ir raging thirst by a still more unnatural means; some chewed
leather, myself and many others thought we experienced great relief by
chewing lead, as it produced saliva.

'In less than an hour after the ship had struck the ground, all the
provisions were under water, and the ship a wreck, so that we were
entirely without food. After a night of most intense suffering,
daylight enabled us to see Lieutenant Harvey and Mr. Callam again
endeavouring to launch the boat. Several attempts were made without
success, and a number of men belonging to the merchant ships were much
bruised and injured in their efforts to assist. Alternate hopes and
fears possessed our wretched minds.

'Fifteen men got safe on shore, this morning, on pieces of the wreck.
About three, P.M., of Wednesday, the 4th, we had the inexpressible
happiness of seeing the boat launched through the surf, by the
indefatigable exertions of the two officers, assisted by the masters
of the merchant ships, and a number of Portuguese peasants, who were
encouraged by Mr. Whitney, the British Consul from Figuera.

'All the crew then remaining on the wreck were brought safe on shore,
praising God for this happy deliverance, from a shipwreck which never
yet had its parallel.

'As soon as I slipt out of the boat, I found several persons whose
humanity prompted them to offer me refreshment, though imprudently, in
the form of spirits, which I avoided as much as possible.

'Our weak state may be conceived when it is remembered that we had
tasted no nourishment from Sunday to Wednesday afternoon, and had been
exposed all that time to the fury, of the elements. After eating and
drinking a little, I found myself weaker than before, owing, I
imagine, to having been so long without food. Some men died soon after
getting on shore, from taking too large a quantity of spirits. The
whole of the crew were in a very weak and exhausted state, and the
greater part of them were also severely bruised and wounded.'

Such is Mr. Lewis's account of the wreck of the Apollo, one of our
finest frigates, and the loss of sixty of her men.

The cause of this catastrophe seems to have been an error in the
reckoning. At twelve o'clock on Sunday, the land was supposed to be
thirty or forty leagues distant, nor were they aware of their true
position when the vessel struck at three o'clock the following
morning, on what was supposed to be an unknown shoal. Never, perhaps,
in the annals of maritime