Everyone was amazed and astonished. It was almost a miracle that the ship had found the harbour even though a dead man was steering it! However, everything had happened more quickly than it takes to write these words. The ship did not slow down, but rushed across the harbour. In the south-east corner under the East Cliff there is a place where many tides and many storms have pushed together a large pile of sand and gravel. This place is known to local people as Tate Hill Pier.

Of course there was a powerful impact as the ship crashed into this sand heap. Every plank, rope, and spar came close to breaking. Some of the upper sails came crashing down. But the strangest thing of all happened the moment the ship touched the shore. A huge dog sprang up on deck from below, as if shot out of the ship when it hit the sand. The dog ran forward and jumped off the front of the ship.

It ran straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the lane which goes to the East Pier. (In fact some of the flat tombstones are partly in the air, where the cliff below them has fallen away.) The dog disappeared in the darkness, which seemed even darker when the searchlight moved on.