AN INGENIOUS DEVICE. 315 



lost. Of fifty persons who left Cork on the ill-fated Killarney, about twenty-five landed on 

 the rock, and of these only fourteen reached land, one of them, as we have seen, to expire 

 immediately. 



The mode by which the few survivors were rescued was so novel that it deserves 

 particular notice, and the following 1 , quoted from a letter written by Mr. E. W. Hull to 

 Baron Spolasco, will be found interesting-. 



" The first intelligence my brother and myself received of the wreck was from Mr. John 

 Galwey, at about nine or ten o'clock on Sunday morning-. We immediately proceeded towards 

 the scene of the dreadful catastrophe, which is about five miles from Roberts' Cove, and arrived 

 there at eleven o'clock. My brother's men, of course, accompanied us. On our reaching the 

 place, I descended the frightful precipice, at the foot of which I discovered Mr. Galwey letting 

 ducks fly with lines attached to them. I joined him in the experiment, though indeed I 

 entertained not the least hope of its proving- effective. We abandoned this plan, and having 

 taken off my coat and hat, and placed a rope round my waist, to prevent my falling over the 

 lower cliff upon which we stood, I commenced using all the means I could devise to convey 

 a stone with a line attached to it to the rock. I first made an effort to throw a stone from 

 my hand ; next, I, with others, had recourse to slings ; but all our experiments, as the sequel 

 proved, were useless. I may here, without the least exaggeration, assert that the danger to 

 which Mr. John Galwey, young Mr. Knolles, and myself, were exposed was beyond the power 

 of conception. Below us appeared a hideous gulf, almost yawning to receive us from the cliff 

 upon which we stood, while from above we saw large stones rolling down from a height of 

 two hundred feet. To avoid being struck by these we had not the power of moving an inch 

 from the place in which we respectively stood; so that in this, as in all other circumstances 

 connected with our dangerous undertakings on the occasion, we were protected in our frightful 

 situation by the peculiar interposition of Providence. We next had recourse to the plan of 

 a person named Mills, of the Coastguard at Roberts' Cove. It was that of attaching wire 

 to bullets, and firing them from guns. This plan likewise proved unsuccessful. 



"At this time, when all our plans had become unavailing, those who had been acting 

 with me below went to the top of the cliff. Being exceedingly exhausted I was unable 

 to follow. I lay down on the brink of the precipice, nearly on a line with the top of the 

 rock upon which the sufferers were, and feeling as a human being should at so heart- 

 rending a spectacle, when all hope of saving a single individual was almost extinct. I 

 exclaimed, ' Good God ! are there no means left to save them ? ' At this moment I took 

 a view of the east promontory and the west. The thought the happy thought flashed 

 across my mind. I immediately perceived that Providence favoured us with a tolerable 

 certainty of success. I ascended the precipice, and made my brother acquainted with my 

 plan. We both suggested it to others, but it was disregarded, owing to the great distance 

 between the promontories and the immense height of the cliffs. However, I saw a glorious 

 prospect before me of rescuing my fellow-creatures from an awful death. Heaven inspired 

 me Avith confidence, and, in conjunction with my brother, I could not be diverted from making 

 a trial. My brother and the neighbouring gentlemen sent in all directions for lines and 

 ropes. On getting them, we commenced putting my plan into execution. The first attempt 

 failed through want of sufficiency of rope and the setting in of night. When the rope was- 



