she dished a sea over her bows that left
only the stern of her showing. We were towing head to wind, and the
water was flying over the boat in clouds. Every man of us was soaked
to the skin, in spite of our overalls, by the time we had brought the
Ramsgate Sands abeam; but there were a good many miles to be gone over
before we should fetch the Knock lightship, and so you see, sir, it was
much too early for us to take notice that things were not over and
above comfortable.

'We got out the sail-cover--a piece of tarpaulin--to make a shelter of,
and rigged it up against the mast, seizing it to the burtons; but it
hadn't been up two minutes when a heavy sea hit and washed it right aft
in rags; so there was nothing to do but to hold on to the thwarts and
shake ourselves when the water came over. I never remember a colder
wind. I don't say this because I happened to be out in it. Old Tom
Cooper, one of the best boatmen in all England, sir, who made one of
our crew, agreed with me that it was more like a flaying machine than a
natural gale of wind. The feel of it in the face was like being gnawed
by a dog. I only wonder it didn't freeze the tears it fetched out of
our eyes. We were heading N.E., and the wind was blowing from N.E.
The North Foreland had been a bit of shelter, like; but when we had
gone clear of that, and the ocean lay ahead of us, the seas were
furious--they seemed miles long, sir, like an Atlantic sea, and it was
enough to make a man hold his breath to watch how the tug wallowed and
tumbled into them. I sung out to Dick Goldsmith, "Dick," I says,
"she's slowed, do you see, she'll never be able to meet it," for she
had slackened her engines down into a mere crawl, and I really did
think they meant to give up. I could see Alf Page--the master of her,
sir--on the bridge, coming and going like the moon when the clouds
sweep over it, as the seas smothered him up one moment, and left him
shining in the sun the next. But there was to be no giving up with the
tug's crew any more than with the lifeboat's; she held on, and we
followed.

'Somewhere abreast of the Elbow buoy a smack that was running ported
her helm to speak us. Her skipper had just time to yell out, "A vessel
on the Long Sand!" and we to wave our hands, when she was astern and
out of sight in a haze of spray. Presently a collier named the Fanny,
with her foretopgallant-yard gone, passed us. She was cracking on to
bring the news of the wre