Describe how the narrator coped when the disaster struck the ship
Dear student,
A torrent of green and white water broke over the ship and the narrator's head smashed into the wheel. He became aware of flying overboard and sinking below the waves. The narrator had by then accepted the certainty of his death and was beginning to lose consciousness. He felt quite peaceful in his resignation. But his head popped out of the water and he saw the Wavewalker was capsizing with her masts almost horizontal. Then a wave hurled her upright and his lifeline jerked taut, he grabbed the guard rails and sailed through the air into the Wavewalker's boom. Subsequent waves tossed him around the deck like a rag doll. His ribs had cracked, his mouth was filled with blood and broken teeth but he managed to find the wheel, line up the stern for the next wave and hang on.
Larry and Herb were pumping like madmen. Broken timbers hung at crazy angles, the whole starboard side bulged inwards; clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys sloshed about in deep water. After finding a hammer, screws and canvas, the narrator struggled back on deck. With the starboard side bashed open, they were taking water with each wave that broke over them. Somehow the narrator managed to stretch canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes. Some water continued to stream below, but most of it was now being deflected over the side. More problems arose when their hand pumps started to block up with the debris floating around the cabins and the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose threateningly. Back on deck he found that their two spare hand pumps had been wrenched overboard — along with the forestay sail, the jib, the dinghies and the main anchor. Then he remembered that they had another electric pump under the chartroom floor. He connected it to an out-pipe, and was thankful to find that it worked. On January 4, after 36 hours of continuous pumping, they reached the last few centimetres of water. Now, they had only to keep pace with the water still coming in. They could not set any sail on the main mast. Pressure on the rigging would simply pull the damaged section of the hull apart, so they hoisted the storm jib and headed for where he thought the two islands were.
Regards
A torrent of green and white water broke over the ship and the narrator's head smashed into the wheel. He became aware of flying overboard and sinking below the waves. The narrator had by then accepted the certainty of his death and was beginning to lose consciousness. He felt quite peaceful in his resignation. But his head popped out of the water and he saw the Wavewalker was capsizing with her masts almost horizontal. Then a wave hurled her upright and his lifeline jerked taut, he grabbed the guard rails and sailed through the air into the Wavewalker's boom. Subsequent waves tossed him around the deck like a rag doll. His ribs had cracked, his mouth was filled with blood and broken teeth but he managed to find the wheel, line up the stern for the next wave and hang on.
Larry and Herb were pumping like madmen. Broken timbers hung at crazy angles, the whole starboard side bulged inwards; clothes, crockery, charts, tins and toys sloshed about in deep water. After finding a hammer, screws and canvas, the narrator struggled back on deck. With the starboard side bashed open, they were taking water with each wave that broke over them. Somehow the narrator managed to stretch canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes. Some water continued to stream below, but most of it was now being deflected over the side. More problems arose when their hand pumps started to block up with the debris floating around the cabins and the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose threateningly. Back on deck he found that their two spare hand pumps had been wrenched overboard — along with the forestay sail, the jib, the dinghies and the main anchor. Then he remembered that they had another electric pump under the chartroom floor. He connected it to an out-pipe, and was thankful to find that it worked. On January 4, after 36 hours of continuous pumping, they reached the last few centimetres of water. Now, they had only to keep pace with the water still coming in. They could not set any sail on the main mast. Pressure on the rigging would simply pull the damaged section of the hull apart, so they hoisted the storm jib and headed for where he thought the two islands were.
Regards