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

KENT EAST INDIAMAN. 307
The means of escape, however, did not cease
to be presented to the unfortunate individuals
above referred to, long after Captain Cobb
took his departure, since one of the boats per¬
severed in keeping its station under the Kent’s
stem, not only after all expostulation and en
treaty with those on board had failed, but until
the flames, bursting forth from the cabin win¬
dows, rendered it impossible to remain, with¬
out inflicting the greatest cruelty on the indi¬
viduals that manned it. But even on the re¬
turn of the boat in question to the Cambria,
with the single soldier who availed himself of
it, did Captain Cook, with characteristic jea¬
lousy, refuse to allow it to come alongside,
until he learned that it was commanded by the
spirited young officer, Mr Thomson, whose
indefatigable exertions during the whole day,
were to him a sufficient proof, that all had
been done that could be done for the deliver
ance of those infatuated men. But the same
beneficent Providence which had been so won¬
derfully exerted for the preservation of
hundreds, was pleased, by a still more
striking and unquestionable display of
power and goodness, to avert the fate of a
portion of those few who, we had all too