A VIOLENT GALE. 279 



get westward to land York and Fuegia in their 

 own country. When at sea, we had a constant 

 succession of gales, and the current was against us : 

 we drifted to 57° 23' south. On the 11th of Jan- 

 uary, 1833, by caiTying a press of sail, we fetched 

 within a few miles of the gi'eat rugged mountain 

 of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook, and 

 the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian), when 

 a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and 

 stand out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully 

 on the coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff 

 estimated at 200 feet in height. On the 12th the 

 gale was very heavy, and we did not know exactly 

 where we were : it was a most unpleasant sound 

 to hear constantly repeated, " Keep a good lookout 

 to leeward." On the 13th the storm raged with its 

 full fury : our horizon was narrowly limited by the 

 sheets of spray borne by the wind. The sea looked 

 ominous, like a dreary waving plain with patches 

 of drifted snow : whilst the ship laboured heavily, 

 the albatross glided with its expanded wings right 

 up the wind. At noon a gi-eat sea broke over us, 

 and filled one of the whale-boats, which was obliged 

 to be instantly cut away. The poor Beagle trem- 

 bled at the shock, and for a few minutes would 

 not obey her helm ; but soon, like a good ship that 

 she was, she righted and came up to the wind again. 

 Had another sea followed the first, our fate would 

 have been decided soon, and forever. We had 

 now been twenty-four days trying in vain to get 

 westward ; the men were worn out with fatigue, 

 and they had not had for many nights or days a 

 dry thing to put on. Captain Fitz Roy gave up 

 the attempt to get westward by the outside coast. 

 In the evening we i^an in behind False Cape Horn, 

 and dropped our anchor in forty-seven fathoms, fire 

 flashing from the windlass as the chain rushed 



