hem well
enough to be removed to a hospital. It was soon found
necessary to amputate both of the coloured man's legs, and
also some of his fingers. The captain had the soles of his
feet cut off; and he told me that he always regretted not
having the feet taken off altogether, as he had never been
free from suffering during all these years. He said the
doctor advised it, but that he himself was so anxious to
save them that he preferred to have the soles scraped to the
bone, hoping that the diseased parts would heal; "but," said
he with an air of sober melancholy, "they never have."

Long before this story of piercing sadness, and horror, and
heroism, and superb endurance was finished, I felt a big
lump in my throat, and every nerve of me was tingling with
emotion; and as I passed from the presence of this noble old
fellow and pondered over all he had so reluctantly and
modestly told me of himself, it made me conclude that I had
been holding converse with a hero! I have been obliged to
confine myself to a brief outline of this tale of shipwreck.
There are incidents of it too painful to relate, and I am
quite sure I am consulting the wishes of the narrator by
abstaining from going too minutely into detail. The main
facts are given, and they may be relied on as absolutely
true.

The seamen of the middle of the nineteenth century were
trained to be ingenious and resourceful in emergencies, and,
as a rule, they did not disgrace their training. If a
jib-boom was carried away, a mast sprung, or a yard
fractured, they had only to be told to have it fished. They
knew how to do this as well as their officers did, and would
not brook being instructed. If a mast was carried away they
regarded it as a privilege to obey the captain's
instructions to have jury masts rigged, and it is not an
exaggeration to say that astonishing feats of genius have
been done on occasions such as these.

In 1864 I was an apprentice aboard a brig bound from the
Tyne to the Baltic; Tynemouth Castle bore west 60 miles. A
strong north-west wind was blowing, and the sea was very
cross. A press of canvas was being carried. The second mate
being in charge, orders were given to take in the
foretopgallant sail. It was clewed up, and just as another
apprentice and myself were getting into the rigging to go up
and furl it one of the chain-plates of the maintopmast
backstays carried away. The maintopmast immediately snapped
and went over the side, dragging