Alone and Far From Land

4.8

Part I

The British ship was far off in the open sea. No one saw the boy fall overboard a little after 7 o’clock in the morning. A big wave had washed him overboard and down into the sea beside the ship. The boy fought his way up to the surface of the water and saw the sky overhead and the ship quite near him. For a moment he had a feeling of hope. He thought that some sailor on the ship had seen him and they would pick him up quickly. But the ship was going on; it hadn't slowed down.

The boy kicked about with his arms and legs to keep his head above the water, but he felt helpless and afraid.

Suddenly he remembered something the Captain had said one day, “If you find yourself in real trouble, keep your head. Make yourself think clearly. If you let yourself feel afraid, if you lose your head you'll be lost. So keep your head and think!”

The boy controlled the movements of his hands and feet. He said to himself. “I didn’t know I could swim, but I'm swimming!” He did his best to kick off his heavy trousers and shoes. At last they came off, but it had not been easy. He realized then that he was swimming as he had seen dogs swim in the lake near his home on the farm.

But the ship was farther and farther away. Now he could hardly see it even when he was up on a high wave. Soon there was nothing but the water and the sky. A wave rose suddenly against his face. It filled his nose and mouth. Salt burned his eyes.

The sailors were at breakfast when they missed the boy. “Where is he?” one asked. Another said, “I haven’t seen him at all this morning. I’d better go and look for him." He looked in every part of the ship. He asked every man he saw. Each time he asked, his voice became louder. “You’d better tell the Captain,” someone said.

The Captain was talking to an officer. The ship was moving fast. The Captain turned to the sailor as he heard the man’s shouts: “Sir! The boy! We can’t find him! We’ve looked everywhere. He’s fallen overboard. He’s lost!" And the sailor waved a hand out over the sea.

One of the officers remembered that he had ordered the boy to do some work on the deck. At what time? It was perhaps 7:10.

The Captain looked at his watch. It was 8:21 now. An hour and 11 minutes had passed. The ship had traveled 18 miles since they had seen the boy last. The Captain gave his orders. “We must go back 20 miles from here,” he said. "One hour and 20 minutes. Watch the time!" The boy was moving his hands and his feet but slowly now. He was losing his strength and wanted to cry. But he didn’t cry, because be remembered how the Captain had looked on the deck one day when he was talking to the men, “Life on the sea is hard. Troubles come suddenly. You must be ready. You must use your head. Remember, when trouble comes, you must keep your head and think clearly. If you do, you will probably stay alive."

It was easy for the Captain to say that, the boy thought. The Captain had never fallen overboard. Or had he? He had been at sea a long lime.

The boy tried to think of himself as the Captain, and he began to say the things the Captain had said. He told himself these things again and again, as if he was speaking to some men in the water around him. Then the waves washed over him, and he felt helpless and frightened.

Part II

The Captain did not expect to find the boy. A head is a small thing to see across miles of ocean. When fear fills the mind, even grown men drown quickly. What chance did this boy have? The sailors said he had never learned to swim.

The Captain looked at his watch. Almost one hour and 20 minutes had passed. “We are nearly there," he said. “Reduce the speed to slow.” His head turned from side to side. His eyes moved over the sea, stopped and moved again.

Suddenly he shouted: “Stop! Be ready to lower the lifeboat!” He had seen the small head of the boy rising and falling, not more than 100 yards away.

The boy saw the ship stop. He saw the lifeboat come towards him. Just as his last strength left him, strong hands caught him. They pulled him into the lifeboat and laid him on some blankets.

The boy looked at the faces of the sailors in the boat. One man said, “Swimming! The sea is for boats, boy, not for boys who want to learn to swim.”

Another said, “You’re going to get into trouble, my boy. The Captain doesn’t like this. We’ve lost almost three hours because you wanted to go swimming!"

He knew that they were joking. He wanted to smile, to let them know he understood; but he felt too weak to do anything. “Stop talking." the officer said. “We’ve got to take him back and put him to bed. Hurry!”

I heard half of this story later from the boy. I knew half of it from the beginning. You see, I was the Captain.

When the boy was on board the ship again, I went down to see him. With the blankets around him, he looked much younger. Tears came to his eyes, and he said softly, “Sir, I’m sorry if I’ve made you late."’ I tried to tell him it was not important, and I told him to rest.

On the day before we reached the port, I saw him sitting on the deck. I said to him, “You couldn't swim, but you were in the water more than two and a half hours. How did you ever stay on the surface?"

“You told me to stay up there, sir,” he replied.

“I?”

“Yes, sir. You told me to use my head. You tell everyone that, sir. And I knew you would come back to find me.”

“How did you know that?”

He said nothing for a moment. I could see that he was thinking. Then he looked up and said quietly, “Because you are that kind of man.”

The boy didn’t know it, but with these words he had given me something great. It was a greater gift than I could ever receive from governments or kings.