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

390 BURNING OP THE
not confined to the entrance upon the perilous
voyage between the two ships. One man,
who fell between the boat and the brig, had
his head literally crushed to pieces ; and some
others were lost in their attempts to ascend
the side of the Cambria.
Some time after the shades of night had
enveloped us, I descended to the cuddy in
quest of a blanket to shelter me from the in¬
creasing cold; and the scene of desolation
that there presented itself, was melancholy in
the extreme. The place which, only a few
short hours before, had been the seat of kindly
intercourse, and of social gaiety, was now en¬
tirely deserted, save by a few miserable
wretches, who were either stretched in irre¬
vocable intoxication on the floor, or prowling
about, like beasts of prey, in search of plunder.
The sofas, drawers, and other articles of fur¬
niture, the due arrangement of which had cost
so much thought and pains, were now broken
into a thousand pieces, and scattered in con¬
tusion around me. Some of the geese and
other poultry, escaped from their confinement,
were cackling in the cuddy ; while a solitary
pig, wandering from its stye in the forecastle,
was ranging at large in undisturbed posses-