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THE SEA. 



his own interest. Charity, you know, Master Trueman, should begin at home." J And he 

 goes on to say that it was no fault of his that the vessel bulged, or that the master 

 or cabin-boy were drowned ; that it is all the chance of war, and that one vessel was the 

 game to him as another, provided it were well laden. He added that he did not pretend to 

 be better than his grandfather, and that wrecking was in fashion in his days and in those 

 of his good old father before him. 



Mr. D. Mackinnen, who made a tour through the West Indies early in the present 

 century, particularly mentions the Bahamas as the home of wreckers. He says that the 

 immense variety of banks, shallows, and unknown passages between the hundreds of islands 



MAJOR WARHt'RTON AT THE M'RECK OF THE " INVERNESS. 



which form the group render the chances of shipwreck frequent. In order to save the 

 crews and property so constantly exposed to danger, the Governor of the Bahamas, about 

 the commencement of this century, licensed a number of daring adventurers to ply up and 

 down and assist ships in peril, and there could not have been collected a more skilful and 

 hardy set of men. But, unfortunately, the governor's good intentions were baulked by 

 the larger part of them becoming wreckers. Mr. Mackinnen asking one of these men 

 what success he had lately had, was told that there had been about forty sail of pilots 

 along the Florida coast for four months. He remarked that they must have rendered great 

 service to the crews wrecked in that dangerous passage. The pilot said, " No ; they generally 

 went on in the night/' "But could not you light up beacons on shore?" "No, no," said 

 the man, laughing, " we always put them out for a better chance by night." " But it would 

 have been more humane " " I did not go there for humanity ; I went racking ! " 



