ing to numbers, was fixed for the distribution of our miserable provisions. The ration of wine was fixed at three quarters a day. We shall say no more of the biscuit-the first distribution consumed it entirely. The day passed over pretty quietly. We conversed on the means which we should employ to save ourselves; we spoke of it as a certainty, which animated our courage; and we kept up that of the soldiers, by cherishing the hope of being soon able to revenge ourselves upon those who had so basely abandoned greatly alarmed us, and we This hope of vengeance inspired us all equally, and we uttered a thousand imprecations against those who had left us a prey to so many misfortunes and dangers. The officer who commanded the raft being unable to move, Mr. Savigny took on himself the care of setting up the mast. He caused the pole of one of the frigate's masts to be cut in two; we employed the main top-gallant sail; the mast was kept up by the rope which had served to tow us, of which we made shrouds and stays; it was fixed on the anterior third of the raft. The sail trimmed very well, but the effect of it was of very little use to us; it served only when the wind came from behind, and to make the raft preserve this direction it was necessary to turn the sail, as if the wind came athwart. We think that the cross position which our raft always retained, may be attributed to the too great length of the pieces of wood which projected on each side. better able to resist the force of the waves. Some were obliged to fasten themselves. In the middle of the night the weather was very bad; very and often threw us down with great violence; the cries of the people were mingled with the roaring of the billows; a dreadful sea lifted us every moment from the raft, and threatened to carry us away. This scene was rendered still more awful by the horrors of a very dark night; for some moments we thought that we saw fires at a distance. We had taken the precaution to hang at the top of the mast some gunpowder and pistols, with which we had provided ourselves on board the frigate. We made signals by burning a great many charges of powder; we even fired some pistol-shot; but it seems that these fires were only an illusion of the eyesight, or perhaps they were nothing but the dashing of the breakers. 'In the evening, our hearts and our prayers, with the impulse natural to the unfortun-heavy waves rolled upon us, ate, were directed towards heaven. We invoked it with fervour, and we derived from our prayers the advantage of hoping in our safety. One must have experienced cruel situations to imagine what a soothing charm, in the midst of misfortune, is afforded by the sublime idea of a God, the Protector of the unfortunate. One consoling idea still pleased our imaginations: we presumed that the little division had sailed for the Isle of Arguin, and that, after having landed there, a part of its people would return to our assistance. This idea, which we tried to inspire into our soldiers and sailors, checked their clamours. The night came, and our hopes were not yet fulfilled; the wind freshened, the sea rose considerably. What a dreadful night! Nothing but the idea of seeing the boats the next day, gave some consolation to our people, who, being most of them unused to the motion of a vessel, at every shock of the sea fell upon each other. Mr. Savigny, assisted by some persons, who, in the midst of this disorder, still retained their presence of mind, fastened some ropes to the pieces of the raft. The men took hold of them, and by means of this support were 'This whole night we contended against death, holding fast by the ropes which were strongly fastened. Rolled by the waves from the back to the front, and from the front to the back, and sometimes precipitated into the sea, suspended between life and death, lamenting our misfortune, certain to perish, yet still struggling for a fragment of existence with the cruel element which threatened to swallow us up,-such was our situation till day-break. Every affecting lamentations. It was perceived, however, that his almost inanimate body still had breath; we lavished on him all the assistance in our power; he recovered by degrees, and was restored to life and to the prayers of his sons, who held him fast embraced in their arms. While the rights of nature resumed their empire in this affecting episode of our sad adventures, we had soon the afflicting sight of a melancholy contrast. Two young lads, and a baker, did not fear to seek death by throwing themselves into the sea, after having taken leave of their companions in misfortune. Already the faculties of our men were singularly impaired; some fancied they saw the land; others, vessels which were coming to save us: all announced to us by their cries these fallacious visions. moment were heard the lament-senseless under the feet of the able cries of the soldiers and people; at first they thought he sailors; they prepared them- was dead, and their despair selves for death; they bade fare-expressed itself by the most well to each other, imploring the protection of Heaven, and addressing fervent prayers to God; all made vows to Him, notwithstanding the certainty that they should never be able to fulfil them. Dreadful situation! How is it possible to form an idea of it which is not below the truth! About seven o'clock in the morning, the sea fell a little, and the wind blew with less fury; but what a sight presented itself to our view! Ten or twelve unhappy wretches, having their lower extremities entangled in the openings between the pieces of the raft, had not been able to disengage themselves, and had lost their lives; several others had been carried off by the violence of the sea. At the hour of repast we took fresh numbers, in order to leave no break in the series: we missed twenty men! We will not affirm that this number is very exact, for we found that some soldiers, in order to have more than their rations, took two, and even three, numbers. We were so many persons crowded together, that it was absolutely impossible to prevent these abuses. 'Amidst these horrors, an affecting scene of filial piety forced us to shed tears: two young men raised, and recognised for their father, an unfortunate man who was stretched 'We deplored the loss of our unhappy companions; we did not presage at this moment the still more terrible scene which was to take place the following night. Far from that, we enjoyed a degree of satisfaction, so fully were we persuaded that the boats would come to our relief. The day was fine, and the most perfect tranquillity prevailed on our raft. The evening came, and the boats did not appear. Despondency began again to seize all balance it, we were obliged to run to that side which was raised up by the sea. our people, and a mutinous spirit manifested itself by cries of fury; the voice of the officers was wholly disregarded. When 'The soldiers and sailors, the night came, the sky was terrified by the presence of an covered with thick clouds; the almost inevitable danger, gave wind, which during the day had themselves up for lost. Firmly been rather high, now became believing that they were going furious, and agitated the sea, to be swallowed up, they rewhich in an instant grew very solved to soothe their last morough. If the preceding night ments by drinking till they lost had been terrible, this was still the use of their reason. We had more horrible. Mountains of not strength to oppose this diswater covered us every moment, order; they fell upon a cask and broke with violence in the which was at the middle of the midst of us. Very happily we raft, made a large hole at one had the wind behind us, and end, and with little tin cups, the fury of the waves was a little which they had brought from checked by the rapidity of our on board the frigate, they each progress. We drove towards the took a pretty large quantity. land. From the violence of But they were soon obliged to the sea, the men passed rapidly desist, because the sea-water enfrom the back to the front of the tered by the hole which they raft. We were obliged to keep had made. The fumes of the in the centre, the most solid wine soon disordered their part of the raft; those who brains, already affected by the could not get there almost all presence of danger and want of perished. Before and behind food. Thus inflamed, these the waves dashed with fury, and men became deaf to the voice carried off the men in spite of of reason, desired to implicate, all their resistance. At the in one common destruction, centre, the crowd was such their companions in misfortune. that some poor men were stifled They openly expressed their inby the weight of their comrades, tention to rid themselves of the who fell upon them every mo- officers, who, they said, wished ment. The officers kept them- to oppose their design, and selves at the foot of the little then to destroy the raft by cutmast, obliged every instant, to ting the ropes which united the avoid the waves, to call to those different parts that composed it. who surrounded them to go on A moment after they were prothe one or the other side; for ceeding to put this plan into exethe waves which came upon us, cution. One of them advanced nearly athwart, gave our raft a to the edge of the raft with a position almost perpendicular, boarding axe, and began to so that, in order to counter-strike the cords; this was the signal for revolt. We advanced in order to stop these madmen. He who was armed with the axe, with which he even threatened an officer, was the first victim; a blow with a sabre put an end to his existence. This man was an Asiatic, and soldier in a colonial regiment; of colossal stature, short curled hair, extremely large nose, an enormous mouth and a sallow complexion gave him a hideous air. He had placed himself at first in the middle of the raft, and at every blow of his fist he overthrew those who stood in his way; he inspired the greatest terror, and nobody dared to approach him. If there had been half a dozen like him, our destruction would have been inevitable. 'Some persons desirous of prolonging their existence joined those who wished to preserve the raft, and armed themselves; of this number were some subaltern officers and many passengers. The mutineers drew their sabres, and those who had none armed themselves with knives; they advanced resolutely against us; we put ourselves on our defence; the attack was going to begin. Animated by despair, one of the mutineers lifted his sabre against an officer; he immediately fell, pierced with wounds. This firmness awed them a moment, but did not at all diminish their rage. They ceased to threaten us, and presenting a front bristling with sabres and bayonets, they retired to the back part, to execute their plan. One of them pretended to rest himself on the little railing which formed the sides of the raft, and with a knife began to cut the cords. Being informed by a servant, we rushed upon him. A soldier attempted to defend him, threatened an officer with his knife, and, in attempting to strike him, only pierced his coat. The officer turned round, overpowered his adversary, and threw both him and his comrade into the sea! He 'After this there were no more partial affairs; the combat became general. Some cried, "Lower the sail!" a crowd of madmen instantly threw themselves on the yards and the shrouds, and cut the stays, and let the mast fall, and nearly broke the thigh of a captain of foot, who fell senseless. was seized by the soldiers, who threw him into the sea; we perceiving it, saved him, and placed him on a barrel, from which he was taken by the seditious, who were going to cut out his eyes with a penknife. Exasperated by so many cruelties, we no longer kept any measures, and charged them furiously. With our sabres drawn, we traversed the lines. which the soldiers formed, and many atoned with their lives for a moment of delusion. Several passengers displayed much courage and coolness in these cruel moments. |
