76 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



it up. The decayed stores, oil -jars, casks, ballast, six of 

 their "guns, and other things, were thrown overboard, in 

 order to get at the heavier articles ; and in this business 

 they were employed till daybreak, during all which time it 

 was observed that not an oath was sworn, so much were the 

 minds of the sailors impressed with a sense of their danger. 



At daylight they saw land at eight leagues' distance ; but 

 not a single island between them and the main ; so that 

 the destruction of the greater part of them would have 

 been inevitable, had the ship gone to pieces. It happened, 

 however, that the wind died away to a dead calm before 

 noon. As they expected high water at eleven o'clock, 

 everything was prepared to make another effort to free the 

 ship ; but the tide fell so much short of that in the night, 

 that she did not float by eighteen inches, though they had 

 thrown overboard near fifty tons' weight ; they now, there- 

 fore, renewed their toil and threw overboard everything that 

 could be possibly spared. As the tide fell, the water poured 

 in so rapidly that they could scarcely keep her free by the 

 constant working of two pumps. Their only hope now 

 depended on the midnight tide, and preparations were 

 accordingly made for another effort to get the ship off. The 

 tide began to rise at five o'clock, when the leak likewise 

 increased to such a degree, that three pumps were kept 

 going till nine o'clock, at which time the ship righted ; but 

 so much water had been admitted by the leak, that they 

 expected she would sink as soon as the water should bear 

 her off the rock. 



Their situation was now deplorable beyond description, 

 and the imagination must paint what would baffle the 

 powers of language to describe. They knew that when the 

 fatal moment should arrive, all authority would be at an 

 end. The boats were incapable of conveying them all on 

 shore and they dreaded a contest for the preference, as more 

 shocking than the shipwreck itself ; yet, it was considered, 

 that those who might be left on board, would eventually 

 meet with a milder fate than those who, by gaining the 

 shore, would have no chance but to linger the remains of 

 life among the rudest savages in the universe, and in a 

 country where firearms would barely enable them to support 

 a wretched existence. 



At twenty minutes after ten the ship floated, and was 

 heaved into deep water ; when they were happy to find she 

 did not admit more water than she had done before ; yet, 

 as the leak had for a considerable time gained on the 

 pumps, there was now three feet nine inches water in the 

 hold. By this time the men were so worn by fatigue of 

 mind and body, that none of them could pump more than 



