landing us on the island, I directed the men to pull up to the northern extremity of it, and see if they could make their way round, in order to render such assistance as we might be able, in case of any vessel approaching; but they returned, saying no boat could live out in such a sea for five minutes, and which they assured me on the rise of the spring-tide in the evening would become still more raging.

"I started off a messenger also to the collector at Port-na-Currig to send up the revenue party. When we mounted the tower we could through the haze distinctly see the glare of each flash, and hear the succeeding report of the guns, from which we calculated she must be five or six miles out to sea, but even through the glass could get no glimpse of her.

"After staying a couple of hours there, the firing ceased altogether, and we came to the conclusion that either she had gone down with all hands, or under Providence might have got out to sea and escaped.

"The day was beginning to decline fast, and the tide to rise, and with it, as Andrew had predicted, a furious gale from the south-west began to blow, accompanied with showers of sleet. As the tide rose, it began to close up the mouth of the cave, of which I gave you a description, the reports from which increased in loudness and frequency with the increasing fury of the elements;

each shock being heard through the tumult as if the earth had united with the air and ocean all their powers to overwhelm the devoted vessel, if she had not been previously swallowed up.

"I was preparing to return home, unable any longer to stand it out, and in the anxious hope that the Lord had delivered the living souls on board from their sore distress, when my own soul was harrowed up within me by my catching, as the mist was for a moment swept away like a scroll, a full sight of the devoted vessel, not more than a mile out, nearly a wreck already, her rigging and masts having been either cut away, or carried off by the fury of the gale, the splintered stump of her hindmast being alone visible.

"In a moment all was enveloped again in a thick mass of impenetrable gloom, leaving a thrill of horror possessing my whole frame, till we got another view of her, when it was absorbed in a deep and nervous anxiety as to her inevitable fate.

"Old Andrew and I continued in the same position without moving or uttering a syllable, when the mist was again swept away, and the fearful sight was brought within our full view.

"Her bulwarks had been carried away, and the sea was making a clear breach over her, save on her raised quarter-deck. Though the light was fast disappearing, we could through our glasses perceive a man whom from his dress we judged

must be the captain, still at the wheel, vainly endeavouring to keep her head seaward; but she appeared to be perfectly unmanageable, and was evidently drifting sideforemost towards the base of the pile of rocks, on the highest of which the castle stood. The paucity of seamen, who seemed to tread the quarter-deck in despair, induced me to believe that the greater part of the crew had either been swept overboard, or had abandoned her, and taken to the boats, none of which were to be seen.

"As she neared the fatal spot over which we stood, I got a distinct sight of a still more heartrending scene, which absorbed all my attention'twas of a group of persons on the quarter-deck, one of whom, a female, was kneeling down with one arm clasped round the knee of a negro servant, who himself clung to some fixture on the deck, and the other encircling a child, whom she was pressing in a frenzied manner to her bosom. Beside her knelt another female, whom I took to be a domestic. The negro grasped the shoulder of his kneeling mistress. I also got a glimpse of some other object lying on the deck; what it was I could not then distinguish, though I subsequently came to the knowledge of it, as I shall presently tell you.

"What little of daylight there had been, enabling me to look on this dreadful sight, now disappeared altogether, and night had fully closed

in. Having brought our lanterns, we yet feared to exhibit them, lest they might be mistaken for beacons.

"My state of suspense, as you may imagine, was dreadful in the extreme. The vessel had neared us so, that though still at a distance of a couple of hundred yards, and from her depth in the water approaching but slowly, I could, through the intermissions of the blasts, hear the shrieks of the few sufferers, and could at intervals through the white foam, on the sinking down of the vast wall of waters that rose and fell before us, plainly perceive the huge black mass of the wreck labouring as if in the agonies of impending destruction.

"It was after catching what I thought a last view of her, that a blue light was thrown up into the air from the southern point of the island, and was rapidly carried through the elements towards us. If anything could have added to the horrors of the scene, this was eminently calculated to do so, for besides giving us a view of the sufferers to the fullest extent, it cast down a ghastly hue on all beneath it.

"We then beheld the doomed vessel in the full glare of the deadly light, slowly but surely approaching her destiny. The aspect of the group I have before mentioned was in some measure changed. The boy was gone, as well as the

other female I had taken for the maid-servant; the principal object of my anxiety was still in the same position -on her knees, her hands clasped in prayer, and her eyes cast up, while distraction possessed her pale and haggard face. The faithful negro still stood behind, grasping her shoulder. The light above burst and disappeared, and all was again in darkness; but it was shortly succeeded by another, which revealed to us the revenue party hastily advancing along the brow of the cliff.

"The wreck was now immediately beneath us, the captain still immovable at his post; but save himself, the negro, and kneeling female, none else were to be seen.

"I could almost distinguish the features of the hapless woman, as they were turned up towards the heavens, and could perceive that she wore a dress of black velvet, with a mantilla over her shoulders; but what principally attracted my attention, was a bright object which I took to be a silver casket or oblong box, confined to her waist by a scarlet leather belt.

"The second light now disappeared, the black mass was visible for a minute or two in the boiling surge, when the last dreadful act in this tragedy of horrors took place: through the tumult which prevailed was heard the crash of the doomed vessel, which sounded her knell of destruction;