LOSS OF A PRINCIPAL OFFICER. 
m 
suspense, one adds, “ It is Chambers.”—■“ Ah! 
it must be Sam Chambers,” cries anotlier; and 
no voice contradicted the assertion,—for his voice, 
poor sufferer, was already choked with the wa¬ 
ters, and his spirit had fled to meet its God ! 
Happily he w r as an excellent man ; and there was 
no doubt with those who knew his habitual piety, 
and consistency of conduct, that he was prepared 
to die. His conduct, in every case, was worthy 
of his profession ; and was a sufficient proof, if 
such proof could be necessary, that religion, when 
real, gives confidence and courage to the sailor, 
rather than destroys his hardihood and bravery. 
He was always one of the foremost in a post of 
danger, and met with his death in an exposed si¬ 
tuation, to which duty called, where he had vo¬ 
luntarily posted himself. 
Melancholy as the loss of a comrade was, the 
individual and personal danger of all hands, pre¬ 
vented any one from dwelling at that time, upon 
an event calculated, under other circumstances, to 
arouse the keenest sympathies of the most thought¬ 
less. Several others of the people had very narrow 
escapes. Another harpooner, who was in a simi¬ 
lar situation with Chambers, and close by him, 
was washed up into the mizen-rigging; and, on 
recovering his recollection, found himself instinc¬ 
tively grasping the rope that saved him. 
