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diff --git a/75381-0.txt b/75381-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..454c04c --- /dev/null +++ b/75381-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3003 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75381 *** + + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional +notes will be found near the end of this ebook. + + + + +[Illustration: THE LAST OF THE “LONDON.”] + + + + + WRECK + OF + THE “LONDON.” + + + [Illustration] + + + _Second Edition--Revised._ + + + LONDON: + S. W. PARTRIDGE, 9, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + +The Publisher will be glad to receive any additional information from +those who had friends or relatives on board. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + INTRODUCTORY P. 1 + + CHAPTER II. + THE IRON BEAUTY 5 + + CHAPTER III. + CAPTAIN MARTIN. 12 + + CHAPTER IV. + REV. DANIEL JAMES DRAPER 21 + + CHAPTER V. + THE LIST OF PASSENGERS 36 + + CHAPTER VI. + THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF DANGER ON THE DEEP 48 + + CHAPTER VII. + LAST STRUGGLES 57 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE ANCHOR WITHIN THE VEIL 63 + + CHAPTER IX. + LAST WORDS 71 + + CHAPTER X. + THE LIGHT BEHIND THE CLOUD 84 + + CHAPTER XI. + THE ESCAPE 90 + + CHAPTER XII. + THINGS REMEMBERED IN THE STORM 97 + + APPENDIX 101 + +[Illustration] + + + + +WRECK OF THE “LONDON.” + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +[Illustration] + +The opening of the year 1866 will long be memorable for that dismal +series of disasters at sea, which it ushered in with a frequency and +fatality that were truly appalling. The New Year was scarcely fourteen +days old when, from every part of the coast, from north to south, from +east to west, the telegraph flashed the melancholy tidings of ruin +and havoc among the shipping. We heard of ships being dismantled by +the storm, and obliged to put back to port; of others being beaten to +pieces, while their crews, escaping by the lifeboats, performed such +acts of heroism that the seaman’s name was covered with fresh renown. +Since the year 1859 never had such tempests raged, and such deeds of +gallantry been performed. + +But disaster seemed indeed to crown disaster, when it was rumoured +that the _London_--one of Messrs. Wigram’s finest vessels, laden with +a valuable cargo, and having, it was first said, more than 300 souls +on board--had foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and that not a soul had +escaped. At first, many positively refused to credit the intelligence +that the noble vessel, which had only a few days left our shores, had +succumbed to the fury of the gale, and gone down a wreck. It seemed +impossible. Relatives and friends were loth to receive the terrible +truth that they had taken a last farewell of many, the grasp of whose +hand they still felt warm within their own, and whose last words of +love and friendship were still ringing in their ears. All were slow +to admit that there was no hope, and there was a general clinging to +the expectation that there had been some mistake. The _London_ might, +perhaps, have been injured by the tempest, and compelled to put back to +port; but that she could have foundered, or even if this calamity had +occurred, that her crew and passengers had been unable to effect their +escape--this indeed seemed almost beyond belief! + +Too soon, however, the newspapers brought the sad and affecting story +before the eyes of all, and never did story of shipwreck, however +thrilling, excite a grief more sincere and wide-spread. It needed no +artistic craft to make the story tell, and to take it straight home to +the hearts of unnumbered thousands. “This awful wreck,” said Mr. O’Dowd +in commencing the inquiry directed by the Board of Trade, “has been the +theme of many a pen, and the topic of many a conversation since its +occurrence has been made known. Though the sympathies of our hearts +ought to recognise no grades of social position, nor any distinction of +education and intellect, we yet must feel the pang embittered by the +loss of some of the passengers, with whose names, accomplishments, and +virtues the public are now painfully familiar.” + +As, day by day, the harrowing details became more accurate and +complete, the regret became more and more poignant, and almost assumed +a national character. Men soon thought little of the ship, magnificent +though she was, or of the cargo, valuable as that was; both ship and +cargo became insignificant in the presence of the vast sacrifice of +human life by which the wreck of the _London_ had been accompanied. +And then came tales of heroism and self-denial, of a lofty courage +and sweet resignation on the part of her passengers, officers, and +crew, that made it harder still to realize that the men and women who +had been capable of such noble behaviour had been buried beneath the +foaming waves, and that the world now was all the poorer and more +desolate, for their absence from it. Both the pulpit and the press +gave touching and eloquent expression to the grief which prevailed on +every side; and while the mourning relatives of our own land received +every mark of sympathy and consideration, those belonging to the +colonies, and on whom the news will burst like a terrible thunderbolt, +were not forgotten, either in the earnest prayers that were offered on +behalf of the bereaved ones, or in the words of genuine kindness and +commiseration which the knowledge of their heavy loss elicited. + +It has been thought that there is much belonging to the Wreck of the +_London_ which entitles it to a more convenient place of record than +the newspaper, and that many, both in England and Australia, will be +glad to possess a simple, connected narrative of the ship’s doings, +and especially of her passengers’ behaviour from the day they left our +shores until the day of their foundering in the Bay of Biscay. + +There can be no question that the heroism and piety displayed on the +occasion, demand a most distinguished place in the annals of the brave +and good. Unhappily, shipwrecks of the most disastrous character are +of only too frequent occurrence; but it is seldom that a Message from +the Sea has borne the character of that mysterious and sublime one +which the sinking _London_ wrote ere she went down. Many, too, will +perhaps be glad to possess portraits of those whose names will now be +historical for their behaviour amid the distressing circumstances in +which they were placed. + +It is also in the sincere hope of administering some balm of +consolation, however slight, to the hearts of thousands mourning in +our own country and elsewhere, that we would now, avoiding, as far as +possible, technical terms and details, invite the reader’s attention +to the narrative of the Wreck of the _London_, first of all, however, +looking at the ship herself, her Captain, and her list of passengers. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE IRON BEAUTY. + + +The _London_ was the property of Messrs. Money Wigram & Co., the +eminent shipbrokers at Blackwall, to the extent of fifty-six shares, +Messrs. Franklin and Charles Morgan being owners of two shares each, +and Captain Martin, her Master, of four. She was a screw steam-ship, +and was built at Blackwall in 1864; she was therefore a new vessel. +She had two decks, three masts, was ship-rigged, and clincher-built. +She was 1752 tons register, and her engines, by Messrs. Humphreys and +Tennant of Deptford, were constructed on the most improved modern +principles: they were 200 horse power. Her length, from the fore part +of the stem, under the bowsprit, to the aft side of the head of the +stern post, was about 276 ft., and her main breadth to outside of plank +was about 35 ft.; her depth in hold, from tonnage deck to ceiling at +midships, was 24 feet. + +The materials used in the construction of the vessel were all of +the best quality, and the best workmanship was used. The materials +were an angle iron frame, iron beams, stringer plates and kelsons. +She was double rivetted from keel to gunwale, and all her fastenings +were sound and good. Her masts were iron, with the exception of her +topmasts, which were of wood. Those who superintended the progress of +her building from the laying of her keel until the day of launching, +have spoken in terms of the most unqualified approbation of her entire +construction; and those who officially examined her before she put +to sea, reported her in the best trim, and having all the equipments +necessary for the voyage. Sails, compasses, boats, anchors, rockets, +signal guns, life buoys, in short, all that she was required to carry +to be officially pronounced seaworthy, the _London_ did carry; and, +previous to her last voyage, after undergoing a series of examinations, +she was said to be as fine a vessel as ever left the Port of London, +and she presented to the eyes of her admirers a perfect picture of +combined elegance and strength. She was built according to Lloyd’s +rules and regulations, and was indeed of greater strength than Lloyd’s +rules required. + +On account of the melancholy disaster connected with them, the reader’s +attention must briefly be directed to the engine-room of the vessel, +and the hatchway over it. The engine-room was 36 ft. in length, and +on either side of it, fore and aft, were bulkheads, to one of which +there was a communication from the engine-room. Over the engine-room +went the hatchway, the dimensions of which were about 12 ft. by 9 ft. +The hatchway was a saddle skylight in a wooden frame, having plate +glass half an inch thick, and covered with gratings of galvanized iron. +According to the judgment of those who surveyed the ship, the engine +hatch was deemed of sufficient strength to meet any weather. + +Such, then, was the vessel, which was no sooner advertised for her +third voyage, than all her berths were taken, and a valuable cargo got +on board. The accommodation for fore-cabin passengers was on the main +deck before the main hatchway. In this part of the ship there was space +for 130 in hammocks and 128 in berths, thus providing accommodation +for 258 persons. The accommodation for after-cabin passengers amounted +to 132 berths and space for 10 hammocks; thus taking 142 passengers. +Altogether the ship would carry 400 persons. From the shipping bills +of the _London_ we find that her cargo consisted of about 347 tons of +dead weight, viz. iron plates and bars, sheet iron, lead and shot, +stone, blocks, iron nails, and screws, &c.; there were also 14 tons +of hardware and agricultural implements, all of which would not be +probably considered dead weight. The remaining portion of the ship’s +cargo, amounting to about 1000 tons, consisted of light goods, packages +of haberdashery, blankets, woollens, china, glass ware, drugs--in +short, just such a cargo as was generally exported to Australia: this +was stowed over the dead weight, and in the after part of the ship. The +cargo of bar and sheet iron was stowed from the after part of the main +hatchway to the after part of the fore hatchway. The value of the cargo +was estimated at 124,785_l._ 17_s._ 4_d._ + +The weight of the cargo was, of course, increased by the coals which +the _London_ carried. The quantity of coals supplied to the vessel was +as follows:--remaining on board from the previous voyage, 45 tons; +shipped in London, 460 tons; making in all 505 tons. Of this there was +expended on the voyage to Plymouth 47 tons, leaving 458 tons. There was +shipped at Plymouth 50 tons; so that the weight of engine coals in the +ship when she left Plymouth was 508 tons. Several tons, however, were +on deck, stowed in sacks round the steam-chest and engine-room hatch, +and, during the storm that broke over the vessel, the coals were thrown +out of their sacks, and at every lurch of the ship they were either +washed overboard, or sent rolling in knubs near the scuppers. + +The master and officers of the ship were as follows:--John Bohun +Martin, Master; Robert Harris, first mate; Arthur William Ticehurst, +second mate; Arthur C. Angell, third mate; John Jones, first engineer; +John Greenhill, second engineer. The Master, officers, and crew were +in number 83, and there were 15 foreigners among the seamen. The +foreigners were all rated as able seamen, and amongst them were 3 +Germans, 5 Swedes, 2 Russians, 2 Danes, 1 Hollander, and 1 Bavarian. It +does not appear that any of the foreigners had sailed in the _London_ +before, but eleven out of the number had previously sailed on board of +British ships. + +The number of passengers that went on board in London was 125, and +these were increased to 180 by the embarkation of 55 at Plymouth. That +the _London_ stood very high in the estimation of all sea-goers, and +that her seaworthiness was above the faintest suspicion, is evident +from the number of those who tried to secure a passage out in her, +but without success, and from the reports and declarations which all +those who were officially responsible for her good trim made respecting +her. After a certain time there was not a berth in her to be obtained +on any terms, though many were disappointed at not being allowed to +obtain them: there was not a word of dissatisfaction, however slight, +expressed by any official after the strictest examination had been +made. Captain McLean, the Emigration Officer, who acts under the +authority of the Emigration Commissioners, had, after careful survey +and inspection, certified the _London_ to be in safe trim, and in all +respects fit for her intended voyage to Melbourne. His words were, “I +consider her perfect in every way.” + +It would have been unnecessary to have appeared even to insist upon +the good trim and seaworthiness of the _London_, had not the suspicion +gained ground that much more might have been done for the passengers’ +safety than actually was done. Some have thought that more boats ought +to have been on board; but it should be borne in mind that she carried +one more than was actually required by law, and that no ship carries a +sufficient number of boats to contain all on board, unless the number +of passengers happens to be very slight. + +With reference to the length, breadth, and depth of the ship, a +suggestion has been thrown out as to her narrowness of beam for +a vessel of such length; but this alleged disproportion was not +peculiar to the _London_: it exists in a much greater degree in some +of the finest ships afloat. The length, for example, of Her Majesty’s +transport ship _Himalaya_ is 340 ft., while her breadth is only 44 ft. +7 in. The same might be noticed in the case of other steam-ships. + +We have no doubt that eventually, out of the terrible calamity that all +must truly deplore, greater safety will accrue to the thousands who +sail the seas, through greater care being taken of every means that +concerns such safety, and that immediately some plan will be devised +for securing the engine-room of steam-ships against inundation. + +Meanwhile the matter will not be mended by any unfair criticism of the +ship’s sea-going qualities. It will only increase unavailing regrets, +to array what might have been against what actually is. It is a fact, +patent to all, that the _London_ enjoyed a first-rate reputation as a +fast ship, as a most comfortable one, and as having in her commander, +Captain John Bohun Martin, a gentleman of the highest repute, both for +his seamanship and many other admirable qualities. + +All being in readiness, the _London_ left the East-India Docks on +the 29th of December 1865, laden as we have described, and bound for +Melbourne. Many were those who caught a view of her from various points +as she steamed majestically down the river, and fervently wished her +a prosperous voyage as they remembered that she contained on board +something far more precious than all her cargo, rich though it was. + +At Gravesend she embarked several passengers, and lunch was prepared +on board, that those who were about to separate, they knew not for how +long, might enjoy as much of each other’s society as possible. It was a +pleasant party, notwithstanding the tears that started involuntarily +from many eyes as the hour of separation drew near. One affecting +incident deserves to be recorded. A gentleman was obliged to send his +little boy out, and remain behind himself. The child was to have gone +by a former ship, but he had prevailed upon his father to allow him to +wait for him; and now, after all, that dear father could not go until +the next ship, and the little one was going out under the care of a +friend. The father of the child was present, and watched the vessel +until she seemed to die away in the glory of the setting sun. + +Innumerable, doubtless, now are the kind words and looks which are +recalled by mourning friends as so many fond souvenirs of that last +parting at Gravesend or at Plymouth. The sun was going down, and +tinging with lustre the Kentish hills, wintry though the weather +was, when the _London_ left Gravesend behind, and went on her way +to Plymouth. This very night, however, she encountered weather that +compelled her to bring up at the Nore, where she anchored and remained +during the whole of Sunday. + +On Monday morning, the 1st of January, at daybreak, the anchor was +weighed, and the ship steamed down the channel, still against a head +wind, but making fair way. While passing outside the Isle of Wight the +wind increased to half a gale, and Captain Martin deemed it prudent +to put back and lay-to for the night in St. Helen’s Road. On Tuesday +morning, the 2nd, the _London_ proceeded through the Needles into the +open channel, the wind being still ahead, but light. On the Wednesday +the weather became so boisterous, and the indications of the barometer +so threatening, that, at about 2 o’clock P.M., the Trinity House +pilot, under whose care she was, decided on taking her to Spithead for +shelter. She anchored on the Motherbank at 4 P.M., and lay there until +daylight of the 4th, when she steamed out through the Needles passage, +the wind being then southwesterly. + +She arrived off Plymouth at daylight of the 5th. A sad accident +occurred here. A pilot cutter put off a small boat, having on board the +pilot and his assistant, to bring the _London_ inside the breakwater. +When the boat was no more than a hundred yards from the _London_ a sea +capsized her, and both the pilot and his assistant were thrown into +the water. Captain Martin instantly ordered one of his lifeboats to be +lowered, and with great difficulty the assistant pilot was rescued, +but the pilot was drowned. About two hours after daylight of the 5th +the _London_ was anchored inside the breakwater, and prepared at once +to embark her passengers. Some of those passengers must now engage our +attention for a little while. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CAPTAIN MARTIN. + + +It will be long before Britons will hear the name of John Bohun Martin +without tears, as they think of his noble heroism amid circumstances +sufficiently appalling to rob the bravest of his self-possession; of +his disregard for his own personal safety while duty commanded him to +remain at a post of imminent danger; of his resolute perseverance in +doing all that the most skilful seaman could, to ride out the furious +gale. He was not new to the sea, for from his boyhood he had been +accustomed to cope with its storms and dangers, and had not risen to +the post of Master without passing through years of the most careful +training and discipline. He was born at Brompton, April 27th, 1819. +When yet young, having a love for the sea, he was entered as midshipman +in the East India ship _True Briton_, and made several voyages to +Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. He remained in this ship four years, and +during this time he diligently studied navigation, particularly in its +scientific branches. In 1840, he was appointed third officer of the +_Southampton_, a vessel trading to the East Indies, and having in those +days some celebrity as a fast-sailing ship. He passed through twelve +additional years of service before he was entrusted with the command of +a vessel, but all who knew him spoke very highly of his diligence and +general character. He enjoyed the esteem and friendship of the Captains +under whom he served: among them were the well-known names of Beach, +and Wimble, and Nash. + +[Illustration: J. B. Martin] + +In the year 1852 he was appointed to the command of the _Essex_, and +continued her Master four years; at the end of which period he took +the command of the _Suffolk_. There is no doubt that he owed this +appointment entirely to his own merits as a navigator, and to the +confidence which his general character inspired. The post which the +Captain of the _Suffolk_ was expected creditably to fill, was in every +way an honourable, but, at the same time, a most responsible one. The +ship was one of Messrs. Wigram’s best and fastest-sailing clippers, +and was expressly designed for the Australian trade. In 1856 the +gold-digging mania in Australia was attracting great numbers of people +from our shores, and there was a sharp competition amongst ship-owners, +both for passengers and cargo. Fast vessels were much in demand, +for, to the travellers athirst for gold, a single day was deemed of +the greatest importance; and safe ships were of course sought after, +because of the precious cargo entrusted to their keeping. + +Accordingly, during that period a number of fine vessels were built +and launched, and their owners were accustomed to start them at the +same time and for the same destination. The _Suffolk_, however, could +successfully compare with any vessel of her class, as she had been +expressly built for the Australian trade, and, regardless of cost, had +been fitted by her wealthy owners with all the equipments necessary +to render her one of the fastest and, at the same time, safest ships +afloat. + +From a host of able and experienced navigators, who would have counted +it an honour to have assumed the command, Messrs. Wigram selected John +Bohun Martin to be Captain of the _Suffolk_, and never did owners make +a better choice. Many are still living who crossed the seas with him +during those days of well-nigh angry competition, and who will recall +with pleasure his practised skill, his genial, open disposition, his +gentlemanly bearing, and his studious care for the comfort of his +passengers in all the little details which have so much to do with the +making or marring of the pleasure of a long voyage. He was one of the +kindliest and most simple-hearted of men, pleased with very simple +things, delighting in riddles in which a very child would have seen +no mystery, and with all a sailor’s superstition about him; fond of +cats, and a great partiality for absolutely doing nothing at all when +he was not on board. With his attached relatives in Highbury Park he +would always spend his time when ashore, and go about with them here +and there; but he was perhaps never happier than when he could throw +himself back in the large easy chair, and read the advertisements of +the _Times_ and the advertisement especially of his own ship. Not tall, +and not short, and every inch the gentleman; with a fresh-coloured +face, light hair and blue eyes, and ambling motion, as if in any place +he wanted sea-room and must have it; with a fine cheery voice, and a +laugh of sterling quality; with a woman’s heart of tenderness within +the strength that seemed equal to any danger--as such, John Bohun +Martin will long be remembered. + +One who knew him well, and who could not speak of his loss without +deep emotion, told the writer of many little acts of attention, which, +although too trivial to appear in print, are not without importance +when measured by the comfort they imparted, and by the void which their +absence would have created. His heart was truly in his profession, +and he had all the genuine sailor’s enthusiasm, and, we might almost +say, affection, for his ship, of whose equipments, beauty, and good +qualities he spoke with glowing pride. As he was never married, some +used laughingly to say that the Captain had no bride but his ship; and +certainly he had reason to be proud of the _Suffolk_ during the eight +years she was under his command. + +Her first trip to Australia was performed with unusual rapidity. It +is true that, on this passage, she encountered very heavy weather: +a violent hurricane carried away her topmasts, and for a short +time crippled her; but the damage was quickly repaired at sea, and +notwithstanding this mishap, the _Suffolk_ arrived in Australia in an +unusually short time, and could bear to be favourably compared with +some of the finest vessels afloat, which had started at the same time. +Captain Martin had displayed such skill, and had shewn such energy in +circumstances that were fraught with much danger both to passengers and +cargo, that, upon his return to England, the mercantile portion of the +city of London presented him with a handsome testimonial as a mark of +their esteem. A sum of more than £500 was presented to him. + +An interesting story stands connected with the first voyage of the +_Suffolk_. While she was in a dismantled condition, and her crew +were repairing damages, an American vessel, also bound from London +for Melbourne, spoke the _Suffolk_, and offered assistance. Captain +Martin courteously declined, whereupon the American Captain said he +would report the _Suffolk_ on his arrival at Melbourne. Captain Martin +replied, that he had better take care the _Suffolk_ did not report +_him_. The vessel proved that Captain Martin’s confidence in his ship, +and in his own seamanship, was not ill-founded. The American Captain +reached Melbourne after what he considered a rapid passage, and the day +after his arrival called on the agents of the _Suffolk_ and reported +having fell in with her. They thanked him, and asked would he like to +see Captain Martin, who was in the next room. The American Captain was +much surprised to find that the _Suffolk_ had arrived five days before +and reported him. + +The _Suffolk_ now commenced a career of success which enabled her, +under the direction of her able commander, to take rank before all +other ships in the same trade. She made, during eight years he +commanded her, ten voyages to Australia and back; nor did she meet +with any mishap or casualty of any kind, save that to which we have +referred on her first trip. During these years Captain Martin not only +enjoyed the high esteem and friendship of her owners, but also of men +high in position both in England and Australia. It will be hard to +say, perhaps, in which country his loss will be the more deeply felt; +for, both at home and abroad, he numbered a multitude of attached and +admiring friends. He was a man pre-eminently fitted, it seems, to +infuse what was loving and kindly in others: not only among passengers, +but among those who were under his command, he is described as being +one of the most trueminded and unselfish of men. Mr. Greenhill, the +second engineer of the _London_, and one of the survivors, a man who, +without a tear, had faced all the horrors of the wreck, and all the +dangers of the raging sea for twenty-four hours, in an open boat, +fairly broke down, and sobbed like a child, as the thought of his last +interview with the gallant Captain presented itself to his mind. + +Many of the passengers with him on former voyages can recall, not only +his gentlemanly tastes, but the extreme simplicity of his habits. While +he kept one of the best and most hospitable of tables for those on +board his ship, his own wants were of the most moderate description. On +last Christmas-day his moderation at the table of his relatives called +even for remark: he touched neither wine nor spirits throughout the +feast; indeed, generally speaking he was a man of the most abstemious +habits, and never touched spirits. The writer has heard from one most +likely best to know, that only once in his life did he taste a small +quantity of spirits, but the alcohol had such an effect upon him, that +he never repeated the experiment. + +Who can tell what influence the fact of their captain’s abstemiousness, +and his taking nothing stronger than coffee during those dreadful days +and nights of suspense--who can tell the influence that such an example +may have exerted upon the minds of the crew? There have been many +painful instances of sailors, when it has been made known to them that +there is no hope, rushing to the spirit and wine stores, and meeting +death at last in a state of intoxication; but on board the _London_ +there was nothing approaching to this. On the contrary, there was the +strictest sobriety among the crew and passengers, and we cannot help +believing that Captain Martin’s example had much to do with it. + +Such is a brief sketch of the man whose name will, for many years, +henceforth be a household word for all that was enduring and brave amid +the most distracting perils, and for all that was gentle and endearing +among his relatives and friends. + +He had served a tolerably long apprenticeship to the sea--his last +voyage was his thirteenth to Melbourne as commander--and his reputation +as Master of the _Suffolk_ had been so brilliant, that in the +forty-seventh year of his age, and at the end of 1864, he was appointed +Captain of the _London_, a vessel on which still greater care and cost +had been expended than on the _Suffolk_, which he had so successfully +navigated for upwards of eight years. The _London_ was built in +pursuance of the plan for steaming to Australia round the Southern +Cape. She made two very rapid voyages to Australia and back, and fully +justified all the cost and care expended upon her construction. Her +value, exclusive of cargo, was estimated at about 80,000_l._ Captain +Martin’s share in her may have been about 5000_l._ + +The _London_ was therefore on her third voyage, and, commanded by a +Captain whose good fortune had become almost proverbial, and belonging +to a firm who, in their time, had never lost a ship, she set sail upon +the voyage which was so soon terribly interrupted. But while she is +yet in sight of Plymouth, we must call the reader’s attention to one +passenger who has gone on board, whose name will live as long as there +are hearts to feel what is life-giving in the gospel, what is majestic +in faith, and what is sustaining in death. We need scarcely say that we +allude to the Rev. D. J. Draper. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +REV. DANIEL JAMES DRAPER. + + +Daniel James Draper, a name that will henceforth be as honourably and +widely known in England as it was previously in Australia, was born at +Wickham, near Fareham in Hampshire, on August 28th, 1810. He was of +respectable parentage, his father being the chief carpenter and builder +in the village. Although unacquainted with the saving knowledge of the +gospel, his parents were strictly moral in their lives, and regular +attendants upon the services of the parish church; consequently the +influences which surrounded the child’s opening years were favourable +to the formation and growth of virtuous habits. + +He was brought, however, to religious decision by coming in contact +with some devoted Wesleyans in the neighbouring village of Fareham. +They had a chapel in the village, and in it the gospel was fervently +and faithfully preached; and we doubt not the building--for it still +exists--will henceforth be memorable on account of its being the place +in which Daniel James Draper first saw the necessity of repentance +towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. + +By the door of this chapel young Daniel was occasionally found +listening, and taking in stray words of warning and of wisdom, as John +Bunyan did before him from the lips of the pious women of Elstow, who +talked of holy things as they spun and knitted in the sunlight before +their cottage doors. Daniel would not enter, but again and again the +lad was seen listening at the chapel-doors, and marvelling perhaps, +like the tinker of Bedford, at what he heard. On one occasion he +received a sharp rebuke for neither coming in nor going away, but only +standing without, and the reproof so wounded him that he resolved never +to go near the place again. + +But to this resolution he did not keep; and ere long, in this chapel, +the truth of God was applied to his youthful heart, and he felt very +deeply the need of salvation. Outwardly in his life, hitherto, there +had been nothing worthy of blame; his conduct had been strictly +upright and moral; but now his conscience revealed to him depths of +depravity and guilt, of whose very existence he had been unconscious, +and he saw the urgent necessity of receiving pardon, and of becoming +a partaker of the new birth. By repentance and faith he immediately +sought reconciliation with God, and it was not long before he became a +rejoicing believer in the Divine love and favour. + +Very naturally, he now openly connected himself with those from whom +he had received so much spiritual benefit, and he became an enrolled +member of the Wesleyan Society. He had not reached twenty years of age, +when, although still beneath the roof of his kind, church-going father, +he took this decisive step. His resolution to connect himself with the +Methodists was not favourably received by his father, or by the members +of his family generally, but young Daniel held on his way; yet, as he +did this with all the good nature that was so marked a characteristic +of his maturer years, there is reason to believe that his youthful +profession did not expose him to any opposition that pressed heavily +upon the buoyancy of his spirits. He even in these early days became +well known for the zeal and interest he displayed in the salvation of +the lost and perishing. + +[Illustration: D. J. Draper] + +Ere long the Methodists determined to erect a chapel in the village +of Wickham, where he lived, and it is interesting to remember now, +that it was built by Daniel and his father, and that, in the course +of a short time, the son had the opportunity, in that very chapel, of +proclaiming to his father the unsearchable riches of Christ’s gospel. +He was about twenty years of age when he enjoyed this privilege, his +gifts and character having placed him amongst the Wesleyan local +preachers. Although it was still distasteful to some members of his +family, he eventually decided upon devoting himself to the work of the +ministry, and never was a decision, we believe, more in harmony with +the Divine will and more signally honoured by blessed results. + +When about twenty-two years of age the young preacher removed to +Brecon, with its towering beacons, pleasant streams, and still +pleasanter societies of Christian people. Mr. Draper is still +remembered there with affection, and many can call to mind his +devotedness to Christ’s service, his love for the house of God, +his familiarity with the Scriptures, and his attachment to the +prayer-meeting. A favourite hymn with him in those days was the one in +which this verse occurs: + + “Happy, if with my latest breath + I may but gasp his name, + Preach Him to all, and cry in death, + Behold, behold the Lamb!” + +At Brecon he worked hard, both in the culture of his own mind as well +as in the service of his Divine Master. He read good and solid books, +and through his life long the substantial was always more attractive +to him than the glittering and merely artistic; he had no relish for +a literature that did not help him in his work, and all he acquired +in study he gave out in effort for the good of those amongst whom he +lived. + +One can readily imagine his happy earnest life during those Brecon +days, of dangerous mountain journeys to the stations where he preached; +of open-air preaching by the river-side; of the welcome which the +warm-hearted Welsh people gave everywhere to the young preacher, we +can have no doubt. It was during this time that his sister, still +living at Brecon, received the truth in Christ, through her brother’s +instrumentality. He was destined, however, for a larger sphere of +usefulness than any which his own land could furnish, wide and urgent +as its claims were and are. + +While he was at Brecon, his character and gifts had so generally +impressed several ministers and friends of his fitness for the regular +ministry, that he was recommended to the Wesleyan Conference as a +minister; and in 1834 he was appointed to the Chatteris Circuit, in +Cambridgeshire, and here the same energy and zeal characterized his +efforts. + +At this time, the attention of various Missionary Societies was being +directed to the spiritual wants of those who were settling in the +colonies. Emigration was becoming more and more popular, and every +week multitudes were leaving our shores in search of the fabulous +fortunes which the colonies held up temptingly to their view. Gold, it +was hinted, would one day be found in any quantities by men who would +only have to dig for it; riches incalculable might be obtained in an +incredibly short space of time. The directors of Missionary Societies +were keenly alive to the danger that would accrue to the thousands +who were going away from the religious altars of their own land to +find themselves in a strange country, where the means of religious +instruction were of the most meagre description, and where there +would be the most terrible scope for the unbridled exercise of unholy +lusts and passions. They were therefore diligently on the look-out +for men of strong nerve and character, who could speak the right word +to their fellows, amid the fierce excitement which burned within +them;--men who could remind them of the hallowed association of their +old homes, consecrated as they had been by Sabbath and Bible, and, by +the remembrance of these, woo them to an interest in those things which +would be found important and lasting when all the gold of Australia +should have lost its value. The directors found many such men;--men +brave enough to remain poor, while thousands around them were becoming +rich; men who, in their strong might of godliness, stood like so many +breakwaters against the surging flood of sensuality, avarice, and +full-blown pride, which, in the course of time, threatened to submerge +the land. + +Among the men to whom the attention of the Wesleyan Missionary +Committee was directed was Daniel James Draper, whom they were told was +well adapted for Missionary service. + +Physically, he was a strong man; a man about the middle height in +stature, vigorous build, honest open face illumined by softly shining +eyes, and voice of full trumpet tone; a man capable of fatigue, one who +could endure hardness; decided, resolute, cheerful, and withal gentle +in every thing he did; liberal and catholic in his tendencies, ready +to learn and apt to teach; and above all, a man of strong faith and +devotion. When it was proposed to him to go abroad, he gave the matter +a brief but very earnest consideration, and at length he intimated his +willingness to obey the wish of the Committee, and at the same time to +be obedient to what he believed to be the call of duty and the will of +God. By this time he was a married man, his wife being the daughter +of Mr. Webb, of Fareham; and the young couple prepared to set out for +Australia. The young Missionary looked forward to his future field +of labour with the calmest confidence, as he thought of the Divine +presence accompanying him, and that he was neither going away from +his Saviour nor his work, because going to a distant land. He took an +affectionate farewell of his family and many friends, some of whom +accompanied him to the ship. + +There are many yet living who can remember well the period of his +leaving England, and all the circumstances attending it. He went away +on the 13th October 1835, with the farewells of many devoted and noble +men ringing in his ears, whom, in the providence of God, he was never +destined to meet again. Jabez Bunting, among others, had given him +every encouragement, and had said to him, “Years of labour may be +before you, but success is certain: it must come, it must come!”--He +left his native shores with those words animating his heart:--“Success +is certain; _it must come, it must come_!” Never were words more +prophetic of the success which awaited the young Missionary’s efforts +in the far-off land to which he was going. The voyage out was a +dangerous one; the ship was overtaken by a violent storm, and at one +time the Captain had said, that in six hours they would all be at +the bottom; and thus shipwreck marked the beginning and close of his +Missionary life. + +Mr. Draper arrived at Sydney early in the year 1836, and applied +himself to his work with all the enthusiasm and energy which were among +his main characteristics. He could indeed speak conscientiously of +“doing a week’s work,” for labour with him meant something, and was +far remote from pretence. On Sunday morning he preached in the city, +in the afternoon at a place fourteen miles off, and in the evening +again at Sydney. Every day and every evening of the week had their +engagements, which he perseveringly discharged; and while thus earnest +in his own sphere, he was on the most brotherly terms of communion with +the various branches of the church of Christ at Sydney and surrounding +towns. He could truly say, + + “Be they many or few, my days are His due, + And they all are devoted to Him.” + +A large amount of success attended labours thus constant and +conscientious; many, very many, will have reason to bless God for his +ministry at Sydney. It was not without drinking of sorrow’s bitter +cup, however, that he had to commence his work amid new scenes and +circumstances. He was early called upon to resign his young wife and +child into the arms of death, and to feel the grief of a widower among +strange people. + +Subsequently his life for many years became subject to the changes +incident to Missionary life amongst members of the Wesleyan community, +and he was removed from station to station. It is gratifying to note, +however, that he left no station without also leaving behind him the +impress of a man whose one object it was to bring souls to God. In 1837 +we see him pursuing his work at Paramatta; and from 1838 until 1841 at +Bathurst. He is at Sydney again from the last date until 1845. He goes +to Melbourne in 1846, and he was there for twelve months, during all +the excitement produced by the discovery of gold. + +The following year, he removed to Adelaide, and continued there +until the year 1854. In 1855 he once more returned to Melbourne, and +travelled successively in the East circuit, the North and the South. He +was not without honour from his brethren in the ministry, who, in 1857, +chose him to be Secretary of the Australian Conference, and, in the +year 1859, elected him to fulfil the post of President. In addition to +his pastoral and other duties, we may also remark that he had deeply +interested himself, being a man of some means himself, in getting a +provision made for poor ministers and for the widows of such, and his +benevolent wishes were partly accomplished. + +Such, then, is a brief outline of Daniel James Draper’s life, during a +period of about thirty years in Australia. The details of those years +of honourable service in the church of Christ will, if published, +reveal a life of no ordinary labour and no common success. But, if +never published to be read by the eye of man, we rejoice in thinking +that they are already known to Him who called him home, bade him rest +from his labours, and left them to follow him. + +In the year 1865 Mr. Draper determined upon once more visiting his +native land, and the scenes of his childhood. It is said that the +love of Home was very strong in him, and that like a magnet it would +every now and then draw his heart towards his country and towards old +Fareham scenes and associations. His parents were now dead, and many +of the friends of his youth were gone, but still it would be good to +see the old place once more. He had married again, his wife being the +daughter of Mr. Shelley, one of the first Missionaries to Tahiti, who +sailed by the ship _Duff_ at the end of the last century. She was an +amiable and accomplished lady, worthy of her parentage and worthy +of her husband: we cannot accord her higher praise, or it should be +freely given. Having resolved to revisit the land of his birth, he was +not long in making all necessary arrangements, and accompanied by the +best wishes of friends at Melbourne, Mr. and Mrs. Draper sailed in +the _Great Britain_, and, after a voyage of sixty-four days, landed +at Liverpool May 20th of last year. He had come to this country not +only that his heart might be charmed by old and familiar scenes, and by +intercourse with friends, some of whose faces he had never seen, but +also in an official capacity. The Methodist Conference of Australia +had desired him to be their representative at the British Conference, +and his brethren in Australia had expressed themselves thus concerning +him:--“The Rev. Daniel J. Draper has our ready consent to visit the +land of our fathers. By our unanimous wish he is commended to you as +our representative in your next Conference. You need not be informed of +his valuable services to us; his intimate knowledge of our Connexion; +or the high esteem and confidence in which he is held. We believe +that from you he will receive a most affectionate welcome. He will be +followed by our prayers, that he may return to us in health, and in the +fulness of the blessing of Christ.” + +The welcome which his brethren thus bespoke for him he everywhere +most cordially received. He preached in London, in Great Queen Street +Chapel; he was at the laying of the stone of the Wesleyan chapel now +being erected in the Caledonian Road; he preached in St. James’s +Hall, taking one afternoon the place of a minister who was unable to +conduct the special service there; and he preached, last of all, it is +believed, at Dalston, and afterwards administered the Lord’s Supper +with much solemnity. + +As the representative of the Australian Conference, he attended the +British Conference at Birmingham, and, with the same object in view, +he visited Scotland and Ireland. At the sitting of the Conference in +Birmingham, his modesty, his manly sense, his quiet earnestness, and +his unaffected devotion called forth the general respect and admiration +of the ministerial fathers and brethren present. He also visited +some of the principal towns in England, and showed himself everywhere +the courteous, kindly, and cheerful man, with a sound judgment and +well-informed mind. As might have been expected, Fareham, the scene of +his childhood and of his first efforts to preach Christ, was among the +places he visited. He preached there, and had the grave of his parents +attended to and beautified. + +We have met with those whose happiness it was to come in contact with +him during his stay in this country, and on all hands the testimony is, +that he was a man as much beloved for the rich human qualities of his +heart, as he was respected for his extensive practical knowledge of +life and the world. One remembers his hearty cheerful laugh, another +his telling anecdotes of Australian life, and another the simplicity +and fervour of his prayers. One tells of the trouble he took to find +out a young man in London, for whom he had been entrusted with a +message of kindness; all can tell of the deep tender devotion of the +man, untarnished by so much as a touch of fanaticism. One who was +brought into close communion with him for several hours, about two or +three weeks before he sailed in the _London_, has said:-- + +“I was much impressed by Mr. Draper’s conversation and bearing. He +had seen the world, and he talked like a man to whom men and things +were familiar. The experiences of life had evidently accomplished +their purpose in him. He was in command of himself; his judgment was +strong and well-balanced; his tone and manner altogether showed the +completeness, the symmetry, and the tender and genial perfection of one +who had laboured and suffered, and, in all, had grown wiser and better, +and more serviceable for his generation and mankind. His centre could +not be doubted. Christ and Christ’s work, these were conspicuously the +objects about which his whole thought and being revolved. Cheerful, +pleasant, courteous, alive to all that was going on around him, utterly +free from all sourness and affectation, he exhibited, with wonderful +attractiveness, the simplicity, purity, dignity, and high and holy aims +of the minister of Christ. His prayer at family worship I shall never +forget. As he offered it, I could not but remark how the little child +and ripe saint met in those natural, lowly, reverent, and calmly mighty +supplications. It was the prayer of a man, between whose spirit and +God there was no haze, and who was as sure of answer as if voices from +heaven told him he was heard.” + +In November last he engaged a berth in the _London_. There were many +who would have prolonged his stay in this country if possible, but +Mr. Draper’s wish was, now that he had accomplished the end for which +he had come to England, to return to the land of his adoption. He was +advised to go through Egypt, and indulge himself with a few weeks +journey through the Sinaitic peninsula and Palestine, but he seemed +even anxious now to return to his work at Melbourne. In one of his last +conversations with the Hon. W. A. McArthur, who had expressed some +regret at the shortness of his stay in England, Mr. Draper said, “Well, +I could spend another year in England very pleasantly, and should like +to do so if my conscience would allow me, but I feel I must get back to +my work.” + +“Little,” says Mr. McArthur, “did he then imagine that his work on +earth was so nearly finished, and that he was so soon to enter into +the joy of his Lord; but if ‘that life be long which answers life’s +great end,’ then Mr. Draper has lived a long life; and having had the +pleasure of his acquaintance upwards of twenty years, I can testify +that his was a joyous, happy life, and that much of his happiness +consisted in seeing others happy, and endeavouring to make them so.” + +And now we are in the track of the devoted Missionary, as he prepares +to go on board the vessel which was soon to meet with a disaster +terrible beyond many of the most grievous in the annals of shipwreck. +Now that the agony is over, and the faithful one at rest, we are +disposed to see a meaning in that dream--the story comes to us on +good authority--which, thrice repeated, bade him resist all the +importunities of friends, and go by the _London, and no other way_, and +we would not have had him disobedient to the voice. + +To a friend in Dublin he wrote, a few days before he sailed--“The +steamer (the _London_) is a fine new vessel, having gone out but twice. +Last time she did the voyage in sixty days. We join her (D. V.) at +Plymouth on the 2nd January, and she will leave that port at six P.M. +on that day. We trust in God our Heavenly Father for protection on our +way, and delight in the thought that we shall be remembered by kind +friends when they bow at the throne of grace.” + +And so the good, genial, loving man went away from the land he loved, +notwithstanding the associations of thirty years life in another +country; from his Hampshire home which was as dear to him now, though +approaching sixty years of age, as when he played there as a little +child; and from the newly done-up grave, where the dust of his parents +was sleeping. At the bidding of his Master, into whose hands he had +committed his entire life, he had moved from station to station in +Australia. He had never doubted the will of God in the successive +changes which had marked his colonial life. He believed that there was +a work for him to do in every place to which he was called, though he +went to station after station, not knowing the things which were to +befall him there. Shall we doubt now that a voice in richest mercy +towards others, summoned him to a station in which he was to do his +last here for the Master who loved him, and who had need of him indeed +for an awful service, but on which hung a reward and a blessing more +glorious than heart can ever dream of? + +We believe that he had only been a few days out when he felt this, and +summoned all his energies rightly to discharge the duty his Master had +called him to, to make his last, his best. Serenely committing himself +to the keeping of a merciful and faithful Creator, Daniel Draper +perhaps never thought of his own wants, until he awoke up in glory, and +found with sweet surprise that he had none, that he was in the likeness +of his God, that he had exchanged corruption for incorruption, that +mortality had been swallowed up in the deep, deep sea, and that around +him were not shipwrecked mariners in their dripping garments and looks +of agony, but faces bright with joy, and forms radiant with the glory +of immortality. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE LIST OF PASSENGERS. + + +We must pause yet once more before accompanying the voyagers, that we +may know as many of them as we possibly can. Many we perhaps shall +never know: their very names are already forgotten; or if we turn +to look at them they tell of no history, and suggest no personal +remembrance. On such a day they were in the _London_, on such a day +they sank with her in the Bay of Biscay. This is all perhaps we shall +ever know concerning them. + +A gentleman, who knew most of the passengers on board--and we give +an authorized list of the names in the Appendix--when he heard of +the catastrophe, remarked, that it would throw half Melbourne into +mourning. Doubtless it will, and into how many other places besides +will not the news of the catastrophe carry mourning? That one poor +Bavarian, those two hapless Danes, had they no friends in the world +to shed a tear over their watery grave? We dare not forget that each +one, as he embarked, carried within him, as it were, a very world of +varied interest, and that the hopes and sympathies of the unknown and +poor were as precious and beautiful to those who knew and loved them, +as were the plans and fortunes of the well-known and wealthy to the +circle of which they formed part. Every death we see recorded should +bring before us, in imagination, a bier, around which we see gathering +a collection of mourners, refusing to be comforted, because their loved +one is not. When we hear of a multitude of persons perishing in some +dread calamity like the present, we must remember that, while all died +together, each died alone, and will be mourned as if he alone had +died. More than two hundred individual worlds of thought and feeling, +of sympathy and design, went down beneath the ocean wave on that wild +stormy afternoon. Each of these worlds was perhaps the very sun of +other worlds, that will now receive a sudden and awful shock. Many men, +many poor men even, so live that they are centres of operations which, +although not brilliant in the world’s estimation, are of the deepest +possible interest to all concerned in them, and when they die, it is as +if the sun had been removed out of its place. + +Nor do we forget, as we take up the list of passengers who went out +in the _London_, that every one had a separate and solemn history. We +do not forget that the issues of life were unspeakably important, not +only to all, but, in a very solemn manner, to each--to the poor Danish +sailor as well as to the Oxford scholar: we do not forget that to +each one on board, this question was proposed amid circumstances most +appalling, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and +lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” +We dare not forget the infinite value of every soul on board. + +As, during the week which followed the mournful announcement that the +_London_ had foundered, we looked each day into the first column of +the _Times_, or as country newspapers reached us, we tried more and +more vividly to realize how much that list of the drowned meant, and +how names that we had read confusedly amidst a mass of others, became +eloquent with interest as we caught snatches here and there of the +life-history belonging to them. But we have no doubt that there was not +one on board whose history was completely destitute of interest and +charm, to some few at least, and that tears have been shed for many who +were nothing more than plain, humble people, getting an honourable +living by the sweat of their brow, and who will find no biographer to +tell the unassuming story of their lives. In the scores of shipwrecks +that occur every year, the worthy unknown should not be without the +sympathy, if they are shut out from the recognition which well-known +names immediately demand. Of late years, perhaps, if we may judge from +the newspapers, from letters which have reached us, and from interviews +with friends of the deceased, there has not often been a wreck in which +such a variety of characters had each to act a most solemn part. On +board the _London_ there was life beginning and life ending in the +aged and the young who were going out to the new land. There was the +competence which had come after arduous and successful toil, and there +was the poverty whose only capital lay hidden in its hopeful industry: +there was the lawyer and the divine, the merchant and the engineer, the +man of letters and the rude brawny artisan; the actor and the banker; +the experienced traveller and the humble villager from Cornwall. +Something of the varied life of the world at large lay mirrored in +that vessel that was preparing to steam away from Plymouth. The brief +notices of deaths which appeared day after day revealed dark depths of +sorrow, into which one was almost afraid to look,--tragedies enacted +full of horror unspeakable. + +Let us glance for a moment at those of whom we know nothing beyond +their names, before proceeding to notice those whose position in +society and whose well-known histories speedily found biographers. + +On the 11th inst., lost at sea, on board the steamship _London_, James +Thomas, Esq., late of London, formerly of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, +together with his beloved wife and two children; also Elizabeth +Hartley, for many years a most faithful servant of the above. + +On the 11th inst., lost at sea, in the steamship _London_, aged +23, John Ruskin Richardson, youngest son of the late John George +Richardson, Esq., many years a resident of Sydney, New South Wales. + +On the 11th instant, in the steamship _London_, in his twenty-first +year, Archibald, seventh son of Hellen Sandilands, of 56, Belsize-park, +and of the late John Sandilands of Conduit-street. + +On the 11th instant, lost at sea, in the steamship _London_, on her +voyage to Melbourne, Gilbert Andrew Amos, Esq., Police Magistrate and +Warden, Heidelburg, Victoria, and third son of the late Andrew Amos, +Esq., of St. Ibbs, Hitchin, Herts; also, at the same time and place, +Isabella Dick Amos, wife of the above; also, at the same time and +place, Miss Catherine McLachlan, aged 22, sister of the said Isabella +Dick Amos. + +On the 11th inst., in the steamship _London_, on her voyage to +Melbourne, Edward Youngman, Esq., aged 44, greatly beloved and +regretted by a numerous circle of friends. + +On the 11th inst., lost at sea, in the steamship _London_, George F. P. +Urquhart, Esq., of Evandale, Auckland, New Zealand, and Mary Chauncy, +his wife, late of 11, Kensington-park Villas, W., daughter of the late +Major James Burke, of the 77th and 99th Regiments, of Arlaman, county +Limerick, Ireland. + +These are only a few instances out of many that might be given; but now +to look at names, well known, take first the story of the Cumberland +emigrants. + +It appears that no less than ten persons who went out in the _London_ +were connected with Cumberland; one family, consisting of William +Graham, his wife, and three children, having gone from Carlisle. It is +a sad story--one which cannot be read even by strangers without the +most sorrowful feelings. William Graham, tailor, aged 51 years; Ellen, +his wife, 49 years; George, his son, 10 years; a daughter, 3 years; +a baby, aged 4 months; Thomas Graham, aged 40 years; Mary, his wife, +aged 27 years; David Graham, aged 37 years; David McVittie, aged 30 +years, blacksmith, Newtown; and John Little, aged 30 years, fireman on +the North British Railway. The three Grahams were brothers. Thomas had +been out in Victoria twelve years, and David followed him four years +afterwards, and had since been engaged in business with him. Success +followed their farming operations, until they were enabled to purchase +an estate. In their prosperity the brothers were not unmindful of +their old home, and during the prevalence of distress at Longtown, in +consequence of the cotton famine, they generously sent over a sum of +60_l._ for the relief of the sufferers. They also sent a large amount +of relief to Manchester. In August last they came to England, with the +view of seeing their friends, and of purchasing implements. Upwards of +1000_l._ they laid out in this way, and sent out before them a variety +of implements for the farm. Thomas had another purpose to effect, also, +in visiting the old country, and that was to marry, and take home with +him a wife. He married Sarah Bruce, a native of Banff, and they were +married only a week before they left Carlisle to take up their berths +on board the _London_. Their brother, William Graham, agreed to go out +with them, they paying his passage, and he took with him his family, as +stated above. Little and McVittie, friends of the Grahams, were also +going out with them. Both men were in the employ of the North British +Railway Company, Little as fireman, and McVittie as a blacksmith. +Little was a remarkably steady and amiable young man. He was the eldest +of a family of eleven children, and is survived both by his father +and mother. The whole party of emigrants left for London on the 27th +of December last, and a large number of friends assembled to bid them +farewell, and three hearty cheers were given as the train started. Such +were ten at least who had each a history inestimably precious to a wide +circle of friends at home and abroad, and, simple though these people +were by the side of more brilliant names, there is a quiet naturalness +about their story that will appeal to many hearts. + +On board the _London_ also was Mr. Henry John Dennis, a gentleman +of some note in Australia and America. A few years ago Mr. Dennis +narrowly escaped shipwreck in the _Marco Polo_, a vessel that in speed +and celebrity used to compete with the _Suffolk_ when Captain Martin +commanded her. In the middle of the night, in the Southern Ocean, +the _Marco Polo_ struck an iceberg; but on that terrible occasion +Mr. Dennis had been of some service. He had since been a very active +colonial explorer, and had for many months been engaged in a hazardous +hunting expedition in the wild regions and among the savage tribes +which lie at the back of Port Natal. He is understood also to be the +first, if not the only Englishman who has grown cotton in the Southern +States of the American Union by free negro labour. Starting for +America while the civil war was at its height, he took a plantation +on the Mississippi, and though he had to cope with plundering bands +of guerillas and with many other dangers and inconveniences, he +nevertheless succeeded in raising a crop, and only retired when he +found that in the then existing state of things it was utterly +impossible to grow cotton without great pecuniary loss as well as +personal risk. + +There was a clergyman on board, distinguished for his many and varied +gifts, and who was beloved by a very wide circle of friends, both +in England and Australia--the Rev. Dr. Woolley, to whose worth and +talents Dean Stanley and Sir Charles Nicholson, formerly Speaker of the +Legislative Assembly of New-South Wales, have paid the very warmest +tribute, as, indeed, have a host of the scholarly and worthy of the +land. Dr. Woolley was in the 49th year of his age, and his course in +life had been one of usefulness and honour in the branches of learning +to which he had specially devoted himself. His life had been that of +the Professor rather than of the working clergyman. He matriculated at +University College, London, but subsequently removed to Oxford, where +in 1836 he took a first-class degree in classics. On leaving Oxford, +he became successively Head Master of Rossal School, in Lancashire, +and of King Edward’s Grammar School at Norwich. This last office he +relinquished on obtaining the appointment of Professor in 1852, in +the University of Sydney, which had just been incorporated under an +Act of the local Legislature. His duties in this new position were +most important, as upon him devolved the organization and successful +working, under circumstances of great difficulty, of a great national +institution. But he threw himself into the work cast upon him with +enthusiasm, and laboured with untiring zeal and energy. He succeeded +in a very marked degree in winning to himself and moulding the +taste and character of the young men placed under his control. The +gentleness--almost feminine--of his nature, the warmth and generosity +of his heart, his distinguished attainments as a scholar, and the +eloquence and earnestness with which he was wont to impart instruction, +not only to the Undergraduates of the University, but to the members +of various popular institutions with which he was connected, have +been tenderly spoken of, and will be long remembered by hundreds of +persons. He came to this country a few months ago for rest, and very +pleasant to himself, and to those who knew him, was his brief sojourn +here. From many, as we at least read the matter, there came tempting +inducements to settle down in England among associations more consonant +with a refined taste than those of colonial life; but with him, too, +the mainspring of life was obedience to duty, and he must return to the +work waiting to be done by him. He had been exceedingly happy here. A +writer in _Macmillan_ says that one who saw him during his latest days +in England writes of him thus:-- + +“His tastes were those of a refined and cultivated man. He told me that +his stay here, mixing in the society of men of letters, had been a +delight to him beyond what I, who was always in it, could conceive. Had +he met Tennyson and Browning, nothing could be more to his taste than +the companionship of such men, with whom his own qualities made him a +most welcome guest. He had in perfection the bright, gentle, cheery +manner that characterizes the best Oxford man. In stature he was small, +but his face most pleasant to look at. He was very active in all sorts +of societies and institutions for the benefit of working-men and men +engaged in business. His age must have been about fifty, but he looked +younger. He had a wife and six children waiting his return to Sydney, +whither, as I perceived, he was determined to go, for he felt his work +lay there, and his duty. He went back to fulfil his duty, and has +fulfilled it. He is remembered by many whom he left in England as the +good man--John Woolley.” + +There was another passenger of celebrity on board--Mr. G. V. Brooke. +He was of respectable family, and some members of it were highly +distinguished in literature. In early boyhood he had been a pupil of +Lovel Edgeworth, the brother of Maria Edgeworth. His father, who was +an architect, had other views concerning him than those which the son +lived to fulfil. He was educated with a view to the bar; but while +quite young he was thrown amongst those who were devoted to private +theatricals, and he was so captivated that he relinquished his law +studies and applied himself to theatrical pursuits. He met with some +successes, and many reverses, particularly in Australia. Of all places +in the world, after his many ups and downs in life, on the morning of +the 6th January he was on board the _London_, and his sister was with +him. + +[Illustration: G. V. BROOKE.] + +We had written thus far when there came a note from a surgeon, saying +that if we would call in a street near the General Post Office, +information of an interesting character awaited us. It concerned the +loss of those of whose death there had been no advertisement--Mr. and +Mrs. Clarke, with their son, a young man of twenty-one years. The +mourning garments, the pale, sunken look of woe, the open photographic +album, near to which were black-bordered notes, told at once of some +one lost, and of tears shed, of which few had taken notice. Mr. Clarke +had gone to Melbourne more than thirty years before, accompanied by his +wife and two or three children. He had prospered there as a saddler, +and as the years went by, he was enabled to bring up a large family in +every comfort and respectability. There was born to him a son, however, +who unhappily, through a diseased bone, had a useless arm. The sight +of the youth’s sufferings was always painful to his parents, and so +it came to pass that last year the aged people, as they were now, +determined to come to England to obtain the best advice. Money was +no object, and they reckoned that for about £1500 the three might come +and go, and perhaps the son be cured. They came, enjoyed themselves +immensely, heard preachers of whom they had often heard but never +seen; went about here and there; and, best of all, under an operation +performed by Sir W. Ferguson, the son’s arm was cured, and made whole +as the other. Mr. Clarke would have taken back with him a brave little +boy, around whose neck we saw the arm of a mother fondly thrown, as +if she would thus keep the child safe. He would have made the boy’s +fortune his care out in Melbourne; but the mother kept her child; +and Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, and their son, rejoicing in his recovered +strength, went on board the _London_, to be met on the other side of +the sea, as they hoped, by their children and grandchildren. Before +sailing, the father wrote a letter, the last words of which were a +prayer, and it was with inexpressible comfort, in the midst of grief, +that the relatives of the family reflected that the three were not +unprepared to die. + +Week by week will reveal more and more of the preciousness of those on +board to those who now mourn their loss. But the story will never be +completely told. Numbers will be mourned in secret, of whom we shall +know nothing until the sea gives up its dead. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF DANGER ON THE DEEP. + + +With her precious freight of human life on board, the _London_ left +Plymouth in the very early morning of Saturday, January the 6th. A +sailor’s superstition had been respected, some would say, and the +anchor had not been hove up until a short time after midnight of +Friday; so that it was really on a Saturday that the vessel set sail. +The weather was then moderate, the wind blowing lightly from the +northward, and little or no sea running. The breakwater was cleared, +and the ship proceeded on her voyage at the speed of about eight knots +an hour: she was going under steam with head to wind. + +They sighted the Lizard lights about four hours after they set sail, +and the weather then was calm and fine. But an hour later, at six +o’clock on Saturday morning, the weather changed: the wind veered to +the westward, and the sea began to rise. It is important to bear this +in mind, because of the criticism which has been applied to Captain +Martin leaving Plymouth when the barometer was indicating stormy +weather. One after another of competent witnesses examined affirmed +most positively that the barometer was so shifty that it could not be +relied upon, and that the weather was as favourable as any one could +desire for going to sea. And even if the weather had been threatening, +to have asked Captain Martin to put back on this account, would have +been asking him to throw away the reputation which it had taken years +to acquire, and to have acted in opposition to the practice of the most +experienced seamen of the day. + +On Sunday, January 7th, the wind, which was still westerly, increased +in violence, and there were strong squalls and a heavy sea, in which +the ship rolled considerably. Religious service was of course held on +board, and it was conducted by Dr. Woolley and Mr. Draper. + +It was not until Monday, the 8th, that the passengers began to feel +anxious concerning their safety, and to regard their position as +becoming every hour more and more perilous. During Sunday night it was +evident that a gale might be expected, and on Monday morning it was +blowing with great violence. The Captain ordered the engines to be +stopped and sail to be made on the ship. Towards noon the wind appeared +to lull somewhat, and in the evening the weather had so improved that +all sails were taken in, and the engines again set in motion. The +weather, however, soon changed again, and the gale seemed only to have +lulled to gain new strength; for between eight and twelve of Monday +night the spanker of the ship was blown away by its violence. + +Captain Martin and some of the crew, amongst whom was the gallant +John King, one of the survivors, endeavoured to get the spanker in, +and at last succeeded. It was a night of raving wind and rolling sea, +and we hear of sleepless passengers below in their cabins reading the +Bible to each other, and offering solemn prayer to Him who rode upon +the wings of the wind. All that night Captain Martin was here and +there throughout the ship--indeed he was to sleep no more until the +dreadful afternoon of Thursday--and all the orders which he gave were +speedily executed by the crew. The wind was blowing a full gale, and +mizenstaysail and forestaysail and maintopmaststaysail and reefspanker +had been set. + +On Tuesday morning, January 9th, commenced that dismal series of +disasters under which eventually the noble vessel succumbed. The +wind was blowing a hard gale from the S.W. and there was a very heavy +sea. The ship was now making little more than two knots an hour, +as her speed had been reduced, and she was going through the water +under steam only. She pitched tremendously, and every now and then +whole seas dashed over her bows. Such was the state of things early +on Tuesday morning; but the passengers below as yet only heard the +fury of the storm without; they were safe and dry in their cabins: +the fires burnt brightly in the engine-room, and the two engineers, +Messrs. Jones and Greenhill, surveyed with satisfaction the strong +hatchway which protected their engines from the seas which broke over +the vessel. Bearing in mind what we have said concerning the size of +the engine-room, the reader will be prepared to learn, that if that +engine-room were flooded with water, the ship would undoubtedly sink. +There needed no other accident than this to secure the shipwreck of +the vessel. The officers on deck could comfort themselves with the +assurance, that though exposed themselves to the storm and heavy seas +which broke over the ship, their passengers were safe, and they would, +by the help of their good engines below, slowly plough their way +through waves that looked as if they would roll mountains high. + +At seven o’clock on Tuesday morning an unusually heavy sea broke +into the lifeboat stowed on the port-quarter, filling the boat and +carrying her away, with all her gear. This was deemed a most melancholy +occurrence, and a series of minor disasters followed. At nine o’clock +the ship gave a tremendous pitch forward, as if she were about to +bury herself, prow foremost, and in a moment afterwards the sea, with +a force that made the hardiest seaman quail, tore away the jib and +flying jibboom, which carried away with them the foretopmast, the +foretopgallantmast, foreroyalmast, and mainroyalmast, with all their +spars and sails, and other gear. Portions of the wreck fell clattering +on the deck, or hung suspended by the rigging: the topmast was swinging +in the rigging and the foreroyalmast was hanging down and swinging with +the motion of the ship. The jibboom was lying on the starboard bow, +right over in the water! + +Thus, at one fell stroke, the beautiful vessel had been dismantled, +and received damage which, in the storm that then raged, it was next +to impossible to repair. Captain Martin was cool and self-possessed +in the midst of the untoward occurrence, and efforts were at once put +forth to remedy the disaster, but to little purpose. The masts which +had fallen on board, and which hung suspended by their rigging, and +the jibboom, which was fastened to the ship by stays of wire, could +not be got clear; and thus it was, with the ship in this dismantled +condition, with the gale still increasing in fury, and with a sea that +kept constantly washing all forward, that the passengers and crew of +the _London_ steamed slowly ahead through the awful night. + +There was little sleep on board that night, we may be sure. The devoted +Mr. Draper had already begun the work of directing the minds of the +passengers to Him who had promised to be a Refuge from the storm, a +very present help in every time of need, and already we hear of earnest +prayers offered for all needful grace to support the bitterness of the +calamity. We know now, and it is a great light shining in the midst of +the darkness, that there were many Christians on board, who, in the +hour of peril, would be enabled to point the distressed to the sinner’s +Friend. We can scarcely go in any direction throughout the metropolis +without hearing the glad tidings of one, and another, and another, +being on board, who would not be afraid to die, and who would be sure +to be of use to shrinking and, perhaps, unprepared fellow-sufferers. +And in the cabins below it is very beautiful to hear the voice of +supplication mingled with the din and war of the tempest. We hear at +least of a few, who, in the second cabin, were engaged throughout the +night in reading the Bible by turns. Mrs. Price, Mrs. Wood, who had +with her her husband and five children, Miss Brooker, and Miss Marks, +are among those thus engaged. Throughout the vessel the feeling has +gone forth that the passengers may never reach land, and may at any +moment be called upon to exchange time for eternity. Thus the long +dreary night of Tuesday wore away, and Wednesday came, bringing with it +disasters that quickly rivalled each other in horror. + +Early on Wednesday morning, about three o’clock, Captain Martin ordered +the engineers to get up full speed, as he intended to put the ship +about and run for Plymouth. The gale continued blowing without the +least abatement, but in the course of a little while the dismantled +vessel was once more homeward bound. Mizenstaysails were set, and she +steamed N.N.E. at the rate of five or six knots an hour. + +The chief engineer, Mr. Jones, is obliged to give up through sickness, +and now it is Mr. Greenhill, the second engineer, who has to carry +out the Captain’s orders in regard to the engines throughout the day. +The engines are in perfect working order, and although the vessel has +shipped a little water through the number of seas that have broken over +her, there is none in the engine-room, and the brass-bound and grated +skylight above is perfectly safe. There is not a crack in it that he +can see, and, with the engines revolving more quickly now, away the +vessel is steaming, head to the wind. + +In the course of the morning the damage of the preceding day was +repaired, so far as securing the masts, which, up to this time, had +been swinging about aloft, and the wreck of the jibbooms cleared away +from the ship. At noon an observation was taken, and indicated their +position to be lat. 46·48 N., and long. 8·7 W., viz. in the Bay of +Biscay, and about 200 miles S.W. of Land’s End. As they hoped to make +Plymouth soon, and to refit there before proceeding on their voyage, no +repairs were attempted, save making the wreck as trim as they could. + +Meanwhile, we have to say again, the fury of the storm increased, and +the waves were running mountains high. It was six o’clock on Wednesday +evening, and their course was N.N.E., when the wind increased into a +perfect hurricane from N.W., the squalls blowing with a degree of fury +seldom paralleled. The vessel rolled and pitched fearfully, shipping +every now and then large quantities of water. Suddenly the fore and +mainstaysails were violently torn away by the squall, and went flying +away into the darkness. Shortly afterwards, the lifeboat and cutter, +which were stowed away on the starboard side, were stove in and carried +away by the violence of the sea. As the night deepened, and nine +o’clock approached, the ship was in a hurricane, the like of which the +oldest seaman on board had never seen! + +The engines had been stopped, and the Captain was relying now upon his +sails to bear him through, but they were blown to shreds and ribbons, +and the once stately vessel, so strongly built and so perfectly +equipped, was now the mere sport of winds and waves. In a few hours +those on board had, if the storm continued, received an irreparable +loss, for three out of seven of their boats had been carried away by +the sea. Their two lifeboats, that would have held so many, and would +have perhaps taken them in safety to land, were gone. Nevertheless, +Captain Martin was not the man to indulge in feelings of despondency, +or to waste time in useless regrets. A solemn responsibility rested +upon him, and we believe he was true to it if man ever was. + +“Set the engines going, and keep her head N.N.E.” + +“Ay! ay! Sir.” + +And on through the wild dark night and surging sea the poor _London_ +drove; when disaster upon disaster fell upon her with crushing weight. +At half-past ten a terrific sea broke over the port-gangway, and what +the sailors graphically called a mountain of water descended almost +perpendicularly over the hatch of the engine-room. That hatch, as we +have already said, was deemed strong enough to keep out any sea that +might ever dash over a ship. Altogether it weighed about a ton and a +half, and it measured 12 ft. by 9 ft. It was glazed with plate glass +half an inch thick, and there were gratings of galvanized iron over the +glass, and the bars were three-quarters of an inch thick. Yet, although +thus strongly built and brass fastened, that mass of water, which +descended almost perpendicularly, dashed through the hatchway, down +which it threw violently two men, and, literally smashing every thing +in its way, immediately flooded the engine-room with water. + +Mr. Jones, the first engineer, ill though he was, immediately ran +from his berth, and descended to the engine-room, where he found Mr. +Greenhill standing by the engines. The engine-room was flooding, and +a body of water was passing down the hatchway. The hatchway had been +swept clean away, and there was now nothing to prevent the rushing in +of the sea. Of all calamities, this was the one most to be deplored: +the ship’s carpenter could do nothing in the way of repairing, and yet +down they must all go, and that speedily, unless something was done, +for at every sea the vessel shipped, the water in the engine-room was +rising higher and higher. + +To remedy the evil as far as possible, tarpaulins and canvas were +brought, which the men tried to nail down over the aperture. The men +also tried to put the flying jibboom over the aperture, but such a +hurricane was blowing, that both the canvas and the men who were trying +to batten it down were washed away. The pumps were set to work, and +passengers and crew worked incessantly, some at the pumps, and some +in baling out the water, which, alas! came pouring in, and which, +notwithstanding all their efforts, rose higher and higher in the +engine-room. Nor could they by any means cover over the opening which +the sea had made by sweeping away the hatchway: tarpaulins, blankets, +sails, mattresses, whatever they could find, they heaped upon ladders, +pieces of wood, and spars, which they had thrown across as supports; +but the storm and sea mocked their best endeavours; and, alas! about +a quarter past eleven o’clock that night the waters had risen to such +a height that the fires were out, and consequently the engines ceased +working. There was already about five feet of water in the engine-room, +and the ship was labouring heavily in the trough of the sea. Her +condition, therefore, was altogether hopeless. In consequence of the +engines stopping she could no longer hope to steam through the gale; +the engineers could work no longer, and, for the same reason, the large +bilge-pumps were rendered useless. + +Mr. Greenhill had the painful task of making known to Captain Martin +the saddening intelligence that his fires were out; and that no more +help was to be looked for from the engines. The Captain received the +news with perfect calmness. He said he was not surprised at it; that +he had expected it; and immediately ordered the maintopsail to be +set, in the hope of keeping his ship before the wind. Vain attempt. +The gale tore it to ribbons, and in the trough of the sea the vessel +laboured through the night, rolling gunwale under. Well, indeed, might +the Captain say that night, “You may say your prayers, boys.” It was +a seaman’s way of saying, “You must prepare for the worst: at any +moment we may go down.” It was indeed a time for prayer, and we believe +that, during that night, of which we shall have a little more to say +in another chapter, such prayers were offered as were perhaps never +offered in sinking ship before. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LAST STRUGGLES. + + +The morning of Thursday, January 11th, at length came to the passengers +and crew of the foundering _London_. There had been, we may be sure, no +attempts at seeking rest among the passengers below. On the deck all +night the pumps had been going, and every one was doing his utmost to +second the good Captain’s efforts to save the ship, if possible. The +bravest had little hope of this, but still every man worked as if all +depended upon his efforts. The universal testimony is, that passengers +and crew did what they could. Some of the crew, it is true, had to seek +their berths through sickness or terror; but there was no lack of hands +to work the ship. + +There was no abatement in the fury of the storm; the wind raved as +violently and the waves thundered as fiercely as ever against the ship, +and there was no change in her monotonous roll in the trough of the +sea. It was the morning of that fearful night, it may be remembered, +when more than thirty vessels were driven on shore in Torbay. The names +of some of the passengers of the _London_ who strenuously exerted +themselves have been made known, although they have not come back +to hear of the enthusiasm which their gallantry has inspired in the +hearts of thousands. Dr. Woolley worked with the rest at the pumps, and +encouraged the passengers to do their best: he, though so delicate, and +all unused to manual labour, did his work with the bravest and best of +them. + +The exertions of Mr. Brooke, if possible, surpassed those of any on +board. At times he went into the saloon, where his sister was among the +ladies, and where, in frightened groups, the passengers were engaged +in prayer, in reading their Bible, or in listening to the instructions +and consolations of Mr. Draper. The tragedian would help for a little +while in baling out the water, and then he would away again to the +deck to work at the pumps, and he continued so doing until even he had +to relinquish all hope. Barefooted and bareheaded, attired only in a +Crimean shirt and trousers, now in the cabin--now on deck--he forms a +picture of dauntless heroism that will long live tenderly in the memory +of his friends. + +It was about four o’clock on Thursday morning when a new disaster +occurred, which, added to the sweeping away of the hatchway on the +preceding day, may be said to have sealed the fate of the vessel. A +tremendous sea struck the stern of the ship, and stove in four of the +windows of the upper or poop cabin. Through the breaches thus made the +water rushed in, and the ’tween decks were soon flooded. The carpenter +was immediately set to work to remedy the disaster, and he found that +the force of the sea had driven back the strong shutters of the dead +lights, and broken the glass of the sashes inside, and the sea was +pouring in in great quantities. He endeavoured to secure the ports by +shoring them with a spar placed against a post on the main deck, so +as to make the shutters once more firm, although the sashes had been +driven in. The stratagem succeeded for a little while, but as the ship +got deeper in the water the sea drove the ports entirely in, and soon +rushed about unchecked through the upper and into the lower saloon. + +Meanwhile, on deck the efforts of both passengers and crew were +directed more earnestly than ever towards keeping the gaping aperture +over the engine-room covered. The ship was fast settling down, and +was more than half full of water. Captain Martin went down with Mr. +Greenhill into the room, and, upon the engineer taking soundings it +was found that there were fourteen feet of water, the whole of which +had come through the hatchway, notwithstanding all the efforts made to +keep it out. There was also a considerable increase of water between +the decks. Every time the ship lurched in the trough of the sea she +was taking in tons of water over the gunwale. Captain Martin did not +lose heart, but at the same time told Mr. Greenhill that he had now +little hope of saving the ship. Nevertheless, upon going on deck, after +this examination of the engine-room, he cried to those who were baling +out water, “Men! put down the buckets and come and try to secure the +engine-room hatch, for that is the only chance to save the ship. Secure +that, and we may keep her up!” + +Instantly the Captain’s order was obeyed, and once more the men tried +to nail down sails and tarpauling, which the sea, however, washed +ruthlessly away, or flapped down into the engine-room. Among those who +laboured hard at this work, useless though it too soon proved, was John +King, who had been hurt the preceding evening by his fall overboard. +The violence of the sea and storm was such, that men were driven hither +and thither by it on deck, knocked against casks and pieces of the +wreck, and were in imminent danger of being washed overboard, as King +had been. But there was no relaxation of effort. Mr. Angell was at the +donkey-engine, Dr. Woolley, Mr. Brooke, and other passengers at the +pumps, and many were engaged in vigorously baling out the water from +the lower saloon, through the upper saloon, and over the upper deck. + +All efforts, however, were unavailing. Mr. Wilson, one of the +survivors, said, that as it was getting light, he asked Captain Martin +if he should go on baling out the water, to which the Captain replied, +“You may, but I think it is of no use.” + +About eight o’clock the carpenter received orders to see to the boats! +On board now there were the port cutter, the two pinnaces, and the +jolly boat, for two lifeboats and the starboard cutter had been washed +away previously. All the boats were immediately plugged and made ready +for sea, and bread and water put in them. A little before ten o’clock +the starboard pinnace, which was of iron, and which would hold fifty +persons, was got ready for lowering, and John King with five others +got into her. Being lowered too fast, however, she swamped, and sunk +headforemost: the men were of course thrown with great violence into +the sea. After having been twelve seconds under water, King was washed +up to the rail of the ship, and got on board, and the rest also were +saved. + +Shortly after the foundering of the starboard pinnace, the Captain +entered the saloon, and said, by way of answer to the mute appeal made +to him on every face, “Ladies, there is no hope for us, I am afraid. +Nothing short of a miracle can save us.” These were his exact words, +and Mr. Draper calmly replied to them by saying, “Then let us pray!” + +At two o’clock on that wild, stormy afternoon the vessel was sinking +rapidly, and the channels were nearly level with the water. Captain +Martin now told Mr. Greenhill, that as the port cutter was ready for +lowering, he had better take the command of her, and of as many as it +would hold. As for himself, he had no thought of leaving his ship; +he would sink with the _London_ and her doomed passengers. The crew, +as they remembered the fate of the starboard pinnace a few hours +previously, were at first not over-anxious to set about lowering the +port cutter, and, for reasons that will appear in the next chapter, the +passengers generally made no attempts to escape. + +John King, with a few other seamen, had already provisioned the cutter +with a bag of bread, a beaker with about a quart of fresh water, and a +few bottles of brandy, which a bright and intelligent young midshipman, +Walter Edwards, greatly to his credit, as Mr. Traill the magistrate +observed at the Board of Trade Inquiry, managed to conceal from the +men after he had got on board. A few here and there could not see an +attempt being made to escape, notwithstanding its seemingly hopeless +character, without being desirous of joining in it. This lad, who was +on his first voyage out, said, that after the starboard pinnace had +been swamped, he heard Captain Martin earnestly dissuading a lady, Mrs. +Owen, from going in the port-cutter boat. He himself was talking with +Mrs. Owen when the Captain came up to where they were. She told him she +intended going, and had asked one of the men to take care of her and +her little child, and the man had promised to do so. Captain Martin, as +if he knew of the spirits that had been put on board the port cutter, +told her earnestly that there might be drunken seamen in the cutter, +and that she would only be exposing herself, perhaps, to a painful and +lingering death. + +“Captain Martin,” said the lad gently, “was quite calm and composed. +The only time I saw him give way was when he told Mrs. Owen that there +was no use in her going into the boat: his feelings then quite overcame +him, and he cried. All the officers of the ship worked well. The +sailing-master, Mr. Harris, was working all day on Monday and Tuesday +with his coat off, and Mr. Grant also behaved exceedingly well. They +were all attentive to duty, and had not lost their mind up to the time +when the ship went down. All the passengers, you could see, had death +in their faces.” + +“And what were your own thoughts, you brave young Walter?” + +“I felt for leaving my mother, but I did not feel any fear about going +down. I felt some fear on the Monday.” + +“But you got accustomed to it, I suppose?” + +“Yes.” + +“What else do you remember?” + +“About twenty persons stood watching King and Daniell getting the port +cutter ready; but King and Daniell induced them to go and try to launch +the port pinnace. Both went to help them to do so, but as soon as they +got them engaged at the pinnace, King and Daniell slipped away, and +were busy about their own boat again.” + +“And how did you get into the boat?” + +“I was in the mizen-shrouds. I asked King and Daniell would they allow +me in, and they said ‘Yes,’ and bid me jump. I did so. The fall was +about ten feet. Another midshipman was in the next shrouds, but he was +afraid to jump, and he went down with the ship.” + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE ANCHOR WITHIN THE VEIL. + + +Why was it, it is time to ask, that there was not a greater clamouring +after escape, both among passengers and crew? Why was it, that when all +on board knew that the ship was doomed, and that at any moment the deep +might open to swallow them up, there was not that wild delirium and +agony of despair which we have been accustomed to see associated with +such considerations? To understand this in some measure, we must take +a glance at what had transpired in the saloon of the vessel from the +commencement of the voyage. + +The saloon of the _London_ had been constructed with the strictest +regard to the comfort of her first-class passengers; nor had their +tastes been disregarded if they had any admiration of what was elegant +and chaste in workmanship. Here there would be throughout the voyage +a common meeting ground for members of the same class amongst ladies +and gentlemen; and here religious services would be conducted on the +Sabbath, at which all on board might be present. + +On the first Sunday out there was a religious service, and Dr. Woolley +associated with Mr. Draper in conducting it. Both these gentlemen were +known to each other, and, although belonging to different sections of +the church, had many friends in common, by some of whom, experienced in +similar voyages, the steamer in which they were to return to Australia, +and the cabins they had taken, were inspected and approved. From Mr. +Draper’s known characteristics it may be affirmed as a certainty, +although as yet no record of it has reached us, that as, on their very +first Sunday out, they encountered heavy weather,--a strong wind +having sprung up and a heavy sea,--he would find matter for religious +instruction applicable to their circumstances. And we cannot tell how +largely the divine blessing may have accompanied the religious services +of the day. If it be true that before the barren fig-tree is cut down, +the influences and means used to quicken it into life and fruitfulness +are more than doubled, may we not say that He to whom all things were +known, and who saw the end from the beginning, vouchsafed a more than +ordinary blessing to the gospel declared to more than two hundred who +were spending their last Sabbath on earth? + +On Monday, there being no abatement in the violence of the weather, +but, on the contrary, the storm rather heightening in force, the +ladies and passengers generally would keep their cabins, or meet for +conversation in the saloon. On Monday we know that many on board +felt more fear than they did on subsequent days when the first shock +of the tempest had worn away, and they had become accustomed to a +hurricane that never changed but for the worse. There were, we know, +several on board who had been professed Christians for years. There +was one who had, we believe, two brothers in the ministry, and who +was a spiritually-minded man himself. There was another who was the +son of a very distinguished Minister of Christ, and who was himself a +devoted Christian. There was a young woman who had just left service +in Suffolk, and who had written a letter while on board to a Christian +friend, which went to shew the reality of her religious life. There +were many who were in the habit of reading their Bibles daily. + +We mention these as types of the different classes composing the +passengers, and as illustrative of the fact, that over the vessel there +was spread a goodly number of persons who were not ashamed to own +their Lord, and who, when they saw the clouds of distress gathering +around their fellow-passengers, would be able, and, as we have heard, +would be certain to be all the more earnest and useful and kind in +proportion to the distress they saw exhibited. That during the fearful +gale which sprung up on Monday night there would be distress and fear +of the direst kind we make no doubt, but we gather comfort from the +fact, that the example and exhortations of the godly would not be +without their salutary and soothing influence. + +Directly, we hear nothing of Mr. Draper’s exertions until Wednesday, +from which time until the vessel went down he was incessant in his +ministrations; but, as we hear of groups of children looking up with +wonderment into the frightened faces of their mothers, of ladies +reading the Bible to each other, and of individual passengers turning +over its leaves as if in search of passages that would be suitable +to their condition, of husbands sustaining wives by their constant +presence,--we may be sure that the man who was as loving to his fellows +as he was faithful to his Master had already lost all thought of self +in the work of imparting consolation and instruction in the awful +circumstances in which those especially were placed who had now for the +first time to begin to think seriously of the claims of religion. + +“From all I have heard respecting him,” writes the Hon. Mr. McArthur, +“self seems to have been altogether lost sight of. Nor does it appear +that he paid any special attention to his beloved wife, to whom he was +most ardently and devotedly attached, but his whole heart and mind +seem to have been engaged in the great work of endeavouring to lead +those by whom he was surrounded to flee for refuge to the only hope set +before them.” Nor though we do not hear so much of Dr. Woolley as we +do of Mr. Draper throughout the appalling calamity, are we therefore +to suppose that he was untrue to his sacred calling, and to the loving +instincts of a very kindly heart. Had the facts of his life been before +us, we should doubtless have been able to speak of him with as much +length as we have of the Wesleyan preacher. One who evidently knew and +loved him has said, “Not much is said about him; but we know in what +manner he would die and help others to die. His public career may be +told in other ways, but this one word is in remembrance of the man +himself--the good man--John Woolley.” + +On Wednesday, as we have said, the testimony concerning Mr. Draper’s +efforts, and the results attending them, is clear and decisive. +Prayer and religious instruction had become general, and the saloon +was transformed into a sanctuary, from whence ascended the voice of +supplication and weeping to Him who was alone able to save. There were +earnest wrestlings of soul amongst those who felt themselves face to +face either with heaven or hell. It was hard to feel all at once that +they _must_ die, that there could be no escape. It was hard for the +newly-married of a week only to feel that all the joys and hopes of +life must be ruthlessly terminated. It was hard for all who had formed +their plans for the future, or who had just left in England those +whom they held so dear, or who had brought their little children out +with them intending to settle in a new home,--very hard for all to +be told with a decisiveness which there was no gainsaying, that they +_must_ die. And no wonder that in the first burst of agony which this +conviction brought with it, many gathered round the Minister, crying, +“Pray with me, Mr. Draper. Pray for me, Mr. Draper.” + +And he _did_ pray. Those who knew him have much to tell of his power in +prayer, of it being the effectual and fervent supplication of a man, +“who was as sure of answer as if voices from heaven told him he was +heard.” Happy indeed the man, who seeing death written in every face, +and surrounded by the weeping and conscience-stricken, had no time and +no disposition to care for himself, in the Christ-like work of caring +for others. As he drew nearer to Heaven, he had yet deeper fellowship +with the sufferings of that blessed Master he served, who, while +hanging upon the cross, had leisure to think of all wants but His own. +The Master saved others; Himself he could not save. + +All Wednesday, as we have seen, the storm raged with incessant fury. +The passengers below heard and felt with bated breath that tremendous +sea break over the vessel by which the cutter was stove in and the +starboard lifeboat carried away. The passengers in the saloon must have +felt the shock in all its terrible might, for it broke against their +quarter of the ship; and perhaps it was then, when all expected that +they were going down, that Mr. Draper was heard praying, “O God, may +those that are not converted be converted now--hundreds of them.” This +prayer went up again and again during that stormy day. + +Again there was a crash overhead, and those below heard to their dismay +that the main hatchway had been swept away. There was the rushing of +water heard pouring down into the engine room; there was the Captain’s +voice heard shouting through the storm, and the responsive cry of the +crew. “Prepare to meet your God. Prepare to meet your God!” This was +the solemn admonition of the minister throughout the day and night. + +At twelve o’clock that night there was a prayer-meeting in the saloon, +which was attended by all who could be spared from their duties on +deck. A marvellous meeting indeed it must have been, in which strong +cries and tears went up to Him whose word was pledged that He would not +turn away his ear from the voice of prayer; that He would listen to the +cry of the afflicted. + +And did He not listen? Did He not answer? We would humbly hope that +the prayers presented were not the offspring of mere natural terror, +but the utterances of broken and contrite spirits. On Thursday morning +a wondrous calmness had taken possession of all hearts. There were no +agonizing shrieks and screams, no delirious efforts to escape from +their doom. The prayer-meeting, and the prayers of the last three +days had done their work. Something stronger and holier than love of +mere natural life had taken possession of many hearts. Their’s was +the victory which had overcome death, even their faith. Not even when +the Captain entered the saloon, and sadly announced that there was +no hope, did their calmness and resignation forsake them. “Let us +pray,” Mr. Draper said, and then they quietly prayed by themselves. +Shortly afterwards the minister said with great kindliness, “Well, my +friends, our Captain tells us there is no hope, but the Great Captain +above tells us there is hope, and that we may all get safe to heaven.” +Blessed truth! we have no doubt that it went home to the hearts of +many. Friends began to take leave of friends, as if preparing for a +long journey. Husbands, wives, and children clung to each other as if +death itself should never divide them. And, clinging to each other, +and, we trust, to Christ, they calmly waited for the sea to swallow +them up, amid all the excitement of launching the port cutter. + +[Illustration: “CONSOLATION IN THE HOUR OF PERIL.”] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LAST WORDS. + + +At last, but with greater precaution than before, the port cutter was +launched, and got safely down. Six men were in her, but as she rose and +fell with the fury of the waves, and every moment appeared likely to +swamp, all felt the propriety of the Captain’s words, that in such a +sea there was but little chance for the boat. The command of the boat +belonged to Mr. Greenhill, as second engineer, and without loss of time +he was anxious that all who had determined to make one more desperate +struggle for life should hasten from the poor doomed ship. She was fast +settling down to the water’s edge; there was a fearful swirl of water +around her stern, and the cutter was in danger of being sucked down +into the whirlpool of the wreck. It was a leap for life in the case of +each one who jumped from the vessel, for the cutter seemed no more than +a piece of cork upon the tumultuous billows, and no wonder that many +paused and drew back in horror from a leap to what seemed nothing short +of instant death. + +It was while the ship was fast filling with water, and death every +moment drew nearer, that some last words were spoken that will never +be forgotten by the survivors, or by those to whom, in some instances, +they were sent. What were Mr. Draper’s last words? He had been +exhorting and praying, without intermission, for more than twelve +hours before the ship went down. Two of the survivors have a distinct +remembrance of him as they last saw him, about an hour before the +boat left. He was then in the saloon, and men and women were still +gathering around him, and saying, “O! Mr. Draper, pray for me!” The +last words these two survivors heard him utter were these: “Well, my +friends, our Captain tells us there is no hope, but the Great Captain +above tells us there is hope that we may all get safe to heaven.” + +Another saw him a few minutes before the boat pushed off, and his +testimony is that Mr. Draper was then heard exclaiming, “Prepare to +meet your God.” The devoted minister was calm and self-possessed, +although the corpses of women and children were floating over the +deck. His wife was with him: hand in hand they would go down together +into the deep, and together enter into the Father’s rest, in a very +few moments now. Patience a little longer. Mrs. Draper was a sharer in +her husband’s faith, calmness, and heroism; a noble co-operator with +him in all sweet deeds of self-sacrifice. It moves one to tears to +hear of her thoughtful care for others in that last dread moment. A +short time before the boat had left the vessel she handed her rug to +some of the sailors to help to keep them warm. “But what will you do +without it?” “It will only be for a few minutes longer,” is said to +have been her reply. There was, in this last act of hers, the simple, +quiet expression of what her life had been for many years--a life of +inobtrusive effort for the good of others. In the hour of awful peril, +when it would have only been womanly and natural for her to have +claimed her husband’s care and solicitude, we do not hear of her, for +a single moment, interrupting him in his sacred task. She herself, +doubtless, did what she could to help him in the work of imparting +spiritual instruction to those who were every moment expecting death. + +When Mr. Draper was last seen, and that was a few minutes before the +boat was cut away from the sinking ship, he was heard speaking with +deep emotion, but with the clear strong voice which naturally belonged +to the cheerful-hearted man--and that he was right through life--saying +these words; “Those of you who are not converted, now is the time; +not a moment to be lost, for in a few minutes we shall all be in the +presence of our Judge.” And again the word sounded, “Prepare to meet +your God.” These were the last words that he was heard to speak by any +who escaped, but doubtless, during the few minutes of life that yet +remained, he continued to comfort and exhort; and not, perhaps, until +the cold waters closed around him, did he give himself leisure to pray +for himself, perhaps saying, “Father, into thy hands I commend my +spirit.” + +Peace be to his sweet and precious memory! Although no monument marks +the spot in the vast cemetery of the deep where his ashes repose, the +place of his sepulture is well known to Him by whose mysterious hand he +was buried, and in the appointed hour the sea shall give up its dead, +and he shall be found in his place at the end of the days. Death to +him had not come untimely. Thousands will bewail his loss, because it +is theirs, not his. For him to die was exceeding gain. He had less of +earth only to have more of heaven. Through the tempest and the flood +he found an earlier passage to immortality than his love of labour in +the Master’s vineyard allowed him to anticipate; but it is all well, +because ordained by Him whose way is in the sea, whose path is in the +great waters, and whose footsteps are not known. + +There were other last words spoken while the little boat was being +held to the ship’s side with all the energy of despair. Mr. Munro, +a passenger, had made up his mind to try the faint chance of escape +which entering the cutter afforded. All felt that escape was next to +impossible, and Mr. Munro among the rest. Before leaving the vessel, +however, he went down to the cabin where were some friends of his +from Ballarat, Mr. and Mrs. Hickman and their young family. It was +a terrible task even to make the proposition that he had come to +make known: it was that there was room in the boat for one! It was +impossible that the poor children could escape; not one of them could +be expected to take the fearful leap required; nor could Mrs. Hickman; +but her husband,--he could escape, perhaps, if he would, and if the +boat did live out the fearful sea, he might be saved. Mr. Munro urged +his friend to avail himself of the chance. + +But no! Mr. Hickman had no need to look at his wife and four little +ones, around whom the water was rapidly rising higher and higher, ere +he gave the answer. The water was then a considerable depth in the +saloon on the lee side, as the fond husband and tender father replied +to his friend’s entreaty thus:--“No! I promised my wife and children +to stay by them, and I will do so!” Brave determination, one never to +be regretted by him who made it, never to be forgotten while tales of +heroism have any power left in them to move human hearts to enthusiasm +and tears. His choice, though a melancholy, was the right one, and his +friend acted kindly in not further attempting to divert him from it. + +“Help me,” said Mr. Hickman, “to move the children to the other side, +out of the water.” + +Mr. Munro performed this last act of kindness for his friends: they +then shook hands. The last words of that fond father were, “Good bye, +Jack!” + +His friend then left him for ever. But will he ever lose,--alas! alas! +will any one who reads the story ever lose sight of the vision of +that loving father and mother, with their four children, standing in a +row to the windward side of the saloon, and thus momentarily expecting +death! + +Peace, poor weeping mother and devoted father! Peace, ye dear helpless +children! There is One on high whose voice of love is mightier than the +voice of many waters, and we humbly hope that those parents, with many +others in a similar position of peril, passed through the sharpness of +death into His presence, who would smile upon them a welcome, the first +glance of which would for ever banish the remembrance of pain, as they +cried, “Behold us, and the children thou hast given us!” + +But there were more last words yet. Upon seeing Mr. Munro return alone, +the men in the boat shouted to him, “There is still room: fetch a +lady!” Hearing this, he sprang across a portion of the deck in quest of +a lady whom he knew; but not seeing her, and knowing that the moments +were flying fast, he said to a young girl, “Will you go?” She appeared +willing to do so, and Mr. Munro immediately caught her in his arms, +and hurried with her to the bulwarks; but when she looked over and saw +the distance she had to leap, she said, in an agony of despair, “Oh, I +cannot do that!” + +The boat seemed every moment as if it would go down amid the terrific +roll of the sea, and she drew back in affright from the awful gulf that +appeared yawning to receive her. Mr. Munro was obliged to drop his +hapless burden, and to leave the young creature on the deck, while he +himself leaped from the bulwarks into the rolling boat below. + +There was one young man on board, in whose spiritual welfare a +clergyman in the suburbs of London had taken deep interest before he +embarked on his fatal voyage. The young man had remained undecided for +Christ, notwithstanding all entreaties and appeals; but ere he went +on board the _London_ his friend the clergyman had implored him to +offer up daily a prayer which he had given him. Neither, perhaps, could +have possibly dreamed of the circumstances of peril under which that +prayer would come to be used. There came now some last words from that +young man. Amid the raging of the storm, he shouted out to one who was +in the boat--“If ever you get safe to land, tell Mr. ---- (mentioning +the clergyman’s name) that the prayer he gave me I have used every day +since; and that now I can say of Christ, ‘My Beloved is mine, and I am +His.’” These were _his_ last words; but how much happier--brief though +they were--have they made many a Christian heart, telling, as we humbly +hope they do, that the speaker had escaped the second death, and that +the haven of eternal rest was in sight. + +There was a young girl on board whose last words were not spoken, but +written. Was she the one of whom we read as standing bareheaded in +the wild storm, with holy resignation depicted in every feature? She +hurriedly wrote a few words on a slip of paper, and said to one who was +about to leap into the boat, “Give this to my mother.” Her last wish +was sacredly obeyed, and there came to a mourning mother this serene +message from one who had gone down in a stormy sea--“Dear mother, you +must not grieve for me: I am going to Jesus.” + +Miss Brooker, of Pimlico, spoke her last words, and they were those +of quiet resignation to the will of God. We hear of her, during those +days and nights of fearful suspense, doing what she could to soothe +a fellow-passenger whose mind at times seemed on the very verge of +delirium, the absence of which among the passengers generally, while +it is matter of devoutest gratitude, is also matter of greatest +wonder,--unless explained by the presence of Him who walketh upon +the wings of the wind, and who, in answer to prayer, was shedding +abroad in many hearts a tranquillity so deep and hallowed as to be +beyond the reach of the wildest tempest. As the end drew rapidly +near, Miss Brooker clasped her hands, and was heard to say, as if to +herself,--but, oh! there was One by that heard all that was said during +that awful last hour,--“Well, I have done all that I could; I can do no +more!” + +Nothing now, except trust, and hope for the life beyond this troubled +one. Nothing now, but to make the most of those exhortations which, +with trumpet-clearness, rise every now and then above the howling of +the gale--“There is hope that we may ALL get safe to heaven. Those of +you who are not converted, now is the time: not a moment to be lost, +for in a few minutes we shall all be in the presence of our Judge.” + +There were more last words still, and they were those of Mr. G. V. +Brooke. Only a few days before,--on the 23rd of December,--he had +sustained the character of Richard the Third. The walls were not +placarded with the announcement, “The last appearance of Mr. G. V. +Brooke upon any stage,” but they might have been so; and how would the +hundreds who listened to his farewell address that night have felt, +could they have caught the double meaning which the opening sentences +of that address contained, at least as we read it now? + +The actor was in painful ill-health, and his subsequent heroism on +board the foundering _London_ derives additional interest from the +fact. His last words at Belfast were these:--“_Ladies and Gentlemen, +with this night finishes my professional career in Belfast for a long, +very long time to come._ I fervently trust, by the favour of the One +Providence, that I may at some distant time be enabled to return +to a town which I, in a measure, look on as my home, where I may +professionally or unprofessionally, mingle with my friends in Belfast +again. I now take an affectionate farewell of you all, wishing from my +heart continued prosperity to this magnificent city.” + +These were his last words on any stage. A few days later, and he was +bearing his part in no mimic tragedy,--in a conflict which, in its +way, was far more appalling than the battle of Bosworth Field in which +Richard fell. As we watch the closing scene of the poor actor’s life, +one cannot have a heart and remain unmoved or silent in the presence of +the man who, in weak health and with painful hoarseness, did the work +of many men combined during those despairing days. Did the hundreds who +listened to him in Belfast catch any prophetic hint in the mimic agony +with which he delivered the death speech of Richard? + + “I have set my life upon a cast, + And I will stand the hazard of the die!” + +The time had come, when, in reality, there was no earthly means of +escape, and, seeing that all his exertions were useless, he rested +upon one of the half-doors of the companion, and, bareheaded to the +storm, gave himself up to reflection. His last words to man were to the +steward, “If you succeed in saving yourself, give my farewell to the +people of Melbourne;” but who shall say what words were addressed to +Him who was alone able to deliver, during those four hours in which he +was observed to continue in a musing attitude. + +Strangely enough, there were last words spoken, which, upon being +repeated by the survivor to whom they were addressed, will doubtless +carry a value which, had the speaker known, would much have soothed +him during his closing hours of life. A son was on board the _London_, +who, with death staring him in the face, thought tenderly of the old +man his father, whose declining years would have been rendered all the +happier for possessing money that must now, as the speaker thought, +sink with him, and be lost. Among the second cabin passengers were two, +Mr. Munro and Mr. Eastwood, who had been acquainted previous to the +voyage. As the little boat was being filled with all it could hold, +Eastwood, addressing his fellow-passenger, said, “Well, Jack, I think +we are going to go.” “I think we are, Eastwood.” “Well, we cannot help +it,” the other went on. “There’s only one thing I regret about it: of +a draft for 500_l._ on the Bank of Victoria, Ballarat, I only received +20_l._, which I gave to the Captain, in the office of Money Wigram and +Co. I should have liked my poor father to have got the balance.” These +were the last words of a son, who soon after perished in the waves, +but his friend escaped, remembering exactly the words which filial +tenderness had inspired. + +There were some last words spoken which we cannot record, words of +the sufferers to each other, and words addressed to Him whose ear is +never heavy to the cry of distress. Husbands and wives, parents and +children, friends and acquaintances,--what words of farewell passed +amongst these! What last words of prayer mingled even with the sighs of +death! With what tender compassion and sympathy have those been thought +of whose _heroic actions_ on board the doomed ship were the last words +that will be sacredly cherished in the loving memory of those who knew +them. The picture of that brave young officer, Mr. Angell, standing to +his post to the last at the donkey-engine, which was used in working +the pumps, calmly keeping there while the billows thundered their +spray around him, and going down into the dark whirling water with his +hands still on the engine;--this is a picture which no artist, however +gifted, can paint strong and beautiful enough for us. It was his last +sermon--and how eloquent was it--to all the young officers of our Navy +upon a sense of duty, making him who possesses it superior to all +thoughts of danger. + +There was something, too, inexpressibly touching in the incident of +that aged couple who had three children with them, who had been wrecked +already twice in their attempting to get to Melbourne, now being on +board the sinking ship, and being swept overboard before the final +hour came. Among the passengers, also, we read of two stout old people +who had become favourites on board, and who had been sent for by an +only son. The son will expect them at Melbourne: alas! how many will +be expected there who will never arrive thither. One’s heart quivers +in anticipation of the sorrow into which multitudes will be plunged. +When the poor aged couple knew that there was no chance of escape, they +simply took each other by the hand, and went down into the cabin to die +together. + +But come there no last words from the gallant Captain, who, since +Sunday, has had no sleep, and who has not even changed his clothes? +Where is he while farewells are being exchanged, while the little boat +is being filled with all it can hold, and while his beautiful vessel, +which once seemed to walk the waters like a thing of life, is so fast +filling, that her bulwarks nearly touch the water? + +We catch glimpses of him several times while the boat is being lowered, +and while it is being filled with sixteen of the crew and three +passengers, and at all times we see him at the post of duty, and doing +his best. About an hour, perhaps, before the getting away of the boat +from the ship, Mr. Jones, the chief engineer, was between decks near +the engine-room. The ship was then labouring in the trough of the sea, +and was in a most disabled condition. He ran up between decks, and met +Captain Martin for the last time, who was going in the direction of the +saloon. + +“Well, Mr. Jones, how do you feel?” was his question. + +“Not well, Sir,” was the reply: “I took it that he referred to my +condition of mind and not to the accident I had met with. I saw no +more of him after that. I saw nothing but the ship going down after +that. When I left the ship the passengers had given up all hope, but +there was a remarkable composure amongst them, and no loud sounds to be +heard. I heard voices engaged in preaching and praying.” + +Mr. Jones was the last man who leaped into the boat: he leaped and got +into her as she rose with the sea, and the sea rose so high that he had +scarcely any distance to jump from the gunwale. Before, however, the +first engineer leaped into the boat it had already been gradually and +carefully filled, as we have seen, with members of the crew and with +three passengers. Mr. Greenhill, the second engineer, was supposed, +from his position, to be officer of the cutter, and he took command of +her. “Get into the boat,” the Captain had said among his last words; +“there is not much chance for the boat; there is none for the ship. +Your duty is done; mine is to remain here. Get in and take command of +the few it will hold.” His command had been obeyed, and now the only +chance for the nineteen in the boat was to get as quickly away from the +ship as possible, for the ship was being washed over to the boat, and +she was in great danger of being sucked down, as we have said, with the +sinking vessel. Before pushing off, the men in the boat shouted to the +Captain to join them. + +“No,” he replied: “I will go down with the passengers. Your course is +E.N.E. to Brest, and”--throwing them a compass--“I wish you God speed, +and safe to land.” + +These were the last words the survivors heard fall from the lips of +John Bohun Martin; but at that moment there came a fearful last word +from the deck of the sinking vessel. A lady, with horror on every +feature, shrieked out most piteously, “A thousand guineas if you will +take me in.” + +But if she had offered the whole world there could have been no +response to her cry. The boat, which had been hastily cut away, was +already some yards distant, and to return would have been certain +death to all, who, as it was, had not in their own minds the slightest +hope of escaping. About five minutes afterwards, and when they had got +eighty or ninety yards, they looked towards the ship, and saw that +she was going down stern foremost. The wind at this time was raging +so violently that the men in the boat could not hear each other when +eagerly shouting. It was with a kind of dumb wonderment that they saw +what transpired. As the ship sunk it was seen that all on deck were +driven forward, not by water, but by a tremendous and overpowering rush +of air from below, which, as it escaped through the deck as well as the +hatches, impelled all on deck forward with violence, and their dreadful +struggle must have been, therefore, soon over! + +In a single moment the men in the boat seemed to take in at a glance +all that transpired on board. They saw the stem of the vessel rise so +high, that her keel was completely out of water as far as the foremast. +The boatswain, the butcher, the baker, and the purser’s mate, it is +said, had resolved to attempt their escape in the remaining boat +over the cuddy, which was already provisioned and launched; but no +sooner were these men ready to put off, than the sinking vessel sank +beneath them, making, in her descent, a very whirlpool of angry and +confounding waters, and the escaping ones in the cutter saw their +comrades swallowed up quickly and disappear with the lost ship. They +saw young Angell going down while standing at his old post of duty: for +a moment they saw two men with life-belts struggling amid mountains of +water: they rose with the waves, and then descended into the deep, deep +grave which the sea formed for them, and then not a trace of men or of +ship was to be seen! The gale thundered so furiously, that if there +was a cry from the sinking ship, it was not heard. Once more to the +bottom of the Bay of Biscay had gone a noble ship and valuable cargo; +but O! saddest of all, more than two hundred forms, that a few days +before had been seen sitting in mirth and friendliness around many an +English fireside, had gone down too. And once more the billows rolled +on, curling their monstrous heads, as if in contempt of the beings who +would seek to master them when once they rose in their terrible might +and majesty. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LIGHT BEHIND THE CLOUD. + + +Was there such a light? It was one of the saddest of calamities, +desolating at a stroke many a bright home, and nipping in the bud some +of the fondest hopes and purposes. Was there such a light? The disaster +swept away two hundred and twenty lives, around which many other lives +twined like the gentle tendrils of a vine, and who will, perhaps, +wither now that the props to which they sweetly clung have been torn +ruthlessly away. + +Was there such a light? The aged and the young went down together into +the same grave. The infant child of four months old was dashed far away +from the sinking mother’s breast, and heroism of the loftiest type +received no higher reward than the dullest, basest cowardice. + +Was there such a light? The refined scholar, for whom his pupils +wait--the tender father, for whom a widow and six children, with only +slender means for their support, anxiously look out--the gently strong +John Woolley has gone down into the deep, and the sea has taken no more +account of his worth and power than it has of the fool. + +Was there such a light? Captain Martin has gone; the man who fearlessly +traversed the ocean for years, who had often smiled at danger, and had +gone between Melbourne and London until the path was as clear to him as +the turnpike-road to the waggoner. The gentle, courageous good man will +never more be greeted by his relatives, and the wide circle of friends +who loved him will see him no more. + +Was there such a light? Daniel Draper is lost to the church and to his +only son; his brethren in the ministry will no longer be able to depend +upon his wise suggestions; and souls unnumbered are still white unto +harvest, while the successful reaper suddenly drops his sickle, and +will gather in no more sheaves. + +Was there such a light? and in what quarter of the heavens did it glow +behind the great darkness in which the good ship went down into the +whirlpool of destruction with 220 lives on board? + +There was such a light, and we have no doubt of its beaming over this +dark catastrophe still,--the light which shines through the words, + + GOD IS LOVE. + +That those who now most need the light of this truth to guide them will +see even the faintest glimmering of it, we cannot say; but when the +blindness occasioned by the smart of tears has cleared away, we are +sure, that if they will look up there will be the truth mildly shining +behind the calamity, dark though it be. The mystery, appalling though +it be, can, in this world, receive no truer solution, but a lifetime +may pass away without our even having learnt the letters by which the +truth is to be slowly spelt out. + +But while the mystery remains, the calamity loses much of its horror, +if we lay to heart the truth of the over-ruling providence of God. “It +is appointed unto man once to die,” and the Omnipotent one has ordained +the place, the time, the circumstances. Good and faithful servants +were in the ship, and the summons that told them their way unto the +Lord’s presence was through the deep, brooked no delay; but the road +was not half so strange to them as it seems to us. Before their eyes +a light was shining which is hidden from our view, and by it they were +conducted to their Father’s house as serenely as if they had breathed +their last on downy pillows. Down into the great deep they plunged, and +then? + +In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they had left their sea-soaked +raiment behind them, and they were at rest amid the blessed calm +on which no tempest shall ever, ever, ever break. A rich feast was +awaiting their arrival; bright and happy faces were around the board +to welcome the guests who had come through the flood and tempest; and +God Himself wiped away all tears from off all faces, and the voice of +eternal love thrilled their hearts as it whispered, “There shall be no +_more_ death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any +more pain, for the former things are passed away.” + +Oh! could we think a little more of this scene beyond the flood, and +less of the terrible shipwreck, we should assuredly catch glimpses of +the light behind the cloud. From the eternal shore the voices of the +faithful reach our world, saying, “Men of England, men of Melbourne, +weep not for us, for we have all got safe to land; and the land is +good, and, behold we were not told the half concerning it. See to it, +that ye prepare to follow us in the way our Father sees best.” + +But through the sea? Yes, for the sea is his, and He made it; and God +may use it as He did in the case before us, not as a minister of wrath, +but of mercy, to conduct his chosen ones to Himself. + +But through all the agony which preceded the struggle, and through such +a struggle? + +Yes; if that too be the Divine will, for who was it that for our sakes +chose the saddest and most lingering of deaths? and who, in the anguish +of a fast breaking heart, cried,“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken +me!” + +But let us say that friends and relations are in danger of making by +far too much of the agony, and not enough of the heavenly help that +came to the shipwrecked ones, to enable them “to suffer and be strong.” + +We believe in the superiority of Divine grace to the mere natural +feeling of pain and anguish, and that when Divine strength nerves the +soul, the keenest physical tortures are all outside things. The martyrs +of old could without pretence woo the flames that consumed them, clothe +themselves cheerfully as with a garment of fire; and while the chain +around him grew red hot, one could talk of his dying thus, as if he +were on a bed of roses! And He who for some inscrutable but all-wise +and loving purpose permitted the calamity of the shipwreck, may have +thus supported his servants, and deprived them of agony as He had +previously deprived them of fear--the greater agony of the two. + +Is there not also a light behind the cloud, when the fact is called to +mind how faithfully the gospel was preached, and how fervently most +of those on board engaged in acts of devotion? There have been scenes +of horror on board shipwrecked vessels which baffle all description, +when it has been made known that the ship must go down. Then, shouts of +cursing, despair, and drunken revelry have been heard above the fury of +the gale, and mocked the very groans of the dying. + + “Then rose from sea to sea the wild farewell, + Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave.” + +But on board the sinking _London_, amidst the storm, the gospel was +preached, earnest prayers presented, the Bible read, and anxiety for +the soul experienced. All as yet at least were in the place of hope on +which the gospel ladder was planted, the top whereof touched heaven. +They had not passed away to the region where faith would be impossible, +and from whence there could be no escape. The way of salvation was +singly pointed out to them again and again. They were not, we may be +sure, burdened with details and theories, but the simple yet glorious +truth was proclaimed, “Here is a Saviour waiting to save you, believe +in Him and be saved. You are a sinner, but He died for sinners; you are +the very one He came to seek; trust yourself entirely to Him; turn with +a holy hatred and grief from your sins, and rely upon his promise to +save you, if you only this moment, with all your heart, ask Him to do +so.” + +And we may believe, and we ought to believe, that the gospel does not +only _offer_ immediate salvation, but that Christ does grant it to +every man who penitently asks His help. The gospel preached during the +storm was not, “Repent and believe the gospel, and you shall be saved +at some future day;” the promise was, “You shall be saved _now_, and +this day, though thy body may go to the bottom of the sea, thou shalt +be with Christ in Paradise.” Poor sinking one, only believe, and thou +shalt see the glory of God. + +There is light behind the cloud indeed, in the remembrance that such +a gospel was proclaimed hour by hour; and in the conviction we also +cherish that many believed it, gave themselves up to the influence of +its promises and encouragements, and were so filled with faith in Him +who had died to put away their sins and open the kingdom of heaven to +them, that they were not afraid to die, seeing not death but heaven +before them. + + “Where all the ship’s company meet, + Who sailed with the Saviour beneath; + With shouting each other they greet, + And triumph o’er trouble and death. + The voyage of life’s at an end, + The mortal affliction is past, + The age that in heaven they spend, + For ever and ever shall last.” + +“And so,” doubtless it will be said, “you want to make them all +religious, before the ship went down?” We would, indeed, kind reader, +that we could cherish this hope concerning all, for then the light +behind the cloud would increase in brightness every day. As sinful men +opposed to God we would have had all on board believers in the Great +Reconciler, who can make both one, and fill the souls of those who +trust Him with the most blessed assurance that there is no longer any +gulf of separation between them. Where there is this faith there is no +fear, neither of dying, nor of what lies beyond death. + +And, reader, in the hour that is before thee, as surely as it was +before those that went down in the Bay of Biscay, it is only this faith +in Christ that can impart courageous strength to thine own spirit, and +solid consolation to the mourners who will presently bewail thee gone. +If thou hast it, thou wilt go thy journey undismayed, while the heaven, +to which thou art gone will shine brightly behind the cloud, and tell +those who grieve thine absence most, that they need not sorrow as those +who have no hope. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE ESCAPE. + + +Nineteen persons had entered the port cutter. These consisted of the +second and third engineers, one fireman, the boatswain’s mate, the +quartermaster, the carpenter’s mate, the steward, the boatswain’s boy, +five able seamen, and three passengers. They had received their course +from the now drowned Captain--N.N.E. to Brest, which was 190 miles +distant, and they had compasses on board. Under the direction of King, +the men agreed, that whatever might happen they would sit immoveable, +except when pulling at the oars. Two worked at each oar, and they ran +before the sea. Both Daniell and King deserve the highest praise for +their skill in steering the feeble craft over the raging waters, but it +was pleasant to find them both modest and seamanlike in all they said +about it. + +“I believe you took charge of the boat, didn’t you, Daniell?” + +“Well, I pulled an oar sometimes, and sometimes steered. I took no +particular charge of the boat, but I gave my opinion and advice now and +then.” + +“But you took a little of the lead?” + +“Well, I did. Others also gave their opinion.” + +Among the “others” who gave counsel was John King. + +“How did you manage to steer?” + +“Chiefly by the ‘pointers’ to the N.E.” + +[Illustration: JOHN KING.] + +It was a fearful struggle for life that the brave seamen now engaged +in, as, with parched lips and every nerve strained to its highest pitch +of tension, they rose and fell with the green waves still running +mountains high. It seemed almost hopeless to attempt to withstand any +longer the fury of the sea, which broke over them in angry surges. As +we have said, they had but a quart of water on board, and the bottles +of spirits. It was a fortunate thing that young Edwards succeeded in +getting hold of these and concealing them, for the probability is, that +had the seamen given way to drink in their then excited state, raving +delirium would have set in, and cutter and crew would soon have been +at the bottom. The lad shall tell his own story, and he is worthy of +lasting honour and remembrance for his part in it. + +“Daniell agreed to be our hammock man. He sat by me and was pulling the +bow-oar. There was a bag of biscuits weighing two cwt., two bottles of +brandy, and two of champagne, some turnips and carrots, in the boat. +There was some water also on board, but it was thrown out. I picked +up three of the bottles and put them under my coat. Mr. Greenhill and +Daniell knew I had them, but the others did not.” + +“Your conduct was very commendable,” said Mr. Traill, “and you did +quite right in trying to keep the bottles of spirit away from the men. +You have begun your career unfortunately, but I hope you may hereafter +succeed as you deserve to do.” + +Thursday night came on, and the boat still drifted before the wind, +and about three o’clock the next morning a regular green sea broke +over them and nearly half filled the boat. One of the passengers baled +out the water constantly, and after the green sea came in the water +was baled out with a bucket and cans. Before daylight, and as the +moon rose, the men saw a vessel close alongside. They hailed her with +all their might, and were heard by those on board; but as they could +present no light they could not be seen, although they could see the +ship tacking about for an hour trying to find them. The search was +fruitless, and to their utter disappointment the ship was lost sight +of. The men adhered to their course, and about nine o’clock sighted two +vessels, but could not get near them on account of the cross seas. They +rowed for one of them, however, for nearly five hours, and upon getting +within hail she proved to be an Italian barque, the _Marianople_. +The boat was very near filling when they were within twenty yards of +her. They were struck by a heavy squall, so that all in the boat gave +themselves up for lost. In consequence of the excitement on board--who +can wonder at it?--they did not succeed in clearing one of the seas; +but by only one of the men moving in the boat to bale her out, they +were enabled to bale her clear, and a log line being thrown them from +the barque, one by one they were drawn up on deck! The young midshipman +Edwards was drawn on board by men who caught him by the collar of his +coat. + +The shipwrecked were in a most benumbed and perishing state, but the +master of the barque, Captain Cavasa, treated them with the greatest +kindness. The generous Italian could speak but little English, but +his deeds have spoken so forcibly that Englishmen will be long before +they forget his kind-heartedness. By his orders the men were stripped +and rubbed, and clad in fresh warm garments. The good captain killed a +turkey for them, besides providing tea and soup, and setting apart for +them warm beds. After treating them with every kindness, he landed them +at Falmouth, from which port the story of their marvellous escape, and +the loss of so many precious lives in the _London_, flashed with the +speed of the telegraph throughout the length and breadth of the land, +producing everywhere grief and consternation unspeakable. + +The following is the list of those saved:-- + +John Greenhill, engineer; John Jones, second engineer; John Armour, +third engineer; Thomas Brown, fireman; W. M. Edwards, midshipman; +D. T. Smith, boatswain’s mate; Wm. Daniell, quartermaster; John King, +Benjamin Shield, Richard Lewis, James Gough, Edwin Quin, William +Grimes, seamen; A. G. White, boatswain’s boy; William Hart, Carpenter’s +mate; Edward Gardner, second-class steward; D. G. Main, passenger; John +Munro, passenger; J. E. Wilson, passenger. + +It is a remarkable fact, moreover, that the _London_ is the first +ship belonging to the famous house of Money Wigram and Sons to which +any serious casualty has occurred. In a century’s experience, Messrs. +Wigram have enjoyed a perfect immunity from loss, with the single +exception of the _True Briton_, which belonged to a former generation +of the firm, and foundered early in the present century in the same +fatal bay. + +But in a chapter treating of those who escaped from the wreck of the +_London_, those must not be forgotten who narrowly escaped the doom +which fell upon so many in the Bay of Biscay. + +Some hair-breadth escapes in connection with this disaster are well +known. A lady who was desirous of proceeding from Plymouth with her +family to Melbourne by the _London_, had made repeated pressing +applications to the owner’s agents at Plymouth, and the Captain had +been consulted, but, fortunately for the applicant, had declared +that his cabins were so full that he could not possibly accommodate +her, a result that, at that time, caused her much disappointment. A +second-class male passenger was so alarmed at the rough weather which +the _London_ encountered on her way down to Plymouth, that immediately +on her arrival at that port he came ashore, resigned his passage, and +went back to his home, thus unwittingly saving his life. A young man, +as the result of some family quarrel, left his home, and took a passage +by the _London_. He was advertised for, and importuned to return, his +friends being unaware of his whereabouts. Messengers were sent down to +Plymouth, and an influential ship’s broker in the town was employed +to intercept him should he attempt to sail thence. Fortunately he +was detected amongst the passengers of the _London_, and his family +communicated with by the broker, the result of which was that a brother +of the young man came down to Plymouth, and persuaded the would-be +emigrant to forego his voyage. + +May those who escaped the voyage by the doomed vessel, as well as those +who got safe to land from the wreck, feel the solemnity of that life +which has thus been so marvellously rescued from a watery grave. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THINGS REMEMBERED IN THE STORM. + + +A few things were remembered in the storm, to which, when we have +called the reader’s attention, our task is ended. THE BIBLE was read +in the storm. Doubtless the passengers had with them many books to +relieve the tedium of a long voyage, but good as these books might have +been, it was not from these that they sought to derive instruction +and comfort in the hour of peril. They opened their Bibles, many of +them were seen in groups reading it together, or sitting by themselves +turning over its pages, as if in search after some passage which had +been forgotten, and the meaning of which was specially important then. +They read the Bible during the most solemn hour of their existence, +and when they knew that their moments were numbered, and whilst in the +midst of a scene which its own pages have so magnificently described. + +“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great +waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. +For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the +waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the +depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, +and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they +cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their +distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are +still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them +unto their desired haven.” + +That storm-tossed vessel, with her sinking passengers, has furnished +no insignificant testimony to the preciousness of the Book which too +many criticise as if it were the foe and not the friend of humanity. +The picture of those passengers going down with their Bibles in their +hands will be a sweeter one for the memory to treasure, than all the +results of anatomical critics. And Oh surely! it will teach its lessons +to those who are content to live in the neglect of, or in direct +opposition to, the Book which in such an hour was appealed to, and not +in vain. + +Nor must it be forgotten that, on board the sinking _London_, the +passengers attached the greatest possible importance to prayer. +They prayed for themselves, and they besought an interest in the +intercessions of others. During those wasting days and nights of +lingering suspense they continued in prayer: it was their only comfort, +and they went down into the deep with the voice of supplication upon +their lips. Does not this teach its own solemn lesson to the prayerless +who may read these pages? Does it not tell of a value in prayer beyond +all the arguments that may be used against it, or even in favour of +it? Those brave men and women, praying bareheaded to the storm, and +going down into the wild waves calmly trusting in God’s goodness +still;--shall not this last touching act of theirs convey an appeal to +the prayerless which there can be no resisting? Shall it not say in +tones of entreaty that cannot be withstood, “Seek ye the Lord while He +may be found, call ye upon Him while he is near?” Close to your heart +with its deepest needs there stands a throne of mercy from which every +imaginable good can be obtained: turn to that throne, be you in lane, +highway, or open street, when this commandment reaches you, and seek +salvation in the name of Christ, and you shall not seek in vain. + +Finally, on board the sinking _London_, the greatest attention was paid +to a preached gospel. A preacher is not unfrequently heard enforcing +his appeals to the undecided by the solemn words, “I speak as a dying +man to dying men.” In Mr. Draper’s case the words were literally true, +and they had all the pathos and hold of last words that might at any +moment be stopped by the overwhelming flood: and how the passengers +listened! How important seemed every word then with either heaven or +hell coming nearer and nearer with every inch of water rising in the +engine-room! + +Ah! could those on land, and out of the reach, as they think, of such a +calamity as shipwreck, but feel, that slowly yet surely up to them is +advancing the hour in which all earthly interests will be as nothing, +and the concerns of the soul all important, how would they now value +the privilege of a preached gospel, and every instrumentality by which +they can learn more of themselves and of spiritual things! A little +while, and the last hour of every one who reads these lines will have +come, and will be felt to be the last. How wilt thou meet it, reader? + +It has been said, that in that last hour, no matter how aged the dying +one, the memory awakes to its keenest power, and there passes before +the mind a vivid diorama of all life’s doings. Events and circumstances +seemingly long buried, suddenly leap into life, and it well nigh +startles one to listen to the remembrances that come and go through the +fast-darkening chambers of the brain. Slowly dying on the pillow before +us, lies one whose head is silent with age, and the grey dawn of an +eternal morning is stealing over his features; but glancing brightly +through the haze of death, there come to him visions of his long, long +past; of the home of his childhood, of the bride of his youth, of the +events of his riper age and manhood, until in a single hour he seems +to live all his life over again. + +Oh! it will be sad to remember, in such an hour, a neglected Bible, +a throne of grace despised, and a gospel of mercy refused. It will +be sad to remember, that even such a calamity as the wreck of the +_London_ produced no serious impression, and no turning of the head +towards heaven. If the things which the sinking passengers remembered +during the storm are remembered by you now,--if their deep importance +is laid to heart by all whose feelings have been touched by the +disaster,--then, terrible though it has been, it will not have occurred +in vain. It will have come in mercy to those who, in circumstances of +fancied security, are not prepared to die. To such the voice of the +sinking minister crying, even from the drowning wave, “Prepare to meet +your God,” will not have come in vain. + + +THE END. + +[Illustration] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +The narrative which we have here given of the Wreck of the _London_ +was written pending the inquiry instituted by the Board of Trade to +arrive, if possible, at the cause of the melancholy catastrophe. It +is to be regretted that the inquiry, though it lasted many days, has +not added much to the information that was given to the public by +the survivors upon their landing at Plymouth. No discovery has been +made as to the real cause which brought about the melancholy event, +although it is hardly possible to conceive any question of more serious +importance to the public mind. The evidence given at the inquiry was +by no means satisfactory. On the one hand, those directly connected +with the owners gave their evidence, and on the other hand, there was +the testimony of the Emigration Inspectors who had passed the ship, +and who could not be expected to stultify themselves by a new judgment +of her seaworthiness. But against this testimony of ship-builders and +inspectors has been placed the evidence of those who declare that the +ship was in disgracefully bad trim, and, as will be seen among the +slips that were picked up in bottles that were cast away on the morning +of the wreck, there was one which says that the vessel was too heavily +laden. Great dissatisfaction has been expressed, and it has even been +made a subject of discussion in the House of Commons, that Mr. Traill, +the magistrate before whom the Board-of-Trade inquiry was conducted, +did not permit Counsel to cross-examine witnesses on behalf of those +who have lost relatives: but it seems that there really was no power +under the Act of Parliament to admit of such cross-examination. The +tonnage, measurement, and steam-power of the ship, together with the +names of her owners, the nature and quantity of her cargo, were stated +before the Court. We heard again the story of her voyage from the Docks +to Gravesend, and from Gravesend to Plymouth, and from Plymouth to the +Bay of Biscay. There was no charge made against Captain Martin, and +no one dreamed of imputing negligence or incapacity to so experienced +a seaman. The evidence of the official surveyors and other experts +examined by the Court of Inquiry as to the construction and fittings +of the _London_ was, on the whole, decidedly in favour of her perfect +seaworthiness. In the opinion of the Court, the immediate cause of her +loss was the sea getting into the engine-room and extinguishing the +fires; but the Court did not venture upon any positive conclusions as +to whether the action of the sea carried away the skylight over the +engine hatchway, or whether the skylight was properly secured. It did +not appear in evidence that the fastenings of the skylight were not +properly secured, and it was distinctly stated that the hatchway was +perfectly battened down. There were several points in the evidence as +regards the occurrences at sea--such as the carrying away the masts and +booms, the delay in clearing away the wreck, the loss of the boats, and +other matters relating to the management of the ship--which might have +been more satisfactorily explained had the lamented Captain, or any +of the officers of the ship, survived to explain them. In the absence +of such explanation, it is but reasonable to give Captain Martin +the credit for the character he always possessed, of being an able +and careful seaman, who would not be guilty of any great default of +management. + +For ourselves, we can hardly believe that the ship was in the +disgraceful condition that some represent her to have been, unless we +are ready to assume that there was a gigantic conspiracy among all +concerned in pronouncing the ship to be in safe trim. The Surveyor of +the Board of Trade passed the ship; Lloyd’s Surveyor, acting in the +interests of the Underwriters, passed the ship; and lastly, the ship +was passed by the Emigration Surveyor, who had not only to look to +the ship generally, but to take into consideration her cargo, for the +purpose of seeing whether she was overloaded. We join in the universal +regret that the real cause of the ship’s foundering, beyond what is +given in the preceding pages, is still a mystery; and it only remains +for us again to express the hope that still more scrutinizing care +will be exercised by Government Inspectors and others, in regard to +every ship concerning whose safe trim they are called upon fairly and +honestly to testify. + + * * * * * + +Messrs. Wigram have kindly forwarded the following List of Passengers +per steam-ship _London_, Captain J. Bohun Martin, for Melbourne:-- + + CHIEF CABIN. + + Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Draper + Mr. Owen and child + Mr. and Mrs. G. F. P. Urquhart + Mr. J. Patrick + Mr. and Miss Vaughan (Brooke) + Mr. J. Alderson + Mr. P. Benson + Mr. and Mrs. J. Fenton, and two children + Mr. G. M. Smith + Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, and two children + Mr. and Mrs. Clark, and son + Mr. F. Lewis + Mr. and Mrs. J. Bevan + Dr. J. Woolley + Mr. and Mrs. Debenham + Miss L. Maunder + Mr. J. Robertson + Mr. T. M. Tennant + Mrs. Traill and child + Mr. G. Palmer + Mr. T. Brown + Mr. and Mrs. Amos + Mr. E. Brooks + Mr. J. R. Richardson + Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr + Mrs. and Miss King + Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and two children + Mr. A. Sandilands + Mr. E. Youngman + Mr. H. J. Dennis + Mr. E. A. Marks + Mr. D. F. De Pass + Master W. D. Burrell + Dr. J. Hunter + Miss D’Ovoy + Miss C. McLachlan + Miss Cutting + Mr. McMillan + + SECOND CABIN. + + Mr. Kaye Eastwood + Mr. F. Stone + Mr. and Mrs. White + Miss H. Price + Mr. J. L. Williams + Mr. and Mrs. Graham + Mr. B. G. Rowe + Mr. J. E. Wilson (_saved_) + Mrs. Morland + Miss G. Graham + Mr. J. Dothie + Mr. C. Gough + Mr. A. Bruce + Mr. J. Woodhouse + Mr. G. Cross + Mr. W. Day + Mr. D. W. Lemon + Mr. and Mrs. Giffett + Mr. G. Chennells + Mr. and Mrs. Wood + Master and Miss Clayson + Mr. Thomas Wood + Mr. Godfrey Wood + Miss E. Wood + Mr. B. Bevan + Miss S. Brooker + Mr. Davies + Mr. T. O’Hagen + Mr. H. W. Harding + Mr. F. Fryer + Mr. J. Munro (_saved_) + Mr. D. C. Main (_saved_) + Mr. C. Johnstone + Mr. P. Fenwick + Mrs. and Miss Meggs + Mr. G. H. Campbell + Miss E. Marks + Mr. E. G. Trevenen + Mr. and Mrs. Hickman, two sons and two daughters + Mr. A. McLean + Mr. Davies + + THIRD CABIN. + + Mr. W. Passmore + Mr. H. Miller + Mr. C. P. Chandler + Mr. B. Hay + Miss E. Jones + Mrs. and Miss Simpson + Mr. and Mrs. Hanson + Mr. and Mrs. Graham and three children + Mr. David Graham + Mr. McVittie + Mr. G. Rolwegan + Mr. and Mrs. Sercombe and three children + Mr. and Mrs. G. Flick and four children + Mr. R. Trevenen + Mr. D. Block + Mr. J. Gerkem + Messrs. Zulec Morris and Zulec Barnett + Mr. S. Bolton + Mr. T. Skeggs + Mr. and Mrs. D. Smith + Mr. A. Umphray + Master Spring + Mr. A. Hoyeim + Mr. J. Walls + Mr. W. Barron + Mrs. Lampes and two children + Mr. Algernon L. Otter + Mr. John Little + Mr. H. McCovey + Mrs. Bachelor + Mr. J. Kirkwood + Mr. W. Clifton + Mr. R. Reynolds + + +SEA MESSAGES FROM THE PASSENGERS. + +Admiral Halsted, the Secretary of Lloyd’s, has received the following +letter from Sir Anthony Perrier, C.B., Her Majesty’s Consul, and +Lloyd’s Agent at Brest, dated 24th February 1866:-- + + SIR,--I annex a translation of an extract from a letter just + received from the Commissary-General of Marine at Lorient, + which may be of interest to those concerned in the fate of the + unfortunate _London_, should the original papers sent to Paris not + have been transmitted to Her Majesty’s Government by the Minister + of Marine. + + I am, Sir, your obedient servant, + ANTHONY PERRIER. + + To the Secretary at Lloyd’s. + +Extract of a letter from Commissary-General of Marine at Lorient:-- + + (_Translation._)--On the 12th of February last three bottles were + found on the coast of Guiberon and Locruariaquer, containing six + papers written in English, as follows:-- + + _The first paper_--D. W. Lemon, London, Thursday, 10th January + 1866. The ship is sinking; no hope of being saved. Dear parents, + may God bless you, as also me, with the hope of eternal salvation. + + _Second paper._--Steam-ship _London_.--They are putting out the + boats. + + _Third paper._--F. G. Huckstepp. On board steam-ship _London_, lat. + 46 deg. 20 min., long., 7 deg. 30 min.; lost boats, masts, and + sails; ship leaking. + + _Fourth paper._--We commenced our voyage on Saturday, the 30th + December 1865. Sunday in the channel, Monday in open sea; Tuesday + in ditto; Wednesday at Cowes; Thursday at Plymouth; Friday and + Saturday at sea; Sunday bad weather; Monday water from the stern + comes in cabins; the 9th, heavy damages, a boat lost. May we get + home. Storm.--H. G. + + _Fifth paper._--F. C. McMillan, of Launceston, Tasmania, 12th + January, to his dear wife and dear children: May God bless you all. + Farewell for this world. Lost in the steam-ship _London_, bound for + Melbourne. + + _Sixth paper._--H. J. D. Denis to Th. Denis Knight, at Great + Shelford: Adieu father, brothers, and my ... Edi ... steamer, + _London_, Bay of Biscay, Thursday, ten o’clock. Ship too heavily + laden for its size, and too crank; windows stove in; water coming + in everywhere. God bless my poor orphans. Request to send this, if + found, to Great Shelford. Storm not too violent for a ship in good + condition. + +On the same day were found, on the shoals of Guiberon, a binnacle +watch, stopped at half-past ten o’clock, a woman’s shift, two cotton +sheets, two splinters of wood, having on them in white letters, and six +centimetres (2½ inches long), the word _London_. + +A great quantity of staves have been picked up along the coast. + +In compliance with instructions from the Minister of Marine, the +above-mentioned papers have been sent to the Minister of Marine and +Colonies. + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a +predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they +were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation +marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left +unbalanced. + +Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and +outside quotations. + +Original text used “steam-ship” and “steamship”; both retained here. + +Original text used “Mc” and “M‘” (the curving left single quote was +used because it looks similar to a superscript “c”). In this ebook, +“Mc” is used for all of them. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75381 *** |