Page:Loss of the Comet steam-boat on her passage from Inverness to Glasgow, on Friday the 21st October, 1825.pdf/11

 The inhabitants of Gourock, on becoming aware of the disaster, exerted themselves in the most laudable manner to afford relief to the sufferers. Catharine Watson and Margaret Mackinnon, of that place, were the first persons who heard the shrieks from the river. They were in bed; put instantly rose, and wrapping themselves in cloaks, hastened to rouse the villagers. They then proceeded to the beach, and assisted a pilot, named Martin, (whose hospitable and humane attention to Miss Munro of Tain, who was saved, deserves honourable mention), to launch a boat, before any person arrived; and, to the honour of their sex be it told, they offered to go with Martin to sea. Before they were ready to put off, however, people sufficient to man three boats had mustered, and they were not required to give this additional proof of their courage. Almost every individual who was saved had cause to thank the inhabitants of Gourock for their preservation; and this aid was not confined to the mere act of dragging them from the deep, but extended to a generous and hospitable display of sympathy afterwards. The immense quantity of luggage which floated ashore, before any person of authority arrived to take charge of it, was held sacred; the most honourable feelings prevailed