fishermen to trust themselves in their boats; they were afraid of the weather, and would not permit our own men to take their boats without them: he gave us hopes that the next day, if the weather remained fine, they might be induced to fetch us: he spoke of the fatigues he had undergone, and the sorrow he had experienced in not yet relieving us. While he was relating these circumstances, twelve or fourteen of our men plunged themselves into the water, and very nearly reached the boat: two got so far that they were taken in, one man was drowned, and the rest providentially again reached the rock. The coxswain saw the danger of his situation, and immediately left us. How we envied those two men who had escaped; but those who returned were very justly censured for the step they had taken: had they accomplished their object in reaching the boat, they certainly would have swamped her, and then our fate would have been determined for ever. The events of this day entirely occupied our minds, but it increased our weakness. Toward evening, the writer of these pages found himself fast approaching to annihilation; his eyesight began to fail; his senses were confused; and his strength was most visibly exhausted: he turned his eyes on the setting sun, perhaps the last sun he was ever again to witness – he was struck with unutterable grief. This last night of our miserable situation passed, without his being scarcely sensible of its events; and he cannot but feel gratitude to an Almighty Providence in escaping from such a night of danger. He was astonished in the morning to find himself alive, and more particularly when he found that several very strong men had fallen in the night. We were reflecting on their fate, and considering this day as the last of our lives, when unexpectedly the cry of The boats are coming! was heard: now does language fail in relating the extravagant joy that possessed us; the little blood we had left, rushed to our hearts at the long expected moment of relief. Our little boat with four large fishing vessels was very near us, and shortly after the crew landed: they brought with them a large quantity of water, of which they suffered us to drink most plentifully. Ah! little did we before this moment know, how many blessings we had enjoyed in simply possessing fresh water; more delicious than the finest wines, more grateful than it is possible to convey an idea of. We trust that our prayer of thanksgiving reached the throne of God.
“Anxious to leave a spot on which so many of our dear friends had terminated a life of sufferings, we eagerly prepared for our departure for the island of Cerigotto; where we arrived about six o’clock in the evening, after passing six days from the night before the ship struck: until the following Saturday at noon, we had not taken the least kind of sustenance, unless the little we had with so much disgust received might be called so, and it was not every one that partook of it. It undoubtedly was an unparalleled instance of a most miraculous deliverance, and of a series of sufferings scarcely credible. Had we been left until the next day, very few would have survived to tell the melancholy tale: our loss amounted to