s, that the two boats then under the
stern, with that which was in sight on its return from the brig, would
suffice for the conveyance of all who seemed in a condition to remove;
the three remaining officers of the 31st regiment seriously prepared to
take their departure.

As I cannot perhaps convey to you so correct an idea of the condition of
others as by describing my own feelings and situation under the same
circumstances, I shall make no apology for detailing the manner of my
individual escape, which will sufficiently mark that of many hundreds
that preceded it. The spanker-boom of so large a ship as the _Kent_,
which projects, I should think, 16 or 18 feet over the stern, rests on
ordinary occasions about 19 or 20 feet above the water; but in the
position in which we were placed, from the great height of the sea, and
the consequent pitching of the ship, it was frequently lifted to a
height not less than 30 or 40 feet from the surface.

To reach the rope, therefore, that hung from its extremity was an
operation that seemed to require the aid of as much dexterity of hand as
steadiness of head. For it was not only the nervousness of creeping
along the boom itself, or the extreme difficulty of afterwards seizing
on and sliding down by the rope that we had to dread, and that had
occasioned the loss of some valuable lives by deterring men from
adopting this mode of escape; but as the boat, which one moment was
probably close under the boom, might be carried the next, by the force
of the waves, 15 or 20 yards away from it, the unhappy individual, whose
best calculations were thus defeated, was generally left swinging for
some time in mid-air, if he was not repeatedly plunged several feet
under water, or dashed with dangerous violence against the sides of the
returning boat--or, what not unfrequently happened, was forced to let go
his hold of the rope altogether. As there seemed, however, no
alternative, I did not hesitate, notwithstanding my comparative
inexperience and awkwardness in such a situation, to throw my legs
across the perilous spar; and with a heart extremely grateful that such
means of deliverance, dangerous as they appeared, were still extended to
me; and more grateful still that I had been enabled, in common with
others, to discharge my honest duty to my sovereign and to my
fellow-soldiers, I proceeded,--after confidently committing my spirit,
the great object of my solicitude, into the keeping of Him who