Thames once broke adrift in a heavy gale.
She managed to bring up again with her spare anchor, but did not dare to
show her light, being out of her proper place, and therefore, a false
guide. The consequence was that eight vessels, which were making for
the channel, and counted on seeing her, went on the sands and were lost
with nearly all hands."

"If that be so it were better to have lighthouses, I think, than
lightships," said Stanley.

"No doubt it would, where it is possible to build 'em," replied Jim,
"but in some places it is supposed to be impossible to place a
lighthouse, so we must be content with a vessel. But even lighthouses
are are not perfectly secure. I know of one, built on piles on a
sand-bank, that was run into by a schooner and carried bodily away.
Accidents will happen, you know, in the best regulated families; but it
seems to me that we don't hear of a floating-light breakin' adrift once
in half a century--while, on the other hand, the good that is done by
them is beyond all calculation."

The young men relapsed into silence, for at that moment another fierce
gust of wind threw the ship over almost on her beam-ends. Several of
the male passengers came rushing on deck in alarm, but the captain
quieted them, and induced them to return to the cabin to reassure the
ladies, who, with the children, were up and dressed, being too anxious
to think of seeking repose.

It takes courts of inquiry,--formed of competent men, who examine
competent witnesses and have the counsel of competent seamen,--many days
of anxious investigation to arrive at the precise knowledge of the when,
how, and wherefore of a wreck. We do not, therefore, pretend to be able
to say whether it was the fault of the captain, the pilot, the man at
the lead, the steersman, the look-out, or the weather, that the good
ship Wellington met her doom. All that we know for certain is, that she
sighted the southern light-vessel some time before midnight during the
great gale, that she steered what was supposed to be her true course,
and that, shortly after, she struck on the tail of the sands.

Instantly the foremast went by the board, and the furious sea swept over
the hull in blinding cataracts, creating terrible dismay and confusion
amongst nearly all on board.

The captain and first mate, however, retained their coolness and
self-possession. Stanley and Jim also, with several of the officers on
board, were cool and self-possessed,