After the catastrophe I have described, the ship continued to burn furiously--the oil in her hold helping to feed the conflagration.  The savages who were already in their canoes paddled rapidly away; many must have lost their lives, as several canoes appear to have been destroyed. Numbers of the unfortunate wretches, wounded by the explosion, were swimming about, trying to get hold of their canoes or of pieces of the wreck; while others, who had escaped injury, were making for the shore. But they had watchful enemies in the sea looking for them; the water swarmed with sharks, and several, unable to defend themselves, were caught by the voracious monsters.  What became of our poor countrymen-- whether they were blown up with the ship or carried off by the savages-- we could not tell.