Storm' will grace the R. A and R. I. walls in May next.
More than one captain made up his mind then and there that his
`cobble' or his `mule', as they term the different classes of
boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed. The
wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there
was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity
which, on the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive
nature.
There were but few lights in sight at sea, for even the coasting
steamers, which usually hug the shore so closely, kept well to
seaward, and but few fishing boats were in sight. The only sail
noticeable was a foreign schooner with all sails set, which was
seemingly going westwards. The foolhardiness or ignorance of her
officers was a prolific theme for comment whilst she remained in
sight, and efforts were made to signal her to reduce sail in the
face of her danger. Before the night shut down she was seen with
sails idly flapping as she gently rolled on the undulating swell of
the sea.
"As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean."
Shortly before ten o'clock the stillness of the air grew quite
oppressive, and the silence was so marked that the bleating of a
sheep inland or the barking of a dog in the town was distinctly
heard, and the band on the pier, with its lively French air, was
like a dischord in the great harmony of nature's silence. A little
after midnight came a strange sound from over the sea, and high
overhead the air began to carry a strange, faint, hollow
booming.
Then without warning the tempest broke. With a rapidity which,
at the time, seemed incredible, and even afterwards is impossible
to realize, the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed.
The waves rose in growing fury, each overtopping its fellow, till
in a very few minutes the lately glassy sea was like a roaring and
devouring monster. Whitecrested waves beat madly on the level sands
and rushed up the shelving cliffs. Others broke over the piers, andand rushed up the shelving cliffs. Others broke over the piers, and
with their spume swept the lanthorns of the lighthouses which rise
from the end of either pier of Whitby Harbour.
The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that it
was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, or clung
with grim clasp to the iron stanchions. It was found necessary to
clear the entire pier from the mass of onlookers, or else the
fatalities of the night would have increased manifold. To add to
the difficulties and dangers of the time, masses of sea-fog came
drifting inland. White, wet clouds, which swept by in ghostly
fashion, so dank and damp and cold that it needed but little effort
of imagination to think that the spirits of those lost at sea were
touching their living brethren with the clammy hands of death, and
many a one shuddered at the wreaths of sea-mist swept by.
At times the mist cleared, and the sea for some distance could
be seen in the glare of the lightning, which came thick and fast,
followed by such peals of thunder that the whole sky overhead
seemed trembling under the shock of the footsteps of the storm.
Some of the scenes thus revealed were of immeasurable grandeur
and of absorbing interest. The sea, running mountains high, threw
skywards with each wave mighty masses of white foam, which the
tempest seemed to snatch at and whirl away into space. Here and
there a fishing boat, with a rag of sail, running madly for shelter
before the blast, now and again the white wings of a storm-tossed
seabird. On the summit of the East Cliff the new searchlight was
ready for experiment, but had not yet been tried. The officers in
charge of it got it into working order, and in the pauses of
onrushing mist swept with it the surface of the sea. Once or twice
its service was most effective, as when a fishing boat, with
gunwale under water, rushed into the harbour, able, by the guidance
of the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against theof the sheltering light, to avoid the danger of dashing against the
piers. As each boat achieved the safety of the port there was a
shout of joy from the mass of people on the shore, a shout which
for a moment seemed to cleave the gale and was then swept away in
its rush.
Before long the searchlight discovered some distance away a
schooner with all sails set, apparently the same vessel which had
been noticed earlier in the evening. The wind had by this time
backed to the east, and there was a shudder amongst the watchers on
the cliff as they realized the terrible danger in which she now
was.
Between her and the port lay the great flat reef on which so
many good ships have from time to time suffered, and, with the wind
blowing from its present quarter, it would be quite impossible that
she should fetch the entrance of the harbour.
It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so
great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost
visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with
such speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up
somewhere, if it was only in hell". Then came another rush of
sea-fog, greater than any hitherto, a mass of dank mist, which
seemed to close on all things like a gray pall, and left available
to men only the organ of hearing, for the roar of the tempest, and
the crash of the thunder, and the booming of the mighty billows
came through the damp oblivion even louder than before. The rays of
the searchlight were kept fixed on the harbour mouth across the
East Pier, where the shock was expected, and men waited
breathless.
The wind suddenly shifted to the northeast, and the remnant of
the sea fog melted in the blast. And then, mirabile dictu, between
the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong
speed, swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail
set, and gained the safety of the harbour. The searchlight followed
her, and a shudder ran through all who saw her, for lashed to the