CHAPTER XX.
Steam tug-boats had not been introduced on the West Coast in the early part of 1865. Sailing vessels had oftentimes to wait a day or two, until the Nelson or some other coasting steamer came up, before they could cross the bar. One morning a steamer, the Lady Darling, anchored in the roadstead; a passenger by one of the sailing vessels had a whale-boat, which he lowered and went to the steamer, and soon filled up with passengers. People were so anxious to get on shore that they were quite heedless of the risk they ran in crossing the bar in an open boat—at all times a risky thing, owing to the blind rollers rising up unexpectedly. The day was beautifully fine, the sea unusually calm; in fact scarcely a ripple on the water. It soon got rumoured about that an open boat was making for the shore with the evident intention of crossing the bar, and a crowd soon collected on the beach. One man put up a handkerchief on the end of a stick, at the same time running down the beach northward, away from the bar, and signalling the steersman to steer that way. He did so. Everything went well until within half-a-mile of the shore, when a blind roller rose, the boat shot forward with lightning speed, and when the wave passed we saw the boat had capsized, and the passengers swimming for their lives. Two or three of them got on to the boat, but only to be knocked off by the next wave; several struck out for the shore. I noticed one poor fellow who got within a few yards of the beach; the backwater was too strong for him in his weak state, and he was drowned. Another, Ogilvy (the owner of the boat and steersman), who had hold of an oar, by which he kept himself afloat, got ashore senseless. The usual methods for restoring those apparently drowned were used on this occasion, and he eventually recovered. Six out of thirteen were drowned. The bodies were thrown up on the beach within a few hours of the accident. I saw them lying side by side in the lock-up, a melancholy sight it was; all young men cut off in the prime of life. One of the number was married. A day or two after the funeral took place; five bodies were placed in one dray, and that of the married man on another, the wife seated on a chair beside it, wended their way slowly through the busy town to the cemetery, where the burial service
