[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
roaring directly at the ship s side. He leaned down to the tiller-deck hatch.
Hard a-port! he screamed.
The men below threw their weight on the length of the tiller, fighting the seas that swirled around the
ship s rudder. Too slowly. The wave was going to hit.
Sweet Ramusio, his blessed Saints, Hawkwood breathed in the instant before the great wave struck
the ship broadside-on.
The Osprey was still turning to port when the enormous shock ran clear through the hull. Hawkwood
saw the wave break on the starboard side and then keep going, engulfing the entire waist with water,
swirling up to the quarterdeck rail where he stood. One of the ship s boats was battered loose and went
over the side, a man clinging to it and screaming soundlessly in that chaos of wind and water. He saw
Billerand swept clear across the deck and smashed into the larboard rail like a leaf caught in a gale.
Other men clung to the guns with the water foaming about their heads, their legs swept out behind them.
But even as Hawkwood watched the wave caught one of the guns and tore it loose from the side,
sending the ton of metal careering across the waist, devastation in its wake. The gun went over the
larboard side, shattering the rail and tearing a hole in the ship s upper hull. Even above the roaring torrent
of the water, Hawkwood thought he could hear the rending timbers shriek, as though the carrack were
crying out in her maimed agony.
They were almost swamped. Hawkwood could feel the sluggishness of the carrack, as though she were
doubly ballasted with water. The deck began to cant under his feet like the sloping roof of a house.
There was a tearing crack from above. An instant later the main topmast went by the board, the entire
mast with its spars and yards and cordage coming crashing down on the larboard side. Blocks and tackle
and fragments of shattered wood were hurled down round Hawkwood s ears. Something thudded into
the side of his head and knocked him off his feet. He slid along the sloping deck and ended up in the lee
scuppers, entangled with rope. The falling mast had crashed through the sterncastle and was hanging over
the side, dragging the carrack further over. He was dimly aware that he could hear horses screaming
somewhere down in the belly of the ship, a wailing like a multitude in pain. He shook his head, blood
pouring down across his eyes and temples, and reached for one of the axes which were stowed on the
decks. He began to swing at the mass of broken wood and tangled cordage that was threatening to pull
the ship over on to her side.
Axemen here! he shrieked. Get this thing cut away or it ll take us all with it!
Men were labouring up out of the foaming chaos of the waist with boarding axes in their hands. He saw
Velasca there, but no sign of Billerand.
They began chopping at the fallen topmast like men possessed. The carrack rose on the breast of another
gargantuan swell of water, tilting ever further. She would capsize with the next wave.
The topmast shifted as they hacked at it. Then there was a cracking and wrenching of wood, audible
above the wind and the roaring waves and the sharp concussions of the biting axes. The mass of
wreckage moved, tilted, and then slithered over the ship s side into the sea, taking a fiferail with it.
The carrack, freed of the unbalancing weight, began to right herself. The deck became momentarily
horizontal again. Then it began to slant once more, but from fore to aft this time. She had turned. The ship
was before the wind. Hawkwood looked aft over the taffrail and saw the next wave, like a looming
mountain, rear up over the stern as if it meant to crush them out of existence. But the ship rose higher and
higher as the bulk of water slid under the hull, lifting the carrack into the air. Then they were descending
again thank God for the high sterncastle to prevent them being pooped and the ship was behaving
like a rational thing once more, riding the huge waves like a child s toy.
Velasca! Hawkwood called, wiping blood out of his eyes. See to the foremast backstays. I think the
topmast destroyed one. We don t want the foremast going as well. He glanced around. Where s
Billerand?
Took him below, one of the men said. Had his shoulder broke.
All right, then. Velasca, you are acting first mate. Phipio, second mate. Hawkwood looked at the
battered wreckage, the shattered rails, the stump of the mainmast like an amputated limb. The ship is
badly hurt, lads. She ll swim, but only with our help. Phipio, get a party down below to check for leaks,
and have men working on the pumps as soon as you can. Velasca, I want all other hands sending up
extra stays. We can t get the topmasts down, not in this, so we ll have to try and strengthen the masts.
This is no passing squall. We re in for a long run.
The crowd of men split up. Hawkwood left them to their work for the moment Velasca was a
competent seaman clambered down the broken remnants of the ladders to the waist and entered the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
roaring directly at the ship s side. He leaned down to the tiller-deck hatch.
Hard a-port! he screamed.
The men below threw their weight on the length of the tiller, fighting the seas that swirled around the
ship s rudder. Too slowly. The wave was going to hit.
Sweet Ramusio, his blessed Saints, Hawkwood breathed in the instant before the great wave struck
the ship broadside-on.
The Osprey was still turning to port when the enormous shock ran clear through the hull. Hawkwood
saw the wave break on the starboard side and then keep going, engulfing the entire waist with water,
swirling up to the quarterdeck rail where he stood. One of the ship s boats was battered loose and went
over the side, a man clinging to it and screaming soundlessly in that chaos of wind and water. He saw
Billerand swept clear across the deck and smashed into the larboard rail like a leaf caught in a gale.
Other men clung to the guns with the water foaming about their heads, their legs swept out behind them.
But even as Hawkwood watched the wave caught one of the guns and tore it loose from the side,
sending the ton of metal careering across the waist, devastation in its wake. The gun went over the
larboard side, shattering the rail and tearing a hole in the ship s upper hull. Even above the roaring torrent
of the water, Hawkwood thought he could hear the rending timbers shriek, as though the carrack were
crying out in her maimed agony.
They were almost swamped. Hawkwood could feel the sluggishness of the carrack, as though she were
doubly ballasted with water. The deck began to cant under his feet like the sloping roof of a house.
There was a tearing crack from above. An instant later the main topmast went by the board, the entire
mast with its spars and yards and cordage coming crashing down on the larboard side. Blocks and tackle
and fragments of shattered wood were hurled down round Hawkwood s ears. Something thudded into
the side of his head and knocked him off his feet. He slid along the sloping deck and ended up in the lee
scuppers, entangled with rope. The falling mast had crashed through the sterncastle and was hanging over
the side, dragging the carrack further over. He was dimly aware that he could hear horses screaming
somewhere down in the belly of the ship, a wailing like a multitude in pain. He shook his head, blood
pouring down across his eyes and temples, and reached for one of the axes which were stowed on the
decks. He began to swing at the mass of broken wood and tangled cordage that was threatening to pull
the ship over on to her side.
Axemen here! he shrieked. Get this thing cut away or it ll take us all with it!
Men were labouring up out of the foaming chaos of the waist with boarding axes in their hands. He saw
Velasca there, but no sign of Billerand.
They began chopping at the fallen topmast like men possessed. The carrack rose on the breast of another
gargantuan swell of water, tilting ever further. She would capsize with the next wave.
The topmast shifted as they hacked at it. Then there was a cracking and wrenching of wood, audible
above the wind and the roaring waves and the sharp concussions of the biting axes. The mass of
wreckage moved, tilted, and then slithered over the ship s side into the sea, taking a fiferail with it.
The carrack, freed of the unbalancing weight, began to right herself. The deck became momentarily
horizontal again. Then it began to slant once more, but from fore to aft this time. She had turned. The ship
was before the wind. Hawkwood looked aft over the taffrail and saw the next wave, like a looming
mountain, rear up over the stern as if it meant to crush them out of existence. But the ship rose higher and
higher as the bulk of water slid under the hull, lifting the carrack into the air. Then they were descending
again thank God for the high sterncastle to prevent them being pooped and the ship was behaving
like a rational thing once more, riding the huge waves like a child s toy.
Velasca! Hawkwood called, wiping blood out of his eyes. See to the foremast backstays. I think the
topmast destroyed one. We don t want the foremast going as well. He glanced around. Where s
Billerand?
Took him below, one of the men said. Had his shoulder broke.
All right, then. Velasca, you are acting first mate. Phipio, second mate. Hawkwood looked at the
battered wreckage, the shattered rails, the stump of the mainmast like an amputated limb. The ship is
badly hurt, lads. She ll swim, but only with our help. Phipio, get a party down below to check for leaks,
and have men working on the pumps as soon as you can. Velasca, I want all other hands sending up
extra stays. We can t get the topmasts down, not in this, so we ll have to try and strengthen the masts.
This is no passing squall. We re in for a long run.
The crowd of men split up. Hawkwood left them to their work for the moment Velasca was a
competent seaman clambered down the broken remnants of the ladders to the waist and entered the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]