The wheel had been put over a point or two and the yards braced around, so that we were headed directly for the stranger. All the sailors on the Washington were studying her, and wondering what she could be, and she was guessed to be anything and everything that ever sailed the seas. One of the men even guessed that she was an Indiaman, bound home from round the Cape of Good Hope. I had seen pictures of Indiamen and she certainly wasn't anything of that kind. Then she was thought to be an English or French trader to the West Indies, and one of our men thought she was a Spanish craft from some Spanish port to Mexico. The suggestion that she was an Indiaman was laughed at, as she was quite out of the course of vessels from the Cape of Good Hope for England, and at that time we had practically no ships sailing between American ports and the East Indies. As we came nearer it was plain to perceive that there was something wrong on board the stranger, as she was steering very wildly, and not more than half her sails were pulling at all. She had a flag flying, and when we were near enough to her to make it out, we saw that it was the British cross of St. George, with the union down. Then we knew why our captain had steered so straight for her; he had seen through his glass the signal of distress and was going to her relief. When we got near the ship two or three heads appeared above the rail. Ordinarily there would have been a dozen or more on a craft of that size, and we all wondered why so few were visible. The captain hailed the vessel, and a faint answer came from her, too faint to be made out. Then we lowered a boat, which was manned by Haines, Herne, and two others of the crew, and carried our first mate, to visit the ship. On reaching the strange vessel there was no rope hanging over the side by which the mate could ascend to the deck; so he went up by the forechains, which he managed to grasp by standing up in the boat. He ordered his men to stay where they were, and climbed into the ship with the quickness of a circus performer. The sight that met his eyes was a terrible one. One man stood at the wheel, but he was so weak from lack of food and water that he was really unable to keep the ship on her course. Another man lay half dead near him, and a third in the same condition was stretched at the foot of the mainmast. As he went on board, the mate observed the name "Warwick" on the bows of the ship, and the name, together with the flag that was still flying, indicated her nationality to be English. He spoke to the man at the wheel and asked where the captain was. "Captain's dead, sir; dead a week ago," the man answered, in a very feeble voice, scarcely more than a whisper. "First mate's in command, sir; in the captain's cabin; just able to creep on deck once in a while; he was up here when you hailed, but hadn't strength enough to answer. We're out of water and provisions, and have been holding on and holding on in hopes of help!"