"When I was washed from the forecastle, as I was hauling down the jib, the Britannia was driving towards the coast of Australia, which was not two cable-lengths distant."
"No. I said, 'if the captain is living'——"
"'He is in Australia,' you added."
"He can be nowhere else."
"You do not know, then, where he is?"
"No, my lord. I repeat that I thought he was buried in the waves or dashed upon the rocks. You say that perhaps he is still living."