the deck there
are to be four square small hatches (with covers in case of bad
weather), in which the men can sit and row when the wind is too light
or contrary for sailing. From this it may be seen that the perilous
trip has been decided upon by the captain. I have no doubt he feels
the responsibility which he assumes, and I have great faith in his
judgment. Our opinions were handed in to him yesterday, but of course
we do not know what their influence has been, but it must be evident
to him that all hands--officers and men alike--are loyally
co-operating with him in our trying situation.

We learn that Lieutenant Talbot volunteered the day after the wreck
to make the attempt and that several of the crew have also asked to go
with him. In fact, so many of the men have volunteered that it will be
necessary to take the pick of those most likely to stand the exposure,
for although we have seen that such a trip was made in the case of the
"Gledstanes," it must be remembered that they took five months to
build a seaworthy vessel, while our brave boys will go in a
practically open boat.

_Sunday, November 6._ We were mustered for divine service to-day, and
it being the first Sunday of the month the roll was called and each
man answered "Here" as his name was called. After that prayers were
read by the captain and an extra cup of water served out from the
quantity caught during the recent gale. Work was suspended so far as
possible, but the lagoon being so quiet it was thought necessary to
launch two of the boats and tow in some of the floating timbers. We
were overjoyed thus to receive and haul up free of the water a large
fragment of the old hurricane deck. We can imagine some value in
almost any piece of timber, but in this particular we are confident of
securing much material for the building of our future boat, it being
of three inch thick narrow planking. We believe we can make one and a
half inch stuff from it by rigging up a staging and converting our one
bucksaw into a jigsaw with a man above and one below. The blacksmith
believes that he can extract a good supply of nails, and in many ways
it is evident that we are not going to wait supinely for the relief we
hope for from our brave comrades' voyage.

[Illustration: LIEUTENANT JOHN G. TALBOT]

To-day we killed our first goonies and had some for supper. They were
very tough and "fishy," and Solomon Graves, once the Saginaw's cabin
cook, but now "King of the