Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/381

somewhat raised by seeing Lieutenant Harvey and Mr. Callam hoisting out a boat from one of the merchant ships to to come to the assistance of their distressed shipmates. They several times attempted to launch her through the surf, but being a very heavy boat, and the sea on the beach acting so powerfully against them, they could not possibly effect it, though assisted by nearly 100 of the merchant sailors and Portuguese peasants. Several men went upon rafts this day, made from pieces of the wreck, but not one soul reached the shore; the wind having shifted, and the current setting out, they were all driven to sea; among whom was our captain, who, about 3 P.M. went on the jib-boom with three seamen: anxious to save the remainder of the ship’s company, and too sanguine of getting safe ashore, he ventured upon the spar, saying, as he jumped into the sea, ‘My lads, I’ll save you all.’ In a few seconds he lost his hold of the jib-boom, which he could not regain: he drifted to sea, and perished. Such was also the fate of the three brave volunteers who chose to follow his fortune.

“The loss of our captain, who, until now, had animated the almost lifeless crew, as well as the noble exertions of Lieutenant Harvey and Mr. Callam, to launch the boat, not succeeding, every gleam of hope vanished, and we looked forward for certain death the ensuing night, not only from cold, hunger, and fatigue, but the expectation of the remaining part of the wreck going to pieces every moment. Had not the Apollo been a new and well-built ship, that small portion could never have resisted the waves and stuck so well together, particularly as all the after part from the chess-trees was gone, the starboard bow under water, the forecastle deck nearly perpendicular, the weight of the guns hanging to the larboard bulwark on the inside, and the bower and spare anchors on the outside, which it was not prudent to cut away, as they afforded resting places to a considerable number of men, there being only the fore-channel and cat-head where it was possible to live, and about which were stowed upwards of 150 persons; it being impracticable to continue any longer in the head, or upon the bowsprit, by reason of the breakers washing completely over them. The night drawing on, the wind increasing, with frequent showers of rain, and the forecastle being every instant expected to give way, when we must have all perished together, afforded a spectacle truly deplorable, the bare recollection of which even now makes me shudder. The piercing cries of the people this dismal night, whenever a sea came over them, which happened every two minutes, were pitiful in the extreme the water running down all over the body kept us continually wet: the remaining strength of every one was exerted for his individual safety. From the crowding so close together in so narrow a compass, and the want of something to moisten their mouths with, several pour wretches were suffocated, which frequently reminded me of the Black Hole; with this only difference, that these poor sufferers were con-