Thrilling Stories of the Ocean | Page 8

of the Kent, and the poor women and children suffered
dreadfully, in being lowered over the stern into them by means of ropes.
Amid this gloomy scene, many beautiful examples occurred of filial
and parental affection, and of disinterested friendship; and many
sorrowful instances of individual loss and suffering. At length, when all
had been removed from the burning vessel, but a few, who were so
overcome by fear as to refuse to make the attempt to reach the brig, the
captain quitted his ill-fated ship.
The flames which had spread along her upper deck, now mounted
rapidly to the mast and rigging, forming one general conflagration and
lighting up the heavens to an immense distance round. One by one her
stately masts fell over her sides. By half-past one in the morning the
fire reached the powder magazine; the looked-for explosion took place,
and the burning fragments of the vessel were blown high into the air,
like so many rockets.
The Cambria, with her crowd of sufferers, made all speed to the nearest
port, and reached Portsmouth in safety, shortly after midnight, on the
3d of March, 1825, the accident having taken place on the 28th of
February. Wonderful to tell, fourteen of the poor creatures, left on the
Kent, were rescued by another ship, the Caroline, on her passage from
Alexandria to Liverpool.

THE PELICAN.
The life of a pelican seems to be a very lazy, if not a very pleasant one.
Man, ever on the watch to turn the habits of animals to his own account,
observing how good a fisherman the pelican is, often catches and tames
him, and makes him fish for him. I have heard of a bird of this kind in
America, which was so well trained, that it would at command go off in
the morning, and return at night with its pouch full, and stretched to the
utmost; part of its treasure it disgorged for its master, the rest was given
to the bird for its trouble. It is hardly credible what these extraordinary
pouches will hold; it is said, that among other things, a man's leg with
the boots on was once found in one of them.
Pelicans live in flocks; they and the cormorants sometimes help one
another to get a living. The cormorant is a species of pelican, of a

dusky color: it is sometimes called the sea crow. The cormorants are
the best divers, so the pelicans arrange themselves in a large circle at
some great distance from the land, and flap their great wings on the
surface of the water, while the cormorants dive beneath. Away swim
the poor frightened fish towards the shore; the pelicans draw into a
narrower circle, and the fish at last are brought into so small a compass,
that their pursuers find no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful meal.
[Illustration: THE SEA TURTLE.]

CATCHING TURTLE.
There are two kinds of turtle; the one is called the green turtle, and is
much valued as a delicious article of food; the other the hawk's bill
turtle supplies the tortoise shell of commerce, which is prepared and
moulded into various forms by heat. The flesh of the hawk's bill turtle
is considered very unwholesome.
[Illustration: CATCHING TURTLE.]
The turtles in the picture are of the edible kind; they are found on the
shores of nearly all the countries within the tropics.
There is a little rocky island in the south Atlantic Ocean, called the
Island of Ascension, where they are found in vast numbers, and this
barren spot is often visited by Indiamen for the purpose of obtaining
some of them. The turtles feed on the sea weed and other marine plants
which grow on the shoals and sand banks, and with their powerful jaws,
they crush the small sea shells which are found among the weeds. This
kind of food is always to be had in great abundance, so that the turtles
have no occasion to quarrel among themselves, for that which is
afforded in such plenty for all; indeed they seem to be a very quiet and
inoffensive race, herding peaceably together on their extensive
feeding-grounds, and when satisfied retiring to the fresh water at the
mouth of the rivers, where they remain holding their heads above water,
as if to breathe the fresh air, till the shadow of any of their numerous
enemies alarms them, when they instantly dive to the bottom for
security.
In the month of April, the females leave the water after sunset, in order
to deposit their eggs in the sand. By means of their fore-fins they dig a
hole above high water mark, about one foot wide and two deep, into
which they drop above a hundred eggs; they then cover them lightly

over with a