LOSS OF THE MAGPIE. 211 
call it) as schooners, and no yards so difficult to manage in a 
squall as the long overgrown yard for a schooner's fore-top- 
sail or square sail. Had this slight manoeuvre been executed, 
the horrible consequences v^hich ensued might have been ob- 
viated : at any rate, the men ought to have been kept in readi- 
ness, the fore-top-sail should have been furled, or lowered, 
and preparations to meet any circumstances ought to have 
been made. 
It is a singular fact, that the crew, who had been engaged 
in relating all kinds of wonderful events about five minutes 
before the catastrophe occurred, became aw^fuliy silent ; not a 
word escaped them ; there seemed a preparatory stillness for 
death itself, or a respectful fear at its approach. 
A sqaall of wind, which must have been fearfully strong, 
seemed to burst from the cloud alongside of the schooner ; it 
reached her before the mate could call the watch into activity. 
The vessel was taken aback; and Mr, Smith, as he put his 
foot upon the last step of the ladder, found his schooner up- 
set, and scarcely time had he to reach the deck before she 
sunk, to rise no more. 
The crew, amounting in all to twenty-four, happened luckily 
to be on deck, witli the exception of two, who were drowned 
in the schooner ; and in one minute they found themselves 
struggling in the water — ^their home, their ship, and some of 
their companions, lost for ever. The v;ild cry for assistance 
from some, of surprise from others, and fear from all, seemed 
to drown the wind; for, as if sent by Providence to effect 
this single event, no sooner had the schooner sunk than the 
wind entirely ceased, a cahn came on, and the bright rays of 
the moon fell upon the wet faces of the struggling crew — 
most fortunately, as some would think, but in reality the most 
painfully unfortunate from what fojiowed. The boat on the 
booms of the schooner floated clear of the sinking vessel, and 
seemed prepared for their salvation; the fore-yard-arm had 
somehow got fixed on the gunwale, and as the schooner sunk, 
it naturally heeled the boat, until she was nearly upset and 
half full of water, when the yard got disentangled, the schoon- 
er sunk and the boat floated. 
The only ark of their safety was amply large enough to 
have saved the twenty-two men who instantly swam to her ; 
but such -was the impetuosity occasioned by their fright, that 
prudence Avas overlooked, and in the hurried exertion of 
eight or ten endeavoring to scramble in, all on one side, the 
half-filled boat heeled below her gunwale in the water, and 
