| CHAPTER I. | |
| PAGE | |
| How the Shipwrecked fared in Days of Old, andthe Growth of Sympathy on their behalf | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Wreckers | [13] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| The Inventor of the Life-boat | [19] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| The Growth of the Life-boat Movement | [23] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| The Invention and Launching of the Prize Life-boat | [32] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| The Ramsgate Life-boat at Work—Storm Warriors to the Rescue | [48] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| The Rescue of the Crew of the "Samaritano," and the Return | [66] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| A Night on the Goodwin Sands | [82] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| The Wreck abandoned, and the Life-boat despaired of | [94] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Signals of Distress—Out in the Storm | [116] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| The Emigrant Ship | [134] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| The Rescue of the Crew of the "Demerara," and the Emigrants' Welcome at Ramsgate | [149] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| The Wreck of the "Mary"—Gales abroad | [161] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| The Wreck of the "Mary"—A Struggle for Dear Life | [171] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| Deal Beach | [192] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| The Loss of the "Linda," and the Race to the Rescue | [203] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| The Rescue of the Crew of the "Amoor" | [214] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| The Rescue of the Crew of the "Effort"—The Dangers of Hovelling | [224] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| The Hovellers, or Salvors Saved. The "Princess Alice" Hovelling Lugger | [234] |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| The Saving of "La Marguerite"—(A Hovel) | [254] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| The Wreck brought in | [265] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| The Wreck of the "Providentia" | [275] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | |
| Hardly Saved | [287] |
| CHAPTER XXIV. | |
| Saved at Last—The Fatal Goodwin Sands | [298] |
| CHAPTER XXV. | |
| Saved at Last—We will not go Home without them | [310] |
| CHAPTER XXVI. | |
| Saved at Last—"Victory or Death" | [320] |
| CHAPTER XXVII. | |
| Of some of the Life-boat Men | [333] |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. | |
| Conclusion—The Life-boat Institution | [344] |
STORM WARRIORS.
CHAPTER I. HOW THE SHIPWRECKED FARED IN DAYS OF OLD, AND THE GROWTH OF SYMPATHY ON THEIR BEHALF.
A worthy Quaker thus wrote:—"I expect to pass through this world but once; if, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
Before in fancy we man the Life-boat, and rush out into the storm, and have the salt spray dashing over us, and the wind singing like suppressed thunder in our ears—before we watch the gallant Storm Warriors of the present day, in their life-and-death struggle, charging in through the raging seas to the rescue of the shipwrecked, let us look back and see how the unfortunate by shipwreck fared in the old time, and then take a hasty glance or two, watching the gradual growth, from age to age, of sympathy for the distressed; humanity becoming more pronounced, and more practical; the progressive adaptation of Maritime Law to the advancing tone of feeling; the gradual organization and development of that most noble Society, "The National Life-boat Institution," which has for its sole object the lessening of the dangers of the sea, and the saving of the shipwrecked; and, lastly, the progress and final triumph of the labours of science, in the invention of a life-boat which is able successfully to defy the efforts of the most raging storms.
The "good old days!" Those who sing too emphatically the glories of the "good old days" must either be influenced by the enchantment distance lends to the view, or guided by the wholesome proverb, "Let nothing, except that which is good, be spoken of the dead."
Human nature seems an inheritance unchanging in its properties, and it was in the old time much as it is now, capable of bringing forth fruit good or bad, in accordance with the training it received, or the associations by which it was surrounded. The old days were very far from being either very golden or very good, the strong arm was too often the strong law, and selfishness was far more likely to make the weak ones a prey for plunder, than was compassion to make them objects for assistance. There was a good deal of the Ishmael curse about the old feudal days; the Baron's hand was too ready to be against every man's, and every man's against his; to plunder and to pillage at all convenient opportunities, as well by sea as by land, seemed very much a leading institution.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Piracy was almost openly recognized; a foreign ship with a rich cargo was too great a temptation for the free sailors of those rough-and-ready days, and there was in reality as much of the spirit of piracy in the rugged justice by which it was endeavoured to suppress the crimes, as in the crimes themselves. Supposing an act of piracy to have been committed, restitution was first demanded from the nation, or maritime town, to which the pirate belonged; and if satisfaction was not obtained, then the aggrieved party was allowed to take out "Letters of Marque," and might sally forth to all intents a pirate, to plunder any ship sailing from the place to which the vessel which had first robbed him belonged. This system was acknowledged under the name of the "Right of Private Reprisal;" and so, what with pirates licensed and unlicensed, ships seeking plunder without any discrimination, and ships seeking revenge without much, Hallam might well write: "In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a rich vessel was never secure from attack, and neither restitution nor punishment of the criminals was to be obtained from Governments, who sometimes feared the plunderer, and sometimes connived at the offence."