There have, I'll allow, been more terrible
shipwrecks. Few people, however, have suffered as much as we did during
the six days we were on the rock, without food or water. As soon as I
was recovered, I was drafted on board the `Ajax,' seventy-four,
commanded by Captain Sir Henry Blackwood. We lay off the mouth of the
Dardanelles, forming one of the squadron of Vice-Admiral Sir John
Duckworth. I'm fond of old England, as I hope all of you young
gentlemen are, but I must own that the spot where we lay is a very
beautiful one.

"It had just gone four bells in the first watch, and all hands except
those on duty were asleep, when we were roused up by the cry of fire!
Directly afterwards the drum beat to quarters, and the guns were fired,
as signals of distress. A boat was also sent off with one of the
lieutenants and a midshipman, to summon assistance from the other ships.
We all stood ready to obey the orders we might receive. The captain
and one of the officers at once went down to the cockpit, from which
clouds of smoke were bursting out. They quickly had to beat a retreat.
We then, forming a line, passed the buckets along full of water, to pour
down upon the seat of the fire, as far as it could be discovered. So
dense was the smoke, that several of the men who were closest and whose
duty it was to heave the water, were nearly suffocated. It was soon
evident that the flames had the mastery of the ship. The carpenter
endeavoured to scuttle the after part, but had to abandon the attempt.
In less than fifteen minutes after the alarm had been given, the flames
raged with such fury, that it was impossible to hoist out the boats.

"The jolly-boat alone had been lowered by the captain's orders, directly
he came on deck. The fire was now bursting up through the main
hatchway, dividing the fore from the after part of the ship. The
captain accordingly ordered all hands forward. There we were nearly six
hundred human beings huddled together on the forecastle, bowsprit, and
sprit-sail yard, while the after part, from the mainmast to the
taffrail, was one mass of fire. Smoke in thick columns was now rising
from all parts of the ship, while the flames crackled and hissed, then
they caught some of the poor fellows who had taken refuge in the tops.
Some kept silent, but others shrieked aloud for mercy. Above the roar
of the flames, and the cries of the men, the sound of the guns could be
heard when they went off as the