n board, and conceal herself for several days; and although she
was discovered, and sent ashore at Deal, she contrived a second time,
with true feminine perseverance, to get between decks, where she
continued to secrete herself until the morning of the fatal disaster.

While the men were thus bent in various ways on self-preservation, one
of the sailors, who had taken his post with many others over the
magazine, awaiting with great patience the dreaded explosion, at last
cried out, as if in ill-humour that his expectation was likely to be
disappointed, "Well, if she won't blow up, I'll see if I can't get away
from her;" and jumping up, he made his way to the boats, which he
reached in safety.

I ought to state that three of the six boats we originally possessed
were either completely stove or swamped in the course of the day, one of
them with men in it, some of whom were seen floating in the water for a
moment before they disappeared; and it is suspected that one or two of
those who went down must have sunk under the weight of their spoils, the
same individuals having been seen eagerly plundering the cuddy cabins.

As the day was rapidly drawing to a close, and the flames were slowly
but perceptibly extending, Colonel Fearon and Captain Cobb evinced an
increasing anxiety to relieve the remainder of the gallant men under
their charge.

To facilitate this object a rope was suspended from the extremity of the
spanker-boom, along which the men were recommended to proceed, and
thence slide down by the rope into the boats. But as, from the great
swell of the sea, and the constant heaving of the ship, it was
impossible for the boats to preserve their station for a moment, those
who adopted this course incurred so great a risk of swinging for some
time in the air, and of being repeatedly plunged under water, or dashed
against the sides of the boats underneath, that many of the landsmen
continued to throw themselves out of the stern window on the upper deck,
preferring what appeared to me the more precarious chance of reaching
the boats by swimming. Rafts made of spars, hencoops, etc., were also
ordered to be constructed, for the twofold purpose of forming an
intermediate communication with the boats--a purpose, by the bye, which
they very imperfectly answered--and of serving as a last point of
retreat, should the further extension of the flames compel us at once to
desert the vessel. Directions were at the same time given th