osition enabled the boat to get clear, but not before every
individual in her was more or less severely scorched, and the heat was
no longer endurable.'

The wreck drifted on shore on the north side of the island of Tenedos,
where, at five o'clock in the morning, she blew up with an explosion
which might be felt on the adjacent shores of Europe and of Asia; and
all that remained of the Ajax were a few smoking spars, which rose to
the surface of the sea.

Such was the fate of this noble ship, destroyed by a conflagration
more rapid than had ever been known, and of which the cause has never
been clearly ascertained. It appears, however, certain that, contrary
to orders, there had been a light in the bread-room; for when the
first lieutenant broke open the door of the surgeon's cabin, the after
bulk-head was already burnt down; and as the purser's steward, his
assistant, and the cooper, were among the missing, it is but
reasonable to suppose that the fire had been occasioned by their
negligence.

'I trust,' says Captain Blackwood, in his defence before the court of
inquiry, 'that I shall be able to prove to the satisfaction of this
court, that I had instituted a regulation, which obliged the first
lieutenant, the warrant officers, and master at arms, in a body to
visit all the quarters, store-rooms, wings, &c, and report to me at
eight o'clock on their clearness and safety; and that I had also
received at nine o'clock the report of the marine officer of the
guard.' ... 'I trust this court will consider that in ordering the
first lieutenant and warrant officers to visit all parts of the ship,
whose report, as well as that of the master at arms, I had received at
a few minutes past eight o'clock, I had very fully provided for every
want, and might with perfect confidence have considered my ship in a
state of perfect safety with respect to fire.'

Captain Blackwood, his surviving officers and men, were all most
honourably acquitted of any blame respecting the loss of the Ajax.

Out of six hundred men, three hundred and fifty were saved by the
boats of the squadron; but two hundred and fifty perished that night
by fire or water.

Amongst the lost were Lieutenants Reeve and Sibthorpe; Captain Boyd,
Royal Marines; Mr. Owen, surgeon; Mr. Donaldson, master; twenty-five
midshipmen; two merchants of Constantinople, and a Greek pilot.

The melancholy fate of the gunner must not be passed over unnoticed.

This poor man had t