“I waited till the roll of the ship brought me near enough to the boat
to catch, with my right hand, another rope that I saw hanging plumb
above it, while I hung on with my left. It came within reach: I caught
it, let go with my left, and lowered myself into the boat. Then I
wanted to sink down in her bottom and forget everything, but I dared
not, for men were pouring into her. I saw a man’s knee hooked over the
side of the boat where I sat. I could not see his body, but it was in
the water, between us and the side of the _Sussex_. As in a dream I
held on to his knee with my left hand with all the grip I had left, and
with my right held on to the seat on which I sat. I could do nothing to
help him in, but on the other hand, so long as I remained conscious,
his knee-hold should not be allowed to slip. No one took any notice of
either of us. Gradually I began to hear again. The men in the boat were
shouting that there was no more room, that the boat was full. One last
man tumbled in and then the people in the boat pushed away, and men
on the _Sussex_ helped. Others continually threw gratings and planks
overboard.