Shipwrecked

On taking leave of him at Leith, I embarked in the steamer Pegasus, about to start for Hull. There were a large number of passengers. All went well till we passed the Farne Islands (where Grace Darling and her father so heroically rescued the shipwrecked crew of the Forfarsliire). I was chatting on deck with some of the passengers, when the ship struck with great force:—some were capsized—all staggered. I looked to the shore, and calculated we should be able to swim to land. Presently the carpenter reported five feet water in the hold. We had struck a rock under water. It was not marked in the chart—but there are many such on that coast—and the captain ought to have kept farther out. His silly excuse was that he wished the passengers to have a good view of the picturesque and precipitous shores of Northumberland! We discovered that he was a novice and a relative of the owners.

A signal of distress being hoisted, a fishing-boat came alongside. Her master undertook to run our vessel, on shore, between two ledges of rock, which he skilfully accomplished. On landing we found ourselves at the small village of Newton-by-the-sea.

The ship's bows had been completely cut through by the sharp edge of the rock. The captain started at once for Edinburgh, to apprise the owners of his mishap. He soon returned with several carpenters, and within twenty-four hours afterwards the Pegasus was reported seaworthy. In the meantime, several of us had strolled about the adjoining country. We were about two miles north of the picturesque ruin of Dunstanboro' Castle, which stands on a promontory jutting into the sea. Some of our fellow-passengers, however, had been thoroughly frightened, and refused to embark, preferring a journey by land to any further exposure to the dangers of the deep.

The Pegasus, however, got to Hull safely. I had written to London, from Newton, to allay anxiety, which would naturally arise on account of our detention. But the postal service was very defective in that fishing village, and I got to London before the letter, having embarked in the Vivid at Hull.

I found all of the family well, and the business in the office going on smoothly. The excursion had done me good, and I resumed work with renewed vigour.