60 THE SEA. 



with the water. " At about 9 o'clock a.m., or rather before," stated one of the survivors.* 

 "we had just finished our breakfast, and the last lighter, with rum on board, had come 

 alongside; this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons, and belonged to three brothers, who 

 used her to carry things on board the men-of-war. She was lashed to the larboard side 

 of the Royal George, and we were piped to clear the lighter and get the rum out of her, 

 and stow it in the hold. ... At first, no danger was apprehended from the ship 

 being on one side, although the water kept dashing in at the portholes at every wave ; and 

 there being mice in the lower part of the ship, which were disturbed by the water which 

 dashed in, they were hunted in the water by the men, and there had been a rare game going 

 on." Their play was soon to be rudely stopped. The carpenter, perceiving that the ship 

 was in great danger, went twice on the deck to ask the lieutenant of the watch to order 

 the ship to be righted; the first time the latter barely answered him, and the second 

 replied, savagely, " If you can manage the ship better than I can, you had better take 

 the command." In a very short time, he began himself to see the danger, and ordered 

 the drummer to beat to right ship. It was too late the ship was beginning to sink; a 

 sudden breeze springing upheeled her still more ; the guns, shot, and heavy articles generally, 

 and a large part of the men on board, fell irresistibly to the lower side; and the water, 

 forcing itself in at every port, weighed the vessel down still more. She fell on her broad- 

 side, with her masts nearly flat on the water, and sank to the bottom immediately. " The 

 officers, in their confusion, made no signal of distress, nor, indeed, could any assistance 

 have availed if they had, after her lower-deck ports were in the water, which forced itself 

 in at every port with fearful velocity." In going down, the main-yard of the Royal 

 George caught the boom of the rum-lighter and sank her, drowning some of those on 

 board. 



At this terrible moment there were nearly 1,200 persons t on board. Deducting the 

 larger proportion of the watch on deck, about 230, who were mostly saved by running up 

 the rigging, and afterwards taken off by the boats sent for their rescue, and, perhaps, 

 seventy others who managed to scramble out of the ports, &c., the whole of the remainder 

 perished. Admiral Kempenfelt, whose flag-ship it was, and who was then writing in his 

 cabin, and had just before been shaved by the barber, went down with her. The first- 

 captain tried to acquaint him that the ship was sinking, but the heeling over of the ship had 

 so jammed the doors of the cabin that they could not be opened. One young man was 

 saved, as the vessel filled, by the force of the water rushing upwards, and sweeping him 

 bodily before it through a hatchway. In a few seconds, he found himself floating on 

 the surface of the sea, where he was, later, picked up by a boat. A little child was almost 

 miraculously preserved by a sheep, which swam some time, and with which he had doubt- 

 less been playing on deck. He held by the fleece till rescued by a gentleman in a 

 wherry. His father and mother were both drowned, and the poor little fellow did not 



* A " Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George" published at Portsea, and written by a gentleman who was 

 on the island at the time. 



t The exact number was never known. There were 250 women on board, a large proportion of whom were 

 the wives and relatives of the sailors; and there were also a number of children, most of whom belonged to 

 Portsmouth. Besides these, there were a number of Jew and other traders on board. 



