Shortly after the captain and second lieutenant were observing the lights of the Josephine, they disappeared, and were not seen again. A very heavy rain began to pour down, and it was thought that the thickness of the weather alone prevented them from seeing her. Capt. Wainwright declared that it was the worst night he had seen since he had been in the Tritonia; and Mr. Marline confirmed his view of the matter.
The morning broke dull and heavy, with a fierce rain-storm still battering against the rigging. The captain had been on deck about all night, and had turned in at eight bells in the morning when the watch was changed, leaving the first lieutenant in charge of the deck.
“Heard a gun off the port bow,” reported the lookout on the top-gallant forecastle.
“Are you sure it was a gun?” asked Richards, the fourth master, to whom the report was made.
“It was a good way off; but I’m pretty sure it was a gun,” replied the seaman. “There it is again! I am sure of it now.”
Richards heard the gun himself this time, though it was only a dull report, evidently coming from a great distance. He reported it to the officer of the deck.
“I haven’t heard it,” said Greenwood.
“You can hardly make out the sound above the roar and swash of the sea. I heard it myself just now,” added Richards.
They listened attentively for some minutes, but without hearing the gun again. The first lieutenant concluded that the officer and seaman had been mistaken, and he sent the fourth master back to his station. All hands forward listened again for some time; but the gun was not heard.
“I was sure I heard it,” said Richards to the second master.