THE WRECK OF THE BONNIE DUNDEE.

NZ Truth, Issue 75, 24 November 1906, Page 7

THE WRECK OF THE BONNIE DUNDEE.

The Bonnie Dundee left Newcastle, N.S.W. one fine day m May, 190—, bound for Hongkong with a full cargo of coals, m fact so full was she that a person on her main deck could, without difficulty, reach cut of a port with an empty bucket m his hand, and fill it without the aid of a rope, though she was a vessel of over 1000 tons register. All went well for a few days after leaving port, and Captain Home and his officers were beginning to reckon up "how long she could do it m," but alas!

"The best laid schemes of mice and men, Gang aft agley."

And on the fourth night out a heavy bank of clouds, which had made its unwelcome appearance m the South-east, together with a, corresponding fall m the barometer;, betokened such a change m the near future, that the cuptain, who had been for a long time iniently watching the rapidly-changing sky,; deemed it advisable to "shorten dowm" without delay.

"Mr. Baker. All hands on deck, and shorten sail."

"Aye, aye, sir," responded the chief mate, and putting both hands to his mouth like a funnel he roared: "Hands on deck. Hurry up, lads. Quick and lively."

Within two minutes every man was out, and the "starboard watch. hurried aft, aa quickly as the lurching of the vessel would allow, to act under the second mate, who vas already at the "main taok," waiting for tiie word to "let go." The port watch with the chief mate, Mr. Baker, were on the forecastle head at the "jib dsnrohaul," while the idlers were rushing about the deck, m everybody's way as 'usual. "Put your helm up, quick," shouted the captain to the s helmsman, as the moan of the wind increased to a deepening roar, and a black squall struck the heavily-laden ship, hurling her over until the lee main-yard touched the hissing sea. "Steady. Keep her dead before it. Down with the jib — let go to lgailant halyards fore and aft— clew down the yardo lads. With a will." Then to the helmsman. "Steady -. now— no higher."

The captain's voice could be distinctly heard above the howling of the blast. No "kiU glove" sailor was he, but one of the •Id school, now, alas, rapidly dying out. bluff, honesrti "stopper," whose gospel wa«s fear God, Honor the King, and make a good passage. One of the men who made tiie Umpire. One 'of the—

""Mariners of England, who guard our native

sons, "Whose flag has braved a .thousand years The battle and the .breeze."

Presently the heavy flapping of the cant*s ceased, and the struggling vessel labored less heavily, though the wind still whistled through the rigging with relentless fury, and she shipped tons of water over the bulwarks, which rushed fore and aft the deck, threatening m it* violence to wash every living being overboard., But the aailoru "bung on by their very eyelids" — for the old-f asbioned sailor wad hard to kill. Ha

tod, is passing away, and will soon be nothing but a memory.

"Away aloft and furl to'gallan'sls." The men sprung into the tightened weather rigging, like so many cats, and were soon struggling with the "light sails." After securely stowing them they returned on deck, but before they had time to regain their l-veath, the word of command from the \.cop rang out:

"All hands lay aft, and have the mains'l up— all ready— ease off the tack and sheet— lef- go all— TJp with her merrily lads," and as t l io great sail flapped and groaned like some great monster m tho throes of death, the captain stepped briskly aft to the binnacle, and peered intently m at the rapidly swinging compass, which could just be seen by the dim light of a lamp, the glass' of which was covered with spray from the heads of the seas whioh broke against the ship's quarter, and drenched the helmsman to the skin, as ho stood holding the wheel with his numbed, stiffened hands.

After gazing at the compass for some time, the captain looked astern, shading his eyes from the flickering light with one hand; he then viciously tugged his "Sou-wester" over his ears, and giving a short sharp direction to the helmsman, walked along the slanting deck to the break of the poop, and called out for the chief mate, who stepped out of a darkness that could be felt, into the ray of light from the cabin dead-light. "Yes, sir."

"Come up. here a minute, please." With two bounds Mr. Baker reached the poop deck and stood beside the skipper. After shaking himself like a dog that had just come out of a water hole, he enquired —

"Any further orders, sir?" "Yes. Lower the tops'l yards on the caps and spill the sails. Then haul the fores'l up. Are you strong enough to man both tops'l yards at once?" ■ •■ "I think so, sir. The second mate's as good as three men."

"Very good. Take a single reef m both tops'ls. Make the men put speed on. We can't keep her before this wind long." "Aye, aye, sir," and the mate started for'ard to execute the order he had received, when at that moment a sudden gust of wind caught the ship abaft the beam, and the sails shook dangerously. "TJp with the helm. Hard up— steady. Meet her with the wheel," as the ship's head fell away from the wind.

The mate, who was hurrying, forward, stopped and seemed to hesitate; then returning to the poop, he approached the captain, and said m a deferential manner —

"Hadn't we. better furl everything, sir? ' "No, no. A single reef in 'the tops'ls and fores'l. Hurry up, I want to brace the yards sharp up."

Without another word the mate departed, and all hands were soon hard at it. It was a very easy matter for the skipper to say, "Hurry up," but it took the now wearied seamen fully two hours to carry out their orders.

"Theirs not to make reply. "Theirs not to reason why* "Theirs but to do—.

During the whole of the time the crew were "up to their eyes m it" the captain paced up and down the quarter deck like a hungry lion walking up and down his cage. Several times he stopped, and looking impatiently aloft, seemed as though he was going to roar out' some additional order, but, thinking better of it he resumed his walk m silence. v "Every thing comes to him who waits" and at last he had the satisfaction of seeing : the men "lay down from aloft," and almost before they touched the wet and slippery deck more instructions were bellowed out. "Port for. braces. Jamb vthe'- yards' sh3rp;'up, H ilr. T Where's the second mate? Oh, Mr. West, man the lee main braces. Wow, you boys, starboard the cro'jack braces. Flatten 'em to the backstays. Let go those lee lifts. Well done, lads. Fore tack now, tight down,- haul aft the sheet. Let her come to, the wind, quartermaster; keep her full and by; weN, well everything., Steward. Where the d— 's the steward? Oh, there you are, eh. Grog, oh! Serve it round as quick as you like, and let the watch get below." The captain took another long look to "windward," and then turned and entered into conversation with the mate, who was now standing beside. him, bareheaded, and without coat or waistcoat, for Mr. Bake; had just returned on deck after "passing thi weather , earing of the fores'l," for he wa. one of the practical ship's officers who no: only give orders, but lead the way and take the post of difficulty, or danger, themselves.

At this time the rain was falling heavily, and. the fierce gale which was blowing, well "before the beam," caused the ship to heel over until the water squirted through the lee scupper holes

"We're going to have a bad night of it." This from the mate, who was trying to steady himself by holding on to the bucket rail.

"Yes," replied the skipper. "I don't half like the look of things. Gome below and have a glass of grog. We'll both have to be on deck all night, I'm afraid."

Without waiting for a reply he pushed back the companion cover and. descended into the cheerful, well-lit cabin, followed by Mr. Baker.

It did not take, very long to negotiate the two glasses of grog, after which the captain spread out a chart upon the table, and, taking a pair of dividers' from a drawer, he bent earnestly over the open sheet. After a time he held one point of the instrument on a particular spot, and, calling the mate's attention, said m a voice which quivered slightly—

"There. What d'ye think of that?"

The mate leaned both his bare wet arms on the table, and m his turn scrutinised the chart intently, then looking up straight into the anxious captain's face, he ejaculated — "Good Lord— and blowing a living gale o' wind from the East'ard. We're on a lee chore, cap'n, sure enough." . '„ ■

The mate's face now showed as much concern as that of his superior, and he looked inquiringly at the captain, as though to ask what the next move would be, for, Mr. Baker knew that something must be done, and that quickly, to prevent the ship drifting ashore, and like the true British seaman that he was, he was ready and willing to play his part, while there was "a single shot m the locker."

"Aye," said the captain, as be lifted his hand, and allowed the chart to roll itself up. It's a lee shore. The point I marked was Indian Head, on Fraser Island. We must give her more canvas, Mr. Baker. If we mean to claw off of it."

"She'll never stand it, sir. She'll drown herself. We've got fully two hundred tons too much cargo under Qno hatches. Why, Lord bless you, the bulwarks '11 be shattered into matchwood. Then we haven't got above four feet of freeboard. No, sir," the I mate thumped the table excitedly. "If you; put any more canvas on her, she'll drive herself under. ThatWy opinion Cap'n Home. But you'r^gY- •'■ snore experience than me, and ■if jas-tiuak the <>ther way I'm willing, as I always have beeni and always shall be, to obey orders, and Y ou can P ourd your life ' sir, I'll do my level best to see 'em carried out." v i The captain reached out his right hand '' which the other took, N & n d shook cordially. "That's right, Bake^- I don't agree with you, but that won't tijake us any the less friends. In this case r shall do what I feel satisfied is the only Uiipg that will get us mi ofiag; sad thai is, pro bo? tat** «ul. ,

She's got to stand it. We've absolutely no' sea room, and with what sail ehe'e carrying we can't weather Indian Head. So go for'ard, and call the hands again. Take a reef m the mains'l and set it. If she carries that without going over too far, we'll shake . the reef out of the main tops'!, and give her the - jib." "All right, sir, we'll get the mains'l on her first, before she take 3 too much water aboard, and I wish we had a : couple o' shipowners here, I'd like to tie 'em up to the shearpole. They wouldn't bo ; too anxious to overload a vessel again." i

"I know we've got too much cargo aboard, Baker, but you know as well as I do that if I refused to carry it, there are lots of men who would. When the Antelope wanted a master the other day there were over a | hundred applicants for the billet. Extra mas- 1 ters to a man. In this ship we have four J | passed men aboard, the second mate's a | I first-class master, beside you and myself, and . |so is the cook." And Captain Home smil- : ed grimly, and looked up at the "tell-tale" j compass, which was swinging to the cabin j ceiling, and the mate went on deck once j more to call all hands. This time to make more sail on the ship, and as he struggled for'ard along the slippery 'deck, he muttered beneath his bushy whiskers, "She'll not stand up to it, d me if she will." "All hands on deck. Reef the mains'l." But the men were not going to put up with this kind of thing m silence; they did not mind losing their rest by taking m sail, when the weather was too bad to carry it, especially when a stiff glass of grog was "hanging to it," but they did mind, and that most emphatically, having to struggle about on tire main yard another hour, preparing the very sail for setting, that they had with such great difficulty stowed, only a few minutes before, and, being for a wonder nearly all Britishers, they exercised their right privilege of growling, by doing so "for all they were worth." "Why, ther old fool's ratty. Wot. did 'c take the d — sail off ov er fur, if 'c wanted ther blarsted rag set orl ther time" muttered one old salt. .••-

"I vote as we don't tufinTOufc till' 'c know "is own mind." snarled atiother able-bodied

seaman.

"It licks pigstickin'. That's wot it does. It licks pigstickin' to a bloomin' 'cocked hat," growled a third.

They'll be a sendin' ov my ole gran'mother to sea next, an' makin' a bleedin' skipper ov 'er. That's wot they'll be a doin' ov, and dang my whiskers, they'll be a-loadin' of 'er ship right down to the water's edge like a torperder boat, an' nOthin'll be abuv water lower than the galley funnel—" "Bouse out here, men; come on, quick and lively," said the mate, who was now standing half m and half out of the fo'c'stle door.

"Growl yer may, but go yer must," muttered an "ordinary seaman" who was holdin on the pall-bit like grim death. This individual suddenly got "stouched" with a wet swab, which knocked him into the scuppers. A big burly seaman then kicked him for falling, and he canoned off the sea boot into the mate's arms, who immediately passed him out on deck with a hit which would have felled a good-sized bullock, but which only had the effect of slightly hastening the recipient's passage aft. This little incident put everyone m a better humour, and they hastened out into the darkness and made their way aft, and slowly crawled on to the main yard, loosing the sail before taking the reef m it. The crew of the Bonnie Dundee consisted of twenty-four men "all told," namely — the captain and two mates, boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, cook, steward, four apprentices, two ordinary and ten able seamen, and at this time "all hands," excepting Captain Home, the second mate (who was at the wheel), and the cook and steward were aloft on the main yard struggling with the bellying sail, and striving with might and main to hold the reef band taut enough to enable, the mate and another man to haul out the weather earing. The yard could only be seen from the deck during the flashes of the lightning, which forked out of the inky darkness, and. we're followed almost immediately by terrible claps of thunder, for they were now. m the centre "of a thunderstorm of more than ordinary intensity.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash, and at the same instant a deafening peal of thunder. The ship, which had been straining heavily, seemed to stand perfectly still for a few moments, and then tremble violently. The captain, who was half dazed by the shock, still retained sufficient presence of mind to rush to the wheel, seeing that the concussion had knocked the second mate down on the deck, where he lay senseless; but before he reached the wheel, which was Hying round, first one way. and then the other, he was brought to a standstill by scaring a lingering crash, and a loud scream

from twenty human throats, and the next Ja3h showed him that masts, yards, and men were hurled into the raging sea to leeward.

Instinctively the captain seized the wheel and put it "hard by," and he felt rather than saw that the ship was falling off before the wind. At first she was hard to steer, then something seemed to break, and she became more lively, while sea after sea broke over the weather bulwark, breaking and carrying everything overboard. After a time she seemed to steer easier, and he lashed the wheel, and, feeling hjs way along the poop, reached- the forward rail, and leaning over it shouted for "a hand to the wheel," but the only reply was the howling of the wind and the roaring of the sea, which sounds seemed, to: his- straining ears, to be faraway. Again another flash, and he saw that the three masts had gone by the board. ■ .

But 'the crew. Where 1 Were they ? And the captain pressed his throbbing temples with both hands, arid tried to realise his position. Everything had happened with such awful suddenness that he could not think. A few minutes ago he was m command of a large ship, and all was fairly well — now, he was on a derelict, at the mercy of the wind and waves — drifting — where ?

With a heavy sigh he staggered back to the wheel and reached out his hand to take hold of it, but— some one was there before him — a man of sonic kind was steering. Who coUjld it be ? The captain looked into the helmsman's face, and by the flickering light of 'the binnacle lamp saw that it was Harry West, the second mate.

"Thank God, there is one man saved. Are you hurt,' West? I thought the lightning had killed you, too."

"Me, too. Whyl What has happened? I was knocked down by something and stunned, when I came too again, I came back to the wheel."

"Then you know nothing?" "No. Nothing. Nor-can can I see anything, it is so thundering dark. I think I have hurt my head, and I feel as if everything was wrong," • . "Yes. The ship was struck by lightning, and the masts have gone by the board." "And the men who were on the main yard —where are they ?" West asked the question hurriedly and anxiously, but something within him had already told him that a fearful calamity had occurred. "May the Lord have mercy on their souls, for their bodies -are now at the bottom of the sea," said the skipper, m a choking V °" C Good God. Are they all gone?" "Every man exoept you and me. And there's little hope for us." "Why Is the ship leaking? If she holds together till daylight, .-we might get her m somewhere." „..«. i* .. After all the instinct of self-preservation is the ruling power. The second mate, who was as brave, aye, and braver than most men and would without the slightest hesitation have risked his life to save that of another, if necessary, no sooner found thau er*a>- obligor threatened himself, than he ifugoi Wfl d«i«! shipmates and ail about

them, m his anxiety to save himself. Who can blame him? Poor humanity! After a short pause the captain replied. "There is no hope for the 6hip West— she's doomed." . "There is always hope while there is life. Can't we do something, anything is better than dying like a rat m a hole. Is there no chance of getting some canvas on her?" "What leeway do you suppose we are making?" asked the captain, m a tone which sounded as though he was hardly interested m any reply which might be made. "Well, as far as I can see, we're drifting dead before the wind, and I suppose making about five knots an hour."

"Aye. Before the masts went we were about ten miles to windward of the land. That was an hour ago, so according to my reckoning we may expect to bump any minute. If the ship strikes before daylight we shall go without seeing the danger, but, if daylight comes first, one of us might possibly reach the shore alive, but it will not be me."

"There's the day breaking astern, now," said Harry West, as he looked m that direction.

"And there is the sea breaking right ahead," shouted the skipper. "Put your helm hard up, and let her take it head on. If it's a sandy beach we might—"

But Captain Home never finished the sentence, for at that moment the ship struck the beach with her port bow, and the next sea swung her broadside on. For a few moments it seemed as though she would hold together long enough for the two survivors to drop overboard, and reach the dry land m safety, sheltered by the hug© hull of the wrecked vessel. But it was not to be, for wrth awful rapidity, the mighty waves overwhelmed, and literally tore the ship into fragments, which were hurled amid ■ the blinding spray, far up the shore, while the crashing thunder, and blinding lightning, mingled chaotically with the howling tempest, and making a picture which would have caused a spectator to imagine that a mighty war had broken out among the elements, and that the earth would be torn m pieces by their fury. No sooner were the fragments which had once comprised a splendid specimen of the shipbuilder's art scattered along the land m indiscribable heaps than' the wind died away to a sullen moan, and m a short time the sun arose m all his glory, out of the troubled bosom of the ocean, to shine serenely upon the eastern shore of Fraser Island,' which was dotted m a hundred places by piles of wreckage, and the sand which had been glistening white the. previous day was now stained and discolored to an almost inky color, and the waves, which were rappidly lessening m size and ferocity, were rolling up masses of coal, and spreading theni out m long, black lines, as the tide receded slowly. This coal, and the heaps of tangled wreckage, were all that was left of the cargo and null of the ill-fated ship Bonnie Dundee.

(To be Continued.)