he
masts and rigging, forming one general conflagration, that illumined the
heavens to an immense distance, and was strongly reflected by several
objects on board the brig. The flags of distress, hoisted in the
morning, were seen for a considerable time waving amid the flames, until
the masts to which they were suspended successively fell like stately
steeples over the ship's side. At last, about half-past one o'clock in
the morning, the devouring element having communicated to the magazine,
the explosion was seen, and the blazing fragments of the once
magnificent _Kent_ were instantly hurried, like so many rockets, high
into the air;[11] leaving, in the comparative darkness that succeeded,
the deathful scene of that disastrous day floating before the mind like
some feverish dream.

Shortly afterwards, the brig, which had been gradually making sail, was
running at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour towards the nearest
port. I would here endeavour to render my humble tribute of admiration
and gratitude to that gallant and excellent individual, who, under God,
was undoubtedly the chief instrument of our deliverance; if I were not
sensible that testimony has been already borne to his heroic and humane
efforts, in a manner much more commensurate with, and from quarters
reflecting infinitely greater honour upon his merits, than the feeble
expressions of them which I should be able to record.[12] I trust you
will keep in mind that Captain Cook's generous intentions and exertions
must have proved utterly unavailing for the preservation of so many
lives, had they not been most nobly and unremittingly supported by those
of his mate and crew, as well as of the numerous passengers on board his
brig. While the former, only eight in number, were usefully and
necessarily employed in working the vessel, the sturdy Cornish miners
and Yorkshire smelters, on the approach of the different boats, took
their perilous stations on the chains, where they put forth the great
muscular strength with which Heaven had endowed them, in dexterously
seizing, at each successive heave of the sea, on some of the exhausted
people, and dragging them up on deck.

Nor did their kind assistance terminate there. They and the gentlemen
connected with them cheerfully opened their ample stores of clothes and
provisions, which they liberally dispensed to the naked and famished
sufferers; they surrendered their beds to the helpless women and
children, and seem