TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 141, 29 February 1908, Page 8

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

FOUNDERING OF THE REGULAR,

The Crew's Great Fight Against Fate.

Saved m the Nick of Time— French Ships-of-War to the

Rescue.

Yet think, this furious, unremitting gale Deprives the ship of every ruling sail ; And if before it she directly flies, New ills enclose us, and new dangers rise. The Regular was a fine specimen of a ship for her day, the day when vessels carried crews of double the number that they do now. Usually they carried a spread of canvas beyond ail proportion to their size, and before the era of steel wire ropes, now so much used m the shrouds, stays, hawsers, etc., larger crews were required to handle vessels. The Regular was an East Indianman, of 550 tons burden, and commanded by Captain Carter. On February .21, 1843, she left the London docks on a voyage to Bombay and China. She encountered a good deal of rough weather shortly after leavine: the Downs and shipped considerable quantities of water, and straining much under the heavy seas. However, as . the weather improved shortly afterwards, she made rapid progress southward, all going on tolerably well until near the middle of April. On the 13th of that month, strong breezes set m from the westward, with a heavy swell AND A CROSS SEA, and the vessel labored so much that the pumps were m frequent use. The .weather continued boisterous for several days, but no actual fear was felt for the safety of the ship. Gradually matters improved, and on May 1 the Cape of Good Hope was doubled; the weather beiirg then fine and the wind favorable for the ship to sail her course. For six days after passing the Cape the Regular ran bef ore __ a. strong north-easterly wind, belting along at 10, or 11 knots an hour. But on Sunday, the 11th, came indications of ajj approaching storm ; the wind increased every hour, and soon a , Rale .was blow-in*. The topsails were taken m, and all was made as snug; as possible; but the sea rose rapidly, and huge, mountainous billows, catching the ship- astern, swept the decks with a deluge of waterr-. The vessel rolled heavily m the trough of the sea, and though the pumps were worked every two hours, the water fast gained m the hold. Throughout the night the captain kept oh deck, the pumps were worked at longer spells, while the utmost care had /to be taken by the men at the wheel to alter the course of the ship from time to time, so as to surmount the huge waves which threatened TO OVERWHELM HER. The dawn Gf the next day brought no improvement m the weather, and only showed to what a fearful extent the sea had risen during the night. The Regular labored more than ever, and rose but slugglishly from the heavy seas that broke over her. About G a.m. an enormous mass of water burst upon her with terrific violence, descending on the decks With an awful crash. She reeled under the shock, and , lay for a time nearly on her beam ends ; then, as she slowly righted, it was seen that the greater psfrt of her starboard bulwarks had" been washed away. , All hands were kept at the pumps that day, but notwithstanding the most incessant labor, the water gained three inches every hour. The weather showed no signs of improve- i nient, and as the ship continued to j strain and labor heavily, and to sbip large quantities of water, Captain Carter let the vessel run before the wind, instead of trying to keep her on her course. She was accordingly put befpre the wind, which had shifted considerably before the commencement of the storm, under closereefed maintopsail and. foresail. , During the night the weather moderated, and the wind dropping >a little the day dawned with more cheerful prospects. The Regular, however, continued to strain and labor ominously, and, m spite of all exertions, the WATER GAINED STEADILY upon the pumps. On the 10th, the doomed ship ran into another violent gale and, occasional squalls/ with a high cross sea running. She -staggered like one drunken, and shipped immense seasi Another night was passed m anxiety and labor. Next morning opened with do pros,pect of relief. The gale blew furiously, and hilly waves overtook the vessel, flooding her continually fore and aft. The immense quantity of water below began to effect her steering. As she sank lower m the water sbe became more sluggish, m her movements, and consequently more helpless. The captain now determined, to lighten the ship by getting rid of some of the heavy materials with which she was laden, and about 100 tons of copper, iron, and steel was cast overboard. The Regular thus, relieved, became more managahle, but the crew failed to check the leak or discover its position. On the 12th the weather was still cloudy and threatening, and the gale abated not. Accompanied by furious squalls and a mountainous sea, it shrieked a dirge through the riiping like a thousand demons clamoring for their prey. The water gained so fast upon the pumps that it was decided to bale out with buckets and casks at the fore hatchway, and again large quantities of cargo were thrown overboard to lighten her, yst TO LITTLE PURPOSE. Saturday, the 13th, found the crew exhausted by four days and five nights incessant labor at the pumps. From the captain to the boy, each had done his best to keep the ship afloat, and the crew continued manfully, as well as their wasted j strength would allow, to carry out i the captain's orders. All hands that ' could" be spared from pumping •■ wore now set to heave overboard all the deck hamper, spars, spare anchors, etc. The carpenter was at the same , time told to see to the boats, • m case it should be necessaay to abandon the ship

The situation was now bad. The nearest land was about 800 miles off ; not a single sail had been sighted for, 42 days, and the sinking ship had been driven out of the usual track of vessels navigating the Indian Ocean. At 11 a.m. the mate looking after the pumps reported that the water was gaining fearfully, and that it had risen s£-ft. m the well. Strenuous exertions were made to keep it under, but by 12 o'clock it was found to have risen another foot. At this time, according to reckoning; her position was m latitude 37.23 south and longitude 38.13 east. The storm still raged, and the Regular labored more than ever. Every wave burst over her WITH RELENTLESS FURY, and 'her situation was momentarily becoming more critical. By 4 p.m. the water m the hold had increased to 9£ft. In the fore and aft holds, barrels and bales of goods were floating from side -to side ; the ship had almost ceased to answer helm, and was fast, settling. The time for abandoning had come, but everything was carried on with the utmost care and deliberation. Launching the boats m such a heavy sea was difficult, yet it was safely done. The doomed Regular Was brought lip to the wirid\ and the work of provisioning the boats hurriedly . carried out. - Several days' provisions and water were stowed away, along wuth the log-book, chronometers, charts, and compass. It was now 8 p.m. Work at the pumps had • been given up two hours before, and now the vessel's gunwale was level with the sea. Then the three boats shoved off to encounter, as it seemed a scarcely better fate than that of the sinking ship. The launch contained eighteen persons, including two female passengers, the pinnace carried ten. Captain Carter, the last to leave, took his, place m the, little cig, manned by four seamen. The Regular must have SUNK ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, as those m .the boats saw. her but once after they quitted her deck. The position' of the boats was appalling. Scudding before a furious Cape gale, which was driving them yet further from shore, none could envy them. To aggravate their misery, about 10 at night 'came a heavy squall of hail, ..under whose blinding blasts each of the boats shipped a deluging sea. Everything that was not washe-d out of the launch was thrown overboard to lighten her. The pinnace and eig shared the same fate, the wave catching them astern and washing everything, except the crews, out over the bows. Thus, m a moment, disappeared all their means of supporting life and of navigating the boats. All night they continued to drive before the gale, and about midnight the captain, finding it impossible to navigate the gig. which had filled five times, transferred himself and the four others to the launch, which now held 23, and was almost too crowded to move m. In the pitchy darkness they lost sight of the pinnace, and no hope seemed to remain. The two ladies, crouching m their drenched garments, lay bewildered by the horrors of the scene. Still, no one murmured. The weary seamen tugged feebly at the oars, or baled out, the water; and wi'h the instinct of discipline, followed the; directuons of the skipper. ' Thus passed this dreadful night — a night of unutterable mis- i cry, linallevia'ted by A SINGLE GLEAM OP HOPE. The dull, grey daylight was beginning to dawn, when, as the launch was slowly rising on the breast of a broad wave, the captain looked behind to' watch the billows that were chasing, them m their flight. There, .just beyond the ridge Of advancing waters, he beheld the masts and spars of a large vessel. Ere he could speak, the cry of "Sail ho !" broke from a dozen voices at once, and m a moment all was bustle and activity. The change from hopeless grief to sudden joy was. almost too much to bear, and some wept and laughed m turn. A shawl was hoisted as. a signal, and was answered by the heaven-sent stranger. A second vessel now* appeared, and the two m company bore down before the wind towards the boat. They turned .out to be French ships of war, the frigate Cleopatre, 'of 52 guns, and the corvette Alcm^ne, of 20 guns. The frigate rounded to as she came up, so that the boat -gotunder her stern. Some of the occupants were lifted through the "orts, and some were handed up the vessel's side. Meanwhile, tackles were fixed, and the launch, with the rest of her living cargo, was hauled into the air, and gently dropped 0n ... the frigate's deOk. •Many of the rescued people were so worn out and exhausted th?t they were unable to stand, and some, from the revulsion of feeling acting on their weakened frames, fell insensible. Captain Carter himself, whose mental anxiety AND BODILY EXERTION had, perhaps, exceeded that of the others, swooned away. His first thought, on recovering, was of the pinnace, and he asked the French commander, Commodore Roy, to find her. The Frenchman immediately signalled the Alcmene. directing her to stand on a certain course, whaeh would enable them to sweep the neighboring sea. Carter and the Commodore weore still m conversation, when it was reported that the Alcmene was answering signals. The purport of the answer was, that the Alcmene had discovered the .pinnace'; two milrs a brad, just about the time whfn the Cleopatre was rescuioie: the launch, and that she was" then lowering tTw* boat upon bei deck, bavin? rescued all. i Every attention was lavished upon the rescued by the two French ships. Commn-dote Roy rpsi^nfrl his caMn 1o the two Indies, boh officers f>nd c-"W "aye up their berths to the outworn people of the. Regular. The

only relics of the lost vessel w«r»" the launch and one of the chroma meters, the pinnace having fallen t« pieces on comiHg m contact with \iat deck of t*e Alcmene. The Cleopatre and her consort were bouad to th« Isle of Bourbon, m the Indian Ocean. But tk Commodore proposed ta tak» his gucst-s DIRECT TO MAURITIUS, where they would be more certain oi meeting with some British vesseL This being agreed to, the frigate and corvette made sail for Mauritius airiving there on May 27, wfthou.tr sighting a single sail .from tho time. ' they rescued the boats of th© Regular. It was the flukiest rescue, perhaps, m maritime annals, and. had . the Frenchmen not hove m sight when", they did, nothing would ever have been heard of the lost East Indiaman.