158 



the dlfafters v^hich have befallen it. Did 

 ever the feas — did the heavens ever fight fo 

 cruelly againft an expedition ! were ever the 

 elements fo decidedly hoftile to the great 

 and flattering efforts of man I 



To convey any adequate idea of ouf 

 fituation would require the beft energies of 

 your own all-animating pen; but, as that pen 

 is but the reprefentative of your imagination, 

 call this In aid of an humbler quill, and you 

 may have fome conception of the peril and the 

 horrors to which we have, already, been expo« 

 fed, and which we may ftill have to encounter ! 

 After the violence of the firft gale, moft 

 of our fcattered fleet, owing to the great at-» 

 tention and exertions of Admiral Chriftian 

 and his officers, was again afl^embled, and we 

 felicitated ourfelves in the hope of proceeding 

 to our place of deftination without further in* 

 terruption : but the turbulent mountains of a 

 difordered fea w^ere, fcarcely, reduced to a more 

 tranquil furface, before the fl:orm was renewed 

 with additional violence. Quickly we were 

 more fcattered than before. Many of the 

 fliips, unable to refift this fecond fliock, were, 



