was unfortunately driven from her course, by
adverse winds and currents, more to the southward and westward than was
required, and it became desirable to reach the island of Tristan
d'Acunha, in order to ascertain and rectify the reckoning. This island,
which is called after the Portuguese admiral who first discovered it, is
one of a group of three, the others being the Inaccessible and
Nightingale Islands, situated many hundreds of miles from any land, and
in a south-westerly direction from the Cape of Good Hope. The shores are
rugged and precipitous in the extreme, and form, perhaps, the most
dangerous coast upon which any vessel could be driven.

It was while steering to reach this group of islands, that, one morning,
a passenger on board the Blendenhall, who chanced to be upon deck
earlier than usual, observed great quantities of sea-weed occasionally
floating alongside. This excited some alarm, and a man was immediately
sent aloft to keep a good look-out. The weather was then extremely hazy,
though moderate; the weeds continued; all were on the alert; they
shortened sail, and the boatswain piped for breakfast. In less than ten
minutes, "breakers ahead!" startled every soul, and in a moment all were
on deck. "Breakers starboard! breakers larboard! breakers all around,"
was the ominous cry a moment afterwards, and all was confusion. The
words were scarcely uttered, when, and before the helm was up, the
ill-fated ship struck, and after a few tremendous shocks against the
sunken reef, she parted about mid-ship. Ropes and stays were cut
away--all rushed forward, as if instinctively, and had barely reached
the forecastle, when the stern and quarter-deck broke asunder with a
violent crash, and sunk to rise no more. Two of the seamen miserably
perished--the rest, including officers, passengers and crew, held on
about the head and bows--the struggle was for life!

At this moment, the Inaccessible Island, which till then had been veiled
in thick clouds and mist, appeared frowning above the haze. The wreck
was more than two miles from the frightful shore. The base of the
island was still buried in impenetrable gloom. In this perilous
extremity, one was for cutting away the anchor, which had been got up to
the cat-head in time of need; another was for cutting down the foremast
(the foretop-mast being already by the board.) The fog totally
disappeared, and the black rocky island stood in all its rugged
deformity before their e