PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. 521 



prolonging their lives for a brief space, no land 

 lying in that direction. Providentially, the morn- 

 ing following they found themselves alongside a 

 French frigate ; but the boats were so low in the 

 water that for some time they escaped observation, 

 and were nearly passed. At length, by waving a lady's 

 shawl in the air, they attracted the attention of the 

 Frenchmen, and were taken on board, and treated 

 with an attentive kindness, which entitled their pre- 

 servers to the thanks of all who would wish to be so 

 received under such circumstances. I regret that the 

 name of the captain of the ship has escaped me ; 

 though I remember it being said, that he had him- 

 self been saved on a previous occasion by a Liverpool 

 ship in the China sea. 



Not long before the arrival of the Beagle in Port 

 Louis, a fleet of crippled vessels, the victims of a 

 recent hurricane, might have been seen making their 

 way into the harbour, some dismasted, others kept 

 afloat with difiiculty, firing guns of distress, or 

 giving other signs of their helpless condition. The 

 monotony of colonial life was suddenly disturbed, 

 by no means disagreeably to some, as the telegraph 

 told ofi^ a succession of *' Lame ducks," as they 

 were jocularly called, such as seldom or ever had 

 been witnessed, even at that place. It required 

 but a visit to the bell buoy, to see at a glance the 

 destructive eff'ects of the storm on the unfortunate 

 ships. On the tranquil surface of the harbour lay 

 a group of shattered vessels, presenting the appear- 

 ance of floating wrecks. In almost all, the bill- 



