The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine .. . aptain Col-lins and to his country. The circum-stances of this case presented verygreat difficulties, and furnished whatsome men might have deemed veryplausible excuses for giving over the attempt to rescuethe persons on board the Scotia; but, we trust in heaven,they did not produce a moments hesitation in the mindof Captain Collins. Well and nobly did tlie gallantsailor do his duty, and so will he always. It is not inhis character to do otherwise. May he never need suchsuccor ; but
The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine .. . aptain Col-lins and to his country. The circum-stances of this case presented verygreat difficulties, and furnished whatsome men might have deemed veryplausible excuses for giving over the attempt to rescuethe persons on board the Scotia; but, we trust in heaven,they did not produce a moments hesitation in the mindof Captain Collins. Well and nobly did tlie gallantsailor do his duty, and so will he always. It is not inhis character to do otherwise. May he never need suchsuccor ; but if it should be his lot, may he find as gloriousa fellow as himself to render it! We could not wish him abetter. ^ Fifth of December, P. M. Fell in with the wreck of theScotia, bound from Quebec to Glasgow, burthen six hun-dred tons, loaded with timber, water-logged, in latitude 46°,longitude 32° 30^ On seeing signals of distress flying, wealtered our course, and bore down on her; and on theRoscius approaching her, Captain Collins hailed her: theanswer was, We are water-logged •— seventeen feet water. 156 THE NOBLE CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN COLLINS. in her hold! The prompt reply of Captain Collins was,*If you want to come on board, put out your boats. Acheer from the people of the sinking vessel followed; sucha cry as men in desperate circumstances alone could utter;and that thrilling cry went up as the simultaneous shout ofmen in the extremest peril suddenly restored to life andhope; and instantly every hat and cap was seen waving onthe crowded poop. An effort was now made to approach us, but the water-logged vessel was utterly unmanageable ; she pitched heavily,as if she would have gone down headlong; the seas sweptover her, and, as she rose, broke through her broken mizzen-topmast, and fore and main-topgallantmasts hadbeen cut away to ease her, and the poop-deck, where thecrew were congregated, seemed the only place of safety leftthem. ^ In attempting to near us, sh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidtra, booksubjectshipwrecks
