THE WRECK OF THE TRONDHJEM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2813, 12 February 1908, Page 77

THE WRECK OF THE TRONDHJEM.

By G. M

On a .stormy afternoon in November, 1860, the people of Melrich were staitlcd to find a large ship with bare poles scudding towaids the shore. The wind was blowing a hurricane from N.N.W., and the sea. was lashed into foam. It was a common sight to see ships of all kinds enter and emerge from the Pentland Firth. They took no notice of Melrich, as it had neither trade nor shelter for them. The Mehicans returned the compliment, and refeired to them as proud tramps of the ocean. The fierce wind, the bare poles, and the angry sea gave everyone the impression that the ship was in distress, or had mistaken the locality. Thurso Bay, a few miles distant, was the harbour of refuge for the noithern entrance to the firth; as Melrich Bay was too exposed. Se-amen donned their sou'westers and oilskins, and hurried to the headland. Hail-showeis were frequent and blinding, and during these the ship was indiscernible. Fuel was hurriedly

carried to the headland and a beacon fire lit. It had the desired effect, but the c.iptain made an equally grave blunder by shaping -his course for Strathy Bay instead of Thurso Bay.. Night was falling fast and the hurricane increasing. The sea looked like jagged mountains, and danger was written in every face. What was to be done? Immediately the ship entered Strathy Heads that moment she was doomed. There were no life-boats, no life-buoys, and no suitableboat nearer than Thurso. Red John, the king of the cobble men, said, "Get the big oobble on a cart, hurry her to Strathy, and I'll be t.he first man to go to the rescue." Up went a cheer, "Hurrab for Red John and his gallant companions!" Red John was a poor fisherman. He had been a fisherman all the days of his life, and had braved many storms. Danger had no terrors for him, and Death frequently stood aghast at his courage. Tli-e big cobble was hoisted on to a cart, and several horses were in readiness. Mon bade good-bye to their wives and children as if departing to a far country. Sobs and tears were loud and plentiful. Duty demanded that an effort should be made to rescue tho perishing, and the Melrich men never shrank from duty. A hurried ride soon brought them to Strathy Bay. The ship was already close in to shore, and every moment a catastrophe was expected. Suddenly a cry rose from the crowd, "She's struck! She's struck!" Down came the masts, and the gallant ship momentarily disappeared 'midst the mighty rollers. The cobble was hurriedly launched. Red John instantly stepped aboard and took his place as helmsman. Then followed lan Graisich. Lan Suelen, Sandy Skerray, Sandy Laranach, Sandy Hue&tan, Hugh Cute, Shoras Frishal, and Illiam Bulligan. The oars were manned, not a word was spoken, and the cobble was pushed into the boiling 6urf. They dodged, they struggled, they breasted the breakers, as only seamen and heroes can. Thank God ! they are at tho wreck. Red John hailed the ship in English, in Gaelic, in Broad Scots, and :n Caithness-Norse lingo ; but there came no response. Men were seen clinging to the wreck, but they could not be made to understand. Then he flung his life Une across a hanging yard-arm, and jumped into the boiling sea. He gained the wreck, and, one by one, passed six benumbed sailors aboard the. cobble. Converse they could not, so he turned s.horewards with his precious cargo. In the meantime men roped themselves together and breathlessly awaited the return of the boat. Onward she came, waiting, watching, struggling, as each roller seemed determined to engulf her. She touched, scores of willing hands quickly hauled her out of danger, and the half-frozen sailors were kindly received. Off 6he sped again on her errand of mercy, and this time returned with three living and three dead men.

The ship began to break up, the sea was strewn with wreckage, darkness set in, and human aid was unavailing. The crew of the cobble received no ovation ; the men prnyed aloud, t.he women wept, and the frenzied Norsemen kissed their ga'lant i'escuers. Red John, the hero of the moment, stood calmly surveying the scene. Then he said. "Let the strangers, the women, and the children go home. The Melrich men -have done their duty, and the glory be to God. Some day the strangers may repay us, or follow our example in attempting to rescue the distressed."

"Mem Gott," said the captain; "Caifn«s man and Norway man, all wan man, an all Norway man die for help his brodder."

Through the long watches of the nig'it men peered into the leaden darkness, hoping to rescue some distressed sailor; but no one called for help. The winds howled and the mermaids mocked, but the fishermen turned to all a deaf ear. As dawn approached no less than ten bodies were c-st upon the beach or found lashed lo wreckage. Then Red John was heard to say. "Did no ye hear them taunting maids laughing at us la6t night, bad Tuck to them?"

The gaugers arrived upon the scene and claimed all. The Hying they succoured, but the dead were left for the local men to bury. In a quiet corner of the Strathy Churchyard lie the undischarged Norsemen. A rude headstone marks their rest-ing-place, and upon it may be read the following superscription : — "To the men of the Trondhjem Wrecked on the beach, November, iB6O. God's will be done." Thus ended one of the tragedies of the sea that sometimes occur along the storrnsweot shores of the Pentland Firth. The fishermen who risked their lives received no reward, no bronze medals, and no plaudits from an admiring country. They were far removed from the busy scenes of the city and the haunts of the great. Yet iheiy cultivated a heroism and disregard of dangers that could not be excelled in British annals.

From time immemorial the inhabitants of tlie district had looked upon wrsckaj*

,16 common property. They accoTciine'v appropriated without question all v that the sea gave them. The Trondhjem was a ! large wooden ship, copper-sheathed and i bound, and consequently of great value. Every ounce of copper and bronze was speedily appropriated, and all her store* commandeered. The gaugers claimed all, but got little. Domiciliary visits were frequent, and the pains and penalties of the law invoked. Nobody knew anything, and nobody possessed anything. There weresome laws that the people repudiated, and among those was the right of the gaugers to wreckage and the right of the landlords to game. Boxes of tobacco, or barrels Oi beef, or chests of clothing, or barrels of biscuits, or kegs of spirits, or boxes of fruit, and the thousand-and-one articles that go to furnish a well-found ship were hid in almost every house. Men and women lay a-bed protesting their illness, and protecting their goods. Caves, sandhills, barns, potato pits, and all did duty as trusty storehouses. The gangers bribed and cajoled and threatened in turn, but every tongue was silent. No one considered it a, dutiy to inform upon a neighbour to that scourge of humanity — the gauger. He was no man, he had neither the head nor the heart of a man, but only a sneak sent by the Government to appropriate everything for itself. Why teil him anything ? Why give it anything ?

For some years thereafter men could produce sufficient copper to buy all t.he to ba«co they required. "Och, but the Government got it after all," 6aid they, "for did it not tax our tobacco and the wife s tea ? Well,, there's no use trying to sup with the devil, for he will have more tha.T his share." Their philosophy was that of a simple, untutored people. They had their failings, and they had their viituos. Most, if not all, of them Jiave goiv> to their rest ; peace be with them ! They were poor men — ignorant, if you will; but they practised a code of honour, led n life of contentment, and exhibited a heroism that men of larger opportunities never attempted.