and others died in dreadful
agonies.

Burning thirst drove some mad, and several leaped overboard in their
delirium. Many died where they lay, on the deck; women and several poor
children quickly sunk for want of water. No sooner had the breath
departed from the body, than we were obliged to throw them overboard, as
the corpses lay in our way as we hurried about the decks. I forgot to
mention that there was a Romish priest on board, Father Slattery by
name. He was a coarse, uneducated man, but the influence he exercised
over the poor people was very great; and I must do him the justice to
say, that in this instance he exercised it for a good purpose, in
endeavouring to calm the fears of his followers, and in affording them
the offices of their religion. From the moment the danger became
apparent, he went among them confessing them and absolving them from
their sins, and giving them such other consolation as he had to offer;
but this did not seem to have any great effect, for the moment he left
them, they began to howl and shriek as loud as ever. As to attempting
to help themselves, that seemed far from their thoughts. Few of them
could be induced to work at the pumps, or to assist in building the
rafts. Yet, miserable as was their condition, the love of life appeared
stronger in them than in the English.

When the captain dropped astern in the long-boat, there was a general
rush to follow him; and I remember seeing two girls lower themselves
down by ropes over the taffrail, where they hung, their feet in the
water, entreating to be taken in. "Oh, captain, dear, sure you won't
let us be drowned now!" they exclaimed in piteous accents. For some
time those in the long-boat were deaf to their entreaties, and I thought
the girls would have lost their hold and have been drowned, for they had
no strength left to haul themselves on board again. Feeling that their
destruction was inevitable if they were not rescued, I slipped a running
bowline knot over the rope to which one of them was hanging, and then
gliding down, I passed it over her shoulders. I was up on deck again in
a moment, and hauled her up, though I must own she did not like my
interference. The other girl let go her hold, and would have been
drowned, had she not been caught as she floated past the boat, when she
was taken in.

But I could scarcely have believed that human nature could become so
depraved, as an instance I witnessed with my own eyes