they are sometimes run into
by ships in foggy weather.

The _Gull_ lightship, above referred to, occupies a peculiar and
interesting position. Being in the very centre of all the shipping
which passes through the Downs, she has frequent narrow escapes, and has
several times been damaged by collisions. The marvel is that,
considering her position, she does not oftener "come to grief." She
also signals for the Ramsgate lifeboat, by means of guns and rockets,
when a ship is observed by her crew to have got upon the dreaded Goodwin
Sands.

We had the pleasure of spending a week on board of the _Gull_ lightship
not long ago, and one night witnessed a very stirring scene of calling
out the lifeboat. We shall conclude this subject by quoting the
following letter, which we wrote at the time, giving a detailed account
of it.

RAMSGATE, MARCH 26, 1870.
The eye-witness of a battle from an unusual point of view may, without
presumption, believe that he has something interesting to tell. I
therefore send you an account of what I saw in the _Gull_ lightship, off
the Goodwin Sands, on the night of Thursday last, when the _Germania_,
of Bremen, was wrecked on the South-Sand-Head. Having been an
inhabitant of the _Gull_ lightship for a week, and cut off from
communication with the shore for several days, I have been unable to
write sooner.

Our never-ending warfare with the storm is well known. Here is one
specimen of the manner in which it is carried on.

A little before midnight on Thursday last (the 24th), while I was
rolling uneasily in my "bunk," contending with sleep and sea-sickness,
and moralising on the madness of those who choose "the sea" for a
profession, I was roused--and sickness instantly cured--by the watch on
deck suddenly shouting down the hatchway to the mate, "_South-Sand-Head_
light is firing, sir, and sending up rockets." The mate sprang from his
"bunk," and was on the cabin floor before the sentence was well
finished. I followed suit, and pulled on coat, nether garments, and
shoes, as if my life depended on my own speed. There was unusual need
for clothing, for the night was bitterly cold. A coat of ice had formed
even on the salt-water spray which had blown into the boats. On gaining
the deck, we found the two men on duty actively at work, the one loading
the lee gun, the other adjusting a rocket to its stick. A few hurried
questions from the mat