Battles with the Sea | Page 8

the tide fell this action decreased, and had ceased entirely
when the lifeboat arrived.
And now the point of greatest danger was reached. How to bring a
lifeboat alongside of a wreck so as to get the people into her without
being dashed to pieces is a difficult problem to solve. It was no new
problem, however, to these hardy and fearless men; they had solved it
many a time, before that night. When more than a hundred yards to
windward of the wreck, the boat's foresail was lowered and her anchor
let go. Then they seized the oars, and the cable was payed out; but the
distance had been miscalculated. They were twenty yards or so short of
the wreck when the cable had run completely out, so the men had to
pull slowly and laboriously back to their anchor again, while the
emigrants sent up a cry of despair, supposing they had failed and were
going to forsake them! At length the anchor was got up. In a few
minutes it was let go in a better position, and the boat was carefully
veered down under the lee of the vessel, from both bow and stern of
which a hawser was thrown to it and made fast. By means of these
ropes and the cable the boat was kept somewhat in position without
striking the wreck.
It was no easy matter to make the voice heard in such a gale and
turmoil of seas, but the captain of the Fusilier managed to give his
ship's name and intended destination. Then he shouted, "How many can
you carry? We have more than a hundred souls on board; more than
sixty of them women and children."
This might well fill the breasts of the rescuers with anxiety. Their boat,
when packed full, could only carry about thirty. However, a cheering
reply was returned, and, seizing a favourable opportunity, two of the
boatmen sprang on the wreck, clambered over the side, and leaped

among the excited emigrants. Some seized them by the hands and
hailed them as deliverers; others, half dead with terror, clung to them as
if afraid they might forsake them. There was no time, however, to
humour feelings. Shaking them all off--kindly but forcibly--the men
went to work with a will, briefly explained that there was a steamer not
far off, and began to get the women first into the boat.
Terror-stricken, half fainting, trembling in every limb, deadly pale, and
exhausted by prolonged anxiety and exposure, the poor creatures were
carried rather than led to the ship's side. It needed courage even to
submit to be saved on such a night and in such circumstances. Two
sailors stood outside the ship's bulwarks, fastened there by ropes, ready
to lower the women. At one moment the raging sea rose with a roar
almost to the feet of these men, bearing the kicking lifeboat on its crest.
Next moment the billow had passed, and the men looked down into a
yawning abyss of foam, with the boat surging away far out of their
reach, plunging and tugging at the ropes which held it, as a wild horse
of the plains might struggle with the lasso. No wonder that the women
gazed appalled at the prospect of such a leap, or that some shrieked and
wildly resisted the kind violence of their rescuers. But the leap was for
life; it had to be taken--and quickly, too, for the storm was very fierce,
and there were many to save!
One of the women is held firmly by the two men. With wildly-staring
eyes she sees the boat sweep towards her on the breast of a rushing sea.
It comes closer. Some of the men below stand up with outstretched
arms. The woman makes a half spring, but hesitates. The momentary
action proves almost fatal. In an instant the boat sinks into a gulf,
sweeps away as far as the ropes will let her, and is buried in foam,
while the woman is slipping from the grasp of the men who hold her.
"Don't let her go! don't let her go!" is roared by the lifeboat-men, but
she has struggled out of their grasp. Another instant and she is gone;
but God in His mercy sends the boat in again at that instant; the men
catch her as she falls, and drag her inboard.
Thus, one by one, were the women got into the lifeboat. Some of these
women were old and infirm; some were invalids. Who can conceive the

horror of the situation to such as these, save those who went through it?
The children were wrapped up in blankets and thus handed down.
Some of the husbands or fathers on board rolled up shawls and blankets
and tossed them down to the