DIARY OF CAPTAIN LAMSON 167 



when it moderated we made sail and got 

 soundings off the south shoal, ran in by 

 the shoal, wind S. E. About three o'clock 

 in the p. M. the wind came from the east 

 with snow and blew a heavy gale, and we 

 hove to under close reefed foresail. 1 : 35 

 A. M. we saw the breakers alongside, when 

 she struck, the sea making a breach over 

 her. We cut away the main mast, the fore- 

 mast by the violence of the striking break- 

 ing in two places. We then beat over the 

 shoal and drove up on the beach but could 

 not discover anything. At 3 A. M. we got on 

 the beach and got up behind a hill, where 

 we trod down the snow sufficiently to walk 

 and to keep ourselves from freezing. At 

 daylight we travelled to the south not know- 

 ing what part of the Cape we were on. 

 Having walked about four miles and no 

 prospect of relief, I concluded to return, as 

 we were getting feeble. We walked about 

 a mile when John Low became quite help- 

 less and lost his senses. He had once got 

 into the surf and lost his mittens. I gave 



