as our destination. We made sail at sunset, but as the wind
was adverse and the weather boisterous, we anchored for two days in
the Downs. At length, during a lull of the gale, we sailed for the
mouth of the Scheldt; but, as we approached the coast of Holland, the
wind became light and baffling, so that we were unable to enter the
river. We had not taken a pilot at Ramsgate, being confident of
obtaining one off Flushing. At sundown, the storm again arose in all
its fury from the north-west; but all attempts to put back to England
were unavailing, for we dared not show a rag of sail before the
howling tempest. It was, indeed, a fearful night of wind, hail,
darkness, and anxiety. At two o'clock in the morning, we suddenly
grounded on one of the numerous banks off Flushing. Hardly had we
struck when the sea made a clean sweep over us, covering the decks
with sand, and snapping the spars like pipe-stems. The captain was
killed instantly by the fall of a top-gallant yard, which crushed his
skull; while the sailors, who in such moments seem possessed by utter
recklessness, broke into the spirit-room and drank to excess. For
awhile I had some hope that the stanchness of our vessel's hull might
enable us to cling to her till daylight, but she speedily bilged and
began to fill.

After this it would have been madness to linger. The boats were still
safe. The long one was quickly filled by the crew, under the command
of the second mate--who threw an anker of gin into the craft before he
leaped aboard,--while I reserved the jolly-boat for myself, the
captain's widow, the cook, and the steward. The long-boat was never
heard of.

All night long that dreadful nor'wester howled along and lashed the
narrow sea between England and the Continent; yet I kept our frail
skiff before it, hoping, at daylight, to descry the lowlands of
Belgium. The heart-broken woman rested motionless in the stern-sheets.
We covered her with all the available garments, and, even in the midst
of our own griefs, could not help feeling that the suddenness of her
double desolation had made her perfectly unconscious of our dreary
surroundings.

Shortly after eight o'clock a cry of joy announced the sight of land
within a short distance. The villagers of Bragden, who soon descried
us, hastened to the beach, and rushing knee deep into the water,
signalled that the shore was safe after passing the surf. The sea was
churned by the storm into a perfect foam. Breakers