The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson: The Dream Of X & Other Fantastic Visions (74 page)

The Japanese, during that Saturday night, seemed to take no notice at all of the terrible suffering on shore.

The most pressing need of those on shore was the lack of fresh water. The earthquake had broken all the mains leading into the city, and in that terrible heat the people were dying of thirst.

When we stopped taking off the Japanese, we started a station on shore for distributing water, and had two life boats carrying off large quantities of water, which a party of us on shore served out in bowls.

Towards 4:00 p.m. The people were coming down in only small numbers, and hearing that a number of Europeans were sheltering in the Park, which lies in the centre of the city, I decided to go up there and try to find them.

The first great flood of the fire had passed over this part of the city, and it was impossible to make one’s way through. On shore the sight was appalling. There was not one building standing. Everywhere was a mass of burning ruins. Although the glare of the fire made it as bright as day, I had difficulty in finding my way, for little over half a mile of streets I knew very well. In places they were so covered in ruins as to be quite unrecognizable as roads. Deep crevices had broken the surface of the earth in all directions. In some places the roads had sunk and were three feet under water, which made dangerous going, as the holes were not visible. Tangles of twisted wire from telephones and tramways lay everywhere. Here and there were twisted pieces of metal which were once street cars. There was no sign at all of the rails. Wherever one looked, there was to be seen the inevitable of such a disaster—the burnt and charred remains of what were once human beings.

I found the Park—or what was once the Park. It now resembled a lake, with islands of mud. On these mud islands were huddled together thousands of poor people who had lost everything, with no food to eat. Some had small bundles representing their worldly possessions. Amongst them were a few horses and cows. There was no distinction now between human beings and animals; all were in the same plight. It was very quiet. I was not there very long; it was getting rather too much for one’s nerves. I know I felt that any kind of noise would be more bearable than that awful stillness, after what had gone before. The only sounds one heard were a few wanderers floundering through the mud, crying out names of people they hoped to find.

We got one or two more injured people and, at 4:30 a.m., we were all returned to the ship.

SEPTEMBER 2nd.

On trying out our engines, we found that our port engine would not turn. The ship astern of us, at some time, must have tautened up her cable, which was now foul of our propeller. That hero then slipped his cable, leaving us with 75 feet of cable, and his lower anchor round our port propeller. Our pilot boarded her, passed us a wire, and towed us astern, clear of the wharf, where we anchored.

We had so far come through with no harm to the ship, except for our now disabled port engine and the damage on our poop, only to be faced by a far greater danger. During the night, some of the large oil storage tanks had taken fire and burst. Now from one end of the harbour came a huge pool of blazing oil. We were anchored where the set of the tide would bring this oil right down on us. Everyone saw it coming, but there was no panic.

There was no chance of getting towed out of the harbour as we had only one engine and all that cable and anchor dragging from the other propeller. Captain Robinson then took his one chance and got under weigh with his one engine.

It was a triumph of fine seamanship, how he manoeuvered the ship clear of the oil, turned her in the harbour, and headed her up for the breakwater entrance. The whole evolution took about an hour. There was no accident or mishap of any kind. Then, clear of the breakwater, we anchored. During the afternoon a pool of oil had drifted to the north end of the breakwater within the harbour, and was burning furiously. Watching this, we perceived that the fire had jumped the breakwater and set fire to some wharves along the north shore, and was now rapidly spreading towards a Japanese oil station where there were three 10,000-ton storage tanks close to the waterfront. If these tanks caught, we should probably find ourselves in a dangerous position.

7:00 p.m. The Dutch oil tanker Iris, took us in tow, and towed us right out, clear of everything, where we at last anchored in safety. I should say here that when the Dutchman saw our lame duck manoeuvering in the harbour, he shewed good sportsmanship by offering, over the wireless, to come into the harbour and tow us out.

That night the oil tanks caught fire. The sky in the north still shewed red with the glare from the fire at Tokio.

By this time there were nearly three thousand people on board, two thousand of whom were refugees from the shore. Launches were coming off all through the day and night, bringing off others. There were a great number of injured, many of them serious cases.

SEPTEMBER 3rd.

Several Japanese destroyers arrived with relief stores. The military arrived from Tokio and established camps in the reclaimed land.

Japanese battleships arrived in the morning and sent off a quantity of medical supplies. They later sent a diving party who did very well to clear the cable off our propellers and reported that the propellers appeared to have sustained only slight damage.

The Empress of Canada also arrived this morning outward bound. We were busy all day transferring refugees to her in the ship’s lifeboats. She took several hundred people and as many injured cases as were safe to be moved.

SEPTEMBER 4th.

In the morning we made an expedition ashore in two parties to look for survivors around the European settlement. We landed on the reclaimed land and proceeded towards the Bluff. The Bluff was one of the prettiest parts of Yokohama where about 1,000 Europeans had their homes—beautiful places, some of them.

In daylight we were able to see what a state of absolute destruction the whole city was in. The Grand Hotel was a heap of ruins which had fallen right across the Bund. There were only about three burnt out frame works of buildings standing. Every other building in the city was flattened to the ground and burnt in the great fire. The canals which subdivide the city were full up with dead bodies. How many lay under the ruins, we shall probably never know. The whole disaster was so sudden that it does not seem possible that very many had a chance to escape. Everywhere we went was nothing but destruction and death.

For the last two days the military had taken charge of things, but very little seemed to have been done. Close around their headquarters, dead bodies still lay around, and even on their landing steps they had made no attempt to move them. If something was not done soon, disease would be sure to be breaking out. Difficulties facing them were having no means of transport. All trucks and wagons were burnt, the roads leading in from the country were impassable, and all the bridges were down. As all the towns and villages for miles round had also suffered, the nearest relief town was Kobe, which is 360 miles by sea.

During the morning whilst on shore, we felt another very pronounced shock.

The Empress of Australia was the headquarters for Europeans in Yokohama. The British Consul (Mr. Boulter) and the American Vice-Consul were on board. Refugees were brought off to the ship and kept on board until we were able to transfer them to other vessels leaving for Kobe or America.

Four American destroyers also arrived during the day and sent over large quantities of medical stores.

At noon on the same day, the H.M.S. Dispatch arrived from Shanghai. She at once sent over doctors, sick-bay attendants, and four signalmen.

The British and American ships were all assisting in transferring refugees from ship to ship.

Dense clouds of smoke were still rising up from Yokosuka, where the huge naval oil reserve tanks and coal supply were stored.

We have since heard that the explosions which took place during that Saturday afternoon, were the ammunition dumps blowing up.

By now considerable numbers of refugees were arriving from Tokio.

SEPTEMBER 5th—5:00 p.m.

Went for a trial run in the Gulf. Both engines were working satisfactorily, although there was much vibration. Returning, we anchored close to the Dispatch. She sent over a diving party to survey our propellers and found three turns of wire round boss of starboard propeller, which they were able to clear.

SEPTEMBER 6th—Thursday.

Today transferred 450 passengers, mostly Chinese, to West O’rore, We had by now only about 400 left on board.

The consul releases the Australia tomorrow.

SEPTEMBER 7th—Friday.

We had a busy day exchanging refugees, passengers and baggage, with Andre Lebon. We took all who wished to get to Kobe. The British consul left in the last boat in the evening, transferring his quarters to the French ship.

A number of business people were remaining behind in hopes of salvaging safes and business records left undestroyed.

11:00 p.m. Sailed for Kobe with a very crowded ship.

SEPTEMBER 9th—7:00 a.m.

Arrived Kobe. The ship was met by parties from the American and Japanese hospitals and parties from various relief societies of different nationalities.

SEPTEMBER 11th—Noon.

Sailed for Yokohama to fill up with oil from oil tank steamers. In the vicinity of the Gulf of Tokio, there was only one lighthouse in service. All the others were wrecked. The two big forts built out in the middle of the bay were completely wrecked. Gun turrets were twisted on their sides, and the other parts had caved in or sunk altogether out of sight.

SEPTEMBER 12th—7:48 p.m.

Ship once more back to normal, and we sailed for Vancouver.

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A Note on the Texts

W
henever possible, texts for this series have been based on versions that were published in book form, preferably during Hodgson’s lifetime. The major exceptions to this rule are the stories that appear in volumes edited by Sam Moskowitz. Moskowitz was known to have access to original manuscripts and other source materials. Some stories were published only in serial form, and have been taken from those primary sources.

Over the years, many of Hodgson’s stories have appeared under variant titles, which are noted below. As a rule, the titles used in this series are based on the first book publication of a story, even if it previously appeared under a different title, in serial form.

Specific textual sources are noted below. The only changes that have been made to the texts have been to correct obvious typographical errors, and to standardize punctuation. British and archaic spellings have been retained.

“The Valley of Lost Children” is based on its appearance in
The Haunted “Pampero”
(Donald M. Grant, 1992). It originally appeared in
Cornhill
, Feb. 1906.

“Date 1965: Modern Warfare” is based on its appearance in
The Haunted “Pampero”
(Donald M. Grant, 1992). It originally appeared in
New Age
, 24 Dec. 1908.

“My House Shall Be Called the House of Prayer” originally appeared in
Cornhill
, May 1911. Text provided by Douglas A. Anderson.

“Judge Barclay’s Wife” is based on its appearance in
Adventure
, Oct. 1912. It originally appeared in
London Magazine
, July 1912.

“The Getting Even of Tommy Dodd” is based on its appearance as “The Apprentices’ Mutiny” in
Sea Stories
, Oct. 20, 1923. It originally appeared in
The Red Magazine
, Aug. 15, 1912.

“Sea Horses” is based on its appearance in
Men of the Deep Waters
(Eveleigh Nash, 1914). It originally appeared in
London Magazine,
March 1913.

“How the Honourable Billy Darrell Raised the Wind” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine,
Mar. 15, 1913.

“The Getting Even of ‘Parson’ Guyles” is based on its appearance in
Luck of the Strong
(Eveleigh Nash, 1916). It originally appeared in
The Red Magazine
, Nov. 1914.

“The Friendship of Monsieur Jeynois” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine
, Aug. 1, 1915.

“The Inn of the Black Crow” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine
, Oct. 1, 1915.

“What Happened in the Thunderbolt” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine,
Jan. 15, 1916.

“How Sir Jerrold Treyn Dealt with the Dutch in Caunston Cove” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine,
May 1, 1916.

“Jem Binney and the Safe at Lockwood Hall” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine,
Oct. 16, 1916.

“Diamond Cut Diamond with a Vengeance” originally appeared in
The Red Magazine,
Jan. 1, 1918.

“Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani” (aka “Baumoff’s Explosive”) is based on its appearance in
Out of the Storm
(Donald M. Grant, 1975). It originally appeared in
Nash’s Illustrated Weekly
, Sep. 20, 1919.

“The Room of Fear” is based on its appearance in
Terrors of the Sea
(Donald M. Grant, 1996).

“The Promise” is based on its appearance in
Terrors of the Sea
(Donald M. Grant, 1996).

“Captain Dang” is based on its appearance in
Terrors of the Sea
(Donald M. Grant, 1996).