It was probably the next night, our second mate and carpenter went ashore. They returned about midnight. I was awake, and heard they were drunk and quarrelsome. When they got into the cabin, they began to fight, and the situation became unendurable. The second mate yelled out in pain, saying the carpenter had bitten his finger off. He became raving; struck his fists against walls and other objects, so the blood spurted from his injured hand. He was delirious.
Then the captain comes, and asks what it is all about. 'He bit my finger off, he bit my finger off', the mate howled. 'That is your own fault', the captain said, 'What are you fighting for; behave yourself, and go to bed.' The mate then began to cry and howl most furiously, uttering repeatedly, 'He bit my finger off.' The captain ordered him to keep still and go to bed. The mate kept up his complaint, and wept tears. Finally he said: 'I'll kill myself.' 'Shut up', the captain said, 'and get into bed.' The mate had taken off his coat and vest. Then he ran out on deck. When the captain noticed that, he also ran out, to see what would happen. As soon as he was out of the cabin he called to me: 'Mate, come quick. He jumped overboard.' I ran out in my night-clothes, bare feet and legs. 'Jump into our light boat,' the captain told me, 'and get him.' It was quite dark, but no wind, and we could hear second mate swimming away from the ship, while he uttered some wild indian yells. Our boat lay at our aft. I ran and got hold of its tow-line, and slid down to it. The captain unfastened the line and threw it down. There was only one oar in the boat, so I had to wriggle it in the stern rowlock. This kind of rowing can set the boat in good speed, but it is hard work. I could not see the man, but went in the direction of the crazy war whoops. He had managed to swim some distance when I came up with him, and he kept swimming as fast as he could, emitting his fearful yells at short intervals. It seemed to me he could be heard all over the harbor.
When I came near and tried to get hold of him he dived and came up on the other side of the boat. When I tried to grab him there he went under again, and came up on the other side. Then he set out to swim away from me, and said: 'Here you will see a fellow who can swim.' And I was really astonished, because he had most of his clothes on, and his shoes, and yet he swam very rapidly.
But I had to get hold of him, no matter how. When I came up to him again I grabbed him so quick he had no time to dive. Trying this, to pull him into the boat, he began to strike at me with both hands. He could not reach my face, because his arms were not as long as mine. But, what would happen if this crazy man got into the boat? I took the oar, and began to wriggle with one hand, while I had a hold of his shoulder with the other. He tried to get away, but I managed to hold him until he got his feet against the side of the boat. Then he gave a violent kick and tore himself loose. And off he started, swimming, and roaring. 'Here you will see a man who can swim.' In his delirium he spoke English, and seemed to have forgotten to speak Norwegian.
This struggle with him made me angry at last; and I thought: 'You may swim, dive, strike and kick as long as you like, but now I shall take you onboard ship regardless of your resistance, even though it may hurt you.' I got up to him again, grabbed him by the shoulder near the neck, and turned the boat toward the ship. I watched closely to prevent him from putting his knees of feet against the boat, and thus kicking himself loose. Then I held him under water a few seconds.
It was some time before I reached our ship, but he continued his efforts to get away from me, so I had to dunk him several times.
There was a lighter at the side of our ship, and the captain and carpenter had come down on it, to help save the crazy man. We got him up on the lighter, while he raved like a maniac, striking and kicking at us continually, and he seemed to be very strong. The three of us had all we could do to hold him. It was impossible to try to get him up on deck of the ship without tying his hands and feet. We held him on his back on deck of the lighter, but we had to turn him sufficiently to tie his hands at the back. Then he kicked most frightfully until we had his fee tied. Trying to do that, the carpenter and I held his upper body and the captain was at his feet. Then he pulled his knees up and kicked the captain in the face so the blood spurted from his nose. That angered the captain so he said he would tie his feet no matter how he kicked. And that was done. Then the captain was to hold him so he could not roll himself overbaord, until the carpenter and I went aboard ship to let down a line and hoist the crazy man on board. He was so heavy we could only lift him very slowly. But as soon as we had begun to haul him up he began to sing an 'opsang', such as we often used to sing when weighing anchor. It resounded over the whole harbor in the stillness of the night. He was a good singer and had a powerful voice, and now he used all he had. If this was not tragi-comedy I cannot well name it. At midnight, a man who wants to drown himself, and is perfectly insane, tied up like a wild animal, is being hoisted aboard, he himself singing an 'opsang' in time with our lifting.
I was half naked, wet and tired from the hard struggle I had had with him; but in spite of all, I had to laught. That man could not be drowned, nor could he be tamed. If he could not make disturbance with his legs or arms, he could use his mouth.
When we had him on deck we carried him into the captain's cabin and laid him on the floor. Here was a light, so we could see how we looked. The captain, second mate and I had white shirts on, but now they were torn to rags, and more red than white. Secon dmate and I had been soiled with most of the blood from his bleeding finger. The captain had it from his nose. We appeared worse than butchers, the bloody rags hanging around us, and blood all over our faces and hands. Regardless of all this, I had to laugh. We looked comical, in spite of the horror of it all.
We did not dare to untie the mate for fear he would jump over board again. He lay there and begged to be given a knife; but we did not give him that, for feat he would cut his throat. He was still insane.
The captain and I washed, changed clothes and went to bed, but he kept awake, so as to untie the mate as soon as showed signs of reason having returned. In a couple of hours he was so far recovered that the captain untied him and let him go to bed.
Second mate was very quiet after this eventful night. Hardly did we get a word out of him for two or three weeks. We never mentioned it to him, but it was written deeply in our memory. I have lived through it many times in the years that have passed since then.