for
a new boom. Everything being ready, we hoisted sail for a new start. And
such a job to get the main and foresails up on that brute of a schooner!
But our experience was yet to come. In a few days we were rounding Cape
Hatteras and a heavy gale came up. Then was the time the schooner showed
what she could do. The main-sail had to be lowered for reefing. The hour
was about midnight, and a dark, stormy winter night it was. The captain
was steering, as all the men were needed for reefing, the cook included.

The first thing the Onrust did was to fall off into the trough of the
sea, and in the Gulf Stream, where we were at the time, the waves were
mighty lively. Then over the rails came the water and swashed around the
decks, knee deep. The cook had a nice lot of firewood neatly piled up
handy for use. That was travelling around in all directions, the
objective point being the sailors' shins. Suddenly the main boom got
loose and swung from one quarter to the other. It was "thump, thump,"
and sparks of fire the size of a baseball were flying over our worthy
captain's head. The sheet blocks worked on heavy iron travellers, and
every roll of the schooner swung the heavy boom with terrific force. All
we could do was to look on and wait for the captain to get his craft
head on to the sea. Bang went the boom. It had snapped short off near
the jaws. Now both ends were loose, and affairs were becoming unpleasant
for us "square-rigged" sailors. The heavy cargo of cement was much below
the water-line, and there being no yards or heavy rigging aloft to
counterbalance it, made the schooner roll extra quick and lively. The
boom was very long and about fourteen inches in diameter. How it did
rattle over the top of the cabin! At last, with the use of ropes, we
managed to secure it. The main-sail, in the meantime, had been having
its share of the fun, much to our discomfort. A storm-sail was brought
from below and set. As that needed no boom or gaff, we had but little
trouble to get the schooner under control again. Next in order was to
save the main-sail. About fifty knots that fastened the sail had to be
untied, and they being wet, made the knots hard to loosen. The boom was
lying diagonally, partly on the cabin and over the port quarter. There
was a narrow passageway between the cabin and the bulwarks. I was in the
passageway at work, with my head between the top edge of the cabin and
the boom. In trying to unfasten a foot stop I pok