Vado per mare

My heart stopped. I fell onto my bed. I could not move. The water was coming in and we were going to sink. I would have died here in the cold, dark sea. But the sailors pulled me up. “You too,” they said, “everyone must pump or we all die!”

So I went to the pumps. I worked harder than ever in my life. We were all doing it. Our hands were bleeding. Our backs were breaking. But we kept pumping. The water kept coming in. We were losing the battle. The ship was dying.

The captain fired the cannons to signal for help. BOOM! BOOM! I had never heard the guns of a ship before. I thought we were breaking apart. I fainted from fear. I fell on the deck. Another sailor kicked me aside and took my place at the pump.

When I woke up, things were worse. The water was winning. We could not pump fast enough. The ship would have sunk. Nothing could save us. But then — a miracle! A small ship near us sent a boat.

Those brave men had risked their lives to reach us. The waves threw their small boat around like a toy. But they kept coming. Our sailors threw them a rope. After many dangers they caught it. They pulled their boat close to our ship. “Jump!” they shouted.

One by one we jumped into their boat. I was so afraid that I could hardly move. The sailors had to throw me in like a sack of potatoes. I landed hard and lay there shaking. The little boat was full of men. Water was coming in over the sides.

Fifteen minutes later I looked back. Our ship was going down under the waves. The sea had swallowed her completely. Now I understood what “to sink” really meant. All our cargo, all our goods, everything was gone to the bottom of the sea. We were lucky to be alive.