fourth great sea came tumbling in on us. We all thought that it would
prove our destruction; so did the captain. `Good-bye, my lads,
good-bye!' he exclaimed. `God have mercy on us all!' On came the
breaker, and for a moment we were all under it. When it cleared away,
we were still holding on.

"Directly afterwards the engineer gave a shout of joy. `See what
Providence has sent us!' he cried out, as he held up a large pair of
blacksmith's pincers which that very sea we thought would destroy us had
washed on to the boiler. `God intends us to save our lives,' he added;
for he was a pious man, and always acknowledged whence all blessings
come to us. We set to work manfully with the pincers, and soon forced
off enough of the top of the boiler to let us all creep in. We felt
that it was firmly fixed on the rock, and here we were much more
sheltered than before from the sea. Hunger and cold next began to tell
on us. We had not before had time to feel either. One of our men had
an apple in his pocket. He handed it to the captain. `There, captain,'
said he, `what is sent to one is sent to all. Serve it out, if you
please, among us: if any one has a quid in his pouch, or a bit of
biscuit, let him do the same!' We all felt in our pockets, but could
find nothing to eat; so the captain took the apple, and, cutting it into
seven bits, each took one, and munched away at it as long as it would
stay in our mouths. All the time we were looking out anxiously for a
sail, but nothing could we see but the dark, tumbling, foaming breakers
around us. Not even the rock where our companions had got could we see.
Noon passed, hour after hour crept by after it, the horrors of another
night threatened us, and we began to give way to despair. Some of us
talked of giving up, and dropping into the sea. The captain rebuked the
grumblers sternly. `You heard what the engineer said, my lads: "God
intends to save our lives," and I feel now he was right.' Scarcely had
he spoken when the engineer shouted out, `A sail! A sail!' We all
looked out eagerly. There was a fishing-boat standing towards us. In
half an hour she had hove-to to leeward of the wreck. Her brave crew
lowered their sail and pulled in towards us: but they could not venture
very near, and it was no easy matter to get on board. All we could do
was to wait till the seas washed over us, and then one by one we plunged
in; and they carried us clear of the rocks, which w