Mr. Bangs, the mate in command,
took soundings, and reported twenty-one fathoms. He said that depth
insured their safety till daylight, and turned in again. Of course,
all was thick around the vessel, and the storm howling fiercely. One
hour afterward, the ship struck with great violence, and in a moment
was fast aground. She was a stout brig of 531 tons, five years old,
heavily laden with marble, &c., and drawing seventeen feet water. Had
she been light, she might have floated over the bar into twenty feet
water, and all on board could have been saved. She struck rather
sidewise than bows on, canted on her side and stuck fast, the mad
waves making a clear sweep over her, pouring down into the cabin
through the skylight, which was destroyed. One side of the cabin
was immediately and permanently under water, the other frequently
drenched. The passengers, who were all up in a moment, chose the most
sheltered positions, and there remained, calm, earnest, and resigned
to any fate, for a long three hours. No land was yet visible; they
knew not where they were, but they knew that their chance of surviving
was small indeed. When the coast was first visible through the driving
storm in the gray light of morning, the sand-hills were mistaken for
rocks, which made the prospect still more dismal. The young Ossoli
cried a little with discomfort and fright, but was soon hushed to
sleep. Our friend Margaret had two life-preservers, but one of them
proved unfit for use. All the boats had been smashed in pieces or torn
away soon after the vessel struck; and it would have been madness to
launch them in the dark, if it had been possible to launch them at
all, with the waves charging over the wreck every moment. A sailor,
soon after light, took Madame Ossoli's serviceable life-preserver
and swam ashore with it, in quest of aid for those left on board, and
arrived safe, but of course could not return his means of deliverance.

By 7 A.M. it became evident that the cabin must soon go to pieces, and
indeed it was scarcely tenantable then. The crew were collected in
the forecastle, which was stronger and less exposed, the vessel having
settled by the stem, and the sailors had been repeatedly ordered to go
aft and help the passengers forward, but the peril was so great that
none obeyed. At length the second mate, Davis, went himself,
and accompanied the Italian girl, Celesta Pardena, safely to the
forecastle, though with great difficulty. Madam