Tales of terror
fellow snivelled a bit, and was not handy to jump when he was ordered
aloft to set the fore-royal. It was his first voyage, and the boy was
mortal afraid to venture; but the captain swore he would make him, and
in his passion hit him a rap with the iron rod and killed him. When he
saw what he had done he lifted the body while it was still quivering
and hove it over the side; and many a long day the men wondered what
had become of little Bill, for they were all below at dinner, and none
but myself saw the bloody deed. It was needless for me to complain and
get him overhauled, as there were no witnesses; but I left the ship,
and berths would be scarce before I would sail with him again or put my
foot on the deck of his ship. I tell you, mate, there’s a curse on her,
and them as sails in her will come to grief.’
Knowing what tyrants shipmasters are in general, and how much their
passengers’ comfort depends on them, I was somewhat startled by this
piece of information respecting the temper of the man I purposed to
sail with. But necessity has no law! The circumstance was probably
much misrepresented, I thought, and, from a simple act of discipline,
exaggerated to an act of wanton cruelty. But be that as it might--my
affairs were urgent. There was no other vessel for the same port--I
must either take my passage or run the risk of being superseded. The
thing was not to be thought of, so I went and secured my berth. As my
preparations were few and trifling, I had everything arranged and on
board just as the vessel was unmooring from the quay. During the night
we got down to the Clock Lighthouse, and stood off and on, waiting for
the captain, who had remained behind to get the ship cleared out at
the Custom House. Soon afterwards he joined us, and, the pilot leaving
us in the return-boat, we stood down the Forth under all our canvas.
Her beloved Majesty Queen Victoria had not long been on the throne,
and piracy on the high seas was still a lucrative pursuit. Every
merchantman, therefore, generally carried a fair amount of armament,
and our vessel was no exception, although I, for one, certainly never
anticipated any adventure.
For four weeks we had a quick and pleasant passage. The ‘Ariadne’ was a
good sailer; for, being American-built, and originally intended for a
privateer, she sailed uncommonly fast, generally running at the rate of
twelve knots an hour in a good wind.
As I expected, Captain Mahone, an Irishman by birth, proved to be, in
point of acquirements, not at all above the common run of skippers
in command of sailing ships at that period. He was haughty and
overbearing, and domineered over the crew with a high hand; in return
for which he was evidently feared and detested by them all. He had
been many years in the West Indies, and during most of that time had
commanded a local trader, and had, between the fervid suns of such
high latitudes and the copious use of grog, become of a rich mahogany
colour, or something between vermilion and the tint of a sheet of
new copper. He was a middle-sized man, square built, with a powerful
and muscular frame. His aspect, naturally harsh and forbidding, was
rendered more so by the sinister expression of his left eye, which had
been nearly forced out by some accident, and the lineaments of his
countenance expressed plainly that he was passionate and furious in the
extreme. In consequence of this I kept rather distant and aloof; and,
except at meals, we seldom exchanged more than ordinary civilities.
By our reckoning, our ship had now got into the latitude of the
Bermudas, when one evening at sunset the wind, which had hitherto been
favourable, fell at once into a dead calm. The day had been clear and
bright; but now huge masses of dark and conical-shaped clouds began
to tower over each other in the western horizon, which, being tinged
with the rays of the sun, displayed that lurid and deep brassy tint
so well known to mariners as the token of an approaching storm. All
the sailors were of opinion that we should have a coarse night, and
every precaution that good seamanship could suggest was taken to make
the vessel snug before the gale came on. The oldest boys were sent
up to hand and send down the royal and top-gallant sails and strike
the yards, while the topsails and staysails were close-reefed. These
preparations were hardly accomplished when the wind shifted, and took
us aback with such violence as nearly to capsize the vessel. The ship
was put round as soon as possible, and lay to, while all hands remained
on deck in case of any emergency. About ten, in the interval of a
squall, we heard a gun fired as a signal of distress. The night was as
black as pitch, but the flash showed us that the stranger was not far
to leeward; so, to avoid drifting on the wreck during the darkness,
the main-topsail was braced round and filled, and the ship hauled to
windward. In this manner we kept alternately beating or heaving-to
as the gale rose or fell till the morning broke, when, through the
haze, we perceived a small vessel with her masts carried away. As the
wind had dropped, the captain had gone to bed; so it was the mate’s
watch on deck. The steersman, an old grey-headed seaman, named James
Gemmel, proposed to bear down and save the people, saying he had been
twice wrecked himself, and knew what it was to be in such a situation.
Owing to the captain being below, the mate was irresolute what to do,
being aware that the success of the speculation depended on their
getting to Surinam with all possible speed; however, he was at length
persuaded--the helm was put up, and the ship bore away.
As we neared the wreck, and were standing by the mizzen shrouds with
our glasses, the captain came up from the cabin. He looked up with
astonishment to the sails and the direction of the vessel’s head, and
in a voice of suppressed passion said, as he turned to the mate, ‘What
is the meaning of this, Mr. Wyllie? Who has dared to alter the ship’s
course without my leave, when you knew very well that we shall hardly
be in time for the market, use what expedition we may?’ The young man
was confused by this unexpected challenge, and stammered out something
about Gemmel having persuaded him. ‘It was me, sir,’ respectfully
answered the old sailor, wishing to avert the storm from the mate;
‘I thought you wouldn’t have the heart to leave the wreck, and these
people to perish, without lending a hand to save them! We should be
neither Christians nor true seamen to desert her, and----’
‘Damn you and the wreck, you old canting rascal! Do you dare to stand
there and preach to me?’ thundered the captain, his fury breaking
out. ‘I’ll teach you to disobey my orders! I’ll give you something to
think of!’ and seizing a capstan-bar which lay near him he hurled it
at the steersman with all his might. The blow was effectual--one end
of it struck him across the head with such force as to sweep him in an
instant from his station at the wheel, and to dash him with violence
against the lee-bulwarks, where he lay bleeding and motionless. ‘Take
that, and be damned to you!’ exclaimed the wretch, as he seized the
helm and sang out to the men: ‘Stand by sheets and braces--hard
a-lee--let go!’ In a twinkling the yards were braced round, and the
ship, laid between six points to the wind, was flying through the water.
Meanwhile Gemmel was lying without anyone daring to assist him, for
the crew were so confounded that they seemed quite undetermined how to
act. I stepped to him, therefore, and the mate following my example,
we lifted him up. As there was no appearance of respiration, I placed
my hand to his heart, but pulsation had entirely ceased--the old man
was dead! The bar had struck him directly on the temporal bone, and had
completely fractured that part of the skull.
‘He is a murdered man, Captain Mahone!’ said I, laying down the body,
‘murdered without cause or provocation.’
‘None of your remarks, sir!’ he retorted; ‘what the devil have you to
do with it? Do you mean to stir up my men to mutiny? Or do you call
disobeying my orders no provocation? I’ll answer it to those who have a
right to ask; but till then, let me see the man who dare open his mouth
to me in this ship.’
‘I promise you,’ returned I, ‘that though you rule and tyrannise here
at present, your power shall have a termination, and you shall be
called to account for your conduct in this day’s work. Rest assured
that this blood shall be required at your hands, though you have
hitherto escaped punishment for what has stained them already.’ This
allusion to the murder of little Bill Burnet seemed to stagger him
considerably; he stopped short before me, and, while his face grew
black with suppressed wrath and fury, whispered:
‘I warn you again, young man, to busy yourself with your own matters.
Meddle not with what does not concern you; and belay your slack jaw,
or, by----! Rink Mahone will find a way to make it fast for you!’ He
then turned round, and walked forward to the forecastle.
During this incident no attention had been paid to the wreck, though
the crew had set up a yell of despair on seeing us leave them. Signals
and shouts were still repeated, and a voice, louder in agony than the
rest, implored our help for the love of the blessed Virgin, and offered
riches and absolution to the whole ship’s company if they would but
come back. The captain was pacing fore and aft without appearing to
mind them, when, as if struck with some sudden thought, he lifted his
glass to his eye--seemed to hesitate--walked on--and then, all at once
changing his mind, he ordered the vessel again before the wind.
On speaking the wreck, she proved to be a Spanish felucca from the
island of Cuba, bound for Curaçoa, on the coast of the Curaccas. As all
the boats had been lost in the storm, the people could not leave their
vessel, which had sprung a leak badly and was sinking fast; so our
captain lowered and manned our jolly-boat, and went off to them.
After an absence of a couple of hours he returned with the passengers,
consisting of an elderly person in the garb of a Catholic priest, a
sick gentleman, a young lady, apparently daughter of the latter, and
a female servant. With the utmost difficulty, and writhing under some
excruciating pain, the invalid was got on board, and carried down to
the cabin, where he was laid on a bed on the floor. To the tender of my
professional services the suffering man returned his thanks, and would
have declined them, expressing his conviction of being past human aid,
but the young lady, eagerly catching at even a remote hope of success,
implored him with tears to accept my offer. On examination I found his
fears were but too well grounded. In his endeavours to assist the crew
during the gale he had been standing near the mast, part of which, or
the rigging, having fallen on him, had dislocated several of his ribs
and injured his spine beyond remedy. All that could now be done was to
afford a little temporary relief from pain, which I did; and, leaving
him to the care of the young lady and the priest, I left the cabin.
On deck I found all bustle and confusion. The ship was still lying-to,
and the boats employed in bringing the goods out of the felucca, both
of which were the property of the wounded gentleman. The body of the
old man, Gemmel, had been removed somewhere out of sight; no trace of
blood was visible, and Captain Mahone seemed desirous to banish all
recollections both of our quarrel and its origin.
As the invalid was lying in the cabin, and my state-room occupied by
the lady and her female attendant, I got a temporary berth in the
steerage made up for myself for the night. I had not long thrown
myself down on the cot, which was only divided from the main cabin by