WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.* 



At seven in the morning, on the 5th of July, we abandoned our 

 frigate. The raft on which I was placed sunk so low that we 

 were up to mid-thigh in water. The hope of quickly getting to 

 land, blinded us, in a manner, from perceiving the danger of our 

 situation, and we supported it with courage. From the break of 

 day we had taken no food ; and how could we think of anything 

 else but to embark as soon as possible, and avoid being abandon- 

 ed on board the Medusa, whose evacuation was going on with the 

 greatest precipitation and disorder. 



During the whole time our vessel remained aground, the sol- 

 diers, sailors, and even the officers and passengers, had been em- 

 ployed in the hardest exertions ; almost deprived of sleep, and on- 

 ly hastily devouring their food, their physical strength had under- 

 gone a remarkable alteration. If to these primary causes of de- 

 bilitation, we add the natural apprehensions of every one, respect- 

 ing the possibility of escaping the danger — apprehensions, strong- 

 er, no doubt, in the West-Indian soldiers, who were less accus- 

 tomed to the perils of the sea ; we may easily conceive that these 

 two causes united, in a singular manner disposed them to that 

 state of fury and madness, which was the source of all our misfor- 

 tunes. 



In two hours after our departure, the ship's boats quitted us ; 

 and, a short time after, looking for the provisions we supposed to 

 have been put on board the raffc, we found nothing but wine, and 

 about twenty-five pounds of biscuit, which had fallen into the sea, 

 and was now reduced to a kind of pickled paste. We severely 

 felt the effects of hunger this first day, but no one complained. 

 Our first meal was a little biscuit paste, soaked in wine. In the 



* Account of the wreck of the Medusa French Frigate, in 1816, by M. Se- 

 vigny, surgeon of the Medusa ; one of the one hundred and fifty who aban- 

 doned themselves to the waves on a raft, on which they remained thirteen 

 days, at the end of which period their number was reduced to fifteen. 

 10* 



