CHAPTER XII.

DEAL MEN TO THE RESCUE.

About ten o'clock on the night of the 11th of February 1894, signals of distress were observed from the Gull lighthouse by the look-out on Ramsgate pier. In response the lifeboat _Bradford_ was manned; but on this occasion she was found to be hard and fast on a sandbank in the harbour. The boatmen and those on the pier exerted themselves to the utmost to get her off, but it was not till eleven o'clock that she was able to proceed to sea, in tow of the tug _Aid_. She was then too late to render any assistance.

In the meantime the signals from the lightship had been seen at Deal, a few miles farther south. The boathouse bell was rung, there was a fierce rush of men for the cork lifebelts hanging round the walls, and ten minutes later the lifeboat _Mary Somerville_ was manned and launched. Away she flew before the heavy south-westerly gale, with Roberts, the coxswain, at the helm, and was soon lost to sight in the darkness. The vessel in peril was the _Franz von Matheis_, a German schooner, bound from Sunderland to Portsmouth with a cargo of coal. She kept burning flares till the lifeboat got alongside. Then the men found that she was dragging her anchors and heading rapidly towards the Goodwins.

With great difficulty the _Mary Somerville_ shot under the lea of the vessel, and several of her crew jumped on board the ship, which had become unmanageable, owing to the stress of weather. The presence of the lifeboatmen put fresh strength into the exhausted muscles of the crew, and all worked together with a will in the hope of saving the vessel; but it was found impossible for lifeboatmen or crew to move about on the schooner without sustaining injury. One of the men was thrown to the deck by a terrific lurch, and had his head cut open, and every moment increased the peril. The captain therefore decided to abandon the vessel, and he, with the crew of six, were taken into the lifeboat.

Even then the danger was not over. The terrific sea and wind caused the vessel to roll tremendously. One of her yards caught the mizzenmast of the boat, and broke the fastening which kept it in its place. Down fell the mast, striking the second coxswain on the head, and knocking him insensible to the bottom of the boat. For close upon an hour the gallant fellows battled with the tempest, straining every nerve to get clear. It indeed seemed as if they and the men they had with them would never again return to shore. Each wave drove the boat against the side of the vessel with a horrible, grinding crash. The steering-yoke was broken, and the boat-hook was snapped in two, "as you would the stem of a clay-pipe between your fingers." In trying to ward off the vessel four oars were smashed, and then the men found that their boat was being held down under the ship's broadside. While in this position, the tiller, which had taken the place of the steering-yoke, was sprung, a dozen or more of her stout mahogany planks were started, and her cork fender was torn to pieces.

At last they cleared the vessel, and as it was impossible, owing to the fury of the gale, to return to Deal, they made all sail for Ramsgate harbour. Here they landed the rescued men at a quarter-past one in the morning. During the day the _Mary Somerville_ was taken back to Deal. No more vivid picture of the perils through which the lifeboatmen passed could be desired than that of the bruised and battered lifeboat, as she lay high and dry in the boathouse that afternoon. The _Franz von Matheis_ seems afterwards to have got a firm hold, for she remained riding at anchor very close to the sands. At daybreak next morning a tug was seen endeavouring to take the abandoned ship in tow, and about four o'clock in the afternoon she was brought into Ramsgate harbour.