166 CELEBES. [chap. 



too late and we took the ground. The sea-breeze blowing fresh at 

 the time the ship's head rapidly payed off, and in less than a 

 minnte we were aground stem and stern. 



A small brig was lying a short distance from us, and as quickly 

 as possible we got hawsers out to her, and, when fast, weighed our 

 anchor — which we had vainly let go in the hope of stopping the 

 vessel's head from smnging round — and commenced hauling off'. 

 To our dismay, however, the hawser carried away, and our bow was 

 in consequence driven farther on the bank by the sea, which had 

 by this time somewhat increased. We now began to bump heavily, 

 — a most unpleasant sensation — and as every send of the sea 

 ground us down more and more into the bank, we feared lest the 

 ship might become firmly fixed before we could adopt further 

 means for getting her afloat. We sent ashore for large boats and 

 hands to aid in getting out our bower anchor, and meanwhile laid 

 our stream anchor out to sea and got another hawser to the brig. 

 We hauled on both only to meet with another failure, for the 

 anchor "came home," and for the second time the hawser gave 

 under the strain. We had now but one chance left us, — that of 

 getting out our bower anchor — which we had been unable to try 

 before, owing to the lack of proper boats. By this time, however, 

 we had obtained a small barge, to the stern of which we slung the 

 anchor, putting in eighty fathoms of chain cable. The cutter took 

 another thirty, and the two boats proceeding seaward let go in 

 twenty-three fathoms, an operation attended with some difficulty, 

 owing to the uncomfortable sea running at the time. This time 

 we were successful, and between 2 and 3 p.m. the Marcliesa floated 

 off into deep water, ha^dng been ashore five hours. 



Our troubles were nevertheless not yet over, for the cable smashed 

 at a shackle when anchoring for the second time, and we lost our 

 anchor. We were more fortunate on the third trial, letting go in 

 55 fathoms and veering to 145 fathoms. We then made fast with 

 two hawsers to the shore, and felt that we had earned some rest. 

 All hands w^ere fairly tired out. 



