On the ocean’s troubled breastToss’d incessant without rest,Now on raft and now on wave,Death and trouble round me rave.
On the ocean’s troubled breastToss’d incessant without rest,Now on raft and now on wave,Death and trouble round me rave.
On the ocean’s troubled breastToss’d incessant without rest,Now on raft and now on wave,Death and trouble round me rave.
On the ocean’s troubled breast
Toss’d incessant without rest,
Now on raft and now on wave,
Death and trouble round me rave.
Owing to the manner in which the ship went down she created little or no suction. A slight swirl and wreckage—principally pieces of the awning, a few gratings and life-buoys—were all that denoted where our vessel had been. She sank about 4.30 p. m., and just then the thick weather cleared off a little so that when I rose on top of a wave I could see a considerable distance off. The shore was plainly visible and I judged we were about three miles S.W. of Cape Schanck. I saw that the whole fifteen of my companions had managed to get hold of some wreckage. The Captain, chief mate and two firemen were all grouped together on some pieces of weather-board, and the others were scattered in twos and threes, each on top of something.My first fear was that the sharks would get hold of me, then it struck me that the water was too rough for them to attack any one. I could only see some single pieces of board near me, so I was puzzled for a bit as to how to steer for something larger. All of a sudden I saw a lot rise on the top of a big wave right ahead of me. I soon reached it and thought I was quite as well off as the rest of my mates. My raft consisted of eleven or twelve pieces of weather-board all nailed together on a crosspiece. I got on top, and then every single piece of plank that came near me I pulled on board, till I succeeded in piling them up high enough to keep me out of the water. The sixteen of us were at this time all floating nearly in a line. Two sailors and the steward were about thirty yards seaward of me, the captain, chief mate, and two firemen about 50 yards off landward, and the rest a little distance further inward still. A large number of Mullihawks collected and kept hovering above our heads. I had no sooner got my raft put together, to the best advantage, when a heavy sea came, and turned all clean over on top of me. The nails in the planks caught my clothes and pierced my skin so that I had great difficulty in clearing myself from underneath. When I succeeded in getting on top again I saw that all my mates to windward of me had also been washed off their wreckage, and a similar fate shortly after befel those to leeward. It almost seemed as if the same wave had capsized the lot of us one after the other. Everyone, however, succeeded in catching their planks and getting on them again. After thecapsize I found my raft in a very different condition to what it was previously. All the loose planks were gone and a number of the ones nailed to the crosspiece had also disappeared. All of my mates, when on top of their wreckage, knelt on the boards with their headsfacing the shore, and held on in that position. The noise made by the wind and waves made it useless, at the distance I was off, for me to call to my companions, but I made signs, and tried to show them, by lying down flat on my raft, what I believed to be the surest way of holding and keeping on, with my headfacing the seas.
FOUNDERING OF THE S.S. ALERT, THREE MILES S.W. OF CAPE SCHANCK. DECEMBER 28, 1893.
FOUNDERING OF THE S.S. ALERT, THREE MILES S.W. OF CAPE SCHANCK. DECEMBER 28, 1893.
FOUNDERING OF THE S.S. ALERT, THREE MILES S.W. OF CAPE SCHANCK. DECEMBER 28, 1893.
As we drifted nearer the shore the seas got larger and more powerful still, so that in spite of all our precautions we could not retain our hold on the boards for any length of time. The frequent turning over of my raft knocked me sort of stupid every time I went under, and I have no doubt that the rest of my companions had similar experience. I reckon it must have been about 6 p. m. when I saw the steward washed away a great distance from the wreckage he had been on. After a long struggle he succeeded in getting back to his mates, but he evidently had completely exhausted himself in the effort, for he had hardly been a minute on the top of the boards till he fell from his kneeling position forward, with his head on the edge of the raft. He seemed to be smothering in the foam of the sea, so I shouted to his raft mates to hold his head up till I came to help him if I could. I knew poor Dodd was not strong, still I thought we might be able to keep him alive until the life-boat, or some other assistance, came from the shore.I left my raft and swam towards him as quickly as I could, but before reaching him a big sea buried me. When I got to the surface again I saw the steward had been washed off the boards and was floating some distance away in a position that told me he was dead. It greatly grieved me to see that my most intimate companion was the first to go out of our number, and for the time being I felt unnerved enough almost to give up hope myself. Then I thought it useless brooding over the matter, and determined to struggle on while I had any strength left. For a while I swam towards the raft on which were the captain, the chief officer and the two firemen. As I got near I saw a large breaker turning them clean over. They had their feet to the sea, and as their raft capsized I saw the legs of the whole four in the air at the same time. Finding it out of my power to help them, and thinking that matters might be made worse by crowding too close together, I started back to my boards again. Quite exhausted I reached my raft. As I lay on it I began to think it was time the life-boat was in sight. I could see a good distance around, the shore being plainly visible, but no sign of any help coming. It could not have been more than 7 p. m., yet it seemed to me that I had been days, instead of hours, in the water. I noticed that all had got on their boards again. The different groups were all ranged round in a semi-circle, and all, except myself, heading shoreward. I had found, by bitter experience, that in heading shoreward I was more exhausted—when turned over, or washed off my raft by a sea—in getting back to my boards than when I facedand headed the sea. At the same time, this method of going head first into the seas kept myself and my raft from drifting shoreward as quickly as the others. I did not mind this drawback, as my hope was strong that the life-boat would pick us all up before dark. Various currents now began to scatter our rafts in all directions. Both Coutts and Williamson (two of the sailors), drifted so close to me that I could speak to them. One after the other I asked how they were getting on. I got no reply and I could plainly see that they were so exhausted that they could not keep up the life struggle much longer. The boards to which Coutts held on were being carried seaward, while those belonging to Williamson were drifting in shore, towards the place where the four-masted shipCraigburnwas wrecked. I reckoned we had all drifted some miles shoreward—from where theAlerthad foundered—before the tide began to turn, and take our various rafts hither and thither. The seas, if possible, began to get bigger, and break irregularly in all directions around us. I caught sight of Mattison, the second officer, Thompson, the sailor, Kilpatrick, the second engineer, and Mr. Newton, the saloon passenger, all being carried by a current which I judged would take them round Cape Schanck whilst the rest of our number were going, some towards the shore, and some out seaward.
ROBERT PONTING “AMONG THE BILLOWS” ON THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 28, 1893.
ROBERT PONTING “AMONG THE BILLOWS” ON THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 28, 1893.
ROBERT PONTING “AMONG THE BILLOWS” ON THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 28, 1893.