She quickly found where the lifeboat had been moored. Soon after they’d landed relatives had arrived to whisk the survivors away and none of the villagers wanted the lifeboat, which was far too clumsy to be used for fishing.

A feral cat was nursing her kittens in the stern. For a moment Mercy contemplated taking the little family with her for company, but dreading they might starve to death as she feared she might herself, she gently coaxed them out, climbed in, and headed out to sea, hoping to find, somewhere, a Friend of Mercy to offer her a good life, or any life at all.