ng that there might be some mistake, but I got the
same answer.

Late in the evening Captain Leslie came back, and, shaking me by the
hand, told me that he had been afraid I was lost, and how glad he was I
had escaped. He had been over to Portsmouth, and had visited the
_Victory_, and other ships on board which the people from the wreck had
been carried, inquiring everywhere for me. He had heard a great deal
about the wreck and the way in which many had been saved. I will
mention what he then told me, and what I picked up from others.

Out of nearly a thousand souls who had been alive and well on board the
ship in the morning, between seven and eight hundred were now lifeless.
Besides our gallant admiral, who had been drowned while sitting writing
in his cabin, three of the lieutenants, including the one whose
obstinacy had produced the disaster, the larger number of the
midshipmen, the surgeon, master, and the major and several other
officers of marines, were drowned, as were some ladies who had just
before come on board. Sixty of the marines had gone on shore in the
morning, a considerable number of the rest who were on the upper deck
were saved, but the greater number of the crew, many of whom were in the
hold stowing away the rum casks, had perished; indeed, out of the ship's
whole complement, only seventy seamen escaped with their lives.

I was sorry to hear that Mr Williams, the carpenter, whose advice, had
it been followed, would have saved the ship, was drowned; his body was
picked up directly afterwards, and carried on board the _Victory_, where
it was laid on the hearth before the galley-fire, in the hopes that he
might recover, but life was extinct.

Captain Waghorn, though he could not swim, was saved. After trying to
warn the admiral, he rushed across the deck and leaped into the sea,
calling others to follow his example. A young gentleman, Mr Pierce,
was near him.

"Can you swim?" he asked.

"No," was the answer.

"Then you must try, my lad," he said, and hurled him into the water.

Two men, fortunately good swimmers, followed. One of them getting hold
of the captain, supported him, and swam away from the ship; the other
fell upon Mr Pierce, of whom he got hold and supported above water till
the ship settled, when he placed him on the maintop, and both were
saved. The captain, in the meantime, was struggling in the water, and
was with great difficulty kept afloat. A boat, with our seventh