uch
adventurers sometimes pass, we will close this article with a narrative
of a particular excursion made not long since by one of these boats--a
narrative now for the first time reduced to writing.

[Illustration: THE SURF-BOAT.]

One dark and stormy night Mr. Richard C. Holmes, the collector at the
port of Cape May, a port situated on an exposed and dangerous part of
the coast, near the entrance to the Chesapeake, was awakened from his
sleep by the violence of the storm, and listening, he thought that he
could hear at intervals the distant booming of a gun, which he supposed
to be a signal of distress. He arose and hastened to the shore. The
night was dark, and nothing could be seen, but the report of the gun was
distinctly to be heard, at brief intervals, coming apparently from a
great distance in the offing.

He aroused from the neighboring houses a sufficient number of other
persons to man his surf-boat, embarked on board, taking a compass for a
guide, and put to sea.

It was very dark and the weather was very thick, so that nothing could
be seen; but the crew of the boat pulled steadily on, guided only by the
compass, and by the low and distant booming of the gun. They rowed in
the direction of the sound, listening as they pulled; but the noise made
by the winds and the waves, and by the dashing of the water upon the
boat and upon the oars, was so loud and incessant, and the progress
which they made against the heavy "send" of the surges was so slow, that
it was for a long time doubtful whether they were advancing or not.
After an hour or two, however, the sound of the gun seemed to come
nearer, and at length they could see, faintly, the flash beaming out for
an instant just before the report, in the midst of the driving rain and
flying spray which filled the dark air before them.

Encouraged by this, the oarsmen pulled at their oars with new energy,
and soon came in sight of the hull of the distressed vessel, which began
now to rise before them, a black and misshapen mass, scarcely
distinguishable from the surrounding darkness and gloom. As they came
nearer, they found that the vessel was a ship--that she had been beaten
down upon her side by the sea, and was almost overwhelmed with the
surges which were breaking over her. Every place upon the deck which
afforded any possibility of shelter was crowded with men and women, all
clinging to such supports as were within their reach, and vainly
endeavoring to sc