462 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



many speculations were hazarded as to whether she would 

 afford us any intelligence of the missing vessel. As the dis- 

 tance between us was gradually lessened, we saw, to our 

 great excitement, that she was crowded with people, and 

 had in addition two boats in tow also packed with human 

 beings. When she had arrived within a short space of us, a 

 boat left her, which, on coming alongside of us, was observed 

 to contain the skipper of the Yankee schooner which we had 

 encountered in Fortescue Bay some weeks previously, and 

 an officer in the uniform of the Pacific Steam N"avigation 

 Company's service. The latter, who, on stepping on board, 

 proved to be the captain of the vessel expected by us, soon 

 explained the disaster that had taken place. The " San- 

 tiago" had struck on a rock* at the entrance of Port Mercy 

 on the 23d, and some hours later gone down, but the 

 crew and passengers, with the exception of three, had been 

 saved, having been landed in the boats immediately after the 

 catastrophe took place at Port Mercy, where they had re- 

 mained until the 25th, when two boats, which had been 

 despatched to look for us, had observed the schooner bearing 

 down along the opposite coast, and on reaching her had 

 informed her skipper of their sad plight, on hearing which 

 he at once crossed the Strait to Port Mercy, took them 

 all on board, and then set sail for the eastward, hoping to 

 encounter the "Nassau." Wonderful to relate, our mails 

 had been the only ones out of a number carried by the vessel 

 that were saved from the wreck, and we received our letters 

 and papers in a damp but otherwise intact condition. 



After some consultation between Captain Mayne and the 

 captain of the foundered vessel, it was decided, as the best 



* This rock, not laid down in the old charts, was found by us on the 22d 

 of December 1868. 



