After twelve hours the force
of the tempest was broken, and they were able to take more
exercise, but they were without food and water, and no
succour came near them. They held stoutly out against the
privations for two days, then one after another began to
succumb to the combined ravages of cold, thirst, and
hunger. Some of them died insane, and others fought on until
Nature became exhausted, and they also passed into the
Valley of Death. There were now only the captain and a
coloured seaman left. The wind and sea were drifting the
vessel towards the Prussian coast, and on the fifth morning
after she became water-logged the wreck stranded on a sandy
beach two hours before daylight. The captain and his
coloured companion attached themselves to a plank, and by
superhuman effort reached the shore. They buried their
bodies up to the waist in sand under the shelter of a hill,
believing it would generate some warmth into their
impoverished systems. Their extremities were badly
frostbitten, and when they were discovered at daylight by a
man on horseback who had been attracted to the scene of the
wreck, they were both in a condition of semi-consciousness.
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