Watchman And Observer

Heroic Achievement.

The following affecting narrative, which appears in the Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers, recently published, will be read by many of our readers with much interest. The chief actor, it will be seen, was Mr. John Honey, father of the present respected minister of Inchture and of J. M. Honey, Esq., writer, Perth:

"One fearful day, the intelligence circulated through St. Andrews, that a vessel had been driven on a sand bank in the bay to the eastward of the town. A crowd of sailors, citizens, and students, soon collected upon the beach; for the vessel had been cast but a few hundred yards from the houses, and she lay so near that, though the heavy air was darkened by the driving sleet they could see, at intervals, the figures of the crew clinging to rope or spar, as each breaker burst upon her side, and shrouded all in snowy mist and darkness. In a calm sea a few vigorous strokes would have carried a good swimmer to the vessel's side; but now the hardiest fisherman drew back, and dared not face the fearful surge. At last a student of divinity volunteered. Tying a rope round his waist, and struggling through the surf, he threw himself among the waves, forcing his slow way through the raging element; he was nearing the vessel's side, when his friends on shore, alarmed at the length of time and the slow rate of recent progress, began to pull him back. Seizing a knife which he carried between his teeth, he cut the rope away, and reaching at last the stranded sloop, drew a fresh one from her to the shore but hungry, weak and wearied, after four days foodless tossing through the tempest, not one of the crew had courage or strength to use it. He again rushed into the waves—he boarded the vessel—he took them man by man, and bore them to the land. Six men were rescued thus. His seventh charge was a boy, so helpless that twice was the hold let go, and twice had he to dive after him into the deep. Meanwhile, in breathless stillness, the crowd had watched each perilous passage, till the double figure was seen tossing landward through the spray. But when the deed was done, and the whole crew saved, a loud cheer of admiring triumph arose around the gallant youth: This chivalric action was performed by Mr. John Honey, one of Mr. Chalmers' early and cherished college friends, afterwards ordained as minister of Bendochy, in Perthshire. Though his great strength and courage bore him apparently untired through the efforts of that exhausting day, there was reason to believe that in saving the lives of others, he had sacrificed his own. The seed of a deceitful malady were sown, which afterwards proved fatal. Mr. Chalmers was asked and consented to preach his funeral sermon on the 30th of October, 1814, the Sabbath after the funeral."