tfully
reduced. The roaring of the waters, together with the dreadful crash of
breaking timbers, surpasses the power of description. Some of the
remaining passengers sought shelter from the encroaching dangers, by
retreating to the passage, on the lee side of the boat, that leads from
the after to the forward deck, as if to be as far as possible from the
grasp of death. It may not be improper here to remark, that the
destruction of the boat, and loss of life, was, doubtless, much more
rapid than it otherwise would have been, from the circumstance of the
boat heeling to windward, and the deck, which was nearly level with the
water, forming, in consequence, an inclined plane, upon which the waves
broke with their full force.

"A large proportion of those who rushed into this passage, were ladies
and children, with a few gentlemen who had charge of them. The crowd
was so dense, that many were in danger of being crushed by the
irresistible pressure. Here were perhaps some of the most painful
sights ever beheld. Before introducing any of the closing scenes of
individuals, which the writer witnessed, or which he has gathered from
his fellow passengers, he would beg to be understood, that it is not for
the gratification of the idle curiosity of the careless and indifferent
reader, or to pierce afresh the bleeding wounds of surviving friends,
but to furnish such facts as may be interesting, and which, perhaps,
might never be attained through any other channel.

"As the immediate connections of the writer are already informed of the
particulars relating to his own unhappy bereavement, there is no
necessity for entering in a minute detail of this melancholy event.

"This passage contained perhaps thirty or more persons, consisting of
men, women and children, with no apparent possibility of escape;
enclosed within a narrow aperture, over which was the deck, and both
ends of which were completely closed by the fragments of the boat and
the rushing of the waves. While thus shut up, death appeared
inevitable. Already were both decks swept of everything that was on
them. The dining cabin was entirely gone, and everything belonging to
the quarter-deck was completely stripped off, leaving not even a
stanchion or particle of the bulwarks; and all this was the work of
about five minutes.

"The starboard wheel-house, and everything about it, was soon entirely
demolished. As much of the ceiling forward of the starboard wheel h