The Terrible Tempest
After leaving the Channel with favorable winds, the fleet becomes becalmed about fifty leagues west of the Lizard. The calm proves brief as a hurricane soon strikes, splitting the maintop-sail and creating a terrifying commotion aboard. The narrator awakens to a cacophony of gun carriages, cracking cabins, howling wind, confused shouting, boatswain’s pipes, trumpets, and chain pumps. Morgan, experiencing his first storm at sea, cries out in terror while Thompson lies trembling in his hammock, praying for their safety. Above deck, the scene proves even more horrifying: waves rise mountain-high, and the ship alternately hangs suspended over the abyss and sinks between threatening walls of water. Of one hundred fifty ships in the fleet, scarce twelve remain visible, all reduced to bare poles and at the mercy of the tempest. One vessel loses its mast, which tumbles overboard with a hideous crash. The crew runs distracted, some clinging to yards to unbend shredded sails while masts quiver like twigs threatening to splinter.
Jack Rattlin’s Accident
As the narrator observes this terrifying scene, a main brace breaks, flinging two sailors from the yard arm into the sea where they perish. Poor Jack Rattlin is thrown down upon the deck, suffering a broken leg with a splinter of the shin-bone thrusting through the skin. Morgan and the narrator rush to his assistance, and recognizing the seriousness of the injury, the narrator goes below to inform the surgeon and retrieve dressings. He discovers Dr. Mackshane kneeling before something resembling a crucifix, which the narrator declines to confirm, merely noting that common report suggested Mackshane was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. The disturbed doctor quickly conceals the object and prepares to receive word about Rattlin.
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