r.
Rogers and Mr. Brimer, succeeded; of the others, some shared the fate
which they had apprehended, and others perished in their efforts to
get into the cavern. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Brimer both reached it,
however, and scrambled up the rock, on narrow shelves of which they
fixed themselves. Mr. Rogers got so near his friend, Mr. Meriton, as
to exchange mutual congratulations with him. A warm friendship,
indeed, subsisted between these two gentlemen; they had made a long
and painful voyage together, in another Indiaman, where they survived
an uncommon mortality by which the crew were visited. They returned to
England, and an interval of only twenty-five days elapsed, before they
again embarked in the Halsewell.

Mr. Rogers on gaining this station, was so nearly exhausted, that had
his exertions been protracted only a few minutes longer, he must have
sunk under them. He was now prevented from joining Mr. Meriton, by at
least twenty men between them, none of whom could move without the
imminent peril of his life.

They found that a very considerable number of the crew, seamen, and
soldiers, and some petty officers, were in the same situation as
themselves, though many who had reached the rocks below, perished in
attempting to ascend. They could yet discern some part of the ship,
and in their dreary station solaced themselves with the hope of its
remaining entire until day-break; for in the midst of their own
distress, the sufferings of the females on board affected them with
the most poignant anguish; and every sea that broke, inspired them
with terror for their safety.

But, alas, their apprehensions were too soon realized!--Within a very
few minutes of the time that Mr. Rogers gained the rock, an universal
shriek, which long vibrated in their ears, in which the voice of
female distress was lamentably distinguished, announced the dreadful
catastrophe. In a few moments all was hushed, except the roaring of
the winds and the dashing of the waves; the wreck was buried in the
deep, and not an atom of it was ever afterwards seen.

The shock which this gave to the trembling wretches in the cavern was
awful. Though themselves hardly rescued from the sea, and still
surrounded by impending dangers, they wept for the destiny of their
unhappy companions. But this was not all. Many who had gained a
precarious station, weakened with injuries, benumbed and battered by
the tempest, forsook their hold-fasts, and, tumbling on the rock