because of the stormy
weather; but they gave them hopes, that if the weather moderated, the
boats would come next day. Before they had done speaking, twelve men
plunged from the rock into the sea, and nearly reached the boat; two
were taken in, one was drowned, and the rest were so fortunate as to
recover their former station.

As the day wore on, their weakness increased. One of the survivors
described himself as feeling the approach of annihilation; his sight
failed, and his senses were confused; his strength was exhausted; he
looked towards the setting sun, expecting never to see it rise again.
Suddenly the approach of the boats was announced; and from the depth of
despair, they rose to the very summit of joy. Their parched frames were
refreshed with copious draughts of water.

Immediate preparations were made for departure. Of one hundred and
twenty-two persons on board the Nautilus, when she struck, fifty-eight
had perished. Eighteen were drowned when she was wrecked, five were lost
in the small boat, and thirty-four died of famine. About fifty now
embarked in four fishing vessels, and landed the same evening at
Cerigotto; making sixty-four in all, including those saved in the
whale-boat. During their six days sojourn on the rock, they had nothing
to subsist on, save human flesh.

They landed at a small creek. The Greeks received them with great
hospitality, but had not skill to cure their wounds, and had no bandages
but those procured by tearing up their own shirts. Wishing to procure
some medical assistance, they desired to reach Cerigo, an island twenty
miles distant, on which an English vice-consul resided. Fourteen days
elapsed before they could set sail. They bade adieu to these kind
preservers, and in six or eight hours reached Cerigo, where all possible
help was afforded them. Thence they were conveyed by a Russian ship to
Corfu; where they arrived on the 2d of March, 1807, about two months
after their melancholy disaster.

GALLANT EXPLOITS OF COMMODORE DECATUR.

Decatur is one of the most illustrious names in the naval annals of
America. Among the many officers who have borne this name, none was more
celebrated and admired in his life time and none more deeply lamented
at his untimely decease than Commodore Stephen Decatur.

[Illustration: BURNING OF THE PHILADELPHIA.]

His life was a series of heroic actions. But of these perhaps the most
remarkable of all is that which is recorded in the