d, and orders were given for its
being cut away, but as no axes could be found, the men were obliged to
use their knives to cut the lanyards of the rigging; at this moment, a
sea struck the mast, carrying away the poop, and the men who were upon
it. As the poop was swept away from the wreck, it bore not only the
living but the dead. The latter far outnumbered the former, and it
became necessary for the general preservation to cast overboard the
bodies of their dead comrades. But their strength, already weakened by
previous suffering, was unequal to the performance of this painful
duty; and while thus employed, a sea swept over the poop, scattering
the men upon the foaming billows. Five regained it, but were again
washed off, and again succeeded in reaching their former position. Of
these, two died, and the other three were washed on shore.

The scene on board was one of the most harrowing description. Mingled
together were the living, the dying, and the dead. The bodies were
piled up by the survivors in rows one above another, as a shelter from
the violence of the waves, which broke incessantly over them.

In the fourth row lay the admiral and his friend Captain Guion; whilst
the groans of the dying, mingling with the roar of the tempest,
unnerved the hearts of those who had hitherto shown an unappalled
front to the perils surrounding them.

There still remained about two hundred men, who were employed in
constructing a raft, as the last chance of saving their lives. After
considerable labour, this was effected, by lashing together a topsail
yard and a cross-jack yard, the only spars that remained.

Upon this, ten men left the wreck, but the timbers being improperly
secured, they broke adrift, and the first sea that came washed five
men off; the others gained the shore, one of whom died.

According to all accounts, even the few who survived would have
perished, had it not been for the humane conduct of the Danes who came
to their assistance; these, at the risk of their own lives, succeeded
in rescuing from the raft the seven exhausted sufferers who survived,
out of the crew of seven hundred and fifty men.

The St. George, as has been already mentioned, was in company with
both the Cressy and Defence. Captain Pater, who commanded the former,
seeing the impossibility of rendering any assistance to the St.
George, and the imminent risk to his own ship if he remained longer on
the starboard tack, wore, and escaped the