292 



THE SEA. 



wind freshened to a gale from the south-west, and at 9 a.m. the captain ordered the engines 

 to be stopped, and to make sail. At 5 p.m. the weather improved, and all sails were taken 

 in, and steaming resumed. Early on Tuesday the wind increased to a hard gale, with a very 

 heavy sea, the ship going under steam only, and at the reduced rate of two knots an hour. 

 At this time she pitched with terrible violence, taking whole seas over her bows. At 7 a.m. 

 an unusually heavy sea broke into the life-boat stowed on the port -quarter, filled her 

 completely, and carried Ler overboard with all her gear. At 9 a.m. the ship gave a 



THE " LONDON " GOING DOWN. 



tremendous pitch, so as to bury herself forward, when the sea carried away the jib and 

 flying jibbooms, and they took with them the fore-top mast and fore-top gallant, the fore- 

 royal and main-royal masts, with all their spars, sails, and rigging. The masts fell in-board, 

 and hung suspended by the rigging, but the jibbooms remained under the bows, fastened 

 to the ship by their stays, which were of wire. Every effort to get them clear failed till 

 next morning, it having blown a furious gale all night from the south-west, with a sea 

 that kept constantly washing all forward. On the morning of Wednesday, the 10th, the 

 gale continued without the least abatement, and at 3 a.m. the captain gave orders to 

 Mr. Greenhill, the engineer in charge, to get up full steam, as he intended to put back to 

 Plymouth, in order to refit. The ship's course was accordingly shaped for home, the fore 



