in
the stormy weather we had off Madeira and elsewhere; for the men were
all standing round, ready to start over the side as soon as the skipper
gave the word of command to go.

Captain Billings then called over the list of the crew from the muster
roll, which he held in his hand along with the rest of the "ship's
papers"--such as the _Esmeralda's_ certificate of registry, the manifest
of the cargo, and her clearance from the custom-house officers at
Cardiff; when, all having answered to their names, with the exception of
the two invalids, Mr Ohlsen, and Harmer, the seaman, both of whom were
already in the long-boat, the skipper gave the word to pass down the
gangway, apportioning seven hands in all to the jolly-boat, under charge
of Mr Macdougall, and the remainder of our complement to the long-boat,
under his own care.

Including the invalids, we were seven-and-twenty souls in all--now
compelled to abandon our good ship, and trust to those two frail boats
to take us to the distant coast of Tierra del Fuego, of which we were
not yet even in sight; and it was with sad hearts that we went down the
side of this poor _Esmeralda_ for the last time, quitting what had been
our floating home for the two months that had elapsed since we left
England, for the perils we had encountered in her had only endeared her
the more to us!

Captain Billings was the last to abandon the ship; lingering not merely
until we had descended to the boats, seven in one and nineteen as yet
only in the other without him, but waiting while we settled ourselves
along the thwarts; when, turning round, he put his feet on the cleats of
the side ladder and came down slowly, looking up still at the old
vessel, as if loth to leave her in such an extremity.

The jolly-boat had been already veered astern on receiving her allotted
number, the long-boat only waiting alongside for the skipper, with a man
in the bows and another amidships, fending her off from the ship's side
with a couple of boat-hooks, so that the little barque should not dash
against the hull of the bigger one, now she was so loaded up--a
collision would have insured destruction to all in her, the huge billows
of the Southern Ocean rolling in at intervals, and raising her so high
aloft as to overtop the ship sometimes, and again carrying her down
right under the _Esmeralda's_ counter, thus making her run the risk of
being stove in every instant.

It was too perilous a proximity; so, as s