The Survivors of the Chancellor (12 page)

When daylight at length appeared, I found the wind, although not blowing actually from the southwest, had veered
round to the northwest, a change which was equally disastrous to us, inasmuch as it was carrying us away from
land. Moreover, the ship had sunk considerably during the
night, and there were now five feet of water above deck;
the side netting had completely disappeared, and the forecastle and the poop were now all but on a level with the sea,
which washed over them incessantly. With all possible expedition Curtis and his crew were laboring away at their
raft, but the violence of the swell materially impeded their
operations, and it became a matter of doubt as to whether
the woodwork would not fall asunder before it could be
properly fastened together.

As I watched the men at their work, M. Letourneur, with
one arm supporting his son, came out and stood by my side.

"Don't you think this main-top will soon give way?" he
said, as the narrow platform on which we stood creaked and
groaned with the swaying of the masts.

Miss Herbey heard his words and pointing toward Mrs.
Kear, who was lying prostrate at her feet, asked what we
thought ought to be done.

"We can do nothing but stay where we are," I replied.

"No," said Andre, "this is our best refuge; I hope you
are not afraid."

"Not for myself," said the young girl quietly, "only for
those to whom life is precious."

At a quarter to eight we heard the boatswain calling to
the sailors in the bows.

"Ay, ay, sir," said one of the men — O'Ready, I think.

"Where's the whale-boat?" shouted the boatswain in a
loud voice.

"I don't know, sir. Not with us," was the reply.

"She's gone adrift, then!"

And sure enough the whale-boat was no longer hanging
from the bowsprit; and in a moment the discovery was made
that Mr. Kear, Silas Huntly, and three sailors, — a Scotchman and two Englishmen, — were missing. Afraid that the
Chancellor would founder before the completion of the raft,
Kear and Huntly had plotted together to effect their escape,
and had bribed the three sailors to seize the only remaining
boat.

This, then, was the black speck that I had seen during the
night. The miserable husband had deserted his wife, the
faithless captain had abandoned the ship that had once been
under his command.

"There are five saved, then," said the boatswain.

"Faith, an it's five lost ye'll be maning," said O'Ready;
and the state of the sea fully justified his opinion.

The crew were furious when they heard of the surreptitious flight, and loaded the fugitives with all the invectives
they could lay their tongues to. So enraged were they
at the dastardly trick of which they had been made the dupes,
that if chance should bring the deserters again on board I
should be sorry to answer for the consequences.

In accordance with my advice, Mrs. Kear has not been informed of her husband's disappearance. The unhappy lady
is wasting away with a fever for which we are powerless to
supply a remedy, for the medicine-chest was lost when the
ship began to sink. Nevertheless, I do not think we have
anything to regret on that score, feeling, as I do, that in a
case like Mrs. Kear's, drugs would be of no avail.

DECEMBER 6 continued. — The Chancellor no longer maintained her equilibrium; we felt that she was gradually going
down, and her hull was probably breaking up. The maintop was already only ten feet above water, while the bowsprit, with the exception of the extreme end, that rose
obliquely from the waves, was entirely covered.

The Chancellor's last day, we felt, had come.

Fortunately the raft was all but finished, and unless Curtis
preferred to wait till morning, we should be able to embark
in the evening.

The raft is a very solid structure. The spars that form
the framework are crossed one above another and lashed
together with stout ropes, so that the whole pile rises a
couple of feet above the water. The upper platform is constructed from the planks that were broken from the ship's
sides by the violence of the waves, and which had not drifted
away. The afternoon has been employed in charging the
raft with such provisions, sails, tools, and instruments as we
have been able to save.

And how can I attempt to give any idea of the feelings
with which, one and all, we now contemplated the fate before us? For my own part, I was possessed rather by a
benumbed indifference than by any sense of genuine resignation. M. Letourneur was entirely absorbed in his son, who,
in his turn, thought only of his father, at the same time
exhibiting a Christian fortitude, which was shown by no one
else of the party except Miss Herbey, who faced her danger
with the same brave composure. Incredible as it may seem,
Falsten remained the same as ever, occupying himself with
writing down figures and memoranda in his pocketbook.
Mrs. Kear, in spite of all that Miss Herbey could do for her,
was evidently dying.

With regard to the sailors, two or three of them were
calm enough, but the rest had well-nigh lost their wits.
Some of the more ill-disposed among them seemed inclined
to run into excesses; and their conduct, under the bad influence of Owen and Jynxstrop, made it doubtful whether
they would submit to control when once we were limited to
the narrow dimensions of the raft. Lieutenant Walter, although his courage never failed him, was worn out with
bodily fatigue, and obliged to give up all active labor; but
Curtis and the boatswain were resolute, energetic and firm
as ever. To borrow an expression from the language of
metallurgic art, they were men "at the highest degree of
hardness."

At five o'clock one of our companions in misfortune was
released from her sufferings. Mrs. Kear, after a most distressing illness, through which her young companion tended
her with the most devoted care, has breathed her last. A
few deep sighs and all was over, and I doubt whether
the sufferer was ever conscious of the peril of her
situation.

The night passed on without further incident. Toward
morning I touched the dead woman's hand, and it was cold
and stiff. The corpse could not remain any longer on the
main-top, and after Miss Herbey and I had carefully
wrapped the garments about it, with a few short prayers
the body of the first victim of our miseries was committed
to the deep.

As the sea closed over the body I heard one of the men in
the shrouds say:

"There goes a carcass that we shall be sorry we have
thrown away!"

I looked round sharply. It was Owen who had spoken.
But horrible as were his words, the conviction was forced
upon my mind that the day could not be far distant when we
must want for food.

DECEMBER 7. — The ship was sinking rapidly; the water
had risen to the fore-top; the poop and forecastle were
completely submerged; the top of the bowsprit had disappeared, and only the three mast-tops projected from the
waves.

But all was ready on the raft; an erection had been made
on the fore to hold a mast, which was supported by shrouds
fastened to the sides of the platform; this mast carried a
large royal.

Perhaps, after all, these few frail planks will carry us to
the shore which the Chancellor has failed to reach; at any
rate, we cannot yet resign all hope.

We were just on the point of embarking at 7 A. M. when
the Chancellor all at once began to sink so rapidly that the
carpenter and men who were on the raft were obliged with
all speed to cut the ropes that secured it to the vessel, to prevent it from being swallowed up in the eddying waters.

Anxiety, the most intense, took possession of us all. At
the very moment when the ship was descending into the
fathomless abyss, the raft, our only hope of safety, was
drifting off before our eyes. Two of the sailors and an
apprentice, beside themselves with terror, threw themselves
headlong into the sea; but it was evident from the very
first they were quite powerless to combat the winds and
waves. Escape was impossible; they could neither reach
the raft nor return to the ship. Curtis tied a rope round
his waist and tried to swim to their assistance; but long before he could reach them, the unfortunate men, after a vain
struggle for life, sank below the waves and were seen no
more. Curtis, bruised and beaten with the surf that raged
about the mast-heads, was hauled back to the ship.

Meantime, Dowlas and his men, by means of some spars
which they used as oars, were exerting themselves to bring
back the raft, which had drifted about two cables'-lengths
away; but, in spite of all their efforts, it was fully an hour —
an hour which seemed to us, waiting as we were with the
water up to the level of the top masts, like an eternity — before they succeeded in bringing the raft alongside, and lashing it once again to the Chancellor's main-mast.

Not a moment was then to be lost. The waves were
eddying like a whirlpool around the submerged vessel, and
numbers of enormous airbubbles were rising to the surface
of the water.

The time was come. At Curtis's word, "Embark!" we
all hurried to the raft. Andre, who insisted upon seeing
Miss Herbey go first, was helped safely on to the platform,
where his father immediately joined him. In a very few
minutes all except Curtis and old O'Ready had left the
Chancellor.

Curtis remained standing on the main-top, deeming it not
only his duty, but his right, to be the last to leave the vessel
he had loved so well, and the loss of which he so much deplored.

"Now then, old fellow, off of this!" cried the captain
to the old Irishman, who did not move.

"And is it quite sure ye are that she's sinkin'?" he said.

"Ay, ay! sure enough, my man; and you'd better look
sharp."

"Faith, then, and I think I will;" and not a moment too
soon (for the water was up to his waist) he jumped on to
the raft.

Having cast one last, lingering look around him, Curtis
then left the ship; the rope was cut, and we went slowly
adrift.

All eyes were fixed upon the spot where the Chancellor lay
foundering. The top of the mizzen was the first to disappear, then followed the main-top; and soon, of what had
been a noble vessel, not a vestige was to be seen.

WILL this frail boat, forty feet by twenty, bear us in
safety? Sink it cannot; the material of which it is composed is of a kind that must surmount the waves. But it
is questionable whether it will hold together. The cords
that bind it will have a tremendous strain to bear in resisting the violence of the sea. The most sanguine among us
trembles to face the future; the most confident dares to
think only of the present. After the manifold perils of the
last seventy-two days' voyage all are too agitated to look
forward without dismay to what in all human probability
must be a time of the direst distress.

Vain as the task may seem, I will not pause in my work
of registering the events of our drama, as scene after scene
they are unfolded before our eyes.

Of the twenty-eight persons who left Charleston in the
Chancellor, only eighteen are left to huddle together upon
this narrow raft; this number includes the five passengers,
namely, M. Letourneur, Andre, Miss Herbey, Falsten, and
myself; the ship's officers, Captain Curtis, Lieutenant Walter, the boatswain, Hobart the steward, Jynxstrop the cook,
and Dowlas the carpenter; and seven sailors, Austin, Owen,
Wilson, O'Ready, Burke, Sandon, and Flaypole.

Such are the passengers on the raft; it is but a brief task
to enumerate their resources.

The greater part of the provisions in the store-room were
destroyed at the time when the ship's deck was submerged,
and the small quantity that Curtis has been able to save will
be very inadequate to supply the wants of eighteen people,
who too probably have many days to wait ere they sight
either land or a passing vessel. One cask of biscuit, another of preserved meat, a small keg of brandy, and two
barrels of water complete our store, so that the utmost
frugality in the distribution of our daily rations becomes
absolutely necessary.

Of spare clothes we have positively none; a few sails
will serve for shelter by day, and covering by night.
Dowlas has his carpenter's tools, we have each a pocketknife, and O'Ready an old tin pot, of which he takes the
most tender care; in addition to these, we are in possession
of a sextant, a compass, a chart, and a metal tea-kettle,
everything else that was placed on deck in readiness for the
first raft having been lost in the partial submersion of the
vessel.

Such then is our situation; critical indeed, but after all
perhaps not desperate. We have one great fear; some there
are among us whose courage, moral as well as physical,
may give way, and over failing spirits such as these we may
have no control.

DECEMBER 7 continued. — Our first day on the raft has
passed without any special incident. At eight o'clock this
morning Curtis asked our attention for a moment.

"My friends," he said, "listen to me. Here on this raft,
just as when we were on board the Chancellor, I consider
myself your captain; and as your captain, I expect that all
of you will strictly obey my orders. Let me beg of you, one
and all, to think solely of our common welfare; let us work
with one heart and with one soul, and may Heaven protect
us!"

After delivering these few words with an emotion that
evidenced their earnestness, the captain consulted his compass, and found that the freshening breeze was blowing
from the north. This was fortunate for us, and no time
was to be lost in taking advantage of it to speed us on our
dubious way. Dowlas was occupied in fixing the mast into
the socket that had already been prepared for its reception,
and in order to support it more firmly he placed spurs of
wood, forming arched buttresses, on either side. While
he was thus employed the boatswain and the other seamen
were stretching the large royal sail on the yard that had
been reserved for that purpose.