18 



cabin-head ; reefs, the divisions by which the sails 

 are contracted ; stunsails, additional sails, spread for 

 the purpose of catching all the wind possible ; the 

 fore-mast, main-mast, mizen-mast ; fore, the head ; 

 aft, the stern ; being pooped (the very sound of 

 which tells one, that it must be something very 

 terrible), having the stern beat in by the sea ; to 

 belay a rope, to fasten it. 



December 6. 



I had no idea of the expense of building and 

 preserving a ship : that in which I am at present 

 cost 30,000/. at its outset. Last year the repairs 

 amounted to 14,000/. ; and in a voyage to the East 

 Indies they were more than 20,000/. In its re- 

 turn last year from Jamaica it was on the very 

 brink of shipwreck. A storm had driven it into 

 Bantry Bay, and there was no other refuge from 

 the winds than Bear Haven, whose entrance was 

 narrow and difficult ; however, a gentleman from 

 Castletown came on board, and very obligingly 

 offered to pilot the ship. He was one of the first 

 people in the place, had been the owner of a vessel 

 himself, was most thoroughly acquainted with every 

 inch of the haven, &c. &c. s and so on they went. 

 There was but one sunken rock, and that about 

 ten feet in diameter ; the captain knew it, and 

 warned his gentleman-pilot to keep a little more to 

 the eastward. " My dear friend," answered the 

 Irishman, " now do just make yourself asy; I know 



