232 NARROW EscAPi:— SUDDEN CHANGE. May 1829. 



was higher, and the wind as strong as ever. I saw the cutter a 

 little before, about three miles from us, standing to the east- 

 ward on a wind ; but whether she would clear the shore I could 

 not make out. 



" After dark, finding we could not well be worse off as to 

 risk, I bore up, and pulled with the sea rather abaft the beam, 

 twisting the boat ' end on' to each wave as it came, hoping to 

 get into smoother water to the westward. Night, and having 

 hung on our oars five hours, made me think of beaching the 

 boat to save the men ; for in a sea so short and breaking, it 

 was not likely she would live much longer. At any time in the 

 afternoon, momentary neglect, allowing a wave to take her im- 

 properly, would have swamped us ; and after dark it was worse. 

 Shortly after bearing up, a heavy sea broke over my back, and 

 half filled the boat : we were baling away, expecting its suc- 

 cessor, and had little thoughts of the boat living, when — quite 

 suddenly — the sea fell, and soon after the wind became mode- 

 rate. So extraordinary was the change, that the men, by one 

 impulse, lay on their oars, and looked about to see what had 

 happened. Probably we had passed the place where a tide 

 was setting against the wind. I immediately put the boafs 

 head towards the cove we left in the morning, and with thank- 

 ful gladness the men pulled fast ahead. In ten minutes the sea 

 was smooth, and the breeze so moderate, as not to impede our 

 progress. Our only anxiety was then about the cutter ; for we 

 could not tell how she had weathered the gale. I was sure she 

 would have prospered if kept by the wind ; but some accident, 

 or change of purpose, was to be feared. 



" About an hour after midnight, we landed in safety at 

 Donkin Cove ; so tired, and numbed by the cold, for it was 

 freezing sharply, that we could hardly get out of the boat. 

 The embers of our morning fire were still burning ; so we put 

 on some wood, and lay down round them. No men could have 

 behaved better than that boat"'s crew : not a word was uttered 

 by one of them ; nor did an oar flag at any time, although 

 they acknowledged, after landing, that they never expected 

 to see tlie shore again. We resolved to start early to look for 



