‘The sea continuing to break in very fast, Mr. Macmanus, a
midshipman, and Mr. Schutz, a passenger, asked Mr. Rogers what they
could do to escape. “Follow me,” he replied, and they all went into
the stern-gallery, and from thence to the upper-quarter-gallery on
the poop. While there, a very heavy sea fell on board, and the
round-house gave way; Mr. Rogers heard the ladies shriek at
intervals, as if the water reached them; the noise of the sea at
other times drowning their voices.
‘Mr. Brimer had followed him to the poop, where they remained
together about five minutes, when on the breaking of this heavy sea,
they jointly seized a hen-coop. The same wave which proved fatal to
some of those below, carried him and his companion to the rock, on
which they were violently dashed and miserably bruised.
‘Here on the rock were twenty-seven men; but it now being low water,
and as they were convinced that on the flowing of the tide all must
be washed off, many attempted to get to the back or the sides of the
cavern, beyond the reach of the returning sea. Scarcely more than
six, besides Mr. Rogers and Mr. Brimer, succeeded.
‘Mr. Rogers, on gaining this station, was so nearly exhausted, that
had his exertions been protracted only a few minutes longer, he must
have sunk under them. He was now prevented from joining Mr. Meriton,
by at least twenty men between them, none of whom could move, without
the imminent peril of his life.
‘They found that a very considerable number of the crew, seamen and
soldiers, and some petty officers, were in the same situation as
themselves, though many who had reached the rocks below, perished in
attempting to ascend. They could yet discern some part of the ship,
and in their dreary station solaced themselves with the hopes of its
remaining entire until day-break; for, in the midst of their own
distress, the sufferings of the females on board affected them with
the most poignant anguish; and every sea that broke inspired them
with terror for their safety.
‘But, alas, their apprehensions were too soon realised! Within a
very few minutes of the time that Mr. Rogers gained the rock, an
universal shriek, which long vibrated in their ears, in which the
voice of female distress was lamentably distinguished, announced the
dreadful catastrophe. In a few moments all was hushed, except the
roaring of the winds and the dashing of the waves; the wreck was
buried in the deep, and not an atom of it was ever afterwards seen.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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