My First Voyage to Southern Seas Part 4

"Put into port and land the pa.s.sengers," he replied. "A bad commencement is certain to cause a great deal of trouble. Had we put back to Plymouth the s.h.i.+p might at once have been, set to rights, and we should probably have reached the Cape in less time and with less suffering than it is likely will now be the case. If this were a Government emigrant s.h.i.+p, I should have the power of compelling the captain to put into port; but all I can do is to represent the state of the case and protest."

Day after day we lay on the gla.s.s like s.h.i.+ning ocean, surrounded by the straw and empty hampers and bottles, and all sorts of things thrown overboard, showing that we had not in the slightest degree moved from the spot where the wind last left us. The people grew paler, and more wan and sickly. Many took to their beds; and now one death occurred, and now another. A strong, hardy young man was the first to succ.u.mb to the fever, and then a young woman, and then a little child; next a mother was carried off, leaving six or seven children to the care of the heart-broken father. Again death came and carried off an old man, one of those who had left home in the hope of making gold in the far-off land to which we were bound.

A funeral at sea is a very impressive ceremony. Had Mr Vernon not been on board, the dead would have been committed to their floating grave with a scant allowance of it. He, however, came forward and read some portions of Scripture, and offered up some short and appropriate prayers--not for those who had departed; he had prayed with them and for them while they were jet in the flesh--but that strength and support might be afforded to the survivors, and that they might be induced to repent and rest their hope on One who is all-powerful to save, ere they too might be called away. Painful, indeed, were the scenes which took place--the cries and groans of some of the bereaved ones--the silent grief and trickling tears of others, while ever and anon the despairing shrieks or e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns of those who feared that they too might speedily be summoned from the world, were heard ascending from below.

Notwithstanding this, the captain vowed that he would continue the voyage as soon as the wind returned, without again putting into port.

I had observed that though the captain carried it with a high hand over all the other officers and crew, he always treated Mr Henley with considerable respect, and never swore at or abused him. They, however, very seldom exchanged any words with each other; and, indeed, never spoke except on duty. I had lately remarked Mr Henley constantly watching the captain, who seemed to shrink away from him at times, and avoid his gaze; though when he saw that the second mate was not looking at him, he turned on him a glance of the most intense hatred. One day, after this sort of work had been going on for some time, I asked Mr Henley why it was that he had said he would not, if he could have helped it, have sailed again with Captain Gunnell.

"Have you remarked anything strange about him lately, Marsden?" he asked in return.

I said that I thought he looked flushed and hurried in his manner, and that he often spoke thick, and said things without meaning.

"You have divined one of the many reasons I have for not liking him," he observed. "He has one of the worst vices which the master of a s.h.i.+p can possess, or any man who has the lives of hundreds committed to his charge. He is desperately addicted to liquor; yet, strange to say, he has sufficient command over himself to keep sober in harbour, or when he is approaching a port, so that the owners and consignees, and others who might have taken notice of it, have never discovered his failing, as it would be called, while an inferior officer like myself would feel that it would be perfectly useless to report him. I thought of doing so for the sake of my fellow-creatures who might have otherwise to sail with him, but I knew that there would be great difficulty in substantiating my charge, and that if I failed I should ruin my own prospects; so, right or wrong, I abandoned the idea."

"And so once more you have to sail with him," I could not help remarking.

"You are right, Marsden; I ought to have had more moral courage,"

answered the second mate. "And now I fear that he will get us into greater trouble than he did those on board the s.h.i.+p in which I before sailed with him. The way the men are treated is very bad; and his refusal to put into harbour may be productive of very serious consequences, especially should we be caught by bad weather."

Scarcely had Mr Henley said this than the captain made his appearance on deck with his s.e.xtant in his hand, as if to take a meridional observation. Though it was thus early in the day, I remarked the peculiarities about him of which I had been speaking. He looked around him angrily.

"Are none of the officers here?" he exclaimed, turning away, however, from the second mate. "Where is Mr Grimes? what is the fellow about?

send him here, some one. And you, sir--you think yourself a navigator-- go and get your s.e.xtant and prove yourself one," he added, turning fiercely to me. "You young slips of gentility must be kept in order."

Of course I made no other reply than, "Ay, ay, sir," and went below to get my s.e.xtant. I kept it, I should have observed, in Mr Henley's cabin. The door was locked, so I had to return to him for the key, and some little time had thus elapsed before I got back on deck. I found the first mate and captain in high dispute. The origin of the quarrel I could not comprehend. They had differed, I found, as to their readings on their instruments which is not surprising, for, horrible to relate, as I watched them attentively the conviction forced itself on my mind that they had both deprived themselves of the right use of their intellects--they were both drunk, verging towards the condition of brute beasts. Presently Mr Grimes said something which still more offended the captain, who, lifting up his s.e.xtant--a valuable instrument belonging to Captain Seaford--threw it with all his force at the mate's head, and it was dashed to pieces on the deck. The latter, whose ear had been struck, with the same thoughtless impulse, and furious at the insult, rushed towards the captain, and striking him with his s.e.xtant in return on the face, knocked him over, when, falling forward with the impetus, it also was rendered hopelessly useless. There they both lay, grovelling, kicking, and swearing, and abusing each other in a manner truly terrible; while the cabin pa.s.sengers who were on the p.o.o.p, witnesses of the scene, looked on with dismay, not knowing what might next happen.

"I have seen something like this occur before," said Mr Henley to me.

"Call Mr Waller and the boatswain, we must carry them to their cabins."

I hurried to obey the order. Some of the men had observed the occurrence, and I feared that the officers would scarcely be able to maintain any authority over them after it. The master and first mate were carried to their cabins; but they both contrived to get more spirits brought to them, I afterwards found, by the steward, and for several days they remained almost in a state of insensibility. During this time three or four more of the second-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers had died; the first, or, as some of the people forward called them, the aristocrats, had hitherto escaped, as their cabins were better ventilated and dryer, and they had better food, and, more than all, generally knew better how to take care of themselves. But now they also began to sicken, and look pale, and anxious, and sad. Well they might indeed!

Mr Vernon's character as a minister of the gospel now appeared to great advantage. Fearless himself, he went among the sick and dying, encouraging, consoling, and warning. Many of those who had before refused his ministrations now listened to him eagerly. Vain they felt was any hope in man. He offered foundation for hope, but it was from above. Fond of science as he was, all his scientific pursuits were now laid aside that he might devote himself to the duties of his far higher ministerial calling.

Mr Grimes made his appearance on deck before the captain. He could scarcely be persuaded that some days had pa.s.sed while he was below, and was much puzzled to account for it. He thought that he had had the fever, but never appeared to suspect the true cause of his illness, till, asking for his s.e.xtant, the fragments were brought him by the steward, who minutely explained how it had been broken. Then the truth burst on him, but it did not make him at all ashamed; he only became more savage and tyrannical. I felt very sure that, although I had hitherto enjoyed a tolerable immunity from ill-treatment, my time would come before long.

For some days, though the people continued sickly, death had not visited us, and the spirits of the crew and pa.s.sengers rose accordingly. The great desire was to get a breeze. Sailors have a trick of whistling when they want wind--trick it is, because very few really believe that their whistling will bring a wind. It was amusing to see everybody whistling; the boys forward took it up--the pa.s.sengers aft; the gruff old boatswain was whistling more furiously than anybody, but I saw him c.o.c.k his eye knowingly at some clouds gathering to the northward. Just then, as I was looking aloft, I saw a bird pitch on the fore-topgallant yard-arm.

"A b.o.o.by! a b.o.o.by!" was the cry.

Tommy Bigg was in the fore-top, sent up for something or other, and the desire to possess the bird seized him. Any incident, however light, creates a sensation in a calm. All eyes were directed towards Tommy and the bird. It was a great doubt whether the latter would not fly away, however, before Tommy got him.

"What is it you are looking at?" asked Sills, just then coming on deck.

"A b.o.o.by, lad," answered the doctor, to whom he spoke regarding him calmly; whereat Broom and Waller laughed, but Sills only said: "See now, what's that?" and looked up at the yard-arm whereon the bird sat perched.

"We've two of them aboard just now," observed Broom, who never lost an opportunity of having a fling at his chum.

Tommy had reached the cross-trees: now he had his feet on the topgallant yard. He looked at the b.o.o.by, and the b.o.o.by looked at him, as much as to say, "What do you want with me?" but had not the sense to make use of his wings. A great ado and discussion arose among the pa.s.sengers, as to whether boy or bird would prove the victor. Tommy worked his way along the foot-ropes, holding on tightly with one hand while he lifted up the other, and down it came on the neck of the bird. Tommy in triumph brought him on deck, and in spite of the grabs made at him by the seamen, succeeded in conveying him safely to me.

"There, sir, you'd like to have a look at that thing," said he, putting the poor bird, whose windpipe he had pressed so tightly that it had little power to struggle, into my hands.

The little fellow wanted to show his grat.i.tude to me, so I thanked him, and examined the bird. It was larger and longer in the body than a common duck--a species of gannet--with a brown body, and under-part white, and a long beak; its expression of countenance indicating, I declared, the excessive stupidity it is said to possess. Several of the pa.s.sengers crowded round to have a look at the stranger, and while thus engaged I was startled by hearing Mr Waller, who had charge of the deck, sing out--

"Hand topgallant sails! brail up the main-sail! let fly mizzen-topsail sheets! up with the helm!"

Mr Henley, hearing the orders, hurried on deck, while Mr Grimes, scarcely yet having recovered his senses, came out of his cabin and looked stupidly about him. The example he set, of course, had a bad effect on the crew, already badly enough disposed; so they slowly and lazily prepared to obey orders which should instantly have been executed. A heavy squall, which the third mate ought to have foreseen, struck the s.h.i.+p. Over she heeled to it, till she was borne down on her beam ends. Away flew royals, topgallant sails, main and mizzen-topsail-sheets, and the stout s.h.i.+p, before she righted and obeyed the helm, was deluged with water, and reduced almost to a wreck. At length she was got before the wind, and away she ran towards the south and east, surrounded by a cloud of mist and foam which circ.u.mscribed our view to a very narrow compa.s.s. The sea, too, got up with a rapidity truly astonis.h.i.+ng. It seemed as if the giant waves had been rolling on towards us from some far-off part of the ocean. All that day and night we ran on. Scarcely had the first streaks of dawn appeared, when the look-out aloft shouted--

"Land on the starboard bow!"

Startling, indeed, was the cry. Mr Henley and I, and Mr Waller, had been watching to take observations after the captain and mate had broken their s.e.xtants, but we had not been able to ascertain our position with the exactness we wished; and the second mate thought the s.h.i.+p might have been set by some current to the eastward of her course. The first mate now came on deck; he examined the land as we drew in with it, and then ordered the s.h.i.+p to be kept more to the southward, but still the land appeared more and more ahead. I asked Mr Henley what he thought about the matter.

"I have some fears that it is the coast of Africa. It may be the north-east coast of Grand Canary," he answered; but even while we were speaking, we observed a line of dark rocks over which the sea was breaking furiously, heaving up on high, dense ma.s.ses of foam.

s.h.i.+pwreck, in one of its worst aspects, on a wild coast, without help at hand, stared us in the face. The pa.s.sengers soon got notice of the condition of the s.h.i.+p, and came hurrying, pale and trembling, on deck.

Never had I seen so many horror-stricken countenances collected together, as they gazed forth on the rock-bound desolate sh.o.r.e towards which the s.h.i.+p was hurrying. Mr Henley had carefully been watching the land.

"I have hopes," he observed at last, "that the land we see is Point Arraga in Teneriffe, and if so, we shall soon see a long continued coast-line."

Anxiously we kept our eyes fixed on the sh.o.r.e. Just then an apparition appeared in the shape of the captain, his coat only half on, and his hair streaming in the wind. He looked about him, trying to comprehend what had occurred. Then suddenly he ordered the helm to be put to port, with the idea of hauling up to the westward, and trying to escape the danger in that direction. Before the order was obeyed Mr Henley stepped boldly up to him.

"If we do that, sir, the s.h.i.+p will be cast away," he said firmly. "That is the island of Teneriffe aboard of us, and we shall soon be getting round its eastern point and into smooth water."

By this time all the cabin, as well as second-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers and the crew, were collected on deck, listening anxiously to what was going forward. The captain stamped about the deck once or twice, as if undecided what to do.

"You may be a very good navigator, Mr Henley, and you may have taken very good care of the s.h.i.+p while I have been ill," he exclaimed at last; "but to tell me that the land we see there is the island of Teneriffe, is perfectly ridiculous. I'd just as soon believe that that is Teneriffe as I would what you and the parsons would tell us, that there's a heaven and all that."

Just as he was speaking, the dark clouds which had hitherto, as if they had been thick folds of drapery, completely shut out the sky and all surrounding objects, were suddenly widely rent asunder, and high above our heads appeared, like a ma.s.s of burnished gold lit up by the rays of the fast rising sun, the lofty peak of Teneriffe towering in majesty towards the blue sky, 12,000 feet above the ocean.

"As surely as there exists before us that grand mountain, so surely is there a heaven," said the deep-toned voice of Mr Vernon. "And, my friends, ere it be too late, seek the only path by which that glorious heaven can be gained, and eternal misery and self-reproach avoided."

Some listened and crowded round the clergyman, but the captain turned aside, observing with a half sneer, "That's Teneriffe, there's no doubt about that; and so I suppose we shall have to bring up at Santa Cruz to get some fresh vegetables and fish for some of you good people."

He was evidently wis.h.i.+ng just then to ingratiate himself with the pa.s.sengers, while, from the state of the s.h.i.+p, he knew that he would be compelled to put into the nearest port to repair damages.

As we sailed along, one headland after another came into view, and then we began to distinguish the varied and very bright colours of the land,--reds, browns, and yellows of every degree. While sheltered by the coast we no longer felt the force of the wind, but glided calmly on in comparative smooth water. Again, however, the glorious peak, by the intervening clouds which played wildly around it, was hid from sight, and only the slopes of the town hills, the green valleys, or mountain glens, coming down to the very water, could be seen. By degrees, however, the trees, and even the solitary Euphorbia bushes, could be distinguished, and then a long, low, white line appeared, which our telescopes divided into the houses, and churches, and towers of Santa Cruz, the capital of the island. Before long the _Orion_ was rolling her sides in the gla.s.sy waters of the bay opposite the town. Once upon a time the island possessed a magnificent harbour--that of Garachico-- but it was filled up by a stream of red-hot lava which flowed into it from an eruption of the mountain in 1705, and which committed much other damage. Gla.s.sy as was the surface, the rollers from the ever unquiet ocean came slowly in, causing; the vessels at anchor to dip their sides alternately in the water up to their bulwarks, and, as we stood on the deck of the _Orion_, making it seem now and then as if the town, by a violent convulsion of nature, had been suddenly submerged before our very eyes. This was not a place to remain in longer than could be helped, and accordingly the captain directed Mr Henley, as the only officer in whom he could confide, to go on sh.o.r.e and to bargain for the necessary a.s.sistance we required to fit new spars and masts, and in other respects to repair our damages. Mr Henley, knowing how anxious I was to go on sh.o.r.e at every place we visited, got leave for me to accompany him. Away we glided on the summit of the gla.s.sy roller towards the mole, and as we pa.s.sed by, active hands being ready to catch the boat, we stepped out, and away went the watery ma.s.s broken into sheets of foam along the sandy sh.o.r.e, making all the Spanish boats hauled up on it b.u.mp and thump and grind together as if it would knock them to pieces; but I suppose that they were accustomed to such treatment, for no one interfered to place them in safer positions.

I was particularly struck on landing with the brilliant colours and varied hues, not only of the sky and water, the earth and the buildings, but of the dresses and very skins of the peasantry. Every cake out of my paint-box would have been required, I was sure, to give effect to the scene. Even the barefooted porters wore red scarfs round their waists, while shawls and handkerchiefs of every tint adorned the heads and shoulders of the women--hats, however, being worn generally by the older dames. Then there was the fine tawny colour of the persevering oxen who dragged after them little sledges laden with casks and bales. Camels also we saw introduced from the not far off coast of Africa, patient as ever, bearing heavy weights balanced on their hump backs. Madeira was hot, but we were much hotter now, as the basalt-paved streets and the white glittering buildings sent back the burning rays of the almost vertical sun. Thus fired and scorched, we could not help gazing with a somewhat envious glance into some of the Moorish-looking houses, not unlike the model of the Alhambra or the Pompeian house at the Crystal Palace, only not quite so fine as the former, with bananas growing in the centre of their court-yards, and fountains throwing up cool jets of water, and shady corridors and alcoves, the widespreading leaves of the banana throwing a refres.h.i.+ng coolness around. Having heard that Santa Cruz was a very poor place, we were astonished to find it really a fine city with handsome houses, spreading backwards a considerable distance from the sea, with gardens and villas beyond, and outside all cactus plantations and cultivated terraces rising up the slopes of the mountains. I was proceeding with Mr Henley in search of the consul, who was to arrange matters about the s.h.i.+p, when I felt a hand placed on my shoulder, and I heard a voice say--

"Halloa, old fellow!--Marsden! what wind has brought you here in that rig?"

"A pretty stiff gale," I answered, looking up and recognising an old school-fellow, Tom Lumsden, who, though older than Alfred, was a great friend of his.

"Come along, then, and tell me all about it," said he. "I have an uncle settled here, and I have been sent out to learn business with him. Come and stay with us while your s.h.i.+p remains here. He'll get you leave from the captain. You can spare him us?" he added, addressing Mr Henley, who laughed, and said that he hoped I should always find friends wherever I went.

Lumsden at once got his uncle to send off a note to the captain, who replied in the most courteous way that I was welcome to remain as long as the s.h.i.+p was there.

"Capital!" exclaimed Lumsden. "We were on the point of starting up the peak just for a pic-nic of three or four days. The s.h.i.+p won't sail before that time. You shall go with us."

Of course I was delighted. We were to start after an early dinner, and in the interval Lumsden took me round the place to show me its lions. I can only venture to give a rapid and brief summary of what I saw and heard. The Canaries were known to the ancients, and were called the fortunate or happy isles. Their present name is derived from _Canis_-- dogs of a peculiar breed having been found in them. The inhabitants were a fine and brave race, of whom little is known except that they had the custom of embalming their dead. The Spaniards made several attempts to take possession of the islands, but did not succeed in overcoming their aboriginal inhabitants till about 1493, since which time the latter have become completely amalgamated with the conquerors.