We got in such a +flurry to save them, that what we did in a minute we thought took us an +hour.' + +At last the cane and lead were thrown from the lifeboat by a stalwart +boatman standing in the bows. A heavier line was then drawn on board +by the light cane line, and the boatmen came down from the rigging, +and, having made themselves fast to pins and staunchions, sheltered +behind the bulwark and the wheel-house, seeing the approach of rescue. + +Enough of the slack of the weightier line was kept on board the +wreck--the end being there made fast--to permit the middle of the rope +being fastened round a man and of his being dragged away from the wreck +through the sea into the lifeboat. A clove-hitch was put by George +Marsh over the shoulders of the first man, who watched his chance for +'a smooth,' jumped into the waves, and, after a long struggle--for the +line fouled--was hauled safe into the lifeboat. Marsh on the wreck saw +after this that the line was clear, and that no kink or knot stopped +its running freely. + +Reading these lines in our quiet homes, and in a comfortable arm-chair +by the fireside, it is hard to realise the position of those eight +boatmen. They were drenched and buried in each wallowing sea, which +strove to tear them from the pin to which each man was belayed by the +line round his waist; and their ears were stunned with the bellow of +each bursting wave. But, on the other hand, their eyes beheld the +grand and cheering spectacle of their brethren in the lifeboat +struggling manfully with death for their sakes, and they heard their +undaunted shouts. + +If for a moment they cast off or lengthened their lifelines, they were +washed all over the slippery deck; and brave George Marsh, who was +specially active, was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, having been +dashed against a corner of the wheel-house. + +The wheel-house up to this time had afforded some shelter to the men +who ventured on the deck of the wreck, lashed as just explained, of +course, to some pin or bollard; and even they had now and then to rush +up the rigging when a weighter [Transcriber's note: weightier?] wave +was seen coming. But just at this time a great mass of water advanced +and wallowed clean over the wreck, carrying the wheelhouse away with +it, and bursting, where it struck the masts and booms, into a cloud: it +was too solid to burst much, but it just 'wallowed' over the wreck. + +Successive seas are, of course, unlike in height, volume, and +demeanour. One comes on board and falls with a solid, heavy lop--there +may be twenty tons of blue water in it--the next rushes along with wild +speed and fury. + +Roberts in the lifeboat now saw a great roller of the latter +description advancing; ready to ease his cable, he cried, 'Look out! +Look out! Hold on, my lads!' + +But before Wilds, the coxswain, who was not a young man, could turn +round and grasp a thwart, the sea was on him, and drove him with great +force against the samson-post, breaking over and covering the lifeboat +fore and aft in fury. This sea would have washed every man off the +wreck if they had not had ropes round their waists, and fastened +themselves to something; and it most certainly stupefied them and +half-drowned them, fastened as they were. + +The blow which Wilds in the lifeboat received would have killed him but +that he was wearing his thick cork life-belt. His health was so much +affected that he never came afloat again, and he never recovered the +strain, the shock, and the exposure of this day. He was a brave man, +and a stout, honest Englishman. + + Faithful below he did his duty, + And now he's gone aloft. + +And the writer has good reason for sure and certain hope that this is +so. His post as coxswain has since been filled, and nobly filled, by +R. Roberts, for many years second coxswain. + +In meeting this sea, which struck down poor Wilds with such force, the +lifeboat stood straight up on her stern and reared, as the men +expressed it, 'like a vicious horse'; and so much did the cable spring, +that the lifeboat was driven to within a fathom, or six feet, of the +wreck, and was withdrawn the next instant to fifteen fathoms distance +by the recoil of the cable. + +One by one the men were dragged through the breakers into the lifeboat, +until at last only two remained on the wreck, George Marsh and another +man. It was Marsh, it will be remembered, who in the earlier part of +the day had been persuaded to return to the wreck across the sand, and +it was Marsh now who in each case had passed the clove-hitch round his +comrades, sending them before himself. He was a very smart sailor and +a brave man, and with wise forethought he had also passed the end of +the veering line, on which the men were dragged through the surf, over +the main boom of the wreck, to let it run out clear of anything which +might have caught it, and, in fact, was the leader of the men in peril +on the wreck. + +The last two men intended to come together, when another great billow, +notice of its advance being given by Tom Adams, came towering and +seething, filled the lifeboat, as usual, and covered the ship--indeed, +breaking right into her fore-top-sail! That is, thirty feet above her +deck! + +When the sea passed, the two remaining men, who had been tied together, +were not to be seen. + +The men in the lifeboat pulled at the line, but it was somehow and +somewhere fast to something. And then they shouted, and minutes went +by, hours as it seemed to them. At last one of the men--but not +Marsh--slowly raised his head and seemed to move about in a dazed +condition. + +'Where's Marsh?' cried the lifeboatmen. + +'Can't find him!' he replied. + +'Is he drowned?' + +'Is he washed away?' + +And the reply was, 'I can't find him.' + +And then this man was pulled into the water, and was the last man +saved--and that with great difficulty, for the line fouled and +jammed--from the wreck of the Fredrik Carl, which had proved a +death-trap to poor Marsh, and so nearly to the seven others who were +saved. + +Still the lifeboat waited in the gathering darkness, and hailed the +wreck, hoping against hope to see Marsh appear; but he was never seen +again alive. Short as was the distance between the lifeboat and the +wreck, it was impossible to swim to her, lying broadside as she was to +the swell. Anyone attempting it would either have been dashed to +pieces against her, or lifted bodily over her, brained very possibly, +and certainly washed away to leeward, return from which would have +been, even for an uninjured man, impossible. + +And still the lifeboatmen waited and called; but there was no answer. +Poor Marsh had been suddenly summoned to meet his God. The oldest man +of the number, and for some years a staunch total abstainer, he had +manfully stuck to his post, he had sent the others before himself, and +had shown throughout a fine spirit of self-sacrifice worthy of the best +traditions of the Deal boatmen. + +Slowly and sadly the lifeboat got her anchor up, and never perhaps did +the celebrated Deal lifeboat return with a more mournful crew; for they +had seen, in spite of their best efforts, one of their comrades perish +before their eyes. + +The next day it blew a gale of wind from the north-east, and it was not +till several days afterwards that Marsh's body was recovered, entangled +in the wreckage, to leeward of the vessel, and sorely mangled. Wrapped +in a sail, and with the rope still round him which ought to have drawn +him into safety, lay the poor 'body of humiliation' in which had once +dwelt a gallant spirit; but a good hope burned within me as the +triumphant lines rang in my ears-- + + Deathless principle, arise! + Soar, thou native of the skies. + Pearl of price, by Jesus bought, + To His glorious likeness wrought! + + +In telling the story of this gallant struggle to save their comrades, +made by the Deal lifeboatmen, I lay this tribute of hope and regard on +the grave of brave George Marsh. + +[Illustration: Deal boatmen on the lookout for a hovel.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GOLDEN ISLAND + + Nor toil nor hazard nor distress appear + To sink the seamen with unmanly fear; + Though their firm hearts no pageant-honour boast, + They scorn the wretch that trembles in his post. + + +The smart and trim three-masted schooner, the Golden Island, was bound +from Antwerp to Liverpool, with a cargo of glass-sand, and was running +before a favouring gale to the southward. At midnight, on May 14, +1887, or the early morning of May 15, with a heavy sea rolling from the +N.E., suddenly, no notice being given and no alarm felt, she struck +with tremendous force the outer edge of the Goodwin Sands. + +The timbers of the Golden Island opened with the crash, and she filled, +and never lifted or thumped, but lay swept by each billow, like a rock +at half-tide, immovable by reason of her heavy cargo. Her crew +consisted of seven all told, including a lad, the captain's son, and +they managed to light a large flare, which was seen a long way, and was +visible even in Deal, eight miles distant. + +With what sinking of heart, as the waters raged round and over them, +they watched the flame of their torch burning lower and lower. How +intense the darkness when it was extinguished! How terrible the +thunderous roar of the breakers! + +The nearest lightship was about four miles from them, and her look-out +man noticed the flare and fired the signal guns of distress, and sent +up the usual rockets. + +At 2 a.m. the coastguard on Deal beach called the coxswain of the +lifeboat, R. Roberts. Hastily dressing himself he went up the beach, +and seeing the flash of the distant guns, he rang the lifeboat bell. +Men sprang out of their warm beds, and, half-dressed, rushed to the +lifeboat. Their wives or mothers or daughters followed with the +remainder of their clothes, their sea boots, or jackets or mufflers. +Then came the struggle to gain a place in the lifeboat, and then the +bustle and hurry of preparation to get her ready for the launch. + +Deal beach at such a time is full of boatmen, some in the lifeboat +loosing sails and setting the mizzen, some easing her down to the top +of the slope, some seeing to the haul-off warp, a matter of life or +death in such a heavy sea dead on shore; others laying down the +well-greased 'skids' for the lifeboat to run on, and others clearing +away the shingle which successive tides had gathered in front of her +bows. + +Mingling among the workers are the wives and mothers, putting a piece +of bread and cheese in Tom's pocket or helping on 'father' with his +oilskin jacket or his sou'wester. And now 'All hands in the lifeboat!' +and twenty minutes after the bell is rung she rushes down the steep and +plunges into the surf. The loving, lingering watchers on the beach +just see her foresail hoisted, and she vanishes into the night, as the +green rocket shoots one hundred yards into the sky to tell the +distressed sailors 'The lifeboat is launched and on her way.' + +The vessel's flare had now burned out, and the guns and rockets from +the lightships had ceased, and in front of the lifeboat was only the +chill night, 'black as a wolf's throat.' As they worked away from the +shore there came in, borne landwards and towards them by the gale, the +dull deep roar of the surf on the Goodwins. + +It is marvellous how far the sound of the sea on the Goodwins travels. +Previously, on a fine calm day, with light breeze, I was standing +across the Goodwins, bound to the East Goodwin lightship, and we could +hear the roar of the ripple on the Goodwins--not breakers, but +ripple--at a distance of two miles. We were sucked into that +ugly-looking ripple by an irresistible current, and after an anxious +half-hour we got through safely. + +In front of the lifeboat on this night was no mere ripple, but +breakers; and the deep hollow roar foretold a tremendous sea. + +As the dawn came faintly, the breakers were seen by the oncoming +lifeboat; she was already stripped for the fight, and her canvas was +shortened to reefed mizzen and reefed storm-foresail. Even then she +was pressed down by the blast and leaned over as the spray flew +mast-high over her. There was a mile of this surf to go through, and +with her red sails flat as a board the lifeboat plunged into it. + +She thrashed her way nobly through, now up and down on short +wicked-looking chopping seas, now on some giant wave hoisted up to the +sky; and still up as if she was about to take flight into the air--as +we once before experienced in a gale on the Brake Sand--then buried and +smothered; and then over the next wave like a seabird. On to the +rescue flew the lifeboat, steered by the coxswain himself, beating to +windward splendidly, as if conscious of and proud of the sacred task +before her. On triumphantly through and over the breakers, onwards to +the Golden Island the lifeboat beat out against the sea and the storm. +She stood on till quite across the Goodwins, and fetched the East Buoy, +which lies in deep water well outside the breakers. In that deep water +of fifteen fathoms there were of course no breakers, only a long roll +and heavy sea; but the moment this heavy sea touched the Goodwin Sands +it broke with the utmost fury, and was sweeping over the Golden Island, +now not more than half-a-mile from the lifeboat. At the East Buoy the +lifeboat put about on the other tack, and stood in towards the Goodwins +and again right into the breakers, from which she had just emerged. + +The wreck was lying with her head to the N.W., and was leaning to port, +so that her starboard quarter was exposed to the full fetch of the +easterly sea that was breaking 'solid' in tons on her decks. 'Why, she +was just smothered in it sometimes, and every big sea was just a-flying +all over her.' Her masts they saw were still standing, and her crew of +seven were cowering for refuge between the main and mizzen masts under +the weak shelter of the weather bulwarks, and also under the lee of the +long boat, which still held its place, being firmly fastened to the +deck. The fierce breakers burst rather over her quarter; had they +swept quite broadside over her, the boat would have been torn from its +fastenings long before. + +As the Deal lifeboat stood in towards the Goodwins, they saw that their +noble rivals the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat in tow had arrived on the +scene a few minutes before them, and were close to the wreck. + +The Ramsgate tug Aid now cast off the lifeboat, which got up sail and +made in through the breakers with the wind right aft impelling her +forwards at speed. The tug of course waited outside the surf, in deep +water. The Deal men, separated from the Ramsgate lifeboat by about +four hundred yards, were breathless spectators of the event. They +watched her plunging and lifting into and over each sea and on towards +the wreck. + +The Ramsgate men could not lie or ride alongside the vessel to +windward; there was too terrible a sea on that side, and therefore, in +spite of the danger of the masts falling, they were obliged to go to +leeward, or to the sheltered side of the vessel. + +Just as the Ramsgate lifeboat was coming under the stern of the wreck +and about to haul down foresail and shoot up alongside her, she was +struck by a terrific sea. The Deal men saw this and shouted 'She's +capsized!' The Ramsgate lifeboat was indeed almost, but not quite +capsized, and she was also shot forwards and caught under the cat-head +and anchor of the wreck. The captain of the wrecked vessel told me +afterwards that he thought she was lost, but it was happily not so, and +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen anchored, after recovering themselves, ahead +of the vessel and veered down to her. + +But the tidal current which runs over the Goodwins varies in a very +irregular manner according to the wind that is blowing, and, contrary +to their calculations, swept the Ramsgate lifeboat to the full length +of her cable away from the vessel. + +They naturally expected to find the usual off-tide from the land before +and at high-water, which would have carried them towards the vessel +when they anchored under her lee; but instead of that there was running +a strong 'in-tide,' which swept them helplessly away from the vessel, +and rendered them absolutely unable to reach her, though anchored only +two hundred yards off. + +The seamen on the wreck, in order to reach by some means the lifeboat +which had thus been borne away from them so mysteriously, threw a +fender, with line attached, overboard, hoping that it too would follow +the current which carried away the lifeboat, and that thus +communications would be established between them; but the currents +round the ship held the fender close to the wreck, and kept it eddying +under her lee. + +All eyes were now turned to the advancing Deal lifeboat battling in the +thickest of the surf. Both the Ramsgate men with warm sympathy and the +shipwrecked crew with keen anxiety watched the Deal men's attempt, as +they raced into the wild breakers. + +The poor fellows clinging to the masts feared lest the Deal lifeboat +too might miss them, and that they might all be lost before either +lifeboat could reach them again, and they beckoned the Deal men on. + +The very crisis of their fate was at hand, but there were no applauding +multitudes or shouts of encouragement, only the cold wastes and +solitudes of wild tumbling breakers around the lifeboatmen on that grey +dawn, and only the appealing helpless crew in a little cluster on the +wreck. + +It was now 4 a.m., and the Deal coxswain, cool and sturdy as his native +Kentish oak, knowing that the combination of an easterly gale with neap +tides sometimes produces an 'in-tide' at high-water, and seeing the +Ramsgate lifeboat carried to leeward, gave the order to 'down +foresail!' when well outside the wreck, and anchored E. by S. of her. +Thus the same 'in-tide' which swept the Ramsgate lifeboat away from the +wreck, carried the Deal lifeboat right down to her. + +[Illustration: Location of the wreck] + +It will be remembered that the head of the Golden Island lay N.W., and +the accompanying diagram will enable the reader to understand that as +the lifeboat anchored in nearly the opposite quarter, viz. about S.E., +her head, as she ranged alongside the wreck, lay in precisely the +opposite direction to the head of the shipwrecked schooner. + +The Deal lifeboat coxswain now hoisted a bit of his foresail to sheer +her in towards the wreck, but from the position of his anchor he could +not get closer than ten fathoms, or twenty yards. + +To bridge this gulf of boiling surf, the cane loaded with lead, to +which a light line was attached, had to be hurled by a stalwart arm, +and John May succeeded in throwing the 'lead line' on board the wreck. + +As the half-drowned and perishing crew of the wreck saw the Deal +lifeboat winning her way towards them, and inch by inch conquering the +opposing elements, their hearts revived. + +They saw within hailing distance of them--for their cries could be +heard plainly enough coming down the wind by the Deal men--the brave, +determined faces of their rescuers, and they felt that God had not +forsaken them, but had wrought for them a great deliverance. + +Having gone through all that surf, and having got within reach as it +were of the wreck, the crew of the Deal lifeboat were now eager for the +final rescue. They never speak of, or even allude to the feeling on +such occasions within them, yet we know their hearts were on fire for +the rescue, and men in that mood are not easily to be baulked or to be +beaten. + +As the wearied seamen grasped the meaning of the Deal coxswain's +shouts, or rather signs, for shouts against the wind were almost +inaudible, they aided in rigging up veering and hauling lines, by which +they would have to be dragged through the belt of surf which lay +between them and the lifeboat. + +A clove-hitch, which my readers can practise for themselves, was passed +round the waist of the captain's son, a boy of thirteen, who was first +to leave the wreck. + +[Illustration: Clove-hitch] + +The lad naturally enough shrank from facing the boiling caldron which +raged between him and the lifeboat, and with loud cries clung to his +father. Waiting was impossible, and he had to be separated partly by +persuasion and partly by main force from his father's arms and dragged +through the sea. When once he was in the water the boatmen pulled at +him with all their might, and when alongside, two strong men reached +over the side and hoisted him like a feather into the lifeboat. + +The men said 'he cried dreadful,' and the coxswain found a moment to +tell him, 'Don't cry, my little fellow! we'll soon have your father +into the lifeboat.' But with the words came a sea 'that smothered us +all up, and it wanted good holding to keep ourselves from being carried +overboard.' Some kind-hearted fellows, till the sea passed, held the +boy, but still he kept crying, 'Come, father! Come, father!' + +Three more of the crew then got the 'clove-hitch' over their shoulders +and jumped into the sea; some of them helped themselves by swimming and +kept their heads up; others merely gripped the rope and fared much +worse, being pulled head under, but all three were quickly dragged +through the water into the lifeboat. + +I have said dragged through the 'water'; but surf is not the same as +water--it is water lashed into froth or seething bubbles in mountainous +masses. You can swim in water; but the best swimmer sinks in 'froth,' +and can only manage and spare himself till the genuine water gives him +a heave up and enables him to continue the struggle on the surface. + +Now water that breaks into surf is not merely motionless 'froth,' that +is half air and half water, but it runs at speed, and being partly +composed of solid water strikes any obstacle with enormous force and +smashes like a hammer. These then were the characteristics of the sea +which beat all round the wreck, and through which the half-dazed and +storm-beaten sailors had to be dragged. + +Besides the veering and hauling line by which the sailors in distress +came, there was another line passed round the mast of the tossing +lifeboat, to hold her in spite of her plunging as close as possible to +the ship; and this line had to be eased with each sea and then the +slack hauled in again. Some better idea will be given of the nature of +this deadly wrestle, when I mention that this line cut so deeply into +the mast as to render it unsafe, and it was never again used after that +day. + +The sails of the wrecked vessel were clattering and blowing about, +'like kites'--indeed, they were in ribbons; and the wind in the rigging +was like the harsh roar of an approaching train, so that in the midst +of this wild hurly-burly even the men in the lifeboat could hardly hear +each other's shouts. + +Roberts now saw that it was necessary to shift the cable as it lay on +the bow of the lifeboat, and he shouted to his comrades forward to have +this done; but 'the wind was a blowin' and the sea a 'owling that +dreadful' that not a man could hear what he said, and he sprang forward +to shift the cable himself. That very moment round the stern of the +wreck there swept the huge green curl of a gigantic sea, which, just as +it reached the lifeboat, broke with a roar a ton of water into her. + +It took Roberts off his feet, so that he must have gone overboard, but +for the foremast against which it dashed him, and to which he clung +desperately, as the great wave melted away hissing, to leeward. +Shaking off the spray, the drenched lifeboatmen again turned to the +work of rescue; the coxswain having been preserved by his thick cork +lifebelt from what might otherwise have been a fatal crush. + +This weighty sea tore away the lines and all means of communication +between the wreck and the lifeboat, and drove the three remaining +sailors on the vessel away from the shelter of the long boat to the +bows of the wreck. Indeed, as they grasped for dear life the belaying +pins on the foremast, the sea covered them up to their shoulders, and +they were all but carried away. + +Again the loaded cane had to be thrown; again the task was entrusted to +John May, who sent it flying through the air, and again the veering and +hauling line was rigged, and the remaining seamen were got into the +lifeboat. + +The last man has to see to it for his life that the veering line is +clear, and that it is absolutely free from anything that could catch or +jam it or prevent it running out freely. + +Just as coming down a steep ice slope where steps have to be cut by men +roped together, the best man should come last, so the last man rescued +from a wreck should have a good clear head and the stoutest heart of +all; and last man came bravely the captain, to the great joy of his +little son. + +Then the lifeboatmen turned to preparations for home. They dared not +get in their cable and heave their anchor on board, lest they should be +carried back and dashed against the wreck, the danger of which, a +glance at the sketch will show. So they got a spring on the cable, to +cant the lifeboat's head to starboard or landsward, and with a parting +'Hurrah!' they slipped their cable, of course thus sacrificing it and +their anchor. They hoisted their foresail, and with a gale of wind +behind them raced into and through the surf on the Goodwins, which lay +between them and home. + +The Goodwins are four miles wide, and the land was eight miles distant, +but a splendid success had crowned the brave and steadfast Deal +coxswain's efforts. Not a man was lost, and they had with them in the +lifeboat the shipwrecked vessel's crew--all saved. + +It was a noble sight to see the lifeboat nearing the land that morning +at 7 a.m. The British red ensign was flying proudly from her peak, in +token of 'rescued crew on board'; and as the men jumped out, I grasped +the brave coxswain's hand and said, 'Well done, Roberts!' And as I saw +the rescued crew and their gallant deliverers, 'God bless you, my lads, +well done!' The words will be echoed in many a heart, but could my +readers have seen the faces of the lifeboatmen, weather-beaten and +incrusted with salt, or watched them, as they staggered wearied but +rejoicing up the beach--could they have knelt in the thanksgiving +service which I held that morning with the rescued crew, and have heard +their graphic version of the grim reality--and how that the living God +had in His mercy stretched out His arm and saved them from death on the +Goodwins, they would better understand,--better, far, than words of +mine can bring it home--how splendid a deed of mercy and of daring was +that day done by the coxswain and the crew of the North Deal +lifeboat[1]. + + + +[1] The names of the crew of the lifeboat on this occasion (being one +man short, which was not observed in the darkness of the launch) +were--Richd. Roberts (coxswain), G. Marlowe, John May, Henry May, Wm. +Hanger, Ed. Pain, R. Betts, G. Brown, David Foster, Wm. Nicholas, Henry +Roberts, R. Ashington, John Adams, John Marsh. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SORRENTO, S.S. + + And the clamorous bell spake out right well + To the hamlet under the hill, + And it roused the slumb'ring fishers, nor its warning task gave o'er, + Till a hundred fleet and eager feet were hurrying to the shore. + + +That Norse and Viking blood is to be found in the E. and S.E. coasts of +England is tolerably certain. Tradition, as well as the physical +characteristics of the people, go to support the belief that the +inhabitants of the little picturesque village of Kingsdown, midway on +the coast line between Deal and the South Foreland, are genuine 'Sons +of the Vikings.' + +Kingsdown looks seaward, just facing the southern end of the Goodwin +Sands, and at the back of the pretty village, which is built on the +shingle of the beach, rise the chalk cliffs which culminate in the +South Foreland, a few miles farther on. Here in days gone by the +samphire gatherer plied his 'dreadful trade,' and, still from the +wooded cliff 'the fishermen that walk upon the beach appear like mice.' + +Like their Deal brethren, the hardy boatmen of Kingsdown live by +piloting and fishing, and, like the Deal men, have much to do with the +Goodwin Sands. The same may be said of the more numerous Walmer +boatmen; and all three are usually summed up in the general and +honourable appellation of Deal boatmen. + +[Illustration: Jarvist Arnold] + +The Kingsdown villagers are believed to be Jutes, and the names +prevalent amongst them add probability to the idea. Certainly there is +a Norse flavour about the name of Jarvist Arnold, for many years +coxswain of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina. This brave, fine old +seaman still survives, and still his eye kindles, and his voice still +rings, as with outstretched hand and fire unquenched by age he tells of +grapples with death on the Goodwin Sands. He is no longer, alas! equal +to the arduous post which he nobly held for twenty years, a post now +well filled by James Laming, Jarvist's comrade in many a risky job; but +still he is regarded with reverence and affection, and the rescue of +the crew of the Sorrento and the story of the 'old cork fender' will +always be honourably associated with his name. Round him the incidents +of this chapter will group themselves, for, though brave men were his +crew on each occasion, he was the guiding spirit. + +[Illustration: The Kingsdown lifeboat] + +The mode of manning the Kingsdown lifeboat is somewhat different from +the practice of Deal and Walmer, as will be seen, but in all three +cases the same rush of eager men is made to gain the honourable post of +a place in the lifeboat. + +Sometimes the launch is utterly unavailing, as was the case on a +December night in 1867, when with Jarvist Arnold at the helm, the +lifeboat sped into and through the tossing surf and 'fearful sea' (the +coxswain's words), across the south end of the Goodwins, and found a +barque from Sunderland on fire and drifting on to the sands. So hot it +was from the flames that they could not if they would go to leeward of +her, and they kept to windward, witnessing the spectacle of a ship on +fire in a midnight 'hurricane from the west.' There was no one on +board of the burning ship, and no one knows the fate of her crew. +Sadly the lifeboatmen returned to the land. + +Again Jarvist Arnold is summoned to the rescue, and this time with a +different result. On February 12, 1870, all the vessels in the Downs +were driven ashore, with the exception of one, which the skill and +pluck of E. Hanger, second coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, safely +piloted away to safety, through the tremendous sea. + +There was a great gale from E.S.E. with bitter cold and snow. Vessel +after vessel came ashore, and some were torn into matchwood along the +beach. One large vessel, the ship Glendura, having parted her anchors +in the great sea that was running, was driving landwards. The captain, +foreseeing the inevitable, and determined, if he could not save his +vessel, to save precious lives--his wife and child being on +board--boldly set his lower foretopsail, to force his vessel stem on as +far ashore on the mainland as possible; and about 9 p.m., in this dark +freezing snowstorm, the stem of his large vessel, drawing about +twenty-three feet of water, struck the land. + +[Illustration: Scene on Deal Beach February 13, 1870. From a painting +by W. H. Franklin.] + +The engraving shows this ship in the act of striking. Facing the +picture, the Glendura lies farthest from the spectator. Between her +and the land would be about 100 fathoms, or 200 yards of water; but +that water was one furious mass of advancing billows hurled landwards +by this great tempest. + +Fortunately, as I have said, the Glendura struck the beach unlike the +other vessels in the engraving, not broadside on, but stem on. They +were broken up very soon; but the Glendura held together, burning +flares and sending up appealing rockets. Still more fortunately--but +in truth providentially is the word to use--she struck right opposite +Kingsdown lifeboat house, where lay head to storm-blast, the Kingsdown +lifeboat Sabrina, and where, grouped round her, Jarvist Arnold and the +lifeboat crew stood ready. + +Had the wrecked ship come ashore at any distance from the spot where +the lifeboat lay, either to the right or left, that is, either west or +east of where she did strike, the probability is that all on board +would have perished. With a heavy gale dead on shore, if the lifeboat +had succeeded in launching, she would not have fetched the wreck, had +she lain any distance either side, but would have been helplessly +beaten back again. + +The Kingsdown men were keenly watching the approaching catastrophe as +the Glendura came landwards. Long before she struck, the little +fishing village echoed to the cry of 'Man the lifeboat,' and clad in +their sou'-westers and lifebelts the brave crew waited for the crash of +the doomed vessel, which, by God's mercy, took place right in front of +them. The sea they had to face was terrific, and so bitter was the +night that the sea spray froze as it was borne landwards by the blast, +and each rope in the ship's rigging was thick with ice. + +Just as the men were all in the lifeboat, and were about to man their +haul-off warp to pull the lifeboat out into deep water thereby, a +service of the greatest danger on such a night, some one on the +beach--it was James Laming, the present able Kingsdown coxswain, but +then a very young man--even in that black night discovered a great +fender floating in the recoil. It was pulled ashore, and it was then +found that a line was attached to it, and to that line a weightier one; +and to that a four and a half-inch hawser, or strong cable, leading +from the wrecked ship to the land. + +Perceiving the object of those on board, Jarvist Arnold gave the order +to 'Let the lifeboat go,' and she plunged down the steep beach into the +black billows of that easterly snowstorm and right into the very teeth +of it. No sooner had they touched the water than they hauled upon the +cable which had been sent ashore from the vessel; and so, bit by bit, +one moment submerged and the next swung on the crest of some stormy +wave, they gradually hauled themselves out to the vessel, and found the +crew with the captain and his wife and child gathered in a forlorn +little cluster out on the jib-boom. + +Right under the martingale with its sharp spear-like head the lifeboat +had to lie. When a monstrous sea came roaring round the stern of the +vessel, the lifeboat had to let go and come astern, lest she should be +impaled on the sharp point, as she was hoisted up with great force. + +Back again the crew hauled her, and when the furious sea had passed, in +answer to shouts of 'Come on!' 'Now's your time!' down a rope into the +lifeboat came the second mate with the captain's child in his arms. Up +the stiff half-frozen rope again he climbed and brought down the +captain's wife; and some more of the crew rapidly came the same way. +Then the lifeboat having their full complement of people on board, some +of whom were perishing with the cold of that awful night, made for the +land; still holding the cable from the ship they drifted, or rather +were hurled ashore, in the darkness, pelted by hail and snow and +drenched by the seas, which broke with force clean over them. + +The task of landing the enfeebled crew and the poor lady and child in +such a great sea was dangerous, but it was accomplished safely. +Indeed, such was the sympathy and enthusiasm of the Kingsdown villagers +and fisherfolk that, if need were, they could and would have carried +the lifeboat with its human freight right up the beach. + +An attempt was now made to use the rocket apparatus, and a rocket was +fired, which went clean through the fore-topsail and to the poop of the +vessel behind. Another whizzing rocket, carrying its line with it, +went hurtling through or close to the crowd clustered on the +top-gallant forecastle, where they cowered before creeping out on to +the bowsprit. No harm was done by the erratic flight of the rockets, +but the wrecked sailors naturally preferred to go ashore in the +lifeboat to being dragged through the breakers in the cradle of the +rocket-apparatus, and declining to use it, they again summoned the +lifeboat. + +The first crew of the lifeboat were worn out with their exertions, and +the blows and buffetings of the freezing sea-spray. A fresh crew was +therefore obtained, all but the coxswain, Jarvist Arnold, who stuck to +his post. Back again to the ship the lifeboatmen hauled themselves, +through such a sea that words which would truly describe it must seem +exaggerated. Remember the bows of the ship lay nearly two hundred +yards from the land in a veritable cauldron of waters. + +Again the lifeboat returned with her living freight of rescued seamen, +and again worn out as before with the struggle, a fresh crew was +obtained; but again Jarvist Arnold for the third time went back to the +wreck. And yet again with a fourth fresh crew the brave man returned +for the fourth and last time to the vessel; and finally came safe to +the shore with the remainder of the crew, twenty-nine of whom were thus +rescued, but only rescued by the most determined and repeated efforts, +through what the coxswain's report describes as 'a fearful sea with +snowstorm and freezing hard all the time.' + +When, long after midnight, the lifeboatmen staggered home, Jarvist +found that his oilskin coat was frozen so hard that it stood upright +and rigid on his cottage floor when he took it off his own half-frozen +self. But he had a soft pillow that night; he had bravely done his +duty, and had saved twenty-nine of his fellow human beings from death +in the sea. + +Many a stormy struggle after this rescue was gone through by Jarvist +Arnold and his Kingsdown lifeboat crew on the Goodwin Sands during the +years 1870-1873. Holding the honourable but arduous post of coxswain +of the Kingsdown lifeboat Sabrina, he also manfully earned his living +as Channel pilot, being a most trustworthy and skilful seaman. He did +well that which came to his hand; he did his best and his duty. I +speak after the manner of men, and as between man and man. More than +that no man can do. + +On the night of December 17, 1872, about 2.30 a.m., it was blowing a +gale from the south-west. Out of the gale was borne landwards the boom +of guns; far away on the horizon, or where the horizon ought to be, was +seen the flash of their fire; and upwards into the winter midnight shot +the distant rockets, appealing not in vain for help. + +Almost simultaneously the coxswains at Walmer and Kingsdown were +roused, William Bushell and Jarvist Arnold. At Walmer the +lifeboat-bell rang out its summons, but at Kingsdown a fast runner was +sent round the village, crying as he ran, 'Man the lifeboat!' 'Ship on +the Goodwins!' Up sprang the men--that is, all the grown-up men in the +village; and while the tempest shook their lowly cottage roofs, out +they poured into the night, followed by lads, boys, wives, mothers, +sweethearts and sisters. + +Jarvist Arnold's wife said, 'Ladies can sometimes keep their husbands, +but poor women like us must let them go;' and once more Jarvist Arnold +steered his lifeboat--shall I not say to victory? for 'Peace hath her +victories no less renowned than War;' and this sentence might well be +emblazoned on every lifeboat in the kingdom. + +At 3 a.m. on this midwinter night they launched at their respective +stations, distant about two miles from each other, the lifeboats of +Walmer and Kingsdown, and faced the sea and the storm. Think of the +deed, and its hardships, and its heroism; of the brave hearts who +'darkling faced the billows,' and the anxious women left behind, ye who +live to kill time in graceless self-indulgence, and ere it be too late, +learn to sacrifice and to dare. + +The two lifeboats got together before they reached the edge of the +Goodwins, and held such consultation as was possible in the pitchy +darkness and in the roar of the sea. It was agreed between them that +there would be much difficulty in finding the vessel in distress, as +her signals and blue lights had ceased and the night was very dark. +They decided that the Kingsdown lifeboat should go first, and if they +hit the vessel they were to burn a red light in token of success, and a +white light if they could not find her; but that, in any case, Walmer +was to come shortly after them and search through the breakers, whether +Kingsdown succeeded or not. + +In the dark the Kingsdown coxswain put his lifeboat into the surf on +the Goodwins; it was heavy, but they got through it safely, and found +on the off-part of the Goodwins, towards its southern end--known as the +South Calliper--a large steamship aground. She proved to be the +Sorrento, bound from the Mediterranean to Lynn. + +Close outside where she lay on the treacherous sands were thirteen and +fourteen fathoms of deep water, that is, from seventy to eighty feet, +while she lay in about six feet of white surf, which flew in clouds +over her as each sea struck her quarters and stern. + +The Sorrento had struck the Goodwins at midnight, or a little after, in +about twenty-one feet of water, but when the lifeboat got alongside the +tide had fallen, and there was only six feet of broken water around +her. As the sands were nearly dry to the southward of her, the sea was +by no means so formidable as it afterwards became with the rising tide +and increasing gale and greater depth of water. + +The Kingsdown lifeboat sent up her red light, and then came through the +surf the Walmer lifeboat, guided by the red signal of success from +Jarvist Arnold. Both lifeboats got alongside the great steamer, and +the greater part of the crews of both lifeboats clambered on board her, +leaving eight men in each lifeboat. + +The head of the wrecked steamer lay about E.N.E., and the seas were +hammering at and breaking against her starboard quarter, which rose +high in the air quite twenty feet out of the water at the time the +lifeboats got alongside. All the lifeboatmen now turned to pumping the +vessel, which was very full of water, with a view to saving the ship +and her valuable cargo of barley. + +The Walmer lifeboat lay alongside the Sorrento, under her port bow, and +the head of the Walmer lifeboat pointed towards the stern of the +wrecked steamer, and was firmly fastened to her by a stout hawser. + +About this time--say, five o'clock in the morning--while it was dark, +the Ramsgate lifeboat also arrived, and seeing the other two lifeboats +alongside they anchored outside the sands. And the Kingsdown lifeboat, +manned only by her coxswain and seven of her crew, was sheered off +about two hundred fathoms, to lay out a kedge anchor, with a view to +preventing the vessel drifting farther, as the tide rose, into the +shallower parts of the sands, and in the hope of warping her into +deeper water. + +Naturally the presence of the lifeboats and a company of seventeen or +eighteen stalwart lifeboatmen, all thoroughly up to their work, infused +fresh courage into the captain and crew of the Sorrento. They felt +that all was not lost, and dividing themselves into different gangs of +men, all hands worked with a will, throwing the cargo overboard to +lighten the vessel, and pumping with all their energies--their shouts +ringing out bravely as they worked to get out the water. The donkey +engine too was set at work, and steam fought storm and sea, but this +time in vain. After several hours' hard work, the engineer came to the +captain and lifeboatmen and said, 'It's all up; the water's coming in +as fast as we pump it out. Come down and see for yourselves!' + +It was too true, the good steamship's back was broken, and the clear +sea-water bubbled into her faster than it could be got out. As the day +began to break, the sea rose and beat more heavily over the vessel; it +burst no longer merely in clouds or showers on the deck, but in heavy +volumes, and on all sides, especially to the south; long lines of +rollers careered on towards the doomed vessel with tossing, tumbling +crests, and then burst over her. + +At 11 a.m. in this state of affairs the hope of saving the ship was +abandoned, and all only thought now of saving life. Thinking the two +lifeboats--the Centurion and the Sabrina--were insufficient to rescue +the whole of the steamer's crew, the ensign was hoisted 'union down' +for more assistance. None came; probably the signal was not seen, or +possibly, it was thought that the presence of the lifeboats had +answered the appeal. + +As the tide rose the water deepened and more wind came. Heavy masses +of water struck the hapless vessel, and though her starboard quarter +was still ten feet out of the water, each sea swept her decks, carrying +spars, hen coops, and everything movable clean before it. + +All hands now fled to the bridge of the steamer, watching for a +favourable moment to get into the Walmer lifeboat, still riding +alongside, while each mad billow lifted her up almost to the level of +the bridge and then smothered the lifeboat in its foaming bosom as she +descended into the depths. + +Any one who carefully observes a succession of waves either breaking in +charging lines on a beach, or in the wilder turmoil of the Goodwins, +must notice how frequently they differ in shape and in size. I am by +no means convinced that either the third wave--the [Greek] _trikumia_ +of the Greeks--or the tenth wave, as the Latin _fluctus decimanus_ +seems to suggest--is always larger than its tempestuous comrades, but +ashore or afloat you do now and then see a giant, formed mysteriously +in accordance with the laws of fluids, that does out-top its fellows, +[Greek] _kephalen te kai eureas omous_. + +Such a great sea was seen advancing by the occupants of the bridge of +the Sorrento. Combing, curling, high over the stern of the wreck it +broke, carrying everything before it in one common ruin. It carried +away the boats of the wrecked steamer, tearing them and the davits +which supported them out of the vessel. + +Snap went the strong five-inch cable which fastened the Walmer lifeboat +to the port or sheltered quarter of the Sorrento, as the end of the +great green sea swept round her stern; and as the lifeboat was torn +away from the wreck she was forced up against the crashing jangle of +the steamer's boats and davits; and yet again with tremendous force +jammed right up against the anchor of the Sorrento, which was driven +into the fore thwart of the ascending lifeboat. The lifeboatmen +crouched down to avoid destruction, and--for all this was done in a +moment--away she sped, spun round as a boy would spin his top, to +leeward of the wreck and among the breakers of the Goodwins. + +'Never saw anything spin round like her in my life!' said one of the +crew afterwards; and so far was she carried by this great sea that she +could not drop anchor till she was half a mile from the wrecked +steamship. Tide and wind were both against her, and she was utterly +unable to get back to the wreck. She simply rode helplessly to her +anchor with less than half of her own men in her, the remainder being +clustered on the bridge, as already described, or clinging to the +rigging of the Sorrento. The aspect of affairs had now become one of +extreme gravity. + +The Walmer lifeboat was swept away, and as helpless as if she were +fifty miles off, leaving seven of her crew in great peril on the +bridge. Seven of the crew of the Kingsdown lifeboat were also gathered +on the steamer's bridge, together with thirty-two of the crew of the +wrecked vessel herself. In all, there stood or clung there, drenched +by the clouds of spray, drowned almost as they fought for breath, +forty-six persons; and their only hope or chance for life was the +Kingsdown lifeboat, which still bravely lived, heavily plunging into +and covered now and then by the seas. + +At the helm, in dire anxiety, was Jarvist Arnold, and with him were in +the lifeboat only seven of his crew, the remainder of them being +entrapped on board the Sorrento, together with the Walmer lifeboatmen. +It was thought, as my readers will remember, that two lifeboats were +insufficient to rescue all hands, but now the rescue--if rescue there +were to be--depended upon one small lifeboat half manned. + +Besides this, Jarvist Arnold saw with his own eyes the defeat of the +Walmer lifeboat, and was so close to the wreck that he was well aware +of the dangerous sea sweeping over her and racing up under her stern; +but the brave fellow never faltered in his determination to attempt the +rescue; and he was strung to his formidable task by the knowledge that +three of his own sons were holding on for dear life on the bridge of +the wreck. He could see the gestures and hear the shouts from the +bridge as the sounds came across the wind, now a heavy gale. + +There was no lack of resolution, but the problem was to get at the +Sorrento at all, as the diagram will help the reader to understand. + +[Illustration: Position of the Sorrento.] + +It will be plain that the tide current was forcing the Kingsdown +lifeboat, even when at anchor, away from the distressed vessel, and +that if she weighed anchor, she would be carried away to leeward, as +the Walmer men had been. + +Thinking of all expedients, they bent on their second cable and rode to +the long scope of one hundred and sixty fathoms. Still the cruel +lee-tide and wind forced them away. They sheered the head of the +lifeboat in towards the wreck--and then--the six men in her sprang to +the oars, and tugged and strained at them, all rowing on the same side, +to direct the lifeboat towards the vessel. While they struggled, the +great breakers overwhelmed and blinded them, filling many times the +gallant little lifeboat--she was only thirty-six feet in length--which +as obstinately emptied herself free and lived through it all, by God's +good providence. + +'Must I see my sons die in my sight, and my friends and neighbours +too?' thought Jarvist Arnold, as he was beaten away from the vessel; +and then, 'Lord, help me!' Again and again, in vain they struggled, +when some one on the wreck sprang from the bridge at the most imminent +peril of his life, on to the slippery, sloping wave-swept deck. + +He had seen coiled on a belaying pin on the bridge a long lead line, +and on the deck still unwashed away an old cork fender. Some say it +was the mate of the vessel; others that it was one of the Kingsdown men +who fastened the lead line to the fender and who slung it overboard, +and then, stumbling and slipping, ran for his life back to the bridge, +barely escaping an overwhelming wave. + +Swirling and eddying in the strange currents on the Goodwins, and +beaten of the winds and waves, on came the old cork fender towards the +lifeboat. They had not another bit of cable to spare on board the +lifeboat; every inch of their one hundred and sixty fathoms was paid +out. Breathless the coxswain, and the man in the bows, rigid as his +own boat-hook with the anxiety of the moment, lashed to his position, a +life line round his waist, watched the approach of the fender. It was +sucked by the current towards the lifeboat, and then tossed by a wave +away from her again. + +Feeling assured that a great loss of life must soon occur, either by +the people on the frail refuge of the steamer's bridge being swept off +it, or by the bridge itself being carried away by the seas, which were +becoming more solid every moment, Jarvist and his comrades thought the +cork fender was a long time in reaching them. Lives of men hung in the +balance, and minutes seem hours then. + +At last it drifted hopelessly out of reach, but into a curious +backwater, which eddied it right under the boat hook of the bowman. In +an instant it was seized, and the line made fast to a thwart. 'I've a +great mind to trust to it,' said Jarvist Arnold, but caution prevailed, +and they made fast a stout rope to the lead line. + +Again the people on the bridge watched their chance. One man managed +to wade along the now submerged deck to reach the lead line, and he +hauled it with the stronger rope on board, making the latter securely +fast. Again had this man to fly for life up the bridge from an +advancing billow, which, leaping over the stern of the wreck, nearly +overtook him, and at the same time by its great weight and impulse, +beat the stern of the steamship a little way round to the west. + +Hauling on this cable without letting go their own anchor, Jarvist +Arnold and his small crew hauled their lifeboat as close under the +leaning bridge as they dared. + +The first man who tried to escape from the bridge in his leap missed +the lifeboat and fell into the sea, and not a moment too soon was +grasped by friendly hands and dragged into the lifeboat. + +The direction of the tidal current on the Goodwins shifts every hour to +a different point of the compass; and now this strong eddy, being +altered still more by the position of the wreck, would suck the +lifeboat towards the stern of the wreck. There she would meet another +current of the truer tide, and get hurried back again half buried in +breakers, which were ever and anon bursting over and round the stern of +the wreck. + +[Illustration: The Sorrento on the Goodwin Sands.] + +Then she would come back under the bridge, where every effort was made +to hold her by stern ropes; and as she rose, 'by the dreadful tempest +borne, high on the broken wave,' man after man they jumped, or were +dragged, or came quick as lightning down a rope, into the Sabrina, the +whole forty-six of the imperilled men, the captain being last man, and +almost too late. + +Bringing with them the old cork fender as a memento, Jarvist and his +unbeaten crew sheered out their lifeboat to ride by their own cable, as +before the timely arrival of the fender. Now they saw signs of the +approaching break up of the Sorrento, for before they had left her very +long her funnel and masts went overboard, and reeling to the blows of +the sea, she split in halves and disappeared under the breakers of the +Goodwins. + +But before this dramatic conclusion, the Kingsdown lifeboat slipped her +anchor, to which she never could have got back, and setting her mast +and double-reefed storm-foresail, ran away before the wind through the +'heavy boiling surf' on the Goodwins. These are the coxswain's own +written words, and I can only repeat they are below the grim reality. + +With the forty-six rescued seafarers on board she was terribly low in +the water, and was filled in and out from both sides at once by the +seas as they broke. Only a lifeboat could have lived, but even she +resembled a floating baulk of timber, which is covered and swept by the +seas on the same level as itself. Holding on for life to thwarts and +life-lines, they kept the lifeboat dead before the sea. They did not +dare to luff her to the west or bear her away to the east. They dared +not keep away to get to the Walmer lifeboat, nor in the other direction +toward the mainland, about six miles off. + +The slightest exposure of the broadside of the lifeboat would either +have capsized her, or washed every soul out of her; onwards, therefore, +dead before the wind and right on the top of and in the breakers of the +Goodwins she flew her stormy flight for nearly four miles. + +The Walmer lifeboat had got up anchor at the same time as the Kingsdown +men; for as the Kingsdown overcrowded lifeboat ran past the Walmer +lifeboat, which was waiting at anchor for them, they shouted to the +Walmer men, 'Slip your cable, and come after us!' + +This the Walmer lifeboat did, and now ventured to approach the +Kingsdown lifeboat. Though handled with skill and caution, being +light, she took a sea; and she came right on top of the gunwale of the +Kingsdown lifeboat, smashing her oars, which were run out to steady +her, like so many pipe-shanks, and crunching into her gunwale. + +But at last, with difficulty, half of the living freight of the Sabrina +was transferred to the Walmer lifeboat; and then both lifeboats luffing +in through Trinity Swatch, by God's mercy, escaped the deadly Goodwins, +and landed the rescued crew at Broadstairs. + +And the gallant deed is still sung by the Kingsdown children in simple +village rhymes, + + God bless the Lifeboat and its crew, + Its coxswain stout and bold, + And Jarvist Arnold is his name, + Sprung from the Vikings old, + Who made the waves and winds their slaves, + As likewise we do so, + While still Britannia rules the waves, + And the stormy winds do blow; + And the old Cork Float that safety brought, + We'll hold in honour leal, + And it shall grace the chiefest place + In Kingsdown, hard by Deal! + + +One of Jarvist Arnold's sons never recovered the strain of those awful +hours on the bridge of the Sorrento in her death-throes, and, to use +his father's words: 'He never was a man no more.' But Jarvist himself +did many a subsequent good deed of rescue, and stuck to his arduous +post as long as, and even beyond, what health and strength and age +permitted. + +Would that I could say that the noble old fellow was in independent +circumstances! Despite the continued generosity of the Royal National +Lifeboat Institution to him, alas! this is not the case. Would that +some practicable scheme for providing a pension for deserving working +men in their old age were before the country! + +Jarvist Arnold is, however, not forsaken; he has good and honourable +children, and I know that with that inner gaze which sees more clearly +as eternity approaches, he too in simple faith beholds the advancing +lifeboat, and hears the glad words, 'When thou passest through the +waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee,' from the mouth of the Great Commander. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ROYAL ARCH + + Cease, rude Boreas, blust'ring railer! + List, ye landsmen ill, to me! + Messmates! hear a brother sailor + Sing the dangers of the sea. + + +This and the following chapter contains the story of cases of rescue in +which the ships in distress were saved, together with all on board, by +the skill and courage of the Deal lifeboatmen, and brought finally with +their respective cargoes safe into port. + +A century ago, certain of our English coasts are described by the same +writer whose lines head this chapter, as-- + + Where the grim hell-hounds, prowling round the shore, + With foul intent the stranded bark explore. + Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board, + While tardy Justice slumbers o'er her sword. + + +But these pages recount, in happy contrast, the generous and gallant +efforts of the Deal boatmen, in the first instance to save life, and +then, when besought to stand by the vessel, or employed to do so, of +their further success in saving valuable property, often worth many +thousand pounds, from utter destruction in the sea. + +I stood some years ago on the deck of a lightship stationed near the +wreck of the British Navy, a vessel sunk by collision in the Downs one +dreadful night, when twenty sailors went to the bottom with her, and I +saw her masts blown up and out of her by an explosion of dynamite to +remove the wreck from the Downs, while the water was strewn with the +debris of her valuable cargo. This cargo, amongst countless other +commodities, was said to have contained one hundred pianos; hence some +idea may be gathered of the pecuniary importance, apart from the +story's thrilling interest, of salvage of valuable vessels and precious +merchandize. + +On March 29, 1878, the wind blew strong from the E.N.E., and only one +vessel, the Royal Arch, lay in the Downs. The great roadstead, +protected from the full fetch of an easterly sea by the natural +breakwater of the Goodwins--for without those dreaded sands neither the +Downs as a sheltered anchorage would exist, nor in all probability the +towns of Deal and Walmer--was nevertheless on that day a very stormy +place, and as the wind freshened towards evening, as the east wind +nearly always does in this locality, it eventually came on to blow a +whole gale dead on shore. + +The sea raised by an easterly gale on Deal beach is tremendous, and not +even the first-class luggers, or their smaller sisters, the 'cats,' +could be launched. Had there been a harbour from which the Deal +luggers could at once make the open sea, they would have been able to +live and skim like the stormy petrel over the crest of the billows; but +it is quite a different thing when a lugger has to be launched from a +beach right in the teeth of a mountainous sea, and incurs the certainty +of being driven back broadside on to the steep shingle, and of her crew +being washed out of her, and drowned by some giant sea. Hence that +evening no ordinary Deal boat or even lugger could launch. On the +morning of the same day the captain of the Royal Arch had been +compelled by some necessary business to come ashore. To have come +ashore in his own ship's boat in such a wind and sea would have +involved certain disaster and even loss of life, and therefore he came +ashore in a Deal galley punt, which successfully performed the feat of +beaching in a heavy surf. + +In the evening, against an increasing gale, and much heavier sea, the +galley punt dared not launch to bring the captain back. None even of +the luggers would encounter the risk of launching in so heavy a sea +dead on the beach. He therefore tried the lifeboats, upon the plea and +grounds that his ship was dragging her anchors and in peril. She was +lying abreast of Walmer Castle, and was indeed gradually dragging in +towards the surf-beaten shore, which, if she struck, not a soul on +board probably would have been saved. + +The anxious captain first tried the Walmer lifeboat, but she was too +far to leeward, and would not have been able to fetch the vessel. But +eventually, as his vessel was now burning signals of distress, he ran +to the North Deal lifeboat, and the coxswain, Robert Wilds, seeing all +other boats were helpless, decided to ring the lifeboat bell and pit +the celebrated Van Cook against the stormy sea in deadly fight. + +The Deal boatmen had long foreseen the launch of the lifeboat, and they +were massed in crowds round the lifeboat-house, competitors for the +honour of forming the crew. The danger of the distressed vessel was +known in the town, and crowds had assembled on the beach, amongst them +the Mayor of Deal, to watch the lifeboat launch. + +The long run of the great waves came right up to where the lifeboat +lay, so that when she was let go she had no steep slope to rush down so +as to hurl her by her own impetus into the sea. She depended, +therefore, for her launching against this great sea, on her haul-off +warp, which was moored one hundred fathoms out to sea, and by which her +fifteen men hoped to pull her out to deep water. But this dark night +she simply stuck fast after running down a little way, and got into the +'draw back' under the seas bursting in fury. + +Her situation was most perilous, and the danger of the men being swept +out of her was great. But through it all the lifeboatmen, with +stubborn pluck, held on to the haul-off warp and strained for their +lives, and at last a great sea came and washed them afloat within its +recoil, and covered the lifeboat and her crew. The spectators groaned +with horror as the lifeboat disappeared, but the men were straining +gallantly at the haul-off warp, and the lifeboat emerged. When she was +seen above the surges just only for an instant, 'All Deal sent forth a +rapturous cry,' and the brave men, though they could not see the people +on the land, yet heard their mighty cheer, and, strung in their hearts +to dare and to conquer, sped on their glorious task. + +When just out to deep water, the coxswain sang out, 'Hang on, every +man!' and a great sea came out of the night right at the lifeboat. Tom +Adams was out on the fore air-box, lifting the haul-off warp out of the +cheek, a perilous spot, when the sea was seen; he had just time to get +back and clasp both arms round the foremast as the sea broke, +overwhelming lifeboat and the crew and the captain of the Royal Arch, +who was aft, in a white smother of foam. But the lifeboat freed +herself of the sea, and like a living creature stood up to face the +gale. + +Close-reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail was her canvas; watchful +men stood by halyards and sheets, hitched, not belayed, and watched +each gust and sea as only Deal men who watch for their lives can watch, +and even they are sometimes caught. + +At last the vessel in distress loomed through the night, and from many +an anxious heart on board went up, 'Thank God! here comes the +lifeboat!' Not too soon was she! For the hungry breakers were roaring +under their lee. Blue lights and other signals of distress had already +been made on board the vessel for some time; a rocket too had been +fired, with a rather unsatisfactory result. + +One of the mates, who I was informed hailed from County Cork, decided +to fire a rocket, a thing he had never, it seems, done before in his +life, and failing the usual rocket-stand, he bethought him of the novel +and ingenious expedient of letting it off through the iron tube which +formed the chimney of the galley or cooking-house on deck, thus hoping +to make sure of successfully directing its flight upwards. In the +confusion and darkness he did in his execution not perhaps do justice +to himself, or to the fertility of resource which had devised so +excellent a plan. The sea was rolling to the depth of two feet over +the deck, and washing right through the galley house, and it was only +by great efforts he succeeded in the darkness in fastening the rocket +in the tube which formed the chimney. + +To do this he had unwisely removed the rocket from its stick, and, +unfortunately, he fastened it in the chimney upside down. Having done +so, he fumbled in his pocket, the darkness being intense, for his +matches, and applied the light underneath in the usual place. But the +rocket being upside down he of course failed to set it off, and then he +unluckily tried the other end, which was uppermost, with the disastrous +result, as my English informant described it, that 'the hexplosion +blowed him clean out of the galley.' + +'Blowed him!' said I, unconsciously adopting my friend's expression, +'where?' + +'Why,' said he, 'hout of the galley into the lee scuppers.' + +'Was the poor fellow much hurt?' + +'Hurt! Bless you! not he. But he kept shouting like forty blue +murders!' + +'What did he say?' + +'Well,' he replied, 'he was that scared and that choked with soot, as +ever was, that all he could say was--I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead!' + +The position of the vessel was now very serious; she was going so fast +astern towards the breakers and the land that after the lifeboat +anchored ahead of and close to her she could hardly keep abreast of the +dragging vessel by paying out her cable as fast as possible. Roberts +and Adams, and in all five of the lifeboatmen, sprang on board of her +as she rolled in the pitchy night. + +They sprang, as the lifeboat went up and the ship came down, over the +yawning chasm, on the chance of gripping the shrouds, and some of them +rolled over and actually and literally, as they were carried off their +feet, had to swim on the decks of the labouring vessel. + +The captain of the vessel could not get on board in the same way, and +though they passed a line round his waist it was a good half-hour +before they could get him up the steep side. + +The lifeboatmen say that when he did reach the deck he declared 'that +if that was what they called coming hoff in a lifeboat from Deal beach, +he wouldn't do it again--no, not for hall the money in the Bank of +England!' + +The captain now hesitated to slip his ship, lest she might pay off on +the wrong tack and come ashore; but as the vessel was steadily drifting +and the sea terrific, the lifeboat being now and then hoisted up to her +foreyard, while mountainous seas wallowed over both the lifeboat and +the vessel, the Deal lifeboatmen said, 'If you don't slip her, we will. +There's death right astern for all of us if you delay.' + +Then the captain himself took the helm, the rudder-head being twisted, +and the spirit and energy of the Deal men infused new life into the +wearied crew, and all hands worked together with a will. + +They loosed the fore-topsail and they set the foretopmast staysail. +Tom Adams went or waded forwards, holding on carefully, with a lantern, +and he watched by the dim light till the fore-topmast staysail bellied +out with a flap like thunder on the right side, and then he shouted +down the wind, 'Hard up, captain! Hard a-port!' At the same instant +Roberts shouted, 'Slip the cable! Let go all!' And just within the +very jaws of the breakers, the ship's head payed away to the southward, +and she escaped--saved at the last minute, and safe to the open sea. + +When safe away and running before the gale, the Deal men strapped the +rudder-head with ropes, straining them tight with a tackle, and then +wedged the ropes tighter and tighter still, making the rudder head +thoroughly safe. + +And then, though only very poorly and miserably supplied with food--for +they only had dry biscuits till they reached port--they manned the +pumps with the worn-out crew, and brought the ship safe to Cowes. + +But for the existence of a lifeboat at North Deal the ship would have +been wrecked that night on the stormy beach of Deal, and, in all +probability, her crew would also have perished. + +It is pleasant to record the unselfish heroism of the Deal lifeboatmen, +who on this occasion were the means of saving both valuable property +and precious human lives. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MANDALAY + + The leak we've found, it cannot pour fast; + We've lightened her a foot or more-- + Up and rig a jury foremast, + She rights! She rights, boys! Wear off shore! + + +The case of the Mandalay here recorded so far resembles that of the +Royal Arch and of the Edina, that in all three cases the vessels, the +cargoes, and the lives of all on board, were saved by the Deal +lifeboatmen, and by their courage and seamanlike skill, and intimate +local knowledge of the Goodwins and other places and sands in their +dangerous vicinity, brought safe to port. The Royal Arch was drifting +at night from her anchorage in the Downs, in an easterly gale towards +the surf-beaten shore. The Edina was in the most imminent peril on the +edge of the Brake Sand. The Mandalay was on the Goodwins itself, and +to save a vessel and her cargo from the Goodwins is no easy task. + +On December 13, 1889, the Mandalay was passing the North Sand Head +lightship a little after midnight. She was outward bound from +Middlesbrough to the River Plate with a cargo of railway iron sleepers. +They hailed the lightship as its great lantern rapidly flashed close to +them, but the reply was lost in the plash of the sea and the flap of +the sails and the different noises of a ship in motion. At any rate +the Mandalay mistook her bearings, and managed to get into the very +heart of the Goodwin Sands. + +In the darkness she probably sailed into what is called the Ramsgate +Man's Bight, though this is only a conjecture. This bight is a +swatchway of deep water, and the Mandalay then struck the Sands on the +eastern jaw of another channel into the Goodwins. This swatchway runs +N.E. and S.W., and leads from the deep water outside the Goodwins into +the inmost recesses of the Sands; that is, into a shallowish bay called +Trinity Bay; and it is much harder to get out of this bay than to get +in, like many a scrape of another kind. The swatchway leading into +Trinity Bay was about seven fathoms deep, but only fifty fathoms or one +hundred yards wide. On the eastern bank or jaw of this channel the +Mandalay ran aground. She ran aground at nearly high water, when all +was covered with the sea, on a fine, calm night, there being no surf or +ripple or noise to indicate the shallow water or the deadly proximity +of the Goodwin Sands. + +Some of the crew were on deck--the man at the wheel aft would take a +sight of the compass gleaming in the light of the binnacle lamp, and +then cast his eye aloft, where the main truck was circling among the +stars, as the ship gently swung along with a light N.W. breeze. Others +of the crew were below and had turned in, 'their midnight fancies +wrapped in golden dreams,' when the grating sound of contact with the +Sands was heard. Then came, 'Turn out, men! All hands on deck! We're +aground on the Goodwins!' + +Efforts were made to box the ship off by backing and swinging the yards +and trimming the sails, but all to no purpose, and then flares and +torches to summon help were lighted. These at once caught the notice +of the look-out men on the lightships, and drew from those vessels the +guns and rockets, the usual signals of distress. As the sea was smooth +there was no present danger for the Mandalay, but wind and sea rise +suddenly on the Goodwins, and no one could foresee what might happen. + +The Deal coxswain was roused by the coastguard; he saw the flash of the +distant guns and rockets, and having obtained a crew launched at 1.30 +a.m., the weather being hazy with frost. They reached the Gull +lightship, and heard there that the vessel ashore lay E.N.E. from them. +They steered in that direction, gazing into the darkness and listening +for sounds or shouts or guns, and at last, about 3 a.m., found the +vessel, her flares having gone out. In spite of the efforts of those +on board, she was sidling more and more on to the Sands, and settling +further into them. + +The lifeboat anchored and veered down as usual to the stranded vessel, +and the coxswain got on board: then morning came, and with it low +water, when there would be not more than two feet of water round the +Mandalay and the lifeboat, which latter was at that depth of water just +aground. The lifeboat remained by the vessel, to insure the safety of +the crew in case of possible change of weather. About midday, as the +tide began to rise over the Goodwins, the lifeboat and her crew were +employed by the captain to do their best to save the vessel. + +The lifeboat was now on the port bow of the Mandalay, which lay fast on +the Sands with her head to the S.W., and the coxswains laid out a kedge +or small anchor, with warp attached, to the N.E., five of the +lifeboatmen remaining in the lifeboat with Roberts, the coxswain, to +direct the course of action on the Sands, while Hanger, the second +coxswain, went on board with seven lifeboatmen to direct operations +there, and to heave on the warp, in order to move the vessel. Just +then a tug-boat hove in sight, and as the sea was calm, she backed in +and made fast her hawser to the Mandalay, at the captain's desire. +Though all on board heaved their best on the warp, and the tug-boat +Bantam Cock made every effort, they were unable to move the Mandalay +from her perilous position, and the tug-boat then gave the matter up as +a bad job and later in the evening went away. + +It was now about 3 p.m., and the tide was again falling when the lugger +Champion, of Ramsgate, appeared and anchored in the swatchway spoken of +above. Some of her crew also went on board the Mandalay, and under the +directions and advice of Roberts and Hanger, the two Deal coxswains, +who were determined to win, all hands turned to throwing overboard the +cargo to lighten the vessel. They thus jettisoned about two hundred +tons of iron sleepers--working at this job till midnight--and threw it +over the right or starboard side of the ship, where it lay in a great +mass. It was never recovered, though every effort was afterwards made +to save it. It had been engulfed and disappeared in the Goodwins' +capacious maw. + +The men of the lifeboat, now cold, wearied, and hungry, managed to get +an exceedingly frugal meal of tea and some bread and meat, and about 4 +or 5 p.m. the light N.W. breeze fell away to a calm. Towards 7 p.m. +the Champion lugger at anchor hoisted her light, to indicate the +channel or swatchway by which the Mandalay would have to come out if +ever she moved at all. The wind now came strong from the S.W. and then +backed to S. and by W., and there was heard the far-off moan of +breaking surf, making it plain that there was a heavy sea rolling in +from the S.W. on a distant point of the Sands. The sea was evidently +coming before the wind, 'the moon looked,' the men said, 'as if she was +getting up contrary,' and Roberts said, 'We'll have trouble before +morning.' At 10 p.m. the wind came. The calm was 'but the grim repose +of the winter whirlwind,' and it soon blew a gale from the S.W. Before +this some Deal galley punts had also wisely made their way for the +shore, and the lifeboat and the Champion lugger were left alone on the +scene--than which nothing could now be wilder. Fortunately another +tug-boat, the Cambria, had anchored about 7 p.m. in deep water outside +the Goodwins, as close as was prudent to the swatchway before +described; but the inevitable struggle was regarded with the greatest +anxiety by all hands, notwithstanding the proffered help of the +tug-boat and the lightening of the ship. + +About midnight the rising tide had again covered the Goodwins, but the +surface, no longer fair and calm, was now lashed into fury by the gale. +The seas were breaking everywhere, and as the moon emerged from behind +a flying cloud, far as the eye could see was one sheet of tumbling, +raging breakers, except the narrow channel in which the brave Champion +rode with her guiding light, plunging heavily even in the deep channel. +But the most furious sea raged on the western jaw of the deep +swatchway; there currents and cross seas met, and the breakers rose up +and clashed and struck together in weightier masses and with especial +fury. Now a black cloud covered the moon, and again as it swept away +came the clear moonlight, but in the darkness and in the moonlight the +scene was equally tremendous. + +As the water deepened round the ship, sea after sea broke over her with +such increasing fury that the work of jettisoning the cargo, which had +been carried on under great difficulties, had to be given up, and the +hatches had to be put on and battened down tight, to keep the ship from +filling. The same seas that broke over the Mandalay also struck and +buried the lifeboat as she rode alongside to the full scope of her +cable, and as each breaker went roaring past she as regularly freed +herself from the water which had been hurled into her the moment before. + +At one o'clock this wild winter morning the time came for a final +effort to float the ship; and the steam-tug Cambria that had been +waiting outside the Sands now moved in, and, guided by the riding light +of the Champion lugger, anchored for this purpose in the swatchway, was +cautiously manoeuvred in through the narrow channel, and feeling her +way with the lead at great risk came even into the broken water in +which the Mandalay was lying. This broken water was only fourteen or +fifteen feet deep, and though barely enough to float the tug-boat in a +sort of raging smother of froth, was not deep enough to float the +Mandalay, which required three feet more and still lay firm as a rock, +and, like a tide-washed rock, was swept by the seas which were flying +over her. + +Directed by the second coxswain, attempts were now made to get the +Cambria's steel hawser on board the vessel, and in the boiling turmoil +the Cambria came dangerously near the heap of jettisoned iron on the +starboard side of the Mandalay. It will be plain that without the +presence of the lifeboat and her crew in case of disaster, all other +efforts to save the ship would have been paralysed, and indeed would +never have been attempted. Without the lifeboat, no tug-boat, or any +other boat, would have dared to venture into that fearful labyrinth of +sand and surf. + +The hawser was got on board after an hour's struggle, and made fast to +the Mandalay's starboard bow; but though the Mandalay rolled and bumped +she was not moved from her sandy bed. It was almost impossible for +those on board to keep their feet as she struck the sand and as the +seas swept her decks. The position of the tug on the starboard side of +the Mandalay was so perilous that it was decided to bring her across +the bows of the vessel to her port side; and this was done with great +difficulty against the gale and sea continually becoming heavier. +Creeping round the bows of the Mandalay the tug-boat came, and in doing +so crossed the cable of the lifeboat with her hawser, and therefore the +lifeboat's cable had to be slipped at once, and she had to be made fast +to and ride alongside the Mandalay. + +Still round came the tug, and getting into deeper water of about three +or three and a half fathoms, after a most hazardous and gallant passage +through the breakers round the vessel, set her engines going full speed +ahead. The seas now struck and bumped the Mandalay so heavily that, in +spite of all efforts to save her, she was in a most critical position, +and at the same time a great disaster nearly occurred. The great steel +hawser of the tug, as she strained all her powers, was now tautening +and slackening, and then, as steam strove for the mastery against the +storm, again tightening with enormous force till it became like a rigid +iron bar. It vibrated and swung alongside the lifeboat, which could +not get out of the way, and dared not leave the vessel--return to +which, had the lifeboat once slipped her anchor, against wind and tide +would have been impossible; and their comrades' lives, and those of +all, depended on their standing by the vessel. Though the gallant +coxswain did all that man could do to combat this new danger, still +with a terrific jerk the steel hawser got right under the lifeboat, +hoisting her, in spite of her great weight, clean out of the water. + +Aided by an awful breaker, whose tumultuous and raging advance was seen +afar in the moonlight, this powerful jerk of the tightening hawser, +which had got under the very keel of the lifeboat, lifted her up so +high that she struck in her descent, with her ponderous iron keel or +very undermost part of the lifeboat, the top rail of the Mandalay's +bulwarks. The marvel is how she escaped being turned right over by the +shock. The next day I saw with astonishment the crushed woodwork where +this mighty blow had been struck. + +The lifeboat's rudder was smashed and her great stern post sprung, and +one of the crew that remained in her was also injured, but still +Roberts held on to the ship. At this critical moment Hanger, seeing +the lifeboat's safety was endangered, and regarding it as a question of +saving not only his comrades' lives but the lives of all, most +reluctantly gave orders to cut the steel hawser of the tug, which was +made fast on board the vessel. This would have of course sacrificed +all the trouble and risk that had been incurred; another tug-boat had +also crept up on the starboard bow to help the first, and efforts were +being made to get her hawser too on board; in fact, success and safety +seemed almost within their grasp, but it was a matter of life or death, +and one of the Deal men, obeying orders, seized an axe and hewed and +struck with all his might at the steel hawser, which was still +endangering the lifeboat. + +Strand after wire strand was divided, when a great sea came and the +vessel trembled from her keel to her truck, and all hands had to hold +on for life. Down again came the axe, as the sea went by. But its +edge was blunted and it cut slowly, as the wielder doubled his efforts +in reply to the shouts, 'Cut the hawser, or the lifeboat's lost!' + +A confused struggle was now going on; some were passing the second +tug-boat's hawser on board, and some were trying, under pressure of +dire necessity, to cut the hawser by which the Cambria tug was +straining at the vessel, and still the terrible hawser got under the +lifeboat, and still the axeman strove vainly with a blunted axe to +divide the hawser. + +Another sea came racing at the vessel. It lifted her off the Sands, +and thumped her down with such fury that Hanger said, 'The bottom is +coming out of her!' + +Just then, holding on to prevent himself falling, he looked at the +compass, 'Great heavens! She's moving! She's slewing, lads!' he said; +the axeman threw down his useless axe, and again came a sea, lifting up +the vessel and her iron cargo as if she had been a feather. Had she +struck the bottom as violently as before, her masts must have gone over +with a crash into the lifeboat, but the lift of this overwhelming sea +was at the very instant aided by the strain of the tug-boat's hawser, +exerting enormous force, though divided almost in twain, and the +vessel's head was torn round to the east and, 'Hurrah! my lads! she's +off!' was heard from the undaunted but wearied battlers with the storm. + +The hawser of the second tug-boat had been passed shortly before this +with extreme danger both to that tug-boat, the Iona, and to the +lifeboatmen working forwards to make it fast, on the slippery footing +of the deck. The strain of the second tug-boat was now felt by the +moving vessel, and then came the scrapes and the crunches and the +thumps as she was pulled over the sand towards the deep swatchway. Her +head sails were set, to pay her head off still more, and at last the +victorious tug-boats pulled her safe into the swatchway, accompanied by +the lifeboat. + +On the left or western jaw, it will be remembered, the most terrific +sea was running, and the tug-boat approached this awful turmoil too +closely. Fortunately, Roberts saw the danger, and shouted from the +lifeboat, 'Port your helm! Hard a-port! or you're into the breakers!' +Hanger on board, with answering readiness, set the great spanker of the +vessel, and forced her head up to the north-east, barely clearing the +Champion and her invaluable riding light; and at last the Mandalay was +towed through the narrow swatch, on either side of which roared the +hungry breakers, baulked of their prey by human skill and perseverance +and dauntless British pluck. + +Some time before emerging from the death-trap, as the spot where the +Mandalay grounded might well be called, and when in the very most +anxious and critical part of the struggle, the moon broke out from +behind a great dark cloud, and there was seen struggling and labouring +in the gale a ship whose sails caught the moonlight. She shone out +vividly against the black background, but the lifeboatmen were +horrified to see that, attracted by the lights of the Champion, she was +heading straight for the terrible sea on the western jaw of the swatch, +where she apparently thought she would find safe anchorage in company +with other vessels. + +The North Deal coxswain expected to see her strike, and had decided, in +his mind, to get his crew from the Mandalay on board, and then rush +through the breakers to the doomed vessel, and having rescued her crew, +to return with the help of one of the tug-boats to the Mandalay; but, +fortunately, this catastrophe was averted by the humane and generous +action of the captain of the tug-boat Bantam Cock, who went at full +speed within hail, and warned the unsuspecting vessel of the terrible +danger so near her. + +We can almost fancy we hear the hoarse shouts from the tug-boat of +'Breakers ahead!' 'Goodwins under your lee!' and then the rattling and +the thunderous noise of the sails, and the creaking of the yards and +braces, as the vessel swings round on the other tack into safety. + +The Mandalay was then towed out of the swatchway by the Cambria into +deep water, and round the Goodwin Sands, with the lifeboat alongside +her, into the anchorage of the Downs by the half-divided hawser. Had +the axe's edge been keener, or had a few more blows been struck, or a +few more strands severed, or had the masts of the vessel crashed into +the lifeboat, or the lifeboat been capsized by the hawser's mighty +jerks, how different a tale would have been told! + +But it is our happy privilege to record the successful issue of +thirty-five hours' struggle against the terrors of a winter's gale on +the Goodwin Sands, and of doing some small justice to the seamanlike +skill and daring of the Deal coxswains and lifeboatmen, and of all +engaged in the task. + +It will be seen from the case recorded in this chapter that the motives +which were apparent in the minds of the brave fellows who manned the +lifeboat on each occasion were those of humanity and generous ardour to +succour the distressed; the salvage of property was an afterthought. +They started from the beach to put their intimate local knowledge of +the Goodwins, their skill, their strength, nay, their lives, at the +service of seamen in distress; but when they saw that their energies, +and theirs alone, could save a valuable vessel and her cargo, and that +they could earn such fair recompense as the law allowed, this salvage +of property became a duty, in the discharge of which, had any man lost +his life he would have lost it nobly, having entered upon his perilous +task in the unselfish and sublimer spirit of rescuing 'some forlorn and +shipwrecked brother' from death on the Goodwin Sands. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LEDA + + Swift on the shore, a hardy few + The Lifeboat man, with a gallant, gallant crew. + + +Some years ago I remember reading a tale, the hero of which was a youth +of nineteen. The scene was laid around the lifeboat of either Deal or +Walmer. There was supposed to be a ship in distress on the Goodwins, +and the night was dark and stormy. All the boatmen hung back, so the +story ran, from the work of rescue, and shrank from the black fury of +the gale, when the hero appeared on the scene, and roundly rating the +coxswain and crew, sprang into the lifeboat, pointed out exactly what +should be done, gave courage to all the quailing boatmen, and seizing +an oar--those heroic youths always 'seize' or 'grasp' an oar--pulled to +the Goodwin Sands 'in the teeth of a gale.' I notice these heroes +always prefer the 'teeth of a gale,' especially when pulling in a +lifeboat; nothing would apparently induce them to touch an oar if the +wind were fair or moderate. + +Having rescued the crew of the distressed vessel, _solus fecit_--some +slight assistance having also been rendered by the lifeboatmen--the +lifeboat is of course overturned, and he swims ashore. Still, by some +extraordinary manoeuvre on the part of the wind 'in the teeth of the +gale,' bearing the beauteous heroine in his arms, with the usual result +and the inevitable opposition from the cruel uncle, who is actuated of +course by deadly hatred to all heroic youths of nineteen. + +I only refer to this fiction to point out how absurd it is to represent +the brave men who man our lifeboats of the Goodwin Sands and Downs as +ever needing to be roused to action by passing and incompetent +strangers, who must be as ignorant of the perils to be faced as of the +work to be done. When the boatmen of Deal hang back in the +storm-blast, who else dare go? + +Again, the three lifeboats of this locality always _sail_ to the +distant Goodwin Sands. To reach those sands, four to eight miles +distant, according as the wreck lies on the inner or the outer edge, in +one of our heavy lifeboats, if they were only propelled by oars, would +be impossible. As a matter of fact, the lifeboat services to the +Goodwins are invariably effected under sail. In other places, where +the wreck lies close to the land, and the lifeboats are comparatively +light, services are performed with oars, but not to the Goodwin Sands, +which have to be reached under sail, and from which the lifeboats have +to get home by sail, often against a gale off shore, eight miles to +windward--with no steam-tug to help them, but by their own unaided +skill, 'heart within and God o'erhead.' + +[Illustration: 'All hands in the lifeboat!' From a photograph by W. H. +Franklin.] + +The following simple statement--far below the sublime reality--will +prove, if proof be needed, that the men who live between the North and +South Forelands are not inferior to their fathers who sailed with Blake +and Nelson. + +About one o'clock on Sunday, December 28, 1879, a gun from the South +Sand Head lightship, anchored about a mile south of the Goodwins, and +six miles from Deal, gave warning that a ship was on the dreadful +Sands. It was blowing a gale from the south-west, and the ships in the +Downs were riding and straining at both anchors. It was a gale to stop +your breath, or, as the sailors say, 'to blow your teeth down your +throat,' and the sea was white with 'spin drift.' As the various +congregations were streaming out of church, umbrellas were turned +inside out, hats were blown hopelessly, wildly seawards, and children +clung to their parents for shelter from the blinding spray along Deal +beach. + +Just then, in answer to the boom of the distant gun, the bell rang to +'man the lifeboat,' and the Deal boatmen answered gallantly to the +summons. A rush was made for the lifebelts. The first and second +coxwains, Wilds and Roberts, were all ready, and prepared with the key +of the lifeboat house, as the rush of men was made. + +The first thirteen men who succeeded in getting the belts with the two +coxwains formed the crew, and down the steep beach plunged the great +lifeboat to the rescue. There were three vessels on the Goodwins: the +fate of one is uncertain; another was a small vessel painted white, +supposed to be a Dane, and she suddenly disappeared before my eyes, +being probably lost with all hands; the third was a German barque, the +Leda, homeward bound to Hamburg, with a crew of seventeen 'all told.' +This ill-fated vessel while flying on the wings of the favouring +sou'-westerly gale, supposed by the too partial poet to be + + A ladies' breeze, + Bringing home their true loves, + Out of all the seas, + +struck, while thus impelled at full speed before the wind, the inner +part of the S.E. spit of the Goodwin Sands. This is a most dangerous +spot, noted for the furious surf which breaks on it, and where the +writer has had a hard fight for his life with the sea. + +The Germans, therefore, found this 'ladies' breeze' of Charles +Kingsley's splendid imagination more unfriendly to them than even 'the +black north-easter,' and their first contact with the Goodwin Sands was +a terrific crash while they were all at dinner, toasting absent friends +and each other with the kindly German _prosit_, and harmless clinking +of glasses, innocent of alcohol. + +The shock against the Goodwins as the vessel slid from the crest of a +snowy roller upon the Sands, threw the cabin dinner table and +everything on it up to the cabin ceiling, and no words can describe the +wild hurry and helpless confusion on the sea-pelted motionless vessel, +as the foam and the spray beat clean over her. + +Under her reefed mizzen and reefed storm foresail the lifeboat came +ramping over the four miles of tempestuous sea between the mainland and +the Goodwins, the sea getting bigger and breaking more at the top of +each wave, or 'peeling more,' as the Deal phrase goes, the farther they +went into the full fetch of the sea rolling up Channel. At last the +shallower water was reached about twenty feet in depth, where the +Goodwins commence. + +Up to this point any ordinary good sea-boat of sufficient size and +power would have made as good weather of it as the lifeboat, but when +at this depth of twenty feet the great rollers from the southward began +to curl and topple and break into huge foam masses, and coming from +different directions to race with such enormous speed and power that +the pillars of foam thrown up by the collision were seen at the +distance of five miles, then no boat but a lifeboat, it should be +clearly understood, could live for five minutes, and even in a lifeboat +only the 'sons of the Vikings' dare to face it. + +The wreck lay a long mile right into the very thick of this awful surf, +into which the Deal men boldly drove the lifeboat. As her great +forefoot was forced through the crest of each sea she sent showers of +spray over her mast and sails, and gleamed and glistened in the evening +sun as she struggled with the sea. + +To the wrecked crew she was visible from afar, and her bright colours +and red sails told them unmistakeably she was a lifeboat. Now buried, +then borne sky-high, she appeared to them as almost an angelic being +expressly sent for their deliverance, and with joy and gratitude they +watched her conquering advance, and they knew that brave English hearts +were guiding the noble boat to their rescue. + +When within about half a mile, the lifeboatmen saw the mainmast of the +vessel go over, and then down crash came the mizzenmast over the port +side, carrying with them in the ruin spars and rigging in confusion, +and all this wild mass still hung by the shrouds and other rigging +round the quarter and stem of the doomed ship, and were ever and anon +drawn against her by the sea, beating her planking with thunderous +noise and tremendous force. + +The Leda's head was now lying S.W., or facing the sea, as after she +struck stem on, her nose remained fast, and the sea gradually beat her +stem round. There was running a very strong lee-tide, i.e. a tide +running in the same direction as the wind and sea, setting fiercely +across the Sands and outwards across the bows of the wreck. Owing, +therefore, to this strong cross tide and the great sea, every minute +breaking more furiously as the water was falling with the ebb-tide, the +greatest judgment was required by the coxswains to anchor in the right +spot, so as not to be swung hopelessly out of reach of the vessel by +the tide. All the bravery in the world would have failed to accomplish +the rescue, had the requisite experience been wanting. Nothing but +experience and the faculty of coming to a right decision in a moment, +amidst the appalling grandeur and real danger which surrounded them, +enabled the coxswains to anchor just in the right spot, having made the +proper allowance for the set of the tide, the sea, and the wind. + +This decision had to be made in less time than I have taken to write +this sentence, and the lives of men hung thereon. All hands knew it, +so 'Now! Down foresail!' and the men rushed at the sail, and some to +the 'down-haul,' and got it in; the helm being put hard down, up, head +to sea, came the lifeboat, and overboard went the anchor, taking with +it coil after coil of the great white five-inch cable of Manilla hemp; +and to this they also bent a second cable, in order to ride by a long +scope, thus running out about 160 fathoms or 320 yards of cable. They +dropped anchor therefore nearly a fifth of a mile ahead of the wreck +and well on her starboard bow. Now bite, good anchor! and hold fast, +stout cable! for the lives of all depend on you. + +If the cable parted, and the lifeboat struck the ship with full force, +coming astern or broadside on, not a man would have survived to tell +the tale, or if she once got astern of the wreck she could not have +worked to windward--against the wind and tide--to drop down as before. +No friendly steam-tug was at hand to help them to windward, in case of +the failure of this their first attempt, and both the lifeboatmen and +the crew of the wrecked vessel knew the stake at issue, and that this +was the last chance. But the crew of the lifeboat said one to another, +'We're bound to save them,' and with all the coolness of the race, +though strung to the highest pitch of excitement, veered down towards +the wreck till abreast of where her mainmast had been. + +Clinging to the bulwarks and forerigging in a forlorn little cluster +were the Germans, waving to the lifeboat as she was gradually veered +down alongside, but still at a considerable distance from the wreck and +the dangerous tossing tangle of wreckage still hanging to her. + +To effect communication with a wreck, the lifeboat is provided with a +piece of cane as thick as a man's little finger and about a foot long, +to which a lump of lead is firmly fastened. To the end of the cane a +long light line is attached, and the line is kept neatly coiled in a +bucket. + +With this loaded cane in his right hand, a man stood on the gunwale of +the lifeboat; round his waist his comrades had passed a line, to +prevent him from being washed overboard his left hand grasped the +halyards, for the masts of the lifeboat are always left standing +alongside a wreck, and at the right moment with all his might he threw +the cane. Hissing through the air, it carried with it right on board +the wreck its own light line, which at great risk a German sailor +seized. Hauling it in, he found the lifeboat had bent on to it a +weightier rope, and thus communication was effected between the +lifeboat and the wreck. + +But though the lifeboat rode plunging alongside, she rode alongside at +a distance of twenty yards from the wreck, and had to be steered and +sheered, though at anchor, just as if she was in motion. At the helm, +therefore, stood the two coxswains, while round the foremast and close +to the fore air-box grouped the lifeboatmen. Wave after wave advanced, +breaking over them in clouds, taking their breath away and drenching +them. + +The coxswains were watching for a smooth to sheer the lifeboat's head +closer to the wreck, and the wearied sailors on the wreck were +anxiously watching their efforts, when, as will happen at irregular +intervals, which are beyond calculation, a great sea advanced, and was +seen towering afar. 'Hold on, men, for your lives!' sang out the +coxswains, and on came the hollow green sea, so far above their heads +that it seemed as they gazed into its terrible transparency that the +very sky had become green, and it broke into the lifeboat, hoisting her +up to the vessel's foreyard, and then plunging her bodily down and down. + +In this mighty hoist the port bilge-piece of the lifeboat as she +descended struck the top rail of the vessel's bulwarks, and the +collision stove in her fore air-box. That she was not turned clean +over by the shock, throwing out of her, and then falling on, her crew, +was only by God's mercy. All attempts to help the seamen on the wreck +in distress were suspended and buried in the wave. The lifeboatmen +held on with both arms round the thwarts in deadly wrestle and +breathless for dear life. Looking forwards as the boat emerged, the +coxswains, standing aft on their raised platform, could only see +boiling foam. Looking aft as the noble lifeboat emptied herself, the +crew saw the two coxswains waist deep in froth, and the head of the +Norman post aft was invisible and under water. We were all 'knocked +silly by that sea,' said the men, and they found that two of their +number had been swept aft and forced under the thwarts or seats of the +lifeboat. + +And now they turned to again--no one being missing--alone in that wild +cauldron of waters, with undaunted courage, to the work of rescue. Two +lines leading from the ship to the lifeboat were rigged up, the ends of +those lines being held by one of the lifeboatmen, George Philpot, who +had to tighten and slack them as the lifeboat rose, or when a sea came. +Spread-eagled on this rough ladder or cat's cradle, holding on for +their lives, the German crew had to come, and Philpot, who held the +lines in the lifeboat--no easy task--was lashed to the lifeboat's mast, +to leave his hands free and prevent his being swept overboard himself. +A space of about thirty feet separated the wreck and the lifeboat, as +the latter's head had to get a hard sheer off from the ship, to +counterbalance the tide and sea sucking and driving her towards the +wreck, and over this dangerous chasm the German sailors came. + +Still the giant seas swept into the lifeboat, and again and again the +lifeboat freed herself from the water, and floated buoyant, in spite of +the damage done to her airbox, so great was her reserve of floating +power. This her crew knew, and preserved unbounded confidence in the +noble structure under their feet, especially as they heard the clicks +of her valves at work and freeing her of water. + +In the intervals between the raging seas, twelve of the crew had now +been got into the lifeboat, when one man seeing her sheer closer than +usual towards the vessel, jumped from the top rail towards the +lifeboat. Instead of catching her at the propitious moment when she +was balanced on the summit of a wave, he sprang when she was rapidly +descending; this added ten feet to the height of his jump, and he fell +groaning into the lifeboat. + +Having put the rescued men on the starboard side of the lifeboat, to +make room for the descent of the others, great seas again came fiercely +and furiously. As the tide was falling fast, the water became +shallower, and all around was heard only the hoarse roar of the storm, +and there was seen only the advancing lines of billows, tossing their +snowy manes as they came on with speed. + +Again and again the lifeboat was submerged, and the man lashed to the +mast had to ease off the lines he held till the seas had passed. + +'It was as if the heavens was falling atop of us; but we had no fear +then, we were all a-takin' of it as easy as if we was ashore, but it +was afterwards we thought of it.' + +But not so the rescued crew who were in the lifeboat; some of them +wanted to get back to the ship, which was fast breaking up, but one of +their number had, strange to say, been rescued before--twice before, +some say--by the same lifeboat on the very same Goodwin Sands, and he +encouraged his comrades and said, 'She's all right! she's done it +before! Good boat! good boat!' And then the rest of the crew came +down, or rather along the two lines, held fast and eased off as before, +till, last man down, or rather along the lines, came the captain. +'Come along, captain! Come along. There's a booser coming!' and +Roberts aft, second coxswain, strained at the helm to sheer the +lifeboat off, before the sea came. + +It came towering. 'Quick! Captain! Come!' Had the captain rapidly +come along the lines, he would have been safe in the lifeboat, but he +hesitated just for an instant, and then the sea came--a moving mountain +of broken water, one of the most appalling objects in Nature--breaking +over the foreyard of the wreck, sweeping everything before it on the +deck, and covering lifeboat and men. Everything was blotted out by the +green water, as they once again wrestled in their strong grasp of the +thwarts, while the roar and smother of drowning rang in their ears. +But there is One who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the +hollow of His hand, and once again by His mercy not a man was missing, +and again rose the lifeboat, and gasping and half-blinded, they saw +that the ropes along which the captain was coming were twisted one +across the other, and that, though he had escaped the full force of the +great wave, the captain of the Leda was hanging by one hand, and on the +point of dropping into the wild turmoil beneath, exhausted. Another +second would have been too late, when, quick as lightning, the +lifeboatman, G. Philpot, still being lashed to the mast, by a dexterous +jerk, chucked one of the ropes under the leg of the clinging and +exhausted man, and then, once again, they cried, 'Come along! Now's +your time!' And on he came; but as the ropes again slacked as the +lifeboat rose, fell into the sea, though still grasping the lines, +while strong and generous hands dragged him safe into the lifeboat--the +last man. All saved! And now for home! + +They did not dare to haul up to their anchor, had that been possible, +lest before they got sail on the lifeboat to drag her away from the +wreck she should be carried back against the wreck, or under her bows, +when all would have perished. So the coxswains wisely decided to set +the foresail, and then when all was ready, the men all working +splendidly together, 'Out axe, lads! and cut the cable!' Away to the +right or starboard faintly loomed the land, five long miles distant. +Between them and it raged a mile of breakers throwing up their spiky +foaming crests, while their regular lines of advance were every now and +then crossed by a galloping breaking billow coming mysteriously and yet +furiously from another direction altogether, the result being a +collision of waters and pillars and spouts of foam shot up into the +air. Through this broken water they had to go--there was no other way +home, and 'there are no back doors at sea.' So down came the keen axe, +and the last strand of the cable was cut. + +Then they hoisted just a corner of the foresail, to cast her head +towards the land and away from the wreck--more they dared not hoist, +lest they should capsize in such broken water, the wind still blowing +very hard. As her head paid off, a big sea was seen coming high above +the others. 'Haul down the foresail, quick!' was the cry; but it was +too late, and the monstrous sea struck the bows and burst into the +sail, filling and overpowering the lifeboat and the helm and the +steersmen--for both Wilds and Roberts were straining at the yoke +lines--and hurled the lifeboat like a feather right round before the +wind, and she shot onwards with and amidst this sea, almost into the +deadly jangle of broken masts and great yards and tops, which with all +their rigging and shrouds and hamper were tossing wildly in the boiling +surf astern of the wreck. + +But the noble deed was not to end in disaster. Beaten and hustled as +the Deal lifeboatmen were with this great sea, there was time enough +for those skilled and daring men to set the foresail again, to drag her +clear before they got into the wreckage. 'Sheet home the foresail, and +sit steady, my lads,' said Roberts, 'and we'll soon be through!' and +they made for the dangerous broken water, which was now not more than +twelve feet deep. The coxswains kept encouraging the men, 'Cheer up, +my lads!' And then, 'Look out, all hands! A sea coming!' And then, +'Five minutes more and we'll be through.' And so with her goodly +freight of thirty-two souls, battered but not beaten, reeling to and +fro, and staggering and plunging on through the surf, each moment +approaching safety and deep water--on pressed the lifeboat. + +Now gleams of hope broke out as the lifeboat lived and prospered in the +battle, and at last the rescued Germans saved 'from the jaws of death,' +and yet hardly believing they were saved, sang out, though feeble and +exhausted, 'Hurrah! Cheer, O.' And inside the breakers the Kingsdown +lifeboat, on their way to help, responded with an answering cheer. + +Then we may be well sure that from our own silent, stubborn Deal men, +many a deep-felt prayer of gratitude, unuttered it may be by the lips, +was sent up from the heart to Him, the 'Eternal Father strong to save,' +while the Germans now broke openly out into 'Danke Gott! Danke Gott!' +and soon afterwards were landed--grateful beyond expression for their +marvellous deliverance--on Deal beach[1]. + +With conspicuous exceptions, few notice and fewer still remember those +gallant deeds done by those heroes of our coast. + +Few realize that those poor men have at home an aged mother perhaps +dependent on them, or children, or 'a nearer one yet and a dearer,' and +that when they 'darkling face the billow' the possibility of disaster +to themselves assumes a more harrowing shape, when they think of loved +ones left helpless and destitute behind them. Riches cannot remove the +pang of bereavement, but alas! for 'the _comfortless_ troubles of the +needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor.' And yet the brave +fellows never hang back and never falter. There ought to be, there is +amongst them, a trust in the living God. + +They apparently think little of their own splendid deeds, and seldom +speak of them, especially to strangers; yet they are part, and not the +least glorious part, of our 'rough island story.' The recital of them +makes our hearts thrill, and revives in us the memories of our youth +and our early worship of heroic daring in a righteous cause. God speed +the lifeboat and her crew! + + + +[1] The names of the crew who on this occasion manned the lifeboat were +Robert Wilds (coxswain 1st), R. Roberts (coxswain 2nd), Thos. Cribben, +Thos. Parsons, G. Pain, Chas. Hall, Thomas Roberts, Will Baker, John +Holbourn, Ed. Pain, George Philpot, R. Williams, W. Adams, H. Foster, +Robt. Redsull. Of these men, poor Tom Cribben never recovered +[Transcriber's note: from] the exposure and the strain. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE D'ARTAGNAN AND THE HEDVIG SOPHIA + + Loud roared the dreadful thunder, + The rain a deluge poured. + + +There was a gale from the S.W. blowing over the southern part of +England, on November 11, 1877. The barometer had been low, but the +'centre of depression' was still advancing, and was probably over the +Straits of Dover about the middle of the day. Perhaps more is known +now than formerly of the path of the storm and the date of its arrival +on these coasts, and more is also known of the pleasanter but rarer +anti-cyclonic systems. Nevertheless, we are still in the dark as to +the cause which originates those two different phenomena, and brings +them from the east and the west. The secrets of Nature belong to Him +who holds the winds in His fist and the sea in the hollow of His hand. +In the seaboard towns of the S.E. coast the houses shook before the +blast, and now and then the tiles crashed to the pavement, and the +fierce rain squalls swept through the deserted streets, as the gale +'whistled aloft his tempest tune.' To read of this makes every +fireside seem more comfortable, but somehow it also brings the thought +to many a heart 'God help those at sea to-night!' + +In the great roadstead of the Downs, among the pilots and the captains, +there were anxious hearts that day. There were hundreds of ships at +anchor, of many nations, all outward bound, and taking refuge in the +comparative shelter of the Downs. Those vessels had everything made as +snug as possible to meet the gale, and were mostly riding to two +anchors and plunging bows under. Here and there a vessel was dragging +and going into collision with some other vessel right astern of her; or +perhaps slipping both her anchors just in time to avoid the crash; or +away to the southward could be seen in the rifts of the driving rain +squalls, a large ship drifting, with anchors gone and sails blown into +ribbons. + +Deal beach was alive with the busy crowds of boatmen either launching +or beaching their luggers. The smaller boats, the galley punts, which +are seven feet beam and about twenty-eight feet in length, found the +wind and sea that day too much for them, especially in the afternoon. +They had been struggling in the Downs all day with two or three reefs, +and in the 'smokers' with 'yardarm taken,' but in the afternoon the +mercury in the barometers began to jump up and + + First rise after low + Foretells a stronger blow. + +Then the galley punts had to come ashore, and only the luggers and the +'cats' were equal to cruising among the storm-tossed shipping, +'hovelling' or on the look-out for a job. + +Some of the vessels might need a pilot to take them to Margate Roads or +northwards, or some might require a spare yard, or men to man the +pumps, or an anchor and chain, the vessels in some cases riding to +their last remaining anchor--or perhaps their windlass had given way or +the hawse pipe had split, and in that case their own chain cable would +cut them down to the water's edge in a few hours. To meet these +various needs of the vessels, the great luggers were all day being +continuously beached and launched, and it was hard to say which of the +two operations was most perilous to themselves or most fascinating to +the spectator. Once afloat they hovered about, on the wing as it were, +among the vessels, and from the beach it could be seen how crowded with +men they were, and how admirably they were handled. + +The skill of the Deal boatmen is generally supposed to be referred to +in the lines: + + Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands, + They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands; + Fearless they combat every hostile wind, + Wheeling in mazy tracks with course inclined. + + +The passage has certainly a flavour of the Goodwins but at any rate the +sea-bird does not sweep to the raging summit of a wave, or glide more +easily from its seething crest down the dark deep blue slope to its +windless trough, or more safely than the Deal boatmen in their luggers. + +Richard Roberts had been all that day afloat in the Downs in his +powerful 'cat,' the Early Morn. It was this boat, some of my readers +may remember, which picked up, struggling in the water, twenty-four of +the passengers of the Strathclyde, when she was run down off Dover by +the Franconia, some years ago. But the gale increasing towards +evening, Roberts, who had got to leeward too much, could not beat home, +and he had to run away before the wind and round the North Foreland to +Margate. Thence he took train, and leaving his lugger in safety, +reached Deal about nine p.m., just as the flash from the Gull +lightship, and then the distant boom of a gun and again another flash, +proclaimed there was a ship ashore on the sands. And through the wild +rain gusts he saw the flare of a vessel in distress on the Brake +Sand--God have mercy on them! for well he knew the hard and rocky +nature of that deadly spot. + +Then rang out wildly above the storm-shriek the summons from the iron +throat of the lifeboat bell, 'Man the lifeboat! Man the lifeboat!' +The night was dark, the ponderous surf thundered on the shingle, and +there could be seen the long advancing lines of billows breaking into +white masses of foam; and outside that there was only the blackness of +sea and sky, and the tossing lights and flares and signals calling for +help. 'No lanterns could be kept lit that night, sir! Blowed out they +was, and we had to feel our way in the lifeboat.' + +And you might hear in the bustle and din of quick preparation the +boatmen's shouts, 'Ease her down, Bill! just to land her bow over the +full!' 'Man that haul-off warp! she'll never get off against them seas +unless you man that haul-off warp! Slack it off!' And the coxswain +shouts, 'All hands aboard the lifeboat! Cut the lanyard!' + +Then the trigger flies loose and the stern chain which holds the +lifeboat in her position on the beach smokes through the 'ruffles,' or +hole in the iron keel through which it runs, as the mighty lifeboat +gains speed in her rush down the steep declivity of the beach. As she +nears the sea, faster still she slides and shoots over the well-greased +skids, urged forwards by her own weight and pulled forwards by the +crew, who grasp the haul-off warp moored off shore a long way, and at +last, as a warrior to battle, with a final bound she meets the shock of +the first great sea. And then she vanishes into the darkness. God +speed her on her glorious errand! + +Close-reefed mizzen and double-reefed storm foresail was the canvas +under which the lifeboat that night struggled with the storm, to reach +the vessel on the Brake Sand. 'She did fly along, sir, that night, but +we were too late! The flare went out when we were half-way!' Alas! +alas! while the gallant crew were flying on the wings of mercy and of +hope to the rescue, the vessel broke up and vanished with all hands in +the deep. + +The lifeboat cruised round and round in the breakers, but all in vain. +The crew gazed and peered into the gloom and listened, and then they +shouted all together, but they could hardly hear each other's voices, +and there was no answer; all had perished, and rescue close at hand! + +Suddenly there was a lift in the rain, and between them and the land +they saw another flare, 'Down with the foresheet! All hands to the +foresheet! Now down with the mizzen sheet!' cried the coxswain, and +ten men flew to the sheets. As the lifeboat luffed she lay over to her +very bearings, beating famously to windward on her second errand of +mercy. + +It was about midnight, and there was 'a terrible nasty sea,' and a +great run under the lifeboat as she neared the land; and the coxswains +made out the dim form of a large vessel burning her flare, with masts +gone and the sea beating over her. + +Once again the lifeboat was put about, and came up into the wind's eye, +the foresail was got down and the other foresail hoisted on the other +side and sheeted home, sails, sheets and blocks rattling furiously in +the gale, and forwards on the other tack into the spume and sea-drift +the lifeboat 'ratched.' Between them and the vessel that was burning +her signal of distress, the keen eyes of the lifeboatmen discerned an +object in the sea, 'not more than fifty fathoms off, as much as ever it +was, it was that bitter dark!' Another wreck! 'Let us save them at +any rate!' said the storm-beaten lifeboatmen, as a feeble cry was heard. + +The anchor was dropped. The lifeboat was then veered down on her cable +a distance of eighty fathoms, and the object in the sea was found to be +a forlorn wreck. Her lee deck bulwarks were deep under water, and even +her weather rail was low down to the sea. + +The wreck was a French brig, the D'Artagnan, as was afterwards +ascertained, and on coming close it was seen her masts were still +standing, but leaning over so that her yardarms touched the water. +Nothing could live long on her deck, which was half under water and +swept by breakers. + +In the main rigging were seen small objects, which were found to be the +crew, and in answer to the shouts of the lifeboatmen they came down and +crawled or clung along the sea-beaten weather rail. Half benumbed with +terror and despair and lashed by ceaseless waves, they slowly came +along towards the lifeboat, and the state of affairs at that moment was +described by one of the lifeboatmen as, 'Yes, bitter dark it were, and +rainin' heavens hard, with hurricane of wind all the time.' + +The wreck lay with her head facing the mainland, from which she was +about a mile distant, and which bore by compass about W.N.W. The wind +and the strong tide were both in the same direction, and if the +lifeboat had anchored ahead of the vessel she would have swung +helplessly to leeward and been unable to reach the vessel at all. So, +also, had she gone under the wreck's stern to leeward, the same tide +would have swept her out of reach, to say nothing of the danger of +falling masts. It was impossible to have approached her to windward, +as one crash against the vessel's broadside in such a storm and sea +would have perhaps cost the lives of all the crew. + +They therefore steered the lifeboat's head right at the stern of the +vessel, as well for the reasons given as also because the cowering +figures in the rigging could be got off no other way. They could not +be taken to windward nor to leeward, and therefore by the stern was the +only alternative. + +By managing the cable of the lifeboat and by steering her, or by +setting a corner of her foresail, she would sheer up to the stern of +the wreck just as the fishing machine called an otter rides abreast of +the boat to which it is fast. The lifeboat's head was, therefore, +pointed at the stern of the wreck, which was leaning over hard to +starboard, and the lifeboatmen shouted to the crew, some in the rigging +and some clutching the weather toprail, to 'come on and take our line.' +But there was no response; only in the darkness they could see the men +in distress slowly working their way towards the stern of the wreck. + +The position of the lifeboat was very dangerous. The sea was raging +right across her, and it was only the sacred flame of duty and of pity +in the hearts of the daring crew of the lifeboat that kept them to +their task. The swell of the sea was running landwards, and the 'send' +of each great rolling wave, just on the point of breaking, would shoot +the lifeboat forwards till her stem and iron forefoot would strike the +transom and stern of the wreck with tremendous force. The strain and +spring of the cable would then draw back the lifeboat two or three +boats' lengths, and then another breaker, its white wrath visible in +the pitchy darkness, would again drive the lifeboat forwards and +upwards as with a giant's hand, and then crash! down and right on to +the stern and even right up on the deck of the half-submerged vessel. +Sometimes even half the length of the lifeboat was driven over the +transom and on the sloping deck of the wreck, off which she grated back +into the sea to leewards. + +What pen can describe the turmoil, the danger, and the appalling +grandeur of the scene, now black as Erebus, and again illumined by a +blaze of lightning? And what pen can do justice to the stubborn +courage that persevered in the work of rescue in spite of the +difficulties which at each step sprang up? + +It was now found that the crew in distress were French. In their +paralysed and perished condition they could not make out what our men +wanted them to do, and they did not make fast the lines thrown them. +Nor had they any lines to throw, as their tackle and running gear were +washed away, nor could they understand the hails of the lifeboatmen. +Hence the task of saving them rested with the Deal men alone. + +The Frenchmen, when they saw the lifeboat rising up and plunging +literally upon their decks with terrific force, held back and +hesitated, clinging to the weather rail, where their position was most +perilous. A really solid sea would have swept all away, and every two +or three minutes a furious breaker flew over them. Something had to be +done to get them, and to get them the men in the lifeboat were +determined. + +Now the fore air-box of the lifeboat has a round roof like a tortoise's +back, and there is a very imperfect hand-hold on it. + +Indeed, to venture out on this air-box in ordinary weather is by no +means prudent, but on this night, when it was literally raked by +weighty seas sufficient in strength to tear a limpet from its grip, the +peril of doing so was extreme, but still, out on that fore air-box, +determined to do or die, crept Richard Roberts, at that time the second +coxswain of the lifeboat, leading the forlorn hope of rescue, and not +counting his life dear to him. Up as the lifeboat rose, and down with +her into the depths, still Roberts held on with the tenacity of a +sailor's grasp. + +As the lifeboat surged forwards on the next sea, held behind by his +comrades' strong arms, out on the very stem he groped his way, and then +he shouted, and behind him all hands shouted, 'Come, Johnny! Now's +your time!' There's a widespread belief among our sailor friends that +the expression 'Johnny' is a passport to a Frenchman's heart. At any +rate, seeing Roberts on the very stem and hearing the shouts, the +nearly exhausted Frenchmen came picking their dangerous way and +clinging to the weather rail one by one till they grasped or rather +madly clutched at Roberts' outstretched arms. 'Hold on, mates!' he +cried, 'there's a sea coming! Don't let them drag me overboard!' And +then the Frenchmen grasped Roberts' arms and chest so fiercely that his +clothes were torn and he himself marked black and blue. Then rang out +as each poor sailor was grasped by Roberts, 'Hurrah! I've got him! +Pass him along, lads!'--and the poor fellows were rescued and welcomed +by English hearts and English hands. 'We never knowed if there was any +more, but at any rate we saved five,' said the lifeboatmen. + +Having rescued this crew, all eyes were now turned to the vessel that +had for some hours been burning her signals of distress. + +It was by this time four o'clock on this winter morning, and the crew +of the lifeboat were, to use their own words, 'nearly done.' They also +noticed that the lifeboat was much lower than usual in the water, but +neither danger, nor hardships, nor fatigue can daunt the spirits of the +brave, and their courage rose above the terror of the storm, and they +forgot the crippled condition of the lifeboat--both of her bows being +completely stove in by the force of her blows against the deck and the +transom of the French brig--and they responded gallantly to the +coxswain's orders of 'Up anchor and set the foresail!' and they made +for the flare of the fresh wreck for which they had been originally +heading. + +The signals of distress were from a Swedish barque, the Hedvig Sophia. +She had parted her anchors in the Downs, and had come ashore in three +fathoms of water, which was now angry surf; her masts were gone, but as +the rigging was not cut adrift, they were still lying to leeward in +wild confusion. She had heeled over to starboard, and her weather rail +being well out of the water, afforded some shelter to the crew; but her +sloping decks were washed and beaten by the waves that broke over her +and it was all but impossible to walk on them. + +The lifeboat's anchor was dropped, and again they veered down, but this +time it was possible to get to windward, and by reason of the wreckage +it was impossible to get to leeward. There was an English pilot on +board, who helped to carry out the directions given from the lifeboat, +and lines were quickly passed from the wreck. + +It was seen the captain's wife was on board, for the grey morning was +breaking, and as the lifeboat rose on the crest of a wave, after the +crew and just before the captain, who came last, the poor lady was +passed into the lifeboat. + +She only came with great reluctance and after much persuasion, as the +deck of the lifeboat was covered with three inches of water and she +seemed to be sinking. When the Swedish captain came on board, while +the spray was flying sky-high over them, could he truly be said to be +taken 'on board'? + +'Here's a pretty thing to come in--full of water!' said the captain. + +'Well,' replied Roberts, 'we've been in it all night, and you won't +have to wait long.' + +The lifeboatmen then got up anchor, and with twelve Swedes, five +Frenchmen, and their own crew of fifteen made for home. Deep plunged +the lifeboat, and wearily she rose at each sea, but still she struggled +towards Deal, as the wounded stag comes home to die. Her fore and +after air-boxes were full of water, for a man could creep into the rent +in her bows, and she had lost much of her buoyancy. Still she had a +splendid reserve in hand, from the air-boxes ranged along and under her +deck, and thus fighting her way with her freight of thirty-two souls, +at last she grounded on the sands off Deal, and the lifeboatmen leaped +out and carried the rescued foreigners literally into England from the +sea, where they were received as formerly another ship-wrecked stranger +in another island 'with no little kindness.' + +The next day the storm was over; sea and sky were bathed in sunshine, +and the swift-winged breezes just rippled the surface of the deep into +the countless dimples of blue and gold. + + [Greek] _Pontion te kumaton_ + _Anerithmon gelasma_ + +was the exact description, more easily felt than translated; but close +to the North Bar buoy, in deep water, and just outside the Brake Sand, +there projected from out of the smiling sea the grim stern spectacle of +the masts of a barque whose hull lay deep down on its sandy bed. She +it was which had been burning flares for help the night before in vain, +and she had been beaten off the Brake Sand and sank before the lifeboat +came. She was a West India barque, with a Gravesend pilot on board, +and his pilot flag was found hoisted in the unusual position of the +mizzen topmast head, a fact which was interpreted by the Deal boatmen +as a message--a last message to his friends, and as much as to say, +'It's me that's gone.' + +But the brave men in the lifeboat did their best, and by their +extraordinary exertions, although they did not reach this poor lost +barque in time, yet by God's blessing on their skill and daring they +did save, Swedes and Frenchmen, seventeen souls that night from a +watery grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE RAMSGATE LIFEBOAT + + Not once or twice in our rough island story + The path of duty was the way to glory. + + +A book bearing the title of _Heroes of the Goodwin Sands_, would hardly +be complete without a chapter devoted to the celebrated Ramsgate +lifeboat and her brave coxswain and crew. To them, by virtue of Mr. +Gilmore's well-known book, the title of _Storm Warriors_ almost of +right belongs, but I am well aware they will not deny their daring and +generous rivals of Deal a share in that stirring appellation, and I +know that their friends, the Deal boatmen, on their part gladly admit +that the Ramsgate lifeboatmen are also among the 'Heroes of the Goodwin +Sands.' + +The first lifeboat placed in Ramsgate was called the Northumberland. +The next was called the Bradford, in memory of the interesting fact +that the money required to build and equip her, about L600, was +subscribed in an hour on the Bradford Exchange, and within the hour the +news was flashed to London. Since then the rescues effected by the +Ramsgate lifeboat have become household words wherever the English +tongue is spoken. + +Nor less celebrated than the lifeboat is her mighty and invaluable ally +the steam-tug Aid, so often captained in the storm-blast by Alfred +Page, her brave and experienced master. This powerful tug boat has +steam up night and day, ready to rush the lifeboat out into the teeth +of any gale, when it would be otherwise impossible for the lifeboat to +get out of the harbour. The names of Coxswain Jarman, and more +recently of Coxswain Charles Fish, the hero of the Indian Chief rescue, +will long thrill the hearts of Englishmen and Englishwomen who read +that wondrous story of the sea. It may be fairly said that no storms +that blow in these latitudes can keep the Ramsgate tug and lifeboat +back, when summoned to the rescue. + +I had the privilege of standing on Ramsgate pier-head on November 11, +1891, when amidst the cheers of the crowd, who indeed could hardly keep +their feet, the tug and lifeboat slowly struggled out against the great +gale which blew that day. The lifeboat is towed a long way astern of +the tug-boat, to the full scope of a sixty fathom, five inch, white +Manilla hawser, and on the day I speak of, as the lifeboat felt the +giant strain of the tug-boat and was driven into the seas outside the +harbour, every wave broke into wild spray mast high over the lifeboat +and into the faces of her crew. + +The crew are obtained from a body of 150 enrolled volunteers. The +first ten of these who get into the lifeboat when the rocket signal +goes up from the pier-head form on that occasion the crew of the +lifeboat. In addition to these the two coxswains, by virtue of their +office, raise the total number to twelve. The celebrated coxswain, +Charles Fish, was also harbour boatman at Ramsgate, and slept in a +watch-house at the end of the pier in a hammock. He was always first +aroused by the watch to learn that rockets were going up from some +distant lightship signifying 'a ship on the Goodwins.' With him rested +the decision to send up the answering rocket from the pier-head, upon +seeing which the police and coastguard called the lifeboat crew. Then +would come the rush for a place. + +The coxswain had to decide what signals were to be regarded as false +alarms, and there are many such; sometimes, it is said in Ramsgate, the +flash of the Calais lighthouse is taken for a ship burning flares and +in distress on the Goodwins, and draws the signal guns from the +lightships. Sometimes a hayrick on fire is mistaken for a vessel's +appealing signal; sometimes the signals, of enormous and unnecessary +size, which the French trawlers burn to each other at night around the +Goodwins, set both the lightships and lifeboats all astray; and the +coxswains of the lifeboats, both at Ramsgate and Deal, have to be on +their guard against these delusive agencies. As the coxswains in both +of these places are men of exceptional shrewdness and ability, mistakes +are few and far between. The coxswain of a lifeboat ought to have the +eye of a hawk and the heart of a lion, and, I will add, the tenderness +and pity of a woman. + +Never was the possession of these qualities more finely exhibited than +by coxswain Charles Fish and the crew of the Ramsgate lifeboat in the +rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief from the Long Sand on +January 5 and 6, 1881. The following account has been taken by +permission from the _Lifeboat Journal_ for February, 1881, including +the extracts from the _Daily Telegraph_ and the admirable engraving. + +The accompanying graphic accounts of the wreck of the Indian Chief, and +of the noble rescue of a portion of her crew by the Bradford +self-righting lifeboat, stationed at Ramsgate, appeared in the _Daily +Telegraph_ on January 11 and 18, as related by the mate of the vessel +and the coxswain of the lifeboat. The lifeboats of the National +Lifeboat Institution stationed at Aldborough (Suffolk), Clacton and +Harwich (Essex), also proceeded to the scene of danger, but +unfortunately were unable to reach the wreck. Happily the Bradford +lifeboat persevered, amidst difficulties, hardships, and dangers hardly +ever surpassed in the lifeboat service; but her reward was indeed great +in saving eleven of our fellow-creatures, who must have succumbed, as +their mates had a few hours previously, to their terrible exposure in +bitterly cold weather for nearly thirty hours. + +[Illustration: The lifeboat Bradford at the wreck of the Indian Chief.] + +Indeed, Captain Braine, the zealous Ramsgate harbour-master, states in +an official letter of January 8, in reference to this noble service, +that-- + +'Of all the meritorious services performed by the Ramsgate tug and +lifeboat, I consider this one of the best. The decision the coxswain +and crew arrived at to remain till daylight, which was in effect to +continue for fourteen hours cruising about with the sea continually +breaking over them in a heavy gale and tremendous sea, proves, I +consider, their gallantry and determination to do their duty. The +coxswain and crew of the lifeboat speak in the highest terms of her +good qualities; they state that when sailing across the Long Sand, +after leaving the wreck, the seas were tremendous, and the boat behaved +most admirably. Some of the shipwrecked crew have since stated that +they were fearful, on seeing the frightful-looking seas they were +passing through, that they were in more danger in the lifeboat than +when lashed to the mast of their sunken ship, as they thought it +impossible for any boat to live through such a sea.' + +The following are the newspaper accounts of a lifeboat service that +will always be memorable in the annals of the services of the lifeboats +of the National Lifeboat Institution; and many and many such services +reflect honour alike on the humanity of the age in which we live, and +on the organisation and liberality which have prompted and called them +into existence. + +'On the afternoon of Thursday, January 6, I made one of a great crowd +assembled on the Ramsgate east pier to witness the arrival of the +survivors of the crew of a large ship which had gone ashore on the Long +Sand early on the preceding Wednesday morning. A heavy gale had been +blowing for two days from the north and east; it had moderated somewhat +at noon, but still stormed fiercely over the surging waters, though a +brilliant blue sky arched overhead and a sun shone that made the sea a +dazzling surface of broken silver all away in the south and west. +Plunging bows under as she came along, the steamer towed the lifeboat +through a haze of spray; but amid this veil of foam, the flags of the +two vessels denoting that shipwrecked men were in the boat streamed +like well-understood words from the mastheads. The people crowded +thickly about the landing-steps when the lifeboat entered the harbour. +Whispers flew from mouth to mouth. Some said the rescued men were +Frenchmen, others that they were Danes, but all were agreed that there +was a dead body among them. One by one the survivors came along the +pier, the most dismal procession it was ever my lot to behold--eleven +live but scarcely living men, most of them clad in oilskins, and +walking with bowed backs, drooping heads and nerveless arms. There was +blood on the faces of some, circled with a white encrustation of salt, +and this same salt filled the hollows of their eyes and streaked their +hair with lines which looked like snow. The first man, who was the +chief mate, walked leaning heavily on the arm of the kindly-hearted +harbour-master, Captain Braine. The second man, whose collar-bone was +broken, moved as one might suppose a galvanised corpse would. A third +man's wan face wore a forced smile, which only seemed to light up the +piteous, underlying expression of the features. They were all +saturated with brine; they were soaked with sea-water to the very +marrow of the bones. Shivering, and with a stupefied rolling of the +eyes, their teeth clenched, their chilled fingers pressed into the +palms of their hands, they passed out of sight. As the last man came I +held my breath; he was alive when taken from the wreck, but had died in +the boat. Four men bore him on their shoulders, and a flag flung over +the face mercifully concealed what was most shocking of the dreadful +sight; but they had removed his boots and socks to chafe his feet +before he died, and had slipped a pair of mittens over the toes, which +left the ankles naked. This was the body of Howard Primrose Fraser, +the second mate of the lost ship, and her drowned captain's brother. I +had often met men newly-rescued from shipwreck, but never remember +having beheld more mental anguish and physical suffering than was +expressed in the countenances and movements of these eleven sailors. +Their story as told to me is a striking and memorable illustration of +endurance and hardship on the one hand, and of the finest heroical +humanity on the other, in every sense worthy to be known to the British +public. I got the whole narrative direct from the chief mate, Mr. +William Meldrum Lloyd, and it shall be related here as nearly as +possible in his own words. + + + +No. 1.--_The Mate's Account_. + +'Our ship was the Indian Chief, of 1238 tons register; our skipper's +name was Fraser, and we were bound with a general cargo to Yokohama. +There were twenty-nine souls on board, counting the North-country +pilot. We were four days out from Middlesbrough, but it had been thick +weather ever since the afternoon of the Sunday on which we sailed. All +had gone well with us, however, so far, and on Wednesday morning, at +half-past two, we made the Knock Light. You must know, sir, that +hereabouts the water is just a network of shoals; for to the southward +lies the Knock, and close over against it stretches the Long Sand, and +beyond, down to the westward, is the Sunk Sand. Shortly after the +Knock Light had hove in sight, the wind shifted to the eastward and +brought a squall of rain. We were under all plain sail at the time, +with the exception of the royals, which were furled, and the main sail +that hung in the buntlines. The Long Sand was to leeward, and finding +that we were drifting that way the order was given to put the ship +about. It was very dark, the wind breezing up sharper and sharper, and +cold as death. The helm was put down, but the main braces fouled, and +before they could be cleared the vessel had missed stays and was in +irons. We then went to work to wear the ship, but there was much +confusion, the vessel heeling over, and all of us knew that the Sands +were close aboard. The ship paid off, but at a critical moment the +spanker-boom sheet fouled the wheel; still, we managed to get the +vessel round, but scarcely were the braces belayed and the ship on the +starboard tack, when she struck the ground broadside on. She was a +soft-wood built ship, and she trembled, sir, as though she would go to +pieces at once like a pack of cards. Sheets and halliards were let go, +but no man durst venture aloft. Every moment threatened to bring the +spars crushing about us, and the thundering and beating of the canvas +made the masts buckle and jump like fishing-rods. We then kindled a +great flare and sent up rockets, and our signals were answered by the +Sunk Lightship and the Knock. We could see one another's faces in the +light of the big blaze, and sung out cheerily to keep our hearts up; +and, indeed, sir, although we all knew that our ship was hard and fast +and likely to leave her bones on that sand, we none of us reckoned upon +dying. The sky had cleared, the easterly wind made the stars sharp and +bright, and it was comforting to watch the lightships' rockets rushing +up and bursting into smoke and sparks over our heads, for they made us +see that our position was known, and they were as good as an assurance +that help would come along soon and that we need not lose heart. But +all this while the wind was gradually sweeping up into a gale--and oh, +the cold, good Lord! the bitter cold of that wind! + +'It seemed as long as a month before the morning broke, and just before +the grey grew broad in the sky, one of the men yelled out something, +and then came sprawling and splashing aft to tell us that he had caught +sight of the sail of a lifeboat[1] dodging among the heavy seas. We +rushed to the side to look, half-blinded by the flying spray and the +wind, and clutching at whatever offered to our hands, and when at last +we caught sight of the lifeboat we cheered, and the leaping of my heart +made me feel sick and deathlike. As the dawn brightened we could see +more plainly, and it was frightful to notice how the men looked at her, +meeting the stinging spray borne upon the wind without a wink of the +eye, that they might not lose sight of the boat for an instant; the +salt whitening their faces all the while like a layer of flour as they +watched. She was a good distance away, and she stood on and off, on +and off, never coming closer, and evidently shirking the huge seas +which were now boiling around us. At last she hauled her sheet aft, +put her helm over, and went away. One of our crew groaned, but no +other man uttered a sound, and we returned to the shelter of the +deckhouses. + +'Though the gale was not at its height when the sun rose, it was not +far from it. We plucked up spirits again when the sun shot out of the +raging sea, but as we lay broadside on to the waves, the sheets of +flying water soon made the sloping decks a dangerous place for a man to +stand on, and the crew and officers kept the shelter of the +deck-cabins, though the captain and his brother and I were constantly +going out to see if any help was coming. But now the flood was making, +and this was a fresh and fearful danger, as we all knew, for at sunrise +the water had been too low to knock the ship out of her sandy bed, but +as the tide rose it lifted the vessel, bumping and straining her +frightfully. The pilot advised the skipper to let go the starboard +anchor, hoping that the set of the tide would slue the ship's stern +round, and make her lie head on to the seas; so the anchor was dropped, +but it did not alter the position of the ship. To know, sir, what the +cracking and straining of that vessel was like, as bit by bit she +slowly went to pieces, you must have been aboard of her. When she +broke her back a sort of panic seized many of us, and the captain +roared out to the men to get the boats over, and see if any use could +be made of them. Three boats were launched, but the second boat, with +two hands in her, went adrift, and was instantly engulphed, and the +poor fellows in her vanished just as you might blow out a light. The +other boats filled as soon as they touched the water. There was no +help for us in that way, and again we withdrew to the cabins. + +A little before five o'clock in the afternoon a huge sea swept over the +vessel, clearing the decks fore and aft, and leaving little but the +uprights of the deck-houses standing. It was a dreadful sea, but we +knew worse was behind it, and that we must climb the rigging if we +wanted to prolong our lives. The hold was already full of water, and +portions of the deck had been blown out, so that everywhere great +yawning gulfs met the eye, with the black water washing almost flush. +Some of the men made for the fore-rigging, but the captain shouted to +all hands to take to the mizzenmast, as that one, in his opinion, was +the securest. A number of the men who were scrambling forward returned +on hearing the captain sing out, but the rest held on and gained the +foretop. Seventeen of us got over the mizzentop, and with our knives +fell to hacking away at such running gear as we could come at to serve +as lashings. None of us touched the mainmast, for we all knew, now the +ship had broken her back, that that spar was doomed, and the reason why +the captain had called to the men to come aft was because he was afraid +that when the mainmast went it would drag the foremast, that rocked in +its step with every move, with it. I was next the captain in the +mizzentop, and near him was his brother, a stout-built, handsome young +fellow, twenty-two years old, as fine a specimen of the English sailor +as ever I was shipmate with. He was calling about him cheerfully, +bidding us not be down-hearted, and telling us to look sharply around +for the lifeboats. He helped several of the benumbed men to lash +themselves, saying encouraging things to them as he made them fast. As +the sun sank the wind grew more freezing, and I saw the strength of +some of the men lashed over me leaving them fast. The captain shook +hands with me, and, on the chance of my being saved, gave me some +messages to take home, too sacred to be written down, sir. He likewise +handed me his watch and chain, and I put them in my pocket. The canvas +streamed in ribbons from the yards, and the noise was like a continuous +roll of thunder overhead. It was dreadful to look down and watch the +decks ripping up, and notice how every sea that rolled over the wreck +left less of her than it found. + +'The moon went quickly away--it was a young moon with little power--but +the white water and the starlight kept the night from being black, and +the frame of the vessel stood out like a sketch done in ink every time +the dark seas ran clear of her and left her visible upon the foam. +There was no talking, no calling to one another, the men hung in the +topmast rigging like corpses, and I noticed the second mate to windward +of his brother in the top, sheltering him, as best he could, poor +fellow, with his body from the wind that went through our skins like +showers of arrows. On a sudden I took it into my head to fancy that +the mizzenmast wasn't so secure as the foremast. It came into my mind +like a fright, and I called to the captain that I meant to make for the +foretop. I don't know whether he heard me or whether he made any +answer. Maybe it was a sort of craze of mine for the moment, but I was +wild with eagerness to leave that mast as soon as ever I began to fear +for it. I cast my lashings adrift and gave a look at the deck, and saw +that I must not go that way if I did not want to be drowned. So I +swung myself into the crosstrees, and swung myself on to the stay, so +reaching the maintop, and then I scrambled on to the main topmast +crosstrees, and went hand over hand down the topmast stay into the +foretop. Had I reflected before I left the mizzentop, I should not +have believed that I had the strength to work my way for'rards like +that; my hands felt as if they were skinned and my finger-joints +appeared to have no use in them. There were nine or ten men in the +foretop, all lashed and huddled together. The mast rocked sharply, and +the throbbing of it to the blowing of the great tatters of canvas was a +horrible sensation. From time to time they sent up rockets from the +Sunk lightship--once every hour, I think--but we had long since ceased +to notice those signals. There was not a man but thought his time was +come, and, though death seemed terrible when I looked down upon the +boiling waters below, yet the anguish of the cold almost killed the +craving for life. + +'It was now about three o'clock on Thursday morning; the air was full +of the strange, dim light of the foam and the stars, and I could very +plainly see the black swarm of men in the top and rigging of the +mizzenmast. I was looking that way, when a great sea fell upon the +hull of the ship with a fearful crash; a moment after, the mainmast +went. It fell quickly, and as it fell it bore down the mizzenmast. +There was a horrible noise of splintering wood and some piercing cries, +and then another great sea swept over the after-deck, and we who were +in the foretop looked and saw the stumps of the two masts sticking up +from the bottom of the hold, the mizzenmast slanting over the bulwarks +into the water, and the men lashed to it drowning. There never was a +more shocking sight, and the wonder is that some of us who saw it did +not go raving mad. The foremast still stood, complete to the royal +mast and all the yards across, but every instant I expected to find +myself hurling through the air. By this time the ship was completely +gutted, the upper part of her a mere frame of ribs, and the gale still +blew furiously; indeed, I gave up hope when the mizzenmast fell and I +saw my shipmates drowning on it. + +'It was half an hour after this that a man, who was jammed close +against me, pointed out into the darkness and cried in a wild hoarse +voice, "Isn't that a steamer's light?" I looked, but what with grief +and suffering and cold, I was nearly blinded, and could see nothing. +But presently another man called out that he could see a light, and +this was echoed by yet another; so I told them to keep their eyes upon +it and watch if it moved. They said by and by that it was stationary; +and though we could not guess that it meant anything good for us, yet +this light heaving in sight and our talking of it gave us some comfort. +When the dawn broke we saw the smoke of a steamer, and agreed that it +was her light we had seen; but I made nothing of that smoke, and was +looking heartbrokenly at the mizzenmast and the cluster of drowned men +washing about it, when a loud cry made me turn my head, and then I saw +a lifeboat under a reefed foresail heading direct for us. It was a +sight, sir, to make one crazy with joy, and it put the strength of ten +men into every one of us. A man named Gillmore--I think it was +Gillmore--stood up and waved a long strip of canvas. But I believe +they had seen there were living men aboard us before that signal was +made. + +'The boat had to cross the broken water to fetch us, and in my agony of +mind I cried out, "She'll never face it! She'll leave us when she sees +that water!" for the sea was frightful all to windward of the Sand and +over it, a tremendous play of broken waters, raging one with another, +and making the whole surface resemble a boiling cauldron. Yet they +never swerved a hair's-breadth. Oh, sir, she was a noble boat! We +could see her crew--twelve of them--sitting at the thwarts, all looking +our way, motionless as carved figures, and there was not a stir among +them as, in an instant, the boat leapt from the crest of a towering sea +right into the monstrous broken tumble. + +'The peril of these men, who were risking their lives for ours, made us +forget our own situation. Over and over again the boat was buried, but +as regularly did she emerge with her crew fixedly looking our way, and +their oilskins and the light-coloured side of the boat sparkling in the +sunshine, while the coxswain, leaning forward from the helm, watched +our ship with a face of iron. + +'By this time we knew that this boat was here to save us, and that she +_would_ save us, and, with wildly beating hearts, we unlashed +ourselves, and dropped over the top into the rigging. We were all +sailors, you see, sir, and knew what the lifeboatmen wanted, and what +was to be done. Swift as thought we had bent a number of ropes' ends +together, and securing a piece of wood to this line, threw it +overboard, and let it drift to the boat. It was seized, a hawser made +fast, and we dragged the great rope on board. By means of this hawser +the lifeboatmen hauled their craft under our quarter, clear of the +raffle. But there was no such rush made for her as might be thought. +No! I owe it to my shipmates to say this. Two of them shinned out +upon the mizzenmast to the body of the second mate, that was lashed +eight or nine feet away over the side, and got him into the boat before +they entered it themselves. I heard the coxswain of the boat--Charles +Fish by name, the fittest man in the world for that berth and this +work--cry out, "Take that poor fellow in there!" and he pointed to the +body of the captain, who was lashed in the top with his arms over the +mast, and his head erect and his eyes wide open. But one of our crew +called out, "He's been dead four hours, sir," and then the rest of us +scrambled into the boat, looking away from the dreadful group of +drowned men that lay in a cluster round the prostrate mast. + +'The second mate was still alive, but a maniac; it was heartbreaking to +hear his broken, feeble cries for his brother, but he lay quiet after a +bit, and died in half an hour, though we chafed his feet and poured rum +into his mouth, and did what men in our miserable plight could for a +fellow-sufferer. Nor were we out of danger yet, for the broken water +was enough to turn a man's hair grey to look at. It was a fearful sea +for us men to find ourselves in the midst of, after having looked at it +from a great height, and I felt at the beginning almost as though I +should have been safer on the wreck than in that boat. Never could I +have believed that so small a vessel could meet such a sea and live. +Yet she rose like a duck to the great roaring waves which followed her, +draining every drop of water from her bottom as she was hove up, and +falling with terrible suddenness into a hollow, only to bound like a +living thing to the summit of the next gigantic crest. + +'When I looked at the lifeboat's crew and thought of our situation a +short while since, and our safety now, and how to rescue us these +great-hearted men had imperilled their own lives, I was unmanned; I +could not thank them, I could not trust myself to speak. They told us +they had left Ramsgate Harbour early on the preceding afternoon, and +had fetched the Knock at dusk, and not seeing our wreck had lain to in +that raging sea, suffering almost as severely as ourselves, all through +the piercing tempestuous night. What do you think of such a service, +sir? How can such devoted heroism be written of, so that every man who +can read shall know how great and beautiful it is? Our own sufferings +came to us as a part of our calling as seamen. But theirs was bravely +courted and endured for the sake of their fellow-creatures. Believe +me, sir, it was a splendid piece of service; nothing grander in its way +was ever done before, even by Englishmen. I am a plain seaman, and can +say no more about it all than this. But when I think of what must have +come to us eleven men before another hour had passed, if the lifeboat +crew had not run down to us, I feel like a little child, sir, and my +heart grows too full for my eyes.' + +Two days had elapsed (continues the writer in the _Daily Telegraph_) +since the rescue of the survivors of the crew of the Indian Chief, and +I was gazing with much interest at the victorious lifeboat as she lay +motionless upon the water of the harbour. It was a very calm day, the +sea stretching from the pier-sides as smooth as a piece of green silk, +and growing vague in the wintry haze of the horizon, while the white +cliffs were brilliant with the silver sunshine. It filled the mind +with strange and moving thoughts to look at that sleeping lifeboat, +with her image as sharp as a coloured photograph shining in the clear +water under her, and then reflect upon the furious conflict she had +been concerned in only two nights before, the freight of half-drowned +men that had loaded her, the dead body on her thwart, the bitter cold +of the howling gale, the deadly peril that had attended every heave of +the huge black seas. Within a few hundred yards of her lay the tug, +the sturdy steamer that had towed her to the Long Sand, that had held +her astern all night, and brought her back safe on the following +afternoon. The tug had suffered much from the frightful tossing she +had received, and her injuries had not yet been dealt with; she had +lost her sponsons, her starboard side-house was gone, the port side of +her bridge had been started and the iron railing warped, her decks +still seemed dank from the remorseless washing, her funnel was brown +with rust, and the tough craft looked a hundred years old. Remembering +what these vessels had gone through, how they had but two days since +topped a long series of merciful and dangerous errands by as brilliant +an act of heroism and humanity as any on record, it was difficult to +behold them without a quickened pulse. I recalled the coming ashore of +their crews, the lifeboatmen with their great cork-jackets around them, +the steamer's men in streaming oilskins, the faces of many of them +livid with the cold, their eyes dim with the bitter vigil they had kept +and the furious blowing of the spray; and I remembered the bright smile +that here and there lighted up the weary faces, as first one and then +another caught sight of a wife or a sister in the crowd waiting to +greet and accompany the brave hearts to the warmth of their humble +homes. I felt that while these crews' sufferings and the courage and +resolution they had shown remained unwritten, only half of the very +stirring and manful story had been recorded. The narrative, as related +to me by the coxswain of the lifeboat, is a necessary pendant to the +tale told by the mate of the wrecked ship; and as he and his +colleagues, both of the lifeboat and the steam-tug, want no better +introduction than their own deeds to the sympathy and attention of the +public, let Charles Edward Fish begin his yarn without further preface. + + + +No. 2.--_The Coxswain's Account_. + +'News had been brought to Ramsgate, as you know, sir, that a large ship +was ashore on the Long Sand, and Captain Braine, the harbour-master, +immediately ordered the tug and lifeboat to proceed to her assistance. +It was blowing a heavy gale of wind, though it came much harder some +hours afterwards; and the moment we were clear of the piers we felt the +sea. Our boat is considered a very fine one. I know there is no +better on the coasts, and there are only two in Great Britain bigger. +She was presented to the Lifeboat Institution by Bradford, and is +called after that town. But it is ridiculous to talk of bigness when +it means only forty-two feet long, and when a sea is raging round you +heavy enough to swamp a line-of-battle ship. I had my eye on the +tug--named the Vulcan, sir--when she met the first of the seas, and she +was thrown up like a ball, and you could see her starboard paddle +revolving in the air high enough out for a coach to pass under; and +when she struck the hollow she dished a sea over her bows that left +only the stern of her showing. We were towing head to wind, and the +water was flying over the boat in clouds. Every man of us was soaked +to the skin, in spite of our overalls, by the time we had brought the +Ramsgate Sands abeam; but there were a good many miles to be gone over +before we should fetch the Knock lightship, and so you see, sir, it was +much too early for us to take notice that things were not over and +above comfortable. + +'We got out the sail-cover--a piece of tarpaulin--to make a shelter of, +and rigged it up against the mast, seizing it to the burtons; but it +hadn't been up two minutes when a heavy sea hit and washed it right aft +in rags; so there was nothing to do but to hold on to the thwarts and +shake ourselves when the water came over. I never remember a colder +wind. I don't say this because I happened to be out in it. Old Tom +Cooper, one of the best boatmen in all England, sir, who made one of +our crew, agreed with me that it was more like a flaying machine than a +natural gale of wind. The feel of it in the face was like being gnawed +by a dog. I only wonder it didn't freeze the tears it fetched out of +our eyes. We were heading N.E., and the wind was blowing from N.E. +The North Foreland had been a bit of shelter, like; but when we had +gone clear of that, and the ocean lay ahead of us, the seas were +furious--they seemed miles long, sir, like an Atlantic sea, and it was +enough to make a man hold his breath to watch how the tug wallowed and +tumbled into them. I sung out to Dick Goldsmith, "Dick," I says, +"she's slowed, do you see, she'll never be able to meet it," for she +had slackened her engines down into a mere crawl, and I really did +think they meant to give up. I could see Alf Page--the master of her, +sir--on the bridge, coming and going like the moon when the clouds +sweep over it, as the seas smothered him up one moment, and left him +shining in the sun the next. But there was to be no giving up with the +tug's crew any more than with the lifeboat's; she held on, and we +followed. + +'Somewhere abreast of the Elbow buoy a smack that was running ported +her helm to speak us. Her skipper had just time to yell out, "A vessel +on the Long Sand!" and we to wave our hands, when she was astern and +out of sight in a haze of spray. Presently a collier named the Fanny, +with her foretopgallant-yard gone, passed us. She was cracking on to +bring the news of the wreck to Ramsgate, and was making a heavy sputter +under her topsails and foresail. They raised a cheer, for they knew +our errand, and then, like the smack, in a minute she was astern and +gone. By this time the cold and the wet and the fearful plunging were +beginning to tell, and one of the men called for a nip of rum. The +quantity we generally take is half a gallon, and it is always my rule +to be sparing with that drink for the sake of the shipwrecked men we +may have to bring home, and who are pretty sure to be in greater need +of the stuff than us. I never drink myself, sir, and that's one +reason, I think, why I manage to meet the cold and wet middling well, +and rather better than some men who look stronger than me. However, I +told Charlie Verrion to measure the rum out and serve it round, and it +would have made you laugh, I do believe, sir, to have seen the care the +men took of the big bottle--Charlie cocking his finger into the +cork-hole, and Davy Berry clapping his hand over the pewter measure, +whenever a sea came, to prevent the salt water from spoiling the +liquor. Bad as our plight was, the tug's crew were no better off; +their wheel is forrard, and so you may suppose the fellow that steered +had his share of the seas; the others stood by to relieve him; and for +the matter of water, she was just like a rock, the waves striking her +bows and flying pretty nigh as high as the top of her funnel, and +blowing the whole length of her aft with a fall like the tumble of +half-a-dozen cartloads of bricks. I like to speak of what they went +through, for the way they were knocked about was something fearful, to +be sure. + +[Illustration: Leaving Ramsgate Harbour in tow.] + +'By half-past four o'clock in the afternoon it was drawing on dusk, and +about that hour we sighted the revolving light of the Kentish Knock +lightship, and a little after five we were pretty close to her. She is +a big red-hulled boat, with the words 'Kentish Knock' written in long +white letters on her sides, and, dark as it was, we could see her flung +up, and rushing down fit to roll her over and over; and the way she +pitched and went out of sight, and then ran up on the black heights of +water, gave me a better notion of the fearfulness of that sea than I +had got by watching the tug or noticing our own lively dancing. The +tug hailed her first, and two men looking over her side answered; but +what they said didn't reach us in the lifeboat. Then the steamer towed +us abreast, but the tide caught our warp and gave us a sheer that +brought us much too close alongside of her. When the sea took her she +seemed to hang right over us, and the sight of that great dark hull, +looking as if, when it fell, it must come right atop of us, made us +want to sheer off, I can tell you. I sung out, "Have you seen the +ship?" And one of the men bawled back, "Yes." "How does she bear?" +"Nor'-west by north." "Have you seen anything go to her?" The answer +I caught was, "A boat." Some of our men said the answer was, "A +lifeboat," but most of us only heard, "A boat." + +'The tug was now towing ahead, and we went past the lightship, but ten +minutes after Tom Friend sings out, "They're burning a light aboard +her!" and looking astern I saw they had fired a red signal light that +was blazing over the bulwark in a long shower of sparks. The tug put +her helm down to return, and we were brought broadside to the sea. +Then we felt the power of those waves, sir. It looked a wonder that we +were not rolled over and drowned, every man of us. We held on with our +teeth clenched, and twice the boat was filled, and the water up to our +throats. "Look out for it, men!" was always the cry. But every upward +send emptied the noble little craft, like pulling out a plug in a +wash-basin, and in a few minutes we were again alongside the +light-vessel. This time there were six or seven men looking over the +side. "What do you want?" we shouted. "Did you see the Sunk +lightship's rocket?" they all yelled out together. "Yes. Did you say +you saw a boat?" "No," they answered, showing we had mistaken their +first reply. On which I shouted to the tug, "Pull us round to the Long +Sand Head buoy!" and then we were under weigh again, meeting the +tremendous seas. There was only a little bit of moon, westering fast, +and what there was of it showed but now and again, as the heavy clouds +opened and let the light of it down. Indeed, it was very dark, though +there was some kind of glimmer in the foam which enabled us to mark the +tug ahead. "Bitter cold work, Charlie," says old Tom Cooper to me: +"but," says he, "it's colder for the poor wretches aboard the wreck, if +they're alive to feel it." The thought of them made our own sufferings +small, and we kept looking and looking into the darkness around, but +there was nothing to be spied, only now and again and long whiles apart +the flash of a rocket in the sky from the Sunk lightship. Meanwhile, +from time to time, we burnt a hand-signal--a light, sir, that's fired +something after the manner of a gun. You fit it into a wooden tube, +and give a sort of hammer at the end a smart blow, and the flame rushes +out, and a bright light it makes, sir. Ours were green lights, and +whenever I set one flaring I couldn't help taking notice of the +appearance of the men. It was a queer sight, I assure you, to see them +all as green as leaves, with their cork jackets swelling out their +bodies so as scarcely to seem like human beings, and the black water as +high as our mast-head, or howling a long way below us, on either side. +They burned hand-signals on the tug, too, but nothing came of them. +There was no sign of the wreck, and staring over the edge of the boat, +with the spray and the darkness, was like trying to see through the +bottom of a well. + +'So we began to talk the matter over, and Tom Cooper says, "We had +better stop here and wait for daylight." "I'm for stopping," says +Steve Goldsmith; and Bob Penny says, "We're here to fetch the wreck, +and fetch it we will, if we wait a week." "Right," says I; and all +hands being agreed--without any fuss, sir, though I dare say most of +our hearts were at home, and our wishes alongside our hearths, and the +warm fires in them--we all of us put our hands to our mouths and made +one great cry of "Vulcan ahoy!" The tug dropped astern. "What do you +want?" sings out the skipper, when he gets within speaking distance. +"There's nothing to be seen of the vessel, so we had better lie-to for +the night," I answered. "Very good," he says, and then the steamer, +without another word from her crew, and the water tumbling over her +bows like cliffs, resumed her station ahead, her paddles revolving just +fast enough to keep her from dropping astern. + +'As coxswain of the lifeboat, sir, I take no credit for resolving to +lie-to all night. But I am bound to say a word for the two crews, who +made up their minds without a murmur, without a second's hesitation, to +face the bitter cold and fierce seas of that long winter darkness, that +they might be on the spot to help their fellow-creatures when the dawn +broke and showed them where they were. I know there are scores of +sailors round our coasts who would have done likewise. Only read, sir, +what was done in the North, Newcastle way, during the gales last +October. But surely, sir, no matter who may be the men who do what +they think their duty, whether they belong to the North or the South, +they deserve the encouragement of praise. A man likes to feel, when he +has done his best, that his fellow-men think well of his work. If I +had not been one of that crew I should wish to say more; but no false +pride shall make me say less, sir, and I thank God for the resolution +He put into us, and for the strength He gave us to keep that resolution. + +'All that we had to do now was to make ourselves as comfortable as we +could. Our tow-rope veered us out a long way, too far astern of the +tug for her to help us as a breakwater, and the manner in which we were +flung towards the sky with half our keel out of water and then dropped +into a hollow--like falling from the top of a house, sir,--while the +heads of the seas blew into and tumbled over us all the time, made us +all reckon that, so far from getting any rest, most of our time would +be spent in preventing ourselves from being washed overboard. We +turned to and got the foresail aft, and made a kind of roof of it. +This was no easy job, for the wind was so furious that wrestling even +with that bit of a sail was like fighting with a steam-engine. When it +was up ten of us snugged ourselves away under it, and two men stood on +the after-grating thwart keeping a look-out, with the life-lines around +them. As you know, sir, we carry a binnacle, and the lamp in it was +alight and gave out just enough haze for us to see each other in. We +all lay in a lump together for warmth, and a fine show we made, I dare +say; for a cork jacket, even when a man stands upright, isn't +calculated to improve his figure, and as we all of us had cork jackets +on and oil-skins, and many of us sea boots, you may guess what a raffle +of legs and arms we showed, and what a rum heap of odds and ends we +looked, as we sprawled in the bottom of the boat upon one another. +Sometimes it would be Johnny Goldsmith--for we had three +Goldsmiths--Steve and Dick and Johnny--growling underneath that +somebody was lying on his leg; and then maybe Harry Meader would bawl +out that there was a man sitting on his head; and once Tom Friend swore +his arm was broke: but my opinion is, sir, that it was too cold to feel +inconveniences of this kind, and I believe that some among us would not +have known if their arms and legs really had been broke, until they +tried to use 'em, for the cold seemed to take away all feeling out of +the blood. + +'As the seas flew over the boat the water filled the sail that was +stretched overhead and bellied it down upon us, and that gave us less +room, so that some had to lie flat on their faces; but when this +bellying got too bad we'd all get up and make one heave with our backs +under the sail, and chuck the water out of it in that way. "Charlie +Fish," says Tom Cooper to me, in a grave voice, "what would some of +them young gen'lmen as comes to Ramsgate in the summer, and says they'd +like to go out in the lifeboat, think of this?" This made me laugh, +and then young Tom Cooper votes for another nipper of rum all round; +and as it was drawing on for one o'clock in the morning, and some of +the men were groaning with cold, and pressing themselves against the +thwarts with the pain of it, I made no objection, and the liquor went +round. I always take a cake of Fry's chocolate with me when I go out +in the lifeboat, as I find it very supporting, and I had a mind to have +a mouthful now; but when I opened the locker I found it full of water, +my chocolate nothing but paste, and the biscuit a mass of pulp. This +was rather hard, as there was nothing else to eat, and there was no +getting near the tug in that sea unless we wanted to be smashed into +staves. However, we hadn't come out to enjoy ourselves; nothing was +said, and so we lay in a heap, hugging one another for warmth, until +the morning broke. + +'The first man to look to leeward was old Tom's son--young Tom +Cooper--and in a moment he bawled out, "There she is!" pointing like a +madman. The morning had only just broke, and the light was grey and +dim, and down in the west it still seemed to be night; the air was full +of spray, and scarcely were we a-top of a sea than we were rushing like +an arrow into the hollow again, so that young Tom must have had eyes +like a hawk to have seen her. Yet the moment he sung out and pointed, +all hands cried out, "There she is!" But what was it, sir? Only a +mast about three miles off--just one single mast sticking up out of the +white water, as thin and faint as a spider's line. Yet that was the +ship we had been waiting all night to see. There she was, and my heart +thumped in my ears the moment my eye fell on that mast. But Lord, sir, +the fearful sea that was raging between her and us! for where we were +was deepish water, and the waves regular; but all about the wreck was +the Sand, and the water on it was running in fury all sorts of ways, +rushing up in tall columns of foam as high as a ship's mainyard, and +thundering so loudly that, though we were to windward, we could hear it +above the gale and the boiling of the seas around us. It might have +shook even a man who wanted to die to look at it, if he didn't know +what the Bradford can go through. + +'I ran my eye over the men's faces. "Let slip the tow rope," bawled +Dick Goldsmith. "Up foresail," I shouted, and two minutes after we had +sighted that mast we were dead before the wind, our storm foresail taut +as a drum-skin, our boat's stem heading full for the broken seas and +the lonely stranded vessel in the midst of them. It was well that +there was something in front of us to keep our eyes that way, and that +none of us thought of looking astern, or the sight of the high and +frightful seas which raged after us might have played old Harry with +weak nerves. Some of them came with such force that they leapt right +over the boat, and the air was dark with water flying a dozen yards +high over us in broad solid sheets, which fell with a roar like the +explosion of a gun ten or a dozen fathoms ahead. But we took no notice +of these seas, even when we were in the thick of the broken waters, and +all the hands holding on to the thwarts for dear life. Every thought +was upon the mast that was growing bigger and clearer, and sometimes +when a sea hove us high we could just see the hull, with the water as +white as milk flying over it. The mast was what they call 'bright,' +that is, scraped and varnished, and we knew that if there was anything +living aboard that doomed ship we should find it on that mast; and we +strained our eyes with all our might, but could see nothing that looked +like a man. But on a sudden I caught sight of a length of canvas +streaming out of the top, and all of us seeing it we raised a shout, +and a few minutes after we saw the men. They were all dressed in +yellow oilskins, and the mast being of that colour was the reason why +we did not see them sooner. They looked a whole mob of people, and one +of us roared out, "All hands are there, men!" and I answered, "Aye, the +whole ship's company, and we'll have them all!" for though, as we +afterwards knew, there were only eleven of them, yet, as I have said, +they looked a great number huddled together in that top, and I made +sure the whole ship's company were there. + +'By this time we were pretty close to the ship, and a fearful wreck she +looked, with her mainmast and mizzenmast gone, and her bulwarks washed +away, and great lumps of timber and planking ripping out of her and +going overboard with every pour of the seas. We let go our anchor +fifteen fathoms to windward of her, and as we did so we saw the poor +fellows unlashing themselves and dropping one by one over the top into +the lee rigging. As we veered out cable and drove down under her +stern, I shouted to the men on the wreck to bend a piece of wood on to +a line and throw it overboard for us to lay hold of. They did this, +but they had to get aft first, and I feared for the poor half-perished +creatures again and again as I saw them scrambling along the lee rail, +stopping and holding on as the mountainous seas swept over the hull, +and then creeping a bit further aft in the pause. There was a horrible +muddle of spars and torn canvas and rigging under her lee, but we could +not guess what a fearful sight was there until our hawser having been +made fast to the wreck, we had hauled the lifeboat close under her +quarter. There looked to be a whole score of dead bodies knocking +about among the spars. It stunned me for a moment, for I had thought +all hands were in the foretop, and never dreamt of so many lives having +been lost. Seventeen were drowned, and there they were, most of them, +and the body of the captain lashed to the head of the mizzenmast, so as +to look as if he were leaning over it, his head stiff upright and his +eyes watching us, and the stir of the seas made him appear to be +struggling to get to us. I thought he was alive, and cried to the men +to hand him in, but someone said he was killed when the mizzenmast +fell, and had been dead four or five hours. This was a dreadful shock; +I never remember the like of it. I can't hardly get those fixed eyes +out of my sight, sir, and I lie awake for hours of a night, and so does +Tom Cooper, and others of us, seeing those bodies torn by the spars and +bleeding, floating in the water alongside the miserable ship. + +'Well, sir, the rest of this lamentable story has been told by the mate +of the vessel, and I don't know that I could add anything to it. We +saved the eleven men, and I have since heard that all of them are doing +well. If I may speak, as coxswain of the lifeboat, I would like to say +that all hands concerned in this rescue, them in the tug as well as the +crew of the boat, did what might be expected of English sailors--for +such they are, whether you call some of them boatmen or not; and I know +in my heart, and say it without fear, that from the hour of leaving +Ramsgate Harbour to the moment when we sighted the wreck's mast, there +was only one thought in all of us, and that was that the Almighty would +give us the strength and direct us how to save the lives of the poor +fellows to whose assistance we had been sent.' + + +Ten years more fly by, in which there is a splendid record of services +and rescues to the credit of Coxswain Fish, the Ramsgate lifeboatmen, +and the brave steam-tugs, Vulcan and Aid, and we come to the night of +Jan. 5 and 6, 1891, which is exactly, my readers will see, ten years to +the day after the rescue of the survivors of the Indian Chief, a rescue +certainly unsurpassed for its dramatic intensity and its heroism even +by the Deal lifeboat. + +At 3 a.m. on the night of Jan. 5, 1891, Coxswain Fish was asleep in his +hammock in the watch-house at the end of Ramsgate pier. There was a +gale blowing from the E.N.E., and in the long frost of that awful +winter there was no more terrible night than this. The thermometer +stood at 15 deg. below freezing-point; there was a great sea and strong +wind. + +At 3 a.m. Fish was called by the watch on Ramsgate pier, and he saw a +flare on the Goodwins through the rifts in the snow squall. At 2.15 +Richard Roberts, the coxswain of the Deal lifeboat, was also roused +from sleep and launched his lifeboat, manned by the gallant Deal men. +But though the Deal men launched at 3.15 a.m., they had not the same +favourable chance of reaching the wreck, beating eight miles dead to +windward, as compared with the Ramsgate lifeboat, towed into the eye of +the wind by its powerful steam-tug Aid. + +We may on this occasion, therefore, leave out the consideration of the +Deal lifeboat, splendid as its effort was, inasmuch as it only arrived +at the scene of the wreck just as the Ramsgate lifeboat had saved the +crew. Some of the hardy Deal lifeboatmen were almost benumbed and +rendered helpless by the cold, and they only saw the tragedy of the +captain's death and the rescue of the remainder of the crew from the +wreck by the Ramsgate men. + +At 3 a.m. then the Ramsgate rocket went up in answer to the signals +from the Gull lightship; on that bitter night the lifeboat was manned +in eight minutes. The lifebelts and oilskins were handed into the +lifeboat; shivering, the brave hearts got their clothes on, and in less +time than this page has been written, the tow rope had been passed into +the lifeboat from the Aid, and that tug was out of the harbour, +dragging the lifeboat, head to sea, 110 yards astern of her. + +It was black midnight, and no man in the boat could see his neighbour; +the pier was like a great iceberg and sheeted with ice; the sea was +flying over the oilclad figures in the lifeboat and freezing almost as +it fell, rattling against the sails or on the deck, or fiercely hurled +into the faces of the men; indeed, every oilskin jacket was frozen +stiff before they had been towed a quarter of a mile against the +furious sea, which drenched them 'like spray,' as the coxswain +expressed it, 'from the parish fire engines.' The brave fellows were +more than drenched--they were all but frozen, but no one dreamed of +turning back, for though the lightship's rockets had stopped they could +see the piteous flares from the distant wreck now and then, as the snow +squalls broke, beckoning them on. + +The vessel on the Goodwins was the three-masted schooner or barquentine +The Crocodile, laden with stone from Guernsey to London, and when about +a mile or so north of the Goodwins 'reaching' on the port tack, 'missed +stays' in the heavy sea, and before they had time to 'wear' ship, she +struck the northern face of the Goodwins, against which a tremendous +sea was driven by the black north-easter that was blowing from the +Pole. She struck the Goodwins bows on with her head to the south-east, +and she heeled over to starboard, the sea which rolled from the E.N.E. +beating nearly on her port broadside. + +The wrecked crew knew their position, and that their only chance was +the advent of some lifeboat, and they burned flares, which consisted on +this occasion of their own clothes, which they tore off and soaked in +oil. They were soon beaten off the deck as the tide rose, and in the +darkness had to take to the rigging, the captain, who was an elderly +man, and his crew all together climbing in the mizzen weather rigging. +The weather rigging was of course more upright than the lee rigging, +which leaned over to the right or starboard hand as the vessel lay. + +As the tug bored to windward and rapidly neared the vessel they could +see the flares being carried up the rigging by the sorely beset crew, +and knew the extremity of the case; then the next snow squall wrapped +them in like a winding-sheet, and all was shut out. But still, on +plunged the Aid at great speed, for the new tug-boat Aid is a much +faster and more powerful boat than either of the old tugs, the Aid and +the Vulcan. Towing the lifeboat well to windward of the wreck, at last +the moment arrived, and though not a word was spoken and not a signal +made, the end of the tow-rope was let go by the lifeboat and sail was +made on her for the wrecked vessel, or rather for the flares. + +But even then down came an extra furious snow squall, and the lifeboat +had to anchor, lest she should miss the vessel altogether. + +This took time. Again in the fury of the storm the word was given 'Up +anchor!' and 'Run down closer to the wreck!' and again the anchor was +dropped to the best of the judgment of the coxswain. Fish and Cooper +were first and second coxswains ten years before, and exactly ten years +before to the day and hour the same brave men were in a similar +desperate struggle at the wreck of the Indian Chief. In the tremendous +sea the anchor was for the second time dropped well to windward of the +wreck. The hull was under water, and over it the hungry sea broke in +pyramids or solid sheets of flying, freezing spray. As they veered out +their cable and came towards the wreck bows foremost, for they anchored +the lifeboat this time by the stern, they could dimly see the cowering, +clinging figures in the rigging. They had to pay out their powerful +cable most cautiously, for great rollers bursting at the top, and the +size of a house, every now and then came racing at them, open-mouthed. + +I don't believe a man on board remembered it was exactly to the hour +ten years since they rescued the crew of the Indian Chief; but their +hearts, beating as warmly as ever in the cause of suffering humanity, +were concentrated on the present need. They veered down under the +stern of the wreck, and passing the cable a little aft in the lifeboat, +steered her up under the starboard-quarter of the wreck. They had just +got out their grapnel, and were about to throw it into the lee rigging +of the wreck, in hopes it would grip and hold--for unless it held of +itself no one of the frozen crew could come down to make it fast. Left +foot in front, well out on the gunwale, left hand grasping the fore +halyards to steady him--strong brave right hand swung back to hurl the +grapnel on the next chance, stood a gallant Ramsgate man, when with a +roar like the growl of a wild beast, a monstrous sea broke over vessel +and lifeboat, not merely filling her up, and over her thwarts, but +snapping her strong new Manilla hawser. + +Those who know the quality of the splendid cables supplied by the Royal +National Lifeboat Institution will understand the great force that must +have been exerted to snap this mighty hawser. But so it happened, and +away to leeward into the darkness, smothered, baffled, and almost +drowned, but by no means beaten, were swept on to and into the +shallower and more furious surf of the north-west jaw of the Goodwins, +the Ramsgate lifeboatmen. + +Contrast the freezing midnight scene of storm and surf, eight miles +from the nearest land, with the quiet sleep of millions. + +Here was a January midnight, black as a wolf's throat--thermometer 15 deg. +below freezing, a mountainous surf on the Goodwins, and only twelve +brave men to face it all; but those twelve men were the heroes of a +hundred fights, and were determined to save the men on the wreck or die +for it. + +Therefore, though swept to leeward, they got sail on the lifeboat and +got her on the starboard tack, ten men sheeting home the fore sheet. +'Bad job this!' they said, for words were few that night, and they made +through the surf for the tug, which was on the look-out for them, and +steered for the blue light they burned. Nothing can be more ghastly +than the effect of this blue light on the faces of the men or on the +wild hurly-burly of boiling snow white foam one moment seen raging +round the lifeboat, and the next obliterated in darkness, the more +pitchy by reason of the extinguished flare. + +The blue light was seen by the Aid, and she moved to leeward to pick up +the lifeboat after she emerged from the breakers. Again the tug-boat +passed her hawser on board the lifeboat, and once more towed her to +windward to the same position as before; and once again, burning to +save the despairing sailors, the lifeboatmen dropped anchor and veered +out their last remaining cable, well-knowing this was the last chance, +as they had only the one remaining cable. Tight as a fiddle string was +the good hawser, and the howling north-easter hummed its weird tune +along its vibrating length, as coil after coil was paid out in the +lulls, and the lifeboat came closer and closer, and at last slued right +under the starboard quarter of the wreck. + +By hand-lights, blue and green, they saw, high up in the air, the +unfortunate crew lashed in the weather-rigging, i. e. on the port or +left side of the wreck, the side opposite to that under shelter of +which they lay. The shelter was a poor one, for great seas broke over +the wreck and into the lifeboat on the other side. + +The men were lashed half-way up the weather rigging of the mizzenmast, +and the lifeboatmen shouted to them to come over and drop into the +lifeboat. To do this, they, half-frozen as they were, had to unlash +themselves from the weather-rigging and, in the awful cold and +darkness, climb up to the mast-head, where the lee-rigging or shrouds +met more closely the weather-rigging. Every giant sea shook the wreck; +every billow swayed her masts backwards and forwards so that they +'buckled' like fishing-rods, and the marvel is any man of the benumbed +crew succeeded in getting across from the weather side to the +lee-rigging aloft. + +It must be borne in mind that the deck was under water and 'raked' by +every sea, and that the only possible way of reaching the lifeboat was +by going up the rigging from the place where the wrecked crew were +lashed, and coming down--if only they could reach across--the other +side, which was next the lifeboat, and thence jumping or being hauled +into her. + +The topsails were in ribbons, and as the wrecked sailors clambered +aloft the great whips of torn canvas lashed and terrified and wounded +them. By great effort they got across the black gulf between the two +riggings--all but the captain. + +There high in air--visible as the blue lights flared up from the +lifeboat, struggling hard for life, hung the captain. + +One leg straddled across the chasm--one hand clutched the +weather-rigging he wanted to leave, and one hand reached out +blindly--hopefully to catch the lee shrouds--'You'll do it, captain! +Come on, captain! For God's sake, captain, come on!' And every face +in the blue glare was riveted on the struggling man but,--oh! what +anguish to the staring lifeboatmen eager to save him!--he fell, his +life-belt being torn off in his fall, full forty feet on to the +wave-washed mizzen boom. + +'Out boat-hooks, brave hearts, and catch him.' But a great billow +broke over the wreck and lifeboatmen, and never was he seen again. + +This time death won. + +Let us trust he was ready to meet his God. 'If it be not now, yet it +will come--the readiness is all.' + +Some jumping, and some dragged by the lines, the rest of the +shipwrecked men got into the lifeboat, so dazed, so benumbed that they +neither realised the loss of the captain nor their own miraculous +preservation. + +Just at this moment, under press of canvas, the foam flying from her +blue bows, at full speed came the Deal lifeboat, too late to avert the +disaster they had witnessed. + +They had left Deal at 3.15, but not having the aid of steam, were +half-frozen and much later on the scene of action than the Ramsgate tug +and lifeboat, to whom the honour of this grand rescue belongs. + +They reached Ramsgate Harbour at 7.30 a.m. and at 9 o'clock, without +having gone ashore to breakfast, almost worn out, but borne up by +dauntless spirit within, in response to a telegram from Broadstairs, +the same steam-tug, lifeboat, coxswain and crew, again steamed out of +Ramsgate Harbour. A collier, the Glide, had gone to the bottom after +collision with another vessel, named the Glance--such strange +coincidences there are in real life--and the crew of the Glide had +taken to their own small ship's boat, while the crew of the Glance had +been saved by the Broadstairs lifeboat. + +The crew of the Glide in their little boat were in great peril in the +mountainous seas which run off the North Foreland in easterly gales, +and it was feared they were lost. + +Once more into the teeth of the icy gale, without rest and with only +snatches of food taken in the lifeboat, after the long exposure of the +preceding night and its terrible scenes, the Ramsgate men were towed +behind their tug-boat to the rescue. They found the boat of the Glide +riding in a furious sea to a sea-anchor, the very best thing they could +have done. A sea-anchor may be rigged up by tying sails and oars +together, with, if possible, a weight attached just to keep them under +water, and then pitching the lot overboard. + +To this half-floating, half-submerged mass, the boat's painter was made +fast, and as it dragged through the water much more slowly than the +boat, the latter checked in its drift came head to sea, and yielding to +the send of each wave rode over crests and combers which would +otherwise have swamped her. + +Hardly hoping for deliverance, they saw the steam-tug and lifeboat +making for them and ranging to windward of them to give them a lee, and +they were all dragged at last safely into the Bradford. Soon they were +towed in between Ramsgate piers, and this time the flying of the +British red ensign denoted, 'All saved.' Shouts of rejoicing hailed +the double exploit of the hardy lifeboatmen, and their fellow townsmen +of Ramsgate proudly felt they had done 'by no means a bad piece of work +before breakfast that morning.' + +'Storm Warriors' of unconquered Kent, rivals in a hundred deeds of +mercy with your brethren the Deal boatmen, and with them sharing the +title of 'Heroes of the Goodwin Sands,' God guard you in your perils +and bring you safe home at last! + +At many other points around the British Isles the same noble spirit is +displayed of splendid daring in a sacred cause. Would that all the +stalwart fishermen and boatmen of this dear England, as their +prototypes of the Sea of Galilee, would serve and follow Him who +Himself 'came to seek and to save that which was lost,' that so passing +through the waves of this troublesome world, finally they may come +through Him to the land of everlasting life! + + + +[1] This clearly is an error, for no lifeboat could possibly have been +near the wreck at this early hour. The ship struck at half-past two +o'clock on the morning of January 5, and at daybreak the rescue +mentioned was attempted, clearly, by a smack, for no lifeboat heard of +the wreck until eleven o'clock of the same day. Probably it was that +smack which afterwards conveyed the news of the wreck to Harwich at 11 +a.m. Another fishing smack proceeded at once to Ramsgate, and arrived +there at noon, having received the information of the wreck from the +Kentish Knock lightship. + + + + * * * * * * + + + +THE BOY'S LIBRARY OF ADVENTURE & HEROISM + + +[Transcriber's note: This list contains only the titles and authors of +the books in this catalog. No attempt was made to transcribe the +assorted newspaper reviews.] + +Allan Adair; or Here and There in Many Lands, by Dr. Gordon Staples, +R.N. + +A Hero in Wolf-skin. A Story of Pagan and Christian, by Tom Bevan. + +The Adventures of Val Daintry in the Graeco-Turkish War, by V. L. Going. + + + +Stories for Boys. + +by Talbot Baines Reed. + + +The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch. + +The Cock House and Fellsgarth. A Public School Story. + +The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. A Public School Story. + +A Dog with a Bad Name. + +The Master of the Shell. + +My Friend Smith. A Story of School and City Life. + +Reginald Cruden. A Tale of City Life. + +Tom, Dick, and Harry. + +Roger Ingleton, Minor. + +Sir Ludar: A story of the Days of the Great Queen Bess. + +Parkhurst Boys, and other Stories of School Life. + + + +New Illustrated Stories. + +_By Various Authors._ + + +The Reign of Love, by H. M. Ward. + +Life's Little Stage, by Agnes Giberne. + +In Quest of Hatasu, by Irene Strickland. + +Those Dreadful Girls, by Esther E. Enock. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Hesba Stretton. + + +Half Brothers. + +Carola. + +Cobwebs and Cables. + +Through a Needle's Eye. + +David Lloyd's Last Will. + +The Soul of Honour. + + + +Stories by + +Evelyn Everett-Green. + + +The Conscience of Roger Trehern. + +Joint Guardians. + +Marcus Stratford's Charge; or, Roy's Temptation. + +Alwyn Ravendale. + +Lenore Annandale's Story. + +The Head of the House. + +The Mistress of Lydgate Priory; or, The Story of a Long Life. + +The Percivals. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Mrs. O. F. Walton. + + +The Lost Clue. + +A Peep behind the Scenes. + +Was I Right? + +Doctor Forester. + +Scenes in the Life of an Old Arm-chair. + +Olive's Story; or, Life at Ravenscliffe. + + + +Popular Stories by + +Amy Le Feuvre. + + +The Mender; A Story of Modern Domestic Life. + +Odd Made Even. + +Heather's Mistress. + +On the Edge of a Moor. + +The Carved Cupboard. + +Dwell Deep; or Hilda Thorn's Life Story. + +Odd. + +A Little Maid. + +A Puzzling Pair. + + + +The Bouverie Florin Library. + + +The Awakening of Anthony Weir. By Silas K. Hocking. + +In the Days of the Gironde. A Story for Girls. By Thekla. + +Money and the Man. By H. M. Ward. + +The Chariots of the Lord: A Romance of the Time of James H. and the +coming of William of Orange. By Adolf Thiede. + +The Rose of York. By Florence Bone. + +The Wonder Child: An Australian Story. By Ethel Turner. + +From Prison to Paradise: A Story of English Peasant Life in 1557. By +Alice Lang. + +A Hero in the Strife. By Louisa C. Silke. + +Adnah: A Tale of the Time of Christ. By J. Breckenridge Ellis. + +Living It Out. By H. M. Ward. + +The Trouble Man: or, the Wards of St. James. By Emily P. Weaver. + +The Men of the Mountain. A Stirring Tale of the Franco-German War of +1870-1871. By S. R. Crockett. + +The Lost Clue. By Mrs. O. F. Walton. + +Love, The Intruder. A Modern Romance. By Helen H. Watson. + +The Fighting Line. By David Lyall. + +The Highway of Sorrow: A Story of Modern Russia. By Hesba Stretton. + +Veiled Hearts: A Romance of Modern Egypt. By Rachel Willard. + +Sunday School Romances. By Alfred B. Cooper. + +The Cossart Cousins. By Evelyn Everett-Green. + +The Family Next Door. By Evelyn Everett-Green. + +Greyfriars. By E. Everett-Green. + +Peggy Spry. By H. M. Ward. + + + +The 'Queen' Library. + + +Margaret, or, The Hidden Treasure. By N. F. P. K. + +Against the World. By Evelyn R. Garratt. + +Little Miss. By M. B. Manwell. + +Belle and Dolly. By Anne Beale. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE GOODWIN SANDS*** + + +******* This file should be named 24685.txt or 24685.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24685 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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