after nine o'clock. Fragments of wreck washing ashore then bore testimony that the ship was rapidly breaking up. About ten o'clock the cries ceased, and thick darkness gathered over the scene. Captain Smith, Dr. Curtis, and all hands perished. There were thirty persons on board of her. She was to have left for Mauritius on the following day, but fortunately none of her passengers had embarked.
"Of twenty-eight sea-going vessels in the Bay at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, at 8 p.m. on the same day but ten remained. In Simon's Bay also the gale was very severely felt."
During this dreadful day eighty or ninety lives were lost in Table Bay; but our friends were preserved in Simon's Bay from all harm. Not in vain had the prayers of many of God's people been offered for their preservation;—they were not unneeded,—they were not unanswered.
On the following Lord's-day our friends went ashore, and were most kindly received and entertained by one of the missionaries of Simon's Town. They had an opportunity of preaching; and after the evening service, a lady asked their acceptance of a purse containing £4. They were both refreshed and encouraged by this token of Christian love; but they did not know how seasonable the help would prove to be when they reached Hong-kong, at which port they safely arrived in due course. One of their first enquiries was for letters, but to their disappointment they found none. Letters (some of which contained remittances) had been sent to them by different individuals, and by two or three successive mails; but, strange to say, not one of them was then forthcoming, though all were ultimately received. All the money they had was consequently needed, and proved just sufficient to pay their passage by a Hamburg barque which was going direct to Ningpo. They arrived there on the 24th of July, and found other letters and remittances awaiting them. Thus ended a voyage remarkable from first to last for providential mercies.
A Fifth Worker.
We must now take our readers back to the day when our two brothers sailed from Plymouth. In his own cabin on board the Corea, on the 12th of April, Mr. Crombie requested the writer to hasten the departure of Miss Skinner as much as possible, that the painful separation might not be needlessly prolonged. He was assured that no effort on the writer's part should be wanting; but was reminded that we had not £1 in hand towards the £75 or £80[1] that would probably be needed for her outfit and passage. We knelt down in his cabin and asked Him who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens, to provide the needed means and suitable escort for her going forth. Mr. Crombie writing from Teneriffe sent no note for her, expecting
- ↑ The expense now is much less: now we expend £55 on outfit and passage to China.
