OCCUPATION, AND TRANSFER. 3 



were unable to renew them by replacing from the stores, since 

 there were no seamen strong enough on the ship to bend new ones 

 to the yards and booms. 



Soon rain was followed by snow, the nights grew longer and 

 darker, and they now lived in dreadful anticipation of shipwreck ; 

 the fresh water diminished, and the labor of working the vessel 

 became too severe for the few who were able to be about. From 

 the 1st to the 4th of November the ship had lain as a log on the 

 ocean, helpless and drifting, at the sport of the wind and the waves. 

 Then again, in desperation, they managed to control her, and set 

 her course anew to the westward, without knowing absolutely any- 

 thing as to where they were. In a few hours after, the joy of the 

 distressed crew can be better imagined than described, for, looming 

 up on the gray, gloomy horizon, they saw the snow-covered tops 

 of high hills, still distant however, ahead. As they drew nearer, 

 night came upon them, and they judged best, therefore, to keep 

 out at sea " off and on " until daybreak, so as to avoid the risk of 

 wrecking themselves in the deep darkness. When the gray light of 

 early morning dawned, they found that the rigging on the star- 

 board side of the vessel was giving way, and that their craft could 

 not be much longer managed ; that the fresh water was very low, 

 and that sickness was increasing frightfully. The raw humidity of 

 the climate was now succeeded by dry, intense cold ; life was well- 

 nigh insupportable on shipboard then, so, after a brief consulta- 

 tion, they determined to make for the land, save their lives, and, if 

 possible, safely beach the St. Peter. 



The small sails were alone set ; the wind was north ; thirty-six 

 fathoms of \tater over a sand bottom ; two hours after they de- 

 creased it to twelve ; they now contrived to get over an anchor and 

 run it out at three-quarters of a cable's length ; at six in the even- 

 ing this hawser parted ; tremendous waves bore the helpless boat 

 on in toward the land through the darkness and the storm, where 

 soon she struck twice upon a rocky reef. Yet, in a moment after, 

 they had five fathoms of water ; a second anchor was thrown out, 

 and again the tackle parted ; and while, in the energy of wild de- 

 spair, prostrated by sheets of salty spray that swept over them in 

 bursts of fury, they were preparing a third bower, a huge comb- 

 ing wave lifted that ark of misery that band of superlative human 

 suffering safely and sheer over the reef, where in an instant the 

 tempest-tossed ship rested in calm water ; the last anchor was 



