of dlftrefs ; but tbe gale was fo dreadful, and 

 the fea running fo frightfully high, that it 

 was, totally, impcffible to give her affiftance. 

 We Rood towards her, and kept her anxioufly 

 In view, in the hope of adminiftering aid, 

 fliould fhe be fupported upon the furface 

 until the weather became moderate. Unhap- 

 pily the ftorm continued increafmg rather 

 than diminlihing in violence. We looked 

 fearfully on the fhip, expeding every inftant 

 to fee her go to the bottom. She repeated 

 fignals of dillrefs. We heard them, and faw 

 them, but were unable to obey them. It was 

 a moft melancholy and awful crifis. We re- 

 garded her in anxious forebodings, examining 

 her, both with the eye and with the telefcope, 

 again and again. Her roafts were ftanding ; 

 her fails entire ; and the rigging, apparently, 

 perfed ; but this, which to landfmen would 

 have feemed favourable, we difcovered to be 

 the very reverfe ; for, hence it was that our 

 beft failors formed the fatal conclufion that 

 her fituation was hopelefs, and that fhe muft 

 have fprung a leak ! 



We watched the heavens, and the wa- 



