228 



A FUNERAL AT SEA. 



that there was no risk knowingly incurred. Out of re- 

 spect to the dead and the living, and for the sake of those 

 for whose breasts this heavy blow was preparing, it was 

 unanimously decided that all that decency could suggest 

 should be done. He might not be of our faith — he might 

 not have lived and died to the Lord : our duty as men 

 was clear ; and for the rest, we left judgment to Him 

 that judgeth righteously. 



At sunrise the small crew clustered round the main- 

 mast, and the passengers under the roundhouse. The 

 ensign of the United States, with its stars and stripes, 

 floated halfway up the rigging ; and the ship was kept 

 under easy sail on the fresh but favourable breeze which 

 had sprung up after the squall. The sky was without a 

 cloud. In the absence of a clergyman of any church, 

 the duty of reading the service over the body was im- 

 posed upon me. I never heard that exquisitely beautiful 

 portion of the ritual of the Church of England read without 

 emotion, and none need wonder that I felt my voice trem- 

 ble, as now, in the face of the broad blue sky, and amid 

 the world of waters, I was called to utter its solemn 

 strain over the lifeless remains of the companion who 

 had thus been suddenly taken away while we were left. 

 Others may have forgotten the incident long ago — I never 

 can forget it. Yet the circumstances were such as so- 

 bered the most unreflecting for the time. All saw before 

 them a striking proof that " Man that is born of a woman 

 hath but a short time to live, and is f ull of misery f ' and 

 that " In the midst of live ive are in death" 



Thus we committed the body of our fellow mortal to 

 the deep, to be turned into corruption : looking for the 

 resurrection of the body, when the sea shall give up her 

 dead. 



THE END. 



