312 CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT'S 



is not now a time to consider what a vessel will 

 do, but to determine what she shall do. For 

 my part, it is a matter of the greatest indiffer- 

 ence to me w^hether I am drowned by being 

 driven on the rocks, or by the upsetting of the 

 vessel, but as the one seems to be certain, and 

 the other is only a supposition, I am decidedly 

 for setting more sail immediately, and endeav- 

 ouring to get outside of Funk Island, where we 

 shall have drift enough.'^ He approved of my 

 arguments, set more sail, and the little vessel 

 plunged through the sea better than could be ex- 

 pected. 



[On Thursday, October 30th, Cartwright 

 reached Trinity Harbour, and on Thursday, De- 

 cember 18th, he sailed on the ^' Little Benjamin '* 

 for Poole. A month later, on Saturday, January 

 17, 1784, they "" endeavoured to get into the bay 

 of Biscay."] 



At two in the afternoon, a most dreadful hurri- 

 cane came on from the northward, such as none 

 of us had ever seen, and which beggars all de- 

 scription, suffice it to say, that it was dreadful 

 and terrible to the greatest degree. Although 

 captain Pitman, the master of the vessel, had the 

 prudence to take in what sail he had out, yet it 

 laid the vessel nearly on her beam ends, and we 

 expected that she must either have upset or lost 

 her masts. It lasted three quarters of an hour, 

 and even afterwards blew so hard till ten at night, 

 that we could not shew one rag of sail: and as it 

 had shifted again to north north west, we sup- 



