prise, to see
him lower himself into the boat, and drop her astern, virtually
abandoning all command of the ship! This vile example was followed by
Mr Stovin, who took possession of one of the quarter boats. The
greater part of the crew, and all the steerage and second-class
passengers, still remained in the burning ship, of which Mr Bell now
took the command. When the people saw the captain deserting them, they
rushed aft, some with piteous cries, exclaiming, "O captain dear, save
us! save us!" Others cursed him as a traitor for leaving them to their
fate; and I believe, had they known what he was about to do, they would
have torn him in pieces before they would have let him go. [See Note
1.] He shouted to them in return, that he was not going to desert them,
but that his presence was required in the boat. I have always held that
the captain should be the last man to quit the deck of his ship; and
every true seaman thinks the same, and would scorn to do otherwise.

"A pretty job, this is," observed Dick Derrick, who was working away at
the pumps close to me. "We were nearly squeezed to death by the ice a
few days ago, and now it seems we are to be roasted with fire. Are you
prepared for death, Peter?"

I replied that I would rather live.

"Then the sooner we begin to knock some sort of rafts together, to float
a few of these poor people, the better," he observed. "I'll just hint
the same to Mr Bell."

I saw him go up to Mr Bell, and, touching his hat, speak earnestly to
him.

"You are right, Derrick," remarked the second mate as he passed me. "We
must keep the passengers working at the pumps though, to the last, while
the crew build the rafts."

As soon as the plan was conceived, all hands set to work to collect
spars, and to knock away the fittings of the lower deck, the bulkheads,
and the bulwarks. We thus very soon formed three small rafts, each
capable of supporting thirty or forty people in calm weather--a very
small portion of the poor wretches on board.

Mr Bell urged the crew to continue their exertions, and not to launch
the rafts till the last moment. "We do not know where the rafts may
drive to; and as we are now in the usual track of ships bound to
America, our signal of distress may be seen, and we may be saved without
more risk," he observed, addressing several who seemed about to launch
one of the rafts. His words, however, had not much effect; for a few
minutes afterwards their fea