Our life here has been a blank. There was, indeed, a
shipwreck, a month or two ago, when a large ship came ashore within a
mile from our windows; the larger portion of the crew landing safely on
the hither sands, while six or seven betook themselves to the boat, and
were lost in attempting to gain the shore, on the other side of the
Ribble. After a lapse of several weeks, two or three of their drowned
bodies were found floating in this vicinity, and brought to Southport for
burial; so that it really is not at all improbable that Milton's Lycidas
floated hereabouts, in the rise and lapse of the tides, and that his
bones may still be whitening among the sands.
In the same gale that wrecked the above-mentioned vessel, a portion of a
ship's mast was driven ashore, after evidently having been a very long
time in and under water; for it was covered with great barnacles, and
torn sea-weed, insomuch that there was scarcely a bare place along its
whole length; clusters of sea-anemones were sticking to it, and I know
not what strange marine productions besides. J----- at once recognized
the sea-anemones, knowing them by his much reading of Gosse's Aquarium;
and though they must now have been two or three days high and dry out of
water, he made an extempore aquarium out of a bowl, and put in above a
dozen of these strange creatures. In a little while they bloomed out
wonderfully, and even seemed to produce young anemones; but, from some
fault in his management, they afterwards grew sickly and died.
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