The Author, owing to circumstances, has had access to authentic
documents and facts, relating to one of the most remarkable shipwrecks
which have ever happened, that of the troop-ships Runnymede and
Briton, on the morning of the 12th of November, 1844, upon one of the
Andaman Islands.
In reading these, it struck him forcibly, that the circumstances, if
thrown into the shape of a narrative, would form not only an
interesting publication, but would serve as a monument of the cool
intrepidity and judicious presence of mind of British officers,
soldiers, and seamen, in a time of remarkable trial.
They also tend to illustrate in a very striking manner the correctness
of the classic and poetical description of the "dangers of the sea,"
contained in that passage of Scripture, which the Author has often
observed to be listened to with great interest, when read in its
course, in the churches of our seaports, and which, on that account,
he makes no apology for quoting in a work, not professedly religious.
"They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in
great waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in
the deep. For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up
the waves thereof. They are carried up to the heaven, and down again
to the deep: their soul melteth away because of the trouble. They reel
to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man: and are at their wits'
end. So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivereth
them out of their distress. For he maketh the storm to cease: so that
the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they are at
rest; and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be."[A]
[A] Psalm cvii., v. 23-30, Com. Pr. Book.
If this little work should answer the author's intention by proving
entertaining as well as instructive, he will feel that he has been
rewarded for the pains he has taken in compiling it.
_Reading,_
_July, 1845._