CHAPTER IV.

PERILS OF THE SAILOR’S LIFE. The Loss of the _Captain_—Six Hundred Souls swept into Eternity 54 without a Warning—The Mansion and the Cottage alike Sufferers—Causes of the Disaster—Horrors of the Scene—Noble Captain Burgoyne—Narratives of Survivors—An almost Incredible Feat—Loss of the _Royal George_—A Great Disaster caused by a Trifle—Nine Hundred Lost—A Child saved by a Sheep—The Portholes Upright—An Involuntary Bath of Tar—Rafts of Corpses—The Vessel Blown up in 1839-40—The Loss of the _Vanguard_—Half a Million sunk in Fifty Minutes—Admirable Discipline on Board—All Saved—The Court Martial