l
of us; we must therefore stay where we are, and endure the awful sight
as best we can--ah, there you have a hint of what will happen if we are
not careful!'--as the boat, lying broadside-on to the sea, rolled
heavily and shipped three or four bucketfuls of water--`pull, starboard,
and get her round stem-on to the sea; and you, O'Toole, get hold of the
baler and dish that water out of her.'

"It was true, every word of it, as a child might have had sense to see.
We could do absolutely nothing to help the poor wretches who were
drowning there before our very eyes; and in a few minutes all was over,
so far as they were concerned. Two or three men, I believe, managed to
get back aboard the sinking ship by climbing up the davit tackles; but
the rest quickly drowned--as likely as not because they clung to each
other and pulled each other down.

"But the plight of those aboard the _Joan_ was rapidly becoming
desperate; and we could see that they knew it by observing the frantic
efforts which they were making to get the other two boats into the
water. We could distinctly hear the voice of the skipper rising from
time to time above the clamour, urging the people to greater efforts,
encouraging one, cautioning another, entreating the maddened passengers
to keep back and give the crew room to work. Then, in the very midst of
it all there came a dull boom as the decks blew up. We heard the loud
hissing of the compressed air as it rushed out between the gaping deck
planks; there arose just one awful wail--the sound of which will haunt
me to my dying day--and with a long, sliding plunge the _Joan_ lurched
forward and dived, bows first, to the bottom.

"As for us, we could do nothing but just keep our boat head-on to the
sea and let her drift, humouring and coaxing her as best we could when
an extra heavy sea appeared bearing down upon us, and baling for dear
life continuously to keep her free of the water that, in spite of us,
persisted in slapping into her over the bows. The Canaries were the
nearest bits of dry land to us, but Mr Jellicoe, the third mate,
reckoned that they were a good hundred and fifty miles away, and dead to
wind'ard; so it was useless for us to think of reaching them in a boat
with her gunnels awash, and not a scrap of food or a drop of fresh water
in her. The only thing that we could do was to exert our utmost
endeavours to keep the craft afloat, and trust that Providence would
send something along s