PACIFIC AJID BEERING’S STRAIT. 
103 
escape, the boat being thrown upon him, the gunwale resting upon CIE\P. 
his neck and keeping him down ; but the next sea extricated him, and 
he v/ent to the assistance of his companions ; all of whom w ere fortunately Dec. 
got upon the reef, except one young lad, who probably became entangled 
with the coral, and was drowned. The accident was immediately per- 
ceived from the ship, and all the boats sent to the assistance of the 
survivors. But the surf rolled so furiously upon the shore as to occa- 
sion much anxiety about rescuing them. At last a small raft was 
constructed, and Lieutenant Wainwright finding no other means of 
getting a line to them, boldly jumped overboard, with a lead-line in 
his hand, and suffered himself to be thrown upon the reef. By this 
contrivance all the people were got off, one by one, though severely 
bruised and wounded by the coral and spines of the echini. 
Mr. Belcher had here another escape, by being washed off the raft, 
his trousers getting entangled in the coral at the bottom of a deep chasm. 
Fortunately they gave way, and he rose to the surface, and by great 
effort swam through the breakers. Lieutenant Wainwright was the last 
that was hauled off. To this young officer the greatest praise is due for 
his bravery and exertions throughout. But for his resolution, it is very 
doubtful whether the party would have been relieved from their peril- 
ous situation, as the tide was rising, and the surf upon the reef mo- 
uientarily increasing. In the evening we made sail to the w^estward, 
and on the 27th saw Crescent Island ; and shortly afterwards the high 
land of Gambler’s groupe. 
Both these islands were discovered by Captain Wilson during a 
missionary voyage, but he had no communication with the natives. 
Fhe first was so named in consequence of its .supposed form; but in 
lact it more nearly resembles an oblong. It is exactly three miles and 
a half in length, and one and a half in width, and of similar formation 
fu Oeno and Ducie’s Islands. It consists of a strip of coral about a 
hundred yards or less in width, having the sea on one side and a lagoon 
uu the other. Its general height is two feet above the water. Upon 
this strip several small islands, covered with trees, have their founda- 
tion. The soil, where highest, reaches just six feet above the sea ; and 
the tops of the trees are twenty feet higher. We saw about forty 
