follow. One after another they descended from the stern by a single
rope, wet, cold, and benumbed; and in this condition they gained the
boats, which were in perilous attendance below. About six o'clock
they reached the Impetueux, where they were treated with every
attention and kindness which their unfortunate position so loudly
called for. They quitted the ship in a most critical time, for in a
little more than an hour after they had left her, she parted
amidships--that part on which they had been standing for the last five
or six hours capsized and was buried in the surf. In sixteen hours
from the time she first struck, the whole vessel had disappeared,
under the action of a raging surf, lashed into fury by the violence of
the gale.

The conduct of the people on shore was most inhuman; not the slightest
assistance was offered; not a single boat from Brixham or Torquay
having put out to their assistance during the whole of this dreadful
night. To add to this disgraceful conduct, the cowardly wretches were
observed, when daylight broke, plundering everything of value as it
floated ashore.

The following is the tribute of praise which Captain Hunter so justly
pays to Captain Martin and the officers and crew of the Impetueux:--

"To Captain Martin, of the Impetueux, whose feelings as a man,
as well as his zeal as an officer, were on this distressing
occasion so conspicuous.--It is the desire of the officers and
crew of the Venerable in this place to express the high sense
they have of the obligations they are under to his personal
exertions, as well as those of the officers and boats' crews
whom he employed in this difficult and dangerous service,--for