HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 21 



company by the cry of " man overboard." In a moment we 

 were on deck, and a boat lowered. The vessel was already 

 hove to, if such it could be called, when without a breath of 

 wind, and regardless of her helm, she lay tossing and turning 

 like a log on the water in a heavy cross-sea and " tide-rip." 

 The skipper, who had hastily taken the bearings the 

 moment he missed the man, pointed out the direction in 

 which to search, but though the boat cruised about for a 

 couple of hours, in the dim uncertain light of the early 

 morning, and every ear was intent to catch some responsive 

 cry to the repeated shouts from the boat to guide and cheer 

 the unfortunate swimmer, if yet above the waves, nothing 

 more was ever seen or heard of our poor little messmate 

 " Dandy Jim." 



It appeared subsequently from the skipper's account that 

 after running steadily until nearly three o'clock, the wind 

 suddenly died completely away, leaving the schooner 

 pitching and tossing in an ugly "tide-rip." After waiting 

 a short time to make sure that it was not a momentary lull 

 to be followed by an increased blow, a very frequent occur- 

 rence on these coasts, he summoned the watch to shake 

 out the reefs, and it was while doing this, though specially 

 cautioned to be careful, that poor little Jim must have been 

 pitched by a sudden jerk into the sea. The entry in the log 

 is as follows : " Dandy Jim, while casting off reef earing at 

 end of main boom, jerked overboard. Tide-rip, heavy sea, 

 no wind. Boat lowered, no swimmer, heavily clad, lost." 

 Apart from every other consideration, the loss of one of our 

 best hands was a serious matter. Only the boatswain 

 and himself had, of all our crew, ever served aboard a 

 European vessel, and consequently knew something of their 

 duties. It would be impossible now to replace him, and our 

 crew before this had only just been sufficient. Poor fellow ! 

 his sufferings must soon have been over in a such a heavy 

 sea. There were many sharks about; indeed, we had seen a 

 considerable number on the preceding day. But in spite of 

 the many stories told of the cruel ferocity of these monsters, 



