Thrilling Stories of the Ocean | Page 6

hollow vessels, called cylinders, were filled with
gunpowder, and attached by the divers to the wreck, these were
connected by conducting wires with a battery on board a lighter above,
at a sufficient distance to be out of reach of danger when the explosion
took place. Colonel Pasley then gave the word to fire the end of the rod;
instantly a report was heard, and those who witnessed the explosions,
say that the effect was very beautiful. On one occasion, the water rose
in a splendid column above fifty feet high, the spray sparkling like
diamonds in the sun; then the large fragments of the wreck came
floating to the surface; soon after the mud from the bottom, blackening
the circle of water, and spreading to a great distance around; and with it
rose to the surface great numbers of fish, who, poor things, had found a
hiding-place in the wreck, but were dislodged and killed by the terrible
gunpowder.
[Illustration: LOSS OF THE MELVILLE CASTLE.]

LOSS OF THE MELVILLE CASTLE.
Many and great are the dangers to which those who lead a seafaring life
are exposed. The lightning's flash may strike a ship when far away
from port, upon the trackless deep, or the sudden bursting of a
particular kind of cloud, called a waterspout, may overwhelm her, and
none be left to tell her fate. But of all the perils to which a ship is liable,
I think that of her striking on a sand-bank, or on sunken rocks is the
greatest. There must be men and women now living on the Kentish
coast, in whose memory the disastrous wreck of the Melville Castle,

with all its attendant horrors, is yet fresh. It is a sorrowful tale, doubly
so, inasmuch as acts of imprudence, and still worse, of obstinacy, may
be said to have occasioned the loss of four hundred and fifty lives.
In the first place, the Melville Castle, or as I suppose we should call her
the Vryheid, was in a very decayed state; she had been long in the East
India Company's service, and was by them sold to some Dutch
merchants, who had her upper works tolerably repaired, new sheathed
and coppered her, and resold her to the Dutch government, who were
then in want of a vessel to carry out troops and stores to Batavia.
The Melville Castle was accordingly equipped for the voyage, painted
throughout, and her name changed to the Vryheid. On the the morning
of November, 1802, she set sail from the Texel, a port on the coast of
Holland, with a fair wind, which lasted till early on the following day,
when a heavy gale came on in an adverse direction.
The captain immediately had the top-gallant masts and yards struck to
make her ride more easily; but as the day advanced, the violence of the
wind increased, and vain seemed every effort of the crew to manage the
ship. There were many mothers and little children on board, whose
state was truly pitiable. The ship was scourged onward by the resistless
blast, which continued to increase until it blew a perfect hurricane.
About three in the afternoon, the mainmast fell overboard, sweeping
several of the crew into the sea, and severely injuring four or five more.
By this time they were near enough to the Kentish coast to discern
objects on land, but the waves which rolled mountains high prevented
the possibility of any help approaching. By great exertion the ship was
brought to anchor in Hythe Bay, and for a few moments hope cheered
the bosoms of those on board; it was but a few, for almost immediately
she was found to have sprung a leak; and while all hands were busy at
the pumps, the storm came on with increased fury.
In this dismal plight they continued till about six o'clock the following
morning, when the ship parted from one of her largest anchors, and
drifted on towards Dymchurch-wall, about three miles to the west of
Hythe. This wall is formed by immense piles, and cross pieces of
timber, supported by wooden jetties, which stretch far into the sea. It
was built to prevent the water from overflowing a rich, level district,
called Romney Marsh.
The crew continued to fire guns and hoist signals of distress. At

daybreak a pilot boat put off from Dover, and nearing the Melville
Castle, advised the captain to put back to Deal or Hythe, and wait for
calmer weather, or, said the boatman, "all hands will assuredly be lost."
But the captain would not act on his recommendation; he thought the
pilot boat exaggerated the danger, hoped the wind would abate as the
day opened, and that he should avoid the demands of the Dover pilot or
the Down fees by