PERILS OF THE DEEP. 265 



and then she was slowly and reluctantly pulled to the ship 

 by her melancholy crew. 



"The moment the unfortunate seaman disappeared, a 

 large bird of the albatross kind came careering along, and 

 alighted on the water at the very spot where the poor 

 fellow was last seen. It was a curious circumstance, which 

 served to heighten our horror, when we saw the carni- 

 vorous bird set itself proudly over the head of our com- 

 panion, and to remind us of the number of sharks that we 

 had so frequently seen of late, and of the horrible pro- 

 pensities of which we could not dare to think. 



" By the time we had hoisted in the boat, it was quite 

 dark ; the wind, too, had increased to half a gale, with 

 heavy squalls. We had lost one of our best men, the bare 

 thought of which, in our circumstances, aroused a crowd 

 of heartrending ideas. Our captain and second mate, 

 with ten of the crew, had disappeared, and were by that 

 time all lost or likely to be so. We, however, kept beat- 

 ing the ship to windward, carrying all the sail she could 

 bear, and putting about every twenty minutes. We also 

 continued to burn lights, and had a large vessel, containing 

 oil and ravelled rope, burning over the stern rail as a beacon 

 for them. 



"Although all eyes were employed searching in every 

 direction for the boats, no vestige of them could be seen ; 

 and, therefore, when half-past nine o'clock came we made 

 up our minds that they were lost. There were not many 



