crew of thirteen men, and had fifteen passengers, amongst whom were ladies and It was discovered on the three children. evening of December 27th that she was on fire. It is supposed that the coals in the hold ignited spontaneously, that is without any flame being applied to them. The nearest land to the brig was the Cape of Good Hope, and that was six hundred miles off! There was no possibility of putting the fire out, and at first it was thought to be useless to attempt to save life by means of the ship's boats. But it was the only chance of safety, rough as the The three boats were got ready, sea was. in them. and all on board the brig were distributed A small supply of provisions was also saved from the doomed ship. The night was gloomy-not a star was visible-the only light which those in the boats saw was from the flames of the ship in which some hours before they were happy and hopeful. After much suffering and many adventures, twenty-six out of the twenty-eight persons landed on the African coast. Two died during the perilous boat-voyage. The survivors reached Cape Town at midnight on the 28th of January 1841. Rocks are, as we have already observed sources of great danger to ships. They were the terror of ancient seamen. Both: Homer and Virgil describe Scylla—a rock in the Straits of Messina-in such a manner as shows that they considered it one of the greatest of sea dangers. But the ocean was unknown to them, and to the wise of old. The "great sea" mentioned in the Bible, means the Mediterranean Sea. The mere love of the sea would never have made the natives of Britain famous navigators. But Science and Art have flourished in Britain. The wisdom of philosophers, and the skill of mechanics have been made subservient to the maritime greatness and glory of our land. How it would have astonished people ages ago, had they been told of a ship being eighty-nine days at sea, and passing through a distance of 8000 miles, without once seeing land, or a single vessel and yet going direct-in spite of adverse currents and foul winds to the desired port! "Breakers ahead!" always a warning cry, is too frequently a death-knell. "At length that dreadful sound Which mariners most dread-the fierce, wild din DRUMMOND. |