58 THE SEA. 



as men playing- at some ferocious game : some working 1 in desperation at the pumps, and 

 sing-ing- at the pitch of their voices wild sea-song's to time their common efforts; others 

 employed in throwing hundreds of bags of grain into the sea, that they might thus lighten the 

 ship. This, I think, more than all, showed me our peril. I wandered about, too miserable to 

 remain in any one spot, till the captain assembled us all once more in the cabin to get some 

 food, saying that it was impossible to save the ship, and that we should have need of all our 

 fortitude. I remembered my own vain attempt to eat some bread, but the poor little children 

 took their breakfast and enjoyed it. 



" We were then each provided with a large bag made of sailcloth, and were advised by the 

 captain to fill it with the warmest articles of clothing we possessed. 



" All my worldly possessions were on board, comprising many memorials of dear friends, 

 portraits of loved ones I shall never see again, and my money loss I knew would be no trifle. 

 In perfect bewilderment I looked round, and filled my bag with stockings and a couple of 

 warm shawls. On the top of a box I saw a little parcel that had been entrusted to me by a 

 lady in California to deliver to her mother in Liverpool. I put that in my bag, and she got 



it There had been no thought of removing the breakfast, and with the rolling of the 



ship, which was every moment becoming worse, everything had fallen on the floor, and was 

 dashing about in all directions. Boxes, water-jugs, plates, dishes, chairs, glasses, were pitching 

 from one end of the saloon to the other. Children screaming, sailors shouting and cursing, 

 and loud above all there was the creaking of timbers, and the sullen sound of water fast gaining 

 upon us in the hold of the ship, which groaned and laboured like a living thing in agony." 



How the ridiculous will intrude even at such times is shown in the following. A little 

 boy was discovered helping himself out of the medicine-chest, particularly busy with the 

 contents of a broken calomel bottle ! Lamp-oil served as an emetic in this emergency, and 

 the youngster's life was saved. And now the first mate, upon whose decision and firmness 

 much depended, having lost his presence of mind, had drunk deeply of whisky. He was 

 intoxicated, and so, too, were many o the sailors, who had followed his example. The 

 captain, meantime, had been busily employed in ordering out food and water to supply the 

 boats, collecting the ship's papers, &c. The lowering of the boats he had entrusted to his 

 officers. On hearing of the drunkenness on deck, his first thought was to get the women 

 and children off at once, for should the sailors seize the boats, what would become of them ? 

 Two boats had already been smashed whilst lowering them into the sea, and there were 

 only two remaining. Forty-seven people to cram into two frail boats, fifteen hundred miles 

 from land : delicately-nurtured women, helpless children, drunken and desperate men. 



By the help of the most sober of the sailors, the captain's own boat was lowered; 

 some small mattrasses, pillows, blankets, a cask of water, sacks of biscuit, and nautical 

 instruments, were first put in ; then the passengers were let down by ropes. " It seems 

 marvellous," says Mrs. Murray, " when I think of it now, that in our descent we were 

 not dashed to pieces against the ship's side. We had to wait for each descent a favourable 

 moment while she was leaning over. Then the word of command was given, and we were 

 slung down like sheep. My heart stood still whilst my little one was going down, and 

 then I followed. It was a terrible sight for a woman to see that poor creature whose 

 baby was born the night before, looking like a corpse in a long dressing-gown of white 



