APRIL. 79 



deck. " 'Tis a boat," said the captain to himself (though heard by 

 every one about him); "'tis a boat ; yet it cannot be," said he, keep- 

 ing the glass to his e)^e. " She has no canvass on her ; what can she 

 be after, rolling about there in this breeze ?" By this time the chief 

 officer had made her out, and the captain going into the waist re- 

 ceived his report from aloft. "She's a wreck, the hull of a ship, 

 sir; fore-mast gone by the board, stump of the main-mast standing, 

 no sail set, nobody to be seen a-board, the sea going clean over her 

 decks, bulwarks all gone ; we're nearing her very fast." " Clear 

 away the first cutter," said the captain ; " get a breaker of water in 

 her, some bread, and a bottle of brandy, and see all clear for lower- 

 ing ; and, Mr. C," addressing the chief officer, who was now again 

 at his side, " choose your boat's crew, and see all clear for bringing 

 the ship to the wind." In a moment volunteers pressed forward, 

 and whilst the rest of the ship's company went to their stations, 

 they saw all ready for going away to the wreck. By the time sail 

 was shortened, we had run nearly alongside her and rounded- to, 

 crossing her bows. Every soul in our ship was clustered upon her 

 side ; and what a fitting quietness there was in every countenance, 

 voice, and action, — for 'twas indeed a melancholy sight ! There she 

 lay, with the waves washing over her bleached decks, and falling in 

 cascades over her sides, as she slowly and heavily pitched and rolled 

 with the action of every following sea. That she had been long in 

 this condition was evident from the barnacles attached to her whole 

 length, which gracefully waved with her motions like a beautiful 

 fringe-work of flowers, their white shells glistening beneath the 

 sparkling waters, bathed in the intense light of a cloudless sun, 

 which shone as in mockery upon that hapless ship. What was her 

 tale ? where her crew ? Nothing could have existed below, for she 

 was a timber-loaden ship and full of water, and her deck was as 

 clear and desolate as a half- tide rock. There she lay all solitary in 

 that wide sea, in the very track of hundreds of homeward-bound 

 ships, an unknown, and by night an unseen peril of the worst descrip- 

 tion. How many a ship reported missing, and fate unknown, has 

 perished with all her crew from striking on such a floating rock ! 

 Well might we congratulate ourselves on making her out in daylight 

 and clear weather, for she lay right in our course. Satisfied that no 

 one was on board, and sure that she had been overhauled, from every 

 piece of rope being gone from her, the helm was put up, the yards 

 squared, sail made, and she was soon left far astern. Yet there were 

 gallant hearts amongst our number that would readily have volun- 

 teered and attempted to carry that lone ship into port, if our com- 

 mander would have furnished the needful supplies to have enabled 

 them to make the attempt. We heard that her ultimate fate was 

 to be stranded on the west coast of Ireland. We found also on our 

 arrival that she had been reported at Lloyd's as boarded two weeks 

 previous to our seeing her, when no one was on board, and nothing 

 belonging to humanity was found but some long hair. 



