ON SABLE ISLAND. 31 



in want of provisions, and had nothing to communicate, she made sail."' At other times, 

 after hauling part of the supplies or taking on board some of the goods for shipment, and 

 after laving off and on for two or three days, she would leave on her return. Thus, under 

 date 27th Octolier, 1849, he writes : 



"At 11 a.m. the 'Daring' came to anchor abreast of the flagstaff, and we boardeil her 

 and began to land our supplies. We continued landing until 6 p.m., when from the violence 

 ot the sea we had to (piit, having got one boat tilled with surf, and a barrel of sugar 

 destroyed and several other things much injured, and our large boat set a-leaking. 



"N.B. — The supplies landed this day were in very bad condition. We hauled our boat 

 up, and the ' Daring ' weighed anchor and stood oft" for the night. But the next da^' she 

 sailed for Halifax." 



There are indeed times when, as has been said, a lad might land on a tint, but even in 

 flne weather and with the wind oft' shore the vessel must lie to the wind, with her anchor 

 apeak, and her nuiinsail set, ready to run at a moment's notice. Even then the landing 

 requires the utmost skill of the seamen, particularly the steersman, and has suflicient spice 

 of danger to render the scene exciting. Men and horses dot the beach ready to help, and 

 eagerly watching the approaching boat. All hold their breath, as the crew bend to their 

 oars, the helmsman standing high on the pointed stern and keeping her true. Riding on 

 the back of a huge Avave, she is carried up on the beach in a mass of struggling water. To 

 spring from their seats into the water and hold hard the boat, now on the point of being 

 swept back liy the receding wave, is the work of an instant. Another moment and they 

 are left, high and dry on the beach, another and the returning wave and a vigorous run of 

 the crew has borne her high and dry. 



On one occasion his family were in serious danger. His wife, with twin infants, had 

 returned from iN'ova Scotia. Anxious to land, they got into the boat while there was 

 considerable sea. As they approached the shore the boat nearly filled with water, and if it 

 had not been for the admirable skill and power of the steersman, together with the efforts of 

 the men on the shore, they would all have been lost. 



The difficulty and at times the danger of landing may be seen by another incident. 

 Among the records in Halifax is an affidavit of James Millar that, being in the employment 

 of the custom-house, he was engaged to go to the island to take charge of some wrecked 

 goods, that he obtained leave of absence for fourteen days, that he sailed on the 22nd 

 I^ovember in the schooner "Elizabeth," that they made the island, when three of the men 

 attempting to land were lost, leaving on board only the petitioner and one other man, that 

 the latter, being a seafaring man, asserted that it was impossible for the vessel either to get 

 safely to the island or to reach Halifax, that in consequence he steered for the West Indies, 

 and arrived at Antigua after many dangers and privations. There he was forced to remain 

 till he could get a passage to Halifax. 



The most exciting event to the whole of this little community is the occurrence of a 

 wreck or a vessel going ashore. Sometimes there would be a twelvemonth without such an 

 occurrence, and on another occasion two vessels came ashore the same night. When such 

 an event is reported there is a hurrying of all the men on duty to the spot. Horses are 

 saddled and mounted, or harnessed to the car on which the boat is to be drawn. Speedily 

 they are away to the scene at a rate which would indicate a suspension of the rules of the 

 society for the suppression of cruelty to animals. If the vessel has gone ashore in moderate 



