8 
CAPE COD. 
us how thoj went to the relief of the British brig, think¬ 
ing that the boat of the St. John, which they passed on 
the way, held all her crew, — for the waves prevented 
their seeing those who were on the vessel, though they 
might have saved some had they known there were any 
there. A little further was the flag of the St. John 
spread on a rock to dry, and held down by stones at the 
corners. This frail, but essential and significant portion 
of the vessel, which had so long been the sport of the 
winds, was sure to reach the shore. There were one or 
two houses visible from these rocks, in which were some 
of the survivors recovering from the shock which their 
bodies and minds had sustained. One was not expected 
to live. 
We kept on down the shore as far as a promontory 
called Whitehead, that we might see more of the Cohas- 
set Rocks. In a little cove, within half a mile, there 
w^ere an old man and his son collecting, with their team, 
the sea-weed which that fatal storm had cast up, as 
serenely employed as if there had never been a wreck 
in the world, though they were within sight of the Gram¬ 
pus Rock, on which the St. John had struck. The old 
man had heard that there was a wreck, and knew most 
of the pai'ticulars, but he said that he had not been up 
there since it happened. It was the wrecked weed that 
concerned him most, rock-weed, kelp, and sea-w'eed, as 
he named them, which he carted to his barn-yard; 
and those bodies were to him but other weeds which the 
tide cast up, but which were of no use to him. We 
afterwards came to the life-boat in its harbor, waiting for 
another emergency, — and in the afternoon we saw the 
funeral procession at a distance, at the head of which 
walked the captain with the other survivors. 
