But it pleased Him, whom the winds and the sea obey,

“Who plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm,”

to decree otherwise, and, at the moment of impending destruction, the ship and all her inmates were saved.

After a short time, it was discovered that the ship was thrown on a reef of rocks, and had bilged; and although the water entered her through the holes which the rocks had made, and filled her up to the lower beams, yet that it soon smothered, and, the bilge pieces keeping her upright, she lay comparatively quiet. But being fearful that she might beat over the reef into deep water, they let go the larboard bower-anchor, and shortly afterwards found the water leaving her. After this all hands fell asleep, being exhausted with fatigue and hardship. Captain Doutty and the military gentlemen were in Captain Stapleton’s cabin, which was the only one habitable. Captain Doutty felt too anxious to rest long, but lay watching whilst all was still, except the beating of the waves and the rain on the poop. He then went out in front of the poop. He could discern nothing but the surf breaking heavily on and around his unfortunate vessel. He then lay down again, wishing earnestly for the break of day.

THE DELIVERANCE.

“The night is gone, and o’er the sea,
The morning sun shines peacefully;
Again ’tis calm, again ’tis still,
Noiseless as gentle summer’s rill.”
Anon.

At length the morning broke, which was to introduce the ship’s company, just rescued from a watery grave, to a new era in their existence. With the daybreak the hurricane also began to break, and, though it rained heavily, the barometer rose rapidly until it stood at 29° 45″. The captain then beheld, to his great joy, the loom, or land-mark of the shore, to leeward, rising like a black belt, above the breakers. The land was an island, off the east coast of the Great Andaman, in latitude 12° 1″ north, and longitude about 93° 14″ east. The Andaman Islands, which are about eight in number, and covered with trees, form a group at the entrance of the Bay of Bengal, and are near 750 miles from the Sand Heads at Calcutta, and twelve degrees from the Equator. That on which the vessel was driven was in point of latitude about the centre, and may be easily known by a remarkable hill somewhat resembling a puritan’s hat, and being placed in a hollow of the land, with much higher hills, both on the north and south of it. The anchorage is good, and a ship may be sheltered from all points.