To describe the ship as she literally wallowed through the foaming waters, is beyond my power.
There were times when it appeared to me as if the gun-deck was two feet beneath the surface, and, in a twinkling, both of us lads were drenched to the skin, although, as I have said, only our heads and shoulders were exposed.
The labouring craft, carrying such a press of canvas as prevented her from rising to the waves, literally ploughed her way through them. The spars groaned as they buckled to the wind, until it appeared each instant as if they must go by the board. Now and then, when we were so far beneath the yawning chasms of water that the force of the gale was shut off from us momentarily, the slatting of chains and bolt-ropes made a din so great that it could not have been equalled by an army of blacksmiths hammering at their anvils.
A wilder or more awe-inspiring scene cannot be imagined, and to Simon and me, inexperienced as we were in a seafaring life, the peril appeared exceeding great.
Now and then, far in the distance, directly over the bow, could be seen the topsails of the chase, who must have been making as heavy weather of it as we were, and I said to myself that it was no longer a question of measuring strength between Britisher and Yankee, but simply a contest which would be decided in favour of the ship that had been most carefully and strongly constructed.
To pursue an enemy under such conditions seemed little less than madness; yet I afterward came to believe that Captain Ropes’s recklessness, at such a time, was far more potent toward subduing the mutiny of the crew than any other course he might have pursued.
There was no need for us to discuss the question of trying to gain speech with the captain.
It would have been literally impossible for either of us to have made our way aft to the quarter-deck, even though no one stood ready to oppose us, and this Simon understood as well as I.
Clutching me by the arm to attract attention, for in such a place one might have bawled himself hoarse, without making his words heard twelve inches away, Simon motioned for me to descend, and with no little difficulty we made our way once more to the gun-deck.