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2 Assistant Surgeons 1 Clerk

These are called the "Gentlemen;" and they either mess together in the gun-room, || or in two divisions, in berths (rooms) on each side of the orlop-deck, ¶ in that part called the "cockpit."

The first or senior lieutenant, if he has held that rank seven years has 11. 108. per month. When a commander is on board, his pay is

231. 08. 4d. per month.

When the surgeon has served six years in that rank, he obtains an increase of pay of 18. per day up to ten years; from ten to twenty years, he has 14s. per day; and after twenty years' service, 188. per day.

The naval instructor has, besides, a bounty of 307., and 57. per annum from each of his pupils, which is deducted from their pay.

The carpenter is allowed 78. per month additional for tools. The gun-room is situated under the ward-room, and the ward-room under the captain's cabin, which is under the poop. These are tiers (or floors) of rooms lighted from the stern windows and side-ports.

The orlop deck is immediately beneath the lower tier of guns, and appropriated to the stowage of the cables, and also to various store-rooms. To that portion known as the cockpit the men wounded in battle are carried to the surgeon. In the midshipman's berth on the left-hand side of

VOL. I.

1 Seaman's Schoolmaster 1 Master at Arms

1 Ship's Cook

2 Ship's Corporals

1 Captain's Coxswain

9 Quarter Masters

3 Gunner's Mates

6 Boatswain's Mates

3 Captains of the Forecastle 1 Captain of the Hold

1 Coxswain of the Launch

I Sail-maker

1 Rope-maker

2 Carpenter's Mates *

1 Caulker

1 Armourer

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The above are called "First-class Petty Officers before the Mast." They mess indiscriminately amongst the crew, with the exception of the first three, who have a screened birth on the lower deck. 3 Captains of the Foretop 3 Captains of the Maintop 3 Captains of the Mast

3 Captains of the After-guard 1 Yeoman of the Signals

1 Coxswain of the Pinnace

1 Sailmaker's Mate

1 Caulker's Mate

2 Armourer's Mates 1 Cooper

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To these (including 125 marines) are added as many sailors as will make up the number of the crew to 650. The sailors are rated able, ordinary, or landmen, according to their ability. The able seamen, denominated A.B.'s, have 34s. per month, and are qualified to perform every part of a seaman's duty. The ordinaries are half seamen, who do not profess to steer, heave the lead, &c.; their pay is 26s. per month: and the landmen are persons who have only been a trip or two to sea, and not reared as mariners; their pay being 23s. per month. It is usual, however, for ships of this rate to carry considerably more boys than the number specified in the scale, particularly boys of the first class, from seventeen to twenty years of age; as they grow up, they are rated landmen,

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and afterwards ordinaries; but few attain to the rating of A.B. who have not been brought up to the sea from childhood.

There is no limitation as to the number of sailors in each class, so, of course, every commander endeavours to obtain as great a proportion of A.B.'s as possible; and upon his success in this respect depends the question of whether the ship is well or ill manned. It is by no means necessary, however, that the whole of a ship's crew shall be able seamen, because many of the duties can be performed very well by ordinaries, and even landmen. Boys are objectionable in ships of war, because the navy is not a good school to train them to seamanship; while they increase the number, and are equally expensive to maintain, (the only saving being in the difference of wages,) they add but little to the physical strength of the crew.

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The officers, warrant officers, young gentlemen, some of the petty officers, and the marines, are got together within a few days after the pendant is hoisted; the seamen are entered as they present themselves on board, and also at the rendezvous on Tower-hill, in London, which is always open for the reception of seamen who volunteer for a particular ship or for general service ¶. Sometimes houses are also opened in the large seaports; but this is rarely necessary, except when an increase is made to the number of men employed; for the generality of seamen, when discharged from one ship, find their way to another, preferring the treatment and comforts of the naval service to the usage they encounter in merchant vessels.

When a volunteer presents himself, he is questioned by the commanding officer as to his qualifications in seamanship. If he has served his apprenticeship in the regular manner, he is at once

presumed to be quite capable of an able seaman's duty, and obtains the rating of A.B. Good men generally stipulate, however, for petty officers' ratings; but these are reserved as long as possible, for the rigging of the ship affords sufficient test by which to determine who are the best entitled to them.

If a man has served in the navy before, he produces his certificate, of which the following is the form; and by this his character and capability are ascertained.

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Conduct Captain's
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1833

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30 May, 30 May, 3
1837
17 June, 17 July, 1 1
1837 1838

Good

Very good

*If a brevet major, 177. 10s. per month.

† After seven years, 107, 108. per month. Colour serjeants, 27. 14s. 1d. per month.

Sufficient space is left upon this certificate (which is of doubled parchment, and inclosed in a tin case) to enter the names of any other ships in which the man has served; and an inspection of the above will show that the items respecting Revenge have been taken from his oral testimony. In fact, at the period of his service in that ship, these forms (which were introduced not long since, by the late Vice-Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm,) did not exist.

The reverse of the certificate contains a very minute description of the man's person; such as age, stature, complexion, colour of hair and eyes, marks, wounds or scars; also his place of birth and usual residence; and if he has been discharged or invalided on account of any complaint or physical defect, such cause is noted thereon.

When the officer has satisfied himself as to the man's character and ability, he is handed over to the surgeon, by whom he is required to strip, in order that he might undergo a minute inspec. tion as to his physical condition. If any defects, however trifling, appear, or if he is more than forty-five years of age, he is at once rejected; but if passed by the doctor, he is entered on the books, and the clerk takes charge of his certificate, which is returned to him, filled up with the date of his servitude and the character he has acquired-such as "good," "very good," "excellent," &c., attested by his captain, and when discharged.

Seamen, owing to their habitual carelessness, very often lose their certificates; in which case, on giving them new ones, it is usual to take down their statement as to the ships they have already served in. As a register is made from the ship's books of every man's service, and preserved in the archives of the proper department at Somerset House, his claim for pension does not suffer by the loss of his certificate.

As soon as a candidate is accepted, he is placed in the starboard or larboard watch, and some station in the ship assigned him. He is at liberty to choose his own messmates, and the messes are formed of parties of twelve in each. Having made his choice, he can only change his mess once a month. This regulation is necessary to prevent trouble and confusion in the distribution of provisions. It is desirable that one or more of the petty officers should belong to each mess, but the selection of messmates is seldom interfered with by the officers. The mess tables are placed between the guns on the lower deck; the marines occupying those next the gunroom. The seamen's tables are from thence forward.

In most vessels of the class we are describing, the whole of those enumerated as the "Gentlemen" mess together in the gunroom. They usually elect the clerk, or one of the oldest of the mates, "caterer;" and, the ship's allowance of provisions being ample, a small contribution in aid thereof enables them to support a very good table, little inferior indeed to that of the ward-room. The usual subscription is about 25s. per month,* and this is applied to procure the necessary cooking utensils, crockery, glass, Capt.Hillier &c. &c., as well as vegetables, poultry, white sugar, condiments, Mackey and various other articles not included in the ship's allowance. The D. Price. midshipmen are not permitted to carry live stock to sea, and thereAlexander fore must put up with salt meat, except in harbour; but in every other Milne. respect a provident caterer will manage, with the above subscription, to maintain a comfortable mess. The oldsters, such as the mates, second master, assistant surgeons, and some of the midshipmen, take their allowance of grog and wine, and also appropriate the youngsters' share, assuring them it is not good for their health.

§ After fourteen years' service, 17. 12s. 1d. per month; and (if enlisted

prior to 14th January, 1823,) from seven to fourteen years, 11. 9s. 9d. per

month.

After fourteen years' service, 1. 48. 1d.; and (if enlisted prior to January 24, 1823,) from seven to fourteen years, 11. 1s. 9d.

Men who enter for general service are available for any ship or station whereon required.

* In some ships the mess-subscription is more, and there is always an entrance (generally five pounds,) which is returned to a member leaving to join another ship.

In harbour, it is also usual for these oldsters to drink their wine, which they are enabled to procure free of duty. They have a steady man appointed to act as steward; and he has a cook, and perhaps a marine, to assist him. The meals in the gun-room are served at the same time as the 'ship's company generally; the hour of breakfast being eight o'clock, dinner at noon.

The "Officers" mess in the ward-room, and maintain a greater profusion and variety on their mess-table, at sea particularly, owing to their being permitted to carry live stock-sheep, pigs, and poultry. The subscription is generally about 45s. per month,* but this is independent of wine, which is supplied duty free. Members of the ward-room mess have the option of taking their wine or not; the allowance to those who do is half a bottle, and if they require an extra quantity, it is charged to such as remain at table at a regulated price.

One, sometimes two, gentlemen from the gun-room are invited daily to dinner in the ward-room, and the guest is always placed at the left hand of the president, and treated with marked attention. In harbour, to avoid the inconvenience of having strangers continually on board, one day in the week (generally Thursday) is set apart for the purpose; and on this day strangers from the shore or from other ships are invited, and better fare than ordinary provided. The purser or one of the marine officers is generally appointed caterer of the ward-room mess; and the usual dinner-hour at sea is two or half-past two o'clock, when the members are assembled by the drum and fife to the tune of "The Roast Beef of Old England." Naval messes cannot make a display equal to the messes of regiments; because not only are the officers subject to constant changes, but the ships are kept in commission and the members held together for comparatively short periods. For these reasons no great expense can be incurred for linen, glass, china, table ornaments, or plate; the profusion of which, accumulated for years in military messes, gives to the establishments an appearance not inferior to what the wealthiest of our nobility can display. In ships of war, every officer is expected to provide a couple of silver spoons and forks, and these form the whole of the mess plate; each member also furnishes a clean table-cloth in his turn, and this is the amount of the mess-table linen. It would be desirable that some other articles of plate, &c. should be furnished by the government, such being the case in foreign navies, the officers paying a trifle for the use of them; for a handsome display has a very great effect on foreigners, and in this respect our ships suffer in comparison with those of rival nations.

We have alluded to a subscription for wine, which is necessary, notwithstanding that each person on board is allowed a portion of wine, spirits, or beer, described in the scheme; but the ship's allowance is never produced at the ward-room table: that, with other articles of provisions not drawn from the purser, being paid for at a regulated price, and the assets thrown into the mess-fund. In fact, any person on board is at liberty to leave whatever portion of his allowance he thinks proper undrawn, and receive payment in lieu.

There is another matter in which naval messes suffer in comparison with the military. By long-established regulation, the officers of the navy and army are allowed their wine duty-free. When the article is purchased from a wine-merchant, he becomes entitled to the drawback, upon the production of an officer's certificate: but this practice was found to be attended with inconvenience on shore, and some years back, his late Majesty, George the Fourth, assigned a certain sum per annum to each regimental mess, and to the engineers, artillery, and marines, in compensation for the

Entrance ten guineas, returned as in the gun-room mess.

duty, which from thenceforth was paid, as is usual with the public, in the purchase of their wine. This allowance is a liberal one; it considerably exceeds the duty of all wine consumed, and the excess makes a handsome item in addition to the mess-fund. Moreover, as many regiments are serving abroad, where no duties exist upon wine, the whole of the allowance is so appropriated. It is strange that this indulgence has not been extended to naval officers, more particularly as they labour under other disadvantages which do not apply to their military brethren; the captain particularly, who, by the customs of the service, maintains at his individual expense a table for the reception of several of his officers every day; whilst the colonel of a regiment has no such obligation, his mess expenses being little more than the youngest ensign's. In our next we shall describe the routine of the captain's establishment.

ROBERT BURNS.

WHAT bird in beauty, flight, or song
Can with the bard compare,
Who sang as sweet, and soar'd as strong
As ever child of air?

His plume, his note, his form, could Burns
For whim or pleasure change:
He was not one but all by turns,

With transmigration_strange.

The blackbird, oracle of spring,
When flow'd his moral lay;
The swallow, wheeling on the wing,
Capriciously at play.

The humming-bird, from bloom to bloom,
Inhaling heavenly balm;

The raven, in the tempest's gloom,
The halcyon, in the calm.

In "Auld Kirk Alloway," the owl,
At witching time of night;
By "Bonnie Doon," the earliest fowl
That caroll'd to the light.

He was the wren amidst the grove,
When in his homely vein;
At Bannockburn the bird of Jove,
With thunder in his train

The woodlark, in his mournful hours;

The goldfinch, in his mirth; The thrush, a spendthrift of his powers, Enrapturing heaven and earth.

The swan, in majesty and grace,
Contemplative and still;

But roused,-no falcon, in the chase,
Could, like his satire, kill.

The linnet, in simplicity,

In tenderness the dove; But more than all besides was he The nightingale in love!

Oh! had he never stoop'd to shame,
Nor lent a charm to vice,

How had devotion loved to name
That bird of paradise!

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

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THERE are few classes of men more exposed to hardships and disaster, than those employed in the coasting trade of New England, particularly in the winter season. So great are their risks of property and life, at that time of the year, that it is the custom of many to dismantle their vessels and relinquish their employment till the spring; although they can poorly afford this period of cessation from labour, and consequent loss of income. Among those engaged in conveying fuel from the forests of Plymouth and Sandwich to the Boston market, there are some who continue their business through the winter. But they incur great hazards, and sometimes meet with most disastrous issues. One of these events it is my present purpose to relate. The particulars I have ascertained from eye-witnesses of a part of the scene; and from one who was a personal partaker of the whole. In the winter of 1826-7, the weather was uncommonly severe for some weeks, during which the land was covered with snow, and the shores were encased in ice. It was a boisterous, cold and gloomy season. From my dwelling-house there was a plain view of the little harbour of Sandwich, in which the few vessels employed in the business before named, shelter themselves, and receive their lading of wood to be conveyed to Boston. Some of these were already dismantled for the winter; others were laden, and had been waiting a relaxation of the weather, in order to effect a passage. In that region a period of severe cold is commonly succeeded by rain. The north-west wind which brings "the cold out of the north," gives place to a wind from a southerly point, which comes loaded with a copious vapour, and pours it down like a deluge. It so took place on the occasion to which I refer. Rain from the south-east had continued for two or three days, accompanied with tempestuous wind and occasional thunders and lightnings. It had dissolved much of the snow; but had filled the roads and low and level places with water. The ground, being hard frozen, retained the water on its surface; and this, with the remaining snow half dissolved, rendered the aspect of nature cheerless, and the moving from place to place uncomfortable. About noon, on the sixteenth of January, the rain ceased, and the weather being comparatively warmer than it had been, gave some prospect of a few days in which business might be done.

In the afternoon of that day, perceiving that there were some dry places on which the foot might be safely set, I embraced the opportunity to walk forth; glad to inhale the fresh air and meet the faces of men, after having been so long confined by the weather. The wind was comparatively soft, but gusty; the air was loaded with vapours, and, in the higher regions, clouds of all shapes and varying densities, were seen rolling over each other in different directions, as if obeying no guidance of the wind, but pursuing each an inward impulse of its own.

While doubting, for a moment, which way to walk, I beheld, on an eminence, not far distant, a solitary individual, with his face towards the harbour, seeming to be deeply intent on something there taking place. An impulse of curiosity moved me to approach him, when I discovered him to be an old experienced master in the coasting trade.

I accosted him in the customary style of salutation, but he answered me not a word. His eye was intently following the motions of a small schooner, loaded with wood, which was slowly moving toward the mouth of the harbour. My own eye pursued the motion of his, till the Almira (the schooner's name) had rounded the point, forming the west side of the harbour, and hoisting her sails, stood towards the north. As soon as he saw this, he lifted his hands, and exclaimed, "He has gone out of this harbour, and he will never come into it again!" I remarked that the wind was southerly, and of course fair. But he paid no attention to the remark. He again lifted his hands, repeated his exclamation, and, with a sorrowful countenance, departed.

I stood awhile observing the progress of the schooner. It was not very rapid. The wind was vacillating, and shifting round about her, as if uncertain in what direction to establish itself; and the vessel seemed as if conscious of the uncertainty of the wind, and therefore, undecided as to the position of her sails and

rudder.

The master of the Almira was Josiah Ellis, a man of between fifty and sixty years of age. He was one whose gigantic frame

seemed able to abide the fiercest "pelting of the pitiless storm." He had so often encountered the violence of the elements, and had so often conquered them by the simple energy of a vigorous constitution, that he took little care to guard himself against them. Reckless of what was to come, if he were sufficiently clad and armed for the present state of winds and seas, he thought not of what might be their condition, or his necessities for meeting them to-morrow. When, therefore, he felt a southerly wind and a favouring tide, he launched out for his voyage, with no crew but himself, his son Josiah, and John Smith, a seaman; little regardful that winter was still at its depth, and that an hour might produce the most perilous changes.

Thus prepared and manned, the Almira held on her way with a slow progress for several hours. The wind was changeful, but continued to blow from the southerly quarter, till they had passed Monimet Point, a jutting headland about twelve miles from Sandwich harbour, which makes out from the south-easterly side of Plymouth, some miles into the sea. It is a high rocky promontory, dangerous to approach; which interferes so much with the passage of vessels from Sandwich to Boston, that, while compelled to avoid it, they yet go as near to it as safety will admit. Beyond this, on its north-westerly side, is a bay, at the bottom of which is Plymouth harbour; a safe place when you are once within it; but so guarded with narrow isthmuses on the north and south as to render the entrance difficult, and, in tempestuous weather, dangerous. They passed Monimet Point about ten o'clock, and, having Plymouth light for a landmark, were working slowly across the outer part of the bay; but under the discouragements of a dark night, a murky atmosphere, "a sky foul with clouds," and a wind so varying, that no dependence could be placed on it for a moment. For some hours, they seemed to make no progress; and were rather waiting in hope for some change, than fearing one. The master himself was at the helm, Smith was walking to and fro upon the deck, occasionally adjusting a rope, or altering the position of a sail, and the younger Ellis had lain down on a bench in the cabin. Suddenly the master's voice was heard, calling all hands in haste. His little crew hurried towards him, and looking towards the north-west they saw a clear, bright, and cold sky, about half up from the horizon; the clouds were hastening away towards the south-east, as if to avoid some fearful enemy, and new stars were appearing at each successive moment in the northern and western region of the heavens.

Beautiful as this sight was, in the present circumstances it was only appalling. It indicated a rapid change to severe cold, the consequences of which must be terrible. All was immediately bustle and agitation with the scanty crew. The first impulse was

to

run into Plymouth for shelter. But unfortunately that harbour lay directly in the eye of the wind, and there was little encouragement that they could make their way into it. They tacked once or twice, in hopes to attain the entrance, but having little sea-room, and the wind becoming every moment more violent, and the cold more severe, they were constantly foiled; till in one of the sudden motions of the vessel, coming with disadvantage to the wind, the main boom was wrenched from the mast. The halyards were immediately let go, and the mainsail came down, crashing and crackling as it fell, for it had already been converted to a sheet of ice. To furl it, or even to gather it up, in the sea; a burden and a hindrance on all their subsequent was impossible. It lay a cumbrous ruin on the deck, and partly operations.

Their next resource was to lay the vessel to the wind. This they effected by bracing their frozen fore-sail fore and aft, and loosing the jib. It was not in their power to haul it down. Its motion in the wind soon cracked its covering of ice, and in so doing, rent the substance of the sail itself. It was subsequently torn in pieces. The vessel now obeyed her helm, came up to the wind, and so remained.

While engaged in these operations, the anxious seamen had little opportunity to observe the heavens. But when they now looked up, behold, the whole sky was swept clear of clouds, as if by magic! The stars shone with unusual brilliancy. The moon had risen before the change of the wind, but had been invisible on account of the density of the clouds. She now appeared in nearly full-orbed lustre. But moon and stars seemed to unite in shedding that stern brightness which silvers an ice rock, and appears to increase its coldness. The brightness of the heavens was like the light of the countenance of a hard philosopher's un

gracious deity, clear, serene, and chilling cold. They turned towards the wind, and it breathed upon their faces cuttingly severe, charged not only with the coldness of the region whence it came, but also with the frozen moisture of the atmosphere, already converted into needles of ice.

From the care of their vessel, they began to look to that of their persons. They had been wet with the moisture of the air, in the earlier part of the night, and drenched with the spray which the waves had dashed over them during their various labours. This was now congealed upon them. Their hair and garments were hung with icicles, or stiffened with frost, and they felt the nearer approach of that stern power which chills and freezes the heart. But, in looking for proper defences against this adversary of life, it was ascertained that the master had taken with him no garments, but such as were suited for the softer weather in which he had sailed. The outer garments of the son had been laid on the deck, and, in the confusion of the night, had gone overboard. Smith, likewise, had forgotten precaution, and was wholly unprovided against a time like this. So that here were three men, in a small schooner, with most of their sails useless encumbrances, spars and rigging covered with ice, themselves half frozen, exposed to the severest rigours of a winter's sky and winter's sea, and void of all clothing, save such as was suited for moderate weather on the land.

In this emergency, they sought the cabin, and with much difficulty succeeded in lighting a fire; over which they hovered till vital warmth was in some measure restored. On returning to the deck, they found their perils fearfully increasing. The dampness and the spray which had stiffened and loaded their hair and garments, had in like manner congealed in great quantities about the rigging, and on the deck, and over the sails. The spray, as it dashed over the vessel, froze wherever it struck; several inches of ice had gathered on deck, small ropes had assumed the appear ance of cables, and the folds of the shattered mainsail were nearly filled. The danger was imminent, that the accumulating weight of the ice would sink the schooner; yet all means of relieving her from the increasing load were utterly out of their power.

It being now impossible either to proceed on the voyage, or to gain shelter in Plymouth, there was no alternative but to endeavour to get back to their own harbour. It was difficult to make the heavy and encumbered vessel yield to her helm. As to starting a rope, the accumulated ice rendered it impossible. Nevertheless, by persevering effort, they got her about; and as wind and tide set together that way, they cleared Monimet Point, and came round into Barnstaple Bay once more. They were now but a few miles from their own homes. Even in the moonlight, as they floated along, they could discern the land adjacent to the master's dwelling-house; and they earnestly longed for the day, in hopes that some of their friends might discover their condition, and send them relief. It was a long, perilous, and wearisome night. The cold continued increasing every hour. The men were so chilled by it, and so overcome with exertion, that, after they had rounded the last-named point, they could make but little effort for preserving their ship. They beheld the ice accumulate upon the deck, the rigging, and sails; they felt the vessel becoming more and more unmanageable, and their own danger growing more imminent every moment; yet were wholly unable to avert the peril, or hinder the increase of its cause. with them,

'As if the dead should feel The icy worm around them steal, And shudder as the reptiles creep, To revel o'er their rotting sleep; Without the power to scare away The cold consumers of their clay.'

It was

Morning at last began to dawn. But in its first grey twilight they could only perceive that they had been swept by the land they desired, the home they loved. Yet not so far but that, in the dim distance, they could see a smoke from their chimney top, reminding them of the dear objects of their affections, from whom they were thus fearfully separated, and between whose condition and their own so dreadful a contrast existed. They looked between themselves and the shore, saw the impossibility of receiving assistance from their friends; and abandoning their vessel to fate, sought only to save themselves from perishing of cold.

Their last remaining sail had now yielded to the violence of the blast, and its accumulated burden of ice. It hung in shattered and heavy remnants from the mast. The vessel, left to its own

guidance, turned nearly broadside to the wind, and floated rapidly along, as if seeking the spot on which it might be wrecked. They passed the three harbours of Sandwich, that of Barnstaple and Yarmouth, either of which would have afforded them safe shelter, could they have entered it. But to direct their course was impossible. With hearts more and more chilled as they drifted by these places of refuge, which they could see, but could not reach, they floated onward to their fate.

From a portion of the town of Dennis, there makes out northerly into the sea a reef of rocks. On the westerly side o this, there is a sandy beach, on which a vessel of tolerable strength might be cast without being destroyed; on the easterly side there is a cove, having a similar shore, which is a safe harbour from a north-west wind. But the reef itself is dangerous.

In the early part of the day, January seventeenth, an inhabitant of Dennis beheld from an eminence this ill-fated schooner, floating down the bay, broadside towards the wind; her sails dismantled, covered with ice, gleaming like a spectre in the cold beams of a winter's morning. He raised an alarm and hastened to the shore, where he was shortly joined by such of the inhabitants as the sudden emergency allowed to collect. Many were seamen themselves; they knew the dangers and the hearts of seamen, and were desirous to render such assistance as they might.

The strange vessel was seen rapidly approaching the reef of rocks, before named. She was so near, that those on land could look on board, but they saw no man. They could perceive nothing but the frozen mass of the disordered sails; the with ice, to thrice their proper size, and objects so mingled in conropes encrusted fusion, and so heaped over with ice, that even experienced eyes could not distinguish whether these were frozen human beings, or the common fixtures on a vessel's deck. Thinking, however, that there might be living men on board, who, if they could be roused, might change the direction of the schooner, so as to avoid the approaching death shock, they raised a shout, clear, shrill, and alarming. Whether it was heard they knew not. But very soon, the three men emerged from the cabin, and exhibited themselves on deck; shivering, half clad, meeting at every step a dashing spray, frozen ere it fell, and exposed to a cutting wind, as if they

were

all naked feeling, and raw life.'

round the rocks; there's a safe harbour on the leeward side.' 'Put up your helm,' exclaimed an aged master, make sail, and Lest his words might not be heard, he addressed himself to their eyes; and by repeated motions, wavings, signs, and signals, well known to seamen, warned them of the instant danger, and pointed the direction in which they might avoid it. No movement on board was seen in consequence of this direction and these signals. Ellis and his two men felt that such effort would be unavailing, and did not even attempt it.

It was a moment of thrilling interest to both spectators and sufferers. The difference of a few rods, on either side, would have carried the vessel to safety and preserved the lives of the men. The straight-forward course led to instant destruction. Yet that straight-forward course the schooner, with seeming obstinacy, pursued, as if drawn by mysterious fascination; and hurried toward the rocks by a kind of invincible desire. Near and more near she came, with her encumbered bulk, till she was lifted as a dead mass on a powerful wave, and thrown at full length upon the fatal ledge. The men on board, when they felt the rising of their vessel for her last fatal plunge, clung instinctively to such fixtures as they could grasp, and in solemn silence waited the event. In silence they endured the shock of her striking; felt themselves covered not now with spray, but with the partially frozen substance of the waves themselves, which made a highway across the deck, filled the cabin, and left them no place of retreat, but the small portion of the quarter abaft the binnacle, and a little space forward near the windlass. To the former place they retreated, as soon as they recovered from the shock, and there they stood, drenched, shivering, and ready to perish; expecting at every moment the fabric under their feet to dissolve; and feeling their powers of life becoming less and less adequate to sustain the increasing intensity of cold.

"We will make an effort to save them;' said the agonised spectators of the scene. A boat was procured, and manned by a hardy crew, resolved to risk their lives for the salvation of their imperilled, although unknown fellow men. The surf ran heavy, and was composed of that kind of ice-thickened substance, called technically sludge; a substance much like floating snow. Through this she

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