OLD WHALING DAYS. 165 



soundings could be found at sixty fathoms, and the swell 

 was so heavy that nothing could save us but a breeze, or 

 getting the ship's head to the westward. A boat was there- 

 fore manned, and an attempt made to tow the ship's head 

 round. The night was very dark, and the ship rolled 

 heavily, which made it a difficult task. A light breeze 

 sprang up, and the sails being trimmed to it, we gradually 

 edged from the land and into the Pentland Firth. A boat 

 came from the island of Swona, and the crew told us that 

 about the time we were becalmed a small coasting schooner 

 drifted on the rocks and became a total wreck. In the 

 Firth the tide runs with great velocity, and with a spring 

 flood and a westerly wind it attains the rate of eight or nine 

 knots. We got safely through into the North Sea, and were 

 soon in the river Tay, and moored in the dock. 



