endangered the masts and sails,
and their small boat was so leaky that it would not swim. They had
therefore no alternative, but were obliged to abandon him to his fate
with the most painful feelings, and they heard his cries nearly an
hour afterwards. [Footnote] There is nothing more distressing than an
accident of this nature. To see an unfortunate man grasping in vain
at any thing which is thrown to him, as the ship passes by him, to
see him struggling against his fate as he rises on the distant wave,
which frequently conceals him from view, and to be unable to render
him the least assistance, whilst his cries die away in the breeze,
raise sensations which it is impossible to describe. This man in the
condition in which they then were, particularly, was a great loss to
them, and was the best amongst the black people.

[Footnote: We have given this as it is stated in Lander's Narrative,
but there is something highly improbable in the circumstance of the
cries of a man, who could not swim, being heard for an hour after his
immersion in the sea, and yet that during that time no effectual
means could be devised for his deliverance.]

On the morning of the 15th, the weather was very hazy, which
prevented them seeing the land, although they knew it to be at no
great distance from them. They were becalmed during the whole of the
day, but found by the decrease of the depth, that they were drifting
close on towards the shore. At five in the afternoon, the ship was
about a quarter of a mile from the land, discovered by three large
hills of a sugar loaf appearance being close to them. Finding by
pieces of cork and other things that they threw into the water, that
they were drifting fast on the breakers, which they could distinctly
hear, they made an attempt to get the long boat out to save
themselves, as they expected the ship would be very soon wrecked, but
they found that they could not muster sufficient strength to lift her
over the side. At this critical moment, a breeze of wind from off the
land saved them from destruction, and enabled them to get the vessel
under command.

On the 16th March they arrived at Rio Janeiro, and on the following
day paid their respects to Admiral Baker, the commander in chief on
the South American station, and made known to him their situation and
anxiety to return to England. The admiral received them in that kind
and hospitable manner, which is the peculiar characteristic of a
British se