136 REGAIN THE ATLANTIC. 



1824. fine, and we ran into the Atlantic with a fair 

 October, and moderate breeze. Never have I witnessed 

 a happier set of countenances than were on 

 our deck this night. To have regained once 

 more an open ocean, in a ship in which we 

 had so often been in danger^ was of itself suf- 

 ficient to rejoice at ; but when we reflected, 

 that in two particular instances we had been 

 left without the slightest probability of again 

 seeing our country ; that, when all hope had 

 left us, we had been merciftilly preserved, and 

 that noAv, without the power of beating off a 

 lee-shore, or an anchor to save us, we had run 

 through nine hundred miles of a dangerous 

 navigation, and arrived in safety at the ocean, 

 I may say that our sensations were indescrib- 

 able. For the first time since the 28th of 

 August, a period of five weeks, I enjoyed a 

 night of uninterrupted repose. 



The 3d was a lovely day, and we most for- 

 tunately met with a piece of ice, from which, 

 in a few hours, a supply of blocks, sufficient to 

 fill all our tanks, was obtained. Had it not been 

 for this, we should inevitably have been very 

 seriously distressed on our homeward passage. 

 The weather during the night was remarkably 

 mild and fine, and the sea perfectly quiet, so 

 that (perhaps from comparison in a great mea- 



