He might have told you, too, that upon that January morning he was
starting with only one passenger on board--an elderly woman who was leaving
her home in the south of the island to go and see a doctor at Lerwick, as
she had been ill for some months.
The two men who formed the crew of the _Columbine_ returned the same day as
they had set sail, in an open boat belonging to their vessel. They said it
had been blowing hard when they started, and they had not got more than
four miles on the way when the captain was knocked overboard by a sudden
jerk of the boom. They quickly lowered the boat, and rowed hard to save
him; but, sad to tell, all their efforts were in vain, and they were at
length obliged to give up the attempt as hopeless, and were about to return
to the ship, when, to their dismay, they saw that she had drifted out to
sea, and, with her helpless passenger on board, was now far beyond their
reach.
The men pulled with all their strength; but the sea was so heavy, and
the _Columbine_ drifted so fast, that the distance between them rapidly
increased; and at last they had to turn and make for the shore, which they
reached with difficulty in their little open boat.
They told their tale, but nothing could be done to reach the drifting
vessel. Towards nightfall, some fishermen on the Isle of Mousa, where
opposing currents meet, and the sea is white with foam, saw the _Columbine_
pass, driven along by the wind.
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