The First Mate: The Story of a Strange Cruise Page 8

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  A WEIRD AND STARTLING EXPERIENCE.

  The untimely death of poor Kennedy resulted in my being promoted to theposition of first mate of the _Stella Maris_, young as I was; while theboatswain, who knew nothing of navigation, but was an excellent seaman,was temporarily given the post of second mate, until someone more suitedto the position could be found.

  At ten o'clock in the morning following our brush with the Malays thehands were mustered for church parade, as on Sundays, and Kennedy's bodywas committed to the deep with all solemnity. Monroe read the burialservice so impressively that even the lad Julius was visibly affected,while Mrs Vansittart and her daughter--both of them attired in blackfor the occasion--wept freely. Three days later we arrived inSingapore, and on the following day the yacht was docked for examinationand the fitting of the spare propeller.

  Upon examination the hull was found to be quite undamaged, yet we musthave hit the wreckage, or whatever it was that we ran foul of, a prettysevere blow, for not only was the weed completely scoured off the ship'sbottom where contact had occurred, but the anti-fouling composition hadalso been removed as effectually as though a scraper had been employed.

  We stayed at Singapore exactly a week, and then, with bottom scrapedclean, two fresh coats of anti-fouling composition applied, the outsideof the hull, up to the level of the rail, repainted, and our sparepropeller fitted, we sailed for Hong-Kong. It was Mrs Vansittart'sintention to ship a second and a third mate at Singapore; but sheforbore to do so, no suitable men happening to be available during ourstay. The temporary arrangement was therefore allowed to stand a littlelonger, our lady skipper hoping to find what she required at Hong-Kong.

  We went to sea in fine weather, and made excellent but uneventfulprogress during the first four days of the trip. Then, on our fourthnight out, when we were in the neighbourhood of the Vanguard Bank, thewind fell light, and finally died away, leaving us becalmed, very muchas had happened with us in the Strait of Malacca. This time, however,there was neither land nor craft in sight, and we were therefore underno apprehension of a repetition of our experiences on that occasion. Iought, by the way, to have stated that upon our arrival at Singapore weduly reported our adventure to the authorities, with the result that theBritish gunboat _Cormorant_ was dispatched to the scene of the outrage.But we were given to understand that it would probably prove exceedinglydifficult, if not impossible, to lay hands upon the guilty parties; andas a matter of fact we afterwards learned that the only result of the_Cormorant's_ visit to the spot was the discovery of a considerablequantity of wreckage and several dead bodies floating about.

  As I have said, the wind began to drop late in the afternoon of ourfourth day out from Singapore, and by eight bells of the seconddog-watch we had lost steerage way. As soon as this happened the matterwas reported to Mrs Vansittart, and I enquired whether she wished theengine to be started; but she replied that she was in no especial hurryto reach Hong-Kong, and therefore, as there was no particular reason forpushing on, she would not waste gasoline. The engine was thereforepermitted to remain inactive, but we furled all our light canvas, tosave wear and tear, and hauled up our courses, leaving the ship undertopsails, topgallant sails, and jib.

  The fact is that none of us quite knew what to make of the weather. Theglass stood fairly high, with a rising rather than a falling tendency,yet the sky was hazy without being exactly overcast. Nor, consideringwhere we were, was the weather particularly hot; the atmosphere,however, seemed surcharged with damp, although no rain fell. With thegoing down of the sun it fell exceedingly dark, for the moon was faradvanced in her last quarter, and did not rise until very late--orrather in the early morning--while the haze was thick enough to shut outthe light of the stars effectually. The water was smooth, excepting fora low, easterly swell to remind us of the breeze that had died away.

  It chanced to be my eight hours in that night, and, as had become afirmly-established custom on such occasions, I was dining with thesaloon party, with all of whom, excepting Julius, I was now uponexcellent terms. Mrs Vansittart had graciously listened to myexplanation of, and accepted my apologies for, the colossal liberty Ihad taken in suggesting that she should be locked in her cabin on thememorable night of the piratical attack upon us; and not only had shefreely forgiven me, but I believe that, after I had fully explained themotives which actuated me, she felt almost inclined to admit that I wasto a certain extent justified. Possibly she would have admitted thisbut for the fact that such an admission might have been subversive ofdiscipline. Monroe and I had always got on splendidly together; andeven the once haughty Miss Anthea had at length thawed completely, evento the extent of singing duets with me and playing my accompanimentswhile I sang or fiddled. It was only the boy whom I seemed utterlyunable to placate; he had taken a violent dislike to me from the veryfirst, and not even the fact that I had undoubtedly saved his lifeseemed to make any apparent difference in his attitude toward me.

  Since leaving Singapore we had resumed our musical evenings afterdinner, temporarily interrupted by Kennedy's death, and we were enjoyingourselves as usual on the evening of which I am now speaking when, whileI was playing a violin solo to Miss Anthea's accompaniment, we were allstartled by a sudden but very slight jarring sensation, as though theship had lightly touched the ground for a moment. I knew that we werein the neighbourhood of the Vanguard, Prince Consort, and Prince ofWales Banks, and although I also knew that, according to our position asdetermined that afternoon, and the course and distance since run, weought to be far enough away from them to be perfectly safe, the thoughtfor a moment seized me that in some extraordinary and whollyunaccountable manner we might have been mistaken. Flinging down myviolin, I rushed out on deck, closely followed by Mrs Vansittart andMonroe.

  On reaching the deck I found that the jar had already created quite asmall commotion, the boatswain's watch being all on the alert, while thehands below, awakened by the unaccustomed sensation, were swarming up tolearn what had happened. Parker, the boatswain, was shouting for onehand to bring along the hand lead, and to another to bring a lightedlantern.

  My first glance was over the side; but it was so dark that I could seenothing save a faint gleam under the lighted ports. Then the men withthe lead line and lantern came along, and we took several casts of thelead. "No bottom", was the report; but even while the line was beingcoiled up after the last cast, the same sensation was again experienced,this time a little stronger. And then, while we were debating what itcould possibly mean, one of the hands from forward came along andreassured us.

  "I know what it is, sir," he explained. "I've felt the very same thingbefore, and not very far from here, too--while we was lyin' in Manilaharbour. We couldn't make out what the mischief it was at first; butwhen the skipper went ashore shortly afterwards they told him thatthere'd been a slight shock of earthquake."

  The explanation seemed quite reasonable and satisfactory, so after somelittle further talk we returned to the drawing-room and resumed ourmusic. But shortly afterward we were again disturbed twice byrecurrences of the same phenomenon; we accordingly gave it up, and Iwent off to my cabin, debating within myself whether I should changeinto my working rig or turn in.

  Finally I decided upon the former alternative, since I did not feel muchinclined for sleep, and when I had effected the change I went up ondeck, thinking that possibly a spell of fresh air would bring on thedesired drowsiness.

  As I reached the main-deck four bells (ten o'clock) were struck, and thelook-out had just responded with the stereotyped cry of "All's well!"when there occurred another shock, so violent and protracted that someof the hands cried out in terror. It is difficult to gauge the passageof time accurately at such a moment, but I think this shock must havelasted nearly, if not quite, two minutes; and the sensation to which Ican most nearly compare it is that of a ship being swept and jolted overthe rough surface of a coral reef by a red-hot tide.

  So strong and so alarming was the s
hock that it created something almostamounting to panic among the crew, a few of whom, in their alarm, raiseda cry to launch the boats; and it was not without some difficulty thatthey were eventually persuaded that the yacht was quite uninjured, andthat they were therefore far safer on her deck than they could possiblybe in any boat. I was not greatly surprised at their alarm, for thephenomenon was of so unusual and startling a character that, to confessthe truth, I felt my own self-possession a little inclined to "wilt", asmy companions would probably have put it.

  Meanwhile the saloon party, like everybody else, had rushed on deck inalarm, and were eagerly discussing the occurrence. Monroe assured thetwo ladies that they need not be in the least degree uneasy, since,strange as the phenomenon might be to us, it was really not so veryextraordinary or unusual, especially in the region where we now foundourselves; and he was making good headway in his effort to reassure hisaudience when suddenly there occurred another and still more violentshock. This was so pronounced that it set the sea all a-quiver withripples, which seemed to run in the direction of all the points of thecompass, crossing and recrossing each other at every conceivable anglewith such rapidity that the "shaling" of the water was like that of astrong rapid, while the interlacing--so to speak--of the ripples createda sort of network of miniature breakers, easily visible because of thephosphorescence set up.

  The jar and jolting of this last shock were so severe that I reallybegan to entertain serious fears as to whether the ship could withstandthem. It seemed to me that if the thing continued very long every rivetin her would be shaken or torn out of place, and the entire fabric mustfall to pieces; for the deck was now quivering and jolting so violentlythat, to maintain our footing, we all instinctively clung to the nearestthing we could lay hands upon.

  I must confess that I was more than a little astonished at the couragemanifested by Mrs Vansittart and her daughter. There could be no doubtthat they were greatly alarmed, yet they were more self-possessed thanany of the rest of us--so much so, indeed, that Mrs Vansittart's voicewas almost steady as she directed me to find Mackenzie and instruct himto start the engine. "I think I should feel more comfortable if we hadthe ship under command," she explained.

  I had just executed this commission and returned to the poop, and theship was already beginning to gather way, when above the hiss of theagitated water a low rumble became audible, increasing with,inconceivable rapidity to a frightful, deafening roar. The vibrationsgrew still more violent, and suddenly, with an awful, ear-splittingexplosion, we saw a great column of flame shoot high into the air, sometwo miles away and almost directly ahead of us. It looked for all theworld as though a gigantic cannon, planted vertically in the sea, muzzleupward, had been discharged, except that the flash of fire, instead ofbeing only momentary, as in the case of a gun, was continuous. Itremained visible for quite ten minutes, and probably endured for a muchlonger period. The emission of flame was accompanied by a frightfulroaring sound, like that of a thousand blast furnaces, intermingled withfrequent terrific explosions; and we continued to hear these long afterwe had lost sight of the fire.

  At the first outburst of flame I instinctively sprang to the wheelhouseand ordered the dazed and terrified quartermaster to put his helm harda-port, and let the ship sweep round in a complete half-circle, so thatwe might get away from the dangerous spot as speedily as possible. Butwe had hardly begun to turn, in response to our hard-over helm, beforedense clouds of steam commenced to rise from the water round about theflame; and these soon obscured it to such an extent that the glare,which at first was almost as strong as daylight, rapidly dwindled untilit became merely a great shapeless luminous blotch, growing less andless brilliant until we lost sight of it altogether as we went at fullspeed ahead away from it. But it was quite a quarter of an hour beforewe were fairly clear of the extraordinary danger that had so suddenlyleaped up in our path; and within the first minute following theexplosion great masses of incandescent rock mingled with flaming cindersbegan to fall about us on all sides, so that I regard it as nothingshort of a miracle that none of the larger masses fell upon our decks.Had they done so, we must inevitably have been destroyed. As it was, wewere kept busy with the hose for fully half an hour extinguishing thecinders that fell upon our deck.

  Not the least remarkable circumstance connected with the phenomenon wasthat soon after we started the pumps the water rapidly became so hotthat the men could not bear the contact of it upon their bare feet, andwere obliged to don their sea boots hurriedly. At first we were fearfulthat the dense clouds of steam generated by the flame would spread andovertake us; but we were spared this, for almost immediately a smallbreeze sprang up, blowing toward the fire, and as we advanced itstrengthened until it became quite a stiff breeze. To this circumstanceI attribute the fact that none of our sails were set on fire by thefalling cinders, for it necessitated the hurried clewing up and furlingof all our canvas.

  For a full hour we travelled south at full speed; and then, havingapparently run beyond the limit of the danger zone, we shifted our helmand headed east until daylight, when, perceiving no sign of theeruption, and the wind having drawn round from the eastward, we set ourcanvas and stopped the engine. A week later we arrived at Hong-Kongwithout further adventure, and were amazed to learn that nothing wasknown there of the submarine volcanic outburst--for such, of course, itwas--from which we had so narrowly escaped destruction. Nor, althoughwe remained a week in the roadstead, during which several craft arrivedfrom the south, and two from the Philippines, could we learn that anyothers than ourselves had beheld the phenomenon.

  Before our arrival at Singapore it had been Mrs Vansittart's intentionto proceed from that port to Manila, she being somewhat curious to seesomething of the United States' farthest East possession on our waynorth. But the United States' consul at Singapore had very stronglydissuaded her from making such a visit; we therefore skipped thePhilippines, and, after spending a week at Hong-Kong, during which thesaloon party made a trip to Canton and back, weighed and stood out ofthe harbour _en route_ for Yokohama.

  We had a good run up through the China Sea, doing the trip in ten daysfrom port to port without being obliged to use the engine at all.Arrived in the magical land of the chrysanthemum, our lady skipper"spread herself", as she graphically expressed it, devoting a full monthto the exploration of the country, and returning to the ship loaded downwith priceless treasures of porcelain, pictures, carving and lacquerwork, mostly designed as presents for her more stay-at-home friends in"little old N'York", when she should get back. Of course her childrenwent with her, and Monroe, equally of course, "went along" as escort.

  While Mrs Vansittart and her party were enjoying themselves the crewalso had an opportunity to see something of what many regard as the mostwonderful country and people in the world, the same generous rule withregard to shore leave prevailing here as elsewhere. For myself, I didnot see nearly as much of the country as I should have liked, for itunfortunately happened that at the time of our visit the relationsbetween Japan and the United States were somewhat strained in connectionwith the settlement of Japanese subjects on United States soil, and theStars and Stripes was not altogether welcome in Japanese ports. Indeed,within the first week of our arrival in Yokohama harbour we had reasonto suspect that a malicious attempt had been made either to damage or todestroy the yacht; and as she was in my charge during the owner'sabsence I did not care to leave her for more than a day at a time--andonly once as long as that. But of course it must be understood thatsuch ill feeling as undoubtedly existed was only openly manifested byprivate persons, and those almost entirely of the lower classes.Official Japan was the very essence of politeness and urbanity wheneverwe came into contact with it.

  There was just one element of regret for Mrs Vansittart in her visit toJapan, and that was the unfortunate fact that Monroe developed typhoidon the very day of the party's return to Yokohama, and had to be leftbehind in hospital. She would most willingly have prolonged her stayuntil the patient'
s recovery; but Harper, our doctor, intervened,pointing out that, since our next cruise was to be among the PacificIslands, it would be most inadvisable for a person newly recovered fromtyphoid to accompany us, as a relapse would almost certainly follow; andthat the better plan would be to arrange for Monroe's return home directby mail boat via 'Frisco. This was accordingly done, Mrs Vansittartmaking every arrangement for the care and comfort of the patient duringhis sojourn in Yokohama, and his journey to New York in all ease andcomfort afterward, before giving the word for our departure.

  We hove our anchor out of the mud of Yokohama harbour at ten o'clock ona certain lovely September morning, which, as Mrs Vansittart informedme incidentally, happened to be the anniversary of the yacht's departurefrom New York. Starting our engine, we proceeded down Yedo Bay, throughUraga Strait, and so to sea, passing Cape Mela about eight bells in theafternoon watch. Then, to a fine spanking westerly breeze, we set allplain sail and headed south for the Ladrones.

  I arrive now at a point where, for a space of over two months, I find noentry in my diary of any incident worthy of special mention; this periodmay therefore be dismissed with the simple remark that it was spent invisiting several of the most interesting islands in the Pacificarchipelago.

  We sailed from Taputeuea, in the Gilbert Group, in the middle ofNovember, and for more than a week we headed west, making good headwayon the whole, although there were times when we were detained byvexatious calms, to counterbalance which we "carried on" when the windfavoured us and we had a clear sea ahead.

  Such happened to be the case on a certain day in the first week ofDecember. We had a slashing easterly breeze behind us, and fine clearweather; and the chart told us that there were no lurking dangers in ourpath; we therefore gave the yacht the whole flight of studding sails onboth sides, and laid ourselves out to make up a little of our lost time.And we were doing so in handsome style, too, for the ship reeled offher fourteen knots hour after hour until the end of the afternoon watch,when the wind suddenly hauled four points to the southward andfreshened; and although this shift of wind necessitated our handing ourstar board studding sails, it gave our fore-and-aft canvas a chance toput in some good work, which it did, the ship's speed going up tosixteen knots within the next hour. And for a sailing ship, sixteenknots is a very respectable speed, let me tell you, although I canrecall more than one occasion when we logged nineteen, and that not onlyfor a brief spell, but for three or four hours at a stretch. Still,sixteen knots is a pretty good pace; and it was an exhilarating sight towatch the rush of the white yacht over that glorious sapphire sea, withevery sail accurately set and trimmed and tugging at the beautiful hulllike a team of cart horses, the long, weighty swell chasing us,wind-whipped and capped with seething crests of snow-white foam, whilethe great, glass-smooth bow wave went roaring away on either hand withits hissing and leaping crown of froth sparkling like gems in the raysof the declining sun.

  I think Mrs Vansittart was never more proud of her beautiful ship thanshe was on that particular evening, as she stood with me on the poop andcritically marked our rush through the water and every perfection ofhull, spar, and sail. The yacht was a lovely picture, even as beheld byus from her poop; but I would have given a trifle for the privilege ofseeing her as she must have appeared at such a moment from a passingship, had there been such a craft. But, as it happened, there was not;we had the sea to ourselves, for we chanced just then to be traversing astretch of water very rarely frequented by craft of any description.

  It happened to be my eight hours out on that particular night, and when,at eight bells of the first watch, I turned the ship over to Parker, theboatswain, we were still reeling off our sixteen knots, with a fresh,steady breeze from the south-east. It was a dark night, for the moonwas only two days old, and had set long ago, while a thin veil of cloudhid most of the stars. Had we been in much-frequented waters I shouldperhaps have considered it a bit reckless to drive the ship so hardthrough the darkness; but we were not, and I retired to my cabin with aneasy mind, and, undressing at once, tumbled into my bunk and fell soundasleep almost as my head touched the pillow.