her stern.
She was of between two and three hundred tons burden, and was painted
a light blue, with a red streak. Beneath her white bowsprit the gaudy
image of a woman served as a figure-head. The two masts had been
snapped short off about three feet from the deck, and the bulwarks
were gone, only the covering board and stanchions remaining, so that
each wave washed over and through her. The roof and supports of the
deck-house and the companions were still left standing, but the sides
had disappeared, and the ship's deck was burst up in such a manner as
to remind one of a quail's back.

We saw the men on board poking about, apparently very pleased with
what they had found; and soon our boat returned to the yacht for some
breakers,[1] as the 'Carolina' had been laden with port wine and cork,
and the men wished to bring some of the former on board. I changed my
dress, and, putting on my sea boots, started for the wreck.

[Footnote 1: Small casks, used for carrying water in boats, frequently
spelt _barricos_, evidently from the time of the old Spanish
navigators.]

[Illustration: The Derelict 'Carolina' laden with Port Wine]

We found the men rather excited over their discovery. The wine must
have been _very_ new and _very_ strong, for the smell from it, as it
slopped about all over the deck, was almost enough to intoxicate
anybody. One pipe had already been emptied into the breakers and
barrels, and great efforts were made to get some of the casks out
whole; but this was found to be impossible, without devoting more time
to the operation than we chose to spare. The men managed to remove
three half-empty casks with their heads stove in, which they threw
overboard, but the full ones would have required special appliances to
raise them through the hatches. It proved exceedingly difficult to get
at the wine, which was stowed underneath the cork, and there was also
a quantity of cabin bulkheads and fittings floating about, under the
influence of the long swell of the Atlantic. It was a curious sight,
standing on the roof of the deck-house, to look into the hold, full of
floating bales of cork, barrels, and pieces of wood, and to watch the
sea surging up in every direction, through and over the deck, which
was level with the water's edge. I saw an excellent modern iron
cooking-stove washing about from side to side; but almost every other
moveable article, including spars and ropes, had apparently been
removed by previous b