Could not the Royal George be got up again, Uncle Thomas? I should have thought that, being quite sound and in still water, she might have been weighed.
Several attempts were made to weigh her, Frank; but they were all unsuccessful. Her anchor and some of her guns were, however, recovered by means of diving bells. Her anchor was the heaviest ever made—it weighed ninety-eight hundred weight.
In the churchyard at Portsea, an elegant monument was erected to the memory of the brave Admiral Kempenfelt and his fellow-sufferers. On it is engraved this impressive admonition:—
"Reader! with solemn thought survey this grave, and reflect on the untimely death of thy fellow-mortals; and whilst, as a man, a Briton, and a patriot, thou readest the melancholy narrative, drop a tear for thy country's loss. On the twenty-ninth day of August, 1782, his Majesty's ship, the Royal George, being on the heel at Spithead, overset and sunk: by which fatal accident about nine hundred persons were instantly launched into eternity; among whom was that brave and experienced officer, Rear Admiral Kempenfelt. Nine days after, many of the bodies of the unfortunate floated; thirty-five of whom were interred in one grave, near this monument, which is erected by the parish of Portsea, as a grateful tribute to the memory of that great commander and his fellow-sufferers."
Good night, Uncle Thomas.
CHAPTER IX. UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE WRECK OF THE STEAMERS KILLARNEY AND FORFARSHIRE.
Good evening, boys! The sudden and unexpected disappearance of the Royal George, though, from the size of the vessel, and the number of lives which were lost on the occasion, an event sufficiently appalling, is yet frequently outdone, in intensity of suffering, by cases of shipwreck which happen on our coasts. To-night, I am going to tell you about the loss of two steam vessels, both of which afford remarkable instances of extreme suffering.
The first is that of the Killarney, a small steamer of about two hundred tons burthen, which sailed between Cork and Bristol. She left the quay at Cork, on the morning of Friday, January 19, 1838, having on board twenty-one passengers, and twenty-two persons belonging to the vessel. Her cargo consisted of about one hundred tons of goods, and six hundred and fifty pigs, part of which were in the fore hold, and the rest on deck.