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In January came a violent gale from east and by north that strewed the coasts with wreckage. Down by Berwick and Eyemouth, by St. Abb's, and along all that rugged shore, the cruel sea sported daily with bodies of drowned sailors, flinging them from wave to wave, tossing them headlong on to a stony beach, only with greedy far-stretched grasp to snatch them back again to its hungry maw.
Accordingly, she built a double monastery, apparently in imitation of Whitby, at Coldingham on the promontory still called S. Abb's Head. She does not seem, however, to have maintained, like Hild, the discipline and fervour of which she herself gave an example; for Bede notes here a rare example of those disorders of which there were certainly far fewer in England at this time than anywhere else.
The signal was immediately repeated through all the valleys on the English Border. If the beacon at Saint Abb's Head had been fired, the alarm would have run northward, and roused all Scotland.
No incident worthy of notice occurred until they reached St Abb's Head, when they were overtaken with a strong adverse gale of wind and heavy snow storm, which unfortunately drove them from their course, and prevented sight of land for a considerable time.
We timed our progress so as to pitch our last camp within a mile of the settlement in Abb's Valley on the Bluestone, intending to reconnoiter it for signs of the Dales before showing ourselves. The valley was about ten miles long and very narrow and possessing unusually fertile soil. It was named after Absalom Looney, a hunter, who claimed to have discovered it.
After counting his losses in the mountains about the Grisdol clearing, the warriors killed in Abb's Valley, and now his losses here at Howard's Creek, the score was distinctly against him. No matter how mighty and famous a chief may be, he will surely and quickly lose his following if disaster dogs his war-paths. So I could understand Black Hoof's mental attitude.
On each of the corbels is a boldly carved scene from the career of S. Etheldreda; they commence at the north-west arch. Her taking the veil at Coldingham. NORTH-EAST ARCH. Her staff taking root. Her preservation in the flood at S. Abb's Head. SOUTH-WEST ARCH. One of her miracles. Her translation.
And women cryin' and sobbin' i' t' streets when, Lord help us! o' Saturday came a worse time than iver! for all Friday there had been a kind o' expectation an' dismay about t' Good Fortune, as t' mariners had said was off St Abb's Head o' Thursday, when t' Resolution came in; and there was wives and maids wi' husbands an' sweethearts aboard t' Good Fortune ready to throw their eyes out on their heads wi' gazin', gazin' nor'ards over t'sea, as were all one haze o' blankness wi' t' rain; and when t' afternoon tide comed in, an' niver a line on her to be seen, folk were oncertain as t' whether she were holding off for fear o' t' tender as were out o' sight, too or what were her mak' o' goin' on.
The sea is here wearing away the coast; and the bank, about 200 feet high, is gradually falling down, making in some places a steep declivity, in others a perpendicular cliff. St Abb's Head and Fast Castle are head lands projecting into the sea, and are the bulwarks of this shore, which is embayed to the westward, where the sea preys upon the horizontal strata.
Over our heads screamed hundreds of hovering birds, the gull mingling its hideous laughter most wildly." One wild and stormy night in September 1838 such a night as induces those on land to draw closer round the fire, and offer up, perchance, a silent prayer for those who are at sea a steamer was battling, at disadvantage with the billows, off Saint Abb's Head.
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