Page:Loss of the Comet steam-boat on her passage from Inverness to Glasgow, on Friday the 21st October, 1825.pdf/20

 mark the progress of the undertaking, and witness the first appearance which the shattered b exhibited when raised above the waters surface. Among the earliest indications of its near approach was the discovery of the body of an elderly ste made female, on Monday evening, supposed to be the cook known to have been on board the Comet, and nearly the last grown up person, of the ill-fated passengers, whose remains had not long previously been recovered. Notwithstanding the great length of time it had been in the water, the body was little decayed. Having been taken up the river u opposite Gourock church-yard, it was then put in a shell and interred. On Wednesday afternoon a pair of bagpipes were fished up from the deck of the vessel; and it will be recollected that to the strains of this instrument some of the passengers were enjoying themselves in the dance, not an hour before that dreadful collision which ushered them into eternity.

It was Wednesday before any part of the wreck was got above water; Thursday some farther progress was made in bringing the vessel close in and on Friday Morning, when the tide had completely ebbed, a considerable part of the deck was  the surface; but that portion of the vessel which comprehends the main cabin, from lying  on the face of a bank (perhaps 30 degrees from horizontal position) yet remains uncovered. The bow of the vessel is completely shattered, and the funnel thrown down, and resting lengthways on the.

A variety of articles have been fished up from the fore cabin, including several pieces of silk dress, children’s frocks, shoes, thread cases, and some appendages of the toilet, a small trunk, &c. all which have been taken charge of by the proper authorities. A man’s hat and a part of a jaw bone were likewise brought up on the point of a boat-hook. The wh