University of Virginia Library

The incident on which this ballad is founded was related to me by a passenger, who was on board the “Norham Castle” during the same voyage on which the rescue had been effected off the Natal Coast.

Early in the morning, February 6th, 1895, the wreck of the “Fascadale” was sighted off the Impengali River, on a reef surrounded by a terrible surf, and Captain Duncan of the “Norham Castle” stood in towards her and called for volunteers to man the lifeboat, and try to effect a rescue. Mr Whitehead, chief officer, volunteered his services. It was found impossible to venture near, and swimming seemed out of the question. But, signalling to those on the wreck to do likewise, Mr Whitehead waited for the rebound of a wave, and with a lifebuoy and cord attached, or as another account says, with a log-line round his body, he leapt from the boat into the water, and was carried towards the wreck. A boy on board the “Fascadale,” Ferris by name, with a line and a lifebuoy leapt at the same time into the surge, and meeting Mr Whitehead on the top of a wave they tied the lines together and effected a communication by means of which 18 lives were saved. All this time the “Norham Castle” stood off, broadside on, to break the seas and give what shelter she could to the boat's crew. The men had barely left the wreck when a heavy sea broke it in two, and the “Fascadale” disappeared. The heroism of Whitehead, who had again leapt into the surf to save the life of the captain of the “Fascadale,” was accentuated by the fact, which was learned afterwards by my friend, that just before he sailed from home he had become engaged to be married.