228 THE SEA. 



always felt I had a call to save life when I could, and I wasn't going to hang Lack 

 then. And I stood it better than some of them, after all. I did my work on board 

 the brig, and when she was so near falling over us, and when the Dreadnought life-boat 

 seemed knocking our bottom out, I got on as well as any of them; but when we got 

 to beating and grubbing over the sands, swinging round and round, and grounding every 

 few yards with a jerk that bruised us sadly, and almost tore our arms out from the 

 sockets ; no sooner washed off one ridge, and beginning to hope that the boat was clear, 

 than she thumped upon another harder than ever, and all the time the wash of the 

 surf nearly carrying us out of the boat it was truly almost too much for any man 

 to stand. There was a young fellow holding on next to me; I saw his head begin to 

 drop, and that he was getting faint, and going to give over ; and when the boat filled with 

 water, and the waves went over his head, he scarcely cared to struggle free. I tried to 

 cheer him a bit, and keep his spirits up. He just clung to the thwart like a drowning 

 man. Poor fellow ! he never did a day's work after that night, and died in a few 

 months/ And then the old man described how he took his life-belt off, that he might 

 have it over all the quicker ; how the captain cheered them up by crying out, ' We'll 

 see Ramsgate yet again, my men, if we steer clear of old wrecks;' and how he was going 

 off into a kind of stupor when the clouds broke a little, and one bright star shone out, a 

 star of life and hope to him. For seven whole days after the poor old man reached shore 

 he lost his speech, and lay like a log on his bed, while all the men were considerably 

 shaken. 'I cannot describe it/ said he, f and you cannot, neither can any one else; 

 but when you say you've beat and thumped over those sands, almost yard by yard, in a 

 fearful storm on a winter's night, and live to tell the tale, why it seems to me about the 

 next thing to saying that you've been dead, and brought to life again.' ' 



But suddenly the swinging and beating of the boat ceased : she was in a heavy sea, but 

 in deep water, and she answered her helm. The crew soon got more sail on her, and she made 

 good way before the gale. Even the Portuguese sailors lifted their heads. They had been 

 clinging together and to the boat, crouching down under the lee of the foresail, utterly 

 despairing of life ; now their joy knew no bounds. They were noticed earnestly con- 

 sulting together. They had lost their kits, and only possessed the clothes they stood 

 in and a few pounds in money (about 17) between them, but the latter they determined 

 to present to the crew. "I, for one, won't touch any of it," said the coxswain of the 

 boat. " Nor I ! " " Nor I ! " all added ; " put your money up." And so to the harbour, 

 where their consul took care of them. When the steamer arrived later on, what was 

 not the surprise and delight of the captain and all hands to find the life-boat at her old 

 moorings, and their comrades in so many dangers all safe in port ! 



For by far the larger proportion if not indeed nearly the whole of these life-savers 

 work con amore, and a mishap or positive disaster is often to them an agonising disappointment. 

 One stormy New Year's Eve some rears ago " a ship was seen off Deal beach in almost a blaze 

 of light, burning tar-barrels and firing rockets, to tell of her distress; an intervening fog 

 seemed to prevent the look-out on board the light-vessel seeing her, and some boatmen on Deal 

 beach, who could not possibly get their boats off the sands in the face of the strong gale 

 blowing straight on shore, put their halfpence together to pay for a telegraph message the 



