e
aspect of the ocean had been awe-inspiring enough before this forlorn
and dying barque had drifted within our ken; but now that she was there
to serve as a scale by which to measure the height of the surges, and to
bring home to us a realising sense of their tremendous and irresistible
power by showing how fearfully and savagely they flung and battered
about the poor maimed fabric, it became absolutely terrifying, as was to
be seen by the blanched faces and quailing, cowering figures of the
crowd on the poop who, stood watching the craft in her death throes.
Hitherto the violence of the sea had been productive in them of nothing
worse than a condition of more or less discomfort; but now that they had
before their eyes an exemplification of what old ocean could do with man
and man's handiwork, if it once succeeded in getting the upper hand,
they were badly frightened; frightened for themselves, and still more
frightened for the poor wretches yonder who had been conquered in their
battle with the elements, and were now being done to death by their
triumphant foe. And it was no reproach to them that they were so; for
the sight upon which they were gazing, and which was now momentarily
growing plainer to the view, was well calculated to excite a feeling of
awe and terror in the heart of the bravest there, having in mind the
fact that we were looking upon a drama that might at any moment become a
tragedy involving the destruction of nearly or quite a dozen fellow
beings. Even I, seasoned hand as I was, found myself moved to a feeling
of horrible anxiety as I watched the wreck through my telescope.

For the feeling was growing upon me that we were going to be too late,
and that we were doomed to see that little crouching, huddling knot of
humanity perish miserably, without the power to help them. We were by
this time about a mile distant from the wreck; and another seven or
eight minutes would carry us alongside. But what might not happen in
those few minutes? Why, the barque might founder at any moment, and
carry all hands down with her. For we could by this time see that the
hull was submerged to the channels; and so deadly languid and sluggish
were her movements that almost every sea made a clean sweep over her,
fore and aft, rendering her main deck untenable, and her poop but a
meagre and precarious place of refuge.

And even if she continued to float until we reached her, and for some
time afterward, how were he