ssage, might follow. This was agreed to, and we steered in for the
opening, Ned standing up in the bows, with a boat-hook in his hand, to
watch for any sunken rocks, and to shove off should we come suddenly
upon one. We found the water deeper than we expected, which accounted
for the ship being driven in thus far without striking, while the ledges
outside afterwards protected her from the seas which, during
south-westerly gales, must have beaten on the coast. We found, however,
that we could not get nearer.

"That's her; I have no doubt about it," exclaimed Ned, as we came full
in sight of the wreck.

"I believe he is right," said Uncle Jack, as he surveyed the remains of
the ship--"she is, I should judge, about the size of the `Amphion.'"

We first tried to pull up towards her on the western side, but it being
low water, so many rocks over which the boat could not pass intervening,
we attempted to get round the south-eastern end of the ledge on which
she lay, in the hope of finding deep water inside, between her and the
land. In this we were not disappointed, and we found that there was a
channel, an eighth of a mile wide, of deep water running between her and
the beach. On ascertaining this, we pulled back near enough to the
entrance, and made a signal for the other boats to come in. The whale
boat again leading, we rounded the point and were not disappointed in
finding that we could get sufficiently near the wreck to enable us, by
scrambling over some rocks, to climb on board. Her masts were gone, the
greater part of her upper works had been torn away, and I should not
myself have recognised her as the once trim ship my father had
commanded. Ned, however, who visited the forecastle, declared
positively that she was the "Amphion," pointing out several marks on the
bunks and the heel of the bowsprit.

She had been completely gutted, not an article remaining in her, while
attempts had been made apparently to set her on fire. This made us
conjecture that she had been visited by Malay pirates, or perhaps by the
Papuans from the neighbouring shore, though we saw no canoes by which
they might have crossed over. The important point was thus settled, we
had found the wreck of the "Amphion." We had next to ascertain if any
of the crew survived.

We could see, however, no natives nor habitations of any sort. This
might be accounted for from the fact that, for some distance inside the
rocks the country was desti