LABRADOR JOURNAL 313 



posed that we were driving upon the coast of 

 France, between Ushant and the Seimes. To re- 

 tard her drift somewhat, a cable was veered out, 

 which at ten at night was cut aAvay, and we set 

 a reefed foresail and balance-reefed mainsail. It 

 is easier to imagine than to describe the anxiety 

 of our minds, expecting every minute, from ten 

 o'clock on the Saturday morning to eight on Sun- 

 day night, to discover ragged rocks close under 

 our lee, and soon after to be driven upon them 

 in a most violent gale of wind. We then, most 

 devoutly, went to prayers; I officiated as chap- 

 lain, and no sooner had we done, than, to the ad- 

 miration and astonishment of every man on board, 

 the wind became perfectly moderate; it shifted 

 four points in our favour, the sky cleared, and, 

 miraculous to relate, the sea which but the mo- 

 ment before ran as high and as dangerous as it 

 could well do, in an instant became as smooth as 

 if we had shot under the lee of Scilly at five or 

 six leagues distant! We could attribute all these 

 things, to nothing but the effect of the immediate 

 interposition of the DIVINITY, who had ))een 

 graciously ])leased to hear our prayers, and grant 

 nil)' |)('titions; and 1 liojx', I shall never be of a 

 colli rary way of thinking. After this, we had 

 various weather with hard-hearted winds, which 

 (li-ovc us to the westward of Tape Clear, so thai 

 it was not till tho fif'tli of 'P('l)ruary, at midnight, 

 that we saw the land; and at eleven at night, on 

 Snfnrda\- the seventh, we let go an andioi" in 

 St ii<ll;iii(l Il;i>, 1n 1li<' no small Joy and satisfac- 



