s obliged to
put off again with only four men. The wind and tide were so strong,
and so much against them, that the utmost exertion was necessary to
enable them to make their way towards the ship, and when they got
within two hundred yards of the back of the rocks, the launch was half
filled with water. They then tried to make the land again; but before
they could reach it the boat was swamped, and the men were saved with
difficulty by Mr. Simpson, the boatswain, in the cutter. There is
little doubt that if the launch had not been deserted by the greater
part of her crew, she might have reached the Boreas, and have saved
many valuable lives. And here, in justice to the majority of the
ship's company, we must observe, that those who manned the launch were
chiefly smugglers and privateer's men lately impressed, and were not
to be considered as part of the regular crew of the ship.

In addition to the boats we have already mentioned as having left the
ship, was a small cutter, (containing two midshipmen, of the names of
Luttrell and Hemmings, and two men,) which was lowered into the sea by
order of the first lieutenant, whose humanity induced him to take this
expedient for saving the lives of the two boys. The current was so
strong that in a few moments the cutter drifted away from the ship,
but the generous feelings of the boys forbade them to desert their
comrades in distress, and with great exertion they pulled back to the
vessel; they called for a rope, but were ordered to keep off, and
again their little boat was carried away by the current. Once more
they attempted to get back, but their strength was unequal to the
task, and they were carried out into the open sea. Their situation was
in many respects little better than that of the friends whom they had
left upon the wreck,--the night was pitch dark, the boat had neither
mast nor sail, and the sea ran so high that they could do nothing with
the oars. Every now and then the flash of a gun, seen across the black
distance, told them that the Boreas still held together, and that she
was making signals of distress; but no sound reached their ears save
the roar of the winds and the waves. Even the booming of the guns was
lost in that dismal roar.

The little party scarcely expected to survive the night; they were
drenched to the skin, and suffering intensely from the cold; the waves
broke over the bows of their frail boat, and threatened each minute to
overwhelm it; but