The crew of the Scilly lightship, says Esquiros, have witnessed but two shipwrecks; in the one instance, they saved a single life; in the other, all the passengers, with the exception of the wife of a missionary. It is not, however, a part of their duty to go to the rescue of vessels in danger; and if the authorities admire, for obvious reasons they do not encourage such acts of heroism. Their sole and all-absorbing duty is to take care of the light. The discipline to which they are subjected is severe, and no man may quit his post under any pretence whatever. A sailor, in 1854, having been informed of his wife’s death, deserted the lightship, and repaired to London to attend her funeral. He was reprimanded, and it was only in consideration of the motive which had induced his absence that the authorities refrained from discharging him. The lightship of the Seven Stones, off the Scilly Islands, is the most exposed of all the vessels on the British coast;[58] its captain, however, considers that it rides much more easily on its anchors in a sea where waves are long and regular, than those ships which are moored in seas with short and contrary waves. He will tell you that his gallant barque is always ready for the tempest. And yet its deck is sometimes washed by the waves, and when the sea strikes against its broadside, the roar is like the discharge of a piece of artillery. [58] Others which occupy dangerous positions are, the Leman, the Ower, the Newarp, the Sunk, and the Kentish Knock. * * * * *