The Ocean Waifs — Mayne Reid

The "vulture of the sea," borne upon broad wing, and wandering over the wide Atlantic, suddenly suspends his flight to look down upon an object that has attracted his attention. It is a raft, with a disc not much larger than a dining-table, constructed out of two small spars of a ship, -the dolphin-striker and spritsail yard, -with two broad planks and some narrower ones lashed crosswise, and over all two or three pieces of sail-cloth carelessly spread.