Before I had a chance to see Hawkson, the shore boat was called away. Bill, Jones, Jennings, and myself manned the whale-boat, and we were soon heading in over the swell for the slave factory that was known to exist a short distance inland. Hicks and Gull accompanied the trader ashore, and the latter stood at the steering-oar to pilot us through the surf. In spite of the calm weather in the Bight of Benin, there is sometimes a heavy swell that sets in from many miles offshore, where some passing disturbance of the atmosphere has caused a heavy blow. The swell is long and heaving, and not so easily noticed until it begins to rise in the shoal water. Then its size develops, and it goes up in a wall until the top breaks and the whole mass goes roaring shoreward in a great smother of foam. From the sea side, the height of the breakers is hard to judge, and they are very apt to be underestimated on a calm day.
Mr. Gull stood up as we neared the first line of snoring water, and I could see by his face that he was a bit nervous. This had its effect on me, for no one with any nervousness should attempt to go through a heavy surf. The situation calls for absolute coolness.
“Easy now,” came the order, and we lay waiting for a smooth spell. By some strange freak of nature, seas always roll in sequences. That is, they will run in twos and three or sixes and nines, with a “smooth” between. A surfman will always watch to see how they are running before going in. Gull counted three heavy fellows that roared and thundered in a most appalling manner, and then, grasping the long steering-oar firmly, sung out to give way lively.
We went racing for the beach, and were doing well when, on looking over the stern, I saw an enormous sea rising and coming quickly after us. It rose like a wall astern and towered above the boat. Then instantly it broke with a roar and rush, and we were hurled before it. Gull tried to hold her true, keeping her stern to the surge, but she took a slew and the oar broke. Then she swung sideways and rolled over and over with the rush, and when I came to the surface of the foam, half-strangled by being so quickly rolled out of the boat, she lay bottom up some ten fathoms distant, floating in the smother.
No one was visible, and I struck out for the craft, as there was no bottom and the beach was fifty fathoms distant. Suddenly I saw Bill spattering and struggling, trying to reach the wreck, but showing plainly that he could not swim a stroke. Ernest suddenly appeared alongside of him, and, being able to swim after a fashion, he aided him to reach the gunwale, where both held on firmly, ducking the following seas that flowed over them.
Jennings managed to keep his grip on the boat, and was alongside, holding on, when I noticed a form floating face downward pass me.
I was a fairly good swimmer, although it is a strange fact that few real sailormen can swim at all. I grasped the body and lifted the head clear of the water with my hand just as another sea broke heavily over me, dragging and crushing me down with its weight.
My heart seemed bursting when I arose, still holding the insensible man, and my first intake of breath nearly strangled me. However, I was a powerful fellow, and in a few strokes managed to get started for the upturned boat that now floated some distance nearer shore.
In a few minutes I reached her, and Bill relieved me for a moment while I passed a line over the craft’s bottom. On the other side I found Jones and Yankee Dan both safe and holding on. Together we managed to hold Hicks, whom I now recognized, clear of the water. He had been struck on the head by the boat or an oar and knocked insensible. Gull was nowhere about, and for some time we gave him up for lost, but he had swum in on a broken thwart.
In a little while we heard shouting, and saw him standing on the sand with a couple of black fellows, who, at his direction, plunged in and came toward us. The negroes helped us ashore, and we hauled the boat up clear of the surf. It was a close call, and Hicks still appeared either dead or senseless. We carried him up the beach and laid him under a palm, and set to work chafing his wrists and ankles.