Captain Baker refusing to stir until he had seen every man clear of
the wreck. A second struggle for precedency in glorious self-devotion
took place, when the same commander declared, that all his crew should
pass from the rock to the mainland, by help of a line, before he
himself would consult his own safety, (p. 234.) The rope broke, and
the last means of communication between the rock and the shore was
severed, while the captain of the Drake and three of his companions
were waiting their turn to escape. They met their fate with intrepid
composure, (p. 235.) Lieutenant Smith, of the Magpie, offered another
memorable example, when his schooner was upset in a squall, and he
took to his boat with seven men. The boat capsized, and while the
struggling crew were endeavouring to right her, they were attacked by
sharks. The lieutenant himself had both his legs bitten off; but when
his body was convulsed with agony, his mind retained and exercised all
its energies, and his last words were expressive of dying
consideration for others. 'Tell the admiral, if you survive,' said he,
to a lad named Wilson, 'that my men have done their duty, and that no
blame is attached to them. I have but one favour to ask, and that is,
that he will promote Meldrum to be a gunner,' (p. 270.) And richly did
Meldrum deserve the distinction. When all in the boat had perished but
himself and another, a brig hove in sight, but did not seem to notice
the speck on the ocean. Meldrum sprang overboard, and swam towards the
ship, and was thus the means of saving his companion's life as well as
his own.

In a volume like this, 'the dangers of the seas' come before the
reader in such rapid succession, that he has scarcely time to think of
the many other awful perils and sufferings, besides those of wind and
storm, which put the mariner's fortitude to the test. The narratives
in pages 2, 3, 9, 36, 69, 70, 113, 115, present to view the horrors of