Already there were signs that the ship would break up ere long, and no hope existed that rescue could arrive in time.
Suddenly there was a great crash, and the vessel parted amidships.
"A few minutes will settle it now," the captain said.

"God help us all." At this moment there was a shout to leeward, which was answered by a scream of joy from those on board the wreck, for there, close alongside, lay the lifeboat, whose approach had been entirely unseen.

In a few minutes the fifteen men who remained of the twenty-two, who had formed the crew of the wreck, and the four boys, were on board her.

A tiny sail was set and the boat's head laid towards Ramsgate.
"I am glad to see you, Master Hargate," the sailor who rowed one of the stroke oars shouted.

He was the man who had lent them the boat.