Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

BUKNINO OF
to pieces upon the deck; on which one of
the young mates, emphatically regarding it for
a moment, cried out with the emotion so na¬
tural to a sailor under such circumstances,
“ What! is the Kent’s compass really gone?”
leaving the bystanders to form, from that
omen, their own conclusions. One promising
young officer of the troops was seen thought¬
fully removing from his writing-case a lock
of hair, which he composedly deposited in
his bosom; and another officer procuring
paper, &c. addressed a short communication
to his father, which was afterwards carefully
enclosed in a bottle, in the hope that it might
eventually reach its destination, with the view,
as he stated, of relieving him from the long
years of fruitless anxiety and suspense which
our melancholy fate would awaken, and of
bearing his humble testimony, at a moment
when his sincerity could scarcely be ques¬
tioned, to the faithfulness of that God in whose
mercy he trusted, and whose peace he largely
enjoyed in the tremendous prospect of imme¬
diate dissolution. It was at this appalling
instant, when “all hope that we should be
saved was now taken away,” and when the
letter referred to was about being committed