238 NO NEWS OF THE BOATS. 



of the next roller completely becalmed our sails, and 

 had we not had the oars out to give the boat steer- 

 age way, and keep her head in the right direction, 

 the sea would probably have taken us broadside on 

 and engulphed us.* As it was we again mounted 

 on to the back of this huge billow, and rode over 

 the third with similar success. I watched them as 

 they travelled rapidly on after having passed us, 

 and not half a mile to leeward the first suddenlv 

 curled over and broke, and being succeeded by the 

 others, they raised a mad whirlpool of foam, in 

 in which our chance would have been poor indeed 

 had it happened near us. Luckily the weather was 

 now fine, with a light breeze, or we could not have 

 come out over these shoals. 



The sight of these seas increased our anxiety for 

 our missing boats ; however, we now saw the royals 

 of the Fly on the horizon, and hoped to meet them 

 when we got on board. We at length deepened the 

 water to four fathoms, when the sea got less heavy 

 and more regular, and at two o'clock we reached 

 the ship. No news of any of the absentees had been 

 heard, and serious apprehensions were entertained 

 on board for our own safety and that of the cutter, 

 as the day after we left the ship, it blew nearly a gale 



* Captain Blackwood was now steering, and he will, perhaps, 

 forgive my saying, that I always felt perfectly safe in a boat 

 while the yoke-ropes were in his hands, whatever might be the 

 character of the sea. In this particular instance, the least unskil- 

 fulness or want of judgment would have lost all our lives. 



