eave the ship at daybreak,
or sooner, if possible.

A boat was lowered, into which the admiral and his secretary
immediately descended, with as many others as she would carry, and
they reached the smack in safety. Two other boats were also lowered
and filled with people, but they were less fortunate than the
admiral's, for before they reached the smack, the tide being to
windward and against them, they were carried out to sea, and all on
board would inevitably have perished, if they had not been picked up
by a collier, which conveyed them in safety to Yarmouth.

The fishing-smack, with the admiral on board, remained at anchor
during the night, without being able to afford the slightest
assistance to the crew of the Invincible. At daybreak, as soon as the
tide permitted, the cable of the smack was cut, and she stretched
under the stern of the ship, endeavouring by all possible means to get
alongside of her, but before that could be accomplished, the ill-fated
vessel began to sink. About sixty men jumped into the launch, but they
had only just time to clear the poop, when the gallant ship went down
with four hundred men.

And first one universal shriek there rush'd,
Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash
Of echoing thunder, and then all was hush'd,
Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash
Of billows: but at intervals there gushed,
Accompanied with a convulsive splash,
A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony.
LORD BYRON.

'The horror of the scene,' writes Admiral Totty, 'and the screams of
the unhappy sufferers, at the moment the ship went down, exceed all
power of description. Numbers who were struggling with the waves
attempted to lay hold of the launch, but the boat was already
overladen, and, for the safety of those who were in her, the drowning
wretches were beaten off, and, soon exhausted, they perished in the
waves.'

Captain Rennie remained in his ship till she sank. He then attempted
to swim to the launch, and by great exertion got within reach of her
oars, when, too much exhausted to make any further effort, he was seen
to raise his hands as if in supplication to Heaven, then putting them
before his face, sank into his watery grave. All the other
commissioned officers, with the exception of Lieutenants Robert Tucker
and Charles Quart, perished.

Captain Rennie had distinguished him