88 A GALE OFF THE CAPE. 



opening. Blankets, bedding, and whatever we could 

 first lay hands on, were hastily seized and thrust in 

 to stop the leak. The men became alarmed, and 

 would no longer remain forward. 



The gale continued during the night with un- 

 abated violence. On the following day about noon 

 the captain discovered land ; and supposing it to be 

 Mossel Bay, he endeavoured to make sail, in the 

 hope of obtaining shelter. On nearing the shore, 

 however, we discovered it to be the mouth of 4;he 

 Brede River, where the brig Husk was then lying 

 under repair, having sustained, some time previously, 

 considerable damage in crossing the bar. When 

 the captain found his mistake, he immediately put 

 the vessel about ; and had not the wind favoured us 

 at that moment, we should certainly have been cast 

 ashore, being already within the influence of a heavy 

 ground swell. We were thus again under the ne- 

 cessity of standing out to sea, and braving the ele- 

 ments. The wind, however, had now begun in some 

 degree to abate, and the aspect of the weather be- 

 came more favourable. On the next morning, we 

 observed several vessels in distress, and hailed an 

 American ship bound from Canton to New York, the 

 captain of which, labouring under an erroneous opi- 

 nion as to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary 

 repairs at the Cape, preferred running down to St. 

 Helena, when he might have gone into Simon's Bay 

 close at hand, where he could, in perfect security, 



