similar circumstances can judge of the feelings of men so rescued
from the awful contemplation of immediate and certain death. How happy
now did they feel in occupying a position, which two days before they
would have shrunk from with horror, and have shed their life's blood
to avoid. But 'there is no virtue like necessity,'

All places that the eye of heaven visits,
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
RICHARD II.

And the Romney's company were wise enough to rejoice, under the
circumstances of their hard case, in finding themselves safely landed
in an enemy's country as prisoners of war.

Nine seamen had been drowned; thirteen others, who had left the wreck
upon a raft of timber, were afterwards picked up and taken on board
the Eagle; the others who had been saved by the boats and rafts joined
Captain Colville at the Helder. The following extracts from Captain
Colville's dispatches show the high estimation in which he held the
services of his officers and crew:--'That every possible exertion was
made to lessen the calamity, after having struck, I trust will appear
from the minutes.' ... 'Under the uneasiness of mind which the loss of
the ship I had the honour to command, naturally occasioned, I feel
some alleviation in reflecting upon the zealous, active, and orderly
conduct of my officers and crew in circumstances the most trying, and
under which they endured the severest hardships with cheerfulness,
and in perfect reliance on Divine Providence, whose interposition in
our behalf was strongly evident.'

Nothing could exceed the kindness and consideration shown by the Dutch
admiral towards the crew of the Romney. Captain Colville, in a letter
addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, does ample justice to a
generous foe:--

'We have experienced,' he says, 'from the Dutch Admiral Kirkhurt,
every attention that our distressed situation made so necessary, and
which his disposition seems incapable of withholding, even from an
enemy. But the wants of my fellow-sufferers are great, for not an
article of clothing or anything else was saved by any one from the
general wreck. I hope the Dutch government will be disposed to
alleviate, in some degree, their wants,--in clothing, particularly.
And I have solicited the assistance of Rear-Admiral Russel in
obtaining these necessaries.' ... 'I have reason to believe we shall
be sent to Amsterdam, until exchanged.'

Subsequently, the Dutch a