ock. It was a work of no little danger to the
poor creatures, but we at last got them all safe off, and with many a
prayer watched them till they reached the rock. We had another boat,
and there were fourteen of us remaining on the wreck. We all got into
her, but we instantly saw that thus crowded she would be swamped before
she could reach the shore. `Never mind, my fine fellows, I'll stay by
the wreck!' exclaimed the captain, jumping on board again. `Who'll
follow me?'

"`I'll stay by you, captain,' said I; and five others said the same.
The rest shoved off, and reached the rock in safety, but the sea was too
high to allow the boat to return. Then we seven souls were left on the
wreck, which was every moment breaking up beneath our feet. The
after-part of the vessel was soon completely gone--then we retreated
forward; then the forecastle--that soon began to break up, and we had to
hold on amidships. We tried to keep up each other's spirits by telling
how seamen had often been preserved in worse situations even than ours,
and most of us did not cease to pray to God to save us. The sea, after
we returned on board the wreck, got up even more than before.

"At last a sea, still heavier than the rest, came rolling towards us.
`Hold on! Hold on, my lads, for your lives!' shouted our brave captain;
but in a minute there was scarcely anything to hold on to. He himself
was carried away some fathoms from the wreck. Our situation was bad
enough, but it did not make us forget our captain. We would have done
anything to help him, but there was not a rope we could lay hold of to
heave to him. By God's mercy he had on a life-belt, and he got hold of
a piece of plank. Thus he kept afloat, and, working away with his feet,
he was able once more to reach the wreck. His return--it seemed almost
to life--cheered us up not a little. No long time, however, passed
before another sea struck the fragments to which we clung, knocking them
all to pieces, and sending us to float alone on the waves. One part
only of the wreck remained above the water--it was the boiler. We all
swam back to it, and clung on as well as we could; but we saw that, what
with the cold and the sea, which kept breaking over us, we should soon
be washed off again. `If we could but get inside the boiler, we might
find some shelter,' said the captain; but, try all we could, we could
not make a hole big enough to get through. We were almost in despair.
A