The World of Waters, Or, A Peaceful Progress O'er the Unpathed Sea

by Mrs. David Osborne

"'At about nine o'clock, A.M., or rather before, we had just finished our breakfast, and the last lighter, with rum on board, had come alongside: this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons, and belonged to three brothers, who used to carry things on board the man-of-war. She was lashed to the larboard side of the "Royal George," and we were piped to clear the lighter, and get the rum out of her, and stow it in the hold of the "Royal George." I was in the waist of our ship, on the larboard side, bearing the rum-casks over, as some of our men were aboard the sloop to sling them.

"'At first no danger was apprehended from the ship being on one side, although the water kept dashing in at the port-holes at every wave; and there being mice in the lower part of the ship, which were disturbed by the water which dashed in, they were hunted in the water by the men, and there had been a rare game going on. However, by nine o'clock the additional quantity of rum aboard the ship, and also the quantity of sea-water which had dashed in through the port-holes, brought the larboard port-holes of the lower gun-deck nearly level with the sea.

"As soon as that was the case, the carpenter went on the quarter-deck to the lieutenant of the watch, to ask him to give orders to "right ship," as the ship could not bear it. However, the lieutenant made him a very short answer, and the carpenter then went below. This officer was the third lieutenant; he had not joined us long: his name I do not recollect; he was a good-sized man, between thirty and forty years of age. The men called him "Jib and-stay-sail-Jack;" for if he had the watch in the night, he would be always bothering the men to alter the sails, and it was "up jib" and "down jib," and "up foresail" and "down foresail," every minute. However, the men considered him more of a troublesome officer than a good one; and, from a habit he had of moving his fingers about when walking the quarter-deck, the men said he was an organ-player from London: but I have no reason to know this was the case. The captain's name was Waghorn. He was on board, but where he was I do not know: however, captains, if anything is to be done when the ship is in harbor, seldom interfere, but leave it all to the officer of the watch. The Admiral was, either in his cabin, or in the steerage (I do not know which); and the barber, who had been to shave him, had just left. The Admiral was a man upwards of seventy years of age; he was a thin tall man, and stooped a good deal.

"'As I have already stated, the carpenter left the quarter-deck and went below. In a very short time he came up again, and asked the lieutenant of the watch to "right ship," and said again that the ship could not bear it. Myself and a good many more were at the waist of the ship and at the gangways, and heard what passed, as we knew the danger, and began to feel aggrieved; for there were some capital seamen aboard, who knew what they were about quite as well or better than the officers.

"'In a very short time, in a minute or two, I should think, Lieutenant (now Admiral Sir P.H.) Durham ordered the drummer to be called to beat to "right ship." The drummer was called in a moment, and the ship was then just beginning to sink. I jumped off the gangway as soon as the drummer was called. There was no time for him to beat his drum, and I do not know that he had even had time to get it. I ran down to my station, and, by the time I had got there, the men were tumbling down the hatchways one over another, to get to their stations as quick as possible to "right ship." My station was at the third gun from the head of the ship, on the starboard side of the lower gun-deck close by where the cable passes. I said to the second captain of our gun whose name was Carrell, (for every gun has a first and second captain, though they are only sailors,) "Let us try to bouse our gun out, without waiting for the drum, as it will help to 'right ship.'" We pushed the gun, but it ran back upon us, and we could not start him. The water then rushed in at nearly all the port-holes of the larboard side of the lower gun-deck, and I directly said to Carrell, "Ned, lay hold of the ring-bolt, and jump out of the port-hole; the ship is sinking, and we shall all be drowned." He laid hold of the ring-bolt, and jumped out at the port-hole into the sea: I believe he was drowned, for I never saw him afterwards. I immediately got out at the same port-hole, which was the third from the head of the ship on the starboard side of the lower gun-deck, and when I had done so, I saw the port-hole as full of heads as it could cram, all trying to get out.

"'I caught hold of the best bower-anchor, which was just above me, to prevent falling back again into the port-hole, and seized hold of a woman who was trying to get out of the same place. I dragged her out. The ship was full of Jews, women, and people, selling all sorts of things. I threw the woman from me, and saw all the heads drop back again in at the port-hole, for the ship had got so much on her larboard side, that the starboard port-holes were as much upright as if the men had tried to get out of the top of a chimney, with nothing for their legs and feet to act upon. I threw the woman from me, and just after that moment, the air that was between decks, drafted out at the port-holes very swiftly. It was quite a huff of wind, and it blew my hat off. The ship then sunk in a moment. I tried to swim, but I could not, although I plunged as hard as I could, both hands and feet. The sinking of the ship drew me down so: indeed, I think I must have gone down within a yard as low as the ship did. When the ship touched the bottom, the water boiled up a great deal, and then I felt that I could swim, and began to rise.

"'When I was about half-way up to the top of the water, I put my right hand on the head of a man who was nearly exhausted. He wore long hair, as did many of the men at that time; he tried to grapple me, and he put his four fingers into my right shoe, alongside the outer edge of my foot. I succeeded in kicking my shoe off, and, putting my hand on his shoulder, I shoved him away: I then rose to the surface of the water.

"'At the time the ship was sinking, there was a barrel of tar on the starboard side of her deck, and that had rolled to the larboard, and staved as the ship went down, and when I rose to the top of the water, the tar was floating like fat on the top of a boiler. I got the tar about my hair and face: but I struck it away as well as I could, and when my head came above water, I heard the cannon ashore firing for distress. I looked about me, and at the distance of eight or ten yards from me, I saw the main topsail halyard block above water: the water was about thirteen fathoms deep, and at that time the tide was coming in. I swam to the main topsail halyard block, got on it, and sat upon it, and then I rode. The fore, main, and mizen tops were all above water, as were a part of the bow-sprit, and part of the ensign-staff, with the ensign upon it.

"'In going down, the mainyard of the "Royal George" caught the boom of the rum-lighter, and sunk her; and there is no doubt that this made the "Royal George" more upright in the water, when sunk, than she otherwise would have been, as she did not lie much more on her beam-ends than small vessels often do, when left dry on a bank of mud.

"'When I got on the main topsail halyard block, I saw the admiral's baker in the shrouds of the mizen-top-mast, and directly after that, the woman, whom I had pulled out of the port-hole, came rolling by: I said to the baker, who was an Irishman, named Robert Cleary, "Bob, reach out your hand, and catch hold of that woman; that is a woman I pulled out of the port-hole: I dare say she is not dead." He said, "I dare say she is dead enough; it is of no use to catch hold of her." I replied, "I dare say she is not dead." He caught hold of the woman, and hung her head over one of the ratlines of the mizen shrouds, and there she hung by the chin, which was hitched over the ratline; but a surf came and knocked her backwards, and away she went rolling over and over. A captain of a frigate which was lying at Spithead came up in a boat as fast as he could. I dashed out my left hand in a direction towards the woman as a sign to him. He saw it, and saw the woman. His men left off rowing, and they pulled the woman aboard their boat, and laid her on one of the thwarts. The captain of the frigate called out to me, "My man, I must take care of those who are in more danger than you." I said, "I am safely moored, now, sir." There was a seaman named Hibbs, hanging by his two hands from the main-stay, and as he hung, the sea washed over him every now and then, as much as a yard deep over his head; and when he saw it coming, he roared out: however, he was but a fool for that; for if he had kept himself quiet, he would not have wasted his strength, and he would have been able to take the chance of holding on so much the longer. The captain of the frigate had his boat rowed to the main-stay; but they got the stay over part of the head of the boat, and were in great danger, before they got Hibbs on board. The captain of the frigate then got all the men that were in the different parts of the rigging, including myself and the baker, into his boat, and took us on board the "Victory;" where the doctors recovered the woman, but she was very ill for three or four days. On board the "Victory," I saw the body of the carpenter lying on the hearth before the galley fire: some women were trying to recover him, but he was quite dead.