440 A SAIL DESCRIED. [cHAP.VI. 



unremitted work at the pumps, which could not 

 be left for a moment, that they were fast wear- 

 ing out. To aggravate our disasters, the ship, 

 too, laboured so as to make it impossible to light 

 a fire, and thus deprived us of the nourish- 

 ment essential for the restoration of our ex- 

 hausted energies. This, however, was in some 

 measure compensated by a liberal allowance of 

 preserved meats, which, on this, as on many 

 other occasions, we had found extremely useful. 

 The weather continued very boisterous, and 

 so thick that Rockall, though within ten miles 

 of us, was not seen. A heavy sea now struck 

 the after-part of the ship, and, to complete our 

 misfortunes, sprung the main piece of the rudder 

 on the larboard side, not far from the deck. 

 Happily we were enabled to get at it, and by 

 passing seventeen turns of strong whale line 

 round the injured part, we contrived to secure 

 it. Still, as successive seas came rolling thickly 

 upon us, we watched with intense solicitude the 

 result, well knowing that if it gave way again 

 the safety of the ship was hopeless, even if life 

 itself could be preserved. 



On we struggled, crazy and waterlogged, but 

 the gale abated; and on Sept. 3d, crowding 

 every stitch of canvass, we descried a sail in the 

 distance, the first we had yet seen. Under 

 ordinary circumstances a signal would have been 



