Yet still, as the dreadful moment approached, their compunction increased, and friendship and humanity at length became stronger than hunger and death. They determined that Flat should live at least till eleven o'clock the next morning, hoping, as they said, that the divine goodness would in the meantime open some other source of relief; at the same time they begged the captain to read prayers, a task which, with the utmost effort of his collected strength, he was just able to perform.

As soon as prayers were over, he lay down ready to faint, and the company went immediately to their unfortunate friend Flat. The captain could hear them talk to him with great earnestness and affection, expressing their hope that God would interpose for his preservation, and assuring him, that though they never yet could catch, or even see a fish, yet they would put out all their hooks again, to try if any relief could be procured.

Poor Flat, however, could derive little comfort from the concern they expressed, and it is not improbable that their expressions of friendship and affection increased the agitation of his mind. Such, however, it was as he could not sustain, for, before midnight, he grew almost deaf, and by four o'clock in the morning was raving mad. His messmates, who discovered the alteration, debated whether it would not be an act of humanity to despatch him immediately, but the first resolution of sparing him till eleven prevailed.

About eight in the morning, as the captain was ruminating in his cabin on the fate of this unhappy wretch, who had but three hours to live, two of his people came hastily down with uncommon ardour in their looks, and seizing both his hands, fixed their eyes upon him without saying a syllable. The captain, who recollected that they had thrown Campbell's body overboard, notwithstanding their necessities, for fear of catching his madness, now apprehended that, fearing to eat Flat for the same reason, they were come to sacrifice him in his stead; he therefore disengaged himself by a sudden effort, and snatching up a pistol, stood upon his defence. The poor men, guessing

his mistake, made shift to tell him that their behaviour was merely the effect of surprise and joy, that they had discovered a sail, and that the sight had so overcome them, they were unable to speak.

They said that the sail appeared to be a large vessel, that it was to the leeward, and stood for them in as fair a direction as could be wished. The rest of the crew came down immediately afterwards, and confirmed the report of a sail, but said that she seemed to bear away from them upon a contrary course.

The account of a vessel's being in sight of signals, on whatever course she steered, struck the captain with such excessive and tumultuous joy, that he was very near expiring under it. As soon as he could speak, he directed his people to make every possible signal of distress; the ship, indeed, was a signal of the most striking kind, but he was apprehensive the people at a distance might conclude there was nothing alive on board, and so stand away without coming near it. His orders were obeyed with the utmost alacrity; and as he lay in his cabin, he had the inexpressible happiness of hearing them jumping upon deck, and crying out: She nears us! she nears us! she is standing this way!'

6

The approach of the ship being more and more manifest every moment, their hope naturally increased; but in the midst of this joy, they remembered their unfortunate shipmate Flat, and regretted that he could not be made sensible of his approaching deliverance. Their passions, however, were still characteristic, and they proposed a can of joy to be taken immediately. This the captain, with great prudence, strenuously opposed; and at length, though with some difficulty, convinced them that their deliverance in a great measure depended upon the regularity of that moment's behaviour.

All but the mate, therefore, gave up the can, which would have made them all very drunk before the vessel could come up with them, and he disappeared to take the can of joy by himself.

After continuing to observe the progress of the vessel

for some hours with all the tumult and agitation of mind that such a suspense could not fail to produce, they had the mortification to find the gale totally die away, so that the vessel was becalmed at two miles distant; they did not, however, suffer long by this accident, for in a few minutes they saw the boat put out from the ship's stern, and row towards them full manned, and with vigorous dispatch. As they had been twice before confident of deliverance, and disappointed, and as they still considered themselves tottering on the verge of eternity, the conflict between their hopes and fears during the approach of the boat, may easily be conceived by a reader of imagination. At length, however, she came alongside; but the appearance of the crew was so ghastly, that the men rested upon their oars, and with looks of inconceivable astonishment, asked what they were. Being at length satisfied, they came on board, and begged the people to use the utmost expedition in quitting their wreck, lest they should be overtaken by a gale of wind, that would prevent their getting back to their ship.

The captain being unable to stir, they lifted him out of his cabin, and let him down into the boat by ropes, and his people followed him, with poor Flat still raving, and they were just putting off, when one of them observed that the mate was wanting; he was immediately called to, and the can of joy had just left him power to crawl to the gunwale with a look of idiot astonishment, having, to all appearance, forgot everything that had happened.

Having with some difficulty got the poor drunken creature on board, they rowed away, and in about an hour reached the ship. She was the Susannah of London, in the Virginia trade, commanded by Captain Thomas Evers, and was returning from Virginia to London. The captain received them with the greatest tenderness and humanity, promised to lie by the wreck till the next morning, that he might, if possible, save some of Captain Harrison's clothes; the wind, however, blowing very hard before night, he was obliged to quit her, and she probably with her cargo went to the bottom before morning.

The Susannah, proceeded on her voyage, and though she was herself in a shattered condition, and so short of provisions as to be obliged to reduce her people to short allowance, she reached the Land's End about the 2d of March; from the Land's End she proceeded to the Downs, and Captain Harrison, a day or two afterwards, proceeded to London by land.

The mate, James Doud, who shot the negro, and one Warner, a seaman, died during the passage; Lemuel Ashley, Samuel Wentworth, and David Flat, that was to have been shot for food, arrived alive; Flat continued mad during the voyage, and whether he afterwards recovered we are not told. When Captain Harrison came on shore, he made the proper attestation of the facts related in this narrative upon oath, in order to secure his insurers. The whole is so authenticated, that it would be folly to doubt of its truth; and we may look upon it as one of the most affecting stories of the dangers of the sea which have ever been given to the public.

ADMIRAL BYNG.

JOHN BYNG, born in 1704, was the fourth son of a very distinguished naval officer, who, in consequence of his services, rose from being a private gentleman in Kent, to the title of Viscount Torrington, which he transmitted to his descendants. The subject of this memoir, entering the navy at the age of thirteen, was promoted through various steps till he reached the high rank of admiral of the blue. In 1742, he was appointed and acted for a time as governor of Newfoundland; a few years later, he commanded a fleet in concert with the military measures by which the rebellion was put down in Scotland. No brilliant transaction is recorded as having graced his life, but his whole career was that of a respectable officer. In

1755, Lord Anson gave a strong testimonial to his merits, recommending him for an important service as one whose head and heart would never fail him.

When the seven years' war with France broke out, one of the first moves of that power against Britain was to send a powerful expedition to take possession of Minorca. The English ministry, headed at that time by the Duke of Newcastle, had intelligence of this design of France, and they prepared a fleet to sail to the island, with a view to saving it, as also to protect Gibraltar, giving the command of the enterprise to Admiral Byng. But this fleet was prepared too late, and, when it was prepared, it was too weak for the purpose. Thirteen vessels of the line and five frigates, all in very bad order, and destitute of several accompaniments required in such an expedition, formed the fleet intrusted to Byng, and by various delays, entirely chargeable to the ministry, he was not enabled to sail from St Helen's till the 6th of April 1756, being only four days before the French government despatched from Toulon an armament of 15,000 or 16,000 men, for the purpose of taking possession of the island. It was of course impossible for Byng to save Minorca. Excepting Fort St Philip, which contained a garrison, the island was taken possession of without resistance, on the 18th of April, being only twelve days after Byng had set sail.

Calms and contrary winds made the voyage of the English fleet to Gibraltar twenty-eight days, by which time the primary object of the expedition was defeated. The foulness of the ships, the want of proper means of repairing them, and the difficulty of getting proper supplies of water, caused a further delay at Gibraltar, where Byng asked for a small reinforcement from the garrison, but was refused by the governor, General Fowke, for which Fowke was afterwards tried by a courtmartial and condemned. He then proceeded to Minorca, and had arrived within three miles of Fort St Philip, and was preparing to open a communication with the besieged garrison, when the French fleet drew near,