1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 185 



vent our destruction, might at least delay it. But it 

 was six o'clock before this was effected, and we were 

 not then a hundred yards from the rock upon which 

 the same billow which washed the side of the ship, 

 broke to a tremendous height the very next time it 

 rose ; so that between us and destruction there was 

 only a dreary valley, no wider than the base of one 

 wave, and even now the sea under us was unfathom- 

 able, at least no bottom was to be found with a hun- 

 dred and twenty fathom. During this scene of dis- 

 tress the carpenter had found means to patch up the 

 pinnace ; so that she was hoisted out, and sent a-head, 

 in aid of the other boats, to tow ; but all our efforts 

 would have been ineffectual, if, just at this crisis of 

 our fate, a light air of wind had not sprung up, so 

 light, that at any other time we should not have ob- 

 served it, but which was enough to turn the scale in 

 our favour, and, in conjunction with the assistance, 

 which was afforded us by the boats, to give the ship 

 a perceptible motion obliquely from the reef. Our 

 hopes now revived ; but in less than ten minutes 

 it was again a dead calm, and the ship was again 

 driven towards the breakers, which were not now 

 two hundred yards distant. The same light breeze, 

 however, returned before we had lost all the 

 ground it had enabled us to gain, and lasted about 

 ten minutes more. During this time we disco- 

 vered a small opening in the reef, at about the dis- 

 tance of a quarter of a mile : I immediately sent one 

 of the mates to examine it, who reported that its 

 breadth was not more than the length of the ship, 

 but that within it there was smooth water : this dis- 

 covery seemed to render our escape possible, and 

 that was all, by pushing the ship through the open- 

 ing, which was immediately attempted. It was un- 

 certain, indeed, whether we could reach it ; but if we 

 should succeed thus far, we made no doubt of being 

 able to get through : in this however we were dis- 

 appointed, for having reached it by the joint assist- 



