DECEMBER 7.—The ship was sinking rapidly; the water had risen to the fore¹-top; the poop and forecastle were completely submerged; the top of the bowsprit had disappeared, and only the three mast-tops projected from the waves.  
But all was ready on the raft; an erection had been made on the fore to hold a mast, which was supported by shrouds² fastened to the sides of the platform; this mast carried a large royal.
 
Perhaps, after all, these few frail³ planks⁴ will carry us to the shore which the Chancellor⁵ has failed to reach; at any rate, we cannot yet resign all hope.
 
We were just on the point of embarking⁷ at 7 A. M. when the Chancellor all at once began to sink so rapidly that the carpenter and men who were on the raft were obliged with all speed to cut the ropes that secured it to the vessel⁸, to prevent it from being swallowed up in the eddying⁹ waters.
 
Anxiety, the most intense, took possession of us all. At the very moment when the ship was descending¹⁰ into the fathomless¹¹ abyss, the raft, our only hope of safety, was drifting off before our eyes. Two of the sailors and an apprentice¹², beside themselves with terror, threw themselves headlong into the sea; but it was evident from the very first they were quite powerless to combat the winds and waves. Escape was impossible; they could neither reach the raft nor return to the ship. Curtis tied a rope round his waist and tried to swim to their assistance; but long before he could reach them, the unfortunate men, after a vain struggle for life, sank below the waves and were seen no more. Curtis, bruised¹³ and beaten with the surf that raged about the mast-heads, was hauled back to the ship............