122 REMARKS ON 



1824. began falling, and a heavy sea soon rose. Ini- 

 Sept. mediately before the gale set in, the barometer 

 rose to 30.312, which was higher than we had 

 hitherto seen it, but it fell again as quickly to 

 28.021, at which it continued until the weather 

 changed. The wind, as we imagined, veered 

 round during the day to south-east, whence it 

 blew with great violence. Having now been two 

 days without obtaining observations, or suffi- 

 cient sights of the sun to ascertain if our com- 

 passes had changed their errors, there was 

 reason to apprehend that Southampton was 

 now a lee-shore to us, but as we had from sixty 

 to eighty fathoms, it was probably still distant. 

 The snow fell so thickly towards evening, 

 that our people obtained a quantity of water, in 

 addition to their daily quart. 



I was now much concerned to observe, that in 

 each succeeding gale, the ship's decks became 

 more leaky, and that the shocks she had re- 

 ceived in the '' Bay of God's Mercy/' with the 

 severe strains experienced while at anchor on 

 the 12tli and 13th, had loosened her upper- 

 works very considerably. The heavy seas 

 which we shipped continually all this day and 

 night, kept our lower-deck and cabins constantly 

 flooded, for the opening of the seams allowed 

 of the water finding its way to the cork-lining. 



