THE SHIPWEECK. 
3 
ia Eastham, if I approached it by land, and probably I 
could walk thence straight to Race Point, about twenty- 
eight miles, and not meet with any obstruction. 
We left Concord, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, October 
9th, 1849. On reaching Boston, we found that the Prov- 
incetown steamer, which should have got in the day 
before, had not yet arrived, on account of a violent 
storm; and, as we noticed in the streets a handbill 
headed, ‘‘ Death! one hundred and forty-five lives 
lost at Cohasset,” we decided to go by way of Cohasset. 
We found many Irish in the cars, going to identify bodies 
and to sympathize with the survivors, and also to attend 
the funeral which was to take place in the afternoon; — 
and when we arrived at Cohasset, it appeared that nearly 
all the passengers were bound for the beach, which was 
about a mile distant, and many other persons were flock¬ 
ing in from the neighboring country. There were sev¬ 
eral hundreds of them streaming off over Cohasset com¬ 
mon in that direction, some on foot and some in wagons, 
— and among them were some sportsmen in their hunt¬ 
ing-jackets, with their guns, and game-bags, and dogs. 
As we passed the graveyard we saw a large hole, like a 
cellar, freshly dug there, and, just before reaching the 
shore, by a pleasantly winding and rocky road, we met 
several hay-riggings and farm-wagons coming away to¬ 
ward the meeting-house, each loaded with three large, 
rough deal boxes. We did not need to ask what was in 
them. The owners of the wagons were made the under¬ 
takers. Many horses in carriages were fastened to the 
fences near the shore, and, for a mile or more, up and 
down, the beach was covered with people looking out for 
bodies, and examining the fragments of the wreck. 
There was a small island called Brook Island, with a 
