212 
LOSS OF fiit Magpie. 
rolled over and over; some got across her keel, the others 
held on by her — and all were safe from drowning. 
Mr. Smith, who appears to have been a man of most con- 
summate command and coolness, began to reason with his 
crew on the impossibility of their being saved if they conti- 
nued in their present position ; for those who were on the keel 
would shortly roll off, and exertion and fatigue would soon 
force the others to relinquish their holds, or urge them to en- 
deavor forcibly to dislodge the possessors from their quiet 
seats. He pointed out the necessity of righting the boat, of 
allowing only two men to get in her to bale her out, whilst 
the others, supported by the gunwales, which they kept up- 
right, might remain in the water until the boat was in such a 
condition as to receive two more; and thus by degrees to ship 
the whole crew in security. 
Even in this moment of peril the discipline of the navy 
assumed its command. At the order from the lieutenant for 
the men on the keel to relinquish their position, they instantly 
obeyed, the boat was turned over, and once more the expedi- 
ent was tried — but quite in vain ; for no sooner had the two 
men begun to bale with a couple of hats, and the safety of 
the crew to appear within the bounds of probability, than one 
man declared he saw the fin of a shark. No language can 
convey the panic which seized the struggling seamen. A 
shark is at all times an object of horror to a sailor ; and those 
who have seen the destructive jaw^s of these voracious fish, 
and their immense and almost incredible power — their love 
of blood, and their bold daring to obtain it — alone can form 
an idea of the sensations produced to a swimmer by the cry 
of " a shark ! a shark !" 
Every man now struggled to obtain a moment's safety. 
Well they knew that one drop of blood would have been scent- 
ed by the everlasting pilot fish, the jackalls of the shark ; and 
that their destruction was inevitable, if one only of these mon- 
sters should discover the rich repast, or be led to its food by 
the little rapid hunter of its prey. All discipline was now 
unavailing; the boat again turned keel up. One man only 
gained his security, to be pushed from it by others ; and thus 
their strength began to fail from long-continued exertion. As, 
however, the enemy so much dreaded did not make its ap- 
pearance. Smith once more urged them to endeavor to save 
themselves by the only means left, that of the boat : but as 
he knew that he would only increase their alarm by endea- 
voring to persuade them that sharks did not abound in those 
