262 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



The vessel was low down in the water ; it was dis- 

 masted, and had lost its boats ; it sailed under a top- 

 sail, gallant, and jib ; the other sails hung in shreds 

 from their ropes. Instead of anchoring in Stiff' Bay, 

 situated west of the island of XJshant, towards which 

 it appeared to direct its course, this illfated vessel 

 got entangled in the rocks between one of the points 

 of this bay ani the Men-Corn, and very shortly 

 grounded. The sailors were seen to run about the 

 deck as if they were mad. The sea was lumpy, wind 

 violent in the extreme; no help could reach them 

 iVom tlie land, as neither a rope nor the means of 

 throwing one on board coull be procured. The rising 

 ti le soon floated the vessel, now deprived of her 

 rudder, however, which had been broken on the 

 rocks ; and being at the mercy of the winds and cur- 

 rents, she drifted into the Helle channel. It now 

 appeared that she had sprung a leak, as her steru 

 gradually settled down, and an hour afterwards the 

 vessel was wholly engulfed, just as darkness hid her 

 from view. This ship was the Columhia. 



" Left Molene on the 31st of August, at half-past 4 

 in the morning. About 11 o'clock the pilots grappled 

 w!iat they believed to be the Columhia. The 

 Flambeau moored herself by four anchors as nearly 

 as possible at the spot indicated. A sounding taken 

 by tiie captain gave 180 feet as the depth to the 



