A sudden
lurch threw the man from the weather wheel across the deck and against
the side. The mate sprang to the wheel, and the man, regaining his
feet, seized the spokes, and they hove the wheel up just in time to
save her from broaching to; though nearly half the studding-sail
went under water; and as she came to, the boom stood up at an angle of
forty-five degrees. She had evidently more on her than she could bear;
yet it was in vain to try to take it in- the clewline was not strong
enough; and they were thinking of cutting away, when another wide
yaw and a come-to, snapped the guys, and the swinging boom came in,
with a crash, against the lower rigging. The outhaul block gave way,
and the topmast studding-sail boom bent in a manner which I never
before supposed a stick could bend. I had my eye on it when the guys
parted, and it made one spring and buckled up so as to form nearly a
half circle, and sprang out again to its shape. The clewline gave
way at the first pull; the cleat to which the halyards were belayed
was wrenched off, and the sail blew round the spritsail yards and head
guys, which gave us a bad job to get it in.
Pages:
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593