"The men below came up through the hatches like bees. Many were in their night clothes, others were only half dressed. Some were crying, others praying, all thought that the boat was sinking. One of the fellows was so frightened he tried to jump overboard. He was hit on the head by a comrade and dragged down below. It was with great difficulty that order was again restored and the hatches had to be guarded by men with revolvers. Finally the panic-stricken sailors, who were running here and there on the deck, were forced below. Several boats came alongside and threw lights on our ship. The light revealed a hole cut in her side from about ten feet below the water line clear to the top.
"She had been struck on the starboard stern while some of the men were crawling into their hammocks for the night. An English vessel stood by us with her nose rammed into the side of our ship. Breathlessly, expectant we all waited by our boats ready to lower them. The biggest job I had was in keeping some of the men out of mine. So violent had been the impact that the sailor in the hammock near the side where the ship was struck was pitched over three others. A few of the men were scalded by the hot water and steam from the broken pipes. Our chaplain, who was just in the act of getting into his hammock, was thrown violently down, cutting the side of his head open, which necessitated his removal to the hospital.
"The collision mat was dropped down the side of the ship, which stopped the inpour of the water. All the large pumps in the ship were started and the water was pumped out as fast as it came in. The hole was patched up with a prodigious quantity of cement and at 12:30 the old ship was under way again."
Thus ended the story of those terrible nights at sea. We went to our rooms, but not to sleep, for through the semi-conscious hours that came and went we seemed to hear voices calling for help from sinking ships and to see again those frightful billows of the boundless deep.
"Late to bed and early to rise; makes tired travelers rub sore eyes," said George, as we rapped on his door at what he considered an unearthly hour for rising. On asking him "why the trouble with his eyes" he exclaimed, "too much sea in them." We told him that to sleep away the wondrous beauty of the dawn instead of imbibing the fragrance and freshness of the morning hours would be a sin of omission that would require yards of sack-cloth and barrels of ashes for forgiveness. He arose in due time (also dew-time), though he at first murmured and grumbled like a soldier on hearing reveille.
Out in the east a faint glimmer was seen to delicately edge the pearl gray of the sky along the horizon. The sheen spread swiftly toward the zenith; pale bars of light shot up like advance guards to herald the coming splendor. Along the far blue rim of the ocean a narrow saffron band was seen, which soon became a broader belt, blazing like molten gold. The western horizon flushed like a rose-colored sea in which floated clouds of crimson. How grand this morning pageant and how quickly the king of day was ushered in! The chafing ocean wore on its bosom a tender turquoise bloom decked with millions of flashing jewels. Later it resembled a sapphire sky coruscating with tremulous stars. As we felt the soft south breeze, which rustled the leaves of the trees, in which birds were just beginning to stir, we seemed to catch the delicious melody of Long fellow's "Daybreak," which is like the fragrance of roses in a dreamy south wind.
A wind came up out of the sea,
And said, "O mists, make room for me."
It hailed the ships and cried, "Sail on,
Ye mariners, the night is gone."
And hurried landward far away.
Crying, "Awake, it is the day."
It said unto the forest, "Shout!
Hang all your leafy banners out."