The distracted mother instantly ran on deck in alarm; and I went into the cabin, where I saw the poor child washed out of its berth, and crying on the floor. I took him to Mrs. Doyley, who, after that time, for the seven long days which were occupied in making the raft, could not by any means be persuaded to give up her dear charge.
Upon finding how the ship was situated, Captain Moore ordered the boats to be got ready, and furnished with provisions, in order, if possible, to save the ship’s company, and reach the island of Timor, regretting the stern necessity which urged him to such a step in such a sea.
I once heard Captain Moore declare that he was sorry he had not made use of his own chart, instead of one that he bought at Sidney, lest there might be any mistake in his own.
We were in possession of four boats; the long boat, two cutters, and a small boat called a dingy. Three of the seamen seized one of the cutters; and two others got on board of it next morning by swimming across the reef at the imminent peril of their lives. A little biscuit, a ham, and a keg of water, with some carpenters’ tools, had been placed in the boat on its leaving the ship. As soon as the two men had got into the boat, they rowed away, and I have never heard any tidings of them since.
The persons remaining on board the wreck now held a consultation as to what was best to be done in this miserable state of their affairs. There were about thirty persons, without sufficient provisions to sustain life, much less satisfy the cravings of hunger, for a month, without any fresh water, and with no prospect of escape from their forlorn condition.
Every care was requisite to prevent the least excess or extravagance. We were all put upon allowance of a few damaged pieces of biscuit and two wine-glassfuls of water per day, during the seven days of making the raft, which was our only hope, and on which we went to work with all the energy our desperate state allowed us. A raft is formed of pieces of wood roughly fastened together, so that it will float on the water; some have been made large enough to hold a hundred and fifty people.
The poop, or raised part of the deck, and one side of the forecastle, or front part, being washed away, the small part of it that remained was so crowded that we were almost always in one another’s way, although as many as could were working at the raft. All the provision that we could save, and that was very little, and all the materials wanted for our work, were obliged to be put on this small space, for the water rose four feet higher than the deck below, and broke away some of the planks and timbers every time the tide rose.
As the tide went down, we dived into the body of the ship, to try to get some of the ship’s stores, and with the hopeless idea of getting something to satisfy our hunger; but the bottom was so washed away that the hold could not contain any thing which might have been in it at the time of the storm.
Mrs. Doyley and her husband gave every stimulus to exertion; and the kind manner in which they requested us to make use of any of their clothes, part of which were the only ones saved, I shall ever remember with gratitude.
We managed, however, to distil a small quantity of water, of which a cask and a few bottles were saved for the raft, by boiling it in the ship’s coppers, and leading the steam by means of a pipe, through the quarter galley cistern, and catching the water thus made in a cask. The supply of this valuable article thus procured, small as it was, we found to be one of our greatest helps during our stay upon the wreck.