The Schooner Bay Home for Invalid and Indigent Seamen
"Fires"
Chapter 2: Fire on the Wharf
It seemed like the food kept coming and the eating continued for hours, until some of the men surreptitiously loosened their belts and the women stood up, unable to do anything else to relieve the pinching of their whale-boned corsets. Nate picked up his fiddle, Peter his harmonica and Joe his banjo and gave their guests a little concert.
From the front lawn of Gull Cottage, you could look over most of Schooner Bay; Front Street, the large wharf, part of Main Street and the tip of the small wharf, were Lass of the Bay was tied up. Miss Maine, a very, very large schooner belonging to a member of the Figg family, was tied up on the large wharf where re-caulking and re-tarring of the hull and re-setting of two of her masts were on-going.
The afternoon breeze was coming up after the men's concert, cooling the warm air. Even though large amounts of food and desserts had already been served and consumed, after the music, Carolyn and Martha came out with trays laden with wedges of watermelon. Jane Cooper groaned at the sight of more food, but Margaret Turner, a well-developed woman, dived right in, slurping up the sweet juice from a large piece. As other's stood to take a piece of the fruit ("After all, it's mostly water!" Dr. Everly declared), Socks Demetriou politely stepped toward the gate to allow the guests to approach the platter. He idly looked toward town, not really intending to investigate anything, but to merely glance at the sun on the water. However, there was another light that caught his attention, and it seemed to be coming from within Miss Maine. He stepped up to the low stone wall that marked the property of Gull Cottage and looked intently. For a moment, he thought he'd imagined the light. Perhaps, it was the sun glinting off of something on the deck. But then he saw it again, licking at the wood of the deck.
"Fire, fire on the deck of the Miss Maine!" he called out sharply. Decades of experience rose within each seaman there, including Captain Gregg. Fire was one of worst things that could befall a vessel and quick action was needed, especially since no one on the dock was yet aware of the danger. Horses and wagons were quickly brought together and everyone at Gull Cottage, including the women, made their way as quickly as possible to the wharf.
By the time they got down to the water's edge, the general alarm had been sounded and people were pouring out of their shops and homes. More and more of the ship was being engulfed by the flames, the fresh tar and pitch helping to fuel the fire. Embers were flying and small patches of the wharf and the Harbor Master's shed had caught fire as well. Samuel Biggs was directing the formation of a bucket brigade from the water's edge to the dock as they waited for the pumper wagon to be pulled from its enclosure. As people scurried to find buckets, Captain Gregg made himself known to Biggs.
"There's no time now for me to explain myself, Samuel. Just know that I will do everything I can to help. You must get Lass and tow Miss Maine out to deeper water, away from the docks."
Biggs was astonished, to say the least, but he didn't have time to react to the specter in front of him. "But, I have no crew, Daniel!"
"Yes, you do. They may be old men, but they can do this. I'll supervise the buckets. Go! Now!"
Biggs did as he was told and gathered all of the old seamen. Their eyes gleamed as the thought of actually working the Lass of the Bay settled on them. Looking at them, one would be hard pressed to realize that only months before they had been deemed, by themselves and others, to be too old and too decrepit to serve any useful purpose. Need had given them a dose of youth and they practically ran to the small dock.
The rest of the townspeople took up the bucket brigade. Daniel was in the water on the opposite side of the dock from the fire, with Carolyn just above him, sitting on its planks. He filled a bucket, handed it up to her and she passed it along to the person standing above her and she threw the empty buckets down to him. Even when the pumper arrived, the brigade continued their work, splashing water on the schooner, the buildings that had caught fire and even parts of the wharf itself. By the time the pumper's apparatus had been set up, the Lass of the Bay was on the move to cheers from the crowd. As she maneuvered toward the stern of the Miss Maine, Daniel handed Carolyn down to the water's edge.
"I've got to get on Figg's ship to catch and tie the lines that Samuel will throw so they can tow the hulk away. You have to keep filling the buckets. Can you lift them up?" With her reassurance, he dematerialized. Tom Callan had been standing next to Carolyn and assumed her position when she called him.
"Who was that man that was filling the buckets?" he asked.
"I don't know," replied Carolyn, innocently. "Perhaps one of the summer folk?"
Standing at the stern of fire ship, Captain Gregg caught the line thrown to him by Sam Tudor, one of the younger of the seamen. He quickly tied it off around the aft-most mast and then Sam threw him another heavy rope. Daniel reappeared with it underwater and tied it to an iron eyelet at the aft-most piece of the iron boat-bottom. Biggs was at the wheel of his vessel, sweat pouring off his forehead as he intuitively arranged sails and rudder to move the larger ship. As those on the dock grabbed paddles, timbers, and anything else that came to hand to push the Miss Maine away, the ropes grew taught, but held, and the burning hulk was slowly moved out beyond the mouth of the harbor, where she was allowed to burn to the water line and then to sink. This was a slow process, and it wasn't until well into the next morning that Biggs felt that he had maneuvered the remains of the Miss Maine into a position that would not be a hazard to navigation.
The towns folk had spent much of the night fighting the dock fire and when the sun came up the next day, two-thirds of the large dock were destroyed, as was most of Tom Callan's blacksmith shop. The Harbor Master's shed was severely damaged and had to be pulled down. The chandler's shop was a total loss and there was ash and soot all over town, but no other buildings had any significant damage, and no one had been killed or seriously injured. Everyone said it was a fortunate thing that the hills around the town didn't allow for the building of a rope-walk nearby; if there had been one, and it had caught fire, it would likely have taken the whole town with it. Still, lucky as Schooner Bay had been, there was a lot of rebuilding to do. Before the next day was done, Thaddeus Grover's bank was discussing loans with the Callan cousins, and the owners of the chandler's shop and the Town Council had convened an emergency session to discuss the replacement of the destroyed parts of the waterfront.
The one group that had felt, if not exactly happy, but at least exhilarated, were the old seamen. Having to spend the night on Capt. Biggs' schooner was a happy adventure, once the fire was out. At dawn, they tied up again on the small dock and carefully made everything ship shape and Bristol Fashion before saluting Biggs and climbing aboard their two wagons to return to their home.