LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



tically the black Tower rocks, rude towers of naked rock, 

 one to two hundred feet in height. The heavy surges of 

 the southern ocean rolled in against the rocks with fright- 

 ful roar and tumult, and now and then dashed the spray 

 over their summits, veiling them in a sheet of foam, which 

 soon disappeared, forming white, thready torrents down 

 the black rocks. Again the cry was heard, 'Breakers on 

 the lee bow ! ' and we turned a hasty glance towards our 

 new dangers. A cliff, black and drear, was dimly dis- 

 cerned through the haze, and more distinctly, at its base, 

 a line of heavy breakers. The ship was immediately put 

 about and all possible efforts made to regain the open sea 

 to the southward. But we made no headway against the 

 sea and wind, and rapidly drifted towards the rocks we 

 would avoid. As a last resort we again put the ship 

 about, and, with the Tower rocks on one side and Noir 

 Island on the other, ran for an anchorage under the lee 

 of the latter. The roadstead was small and the winds 

 were increasing in violence, endangering our masts and 

 sails ; it seemed hoping against hope yet we hoped ; 

 and in the course of another half-hour, every countenance 

 was brightened and every heart gladdened by seeing our 

 anchor safely down and our ship comparatively quiet. 

 We could not but admire the coolness and judgment of 

 Captain Long, who, through the whole, was seated on 

 the foreyard, giving his orders as quietly and deliberately 

 as in more peaceful times; but whatever may be imputed 

 to him, we all felt grateful to One above, who rules the 

 raging of the sea, for His safe guidance through the perils 

 of the day. 



" During the ensuing night we lay in eighteen fathoms 

 water, with two bow anchors down and about two fathoms 

 of cable to each. The wind in part subsided, but blew 

 occasionally in severe gusts, which carried some fears of 

 our anchors dragging. The following morning the wind 

 had much abated, and we talked of a ramble on shore as 

 soon as the sea should go down ; but towards noon the 

 wind increased again and for further security we let go a 

 third anchor. Before night it blew a gale with occasional 

 squalls of extreme violence, and being but imperfectly 

 protected from the heavy seas, and hardly at all from the 

 winds which veered around to the southward, all our ap- 

 prehensions were again aroused. A fourth anchor was 



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