stice or
Christianity. I presume our next halting-place will be Portsmouth?"

DORA. "Yes, sir; we are to anchor in Portsmouth harbor, because
Charles has an excellent account of the wreck of the 'Royal George,'
which, being so immediately connected with this naval town, will be
more appropriate here than elsewhere. Will you read it, Charles?"

CHARLES. "Willingly. The narrative is written by one of the
survivors, a Mr. Ingram, who lived many years after, at Wood ford,
near Bristol.

#The Wreck of the Royal George.#

"'The "Royal George" was a ship of one hundred guns. In August,
1782, she came to Spithead in a very complete state, so that there
was no occasion for the pumps to be touched oftener than once in
every three or four days. By the 29th of August she had got six
months' provisions on board and also many tons of shot. The ship had
her top gallant-yards up, the blue flag of Admiral Kempenfeldt was
flying at the mizen, and the ensign was hoisted on the
ensign-staff,--and she was to have sailed in about two days, to join
the grand fleet in the Mediterranean. It was ascertained that the
water-cock must be taken out, and a new one put in. The water-cock
is something like a tap of a barrel; it is in the hold of a ship on
the starboard side, and at that part of the ship called the well.
By turning a handle which is inside the ship, the sea-water is let
into a cistern in the hold, and it is from that pumped up to wash
the decks. In some ships, the water is drawn up the side in buckets,
and there is no water-cock. To get out the old water-cock, it was
necessary to make the ship heel so much on her larboard side as to
raise the outside of this apparatus above water. This was done at
about eight o'clock, on the morning of the 27th August. To do it,
the whole of the guns on the larboard side were run out as far as
they would go, quite to the breasts of the guns, and the starboard
guns drawn in amidships and secured by tackles, two to every gun,
one on each side. This brought the water-nearly on a level with the
port-holes of the larboard side of the lower gun-deck. The men were
working at the water-cock on the outside of the ship for near an
hour, the ship remaining all on one side, as I have stated.

"'At about nine o'clock, A.M., or rather before, we had just
finished our breakfast, and the last lighter, with rum on board, had
come alongside: this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons, and
belonged to three br