The Pirate Island: A Story of the South Pacific

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  A FIERY ORDEAL.

  The chief and second mates had, when named by Captain Staunton, gonedown upon the main deck; and upon the conclusion of the skipper'saddress they at once marshalled their watches and led them to theirproper stations. The third mate, boatswain, sailmaker, cook, steward,and apprentices were embodied with the chief mate's gang, part of whomwere told off to work the force-pump which was to feed the tank of thefire-engine, while the remainder were formed into line along the deck topass buckets to the seat of the fire. The fire-engine, which hadluckily been frequently in use at fire-drill, was in perfect order, andthe men knowing exactly what to do, it was rigged and ready for action,with tank filled, the hose screwed on and laid along the deck, in aremarkably short time.

  Captain Staunton, on seeing that the men were cool and thoroughly undercontrol, had immediately gone below again to rejoin the carpenter, whomhe had left busily engaged in seeking the locality of the fire, of theactual existence of which he had no manner of doubt; indeed one had needonly to go to the companion and breathe the heated and pungentatmosphere which ascended thence to have resolved any doubt he mighthave entertained upon the subject.

  "Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Blanche, turning with white quivering lipsto Evelin, as the skipper disappeared below; "do you think there really_is_ fire, Mr Evelin?"

  "It is quite impossible to say," answered Evelin calmly, keeping tohimself his own convictions; "but if there is, it cannot have yet gainedmuch hold, and I daresay a half an hour or so of vigorous work with thefire-engine will effectually drown it out. And if it does not; if,looking at the matter in its worst possible light, the fire should afterall get the upper hand and drive us out of the ship, the night is fine,and the water smooth enough to enable us easily and comfortably to taketo the boats. Then the boats themselves are amply sufficient to takeeverybody without crowding; they are in perfect order and the bestequipped boats I have ever seen; so that let what will happen, I thinkwe need not alarm ourselves in the least.

  "I think, however," he added, the other passengers having gathered roundhim, "that it could do no possible harm, and might be of advantage,supposing that the worst happens, if you ladies were to go to yourberths and make up a package of your warmest clothing, together with anyvaluables you may have with you, so as to be in perfect readiness toleave the ship, if need be. But take matters quietly, I entreat you;for I sincerely hope it will prove that there is no necessity for anysuch decided step."

  The two girls turned away, and went together to the cabin which theyjointly occupied. Mrs Staunton had already followed her husband below;and Dale also hurried away, loudly bewailing his ill-luck in ever havingembarked on board such an unfortunate vessel.

  "For heaven's sake follow him, Fortescue, and stop his clamour!"exclaimed Lance; "he is enough to demoralise an entire regiment, letalone a small ship's company like this."

  Rex nodded, and followed his partner; seizing him by the arm and leadinghim aft, instead of allowing him to go below as he evidently intended:

  Just then the carpenter came on deck, and advancing to the break of thepoop, shouted--

  "Pass along the hose, boys, and start the engine. There is a spark ortwo of something smouldering down below, but we'll soon have it out."

  The men stationed at the engine gave a ringing cheer and, one of themstarting an inspiriting _shanty_, began at once to work away at thehandles.

  "Well, this here's a pretty go, ain't it?" observed Brook, addressinghimself to Evelin as the two stood together at the break of the poop,watching the men at work.

  "A most unfortunate circumstance," replied Lance. "Luckily there are nosigns whatever of anything approaching to panic; and if all keep as coolas they are at present, we may hope to get out of this difficulty oneway or the other without mishap. _You_ seem tolerably collected, MrBrook; so perhaps there may be no harm in telling you that I fearmatters are much more serious than they at present appear to be. Allday to-day the saloon has appeared to me to be extraordinarily hot; andthe presence of fire in the ship now sufficiently accounts for it. Andif it has been burning for some time, it may prove to have obtained sostrong a hold as to defy mastery. In such a case it behoves each one ofus to set an example of quiet self-possession to all the rest. Youbehaved so nobly the other day during the gale that I think we maydepend on you not to fail in that respect."

  "Oh, _I'm_ all right," returned Brook. "I don't believe in being putout about any think; I'm ready to help anywheres; and I'd begin at onceif I knowed where I could do any good. And if the `governor' (referringpresumably to Mr Dale) makes any fuss, I shall roll 'im up in a blanketlike a parcel and take care of 'im myself."

  A thin vapour of smoke was by this time rising from the companion,accompanied by a strong and quite unmistakable smell of fire; and in aminute or two more Captain Staunton, in his shirt sleeves, appeared ondeck and called forward for more water.

  "There is rather more of it than we at first thought, lads," he said;"but stick steadily to your work and we'll conquer it yet."

  The gang at the fire-engine was rapidly relieved; a fresh shanty wasstruck up; the chain of men with buckets got to work; and the quickened_clank clank_ of the engine handles showed that the crew were stillconfident and determined.

  "Now is our time," exclaimed Lance to Brook; "cut in here," as a ratherwide gap in the chain of bucket-men revealed itself just at the head ofthe saloon staircase; and in another moment both were hard at work, withtheir coats off, passing buckets.

  Another twenty minutes might have elapsed when Captain Staunton and thecarpenter staggered together up the saloon staircase to the deck,gasping for breath, their clothes and skin grimy with smoke, and theperspiration streaming down their faces.

  "Send two fresh hands below, if you please, Mr Bowles," shouted theskipper; "and you, lads, drop your buckets, and lend a hand here to cutsome holes in the deck; the fire is spreading forward, and we must keepit to this end of the ship if possible."

  Two of the most determined of the crew at once stepped forward andvolunteered to go below; Captain Staunton nodded his permission, and ledthem to the scene of their labours; while the chain of men who had beenpassing buckets along the deck dropped them, and, under the carpenter'ssupervision, at once commenced the task of cutting through the deck.The smoke was by this time pouring in volumes up the companion andthrough the skylight. Lance had been too busy to take much notice ofthis whilst engaged in passing the buckets; but now that a respite camehe had time to look about him. He saw the great dun cloud of smokesurging out of the companion and streaming away to leeward; and he sawindistinctly through it at intervals a small group gathered together aftby the weather taffrail. He thought he would join this group for amoment, if only to ascertain whether the girls had succeeded in securingsuch things as they were most anxious to save; and he sauntered towardthem in his usual easy and deliberate manner. As he drew near Violetrose and said--

  "Oh, Mr Evelin! I am _so_ glad you are come; I was beginning to feelquite anxious about Blanche--but where is she; I do not see her withyou?"

  "She is _not_ with me, Miss Dudley," answered Lance; "what led you tosuppose she would be?"

  "Not with you! Oh, Mr Evelin, _where_ is she, then? If she is notwith you she must still be in her cabin. I stayed there until the smokewas too thick to see or breathe any longer, and then I came on deck. Ispoke to her, urging her to come also, and receiving no reply thoughtshe had left without my noticing it; but she is not here anywhere."

  The latter part of this speech never reached Lance's ears, for, uponfully realising that Blanche--"his own sweet darling," as he had calledher in his inmost thoughts a thousand times--was missing, he darted tothe companion-way and plunged down the stairs, three or four at a time,into the blinding pungent suffocating smoke which rushed momentarily inmore and more dense volumes up through the opening.

  On reaching the foot of the staircase, he found that several of theplanks had been pulled up to a
llow the men tending the hose to get belowthe saloon floor and approach as near as possible to the seat of thefire. So dense was the smoke just here that it was only by the merestchance he escaped falling headlong into the abyss. Catching sight,however, of the aperture just in time to spring across it, he did so;and glancing back for an instant on reaching the other side, he saw abroad expanse of glowing white-hot bales of wool, and, dimly through theacrid smoke and steam, the forms of the men who were plying the enginehose.

  Groping his way into the saloon, which was by this time so full of smokethat he could barely distinguish through it a feeble glimmer from thecabin lamp, he made his way in the direction of the state-roomappropriated to Blanche and Violet. The smoke got into his eyes andmade them water; into his throat and made him cough violently; into hislungs, producing an overpowering sense of suffocation, and impressingunmistakably upon him the necessity for rapidity and decision ofmovement. Blind, giddy, breathless, he staggered onward, groping forthe handle of the state-room door. At length he found it, wrenched thedoor open, and rapidly felt with hands and feet about the floor and ineach berth. No one there. Where then could Blanche be? She was not ondeck, and it was hardly probable she could have fallen overboard. Thenas he hastily began the search anew his foot kicked against something onthe floor, which he at once picked up. It was a boot--a man's bootunmistakably, from its size and weight. This at once satisfied him thatin the obscurity he had groped his way into the wrong state-room; and hemust prosecute his search further.

  But he was suffocating. Already his brain began to reel; there was aloud humming in his ears; his eyes ached and felt as though they wouldburst out of their sockets; and he found his strength ebbing away likewater. Should he at once prosecute his search further? That seemedphysically impossible. But if Blanche were in that fatal atmosphere shemust soon die, if not dead already. And if he left the cabin to obtaina breath of fresh air was he not likely to go astray again, and losestill more precious time? No; the search must be proceeded with _atonce_; and, reeling like a drunken man, Lance felt for the state-roomdoor, staggered into the saloon, and felt along the bulkhead for thehandle of the next door. Oh, heavens! what a search that was. His headfelt as though it would burst; he gasped for breath, and inhaled nothingbut hot pungent smoke; the saloon seemed to be miles instead of yards inlength. Thank God! at last; the handle is found and turned, and thedoor flung open. Lance, with the conviction that unless he can escapein a very few seconds he will die, gropes wildly round and into theberths. Ah! what is this? Something coiled-up at the foot of thebottom berth. A human body! A woman! Lance grasps it tightly in hisarms; stumbles out through the door with it, along the saloon, throughthe passage. A roaring as of a thousand thunders is in his ears; starsinnumerable dance before his eyes; he sees as in a dream the yawninggulf in the floor; a broad glare of fierce white light reels madly toand fro before him; a confused sound of hoarse voices strikes upon hisear; he feels that the end is come--that he is dying; but with a lastsupreme effort he staggers up the saloon staircase to the deck, turnsinstinctively to windward out of the smoke, and with his precious burdenstill tightly clasped in his arms, falls prostrate and senseless to thedeck.

  Rex Fortescue, who had been present when Violet spoke to Lance ofBlanche's absence, and who had witnessed the hasty departure of hisfriend upon his perilous search, was at the head of the companion, onhis way below, having grown anxious at Lance's prolonged absence, whenthe latter reappeared on deck; and assistance having been hastilysummoned, the pair who had so nearly met their deaths from suffocationwere, with some little difficulty, at length restored to consciousness.

  Meanwhile, it had become apparent to Captain Staunton that the fire wasof a much more serious character than he had anticipated, and that itwas every minute assuming more formidable proportions. He therefore atlength decided, as a precautionary measure, to get the boats into thewater without further delay. He was anxious more particularly about thelaunch and pinnace, as these boats were stowed over the main hatch andwould have to be hoisted out by means of yard-tackles. This would be along and difficult operation, the ship being under jury-rig; and shouldthe fire attack the heel of the main-mast before these craft were in thewater, the two largest and safest boats in the ship might be seriouslydamaged, if not destroyed, in the process of launching, or perhaps mightdefy the unaided efforts of the crew to launch them at all. There wouldbe no difficulty about the other boats, as they could be lowered fromthe davits.

  The mates were busy superintending and directing the efforts of theirrespective gangs towards the extinguishing of the fire; CaptainStaunton, therefore, after a moment or two of anxious deliberation,confided to Bob the important duty of provisioning and launching theboats, giving him as assistants the cook, steward, and two able seamen,and soliciting also the aid of the male passengers.

  Now it happened that the _Galatea's_ boats were somewhat different incharacter from the boats usually to be found on board ship. CaptainStaunton had, when quite a lad, been compelled, with the rest of theship's company of which he was then a junior and very unimportantmember, to abandon the ship and take to the boats in mid-ocean; and hethen learnt a lesson which he never forgot, and formed ideas withrespect to the fitting of boats which his nautical friends had been wontto rather sneer at and stigmatise as "queer." But when the _Galatea_was in process of fitting out he had, with some difficulty, succeeded inpersuading his owners to allow him to carry out these ideas, and theboats were fitted up almost under his own eye.

  The chief peculiarity of the boats lay in their keels. These were madea trifle stouter than usual, and of ordinary depth. But they were soshaped and finished that a false keel some eight or nine inches deepcould be securely fastened on below in a very few minutes. This wasmanaged by having the true keel bored in some half a dozen places alongits length, and the holes "bushed" with copper. The copper bushesprojected a quarter of an inch above the upper edge of the keel, andwere so finished as to allow of copper caps screwing on over them, thuseffectually preventing the flow of water up through the bolt-holes intothe interior of the boat. The false keel was made to accurately fit thetrue keel, and was provided with stout copper bolts coinciding in numberand position with the bolt-holes in the true keel. To fix the falsekeel all that was necessary was to unscrew the caps from the top of the"bushes," apply the false to the true keel, pushing the bolts up throughtheir respective holes, and set them up tight by means of thumb-screws.The whole operation could be performed in a couple of minutes, and theboats were then fit to beat to windward to any extent.

  As far as the gigs were concerned (with the exception of the whaleboatgig, which was an exquisitely modelled boat, fitted with air-chambers soas to render her self-righting and unsinkable), beyond greater attentionthan usual to the model of the craft, this was the only difference whichCaptain Staunton had thought it necessary to make between the boats ofthe _Galatea_ and those of other ships; but in the cases of the launchand pinnace he had gone a step further, by fitting them with movabledecks in sections, which covered in the boats forward and aft and forabout a foot wide right along each side. These decks were bolted downand secured with thumb-screws to beams which fitted into sockets underthe gunwale; and when the whole was once fixed each section contributedto keep all immovably in place. The decking being but light it was notdifficult to fix, and in an hour after the order was given to launch theboats, the launch and pinnace were in the water alongside, and the gigshanging at the davits ready to lower away at a moment's notice.

  Thanks also to Captain Staunton's never-ceasing care with regard to theboats, they were all in perfect condition, and not leaky as baskets, asare too many boats when required to be lowered upon an unexpectedemergency. The gigs and the launch were regularly half-filled withwater every morning before the decks were washed down, and emptied atthe conclusion of that ceremony; while the pinnace, which was stowedbottom-up in the launch, was liberally soused with water at the sametime. In addition to this t
he proper complement of oars and rowlocks,the stretchers, boat-hook, mop, baler, anchor, rudder, yoke, and tiller,together with the compass, masts, and sails, were always stowed in theboat to which they belonged, and were carefully overhauled once everyweek under the skipper's own eye.

  Thus, on the present occasion, there was none of that bewildered runningabout and searching high and low for the boats' gear; it was all at handand ready for use whenever it might be wanted; there was nothingtherefore to do but to make sure that each boat was amply provisioned.This, the launch and pinnace being safely in the water, was Bob's nexttask, to which he devoted himself coolly but with all alacrity.

  The boats' water-breakers, which were slung, ready filled, between thefore and after gallows, under two of the gigs (each breaker bearingpainted upon it the name of the boat to which it belonged), were castadrift and passed into their proper boats as they were lowered, and thenfollowed as large a quantity of provisions as could possibly be stowedaway without too much encumbering the movements of the occupants.

  Meanwhile the scuppers had all been carefully plugged up, the deckspierced, and all hands set to work with buckets, etcetera, to floodthem, and still the fire increased in volume. It was 11:30 p.m. by thetime that the boats were veered astern, fully equipped, and ready toreceive their human freight; and at midnight the main-mast fell, flamesat the same time bursting up through the saloon-companion and skylight.Upon perceiving this it became evident to Captain Staunton that it wasquite hopeless to further prolong the fight; the crew had been for fourhours exerting themselves to their utmost capacity, with the firegaining steadily upon them the whole time; they were now completelyexhausted, and the fire was blazing furiously almost throughout thedevoted ship; he therefore considered he had done his full duty and wasnow quite justified in abandoning the unfortunate _Galatea_ to her fierydoom. He accordingly gave orders for the crew to desist from theirefforts, to collect their effects, and to muster again upon the quarter-deck with all possible expedition.

  The men needed no second bidding, they saw that the moments of the goodship were numbered; and, throwing down whatever they happened to have intheir hands, they made a rush for the forecastle, and there, in themidst of the already blinding and stifling smoke, proceeded hurriedly togather together their few belongings.

  In less than five minutes all hands were collected in the waist, waitingthe order to pass over the side.

  The boats had meanwhile been hauled alongside, and the ladies, withlittle May, carefully handed into the launch. This, when the attemptcame to be made, proved a task of no little difficulty, for the ship'ssides were found to be so hot that it was impossible to touch them.However, by the exercise of great caution it was accomplished withoutmishap; and then the male passengers were ordered down over the side,Rex and Lance going into the launch with the ladies, while Dale andBrook were told off to the pinnace. The crew were then sent down; eachman as he passed over the rail being told what boat he was to go into.Mr Bowles was appointed to the command of the pinnace, and Mr Dashwoodwas ordered to take charge of the whaleboat gig, with six hands as hiscrew.

  The passengers and crew of the _Galatea_ were distributed thus:--

  The launch, under the command of Captain Staunton, carried MrsStaunton, her little daughter May, Violet Dudley, Blanche Lascelles, thebosom friends Rex and Lance, Bob and his three fellow apprentices, andthe steward--twelve in all.

  The pinnace, commanded by Mr Bowles, had on board Mr Forester Dale,Brook, the carpenter, the sailmaker, and two of the seamen, numberingseven all told.

  The whaleboat gig, the smartest boat of the fleet, was manned, asalready stated, by Mr Dashwood and six picked hands; she was to act astender to the launch.

  The second gig, of which the boatswain was given charge, carried theremainder of the crew, five in number, or six including the boatswain.

  Captain Staunton was of course the last man to leave the ship, and itwas not until the moment had actually arrived for him to do so that thefull force of the calamity appeared to burst upon him. Up to thatmoment he had been working harder than any other man on board; andwhilst his body had been actively engaged, his mind was no less busydevising expedients for the preservation of the noble ship with thelives and cargo which she carried, and for the safety of all of which hewas responsible. But now all that was done with; the ship and cargowere hopelessly lost, and the time had come when they must be abandonedto their fate. It was true that many precious lives were still, as itwere, held in his hands; that upon his skill and courage depended to avery large extent their preservation; but that was a matter for thefuture--the _immediate_ future, no doubt, but at that supreme momentCaptain Staunton seemed unable to think of anything but _the present_--that terrible present in which he must abandon to the devouring flamesthe beautiful fabric which had borne them all so gallantly over so manythousand leagues of the pathless ocean, through light and darkness,through sunshine and tempest, battling successfully with the wind andthe wave in their most unbridled fury, to succumb helplessly at lastunder the insidious attack of that terrible enemy _fire_.

  The last of the crew had passed down over the side and had been receivedinto the boat to which he was appointed; the boats had all (exceptingthe launch) shoved off from the ship's side and retired to a distance atwhich the fierce heat of the victorious flames were no longer adiscomfort, and it was now high time that the skipper himself shouldalso leave. The flames were roaring and leaping below, above, andaround him; the scorching air was surging about him, torrents of sparkswere whirling around him, yet he seemed unable to tear himself away.There he stood in the gangway, his head bare, with his cap in his hand,and his eyes roving lingeringly and lovingly fore and aft, and thenaloft to the blazing spars and sails. At length the fore-mast was seento tremble and totter, it wavered for a moment, and then with a crashand in a cloud of fiery sparks plunged hissing over the side, theopposite side, fortunately, to that on which the launch lay. Thisaroused Captain Staunton; he gazed about him a single moment longer in adazed bewildered way, and then, as the ship rolled and the launch roseupon a sea, sprang lightly down into the boat, and in a voice stern withemotion, gave the order to shove off.

  "Oh, papa," cried little May, "I's so glad you's come; I sought you_weren't_ coming;" and the sweet little creature threw her arms lovinglyabout her father's neck.

  Do not deem him unmanly that he hid his eyes for a moment on his child'sshoulder, perchance to pray for her safety in the trials, the troubles,and the dangers which now lay before them. Then handing the little oneback to her mother, he hailed in a cheery voice the rest of the boats toclose round the launch as soon as she had withdrawn to a safe distance.

  In a few minutes the little fleet lay on their oars close together, at adistance of about a hundred yards from the blazing ship. CaptainStaunton then in a few well-chosen words first thanked all hands for thestrenuous efforts they had made to save the ship; and then explained tothem his plans for the future. He proposed in the first place, he said,to remain near the _Galatea_ as long as she floated; because if anyother craft happened to be in their neighbourhood, her crew would becertain to notice the light of the fire and bear down to see what itmeant, in which case they would be spared the necessity for a longvoyage in the boats. But if no friendly sail appeared within an hour ortwo of the destruction of their own ship, it was his intention tocontinue in the boats the course to Valparaiso which they had beensteering when the fire broke out. By his reckoning they were a trifleover eighteen hundred miles from this port--a long distance, no doubt;but he reminded them that they were in the Pacific, and might reasonablyhope for moderately fine weather; their boats were all in perfect order,well supplied, and in good sailing trim, instead of being loaded down tothe gunwale, as was too often the case when a crew were compelled toabandon their ship; and he believed that, unless some unforeseencircumstance occurred to delay them, they could make the passage in afortnight. And finally he expressed a hope that all hands wouldmaintain strict discipline and
cheerfully obey the orders of theirofficers, as upon this would to a very great extent depend theirultimate safety.

  His address was responded to with a ringing cheer; after which theoccupants of the various boats subsided into silence and sat watchingthe burning ship.

  The _Galatea_ was by this time a mass of flame fore and aft. Her mastswere gone, her decks had fallen in, and her hull above water was inseveral places red-hot; while as she rolled heavily on the long swell,burying her heated sides gunwale-deep in the water, great clouds ofsteam rose up like the smoke of a broadside, and hid her momentarilyfrom view.

  The fire continued to blaze more and more fiercely as it spread amongthe cargo, until about a couple of hours after the boats had left theship, when the intense and long-continued heat appeared to cause somerivets to give way, or to destroy some of the iron plates; for a greatgap suddenly appeared in the _Galatea's_ side, a long strip of platingcurling up and shrivelling away like a sheet of paper, and momentarilyrevealing the white-hot contents of the glowing told; then the waterpoured in through the orifice; there was a sudden upbursting of a vastcloud of steam accompanied by a mighty hissing sound; the hull appearedto writhe like a living thing in mortal agony; and then--darkness uponthe face of the waters. The scorched and distorted shell of iron whichhad once been as gallant a ship as ever rode the foam was gone fromsight for ever.