From regard to our own safety we had to retreat rapidly
towards the shingles, carrying as many of the helpless as time would admit
out of danger, in which we were aided by many of the sailors from Torwich,
who had assisted in rescuing a portion of the cargo. The peasantry, at
last aware of the hazard they ran, took to their heels also; but from the
state they were in, many were forgotten or left behind. The roar of waters
came rapidly onward, and amid the foaming eddy created by its advance, the
stifled death-cry, mingled with the harsh and piercing shrieks of some of
the half drowning victims--one moment awakened to the consciousness of
their situation, and the next hurried to eternity--burst on the ear; and
such was the advance of the spring-flood, that a few minutes after the
rush of people had reached the shingles, the curling breakers rolled the
bodies of several of the sufferers almost to their feet. The most lively
interest was now excited towards a small rock, which jutted out of the
sand a little distance from the wreck.
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