A NIGHT PASSAGE.
EEmoment the sloop leapt higher and plunged deeper as she °barged the rapidly rising head sea. The fact that the weather was getting worse and worse could no longer be die. prised, and prudenee suggested shortening sail. But when I looked at that twenty-seven-foot boom and big single headsall my heart failed me ; so I held on hoping that nothing would carry away. The prospect was anything but alluring. Alone in a seven-tonner, seven miles or more from land on a pitch-black night, with wind and sea rising every minute. As I stood at the helm, peering into the murky night, a feeling of the most intoler- able loneliness crept over me, and I cursed my folly in leaving a snug anchorage to embark upon so mad a venture.
It was certainly against my better judgment that I had left
the Orwell, for everything pointed to the near approach of dirty weather. All day the wind had been backing against the sun, which had finally set behind a bank of clouds in a sky of the brightest yellow, and those who go down to the sea in small yachts cannot afford to ignore such portents. But I had arranged to pi* up a friend at Lowestoft on the morrow, and, after passing the evening in a wretched state of indecision, had at last screwed up my courage to sticking-point and got under way soon after 10 p.m.
The crux of the passage from Harwich to Lowestoft is Orford.
nese, for if -when the-wind is foul one fails to save the ebb round that headland, there is nothing for it but to return or bring up until high water, as the tide runs round the Nese like a mill- race. Going north the tide gets earlier and earlier, and a vessel on this passage seldom carries much more than five hours' ebb. One cannot therefore afford to waste any time, and, bearing this in mind, I had thrown caution to the winds and set the whole mainsail and big foresail. To get the full benefit of the ebb, I was working in long boards, and it was thus that I found myself in the neighbourhood of the Shipwash Light vessel at two o'clock the following morning.
The wind was strong from about E.N.E., and I had just gone
about on to the starboard tack, hoping to lay the Ness on that board. Seabird' was making fine progress, but there was no getting away from the fact that I was carrying on. One moment she would heave her streaming forefoot high out of water, and the next would crash into a sea with a thud that threatened to shake the mast out of her, sending aft a blinding shower of spray which pattered on my oilskins with a noise like quick-firing guns heard at a distance. Notwithstanding her generous freeboard, the yacht's covering-board was well awash, and with my-shoulder to the tiller it was all I could do to hold her on her course. There is something inexpressibly grand and awe-inspiring about a big sea viewed at night from the well of a small yacht, but I was oppressed by a feeling of impending disaster and longed for daylight. To add to my discomfort, ' Seabird ' was driving through a mizzle of rain, and this, combined with the spindrift flung aft from her weather bow, had wetted me to the skin in spite of my oilskins. And all the time the chain cable in the fo'c's'le clanged against a boilerette that I had secured to the bulkhead, with an infernal din that got on my nerves.
Presently the character of the sea began to change. The
waves, instead of being comparatively long and regular, were getting short and hollow, and seemed to rush at Seabird ' from all sides at once. Then I knew that I must be entering the race off Orfordnesa. " Strong ripples " are indicated on the chart, and I am inclined to think that the cartographer wrote the words with his tongue in his cheek. Strong ripples, indeed ! That might be their appearance when seen from the deck of a ' Mauretania,' but viewed from the well of Seabird' it was a hell of seething water. As the sloop stormed through this tur- moil, frequently plunging to her mast, the waves invaded the decks, pouring over the cabin-top into the well in the moot die- concerting manner. Hope prompting, I drove her along with the idea of winning through into the smoother water of Aldeburgh Bay before reefing. But it was not to be, for whilst still in the race the yacht was struck by a fierce squall of wind and rain.
It was a wild moment.. ' Seabird ' lay over before the on- slaught until her coaming disappeared beneath the angry sea, and I had to stand on the lockers to leeward to maintain my position at the helm. A deluge of water poured into the well and burst open the cabin doors. The wind shrieked in the rigging, and I expected to see the mast go over the side any moment. Luffing sufficiently to ease the strain on the gear, I set about shortening sail. I knew very well that if I once allowed that big foresail to take charge it would' speedily flap itself to ribbons, and so I went to work warily. Easing up the lee sheet a foot or two at a time, and hauling on the weather one, as I gave Seabird' a shake up, I contrived to get the sail sufficiently aweather to lay the vessel to. Then, crawling forward, I set np the topping-lift and slacked away the main and peak halyards handsomely.
Fortunately, the reef-earrings were already rove and the tackle in place on the boom, but it was only after a strenuous struggle that I succeeded in housing down the second reef mingle to the bee blocks. The liveliness of Seabird ' meanwhile was indescrib- able. She flung up her heels like a colt in a paddock, throwing me down more than once as I staggered about in the well hauling on the fall of the tackle. At last the job was done, and I was free to turn my attention to tying the reef points. This was a com- paratively simple matter until I came to those near the slew of the sail. These could not be reached from the well, as the boom- end was some six feet outboard, and Seabird,' having a sharp stern, afforded but a precarious foothold on her after-deck. Had I been wise I should not have attempted to tie them, but I hate to leave a job half done. And so, standing on the rudder- head, I leant out along the spar to complete my work. In a moment my feet were swept from under me, and to my dismay. I found myself overboard, clinging to the boom. Every time the vessel rolled to leeward she soused me up to my neck, and, clad as I wee in seaboots and oilskins, it was all I could do to hold on. Somehow I managed to work my way along the spar to the yacht, and-tumbled into the well in a half -dazed condition.
A pull at the whisky-bottle somewhat revived me, but it was with a sinking heart that I set about shifting the hesdsail. One of the worst features of the sloop rig for single-handed work is that when the foresail is handed the vessel must be left more or less to her own devices, as she cannot be hove to effectively, and Seabird' indulged in the wildest antics. On making a stern- board she would fall off nearly broadside on to wind and sea, and lie rolling her decks under until her mainsail filled. Then she would come to with a rush, pitching madly as if trying her utmost to dislodge me from my precarious position on the streaming fore-deck, her boom meanwhile thrashing furiously from side to side. It was only after a long and exhausting struggle that the small foresail was set in place of the big sail, and it was with feelings of relief and thankfulness that I crawled back to the well and let the foresail draw.
When I put the yacht on her course again I made the welcome discovery that the wind had veered to the east, even a trifle south of east, a change that enabled me to lay my course along the coast on an easy reach. I soon sailed clear of the zone of " strong ripples," and with daybreak near at hand my spirits began to rise. By the time I reached Aldeburgh it was light enough to see the beach, and as ' Seabird ' passed Thorpeuess the sun, red and angry-looking, rolled up above the eastern horizon. My troubles were now over, for although there was still a good deal of weight in the wind, ' Seabird,' snugly can- vassed, reached along in comparative comfort in the slack water near the shore. Slipping off my sodden clothes, I had a good rub down and put on dry things. Then, having pumped out the water, which was swishing about on the cabin floor, I set about getting an early breakfast.
The remainder of the trip was devoid of incident. After a slashing sail, with the wind on the beam for the hurt twenty miles, I entered Lowestoft Harbour soon after S a.m., and having moored in the tier, turned in for a few hours' sleep. After lunch I thought it time to go in search of my friend. It was with feelings of virtuous satisfaction that I rowed ashore, for had I not kept my appointment in the face of much difficulty and discomfort ? At the Club I was handed the following telegram : " Sorry delayed. Expect me Saturday."
Minuets B. COOKE.
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