THE FORTUNES OF THE WHALEBOAT PARTY. 829 



bows ; a piece of canvas also had been sewed across to 

 make a thwart-ship bulkhead ; the canvas was tacked 

 along the sides and raised on wooden stanchions ; it 

 was supported by the shoulders and backs of the men, 

 thus making a cockpit and half-decked boat. The men 

 crouched down to avoid the force of the gale and were 

 constantly at work bailing the boat. 



The storm was still raging when daylight broke on 

 the morning of the 13th, and though the sun showed 

 itself a little after noon, it was not until five in the 

 afternoon that the storm had so far abated as to make 

 it safe to get under way again. The wind and the sea 

 had then subsided somewhat, and all night they ran to 

 the west and southwest. 



On the morning of the 14th the boat grounded in 

 two feet of water, with no land in sight, and they stood 

 to the eastward, hoping to get off: the shoal and to feel 

 their way southward ; the point which they aimed to 

 make, in accordance with the instruction of Captain 

 De Long, w r as Barkin. There were light airs from the 

 south southeast all day, but toward evening the weather 

 looked more threatening, and, fearing to be caught in 

 the shoals in bad w r eather, they stood to the eastward, 

 and at midnight were in ten fathoms of water. Then 

 the course was laid southeast, and at six o'clock on the 

 morning of the 15th they stood to the southwest, hoping 

 to strike the north and south coast of the Delta. 



It was not until the morning of the 16th that they 

 raised land, two low headlands forming the mouth of a 

 large river. The water was muddy and brackish, but 

 as the men had had no water to drink for four days 

 they eagerly partook of this ; as they slowly ascended 

 the river the water became sweeter. The river mouth 

 was a very wide one, the headlands being barely discern- 



