“To make a long story short, I will simply say, that after a three hours’ exhausting pull we reached the vessel, but were grieved to find that of the crew of six hands, only one was left alive.  Our attention was therefore turned to the saving of this poor sailor, who had lashed himself to the bowsprit, where he had sat all through the cold night, and was so benumbed that he could scarcely speak.  We shouted to him, and made him understand that if he would cut his lashings, we would when opportunity served, pull the boat under the bowsprit so that as we glided by he might drop in and be saved.  His knife was quickly at work, and to show that he was free he held up his hands and moved himself on the bowsprit.  We gave him a cheer, and watching our best time, glided in on the crest of a wave to deliver the poor fellow.  Alas! in his excitement he jumped too soon, and dropped between the bows of the vessel and our heavy boat.  His head was for a second visible on the surface, but before an arm could be stretched out to save him the two vessels came crash together, with his head between them.  A gush of blood was all we saw of him, for the next moment we were all in the sea, struggling for our own lives.  Our boat had stove its bows in against the ship, which we had approached too closely, in our endeavour to save the poor man.

“I was fortunate enough to secure an oar, and working gradually to leeward of the wreck, with great exertion at length got aboard, where, to my joy, I found my father.  The boat still floated bottom upwards, with five men upon the keel, who were constantly lashed by the cold waves, till presently a larger wave than the others broke the hold of two of the men, and washed them into eternity.  Gradually in the swirl and foam of the mighty waters the boat beat round to the leeward of the ship, and I then saw that the men on the keel were my two cousins and brother.  They could all swim, and seeing that my father and I were ready with ropes, quitted their precarious seat on the keel, and struck out towards the ship.  My brother and cousin Phillipe, after a terrible struggle, were drawn aboard, but Gabriel, who could not swim so strongly, presently became exhausted and cried out for a rope.  The distance appeared too far to fling it, but with a powerful swing my father threw the coil, the end of which fell a yard short of the swimmer.  If I live a thousand years I shall never forget the look of despair upon my cousin’s face as he sank back in the water completely exhausted.  As his head disappeared his hand, like an eagle’s claw, came above the surface of the water and gave one wild clutch at the rope which should have proved his salvation, then it disappeared also, and he was no more.

“Thus, out of eleven men, only four were saved.  Incredible as it may seem, these were all of them relatives—­my brother, father, cousin, and self—­it was quite a family party.  We were taken off the wreck in the afternoon by another boat and safely landed.  Ducas was a lucky name that day, and so it proved three years after, for my brother was the only survivor when his fishing boat was run down, and a crew of eight men perished.”