body scorched with the
piercing rays of the sun,--the whole scene rushing through my mind with
the celerity of electricity! It unmanned and quite overpowered me; I
fainted, and fell senseless on the deck.

The usual restoratives and care were administered, and I soon recovered
from the effects of my capture. Some of the others were not so
fortunate; two of them, especially, were cut in a shocking manner, and
the others were so dreadfully beaten and mangled by clubs, that the
greatest care was necessary to save their lives.

ESCAPE FROM SHIPWRECK.

FROM "LIFE ON THE OCEAN."

Received orders this day to proceed to London with the ship; and, as the
easterly gale abated, and the wind hauled round southward and westward,
we got under way, stood out of Falmouth harbor, and proceeded up the
British Channel. At sunset, it commenced to rain, and the weather was
thick and cloudy. The different lights were seen as far as the Bill of
Portland. At midnight, lost sight of the land, and it blew a gale from
off the French coast: close reefed the topsails, and steered a course so
as to keep in mid-channel. At daybreak, the ship was judged to be off
Beachy Head; the weather being so thick, the land could not be seen. The
fore and mizzen-topsails were now furled, and the ship hove to. The rain
began now to fall in torrents, and the heavy, dense, black clouds rose,
with fearful rapidity, from the northward, over the English coast, when
suddenly the wind shifted from the south-west to the north, and blew a
hurricane. The mist and fog cleared away, and, to our utter
astonishment, we found ourselves on a lee shore, on the coast of
France, off Boulogne heights. The gale was so violent, that no more sail
could be made. The ship was so exceedingly crank, that when she luffed
up on a wind, her bulwarks were under water. As she would not stay, the
only alternative was, to wear; of course, with this evolution, we lost
ground, and, consequently, were driven nearer, every moment, toward the
awful strand of rocks. The scene was now terrific; many vessels were in
sight, two of which we saw dashed on the rocks; with the tremendous roar
of the breakers, and the howling of the tempest, and the heavy sea,
which broke as high as the fore-yard, death appeared inevitable. There
was only one hope left, and that was, that, should the tide change and
take us under our lee-beam, it might possibly set us off on the
Nine-fathom bank, which is situated at a