102 DANGEROUS SITUATION 



1824. places. I never beheld a darker night, and 

 Sept. its gloom was increased by the rays of a small 

 horn lantern which was suspended from the 

 mizen stay to shew where the people sat. 



At dawn on the 13th, thirty minutes after 

 four, A.M., we found that the best bower 

 cable had parted, and as the gale now blew 

 with terrific violence, from the north, there was 

 little reason to expect that the other anchors 

 w^ould hold long ; or if they did, we pitched 

 so deeply, and lifted so great a body of water 

 each time, that it was feared the windlass and 

 forecastle would be torn up, or she must go 

 down at her anchors ; although the ports were 

 knocked out, and a considerable portion of the 

 bulwark cut away, she could scarcely discharge 

 one sea before shipping another, and the decks 

 were frecpiently flooded to an alarming depth. 



At six A.M., all farther doubts on this particu- 

 lar account were at an end, for, having received 

 two overwhelming seas, both the other cables 

 went at the same moment, and we were left 

 helpless, without anchors, or any means of 

 saving ourselves, should the shore, as we had 

 every reason to expect, be close astern. And 

 here agaia I had the happiness of witnessing 

 the same general tranquillity as was shewn on 

 the 1st of September. There was xio outcry 



