During the late war a gentleman and his wife were going from the East
Indies to England. His wife died on the passage, and left two infants,
the charge of which fell to a colored boy about seventeen years of age.
The gentleman, for some reason which I do not recollect, went on board
the vessel of the commodore of the fleet in which they sailed. There
came on a violent storm, and the vessel which the children were on
board of was on the point of being lost.
They despatched a boat from the commodore's vessel, to save as many as
they could. They had almost filled the boat, and there was room enough
for the infants, or the negro boy. What did he do? He did not hesitate
a moment, but put the children into the boat, and said, "Tell my master
that Coffin has done his duty;" and that instant he was received into
the bosom of the ocean, never more to return. The queen requested the
celebrated poetess, Hannah Moore, to write an epic poem on it, but
she wisely declined it, saying that no art could embellish so noble a
sentiment.