160 FROM RADACK TO 



climates as the northern ocean received us with 

 storms, which always prevail in spring in these 

 parts. 



The 13th of April was the frightful day which 

 blastedallmy fairesthopes : we were then in latitude 

 44° 30', and longitude 181° 8'. Already, on the 11th 

 and 12th, there was a violent storm, with hail and 

 snow. In the night of the 12th and 13th a hurricane 

 arose; the waves, which before ran high, rose in 

 immense masses, such as I had never yet seen : 

 the Rurick suffered beyond description. Im- 

 mediately after midnight the fury of the hurri- 

 cane rose to such a degree, that it tore the tops 

 of the waves from the sea, and drove them, in 

 the form of a thick rain, over the surface of the 

 ocean. Nobody, who has not witnessed such a 

 scene, can form an adequate idea of it. It seems 

 as if a direful revolution was at that moment de- 

 stroying the whole stupendous fabric of nature. I 

 had just relieved Lieutenant Schischmareff. Besides 

 myself, there were four sailors on deck, of whom 

 two were holding the helm ; the rest of the crew 

 T had, for greater security, sent into the hold. At 

 four o'clock in the morning, I was just looking at 

 the height of a foaming wave, when it suddenly 

 took its direction to the Rurick, and in the same 

 moment threw me down senseless. The violent 

 pain which I felt on recovering was heightened 

 by the melancholy sight of my ship, whose fate 

 would be inevitable, if the hurricane should rage 

 for another hour; for not a corner of it had 



