1821.] 



THE AUTHOR'S EARLY LIFE. 



XXV 



-head to windward, took in the sails, and pulled towards the island ; 

 making, however, but very little headway. In this manner we pro- 

 ceeded until it began to grow dark, which in this latitude, and at that 

 season, was at half past ten, P. M. At this time the haze opened a 

 little, so that we obtained a sight of the schooner bearing S.W. by 

 W. five miles to windward, under a heavy press of sail, with her 

 larboard tacks on board. The island now bore W. by S. distant 

 seven miles, as we had gained about two miles in-shore. 



The wind had now increased to a perfect gale, and our situation 

 every moment became more and more critical. Presuming that Cap- 

 tain Johnson did not see the boat, and finding that we were rapidly 

 losing ground, the crew became very much disheartened. The snow- 

 storm again set in, thicker than ever ; so that we soon lost sight both 

 of land and vessel. The gale continued to increase in violence, and the 

 waves in magnitude ; so that it was almost impossible to keep the boat's 

 head to the windward. I now found it absolutely necessary to adopt 

 some other method to keep her in that position than merely hanging 

 upon our oars ; for unless her head was pointed to the seas, she would 

 inevitably fill. To prevent such a catastrophe, I fortunately hit upon 

 the following expedient. 



We bent or fastened one end of the boat's warp to the five seal- 

 skins we had taken in the afternoon, and at about three fathoms dis- 

 tance from the skins, we secured the oars to the same cord. In order 

 to prevent the latter proving too buoyant, we loaded them with 

 the boat's anchor, secured by what cordage we could command, such 

 as the halyards and sheets of our sails. As soon as this rude appa- 

 ratus was completed, we committed it to the waves, paying out about 

 twenty fathoms of the warp, which we secured to the bow and stern 

 thwarts, keeping it well parcelled in the chucks, to prevent its chafing. 

 When this was all properly arranged, we stowed ourselves in the 

 centre of the boat, and soon found that one man could now keep her free, 

 by baling only half his time, although the sea ran excessively heavy, 

 and the gale blew with such violence that it was almost impossible to 

 breathe while looking to windward. 



Still, however, our little boat made very good weather of it. The 

 oil which worked from the blubber attached to the skin so smoothed 

 the rough billows that not a sea broke near the boat. For the space 

 of twenty-four hours we thus rode by our floating anchor, in a tre- 

 mendous gale of wind, a very heavy sea, and a violent snow-storm. 

 During this time we must have drifted to leeward at least fifty miles, 

 as there was no land in sight when the storm abated, and the weather 

 became clear. Our newly discovered island could have been easily 

 discerned at the distance of forty miles. 



Although the storm had abated, our situation was still extremely 

 perilous. We had neither provisions nor quadrant on board the boat, 

 in the high latitude of 60° 30', and were, in fact, destitute of every 

 thing necessary to extricate ourselves from this awkward predicament. 

 To add to the difficulties and dangers which surrounded us, the feet, 

 hands, and ears of the crew began to be frozen. I now found myself 

 compelled to exercise some severity towards the poor fellows, in order 

 to prevent their perishing with th? sold. That treacherous and horrid 



