THE ISLANDS OP THE BAY OF BENGAL. 115 



the chief officer's right thigh, and killing several of the crew 

 or emigrants. What became of the Captain it is needless 

 now to say; he proved unequal to the emergency. Only 

 Mr. Hawkins insisted upon some efforts being made to save the 

 emigrants. The sea was still running so high that no one could 

 at first be persuaded to lower and venture in the sole sea- 

 worthy boat that remained; at last the chief officer said he 

 would go broken thigh and all, and so he did with four lascars 

 and 13 emigrants. He reached the Little Andaman safely, 

 landed the emigrants, and was about returning for another 

 batch, when he saw that the natives had come down and were 

 killing the emigrants he had landed ; before he could get near 

 the shore, ten had been killed, three had taken to the water, 

 and these he picked up, one of them a woman who had swam, 

 or at any rate been carried by the current, more than 3-4ths 

 of a mile before she was rescued by the boat. 



Then he saw that in getting assistance from Port Blair, fifty 

 miles distant, lay the only hope of saving the emigrants, and 

 for Port Blair he started in a small leaky gig, with only half 

 a crew, for the sea was still so high that the attempt seemed 

 madness, and most of the lascars preferred to take their chance 

 on the wreck 



Fortune does sometimes favor the brave ; he reached Ross 

 Island, and the Steam Tug Quang Tung, the only available 

 vessel, was at once despatched to the wreck, even then, when his 

 thigh (it was a comminuted fracture of 18 hours' standing) 

 had swollen to the size of his body, he could scarcely be 

 restrained from returning with the steamer. 



The steamer got down in about six hours, took most of the 

 emigrants off, and so lightened the vessel, that she was got clear 

 of the rock and taken in tow. The patient in the meantime 

 was not to be quieted ; he insisted on his cot being placed along- 

 side a window of the hospital, whence he commanded a view 

 of the southern approach of the harbour. At last, late in the 

 afternoon, steamer and ship were sighted, and just as the 

 sun was setting the chief officer had the intense gratification 

 of seing the Shahjehan's broken masts and tangled rigging 

 sweep past his window ; then, as Dr. Bean said, he gave a great 

 sigh of relief, and fell asleep. 



The Shahjehan sank whilst they were still towing her up the 

 harbour, but except the ten emigrants killed by those villainous 

 savages of the Little Andaman, and a few lascars killed or 

 knocked overboard, when she struck, not a single life was lost, 

 and every man, crew or passenger, owed his life to Mr. Hawkins' 

 heroism. 



