566 THE DELIGHTS OF THE " DEEP." 



voices on the deck. "' A sail a-head a sail a-head : port your helnr 

 port. She nears ! Steady there ! she'll shoot a-head." I rushed 

 up the companion hatchway, and could just discover another vessel 

 right athwart our course. She appeared in the misty darkness of the 

 night as an indistinct mass upon the water. The helmsman had 

 ported his helm to give her time to shoot across us. The gale was 

 driving us rapidly " Shout! shout, men!" cried the captain ; " the 



crew are asleep, and She does not move down with your helm ! 



By G d ! we are foul 2" The next moment there was a crash of 

 horror. Our vessel staggered with the shock, and reeled like a 

 drunken man. Our velocity through the water was suddenly checked 1 ; 

 a wave broke over us, and before I could regain my breath, our ship 

 was walking her dreary course alone ! 



The pilot-boat had sunk ! The crew, perhaps worn out with toil; 

 were asleep, and had lashed the helm, leaving the boat to drift till 

 dawn. Our vessel pressed onwards its keel passed over the expiring 

 crew .' Our men stood horror-struck there was an awful silence 

 not a cry, not a shriek from the sufferers arose from the dark waves 

 that foamed astern ! The billows rolled in white surges over their 

 grave, and the wild winds howled their requiem ! 



The morning broke at last upon the world, and the sun arose dull 

 and heavy. It was in unison with our own hearts. A sad scene had 

 passed since his last rays beamed upon our topsails. 



We buffetted our course, and at night-fall the Start Point was on 

 the starboard bow. A pilot-boat of Cawsand Bay advised us to make 

 for Plymouth, as the night was threatening, and we were on a lee- 

 shore. The little bark then filled her foresail, and danced buoyantly 

 on the waves, as if flying with joy to the shelter of her moorings. 

 A West India man of four hundred tons, compared with a trim pilot- 

 boat, is like the floundering of a huge whale to the swift and elegant 

 dolphin ; so that the captain and passengers of the good ship Mary 

 soon lost sight of their little guide, and night again came upon us, 

 and all was looking black and dreary as before. The promontory 

 stood forth on the horizon, dark and undefined, like a bravo wrapped 

 in his gloomy mantle. The world was shrouding itself from us, and 

 our little community, in compliment to the weather, looked very blue, 

 heartily wishing themselves any where but near land with a strong 

 southerly wind. The vessel added to their discomfort by her cur- 

 vettings and jumpings, as awkward as an elephant's jig on a hot 

 floor. 



The pilot's prophecy was coming true, and the sailors anticipated 

 what they emphatically termed a dirty night. The captain resolved 

 to make for Plymouth, but the pilot had sailed too far into the sur- 

 rounding gloom. The elements now broke loose and began their 

 frolic, vclut agmine facto. The eye of day appeared hitherto to 

 have restrained their madness, and the winds and storms commenced, 

 like wild schoolboys breaking forth in a boisterous clamour w r hen 

 their old pedagogue has turned his back. " Crack on her to over- 

 haul the pilot shake a reef out if she'll bear it ; and now, gentle- 

 men, continued the captain, " I will show you Plymouth." 



Hopes arr vain, and winds arc like courtier's promises fickle, ami 



