oard with the guns; we shall yet keep the
ship afloat.'

"We all scrambled back on the deck, and everybody, fore and aft, set to
work with a will to obey the captain's orders. Capstan-bars, handspikes
and axes were in requisition for active service. First we got the lee
quarter-deck guns and carronades overboard; then we hurried forward and
launched one of the forecastle guns into the sea, and cut away the sheet
anchor. All the weight we took off the lee-side had so good an effect
that still more of the ship's side rose above water, and we found that
we could get at the lee-guns on the main deck. What was of equal
importance also, we were able to reach the pumps. The first thing was
to get the lee main deck guns overboard. It was some of the most trying
work we had yet to perform. As I looked aft, and then glanced forward,
I could not help perceiving, as I believed, that the ship was going down
stern foremost. Others were under the same impression. Still a daring
body, led by the gallant Packenham, our first lieutenant, worked away
with such determination that one gun after the other was sent plunging
into the ocean. Meantime the pumps were rigged, and we made a desperate
attempt to free the ship from water. Already it was above the cable on
the orlop deck, and there was an immense quantity between decks. Our
previous unexpected success encouraged us to proceed. No men ever
worked with a better will than did our people; still, it's my belief
that seamen always will thus work when a good example is set them. We
were evidently diminishing the water, and the ship was no longer
sinking, when an accident occurred which made us again almost abandon
hope. On examination, it proved to be that the stump of the mainmast
had worked out of the stop and been driven against one of the
chain-pumps. The carpenter and his mate and crew hurried below to see
what could be done, but scarcely were they there when the cry arose that
the other pump was useless. Still they were undaunted. While the stump
of the mast was being secured, they laboured away to repair the damage.
At length one of the pumps was put to rights: a cheerful shout announced
the fact. Then we set to work on the other, which was in time cleared,
and once more the water flowed out at the lee scuppers in a full stream.
The ship was strong, and tight as a corked bottle. Wonderful as it may
seem, not a leak had been sprung. The ship having at length been go