His CAPTORS. 179 



A Charnel Ship. An awful Warning. 



apparently young man, holding a steel in one 

 hand and a flint in the other, as if in the act of 

 striking fire upon some tinder which lay beside 

 him. In the fore part of the vessel several sail- 

 ors were found lying dead in their berths, and 

 the body of a boy was crouched at the bottom 

 of the gangway stairs. 



Neither provisions nor fuel could be discover- 

 ed any where ; but Captain Warrens was pre- 

 vented, by the superstitious prejudices of his 

 seamen, from examining the vessel as minute- 

 ly as he wished to have done. He therefore 

 carried away the log-book already mentioned, 

 and returning to his own ship, immediately 

 steered to the southward, deeply impressed with 

 the awful example which he had just witness- 

 ed of the danger of navigating the polar seas in 

 high northern latitudes. 



On returning to England, he made various 

 inquiries respecting vessels that had disappear- 

 ed in an unknown way, and by comparing these 

 results with the information which was afford- 

 ed by the written documents in his possession, 

 he ascertained the name and history of the im- 

 prisoned ship and of her unfortunate master, 

 and found that she had been frozen in thirteen 



