88 



THE SEA. 



Lance-Corporal Jones, engaged on the wreck of the Royal George, one day lodged on 

 deck from his slings a crate containing eighty 12-pounder shot. With singular success 

 he laid the remainder of the kelson open for recovery, and then, sinking deeper, drew 

 from the mud, in two hauls, nearly thirty-five feet of the keel. He also weighed a small vessel 

 of six tons harden, belonging to a Mr. Cussell, which drove, under a strong current, upon 

 one of the lighters. Becoming entangled, the craft soon filled and foundered, o-ratmlino- 



3 o Irl &^ 



in her descent, with the ladder of one of the divers, grounding at a short distance from 

 the interval between the lighters. Jones was selected to try his skill in rescuing her. 

 At once descending, he fixed the chains under her stern, and while attempting to hold 

 them in position, by passing them round the mast, the tide turned, the vessel swun- 



' o 



CHAllT OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN 



round, and the mast fell over the side, burying Jones under her sails and rigging. 

 Perilous as was his situation, his fearlessness and presence of mind never for a moment 

 forsook him. Working from under the canvas, and carefully extricating himself from 

 the crowd of ropes that ensnared him, he at last found himself free. A thunderstorm 

 now set in, and, obedient to a call from above, he repaired to the deck ; but as soon 

 ais the squall had subsided he again disappeared, and cleverly jamming the slings, the 

 boat was hove up; but she had become a complete wreck, and was taken on shore. 



A dangerous but curious incident occurred on the Royal George diving operations 

 between Corporal Jones and Private Girvan, two rival divers, who, in a moment of 

 irritation, engaged in a conflict at the bottom of the sea, having both got hold of the 

 same floor timber of the wreck, which neither would yield to the other. Jones, at 

 length, fearful of a collision with Girvan, who was a powerful man, got his bull-rope 

 fast, and attempted to escape by it, but before he could do so Girvan seized him by the 

 legs and tried to draw him down. A scuffle ensued, and Jones succeeded in extricating 

 himself from the grasp of his antagonist. He then took a firmer hold of the bull -rope 

 and gave a kick at Girvan, which broke one of the lens of Girvan's helmet, and as water 



