The second and third boats were also relieved of their human loads and likewise sent adrift, but the fourth gave us more trouble.
Being handled with less skill than her consorts, she crashed broadside on to the Golden Hope just as the brig was recovering from a heavy roll, with the result that some of the boat's planks were stove in and she commenced to fill.
In the confusion several of the passengers, despite the assurances of the officers and seamen in the boat, jumped to their feet, so that the already heavily laden craft was in imminent danger of capsizing.
Ropes were thrown from the towering sides of the Golden Hope amidst a loud shout of "Women first!" Yet (though some excuse must be made for their cowardice) several of the men sprang for our bulwarks. Others, with more presence of mind, assisted in slipping the bowlines over the shoulders of the women; and as each one was hoisted aboard the danger of the boat being swamped became less.
Just as the last female passenger was being hauled up, the knot in the rope that held her became unhitched-no doubt 'twas a landlubber who tied it--and the next instant she was struggling in the sea.
It so happened that at that moment I was standing in the main chains with a coil of rope in my hands, ready to throw it into the boat.
Fastening one end of the line round my waist, and calling to some of our men to tail on to the other end, I took a flying leap into the water. In my haste I miscalculated the distance that the brig rolled, and ere I struck the surface I came into violent contact with the side of the Golden Hope as she swung back to larboard.
Half-dazed with the blow and well-nigh breathless, I plunged, or rather rolled, into the water. The shock of the immersion recovered me some what, and I struck out to where I had seen the girl sink for the second time.
Guided by the bubbles that rose to the surface, I swam downwards for nearly two fathoms, till just beneath me I saw her feebly struggling form.
Grasping her by the hair--the only time I have ever served a woman thus--I reached the surface in a few strokes, and called to the men to haul handsomely on the rope. Then disengaging my hand and throwing my left arm tightly round the girl's waist, I waited for the Golden Hope to come to the end of a roll, and shouted to the men to heave roundly. This they did, and in a trice we were on the deck of the brig.