she
was not full. Some were ashore; sixty marines had gone ashore that
morning.

"'The Government allowed 5_l._ each to the seamen who were on board,
and not drowned, for the loss of their things. I saw the list, and
there were only seventy-five. A vast number of the best men were in
the hold stowing-away the rum-casks: they must all have perished,
and so must many of the men who were slinging the casks in the
sloop. Two of the three brothers belonging to the sloop perished,
and the other was saved. I have no doubt that the men caught hold of
each other, forty or fifty together, and drowned one another; those
who could not swim catching hold of those who could; and there is
also little doubt that as many got into the launch as could cram
into her, hoping to save themselves in that way, and went down in
her altogether.

"'In a few days after the "Royal George" sunk, bodies would come up
thirty or forty nearly at a time. A body would rise, and come up so
suddenly as to frighten any one. The watermen, there is no doubt,
made a good thing of it: they took from the bodies of the men their
buckles, money, and watches, and then made fast a rope to their
heels, and towed them to land.'

CHARLES. "That is all I have copied, as the remaining part of the
narrative is too full of nautical terms for us to understand; and,
as it only relates to the state of the weather, the condition of
the vessel, and the perverseness of the lieutenant, it is of no
particular advantage to us in the explanation of the wreck, for we
already know the why and wherefore of the disastrous event. But Mr.
Ingram does not precisely state the number of persons lost. Was it
not ascertained soon after?"

MR. WILTON. "Yes; I believe the number of persons who perished on
this sadly memorable occasion was upwards of 800, out of whom 200
were women."

GEORGE. "And was the taking out the water-cock the original cause of
the sinking of the 'Royal George'?"

MR. WILTON. "No doubt it was, because, to effect this, the vessel
was hove on one side, and while in that situation, a sudden squall
threw her broadside into the water, and the lower deck ports not
having been lashed down, she filled, and sunk in about three
minutes."

DORA. "Dear me! how very sudden; what an awful scene it must have
been, so many poor creatures hurried, with scarcely a moment's
warning or time to cry for mercy, into the presence of their
Creator! Were the bodies all washed ashore? Oh!