The Wreck Of The Mary Deare

We went about within a cable’s length of her and I hailed her through our megaphone. My voice lost itself in the silence of the sea. There was no answer. The only sound was the sloshing of the swell against her sides. We ran down on her quickly then, Hal steering to pass close under her stern. I think we were all of us watching for her name. And then suddenly there it was in rust-streaked lettering high above our heads just as it had been during the night: MARY DEARE — Southampton.

She was quite a big boat, at least 6,000 tons. Abandoned like that she should have had a salvage tug in attendance, ships standing by. But there wasn’t another vessel in sight. She was alone and lifeless within twenty miles of the French coast. I glanced up along her starboard side as we came out from under her stern. Both davits were empty, the lifeboats gone.

‘You were right then,’ Mike said, turning to Hal, his voice tense. ‘There wasn’t anybody on the bridge last night.’

We stared up at her in silence as we slipped away from her, awed by the sense of mystery. The rope falls hung forlornly from the empty davits. A thin trailer of smoke emerged incongruously from her funnel. That was the only sign of life. ‘They must have abandoned ship just before they nearly ran us down,’ I said.

‘But she was steaming at full ahead,’ Hal said, speaking more to himself than to us. ‘You don’t abandon ship with the engines going full ahead. And why didn’t she radio for help?’

I was thinking of what Hal had said half-jokingly last night. If there was really nobody on board … I stood there, my hands braced on the guardrail, my body tense as I stared at her, searching for some sign of life. But there was nothing; nothing but that thin wisp of smoke trailing from the funnel. Salvage! A ship of 6,000 tons, drifting and abandoned. It was unbelievable. And if we could bring her into port under her own steam… I turned to Hal. ‘Do you think you could lay Sea Witch alongside her, close enough for me to get hold of one of those falls?’

‘Don’t be a fool,’ he said. ‘There’s still quite a swell running. You may damage the boat, and if this gale-‘

But I was in no mood for caution now. ‘Ready about!’ I called. And then, ‘Lee ho!’ We came about on to the other tack and I sent Mike below to get Ian out of his bunk. ‘We’ll jog up to her close-hauled,’ I told Hal. ‘I’ll jump for the ropes as you go about.’

‘It’s crazy,’ he said. ‘You’ve a hell of a height to climb to the deck. And supposing the wind pipes up. I may not be able to get you-’

‘Oh, to hell with the wind!’ I cried. ‘Do you think I’m going to pass up a chance like this? Whatever happened to the poor devils who abandoned her, this is the chance of a lifetime for Mike and myself.’

He stared at me for a moment, and then he nodded. ‘Okay. It’s your boat.’ We were headed back for the ship now. ‘When we get under her lee,’ Hal said, ‘we’ll be pretty well blanketed. I may have some difficulty-’ He stopped there and glanced up at the burgee.

I had done the same, for there was a different feel about the boat now. She was surging along with a noise of water from her bows and spray wetting the foredeck. The burgee was streamed out to starboard.

II I checked with the compass. ‘You’ll have no difficulty standing off from her,’ I said. ‘The wind’s northwesterly now.’

He nodded, his eyes lifting to the sails. ‘You’re still determined to go on board?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, you’d better not stay long. There’s some weight in the wind now.’

‘I’ll be as quick as I can,’ I said. ‘If you want to recall me in a hurry signal on the foghorn.’ We were doing all of four knots now and the ship was coming up fast. I went to the charthouse door and yelled to Mike. He came almost immediately. Ian was behind him, white-faced and still sweaty-looking from his bunk. I gave him the boat-hook and told him to stand by in the bows ready to shove off. ‘We’ll go about just before we get to her. That’ll take the way off her and you’ll be all set to stand-off again.’ I was stripping off my oilskins. Already the rusty sides of the Mary Deare were towering above us. It looked a hell of a height to climb. ‘Ready about?’ I asked.