Chapter 6

The Mary Sue was half way across the Gulf of Mexico, on course to Mobile, when the hurricane caught up with them. Since the last storm several days back on the east coast of Florida, the sailing had been smooth all the way to the Florida Keys.

Shipboard life had been leisurely and pleasant. Betty had flirted ever more outrageously as the days passed. Jesse figured she had learned this behavior growing up in the old life of the South before the war and wa just part of what society girls did in public. But Jesse well knew what she could do in private!

But, as they had rounded the tip of Florida and sailed past the end of the Keys, the storm clouds to the south had been building up ominously.

Captain Millhouse, in a conversation with Jesse, said, "This one looks to be the makings of a real hurricane. I'm going to run as hard as the old girl can take as it will be real trouble if we get caught. If you would, I need you to help the Stonebergers get secured as well as possible before the storm hits. I' have to mind the ship and the crew and try to keep us afloat."

Jesse replied, "Aye, Cap'n, will do!"

Jesse climbed down to the main deck and went to the Stonebergger cabin, grabbing a coil of some light rope a crewman handed him as he passed by. When he arrived, Jesse knocked on the door and called out, "It's me, Jesse, I need to help you get things secure."

Betty looked a little scared as she opened the cabin door and said, "What's wrong? What's going on?"

Her face turned ashen as she happened to look at the turbulent sky as Jesse answered, "There is a storm bearing down on us that will be much worse than the last one. We need to be ready because I don't think we can outrun it."

"Oh no, I'm frightened," Betty wailed as she suddenly hugged Jesse in a tight embrace.

The main furnishings of the cabin were sparse and most were permanently mounted to either the floor or the walls. Jesse untangled himself from Betty and very quickly, the few remaining loose items and personal items were secured under the bunks or to some permanent fixture.

Meanwhile, the wind had risen steadily and was beginning to howl like a banshee. Wave height and force was also steadily increasing while the distance between crests was decreasing. Thunder and lightning cracked and banged. Rain picked up steadily until it fell in torrents, sometimes mixing with large hail.

After several more hours, the Mary Sue began to pitch and roll far worse than she had in the first storm in the Atlantic. Damage to the ship began to mount as the storm reached it's peak. Guard railings were bent or broken and washed overboard. Windows broke under the force of the waves. That happened to the big center window of the pilot house, which made conning the ship that much more difficult.

The main funnel from the boiler room was torn off and blown or washed overboard as the guy wires supporting it snapped and whip lashed all over the deck, flipping one crewman well overboard. A second crewman, unwisely trying to move on the deck, was also washed overboard.

The Stonebergers desperately tried to hang onto something solid but were tossed around the cabin and banged into furnishings and each other until they were battered and bruised. Jesse had lashed down loose things in his cabin also but had then lashed himself to the fixed bunk support, albeit with slip knots that could instantly be pulled loose if need be.

After taking a severe beating for six hours, a deathly calm and stillness descended in the space of less than thirty minutes. Jesse quickly loosed his slip knots and rushed to the Stonebergger cabin. He rushed in, unannounced when he saw the bashed in door. He saw Mr. Stonebergger on the floor with his head twisted at an impossible angle and knew immediately that the man was dead.

Mrs. Stonebergger, who was sobbing quietly, had what appeared to be a broken arm and was otherwise badly battered and bruised. Betty's dress had somehow been torn and ripped with the top of it hanging below her waist, just her chemise and corset covering her above the waist. She was also quite battered and bruised and was holding her right side ribs while she moaned in pain.

Jesse said, "Unfortunately, we can't relax yet, I think, from what little I know of such storms, that we are in what is called the "eye" of the hurricane and we will go through this again for about the same amount of time when the back of the storm comes on us. We have to be set again and we don't have a lot of time."

Jesse quickly loosened some rope and tied the body of Mr. Stonebergger to the bunk and said, "I want you to come to my cabin and I'll lash us all down. Quickly, the wind is beginning to rise again."

Once in his cabin, he lashed the three of them tightly together to the same bunk post that he had used earlier.

A little more than a half hour later, the storm was blowing full force again. For more than four hours, the ship, crew, and passengers suffered another beating equal to or better than the first six hours. The Mary Sue had taken on quite a bit of water on the front side of the storm. She now took on more, a lot more and was sinking by the stern.

Jesse realized what was happening, but afraid of alarming the two women even more, he said nothing. They would know soon enough. Although it became evident the storm was wearing down, the job of abandoning ship and staying alive was going to be extremely difficult.

When the angle of the sinking stern became steeper, the two women suddenly realized what was happening and began to softly sob.

"We need to keep our heads," Jesse said. "We need to get out on deck and try to get off the ship with something that will float to hang onto. It will be difficult, as the storm in not quite done yet, but we have to manage."

He unlashed them and then tied the three of them together with Betty in the middle, and with about four feet of rope line between each of them. They had waited almost too long. It was quite a struggle for them to crawl up the sloping deck to reach the cabin door.

There was nothing left to do but to jump for it as it was evident the ship had only minutes more to live.