sea, that would come later - now it was the loss of the boats that
appalled him, for it threatened the lives of nearly six hundred others.
The other boats - the First Officer's voice was ragged with shock -'the
others got away safely, sir. In the lee of the towering hull, protected
from both wind and sea the other three boats had dropped smoothly to the
surface and detached swiftly. Now they circled out in the dark night,
with their spotlights probing like long white fingers. One of them
staggered over the wildly plunging crests to take off the crew of the
stricken lifeboat, and they left the cracked hull to drift away and
sink.
Three boats/ whispered the Captain, for thirty rafts. He knew that
there were insufficient shepherds for his flock - and yet he had to send
them out, for even above the wind, he thought he could hear the booming
artillery barrage of high surf breaking on a rocky shore. Cape Alarm
was waiting hungrily for his ship.
Send the rafts away/ he said quietly, and then again under his breath,
And God have mercy on us all. Come on, Number 16, called Samantha. Here
we are, Number 16. She gathered them to her, the eighteen passengers
who made up the complement of her allotted life-raft.
Here we are - all together now. No stragglers. They were gathered at
the heavy mahogany doors that opened on to the open forward deck.
Be ready! she told them. When we get the word, we have to move fast.
With the broadsiding seas sweeping the deck and cascading down over the
lee, it would be impossible to embark from landing-nets into a raft
bobbing alongside.
The rafts were being inflated on the open deck, the passengers hustled
across to them and into the canopied interior between waves and then the
laden rafts were lifted over the side by the clattering winches and
dropped into the quieter waters afforded by the tall bulk of the ship.
Immediately, one of the lifeboats picked up the tow and took each raft
out to form the pitiful little convoy.
Right! the Third Officer burst in through the mahogany doors and held
them wide. Quickly! he shouted. all together. Let's go, gang! sang
out Samantha, and there was an awkward rush out on to the wet and
slippery deck. It was only thirty paces to where the raft crouched like
a monstrous yellow bull-frog gaping its ugly dark mouth, but the wind
struck like an axe and Samantha heard them cry out in dismay. Some of
them faltered in the sudden merciless cold.
Come on/ Samantha shouted, pushing those ahead of her, half-supporting
Mrs. Goldberg's plump body that suddenly felt as heavy and uncooperative
as a full sack of wheat. Keep going. Let me have her/ shouted the
Third Officer, and he grabbed Mrs. Goldberg's other arm. Between them
they tumbled her through the entrance of the raft.
Good on you, love/ the officer grinned at Samantha briefly. His smile
was attractive and warm, very masculine and likeable, his name was Ken
and he was five years her senior. They would probably have become
lovers fairly soon, Samantha knew, for he had pursued her furiously
since she stepped aboard in New York. Although she knew she did not
love him, yet he had succeeded in arousing her and she was slowly
succumbing to his obvious charms and her own passionate nature. She had
