“There, sir, you will catch her over the bumkin-head,” answered the boatswain. “I saw her again just as you stepped on the forecastle. She cannot have gone down in the meantime!”
“I hope not indeed,” said the captain, looking out eagerly in the direction towards which the boatswain pointed. At last he too caught sight of a dark object lifted on the top of a sea. “A dismasted ship; no doubt about that,” he observed. “We will keep away for her. There are probably people on board, and although it would be a difficult matter to take them off while this sea is running, we may do so if it goes down, as it has been gradually doing since daylight.”
The Indiaman stood on, now rising to the summit of a sea, now gliding into the valley below, gradually approaching the dark object which had been discovered. The boatswain had gone aloft, and quickly returned.
“No doubt about it, Captain Davenport. She is a big ship—lost her masts, no doubt, in the gale; and from the way she is rolling, I have a notion she has no small amount of water in her. If we had not sighted her, it is my opinion that those on board would be fathoms down in the ocean, as she will be before another sun rises.”
“We will do what we can to save any people on board her,” said Captain Davenport. “Get the life-boat ready for lowering, Mr Tarbox.”
“Ay, ay, sir; I am ready to go in her,” answered the boatswain.
“Perhaps Mr Thudicumb may wish to go, or the second officer; but if not, Tarbox, I would intrust her to you more readily than to anybody.”
The news that a dismasted ship was in sight brought all the passengers who were below on deck, and numerous glasses were now turned towards her. No signs, however, of any one being on board were discovered. She was a complete wreck; the masts had gone by the board, the bulwarks were stove in, the caboose and booms and everything on deck had been swept clear away. The Indiaman stood on, passing close to leeward of her.
“She is deserted, sir; little doubt about that,” said Mr Thudicumb, examining the ship. “The people thought she was going down, and took to their boats. Better have stuck to her in such a sea as they must have had to encounter. Little chance of any boat living.”
“Haul the tacks aboard then, Mr Thudicumb; down with the helm,” said the captain. “Unless for the sake of rescuing any fellow-creatures, I would not risk a boat to board her, while the sea runs as high as it now does.”