his daughter, who, I ought to explain, has been motherless from her
infancy. The best way I could see out of the difficulty was for her to
take the trip home to Europe with us, and, upon my making the proposal,
it was joyfully adopted. So far all was well; but at this point our
difficulties were to begin. We, unfortunately, took passage for London
in a sailing ship for my health's sake. We, or the ship rather, had to
call at the Cape, and, three weeks after we sailed, the captain died.
The chief mate then assumed the command of the vessel, and in a few days
afterwards we found that he was giving way to drink. That was,
doubtless, the cause of the disaster which followed, for on a dark and
stormy night, whilst the chief mate--or captain, rather, I suppose I
ought to call him--was lying in his berth in a state of almost helpless
intoxication, and the ship was flying before the rising gale under all
the sail the sailors could spread, _we struck_! the masts snapped short
off at the deck, and in a moment all was confusion and panic. The mate,
or captain, staggered up on deck to see what was the matter, and he had
scarcely reached the poop when a breaker swept down upon the wreck and
washed the unhappy wretch overboard, never to be seen again. The next
officer--a brave energetic young fellow--then took command, and by his
coolness and courage soon restored order among the crew. He commanded
the lead-line to be dropped overboard, and by its means ascertained that
the ship was being rapidly driven shoreward by the force of the waves.
Meanwhile the shocks of the ship striking against the ground gradually
grew less and less severe, until they ceased altogether, and the vessel
became motionless save for an occasional sickening lurch when an
exceptionally heavy wave struck her. By this time it was ascertained
that the hold was nearly full of water, a circumstance from which the
young officer in charge came to the conclusion that the hull was
irretrievably damaged, and he then gave orders to lower the boats. This
task the sailors with great difficulty accomplished, and then, there
being at the moment no immediate prospect of the wreck going to pieces,
the boats were secured under the shelter of the ship, and it was
determined to defer until daylight our attempt at landing, when the
dangers of the enterprise could be distinctly seen and more easily
avoided. About two hours elapsed between the first striking of the
vessel an