'Many of the seamen, who had been remarkably inattentive and remiss
in their duty during great part of the storm, now poured upon deck,
where no exertions of the officers could keep them, while their
assistance might have been useful. They had actually skulked in
their hammocks, leaving the working of the pumps and other
necessary labours to the officers of the ship, and the soldiers,
who had made uncommon exertions. Roused by a sense of their
danger, the same seamen, at this moment, in frantic exclamations,
demanded of heaven and their fellow-sufferers that succour which
their own efforts, timely made, might possibly have procured.

'The ship continued to beat on the rocks; and soon bilging, fell
with her broadside towards the shore. When she struck, a number of
the men climbed up the ensign-staff, under an apprehension of her
immediately going to pieces.

'Mr. Meriton, at this crisis, offered to these unhappy beings the
best advice which could be given; he recommended that all should
come to the side of the ship lying lowest on the rocks, and singly
to take the opportunities which might then offer, of escaping to
the shore.

'Having thus provided, to the utmost of his power, for the safety
of the desponding crew, he returned to the round-house, where, by
this time, all the passengers and most of the officers had
assembled. The latter were employed in offering consolation to the
unfortunate ladies; and, with unparalleled magnanimity, suffering
their compassion for the fair and amiable companions of their
misfortunes to prevail over the sense of their own danger.