e side, and the moment she touched the water, the
old mate, with Charley and I, and the greater number of the men, leaped
into her. We were expecting the captain and the rest of the crew to
follow, when a heavy sea, with a terrific roar, came rolling up towards
us. We heard shrieks and cries for help from our shipmates. Both the
masts went by the board, the boat narrowly escaping being crushed by the
mainmast, and the brig instantly began to break up. We got out our
oars, and pulled back the distance we had drifted, shouting out to the
captain, and to any who might have remained on board, but no reply
reached us. Again and again we shouted louder than ever, still there
was no response. The old mate sat like one stupefied; but the
catastrophe his neglect had caused had had the effect of sobering him.
One of the men who was more intelligent than the rest, and often had
charge of the deck at sea in the place of a second mate, said that he
thought we had struck on the Rundle Stone, which is near the shore,
between Mount's Bay and the Land's End, though we ought to have been a
long way to the eastward of it.

We had hard work to keep our own near the wreck; but still we did not
like to pull away while there was a chance of picking up any of those
who might have remained on board. We did our best to keep our eyes on
it through the darkness, with the wind and rain and spray dashing in our
faces. Another huge sea came rolling on. The crashing and tearing of
the timbers reached our ears, and the water which washed round us was
covered with fragments of the wreck, among which we ran a great risk of
having the boat stove in; but no voice was heard, nor could we see any
one clinging to them. We had now to abandon all hope of saving any more
of our unfortunate shipmates, and had to think of our own safety. Just
as we had come to this resolve, another sea rolled towards the wreck,
and when it passed over not a fragment of her remained hanging together.
We were in a sad plight. None of us had saved more than the clothes we
had on our backs, and some of the watch below had not had time even to
put on all theirs. In getting into the boat I had lost my shoes, which
I thought a great misfortune, as my feet felt very cold, and I fancied
when I got on shore that I should not be able to walk. We bent manfully
to our oars, and tried to pull in for the shore; but the gale came down
stronger than ever on us, and we could not help b