f an escape from peril, and the rescue of
five lives by individual gallantry, rarely equalled, and never exceeded,
in the records of high and noble daring. It is from the pen of Captain
Bryan Milman (now General Milman), of the 5th Fusiliers, in a letter
addressed to his father, Major-General Milman, late of the Coldstream
Guards:

[Illustration: GENERAL BRYAN MILMAN.

_From a Photograph by Maull & Fox._]

"Mahebourg, Island of Mauritius,

"June 30, 1848.

"The following account of an almost miraculous escape that I and five
other officers have had from drowning will interest you all, I have no
doubt. The names of the others are Colquitt, Bellew, Fitzgerald, Home
(all of the 5th Fusiliers), and Palmer, a commissariat officer, in whose
boat we were at the time of the accident. Colquitt and Fitzgerald are in
the first battalion, and had come down here to stay with me and Bellew.
On the 25th we made a boating party, for them to visit one of our
detachments about fifteen miles from hence, at Grand River, south-east.
We left this about eleven a.m., and after reaching our destination all
safe, left it about three o'clock p.m. for home, the weather then
looking anything but promising. When about four miles from home and from
the shore, we were overset by a squall. It came upon us so suddenly that
we had no time to do anything; torrents of rain fell at the same time,
and there we were, drifting along on the side of the boat (which luckily
did not sink) without a chance of assistance, and the night setting in.
This happened about half-past five o'clock, and at this season it is
dark at six. We drifted in this way for about two hours, and at last
grounded in about seven feet of water. It was very nearly dark, and all
that we could see were the tops of the mountains in the horizon. We
supposed we were about two miles from shore. All of us but myself had
stripped on being upset, as I knew, if we came to a swim, that I could
take my clothes off in a moment. As it turned out, I think I was lucky
in this, for they perhaps, though wet, kept me a little warmer than my
companions. Nothing seemed to give us a chance of being saved, except
holding on till daylight, and as it was terribly cold, this seemed next
to impossible. At last it struck me I might be able to swim ashore to
procure assistance, and I got permission from the others to do so. Our
boatman, a Creole, who also said he would go, started with me to make
the attempt. I l