Chapter Twenty Five.
A perilous voyage in the whale-boat.
The night was very dark, the sea rose fearfully high. Now the water broke over the starboard, now over the port bow, nearly swamping the boat, and all hands were employed in baling it out. We worked for our lives, for should another sea come before the boat was clear she might be swamped. Some of the men cried out that we should not live through the night.
Mr Griffiths and the doctor cheered them up, but if it hadn’t been for the raft ahead, which broke the seas, I believe that we must have gone down. I had heard of boats being saved by hanging on under the lee of a dead whale, but I had not supposed that a few oars lashed together would have served as an effectual breakwater.
The peaked oar played a most important part by keeping the boat’s head to the wind, and at a sufficient distance from the raft. She must otherwise have broached to, and it must have been driven against her and stove in the side.
As soon as the boat was clear of water, Brown sang out, “Now let’s have a stave, lads,” and he began to sing, but few were able to join in with him.
Jim and I tried, knowing Brown’s object, but we had scarcely got through a verse when another sea came roaring on board, nearly carrying over the men in the bows, and washing away some of our provisions. We all had immediately to turn to again and bale out the boat. No one thought of singing after this, for directly we were free of one sea another broke aboard us. It was a mercy that they didn’t come together.
“We must pray to God, lads,” cried Mr Griffiths. “He who rules the seas and winds, if we ask Him, can save us if He thinks fit. Don’t cease baling. He likes people to work and pray, but not to fall down on their knees while there’s work to be done and leave it undone.”
He and the doctor set the example by baling away as hard as any of us. We had the boat’s regular balers, our iron pot, and a couple of small buckets; the rest of us used our hats and caps. Still, do all we could, it was a difficult matter to keep the boat free from water. We were wet through, as was everything in the boat, and we were afraid that our provisions would be spoilt, except perhaps the onions and potatoes.