“The lots were drawn: ‘the captain, summoning all his strength, wrote upon slips of paper the name of each man, folded them up, put them into a hat, and shook them together. The crew, meanwhile, preserved an awful silence; each eye was fixed and each mouth open, while terror was strongly impressed upon every countenance.’ The unhappy person, with manly fortitude, resigned himself to his miserable associates.”
—“Famine in the American Ship Peggy, 1765,” Remarkable Shipwrecks, Hartford, 1813, pp. 358, 359
—Editor ↩
“He requested to be bled to death, the surgeon being with them, and having his case of instruments in his pocket when he quitted the vessel.”
—“Sufferings of the Crew of the Thomas,” Shipwrecks, etc., 1812, III 357
—Editor ↩
“Yet scarce was the vein divided when the operator, applying his own parched lips, drank the stream as it flowed, and his comrades anxiously watched the last breath of the victim, that they might prey upon his flesh.”
—Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 357
—Editor ↩
“Those who indulged their cannibal appetite to excess speedily perished in raging madness,” etc.
—Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea
—Editor ↩
“Another expedient we had frequent recourse to, on finding it supplied our mouths with temporary moisture, was chewing any substance we could find, generally a bit of canvas, or even lead.”
—“The Shipwreck of the Juno on the Coast of Aracan,” 1795, Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 270
—Editor ↩
“At noon, some noddies came so near to us that one of them was caught by hand. … I divided it into eighteen portions. In the evening we saw several boobies.”
—A Narrative of the Mutiny of the Bounty, by William Bligh, 1790, p. 41
—Editor ↩
“Quand’ ebbe detto ciò, con gli occhi torti
Riprese il teschio misero coi denti,
Che furo all’ osso, come d’un can forti.”
Dante, Inferno, canto XXXIII lines 76–78
—Editor ↩
“Whenever a heavy shower afforded us a few mouthfuls of fresh water, either by catching the drops as they fell or by squeezing them out of our clothes, it infused new life and vigour into us, and for a while we had almost forgot our misery.”
—Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 270
Compare The Island, Canto I stanza IX lines 193, 194, Poetical Works, 1901, V 595. —Editor ↩
Compare—
“With throats unslaked, with black lips baked.”
“Ancient Mariner,” Part III line 157
—Editor ↩
“Mr. Wade’s boy, a stout healthy lad, died early, and almost without a groan; while another, of the same age, but of a less promising appearance, held out much longer. Their fathers were both in the foretop, when the boys were taken ill. [Wade], hearing of his son’s illness, answered, with indifference, that he could do nothing for him, and left him to his fate.”
—“Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Juno, 1795,” Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 273
—Editor ↩
“The other [Father] hurried down. … By that time only three or four planks of the quarterdeck remained, just over the quarter gallery. To this spot the unhappy man led his son, making him fast to the rail, to prevent his being washed away.”
—Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea
—Editor ↩
“Whenever the boy was seized with a fit of retching, the father lifted him up and wiped away the foam from his lips; and if a shower came, he made him open his mouth to receive the drops, or gently squeezed them into it from a rag.”
—Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea
—Editor ↩
“In this affecting situation both remained four or five days, till the boy expired. The unfortunate parent, as if unwilling to believe the fact, raised the body, looked wistfully at it, and when he could no longer entertain any doubt, watched it in silence until it was carried off by sea; then wrapping himself in a piece of canvas, sunk down, and rose no more; though he must have lived two days longer, as we judged from the quivering of his limbs when a wave broke over him.”
—“Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Juno, 1795,” Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, p. 274
—Editor ↩
“About this time a beautiful white bird, web-footed, and not unlike a dove in size and plumage, hovered over the masthead of the cutter, and, notwithstanding the pitching of the boat, frequently attempted to perch on it, and continued fluttering there till dark. Trifling as such an incident may appear, we all considered it a propitious omen.”
—“Loss of the Lady Hobart, 1803,” Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 389
—Editor ↩
“I found it necessary to caution the people against being deceived by the appearance of land, or calling out till we were quite convinced of its reality, more especially as fog-banks are often mistaken for land: several of the poor fellows nevertheless repeatedly exclaimed they heard breakers, and some the firing of guns.”
—“Loss of the Lady Hobart,” Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, III 391
—Editor ↩
“At length one of them broke out into a most immoderate swearing fit of joy, which I could not restrain, and declared, that he had never seen land in his life, if what he now saw was not so.”
—“Loss of the Centaur,” Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, p. 55
—Editor ↩
“The joy at a speedy relief affected us all in a most remarkable way. Many burst into tears; some looked at each other with a stupid stare, as if doubtful of the reality of what they saw; while several were in such a lethargic condition, that no animating words could rouse them to exertion. At this affecting period, I proposed offering up our solemn thanks to Heaven
