iring wave, became at length exhausted and ceased to struggle for
life. When he was at last laid hold of and dragged ashore, he was dead.

While some of the men were engaged in fruitless efforts to save this
man, the rest of the crew, having suffered little, were about to launch
the boat a second time, when the women again rushed forward and clung to
them with such eager entreaties, that they began at last to entertain
the idea of the storm being too wild for them to venture off.

Lest the reader should unjustly censure these men, we must remind him of
the fact that the self-righting principle not having at that time been
discovered, the danger incurred in case of an upset was very great, and
the boat about which we are writing, being small, ran considerable risk
of being capsized by the heavy seas. In fact, almost the only
difference between lifeboats and ordinary boats, at this time, was the
incapacity of the former to sink when filled with water, owing to the
buoyancy of the air-chambers fitted round their sides. If filled by a
sea, much valuable time had to be lost in baling out the water before
the oars could be effectively resumed, and if overturned it was a matter
of the greatest difficulty for the men in the water to right them again;
in some cases it had proved impossible. All these defects are remedied
now-a-days; but more on this head hereafter.

While the men were in this undecided state of mind, regardless alike of
the commands and the taunts of the coxswain, two men were seen to leap
down the slope that lay between the cliffs and the sea, and make for the
group of boatmen at full speed. As they drew near they were recognised
to be Mr Hamilton, a young midshipman, then on leave of absence, and
his friend Thompson, an old college companion.

They ran straight to the boat, the former shouting, as he came up:--

"Ho! get her off, lads; a large ship ashore in Saint Margaret's Bay; now
then, all together, and with a will!"

So powerful was the influence of the young middy's clear voice and
prompt action, that the men with one accord shoved the lifeboat into the
sea; succeeded in keeping her stern to the waves until they were beyond
the roughest of the breakers; and then, laying to their oars manfully,
pulled away for the scene of the wreck.

They were soon lost in darkness, and the poor women returned weeping to
their homes, there to throw on some additional covering, and hasten
towards the same spot