Page:The history of yachting.djvu/256

120 She next became the property of Messrs. Carlins & Co., of London, and was converted into a collier, transporting coals between Newcastle, London, and the Continent. In all these employments she did her work well, and bore the reputation of being "a lucky ship and a fast sailer."

It was this period of her career that inspired the brilliant and witty Dr. Sheldon McKenzie to write, in later years, these impromptu lines in an album:

In 1825 she was purchased by Mr. George Finch Wilson, of South Shields; but by this time her figure-head was gone and she had become a full-rigged brig. On February 27, 1827, while bound from Shields to Hamburg with her usual cargo of coals, she struck, in a heavy gale, upon the Black Middens,—a dangerous reef of rocks at the mouth of the Tyne,—and in a few days went to pieces.

At this time she must have been well-known throughout Great Britain; for the news of her disaster brought to the wreckers of Shields applications for pieces of her remains from all over the country. The Orange Lodges were especially importunate.

Souvenirs of various kinds, such as snuff-boxes, paper-knives, and ink-stands were made from her oak planking and timbers,—age and exposure having made them as hard and black as ebony. Each member of the corporation of Newcastle was presented with a snuff-box, beautifully ornamented;