The Life of a Ship - Robert Michael Ballantyne (top reads .TXT) 📗

the name given to the white foam which is formed by the waves when they dash upon the shore. It is very difficult, sometimes quite impossible, to swim in the surf of the sea, and many poor sailors have been hurled on the rocks by it and dashed in pieces while attempting to swim from their wrecked vessels to the land.

Every time a wave came it lifted the _Fair Nancy_, and, as it passed, let her fall heavily on the sharp rocks, so that she began to break up. Still the men were afraid to venture into the sea, and they clung to the bulwarks, quite uncertain what to do. At last Ben Block turned to the captain and said--

"I'm a good swimmer, captain, and I think I could swim to the shore well enough perhaps; but there are some o' the men who can't swim, and poor Davy, there, could never do it; so I'll just throw a rope round my shoulders and make for the shore. If I land I'll fix the rope to the cliffs, and you'll all be able to get ashore easy enough. If I should be drowned,--it'll only be a little sooner, that's all, and it's well worth risking my life to save my shipmates."

"You're a brave fellow, Ben," said the captain. "Go and do it if you can."

Ben Block went down below and soon returned with a stout rope. On the end of this he made a loop, which he passed round his shoulders, and then, raising his eyes to heaven with an imploring look, he leapt into the sea. At first he swam vigorously, and the sailors looked on in anxious hope. But a large wave came. It fell,--and Ben Block disappeared, while a cry of fear rose from the deck of the ship. In a few seconds, however, they saw him rise again and struggle manfully with the raging billows. The next wave that came lifted Ben up and threw him on the beach, to which he clung with all his power; but as the wave retired it swept him back into the sea, for he could not hold on to the loose sand. He now rolled over and over quite exhausted, and the sailors thought he was dead. But a man's life is dear to him, and he does not soon cease to struggle. Another wave approached. It lifted Ben up and threw him again on the beach. This time he made a desperate effort to hold on, and, fortunately, he observed a large rock close to where he lay. With a sudden spring he caught hold of it and held on till the wave went back; then he ran forward a few steps and caught hold of another rock a little higher up, so that when the next wave broke over him it had not power to draw him back. Another run--and he was safe!

The men gave a loud cheer when they saw him land. After he had rested a little, Ben fastened the end of the rope to a mass of rock. The sailors hauled it tight and fixed the other end in the ship; and then, one by one, they slowly crept along the rope and reached the shore in safety. Here they all fell on their knees and thanked God for their deliverance.

But now they found that the land was not inhabited, and they walked along that dreary coast for several days, almost starved to death with hunger and cold, for they had only a few biscuits among them, and their clothes were never dry. Little Davy was the best walker among them, and helped to keep up their spirits greatly by his cheerful conversation as they toiled along. At last they arrived at a little village, where the people were exceedingly kind to them; gave them food and dry clothes, and, after they became stronger, sent them to the great city of Quebec. Here they were kindly treated, and finding a ship bound for England, they all returned home.

You may imagine the delight of the poor captain when he arrived and found his wife safe and sound. She and all the people on the raft had been picked up by a homeward-bound vessel the day after they lost sight of their ship, and were brought safe back to England. And you may fancy the joy of little Davy's parents when their son opened the cottage door one day and rushed into his mother's arms.

Davy never went to sea again, but continued for many years after to help his poor father to fish. And the _Fair Nancy_--that beautiful ship, which Davy had watched so long, which he had seen launched, and which had sailed so gallantly from her native shores, with her snowy sails glancing in the sun like the white wings of a seagull--alas! alas! she lay a total wreck now, on the rocky shores of a foreign land.
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Publication Date: 07-07-2010

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