il of an over-turned craft, and still smaller than
the chance of the poor devils off to port, some of whom had gripped the
half-submerged top-hamper, and were calling for help.

"We could not help them; she was a Yankee craft, and there was not a
life buoy or belt on board; and who, with another big wave coming,
would swim down to looward with a line?

"Landsmen, especially women and boys, have often asked me why a wooden
ship, filled with water, sinks, even though not weighted with cargo.
Some sailors have pondered over it, too, knowing that a small boat,
built of wood, and fastened with nails, will float if water-logged.

"But the answer is simple. Most big craft are built of oak or hard
pine, and fastened together with iron spikes and bolts--sixty tons at
least to a three-hundred-ton schooner. After a year or two this hard,
heavy wood becomes water-soaked, and, with the iron bolts and spikes,
is heavier than water, and will sink when the hold is flooded.

"This craft of ours was like a small boat--built of soft light wood,
with trunnels instead of bolts, and no iron on board except the anchors
and one capstan. As a result, though ripped, twisted, broken, and
disintegrated, she still floated even on her beam ends.

"But the soaked hemp rigging and canvas might be enough to drag the
craft down, and with this fear in my mind I acted quickly. Singing out
to the men to hang on, I made my way aft to where we had an ax, lodged
in its beckets on the after house. With this I attacked the mizzen
lanyards, cutting everything clear, then climbed forward to the main.

"Hard as I worked I had barely cut the last lanyard when that second
wave loomed up and crashed down on us. I just had time to slip into the
bight of a rope, and save myself; but I had to give up the ax; it
slipped from my hands and slid down to the port scuppers.

"That second wave, in its effect, was about the same as the first,
except that it righted the craft. We were buried, choked, and half
drowned; but when the wave had passed on, the main and mizzenmasts,
unsupported by the rigging that I had cut away, snapped cleanly about
three feet above the deck, and the broad, flat-bottomed craft
straightened up, lifting the weight of the foremast and its gear, and
lay on an even keel, with foresail, staysail, and jib set, the fore
gaff-topsail, flying jib, and jib-topsail clewed down and the wreck of
the masts bumping against the port side.

"We floated, but wi