294 THE SEA. 



Rev. Mr. Draper/* a Wesleyan minister on board, was incessant in administering religious 

 comfort to his fellow-sufferers ; and we are told by the survivors that the women (all of 

 whom perished in the sequel) sat about him reading their Bibles, with their children grouped 

 around; "and occasionally some man or woman would step up to him and say, 'Pray 

 with me, Mr. Draper' a request that was always complied with/ 7 What a scene must 

 have been presented at that last prayer-meeting in the cabin, the ship labouring and 

 tossing the while; the waves, with their ominous roar, breaking over her and dashing 

 against her ; while by half-extinguished lights little groups of earnest, pale-faced people 

 huddled together, shivering and trembling, before the doomed London took her last leap 

 into the dark waters ! 



After the announcement by the captain that they must prepare for the worst, Mr. 

 Draper is stated to have stood erect, and with a clear, firm voice, the tears streaming 

 from his eyes, said, " The captain tells us there is no hope that we must all perish ; but 

 I tell you there is hope for all ! " The reader will know what the good old man meant. 

 Mrs. Draper is said at the last moment to have handed her rug to one of the seamen 

 who was attempting to get off in a boat, and when asked what she would do without 

 it, she replied, " It will only be for a few moments longer." 



As there were so few survivors to tell the tale, the incidents which must have occurred 

 during this terrible time are necessarily somewhat meagre. One passenger rushed on deck 

 labouring with a heavy carpet-bag, which he expected to save with his life. The captain 

 could hardly forbear, even at that terrible time, a melancholy smile at the absurdity of a 

 man at such a moment taking any thought about his property. When the only boat 

 which got off safely was about to leave the fated ship, a lady entreated to be taken on 

 board, offering a thousand guineas as a reward. But it was impossible millions could not 

 have saved her. A passenger who was saved, just before leaving in the boat, went into 

 the cabin to persuade a friend to join him. " No," said the other ; " I promised my wife 

 and children to stay by them, and I will ! " His friend helped him to remove the children 

 to a drier part of the cabin, and then, with a sad good-bye, ran up to the deck. When last 

 seen, the man was still standing with his wife and little ones. Another passenger said to 

 friend, also one of the few saved, " Jack, I think we are going to go." ' ' I think we are," 

 was the answer. " We can't help it," rejoined the first ; " but there's one thing I regret : '* 

 and he went on to explain how some 500 of his money was in the Bank of Victoria, anc 

 he evidently feared some hitch in its recovery. <c I should have liked my poor father to have 

 it." He was a true son to the last. 



As at the wreck of the Amazon a distinguished author lost his life, so on the Loncloi 

 a great actor, the celebrated G. V. Brooke, perished, but perished nobly. The Times (quoting 

 the Western Morning News of the date) says : 



" Down into the waves, with 269f others, has sunk Gustavus V. Brooke, the farm 



* The Rev. D. J. Draper, a man of fifty-six years of age, was returning to Australia, where for thirty year 

 he had laboured as a missionary, and where he was veiy generally and deservedly respected. Part of the infor 

 tion respecting the wreck is taken from " The Storm and the Haven," a tribute to his memory, published in Me 

 bourne the year of the terrible occurrence. 



t The official inquiry of the Board of Trade elicited the fact that the number was somewhat smaller, 

 total number of souls on board was 263, and of these 19 were saved, leaving the number who perished at 244. 



