AN AWFUL NIGHT. 309 



"I sat for a moment on the rock, kissing him, till I looked round and reflected on the 

 awful scene before me, and beheld (with what emotion I leave you to guess) the dreadful 

 destruction which was going on. 



" Previously to my jumping on the rock I observed Mrs. Lawe on the quarter-deck 

 on her knees, frantic, without her cap, her hair dishevelled all around her shoulders, in 

 dreadful anguish, striking the deck with one hand, while she held on with the other. 

 Mr. Lawe, her husband, was at this time drowned. 



" About this period the midships of the vessel were thrown by the terrific sea and 

 raging storm into a position favourable for those yet on board to make their escape 

 upon the rock; thus it was with comparative ease the surviving remnant on board now 

 forsook the vessel. 



"In short, if the sufferers could have anticipated and waited for this opportunity, 

 the lives of many who were lost might have been saved. They would, at least, have 

 been fortunate enough to have reached the rock, and would have had the same chance of 

 existence as others, provided their constitution were sufficiently strong to bear the dread- 

 ful privations that there awaited them. 



" I stretched forth my hand and assisted several as they approached, taking hold of the 

 first that presented, making, of course, no distinction of persons, and continued to act thus till 

 I saw a female in the last gasp, still holding by the rock after the receding of a wave it was 

 Mrs. Lawe. Then, with all the force I could command, I dragged her forwards one or two 

 paces. She was, indeed, poor good lady ! in the last stage of exhaustion, and fell on my arm, 

 and her weight caused me to slip, by which we were both precipitated towards a frightful 

 chasm ; but luckily I again seized the rock ere the wave retired, or we might both have been 

 swept away, and I held fast by one hand, while with the other I supported the lady, during 

 which two or three waves washed over us. Neither she nor I could breathe. 



" I collected all my remaining strength for this the last effort I was equal to in order to 

 save her, and folding her in my arms, I crept up the rock quite above the surge, where the 

 spray only could reach us. 



" She was speechless, but sufficiently sensible to acknowledge my attention with looks of 

 fervent gratitude. I then left her, anxious to return to my child. But judge of my sensa- 

 tions I found him not ! He, alas ! was gone ! I could not tell where, or what had become of 

 him." The poor boy had been drowned, and no traces of him were ever discovered. 



Their sufferings on the rock are well described : " To such dreadful shifts were we driven 

 that during the night I was obliged to hold on with one hand, while with the other I grasped 

 the hand of a fellow-sufferer, in order that each might receive some portion of vital heat ; 

 this we did alternately with right and left hand. But we were all so depressed in spirits and 

 suffering so grievously from the cold and the rain as the night advanced, that we did little else 

 than turn our thoughts to the Most High, and calmly await the approach of day, and with it 

 some hope of relief. My face, nose, and particularly the inside of my mouth, were dread- 

 fully mangled, and my teeth loosened, being so repeatedly forced by the billows against 

 the rock to which I was clinging. In short, I think no human endurance equalled ours; 

 for towards morning, when my fingers became so benumbed from wet and cold that I lost the 

 use of them, and I found that it was impossible to hold on longer, I twice felt resigned to 



