e Great Crow is even with the
water's edge there will be twenty-one feet of water on the bar, when the
second point appears there will be sixteen, and when the Crow's Foot is
visible there will be ten feet only. These are the sort of particulars
which a good coast pilot has to keep in his memory, with the appearance
of the numberless landmarks on the shore, and their distances one from
the other.

As we drew near the entrance of the Sound, through which if we passed we
hoped all our misfortunes would end, the weather came on to be very
thick again, so that we could scarcely see a dozen yards ahead. Still
the mate seemed so sure of the passage that we steered on without fear.

"Are you certain, sir, that we are heading in for the right channel?"
asked Wilson, the man I before spoke of, looking round over his shoulder
at the mass of foam which he saw leaping up just ahead of us. "Round
with her! round with her, lads!" he shouted, "this isn't the channel."

"All right, all right," persisted the old mate. But it was all wrong.
A sea came roiling up, and hove us in among a mass of rocks over which
the breakers dashed with terrific fury. In vain we endeavoured to pull
round. Over went the boat, and we were all thrown here and there,
shrieking in vain for aid, among the foaming mass of broken waters. I
struck out to keep my head above water if I could, and in another
instant found myself hove against a steep rock to which I clung with all
the strength of despair. I had thought the loss of my shoes a great
misfortune. I now found it the cause of my preservation. Had not my
feet been naked, I never could have clung to the slippery rock, or freed
my legs from the tangled seaweed which clung round them. I struggled
on--now a sea almost tore me off, and then I made a spring, and
scrambled and worked my way up, not daring to look back to watch the
following wave, or to observe what had become of my companions. At
length I reached the top of the rock. It seemed an age to me, but I
believe it was not a minute from the time I first grasped hold of the
rock till I was in comparative safety. Then I looked round for my
companions in misfortune. Dreadful was the sight which met my eyes.
There they were, still struggling in the waves--now touching some
slippery rock, and hoping to work their way on to where I was, and then
borne back again by the hungry sea. In vain they struggled. I could
afford them no help. One by one