Nevertheless, the 'Neva' went ashore on the Harbinger reef, on May
13th unshipped her rudder and parted into four pieces. Only nine men
and thirteen women reached the island; they were nearly naked and had
nothing to eat, and they wandered along the beach during the night,
searching amongst the wreckage. At last they found a puncheon of
rum, upended it, stove in the head, and drank. The thirteen women
then lay down on the sand close together, and slept. The night was
very cold, and Robinson, an apprentice, covered the women as well as
he could with some pieces of sail and blankets soaked with salt
water. The men walked about the beach all night to keep themselves
warm, being afraid to go inland for fear of the cannibal
blackfellows. In the morning they went to rouse the women, and found
that seven of the thirteen were dead.

The surviving men were the master, B. H. Peck, Joseph Bennet, Thomas
Sharp, John Watson, Edward Calthorp, Thomas Hines, Robert Ballard,
John Robinson, and William Kinderey. The women were Ellen Galvin,
Mary Stating, Ann Cullen, Rosa Heland, Rose Dunn, and Margaret Drury.

For three weeks these people lived almost entirely on shellfish.
They threw up a barricade on the shore, above high water mark, to
protect themselves against the cannibals. The only chest that came
ashore unbroken was that of Robinson the apprentice, and in it there
was a canister of powder. A flint musket was also found among the
wreckage, and with the flint and steel they struck a light and made a
fire. When they went down to the beach in search of shellfish, one
man kept guard at the barricade, and looked out for the blackfellows;
his musket was loaded with powder and pebbles.

Three weeks passed away before any of the natives appeared, but at