He then began to give the necessary orders; but before they were all out of his mouth, a fatal interruption occurred.
Tadcaster ran into Dr. Staines's cabin, crying, “A raft with a corpse close by!”
Staines sprang to the quarter port to see, and craning eagerly out, the lower port chain, which had not been well secured, slipped, the port gave way, and as his whole weight rested on it, canted him headlong into the sea.
A smart seaman in the forechains saw the accident, and instantly roared out, “MAN OVERBOARD!” a cry that sends a thrill through a ship's very ribs.
Another smart fellow cut the life-buoy adrift so quickly that it struck the water within ten yards of Staines.
The officer of the watch, without the interval of half a moment, gave the right orders, in the voice of a stentor;
These orders were executed with admirable swiftness. Meantime there was a mighty rush of feet throughout the frigate, every hatchway was crammed with men eager to force their way on deck.
In five seconds the middy of the watch and half her crew were in the lee cutter, fitted with Clifford's apparatus.
“Lower away!” cried the excited officer; “the others will come down by the pendants.”
The man stationed, sitting on the bottom boards, eased away roundly, when suddenly there was a hitch--the boat would go no farther.
“Lower away there in the cutter! Why don't you lower?” screamed the captain, who had come over to leeward expecting to see the boat in the water.
“The rope has swollen, sir, and the pendants won't unreeve,” cried the middy in agony.
“Volunteers for the weather-boat!” shouted the first lieutenant; but the order was unnecessary, for more than the proper number were in her already.
But mishaps never come singly. Scarcely had this boat gone a foot from the davit, than the volunteer who was acting as coxswain, in reaching out for something, inadvertently let go the line, which, in Kynaston's apparatus, keeps the tackles hooked; consequently, down went the boat and crew twenty feet, with a terrific crash; the men were struggling for their lives, and the boat was stove.
But, meantime, more men having been sent into the lee cutter, their weight caused the pendants to render, and the boat got afloat, and was soon employed picking up the struggling crew.