And a’ that thou hast done for me.”
Burns.
So far as ability and memory would permit I have given a plain unvarnished account of the incidents connected with the most trying time that I have ever experienced. Each day removes the date of the Alert disaster further off; still, in quiet moments, when I look back on the 28th and 29th of last December, I cannot prevent a saddening sensation from stealing over me.
Mingled with the feeling, however, comes the thought that I can never be grateful enough, firstly to God, and secondly to the many kind friends by whose assistance I was snatched from the grave! I will be unworthy of the life they recalled if ever I forget those who befriended me in my need, therefore, through the pages of this little book I take the opportunity of publicly conveying some token of my heartfelt gratitude to the Misses Armstrong, Davies, Duggin, Hill, Moorman, and the nurses, Miss Skelton and Mrs. Keating, to Mrs. J. D. Ramsay and Mrs. Whitelaw, to Drs. Browning, Cox, Hutchinson, Hewlett, and Mullen, to the six gentlemen who carried me up the cliffs, namely, Constables Conroy and Nolan, Messrs. Knowles, J. D. Ramsay, J. F. Watts and W. D. Watts, also to Messrs. Clark, Cousins, Maillard, McWalter, Stanton, and others whose names have not been supplied to me. To each and all of the above ladies and gentlemen I owe a debt which I never can repay. Further, these friends have not only aided me as the “poor shipwrecked mariner,” but also, since the wreck, they have in various ways laid me under a load of obligation to them. There is still another friend whose kind services to me must be acknowledged, although it is not an easy task for me to convey my thanks to him. I allude to Mr. Austin Stanton’s St. Bernard dog, “Victor Hugo.” He, by the instructions of his owner, took an important part in the proceedings outside the cave on the Ocean Beach, and the very least that can be said of him is that he is a worthy descendant of the noble animal described in Crabbe’s lines—
“With eye upraised, his master’s looks to scan,
The joy, the solace, and the aid of man,
The rich man’s guardian, and the poor man’s friend,
The only creature faithful to the end.”
CONCLUSION.