Hull down was descried the _Canada_; the _Centaur_ reeled far to windward; and the _Glorieux_ was a distant hulk, all three of them dismasted and apparently sinking. Of these stout British men-of-war only the _Canada_ survived, and brought her people safely through. The _Ville de Paris_ was still afloat and loomed lofty and almost uninjured, but a few hours later she filled and sank, carrying eight hundred men to the bottom with her. Of the merchantmen, not one within sight of the _Ramillies_ had all her masts standing. They were almost helpless survivors, still battling for very existence. Admiral Graves had no intention of losing his flag-ship and his life without fighting in the last ditch. Long lines of sailors passed buckets to assist the laboring pumps, and storm-sails were rigged upon the jagged stumps of the masts. The sturdy old _Ramillies_, with six feet of water in the hold, was somehow brought around before the wind, and ran as fast as the merchant vessels that fled on each side of her. After spending all day in pumping and baling until they were ready to drop in their tracks, the officers, through the captain as spokesman, suggested to the admiral that some of the guns be thrown overboard in order to lighten the ship. To this he vigorously objected on the ground that a man-of-war was a sorry jest without her battery, but they argued that a man-of-war in Davy Jones’ locker was of no use at all, wherefore the admiral consented to heaving over the lighter guns and some of the shot. After another night of distress and increasing peril, the officers raised the question again, and the admiral was prevailed upon, by the renewed and pressing remonstrances, to let six of the forward-most and four of the aftermost guns of the main deck be thrown overboard, together with the remainder of those on the quarterdeck; and the ship still continuing to open very much, he ordered tarred canvas and hides to be nailed fore and aft from under the sills of the ports on the main deck under the fifth plank above, or within the waterways, and the crew, without orders did the same on the lower deck. The ship was sinking in spite of these endeavors, and the admiral now let them throw all the guns over, which grieved him very much, “and there being eight feet of water in the magazine, every gentleman was compelled to take his turn at the whips or in handling the buckets.” These six hundred British seamen and officers were making a very gallant effort of it, and infusing them with his ardent spirit was the cheery, resourceful Admiral Graves, whose chief virtue was never to know when he was whipped. Under his direction the ship was now _frapped_, and if you would know how ancient was this method of trying to save a ship in the last extremity, please turn to St. Paul’s story of his own shipwreck and read as follows: