DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70300#0219
LOSS OF THE SYLVAN. 1Q1
and John Heard Isaac, Esq. and rowed towards the island;
but with no hope of reaching it, as the sea and wind were
still higher than on either of the two preceding mornings,
and the scene altogether more terrific. The worst appre-
hensions were entertained for the boy, who had been then
two days and two nights on the rock, without any other food
than the wild vegetables which it yielded. Those fears,
however, were in some degree relieved, when he was again
seen from the boat, moving about; but hope derived no
support from the aspect of the morning, which promised as
bad as the former day. After renewed but .fruitless efforts
to gain any point of the island, the whale-boat was again
obliged to return to Kinsale, which it reached about twelve
o’clock, after having been several times in danger of swamp-
ing. Here a most interesting scene took place : the crew
of an American vessel, the Dryad, which was undergoing
some repairs in the dock-yard of Messrs. Gibbons and Co.,
volunteered to go out in the whale-boat, and make an effort
to rescue the boy. Their services were gratefully accepted,
and they swore they never would return, if they did not suc-
ceed. They then proceeded to make an experiment, by
firing a musket-ball with a rope attached to it, which was
found to convey it with ease as far as they considered would
be necessary; and thus provided, they proceeded to sea.
“ In the mean time the boats from Oysterhaven had got
into activity, and they could be seen for three hours in suc-
cession, contending with, but scarcely living in, the breakers
at the base of the rock. As the situation of the boy be-
came more hopeless, their exertions increased, and their
desperate daring was more visible. It was impossible that
he could have survived another night; and the knowledge of
this circumstance seemed to infuse new resolution in the
hearts of the men. Two boats were for a long time seen
supporting each other in their perilous undertaking ; yet they
were frequently concealed for minutes together, in the dip
of the sea, or in the surge of the breakers. The day was
8
and John Heard Isaac, Esq. and rowed towards the island;
but with no hope of reaching it, as the sea and wind were
still higher than on either of the two preceding mornings,
and the scene altogether more terrific. The worst appre-
hensions were entertained for the boy, who had been then
two days and two nights on the rock, without any other food
than the wild vegetables which it yielded. Those fears,
however, were in some degree relieved, when he was again
seen from the boat, moving about; but hope derived no
support from the aspect of the morning, which promised as
bad as the former day. After renewed but .fruitless efforts
to gain any point of the island, the whale-boat was again
obliged to return to Kinsale, which it reached about twelve
o’clock, after having been several times in danger of swamp-
ing. Here a most interesting scene took place : the crew
of an American vessel, the Dryad, which was undergoing
some repairs in the dock-yard of Messrs. Gibbons and Co.,
volunteered to go out in the whale-boat, and make an effort
to rescue the boy. Their services were gratefully accepted,
and they swore they never would return, if they did not suc-
ceed. They then proceeded to make an experiment, by
firing a musket-ball with a rope attached to it, which was
found to convey it with ease as far as they considered would
be necessary; and thus provided, they proceeded to sea.
“ In the mean time the boats from Oysterhaven had got
into activity, and they could be seen for three hours in suc-
cession, contending with, but scarcely living in, the breakers
at the base of the rock. As the situation of the boy be-
came more hopeless, their exertions increased, and their
desperate daring was more visible. It was impossible that
he could have survived another night; and the knowledge of
this circumstance seemed to infuse new resolution in the
hearts of the men. Two boats were for a long time seen
supporting each other in their perilous undertaking ; yet they
were frequently concealed for minutes together, in the dip
of the sea, or in the surge of the breakers. The day was
8