166 
CONJECTURES. 
was remarked by the ablest seamen of the Vincennes 
that she, good sea-boat as she was, would scarcely have , 
survived the hurricane at sea. 
“In the confined China Sea — near the Pescadores, the 
wind blowing toward the coast of China — it would be 
singular indeed if no vestige of a ship wrecked or lost 
there should be found. It is not probable that the 
Porpoise was lost until she reached the vicinity of the 
Bonins. 
“She bore the character of a good sea-boat, but was ’ 
short and deep in the waist, therefore liable to broach to, 
or to be brought by the lee, — to fill and founder.” 
And this is all ! This gloomy account, similar to that 
wdiich was laid before us on our arrival at IIong-Kong, 
contains in its hopeless lines all that is known of the fate 
of the time-worn old brig and her crew of near a hun- 
dred souls. The subsequent search which was under- 
taken by the Hancock, and in which we persisted at the 
imminent risk of our ship and lives, resulted in nothing 
save disappointment, danger, and loss of time. That 
dense and driving mist Avhich enveloped her in its shroud- 
like embrace may have veiled from the curious eyes of 
her receding consort an unequal conflict, waged between 
man’s godlike brain on the one side and the power of 
the elements and some untoward accident on the other; 
or she may have followed the stoimy path of her more 
fortunate consort, and perished within a day’s sail of 
the Bonin Islands. Certain it is that no ordinary combi- 
nation of circumstances would have sufficed to bring 
about her uncertain fate. That brig, and the man who 
controlled her slightest movement with the experienced 
