hold her, then they commenced to cut away the mast and gear,
which had fallen overboard and was thumping her sides so continuously as
to cause grave apprehension of her being stove in. Having done this they
rigged the pump, and at it they went with vigour. All their activity was
required, as every wave that broke over her must have penetrated her
seams, which were doubtless opened by the buffeting she had received.
But alas! their noble efforts were all in vain, for with a snap, snap,
which I could distinctly hear, her cables both broke, and she drifted
quickly towards the shore. Seeing this, and thinking I might possibly be
of some service, I ran down to a little wooden shelter I had built at
the side of the Cotills, and procured a coil of thin rope, and slinging
it over my shoulder I hurried back with it to the scene of what would
probably be in a few minutes, a wreck.

When I got back, having only been absent three or four minutes, I saw
that the crew had given up all hope of saving their vessel, and were now
only intent on saving their lives. To this end they were getting their
only boat out, lowering it safely on the lee side with two of the men
and the boy in it; the third man, who appeared to be the skipper, would
not leave the vessel, so the boat pushed off, but had not moved ten
fathoms away when a tremendous sea curled up under its stern, and
turned the boat a complete somersault, shooting the three occupants out
into the water. They could none of them swim apparently, and in a few
seconds disappeared beneath the turbulent waves; at least I did not see
them again, so that doubtless they found a watery grave.

The last man evidently saw his danger, but was quite calm, although his
end seemed near, as only about two hundred yards now intervened between
the vessel and the rocky shore. He proceeded to lash a spar across the
two water barrels, which he emptied and bunged up, and then stood ready
to jump overboard with them, when the vessel struck. I also was on the
alert with my coil of rope, following the vessel as she drifted slowly
along the shore, till she neared a spur of cliff, which runs out near
the watch-house, close to the homestead, and here she came in full
contact with a mass of rock which shook her, crushed in her stem, and
made her recoil. The next wave threw her back again, but luckily more
steadily, so that I was enabled to throw my coil of rope down upon her
deck from my coign of vantage. I quickl