Wrecker (shipwreck)

“ For centuries our mariners have been left, unassisted, to endure every peril of the sea, as if shipwreck were a calamity in every instance utterly beyond all reach of mortal succour, and in every age, thousands of our fellow-creatures have thus miserably perished, who unquestionably might have been rescued.
Of late years, various efforts have been made on parts of our coasts for the preservation of life from impending peril, and some excellent inventions have been introduced for that purpose ”

“ The light-keepers at the Bishop have no means of telling the people at St. Mary’s that a ship full of passengers is slowly but surely tearing to pieces on the Retarrier reef; and the hundreds of vessels that yearly are in deadly peril on the Goodwins, the Kentish Knock, the Norfolk Sands, and elsewhere, have no means of summoning prompt aid from the land, though they are only a few miles distant from it.”87 The writer notes that the number of cases of shipwreck, where the vessels might have been saved, which reach the National Life-boat Institution is considerable. ”

“ This was all about the shipwreck I heard from Miss Alice at the time. It appeared that when the masts had been carried away, the mizen-mast had hung on by some of the rigging, and by dragging astern had assisted in making the head of the ship pay off. This caused her to drive before the gale, and saved the decks from being swept by the seas, which would otherwise have cleared them of every human being. As soon as all the damage had been committed, the wind and sea began to go down, and by the morning there was only a moderate breeze. ”

“ On this occasion, too, were we enabled to rescue ourselves from inevitable destruction by the possession of a few nails, without which (had it not been our fortune to save some from the wreck) we would, in all human calculations, have been lost: we were still liable to a recurrence of the same accident, perhaps to a still worse one, as, in the heavy and repeated racking of the swell, the progress of our voyage would serve but to increase the incapacity and weakness of our boat, and the starting of a single nail in her bottom would most assuredly prove our certain destruction. ”

“ I told him I presumed it was one of the stoutest of the seamen, who had fortunately cleared himself from the ship, without much damage, and had resolutely continued ‘breasting the lofty surge,’ till he reached the middle of the breakers; when, being there overpowered, he expired and sunk; and the force of the waves then propelled the body to the shore before it descended to the bottom.
It is surprising that human bodies will, when dead, sink and continue at the bottom, unmoveable; while other substances, of much greater proportionate weight, will be thrown on shore by the sea. ”

“ Another day’s cruise to the eastward and the trim, taut little Exertion suffered the melancholy fate of shipwreck, not bravely in a gale, but mishandled and wantonly gutted by her captors. First she stranded on a bar while making in for a secluded creek, and was floated after throwing overboard the deck-load of shooks for making sugar-barrels. Then her sails were stripped, the rigging cut to pieces, and the masts chopped over the side lest they be sighted from seaward. ”

“ Besides tempests at sea, including hurricanes, thunder storms, and water-spouts, there are still other causes which too often produce shipwreck.
Sea-faring men, inured to hardships, and taught by example to despise dangers, are often totally regardless of forecast, and even of the necessary means of self-preservation. To unpardonable negligence, or fool-hardiness, therefore, rather than to unavoidable misfortune, may many of their disasters be justly imputed. ”

“ Hundreds may at once meet an instantaneous fate, hardly conscious of its approach, while a few individuals may linger out existence, daily in hope of succor, and at length be compelled to the horrible alternative of preying on each other for the support of life. Neither is it by the Narratives about to be given that we are to calculate on the frequency of shipwreck. It is an event that has been of constant occurrence since a period long anterior to what the earliest records can reach. In England it is calculated that about 5000 natives of the British Isles yearly perish at sea. ”

“ We continued to watch the wreck for any serviceable articles that might float from her, and kept one man during the day, on the stump of her foremast, on the lookout for vessels. Our work was very much impeded by the increase of the wind and sea, and the surf breaking almost continually into the boats gave us many fears that we should not be able to prevent our provisions from getting wet ”

“ George.—V. Land of Athens appears—Helmsman struck blind by Lightning—Ship laid broadside to the Shore—Bowsprit, Foremast, and Main Top-mast carried away—Albert, Rodmond, Arion, and Palemon strive to save themselves on the wreck of the Foremast—The Ship parts asunder—Death of Albert and Rodmond—Arion reaches the Shore—Finds Palemon expiring on the Beach—His dying Address to Arion, who is led away by the humane Natives.
THE
SHIPWRECK.
CANTO III.
Hadst thou, soft Maiden! ”

“ It was by a very different conduct, guided by prudence and marked by unremitting attention, that Captain Cook, and other expert circum-navigators, performed their successful voyages round the globe; and that Captain Bligh, in an open boat amidst frequent storms, traversed the great Pacific Ocean.
Hints for improving naval architecture.—For rendering boats incapable of upsetting or sinking.—The Life-Boat at Shields—its singular utility. Though shipwreck, under certain circumstances, perhaps, cannot by any human means be prevented ”

“ That a human being could live through such a night as that, in that icy water and retain his hold upon any part of those ice covered timbers and sea swept wreck seemed incredible. But the chapter of horrors was not yet complete in this wretched disaster. Piece by piece the sea tore away what remained of the wreck until nothing but the deck house roof remained above the sea; as wave after wave hurled itself against the battered top it was seen to lift from its fastenings that held it to the submerged wreck and the next wave bore it off far into the thrashing sea. ”

“ The prospect of obtaining any provisions or water from the ship, to subsist upon during the time, was at least now doubtful. How many long and watchful nights, thought I, are to be passed? How many tedious days of partial starvation are to be endured, before the least relief or mitigation of our sufferings can be reasonably anticipated. We lay at this time in our boat, about two ship lengths off from the wreck, in perfect silence, calmly contemplating her situation, and absorbed in our own melancholy reflections, when the other boats were discovered rowing up to us. ”

“ After a short time three men were discovered coming out to us in a whale boat. In a few moments they were alongside, and informed us that the wreck was the Archimedes of New York, Captain George B. Coffin, which vessel had struck on a rock near the island about a fortnight previously; that all hands were saved by running the ship on shore, and that the captain and crew had gone home. We purchased the whale boat of these people, obtained some more pigs, and again set sail. ”

“ Our observation now proved us to be in latitude 0° 13' N. longitude 120° 00' W. as near as we could determine it, having crossed the equator during the night, and drifted nineteen miles. The wind had veered considerably to the eastward, during the last twenty-four hours. Our nautical calculations having been completed, the captain, after visiting the wreck, called a council, consisting of himself and the first and second mates, who all repaired to his boat, to interchange
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opinions and devise the best means for our security and preservation. ”

“ It appears then, in conformity to what has been already observed, that accidents from shipwreck happen most frequently near shore; and that communication between the distressed vessel and the coast being cut off, prevents that timely aid which might otherwise be administered.
2. That the crazy state of a ship, previous to the voyage, must inevitably increase the danger, and hasten on the fatal catastrophe.
3. That sailors expert in the art of swimming frequently escape, while their helpless companions miserably perish. ”

“ Shipwreck being inevitable, it behoves him to exert himself to save as many lives as he possibly can, by a spirited and impartial conduct, 35and by a proper distribution of the cork waistcoats, ropes, implements, and whatever may seem useful; to guard against the boats being suddenly over-crowded, and also to be watchful on such critical occasions, that men apparently dead from drowning, or other accidents, be not hastily thrown overboard, until suitable means of recovery have failed, or life be totally extinguished [10] . ”

“ Horses may here be bought from one to twenty dollars, but mules are much more valuable—not for being less plenty, but because they are more difficult to tame, and are truly of a most perverse and obstinate nature. They are sometimes exported to the Cape of Good Hope.
A vessel at sea had once a cargo of these beasts on board, when a violent storm arose, in which they broke from their fasts in the hold and ascended upon deck; here they fell to kicking and biting, and drove the mariners aloft, and the man at the helm also fled. The bark carried away her masts, and every thing threatened a wreck. ”

“ Finding it impossible to stand this suffocating drenching any longer, and my arms weak from such powerful stretching, I watched my chance, after a prodigious surge roared over me, loosed my hold, seized the mizen backstay, climbed over the heads of some who were clinging to the rigging, and happily gained the mizen top, advising the rest to follow, as I was certain no man could stand the force of such terrific seas five minutes longer. Here, in the mizen top, in the interval of the ship’s striking, I fell to thrashing myself, and preparing for the waves. ”

“ Whew! this is a snorter; and we must keep well aft, or else a sea from over the bows there, will throw us off our legs, or a spray give us a drencher to freshen our eyelids. D—n her, how she jumps and pitches; well, for my part, give me a ship under sail, with the wind a-beam to steady her, instead of lying here at anchor, where she tumbles about like a chip in a frog pond.’ The moon was now about half an hour high. From the feeling of the lead, I was fearful that the ship had been, and was still fast drifting. ”

“ The wreck of the ship furnished them with many necessaries; for, getting together some broken pieces of boards and planks, sails and rigging, with the help of poles they made themselves tents; and having got wood for firing, and three or four sea gowns to cover them, making the negro their centry, they slept soundly all night, having been without sleep for several nights before. ”

“ She parted one chain and (illegible text) one (illegible text) of the (illegible text) broke. She is now nearly full of water (illegible text) Capt Munday has informed me to day that she is quite a wreck that her stern post is nocked up and now lying beneath her. ”

“ Accordingly, by agreement, all set to work in stripping off the light sails of the ship, for sails to our boats; and the day was consumed in making them up and fitting them. We furnished ourselves with masts and other light spars that were necessary, from the wreck. Each boat was rigged with two masts, to carry a flying-jib and two sprit-sails; the sprit-sails were made so that two reefs could be taken in them, in case
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of heavy blows. ”

“ Several brave fellows swam off towards the rock, but before they could reach it, a sudden rush of tide swept over, and engulfed the children amidst the fragments of wreck hurled forward in its advance. One of the sailors seized the youngest of the children and bore him safely to shore. The body of the other was found when the tide ebbed, under a ledge of rocks on the eastern side. Upwards of fifteen persons were amongst the missing. It was an impressive scene, and read a powerful lesson to all.
"Wrecking" has long been deservedly a national reproach. ”

“ When day dawned upon the cheerless group, its light only revealed new horrors: the sea on all sides was strewed with fragments of the wreck; not a sail was visible on the waters, and many of their comrades were seen clinging to spars and planks, tossed hither and thither by the waves. The situation of the survivors was truly distressing; they were at least twelve miles from the nearest island, and their only chance of relief was in the possibility of a ship passing near enough to see the signal which they hoisted on a long pole fixed to the rocks. ”

“ Fiction writers have often distorted the facts sufficiently to be able to weave about the incidents of a shipwreck some romantic story, but most of the disasters which overtake those who go down to the sea in ships to do work on the great waters, partake so much of the elements of tragedy that there is little room for the entrance of romance into the situation. ”

“ And there, in the very midst of the tumbling circle of foaming whiteness left by the vanished waterspout there floated the barque, no longer trim and all ataunto as she had shown a few seconds before, but a dismasted, mangled wreck, with bulwarks gone, boats swept from her davits, all three masts snapped short off at the level of the deck and lying alongside with all attached, a mere tangled mass of wreckage still fast to the hull by the standing and running rigging. ”