100 SWIMMING TO THE WRECK.

ebbed so far out that I could come within a quarter of a mile of .
the ship. And here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw
evidently that if we had kept on board we had been all safe—
that is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had not been so
miserable as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and
company as I now was. This forced tears from my eyes again,
but as there was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get

 

“| COULD COME WITHIN A QUARTER OF A MILE OF THE SHIP.”

to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes, for the weather was hot to
extremity, and took the water. But when I came to the ship, my
difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for as she
lay a-ground and high out of the water, there was nothing within
my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and the second
time I spied a small piece of a rope, which I wondered I did not
see at first, hang down by the fore-chains so low as that with
great difficulty I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope got