“Come on, then,” growled the executive officer. “But it’s no place for boys.”
Eagerly Henry followed his leader into the waiting boat. The craft was pushed away from the cutter and strong arms soon carried her alongside the Wilmington. In a few moments more the lifeboat swung at her davits, and the volunteer crew had scattered to their respective posts. Slowly the crippled ship got under way. She seemed to ride safely, and the prospects for saving her were excellent. For a little while the Iroquois lay motionless, while her commander studied the movements of the Wilmington. Then, satisfied that she could make her goal, Captain Hardwick signaled the men in the engine-room, the cutter began to move, and soon was steaming steadily away from the Wilmington, to begin her search for the Hiawatha. But Captain Hardwick had not seen the gaping hole in the far side of the Wilmington’s nose.
On board the Wilmington every one was working at top speed. Men who had never passed coal before, now hustled fuel for the furnaces. The few experienced firemen in the volunteer crew were supplemented by inexperienced men. The engines were tended, the pumps were kept running, the ship was navigated, and all was done with heroic determination. Even the firemen, like everybody else, worked double shifts. The man who was to cook passed coal for hours, then washed and made hot coffee and sandwiches, which Henry passed to the men to munch while they labored. Then Henry went below to pass coal. Everybody on board was working with dogged determination. They were going to get the Wilmington into Halifax if it was humanly possible.
Nobly the crippled freighter responded. She forged through the waves faster and faster until she was making seven and a half knots an hour. With satisfaction Mr. Harris sent the good news to the commander of the Iroquois. But even at seven and a half knots an hour, the Wilmington had a long journey before her, and all the while the sea was rising.
Dawn came, but no sun followed to light the day. The mists and fogs increased. The wind bellowed with ever-increasing force. The seas mounted upward, higher and higher, and with every passing hour the storm grew worse. Viciously the waves crashed against the broken nose of the Wilmington. Slower rode the crippled steamer, and slower still. Both wind and seas held her back, and her commander dared not drive her with the full power of his engines. The strain on the bulkhead was terrific.
Noon came. The Wilmington was still moving, though slowly. The Iroquois had found the Hiawatha and taken her in tow. The Oneida was rushing out from Boston to help. At regular intervals the Wilmington’s wireless man sent some message to the Iroquois. By early afternoon these became alarming. The pumps were no longer holding their own, and water was gaining in the hold of the Wilmington. By two o’clock the disabled ship was down by the head. She could no longer buck the seas.
A little later her commander wired to Captain Hardwick, “Am trying to steam backward.”
When he got the message, Captain Hardwick was worried, indeed. “They’ll never make it,” he declared to Mr. Sharp. “Ask the Oneida to hurry. We shall likely have to abandon the Hiawatha and go back to the Wilmington.”
On board the Wilmington, the volunteer crew was making a superhuman effort to carry on. The attempt to steam backward was unsuccessful. Lower settled the nose of the ship. It was desirable to make a sea anchor, to hold the ship’s head to the waves. But now the combers were crashing over the settling bow of the steamer, and water was pouring into her hold through hatchways. It was impossible for men to go below and get the materials necessary to make the sea anchor. Disabled, sinking steadily lower in the bow, the crippled vessel now rolled helplessly in the sea. It was merely a question of time until she should go under.
At three o’clock the Wilmington flashed a message to the Iroquois. Mr. Sharp went white when he read it. “We are rolling helplessly and settling fast. Vessel is doomed. Am preparing to abandon ship. Will remain till last minute. Need help immediately.”