so nearly been drowned.... Now,
I would ask, why did not some of these spectators render help in this
time of need? Could nothing have been done when they saw us sink
together, again and again? Within fifty yards there was a boat, with
boat-hooks and staves, and could no use have been made of these, to
lessen, the peril in which myself and the drowning youth were placed? I
am convinced that great numbers of people are drowned through
spectators not making a little effort at the time. _Witnesses_--George
Twiddle, Robert Riplington.

_Fifth._--GEORGE BOOTH. (1825.)

He was bathing in the drain at Hessle, when a large tide was being taken
in, and he began to sink fast. I was at a great distance when the alarm
was given, but I ran to his assistance, plunged into the water, and soon
brought him safe to land. Mr. Booth's gratitude has given me the
greatest satisfaction. I had not seen him for many years, and had
forgotten the circumstance altogether, until I met him at the funeral of
R. Pease, Esq., when he said, 'I'm glad to see you once more, Mr.
Ellerthorpe. Don't you remember when you leaped into the drain forty
years ago, and saved my life?' And in a note I got from him, dated July
31st, 1867, he says, 'Under the blessing of Divine Providence you were
instrumental in saving my life. I was sixteen years of age, and in July,
1825, I was bathing in Hessle drain, when a very large tide was being
taken in. I shall ever have cause to thank you, as the instrument in
God's hands, of saving me from a watery grave.'--George Booth.

_Sixth._--ROBERT CLEGG. (1825.)

He was both owner and captain of the keel 'Ann Scarborough,' the vessel
from which I lost the brush at Clark's Bit. He went one dark night to
Moreton, and as he did not return at the time expected, I felt very
uneasy about him, and at last I went on the bank of the Trent, in search
of him. When I got near Moreton-bite, I thought I heard a groan; and
after a long search I found my captain, drunk, half in the water and
half on the bank. The tide was half flood, and was then rapidly rising,
and had it risen a foot and a half higher, he must have been drowned, as
nothing could have saved him. I struggled with him for three quarters of
an hour, and after great exertions, I got him fairly on the bank. We
were then a mile and a half from our vessel, and did not get on board
until three o'clock next morning. A doctor had to be got, and soon the
captain began to recover.