pears that several poor wretches
were abandoned; when the Medusa was again found, fifty-two days after, it
was ascertained that the number of those, who had been abandoned, was
seventeen; which proves to us, that there were more than one hundred and
forty seven of us on the raft, and that it is more correct to fix the
number of the men at a hundred and fifty. It is said, that when the last
boat, which was the long boat, left the frigate, several men refused to
embark in her; the others were too much intoxicated to think of their
safety. A man of the name of Dales, one of the seventeen who remained on
board the frigate, deposed in the council, that fourteen men had left the
long boat, because they did not think it capable of carrying so many, and
that he, with two others hid themselves, that they might not be compelled
to go on board. We are ignorant of the depositions of his two companions.

What a sight was it to behold a multitude of wretches, who all wanted to
escape death, and all sought to save themselves, either in the boats or
upon the rafts! The frigate's ladder was insufficient for so many: some
threw themselves from the vessels, trusting to the end of a rope, which was
scarcely able to bear a man's weight; some fell into the sea, and were
recovered; what is surprising is, that amidst all this confusion, there was
not a single serious accident.

Though in so terrible a situation, on our fatal raft, we cast our eyes upon
the frigate, and deeply regretted this fine vessel, which, a few days
before, seemed to command the waves, which it cut through with astonishing
rapidity. The masts, which had supported immense sails, no longer existed,
the barricade was entirely destroyed: the vessel itself was cast on the
larboard quarter.

All the boats, after they had sheered off, proceeded in different manners,
as we shall afterwards relate; but the men on board, when they reached the
shore, had to contend with a thousand causes of destruction. We will first
exactly relate all the operations that were executed till the moment when
the raft was abandoned.

About seven o'clock, the signal for departure was given; four of the boats
stood out to sea, the raft was still along side of the frigate, where it
was moored: the captain's barge was under the bowsprit and the barge near
our machine, on which it had just embarked some men. At length we were
ordered to depart; but whether from a presentiment of what was to happen to
us,