MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. 305 



He had a most miraculous escape both from 

 drowning and a more cruel death. The vessel was 

 scudding under a double-reefed topsail and fore- 

 sail, and going about nine and a half knots, with 

 a heavy sea running, when I sent the men up to 

 take in the third reef of the main-topsail. He 

 was out on the yard-arm next the weather ear- 

 ing, when the sail got loose and flung him upon 

 deck between a spar and a gun, where he lay in- 

 sensible, and I thought dead, for some time. On 

 taking him into the cabin, I stripped and bled 

 him, and, to my surprise, found he had not a bone 

 broken. After rubbing him over with brandy, I 

 gave him a dose of laudanum ; and by the time 

 he got to Liverpool, he was able to walk. He 

 owed his life principally to the vessel rolling to 

 port at the time he fell; — his extreme fatness 

 was also much in his favour. 



Belfringe, one of the Quorra's crew, died a few 

 days after landing in Liverpool, from exhaustion 

 and general debility. 



VOL. I. 



