220 



THE SEA. 



They, making their way through the Cud channel, had passed between the black and 

 white buoys, so well-known to liamsgate visitors, when a fearful sea came heading towards 

 them. It met and broke over the steamer, buried her in foam and then passed on. The life- 

 boat rose to it, and for a moment hung with her bows high in air, then plunged bodily almost 

 under water. The men were nearly washed out of her, for at that moment the tow rope 

 broke, and the boat fell across the sea, which swept in rapid succession over her. " Oars out ! 

 oars out ! " was the cry, but they could do nothing with them. The steamer was, however, 

 cleverly brought within a few yards to windward of the boat, and a hauling line, to which was 

 attached a new hawser, was successfully passed to the boat, and they again proceeded in the 



RAMSGATE THE " AID GOING OUT. 



teeth of the blinding snow and sleet and spray which swept over the boat, till the men looked, 

 as one said at the time, " like a body of ice." 



Still they struggled on, till they reached the North Foreland, where the sea was running 

 mountains high, and although early in the afternoon, the air was so darkened by the storm 

 that the captain of the boat could not see the steamer only a hundred yards ahead, and 

 still less able were the men on board the steamer to see the life-boat. Now they sighted 

 Margate, and could plainly see the two disabled life-boats ashore. But where was the 

 wreck ? A providential break in the drift of snow suddenly gave them a glimpse of it, and 

 the master of the steamer made out the flag of distress flying in the rigging of the fated vessel. 

 But she was on the other side of the sand, and to tow the boat round would take a long time in 

 the face of such a gale ; while for the boat to make across the sand seemed almost impossible. 

 But although it seemed a forlorn hope, it was resolved to force her through the surf and sea 

 under sail, and the hawser was cast off. Now a new complication arose. The tide was found 

 to be running so furiously that they must be towed at least three miles to the eastward 



