[Literature] Charles Dickens: The Wreck of the Golden Mary #7/47

For all
that, I could not get round the church. I
was still trying, when I came against it with
a violent shock, and was flung out of my cot
against the ship’s side. Shrieks and a terrific
outcry struck me far harder than the bruising
timbers, and amidst sounds of grinding and
crashing, and a heavy rushing and breaking
of water—sounds I understood too well—I
made my way on deck. It was not an easy
thing to do, for the ship heeled over frightfully,
and was beating in a furious manner.

I could not see the men as I went forward,
but I could hear that they were hauling in
sail, in disorder. I had my trumpet in my
hand, and, after directing and encouraging
them in this till it was done, I hailed
first John Steadiman, and then my second
mate, Mr. William Rames. Both answered
clearly and steadily. Now, I had practised
them and all my crew, as I have ever made
it a custom to practise all who sail with me,
to take certain stations, and wait my orders,
in case of any unexpected crisis. When my
voice was heard hailing, and their voices
were heard answering, I was aware, through
all the noises of the ship and sea, and all the
crying of the passengers below, that there
was a pause. “Are you ready, Rames?”—“Aye,
aye, sir!”—“Then light up, for God’s
sake!” In a moment he and another were
burning blue-lights, and the ship and all on
board seemed to be enclosed in a mist of light,
under a great black dome.

The light shone up so high that I could see
the huge Iceberg upon which we had struck,
cloven at the top and down the middle,
exactly like Penrith Church in my dream. At
the same moment I could see the watch last relieved,
crowding up and down on deck; I could
see Mrs. Atherfield and Miss Coleshaw thrown
about on the top of the companion as they
struggled to bring the child up from below;
I could see that the masts were going with
the shock and the beating of the ship; I
could see the frightful breach stove in on the
starboard side, half the length of the vessel,
and the sheathing and timbers spirting up;
I could see that the Cutter was disabled, in a
wreck of broken fragments; and I could see
every eye turned upon me. It is my belief
that if there had been ten thousand eyes
there, I should have seen them all, with their
different looks. And all this in a moment.
But you must consider what a moment.

I saw the men, as they looked at me, fall
towards their appointed stations, like good
men and true. If she had not righted, they
could have done very little there or anywhere
but die—not that it is little for a man to
die at his post—I mean they could have done
nothing to save the passengers and themselves.
Happily, however, the violence of the shock
with which we had so determinedly borne down
direct on that fatal Iceberg, as if it had been
our destination instead of our destruction,
had so smashed and pounded the ship that
she got off in this same instant, and righted.
I did not want the carpenter to tell me she
was filling and going down; I could see
and hear that. I gave Rames the word to
lower the Long-boat and the Surf-boat, and I
myself told off the men for each duty. Not
one hung back, or came before the other. I
now whispered to John Steadiman, “John,
I stand at the gangway here, to see every
soul on board safe over the side. You shall
have the next post of honor, and shall be
the last but one to leave the ship. Bring
up the passengers, and range them behind
me; and put what provision and water you
can get at, in the boats. Cast your eye
for’ard, John, and you’ll see you have not a
moment to lose.”

My noble fellows got the boats over the
side, as orderly as I ever saw boats lowered
with any sea running, and, when they were
launched, two or three of the nearest men in
them as they held on, rising and falling with
the swell, called out, looking up at me, “Captain
Ravender, if anything goes wrong with
us and you are saved, remember we stood
by you!”—“We’ll all stand by one another
ashore, yet, please God, my lads!” says I.
“Hold on bravely, and be tender with the
women.”

The women were an example to us. They
trembled very much, but they were quiet
and perfectly collected. “Kiss me, Captain
Ravender,” says Mrs.