“I don’t think much of it,” replied the old sailor bluntly. “Do you think of sending a boat on board of the wreck at once?”
“Do you think it is safe to get out a boat?”
“I don’t think it is safe; and for that reason I shouldn’t lay her to.”
“What would you do?” asked Capt. Wainwright, rather nettled by the disapproval of the boatswain.
“I should run as near the wreck as possible, hail them, and say we will stand by them; then stand off and on till the weather moderates a little. A boat might live now; but the steamer floats, and don’t seem to be in any immediate danger of going down,” said Mr. Marline, when he had examined the condition of the wreck as well as he could in the fog.
“I like that plan,” replied the captain; “but I thought we might be able to reach the wreck in a boat.”
“If there was any need of it, we might,” added the boatswain, now getting a better view of the steamer. “She has a hole in her starboard bow; she has been run into by another vessel. I think the water poured into that hole in the beginning, flowed aft, and settled her down by the stern so as to lift the opening out of the water. That is what saved her. It was a miracle.”
The Tritonia tacked again, and then stood under the stern of the wreck. Only one man, whose gray locks were streaming in the fresh wind, could be seen on board of her.
“We will stand by you!” shouted Greenwood through the trumpet, as the Tritonia passed within a few fathoms of the steamer.
“Two ladies on board!” yelled the man in response to the hail.