The ocean / By P. H. Gosse.

  • Gosse, Philip Henry, 1810-1888.
Date:
[pref. 1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean / By P. H. Gosse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    354/388 (page 330)
    manoeuvre which they construed into abandonment, and the air rung with the most agonizing shrieks of misery : hope appeared to have been rekindled at the eleventh hour, hut to render despair more desperate, and death more frightful. “ The excitement on hoard was intense. A boat was immediately lowered, in which the hawser was placed, with a small line attached to it, as a mes- senger, and was thrown to the wreck for the pur- pose of towing her to the ship; but this intention was frustrated by the breaking of the windlass to which it was fastened., The anxiety of these un- fortunate people to quit their perilous position was so great, that it became dangerous to approach them: one man, in a paroxysm of despair, jumped overboard after the hawser, as the windlass broke, in the vain hope of reaching the boat; he was an ex- pert swimmer, but no human power could prevail against that sea ; the furious ocean mocked his ef- forts ; he rose and sunk upon the swelling billows until nature was exhausted : he was lost in sight of his companions in misfortune and of the persons sent to their aid, without anv beiim able to afford him relief. (t Fears were entertained for the boat and her crew, as seen from the ship contending with the violence of the element in which she floated, and a moment of doubt passed the mind as to the ex- pediency of permitting another attempt. It was only for a moment: the piercing cries borne upon the hollow blast, fell upon the sense with such ter- rific horror, that indecision seemed a crime; direc-