The news of the captain's permission to Boyton to leave the vessel when off the Irish coast, was spread among the passengers and every one, both fore and aft, manifested the most lively interest in the experiment.

Some of the officers protested vigorously against it.

Captain Bragg was a determined man and when he gave the word the only course was to obey him.

On the evening of Tuesday, the 21st, the captain called Paul into the chart room and said: "We are now nearing the Irish coast and the barometer is as low down as I have seen it for many a year and there is every indication of a gale.
The coast you intend to land on acts as a breakwater for all northern Europe and the waves that pile up on it during a storm are something astounding.

The cliffs that resist them are from one hundred and eighty to three hundred feet high and they are as straight up and down as a mainmast in a calm.