19. CHAPTER XIX.
This Dream Book of Blunt's reminds me of a narrow
escape we had, early one morning.
It was the larboard watch's turn to remain below from
midnight till four o'clock; and having turned in and slept,
Blunt suddenly turned out again about three o'clock, with a
wonderful dream in his head; which he was desirous of at
once having interpreted.
So he goes to his chest, gets out his tools, and falls to
ciphering on the lid. When, all at once, a terrible cry was
heard, that routed him and all the rest of us up, and sent
the whole ship's company flying on deck in the dark. We
did not know what it was; but somehow, among sailors at
sea, they seem to know when real danger of any kind is at
hand, even in their sleep.
When we got on deck, we saw the mate standing on the
bowsprit, and crying out Luff! Luff! to some one in the
dark water before the ship. In that direction, we could
just see a light, and then, the great black hull of a strange
vessel, that was coming down on us obliquely; and so near,
that we heard the flap of her topsails as they shook in the
wind, the trampling of feet on the deck, and the same cry
of Luff! Luff! that our own mate was raising.
In a minute more, I caught my breath, as I heard a
snap and a crash, like the fall of a tree, and suddenly, one
of our flying-jib guys jerked out the bolt near the cat-head;
and presently, we heard our jib-boom thumping against our
bows.
Meantime, the strange ship, scraping by us thus, shot off
into the darkness, and we saw her no more. But she, also,
must have been injured; for when it grew light, we found
pieces of strange rigging mixed with ours. We repaired
the damage, and replaced the broken spar with another jib-boom
we had; for all ships carry spare spars against
emergencies.
The cause of this accident, which came near being the
death of all on board, was nothing but the drowsiness of the
look-out men on the forecastles of both ships. The sailor
who had the look-out on our vessel was terribly reprimanded
by the mate.
No doubt, many ships that are never heard of after leaving
port, meet their fate in this way; and it may be, that
sometimes two vessels coming together, jib-boom-and-jib-boom,
with a sudden shock in the middle watch of the
night, mutually destroy each other; and like fighting elks,
sink down into the ocean, with their antlers locked in
death.
While I was at Liverpool, a fine ship that lay near us in
the docks, having got her cargo on board, went to sea,
bound for India, with a good breeze; and all her crew felt
sure of a prosperous voyage. But in about seven days after,
she came back, a most distressing object to behold. All her
starboard side was torn and splintered; her starboard anchor
was gone; and a great part of the starboard bulwarks;
while every one of the lower yard-arms had been broken, in
the same direction; so that she now carried small and unsightly
jury-yards.
When I looked at this vessel, with the whole of one side
thus shattered, but the other still in fine trim; and when I
remembered her gay and gallant appearance, when she left
the same harbor into which she now entered so forlorn; I
could not help thinking of a young man I had known at
home, who had left his cottage one morning in high spirits,
and was brought back at noon with his right side paralyzed
from head to foot.
It seems that this vessel had been run against by a strange
ship, crowding all sail before a fresh breeze; and the stranger
had rushed past her starboard side, reducing her to the
sad state in which she now was.
Sailors can not be too wakeful and cautious, when keeping
their night look-outs; though, as I well know, they too
often suffer themselves to become negligent, and nod. And
this is not so wonderful, after all; for though every seaman
has heard of those accidents at sea; and many of them,
perhaps, have been in ships that have suffered from them;
yet, when you find yourself sailing along on the ocean at
night, without having seen a sail for weeks and weeks, it is
hard for you to realize that any are near. Then, if they
are near, it seems almost incredible that on the broad, boundless
sea, which washes Greenland at one end of the world,
and the Falkland Islands at the other, that any one vessel
upon such a vast highway, should come into close contact
with another. But the likelihood of great calamities occurring,
seldom obtrudes upon the minds of ignorant men, such
as sailors generally are; for the things which wise people
know, anticipate, and guard against, the ignorant can only
become acquainted with, by meeting them face to face. And
even when experience has taught them, the lesson only serves
for that day; inasmuch as the foolish in prosperity are infidels
to the possibility of adversity; they see the sun in heaven, and
believe it to be far too bright ever to set.
And even, as suddenly as the bravest and fleetest ships,
while careering in pride of canvas over the sea, have been
struck, as by lightning, and quenched out of sight; even so,
do some lordly men, with all their plans and prospects gallantly
trimmed to the fair, rushing breeze of life, and with
no thought of death and disaster, suddenly encounter a
shock unforeseen, and go down, foundering, into death.
