The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume II Part 20

By this time the _City of London_ steam-tug, having perceived the signals of distress, reached the spot, and succeeded in rescuing nearly the whole of the occupants of the boat, as well as several others of the pa.s.sengers and crew, to the number of thirty-four. She remained cruising about the spot till early next morning, picking up such of the pa.s.sengers as could get clear of the wreck, and in the last hope, which proved vain, of rendering a.s.sistance to those who might have floated on fragments of the s.h.i.+p after she settled down. The Kingsdown lugger _Mary_ was likewise attracted by the signals of distress, and succeeded in rescuing thirty pa.s.sengers. The London pilot-cutter No. 3, and the _Princess_, stationed at Dover, also got to the spot, and succeeded in rescuing twenty-one, ten of them from the rigging. The total number thus rescued was eighty-five persons.

The s.h.i.+p went down about three-quarters of an hour after she was struck, the captain remaining at his post till she sank. One of the survivors states that he was standing close to the captain when she went down. The former managed to lay hold of some floating plank, and was borne to the surface. The captain, however, was not again seen. The pilot and ten others had taken to the mizen-mast, from which they were rescued. The whole of the officers perished.

It must seem remarkable that while the _Northfleet_ showed lights and other signals of distress within two miles of sh.o.r.e during twenty minutes or half an hour no notice was taken of them. When a s.h.i.+p is in difficulties in the night, it is usual for her either to fire guns or to exhibit a flare of light. But here, even the vessels close at hand thought that the s.h.i.+p was only signalling for a pilot; and at the time there were nearly a hundred vessels at anchor in the roadstead, with their lights burning brilliantly. Those on board the three s.h.i.+ps nearest the wreck would have instantly sent help had they imagined there was a vessel in distress, and they could have got to the s.h.i.+p in a few minutes, for, though the night was dark and squally, it was clear at intervals, and any boat could live, the sea not being rough. It appears that the _Corona_, an Australian clipper, was lying at anchor within 300 yards of the _Northfleet_ when the disaster occurred, but neither the terrible shock of the collision, the subsequent cries for aid, nor the rockets continuously fired from the deck of the sinking s.h.i.+p, could arouse the man who was the only watch on deck to call up either his comrades or the officers of his s.h.i.+p. Various reports were at first current as to the name of the vessel which ran the _Northfleet_ down, and which pa.s.sed straight on her way, without taking any heed of the disaster she had caused, though it must have been clearly known on board of her, if not-it is to be hoped-to the full extent of the calamity. Suspicion attached to the _Murillo_, a Spanish steamer, bound for Lisbon from Antwerp. The _Murillo_ arrived at Cadiz on the evening of Thursday, the 30th, having stopped at Belem, the entrance to the port of Lisbon, on the day before, and having then been warned by a telegram to go on to Cadiz without landing her Lisbon cargo.

Upon her arrival at Cadiz an official inquiry was commenced, at the instance of the British Consul. From the report of Mr. Macpherson, Lloyd's agent at Cadiz, it appeared that her starboard bow had been newly painted black and red to the water line, and her port bow showed marks of a slight indentation near the anchor davit. It was stated, however, on behalf of her owners, that the painting was done in London or Antwerp, before she started on her present journey, and that the indentation had been made on entering the port of Havre two years before. An inquiry was inst.i.tuted in the Spanish Courts, and the committee appointed for that purpose declared that the _Murillo_ was not the vessel which ran down the _Northfleet_. The _Murillo_ was therefore released. But some time afterwards justice was avenged.

The official report of the inquiry made-at the instigation of the English Government-by Mr. Daniel Maude, stipendiary magistrate, a.s.sisted by Captains Harris and Hight acting as a.s.sessors, stated that there was no doubt that the s.h.i.+p which came into collision with the _Northfleet_ was the Spanish iron screw-steamer _Murillo_, trading between London and Cadiz, which left London on the 12th of January, proceeded to Antwerp, and, after leaving that port, arrived off Dungeness on the night of January 22nd. The _Northfleet_ was anch.o.r.ed in an apparently most safe position, a mile and a half or more inside the usual fair course for vessels outward-bound. The _Murillo_ came down inside the _Northfleet_, and struck her nearly amids.h.i.+ps. It would appear, both from observation on board the _Northfleet_ and also from the evidence given by the chief engineer of the _Murillo_, that the latter had slackened her speed some little time before the collision, or probably both s.h.i.+ps would have sunk.

There is no doubt the shock was a slight one; but the sharp stem of the iron steamer having struck the weakest part of the wooden s.h.i.+p will account for the mischief done. The master of the _Murillo_, in his log, stated that the reason for not laying by to inquire as to the injury sustained by the shock was that a boat had immediately left the s.h.i.+p and examined the damage, and that the boat and crew having returned again, he concluded nothing of moment had happened. The Court was satisfied that no such incident had occurred, nor was it mentioned by the witnesses who had previously been examined by the Court. The survivors of the collision were unanimously of opinion that if the _Murillo_ had lain by, the whole of the _Northfleet_ people could have been saved. They thoroughly believed that the _Murillo_ steamed away, and left them to perish, in defiance of their signals, rockets, blue lights, and the shouts and screams of the whole s.h.i.+p's company, which must have been noticed. On the other hand, it appears that Captain Knowles did not apprehend immediately the damage his s.h.i.+p had suffered, and that no rockets were fired for a quarter of an hour after the collision. During this time the _Murillo_ was steaming away at half-speed, and was probably two miles off. Upon this evidence the Court felt they ought not to impute to the captain of the _Murillo_ the full apparent brutality of his offence in not staying by the injured s.h.i.+p. The Court added a strong expression of opinion that no master of a s.h.i.+p should be allowed to take his wife to sea with him.

On Friday, the 7th of May, 1875, one of those sad events occurred which show the imperfection of many of the most carefully-devised schemes for life-saving at sea. Although it occurred in British waters, neither the s.h.i.+p nor the larger part of the pa.s.sengers were British subjects. The _Schiller_ was a fine iron steams.h.i.+p of 3,600 tons, belonging to the Eagle line of Hamburg; she was nearly a new vessel, having been built at Glasgow in 1873. She left New York on the 27th of April, having on board at the time 264 pa.s.sengers, while the officers and crew numbered 120 souls. All went well till the 7th of May, on which day she was due at Plymouth, when, in the afternoon, a fog set in; nevertheless, the vessel was kept at full speed until 8.30 p.m., when the density of the fog having greatly increased, she was put at half-speed, and an hour after she struck on the Retarrier Rocks, off the Scilly Islands, and within two-thirds of a mile of the lighthouse on the Bishop's Rock. Although going at slow speed at the time, and although the engines were immediately reversed, the unyielding rocks had done their work: the s.h.i.+p was immovable, and immediately filled. All was at once confusion, and a panic ensued, cries of terror rising from every lip. Orders were given by the captain to lower the boats, and until he was himself washed off the bridge, at about 4 a.m., and drowned, he did his best to preserve some order, even threatening the frantic crowd with his pistol. All the boats, however, except two, were swept away by the sea before they could be lowered, many peris.h.i.+ng with them, and one was crushed by the funnel falling on it. The s.h.i.+p held together for several hours, and had there been any means of making their hopeless condition known at St. Mary's, the chief of the Scilly Islands, a steamer, and a first-cla.s.s lifeboat(82) belonging to the National Lifeboat Inst.i.tution, might have arrived in time to save a large number of lives. Such, however, was not to be, and when the morning dawned all that remained of the crew and pa.s.sengers who, a few hours before, had been looking forward to happy meetings in the Fatherland with fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and friends at home, were those who had succeeded in mounting the rigging of the fore and main masts, and a few others in the half-swamped boat, the only one which had been safely lowered. The women and children who had crowded the deck-houses and saloon, and the male pa.s.sengers and those of the crew who were on the upper deck or the bridge, had perished. Alarm-guns were fired and signal lights thrown up continually, until the seas breaking over the s.h.i.+p prevented such efforts attracting attention; and some of the former were heard on the islands, but as steamers from America had been in the habit of firing guns to mark their arrival off the islands, they were not supposed to be danger signals. It is said, however, that at St. Agnes, the nearest island to the wreck, the guns were believed to be from a vessel in distress, but the fog was so thick that boats were afraid to venture out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SCILLY ISLANDS.]

The mainmast fell at about seven o'clock in the morning, and the foremast an hour later, when most of those who remained in their rigging were lost.

Just before the foremast had fallen, four boats from the sh.o.r.e arrived, and picked up several persons from the water, but finding the sea too heavy to allow them to go alongside the s.h.i.+p, one of them went to St.

Mary's, to convey intelligence of the disaster and to procure the aid of the steam-tug and lifeboat. As soon as possible the latter arrived in tow of the steamer, but all, alas! was then over, and they only picked up twenty-three bags of mail matter and a few bodies. Out of 384 souls only 53 were saved.

It was about ten o'clock in the evening when the s.h.i.+p struck. A little festive party had been given in honour of the birthday of one of the officers, but there is no evidence to show that the working of the s.h.i.+p was thereby neglected. The majority of the pa.s.sengers were on deck, on the look-out for land, which they knew was near. Nearly all the women and children and a few men were in their berths; others were sitting about, talking, smoking, playing cards or dominoes, and thinking little of the fate which was so soon to befall them. There was not the slightest premonition of the disaster, and the shock appears to have been so slight that few were at first aware that the s.h.i.+p had struck on a rock. But in a few minutes the sea which ran over her forced her on her broadside, where she lay constantly washed over by the breakers. Let the reader imagine, if he can, the sudden change from the gaiety and hopefulness on board, the antic.i.p.ations of soon reaching sh.o.r.e and home, to that scene of wild terror and dismay!

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BISHOP ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.]

About midnight the funnel fell overboard and smashed two of the starboard boats. Soon after the fog cleared away, and a gleam of hope arose when the bright clear light of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse shone out. But it was only momentary, and dense darkness soon surrounded them. When the deck-house was swept away by a sea so heavy that it ran up to the top of the mainmast, a heartrending cry, mingled with shrieks and groans, rent the air. Nearly two hundred perished by this one catastrophe. Then the captain gathered for safety some people on the bridgeway, the highest place, in the vain hope of saving them. Every one, including the captain, engineers, and doctor, were swept off. The riggings of both masts were now crowded with people. With every lurch the steamer careened over to the starboard side until the yards touched the water, and the cargo began to float about on all sides. Bales of wool and cotton, feathers, trunks, boxes, and woodwork of all kinds, strewed the waves.

A survivor-one of seven who left the s.h.i.+p in a boat and was afterwards instrumental in picking up others-said that they cruised about the greater part of the night near the vessel, and that the screaming all the time was heartrending, and lasted almost from the commencement of the disaster to four o'clock in the morning, when it ceased. Alas! by that time nearly all had gone to their long account. The last screams he heard, and which he could never forget, were from a little child. Mingled with all was the cracking of the s.h.i.+p's timbers as wave after wave broke over her. One by one the lights disappeared, till, at three o'clock, not one was left but the masthead light.

A proportion of the bodies only were recovered, among them those of several ladies wearing valuable jewellery; one had 200 in money upon her, which she had endeavoured to save. That with 1,200 life-belts on board so few should have escaped seems nearly incredible; but the panic and other circ.u.mstances help to account for the sad fact. The second mate stated that he had much trouble in getting the pa.s.sengers to understand the importance of wearing them well under the armpits, and that if the belt got below the waist it would at once force the head under water. From the position of some of the corpses recovered, it is evident that many must have perished in this manner. In a number of cases the lower strings of the life-belts had broken. The larger part of the dead were buried on the various islands of the Scilly group.(83)

The main features of this disaster teach some important lessons. "We find," says a writer in _The Lifeboat_, "in this instance, a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p, under full control of steam and sail; the captain(84) an able, experienced, and careful officer, whose devotion to his duty and sense of the responsibility thrown on him were shown by the fact of his not having had his clothes off for five nights previous to the loss of his s.h.i.+p; and the weather fine, with the exception of the prevalence of a dense fog.

"If we further inquire whether the owners of the s.h.i.+p had done their duty in providing their pa.s.sengers with all available means of safety, we find that she had an ample and competent crew, had eight boats, six of them being life-boats, and that life-belts more than sufficient for every one on board were provided, and were to a large extent used, since all, or nearly all, the bodies that were picked up had life-belts on them. The latter may, however, have been of inferior quality-indeed, are said to have been so. With so many elements of safety, what then caused them to be of no avail?

"The immediate causes of the loss of the s.h.i.+p were apparently the dense fog and an insufficient allowance for the set of the well-known current which sets out of the Bay of Biscay to the northward, across the entrance of the British Channel, which has sometimes considerable strength.

"A secondary cause was the old offence, so general in the merchant service, despite all the warnings of experience-neglect of sounding, the lead not having been used during the day or night, nor on the two previous days.

"Lastly, the chief cause of so few lives being saved, there can be little doubt, was the same as that which led to such fearful results in the case of the _Northfleet_, viz., the custom of making use of night signals of distress for other objects, such as to call for pilots, to signify arrival, &c., a folly admonished in advance in the old fable of the boy raising the alarm of 'Wolf, wolf!' when there was no wolf, and then receiving no succour from his neighbours when the wolf came.

"It appears to be customary for the German steamers to make the Scilly Islands to enable their agents there to telegraph to Plymouth the approach of their steamers, in order that the necessary preparations should be made for a prompt disembarkation of their pa.s.sengers for England on their arrival at that port.

"The saving of time, which, looking to the great daily expense of such vessels, with their hundreds of mouths to be fed, and their immense consumption of coal, is the saving of money to the shareholders, and is, of course, the motive for communicating by signal with Scilly, just as the maintenance of high speed in all weathers, and by night as by day at all hazards, is so, and which leads to so many disasters.

"All that we would suggest, in the interest of humanity, is that such communication should be left discretionary with the captain of every s.h.i.+p in the case of fogs, when it should be optional for him to proceed directly for Plymouth, or to heave to, or to feel his way at greatly diminished speed by frequent sounding, which would be a certain guide to him for a distance of many miles round the islands." The writer suggests that, in view of the too common neglect of sounding, such neglect, when discovered, should be punishable by heavy penalties. It was proved in evidence that the Eagle line of steamers were expressly prohibited from firing guns, or exhibiting other distress signals, to make themselves known, but that other German steamers had done so, of which those on board this unfortunate s.h.i.+p now reaped the evil consequences.

On the morning of the 6th December, 1875, one of those sad disasters occurred which ever and again remind us of the dangerous nature of our sh.o.r.es. But a few months before the _Schiller_ had been wrecked, with the loss of 331 lives, and now an emigrant steams.h.i.+p, of the same nationality, was to share the same terrible fate off the Ess.e.x coast. Happily, the loss was not so serious, and led to the establishment of a life-boat station where one had not existed before.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WRECK OF THE "DEUTSCHLAND."]

Few maritime disasters of modern times have excited more general interest than the wreck of the _Deutschland_: partly from the fact that it occurred so near the mouth of the Thames, and partly because a part of the German press, in a strange and reckless manner, advanced serious charges against the town of Harwich and the boatmen of that port, accusing them of allowing the unfortunate emigrants to perish before their eyes, and refusing them succour. The circ.u.mstances are as follows:-In the first place, the spot where the _Deutschland_ was wrecked-on the Kentish Knock-is twenty-four miles from Harwich, and, therefore, at too great a distance for the vessel herself, and far less for any signals of distress or national flag to be seen from that place, even in clear weather.

"Accordingly, the only modes by which intelligence of the disaster could be conveyed to Harwich would have been by the different light-vessels repeating the signals from one to another, and finally to that town, or by some vessel or boat proceeding there. Now it so happened that all the hovelling smacks belonging to that and adjacent places had themselves been driven into port by the violence of the gale and the heavy sea, and that the only available means of communication was, therefore, by signals from the light-s.h.i.+ps. It appears from the evidence of the officers in charge of those vessels at the Board of Trade inquiry, although the _Deutschland_ had been on sh.o.r.e since five and six o'clock in the morning on Monday, the 6th of December, and had immediately commenced to throw up rockets, and continued to do so until daylight, none of them were seen even from the nearest light-s.h.i.+p-the Kentish Knock-no doubt, owing to the thickness of the weather and almost continuous snow-storms, the master of that vessel first perceiving the unfortunate steamer at 9.30 a.m. He then fired guns, sounded the fog-horn, and continued to do so at half-hour intervals during the day, and at 4.30 p.m. commenced to throw up rockets, which were answered by the steamer.

"At 5.20 the mate of the Sunk light-s.h.i.+p first saw two rockets, which he supposed to be from a vessel on the Long Sand, whereupon he fired guns and sent up rockets throughout the night, but did not see the wrecked s.h.i.+p until 7.30 on the morning of Tuesday, the 7th. His first rockets had, however, been seen by the look-out on board the Cork light-s.h.i.+p, from which vessel rockets were then immediately discharged; and at 7.30 these were replied to from Harwich, they having given the first intimation to the good people of that town that anything was amiss at sea; and even then not that a German emigrant steamer was ash.o.r.e on the Kentish Knock, but merely that some vessel was in danger somewhere on one of the numerous sandbanks which lie in all directions off that port. We have thus accounted for the circ.u.mstance of these unfortunate s.h.i.+pwrecked persons being allowed to remain for fourteen hours in their perilous position without succour from the sh.o.r.e, from the simple cause that no one knew of their danger; and we have arrived at another stage of our inquiry: viz., Were the means then adopted all that could be reasonably expected from humane people, who would gladly afford succour, if in their power, to any one in distress, to whatever country they might belong?"

The writer of the critical article from which the above quotations are taken(85) shows, firstly, that there was not at that time a life-boat station at Harwich. It had always been considered that the sands were too distant from that port for the successful employment of such a boat, and that, in the event of wrecks upon them, the numerous hovelling smacks would have antic.i.p.ated its services. There was, however, a small but serviceable steam-tug-not, be it remembered, Government or town property, but that of a private individual. It is right that this should be fully understood. The circ.u.mstance of this tug, the _Liverpool_, not going off instantly on perceiving the rockets thrown up by the Cork light-s.h.i.+p was much criticised by some ignorant persons at the time. "Fortunately, she was commanded by an able and experienced seaman, Captain Carrington, who knew what he was about; who knew the difficulties of navigating in the intricate pa.s.sages between the numerous shoals off the port on a dark night and gale of wind, and he could only do so at great risk of losing his owner's vessel and the lives of those intrusted to him; that he might spend the whole night in vainly searching for the vessel in distress, and, even if he should find her, that, with the small tug's boats, it would be quite impossible for him to render any a.s.sistance to a vessel surrounded by broken water, in a dark night and heavy sea; and, moreover, that if any mishap should disable his own vessel, the only chance of saving the wrecked persons might be destroyed." He judiciously waited till shortly before daylight, and then proceeded, first, to the Cork light-s.h.i.+p, where he ascertained that the Sunk light-s.h.i.+p had been firing all night. He then steamed to the latter, and was misinformed (unintentionally) regarding the locality of the wreck. He, after searching in vain for some little time, steamed for the Kentish Knock, and when half-way to it saw the _Deutschland_ on that sandbank. He then went to the Knock light-s.h.i.+p, and hailed her, inquiring whether those on board knew anything about the wreck, or whether there were any people remaining on board her, but could get no information. He soon proceeded to the spot, and, finding there were a large number of persons on board her, anch.o.r.ed his vessel under her lee, at about sixty fathoms' distance, and sent his boats to her. After taking off three boat-loads, he weighed his anchor, placed his vessel alongside the s.h.i.+p, and took off the remainder of the survivors-173 in all. In spite of the time which had elapsed and the great dangers to which the vessel had been exposed, the loss of life had not been so serious as might well have been antic.i.p.ated. Fifty-seven poor men and women had, however, perished in the raging waves. The tug(86) had done her work of saving n.o.bly and well, and had performed it at a time when the hovelling smacks could have done nothing at all. On the same occasion the Broadstairs life-boat proceeded as soon as possible to the scene of the wreck, twenty miles distant, but too late to be of service. In these days of nearly universal telegraphy, it would seem strange that our light-s.h.i.+ps on dangerous sands, and our lighthouses on dangerous rocks, are almost entirely without the means of proper communication with the nearest sh.o.r.es. From the light-s.h.i.+p, indeed, rockets and guns are constantly fired, as we have seen in many preceding examples, but fogs and heavy weather often prevent either from being of service. The expense of connecting _all_ of them with the coasts by means of submarine cables might be sufficient to frighten any Government; but some such communication, however costly, should be made with many of those exposed and dangerous spots where s.h.i.+pwrecks are of constant occurrence.

Excellent authorities on maritime matters have strongly advocated the necessity for the establishment of a sound system of day and night signals from all outlying lighthouses, light-s.h.i.+ps, and coastguard stations, and the laying of submarine cables to many of the more prominent stations. A formula of "signals of distress" was included in the new "Merchant s.h.i.+pping Act of 1873," which came into operation on the 1st of November of that year. Prior to that time such signals were too vague and too indiscriminately used to have much value, and sometimes were calculated to mislead. Thus, in the case of the _Northfleet_ already cited, 400 of those on board were drowned, "although she was surrounded by other s.h.i.+ps, and the rockets which she discharged as signals of distress were seen by the coastguard and life-boat men ash.o.r.e, but were unheeded, it being a common custom for homeward-bound s.h.i.+ps to discharge rockets for pilots, or as _feux de joie_ on their safe return from distant lands." The following signals of distress are now required. In _the daytime_ the following signals, when used together or separately, shall be deemed sufficient and proper. 1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute. 2. The International Code signal of distress. This is a square flag with chess-board pattern, blue and white, having beneath it a long triangular white pennant, with a red ball in the centre. 3. The distant signal, consisting of a square flag, having above or below it a ball or anything resembling a ball. _At night_ the following signals:-1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute. 2. Flames on the s.h.i.+p, as from a burning tar-barrel or oil-barrel, &c. 3. Rockets or sh.e.l.ls, of any colour or description, fired, one at a time, at short intervals. And "any master of a vessel who uses or displays, or causes or permits any person under his authority to use or display, any of the said signals, except in the case of a vessel being in distress, shall be liable to pay compensation for any labour undertaken, risk incurred, or loss sustained, in consequence of such signal having been supposed to be a signal of distress, and such compensation may, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recovered in the same manner in which salvage is recoverable."

The signals for pilots are also definitely fixed as follows:-_By day_, the "Jack" or other national colour usually worn by merchant s.h.i.+ps, having round it a white border, is to be displayed at the fore; _or_ the International Code pilotage signal, this consists of two square flags, the upper of which is a blue flag with a white square in its centre, and the lower of which is a striped flag, red, white, and blue, similar to the French flag. _At night_, "blue lights," or bright white lights, are to be flashed at frequent intervals, just above the bulwarks. If these signals are used for any purpose other than that for which they are intended, a penalty, not exceeding twenty pounds, is incurred. Residents at, and visitors to, seaports and sea-side resorts will, from the above description, be able to judge whether a vessel in the offing is in dire distress or simply requires the ordinary services of a pilot.

In the eighteenth century, the requirements of a maritime country constantly at war obliged the Government to establish a complete system of signals and signal stations all round our coasts. At the conclusion of our wars with France that system was in full force, and at that time the movements of nearly every vessel, friend or foe, were telegraphed from point to point with a facility which contributed in an important degree to the security of the country. "This Government telegraph system was also available for summoning such aids as then existed for the preservation of life from s.h.i.+pwreck. Accounts of wrecks at what may be called the life-boat era all tend to show that the system of coast telegraphy then in existence played an important part in most notable life-boat and other rescues from s.h.i.+pwreck. With the long peace the need for information on the part of the Government as to the movements of its own or other s.h.i.+ps became less urgent, though the coast system of signals maintained a precarious existence for many years, to a.s.sist the coastguard in protecting the revenue. As smuggling decreased, the coastguard men were reduced in number, and the chain of signallers became broken into gaps, which widened year by year. The final blow was given by railways and electricity to the old line of semaph.o.r.es stretching between Portsmouth and the Admiralty, and elsewhere, and from headland to headland. But while the Government, by the help of modern invention, enormously increased its facilities of communication with the great dockyards and a.r.s.enals, it, conceiving itself to be in no way concerned (we suppose) with the safety of merchant s.h.i.+ps or saving life, failed to supply a subst.i.tute for the old semaph.o.r.e system along the coast line; and year by year the evil has increased from the reduction of the coastguard, and the consequent lengthening of the interval on lines of coasts in which watch has ceased to be kept. The result is that during the last twenty-five years, and up to the present time, there has been greater difficulty in communicating along the coast and summoning aid to distressed vessels at all out-of-the-way parts of the coast than existed at the end of the last century.

"The First Lord of the Admiralty or the President of the Board of Trade can converse at leisure with Plymouth, Deal, Leith, or Liverpool, but the Eddystone has no means of letting the authorities at Plymouth know that a s.h.i.+p is slowly foundering before the eyes of the keepers, though the two points are in sight of each other. The light-keepers at the Bishop have no means of telling the people at St. Mary's that a s.h.i.+p full of pa.s.sengers is slowly but surely tearing to pieces on the Retarrier reef; and the hundreds of vessels that yearly are in deadly peril on the Goodwins, the Kentish Knock, the Norfolk Sands, and elsewhere, have no means of summoning prompt aid from the land, though they are only a few miles distant from it."(87) The writer notes that the number of cases of s.h.i.+pwreck, where the vessels might have been saved, which reach the National Life-boat Inst.i.tution is considerable. These come largely from obscure and detached parts of the coasts. A foreign barque was wrecked on the s.h.i.+p-wash, a sandbank eight miles from land, the nearest port being Harwich, from which its southern end is distant ten miles. The wreck was discovered by several smacks soon after seven o'clock on the morning of January 7th, 1876, and the news of the disaster was in the possession of the coastguards at Walton, Harwich, and Aldborough, before ten o'clock that day. Yet the crew were not taken off the wreck till the following morning, after they had been more than twenty-four hours exposed to all the horrors of a pitiless easterly gale, and the momentary expectation of being swept into eternity. So ill-adapted was the system of sending information along the coast that the news did not reach Ramsgate till the next morning, and tug-boat and life-boat then started on a gallant but fruitless expedition, to find that they had only just been forestalled by the Harwich steamer. The Ramsgate men were thus needlessly exposed for fourteen hours in a storm, with the cold so intense that the salt water froze as it fell on the boat. "It is also significant," says a writer in _The Lifeboat_, "that the Aldborough life-boat's crew declined to launch their boat (they being fifteen miles from the wreck), mainly because there were no sure grounds for concluding that the crew were still on board it-information which could certainly have been conveyed by the s.h.i.+p-wash lights.h.i.+p had it had an electric wire communication with the sh.o.r.e; or, failing that, by properly arranged 'distant signals' visible to the eye."

The writer shows that had the information been telegraphed from the point which it actually did reach about 10 a.m., either to the Admiralty or the Board of Trade, or any other public department, a.s.sistance could with ease have been sent to the wreck, by orders from London, not the day after, but on the forenoon of the same day. And what might not have been the sad consequences of delay, had the vessel been carrying a lot of helpless pa.s.sengers instead of nine hardy seamen?

A case occurred shortly after the above occurrence, ill.u.s.trating the necessity for prompt and suitable communication with land. The steamer _Vesper_, of Hartlepool, was lost on the Kish Bank, four miles south of the Kish light-s.h.i.+p. The crew of this wreck, which struck the bank at 5 a.m., though only _four_ miles from the light-s.h.i.+p, six of a coastguard station on sh.o.r.e, and seven of another point, received no a.s.sistance, nor did the light-s.h.i.+p pa.s.s the intelligence till 10 a.m., when a boatman at Kingstown saw masts sticking out of the water on the Kish Bank, with signals of distress flying from them. Promptly enough then the life-boat, towed by H.M. steam-tender _Amelie_, proceeded to the wreck, only to find, however, that on the steamer sinking the crew had taken to their own boats, and being unburdened with pa.s.sengers, had escaped to land. The weather was moderate; had there been a gale, the story might have been far different. What a reproach to our system! first, that the light-s.h.i.+p had no means of signalling for a.s.sistance; and, second, that it had no means afterwards of indicating that all hands were happily saved.

CHAPTER XXI.

A CONTRAST-THE s.h.i.+P ON FIRE!-SWAMPED AT SEA.

The Loss of the _Amazon_-A n.o.ble Vessel-Description of her Engine-rooms-Her Boats-Heating of the Machinery-The s.h.i.+p on Fire-Communication Cut off-The Ominous Fire-bell-The Vessel put before the Wind-A Headlong Course-Impossibility of Launching the Boats-"Every Man for Himself!"-The Boats on Fire-Horrible Cases of Roasting-Boats Stove in and Upset-The Remnant of Survivors-"Pa.s.sing by on the Other Side"-Loss of a distinguished Author-A Clergyman's Experiences-A Graphic Description-Without Food, Water, Oars, Helm, or Compa.s.s-Blowing-up of the _Amazon_-"A Sail!"-Saved on the Dutch Galliot-Back from the Dead-Review of the Catastrophe-A Contrast-Loss of the _London_-Anxiety to get Berths on her-The First Disaster-Terrible Weather-Swamped by the Seas-The Furnaces Drowned out-Efforts to Replace a Hatchway-Fourteen Feet of Water in the Hold-"Boys, you may say your Prayers!"-Scene in the Saloon-The Last Prayer Meeting-Worthy Draper-Incidents-Loss of an Eminent Tragedian-His Last Efforts-The Bottle Washed Ash.o.r.e-Nineteen Saved out of Two Hundred and Sixty-three Souls on Board-n.o.ble Captain Martin-The _London's_ Last Plunge-The Survivors picked up by an Italian Barque.

No greater horror can occur at sea than for the good s.h.i.+p to be on fire.

At first sight, indeed, it might appear that in the midst of an unbounded waste of waters nothing could be easier than to extinguish a conflagration on board a vessel, but examples already cited in this work have shown the difficulties in the way. Steam-s.h.i.+ps have special facilities for pumping water into almost any part of their hulls, yet one of the saddest examples of a s.h.i.+p on fire is afforded in the loss of the _Amazon_, a steam-s.h.i.+p of the first-cla.s.s.

The _Amazon_ was one of a fleet of new vessels placed by the Royal Mail Steam-s.h.i.+p Company on the West India service, and was stated to be, at the time of her launching, the largest _timber-built_ steam-s.h.i.+p ever constructed in England. She was of 2,256 tons burden, and fitted with every improvement known at the time; her entire cost was stated at over 100,000. When, on the 16th of December, 1851, she arrived at Southampton, she was regarded as the perfect model of a pa.s.senger vessel. In due time she was ready for sea, and having received her crew and engineers aboard, and a little later her pa.s.sengers and the Admiralty agent with mails, she left Southampton on Friday, January 2nd, 1852. The officers were all tried men, and her commander, Captain Symons, was one of those seamen whom large steam-s.h.i.+p companies are only too glad to employ and retain. He was not merely an officer of thoroughly competent skill, but a man of unbending resolution, a man fitted to be a ruler among men, as should be every commander of a great vessel. Only a few weeks before he had received the thanks of the American Government, accompanied by a present of a silver speaking-trumpet, for interposing, at the risk of his own life, in an affair at Chagres between the Americans and the natives. On this occasion he not only was the means of saving much valuable property, but by his energetic conduct arrested a conflict, which, but for his intervention, might probably have been attended with much bloodshed and slaughter. The _Amazon_, a pioneer of the service she was to inaugurate, left Southampton amidst a considerable amount of _eclat_, and commenced her voyage.

"And so," says the work(88) from which much of the following account is compiled, "the gallant s.h.i.+p sped on. The wind was right ahead, but her engines were powerful, and she pa.s.sed rapidly through the water. But it is necessary, in order to make clear what follows, to describe the position of her engines and boats.

"The engine-room was about the middle of the vessel, having sixteen boilers-eight in the forward and as many in the after part. There were, consequently, two funnels: one about mids.h.i.+ps, the other immediately behind the foremast. In those vessels which have but one set of boilers and one funnel these are placed in the after part of the engine-room, while the store-room, containing tallow, oil, and other inflammable materials, is placed forward. But the _Amazon_ having boilers at both ends, it happened that the floor of the store-room rested directly on the wood casing that surrounded the upper part or steam-chest of the forward boilers.

"Then, with regard to the boats: most of the older vessels have life-boats resting, bottom up, on the top of the paddle-boxes, according to a plan much approved in the navy, and the smaller boats swing suspended over the water, from two curved iron props, or davits, as they are technically termed, by ropes that, running through a pulley, enable men seated in the boats to lower themselves from the s.h.i.+p's side to the water, when the hooks by which the tackle is attached to the boats may at once be cast off. But as it would be inconvenient that the boats so hung from the davits should be swinging backward and forward with every roll of the s.h.i.+p, ropes are lashed round them and fastened to the bulwark of the vessel, in order to keep them steady. Now, in order to get quit of this latter somewhat clumsy contrivance, as well as to ease the strain of the boat upon the tackling by which it swings, a different mode of fastening was adopted in the _Amazon_. There were the davits as usual, and the common contrivance for lowering the boats into the water; but instead of the undergirding ropes or guys, two iron props were introduced, each of which, branching out at the top into two p.r.o.ngs, received in its groove the keel of the boat, in which she sat as in a cradle, thus taking away all strain from the ordinary tackling. This change in the mode of securing the boats had, however, this effect: that, whereas in the former case the boat's crew had but to lower the boat and themselves into the water, by the new mode it became necessary, before they could do that, to hoist the boat up a few feet till it was got clear of the projecting points of the crutch on which it rested. Of what fatal consequence this necessity was will become too apparent in the course of the narrative."

The machinery was perfectly new, and, as is frequently the case on first trials, became much heated in the bearings: so much so, indeed, that water had to be pumped over them. Whether or not the terrible disaster about to be described resulted from that fact will never be known; it much more probably occurred from some light being dropped upon the waste, &c., of the oil-room. No neglect of duty was attributed to the engineers, who seem to have been exceptionally careful.

About a quarter before one o'clock, Sunday, when the s.h.i.+p was about entering the Bay of Biscay, Mr. Treweeke, the second officer, a most promising and practical sailor, being then officer of the watch, was on the bridge. Just before, Dunsford, quartermaster, had gone the rounds to see that the lights were all out, and had reported that all was right; Mr.

Treweeke then was on the bridge, and Mr. Dunsford was standing under him to receive orders. Mr. Vincent, one of the mids.h.i.+pmen, was on the quarter-deck; all was still as the grave, save the monotonous throbbing of the engines. He happened to look towards Mr. Treweeke at that moment, and saw him leaning listlessly against the railing of the bridge. Suddenly Treweeke started up, and looked earnestly at something apparently issuing from the engine-room. That officer had discovered flames issuing thence, and Dunsford was detailed to call the captain: and although he should have performed his duty noiselessly, he managed, rather boisterously, to disturb some of the pa.s.sengers. The captain immediately ran out of his cabin, half nude, and after finding that the fire was serious, ran back and put on some clothes, immediately returning to the scene of action. At the same time, Mr. Stone, the fourth engineer, saw fire on the starboard foremost boiler from the iron platform on which he was standing, and instantly gave the alarm. He even attempted to stop the engines, but the smoke was so dense that he was obliged to retreat. One of the men, who was going to the engine-room to warm himself, observed a glare of light in the fore stoke-hole, and on examination found between the starboard fore-boiler and the bulkhead a flame issuing as far as he could see. The firemen's backs were turned at the time, and he shouted out to them, "Don't you see the fire? Why don't you get water?" They did not, however, seem to notice it. He rushed aft, where the hose was kept, and tried to drag it forward, shouting for a.s.sistance; but by the time the hose was brought the flames of fire were rus.h.i.+ng up through the oil, tallow, and waste store-rooms. The flames were leaping upwards to the deck above.

Owing to the smoke, he was obliged to give up the hose, and rush on deck, it being impossible to remain below any longer. The chief engineer, Mr.

Angus, and one of his a.s.sistants, tried to put on the hose, and kept by it till they could not breathe. Hearing a cry for buckets on deck, Angus ran aft as fast as he could, and the pa.s.sengers were then breaking open the saloon door to get on deck. Several attempts to get water to the flames were unsuccessful or utterly ineffective.

The second engineer, Mr. William Angus, stated that when he was alarmed by the cry of "Fire!" he was in the act of "blowing off"(89) the after-boiler, and on coming up the lower platform ladder of the engine-room, ran to set the "donkey" engine (which pumps the s.h.i.+p and keeps the boilers a-going). A blast of smoke stopped him, and when he recovered more or less from the suffocation he attempted to work her, but failed. All the lamps were extinguished by the smoke. Mr. Stone, the fourth engineer, came to his a.s.sistance, but was forced to retire. The stokers and others found it equally impossible to remain. One of the survivors described the progress of the flames in the engine-room "as that of a great wave of fire, before which no man could stand and live." He stated that it rushed upon his mind that if the boilers were left in their then state the water would soon become exhausted, and the boilers themselves explode, so he turned on the water into them, and attempted to remove the weights from the safety valves, so as to ease the pressure of the steam. The gla.s.s above was cracking with the intensity of the heat.

"It was not three minutes from the time that the fire was discovered till the s.h.i.+p was in flames."